Cadenza For a Falling Guard PV | C. De Varenne & A. Hyde

Archie, still navigating the massive castle that he'd be staying in for the rest of his education, peered around the corner to find a girl. Playing the piano? Huh. Archie didn't think they had instruments here - well at least not of the musical kind. "Wow! You're good at that. But you kinda look like you're staring into space? Everything okay in your covered head of yours?" Archie asked, voice carrying a tone of concern. "I'm Archie by the way! Archie Hyde. One of the...whatever the badger thing is called." Archie couldn't remember what they were called yet, this magical stuff was still tough to grasp and that hat was creepy as hell. But that thought could come later. The girl in front of him..didn't seem okay. Maybe it was the way she zoned out? Or maybe the fact she's in here alone? She could be getting bullied? Sure, Archie didn't know this girl's story - but it's better not to the judge a book by its cover, as they say. Archie adjusted the curl of hair on his face, trying to fix it so he could see the girl in front of him properly - but it just bounced back, like usual

date: 11^th october 2025
time: morning
location: hogwarts rehearsal room


The gentle drum of Livia's fingers against the keys of the piano lulled her into a state of near-dissociation—the splendour of the room around her blurred until the one thing in focus was the bars of music on the sheet. The reverberation swelled around her, drawing up to large crescendos as the hand on the bass only grew faster. Each small piece of the song dilated in its intensity until—'Wow! You're good at that. But you kinda look like you're staring into space. Everything okay in your covered head of yours?'

Twin pinpricks of emerald green would stare daggers at the boy who had intruded; masking her annoyance was not the first intention Livia had possessed in the face of someone invading her peace. Without doubt, she would listen to his name and his house—valuable information for those who cared to know—but still found it difficult to pay proper attention to him, not when her heartbeat was still attempting to maul itself from within the bony cage of her ribs.

Silence greeted her as she observed Archie. Engulfing, eardrum-shattering silence. A stark shift from the perhaps too-sonorous music playing previously, it had jarred her like a large vulture might some half-alive imitation of carrion. The boy himself stood slight, not too unlike Livia herself, although she thought with a fair amount of contempt that his hair could stand to be better coiffed. She nodded slowly, as if uncertain, and finally met the boy's gaze. 'Well, thank you. I've been trained,' she said in response to his compliment. She ignored the question of everything being okay—with it being so early in the morning, she was not in the mood to candidly state that she had been fine until Archie's sudden entrance. 'Livia. Slytherin. I assume you are referring to Hufflepuff.'

Archie's house mattered very little to her, but correctness was a virtue she was not keen to eschew. Livia nearly turned back to the piano, ready to continue practising, but the staunch awareness of Archie being in the room made her pause. It had been easy enough to lose herself in the dramatic music while alone, but with someone present, she knew she would be more focused on potentially making an error than actually enjoying the song. Thus, she turned to better face him, swinging her legs over the piano bench so her back was to the keys. Another figure caught her eye, and she nodded to acknowledge him before she spoke. 'What brings you here so early in the morning? I was practising one of my mother's favourite pieces, from Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake.'

It would appear that the other, far less polite newcomer had a similar curiosity. Livia stared blankly at the boy who had entered, taking in his pressed trousers and well-tailored jumper. Something about him professed beauty; a small part of Livia thought he might have made a decent model for a sculpture. He almost reminded her of Harvey; however, her dear friend Harvey would never have spoken to her in such a horrific manner. It was beneath her to answer the first part of his speech, but to the latter, she simply stated, 'I'm afraid what I do with my mornings is none of your concern. Surely, you could ascertain a spot for practice in the ballroom if this is just too horrible for your tastes.'

Livia's lips tightened into a taut, taught travesty of a smile as she pushed forth with ersatz etiquette. Her intention was to portray friendliness and openness to conversation, although she had no inkling of how properly her well-meaning aspiration came across. However, the new boy's rudeness had sapped her of any desire to remain kind; she turned herself to face the piano once again, and although she did not resume playing, she flipped through the music on the stand and did her best to ignore the boys who had entered.

Archie nodded in realization. Oh yeah, Hufflepuff. That's what's it called. But that's something he'll figure out later. “Nice to meet ya.”
Archie gave a small smile.
“Me? I heard the songs you were playing. Swan lake, huh? It seems quite pretty Your mum into instruments too? Archie asked, he'd never been one good at instruments himself. "Speaking of which, how do ya even read sheet music?” but hiss attention was quickly taken away by a another male student, who seemed a lot more...brash? Rude? then Archie was. “Oi, mate. Cut it out!” Archie scolded. "Let that Livia do what she bloody wants without your judgement.” Sure, Archie wasn't familiar with Livia what-so-ever but that didn't mean that other bloke could push her around. "Would you like it if I bashed your hobbies, huh?" Archie raised a brow in a challenge...though he secretly hoped the other boy wouldn't judge him too hard. Archie didn't feel like he belonged in a school of magic to begin with, nevermind a bully but he shook his head to clear his thoughts with his curly hair bouncing a bit as he did so. "Sorry..Livia. Am I annoying you? I can go if you need me to.” Archie apologized, backing up slightly.

@Livia Machavariani
@Camille De Varenne

date: 11^th october 2025
time: morning
location: hogwarts rehearsal room


Archie's staunch defence of Livia's musical exhibition had not been one of the possible reactions that had gone through her mind. Intrigued, she began to turn back towards the boys, glancing over her shoulder to better see and hear what occurred. He continued to speak rather kindly about her, and it was that that decided Livia would take a positive attitude towards him; it was not his fault, after all, that she had intended to practise alone this morning, and she should not fault him for his curiosity. Although she would not smile at Archie, when she did look at him, her gaze would soften if only minutely.

The other boy remained a concern. For someone who appeared to take pride in his appearance, given his tailored clothing, his actions did not befit a proper pure-blood. Rudeness towards those of one's own social calibre remained the most horrific faux-pas in Livia's mind; her mother had drilled it into her that she ought to be respectful to anyone her family might socialise with. It was due to that, and that only, that she did not immediately react to the vacuous youth. The more he spoke to Archie, however, with that disdainful, condescending tone dripping with superiority only the most derisible of individuals could muster, the more Livia's teeth ground against one another.

She once again remained silent as she began to formulate a proper response that would support Archie; however, indignation rose up within her like a tidal wave before she could come up with a cool, calculating answer. 'In your way?' Her voice was low, and she was unable to halt herself from arching an eyebrow. 'That's really rather interesting, seeing as I was here first. Your insidious presence has intruded upon my way, but I think I handled your intrusion with far more grace. Again, there are plenty of places to practise. If you desire to be unbothered, I hear there are empty classrooms on the second floor, or even a room that can bend to your will on the fifth. But Archie and I have no reason to leave.'

Then, Livia offered a far warmer glance to Archie. 'No. You're not an annoyance,' she said softly. Even just a few minutes ago, those words would have been false, a peacekeeper at best, but now she was surprised by the truth they held. Now that she had expressed her annoyance, she was more inclined to continue the previous conversation with Archie. 'I suppose you could say my mother likes instruments. It's something of a rite of passage for a pure-blood to be classically trained in at least one. My beloved cousin Evpraksiya is an excellent violinist; even my most impressive endeavours with piano could not rival her expertise.' Purposefully ignoring the other boy, Livia did her best to meet Archie's gaze, and she attempted a smile. 'If you would like, I could show you how to read sheet music, at least some of the basics. It's not too difficult once you understand what everything means.'

@Livia Machavariani


@Camille De Varenne

date: 11^th october 2025
time: morning
location: hogwarts rehearsal room


Livia's attention to the social cues she could recognise was quickly growing frayed at the edges – she hoped to maintain a warmer demeanour towards Archie, but the more she saw and heard from the other boy, the more difficult it grew to suppress the death glares and scowls that wanted to mar her still-neutral expression. She assumed that the 'Suit yourselves' from the intruder meant he would leave, so she began to direct her discernment towards Archie. 'Oh – well, yes. My cousins especially. But I can play piano well enough, and my brother has tried his hand at the oboe.' None too successfully, she might have added, but it was beneath her to divulge such information about little Julenka. 'I certainly did not expect Hogwarts to be so well endowed within the realm of instruments. This is a pleasant surprise.'

Her gaze slowly drifted to Archie's face, and – oh, no. The tissue in his hands, the hint of something glistening in his eyes, that had to mean tears, and that was one thing Livia did not know how to fix. She tensed just minutely, suddenly glad she was not practising, and she observed Archie silently. The longer she stared at him (staring's not polite, echoed a voice in the back of her head, which was promptly ignored), the more he reminded her, in demeanour at the very least, of her most cherished little brother. A cruel – or even simply insensitive – word from anyone could make Julian spout tears, and although it didn't seem as if the issue were quite so present in Archie, it remained that Livia had to think back to her few occasions of helping her little brother feel better to even begin to formulate a plan.

To her utter chagrin, Archie triumphed over her when it came to the speed of speaking. He expressed interest in learning some sheet music, and he even expressed gratitude, which made the confusion and concern slowly fade from Livia's eyes as she instead smiled, nodding to affirm that Livia was indeed her name. 'Oh, lovely! I'm certain you'll do marvellously.' She did her best to push forth in her voice all the 'power of friendship' her brother said was written in children's books. 'You seem like a quick learner.'

Then, she took one finger and pressed it to middle C – horrible form, really, but she decided it was important. The sound reverberated, and then she pointed to the note on the sheet music – one line below the treble staff, and one line above the bass. 'This is middle C, where we can start! It –' The warmth in her expression faded abruptly when a vocal scale cut her off. '– My goodness, I didn't know it was possible for someone to be so malepart.' She spoke just loudly enough to be heard by the other boy, and hopefully loud enough to similarly interrupt what he was doing. She did not, however, deign to even look at him. 'Anyway, this is where the two staves – in piano we'll use treble and bass clefs, which I can explain in a moment – intersect. If you ever get lost when reading the music, you can think back to middle C being a line below the treble staff and a line above the bass, and you can count upwards or downwards to ascertain the note. The notes go A through G... C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C.' With each note she said, her voice grew louder, now trying to outdo the other boy (and, of course, ensure Archie could hear her).

Perhaps conspiratorially, Livia let her irises flick towards Archie's direction. 'I will never understand the impudence of some people,' she murmured, finally turning her head to stare blankly at the rather nice-looking singer. That he was nice looking was the worst shame ever. Sometimes the most ghastly of souls were entombed in the loveliest of features. The song, too, resonated with her – not that she would admit it. The requiem, the funeral mass, the plea for rest for the dead; well, given her father's line of work as a Roman classicist, it mirrored some of what she had come to think of certain ruins. Dona eis requiem. Grant them rest.

In fact, those words seemed to fit her and Archie's situation rather well. 'Dona nobis requiem...' Her words were soft, almost musing, almost taunting. Grant us rest. From your voice, she could have added, but she refrained from such an obvious comment. The tantalising (yet immature) urge to slowly clap and utter a dry bravo grew ever stronger, so Livia grit her teeth and turned back to Archie. 'I really do apologise for his insolence.'