all the small things | open

The common room was eerily quiet, especially so close to finals. Normally people were spread out over the place for last minute cram sessions instead of sleeping. The great hall called apparently, but she had chosen to stay and get some reading in before detention. Kale and his stupid punishments were going to be the death of her, taking away both precious study time and practice hours over something trivial. They hadn't hurt anyone, right?

Stretching out, Lyric closed her book. Maybe she should join everyone else downstairs for a little while at least. Detention wasn't for another hour or two and the book was starting to make less and less sense the more she read it. Before she could make a final decision, footsteps broke her concentration. Who in the world was still up there other than her?

They had told Rafael to avoid situations like these – the spurts of procrastination and instinctual tendencies to lay on the floor pretending to be a potato. However, being the insubordinate delinquent that he was, he took a nap. Wrong choice.

“Holy…” A groan escaped Rafael’s mouth as he absentmindedly stretched his aching limbs. He felt it – that pang of regret for defying his consciousness. Or was that the feeling of dehydration instead? Regardless, Rafael quickly glanced out the window – it wasn’t completely pitch black and it didn’t seem like it was morning. It’s all about the smallest of victories. He still had time left to study for finals, nothing to worry about.

For now, it was probably his best interest to attempt to look presentable and find a study buddy. After a few minutes of digging through the room Rafael found his school uniform. Dressed and slightly ready, he made the way down into the common room.

Hurrying down the steps Rafael ran through his game plan. He could cross into the library before making his way to the study hall. A book about potion facts? Maybe review over some intermediate spells? Yeah, that sounded like an idea. He could do that.

As soon as he found his way into the room however, he noticed Lyric. Maybe a slight detour was in order – after all, he hadn’t talked to her for quite a while. There was still a lot of time left in the day, one single conversation wouldn’t hurt. Besides, the more friends the merrier.

“Isolated, silent, ominous fire in the background. A little too creepy for my taste.”

Grinning, the boy made his way to the chairs. “What’s up?”

"Studying." Lyric replied with a sour expression, gesturing to the books in front of her. "History of Magic is the bane of my existence. It's cooler than muggle history, but I can only memorize so many dates before I want to bash my head in to the table." The book mark in her hand made it's way to her most recent place so that she could slam the book shut and focus on the conversation.

Unlike Rafael, Lyric was far from ready to leave the common room. Her sweatpants and t-shirt suggested that she probably shouldn't have left her room to begin with, but that was besides her current point. She didn't have anywhere to be right now and she refused to change and be uncomfortable until she absolutely had to.

"What about you? Everyone else has been gone for forever or locked themselves up in the dorms." Maybe he knew some secret to the exams that she didn't. Either that or he paid more attention, which was completely possible. Lyric definitely wasn't the best student by a long shot.

Rafael plopped himself down onto the chair across from Lyric. With any hope, maybe this conversation would somehow miraculously help him learn all the material on each final. Sure as hell much more interesting than reading all those old books anyway. Rafael took notice of the pile of books after his eyes followed her motion towards them. This girl did some work, he thought to himself. He reached for one of the books quickly flipping through the contents as she went on a diatribe over History of Magic. “I’m impressed Lyric. Diligent studying, a study room all to yourself, all the while a championship quidditch game next week? I’d probably fall victim to the stress a lot quicker than you,” he cheekily told her before closing the book.

Letting out a small huff of laughter, Rafael adjusted himself in the chair digging deeper into the cushion. How weird is it that even with all this magic, students are still stressing about finals? Couldn’t some genius create a cheating magic to solve all of the modern learner’s problems? Guess the technology just isn’t there yet…, he sourly thought to himself as he briefly scanned the title of the books, mentally constructing a list of all the class finals he has to take in the very near future.

“I’m a bit on edge,” chuckling at his own predicament, Rafael continued his story. “Just woke up from a nap that I wanted all day long – didn’t turn out to be exactly how I imagined it to be. And with finals approaching, I am slowly contemplating my life decisions – while trying to study, of course.”

"I'd rather be practicing." Lyric conceded, suppressing a small laugh as he talked. Rafael was funny, she had to give him that. Finals didn't seem to be eating him alive as much as it was some of the others, but then again they had only been talking for a few minutes. "It's kinda redundant though if I can't pass this stupid exam. Which ones do you need to study for? I've got note cards for Potions and Charms already if you want to look at them." Grabbing the labeled stacks, she tossed them in Rafael's direction before pulling the History book back towards her to open it up again.

Her response was a warm welcome, and it felt uplifting for Rafael. It was one of those rare moments when he truly got to spend time with a teammate off the quidditch field. It wasn’t just a camaraderie for flying broomsticks and volatile bludgers, it was a friendship in the making. Hopefully, it wouldn’t burn out horribly, but live out its life fabulously. He didn’t see a valid reason why it wouldn’t.

“What I would give for it not to be finals week.” Oh jeez, there were actually so many things he would’ve given to not take them, but it was no use now. He had to buckle down and get right to what he needed to do.

He felt the relief surge through his chest as Lyric tossed the cards over to him. Somehow, despite all the poor decisions he had made today – Lyric turned his ‘meh’ day to a pretty decent one and he couldn’t help but smile at that fact. “Okay, I have to say this, you rock. Thanks.” Grabbing the stack, he made his way through the information. Thankfully, there was quite a bit that he remembered. Thank the lord for amazing teachers like Professor Zimmerman.

The further and further he got into the material, however, the more it made him realize how much review he needed. And there were more exams than just potions and charms. “Why didn’t I take a music class this year?” He muttered out loud, flipping through the cards. It was always a subject that resonated more with him than the others. He was a sucker for the fine arts, and it would’ve probably made his academic career a lot less taxing.

Rafael's last comment made Lyric pause for a moment, the textbook forgotten. "I didn't know you were in to music too." She started slowly. It wasn't a well kept secret that her dad was rock star Liam Lee, the only thing keeping her from fending off screaming fan girls were that the public thought her first name was Lexie and that she was legally registered at a boarding school in the U.S.. Only a few people had guessed it so far and none of them really seemed to care.

Lyric shook her head, chasing away the thought that he might have only brought up music because of Liam. The chances of him knowing were slim and he was a pure blood, so he probably didn't even know he existed. Most of that special group only listened to wizard bands. Elitist snobs. "Do you play? I have my guitar up in my room." it was her prized possession, a gift from her father and the rest of the guys for her first trip to Hogwarts. She had been playing since she was five. What else was there to do on a tour bus?

Rafael raised his eyebrow at Lyric as he slowly gave up paying attention to the note cards. This certainly is news to me. He hadn’t met anyone before Lyric that openly stated to him that they enjoyed the musical arts. “I have been for quite a while, since I was a brat I believe.” He smiled, music was probably one of the many reasons he had stayed sane during his youth. It gave him a nice outlet to release all the frustration.

“You can play the guitar?!?” Excitement filled his voice – he looked at Lyric with admiration. “I never did learn how to play an instrument, but it’s on my bucket list though.” He paused for a short while, imagining what kind he would’ve wanted. Piano? Violin? Or maybe the Ukelele? “I do sing with a little composing on the side, however.” It was always a good feeling for Rafael when he composed. Sure, at times it was confusing but it always was a nice reward to just create his own piece.

A sly smile crept on his face, he had an idea. “Hey, instead of studying let’s have a jam session!”

Study for a test she probably was going to pass, or jam session? The jam session always won out over just about everything, except maybe Quidditch practice and that really depended on the day. "Dude, let's do it!" She cheered, jumping up as she did to run upstairs and grab her guitar. Thank goodness that no one else was in the common room or they would probably be ticked already, much less with what they were about to do.

A few short minutes later she was hurrying back down the stairs, case in hand. "Okay, which song first?" And if you say Lexie, I'll have to hurt someone. Lexie was the song her father wrote for her as a lullaby when she was a few weeks old. His manager had convinced him to release it on an album after the band recorded it for her. Apparently he had tried the 'leave the baby with a nanny' thing for about two days when she was little and the bass player came up with a hair brained scheme to make sure she could hear Liam's voice every night. It hadn't lasted long. He might have sucked at it some times, but at least Lima Lee was an attentive father. Unfortunately he DID release the song and it had become quite popular. It was weird hearing your lullaby on the radio.

Rafael thought his options hard, like really hard. He didn’t want to disappoint his fellow chaser – yet his music knowledge had not been caught up to pace with the modern times. Back home his focus on music mainly focused on the Muggle greats: Haydn, Stravinsky, Armstrong, and so on. His interest in the contemporary music of the time had been only just recent, mostly because of him being away from his parents. However, out of all the genres rock and pop had to be a clear cut above the rest – the energy that both styles exuded was a treat for him.

“How about ‘Hey There Delilah’ by the Plain White T’s?” he asked innocently. He mused over the song, silently thinking about the tune. Hopefully anyone that decided to revisit the Gryffindor common room enjoyed a good song or two, or else their night would’ve turned out to be really unfortunate.

all the words!	RAFAEL ARI DIAZ
OUTFIT: Where, oh where has my link gone?	NOTES: yay music!

don't you dare look back

Lyric nodded her approval, taking the guitar out of its case and perching it in her lap. The mostly unused strap with her name on it laid across her knees, too pretty to be taken off but not necessary for her to play. She strummed a few chords, listening carefully for the tuning. 

"I'm ready when you are." Lyric relayed to Rafael, playing the first few notes and humming along to make sure the tempo was right. She wasn't familiar with actually playing the song in question, but she had heard it enough to give it a good shot. 

just keep your eyes on me

HAYANA OF CAUTION 2.0

Rafael smiled when he heard the strumming of the guitar – he had also felt a bit anxious too. But that was beside the point, all he really wanted to do was sing. There was absolutely no way he was going to let this opportunity get away from him.

“Alright.” He nodded toward Lyric as he cleared his throat. “Three. Four.” Counting off the beats before he started – Rafael thought about the note that she had hummed to use as a starting pitch. This was going to be fun. And with that in mind, he started to sing.

“Hey there, Delilah. What’s it like…”

tag: LYRIC LEXIE LEE, words: blah, notes: how should we do the singing? xD

template by caedmon of GS

ummm...singing...sooo	TAG RAFAEL ARI DIAZ
I'm not sure how to do that....	let's wing it

don't you dare look back

Lyric smiled as Rafael joined in, enjoying the time. The tension that had started eating away at her earlier seemed to fade away as she took up singing with him. Playing was relaxing, but to actually use your own voice? Now that could soothe the soul.

"I'm a thousand miles away
But girl, tonight you look so pretty
Yes you do".

Matching his pitch in almost perfect harmony, Lyric continued on alongside Rafael, looking down at the guitar to make sure she didn't miss anything with the unfamiliar song. So far, she thought they were doing pretty good for two people who had never jammed together before.

just keep your eyes on me

HAYANA OF CAUTION 2.0

A few minutes had passed since they started to sing. It was all Rafael had imagined and more – not to mention Lyric was a great singer and guitarist. He couldn’t remember the last time he got to express himself musically over the past year. Between all the hectic studying and intense practice, music sort of got placed in the back burner for him. However, the drive was rushing back to him and he loved every second of it.

“A thousand miles seems pretty far,
But they’ve got planes and trains and cars,
I’d walk to you if I had no other way!”

The music was blissful and relaxing. What more could he have asked for?

tag: LYRIC LEXIE LEE, words: blah, notes: rawr

template by caedmon of GS

The song finished on a high note and Lyric laughed as it faded away in to the quiet common room. "That was awesome. We should've done this ages ago!" her fingers itched to play another song, but they really should get back to studying, or at least pretending to study. That would be the sensible thing to do.

Good thing sensibl wasn't her style.

"Alright, one more for the road and then we have to study for a while. Deal?" Lyric was already strumming the guitar randomly, not sure what to play or even what kind of music he listened to other than the song they had just played. It didn't really matter though. This was fun anyways