Music Advice from a Stranger

Kayla was tiring of the viola. Or maybe the viola was tiring of her. Viola and piano practice had been sacrificed for Quidditch and it showed. It was shocking how things that had once been her life were now barely touched. She just didn't fancy it much anymore.  Too slow and soft for her. However, she still loved music. She still frequented the Melodic Studies room and got strange looks.

She picked up various instruments around the room. They were a good mix of Muggle and magical. She wanted a loud instrument. Kayla picked up the tuba and struggled to get it in the correct position. She took a deep breath and blew into it, releasing a horrible loud noise. She liked loud noises, but not this one. Maybe she could get better. Kayla added the tuba to her list of potentials.

She realized someone else had watched her with a raised eyebrow, a guy who looked a little younger. Most people didn't go into the Melodic Studies room at  this time. Maybe the guy was a musician. "I'm amazing right?" she joked, setting down the heavy instrument. "You play an instrument? I need one."

His E-string sprang as the girl was playing tuba. He knew his guitar wasn't in the best shape, but was that really necessary? Was there even a spell for that? Now he would have to ask Madame Boux... Again... He really thought she was getting tired of him asking for very weirdly specific spells. How else was he going to get exactly 27,3 grams of sulfur?

"Well, you're probably still better on tuba than I am on guitar, but I just really like the vibe this thing is giving me. You know, like how I could just burst into song at any moment?" He demonstrated with a simple chord, but with his missing E-string it sounded, lightly put, abysmal. He cringed. "Uhm... Anyway, I'm guessing you play something other than tuba?"

"I love that vibe on instruments," Kayla smiled dreamily. "That's why I want to keep playing music, even if I'm horrible."

She noticed a string on his guitar was askew. It was definitely causing the dysfunctional chord. "If you want, I could try to fix that," she suggested. Kayla figured she could try even if she wasn't a repair genius.

"Are you an aspiring guitarist?" she asked as she ran her fingers up and down the sleek tuba. "Music is great. I don't know a lot of people here who play regularly." She was already imagining her and this guy being music buddies. "I'm Kayla Miller." She figured he knew from watching or even merely hearing about Quidditch games but it was foolish to assume everyone knew her. "What's your name?"

"I used to play viola and piano. They're not really my instruments anymore," she shrugged. "I want to find a louder instrument with more...pizazz." Kayla beamed.

She sounded like she found herself quite a big deal, however she wasn't arrogant... 

"Do you think you can fix it? Aidan, by the way. And I'm not that good, but I was in a diving accident last year and I couldn't leave bed, so I decided to pick up guitar! It's been something I always wanted to do, but never quite could. You know, I guess you really should give everything a chance. Even if it is nearly drowning."

Did he really just say that out loud? He wasn't quite sure. It sure did sound a lot better in his head... Quickly deciding to change topic, he said: "So, uhm... Did you try out bass? This one kid in my year could play it so cool, when he went full jazz... It was so dreamy..."

Did he really just say that out loud too? This was just going to be a long, long line of embarrassments...

"Probably not," Kayla admitted. She pulled out her wand and pointed at the string. "Reparo!" Surprisingly, the string sprang back to the guitar. "It worked!" she beamed, tucking her wand back into her robes. "Charms aren't my strong suit."

She listened to Aidan's story with rapt interest. She winced. "Ouch, a diving accident is pretty serious. Are you better now? You could try diving in Silver Lake. You could maybe even look for the mermaids," Kayla suggested. She and Greg had done that once with no success.

She decided she liked the guy. She liked people with the "give everything a chance" mentality. And he had overcome a pretty serious accident. "I nearly drowned once. In my pond. When I was eight. I'm not a diver," Kayla joked. She adjusted her tone more seriously. "How did you recover?"

"No, I don't much fancy playing guitar. My friend Jonas is an excellent bassist. I do like jazz. It's easy to rock out too," Kayla beamed.

She picked up two cymbals off a table and crashed them together. "Nope. These aren't my instruments either," she laughed, setting them down.

She fixed his string just like that! He smiled at her. Reparo... He should remember that one. 

"I'm actually planning on going diving in the lake, so I hope nothing in there is going to rip me in half... I've read some serious stuff in the Care of Magical Creatures book..." He was actually seriously worried. Krakens were not fun. "That pond challenge is so real... And the day I had the accident is the day I discovered magic. I just vanished from the seafloor and appeared on the surface. You know, if I had known I could do that, I would have done it way sooner! Anyway, after I swam to shore I actually got a little afraid of water. So I stayed in bed for like, six months. It wasn't fun, but I had to catch up if I didn't want to become a first-year at the age of 14."

He started to improvise to her smashing the cymbals together. "You know, if you're searching for something, it might be good to know what you're actually looking for. Any ideas for that?"

"That should be fun. If you use some protective charms you'll be fine," Kayla assured the fourth year with a smile. "If all goes well I'll come along with you next time just to swim and dive, like, a few inches. We can wave hi to the mermaids too," she joked.

"It's funny how magic saves lives," Kayla beamed. "That must have been completely shocking for you, given the situation. So you had to study three years of material in six months on your own?" she asked with wide eyes.

Kayla looked around the room and made a quick decision. "Um, yeah. Actually, I think I want to play drums." She picked up a stick and hit it amateurishly. "Not bad. I can work with this," Kayla decided optimistically.