So, just a heads up guys, the music selections in here DO NOT match the time-frame of the actual story. I know. I do what I want lol. As an explanation (kind of), magical folk could probably use magic to create the modern synthetic tones and such. I made sure the song/s don't reference anything that they would not have. I do not own any of them and credits are at the end. For best effect, go listen to them on YouTube or something. Anyways, I hope you guys enjoy. Thank you for reading this far. I love seeing new followers and readers!
-PandaMarx
Chapter 5
Harper's mind was sluggish but was still trying to figure out how this thing had ended up on what was obviously her bed. She remembered where she had seen it before, but couldn't quite figure out why it was there. Suddenly, a slow, dreamy voice behind her said:
"I believe it is a gift for you. See the tag?"
Both Harper and Tayler turned to see a girl with long dirty-blond hair and wide blue eyes pointing at the cage on Harper's bed. They then looked at each other, shrugged and Harper went to examine the tag that the odd girl had pointed out. It was a small, plain piece of parchment attached to the cage with red ribbon. The creature's eyes slowly watched her hands as they untied the ribbon. It read:
Dear Miss. Costello,
I hope you had a wonderful birthday yesterday and a pleasant trip here today. I felt that this gift would have been better to give you here at the castle. The stress of the train station would not have been beneficial to an owl with already poor health. I hope he serves you well, as the shop owner said that he was scheduled to be put down soon after our visit. I thought you would want to be the one to nurse him back to health.
Happy Birthday,
Minerva
Harper had almost forgotten that the day before was her birthday. Not that it meant anything. Every year, all she got was a plain birthday card from Hollie and a day off of sweeping the kitchen.
"Well, umm, I guess you were right… Lovegood was it?"
"Luna. Pleased to meet you," she smiled and turned to rummage through her trunk.
"Pleased to meet you too. Umm, I'm Harper and this is Tayler. I guess we all share this dorm eh?" a forced smile.
"It would seem so. You wouldn't mind if I put up my anti-knargle charms up do you?"
"Uh, no not at all," Harper didn't even bother asking what knargles were.
Two other girls walked in and gave Luna a strange look that swept over to Harper and Tayler in turn as Luna strung up strands of seemingly random little objects around the room. Harper found beauty in the mix of colors, patterns, textures and shapes that adorned the four-poster bed that Luna had claimed. The other girls silently put their pajamas on and crawled into the last two beds. While they did this, Harper gently, picked up the cage and set it on the large concrete window sill. She looked at the injured barn owl and tried to think of a name for the poor thing. Frustrated at not being able to, she gently placed her hand on the cage and after a minute of her watching him, the shy bird decided to closely examine it. She pushed her finger through the bars and gently stroked his head.
"You're a pretty boy aren't ya?" she mumbled to the mangled ball of feathers.
When she looked back around the room, she realized that she was the only one still dressed so she quickly changed into her nightgown. Slipping between the soft, comfortable sheets which apparently caused the lights to turn off, she immediately fell asleep. Her dreams that night consisted of falling into a soft, caramel colored (and scented) cloud, diving into an ocean of warm honey and riding on the back of a whale swimming through said ocean of honey. It had been one of the best dreams she had ever had and she even remembered the whole thing when she woke up the next day.
...
Her first class of the day had been charms with the head of her own house, Professor Flitwick. The short, little wizard started class with roll call and gave a warm welcoming speech to the class. He stood on one of stacks of books just to see over his desk and Harper found his squeaky voice rather amusing. Once the class was settled, he began to explain what the charms class consisted of and gave the class a demonstration by making three of the books flap around the room like birds. This amazed the students who cheered when the books gently stacked themselves back up. As they walked from charms to double-Herbology, Tayler informed Harper that despite his looks, Professor Flitwick was once a world-renowned duelist.
Herbology with the Hufflepuffs was rather enjoyable to Harper. She thoroughly loved the smell of dirt and plants that filled the greenhouses. Miranda was in that class with them so they all sat together the moment they saw each other. The squat Professor Sprout only slightly favored her house members but as was custom of Hufflepuffs, she kept everything fair. While they sat on the overturned pots, she gave a brief description of all the amazing different types of plants and fungi they would be learning about that year. Harper could tell that she would enjoy this class and smiled at the simple thought of being around the beautiful gardens in the many greenhouses as she, Tayler and Miranda left together.
Her afternoon classes consisted of a double potions with Hufflepuff, in which she found professor Snape rather intimidating, and defense against the dark arts which seemed like an interesting topic though the teacher was not really note-worthy. The next day, some of her classes were switched up so that she could go to a few new ones. In transfiguration, Professor McGonagall took no note of her. Harper understood that the scene on the train back from London was unimaginable to any other student and McGonagall planned on keeping it that way. The older witch was strict and intimidating, just as she had been the first day they met. Her explanation of the class ended with her transforming her desk into a pig and her first assignment of turning a match into a needle proved to Harper that this was one class she wouldn't be very good at. Tayler seemed to at least understand so Harper told herself to study with her whenever possible.
Learning all about the planets and their moons bored her, but last class of the day was simply dreadful. History of Magic ended up being the worst class Harper had ever taken. The first class started with taking notes on the extremely boring speech that the ghost-teacher gave. At first, she took diligent notes. Then she realized that she had no idea what he was talking about. Then she started to wonder what it would be like to put her hand through a ghost. Then she fell asleep. Tayler woke her up when class ended and laughed at the ink that smudged the side of her face. No matter what she did, the ink would not come off. To make things worse, on their way to dinner that night, they ran into Draco and his hulking side-kicks.
"What happened to your face Costello?" he smirked and the other two boys chuckled.
Tayler looked terrified when Harper actually replied with an annoyed, "I swear, History of Magic is the worst class ever."
He guffawed, "No argument there, but falling asleep on the second day of school? Shameful. Were you up late talking to the walls?" she could have sworn he mumbled 'loony' under his breath and a daft chuckle came from the gorillas again.
Harper may have been shy around new people but when someone bullied her, she either ignored them or retorted with sarcastic remarks and at that moment, she simply couldn't help herself, "Of course! In fact, they informed me that some snooty, albino, Slytherin boy was being a prat again. I guess I found out who they were talking about."
She rolled her eyes as she pushed past the blatantly offended boy to get to the Great Hall. When they sat down, Tayler elbowed her and excitedly whispered:
"Do you even know who that was?!"
"Of course. Draco Malfoy."
"Do you know about the Malfoys at all?!" her eyes were wide.
"No, but judging by the attitude from His Royal Highness, I'm guessing they're rich."
"They are pure-blood elitists. A long line of dark wizards and witches many of whom were death-eaters. Including the father of 'His Royal Highness', Lucius Malfoy! Well, suspected. He was never actually arrested, but I personally think that's because of his status and money. I wouldn't talk back to him if I were you. He could get you into a lot of trouble. Besides, since when did you sass strangers?"
"Well first off, I've sort of met him before and second, what can he do? Call my parents? Ha. Thirdly, I think he is too used to people cowering from him."
"Jeez girl! You are talking about Draco Malfoy for Merlin's sake!"
Harper shrugged her shoulders, "Eh. So, anyways, what's all this talk about 'pure-bloods' and such? I heard other kids talking about it earlier too."
Tayler sighed and shook her head, "You are crazy. Hmm, how do I begin… Well, there are pure-bloods, where both parents are magical, and half-blood, where one parent is magical, the other muggle. Then there are the odd cases of muggle-borns and squibs. Muggle-borns are magical, but the parents are muggle while squibs are non-magical, but both their parents are magical. Elitists are those who believe that magical bloodlines should not be, (she made quotations with her hands) 'tainted' with muggle blood. Those specific people generally come from long lines of pure bloods like the Malfoys. Which brings up the Dark-Lord himself who was an elitist. One of his goals was to (more quotations) 'purify' the wizarding world of muggle blood. I'm sure if Malfoy knew I was a half-blood, he would've thrown some insults at me too…"
"Wait, I thought both your parents were magical?"
"My mom and step-dad are, but my real father left my mom soon after I was born. It killed her to erase his memory, but that's standard procedure."
"Oh…" they ate the rest of their meals in silence.
…
"I did my best to notice
When the call came down the line
Up to the platform of surrender
I was brought but I was kind
And sometimes I get nervous
When I see an open door
Close your eyes, clear your heart
Cut the cord
Are we human or are we dancer?
My sign is vital, my hands are cold
And I'm on my knees looking for the answer
Are we human or are we dancer?"
The rhythm of the song came through the walls of the bathroom as Harper sung-along in the shower. She had learned from Tayler (who had learned from her long-graduated step-sister) that some clever student had (with Flitwick's permission) charmed the walls of the girls bathrooms to play whatever song they requested while taking a shower. That Friday morning, Harper had picked one of her favorite songs from the wizarding world and sung out the lyrics that she loved so much. She dried herself off the good old-fashioned muggle way and got dressed in her uniform before leaving the steamed-filled bathroom.
"That's it! That's the song you need to use!" Tayler had put her hands on Harper's shoulders when she walked out of the bathroom.
"I told you already, I am not trying out for choir!" water dripped out of her hair.
"Why not?"
"They don't allow first years! Even if I was good at it and comfortable in front of people, I wouldn't be allowed to join."
"C'mon Harper! You are amazing! I'm sure they would make an exception for you!"
Harper shook her head and walked over to her bed. She ran a brush through her short, strawberry scented hair, and examined her owl. In just four days of her applying a few different kinds of magical remedies from Madam Pomfery, he had already grown back many of his feathers and the glassy film that once covered his eyes was gone.
"What are your thoughts on all this?"
A soft gurgling noise replied and Harper just looked out the window. She loved singing. Back in Bristol, she would listen to the small radio she got from a yard sale until she had the lyrics and rhythms of a few songs memorized. Then, when they were alone, she would sing to Brutus. She never thought herself very good, but all week, Tayler had pestered her about joining the school choir. While Harper would have loved to join, there were two problems. First of all, the school did not allow first years to join. Secondly, all students wishing to participate had to try-out, preforming a song of their choice in front of Flitwick. The simple thought of singing in front of another person made Harper queasy.
When Tayler finished taming her unruly hair, the two girls headed towards breakfast, then charms class. The walk was filled with a lengthy discussion of the odd decorations that Luna had put up around their room. Neither could figure out what exactly knargles were and why Luna was trying to keep them away but they both agreed that the charms added a bit of color to the usually drab room. Harper had been so preoccupied with their discussion and that day's lesson that by the end of class, all thoughts of choir had left her. She didn't even wonder why Tayler stayed after class to talk to Professor Flitwick.
The rest of the day went by without much excitement until Shen came to her potions class with a worried face. He pulled her out of the last five minutes of potions (much to Snape's annoyance) because Dumbledore had apparently summoned her to his office. Both Tayler and Miranda had looks of thorough bewilderment on their faces when Harper sheepishly followed the older boy out the door. She was extremely worried and her stomach kept tying itself up in knots as she wondered what she had done the whole way there. Shen kept trying explain that not all visits to the headmaster's office were bad but Harper's heart was pounding in her ears. When they finally climbed eight flights of stairs and reached a long hallway with a gargoyle at the end, they met McGonagall. The professor and Shen nodded to each other and he silently left. The professor sharply turned around and said "caramel apple", causing the gargoyle behind her to leap aside. Behind the spot where it once stood, a spiral staircase rose. With no emotion on her face, McGonagall motioned for her to enter.
Cautiously climbing the stairs, Harper wondered why on earth she could have been summoned. When she reached the top, she opened the pair of oak doors she saw and entered the headmaster's office.
"Do you know why you were summoned Ms. Costello?"
She started to fiddle with the sleeve of her robe and looked down, "No sir."
The headmaster smiled, "Well, I've heard some interesting things about you from Professor Flitwick," Harper continued fidgeting, thinking she was in trouble, "He tells me you have potential," her eyes widened, "In fact, he told me that not a single first-year has ever been nominated by a fellow classmate to join advanced choir before. Now, I assume you are aware that first-years aren't allowed to join?" Harper had stopped fidgeting and just stared straight at the old wizard, "Well, I would like to hear for myself what your young friend was talking so generously about," he smiled again and his eyes twinkled behind his spectacles.
Harper just stood there with her mouth slightly open. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she cursed Tayler.
"Um, excuse me sir, but what exactly do you mean?" she tugged at her sleeve again.
"I mean Ms. Costello, would you mind singing for me? I hear you have a beautiful voice. If it would help, I can provide background music for you."
"B-but sir… I-I'm not very good. They must have been mistaken."
"Well, if you don't show me, I will never know now will I?"
His warm smile made her relax a little and she sighed in defeat, "So, would it kinda work like the bathrooms in Ravenclaw tower?"
He chuckled "Very similar, yes."
She took a deep breath and the odd bird perched behind the professor tilted its head towards her. Dumbledore pulled his wand out of his robe and gave it a flick. A slender white flame crawled out the tip and made a large circle over the professor and his desk.
"Now, all you have to do is run your hand though the flame and think of a song."
Harper raised an eyebrow, "But sir-"
"It won't burn I promise."
With his reassurance, she gingerly reached out. The flame reached back and gently licked her fingers. Rather than burning, it had a warm, rather pleasant feeling. It wrapped around her hand like silk ribbon. She closed her eyes and focused on a song. Suddenly, to her surprise, the beat emerged and started to resonate on the small office. The ring of flames started to bounce in rhythm and she knew she had seven seconds to prepare herself. Tapping her foot, she counted. One, deep breath, three, four, eyes close, five, another deep breath, six…
"I did my best to notice
When the call came down the line
Up to the platform of surrender
I was brought but I was kind"
Her voice was shaky so she took a deep breath.
"And sometimes I get nervous
When I see an open door
Close your eyes, clear your heart
Cut the cord
Are we human or are we dancer?
My sign is vital, my hands are cold
And I'm on my knees looking for the answer
Are we human or are we dancer?"
The sound of a single clap came from the fire and the beat picked up, louder this time. The drum beat in the background set the now faster tempo and her Harper started to feel comfortable.
"Pay my respects to grace and virtue
Send my condolences to good
Hear my regards to soul and romance
They always did the best they could
And so long to devotion
You taught me everything I know
Wave goodbye
Wish me well
You've gotta let me go.
Are we human or are we dancer
My sign is vital, my hands are cold
And I'm on my knees, looking for the answer
Are we human or are we dancer?"
Harper felt the familiar caress of the music through her body and she started to sway in time. Behind her eyelids, she saw waves of color flowing with the music. Her heart was beating with the drums.
"Well your system'll be all right
When you dream of home tonight
There is no message we're receiving
Let me know, is your heart still beating?
Are we human or are we dancer?
My sign is vital, my hands are cold
And I'm on my knees, looking for the answer
You've gotta let me know
Are we human or are we dancer?
My sign is vital, my hands are cold
And I'm on my knees, looking for the answer
Are we human, or are we dancer?
Are we human, or are dancer?
Are we human or are dancer?"
As the music faded out, she stopped swaying and slowly opened her eyes. Remembering that she wasn't alone, she started blushing furiously. Upon noticing this, Dumbledore started to clap, causing the strange bird to lift its wings in appraise.
"Wonderful! Brilliant!" he stood up, causing Harper to blush even more, then he finally stopped his enthusiastic round of applause, "Yes, I think you will reach great heights in choir. While you most certainly deserve it, I believe many of the older students in advanced choir would not appreciate being out-done by a first-year," Harper couldn't help a huge grin.
So guys, watcha think? Good? Bad? Lemme know!
Credits= Human by The Killers. (All credit goes to them. They are amazing.)