Who's Pete Townshend?

Who's Pete Townshend?

Ginny Weasely closed her eyes and cleared her throat. Her Muggle electric guitar lay in her lap, and her fingers itched to touch the smooth, long strings, but she wasn't sure if she could. If she started playing, she'd start singing. And when she sang, she became oblivious to everything and everyone around her.

And Draco Malfoy was due to meet her here in ten minutes. "A guitar lesson," he'd said. "Your weasel brother says you play. And my mother's making me learn. We'll make it quick, under an hour. You show me the basics and we'll see what I can do for you later."

Ginny sighed. Why had she agreed to do this? Oh, right...because of all the things she could gain from Draco Malfoy if she did something for him. She shifted the guitar so it sat comfortably in her arms and positioned her fingers over the strings. She strummed a soft, harmonious chord and smiled. She hadn't played in a few weeks because when she last did, she had been singing in her dormitory and her roommates caught her singing about a boy...she couldn't shake them on the topic, so she had put the guitar away for a while. Now she was glad to have it in her hands again, hearing the music that flowed from the power of her fingers.

She ran her fingers across a few more chords, then began to sing to herself.

"When people keep repeating, that you'll never fall in love...when everybody keeps retreating, and you can never get enough...let my love open the door, let my love open the door, let my love open the door...to your heart..."

The door to the empty classroom she sat in, just a few doors down from the door to the Astronomy Tower, flew open and Ginny was startled violently. She gripped the neck of her guitar and stood quickly. She sighed and sat back down when Draco Malfoy strode in, a guitar case in one hand and the doorknob in the other as he closed it.

"Ginny," he nodded curtly.

"Draco." Ginny nodded back, then repositioned herself cross-legged on the big desk at the front of the room, her guitar once more settled in her lap. "So," she began, watching and waiting while Draco chose a student desk to sit on, his long legs swinging. "Do you know anything at all about guitars?"

He leaned down and opened the case, taking out a beautiful Taylor acoustic guitar. Ginny smirked. He may have claimed to hate Muggles, but at least he knew a good Muggle guitar when he needed one. "I know a little," he said, and to Ginny he sounded startlingly vulnerable. "A few chords. Not much more than that." He strummed the chords he knew to demonstrate his limits to Ginny.

Suddenly he looked up, right into Ginny's eyes. "What were you playing and singing when I came in? I waited outside and listened. It was beautiful."

Ginny felt the blush rise to her cheeks. "Pete Townshend," she said softly. "'Let My Love Open The Door'".

His eyes registered a very, painfully blank look. "Who's Pete Townshend?" He asked.

Ginny felt her eyes widen indefinitely. "Who is Pete Townshend? I can't believe you don't know who he is...well, actually, I can believe it. He was a Muggle musician, so it's not too likely you know much of his music."

Draco was watching her with a fascination she'd never seen in his steely grey eyes. He seemed genuinely interested, and Ginny couldn't shake the feeling that there was something a little more to the look than that.

"So, how do you want to do this?" She asked, strumming a few major chords to recreate Pachelbel's Canon in D. "It looks like you've got the basics down, so...I dunno, is there a song you've got in mind that you want to learn?"

"Um..." It was the first time Ginny had ever heard that uncertain sound slip from those pale lips. Draco Malfoy was never uncertain. He always knew what he was thinking, what was going on and what he was going to say. "There are a couple of songs I kind of want to learn..."

He said it all with such coyness that Ginny dragged her eyes from her guitar strings to his face, which was rosy with blush. His eyes averted hers and he began to pluck out harsh notes on his acoustic Taylor. Ginny stood quickly and set her guitar down gently. She positioned herself beside him and placed her fingers over his, guiding them down over the strings.

"Gently. That's the key. Unless you're playing Jeff Buckley's 'Alleluia', you don't want to pluck the strings. Strum is the key word here."

"Do you think I could ever play that?" He asked softly.

Ginny pulled him by the neck of his guitar to the floor, where she knelt with her own and played the aforementioned song's opening notes. "'Alleluia?' It's not too hard, but I think it'll be a few weeks before we can get to that level."

"So we get to spend a few weeks together?" His eyes searched hers in an odd way...for the first time Ginny didn't feel like he was searching for a way to hurt her or tease her. Here he seemed to look for...well, she wasn't sure what yet.

"Not straight through. We might take a week off every now and then, and some weeks we'll have two or more lessons to catch up."

He smiled, but instantly lowered his chin, acting as though he was directing his gaze towards the guitar strings.

Ginny arched an eyebrow. What's going on here...?

Three weeks later Ginny sat out by the lake, her entire body stretched out on the lush green grass. The weather had taken a turn for the best, and the sun warmed Ginny's freckled face. She was waiting for Draco so they could have a final lesson before finals began. They had been having two and sometimes even three lessons a week, and Draco had improved incredibly. He had learned "Alleluia" two weeks ago for lack of being able to handle the gentle motion of playing.

She heard footsteps crossing the soft ground and reached her arm out to touch the handle of her guitar case. She lay still though, waiting to see who was approaching.

"Hi," a soft voice said, hovering above her. She opened her eyes to see Draco's lean frame blocking the bright sun from view. She smiled and accepted his hand as she sat herself up.

"Ready for today's lesson?" She asked conversationally.

But Draco seemed to have something else on his mind. He sat beside her, laying his guitar case gently on the grass. He unlatched the case and lovingly drew the guitar out. Ginny had learned a lot about him over the past few weeks, and he in turn had grown to love his guitar and the music he could make with it.

"Actually, I wanted to ask your opinion of something I've sort of been working on."

Ginny arched an eyebrow. "Okay...what is it?"

Instead of replying, Draco laid the guitar in his lap and gently began to play. His eyes were cast downward at the strings, confident in a nervous sort of way as his lips parted and he began to sing.

"By your side, satisfied through and through...'cause I was born to be with you."

His playing was strengthened a bit and his voice ceased to quiver as he sang on.

"Wondrously love can see, so I know, that I was born to be with you...do I find peace of mind, yes I do...'cause I was born to be with you."

His eyes were raised from his guitar at this point and were searching Ginny's with feeling...feeling that Ginny had begun to suspect he was able to feel. But as her eyes met his, one moment of understanding passed and a small smile crept onto Draco's lips. His eyes warmed and his words became full of meaning.

"By your side, satisfied through and through, 'cause I was born to be with you."

As the song ended, Draco removed his guitar from his lap and placed it in its case. "So...what do you think?" He asked softly.

Ginny smiled and reached out both of her hands. He crawled forwards and took her hands in both of his. "It was beautiful. Truly breathtaking. Don't tell me you learned a Leo Kottke song for me."

"Part for you and part for me," He answered truthfully. "My mom dragged this ancient record out last Christmas. She said that when she was young she ran away from home once, to travel. She went to the Midwestern United States and heard this guy play live, and she fell in love with the music. But when she met and married my father, he destroyed all of her Muggle instruments. She was crushed, but when he was arrested she bought a new one in London and gave it to me."

He indicated his beloved Taylor acoustic guitar and smiled. "Part for my mother, too, I guess."

Ginny twisted her hands in Draco's. "You had to have fallen in love with it too, Draco. You can't listen to Leo Kottke and not fall in love with his music."

Draco smiled and let go of her hands, reaching for his guitar. "I have one more I want to play for you. This one I learned specifically for you." He smiled and began to play.

At my door the leaves are falling
A cold wild wind will come
Sweethearts walk by together
And I still miss someone

Oh I never got over those blue eyes
I see them everywhere
How I miss those arms that held me
When all the love was there

I go out on the party
And look for a little fun
But I find the darkened corner
And I still miss someone

Oh I never got over those blue eyes
I see them everywhere
How I miss those arms that held me
When all the love was there

I wonder if she's sorry
For leaving what we'd begun
There's someone for me somewhere
And I still miss someone

Oh I never got over those blue eyes
I see them everywhere
How I miss those arms that held me
When all the love was there

"I Still Miss Someone", by Leo Kottke