Warnings: bad language, Tom Riddle

Disclaimer: Just borrowing

Chapter 3 – Practice Makes Perfect

Over the next few weeks, Tom watched Grace from a distance. He found out her class schedule, took note of who her friends were, and tried to surmise what he could about her character from the brief exchanges they had when ever she spoke to him. She mentioned once that she preferred being called Gracie because it sounded sweeter, and even though Tom thought the sentiment was nauseatingly saccharine, he obliged.

He gathered that she was the perfect target: sweet, caring, and naively trusting. There were no huge traumas in her life, he concluded; she had been one of those happy children he kept hearing about.

October came, and it was then that he decided to start actively pursuing her. One day after his own Potions class let out, he ditched his group of hangers-on and positioned himself outside the Charms room. She’d be finished in about five minutes, and it was one of the few classes she didn’t have with Donavan, who, despite being thicker than a stack of bricks, was not someone Tom fancied getting into a fight with.

The bell rang, and was followed by the mighty groan of dozens of chairs being simultaneously shoved. As the door swung open, Tom began to walk away, acting as though he’d been innocently passing by as her class let out. He knew she’d call out to him, and sure enough, it was only a few seconds later that he heard her voice.

“Tom!”

He turned, and attempted to smile when he saw her. Someone had told him once his smile was more like a deranged leer than anything else, and ever since then he’d had trouble doing it convincingly.

Gracie jogged to catch up with him, her arms laden with two heavy textbooks and what looked like a freshly graded essay. She had gotten an E, exceeds expectations.

“How have you been?” Tom asked casually, even though he already knew.

“Oh, all right,” she said with a sigh. “I’m really worried about my recital this month, the Bach isn’t coming along as well as I thought it would.”

“I thought you were playing something by Beethoven,” Tom said, having to feign interest. He didn’t give two Knuts about this Bach person, having never heard of him before.

Gracie looked sideways and smiled at him.

“I was,” she said. “For last month’s.”

“Oh… You have a recital every month?” Tom had never played an instrument before, but this sounded like a lot of work.

“Yes,” she said. “There’s a small chapel down in Hogsmede, that’s where they’re held. Professor Dumbledore thinks it’s a nice thing to do, the concerts.”

At the sound of Dumbledore’s name, Tom grimaced involuntarily. Luckily, Gracie didn’t notice. She was too busy checking the time. Nodding, she walked to the end of the corridor and turned left, starting off down a hallway of empty classrooms. Tom followed.

She went to the end of this hall as well, and stopped at the last door on her right. It was only now that she seemed to notice that Tom was still behind her, and she smiled sheepishly.

“I was going to practice now, it’s my free period,” she explained, unlocking the door.

“Would you like me to leave?” Tom asked delicately. Gracie shrugged.

“I don’t mind if you stay, it’ll probably just be boring for you.”

“I’d like to listen to you,” he replied, and it was true. She beamed, and walked into the room.

A few old tables were pushed against one wall, with a pile of chairs beside them. In the far off corner of the room sat a dusty piano and bench. There was also a rusty metal music stand laden with yellowing sheet music, and a strange-looking rectangular case covered in black grinned at the sight, as though it was a long-lost friend, while Tom remained politely indifferent.

She dumped her schoolbag on one of the tables and strode off across the room. Light shone in through the windows, revealing that the air was thick with dust and as Gracie swished in and out of the shadows, the tiny pieces swirled and danced around her like little glimmering jewels. As she knelt beside the odd black case and opened it with a zip and a snap, Tom went after, irritably waving the dust away from his face. Interestedly, he looked over her shoulder to see what was inside the case.

A violin lay inside, hugged close by the molded blue velvet lining of the case. Gingerly, Gracie picked it up and attached the shoulder rest before taking the bow out as well. The light glinted across the violin, seeming to set its already deep red body aflame.

Having never seen a violin before, Tom couldn’t help but stare. It was very strange looking, but at the same time absolutely gorgeous.

“You can get one of the chairs from over there if you want,” Gracie said, pointing across the room with the bow. Tom nodded and Summoned one, sitting down near the music stand.

“What will you be playing for me today?” he asked, the closest to a joke he had ever gotten before. Gracie giggled and replied,

“Scales to start, and then some Bach and Massenet.”

Tom had never heard of either of those people before, and he had no idea that scales also pertained to music, having only ever associated them with fish and snakes before.

Sighing happily, Gracie put the violin under her chin and walked over to the piano. She struck a single note, and then matched it with the violin. Tom watched and listened, mesmerized, as she proceeded to pull the pitches this way and that with the little knobs at the end of the instrument. It was amazing, the control she had over the sound.

After a few seconds she was done and began sorting through the music on the stand, pulling out first a fat book and second a thin sheet. She laid the latter on top of the piano and opened the book on the stand, preparing to play again.

“I’m going to apologize now,” she said, looking over her shoulder at Tom. “I haven’t been playing for a few days, so there’s a good chance I’ll sound awful.”

“I’m sure it will be fine,” Tom said, folding his arms expectantly.

To his delight, it was much more than “fine.” The music Gracie coaxed from her violin was mesmerizing; he had never heard anything so amazing in his entire life. He watched in awe of her nimble fingers, dancing across the strings and landing perfectly on top of every note. Knowing very little about music as he did, he still knew that this was a skill that took years to cultivate. It made the prospect of ruining her all the more appealing.

There was only one thing that struck him as out of place: the piece she had chosen. She was such a lighthearted girl, but the piece was dark and intense, but somehow it suited her. He had expected something like a frilly lace gown in music form, a melody that was quick and airy and effortless. What he got was more like a heavy woolen coat.

Gracie finished, and let the last note ring for a moment before putting the violin down. She flipped back a few pages in the music as Tom said,

“That was … enchanting. Which was it?”

“That was the Bach,” Gracie said distractedly, putting the violin up again. “It was terrible, I know.”

“I didn’t think so at all,” Tom said diplomatically. “I thought it was-”

Gracie didn’t get to find out how extraordinary Tom thought her playing was, however, because at that moment a quiet knock sounded at the door. Both of them turned around to see Dumbledore stepping into the room, looking a little surprised.

“I never expected to see you here, Tom,” he said pleasantly as he walked toward the pair of them. “Though Grace’s playing is enough to entice anyone.”

“I would have to agree,” Tom replied stiffly. What was that fool doing here? It was enough that he had to endure the man’s lectures during Transfiguration, he certainly didn’t need to deal with him in his non-academic pursuits.

“You’re being too kind, professor,” Gracie said, blushing. “Or else you didn’t actually hear me just now. I was awful.”

“I can assure you that you weren’t,” Dumbledore said. “But even so, I’m going to have to ask you to practice some other time. There is a class going on just down the hall, and I’m afraid they can hear you.”

Gracie looked embarrassed, and she hurried to put her violin back in its case.

“I’m so sorry!” she said. “I didn’t know I was bothering anyone, I didn’t mean to…”

“I don’t believe you were bothering so much as distracting,” Dumbledore said with a smile. “This room will be free during lunch, if you would like to continue your practice then.”

Gracie nodded, and then looked to Tom.

“I have Charms homework anyway. I’ll see you later, I suppose.”

She waved happily and practically skipped out of the room before he could say anything in response.

‘Damn,’ he thought angrily to himself. Now he was alone with his least favorite professor and he hadn’t even gotten that much time with Gracie. This was going dismally.

“I had no idea you were interested in music, Tom,” Dumbledore was saying as he too headed toward the door.

“I wasn’t until just recently,” he said hurriedly, gathering up his books.

“If that’s the case then Gracie would be happy to teach you about it. She’s an excellent musician, as you no doubt observed.”

“I don’t need a teacher, I was just listening to her,” Tom said defensively. “She is rather good,” he added to cover the awkward silence that followed.

“Indeed,” Dumbledore mused. They were both in the hallway now, and Tom was quite ready to bolt to his next class even though it didn’t start for another half an hour. “She has a recital at the end of this month, on the 28th, did she tell you?”

“She mentioned it,” Tom replied indifferently.

“With your newfound appreciation for music, I think it’s something you’d enjoy,” Dumbledore said. It took everything in him not to snort loudly and inform the professor that he had no idea what he would enjoy. At his silence, Dumbledore added, “And I think Gracie would like to see you there. She seems fond of you.”

Tom weighed the options. He suspected Dumbledore would be there, and any extra time with him was barely preferred over being burned alive. But, if it would let him get closer to Gracie, then it just might be worth it.

“Well, if Gracie would want me there, then I’ll go,” he said firmly, letting that doddering fool know he wasn’t going for any other reason.

Dumbledore seemed pleased with this, and started off down the hallway. Tom stared after him for a few moments before setting off for Muggle Studies, his least favorite class. He wouldn’t be able to run into Gracie again until well after lunch, and had a large pile of homework besides. His day had taken a turn for the worse, and it put him in a sour mood.

His only hope was that all of his work would pay off, and that the destruction of Gracie would prove to be worth his time.

A/N: Okay, some explanation. This story takes so long to update because a- it’s one that I have to be in a certain “mood” to write (read: kind of depressed), and b- I’m straight-up lazy. That said I’m going to try to update a lot in the next few weeks before I go back to school and am planning on keeping this one short. My rough estimate at this point is eight chapters. So yay for being nearly halfway through.

Reviews are love.