Take A Bow [open]

[Deleted]

Ellie hated an audience when she practiced. She loved performing in front of crowds, but that was after the music was perfect and her vocal chords lubricated. When she was testing out a new lyric or piece, or when she pushed the limits of her voice to hit a new note, when she conveyed anything that wasn't utter perfection, she didn't want to be seen or hear.d. Her haven was the owlery, where the birds didn't care that she existed. She enjoyed performing for them almost more than people. There was an utter freedom to it, where her crippling perfectionism took a break.

She shooed a large barn owl from her guitar case and opening it, withdrawing her prized instrument. She settled onto the floor and strummed it gently, the sound resonating through the owlery's high ceilings. The vibrations pleased her ears, and she played a few chords, her fingers moving deftly and delicately over the frets and strings. She picked at the strings, pausing to adjust the tuning every few seconds, her well-trained ears picking up every sour note.

Satisfied with her instrument's sound, she began working her voice, uttering a series of trills and rumbles as her throat loosened up. She sang through a few a few scales. Singing was her real fear. Playing an instrument was easy once one knew the basics. She was in complete control of it. But the voice was a fickle thing. On a whim, it could decide to crack or squeak. Occasionally, when she didn't have the patience to find a secluded spot, Ellie would play her guitar in front of other people, but she never sang until the song was perfected and she was sure she could hit every note with ease.

She probably should've realize she wouldn't be the only student using the owlery.

[cordelia regan smith]

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It was finally time for Cordelia to send an owl home. She was sure that her parents were concerned about her. They always were. For good reason too. She had never given them a good reason to not worry about her well-being. Fitting in at Hogwarts was so hard for her, so missing a few weeks without sending a letter home was probably throwing her parents into a frenzy. She liked to think of it as a small time rebellion. Classes were harder now, and there were so many things to take pictures of that finding the time to trek up to the owlery was hard to come by. Yet here she was now, finally getting a few spare moments to head up the long, winding stairs that lead to the tower. Cordelia didn’t have her own owl, for whatever reason she had never wanted one, opting for her cat instead. Pyro was much more relaxing to have around than a bird was anyways. He understood her more than anyone else did.

The hike up the tower was usually tiring, but she had thought ahead today, bringing her camera along to get snapshots of the castle and grounds as she made her way towards the top. The sky was a clear blue, something that seemed almost unnatural for Hogwarts. She spent so much time staring at things through the lens of her camera while at school that she knew every detail. Today was more than the perfect day to take pictures. After sending the letter off, she’d definitely have to wander around the grounds and get more photos before heading back inside. There weren’t too many things that got her excited as much as taking pictures on a nice day did. That was probably one of the only times she would actually talk to someone without hesitation, as long as it was on her own terms. Being approached was still nerve wrecking.

After taking a few photos that looked to be decent, Cordelia continued the rest of the way to the top without snapping anything else. Approaching the entrance to the owlery, her ears were met with the light strumming of a guitar and what sounded like a voice. Cordelia froze. Even though she had just thought about maybe striking up a conversation at some point today, this was too soon. Whoever was in the owlery was practicing their music. The last thing she wanted to do was interrupt them and make them mad. At the same time though, she really, really needed to send her letter out. Biting down on her lip in frustration, Cordelia took a deep breath, let her camera fall around her neck, and took the letter in her hand. If she was fast enough, maybe the person wouldn’t feel like she was bothering them. Stepping into the entrance way, she saw the player; a small girl, much smaller than Cordelia was, strumming on the guitar. It was a wonderful sound, and she really didn’t want the girl to stop playing, especially to try and talk to Cordelia. “Excuse m-m-me…” she said quietly as she snuck around the doorway and towards one of the school owls. She really hoped the girl wouldn’t stop playing. That was the last thing she wanted.

@eglantine ● 545 ● Where I Want To Go by Roo Panes

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOX 2.0

[Deleted]

Ellie didn't hear the footsteps approaching. The acoustics of the room created a lovely echo, interrupted only by the cooing of the owls that she serenaded. It wasn't until she paused to tune her strings again that she happened to look up and see the other student standing in the doorway. She froze, her mouth in a gape. Had the other girl heard her singing? She didn't recognize her. She obviously wasn't a Ravenclaw. There were too many blondes in all of the houses to tell them apart. It really didn't matter.

Excuse m-m-me..."

Oh. It was the stutterer. Ellie had only hear about her from some of the older Ravenclaws. She was a sixth or seventh year. And she was known for her chronic stuttering. Ellie's eyes narrowed, and she had to stop herself from rolling them. "No, I suppose it's my fault for assuming that anywhere around here could be private," she said flatly. It was selfish of her to assume that she could try to claim the owlery for her own, but it seemed that everywhere was crawling with students, including the intrusive Beauxbatons and Durmstarng visitors. And they were all massive. The Beauxbatons students were all beautiful and lanky, and the Durmstrangs were strongly built and always looked ready for action. And then there was little ol' Ellie.

She sighed to herself and pulled her guitar case around and flipped it open. "I'm just going to go," she said miserably. Her mini-rehearsal hadn't gone nearly as well as she had hoped, and she was pretty sure her guitar strings were in need of replacement. All she wanted was a decent practice, and she couldn't even get that. She glared at the other girl. "Have fun sending your letter," she said, standing up and brushing herself off.

cordelia regan smith

[cordelia regan smith]

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Cordelia wasn’t exactly sure how to react to the girl. The only reason she had even said anything to begin with was because she had been positive that they had made eye contact. She hadn’t really wanted for her to stop playing her music just because somebody else had shown up at the owlery. Cordelia had planned to be in and out of the owlery in a minute max, there was no need to dawdle in there any longer than that. There was a reason the school owls were so close to the entrance in the first place. She had already picked one out and everything. All that had been left to do was attach the letter and off she would go, barely a hiccup in the other girl’s practice. Plus wouldn’t an audience be good as well? That’s the whole reason musicians performed, or at least that was what Cordelia liked to believe.

Somewhat dumbfounded by the other girl’s response to Cordelia merely inhabiting the same space, she watched in somewhat disbelief as the girl started packing up her stuff as if she was going to leave. She had already said something to the tune of it all being her own fault for practicing in a public place and wanting more privacy. Now she had her guitar in her case and was preparing to leave, all because Cordelia happened into the owlery at the same time she had been practicing. Frowning slightly, she rushed over to the owl she had eyeballed from the entrance, quickly tied off the letter on its leg, and directed it where to go.

Turning back around, Cordelia tried to make her way over to the girl before she left. She wanted to apologize for disrupting her practice. Being this straightforward was somewhat unlike her, but she did feel bad for being a nuisance. She could hear it in the tone of the girl’s voice. “W-w-wait.” She half-yelled, half-whispered as she noticed that the girl was starting to leave. “I didn’t m-mean for you to stop…I’m sorry. Your m-m-music is very b-beautiful.” Cordelia bit down on her lower lip, hoping that she wasn’t about to get chewed out by the little girl. She had a feeling that she might. At this point, she had ahold of her camera, which was still hanging around her neck, and her fingers were fidgeting with the lens. Maybe confronting the girl like this hadn’t been the best choice after all.

@eglantine ● 411 ● How Long by Roo Panes

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOX 2.0

[Deleted]

Ellie watched as the girl moved quickly past her to send off her letter. Her fingers were clamped tightly around her guitar case. She began making her way toward the door when the girl spoke again. She froze, her hand on the door. A deep sigh reverberated through her, and she let her hand fall. Ellie turned around and eyed the girl, taking in the girl's apology. When had she become so nasty? It wasn't fair of her to assume that she could find privacy in a blatantly public place.

"Sorry," she mumbled, placing her guitar case back on the floor. She stood there awkwardly, grabbing a handful of her long brown hair and tugging on it uncomfortably. Now what was she supposed to do? She'd already made an ass of herself. She could equate her bitterness to "middle child syndrome" but that was hardly an excuse. Frankly, she was just unnerved that someone might have overheard her. She was too much of a perfectionist for her own good, and it made her snippy. But when you lived in the shadow of a Quidditch prodigy and a set of twins and triplets, it was hard not to want to stand out. And standing out, to her, meant being perfect. The idea of someone seeing her at a level other than perfection mortified her.

But the girl liked her music. She could be lying, of course, but she seemed honest. And she seemed genuinely disheartened by Ellie's response. Ellie traced the handle of her guitar case and shuffled her weight from one foot to the other. "Thanks," she said, looking down. "I...I'm sorry. I was being stupid."

cordelia regan smith

[cordelia regan smith]

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She quickly realized that the way she had reacted to the girl leaving was a little out of the ordinary. Normally she’d let the other person go about their day, especially if she had made them upset already. There was never a reason to keep pushing buttons if it could be helped. Not only was it too much effort to be worth, but she didn’t want to put herself in a situation where she couldn’t be confident in her own ability to fix the problem or to get out of it without being absolutely and utterly shut down. For some reason she thought this girl was going to do that when she stopped at the door and turned back around to face Cordelia. Her awkward sincerity must have been enough for the other girl though, and even though she didn’t mind her leaving on her own volition, Cordelia wanted to let her know that she didn’t mean to be in the way like that.

The apology that followed wasn’t exactly expected, but she could tell the other girl was honest with it. The only problem with confronting her though, was that Cordelia seemed to have made her uncomfortable. It had to have been the way she had half-yelled for her to wait. That was somewhat embarrassing to her too. She couldn’t remember the last time she had raised her voice that much, if that had even happened before. Cordelia shook her head when the girl said she was being stupid about all of it. She could sympathize with this girl in more ways than one. Being distracted like that when trying to get practice done was all too common with Cordelia as well. She was always being approached by people when she was trying to take photos. She never had the heart to tell them off like this girl had, so maybe she could learn a thing or two. Holding her camera up to show the girl, she tried her best to smile. “I understand…happens all the time.”

Cordelia turned her attention to the guitar case on the ground. She had encountered numerous orchestra members over the last few years, mostly because of her interest in classical music. Unfortunately her gift was in art, not music, so listening was the best she could do. “Can you p-p-play other instruments too? I’m only g-good at t-taking pictures and ske-sketching sometimes…” Even though she was in the art club, she wasn’t nearly as talented as some of the other members were. One of the reasons she had joined was because they were astounded by her photography, despite her downfalls in other mediums. She was making headway on other art forms though, even if they didn’t exactly pique her interest.

@eglantine ● 457 ● The Stage by Avenged Sevenfold

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOX 2.0