After helping the Gryffindor boy set the bench back in place, Mariel looked up and tilted her head as she intently listened to the boy. He had a curious manner of speaking and it took her a moment after watching his hands that she realized he must be deaf. She had never met anyone who was deaf but she had read about such people using hand motions to communicate. The young Ravenclaw had no idea what the movements meant - though she gathered it was the same as what he was saying, but she could understand his speech well enough.

She was slightly confused because the very little she knew about deaf people included thinking that they simply could not hear, however this child was asking her questions. Maybe he could hear a little? She didn't know but decided not to think too much about.

Smiling brightly, she said, "Hi Sylvan. I'm Mariel." Gesturing to the baby grand, she nodded and added, "This is a piano. It's beautiful, isn't it?" Mariel decided to seat herself at the righted bench and stretched her fingers out over the keys. Taking a few deep breaths, she began to play several bars of a simple song called Für Elise. She paused somewhere in the middle of the song and turned to Sylvan apologetically. "That's all I remember." At least without the sheet music. She hadn't taken lessons in a couple years and her practicing had been sporadic ever since.