Hearing Damage // L.S.

Chapter 9

Harry was teaching seven-graders again. It was only for these four days and half of the kids were away with Louis and Nick, but Harry was ready to squeeze every possible advantage out of it anyway. Louis went away yesterday, leaving sad kids, who didn't make the cut, behind. Stan, that Harry was still giving additional lessons to, was one of them. But the boy didn't seem worried as some of his peers. He was in a pretty good mood for a change. Harry was glad to see it now, during their lesson.

They moved their lessons to the teacher's office, in dire need of an instrument at this point.

"I'll play some chords and you need to tell me if it's major or minor."

Stan nodded, frugal with his words as per usual.

"D, F sharp, A," Harry sung out while playing.

"Major."

"A, C, E."

"Minor."

"C, E, G."

"Major," the boy chuckled.

Harry smiled at him.

"It's fun when you get it, right?"

"No, we just did it with Eric already," Stan answered with the same giddy smile.

Harry's eye twitched.

"Okay, then I'll play and you say the notes."

He played every note separately and then together.

"F, A, C. F major."

"You can look away from the keyboard if you're so smart," Harry smirked.

"Why does Mr. Tomlinson call it differently?"

That was Stan's favourite question lately. Now, when he understands what is going on he's comparing Louis' way of teaching to Harry's and it does no good to Harry's self-worth as a teacher. Not intentionally, of course. He was just never questioned in that aria, always deemed strong in his subject.

"Mr. Tomlinson was teaching in other countries and sometimes they say the notes differently out there," Harry explained. "For example, in France, they call them Do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La, Si, Do," he sung the notes out, playing them at the same time. "It's called European system, most European countries still use it."

"But Mr. Tomlinson says the letters like you do," Harry was holding in an eyeroll. "He just says them funny sometimes. He calls B an H."

That was very horizon broadening for the children, Harry reckoned, but it also was a pain in his ass.

"That's what they use in Germany," he smiled sadly. "Does he use it often?"

"No, only when he's talking really fast."

That was a good thing, it meant that Louis, most likely, didn't do it on purpose. And Harry didn't have to talk to him, or teach the kids an absolutely different solfeggio system.

"Don't worry, I understand it already," Stan smiled with a new sense of pride.

They were talking about G-clef scales till the end of the lesson. Harry found some things that were useful and new for his student, and the smile didn't leave the boy's face. He was glad that Eric and Stan seemed to become true friends. He was not so glad to find out that Eric was the reason that Stan was able to go under the radar with his dictations and home assignments for so long in the first place. However, with all that out of the way, the boy was learning the grammar with surprising speed. Harry was sure that he'd catch up to his peers in no time.

He was putting his sheet music into his bag when Eleanor knocked on the open door of his office.

"Are you leaving already?" she asked through a yawn.