Plans

In the first class that afternoon, Lauren finally projected to Sev, "Hello, Severus, how was the interview?"

At last. "Round, Lauren." He told her everything.

"How glad I am. How about the rest?"

"Very good, Lauren. I was fine yesterday at noon. I didn't project to you in case you weren't already, to give you time to think things through calmly."

"Sure…"

"How are you?" Sev asked.

"Very good."

"Glad to hear it."

"Let's attend to the class," she said.

"Okay." I do not belive anything, he thought. This afternoon I'm having a berry, Lily is perfectly fine, if it tastes bitter to me, it's Lauren.

Lauren didn't project to him again all afternoon. Sev took a berry as soon as he got home and yes, it did taste bitter to him. What I was telling you, she is not well.

At dinner he projected to Lily, "Have you talked to Lauren yesterday or today at the Library?"

"Yes, yesterday and today," she replied.

"Has she told you anything?"

"No, Sev, she hasn't told me anything."

"How did you notice her?"

"Apathetic, not wanting to talk."

"Ruminating," Sev deduced.

"That is."

"You are fine, aren't you?"

"Yes, Sev, I'm fine."

"She has gone since yesterday without projecting to me, this afternoon she finally did it so that I could tell her about the interview, and when I tried to bring the issue up, she told me that she was fine and she cut it off."

"Yeah."

"I took a berry when I got home and it tasted bitter to me," he said.

"So it's her, Sev, it's not me."

"I already know. What do I do, Lily?

"Everything is still very recent, Sev. Give her time, let the weekend go by and take another on Monday. If you consume them before the summer, I'll give you mine during it. I'm not going to need them, I'm going to see you every day."

"Do you think she was with Jack last night?"

"No, Sev, surely not. If she still hasn't recovered from yesterday, it's impossible for her to have been with him so soon, less than twenty-four hours after being with you."

"Yeah, so she's still thinking about it."

"I think so, give her time."

"I had thought to tell her my sleep schedule, so that she can go in and out of the bedroom calmly knowing that I am not going to find out," he explained.

"Good idea, but wait until she is the one who brings up the subject. I'm sure she does it to make sure she doesn't make you suffer anymore."

"Sure."

"Don't be the one who gives her the chance to opt for Jack, let her make the decision alone," she advised.

"Okay, Lily, but even so, if you see her again in the Library today, try to get her to talk to you. I will do it again tomorrow too."

"Sure, Sev."

"Probe her out and tell me at breakfast."

"Ok. How was the interview?

"Wonderful." He told her.

"What a bargain! You will be able to come on holidays," Lily was glad.

"Well yes, I deserve them. And you don't know how much I want summer to come to be together. It's going to be the best summer of my life."

"Wow… And on Sunday you said you didn't want to leave Hogwarts. It will also be the best summer of mine."

They kept making plans for the summer until they finished dinner. Sev thought, Today I am going to escape to play the piano. I'll ask Jack to come with me and then come pick me up before curfew. I need to disconnect and forget about everything, and just a week ago I broke my arm when I was going to do it. It seems like a month has passed. I will forget everything I had learned.

"Lily, tell Cecile to come to the Music Room if she wants to. I'll be there until ten."

"Very well, Sev. But don't go alone."

"I won't, I'm going to ask Jack to walk me up the passage and then come pick me up. Dessert is already running out, we're going straight from here."

"Sure, Sev, do it, it'll do you good."

"We will talk tomorrow, my love."

"Until tomorrow, my life."

Sev said to Jack out loud, "Jack, will you accompany me directly to the Room of Requirement? I'm meeting Cecile there."

"Wow… Are you going to see Cecile?" his friend asked.

"Yes, she is teaching me to play the piano."

"Wow… what are you saying?"

"What you're hearing," Sev replied. "On Thursday, when they broke my arm, I was going there."

"Wow, luckily they didn't break any of your fingers."

"That's what Poppy told me. If you want you can stay a while and have Cecile play something for us, she plays very well. Since she was four years old, her mother is a piano teacher."

"Well, I would really like to listen to her, I love music," said Jack.

"Wow, me too. I discovered it at Easter while listening to the radio."

"Come on, let's go then. I don't care for dessert."

"Brilliant. Wait, I'll project to Lily to tell Cecile you're coming too," Sev said.

"No, don't tell her anything, we'll give her a surprise."

"Okay. Come on."

They got up and left, without saying anything to the others. Sev thought, Albus is going to be upset watching me leave the Hall with only Jack.

"Prince, where are you going?" the old man projected to him.

Sev was laughing. I knew it. He projected to him without looking at him, "See you tomorrow, Albus." I don't know if I've reached him, he doesn't answer me.

They left, went to the third floor with wands in hand and through the passage to the seventh. They demanded and entered.

"Wooow… a Steinway," Jack said.

"Do you know about pianos?"

"No, but this trademark is the best. My parents like classical music and often go to concerts."

"Wow. And what music do you like?" Sev asked.

"The modern one, but the good one."

"What a pity I did not bring my notebook, to show you the groups and songs that I wrote down from the radio."

"Do you remember any?" Jack asked.

"Yes, the one I'm learning now. I'll play what I know, let's see if you know it."

Sev lifted the lid of the piano and sat down on the bench. He started with the right hand of the introduction.

"Of course, it's 'Wish you were here', by Pink Floyd, I love it," said Jack.

Everyone who has a certain Muggle culture knows and likes it. I caught it on the fly. Extraordinary good taste, Sev thought. "I was impressed by the lyrics."

"Of course, it is la creme de la creme. The fishbowl. You're already out of it."

"I left one to fall into another even deeper."

"Well, everything will pass. There is no evil that last a hundred years," his friend encouraged him.

(If you only knew… Voldemort is immortal. I have made him my enemy and I am mortal,) Sev thought.

"When we return home, show me that notebook," Jack said.

"Of course."

"Play, play until Cecile arrives. Don't waste time."

Sev played the right hand, missing a lot. More than a week without doing it, at this rate I will not play it before the summer, I have to escape again more often. Let's see if the cave ritual also works for this.

"Ugh, Jack, what a mess. I already played it whole and I have forgotten it."

"How long did it take you to learn it?"

"A week and a half."

"Only?" Jack was amazed.

"Yeah."

"Buah, that's nothing, you'll get it right back. I'll accompany you whenever you want."

"Thank you, Jack. Brilliant."

Cecile arrived. "Whoah! Jack! What a surprise!"

Sev and Jack were laughing. Cecile is the bomb, she always screams before the door closes. They're going to catch us in the Room of Requirement because of her.

Cecile flung herself into Jack's arms.

"What's up, Cecile?" he asked her. "You don't know how much I miss you all."

"And we you. I'm sick of Hogwarts, of being a witch, of everything," she said.

"In summer we are going to escape through London. I'm taking you on Muggle partying."

"Wow! Brilliant!"

"You will see how good it will be for us to be witches there, being able to Apparate wherever we want, you will reconcile with your condition," Jack said. "Before I could Apparate myself, I always went with my uncle."

His uncle the Auror, Sev thought.

"It had to be useful for something good," Cecile said. "What's up Sev? I have not paid attention to you. Give me a hug, brave."

She sat on the bench with him and they hugged.

"How are you?" she asked.

"Well, better than you would expect," Sev replied.

"Made of very stern stuff," said Jack.

"Right," Cecile replied, and to Sev, "Yesterday you stayed a ease in Potions, huh?"

Cecile doesn't miss one. "Indeed…" he told her wickedly. "My revenge has begun."

"How glad I am," she said emphatic. "Take a good revenge before the end of the term, that they go home warm, as they tried to do to you when they finished the Map, at the end of last year, according to what Remus told me."

Oh, when I almost got caught at the Fidelius. That I went warm to home. Very good. Well, they're going to go.

"We will," said Jack. "So, if the old man punishes us, it will be a few days."

"He's not going to punish us, Jack, we're expected to," Sev said.

"Sure."

"Wait until they are confident," Cecile continued. "The best thing would be some afternoon when we have an OWL exam in the Great Hall. On a hot afternoon, they go out to cool off by the Lake, in front of all the students who will be outside. And you do to them what they did to you in front of the whole school. Levicorpus and drop their trousers."

"I don't know the spell to lower the trousers, Cecile," Sev replied. "I've never worried about nonsense like that."

"But Remus does know it. Let him teach you."

"Whoa… that would be the bomb," said Jack.

"And then a sudden Liberacorpus, like they did to you. In the meadow they will not break anything," she added.

"No, we better leave them hanging," Sev said.

"Yes, directly. A couple of hours."

"No, let them undo each other."

"That is."

The three laughed wickedly.

"Tonight we'll plan it at home," Sev told Jack.

"Wow…" Cecile said. "Sly Conspiracy… how I would like to be present."

"We'll tell you later."

"What were you with? With 'Wish you were here'?" she asked.

"Yeah," Sev replied. "I already played both hands separately and since I haven't played for more than a week I have forgotten it."

"Oh, what a shame. But you should not have learned them separately, but at the same time, even if it costs you more, to coordinate them."

"Oh. I didn't know."

"I forgot to tell you. Since I left you the song after the last class and we didn't see it together…" she apologized.

"Yeah, you're right, I should have met with you."

"It's okay, now start from scratch again and that's it. It will cost you less than if you had not tried them already."

"Ugh... I thought I almost had it," Sev complained.

"It's okay, Sev. If you played both hands separately in a week and a half, you can play them together between now and the end of the term. Sure. Do I play it and you sing it and so Jack hears you sing?"

"Ugh, I'm embarrassed."

"Come on, Prince," said Jack. "Please… I haven't listened to good music since Easter."

"Of course, Sev, you sing it great, cheer up," Cecile said.

"Alright…" Sev agreed.

"Let me sit on the left."

"Of course."

They changed places on the bench. Jack was facing them, leaning against the piano.

"Don't stare at me, Jack, I'm dying of shame," Sev said.

"I'm not looking at you…" he told him patiently. "I'm looking at how Cecile plays."

"Okay. Come on, start," Sev told Cecile.

Cecile started with the intro and Sev sang. They made Jack cry. (It reminds him of Lauren, too. He hasn't been with her yet,) Sev thought.

"Whoa… you are the bomb, la creme de la creme, you should form a duo. How well you sing, Prince, better than the original. How can you tell that you are talking about yourself.

Sev thought, (I'm good for this. How many things am I good for? I should be immortal. Maybe I'll make one of those Horcruxes out of the first Death Eater I kill.)

"Thank you, Jack," Cecile replied. "You have been our first audience." And to Sev, "We could play more songs from the band. In the book that my parents sent me there are a few, the best of their career."

"Oh... But without listening to them before…"

"Yeah, what a problem we have at Hogwarts with electricity. It's unbelievable, at the end of the twentieth century."

She is absolutely right. Another thing that should be changed at school, Sev thought.

"Yes," answered Jack. "We witches are far behind in many things."

"Maybe Lily's father has the records," Sev told Cecile. "I'll copy the song titles and learn them in the summer."

"Of course, I'll practice them at home, and if you want to come one day we'll assay them together," she proposed. "And you can also play the piano there, so you don't spend two whole months without doing it."

"Booah… so many plans for the summer. The scholarship at St. Mungo's, holidays with Lily's family, clubbing in London, singing and playing with you. I won't have time."

"In two whole months there is time to do everything if you organize yourself."

My specialty, the organization. And luckily I don't have to go to St. Mungo's eight hours a day, Sev thought. "I can't wait for summer to arrive and put an end to the damn OWLs once and for all. I do nothing but study."

"Of course, you need six Outstandings, like Remus, with everything you have on you. You both have taken the two most difficult OWLS, Defense and Medimagic. I'm not going to take Transfiguration, I'll settle for Medimagic."

It was an excuse for Minerva to give her classes. "Do they let you take Arithmancy without having completed it?"

"Yes, I had to apply for the exam," Cecile answered. "Being an external court, they admit it, because only that counts."

"Excellent. Then we'll still meet at St. Mungo's after Hogwarts."

"Sure! I hadn't thought of it. Brilliant."

(If I survive until then.)

"Play for us something else, Cecile. Delight Jack," Sev asked.

"Of course. I'm going to look for some sheet music."

Cecile chose methods and works that she already knew, and she played for almost an hour for Sev and Jack, who listened spellbound.

"What a difference listening to it from so close," Jack said. "I haven't been back to classical concerts for years and I'm realizing that it's wonderful. You're making me like classic music, Cecile."

(Having it since childhood and not appreciating it, like Lily and Petunia did,) Sev thought.

"Well, Jack, if this is nothing," Cecile said.

"Yeah, it's not difficult, but you put a lot of feeling into it and that's what counts," the older boy replied.

The sentiment against virtuosity. I can get to that, I have it.

"Thank you, Jack, you also know how to appreciate it, you have a sensitive soul," she said.

Cecile always says thank you when Jack says something to her. "Play the one with the falling drops, Cecile," Sev told her.

"Debussy's Arabesque number 1?" Cecile asked.

"That one. You're going to see how awesome, Jack."

"I'll leave it for the farewell."

She's already playing mysterious.

"Play a little now, Sev," Cecile continued. "You've come here and you haven't rehearsed anything."

"Ugh… it embarrasses me in front of Jack after how well you play," Sev said.

"Come on Prince… don't make me leave now," said Jack. "For the little remaining time I'll stay. Let's see if you're taking away that shame, everything makes you ashamed. You have to be brave also for this."

"Okay…"

Sev sat at the piano next to Cecile.

"Try both hands at the same time," she told him. "Did you already know them by heart?"

"I did," Sev replied.

"Great, then you don't need to look at the sheet music anymore and you can concentrate better on the keyboard. Start very slowly, just the introduction."

"Ugh… let's see."

Sev tried many times, he was wrong every time. "Ugh, Cecile, what a disaster. It is very difficult."

"Come on, don't get discouraged, you've only been trying for a quarter of an hour. How little patience you have. Give it a little more."

He kept trying. It didn't come out.

"Well, now you have an idea of how it is to coordinate the hands," she said. "Be patient, Sev. You're used to getting things right the first time, because you've had a lot of talent for magic since you were little, but music is about practice, like Dueling, it's physical. You have to spend hours."

"Sure."

"Well, it's a quarter to ten. I'll play the Arabesque for you and you go home, otherwise your people will worry."

"Right," said Jack.

"They must already be doing it since they saw you leave the Great Hall alone."

"Well, yes, because counting on the fact that I was only going to accompany him, we have not notified anyone."

"The old man projected to me when he saw that I went out with only you," Sev said laughing.

"Really?" Jack asked.

"Yes, he has me controlled. How I hate being controlled."

"And me," said Jack.

He's finally freed from Deborah.

"Slys…" Cecile said. "I hate it too."

"It's just that you could have been," Sev told her.

"Yes, I would have liked it. If I had known I would have fought with the Hat."

"Come on, play."

Cecile played the fragment she knew from Arabesque number 1.

"Sounds familiar," Jack said. "My parents must have the disk."

"Of course, if they like classic music it's easy, it's very famous."

"It's wonderful. You have discovered a world for me, Cecile, I like classic music. I already have a plan for the summer, to investigate my parents' discotheque and go with them to some concert."

Cecile got up from the bench. "Give me a hug, guys." They gave each other a hug. "See you whenever you want. Go away now, don't let Mrs. Norris catch you."