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A Little Music in the Courtyard; Open to any and all! Please join?
Topic Started: Feb 26 2008, 12:47 AM (517 Views)
Shane_O
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5th year Gryffindor
Shane aka Shay, carried her Irish Harp in it's case over her shoulder as she moved out into the courtyard, the grounds of Hogwarts seemed so quiet, almost deserted. She didn't want to disturb anyone in the gryffindor tower who might be trying to get a leg up on their homework, besides she wanted to be outside.

Shay found a sunny little nook in the courtyard, a little out of the way, as she sat down on a bench and opened her harp case. Most people thought of big huge classical peddle harps, the kind you saw at church. Her harp was far smaller and lighter, the kind bards had carried all over the island back in the day when there were such a thing as bards, a folk harp. The wood of her harp was beautiful and carefully carved with Celtic knot work, the wood a deep rich reddish wood.

She straddled the bench, setting the harp between her legs and tilting it back against her shoulder, tuning the pegs a bit. She didn't need a tuning fork, as she had perfect pitch, and when she was satisfied that the instrument was well tuned, she started to pluck the strings.

Shay wasn't playing anything specific, just improvising, "jamming" as it were. She closed her eyes, losing her self in the sun, the music and the gentle breeze. After a while, she added her voice to the haunting melody, not singing, per se, nor exactly was it humming, but a wordless sort of vocalization, a very traditional Irish keen. It wasn't exactly mournful, though keening usually was, but it was certainly haunting.
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Tally Adams
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Fifth Year Ravenclaw
Tally walked through the courtyard covered in sweat. Her tennis racket was in one hand and her ball in the other. She had found a nice little area near the school with hard enough ground that she could play tennis against the wall of the school. Whenever she had a free morning, Tally always made sure she was practicing her swing against the wall so that she didn't get out of practice.

Aside from that, it was a good workout and always gave her so much energy afterward.

As she walked in her tennis shorts and t-shirt, Tally heard music. She paused and tilted her heard towards the sound to get a better understanding of it. It sounded like...a cello? No, that wasn't right. It was definitely string though cos it sounded plucky-ish. But it definitely didn't have the same tone as violins did. Not that Tally had the first clue about instruments. Her brother had teased at the idea of being a 'Rockstar' when he had been a teenager, but Tally had been so young then that she could hardly remember it.

Her uncle liked to play the guitar, but that was when they went on camping trips and he played stupid little camp songs that didn't really make any sense but made people laugh anyway. Tally didn't think that applied to the music she was hearing now. It had depth and Tally could feel a chill go through her as she listened.

Curiosity, as always, getting the best of her, Tally moved towards the music until she came upon the source of it. She recognized the girl from her lessons. What was her name again? Shane, but that wasn't what she was called....Shay? Shay was it. Tally was so used to hanging out with Eris (and had been preoccupied by her first and only boyfriend who had since left), that she hadn't really branched out to get to know anyone else.

Tally stood silently watching the girl play. It looked like a harp, but smaller. Like the sort that little Cupids ran around playing when they weren't shooting people in the butts with arrows. When it seemed certain that the girl had noticed Tally, she smiled brightly at her. "Blimey, that was good."
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Shane_O
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5th year Gryffindor
Shay finished her song and looked up a bit surprised. She smiled a little shyly, placing her hands on the strings to silence their last reverberations. "Oh, hello Tally," She knew Tally's name. She knew the name of all the girls in her year. Largely because she wasn't very deft at making friends, but wanted to. "It was just so nice out... I thought I come sit out here for a bit," She smiled a little again, running a hand absently over the bow of her harp. "Were you playing tennis?" She asked, judging by the racket, then felt dumb, because of course that's what Tally had been doing. People didn't just walk around with tennis rackets!

She smooth a couple fly-aways behind her ears, and gave one pigtail a nervous tug. She was dressed rather boyish at the moment, "boyfriend" jeans and the layered t shirt look a that had been in style last year, with bright red converse sneakers. It was sort of an eclectic look, but it suited her. "Ah... have a seat, if you like..." she offered scooting back on the bench a bit to make room for Tally.
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Tally Adams
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Fifth Year Ravenclaw
"'ello Shay." Tally greeted back, her smile on full force as it usually was. At the mention of the weather, Tally looked up to the sunny sky, her green eyes squinting into the sun. It was a splendid day. If Tally was with her dad, she would have made him take her out for a hike. If nothing else, having an Auror for a father and a brother had definitely made Tally an active person. Not to mention, gave her a well rounded vocabulary.

At Shay's question, Tally twirled the racket in her hand, a complete expert at it having played the game since she was eight. "Every chance I get." Tally answered enthusiastically. Tally loved the way the racket formed into her hand. It was made just for her. Everything about the sport, she loved. It made her feel powerful. It gave her a purpose that was entirely different than the purpose that drove her to be a Healer. Plus, it was something that she could share with others.

"Found a nice little patch around the bend there against the school that I can play comfortably." Tally informed Shay. "I miss playing so much, so finding it was like finding Heaven."

Tally graciously took the offered seat and glanced at the instrument. "Is that a baby harp or something? You play it well."
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Shane_O
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5th year Gryffindor
"I know what you mean," Shay nodded. "I miss muggle sports too, when I'm here, playing rugby and soccer with my brothers." When Kerry was home, they'd play three on three. Rugby was especially fun, as it rarely lasted to long before it just became a six man free for all. She bit her lip a little, glancing at Tally, she had a reputation for being nice, so Shay hoped she wouldn't give her a hard about playing muggle sports with the boys.

"Oh, thank you, I do alright. This is a folk harp. Some people call them Irish Harps, but any harp can be an Irish harp, all that means is that it's decorated in celtic fashion. Folk harps are small harps. And see, they have pegs and levers to adjust the tuning. The big classical harps have peddles." Shay explained, sort of all in a rush, as she showed the pegs on her harp that the strings were mounted on, smiles and excitement for a moment. But she skidded to a verbal halt, biting her lip again. It was a shutter over a window, for a moment there was a brilliant sunny glance, then it was slammed shut suddenly.
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Tally Adams
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Fifth Year Ravenclaw
Tally continued to twirl the racket through her hands. She still felt so pumped by having just practiced. She could feel the wind rip over her arm when she smacked the green tennis ball against the net of her racket. Or the sweet sound it made when it made contact with the ground on it's small hop. "Brothers? How many have you got?" Tally asked, curious. Eris had a bunch of brothers too compared to Tally.

"I used to make my brother, Josh, play tennis with me, but he's rubbish at it and I always kick his arse." Tally explained with a grin. "I think he just liked to humor me since Tennis is the one thing that I am really into."

She listened quietly while Shay explained her harp to Tally. Tally didn't play instruments. Not one and hadn't really given them much thought in all honesty. But it was clear that Shay loved playing it by the look on her face and by how excited she was while she spoke about it. But as happy as she had been, Shay suddenly stopped. Tally found at her for a moment, wondering if perhaps she had over stepped her boundaries. "It's very beautiful. I don't play instruments, but it's obvious that you love to play that."

Tally paused for a moment, thinking. "That man you were with in Tesco, I saw him sitting at the staff table at the feast. You're related, right?"
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Shane_O
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5th year Gryffindor
"I have five brothers," Shay said with an affectionate role of her eyes. "And two uncles. And all my brothers are older." What could she say... she loved them. You know, like you loved a pack of over zealous puppies.

"I've never tried tennis before. But if you ever get sick of playing against the wall, I'd be willing to give it a go," Shay offered. She was pretty athletic, and she bet she could at least give Tally more to work with than the wall did. She nodded when Tally spoke of her harp.

"I do love to play. It's sort of a family thing. You know, like the Partridges?" She smiled a little, relaxing a bit when Tally didn't seem to think her hobby was lame. "And yes, I'm related to him," Shay sighed, sounding a bit peevish. "That's Kerry, and he's my older brother. He's the new DADA professor. He's the oldest of all of us. I'm sure he'll be a good DADA teacher, he went to the Auror academy."
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Tally Adams
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Fifth Year Ravenclaw
Tally's eyebrow went up when Shay commented on the number of brothers she had. Five. That was insane. "And here I thought I had it rough with just my brother and my Dad." Tally joked. Truth was, she wouldn't give up any moment that she had with her boys. They took good care of her even if they didn't quite understand everything they needed to when it came to teenage girls. Thankfully, she had her cousin, Sue, to help her with all that stuff. "I've only got the one brother, Josh. He's way older though."

"Tennis is wicked fun. For me anyway." Tally amended. She knew, like most sports, it was an acquired taste. "My cousin taught me how to play when I was little and whenever I lived with them while Daddy and Josh were away, we played it together all the time. Now if I don't play it for long periods of time, I feel completely out of whack." Tally explained, looking her racket over with care. She might take Shay up on her offer but for now she give the wall a chance. She needed to learn to be more adaptable anyway.

The Partridges? "That family that was on the tellie?" Tally asked. She didn't really know much about it since she didn't watch a lot of television growing up and the show was before her time, but she knew that the singer from it was a huge icon amongst the women of her parents generation. Tally was a little relieved to know that the man was her brother and not anything romantic. "He went to the Academy?" Tally asked, suddenly excited, "My dad and brother are both Aurors." She paused for a moment before adding, "I think I would prefer them to be professors like your brother."
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Vivienne Marx
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First Year Ravenclaw
Vivi had been studying up in the Ravenclaw common room when she heard beautiful harp melodies streaming up from below. Curious, and sick of Herbology homework, she abandoned her books and wandered down to the Courtyard.

By the time she reached the grounds, the music had stopped and it took her some time to come across the two older girls, sitting and talking on a sunny bench.

Not wanting to interrupt the pair, Vivi made to double back the way she came, but was afraid they may have already noticed her. Instead of abruptly returning inside, Vivi edged her way along the wall of the castle toward the girls, occasionally glancing their way and shielding her eyes from the bright sun. She really had no idea where she was going now, and hoped it wasn't too obvious. Maybe they'd be friendly and notice her, maybe they'd ignore her... no harm in taking a walk on a beautiful sunny morning.
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Shane_O
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5th year Gryffindor
"Yeah, the family was a band and traveled on a bus. All of my brothers play instruments too, so we play together a lot," She explained. "Though, we don't travel on a bus," she chuckled a little.

"We're really glad Kerry's a professor too. The Ministry refused to hire him, even after he went through three years of training and stuff... he was so upset. Right pissed too." Boy that had been a long uncomfortable summer.... Her brother was usually affiable, but when he was moody, boy howdy was he moody. "We were glad though, it would have been so scary if he'd been an auror. I bet you're scared for your family all the time," Shay said with sympathy. She was a bit distracted though.... what was that first year up to?

"Hey, isn't that one of the new first years?" Shay murmured to her companion, indicating Viv with a tilt of her head.
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