Don't Stop Me Now

[Willow Autumn]

The Music Room. It was Willow's fifth home....after her actual home, the Gryffindor tower, the kitchens and the library.
Willow felt all her stress relieved in this room. It reminded her of her Uncle's Music Studio back in Dunedin. It was small and quiet but well equipped full of muggle instruments and enchanted wizarding instruments. She walked through to the small practice rooms, and laid her violin case amongst the black grand piano.

Smiling, she walked back to the door and closed it before returning to the grand piano. Pulling out the stool and lifting the lid of the piano, she played a middle C note. The rich warm not rang out in the room, bringing itself alive. She then played a chord, the harmony sounded exquisite. Happy with the sound, she stretched her fingers and started playing one of her own compositions. It was her Winter song, the song that reminded her of the transition of Autumn going into Winter. It started off coldly and moving to hurried excitement that Willow remembers as a child of running out to play in the snow.

Music was one of Willow's main life source, she would like to think the world could be better if everyone played a little music now and then.

 

[Sara Moon]

Sara was mentally reprimanded herself. She had missed her music so much when she came to Hogwarts. Obviously she sang, but she couldn't play the piano here. She was good at the piano, but she had always known that Kate was the better musician. KAte played Violin, piano and tin-whistle. Sara, baing Sara hadn't fully explored all of the castle, favouring the dungeons and the towers, both extremes of the castle. She had never been in the music room, but today a boy in her house had mentioned it, and she had asked directions to it. She was walking briskly, sheet music in hand, it was one of her favourite songs, Imagine. It wasn't modern, but it had a beautiful message and she loved the melody to it. She slowly opened the door.

She stepped in quietly, listening to the girl playing-it was beautiful. She silently crept forward, wanting to see who was playing. She saw that it was Willow, and smiled, she was so proud of her friends. "Hello." she said softly, not wanting to startle her. "That was amazing Willow." she added, beaming.

She sat down on a seat in the room, and put her sheet music on her lap. "You're really good, where did you learn?" she asked, interested, she had known about Willows talent on the violin, and wondered how many other instuments her friend played.

 

[Willow Autumn]

"hmm hmm hmmm..." Willow hummed along to the last few notes of her song, the ending was always her favorite part to this song, it completely relaxed her and made her feel at ease. It was a song that she could play a thousand times and feel as if she didn't have a worry in the world. No complicated questions, no messy friendship gossip and news and definitely no homework - even though Academics was important to Willow, she'd prefer if Music was homework than writing a five page essay. She closed her eyes and drifted herself to an alternate universe full of music and serene joy.

"Hello...That was amazing Willow" Willow opened her eyes and looked towards the door; Sara Moon.
"Oh hello Sara!" Willow greeted her friend warmly, she gave her a sheepish smile to let her know she accepted her compliment - Willow still has no clue how to accept compliments these days, even from friends.
She got up from the piano stool and sat on a chair near Sara, re-shuffling pages of her music book.

"I self-taught myself to play the piano actually, my Uncle James helps me improve my technique, but he's teaches me other instruments." Willow smiled and shrugged. She didn't consider herself a prodigy in music - it just happened that it was Willow's forte.

 

[Sara Moon]

Sara smiled as Willow began humming, at home, her friends used to tell her not to hum and sing all the time, but she always found she couldn't stop. She smiled to herself, swaying to the sound of Willow's playing. It was a beautiful song. Closing her eyes, she could see leaves falling, snow falling, Winter coming. She could see why Willow would like this song. She smiled, as she saw Willow close her eyes. She knew how she felt-getting lost in music was one of Sara's largest hobbies, though she was always called a dreamer.

"Hey!" Sara beamed. when Willow opened her eyes and looked at her. Willow smiled, and Sara hoped that she knew just how good she was. Sara didn't believe in false humility. If she knew she was good at something, she would admit it, but not out loud, only to herself. However she also knew her weaknesses. It was a hindrance at times, as Sara hadn't much self-belief and sometimes found it hard to see the truth in her abilities.

She smiled as Willow explained how she'd learnt. "It takes a lot of talent to learn an instrument on your own." Sara commented truthfully. She admired Willow's success in learning on her own. It was an amazing achievement. "Do you sing also?" she asked, her head tilted to one side.

 

[Willow Autumn]

Willow grinned sheepishly, it did take a long time to learn the piano herself, but she enjoyed the final result - playing the piano fluently. It took a lot of patience, her muggle school teachers constantly annoyed by the fact she would be tapping out a song on the desk as if it was a piano instead of doing her math or her spelling, although they didn't seem to mind seeing her doodles of music compositions in her books rather than drawings like the other students in her class.

"It's not talent really, it's just if you have time." Willow laughed and nodded at Sara's question; "Yeah, I sing..but I don't think I'm really good at it really." Willow ruffled her hair, maybe it was an understatement. She knew for a fact she was a really good violin player. There were times when her ego got the better of her and she wanted to be the best Violin player around. It was pretty selfish of her to think such a thing. These days she lets everyone have their time to shine, but deep down Willow still wanted to be a professional violinist.
She smiled at Sara; "Do you play any instruments? Do you sing?"

 

[Sara Moon]

Sara smiled, she knew that Willow was unsure of her talent, that her friend didn't see her true potential. Many people rarely did. Her own sister, Kate didn't see how amazing she was on the violin. Sara herself knew her own greatest talent, her acting. She was good, and she knew it, but she could always find someone who was better.

"It takes a good ear, and that alone is a talent." Sara replied, grinning from ear to ear. She was glad that Willow was loosening up. "I'm willing to bet that you are." Sara replied, truthfully, prepared to take out her purse.She smiled as Willow ruffled her hair, it looked funny, but glancing at her own, out of control mess, she laughed knowing she probably looked ridiculous.

"I play piano, but I don't really like it that much, tin whistle, recorder and yes, I do sing, also I know maybe three chords on guitar, but those few chords are self-taught, so I'm not that great on them." she smiled, shyly. Sara was only sure that she could sing, not of any of her other musical talents.

 

[Willow Autumn]

Willow blushed, again, she didn't know how to take compliments. She couldn't believe that Sara said she was talented.
Of course, she gets those comments all the time back at home. At one performance she was called a child prodigy which was (in Willow's mind) absolutely stupid. Anyone could be a prodigy at anything. She wandered over to the other side of the room to look at the guitars and listened to Sara speak;
"I play piano, but I don't really like it that much, tin whistle, recorder and yes, I do sing, also I know maybe three chords on guitar, but those few chords are self-taught, so I'm not that great on them."

Satisfied with an Acoustic guitar; she took one off the shelf and walked back to her seat; Willow smiled at Sara; "Wow, you can play a lot of things, i'm sure you're fantastic at singing." She gave Sara an encouraging smile. She never heard Sara sing before, but by the way she spoke, Willow was pretty positive she had a fantastic voice down there somewhere. Her uncle was the reason why she loved music, it kept her feeling close to him, and made him feel proud. She learned all her musical skills off from him. Another reason why she was intuitive and able to listen out for people's musical talent. She couldn't help it.

 

[Sara Moon]

Sara laughed as Willow blushed, she hoped she hadn't embarrassed her.

She knew how it felt to be embarrassed by compliments. At home she used to come back from shows, adults, cousins, relations, strangers, used to tell her that she had been great, and she knew it felt strange. Sara smiled as Willow went over to the guitars, she wished she could play guitar, be in a band. She wouldn't like to sing alone, being with friends, in a grou-felt better, more friendly and personal.

"Thank you, but Kate is the real musician, I'm the actress." she smiled, Kate was better at all the instruments Sara played and the violin. She was incredibly proud of her sister, but Sara was worried about Kate, she had been acting strangely lately. Sara felt so close to her sister, when they were talking about music, and Kate understood Sara better than anyone else.

 

[Willow Autumn]

Willow gave a smile to Sara; "Yes, you've got good stage presence, but i'm sure you're good at music as well" Willow sat back with the guitar and started to strum, no song in particular, Willow just enjoyed the feeling of strumming random chords. As she got into it, an idea formed in her head; "Hey, why don't you grab that guitar over there, I can teach you how to play some basic guitar if you want?" Willow smiled at Sara. She wasn't the best at playing the Guitar, she only just learned how to play the instrument a few months ago, but Willow was sure can teach her some basic notes that she could form into a simple tune.

"You could be like...my first student" Willow giggled, it was such a stupid thing to say, but it did really feel like that. Music was fantastic when you're able to bond with someone, music was even better when you played it enthusiastically with another person who had the same passion for music. Willow placed her fingers on the first fret and started strumming; "This chord is really easy to play" Willow smiled as she waited for Sara to come back with her guitar.

 

[Sara Moon]

Sara smiled back at Willow "Thank you. I'm okay at music I suppose." she grinned, Sara loved the stage-it was where she belonged. She swayed along as Willow began playing guitar. She smiled, watching her friend, she really wished she could do that. Then at the thought of learning from Willow she grinned, even wider. "Thank you, Oh My God, that would be so cool!" she exclaimed, jumping off her seat and grabbing a guitar. "That would be amazing!" she grinned, setting her self up.

"Yeah, first student-cool." she replied, laughing. She was looking forward to learning from Willow, she loved the idea of learning an instrument from a friend. She leaned forward, looked at Willow's fingers and imitated the placement. She strummed the guitar and a lovely, deep-timbre sound eminated, with a beautiful verbatum. "That's cool." she grinned, playing it again and stumming, once down, twice up, over and over. "Cool!" she exclaimed, grinning at Willow.

 

[Willow Autumn]

Willow laughed as they sat there strumming, figuring it would be better if they spent a few minutes getting used to the finger position on the frets before moving into the next chord; "Try taking your fingers off and back again - so you get used to the feeling." Willow smiled and let Sara take her time practicing.
As she did so, Willow wondered what chord to move to next, trying to think of the basics. Figuring a C chord wouldn't be that bad, she placed her fingers on the correct strings and laughed; "You're doing really well for a beginner" She grinned and played along with Sara.

"The cool thing about that chord, is that if you move your hand down the fret board, but remain the same finger position - the chord would sound the same, but in a different pitch. Try it" Willow demonstrated, starting from the top and making her way down to where she was strumming - the notes becoming higher with each movement. Grinning as she watched Sara; she decided it was time to learn a proper chord; "I'm going to teach you the C chord, the finger positions are like so" Willow placed her fingers on the top of the fret board, making it look like it was a number three; </FONT>

Spoiler: ::C Chord!

<FONT font="Georgia">

"Don't strum for now, try placing your fingers on and off the fretboard. It makes things a bit easier, when you're confident you can start strumming" Willow smiled, Sara was a fast learner, after all she was a Ravenclaw - they were exceptionally good at learning things quickly and she was a little envious of that.

 

[Sara Moon]

Sara smiled as Willow laughed, her smile wide and bright. She began moving her hands on and off the fret, trying to get them in the one position. "It's actually quite hard." she commented, trying to make sure her hand stayed put, when she tried to put it back on. Eventually she figured out how to do it and could move her fingers on and off the chord at will, playing it however would be much harder. She looked up at Willow smiling and said "I think I've got it." she smiled, placing her fingers on and off the fret.

"Cool!" Sara tried it and moved her hand down along the fret board, the sound becoming higher and higher as she moved. "Wow." she breathed, marveling at how a simple movement could change it like that. She then tried the C Chord, as Willow had instructed, putting her first three fingers on the fret board, She repeated the exercise she had done before, placing and removing them from the fret board and trying to maintain one position at all times. "It does get easier, but it is hard." she smiled, looking up at Willow. She smiled, looking down at her fingers and concentrating very hard.

 

[Willow Autumn]

Willow nodded, she knew how hard it was to learn the guitar at first; "I'll teach you one more chord and then you'll have to do the dreaded 'P' word for a few days." Willow leaned in; "Practice." Willow laughed. She failed at being ominous and scary, but it was fun to do at least.

"So this is the D chord" She placed her fingers slowly on the fret so Sara knew which strings to place her fingers on; "It's quite hard going from C to D, but i'm sure you'll manage." She said as she strummed the chord. She nodded Sara to practice as she walked to where her Satchel was placed near the piano and grabbed a piece a parchment, her quill and ink. She started writing out the chords and finger placements so Sara can take it away to practice in her dormitory or wherever. She showed Sara the piece of paper and placed it next to her things.

Placing back her guitar, she picked up her violin, the Violin always brought a big smile to Willows face.
As she unlocked the case and tightened the strings on her bow, she asked Sara; "Wouldn't it be cool if Hogwarts had like a student band or something?" She asked casually, she missed performing in front of people - and even though she didn't like to be in the spotlight all the time, she did enjoy making music for people to enjoy. She placed the bow aside and started tuning her Violin.

 

[Sara Moon]

"Okay- will." Sara grinned, smiling and,taking her fingers of the fret, so she could watch where Willow was going to put hers. She laughed when Willow said she would have to practice. "Unfortunately, I find it easier to do the other "P" word." she replied seriously. "Procrastinate!" she giggled, holding her guitar, so that it wouldn't fall.

"Okay." she smiled, placing her fingers on the fret, she strummed, and a strange, flat sound resonated. "That's not right." she said quietly, looking at her fingers. It took her a few moments, but she realised that she had accidentally covered the top string also. "Oh, I get it." she exclaimed, playing the right chord. "Is that right?" she asked, looking at Willow curiously, she had been wondering if Willow was okay, after she had gotten the news about the illness, if there was any treatment that could help, but she felt that bringing it up would upset Willow. Willow seemed to be enjoying herself, the last thing she wanted to do was ruin a nice day for Willow. She looked at her, a searching look, but quickly replaced it with a happy smile. She didn't want to smother Willow, she knew what it was like to feel smothered.

"What are you writing?" she asked, as Willow began writing on a piece of parchment, she didn't look in case it was something private. She smiled as Willow took out her violin, she had heard her play before-she was amazing. "You were great when you played at our party." she smiled, remembering that night, that had been the first time Willow had fallen ill. "Yeah, it would be great, I miss the stage, and the drama group hasn't been very active." she replied, happily. She looked interestedly as Willow tuned her violin, Sara knew how to tune a guitar, but she needed a piano to do it.

 

[Willow Autumn]

Willow laughed loudly; "Procrastinating is an art form itself. I take great pride in it." She giggled as she sat there watching Sara practicing the guitar, Willow thought that she would become a great guitarist when she was competent at it. She nodded as Sara asked her; "Yeah that's right! you're getting it! now try going back to C" She gave Sara a warm smile, she was picking it up quickly - more quickly that Willow managed even though she should have done well with chord changes since changing chords on a Violin was somewhat more complicated than changing the chords on a Guitar.

She nodded over to the piece of paper next to Sara; "I just wrote down the chords you've been learning today so you can p-r-a-c-t-i-c-e when i'm not here or something." She smiled as she lifted her violin up to her neck to tune, twisting the four little silver tuning knobs. Plucking the strings, she was satisfied with the sound and placed her Violin back down to attach the neck rest. Picking up the bow and placing the violin back on her shoulder, she ran her bow through the strings and listened to the mellow and rich sounds vibrating off.
She looked at Sara and blushed; "I wasn't great that night, i'm not really that great. But I agree with the missing with the stage thing. It's a lot of fun...we should start our own!" Willow's eyes brightened, she loved the prospect of starting their own Hogwarts Band - it'll be fun and she'll actually play music daily. She played a fun tune on her violin and smiled.

 

[Sara Moon]

Sara giggled as Willow laughed. "Same. My parents however don't seem to appreciate it." she replied, giggling. She smiled, as Willow encouraged her, and tried to switch fingers. It was slow, and awkward, but it sounded alright. She grimaced and tried again. It hadn't much improved, but she would practice. She smiled, as she switched fingers once more, slightly better, but still slow, and awkward.

"Ahh, I get it." she replied, looking at the sheet. She memorised the finger positions, and carefully folded the paper, planning to practice later. She smiled, as Willow prepared her violin. She had seem Kate do it before, but she always marveled at the simple elegance of the violin. She smiled even wider as Willow began to play. She tapped her foot along and grinned as she denied that she was good. "Yes you were, all the guests loved you." she replied, grinning.

"Yeah, we should!" she exclaimed, standing up. "It would be great." she added, picturing them on stage, she wasn't sure of who would play what, or who would sing, but it would be fun.

 

[Willow Autumn]

Willow blushed; "Well, I guess that's good to hear. I had a great time playing for your family." Willow smiled. Apart from all the drama that happened that night and the thing with (what she later found out) the Hufflepuff student who was called Jaedan, it turned out to be a good night - even if she was feeling incredibly homesick and un-well. She it was pleasant and it was a different experience that Willow was used to. Making a mental note that she'll hold a party back at home for all her friends to enjoy - she was looking forward to it, it was going to be great fun. She thought of all the activities that they can do, keeping in mind what they can and can't do - hoping they like animals.

She grinned; "I can't wait! Well I can play the Piano and you can sing and play the guitar -i'm sure you'll pick it up in no time. Unless you want us to be rocking out, then I can play the electric violin. Back up vocals or whatever?" Willow's face lighted up, she hasn't been in a band before - only an orchestra or a trio but she was looking forward to this new challenge. "But what should we call ourselves?" Willow wondered. Any group should have a good name: One that was catchy, appealing and totally in truth to the group itself.

 

[Sara Moon]

Sara smiled as Willow blushed, she knew how hard it was to take a compliment and stay composed, it had taken her years to master it. She had enjoyed that night, though thankfully she hadn't been around during all the drama-she had been fetching the keys for their tour. Willow had been unwell that night, and Sara had been there for some of that, they'd all been very worried.

Yeah, that could be good. Oh my god- we're starting a band!" Maia grinned, excitedly, she liked the idea of singing, but she didn't know if Willow was a better singer, and she definetly knew she was better on guitar. Sara paused for a moment in thought. She was usually good at this kind of thing, but she found this hard. "How about.. um...Saileach Gealach?" She laughed, when she realised that Willow wouldn't know what it meant. "It means Willow Moon, a mix of our names." she explained, it wasn't very good, but she was working on short notice. She tried to think of some more. "Knight? Abstract? "Indecision? "Little Women?" she laughed as she suggested a random lot of names. She couldn't really decide on what they should use. She really hoped Willow would have some ideas.

 

[Willow Autumn]

"Saileach Gealach...that's really beautiful" Willow smiled, she really loved learning foreign language, it made her appreciate the (both) words that she was blessed enough to live in. She could speak a little french and a little japanese because they had to back at her time at her muggle intermediate school, but other than that - nothing much else. Willow wanted to learn how to speak japanese fluently - but that'll have to come after Hogwarts, learning magic was more important at the moment - especially since she was still lost in the concept of learning and actually casting magic - even though it appeared she was miles ahead of everyone, but she could just put that down thanks to her capabilities of staying in a Library for a long time and never get bored of it. Willow was unique alright.

She sat there trying to tune her violin and she started laughing at herself; "How about Autumn & Moon? Or Autumn Moon." Willow could never come up with names, and she just pointed out the two obvious ones by just combining their last names together. "Dreams in our heads....Sugar and Spice...Duology.I don't know. I'm bad with coming up with names" Willow laughed, she knew she'd resorted to culinary food ingredients at one point. It wasn't that she was bad at coming up with names, it was that she had a lack of originality and flair -sure she could do that on stage, but she can't do that when it came to mixing words together. She gave Sara a sheepish grin as an apology.

 

[Sara Moon]

"Thanks." Sara replied, beaming. She loved the Irish language, she had grown up with it-her Mam and Dad were a music and Irish teacher. Sara also spoke French, she loved the language and she found it interesting, elegant and beautiful. She wanted to speak more French, but as she now lived in England, it was slightly harder to find people who spoke it also, and no one here spoke Irish.

"I can't think of anything either.." Sara mused, smiling at Willows names. "How about-undecided?" she laughed, only partially joking-it was true, they couldn't make a decision. Sara found she was usually good at this kind of thing, but she was stumped. She wanted something edgy, but kind of girly. something that said "Rock on!", but also "It's all going to be okay.". Somehow though, she couldn't think of that one phrase that would suit them perfectly.