And the Angels Sing }{ [Ben]

[Adèle Beauviller]

Adele Beauviller had had a tough beginning to her year. To start off the year, she had gone to visit her Grand-mere in France for the annual New Years Ball. Her grandmother had, of course, asked Adele why she was so thin, where on earth was her grandbaby? Never mind that the slight Slytherin wasn't of age- Grand-mere wanted a grandchild before she passed on.
Her mother was also working on her spring line of clothes, and Adele had spent many a long night over break looking at fabric swatches and standing on a pedestal, slowly being pinned into striped and polka-dotted summer dresses, diaphanous coming-of-age gowns, and frighteningly skimpy swimsuits (even in her opinion). Indeed, she was even doing work for her mother now, wearing the first version of a flowy, completely white ankle-length dress. Because it was still cold in the castle, she had a heavy, long brown sweater draped over her shoulders as she walked down the seventh-floor hallway.

And to top this all of, Adele still lived in a slight fear of Rabastan coming after her again- she had heard rumors of the boy going on a rampage of sorts after finding out Andromeda Black had a new last name- not exactly commendable behavior, but Adele didn't quite understand all the hubbub.

She sighed quietly and paced in front of the room of requirements- three times back and forth and she would be in a red plush room, soundproofed so there wouldn't be too many echoes- she would be in a room with an almost exact replica of her own harp at home. Playing her instrument was very calming to her, and one of the few passtimes her whole family approved of (even cranky, picky grand-mere) and it calmed Adele down considerably.
A few steps, and she was in the room. Immediately, she sat down on the stool and began idly plucking at the strings checking the tuning.

"Perfect. It's always perfect." A small, satisfied hum escaped her lips as she closed her eyes and ran through her scales, soon segueing into a gentle, rolling tune that brought to mind the movement of summer clouds across the sky.

[Benjamin Thornton]

So Benjamin Thornton's life hadn't been particularly interesting of late. The New Year had come and gone with a 'family party', to which approximately everyone Ben's mother knew had been invited. Still, Ben didn't mind- the human company had made up for a Christmas spent curled up reading in an armchair in front of the fire. Yes, it really had been that boring (with the exception of New Year's Eve, when a house elf accidentally found his way into the eggnog and almost set the mansion ablaze in his desire to see some 'fireworks'). As scary as it was to admit it, Ben was sort of glad to be back at Hogwarts. At least there was never any shortage of drama, and whilst the Slytherin shied away from gossip-mongering and being involved in the public eye, he had to admit that life would be uneventful without the quirks that made school so...well, quirky.

For instance, Rabastan Lestrange had gone completely insane almost as soon as school had re-commenced. Something about Andromeda Black going and marrying Ted Tonks over the Christmas holidays. Who even knew that his fellow Slytherin had it in him to actually feel something for someone? In any case, Ben was both glad and a bit worried about Rabastan's evident mental state. Glad because Lestrange's rejection by Andromeda was pretty much karma for all the dastardly things he'd done over the years, and worried since there was no telling what the younger boy would do now that he'd been unhinged. Ben wasn't completely prepared to have to defend Adele's honour once again- not because he wouldn't if the need arose, but due to the fact that, to be honest, he'd rather that his saviour complex never really be required any more.

Thoughts of that first night (the rush of anger, the adrenalin from punching that sorry git) still got him worked up- honestly, was it one of those things that'd hang over his head forever? He certainly hoped not, but for now it loomed clearly in his consciousness. Frustrated and paying no mind to the hour, Ben resolved to slip down to the Room of Requirements and have a bit of a turn on the piano. It was an odd way for a 'big, bad Slytherin' to vent, but that's what it was to Ben- a way to relieve stress. Throwing on a black coat over his partially unbuttoned white shirt and his dark trousers (he preferred to be comfortable in the Common Room than dressy), the boy made the long journey up from the dungeons to the Seventh Floor and stood in front of the wall on which the Room of Requirement's door would soon appear. He paced fretfully past the wall three times, keeping a covert eye out for any passers-by.

Unfortunately, his thoughts were a bit too muddled to come out as clear instructions for the mystical Room. I need a room where Adele...wait, what? I need a room so that I can piano Rabastan to a bloody pulp. Uhh...I want to play the piano, where's Adele? Screw this, Room. I need a place to play piano uninterrupted, thanks. So he'd completely botched his thoughts, but when he opened his eyes there was a door in front of him anyway. With a bit of trepidation, he opened it, not really knowing what he was going to find but relieved that something had shown up at all. The sight of red velvet padding on the walls confused him- this wasn't what usually showed up when he came. It was then that the rolling, soothing sound of a harp reached his ears. Curious, Ben ventured further into the room and did a double take when he saw Adele sitting in front of an unwieldy, but strangely alluring instrument, eyes closed as she gave herself over to the music.

Well, that explained a lot of things. The Slytherin was struck by a brief feeling of tenderness toward the girl as he realized that he'd never seen Adele so unguarded before, but then his eyes fell upon the piano that was sitting not far from the harp and he was reminded of what he'd actually come for. It'd be such a shame to interrupt Adele, though...perhaps he should leave and try again? He decided against it without much deliberation on the matter at all, and instead moved quietly to sit at the stool that was positioned in front of the ivory and ebony keyed grand piano that the Room had provided him with. Ben listened to the melody that was coming from Adele's harp for a few more moments before his hands fell to the smooth keys of the piano and he joined in softly, picking out notes here and there and providing a sort of counter-melody (albeit a stilted one) to what the girl was playing. He'd probably startle her, but really, there was nothing for it now, and so he just kept going.

[Adèle Beauviller]

Adele's eyes popped open, and her fingers faltered a little bit on the taut strings when she heard the gentle counter-melody was added into the tune she was playing. Was that a piano? She turned to look about, and saw, of all people, Ben Thornton playing a gently shining grand piano that had silently appeared not too far from where she was sitting. He was only playing solo for a moment though- the girl wasn't embarrassed or opposed to playing her harp in duet. She picked up her melody again and allowed the corner of her mouth to turn up in the slightest of mona-lisa smiles. She couldn't keep her eyes open while playing this song- it was honestly a bit of a bad habit. Her lesson teacher always joked that the girl would be murdered one day at her harp.

With a gentle flicking of her wrist, she finished off the song and looked back over at Ben. A bit of a flutter bounced around in her chest as she caught his eye- the duet had been surprisingly intimate, which, since the two of them weren't too far past acquaintances at this point, is what she told herself caused this flutter. Not the fact that he was dressed more casually then she had ever seen him, not that sliver of chest exposed by his unbuttoned shirt, and surely not the fact that the fact that her dress was curved blatantly around her legs because of her need to be astride her harp.

With a graceful movement aided by the fact that she only played on stools that spun, she adjusted her skirt and turned to face her companion directly. "Hello," Adele said, her voice at a more casual tone then was usually used with her housemates. Her harp was quite possibly the only thing that ever melted that skin-tight layer of ice, that aura she put out from herself on a daily basis. "This is a bit of a surprise." She tilted her head and a pale brown wave of hair moved in front of her eye. Ben looked so comfortable at that piano- it reminded her of the way her mother looked at a drawing table, how her father looked when he was reading his newspaper in the evening. It made her smile.

[Benjamin Thornton]

Ben didn't really miss the way that Adele's hands paused momentarily over her harp as she heard him join in on the piano. Perhaps he shouldn't have? He hadn't really realized how invasive it would be until he'd started playing- it was really very presumptuous of him, considering the fact that he and Adele were barely friends (more 'friendly acquaintances', come to think of it). So a moment of concern ensued when she stopped, and his eyes flickered sideways to rest on her still form, though his fingers kept moving fluidly over the ivory (a handy perk of having played for many years now). His gaze roved over her face, attempting to discern a reaction, and was not disappointed when with a cryptic upward turn of the mouth, Adele picked up where she'd left off on the harp. The Slytherin watched for a beat or two longer than necessary, and as a result managed to catch her eyes closing again. That was...unexpected. She normally seemed so much more alert and, though he didn't mean to be critical, cold. Right now, though, her characteristic guard was absent, and it was both confusing and endearing to Ben.

Adele chose that moment to deftly complete the song, and Ben was so absorbed in his thoughts that it almost happened without his knowledge. As it were, though, when her eyes met his he hastily ducked his head and looked back at the piano, a little embarrassed at having been caught staring at her. Like a moonstruck boy, he thought angrily, mentally scolding himself. Suddenly needing something to do, he maneuvered his hands into position for a soft perfect cadence. Once he removed his fingers from the keys (it felt odd to let them linger there with no purpose) he turned back to look at the girl, slight discomfort evident in the rigid way that he sat upon the piano stool. He didn't make a habit of playing piano in front of just anyone, but he'd just been seized by the impulse to join her before. It was, he decided, probably just as vulnerable a moment for him as it had seemed to be for her, but the oddest part was that he wasn't sure whether or not he minded it all that much. Then again, maybe his calm was a direct result of the soothing effect of the music.

The boy realized for the first time exactly what position Adele was in, sitting before her harp with her dress arranged in a way that suggested that people didn't normally wear such attire whilst playing that particular instrument. His mouth twitched involuntarily, as if it couldn't decide whether to become a smile or a frown, but eventually he settled for the former as she turned her revolving stool to face him. "Hello," he replied easily, thinking that their current, relaxed situation didn't call for anything more formal. Adele apparently shared his sentiments, judging by her laid-back tone. "A big surprise, actually," the Slytherin concurred mildly, before adding, "but not an unpleasant one, really." His left hand moved slightly as the girl canted her head to the side and some hair obscured one of her eyes, and, annoyed at himself, he tapped soundlessly at one of the keys with it and then moved it again so that it was lightly touching the stool. She appeared to be scrutinising him, so he said, in an attempt to fill the silence, "It's my fault, I guess. I must have gotten my instructions to the Room wrong. You play very well, though." Inclining his head towards the empty spot beside him on the piano stool, he spontaneously added, "Come over here. I want to show you something."

[Adèle Beauviller]

Adele felt herself flushing the tiniest bit. Ben had been watching her play, and she hadn't noticed until she looked at him on the piano. It wasn't that she was opposed to being watched as she played- that was a fairly common experience. it was the fact that it was him, that he seemed so absorbed in the observation itself, like he was looking at some representation of a goddess, like he was viewing art. She was hardly such, and that, she told herself, is exactly why the tiniest of blushes rose to her cheeks, marring their usual uniform, pale appearance.

As she looked at Ben, though, the girl noticed how uncomfortable he seemed. He looked rigid and kept moving his hands back and forth from the keys, occasionally playing nonsense tunes and melodies. She smiled the tiniest bit and tried to make her face seem more relaxed. "Don't worry about interrupting me, it was actually pleasant. And this is just what I think of as a music room." Adele's thin hand gestured at the plush red velvet and ornamental gold trimmings. "My mother is a fan of faux royale decor. But you're welcome in here whether I'm here or not. I've just had a bit of a stressful few weeks, I needed to unwind...in private."

She dipped her head, tucking the loose strand of hair behind her ear. He complimented her playing, and she simply nodded. "Thank you, Ben." One thing her mother had told her is that she need not be modest about her skills, but nor should she boast. Adele had spend to long playing the beautiful, unwieldy instrument for years- of course she was good at it.

When Ben asked her to come over, she only paused for a moment with her eyes cast on the floor. Adele stood, brushing her hands on her skirt to smooth the creases from sitting astride her harp. True, she probably should have changed into slacks before she came to play, but for the first time in a while, she hadn't wanted to think.
This thought process brought her the few steps to the gleaming grand piano. She sat down on the bench, not too close to the boy, but close enough for her to be able to feel the tiniest warming of the air between them from his body heat, close enough that she could smell the tiniest hint of...him. She looked down at the keys and placed her fingers gently on the ivory.

"Mother tried to get me to learn piano. I'm afraid all I remember is how to set my hands." She said quietly, placing her fingers on the keys. They were cool under her fingers. "All chance of me being a pianist flew out the window as soon as I saw that big thing over there."

[Benjamin Thornton]

The boy wondered (not for the first time that day) whether or not he'd been just too presumptuous with Adele when he saw her reaction to his request for her to move over and join him at the piano. She didn't seem troubled for long, though, since she quickly joined him (though he noted that she chose not to sit very close to him, which was something that sort of relieved him, to be honest). Ben blinked down at her hands as she moved them to sit properly on the keys of the glossy piano. "You have good technique," he pointed out, "even though you say you don't remember all that much." He smiled briefly, gently, as she spoke fondly of her harp again. "Of course. Some instruments just seem to draw certain people," he agreed, before saying, "In any case, I'll teach you how to play something quickly. You know, refresh your memory." He considered just playing the song through and then seeing if she could copy him, but that seemed...impersonal. "Hang on a second," he said, before twisting and smoothly rising from the piano stool.

The tall Slytherin stretched briefly, rolling his shoulders to loosen them, before moving so that he was standing behind Adele. He paused for a moment, hesitating, but then took the girl's hands in his own and placed them in the starting position for the piece that he was about to show her. It was an odd feeling, since because of the way he had his arms looped about Adele, he was effectively hugging her. Ignoring the scent of her hair, Ben cleared his throat and said in a hushed voice (the one that he reserved for when he was playing piano), "Alright. This is Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata." He slid his hands onto the ivories, choosing to play an octave below Adele so that he wasn't crowding her. Brow furrowed in concentration, he slowly played one melodious phrase before stopping as he came to a sudden realization. Whilst playing, it seemed that he'd unconsciously leaned forward so that he could see over Adele's shoulder, which was perfectly understandable (he did need to have some inkling of where the keys were, after all). A glance to his right, however, revealed that his face was very, very close to hers, and it bothered him.

Not because it had happened without his knowledge, and not due to the fact that it made him suddenly uncomfortable, but because, on the contrary, he was entirely too comfortable with his current position. After all, Adele was...warm- he could feel her body heat through the front of his shirt. So, like an idiot, he stood there staring at her for a moment or two, marvelling at the fact that he'd never seen her face from this close before (obviously, and for obvious reasons). He realized a few little things in that couple of beats, such as the fact that her eyes weren't simply blue, as he'd originally thought them to be, but rather that they had an interesting shade of grey mingled in them too. Snap out of it, Ben! The last vestiges of intelligence in his mind protested, causing him to stand up suddenly, remove his hands from the piano, and take a bracing step backwards, as far away from Adele as remaining polite would allow. "Ah-hem," he cleared his throat awkwardly, looking away from the girl and suddenly becoming engrossed in studying the gold inlay on the walls of the room that Adele had created.

[Adèle Beauviller]

Adele's mouth twitched up the tiniest bit- he was going to teach her something on the piano? Here's to hoping he would succeed where numerous piano teachers had failed. In fact, she really hoped so- for some odd, unfathomable reason, she wanted to please Ben by doing as well as she could, which is more than could be said about her other teachers. Crotchety old witches, lecherous old wizards who, despite her young age, eyed her up and down every time she walked in the room.

She raised her eyes from the keys briefly when Ben stood, and turned to watch him as he stood behind her. Was he going to-?
It seemed he was, and as his chest hovered near her back and his arms wrapped around her, Adele did her best to focus on what he was doing with her hands and not the slightly woody scent surrounding her from his very close person, did her best not to focus on the sudden, comforting warmth surrounding her in the slightly chilly room (even the room of requirements couldn't fend off the chill that permeated the castle in the winter months). Ben set her hands on the keys, and then moved his own appendages down an octave so she could imitate his movements without being crowded.

One slightly unexpected thing was how close he was to her own face when she turned her face slightly to watch his long fingers setting themselves up the same way hers were. Even more unexpected was the inexplicable urge she had to keep turning her face and let herself lean her face against his own.
She shook her head the tiniest bit, clearing her head just in time to watch and hear him play the first few lines of the piece he had mentioned. She concentrated for a second before looking down at her own hands and slowly moving her fingers in the proper way.

Her tune was significantly slower than Ben had played it, but she managed to hit the correct notes. Suddenly, the boy behind her stepped away, removing the comfort and warmth his body had been providing. Whatever moment Adele had been feeling rushed away with the cold air slipping across her back, and she creased her brow a little bit, taking her hands off the piano. In truth the girl had been so focused on getting the notes and tune correctly that she hadn't even noticed Ben's glances- and so she misunderstood his reason for pulling away.

"Surely it wasn't that bad," she murmured, taking her hands off the keys and looking down at her lap. "In fact, my last piano teacher might call you a miracle worker." Involuntarily her lips twitched up for a second before she looked over her shoulder at Ben. He hadn't retreated very far, as she'd thought originally, and he was studying the gold inlay on the wall nearest them. He really was quite handsome, with eyes that were a purer blue than her own. Embarrassed, and afraid she would be caught mooning over him, se quickly glanced away from him and back at the black and white piano keys, though she made no move to touch them again.

[Benjamin Thornton]

It was very...distracting to try and teach Adele how to play when he was so close to her, when her hair was sort of tickling his nose, and when he was so...comfortable with having her in his arms (well, almost in his arms- the fact that they were playing piano sort of detracted from that, but only very slightly). This is wrong, he mused briefly, and I shouldn't be so at ease right now. But I am, for some reason. He didn't want to think about the significance of the situation right now (in fact, he would have been happy if he could simply stop thinking for a while) and so he just kept moving his fingers over the keys, taking comfort in the fact that playing piano, if nothing else, was a precise and steady art, and one that required immense thought.

Out of the corner of his eye he noticed her shaking her head slightly, and he found himself wondering why she would be doing that. Was she...unhappy with the song he'd chosen? The fact that he was so close? He didn't know, and he almost wished that he could read her mind, if only to figure out what she was thinking (and, even more importantly, whether what she was thinking was the same as what he was thinking). When she started playing, Ben was surprised. Pleasantly so. It seemed as though she'd retained more of her piano lessons than she gave herself credit for, because even though she was playing more slowly than he had been, she got all of the notes right and produced a very pretty tune.

Proud for some reason, Ben smiled with satisfaction, until he heard what Adele said when she'd finished. Instantly, he was mortified. She'd misinterpreted his moving away, thinking it was because he was...displeased with her playing? He couldn't believe he'd been so insensitive. So anxious to reassure her that he almost tripped over his own words, the Slytherin said, "No, it wasn't bad at all!" Wringing his hands in an uncharacteristic sign of nervousness, he tried to figure out how he could explain his odd actions. "It was wonderful. I was shocked, but in the best way possible. You're too modest about your abilities, really." He grinned and nodded at her from where he stood (still some distance away from her) in encouragement.

"Hah," he almost scoffed at her 'miracle worker' comment, "I think that you work your own miracles, Adele." The statement was delivered with a certain degree of warmth, and Ben was both amused and bemused to discover that any distance and coldness he may have once displayed towards her (because of propriety, naturally) had somehow been dissolved. "Really, I'm impressed," he finished, somewhat lamely, as he noticed her looking back towards the piano keys and not at him anymore.

[Adèle Beauviller]

Adele's lips twitched up in a soft smile when she looked up suddenly to see Ben looking the most distraught she had ever seen him. Was he...wringing his hands? She chuckled quietly (most things she did were quiet or soft, even in the happily relaxed state she was in at the moment) and nodded in acceptance of his compliment. "Well then, I don't mind you pulling away if it was simply in happy amazement. And maybe I'm just good at imitation. I fear I don't have the drive to practice, though..." She lowered her eyes so her lashes brushed the top of her cheekbones- one of the more accidental and endearing habits she had. But never the less, she saw Ben's grin, and it gave her a strange heating in her stomach. That was odd.

The boy's next words, though, made her move to scoot off the piano bench. (not that a girl of her grace would do anything so undignified as to scoot) She meant to stand up, talk about how one has to make their own miracles in this world, how she was sure that he could make his own miracles- after all, he had become a sort of miracle for her.
But, in some strange, ironic twist of fate, her dress got caught under the leg of the piano bench, and she simply plopped, bottom first, onto the floor. Adele let out a most unladylike "oof" before realizing that she was, indeed on the ground and was sprawled in the most ridiculous manner possible.

He sound that came out of her mouth next was at first the tiniest of a whispered chuckle, and then she was laughing so hard that a couple of tears ran down her face. What a fool she had made of herself- Ben was probably walking away as she sat there, sprawled on the floor with quite an undecourous amount of leg showing. There was absolutely no way to recover from this and still have her dignity, so she simply wiped her eyes a little bit and lay back on the floor.

She was startled to see, as she opened her eyes again, that Ben was still standing over her and was now only a scant distance away from her fanned-out hair on the floor. She met his eyes silently (and completely upside down). He really was extremely tall, especially from this vantage point- and for a slight moment longer than propriety allowed, she looked at his face and into his eyes with the tiniest of absentminded smiles. She wasn't quite sure how she felt about this, but the warm feeling in her stomach from earlier had returned. In an attempt to keep any of the heat from traveling to her face, she closed her eyes and said what she had been planning to say before she fell. "I suppose everyone makes their own miracles in this world." A huff escaped from her lips and she opened her eyes. "Impressed at how gracefully I fall off piano benches, naturally."