interlude
The dining hall in Hogwarts was eerily empty. The cold wind from the large open door kept wiping out the candles in the ceiling and the mere 8 people sitting in the dining hall all wore jumpers or full coats. Students were piling out the door, excited to finally go home and see their loved ones again for Christmas.
Newt and Willow sat at the edge of a table playing wizard's chess, both not making any progress. "You're not going home for Christmas?" Newt asked as Willow ran through her curly hair with her fingers, thinking. "How come?"
"My parents have left for China already to visit family and my brother's working for the Ministry now. Besides, it's more fun here than it is at home. I can't leave you here all by yourself either. Knight to F5."
The knight on the board moved a few steps forward and to the left.
"Um, bishop to D6."
The bishop moved forward a few squares. Nothing happened.
"This is getting nowhere." Newt quietly said and laid his head down on his arms.
"Where's Leta?"
"She's going home this year."
"Hm." Willow stared at the board once more before rubbing her eyes and standing up, tired of how the game was going nowhere. "Come on, I have something to show you. My brother finally got a hold of Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite and my parents sent over a recording of The Drunken Concubine from China! You must give them a listen!" She stood up and took Newt by his hand, running through the empty hallways, and even past Professor McGonagall who yelled at them as they passed.
"Aren't records and phonographs considered Muggle objects?" Newt asked as they climbed the stairs up to Ravenclaw Tower.
Willow shrugged. "Yes, and? My mother's Muggle-born and my father's a half-blood. This isn't anything special. We own one at home too." They reached the large brown door to the tower, out of breath.
Willow knocked using the bronze eagle knocker 3 times until the eagle started speaking.
"What came first? The chicken or the egg?" The eagle asked.
Newt chuckled and Willow glanced at him, rolling her eyes. "For a chicken to hatch, there has to be an egg that it hatched out of," she started answering, "in the end, no one can know for sure." The door then swung open and they walked inside.
The room was almost completely white with some bronze and blue embellishments such as a large blue rug with bronze stars that covered the center of the circular room. There was a statue of Rowena Ravenclaw at the other end of where Willow and Newt stood. The roof was a dome window, letting light shine through, although it was covered in snow at the moment. There were 2 staircases, leading to the dormitories.
"Wait here, they're in my room." Willow ran up the staircase on the right and then after a few minutes, came back down with a large phonograph floating behind her, wand and records in hand. She set down the phonograph on the floor in front of a couch and went to sit in front of it, leaning on the couch. Newt walked over and did the same.
Willow slowly reached into one of the record covers and pulled out a large black circular disc with a hole in the middle. "The Nutcracker Suite." She said and carefully put it on the turntable and started spinning the handle on the side of the instrument, getting the record spinning quickly. Willow picked up the needle and slowly dropped it on the edge of the record, playing a static noise, until it began playing. Willow hummed along to the slow majestic sound coming out of the golden horn.
"It's beautiful, is it not?"
Newt smiled awkwardly. "I never had much interest in classical music. I find it boring, to be honest. This is quite nice though."
"Maybe one day we can see the Nutcracker together. How does that sound? We can invite Leta and Theseus and maybe even our families." Willow chuckled. She laid her head back on the blue satin couch and stared at the white ceiling with a sigh.
Newt followed her again. "Why not just us? Together, in Russia."
"Maybe. Although Russia's too cold. How about when the ballet comes to the UK?" She turned to face him, propping her head against her hand, and smiled.
Newt laughed. "That'd be perfect."