Star Crossed

Chapter Eighty Two- Hidden Talents

'Silence like a cancer grows'

The new term brought with it an increase in workload and pressure and for none more than Tom, Wiglaf and their fellow seventh years. Myself and Lazarus had rarely seen them in the last few weeks if they had not been attending extra classes they had been studying intensely in their very limited free time. Lazarus had commented many times already this term that he thinks he may just have to drop out and become a wild off traveler selling heather before we got to seventh year.

As was common for this time of year the library was inundated with students, there was barely room to move around the shelves, in fact the only seventh years not in there was usually those out on the Quiddich pitch instead. I smiled as I thought of my team Captain, he was so focused on winning the cup in his final year that he repeatedly said he did not care if he got no NEWTS as long as we won. I had been determined to train hard whenever I had the time in between my own studies I wanted nothing more than to give him his final win. 

  Due to the current population of the library I decided to take my studying somewhere more peaceful. I walked down the seventh floor corridor my satchel hanging across my body as I approached the barren stretch of wall that I knew so well. 
I closed my eyes, took a deep breath and asked the room for a peaceful, quiet place in which to study. As I opened my eyes once more I smiled to see the large oak wooden doors standing proudly before me.
As I stepped through the threshold I froze as the sound of music reached my ears, it was beautiful but yet eerie. I looked around the room for the source, the room had transformed itself into a room not unlike a small library with a few rows of bookshelves and a roaring fire next to a desk filled with ink, quills and books. I frowned as I found the source of the music, there in the corner of the room was a large grand piano and at it sat Tom Riddle his back facing towards me as he played. 
I stood for a moment taken aback not only to find Riddle here but to find Riddle at a piano... I had no idea that he could play. 
I walked slowly across the room before I reached him, he did not notice my presence as I watched him. He had his eyes closed, his expression blank as his long thin fingers brushed along the keys. He played well. 
"I did not know that you played." I breathed. The music died instantly as Tom's fingers froze and his eyes flew open as he turned his head towards me dropping the room into silence the only sound that of the crackling fire. 
"Who knew... a skill that we share." A smiled as I sat down upon the edge of the nearby desk. 
He did not reply but moved aside a little gesturing for me to take a seat at the piano. 
I pulled a chair over to beside Riddle and looked down at the keys, it had been so long... I brushed my fingers along them regaining my feel for them. 
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath before pressing down on the keys, as I did so it all came rushing back to me as I played. I had forgotten how it made me feel, how I felt as if I could flood my emotions out of my mind, how I felt any strains just float out of my body as I got lost within the music. 
Suddenly becoming once again aware of my surroundings and of my company I pulled my hands from the keys and opened my eyes. Tom was still sat beside me his head tilted to the side as he watched me. 
"You play well." he commented his blue eyes twinkling in the firelight. 
"So do you," I replied,
"What?" Tom suddenly asked arching one of his dark eyebrows. 
"I just..." I began wondering whether I should continue or not but Tom's auror did not hold any hostility, he seemed relaxed, curious. 
"I just wondered how you... how you learnt to play." I breathed averting my eyes for a moment unsure of how Tom would respond, there was a moment's pause. 
"I'm sure this is were are common skill uncovers it's differences." Tom replied a strange look on his face, the same look he always had when he had to think about his past. 
"I taught myself." he said simply. "the orphanage had a piano." he scoffed, his brow was furrowed and his jaw clenched. 
"What?" I asked gently, sensing that there was more to the story. There was another pause as Tom brushed his long fingers along the keys seemingly intently focused upon them. 
"Nothing." He replied, I decided not to push him. 
"My mother taught me..." I breathed as the memories swam around my mind. It was painful to think of her but I felt the need to share something about my own past in return. 
Tom inclined his head towards me. 
"She taught you well." he said simply. 
"I started young," I smiled. "She would sit me on her knee and I would love to place my hands on hers as she played." We remained in silence for a while. 

"Funny how different our memories and connections to this instrument are." he breathed.
"You did not enjoy learning to play?" I asked. 
"It took me away yes..." he paused again as he played a few simple notes upon the keys. I smiled placing my own fingers back upon the keys I played in unison to his notes. He glanced up towards me before continuing. 
"As such an undesirable child I would often be locked within the basement for isolation. That is where I found the piano one day hidden beneath a dirty old sheet and so on the very frequent occasions that I would find myself down there for days at a time it gave me a considerable time to practice." 
I felt sick as I looked at the young man next to me in a completely new light... his pale skin, his dark hair gleaming in the flickering light of the flames, his strong features so hauntingly perfected held darkness, suffering and pain in their beauty. He was flawlessly damaged. This was the first time he had shared anything about his past at the orphanage with me... something had shifted... it was different now... we were different... how I could not say. 
My eyes began to fill up with water at the horror of the words he had just spoken unable to stop myself from imagining the loneliness, the suffering... I knew that he had only shown to me the tiniest part of the picture of what he had experienced. He said it with such acceptance, such normality... I could not speak, there was nothing that I could possibly say... so instead we continued to play. Side by side for the next few minutes... before the music dew to a natural close. 

I looked towards him as he slowly withdrew his hands from the piano. 
"It's funny isn't it? The different hidden gems of this castle." I said with a small smile. "It's as if it knows exactly what you need." I added. The familiar soothing sound of silence filled the room around us before it was shattered as it always must be. 
"We should be going to bed." Tom said plainly. "We both have classes tomorrow." he added, I nodded. 

Two completely different people, two completely different childhoods, one shared talent which brought them together. I remembered something that my mother had told me all those years ago, 
'Life is like a piano. The white keys represent happiness and the black keys they represent sadness. Both make their own notes but intertwined they make the most beautiful of music.'