Dis Lexics vault of Secrets
Ideas, plot bunnys that won't let go, possible future stories. feel free to pick up the stories if you like them.
Hello, and welcome back to the Vault for the answer to one of my challenges, Music is Magic, rules below:
Dumbledore once said that music is a type of magic and he was right. What if, in order to escape the Dursleys and the Magical Worlds abuse, Harry turned to music? With the help of a guitar found in the attic, Harry begins to break free of the bonds that hold him and forge his own path.
RULES!
Must start ether before Hogwarts or after one of the years when Harry becomes an outcast. Second, Fourth or fifth.
Harry MUST oppose the prophecy by refusing to fight Voldemort.
Harry discovers Sound Magic. How this works is up to you. It could be manipulating emotions through music or amplifying vibrations to attack.
If before fourth year, Harry performs at the Ball.
Sirius is freed and fully supports Harry.
FORBIDDEN!
Harry fighting in the war.
Doormat Harry.
Golden Trio staying together. Harrys disition to become a musician causes a rift between them. This does not mean that both Ron and Hermione have to abandon him.
If set during Fourth Year, the ritual in the graveyard cannot succeed. Harry no longer views Voldie as an enemy, he only wants to play his music, not fight. As such, the Blood of Enemy part doesn't work.
SUGGESTIONS!
Harry forms a band.
With his new outlook on life, he burys the hatchet with Malfoy and the Slytherins. This could be what causes the rift as Ron doesn't like it.
Harry leaves Britain.
I know this idea is a little weird, but I think it has potential due to how different it is. Usually these things have Harry becoming a warrior and a fighter, but this one will actually allow him to live in relative piece.
I decided to try something a bit different with this story so bear with me. The italics are Harry talking directly to the reader. I should also warn you that theres some pretty heavy stuff in this. Enjoy!
Music is Magic
I am not sure what made me enter the shop on that day.
The hall was full of mumberling people, shifting impatiently in the dark.
I have no idea what made me pick up the headphones.
The sound of wood on wood could be heard, making the crowd fall silent.
All I know that, entering that shop and picking up those headphones was the best decision of my life.
The lights came on, revealing a huge stage upon which stood four teens with instruments, even as the crowd went completely wild as the first cords were struck from the lead guitarist.
This is my story.
13 year old Harry Potter walked through the town center in Surrey, ignoring the odd looks he got for his overlarge clothes. His Uncle had kicked him out of the house a few hours ago to get him out of the way when some potential clients came over. After what happened with Dobby last year Harry couldn't blame his Uncle for kicking him out and was honestly glad to be away from his 'family' for a while. Fortunately, he had some Muggle money he had gotten from the Goblins last time he was in Diagon.
The green eyed preteen wandered aimlessly for a while before it started to rain. Harry glanced up at the grey sky as the first drops hit his head, before glancing around and ducking inside a shop to get out of the rain. Harry glanced around, taking in the racks of CDs and videos around him. The young wizard wandered among the racks, occasionally picking up something that looked interesting, but mostly just browsing. That is until he reached the CDs. The shop had headsets setup that allowed you to listen to the music before you bought it. Harry grabbed a random pair and placed them over his head.
The second I put those headphones on, I was hooked. The band in question was called Sad Machine. The vocalist who was from a bad home environment, not unlike me. Whenever things got rough, he would cover his ears with earphones and escape into the world of music. I started doing the same. I felt like my problems were blown away. The vocalist was screaming out for me. He was pleading for me. The kids acting like everything is normal are wrong, and the kids crying are right. Those of us who are lonely are true humans. He screamed out against the unfairness of the world as he lashed out and shattered it. He saved me. That music kept me sane through my Aunt Marges visit later in the holidays, even if I did blow her up at the end after she made one too many comments about my parents.
Even after I left and headed off to the Leaky Cauldron, I never stopped listening to that music. I found a shop run by a Muggleborn who used Runes to convert electronic goods to run on magic and bought an MP3 player so I could keep the music with me at Hogwarts. However, what really changed everything was something I found one day while exploring Muggle London.
Harry was just walking down the street early one morning when he found it. It was incredibly early in the morning and the air was chill, despite the fact it was summer. Dew drops glistened on the grass verge and the only movement was a dustbin lorry working its way slowly down the street, along with a few early dog walkers and joggers. As he was walking past a junk shop that he saw it. There in the window, tucked away into the corner behind a large dollhouse, was a guitar. It was a simple instrument, absolutely nothing special, just an ordinary acoustic guitar and yet, Harry had never wanted anything more, not even the Firebolt he had seen in Quality Quidditch Supplies.
At that exact moment, the proprietor of the shop flipped the sign from closed to Open and Harry made his decision. Within five minutes, he was running back to the Leaky Cauldron with the guitar in a carry case over his shoulder.
And just like that, I felt complete. I spent hours in that room, practicing and spent more money to buy books on how to play the guitar than I did on my school supplies. Every chance I got, I played my new best friend until my fingers bled and learnt everything I could about music. For once, I felt like my life had meaning. Before I was just cruising, living each day as they came, never really trying in anything. I think that, deep down, I always felt that I had to conform to everyone elses idea of the Boy-Who-Lived, but now I had something I wanted to do. I wanted to use my music to save someone, just like I had been saved. I told no one of my new dream, not even Ron and Hermione. I knew they could never understand. They were great friends, but they didn't know what it was like to be alone. Ron had his family, as did Hermione. Sure she had been bullied in Primary school, but she had always had her parents support. All throughout my third year I continued to sneak out at night, find an empty classroom and play for hours. It was through this that I met my first true friend.
The halls were completely silent with absolutely nothing moving, not even the portraits. Then the silence and stillness was broken by the sound of flapping cloth as an invisible person jogged down the hall. Harry paused for a moment to adjust the guitar case on his shoulders, before pushing open the door of the classroom he normally used to practice. As soon as the door shifted, the sound of music leaked through the silencing charms that had been placed on the walls and door. Harry froze at the unexpected invader of his sanctuary, before slowly pushing the door open and peaking in.
Stood in the middle of the room with her back to the door was a girl with long, pale brown hair, strumming at the guitar around her neck, weaving a purely improvised melody that struck deep at Harry as he listened. The music sounded so much like his own and spoke of loneliness and desperation, of hope and a desire to improve oneself. Harry slowly made his way into the room, quietly shutting the door behind him and took a seat on the teachers desk, the girl not even noticing his presence, so engrossed in her playing was she. For a moment, time seemed to stop as Harry listened to the girls music, only to restart as the girl finished her song. She let out a sigh, before freezing as Harry started clapping. The girl spun around, whipping out her wand.
"What are you doing here?" she snarled.
"I often come here at night to practice," said Harry, patting his guitar.
The girl kept her suspicious glare up as Harry slid off the desk and pulled out his guitar.
"You're welcome to stay and listen if you like," said Harry, ignoring the wand still pointing at him, "Its only fair after all."
The dark haired guitarist closed his eyes and started to play as he did every night, the music echoing around the room. The girls eyes widened as the music washed over her, her stiff stance loosening. By the time Harry was done, the girl was sitting on the desk Harry had vacated, her wand forgotten and her eyes filled with tears.
"You're just like me," she whispered as the last few notes faded away.
And that was how I met Daphne Greengrass, the so-called Ice Queen of Slytherin. She was just as alone as I was, having lost her mother in Childbirth to her sister and her father to drink and depression, leaving her to take care of Astoria by herself with only the old House elf to help her. To make matters worse, a few years ago her sister had caught a magical disease that had ravaged her body and slowly killed her as Daphne watched, leaving her all alone and driving her father even deeper into depression to the point of committing suicide and leaving Daphne in foster care. Since then, she hadn't allowed anyone close for fear of losing them and to avoid the looks of false pity others wore around her. Just like me, she had discovered music and buried herself in it to escape. We started meeting in that abandoned classroom to practice, turning our individual music into a duet.
It honestly says something about my 'friends' that neither of them noticed the changes in me and yet an almost complete stranger could. Said complete stranger was Neville Longbottom who, despite sharing a dorm with him for nearly three years I knew very little about. He had seen me sneaking out at night and had become worried and followed me one night. I still have no idea how he managed it since I was wearing my cloak and he won't tell me, but he managed to follow me all the way to the classroom and listen to us play for nearly ten minutes before getting his foot stuck in the bin.
By the time we all left the room that day, there was a third member of the group. While he didn't have a past anywhere near as bad as Daphne or myself, he was constantly pressured into being a replacement for his father, despite the fact he was obviously more like his mother with a talent for gardening rather than duling. He was also put in situations that bordered on child abuse by his family in an attempt to force him to use Accidental Magic, despite the fact his parents had actually placed a Block on his core to stem the ridiculously powerful bursts he had had as a baby. As a result, Neville became shy and withdrawn with little to no self worth, so it was no surprise that he sought out something, anything he could excel at and he had found it after finding a drum kit in the attic. It took us a while to find a way to get a drum kit and ended up just transfiguring one out of the desks.
The fourth person and final person to join the band was a blond Ravenclaw named Luna Lovegood. The meeting with here was...interesting to say the least. She literally walked into the room one night, barefoot, with a guitar in hand and proceeded to belt out a power cord that would have embarrassed an 80s rock star, before asking if she could join. We were so utterly confused we said yes.
After that, the four of us decided to host our first concert on Halloween night after posting posters everywhere and drew quite the crowd. All four of us were hidden under Glamours and managed to bring the house down. By the end of the year, almost the entire school was turning up to the concerts we hosted, including the teachers. It felt so utterly right to be up on stage, playing the songs we wrote. We were Lonely Shadows, the one and only band to come out of Hogwarts. It got to the point where we were actually asked to perform at the opening ceremony of the Quidditch World Cup, but thats a story for another time.
Alright, I'm gonna leave it there and see what kind of a reception it gets. I intend to turn this into a longer oneshot at some point. Let me know what you think, how it can be improved and if I managed to tug your heartstrings. If some of this sounds familiar, its because the idea came from Iwasawa's past in Angel Beats. In fact, the whole challenge idea did. As always, leave me a review on the way out.