To Zanarkand

[Cairo Savage]

It was to the surprise of no one that Cairo had slept in this morning. It was also not a surprise that Rome, in all her impatient glory, had wandered off without him and was nowhere to be found when he walked into the common room. Immediately after realizing her absence, Cairo rubbed the sleep from his dazed eyes and began wandering the castle in search of his sister. His robes were crinkled, and his air a tatted, platinum blonde mess but Cairo knew better than anyone that Rome had a talent for appearing at the wrong places during the worst of times and the sooner he found her, the sooner he could cause mischief by her side rather than attempting to get her away from trouble when the mischief she caused without him took a turn for the worst. They were one in the same. They went down in flames together or they did not go down in flames at all and Cairo refused to live vicariously through Rome's stories when he could experience them in the moment. As Cairo continued searching throughout the castle he quietly began to sing one of his father's songs to himself, allowing the sound to echo throughout the corridor and reflect off the glass windows which kept him in tune and caused him to unconsciously sing louder as he progressed.​

 

[Emma Fontaine]

Emma was enjoying her time at Hogwarts, so much. She was free! Emma Alice Snow currently made her way through the first floor corridor, dying for someone else to talk to. She wanted some attention, and she wanted it now. That was why she was walking down the corridors, her blue eyes looking for anyone, absolutely anyone, she could befriend. However, something she heard really intrigued her. She could hear music! The Gryffindor jumped for joy as she hurried closer to the sound, until she skid to a stop when she saw a Slytherin with messy robes and hair. He was cute though. That she could admit. However the tune was just too sweet. So, the Gryffindor joined right with him. However, unlike her, he was actually good. Her sorry excuse for singing only made things sound so much worse. She could not help it though. No one had the heart to tell her otherwise. To her, she had the voice of angels.​

 

[Cairo Savage]

Cairo lived music, breathed music, and played music. It was a side effect of growing up with a parent that played music for a living. Whether he liked it or not, music was, is, and would always be part of his life. Haunting him whenever he introduced himself to new people, and becoming an aid when all he wanted was to kill time while endlessly pacing the castle corridors in search of his more impulsive half. What Cairo knew music was not, was the sound that assaulted his ears when an unfamiliar blonde girl crossed his path. His voice faded away as his steps halted to a stop. He paused and made eye contact with the girl and repeated his last note, hoping she would repeat it back to him in tune instead of continuing the assault on his ears.​

 

[Emma Fontaine]

Emma had no idea that she was really just, assaulting any living creature with her awful singing. Somehow, she believed herself to be really good, which seemed to be impossible due to how bad she really was. She was a good painter, but she just liked singing more because of the attention it brought to her. However, the music suddenly stopped, so she did as well. She smiled happily toward the boy, before he made eye contact with her. He repeated his last note, and looked as though he wanted her to repeat it as well. She did, again, with her horrible singing. After she finished, she grinned, "Wow, you are amazingly good! You have loads of talent!" Emma complimented, knowing that he was indeed, really good. Everyone who was good needed to know it, even if they already knew it.​

 

[Cairo Savage]

Any hope Cairo had of bringing the girl's singing towards the right tune shattered when she repeated the note in the same ear-piercing fashion. She had to be tone deaf. She must be tone deaf. Cairo had spent the majority of his life in the presence of musicians and talented vocalists. Occasionally he would be introduced to a poor soul with an over-inflated ego and the same level of talent as a doorstop, but the monstrosity of a sound that the blonde girl in front of him let out was on an entirely different level of terrible. He ignored her compliment and let his brow furrow into a frown before he opened his mouth to tell it to her straight. "You freaking suck."​

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[Emma Fontaine]

When the boy frowned, Emma had no idea what would be coming her way. She thought that things would have sounded fine. She thought that she sounded great! That was what her family told her. And the moment that he told her that she sucked, her cheery smile suddenly vanished. Only to be replaced by a pout. She sucked? "But, my mom and my family told me I was great. That I could shatter glass... Were they lying to me?" She now sounded even more pathetic, as she was just heartbroken. She slithered to the floor, onto her bottom and looked down at her hands. Could she be trained? She thought she had a huge talent in singing. Was her whole life a lie?!
​

 

[Cairo Savage]

The Slytherin had no idea in his mind of how he could react to the blonde girl's meltdown. He knew that comforting her was not his responsibility, and that any issues she had with his brutal honesty were just that; her issues. He was tempted to just turn around and leave so he could search another part of the castle for Rome, though he swallowed back the feeling and let his feet remain fixed to the ground as his eyes once again met the eyes of the blonde girl. "Get over it and grow up." He said, choosing to do her a favor in the form of continuing his brutal honesty. Judging by the fact her singing voice was one of the worst he had ever heard, she needed the favor. "It's just singing. It's not like you had the chance to make a career from it anyway." He felt his patience shortening as he continued to speak, knowing that if the girl didn't get her issues together he would just give up and walk away. Finding Rome was higher on his priority list than coddling some melodramatic blonde would ever be.​

 

[Emma Fontaine]

The thing about Emma Alice Snow, was that she was determined to never get down in the dumps. Perhaps singing was not her perfect career. Perhaps that was not where her true talent lies. Perhaps it was something more. Emma's pouting immediately ceased, as she was bouncing back as per normal. The Gryffindor smiled and she said, "Okay. Over it! So, are you going to sing as a professional? You might be able to make a career out of it." Emma didn't really know what she wanted to do. She wanted to sing, paint, dance, heal people, but she was also a first year and didn't really have a career choice in mind as of the moment. "I'm Emma Snow, by the way. What's your name?" Emma was determined to at least be the friend of the boy that crushed one of her many dreams.​

 

[Cairo Savage]

In spite of the fact this was all happening in front of his eyes, Cairo could barely believe how quickly the girl went from devastated to the ecstatic state she was prior to his decision to be brutally honest. It astounded him and caused him to wonder what on earth this girl had eaten for breakfast that would make her act so crazy. He was tempted to just face palm and leave because after having just woken up he had no tolerance for another person's weirdness. Though instead he raised one of his eyebrows and decided to have some fun with the girl. She seemed gullible enough to believe any word that left his mouth. "It's already a career for me. I'm famous on Broadway in the muggle world." He stated, matter of factly. "In case you did not know, Broadway is musical theater." His tone sounded patronizing as part of his attempt to act like any muggle celebrity. Like he believed he was better than her which was already partially true however that was beside the point. "I'm Rafael. It's a pleasure to meet a fan like you, Emma." Cairo was tempted to laugh at it all though managed to keep a straight face as he spoke. ​

 

[Emma Fontaine]

When the boy said that it was already a career for him, Emma's mouth almost dropped to the floor. "Oh my god, you are famous?!" Emma could not believe this. She was talking to someone who was bloody famous in the muggle world! Emma was so excited to be meeting, possibly befriending, someone with such awesome talent! Emma added, "I'm not allowed to really socialize within the muggle world so I don't know what Broadway is but it sounds amazing." A theater, which meant more music and whatnot. She loved muggles now that she knew that they were musically inclined, and accepting of an eleven-year-old. And his name was Rafael. "I'm not a fan of your Broadway stuff yet, but if I get to see a show, I want an autograph!" Emma was so happy but she managed to keep a calmer composure. She didn't want to scare him away after all. She was determined to make as many things as she could.​