Who: Morag and Parvati Where: An unused classroom What: Parvati walks in on harp practise When: Evening, after dinner Rating: G Status: Complete
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Veering away from a gaggle of giggling Gryffidors girls, Parvati headed down an empty corridor. She searched for a quiet classroom, teacup in hand.
From inside one of the empty classrooms a clear, sweet sound emanated into the hall and bounced off of the high ceilings. Each note quivered on the air before sweeping into a broader river of melody. Morag sat in one of the high backed chairs with her hard pressed hard against her breast. The music filled her concentration.
Stopping only briefly to catch the sound clearer, Parvati tried to locate the source of the sound. A few looks into various doors and Parvati seemed to find the correct door. She peered into the high cut window in the darkly stained wooden door.
When Parvati's dark head popped through the door, Morag's hands stilled gently upon the strings and she glanced up at her friend's sister. A faint smile crossed her face. "I didn't know you were there."
Parvati was taken a bit aback when the elusive Ravenclaw ceased her music. Feeling a bit of a voyeur, her face flushed a bit. "I'm sorry...I didn't mean...." stammered the usually confident Gryffindor. "It just sounded...beautiful....and sad."
"Good. That is how it should sound," was said with quick resolution as she eyed Parvati. "You should come in, I think. Unless you like to lurk in doorways."
The older Patil twin laughed nervously and pulled open the door, entering the room. She peered at the instrument that Morag was holding, completely unfamiliar with instruments, she did ever so love music. "I did not know you were a musician."
"It's in my blood. Actually, my parents are Bards. This is my heritage -- and my expectation." Pause. "It's a harp."
"Oh yes...a harp...but you made it sound...lonely." she moves hesitantly closer to the oft times odd seventh year. "Will you play again, please?" a small and insecure voice escaped Parvati before she cleared her throat and moved another step closer. "If you wouldn't mind?"
In her own gravity, Morag nodded and began to pick at the harp again. The high, mornful notes spilled from the instrument and filled the room with the sounds of the highlands: trickling water, rushing wind, shushing grasses. It was a pleasure to release this energy and as she reached the end of the ballad, she stoppd and sat back, slightly winded.
Parvati sat down in a nearby chair and allowed her eyes to close, and her thoughts be pulled inward. The somber melody washing over her. Thoughts of far away places and family filled her very essence with a melancholy she normally kept at bay. Too soon for her to adjust to the emotion, the song ended, casting the room in a painful silence. Heavy lids opened and brown eyes fixed upon Morag. "That was beautiful."
There was no harm in weaving a little spell in with the music; it was what her parents and their parents before them had been doing for centuries. Morag knew that Parvati would recognise herself in the notes ... "You're welcome."
Unsure of what to say, and rather taken aback bye her overwhelming unease, the Gryffindor prefect decided to end the silence. "Do you play that song for Padma?" she asked quickly.
"Padma hasn't heard this one, I haven't the heart to play it much." Pause. "Do you like it? Though, I started it the other day when I made the pan-flute. Perhaps there have been a few notes."
"I do." she answered in truth. "But it is like loving something that causes you pain. It feels...odd somehow."
Morag was beginning to like this girl more and more. There was a flicker of comradeship in her pale gaze. "Isn't that love of the best kind?"
Parvati shifted her gaze slightly, looking at Morag with a questioning gaze. Did Ravenclaws think of love as well? she wondered. "Bittersweet is something that I do not handle well." she admitted, though having no real reason why. "It hurts....but you can not help but want more..." she trailed off seemingly into her thoughts again.
" ... it's a drink best served cool, my friend. Too much too soon and you'll be ill. I'd rather escape Padma's tongue, all the same. Introducing her sister to melancholy and then, overdosing her and making her ill!"
Introducing indeed thought the girl. She placed a perfect grin upon her face. "Bah...a sad song can not turn the stomach of Parvati Patil." she chuckled softly.
A light shrug manifested itself over her shoulders as she stood and only vaguely gave thought to what Parvati was saying. Calling her wand to her hand, she gave it a deft flick and the instrument vanished to return to its case in her dorm. "Well. It's been an enlightening evening."
"Yes...it has." Parvati nodded, unsure of what just transpired, and how she ended up learning so much yet so little of her sister's dearest friend.
The tips of her callused fingers brushed against Parvati's shoulder as she gained the hallway. A few calls from further down the hall snapped her attention away for a moment before she turned back to Parvati with a half smile. "Goodnight," she said, and began to stride down the hall toward Ravenclaw Tower.
Parvati remained behind, cold cup of tea in her hands and an ache Madame Pomfrey could not cure. The unexpected encounter left her mind to explore the darker veins of thought not usually found at the forefront of the rather flighty girl.