New Vinyl (A Draco Malfoy Story)

I

The first notes of the piano hit my ears, a sultry melody, and with my eyes closed I imagined the music floating across the room from the small record player that sat beneath the window, normally hidden beneath a green comforter to shield it from sunlight. With the pluck of a guitar string, my stomach tightened, muscles constricting. Joy filled my chest, elating me. The lead singer crooned about love. I felt it deep within my bones, transported to a place so dark, where the rawest of emotions lived. My hips rocked to the music, my toes curling over my comforter. The falsetto in the second chorus carried me over the edge.

With a sputter, the music died out. I inhaled deeply, opening my eyes to see not the world of color and sound that developed beneath my eyelids, but instead the cold stone ceilings of the Slytherin girl's dormitory. I sat up in the empty room, acclimating once more to the abysmal surroundings. Reaching the record player, I smacked the side of it in anger. Grasping the handle, I cranked it again. The gears wound tight, the antique player quivering in protest beneath my fingers.

"Fucking thing," I said. I pulled the record off. Suddenly, shouts sounded from the common room below. I jumped, slipping the record quickly back into its sleeve. I popped the wooden panel out from just beneath the player, slipping the record inside and popping the cover back into place. I pulled another record from the stack sitting out in the open beside the player, selecting the Snap Dragons' third full-length album, Potion No. 9. I barely set the needle when two girls filed into the room.

"Ditching again, Imogene?" The blonde crashed down onto the bed beside her, her books falling into a heap on the ground. She pulled her tie loose around her neck, stretching her lean body out over the comforter.

"I refuse to sit through another O.W.L. prep workshop with that cow Umbridge," I said. The girl giggled, kicking off her Mary Janes. One bounced on the carpet and landed onto a pile of folded white shirts. The second girl huffed, bending over and picking it up.

"Celine! Get your ratchet Mary Janes off my clean clothes. It looks like you walked through Hippogriff shit." She hurled the shoe at Celine. With a flick of her wand, Celine diverted the shoe toward a picture frame on the nearest nightstand. With a crash, the frame fell to the ground.

"It's only a smidge of dirt, Nat. Don't get your knickers in a twist." Natalia fumed, her eyes wilder than the curly brunette hair that stood nearly a foot off her head.

"Fuck you, Celine."

Celine feigned a hurt expression as Natalia flipped her off on the way to the loo. She leaned back again, propping herself up on her elbows.  I set my sights back onto the stack of records, flipping through them with practiced precision. "You listen to records all day, then?" Celine asked.

"Uh-huh," I said. I picked my next record out and set it on top of the stack. Then I gripped the handle on the side of the old record player and cranked it a few more times for good measure. "Antiquated piece of junk. Honestly, why haven't wizards thought to – " My tongue froze. I swallowed my words, heat rising up my face.

"What?" Celine asked. I turned around, seeing her sitting up, her pink lips resting in a natural pout. She flashed an interested glance but I shrugged, pulling out my wand.

"Never mind." I flicked my wand toward the player, and the handle churned itself.

"Duh," Celine said, rolling her eyes.

I flopped down on my bed, guilt and anxiety forming in the pit of my stomach at nearly slipping again. I sighed, thinking back to the small Muggle music player I left back at home, hidden beneath the floor boards in my closet. Hours and hours of beautiful music, just out of reach.