Originally Posted by sweetpinkpixie

Kurumi had tried to sit down in the library to write the essay, but her mind still didn't understand the concepts presented in the seminar and she had no clue how to write an entire essay on magical music theory since they really hadn't gone into details during the lesson. It seemed to be asking a bit much of them all. So, Kurumi had closed the books and decided that she needed to just do something to relax. With so many thoughts on her mind, Kurumi was surprised when she found herself in front of the Room of Requirement, but she took that as a hint that she actually needed to use it.

Stepping inside, and wondering just what form it was going to take, Kurumi was startled when there was nothing but a long wooden floor with tan walls and a grand piano in it. She did NOT want to play the piano right now...yet she did at the same time. The piano not only reminded her of her mother, but of Jonathan as well. She missed him terribly and really needed him more than she ever thought that she would.

Sitting down at the piano and placing her hands on the keys, Kurumi only played a few notes. Nothing in particular, just swept her hands across the ivories and then leaned back on the stool before removing some sheet music from her bag as well as her wand from her robes. Her heart just wasn't in the actual process of playing music herself, but maybe she could...

Wand pointing at the sheet music now, Kurumi took a deep breath. "Ludo Totalum," she whispered before turning her wand towards the piano and making circular movements with her wand. "Ludo Solus."

There was no glow and nothing out of the ordinary when she cast the spell. The piano remained as it always had been and no sound came from it. She should have know. Intent was half of the power of magic and hers was next to zero right now. Sighing, Kurumi leaned her elbows on the piano and buried her face in her hands. She.Was.Not.Going.To.Cry.

Originally Posted by Team ronmione

Adam wasn't quite sure how he had arrived in the Room of Requirement. He hadn't really need a desire to be here. But now that he was here maybe he should just picture a band room with a huge drumset placed in the back so that he could play a bit. Seeing as Hogwarts didn't allow drumsets into the castle.

Then he noticed a piano in the center of the room. Maybe he should go he saw a girl leaning on the piano. She was probably going over her music sheet. Somehow though something was pulling him forward into the room. It wasn't until he quietly walked over to the piano he realized who it was.

"Ku-Kurumi..Are you... alright?" He asked her gently. They had spoken in a long time but Adam had been in the great hall when she had shouted out her mothers sickness to Ellie and Treyen, he had been with Nessie at the moment. So, he had never gotten around to talking to Kurumi about it or just trying to comfort her.

Originally Posted by sweetpinkpixie

There was no point in having the spells do whatever they were doing with no results, so Kurumi pointed her wand at the piano. "Finite," she murmured before doing the same towards the sheet of music. You know, just in case the enchantments were still in effect there too. Was her magic even working right now? It had been rather spotty recently as she had struggled with some charms work in the dorms the other day. One way to find out, right? Kurumi picked her wand up again and held it towards her ear, trying to find some ounce of concentration. "Emodular A," she whispered as the gentle sound of a violin once again resonated within her ear. Well, at least she knew she could do some magic right now. Something else was blocking her instead.

Kurumi jumped in her seat, not expecting someone else to come in...especially not WHO it was that had come in.

Kurumi quickly rubbed her eyes with the sleeves of her robes. No tears now, right? She looked over at Adam and forced a cheerful smile on her face. "I'm fine," she lied. Yes, this time she was flat out lying. "Just struggling with some spellwork." Which was true. Kurumi reached for the piano sheet music and attempted to shuffle them back into some order when several of them fluttered to the floor instead. She could always pass that off as being flustered about not being able to charm the piano, right?

Who was she kidding? She knew that Adam was gullible, but he wasn't THAT gullible.

Originally Posted by Team ronmione

Adam looked at her quickly trying to bring the sheet music. They fly to the floor and he bent down to pick them up for her. There was no doubt in his mind she had been startled by his presence but another reason that had caused her to get so overwhelmed quickly. He looked at her for a short while and said, "Kurumi..."

No one should have to go through what she had to be dealing with what he believed was quite a while. It was a terrible situation that had arrived upon her family but she needed her friends.

He held his arms out in front of him for her to what he wished was hug. Because she needed someone,anyone to hold her at this point of her life.

Originally Posted by sweetpinkpixie

Ignoring him saying her name, Kurumi snatched the papers back from him before he could try to read what the music was. Not that he would recognize it, it wasn't something he had heard before, but it was still very personal. Very private. "What?" she said, forcing another smile on her face as she set the music back on the piano and readied her wand.

She glanced at him, his arms wide open like that, and almost fell into them. She wanted someone to hold her...but Adam wasn't the one she wanted to have do that. Treyen had in the library, which had helped until they had met Ellie in the Great Hall. Now, Kurumi felt as though in doing so she had done something wrong. She probably should never see Treyen again...at least not unless the Ravenclaw was there to supervise since she seemed to think Treyen needed that constantly.

"I don't need a hug just because I can't perform a spell," she replied, still using that as her excuse and failing miserably. She pointed her wand at the music again. "Ludo Totalum," she said with an obvious lack of confidence. Wand back towards the piano, she drew circles in the air again, rotating at her wrist with a fluidity that one should expect from the prefect - the intent still wasn't there, however. "Ludo Solus." But still no sound came from the piano - it DID glow a little this time, but that was it.

Originally Posted by Team ronmione

Good thing that she had picked up the sheets because if Adam had looked down at it his eyes would've bugged out. He rarely read sheet music for his drums, just every now and then. "Nothing." Adam said shrugging his shoulders.

"I wasn't going to give you a hug because of your spell performance." He said to her. Though, now that she pointed it out he did realize she wasn't as great as she usually was, but he wasn't going to point that out. It'd probably make her feel worse.

"Kurumi.. I heard you in the Great Hall the other day.." He said softly. "I may be the last person you want to talk about this but we don't have to. I'm sure Treyen and Selina have talked to you.." Adam said in a suggesting manner. Maybe he should just stop there usually whatever he said would make her deteriorate and he didn't want her to become more fragile.

Originally Posted by sweetpinkpixie

Kurumi shrugged. Nothing. Nothing was good. Nothing meant that he had nothing further to say and that they were done here and she wouldn't have to be vulnerable around one of the last people she wanted to be so around. It was a win-win really. Or so she thought.

Wand back at the sheets of music again, Kurumi jabbed her wand at them with a clear sense of agitation. "Ludo Totalum," she grumbled, trying to drown out what Adam was saying to her with concentration and, hopefully, music. "Then what were you trying to hug me about?" she asked coolly as she moved her wand towards the piano again. "Ludo Solus."

This time, the piano began to play the song, a few notes lingering in the air and bringing a faint smile to Kurumi's lips until...Adam spoke again. In the next instance, it was as if someone had pressed all the keys on the piano at once and the harsh tone was the only sound in the room for several seconds. He had heard? Then again, who hadn't? Ellie had pushed her over the edge and she was lucky that Kurumi had been able to keep her wits about her long enough to not punch her square in the nose for being an insufferable and nosy Ravenclaw who clung to her so-called boyfriend like a piece of property.

"You...did?" she asked, turning her head towards him and locking his violet eyes on his blue ones. So...that was why he wanted to hug her? She still didn't want his pity for some reason. Call her stubborn if you will, but she just did not want Adam's arms around her. "So...is that why you are being nice to me and respecting me then? It took my mother dying for you to turn over a new leaf?"

She wasn't being fair, and she knew that. Adam hadn't been THAT bad this term in his behavior towards her, but the pain from what he HAD done and what he had THOUGHT about doing had left scars that hadn't healed yet.

Originally Posted by Team ronmione

"I only want to hug you because I want to comfort you." Simple as that. Why were there questions as to why he wanted to hug her. Couldn't things just be simple, why questions?

Then he squirmed and felt uncomfortable when she assumed he was so suddenly being nice to her because of her mother's illness. Had she really thought about him like that in her time of er,suffering. He was beginning to fume what she had said about him but he couldn't explode on her not now and not any time soon. "Whether I'd been nice to you so far this term or not, I'd still be worried and wanting to help you in any way I can. I'm your friend, and I want to do this for you. So, if there's something you need a favor or just sitting with me or something, I'll be here, just call my name."

It was a valid offer,suggestion, she wouldn't even need to talk to him just to try and make herself feel better. Adam wanted to be there for her but it seemed she didn't want anything to do with him.

Originally Posted by sweetpinkpixie

Kurumi didn't want his comfort. Granted, she really didn't want anyone's comfort at the moment as it only served as a reminded to what was going on. Truth also was that the sort of hugs she wanted were not the ones Adam could provide her...so she didn't really want them.

She could tell that what she had said had hurt him and she knew that she had been completely unreasonable. Kurumi furrowed her brow and scrunched her hands up into tight fists, resting them on her thighs and simply sat there for a few moments as she allowed Adam's words to wash over her instead of going in one ear and out the other. "I'm...sorry," she whispered, hiding her face from him by lowering it and having her hair fall over it. Tears slowly streamed down her cheeks and dripping off her chin and onto her closed fists. She hoped that he knew that she was apologizing, because she was having a really hard time finding the words right now.

Her thoughts drifted again, drifted onto someone specific and stayed there. Someone that she wanted to see desperately right now and she found the willpower to try the spells again. If nothing else, they were proving to be a distraction. Wand back towards the parchment, Kurumi tried to steady her shaking hand before speaking. "Ludo Totalum," she whispered before moving her wand towards the piano and making circular motions again. "Ludo Solus."

All her emotions seemed to attach themselves to the spell as it went out of her wand and covered the piano in a pale glow. The ivories seemed to come to life and began to play on their own. Kurumi bit her lower lip and allowed more tears to flow. She just didn't feel like fighting them anymore and couldn't even bring herself to celebrate charming the piano.

It didn't seem to matter - even if the music had a mildly calming effect on the Gryffindor.

Originally Posted by Team ronmione

Adam nodded when he knew that was her way of apologizing at the moment. He didn't need to hear anymore. And she was crying, the tears dropped onto her fists and Adam bit his lip not knowing what to do. He wanted to comfort her but she didn't want it even though he knew she needed it to feel better in the slightest way.

As beautiful as what she had decided to play Adam wished she had attempted it her own. It'd been more beautiful that way, to see her do something on her own, with her bare hands. She'd be accomplishing she did herself. "That was beautiful.It's like a cheerful walk through the park with birds chirping in the distance and..."

He stopped talking as he noticed her cry more now. Adam did not want to see her suffering and he wanted to hug her, to make the world stop for a few mere seconds. So, tentatively he reached out his hand and just patted her back in a consoling manner. He didn't want to push it with a hug,seeing as that was the last thing she wanted.

Originally Posted by sweetpinkpixie

The piano continued to play on a loop, seeing as that is what the spell did when it was uninterrupted and Kurumi simply sat in silence while it did. She almost didn't register Adam speaking to her until a full minute passed and then she was back to looking at him with tears streaming down her face. She really didn't know what to say in response to his comment. It wasn't her piece and she hardly ever wrote her own piano music anymore.

Although, she had the urge to now.

"J-J-Jonathan wrote it for me," she whispered. Which probably explained why she was crying right now. Well, that and other things as well. Adam may not have known that the Slytherin hadn't return to school this term, so perhaps the crying made very little sense in that regard.

Kurumi flicked her wand at the piano again. "Finite." And the two lions were left in silence.

Originally Posted by Team ronmione

The music continued to play over and over again, the same notes same tempo all repeating itself for quite a while.

"If he can write a song then he's really talented. Oh, and that's nice of him.Does it mean something?" Maybe he'd just talk about the song, maybe it'd distract from what he had so suddenly previously mentioned at her. And now Kurumi was crying more which made his stomach lurch because he felt helpless at the moment.

She probably didn't like crying, no one did, unless it were tears of happiness but at the very least, in some horrible thought, she wasn't keeping her emotions bottled in.

And the music stopped at the very instance. Adam stared down at the piano and then back at her.For some time now he assumed the music was a way to keep the worse thoughts out of her mind. "Maybe you should let it keep playing? It'll help to keep you distracted."

Originally Posted by sweetpinkpixie

Kurumi's body tensed a bit. She wasn't sure if it was really safe to talk about Jonathan in front of Adam. It almost always caused tension between the two of them yet, in this moment, Jonathan was one of the only things she wanted to think about. Why did he have to leave? She needed him so much right now. "Jonathan is much more passionate about the piano," she said with a small smile. As to the meaning of the song...Kurumi could only blush. She knew what it meant to her and she was pretty sure it meant the same for him. "I think it does," she nodded. But it was sort of really personal and...something she really couldn't put into words.

So...confusing...really confusing...

Not realizing that she was blushing, Kurumi shook her head when he suggested that she keep the music going. "It...almost makes me more sad..." And then she was back to frowning again.

Originally Posted by Team ronmione

"Well, that...Well you've got passion in baking. Maybe if you bake real soon in the kitchens it'll help you feel better and clear out your mind." He suggested. Adam knew playing music for him was an outlet an escape to let all his feelings and emotions be drowned out by the one thing he loved. An outlet for his mind to relax and find himself once again.

And now she was frowning. His shoulders slumped when he saw her expression. In all honesty he didn't want her feeling so down, even though it was understandable, but even talking about the piano and Jonathon seemed to weaken her.

"Is there anything I can do for you at the moment?" He asked her. If Adam tried to keep guessing what she might want he might hit a sensitive spot, so, he'd just go straight for it.