Between Crown and Heart - Book 1

42 - Little Boy

Complete silence. No one dared to speak nor to move. Everyone looked at me after I finished singing.

Feeling all my self-confidence rushing away I stood still and rigid, bowed down my head to looked at the ground and folded my nervous hands in front of my belly with my cheeks getting hot and red.

After three complete silent and very uncomfortable minutes Professor Flitwick sniveled and caused me to look up. Tears were running down his cheeks and his nose was red like a tomato. Seeing him like this made my eyes wet, too. I searched for tissue papers in my pockets and took out one for me and one for the small Professor.

He spoke while he accepted the tissue: "B-beautiful..."

Finally, the tears I tried to hold back fell down. Happiness and proudness mixed with touchiness, unworthiness and gratitude filled my heart. I never thought that I could be a good singer who makes someone even cry. This was the greatest compliment I have ever received.

He nodded for thank you and placed the paper in the middle of his face to empty out his nose. This trumpet like noise brought everyone back or made everyone to compose themselves.

Suddenly, Professor Flitwick said: "Please, sing again... for me. Would you?"

The short man looked with his big, red puffed eyes at me.

I nodded and gulped to suppress more tears of touchiness.

"I-I" barely able to speak I coughed and tried again.

"This... song is one of... my favorite one." I managed to say.

I sat down on the chair, waved with my wand at the frogs to get them the right notes and tried my best to not cry again.

"Thank you so much, Royalty. Now come beside me and enjoy this one," I thought and smiled at Ro.

He plodded to me and lied next to my feet.

I made my voice ready and tried some notes. Then I sang again, only a different song.

(Imagine by Emeli Sandé)

I lost myself again in the song and didn't realized that I closed my eyes and leaned back in the chair very relaxed while I sang.

But this time there wasn't silence when I stopped; little, unsteady sobs filled the room.

I opened my eyes to see that Professor McGonagal, Sprout and Flitwick cried slightly, while Professor Dumbledore dabbed his eyes. Looking down at Royalty I saw that his eyes were watered, too!

"I never thought that animals could cry." I said to him.

"Well, nor did I!" He sniveled.

Again touched by this unworthy feedback I looked curiously at Professor Snape, the only left person I hadn't observed.

I looked at him and all my touchiness, proudness and happiness flooded away. It was replaced with melancholy, pain and sorrow. His features were soft and plain but sorrowful as if he remembered something beautiful in the past which was a painful, bitter sweet, memory at the same time. The Professor was that lost in his thoughts that he didn't realize that I stood up and walked towards him. Only when I was right in front of him and looked up in his beautiful face, he realized me.

He looked at me very dull and empty and then I had a feeling of I could see through his soul. Right there I had a vision.

I saw a young boy, maybe 10 years old with black hair and very familiar to Snape. He was hiding behind a cupboard and looked between a slit at a man with a bottle in his hand and standing in front of something on the ground with his legs apart.