Quote:
Originally Posted by
feeheeheeny 
She was nervous, which WAS a pretty unfamiliar feeling for Sophie Brown because she was usually as confident and cool as could be. Well, at least she liked to appear that way, but today, she was undeniably fidgety as she waited for Tobes' arrival, slightly worried that someone else was going to walk into the room who wasn't Tobes - Flamsteed, maybe, and kick her out and not let her carry out this plan, or maybe another student who had wanted to retreat to the room for some peace and quiet. There were SO MANY THINGS that could have gone wrong, and Soph was playing out every scenario in her head, when -
Tobes arrived.
And Sophie giggled.
"Hi best friend," she stood to greet him, giving him a big hug before tugging him over to sit with her on the piano bench with the brightest of smiles on her face. "I want you to sit here and listen to this and be a good audience and be impressed with me and cry a little, maybe," she teased lightly, smoothing out the sheet music in front of her and putting her hands where they needed to go to begin her song. "I have a whole song to play, so y'don't need to say anything till the end. But I figure you know this song because you're a dork and I heard it in a Muggle shop when my mum and I were out at the department store, and I liked it and it's perfect for us so I learned it just before school started. S'from me to you. If you don't know the words, they're here on the music, so you can... y'know, kinda follow along and get the gist." She pointed to where the song started and gave him a knowing grin, searching his eyes briefly for his recognition of the song. "M'not gonna sing. But, y'know, pretend I am, and... yeah. S'us."
Smiling a bit timidly at him, Soph cleared her throat a little and whispered, "Consider this a birthday surprise," then proceeded to play for him, the gentle smile never disappearing from her face. Toby didn't even need to SAY anything else just yet, as Soph was apparently pretty talkative at the moment. That was good, because Toby wasn't in so much of a talking mood right now, although he could kind of tell that Soph was nervous about SOMETHING because she tended to talk way more when that happened. Right now he just hugged her back before following her over to the piano bench and sitting right where he was directed.
Looking between the piano and the sheet music, both of which he recognised very well (though maybe not well enough to actually read the music) as his grandmother was very into music and all, Toby nodded along as Soph spoke.
"I don't know about crying," he quickly interjected, giving Soph a little LOOK followed by a smile, and then going back to looking down at the keys.
"But okay. Let's hear-..." It wasn't until he properly looked at the sheet music, then, that Toby realised what the song WAS. And yes. Yes he did recognise it. One of those way way waaaaaaaaaaaay old songs that his grandma liked to sing sometimes. It was actually a song she would sing with his grandfather, back when he was alive, and the pair slow dance around the kitchen to as Toby looked on. He had very happy feelings connected to that tune, and smiled a little wider now.
"-... it." An enthusiastic nod; yes, please play it.
He settled where he sat, stayed quiet, and listened as Soph played, automatically reciting the lyrics in his head. At first Toby had thought it would be an awesome song to hear again, especially as Soph was playing it, but as she progressed through the music he found that it was hitting a chord (ha) within him that he'd not been expecting. Feelings were happening, all because of Soph and her beautiful rendition of this beautiful song. Toby glanced from Soph's hands to her face for a moment, and then back again after a second, trying to focus super hard on the actual MUSIC and the PLAYING rather than the emotions he was getting. It started to work, and soon the prickling in the corners of Toby's eyes lessened a little (though he would deny such an occurrence at all, even if it was happy prickling), and he just continued to stare at Soph's hands as she played, staying quite quiet.
As the song began to wind down, Toby broke out into a grin, because this really was filling him up with all kinds of good feelings. He might even forgive her for almost making him cry out here in the open. Hoping that he wasn't about to mess up her playing, Toby slipped an arm around Soph's waist in a kind of half-hug and waited for her to finish the piece. He may also have been humming by this point.