Help Me Hear the Music

[Charlie Linus]

Charlie was in London after hearing that a studio needed a song from him a bit earlier than he had thought. Luckily the particular piece Charlie had been working on was one of the exceptions and he hadn't left it to the last minute to put it together. Charlie was lazy, but he was also really good at what he did. Music was his talent and Charlie could probably argue it was often his whole life. He didn't need to try to be good at it, but when he did try, he could be amazing. However Charlie didn't think he could be a star. He wouldn't want the fame, the attention. Instead he would work in the shadows, someone else would take the credit for his work and he would take the money so he could survive. This was perfectly fine by Charlie, in fact it was exactly how he wanted it.

Charlie had apparated to London a day earlier than originally planned. He decided he would go see his parents. He had received several letters from them since his graduation from Hogwarts, just asking how he was, checking if he was still alive. He had sent very bland replies back to them, but now that he was in town he decided it couldn't hurt to go see them. It had been a strained visit, but it had gone smooth enough. Charlie still owed them a visit, even after his tough childhood. He could never forgive them for their distance over his life, but they were still his parents and he still had to love them, even if he didn't like them all that much.

Now, however, Charlie was walking with his guitar slung over his shoulder towards the recording studio. He had written a song for a girl named Audrey whom he had never met and had to put it to her to see if she liked it. Pushing the door open, Charlie stepped into the neat foyer, where a large desk with a secretary sat behind it. Around the place were a few arm chairs and some records on the walls. He stepped awkwardly up to the desk and cleared his throat so the secretary looked up. "I have some music for, ah, Audrey Love," he said. The secretary nodded without saying anything and gestured towards a chair, while he assumed she got in contact with the singer.

 

[Audrey Love]

Audrey Love ran her well calloused fingertips over across her guitar strings as she strummed a few chords. The blonde was waiting in her London studio for what her producer promised was an up and coming composer. He had put together a new song for Audrey to sing which would be her next single as long as she liked it. The twenty-one year old was doing her best to be patient as she could be, but quite frankly patience was not Audrey's strongest suit. To pass her time, the part veela girl was warming up her vocal cords. She did want to make a good impression on this guy.

This year had been a busy one for the beautiful blonde. She had ended her tour in North America just a few months ago. On the whole, it had been extremely successful according to her manager. The arenas had mostly sold out shows. It had been thrilling to perform in front of thousands of people. It was exactly that type of atmosphere that the bright, energetic singer thrived on. Yet, it was nice to be back in London where her career had first been launched. Fame was catching up to Audrey and wrapping itself around her. The part-veela girl soaked it in, relishing in her success.

A quiet knock on the door interrupted her vocal warm-ups. Her bright emerald eyes looked up at the woman standing in the door frame. Audrey smiled and nodded her head as the woman said that the guy had arrived. The blonde stood up, placing her guitar gently in the stand. She ran her fingers over her short white lace dress, smoothing out any wrinkles that might have formed. Audrey's heels clicked on the hard surface of the tile hallway as she made her way out to the main lobby. There was a nice looking young man sitting in a chair. He had to be the guy that was waiting on her. The pretty blonde smiled her charming smile as she stuck out her hand for him to shake. "Hello, I'm Audrey Love. They tell me that you have a brilliant new song for me." she said with a coy smile.

 

[Charlie Linus]

Charlie's head lifted as he noticed a blonde appear in the room. He was immediately drawn to her. Of course he knew her face, she was quite successful in the wizarding music community. To Charlie it was a still a little strange that the wizarding community had a music industry in the first place when most of them still used quills instead of pens. A fact Charlie would probably not admit to any wizard was that he preferred muggle music. It was hard to swap from one to the other when you spent most of your childhood not even knowing you had magic in the first place. Charlie just liked the plain old simple muggle music. He felt as though a lot of wizards cheated. It's easy enough to charm a musical instrument to play whatever you want it to, but it's a much more difficult art to learn to play the cords beautiful with your hands. However overall Charlie didn't have room to complain. If he got work in the wizarding world, then that was all that mattered to him.

Charlie stood from his seat for the introductions to the girl. He looked at the hand that she offered, grasped it with his own and shook it rather tentatively. "I'm Charlie Linus," he introduced himself back out of politeness, his English accent coming through in his words. The smile on Audrey's face unsettled Charlie a bit. She really was quite an attractive girl, in that pretty and girly kind of way in her white dress. "I don't know about brilliant," he said a little embarrassed. To himself he would admit that sometimes his work was brilliant, but hearing it from someone else was strange. He rarely had anyone speak to him, let alone give him compliments. It was quite an uncommon occurrence for Charlie, so it definitely threw him off his guard. "But I hope you like it all the same," he said, not wanting to put the girl off his music, because he still needed the money and he always liked hearing his songs get to the top of the charts and he had heard this girl could do just that. Grabbing his guitar bag that also held the sheet music for Audrey he assumed she would take him to a room where he could show it to her.

 

[Audrey Love]

Audrey shook Charlie's hand as he introduced himself. She thought he seemed nice enough and was definitely humble. Audrey knew that he was brilliant; she had heard his songs. With his deflection of her compliment, she began to get a sense of who Charlie was. Audrey liked to learn about people. To figure them out. See how they worked. The blonde was also pretty good at reading others. "Take pride in what you do well. I always do." she said flashing him a winning smile. "At any rate, it's a pleasure to meet you. Audrey said sincerely. The blonde was happy to meet him and pleased that he was here. Audrey had been very caught up in writing all of her own songs when she first started. She had learned that the best song always wins even if it wasn't her song. There was nothing wrong with collaboration and it made her a better artist. "If you will follow me, I will show you to my studio. the slender girl said before turning and heading back the way that she came. Her heels clicked lightly on the tile floor as she walked confidently down the hallway.

The girl led the way through a door into a spacious studio. There was a couch, a couple of chairs, and then the sound system. There was a large glass looking into the audio booth where there were microphones and stools. There were also three of her favorite guitars in there. "Welcome to my recording studio." she said as she took a seat on one of the couches. The blonde motioned for him to sit down beside her. "Okay, so I am dying to hear this song." she told Charlie, her emerald eyes shinning with excitement as they alway did when she talked about music.

 

[Charlie Linus]

Charlie nodded at her comment. She was right and he did take pride in his work, he just wasn't all that comfortable admitting it to other people. He had become accustomed to holding his tongue. Trying not to lash out the way he had when he was younger. He'd grown up a lot in the past few years after leaving school and learning to make it completely on his own. "You too," he said in response to Audrey saying it was a pleasure to meet him and gave her a shy smile that simply quirked up the corner of his mouth. He was getting better at communicating with people without making it too awkward. He had to for his line of work. Sure he did all his work in the background of the artist, but he still had to make a connection with said artist first if they were going to use his music. Sometimes it wasn't just enough to let the music speak for itself, although Charlie did rely on it doing just that a lot of the time.

Charlie nodded again, confirming he would follow Audrey to her studio and walked a few paces behind her down the hall. He entered the room, feeling a sense of familiarity with the surroundings. He was at home in places like this, where he could be consumed in music. He admired what he assumed were Audrey's guitars before dropped his own guitar bag against the couch and taking a seat. He pulled out a stack of papers and sifted through them. The pages held a lot of scribbles of lyrics in pencil and cords scrawled roughly across the paper. Finally Charlie found what he was looking for and handed a neat piece of paper with the sheet music to the song to Audrey. He wasn't the most professional guy in the world, but he still had a good name for himself because of what he produced. The song he had written had an extremely catchy beat, if he said so himself and would be one of those songs people got stuck in their head and had to listen to over and over just to get rid of it. He had high hopes that Audrey could make it a hit. He glanced at Audrey and waited for her to make a verdict, noticing the light in her eyes changing just from being in her studio. He felt the same way, understanding her love of music down to his very core. It gave him a great deal of respect for Audrey.

 

[Audrey Love]

Audrey was a bit surprised that Charlie didn't speak to her, but simply handed her the sheet music instead. She wondered briefly if her veela charm was causing him to become speechless as it so often did around men, particularly those on the shy side. The blonde looked over the music, thinking that it looked like a hit. It had a good, catchy melody and an intricacy that was typically lacking in songs these days. A grin spread across her face but she uncharacteristically held her tongue, for now. Instead, she got up and headed straight for her most favorite guitar, bringing it closer to her. In a moment, Audrey wanted to learn how to play it herself. Typically, she favored playing at least a couple of her songs herself during concerts. Her emerald eyes crinkled with pleasure as she looked back at Charlie. "I have to admit, I am really impressed." Audrey said quite truthfully. "I think that this will be quite the hit." The blonde said looking at the man opposite her.

Audrey looked back at the sheet music. She thought that she could play it, but it would take some practice. The young singer wanted to hear the song out loud. Audrey looked at Charlie, hoping that he wasn't intimidated by her. "You play and I will sing. I want to hear it." She admitted. It was the only way to get a complete sense of the song and see if anything needed to be tweaked. Audrey had a beautiful singing voice. It was rich and clear as it rang out with the words to the song. As the song concluded, Audrey laughed gleefully. "I love it. I want it on my album. In fact, I want it as my next single." The vivacious blonde said with all the confidence that she possessed.

 

[Charlie Linus]

Charlie watched her expressions carefully as she assessed his sheet music. He desperately hoped she liked it, as he would admit he had taken quite some pride in it and after being with Audrey for only a few minutes, he found himself wanting to impress her. She was beautiful, in a way that Charlie was somewhat entranced by and he knew that he wasn't much in comparison to her. He could only hope that his music would make him some what of a stand-out, because that was the best part of himself he could offer up. He watched her grin and as she got up to grab one of her guitars, he felt as though her expression was pulling at his own features and he found as small smile on his face when she returned. This was his element and when Audrey said that she was impressed he felt what could have been a blush try to creep on his face. No, no, no, don't blush in front of her! Charlie's mind screamed at him, but he couldn't help but feel his face heat up just a bit. "Thanks, I'm really glad you like it," he said honestly. He was quite aware he hadn't said very much at all since he'd arrived at Audrey's studio and maybe she thought that was a bit rude of him, but if she liked his song, they could now get down to his favourite part of these meetings. Testing it out to see what fit and what didn't.

Charlie pulled his guitar into his lap and started to play the song by memory. When Audrey first sang, Charlie didn't think he would have ever been ready for it. There was something to admire about someone with a great voice. Charlie had heard Audrey before, when he'd listened to her music before taking on the task of writing her song. It was on a recorded track however and stood in no comparison to the real deal. Charlie almost stuffed up the whole song, he was so entranced by the girl in front of him. His musical instincts had to fully take over as the rest of his brain took a back seat while he listened to Audrey sing his song. His song! She did so beautifully. Better than he ever could. Sure, he could sing better than most average people, but not like this. When the song concluded, Charlie was almost speechless. "Really?" he asked Audrey stupidly, then shook his head a little bit. "I mean, of course, it's yours if you want it," he corrected and realised he was grinning, because her laugh had reached right inside of him and pulled out something that had been hidden for a long time. "I don't think anyone else could do it the justice you just did it," he confessed shyly. He had meant to compliment her singing voice, but that was probably as close as he could manage.

 

[Audrey Love]

Audrey's green eyes looked pleadingly into Charlie's as she waited for his answer. It would be his decision as to whether or not she would be allowed to have this song. Audrey's lips pulled up into a grin as Charlie agreed that she should have the song and complimented her ability to sing. It was the aspect of herself that she was most proud of. The blonde knew that singing was her talent and what she was meant to do. She had been lucky enough to discover this at an early age in her life. Still, it was always nice to have someone in the music business compliment her voice. It had a raw, beautiful quality to it that often caused critics and fans to enjoy her live much more than they enjoyed her recordings. Of course, part of their enjoyment could come from the aura around her because she was part-Veela. Audrey looked back at Charlie, thinking that he was rather attractive in a not so obvious way. She could tell he was shy, but that underneath that he was sweet. With every word he uttered, she learned something new about Charlie. He had her curiosity as she wanted to learn more about him, to really get to know him.

"Thank you. It means a lot to me." Audrey said to his compliment and to the fact that he was going to let her sing his song. She didn't really have many, if any, changes to make to the song. He must have listened to tracks of her songs because it matched her vocal range perfectly. There was a brilliance to the song that was subtle and catchy. It was artfully constructed by someone who knew what they were doing. She recognized all of this in it. "You know, I don't really have any changes that I want to make. The word choice, the rhythm, the range is all really good. Is there anything that you think should be changed now that you hear me sing it?" Audrey asked, giving him the choice. She didn't really want him leave yet, and was tempted to come up with something just so that he would stay here longer. She wanted to get to know him. There was something about him that made him different, that she couldn't quite put her finger on. However, Audrey didn't think she could get away with asking personal questions about Charlie Linus just quite yet.

 

[Charlie Linus]

Charlie couldn't resist staring when Audrey smiled. Not many people smiled around him. I mean sure, cashiers smiled and told him to have a nice day, random people he almost bumped into would smile and apologise, some people might even smile at him when he performed gigs, but Charlie had directly caused the grin on Audrey's face from something he had said. An emotion he hadn't felt in a long time bubbled to the surface. However almost as soon as it arrived, it brought with it some unpleasant feelings of wariness. Maybe he shouldn't be so quick to indulge in Audrey's smile? He remembered a time when Carmen had smiled at him like that. Sure, he had been very young, but he had still trusted her. What if Audrey turned out to be the same? There was always going to be someone better or more interesting than Charlie. After that thought, Charlie pulled his eyes away from the pretty blonde in front of him and back down to his sheet music. It was definitely too much to hope that she would interested in anything apart from the task he had at hand of helping her create a new hit.

Charlie hummed out loud in thought as his eyes scanned the page, trying to determine whether there was anything he could tweak to make it just that little bit better for Audrey. He still wanted to impress her with what little he could, regardless of his earlier realisation. "It was perfect, but we could try something a little different and see what you like best?" Charlie said more than asked, as he had already pulled a pencil out of his guitar case and was scribbling along the pages, changing up the vocal range a bit. It was good to give the artist a bit of choice, especially if it wasn't a song they wrote themselves. They had to take Charlie's work and make it their own, a process which Charlie was usually good at helping with, if the artists weren't too stuck up about it. "How's this?" he asked, leaning over to Audrey with the sheet of paper to point out the parts he had altered. If he had to stop himself from moving just that little bit closer, he wouldn't admit it.

 

[Audrey Love]

Audrey watched curiously as the man scanned the sheet music he had written, looking for changes to make. The young woman nodded her head at Charlie as he suggested that they try and see if they could make the song better. She didn't think it was really possible, but she went along with him. Audrey didn't have much patience, so it was good that it did not take Charlie long to make the changes he thought would improve the song. The blonde singer decided that she liked watching him work. He lost some of that shyness in his face as he concentrated on the music. He became more confident, or so she thought. Confidence looked good on him. She wondered if working on music was the only time he felt himself as she could see that he really took pride in his craft. It was a feeling that she could relate to and understand as a true artist would.

Audrey moved toward Charlie, trying to get a better view of the music to see where it had been altered as he held it out for her. She was close enough to him on the couch now that they could both easily see the music she now held. "How about I sing it? That way we can both get a feeling for which one is better?" she suggested. Audrey motioned for Charlie to play the guitar once more. Eventually, she would learn to play the song. Often, she played parts of songs during her performances. Audrey listened for the cues and sang this new pitch. She smiled coyly at Charlie as she finished this new version of the song. "And here I was thinking that it couldn't get more perfect. You have a gift." she praised him, believing the words she spoke. It was more than just talent and skill.

 

[Charlie Linus]

As he was sat next to Audrey with her reading his music, Charlie started to feel the discomfort he often felt in social situations wash away just that little bit. He found this happened when he was around people that had knowledge of music. It was the one thing above all else that he found allowed a common ground with another person. Nothing else was strong enough to truly make a decent connection with a person. At a time, maybe it was easier, but too many people had broken the trust he had given them after too easily accepting their friendship. At least, when music was involved, Charlie could sit on an equal level to another person, if not on a higher one and know that he could come out of the situation reasonably well, because he had that. He had his music. Of course, he didn't think he sat on a higher ground with Audrey, as although he hadn't heard her play any instruments yet, she could look at Charlie's scribble of sheet music and understand it perfectly. On top of that she was a beautiful singer and her collection of guitars surely meant she was skilled in that respect too. He hoped that he would have the chance to listen to her play sometime, if not today. He realised that meant he actually wanted to see her again after today and the thought was scaring him less and less the more time he spent with her currently.

"Any excuse to hear you to sing again," he heard himself say, not realising the words had actually come out of his mouth. He forced down another blush, wondering when he had become so bold. In all fairness, he hadn't actually meant to say that out loud, not that it wasn't the truth. He cleared his throat loudly, as if to cover his words, in case Audrey wouldn't welcome them. "I, uh, okay, come in when you're ready," he said instead, as he began to play the opening cords. Charlie was at least prepared for Audrey's singing voice this time and was able to appreciate it more as she tested the new pitch. He tapped his fingers along his guitar and found himself not able to meet Audrey's eyes as she complimented him. Someone that appreciated his talent for music so earnestly was a rare find. He couldn't help but ignore the concern that constantly played in the back of his mind, that Audrey was going to abandon him or break his trust. Something felt different. He'd never truly shared a connection over music with someone like he was with Audrey. "Well you're welcome to any version, or you can change it up yourself. I'd love to hear you play sometime," he said, his voice getting quieter as his shyness crept back after he'd finished playing. The next part came out in an almost unintelligible mumble. "We could go to lunch or dinner or coffee or something," Charlie didn't know if that even counted as asking someone out, god he was going to make such a mess of this.

 

[Audrey Love]

Audrey smiled at the cheeky remark that Charlie made to her before he began to play the guitar as she requested. The young blonde woman was still smiling when the song ended. Charlie gave her permission to tweak the song as she desired, but Audrey didn't feel like that would be necessary. She lowered her green eyes before looking back up at Charlie as he requested to hear her play sometime. She wondered if his desire to keep seeing her had anything to do with the veela charms that were part of her nature. A coy smile danced on Audrey's pink lips as a response slipped out of her lips. "Anytime." she told him to his request to hear her play the guitar. She was good at it, though her singing voice was what really made her a star. "Do you ever sing the songs you write?" Audrey asked curiously, wanting to know more about Charlie.

Audrey's eyebrows raised as Charlie Linus seemingly asked her out. It was bold, and she liked it. For some reason, she didn't have many regular guys who could muster up the courage to ask her out. Her last boyfriend had been a big-shot who took all of his problems out on her. It hadn't lasted long, but she still had a few fond memories of their relationship. Once again, she wondered how much of an effect the veela part of her was having on him. Audrey ran her calloused fingertips through her blonde locks. "On a date? I would love to." Audrey said with a smile. "Though if you change your mind after this I understand, but you should know all the same. I'm part veela. It's not something I generally broadcast, but you should know if you want to take me on a date. I think the charms or whatever it is causes people, particularly men, to blurt out their thoughts." she said, having the strange realization that she actually wanted Charlie to get to know her. She knew that he could leave the studio and never make any attempt to contact her again, yet that was not at all what she wanted. Maybe Charlie Linus could find the courage to hang around in her crazy, hectic life. It was not easy to date Audrey Love. That even she could admit.

 

[Charlie Linus]

Charlie's lips tugged up into a small smile again at Audrey's acceptance of his asking to hear her play her guitar for him sometime. He felt his nerves spike up to his hair before dropping away completely at every easy response from the blonde in front of him. It was definitely keeping him on edge, but not quite in a way that he usually perceived as bad. When Audrey asked him a question he felt the unease again before he responded. "I guess so, to know if they sound right before I give them to the artists, but I'm not very good," he confessed, feeling like this whole meeting was the most he had spoken with anyone in years and that is probably what it was. However he found himself wanting more, wanting to know more about Audrey and strangely enough wanting to tell her more about him. She was beautiful and he never thought in his life he would have anyone so captivating asking questions about himself in a way that meant they were genuinely interested in him, not just being polite.

When Audrey asked if his blurted asking Audrey out meant on a date, Charlie stumbled and almost blurted out more stupid words before she replied that she would love to. "What, really?" he asked stupidly, almost not believing he had heard her right. He had pushed his guard back up for that last comment only to find out Audrey had been on the other side of the guard without him realising it. She had surprised him. "I mean, great, awesome, sweet," he mumbled. Well great, surely she doesn't want to go on a date now you idiot, Charlie thought to himself. It was then confusing when the blonde asked if he was going to change his mind and went on to confess that she was in fact a veela. Charlie had heard about those. Through his scraping by in school and eventually doing rather well for his lack of wanting to do anything else Charlie had learnt a bit about veela and how they were said to be the most beautiful creatures on Earth and had the ability to lure men in with their charms. Is that what was happening here? Charlie looked at Audrey, really looked at her. Granted that she was beautiful she was also interesting and played music and sang and had the same interests as Charlie. That was what had attracted him to her, not just her looks, although hey they were an added bonus right? Could a veela really want little old him though? She could have anyone she wanted, but why him? Charlie thought back to Carmen again quickly, thinking about how perfect he had thought she was only for her to take it away from him for someone better. Finally he decided to push it aside. One date with Audrey couldn't hurt right? "If it doesn't bother you, then it shouldn't bother me," he said a little unsure of himself, but he didn't let that come through in his voice. "Well, I was blurting things out before I met a veela, so nothing to worry about there," he joked.

 

[Audrey Love]

"Hmm." was all Audrey replied to Charlie when he said he wasn't very good at singing. She found that unlikely for several reasons, the first being that someone who could compose songs in such a beautiful way. The second was that she could hear a harmony in his voice when he spoke. The idea was firmer in her mind. She wasn't sure if he would go along with it. Audrey wasn't sure her producer would like it, but she didn't care. It was her album, and she knew she could sell this song. The stunning young blonde grinned at Charlie as he acted as if her acceptance was shocking to him. It really shouldn't be. Charlie was sweet and kind and seemingly honest. Audrey wanted to give him a chance. For once, she was going to try dating the nice guy instead of the reckless bad boy that typically stole her heart only to rip it to shreds.

Charlie took the news of Audrey's bloodline quite well. Better than she expected. His reply made her smile with ease. A small laugh escaped her lips. "Good to know it isn't all my fault." she said with a smirk at his joke. Audrey could only hope that it would be sooner rather than later. "I think the effects lessen the more time you spend around a veela." Audrey said, not entirely sure that that was accurate, but she hoped it might make him feel better. The blonde motioned for Charlie to wait a moment as she got up and went across the room to a desk. There, she picked up a few sheets of paper. She came back to her seat and picked up her guitar. A mischievous twinkle came into her bright emerald eyes as she handed the sheet music over to Charlie. "You wanted to hear me play, right?" she asked coyly. Audrey smiled charmingly at Charlie. "I want to hear you sing. Please sing this duet with me." Audrey said as she began to play the chords. Audrey started singing the song, hoping that Charlie would join in with her.