Closed Canvas in Bloom

[Molly Lamb]

The conglomerated arts room was, without a doubt, Molly's favourite place in the whole castle. The room itself didn't much resemble home - for one thing, it was too draughty - but the easels and the piano and the cooking equipment were somehow familiar, and comforting. She could have spent all day in there - and sometimes did, much to the annoyance of the people she refused to share it with. Could she be blamed for wanting some time alone? She wasn't used to so many people. They were everywhere, and in one way or another they were all irritating. It was no wonder her dad had decided to home educate her.

Molly sighed, dabbing a few pink blossoms onto the tree on her canvas. The tree's limbs were all out of proportion and the blossoms were too bright to look natural, but as she was painting from a snapshot in her memory, she forgave herself these mistakes. Nobody was going to see it, anyway. She took a step back and cocked her head. She wasn't sure why she'd chosen to paint that tree in particular - the tree she and her mum had often eaten lunch under in the park. It was kind of a sad memory, now. Still, she'd come this far; mixing up some pinks and oranges, she began to paint herself and her mum into the picture.

 

[Professor Adorah Zumwalt]

Adorah was rarely able to enjoy her piano practicing alone as the congolmerated arts room was usually occupied by multiple students practicing a variety of mediums. She used to be rather shy playing in front of people, but since this was the only way she would ever be able to rehearse, she had been working on managing her stage fright. First, she played pieces she knew in her sleep. Then, she began to play scales with others around. Now, she was beginning to work on new pieces. Sight reading was not her forte, and it stressed her out to make mistakes, but this was a part of the process.

She walked up to the door of the art room and pulled it open, looking into her bag as she entered. She pulled out a book of contemporary pop songs. Adorah glanced up and realized that she was not the only one in the room today. She gave the other girl a wave and took a seat on the piano bench placing her music on the stand. "I hope you don't mind if I practice piano. I'm learning a new piece," she called over her shoulder to the other student.

 

[Molly Lamb]

Molly startled as the door behind her opened. She recognised the girl who came in from some of her classes, though they'd never spoken, and Molly still wasn't completely sure she knew her name. Whoever she was, Molly thought she was very rude to come in without knocking. The arts room was open for everybody to use, yes, but right now it was quite clearly occupied. After staring at the Ravenclaw for a second, Molly forced herself to smile. "Of course I don't mind!" she said, turning back to her canvas. She didn't really feel like painting any more, but dabbed a few more blossoms on the tree anyway. "What are you learning?"

 

[Professor Adorah Zumwalt]

She sorted her music on the stand and then turned herself completely around on the bench. "It's 'Hallelujah" by Leonard Cohen. It's an older pop song. Have you heard of it?" She smiled at the girl and noticed she was was painting something really beautiful. Adorah had always wished that she could paint, but it had never come naturally to her. She walked over to the canvas and pointed at her flowers. "These are really beautiful. What year are you?" she asked. She wasn't sure that she recognized the girl.

 

[Molly Lamb]

"Yes!" Molly said. "My dad likes that song. You must be really talented." Molly's dad owned a piano, but she'd never got the hang of playing it. She just didn't have the patience - which was strange, considering she had the patience to paint. She blushed crimson as the Ravenclaw came over to look more closely at her painting. It took a lot of self restraint not to throw her body over the canvas so that she couldn't see it. Though she knew she was a reasonably good artist for her age, she didn't like other people looking at her work. Especially not when it was the product of her pouring out her heart. "Thanks," she said. "I'm a first year. I've seen you in classes, I'm sure, but I don't know your name. I'm Molly." She wasn't yet sure whether the girl was somebody she could call an ally, but it didn't hurt to be friendly with her for the time being. "So, are you going to play me something? I want to hear!"

 

[Professor Adorah Zumwalt]

Adorah gave a small scoff when the girl suggested she was really talented. "Not particularly, but I do try to practice a couple of times a week when I can." She never knew how to take compliments very well, but this girl didn't seem to either, as she blushed particularly red when Adorah gave her an authentic compliment about the artwork. When the girl said she had seen Adorah around, she felt terrible for not remembering her. There were just so many first years, and Adorah was having a hard enough time remembering all the prefects and professors, let alone other students. She nodded at Molly and lied a little about seeing her. "I didn't know your's either. It's hard when the professors don't always introduce students to each other. I'm Adorah," she said with a smile, hoping the girl would believe her. The request to play for her seemed a little pushy, but Adorah wanted to make friends. Maybe this could be a friend? She sat down at the piano bench and nodded. "Sure - although, I'm still learning. You've been warned." She started playing the common melody with her left hand in the lower bass notes and then moved up to to the higher end of the staff once her right hand came into play. She played two verses and then went into the ending, finally finishing with only a few mistakes and stopping once. She felt that it was a successful practice time - even if this was all she played - because it allowed her to play in front of someone else. "Sorry for the mistakes," she said, gathering her music and sticking it back in her bag.

 

[Molly Lamb]

"Adorah?" Molly said, laughing. "What a cute name!" She could only imagine how embarrassing it must have been to have a name like that. "I'm sure you're not as bad as you think," she said, climbing up on to a nearby stool to watch. As the Ravenclaw began to play, Molly willed her to mess up. There was the odd mistake here and there (Molly smirked at each of them individually), but she was annoyingly good at playing and now suddenly her painting of a tree looked like it had been done by a five-year-old. She coughed a bit, trying to put Adorah off, but nothing seemed to work. Then it was over. "What? I didn't hear any mistakes. That was amazing, Adorah. Wow," she said sweetly. "Can you play anything without sheet music?"

 

[Professor Adorah Zumwalt]

Adorah was a little wigged out when Molly laughed at her name. She was able to push away the thought while she played her piece, but as soon as she stopped, it came back. She knew her name wasn't common, but she never thought of it as funny. Even though Molly had said it was cute, it didn't feel like she actually thought it was cute. Her family would call her Ada at home, but she had yet to let anyone know that at school. It was a name only reserved for close friends and family. When Molly asked if she could play a piece from memory, Adorah thought for a second. "I do have a couple pieces I've played in recitals. I haven't played them in a while though." She ran through the pieces in her head; she knew she had played "Over the Rainbow" when she was younger. "I have a song that was in The Wizard of Oz. I could try that?" She turned around on the piano bench and began playing the piece. As she entered the chorus, she played a wrong chord because she was still distracted by Molly's earlier comment. She paused, backed up and continued to play. However, she kept playing wrong notes to the point that it was very noticeable. She stopped about 3/4 of the way through and looked down at the keys. "I haven't practiced these pieces in a while. It doesn't always come back easy." She turned around to look at Molly again and then glanced at the floor, trying not to be too frustrated with the situation.

 

[Molly Lamb]

"Yes, go on!" Molly pressed. "It's okay, I won't laugh." She was as good as her word, though she did have to bite her lip so hard it almost bled when Adorah messed up the chorus. Her rendition of Over the Rainbow was so bad it was basically unrecognisable. "Aww," Molly said sympathetically as she stopped playing. "It was really good, though. I mean, I can't play anything. Don't be hard on yourself. Anyway, carry on - I'm going to do some more painting." Slipping off the stool, Molly went back over to her easel and swapped the canvas for a new one. She hadn't really been trying before. Now it was time to show Adorah what she could do when she put her mind to it. She mixed some blues with some greens and brushed them lightly over the canvas, dragging the paint horizontally near the bottom to create the illusion of water. Then she speckled in some clouds, and used some dark, grey-blue paint to create the illusion of a faraway mountain rising up out of the mist.

 

[Professor Adorah Zumwalt]

Adorah's spirit brightened as Molly reassured her that she had done good. Adorah looked up and gave a forced smiled. "Thanks," she said to the girl, even though she still felt less than due to the multiple inaccuracies. Suddenly, the othe first year made her way over to an easel and began paint. Adorah watching as the colors mixed, creaing a beautiful interpertaion of a skyline she was unfamiliar with. "How long have you been painting?" Adorah had never really had much experience with artistic classes in her homeschooling education except for piano, as her mother taught private lesson out of their home for extra money. She had never been allowed to associate with the students, but she would always listen to them play through the walls.

 

[Molly Lamb]

"My dad says I've been painting since I could hold a brush," Molly said, without turning around. "It's not that hard. You should have a go. Look - there's another easel!" She put down her brush and palette to drag the easel out from behind a mannequin. "You can copy me if you like - ow!" Dropping the easel, she shoved her finger in her mouth. The easel fell backwards into the mannequin, which lost its head as it crashed to the floor. "I just trapped my finger. That really hurt." It hadn't hurt that much, but she managed to force a few tears to her eyes anyway. "Oh, no. Look what I've done."

 

[Professor Adorah Zumwalt]

Adorah watched as Molly continued to paint but was taken aback when she seemed to injure herself. Adorah walked towards her and looked at her finger. It didn't look too bad, but she knew that sometimes bruises and marks didn't show until the next day. "Oh, no! We could go get some ice if it really hurts," she said, gesturing towards the door. "I think applying pressure can also help." She walked towards the head on the floor and placed it back on the mannequin. Seeing as the easel was relatively bigger than she was, she pulled out her wand, pointing it at the object and said, "Wingardium Leviosa," moving the easel beside Molly's.

 

[Molly Lamb]

"I'll be OK," said Molly bravely. She didn't want the nurse looking at her finger and seeing there was absolutely nothing wrong with it. She took it out of her mouth and squeezed it in her other hand, assessing the damage done to the room instead. Perhaps the easel was faring worse than her finger. To her great disappointment, however, there was hardly so much as a scratch on it. It must have been made of some magical, child-resistant wood, Molly figured. She forced herself to smile. "You're actually a life saver. Thank you so much. I thought I'd scratched it for a second, how awful would that have been? So anyway, Adorah - can I call you Adorable? because you seriously are - do you want to get some lunch? I'm starving."

 

[Professor Adorah Zumwalt]

Adorah looked over the easels and noticed that they looked to be fine. "I wouldn't imagine just knocking them together could create much damage," she said, smacking her hands together to imitate a collison. She wasn't sure how much she liked the nickname Molly provided for her. Her family did call her Ada, but that name was really reserved for them. However, in this case, she felt that it might be necessary to suggest something different. "You could call me that," she said, smiling nervously, "or Ada. That's what my family calls me. Anyway, food sounds nice, but I thought we were going to paint." The sudden change in plans made her anxious, and she was worried about potentially sitting at another house table within the Great Hall to eat.

 

[Molly Lamb]

"That's true," said Molly, trying not to sound disappointed. "OK, I'll call you Ada. It's like we're best friends already. Or sisters!" she beamed. She had always wanted a sister, but, well, her dad couldn't really make that happen all by himself, and he didn't seem likely to get another girlfriend any time soon. "Oh, I can't paint now, my finger hurts. You can if you want. You could finish my painting. I don't really care about it." Molly sat down at the piano and played the E key a few times. She knew what the keys were called, so that was a start. "Or you could teach me how to play something," she suggested. Her dad never had the time.

 

[Professor Adorah Zumwalt]

Adorah gave Molly a half-hearted smiled when she said they were basically best friends. Juniper was her best friend, but was it possible to have more than one? She missed her sister terribly, but she had also not spoken with her in months, per her parents request. She shook her head when Molly suggested finishing the painting. "That's okay. Mine will never look as good as yours." Adorah was a little confused when Molly suggested Adorah teaching her piano instead of painting due to the finger injury, as using your finger was rather important when playing the piano. However, she took a seat on the bench beside Molly and nodded. "Sure. I could teach a few easy things. Do you know the cartoon called Charlie Brown?" As she asked this, she realized Molly may not have much musical knowledge. "Wait, first things first. Do you know anything about the piano?" She could still teach her parts of songs, but it may be easier if Molly at least knew the names of the keys.

 

[Molly Lamb]

Molly scooted over to give Adorah room to sit down beside her. Easy things. She bristled at the implication. All right, yes, Molly was a beginner, and you had to start somewhere, but she hated feeling inferior, and was convinced Adorah was making a pointed remark about how much better she was than Molly. "Um, no, I haven't watched cartoons since I was a baby," she said pointedly in return. Then she laughed. "Obviously I do - everyone knows what the keys are called, don't they?" she said, trying to imply that piano really wasn't that hard at all.