Jazzwoman

Sev went up to the bedroom to get the gift that Hippolyta had thought of for Valerie and that he had Summoned, and he gave it to the girl to give to her.

"Here, Valerie, look what we came up with for you, broom earrings," Hippolyta told her.

"Wow… they are perfect," Valerie replied. "Thanks, sweetheart, I'll wear them right away." She put them on and asked, "Do they look good on me?"

"Beautiful, Valerie," Sev told her.

"I love them, Valerie, they are great on you, with the bun they look great on you," the girl told her.

"I'm going to wear them every time I fly."

Sev and Hippolyta sat on the bench and sang their two songs.

"Wooow…" Valerie exclaimed. "You were so quiet, it's really spectacular."

"Do you only play those two?" Sophie asked them.

"Yes," Sev replied.

"When you have a dozen, I'll find you concerts. You're really great, if you make your own songs, you'll record."

"Wow... what are you saying?"

"I don't see why you're surprised, the vast majority of what is recorded is of much lower quality," said the woman.

"She's absolutely right," said Peter.

"Let's go for the third one," said Sophie, getting up. "'Águas de março', right?"

"The third one, Prince..." said Hippolyta.

"Have you already told her, Cecile?" asked Sev.

"Of course, we haven't talked about anything else this morning," she answered him.

They left the bench for Sophie. Meanwhile, Peter got up for the record.

"Let's see, first I have to remember it, it's been a long time since I played it," said the pianist.

Peter asked from the living room, "Do you want me to play it for you, Sophie?"

"No, no, because I'm going to play it my way," she answered. "After lunch we'll listen to the whole thing and select the ones you like. Peter is going to lend me the record so I can play them by ear at home."

"Wow… thank you very much," said Sev.

"Nothing to thank me for, you're going to make me happy."

"And me," said Peter.

Sophie began to play, in her own way, 'Águas de março', stopping and correcting herself from time to time. Peter handed Sev and Hippolyta the booklet with the lyrics in Portuguese.

Once she had repeated the complete melody of the song a couple of times, the pianist stopped and said, "I think I have it. Now don't be scared, you're going to hear me sing."

"Do you sing too?" asked Sev.

"If you can call what I do singing, yes. At the piano bar I sang sometimes so that the piano alone wouldn't be so monotonous, and later I continued to do so to play songs by ear. I learn them by singing them while listening to them on the radio and then I look for the harmony on the piano. That's how I got this one."

"Wow…"

"Do you have the original lyrics?" she asked.

"Yes, yes, we have them."

"Then read while you listen to it and learn pronunciation."

"Oh… great."

Sophie played and sang the whole of 'Águas de março' with not a very good voice but with impeccable intonation and unbeatable pronunciation. Meanwhile, Sev and Hippolyta followed the lyrics in the booklet. When she finished, everyone applauded her.

"Well, well, it wasn't that good, huh?" she said. "We'll have to listen to these phenomena."

"Sophie, you sing very well," Sev appraised her.

"I tune and pronounce but I don't sing, I don't have a good voice. If I had, I would have made a living like that and not by giving classes."

"Mum, you know you're great at it," Cecile told her. "You have a privileged ear, both for music and for languages."

"True," Peter told her. "You've nailed it, Sophie."

"Well, well, no more flowers, it'll go to my head," she said. "Back to the point. Should I play it again? Do you dare with me?"

"I prefer to listen to you more times before trying it," said Sev.

"Well, it's not done like that, it's best to sing while you listen, trying to imitate. Imagine if you could only hear it once a day on the radio like I did, I must make the most of it."

"Sure, sure…"

"Yesterday you already sang it with the record, Sev," Cecile encouraged him. "Sing it with her."

"Okay, come on."

They continued playing and singing it until Hippolyta had to leave at one. By the time she did, she already knew almost all the lyrics by heart, Sev already knew them from the first time thanks to the cave ritual from having read it the night before, and they had greatly improved their pronunciation.

"We'll have it this afternoon, guys," Sophie told them.

Hippolyta left by Floo.

"The time until lunch you have to learn it on the piano, I'm going to simplify it for you," Sophie said to Sev.

"Without sheet music?" he asked.

"Of course without sheet music, my daughter has accustomed you too badly. To play by ear and by heart, like the real jazzmen who didn't know music theory did. Didn't you do that ritual in the cave?"

"Yes."

"Then you learn it in the hour until lunch as if my name is Sophie."

"Well…"

"Sit next to me," the pianist asked him. "Watch, learn and then we'll play together, I'll play low and you high. And I'll give someone else some work in the meantime. Who has good handwriting?"

"Me," Valerie replied.

"Get the notebook and pen out of my bag, Cecile, and have Valerie copy the complete lyrics in Portuguese, so that when we listen to the record, they can share them out and rehearse them when we take it home. Valerie, leave space between each line to underline it later in colors according to what each one sings. Start on an even page so that it can be seen in its entirety with the notebook open, it is very long."

How organized, she has a whole system, thought Sev.

So they did, Sophie played it simplified and slowly so that Sev could pick up all the positions she was going through in bass and chords. Meanwhile, he watched and memorized. She did it three times, the first time he concentrated on her left hand, the second, on her right, and the third, on the synchronization of both.

"Do you dare now?" she asked him.

"Yes, let's try it," he answered.

"Slowly, okay?"

"Come on."

"Enter on the first beat of the four-note measure. I'll cue you in. One, two, three, four…"

They played together, Sev sometimes got confused, not because he didn't know which keys to play, but because he didn't have the right finger movement to move from one position to another, but he immediately recovered the sequence without getting lost thanks to having memorized it and playing at the same time as Sophie.

When they finished, she applauded him. "Bravo! Bravo! Indeed, you can learn it in an hour! Wait, one thing, I noticed that you don't have a good position in your left hand, my daughter hasn't been able to correct it because she has no pedagogical training. You raise your wrist too much."

"I always tell him that, Mum," said Cecile.

"Yes, but you don't tell him why he does it, so he hasn't been able to correct it on his own. I think you tense your muscles too much."

"Oh…" said Sev.

"You have to play relaxed. Don't be impatient, if it's harder for you, it's harder for you, music requires many hours of dedication."

"Sure…"

"Shall we do it again?" Sophie suggested.

"Come on."

They played it slowly repeatedly until Sev didn't make any mistakes.

Sophie told him, "Very well, you've got it. Besides, you're already correcting your posture, you're only forcing yourself on the difficult changes, you'll get it if you keep concentrating on it. Now we have two options, speed it up or try to sing it at the same time. What do you prefer?"

"Speed it up, we'll sing it when Hippolyta comes back."

"Very good option, yes sir. Let's go then."

Sophie gave the entrance with greater speed, again Sev got confused at times, but on the third try he did it perfectly.

"One point faster and we'll have it, what I told you, in an hour, kid."

She gave the entrance at its real speed. When Sev managed to play it perfectly three times, Sophie exclaimed, "We've got it! Time for lunch!"

The table was already set and everyone was sitting at it, Violet, Petunia, Cecile and Peter.

Valerie said goodbye, "In the end I'm late for lunch at home, but I don't mind at all, it was worth it to see the process of building a song from scratch, it's also going to help me compose. This summer, Andrew will teach me to play the guitar too so I can make my own versions and compositions, so we'll have material for the band when we return to Hogwarts in September. I plan to look for poems and put them to music like that singer-songwriter you mentioned."

"Great, Valerie," Sev approved. "We'll play some of his versions too, you'll see, in Spanish or the translation, so everyone understands it."

"Great."

"I'll call you tonight with whatever."

"I'm counting on it." Valerie left Apparating.

Lunch consisted of salads and food that did not need to be heated very much and was eaten lukewarm. They chatted animatedly, especially Sophie, who told anecdotes about her youth as a bohemian artist, a very eventful and interesting life, since she had become independent shortly after coming of age back in the 1950s and had survived thanks to her background as a classically trained pianist, which she turned into a profession by learning to play jazz by ear on her own and with other musicians she frequented.

In fact, she had combined her work at the piano bar with participating in bands that gave jazz concerts in nightclubs, and had even traveled all over the United Kingdom, and to Paris on more than one occasion, to play there. She had many friends and contacts from that time and that was how she had gotten wind teachers for Sev and Hippolyta and could find them venues where they could give concerts when they had enough repertoire.

She even told them that some of her friends, who had worked as studio musicians as well as continuing to play live, could put them in contact with record companies to record when the time came. Hippolyta and her mother soon arrived by Floo, and peeked into the dining room from the living room.

"Did we interrupt you?" asked Andrea, timidly.

"Come in, Andrea, or if you want, stay in the living room, we'll finish soon," Violet told her.

"Can we sit at the piano and I'll teach my Mum the notes in the meantime, Peter?" asked Hippolyta.

"Of course, honey, but if you want, you better sit in the spare chairs and listen to what Sophie is telling us," he answered. "You are very interested, Hippolyta, you are going to have another way to earn a living and be famous, not just Quidditch."

So they did, they sat on the two dining room chairs that complemented the six that were already at the table and that were used when it was opened and grew larger, and participated in the very interesting conversation.

While they were clearing the table, Andrea offered to do it and wash up, since she was the only one who could do it with magic and it would be faster, Petunia prepared tea for everyone and the others the living room to settle in, since they needed chairs to fit in again, Deborah arrived by Floo. Sev introduced the strangers.

They finally settled down to have tea.

Sev asked, "News, Deborah?"

"The entire escort has already handed in their calendars, tomorrow I'll dedicate myself to coordinating them," Deborah replied. "I'm telling you that if you go on Monday morning you'll go with Valerie and Jack, so they'll support you more in your first talk with Professor Belby and so that Jack can stay teaching them Occlumency while Valerie keeps watch. She has insisted on going almost every day next week to be excused later when she's busy with the stall, so if you go on Tuesday you'll probably go with her and Paul, so that Paul can continue reading."

"Great."

"Did Jack tell you about half days?"

"He did. That seems fine to me, and also if he leaves me a whole day free, I'd make up for it by going a whole day too," he replied.

"That seems great to me. I think Belby is going to give you absolute freedom to choose your own schedules, so if you're thinking at least about next week's I can already arrange that with the others as well. Everyone has tried Track you and Genevre is the only one who doesn't catch you. You'll have to figure it out, maybe she will catch you up close, but it would be good if you tried it before assigning her schedules, because she has to be combined with someone who reads and she should be the one who watches. If you can, meet with her as soon as possible."

"Okay, I'll do it. As for my schedule for next week, it's very easy. Monday, half a day in the morning, Tuesday afternoon, Wednesday free. Does that seem good enough for going to the beach, Hippolyta and Andrea?"

"Great, because we're going with Philip on Sunday, so we have two days without beach in between," answered Andrea.

"Great. I'll continue, Thursday or Friday, better Thursday, full day, and Friday morning or afternoon, whatever suits the escort best."

"Wonderful, Prince," said Deborah. "I think they'll prefer morning, so they can be with their families or go out on Friday afternoon-evening."

"Sure."

"More things, where do you get picked up?"

"In principle, here. If I change I'll let you know," answered Sev.

"Great. More things, I also spoke to Jack, to find out if he had communicated news to those who have not seen you as I suspected, and yes, he has done it to all of them. He told them not to call you at any time of the day, so as not to disturb you with the music session, to do it between seven and eight, that Cecile and Sophie will probably have to leave to be at home too."

"He nailed it, Deborah," said Sophie.

"Wonderful," said Sev. "Jack is also showing his organizational skills."

"Of course, Jack is also worth a lot," said Deborah.

"And Remus will also call you from that time, Sev," said Cecile.

"And Alice will come a little earlier to get to your mother's house in time to make dinner," said Deborah.

"Great, that way I can attend to everyone properly," said Sev. "Anything else, Deborah?"

"Nothing that comes to mind at the moment."

"Question for you, Cecile. Did Sirius agree last night on how we would pick him up tomorrow?"

"Yes, he will be here at ten fifteen, I already told Valerie before," she answered.

"Perfect. Did he end up sleeping at Remus's house?"

"Yes he did, so as not to arrive so late at James' and so the two of them could stay together a little longer."

"Great," he approved.

"After chatting with you, Remus will go to James' house for dinner to give them news."

"Great. Well, I've finished with all the doubts I had to deal with. We can continue with the music session."

"You're amazing, boy," Peter valued him. "You have to have everything under control, huh? The way your head works, I'm amazed, there's nothing that escapes you."

"It's my job, to coordinate what everyone around me does, paying attention to me."

"What it means to be a leader," said Sophie. "A huge responsibility, you never rest."

"No, my head doesn't stop working except at very specific moments. But luckily I have a lot of help, I couldn't do everything alone, I wouldn't have a free minute for myself, and so, thanks to all the people around me I can dedicate myself to many other things, like making music, for example. Let's do it, come on."

"So let's listen to Elis and Tom's album again," suggested Peter. "We'll let Sophie and Cecile read the lyrics in English so they can enjoy them, and you and Hippolyta can read them in Portuguese so you can memorize them."

"Great idea."

"I'd rather not, Peter," said Sophie. "I'm going to take the album home, we'll have time, right now I'd rather just enjoy listening. Leave them to someone who won't have the chance to enjoy them. Besides, Cecile is going to dedicate herself to underlining who sings what with colors in the lyrics that Valerie copied earlier."

"Andrea and Deborah?" asked Peter. "How about that?"

"Great," answered Andrea.

"Then sit together."

They reorganized themselves. Sev, Hippolyta, Andrea and Deborah sat on the couch. Peter left his armchair for Sophie and Violet was in the other, Cecile and Petunia in chairs, and they left one for Peter, the closest to the record player, who got up to put on the record.

"Have you noticed, Prince? There are nine of us, like last night when we told you," Hippolyta told him.

"True," he bonded with her and said. "I'm very angry with you."

"Why?"

"For what you did to me this morning. Know that I didn't hold back, Valerie paid for it."

"Oh…"

"You can't play with me like that, Hippolyta, as soon as we have a chance to be alone we're going to have a serious talk about the subject."

"Tonight."

"We'll see if tonight. Maybe I won't sleep with my brother or with you and I'll meet up with Valerie to do it, that's what you've got for provoking me like that."

"Ugh…"

"What I'm telling you, we need to have a serious talk," he reiterated.

"Now I'm going to be worried until we talk."

"Well, you're screwed."

Peter had already put the record on and was sitting down.

Sev unbonded from Hippolyta and said out loud, "Come on, sing it like before."

They sang 'Águas de Março' along the record, it was almost perfect.

When it finished, Sophie said, "Stop it, Peter."

He got up to turn off the record player.

"Cecile, were you able to underline everything or did you miss something?" Sophie asked.

"I have it, Mum, I'm finishing."

"When you have it, pass it to them and let them sing their part. We're going to be amazed."

Cecil finished underlining and passed the notebook, folio size, to Hippolyta and Sev. The lyrics were written in black.

She told them, "Elis' parts are underlined in blue and Tom's in red, the common ones in both colours."

"Okay, okay," said Sev.

Sophie explained to them, "Notice that sometimes they step on each other to sing, because the lyrics go very fast, that's why it's such a difficult song to sing alone, but it's perfect for a duet. Don't be afraid to do it, start singing before the other has finished, it sounds beautiful."

"Great."

"Now we'll give the lyrics in English to Cecile and Tuney," proposed Deborah.

"Okay," said Andrea.

"Did you like it?" asked Sev.

"We loved it," Andrea replied. "It's beautiful, a song to nature and the cycles of life."

"We could try to adapt it to English, it wouldn't be very difficult, because the lyrics are an enumeration, it hardly has any grammatical constructions," proposed Sophie. "You have some extra work for your free time."

"Of course," said Sev. "I'm going to try."

"If it doesn't rhyme, look for synonyms or alternative words with a similar meaning."

"Of course, of course…"

"And maybe you could even record it, a version of a big hit you will make," continued the pianist. "You would have to pay the royalties, but the record company already does that, and you would get the translation fees."

"Wonderful."

"Shall I play it?" asked Peter.

"Go on, go on."

They sang it as a duet and it was perfect on the first try, Peter got up again to stop it so everyone could applaud them.

"Bravo, bravo!" Sophie was excited. "You're phenomenal. You're going to be a hit, guys, a hit. Remember me when you're on tour around the world."

"Of course, Sophie, we'll dedicate our first album to you," said Sev.

"The next day we're alone, I'm going to explain harmony to you, so you can learn to compose and make arrangements."

"We could also meet up with Valerie, she also wants to learn to compose."

"Then you two appoint and let me know whenever you want, we'll go to my house, I have my books, when you catch it I can lend them to you," Cecile's mother proposed.

"But Valerie doesn't know music theory."

"It's not necessary to know music theory to learn harmony. Remember, jazzmen didn't know music theory."

"True, she knows how to build chords by ear without knowing the notes," Sev reminded.

"Great, you're going to complement each other perfectly. Put the record back on, Peter, have them sing it again to delight us, and don't stop it, we'll listen to the whole thing. Pass them a pen, Cecile, and have them write down the titles of the songs they want to sing. Do it on the last page of the notebook. Give them the English lyrics too so they have more references to choose from."

"It's not necessary, we already chose them last night and I remember them. Let other people read them."

"Then give them back to Andrea and Deborah."

They did it like this, Peter played the whole album again, they sang 'Águas de Março' and they didn't stop. Sev wrote down each song they had chosen the night before while he read the lyrics of all of them in Portuguese to memorize them.

When the album finished, Sophie asked him, "How many?"

"Ten out of fourteen," he answered.

The pianist burst out laughing. "You'd finish before writing down the ones you didn't want. Let's see if I have time to get them all out in the summer."

"You'll have enough, and more than enough, Mum," Cecile told her. "You have Sophie and me to help you with the house."

"True. I'm going to leave you in charge and I'm going to take musical holidays."

"Is your sister called Sophie too, Cecile?" Sev asked her.

"Indeed, like my mother, my father's whim. Do you know what it means?"

"What?"

"It's Greek, wisdom," she answered.

"Wow… And what does your sister do? Does she work?"

"No, not yet. She's completing her training in Muggle Studies, she did that NEWT."

"Oh…"

"Like my Dad," said Hippolyta.

"She hopes to get a position in the Ministry later."

"Very bad idea, working for the Ministry of Magic, there is no more corrupt organization," opined Sophie.

"Well, it's what feeds us, Mum."

"Does your father also work at the Ministry?" asked Sev.

"That's right."

"And are they also Gryffs, like you?"

"Not at all. My father is Sly and my sister Huffle," answered Cecile.

"Wow!"

"A very atypical family, as you can see."

"Sly married to a Muggle, father and daughter of enemy Houses, and not only that, Huffle daughter of Sly father, the most opposite personalities," he summed up.

"That's why I always thought enemy Houses were nonsense. If in the past I didn't like you hanging out with Lily it wasn't because you were Sly, but because of your company."

"Of course…"

"And there is something that Sly and Huffle do have in common, you like to party and have fun a lot, for some reason my father met my mother at the piano bar," she explained.

"Oh…"

"And I have Sly features, you know that very well."

"True. Did the Hat take a while to decide?" asked Sev.

"Yes, it took a while, also with my sister."

"Did it talk to you?"

"It did," answered Cecile.

"Someday show me the memory."

"Whenever you want."

"One day when we're alone," he suggested.

"Okay."

"Shall we continue playing?" proposed Sophie.

"Come on."

"Your turn alone, boy. Try to play and sing at the same time."

"Just like that, right away?" asked Sev.

"Of course, you know how to play it, you've done it well three times in a row before. Wake up, we only have until five. If you get lost in the lyrics, you'll join Hippolyta, you'll take turns all the time."

"Okay."

They all went into the dining room, Hippolyta and Sev sat down at the piano, putting the notebook with the lyrics on the music stand. He played and tried to sing while he did it. He had no problems remembering either of the two things, lyrics or music, but he did have trouble coordinating the rhythm of the melody with that of what he was playing, since the syncopated rhythm of the bossa nova was difficult to match with the lyrics. It took him a hard time to get it right, but he managed it before five in the afternoon, when Hippolyta and Andrea had to leave.

"Great!" exclaimed Sophie. "As I was saying, you had it this very afternoon! And the rest of them the same, we're going to do one song per session, you'll see. Before returning to Hogwarts in September you're going to give a concert."