Complexity
By ChocolateEclar
Disclaimer: I do not own these characters or places, although I do own this story and some elements of the characterizations of Al Potter, his siblings and their cousins, Ben, Abigail, and Dittany.
A/N: In which the author's 'band nerd tendencies' come out (meaning I have been in a school band for way too long). :) Oh yeah, and Al learns to play an instrument to 'impress a girl' during his fourth and fifth years. Also, in which I come up with probably the least creative chapter title ending in '–ity' yet, but oh well.
A/N 2: To KyuubiPandoraChan, I'm not totally sure I understand your question, but if what you mean by "why Snape is so over Al and Ditty?" that you're not sure why Snape is paying a lot of attention to those two, then I can say that it's because he notices that they're in the beginning of a more romantic relationship, which reminds him of what could have happened with him and Lily Evans but didn't. This is why it says in the last chapter that he "is almost certain about what is going to happen between those two as long as one of them does not become a servant of any dark lord" (i.e. like how Snape became a Death Eater) "or call the other some offensive nickname – or both, for that matter" (i.e. like how Snape called Lily and Mudblood and so she never forgave him unfortunately). If I didn't understand your question, then please explain it to me. Thanks to everyone for reviewing. :)
Chapter Nine: Musicality
Minerva McGonagall can play the piano and has been doing so for the last sixty-some odd years. Al Potter is determined to learn, albeit without the knowledge of anyone living at first. This is why every Wednesday during his fourth year, he slips into the office and mutters, "Finite,"around the invisible piano back behind McGonagall's desk. (He knows it is there because he has been in that office, hidden under the invisibility cloak, in the night when she returns and practices when something is bothering her.)
Every time he arrives in the office, Al performs a ritual: reveal the piano, cast a silencing charm on the door, and practice with the sheet music that McGonagall leaves on the top of the piano.
The first time, Snape is almost ready to sleep in another portrait for the rest of the year. After banging on the notes for a while, Al cautiously pokes the keys and just sits there listening to the sound reverberate. It is by the third Wednesday that he has tentatively figured out how to play "Mary Had a Little Lamb" on any three notes (which, he admits, really isn't terribly hard). He has no idea which three he is supposed to use until he picks up a beginning's music book in the bookstore down in Hogsmeade. The book shows him how to use a spell to temporarily write the names of the notes on top of the keys until he memorizes them.
"Albus, can you read music already?" Dumbledore asks after, on the fifth Wednesday, Al rapidly runs a hand down the keys.
"A bit," Al mutters. "Lily took piano lessons when she was about six and I watched. I figure it's a handy skill to have in wizarding society, considering there aren't much in the way of music programs in this school. 'Might impress someone."
"A girl?" asks the witch in the powdered wig.
"I suppose," Al replies softly, although he is barely paying attention. "I'm thinking of it as a future investment when I can actually play something with more than three notes." He scribbles the rhythm pattern under each note with a flashy red and gold quill he had picked up in Scrivenshaft's Quill Shop after going to the bookstore. (Lily complains that it is ridiculously Gryffindor, even for a Gryffindor.) "One and Two, Three, Four," he mutters. "One – um, eeeee, and, ah – Three and Four."
Al spends three months learning muggle children's songs and then nervously moves on to a few classical pieces. It takes him until May before he can play the first movement of Beethoven's "'Moonlight' Sonata" with any sort of confidence, and even then he plays it at a sort of half speed with almost every other note on the page circled with a little musical 'sharp' sign above the top. He has gone from his beginner's book to a different book for the sonata, but he frequently goes back and plays little rapid versions of children's songs. (In February, he switchesfrom only Wednesdays to Wednesdays and Saturdays.)
It is during most of these nights that Snape finds himself lulled to sleep by the quiet Beethoven and awakens at dawn to find Al either long gone or slumped over the keyboard fast asleep with nothing to hide him if McGonagall were to come in.
It is the last Wednesday of term when Snape snaps back to consciousness with a slight twitching of his eyebrows at the images in his dream. A sound had awakened him, but he does not realize what it was until he notices that Al's head is pressed against the keyboard and his hand is falling off of the piano. The gentle rocking back and forth of the hand is making a light noise as it passes over the keys.
"Potter," he calls out. All of the other portraits snore in their frames, but Al's head rushes up so fast he bangs it on the bookshelf behind him.
"Ummft," he grunts. Dark rings around his eyes, he winces against the light as he glances out the window at the pink and orange sky. He rubs some life into his fingers and says, "Well, I guess this is the last time for a while." He lightly plays the first movement as he always has, but there is something hidden in those slow, gentle notes.
Many of the other portraits wake up as Al plays the sonata without any use of a spell to tell him what notes he is passing his hands over. In fact, he barely glances at the sheet music in front of him, and basically does not look from a spot on the wall until he finishes.
Dumbledore is the first portrait to clap and smile encouragingly at Al, and most of the others follow suit. "Do you have a way to practice over the summer, Albus?" he asks.
"Teddy and Victoire have a grand piano in their drawing room that Victorie plays," Al explains, as he closes the piano and replaces the spells on top of it. "She said I could use it whenever I visit them in London." He pauses and adds proudly, "And she says she'll give me some lessons without telling anyone."
"We shall miss you, Allie," says the bewigged witch.
Al makes a face and replies, "I'll be back next year without fear."
"Wonderful. I am sure we would have just died of the monotony here without you, Potter," Snape remarks sarcastically.
"I'm sure, sir," Al says with a small smirk. Looking back on it, Snape remembers that the Al that graduated this year was still fairly soft-spoken and had the qualities of a gently simmering potion. It was not until he returned from the summer that he would start to do such things as appear in the office in the daytime and act like a volatile mixture of Erumpent Fluid and crushed snake fangs in an Exploding Fluid potion.
The summer goes by uneventfully, especially for the portraits. Phineas Nigellus occasionally complains loudly about not getting any peace in his portrait in Grimmauld Place, as it is the home of the Potters. His portrait now hangs in the drawing room after Lily was born and that particular bedroom became hers. Phineas had been pleased about that, at least, because then he didn't have to worry about a baby screaming in her crib at night. (Lily had been unable to sleep in her own crib for a full night for the first nine months of her life without crying, which resulted in James and a tiny two-year-old Al refusing to sleep on the same floor as her. Instead, they took refuge by sleeping on the kitchen floor with a few clean blankets from Kreacher's bed. In fact, one night, Mrs. Black's portrait was awoken by the noise. This caused Al to run around the kitchen crying in fright, while James just covered his ears with his hands, until Kreacher brought him a glass of milk and a plate of cookies. After that, Ginny and Harry kept the crib in their room and made sure James and Al slept soundly in their beds with a few silencing charms on their bedroom doors to keep out the sounds of Lily's fussing.)
The first night of school, Al is in McGonagall's office to practice his piano playing. Over the summer, Victoire had clearly taught him quite a few songs. Some of them are French children's songs that Fleur had sung to her as a baby, including "Au clair de la lune," which she sang along while Al learned to play it (And so afterwards, Al can still hear her beautiful voice singing, "Au clair de la lune, mon ami Pierrot, prête-moi ta plume pour écrire un mot," while he plays.) Mostly, however, Al now knows how to play three Celestina Warbeck songs.
"I think I understand now," Dumbledore says with a chuckle. "The girl that Madame Elizabeth," – here he nods towards the lady in the powdered wig – "suggested that you were learning to play the piano for is actually your grandmother."
Al stops in the middle of playing "A Cauldron Full of Hot, Strong Love" to say, "Well, yes. It's going to be Grandma Molly's Christmas present this year since it's Victoire and Teddy's turn to host it and they have a piano readily available. And anyway," he pauses for a moment, "who else would I be playing for?"
"A love interest perhaps," insists the bewigged witch.
Al laughs a little and says, "Truth be told, that particular person would just be pleased that I have something I'm actually willing to put my whole effort into. She's always insisting I do things by halves."
"Give me a hint, dear?" asks the witch.
"Not likely," Al replies, as he stands up and puts the piano back the way it was before he arrived. "She's doesn't even know she is a 'love interest.'"
He yawns and adds, "Well, be prepared for me to spend my Wednesday nights up here learning how to play practically the entire 'You Stole My Cauldron but You Can't Have my Heart' album." Several of the male portraits groan, and after a few weeks, Snape is fairly certain "You Charmed the Heart Right Out of Me" will be stuck in his head for the rest of eternity (And for Merlin's sake, Molly Weasley had better be extremely appreciative, he reasons, or their suffering through these terrible songs will be for naught and he will find a way to curse the Potters and Weasleys despite being a portrait.)
To Snape's relief, after the winter holidays, Al starts learning classical pieces on Wednesday nights again. Of course, this means he returns to talking to them about whatever random topics come to his young mind on Saturdays, but it is worth it.
A/N: This is my eighth year playing the flute in my school band, however, I can't play the piano, so if anything seems particularly off, let me know. Yes, it may seem sudden that Al would learn some of the songs he did, but I think he could do it, albeit by playing very slowly. After all, he doesn't have the normal Potter/Weasley traits (i.e. he isn't good at Quidditch, he isn't as troublesome as James until about his fifth year, et cetera)… Bit of trivia: the very first song I learned was, like Al, "Mary Had a Little Lamb." (Also, if I mutilated any French words, let me know that too.)
A/N 2: And, because I can't seem to stay away from Al's third year (loads of stuff happens that year), we learn more about that time James was so annoying that he got poisoned, which really was supposed to be chapter nine, but I haven't found a way to finish it satisfactorily yet. :)