Piano Prodigy ((Braeden))

[Jordan Elizabeth Cortes]

Jordan had given up. She had given up on Dillion and that was that. No longer would she wait around for him to grow up or to realize that she was a girl who had been absolutely completely in love with him. No, Jordan Cortes had a life to live and that life was fully livable without Dillion Moore in the picture. Livable, yes, but easy… far from it. Jordan angrily closed her sketchbook and threw her pencil at the wall across from her. She couldn’t draw anything decent anymore, and she blamed Dill completely. She hadn’t been able to draw anything decent since she realized that Dillion wasn’t ever going to grow up and that she was waiting for something almost as impossible as aliens touching down to Earth. No, in fact, aliens touching down to Earth would be more likely. Her pencil rolled to her feet and Jordan stared at it a moment before pushing it away with her pointed toe of her boot. It rolled back to the wall and Jordan watched it a moment before pushing her chair out and standing. She grabbed her shoulder bag and sketchbook and left the room she had been sitting in. It was as if the things in her life were just not important anymore. Dillion was gone, and her drawing was suffering.

Snippets of conversations floated around her as she passed by groups of gabbing second years, “I heard he liked you!” one girl was saying with forced enthusiasm. The other was completely blind to her friends fancy toward the boy in question and smiled brightly, “Really? Oh, Lu, that makes me so happy!” the girls hugged, the second one with more happiness than the first. Jordan had been there before, she knew that feeling. She sent the first girl a reassuring smile and the girl seemed to understand what was being passed from the older Hufflepuff to the younger Ravenclaw. Jordan returned her gaze ahead of her as she turned to her right and headed down the corridor that led to the Room of Requirement. It was the only place she could imagine a ballroom and get one, and the ballroom is the only place Jordan would dance. As she drew closer to the Room of Requirement, Jordan heard music. She was stuck between being pleasantly surprised and being slightly disappointed at the room being occupied. Jordan, having been best friends with Vanessa Bauer the resident Hufflepuff pianist, for seven years, knew what the music was. It was actually played quite well, and Jordan was impressed.

She stood outside the door and listened awhile. After awhile, though, she felt like she was intruding on something sacred. Biting her lip, Jordan opened the door slowly and stepped inside. There, seated at a piano, was a guy in her year by the name of Braeden Nuit. Jordan should have guessed. He was the other pianist in the school; actually he was known to be quite good. Though a bit introverted from what she heard. The style he was playing was definitely not Vanessa’s and it was refreshing to Jordan. She closed the door slowly and quietly and leaned against the wall, her eyes staying on Braeden. Again that guilty feeling settled into the pit of her stomach and Jordan turned to leave but decided to say something instead. “Our school is just full of prodigies.” She said in greeting as she walked up and looked over his shoulder at the music, “But I do believe you are the only piano prodigy in Hufflepuff, well, who can play a decent classical piece, that is.”

[braeden]

Braeden had been wandering through the castle earlier that day as if lost. His mind was on music, but his body was stuck in classes, it seemed every time he went to take notes in any one given class on his already full schedule, he would instantly start drawing out music notes instead. How could a piece not even written, keep coming to his mind and not allow him to put it on scale paper. He knew every note, the beat, rhythm, it all came to him like a beautiful piece of art. But there was no way to get it out. He had yet to compose the song that he had been working on for almost a whole year now. After Transfiguration, he thought of going to his dorm, changing and taking a walk outside, but that didn't feel right. Instead he simply made his way to the Room of Requirement.

Approaching the entrance, he remembered what to do, pace by the entrance three times, thinking of exactly what you wanted it to be when you entered it. He pictured in his mind, a huge ballroom with a piano sitting next to the windows. He didn't want it to be the usual music room, with all the other instruments in it, but a beautifully vast room, where he could concentrate and the piano be the only instrument in the room. Opening the door to the room, he found exactly what he was looking for. He stared for a moment in awe as the room never ceased to amaze him, and then slowly made his way across the room to the piano. The only sound as he walked was the click clack of his dress shoes on the honey colored hardwood flooring. It was as if it were a metronome ticking out a count for a perfect song. Click, Clack, Click, Clack, not too fast. The thought ran through his mind as he placed his books under the piano bench, raised the key cover, and began to play. The sounds of the piece came to his mind as if he were sitting at home listening to his mother's records again. The Dance Of the Sugar Plum Fairy from Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker was one of many of his favorite pieces and he always managed to get lost in it.

Braeden lost himself in his music once again, as he always did. He wasn't worried who heard the sounds, and who even carried to come in and watch him for he was where he belonged, in front of the keys of the piano, at home on the piano's bench. Braeden wasn't sure how long he had been playing the piece, and no longer cared. That was until he heard a voice. It wasn't just any voice, it was the voice. The voice of the girl he had noticed not so many years ago. He suddenly stopped, a bit shocked. He had been so lost in the music that he hadn't noticed anyone come in.

"Thank you for the comment, Jordan. I believe I'm far from being a prodigy though. I only play the music the way I feel it should be." He said in response to her, wondering what had brought her to the Room. "So, what brings you into this beautiful ballroom today?" Braeden couldn't believe that he wasn't feeling any shyness, but he felt so comfortable around Jordan, even though this was the first time they had ever been alone and able to talk.

[Jordan Elizabeth Cortes]

Jordan cocked her head to the right with a calm smile on her face as Braeden responded to her compliment. “Not a prodigy? Don’t be silly. You’re a prodigy if there ever was one.” She smiled brightly and crossed her arms as she kept her gaze on Braeden. They had been in the same house for seven years and they hardly said more than a sentence to each other. She found that so very odd, but it didn’t bother her in the least bit. Jordan rarely talked to anyone in or outside her house. Vanessa, Dillion, and sometimes Jasmine were the ones who she spoke to most. More often, though, she had drifted from all three of her friends and had kept herself secluded. She teetered back and forth on her heels a bit as Braeden asked what brought her to the beautiful ballroom. It was then her gaze snapped from Braeden to her surroundings. He wasn’t kidding. She smiled wistfully and turned back to Braden, “Well…” she trailed off as she walked over to the nearest wall and leaned up against it with one hand as she began unzipping her knee high boots. She kicked them off into a pile and spun around once, letting her black skirt flare out slightly. She stopped spinning and her eyes brightened with passion, “I was going to dance. You see,” Jordan took a step forward, her toe pointed, “this room is the only room in the whole school that can become a ballroom.”

Her feet moved to the rhythm in her head as she closed her eyes and danced. She stopped and smiled at Braeden, a small blush rising to her cheeks. “I haven’t danced in months, nor drawn and honestly I’m getting sick of the latter. It’s as if all my artistic abilities have disappeared from me.” She sighed and sank down on the piano bench beside Braeden, “It’s a horrible feeling, it really is.” She watched him a moment, that smile still on her face, and then turned to be seated at the piano. She couldn’t say she had the ability to play, but she did know how to read music and she did know the keys. It was one of the perks of having a best friend who played the piano. Jordan pressed down gently on one of the higher keys and smiled as the sound rang out throughout the room. Lifting her gaze to Braeden again, she motioned to their surroundings. “You thought this up?” she asked, “I mean, I have used the Room quite often and not once have I created a ballroom as gorgeous as this is.” Jordan looked at the piano once more and then stood from the bench, making her way to the center of the room. She turned and faced Braeden.

“Now, I could ask you the same question you previously asked me, but that would be a bit obvious wouldn’t it? You were playing, quite amazingly I might add. So, I will ask you a different question and hopefully you will answer.” Jordan’s eyebrow rose and she nodded her head. The question was an easy one and it wasn’t personal, at least she didn’t think it was. It was just one she had been curious in now that she thought about it. “Why, do you think, we’ve spent seven years in the same house and not once have had a conversation?” Jordan crossed her arms again and waited for his answer, but before he could answer she jumped up on her tip toes and exclaimed, “Oh! And… could you play some more?”

[braeden]

Braeden smiled as Jordan moved away from the piano and explained what had brought her to the Room of Requirement. "I didn't know anyone else pictured this place as a ballroom as well." He said with a bit of a grin. "I do understand having the inspiration sucked out of you though. I have this piece that I'm trying to compose, but the memory of what inspired it keeps blocking it." He looked down at the piano's keys for a moment as he spoke. He wished so deeply that he could get over the incident from last year, but it had stuck in his mind permanently he was afraid. A Death Eater attack was something that didn't go away easily, and what made it worse was he was unsure what had gotten him attacked. He hadn't known Potter well, nor did he really want to.

"I didn't expect the ballroom to look quite like this when I opened the door to the Room. I actually just closed my eyes and thought of a grand room with a huge dance floor and a small piano stage. This is what came of it when I opened the door. Do you like it?" He asked thoughtfully, thinking that he would be happy to dream it up for Jordan anytime she wanted him to play for her to dance. He just couldn't say this out loud, not yet anyway. Braeden had thought of Jordan ever since the day in the great hall that he noticed her beauty, but he had always been afraid to say anything to her and he knew that she had some sort of relationship going with one of the Moore brothers. Braeden was bad at keeping up with which one was in which house, and he really didn't care.

Braeden began to finger the keys of the piano again but softly this time, not so loudly, just enough to give the ballroom a sound other than the two talking. He pondered Jordan's question deeply. Why hadn't they talked in the seven years that they had been in the same house. Part of the reason he couldn't tell her, and the other part he was unsure of. There had to be reasoning behind it, but without admitting the truth how could he explain it. "I'm really not sure." He said finally. "I know when I first got to Hogwarts I was a bit bashful and shy but that has been years ago, and I don't know what stopped us from talking after that until now." Braeden smiled hoping that Jordan couldn't see the real reason in his eyes as they glistened. "Of Course I'll play more for you.. any request?" He asked as a response to her request for him to play more for her.

[Jordan Elizabeth Cortes]

“Ballroom, art studio…” Jordan trailed off and shrugged, “I use this room for many things. Sometimes I use it just to get away from all the riff raff in the hallways.” Reaching up to her hair, she pulled it and twisted it into a knot so it was pulled back without a hair tie. She couldn’t very well dance with it down. Shaking her head side to side to make sure the knot wouldn’t come undone, when she was satisfied by the tightness of her hair, she stopped and put her hands on her hips. Braeden was talking about having lost inspiration to finish the piece he was writing. Biting her lip in thought, Jordan walked back over to him and took a seat beside him on the piano bench. “Well,” she began as she pressed down a key, “I suppose you’ll just have to find something else to inspire you. For example, my art is constantly changing from…” at this Jordan took out her wand and accio’d her sketchbook to her. She opened it to one of her oldest drawings, “…this, which was drawn…um… fourth year? To this,” she flipped to a more recent one of Ingrid Lewis sitting beneath a tree. It was easy to tell the difference between the two. The latter was darker, more depressing than the first.

Jordan smiled, “Just… find your muse. They never completely disappear.” She glanced at her sketchbook once more and then closed it before setting it atop the piano. With another bright smile at Braeden she stood, “I promise, and if you end up losing your muse completely, find me and I’ll take you out to the Three Broomsticks for an apology.” She watched him a moment and then turned back to the center of the ballroom, still almost completely in awe of the beauty of the room. She merely nodded when Braeden explained about the room and asked if she liked it. “It’s breath taking.” She said in a small voice before turning her smile back on Braeden. He had started to press on the keys and Jordan’s smile faded into a small one. Her eyes remained on Braeden as she listened to the keys he was playing. He answered her question about why they hadn’t talked in the seven years of being in the same house. Jordan felt like he wasn’t completely telling her the truth, but she wasn’t about to say anything about it. “That’s funny, because I was anything but shy in my first few years here. That’s how I met Dillion, I guess I attracted him with my energy.” She smiled and rolled her eyes, “He kind of had enough for the both of us, though, and after awhile I gave up. I couldn’t keep up with him. Besides, with Dill you just have to smile and nod every now and then and he won’t be the wiser.”

She shrugged, wondering why it felt so weird to talk about Dillion with Braeden. Everyone else it had been fine, but when she had mentioned Dillion’s name in this conversation she felt like she should try to immediately recant her words. Jordan stood on her toes as she began the simple steps to the tango, though dancing the tango alone was pretty awkward. She hadn’t danced tango with anyone since Kris had left, that was mainly because she didn’t trust anyone else with being her partner. That, or, no one else had stepped up. “Requests?” Jordan repeated as she stopped dancing, her eyes snapping open. “Heh, no,” she laughed lightly, “you’re the piano prodigy. Play what you feel.”

[braeden]

Braeden continued to finger the keys of the piano softly wondering if Jordan would have any requests as to what he should play, if she didn’t he would play for her what he had composed already, since he knew it by heart. He had approximately a half hour worth of music written and wasn’t sure what type of beat that Jordan was looking for, but he would play for her as long as she wanted, that he was sure of. He listened as Jordan explained that muses never completely disappear. “I’m not sure if my muse has just faded, or if it’s remembering the attack that blocks me from writing the rest of the piece. There is already a half an hour of music written to it. Just every time I start to write the memories flood back, and the what if’s and whys are with it.” He said with a odd sound in his voice. He hadn’t really talked to anyone about the attack since it had happened; who was there that he could talk to. His brother Alex was now an Auror trying to fight the Death Eaters, and it had taken everything Braeden could muster to ask the people who helped him to not tell the Aurors since he didn’t want his brother going out on some sort of personal vendetta. He couldn’t risk his brother’s life over something he had no control over. His brother did find out when Braeden’s mother and father did, but he managed to talk Alex out of making it a personal thing. “I’m sure it was just some sort of mistake, and I wasn’t hurt horribly. They only broke my arm and did a confundus charm on me.” He recalled telling his brother as Alex questioned him as to if he recognized the Death Eater who had attacked him. “I think he realized I wasn’t the one he was looking for.,” had been his final comment during the conversation. Braeden was secretly glad that he hadn’t been the one that they were looking for that day. “I might have to take you up on that offer if the memories of the incident don’t stop blocking my muse for this piece.” He said jokingly replying to Jordan’s offer of treating him to an apologetic trip to The Three Broomsticks if his muse didn’t return.

The sound of the Moore brother’s name made Braeden unnoticeably cringe just a bit. He couldn’t help it. The guy couldn’t see that Jordan had really had feelings for him. It was as if everyone in the world could see it but him. Braeden kept these thoughts to himself as he smiled at Jordan, not wanting to make her mad. “I’ll have to keep that in mind.” He said after a moment’s thought. “I think what made me so shy is partly the fact that I’m the youngest in my family, so I was used to having to be quiet and unnoticed so that I wouldn’t’ get picked on by Alex and the others. That and the new surroundings. I just figured I would be so much different because I wanted to spend all of my time either learning magic or playing the piano, and I realized finally that basically everyone here feels the same way about magic and their own favorite talent.”

Jordan had no requests for music, so Braeden just played exactly how she had said. What ever he felt. What he was feeling turned into an up-beat romantic piece that he had never heard before. He wasn’t sure where it was coming from, maybe the confines of his heart, but he liked it. He stopped for a moment to accio a couple of pieces of blank sheet music and a quill that his mother had found in a music shop for composers. The quill would write out the sheet music as the composer played so that the composer never had to miss a single second to write the music their self. Braeden was sure that he had never heard the piece before, and if it were on paper he could compare it to be sure it did not belong to someone else. Maybe Jordan was his new muse, The music flowed from his fingers becoming a bit spicy and Latin sounding as he played.

[Jordan Elizabeth Cortes]

Jordan had taken a step into the tango again but lost her balance when Braeden mentioned being attacked. She regained her footing just as her hair fell out of its knot and turned her gaze on him. She had recently been attacked, at the New Year party. Of course, she had only been knocked unconscious, which was probably a good thing considering what happened the last time she was attacked. Jordan silently tucked some of her brown hair behind her ear and looked down at her feet, her toes curling under. “I… uh… actually understand that. Memories and such blocking your inspiration from coming. It’s like… why take joy in something you used to take joy from when it can be snatched from in a moment’s notice?” She said this quietly and then raised her gaze so she was looking at Braeden again. After a beat, Jordan grinned. “The trick to that, Braeden, is to use the anger or the pain or whatever you’re feeling inside of you. Don’t let it smother the flame that’s inside of you. Because, if you do that, then we won’t have a piano prodigy at Hogwarts anymore and I won’t be able to listen to wonderful music.” There was a silence between them, and Jordan let her words sink in. After a moment she smiled brightly again, “I think that might be something I’ll look forward to. Would it be wrong to pray for your muse to completely disappear?” Of course, she said this in a joking tone, but she did mean the first part. She actually thought having lunch or something with Braeden would be a good time.

She closed her eyes as there seemed to be another silence between them. In her mind the music she used for dancing circled around her and she started to dance for real. Not just one step and then stop. She actually carried out the steps and danced as well as she could solo. Braeden was talking about being the youngest in his family, and Jordan smiled at that. “I’m the youngest, too. Well, sort of. I share my age with Justin.” She swept her leg behind her and then did a turn. “Katrina is the oldest, Carlos is next, and then Justin and I follow. We look nothing alike, though.” Jordan shrugged at this, she had heard they did and then she had heard that they didn’t. She didn’t know which was true. “I can relate to being picked on. Because I’m the youngest girl in my family it’s always ‘who’s your boyfriend this week, niña?’ or something to that extent. They never tease me about my dancing or about my art, oddly enough. But I think that’s because Carlos is a better dancer than I am, and Justin can draw just as well.” She offered Braeden a week smile, wondering if that could even compare to him.

All the while, she hadn’t stopped dancing to the imaginary music in her mind. It wasn’t until she had started dancing to a completely different beat that she realized Braeden had begun playing. As she did another quick turn, Jordan’s eyes brightened as her smile did. “Lovely.” She breathed in comment to the music. Her passion was portrayed as she continued to move to the music. It went from a tango to a salsa and then slipped into a cha cha. She smiled and then stopped after a couple minutes of dancing. Jordan put her hands on her hips and looked at Braeden with narrowed eyes, “Has that muse returned?”

[braeden]

Braeden smiled at Jordan’s joke about praying for your muse to completely disappear. “Without muses what good would the world be? There would be no one to think of the good or the bad in the world and then we would all just lead boring, dull lives.” He said as he continued to play for Jordan. His muse slowly returning as he watched her dance, each step more graceful than the last, and each just as beautiful as he thought she was . He couldn’t believe that this new piece was coming from his fingers from no where. It definitely wasn’t the piece that he had been trying to write.

Closing his eyes for only a moment, trying to find out if he could see where the music was coming from, all he saw was Jordan’s face. He shook the thought from his mind before he said more than he wanted to. They were just getting to know each other, he couldn’t ruin that by letting her know that he had a crush on her. A Crush The thought made it sound so third year or fourth year. Seventh years didn’t “crush” on someone, they either had feelings for them or didn’t. The thing was Braeden’s “crush” had been since about fourth year, so why try to change the wording of it now. He wasn’t sure how deep his feelings were for her just yet. He wouldn’t try to analyze them yet. He wanted to wait before he did that. “My brothers picked on me for a long time, just about my music as did my sister. It was really because they weren’t any good at playing, and I started playing very young. They are all better at the things I’m not good at, such as flying and potions. I swear if I did any worse at potions I would think it was because Snape hated me. I don’t know how I ever made it into the NEWTs class.” He said laughing at the last part. There had been times in the seven years at Hogwarts that Braeden really did thing that Snape hated him, but he realized Snape almost hated everyone.

Braeden played and the beats changed, staying within the Latin groove the whole time though. First a tango, then a salsa, and then a cha-cha. Braeden looked at his fingers still trying to figure out where the music was coming from for he knew he had never heard a piece like this before. His composer’s quill steadily scribbling notes onto the sheet paper, desperately trying to keep up as he played what seemed to be faster and faster. Jordan had been right in saying that his muse would return. He doubted that she knew that his muse would have stayed hidden if not for her. “I do believe it has, which means I’ll treat you to a lunch at the Three Broomsticks. I do think you have a lot to do with it though.” He said before realizing it. It was too late to draw the statement back now, and he wondered what Jordan would think of it. He felt it was true, that his muse had returned because of her.

[Jordan Elizabeth Cortes]

“Boring? Dull?” Jordan questioned with a look on her face that said she had never thought of such a thing. “I’ve never dealt with boring and dull. Perhaps it would be a new experience for me.” She smiled and continued to dance, matching her steps to the beats. Jordan loved dancing and she was glad that she could finally find the inspiration or the ganas to dance. Opening her eyes, Jordan cha cha’d over to Braeden and watched out of the corner of her eyes. It was all thanks to him. Jordan knew that if he hadn’t been in the room she wouldn’t be able to dance like she was. Sure, she’d attempt to dance, but it wouldn’t be with as much passion. Jordan made her way to the piano bench again and slid down beside Braeden. She watched his hands move over the keys and found herself lost in the music. Her eyes never left his hands as he spoke about his siblings. “They just don’t get it, then.” She said after a moment. “Talent shouldn’t ever be something to be made fun of. Especially talent like yours.” Jordan lifted her gaze and smiled quietly at Braeden. It had been awhile since she had been able to talk to someone without feeling the anger and hurt gnawing away at her stomach. It was nice to know that she was still capable of being happy during a conversation. She laughed lightly, “And, Snape does hate everyone. I’m terrible at potions, which isn’t too surprising because I am horrible at mixing anything together whether it be a truth serum or a cake.”

Jordan would have continued to dance if she hadn’t felt so worn out from it already. She had danced more that thirty minutes than she had that entire month. She closed her eyes and let Braeden’s music surround her. It was really beautiful and Jordan was pretty sure she hadn’t heard anything like it. When she opened them again, it was when Braeden said he owed her a lunch at the Three Broomsticks and that she had a lot to do with his muse returning. “I’m glad that I’m useful for something.” She said with a smile that had a sad twinge in it. She tucked some of her hair behind her ear and reached up for her sketchbook again. “Truth be told,” Jordan stood from the bench again and pulled out her wand. A chair appeared a few feet away from Braeden and the piano. “You’ve made my muse reappear, so much in fact that I have the desire to draw you. Would that be alright with you?” She sat down on the chair and pulled a pencil from her bag which she had pulled beside her. “You won’t have to pose like Hercules, or anything. You just have to sit there and look as wonderful as you are by playing the piano. Actually, I wouldn’t want to draw you any other way.”

After he had consented, Jordan started the basic outline of the drawing. There was another silence between them as she drew and he played. Jordan liked having the excuse of looking up every now and then to add a detail. There was something about Braeden that made Jordan forget about all the horrible things that had happened to her lately. It was something Jordan appreciated and she made a mental note to thank him when she got the chance. “You’re a natural.” She told him with a large smile on her face.

[braeden]

((First, let me say that I deeply apologize for this one being shorter than the others. It happened that my muse left me at the end of this post and didn't return.))

Braeden smiled as Jordan commented on the beauty of his piece. Little did she know that it was her beauty that was inspiring the piece. He wouldn’t be able to tell her that right away though. He had even already planned a name for the piece. He would have to make sure that his muse was alright with the name of the piece first though. And he wasn’t sure how to bring it up. The piece was bringing itself to a finish, but Braeden knew that it wasn’t quite there yet. Braeden watched Jordan as he played, even after she sat down beside him. He knew the look on her face all too well, and knew that she was losing herself in the music as well. It was good for the soul to get lost in the music from time to time, but Braeden’s soul got lost in the music almost every time he played. He had not allowed it to happen this time, for this time he had a very important audience. He could feel the rhythm of the music as it took control of his own body, but he could not allow himself to get lost in it for it was far too important to stay focused. He wanted to be sure that he stayed in this world and didn’t melt into his own, so that he could get to know Jordan better. “I think they were just jealous, because after I started playing most of the attention was focused on me. Not many in our neighborhood knew of a ten year old who could perform Mozart or Beethoven by ear. It took some of the attention away from them, and their talents unintentionally none the less but it happened.” He explained. “Since they have all grown, they no longer make fun of me, instead they try to get me to come play at their parties and such.” He smiled at Jordan. “It’s nice to know I’m not the only one Snape hates, or the only one that is horrible at potions. I have never tried mixing a cake. I wouldn’t know how to cook if my life depended on it.” He said jokingly.

Braeden continued to play for as long as he could feel the music in his body. “Surely you are useful for more than my muse. And I am glad that I have made your muse appear as well. I would be happy to let you draw me.” He said with a smile. Braeden kept playing hoping that his movements weren’t bothering Jordan’s drawing. He couldn’t believe that Jordan would actually want to draw him, he didn’t think he was interesting enough to be in someone’s masterpiece. He couldn’t help but to keep playing though. The music was running through him this time and he didn’t need to stop for he feared that he would lose the muse. He didn’t want that to happen again.

“So how do you decide what subjects are best for your drawings and what aren’t?” He asked curiously. Braeden was curious about drawings and such, for that art form was one he had never been talented in. He hadn’t really ever tried drawing, he was unsure why. It was mainly because he was satisfied with simply playing the piano. Not many were, but it was almost his passion. He wasn’t sure what else to ask or say, so he just sat quiet.ly and played while waiting on Jordan to finish her drawing.

[Jordan Elizabeth Cortes]

Jordan always seemed to get lost in her art. Much like she had gotten lost in Braeden’s music only moments before. She continued to sketch Braeden. After a minute or two of silence, Braeden asked her what subjects she knew were the right subjects to draw. Jordan smiled softly at the question. It was one she had been asked quite often. Raising her gaze from the sketchbook to Braeden, Jordan kept her small smile on her lips as she thought about how to change the words to fit the question. Finally, she got it. “When I look at something it’s as if something clicks inside my mind. Ever sit down at the piano and just know that you’re going to play an amazing piece of music?” she asked, hoping it would help him understand, “That’s how it is with me. I see something I like and I draw it. It just flows from me. I suppose you could say I don’t choose the subject, the subjects choose me.” She glanced down at the sketch in her lap. She had already gotten so much done in so little time. His hands were curved delicately over the keys. Usually hands were Jordan’s hardest body part to drawn. She had drawn the hands rather easily and in about five minutes. It was surprising and new and Jordan liked it.

She continued to sketch, her eyes trained on the sketchpad and then on Braeden. There was a ten minute silence between them, the only sound was coming from the music Braeden was producing from his fingertips and his mind. Jordan smiled secretly to herself as she finished off his form and the fine details. Then she moved her hand to draw a swirling staff with music notes on it coming from the piano. One last finishing touch and Jordan signed her name in the bottom right corner with the date. With one last look over the sketch, Jordan cleared her throat and stood from the chair. “My kind gentleman, may I present to you the piece of art I call my masterpiece?” She held the sketchbook to her and slid next to Braeden on the piano. She grabbed his hand to get him to stop playing and grinned as she placed the sketchbook in front of him. Jordan blushed as she realized she was still holding his hand and used her hand to tuck a piece of her hair behind her ear.

“What do you think?” she asked, her hands now neatly folded in her lap. Jordan wondered why she was so anxious to find out what Braeden thought about the drawing. It wasn’t like she was looking for praise, Jordan was usually very happy with her art regardless of what others thought of it. It was different with Braeden, just like it was different when she had grabbed his hand. She normally wouldn’t have been so embarrassed by her actions… but with him she was. Why was that?

[braeden]

Braeden nodded just slightly as Jordan explained how she knew just what was the right subject. It was like that for him every time he sat down at the piano. It was as if the moment he sat down, he knew which piece was proper for the settings in which he was playing in. Like the Nutcracker Suite in the beautiful ballroom that was the Room of Requirement. Just as the piece that he was now playing just seem to feel right to him. He couldn't bring himself to stop. He already had the perfect thought of an idea to name the piece, but he would be sure to get approval of the name from the beautiful girl that was his inspiration for it.

Braeden kept playing, watching Jordan out of the corner of his eye, up until the moment she sat back beside him and stopped him. She grabbed his hand, and Braeden couldn't make himself let go, it felt right. So right. He glanced at her before looking at the amazing piece of art in front of him. It was almost as if his picture was going to come alive. "It's amazing." He whispered. He wasn't sure if it was Jordan's touch that had made him almost lose his breath or the beauty and feeling that he could see in the drawing in front of him. "Now how are we going to make myself a copy of this? I definitely want one, but I want you to be able to keep the original." He said finally returning to his natural voice.

Now came the matter of how to bring up the name for the piece as it drew itself to an end. He didn't want the music to end, but would gladly play it again at Jordan's instant request. "My piece needs a name. I have one that you inspired, but before I name this wonderful piece after the beauty that inspired it, I must have your permission. What would you think if I were to name my piece Giordania Bel Ballo? It translates into Jordan's Beautiful Dance, and I feel that the name is very befitting since after all it was you who inspired it." Braeden said so quickly that he couldn't even realize that he had already asked. He hoped that Jordan didn't feel embarrassed by his words and he would gladly take them back and rearrange them so that they sounded more inviting if he hadn't already spit them out. The thoughts just flowed so properly out of his mouth, that he couldn't' believe it was him talking. He looked at her nervously and smiled, hoping that she would understand.

[Jordan Elizabeth Cortes]

Jordan waited for Braeden to say something and when he did, her bright smile sparkled across her face. “I’m glad you like it. It would be pointless if you hadn’t.” She brushed her fingertips over the drawing as Braeden asked how they were going to make a copy of it. She looked at him and smiled before pulling out her wand and waving it slightly in front of the both of them. “Magic solves most trivial problems.” She told him with a raised eyebrow before tapping the page. In a swirl of light, a duplicate image appeared to the left of the original drawing. “Can you tell the difference between the two?” she asked as she peered at the two drawings closely. They were both in pencil and they both looked like something that had actually been drawn, not something that had been copied. Jordan was often awed by the wonder that was magic. She tucked her wand away again and kept her eyes on Braeden as he started to talk.

The words he spoke seemed to come out in a rush, in a babbling stream, but Jordan was used to that and caught every single word. When he was finished, she didn’t say anything. She just sat there, staring at him. Then without warning, she threw her arms around Braeden’s neck and hugged him. It was an awkward position to be in, considering they were both seated on the piano bench. Having the piece named after her made Jordan so happy, but the real source of her happiness was that she was able to draw and dance again without forcing herself to. That was all thanks to Braeden. “I love it,” she whispered before pulling away and picking up the music. “I get a copy of this too, right? I think it’s only fair.” Jordan looked over the music, wondering if she would even be able to play it. She doubted it. Though it would be nice to attempt it sometime.

“Well, I propose a deal.” She said with a smile on her face as she handed the music to Braeden, “Since you seem to have restored my inspiration and I seem to have restored yours, I think we should call on one another whenever one of us has run out of inspiration. Does that sound good? Because, honestly, if I don’t get to talk to you at least once a day, if not more, I probably won’t ever be able to draw or dance again.” She chewed on her bottom lip in thought, wondering if this was just a ploy to get to see Braeden more.

[braeden]

Braeden smiled at Jordan, how could he not love the way she had captured him. It was too realistic for him not to enjoy. He didn't know what had caused him to forget such a simple duplicating spell, but it had totally slipped his mind. He wasn't sure if it was from all of the thoughts already running through his mind that had caused it, or if he just needed to brush up on his simple spells, but it mattered not. "Magic usually solves almost everything quite easily doesn't it." He said softly. He shook his head no when asked if he could tell the difference in the two, still trying to get the thoughts of his crush on Jordan away from his lips. That was just something that he wasn't ready to tell her yet. He was sure it would push her away instead of allowing him to get to know her better. To simply crush on someone for their beauty was arrogant and sounded like something a sixth year Slytherin that he knew would do.

After listening to Jordan agree to allowing him to name his composition after her inspirations, he let the composer's quill title the sheet music, and then tucked the quill away. As he put the quill back in his bag, he pulled his wand out and performed the same simple spell on each piece of the sheet music, six total, and then gave a copy of it to Jordan. "I am honored that you want a copy of this, and that you let me name it after your inspiration." He said softly. Braeden wasn't sure what had him just barely talking, but he couldn't help it. It was the only way he could keep from blurting out his feelings before they were ready to be said.

"I gratefully and graciously accept your offer, Musa Dolce. I couldn't imagine going a full day without getting to meet my muse at least once. It would become a frightfull and dark day for me if that happened." Braeden said sweetly smiling with a slight twinkle in his eye.

((Jordan's Nickname- Musa Dolce is italian for Sweet Muse. ))
((I know it's short, and I hope you understand.))

[Jordan Elizabeth Cortes]

Jordan smiled as Braeden replied with a soft tone. She wasn't used to the quiet. The more he spoke quietly the more she liked it. Braeden spoke with such an elegance that made Jordan brighten her smile. He was so formal. That was also something new to Jordan, but again, she didn'tmind it; she actually quite liked it. She guickly did the translation in her head when Braeden called her 'musa dolce.' Spanish and Italian were so closely related that the translation wasn't difficult. "Sweet muse." Jordan said with a smile. "Le amo, I love it." Her Spanish/British accent sounded as odd as it always did when she slipped into her native language. Then again, it was so pretty and Jordan love it. She tore her gaze from Braeden and glanced at the piano. She pressed down on one of the ivory keys. The note rang out precise and clear. With a bright smile she looked back up at Braeden, "I've got another proposition for you, Mr. Piano Man, since you seemed to have liked my first one so much. Which, I'm glad you do."

She was just full of propositions today, and they were always ones that made it so Jordan and Braeden could spend more time together. "You teach me to ply, and I teach you art. Not just drawing, either, everything. Painting, sculpting, pottery, all that jazz." She raised an eyebrow questioningly as she pressed another key as if to put him on edge. "I don't want to be a piano prodigy like you, but I do want to be able to play more than a bad rendition of 'twinkle twinkle little star.'" Jordan smiled even more as she started to play, badly, to prove her point. As she started on a second round, this time louder, she began to sing. "Twinkle twinkle little star, how I wonder where you are. Up above the sky so high, like a diamond in the sky. Twinkle twinkle little star, how I wonder where you are." Jordan peered at Braeden out of the corner of her eye as she started another round. "Do I need to play some more? Be my muse and I'll be yours." She smiled and laughed as she continued to play anyway.

[braeden]

Braeden smiled as Jordan’s speech became a mixture of her native Spanish and the British both. He loved the sounds of exotic languages which was part of the reason he had studied Italian growing up. Granted his family was half Italian (only his mother’s side) his father being French, Braeden had the luxury of growing up in a very bi-lingual house, but his parents rarely spoke their native tongues in front of the children. It was something about their parents not wanting them to be confused by which language they should properly speak. Braeden had always tried to learn the other languages and had managed with Italian somehow. His favorite composers came from different backgrounds and he wanted to be able to learn all the languages of the world. This made his mind think of a proposal for Jordan. But he would bring this up another time. Right now he just enjoyed being where he was.

“Sono contento che lei l'ama- I’m glad you love it.” Braeden said not realizing himself that his language was slipping into Italian slowly. “I think it’s very befitting of you.” Braeden looked up at Jordan, her smile captivating many of his thoughts. He knew that he would never be able to get the image out of his mind again. But that was fine with him, her smile was beautiful and warming. He looked at her with question in his eyes as she announced that she had another proposal for him. He listened as Jordan explained her new proposal.

“I believe, Musa Dolce, that you have once again provided me with an offer I see no way of turning down.” He didn’t want to admit that he liked the thought of the proposal mainly because it offered him an excuse to spend more time with her, but it was brewing close to the surface. He laughed as she attempted to play “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” a bit off key. “I too have a proposal, which makes it seem that we will be spending molto tempo- much time- together. I really enjoy learning all the languages in the world, and perhaps we could do somewhat of a culture exchange, I teach you my mother’s native tongue of Italian if you teach me your native tongue Spanish.” Braeden could feel more and more of his mother’s accent coming through his thick mix of French and British and liked it very much. It made him feel different than the other kids, although many could speak more than one language for many were from many different cultures all blended into one. He moved his hands so that he could guide Jordan on the keys, and helped her properly play “Twinkle Twinkle” with a slight smile, and a glimmer in his eye.


((Musa Dolce-Sweet Muse))

[Jordan Elizabeth Cortes]

Jordan tried to do the translation in her head before Braeden could translate for her, but he beat her to it. She smiled again, thinking perhaps she smiled too much and then brushed that thought aside. Her life had been full of frowns enough for her to wear a smile every second of her remaining life. “You think so?” She asked in a whisper, chewing her lip in thought. Jordan nodded, “I think so, too. Better than any other name I’ve been given.” Her smile held a cold truth behind it yet still had a joking brightness to it, something many people had trouble accomplishing. A smile for Jordan had different personalities, and a smile for most people had only one or two. Jordan couldn’t see herself going through a day with only one smile plastered on her face. Her smiles reflected her mood, even when she was sad she smiled. The only emotion that seemed to be missing a smile is when she was angry, and Jordan angry was one thing no one wanted to see. She wondered if Braeden would still call her sweet muse if he knew the side of her that wasn’t so sweet. She found herself feeling saddened by that thought, there was no way she wanted Braeden to see that side of her. Although the side had remained dormant throughout the years, it could come back with one wrong word in her direction about the wrong topic.

She turned her head to look at Braeden when he was speaking again. With a laughing smile, Jordan shook her head; “You could turn it down if you wanted to, although I’d rather you not.” The smile slipped into a small and sincere one as she tucked some of her hair behind her ear. The idea of spending as much time with Braeden as possible made Jordan happier than she had been in months, if he had turned down her offer to teach him art in return for piano lessons she would have been rather sad. There was just something about Braeden that made Jordan forget about all that was going on outside the room, all that had happened over New Year, all that had happened with Dillion or the lack thereof, everything was left at the door and all that could cross her mind was Braeden, the piano, and happiness. With her head tilted to the side slightly, Jordan listened to Braeden’s proposal. When he was finished, Jordan grinned, “Vale, okay. Sounds fabulous to me, it should be easy though, for the both of us considering Italian and Spanish are closely related.”

When he started to guide her hand to the right keys for Twinkle Twinkle, Jordan smiled softly. This smile was a secretive one, one that she wouldn’t let disappear. With a curious glance, Jordan asked, “I’m still a bit curious. Even if you were shy, I’m sure I would have spoken to you. Especially if you were shy, I would have made a point to start some sort of conversation with you, and with how much we have in common I can’t for the life of me see why we never spoke.” Jordan turned her gaze back to their hands and the piano before saying the next part, “Perhaps if I had met you before I wouldn’t have felt so depressed throughout the years.”

[braeden]

Braeden let off a short shrug. “Most of the first few years here I spent off somewhere to myself. I didn’t like the bigger crowds of people in the Common Room so I usually stayed in the dorm or outside on the grounds.” Braeden said softly, admitting for the first time that his first few years at Hogwarts had been spent by him as somewhat of a loner. He didn’t like the fact, but it was truth. Plus he couldn’t dare to admit that he had noticed Jordan long before she had ever noticed him. He wasn’t ready to admit that yet, but he had a feeling it would come out soon, what with Valentine’s Day approaching. Braeden was worried about Valentine’s Day, he wasn’t sure that he wanted to go to the ball, but if he did, there was only one person that he wanted to ask and that was Jordan. He wasn’t sure if she would want to go.

“Maybe it was just Destiny that took us so long to talk, like perhaps it was written in the stars and the Centaurs foresaw it before we ever knew it would happen.” Braeden said slyly. He wasn’t sure where the Destiny line had come from but it was there and it was truthful. He continued to help Jordan properly play Twinkle Twinkle, partly because he enjoyed the excuse to hold her soft elegant hands, and partly to full fill a part of their bargain. When the offers had been proposed that allowed him to spend more time with Jordan, he couldn’t stop himself from accepting the offers. They allowed him to do something that he had wanted to do for a long time now, which was spend more time with her. He had never been able to bring himself to admit that he liked her out loud, so she had never known. Now was really his chance, he could ask her to the Valentine’s Ball if he could only get the courage to do so. He thought deeply a moment about the option. Would she even want to go to the Ball? There was a good chance she wouldn’t, what with everyone going to be there. She might just not be in the mood for large crowds. That didn’t matter to him either, he didn’t really want to share her with the rest of the castle on Valentine’s day anyway.

“So umm… Valentine’s Day is coming up soon. Would you like to attend the Ball with me?” The question had come out so fast that Braeden couldn’t believe that he had asked it at all. He looked at Jordan softly, and anxiously awaited an answer.