A Little Night Music

Amelia again suppressed the urge to roll her eyes when the girl stated the obvious. Of course the tiny ball of sheet music meant she could take it wherever she went - that was the purpose of it. Amelia's father had been researching compaction spells for several years now and had taught Amelia how to focus a large amount of chaos into a small space. The hardest part about this type of magic was that it went against all laws of entropy, so it took a lot of concentration for anyone to perform the spell. Her father had been working to make this type of spell more accessible for the common witch or wizard, but as usual, his level of genius prevented him from relating to what exact it was that the common witch or wizard might be capable of.

The girl's happiness was starting to disconcert Amelia more and more. No one was that happy all the time. It was impossible. Elvaleryn's smile seemed to have been pasted to her face with an ever-sticking charm, for it never left. Amelia tried to maintain her patience with the girl despite the ever-present grin and the fact that she thought violin music looked like guitar music.

Guitar music? Amelia thought, taking a deep breath to keep from snapping at the girl. Unaccustomed to socializing, sometimes Amelia had a difficult time keeping her tongue from growing too sharp.

"It isn't at all like guitar music," Amelia said, managing to keep her voice level with a great amount of focus. She pointed a finger at the notes on the sheet, moving her finger up and down with the melody she could already hear inside her head.

"You see," she said, looking directly at Elvaleryn to make sure she was paying attention. She wasn't going to teach if her student wasn't going to listen, "These are individual notes, meant to be played one at a time. Guitar music is written in tabs, mostly for chords that are meant to be strummed. Picking patterns are used at times for guitar, but most of the time strumming is the primary method of producing sound."

"When playing violin, you typically use the bow to play one note at a time. By pressing down on the correct strings in the correct places, you can produce any note you desire. Violins can also be plucked, but this type of sound production is less common."

Elv listened to what Amelia told her. "I see... Unfortunately we don't have piano at the moment. I really want to perform with you." she said, smiled to Amelia. "Anyway... Could you please... teach me how to play it?" she asked. Elv really likes music. Every sound of the symphony always maked her feeling better. She used to play piano when she was all alone at home.

Amelia tried to smile convincingly when the redhead mentioned wanting to play a duet with her, but she was not exactly enthralled with the idea. Music was sort of a private experience for Amelia, something she did to get away from the world. She didn't really share this side of her with just anyone; it was enough of a stretch to teach the girl even the fundamentals of violin, much less learn something they could play together.

Calm down Amelia... she reminded herself, inhaling and relaxing her smile into something more believable, She's not bothering you intentionally, she just doesn't know any better. You can't hate her for being happy.

"I can show you a little," Amelia agreed somewhat reluctantly, turning from Elvaleryn to return the sheet music to the pile and fetch the violin and bow from the case. Instrument in hand, Amelia returned to the girl, putting herself on one knee to even their heights a bit as the girl was far shorter than she.

"This is a Stradivari violin," Amelia began, realizing belatedly the girl may have no idea to whom she was referring, "They were a family famous for making violins several centuries ago. The body is maple, the neck ebony, and the strings are made of sheep gut, though I have magically reinforced them to prevent breakage."

Amelia pointed to each piece as she provided information about it, watching to make sure the girl was following along.

"This is called the bow," Amelia said, holding it up for Elvaleryn to examine, "It is also made of maple, to match the violin, and is strung with horse hair. It is the primary method of producing sound on the violin, especially when you want long notes or melodies which flow from note to note, like this," Amelia said just before she placed the bow on the strings and pulled back and forth to play a simply ditty that was often used as a demonstration of the violin's sound.

Elv smiled and followed Amelia's lesson. She kinda loves this instrument. "Oh wooow... It produced sounds perfectly beautiful!!!" she said happily. Elv looked again at how Amelia's placed her fingers in it and immitated it without the violin. "Hum... Like this?" she asked curiously.

Amelia finished the short bit of melody she had been playing, lifting the bow from the strings in the proper fashion. Elvaleryn was beaming again, and Amelia couldn’t help but wonder if her cheeks every started hurting from the strain of smiling all the time. Compliments flowed from her once again, and Amelia blushed lightly, looking at the instrument she held rather than the flattering younger girl.

How can anyone be so happy all the time? Amelia wondered, the girl’s overzealous nature not escaping her in the slightest.

Despite her excitement, the girl must have been paying at least some attention when Amelia demonstrated the technique because her finger placement was not too far from correct. Setting the violin and bow on a nearby desk Amelia reached out a hand to move the girl’s arm slightly, shifting her fingers onto the correct frets of the imaginary violin.

“Close, but you have too much tension in your fingers,” Amelia coached, surprised by her own patience, “If you don’t relax them a bit they won’t be able to move quickly enough from one place to another.”

Amelia picked up the bow and, with only slight hesitation, offered it to Elvaleryn. The girl coudln’t do that much harm to it, nothing beyond what Amelia would be able to repair magically at least.

“Why don’t you practice your bowing technique?” Amelia offered, “That’s where most violinists begin their lessons.”

"Uhuh... Tention... I'll remember that..." she said seriously. Suddenly Amelia offered Elv her bow. "Oh!! Can I?" she asked happily. Elv took Amelia's bow and tried to practice. Elv moved her arms gently. "I wonder if you're asking yourself why I always smile all the time. Is that right?" she asked while practicing.

When the girl took Amelia's criticism seriously it was a sign of maturity she hadn't shown before. The wide-eyed grin hadn't left her face, but at least Elvaleryn showed some sign that Amelia hadn't been wasting her time trying to teach the girl some fundamentals of violin. This was slightly reassuring as Amelia handed over the bow, careful to keep hold of it until Elvaleryn had completely grasped onto the wood, lest it fall to the floor and snap.

Amelia watched as the girl moved the bow across her imaginary violin, no doubt imagining herself playing a sonata or concerto which would be far beyond what she would be capable of for several years. Violin was a difficult instrument to master, no matter what your musical background, and although many individuals fantasized about the beautiful music they would make, many grew too frustrated after the first year or so of lessons and quit before they could play anything truly spectacular.

Amelia was just about to make a comment to correct Elvaleryn's form when the girl spoke up. She seemed to have caught on to Amelia's annoyance about the constant happiness, although Amelia thought she had been fairly discreet about it. Perhaps the girl got that a lot.

It wouldn't be surprising... Amelia thought.

"It can be slightly disconcerting," Amelia said, shrugging, "I haven't known anyone but the Cheshire Cat smile so much, and his smile usually got people into trouble."

((In case you didn't catch the reference, I am referring to the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland.))

Elv stopped her arm move. She laughed. "Alice in Wonderland?? Merlin!! I love that story..." she said happily. She looked at Amelia and smiled. "I, myself found that this expression made people happy... Eventhough not me who are happy..." she said. Her family always busy... That's why all the time of her childhood, she spent it on her room, reading books. Elv realize then her smile made her family could left her without any worry. And inside her smile, Elv found true courage to face her lonelyness and finally found some friends.

Amelia was once again surprised when the young redhead caught her reference to Alice in Wonderland, a book many her age would not have recognized. Most of the muggle world believed it to have been written by one of their own, but the wizarding world knew much better: a defunct member of the Wizengamot as a way to express his views of society near the time of his death.

When the girl went on to talk about the reason she smiled, Amelia found herself more affected by the words than she would have thought possible. It left her quiet after the girl had stopped speaking, Elvaleryn still staring up at her with a happy smile plastered on her face although Amelia had given no clear indication that she had even processed what the girl said. Instead, Amelia had reverted into her own personal world, the world which existed only inside her head and was a place she escaped to when the outside world became too overwhelming.

This little girl smiled for the benefit of others. She smiled not because she was happy, but because she wanted to make others happy. The only timeAmelia plastered a smile on her face for someone else was when her mother glared at her from across the dinner table until Amelia put on a happy face for the company her parents had invited.

Amelia rarely smiled because she was too afraid that it would show weakness or let other people in. Instead, she stayed quiet and kept her face straight. Only in very rare circumstances did she find herself genuinely smiling, and even then it was never for the benefit of others. There was too much in her past that told her what a smile was worth to give them out too freely, the way Elvaleryn did. The way most people did.

Several minutes of self-reflection passed before Amelia realized she had left the girl staring up at her, but by the time she snapped back to reality she was too shaken to feign interest in continuing the impromptu lesson. Amelia blinked a few times to make sure she was really back in the present, shaking her head in a failed attempt to clear it.

“I need to go now,” Amelia said abruptly, taking out her wand and motioning toward the stacks of sheet music, which immediately compiled themselves back into the compact ball, which bounced into her violin case. She took the bow hastily back from Elvaleryn, who Amelia knew would probably be bewildered by Amelia’s sudden change, but she was too wrapped up in her memories to attempt any sort of normalcy. Placing it in the case and snapping the lid closed, Amelia moved toward the door, turning only as she reached it to look back at the little girl who had entered unexpectedly, brought out a patience in Amelia she didn’t know she possessed, and then conjured memories Amelia would have cared to have left buried.

“It was nice to meet you Elvaleryn,” Amelia said quietly, all other words failing her. She nodded one last time in the girl’s direction and then turned and left the room, making her way quickly back to Ravenclaw tower where she could be alone, with only her thoughts and memories for company.

Elv looked at Amelia, a bit confused about her sudden change. But she smiled again to her. "Yeah, sure..." she said. "Nice to know you too, Amelia." she said. Then Amelia left her. Elv thought maybe Amelia somehow didn't like her expression. But this is the best for almost everyone. Elv affraid that if she change her happy expression... people would left her. So she sat there on an empty class... remembering her childhood time.