I will take your hands in mine I can warm them easily (Phil)

[Deleted]

Andy was... incredibly nervous. She had been woken up and reminded of something she loved, by someone she loved, and she remembered a promise her and Phil had made. He said he wanted to learn to play the violin and, well, who best to teach him then his beloved girlfriend? She had been avoiding the violin, though... ever since she broke hers in November. Now she had a happy memory attached to the instrument, a more recent memory then all the bad ones.

She hadn't told Phil why she wanted them to meet, but she chose the Muggle Studies classroom since it was empty right now. This would be a good enough place to practice, and was fairly out of the way so that they probably wouldn't get interrupted in the afternoon when classes where over. People didn't generally come down this way unless they were headed to class, Andy guessed.

She stood by the door, wringing her hands together. A violin sat on the desk behind her in it's case, while the other was in her hand. She had taken them from the orchestra club closet, so they weren't brand new or anything, or even hers. She used to be the captain of that club... but she hadn't gone back. Now, she waited for the love of her life, feeling like she was holding her own life in her bare hands in the form of a violin.

@philiplongbottom
also look at this gif of her holding a baby what
And this drama o.o

[Deleted]

@lestrange

Phil had never taken Muggle Studies, but he knew where the room was. It didn't take him long to get there and when he looked at his watch, he felt proud that he was one minute before the time Andy had told him. YES! He walked into the room and smiled seeing Andy holding her violin.

"I had forgotten how natural you look holding a violin. I've missed you playing." he said as he walked over to her to kiss her cheek. As he did he noticed the second violin in the open case. He frowned as he looked at it, getting a bizarre picture in his head of Andy trying to play two violins at the same time. Then his memory dredged up one of their letters from when he was in Brazil. Violin Lessons.

His jaw dropped and he looked from her to the violin. "Wait... is that one for me? Are you going to teach me?!" He felt like it was Christmas morning and that seemed to infect his entire being because he ran over to it and pulled it out of the case, resting it on his shoulder like he had seen Andy do, except... it felt really weird to rest his chin on the "chin rest".

[Deleted]

She was able to breathe easier when he walked in and smiled. His words, about how natural she looked... those made her feel better about all this. Then he said he missed her playing and her brow furrowed, and she nodded. Had she told him what she had done the last time she used a violin? Had the hospital? Did anyone know? Either way, he was soon kissing her cheek and she was smiling again, leaning into his lips. Then he frowned at the second violin and he seemed to make the connection, looking at her with a dropped jaw.

His reaction, and guess, made her smile come back. she nodded, laughing a little as he ran over to take it out of the case. "Gently!" she called, her hand with the bow reaching out toward him. She shook her head, still smiling. "Phil, treat it like you would a baby," she explained, stepping toward him. "And lift your hand just a little higher, so that the violin is parallel with the floor," she set her bow aside and reached over to gently touch his wrist and lift it. "You have to support it, but not crush it."

@philiplongbottom

[Deleted]

@lestrange

Phil struggled to follow Andy's directions, adjusting his grip and leveling the instrument off, trying to judge where parallel was. However, it was really difficult to concentrate when Andy was standing so close to him, concentrate on the violin that is. He snapped his chin back to the chin rest, resisting the urge to lean down and kiss her. Violin lesson. Focus
"Problem, I haven't held a baby in a long time. Are they normally so stiff?" He teased as he moved into what he thought was a perfect position. "Okay, Maestro, what next? Pick up the stick, oh wait." He picked up the "stick" and dramatically looked at her. "I mean, the bow" Then all that was left for him to do was play something amazing. He had been thinking about what he would do, how he would amaze Andy with his skills. He put the bow to the strings and pulled down, resulting in an appalling squeal that was worse than a dying cat getting dunked into a screaming potion. He held the instrument away from him, holding it by the neck. "I think I broke it."

[Deleted]

He was so jittery that she tried not to laugh. It was also easy not to laugh because she was very focused when it came to music. This was serious stuff. He was staring at her and then jerked his head back to the chin rest. She understood why, since their faces had been so close.

She took a deep breath, keeping her mind on the violin. "Babies aren't as stiff, but just as breakable," her voice was soft, almost reverent in tone. He asked her what was next and called the bow a stick and she made a face right before he corrected himself. He took it, and she watched him handle it. Of course he needed training on that too. Before she explained anything though he was pressing the bow and the strings and a wretched sound came out. She gave a short laugh as he said he had broken it and shook her head. "All good things take work, you know that," she countered, voice still soft.

She took another step closer to him, moving her hand from his wrist to gently rest it under the edge of the bow. Then she took her other hand to slowly adjust his fingers on the handle. "Like this. Hold it tightly, you control it," for a long time that was the only thing she could control in her home life. She tightened her hold on his fingers without realizing it, "you have to be confident, or it'll outsmart you and fall or make that sound. You have to press hard on the strings, Phil," she moved her hand that was at the end of the bow and then controlled his hand to press down on the strings. "Then just... Glide," she controlled his hand, pulling the bow across the strings. At first the sound was a little scrapey. "Press it harder," she encouraged.

@philiplongbottom

[Deleted]

@lestrange

Phil used all of his concentration to do as Andy instructed. He moved his fingers the way Andy told him and tried his best to press harder on the bow. The noise that escaped was rough, and not musical in the slightest. He paused and took a breath before trying again. The sound was different, but no better.

After several minutes of effort Phil let the violin fall from his shoulder, holding it by the neck. "How do you make it look so easy!" he complained, wanting to bang his head against the stupid instrument. She really did make it look easy. She even made it sound easy when she explained it. So why was he so bad at it? Maybe the violin was allergic to dirt. Or maybe it was just him. He didn't want to let this piece of wood beat him thought. Nothing made of plants could best him easily. He was going to have to try harder.

[Deleted]

It wasn't going well and he was getting frustrated. "Hey, hey. Everything is a learning experience," she said softly. "And it's not easy," she said, looking down at the violin he had lowered from his shoulder. "It wasn't easy for me, either. I've just been doing it since I could move my arms," she explained. "When you learn things that young they... become a part of you," she glanced back at the other violin, the one she had set on the desk behind her for herself.

There were a lot of things she learned when her mind was young and supple. Like how to play the violin, and how to make proper small talk. She learned, somewhere in her twisted past, that love was actually real. Somehow she learned that. She also learned that aggression was real, too, and that she had a very strong affiliation toward action rather than words to solve a conflict. She learned that she wasn't better than anyone. Somehow, she learned all that.

"But it wasn't easy," she finished.

@philiplongbottom

[Deleted]

@lestrange

Phil set the instrument in his case, squeezing his fingers together and releasing. "There's one thing your parents did right, teach you the importance of persevering. Luckily I have you as an example." after stretching his hands out a few more times he picked the violin up again and started trying to play.

--

His arms were tired, his mind was tired, his ears were more than tired. He put the violin back in the case and closed the lid. It has been only 20 more minutes but it felt like an eternity. "I guess it takes more practice than that." He sat down on a chair nearby, his shoulders drooping a little. For some reason, he thought he would be good at this. That is would come to him quickly. Like everything else did. Phil had never really had to struggle with much in his life. And the times that he did were so far back in his memory it seemed more like dreams. Recently, everything has just come easily. That or it didn't matter much so he didn't pursue it. But this was important to Andy. That made it important to him. More than important really. Phil was trying to do everything humanly possible to make sure Andy was happy, comfortable, safe, secure, all that stuff. He wasn't here to save her last time. But he was here now.

Part of him knew it wasn't his job to save her. She could take care of herself, she had proven that. But his desire to keep her safe was strong. If this made her feel happy, he had to do it even if his ear drums exploded.

[Deleted]

Andy had never thought of that. Or about anything her parents taught her that could be considered good. Phil had just given her a strange awakening. That maybe, just maybe, she could try to find something happy in her childhood. She didn't want to dwell on that just now though, so she just smiled and nodded. She was glad when Phil started playing again, so that they could jump right back into the lesson.

Then, after a good 20 minutes, Phil stopped. He was right of course, it would take months of practice. He sat down and his shoulders slumped and Andy frowned at him. "You don't have to do this if you don't want to,' she said. "We can just try it a few more times just to make sure you give it a good honest effort, but then if you really don't want to know one is forcing you. I would never force you to do anything."

She sat down beside him and reached over to take his hand, lifting it to her lips and giving it a kiss. Her eyes on him the whole time. After she kissed his hand, she lowered it onto her shoulder. "And I love you," she reminded. "Don't forget it."

@philiplongbottom
( okay, you can do one more or consider this the end. :-) goofballs.)