(Harry's POV*)
It started as a joke.
A D.A.D.A "study break." A way to "test magical acoustics," as Hermione diplomatically put it.
still don't know what acoustics means.
But by the time June rolled around, it had become something more — a band.
I never planned to start one.
I just needed an outlet that wasn't runes or dueling drills or countermeasures against Ministry spies.
Something… human.
And so, somehow, Hogwarts' first official Student Magical Band was born, me, Ron, Hermione, Luna, Neville, Daphne, and Tracey.
Our instruments half-muggle, half-enchanted, and entirely experimental.
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(3rd Person OV*)
By evening, the Great Hall didn't look like itself.
The long tables were gone, replaced by chairs pushed to the sides and floating lanterns that shimmered in rhythm with faint notes of tuning spells.
A stage had been conjured near the front, polished oak, threaded with silver runes for sound-clarity. The enchanted ceiling reflected a dusk sky brushed with streaks of gold and violet.
This wouldn't happen if Harry wasn't McGonagall's favorite.
Harry adjusted his collar, heart doing that uneven flutter it always did before something big.
Except this wasn't a duel, or a ritual, or another secret he had to guard, this was… different.
For once, he didn't need to hide anything. Just play.
Ron tapped a drumstick on his knee, muttering, "If I mess up, I'm blaming you, mate."
"You'll be fine," Harry said, grinning. "Just pretend it's a bludger you're hitting."
Hermione rolled her eyes, wand flicking to check the tuning spells on her enchanted keyboard. "Honestly, boys. We're playing for the whole school, not running from Death Eaters."
Neville plucked his bass cello, the deep hum blending softly with Luna's harp. "At least if something explodes, people will assume it's part of the show."
Luna, dreamy as ever, tilted her head. "Magic likes music. It listens, if you let it."
That quieted them. Because she was right.
The air did feel charged, as if Hogwarts itself was curious what its students were about to do.
Daphne and Tracey adjusted their strings beside Hermione, whispering about harmonics.
The stage lights shifted, gold dust twinkling like stars.
McGonagall's voice rose from the audience: "Whenever you're ready, Mr. Potter."
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Harry stepped forward. The room hushed. A hundred eyes watched expectant, curious, enchanted.
He took a slow breath. "We thought… Hogwarts could use a theme," he said, voice calm but carrying. "Something that feels like home."
He nodded toward Hermione, who tapped her wand on the keys
and the first haunting notes of Hedwig's Theme filled the hall.
More like Hogwarts theme now.
[A/N: Any song mentioned is owned by their respective singers, I don't own anything.
Though do lug your earbuds and listen all the songs while reading this.]
[Hedwig's Theme -by John Williams]
It was slow at first, soft as memory, the kind of sound that reminded you of corridors at dusk, owls crossing the night sky, first-years whispering under candlelight.
Then the tempo grew, Ron's drums joining like a heartbeat, the strings weaving in until the Great Hall breathed with it.
Magic pulsed along the walls, lanterns spinning, the enchanted ceiling reflecting bursts of light like falling stars.
Like Hogwarts itself seems to enjoy it.
Maybe it did.
The final note hung in the air, shimmering, suspended, fragile.
Then silence.
Not empty silence, the kind that hums with awe.
The enchanted lanterns flickered as though they too were catching their breath.
Even the ceiling sky, a swirl of twilight and starlight, seemed to pause, reflecting the spellbound faces below.
Then came a sound: a soft gasp from one of the first-years near the front, followed by another and another.
And suddenly, the silence broke.
Applause crashed through the Great Hall like a wave.
It wasn't polite or restrained; it was alive.
Students stood up from their seats, whistling, cheering, stamping their feet on the floor.
Some clapped out of rhythm, others yelled over the noise, trying to be heard.
"Did you see that—?"
"Bloody brilliant—!"
"I didn't know you could do that with a harp!"
Fred and George were leading the chaos, of course, whistling loud enough to echo off the rafters.
"That's our boy, Harry!" Fred yelled.
"Give him a record deal!" George added.
Nearby, Ginny looked dazed, smiling softly and said, "That sounded like home."
Even the Slytherin table, usually reserved, calculating, had softened expressions. Daphne's friends clapped in slow, reluctant admiration until Theo elbowed one of them into doing it properly.
From the Ravenclaws came the loudest applause, several enchanted their hands to sparkle with blue light as they clapped, forming a flickering constellation above their heads.
The Hufflepuffs joined in with rhythm, turning the applause into a near-musical beat.
And the professors,
McGonagall stood at the edge of the stage, her usual strict expression cracked by something softer.
There was pride in her eyes, and perhaps just a hint of nostalgia. She was the first to start clapping formally which only made the crowd erupt even more.
Flitwick was practically bouncing on his toes, squeaking, "Marvelous! Simply marvelous! The harmonic layering—oh, the precision of those charm chords!"
Sprout wiped her eyes behind her glasses. "Oh, my… it really does sound like Hogwarts, doesn't it?"
Snape, sitting at the end of the staff table didn't clap. But he didn't sneer, either. His arms were crossed, his expression unreadable, eyes faintly narrowed in concentration.
If one looked closely, though, they might have noticed the faintest twitch at the corner of his mouth. Not quite approval… but something close.
Hagrid, of course, was bawling. "Tha's our Harry! Playin' like a proper wizard, he is!"
And Dumbledore sitting quietly in the center looked the most moved of all.
He didn't clap at first. He just watched, eyes shining faintly behind his spectacles, the light of the candles reflected like stars. Then, slowly, he stood.
The crowd hushed as his hands came together.
Clap. Clap. Clap.
Each sound sharp and deliberate filled with that calm gravitas only Dumbledore carried.
And with that, the applause swelled again, thunderous and whole.
Harry stood frozen for a moment on stage, unsure what to do cheeks faintly flushed, breath caught somewhere between pride and disbelief.
Hermione was smiling wide beside him, Ron thumping the drumsticks against his knee, Luna humming softly to herself as though still lost in the echo.
For the first time in a long while, Hogwarts didn't feel like a castle full of secrets.
It felt like a home filled with sound.
Harry barely heard it through the rush in his chest.
He smiled, glanced back at his friends, Ron grinning wide, Hermione beaming, Luna half lost in thought, Daphne's eyes bright, Tracey's hair glowing under the light.
But the night has only started.
He raised a hand for quiet.
"Next," he said, voice a touch lower, "is… a personal one."
Ron leaned forward, muttering, "Here it comes."
Harry's grin turned crooked. "It's about fighting back, about not giving up. I think… it's sort of about me."
A few students laughed. Someone yelled, "Of course it is!"
I pointed my wand, blue flame rippled across the stage.
"Fair warning," I said, "this one's loud."
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Ron cracked his drumsticks together.
The first bass drop hit.
[Believer -by Imagine Dragons]
I took a deep breath and sang.
["First things first, I'ma say all the words inside my head
I'ma say all the words inside my head
I'm fired up and tired of the way that things have been, oh-ooh
The way that things have been, oh-ooh…"]
The crowd roared.
Magic thrummed through me, literal lightning trailing my fingertips as I moved.
Runes I'd carved into the stage flared with rhythm; each word pulsed with energy.
When the chorus hit, fire burst skyward.
["Pain! You made me a, you made me a believer
Pain!
You break me down and build me up, believer, believer
Pain!
Oh, let the bullets fly, oh, let them rain
My life, my love, my drive, it came from...
Pain!
You made me a, you made me a believer, believer…"]
Hermione kept time with charm sparks; Ron was grinning like a maniac; even Luna was headbanging softly, eyes closed in rhythm.
By the bridge, half the school was on their feet, singing in sync.
It wasn't just music, it was release. All the tension, all the whispers, all the secrets turned into one roar of sound and light.
The last echo of Believer hung in the Great Hall like thunder fading into the rafters.
Smoke and spelllight shimmered above the stage, gold, crimson, and silver threads swirling together before dissolving into motes of drifting magic.
Harry stood in the center, wand-guitar tilted down, breath heavy.
He didn't move. Neither did anyone else.
For a heartbeat, Hogwarts was silent.
Then, the room erupted.
Cheers hit like a wave.
It wasn't the polite applause they'd given after the Hogwarts Theme; this was raw, electric, alive.
The whole school was on its feet. Gryffindor banners flared to life, the enchanted ceiling flashed like a storm caught in sunlight, and even the ghosts above were glowing brighter.
Ron was still drumming the table, whooping over the roar. "That's my best mate, that's my best mate!"
Hermione was grinning so wide it almost looked painful, her curls frizzed from the residual static in the air. "You're insane," she laughed breathlessly. "Brilliant, but insane."
Neville, who had barely looked up during rehearsal, was standing tall beside his cello, smiling quietly like someone who'd just seen a sunrise.
Luna clapped gently slow, dreamlike her eyes bright and watery. "It sounded like… you turned pain into light," she said softly.
Daphne Greengrass was leaning forward, whispering something to Tracey, both looking oddly impressed.
Even the Slytherin table, normally reserved, arms crossed, expressions cool had cracked.
Blaise Zabini gave a slow, deliberate clap the kind that said I respect this, but I'll never admit it outright.
"Did he just sing about… himself?" Pansy whispered.
Draco, still staring at the stage, muttered, "Obviously. And somehow made it sound like prophecy."
The Ravenclaws were already analyzing it.
Padma was muttering, "He modulated emotion with magic. That's not music, that's mind resonance."
Terry Boot shook his head. "That was artillery with rhythm."
Hufflepuffs, meanwhile, were too busy losing their minds.
"WOOHOOO!" Ernie yelled, nearly knocking over a pitcher of pumpkin juice.
Hannah and Susan were glowing, cheering Harry's name until their voices cracked.
And then the professors.
Professor Flitwick was practically vibrating. "Did you see the harmonic layering! A fourth-tier amplification weave, and no distortion! Extraordinary!"
Professor Sprout was smiling in that calm, proud way of hers. "He's grown, Albus. Not just stronger but also kind."
McGonagall adjusted her spectacles, expression halfway between stern and utterly moved. "I believe," she murmured, "that's the first time I've seen the Great Hall stand for a student since the war."
Snape sat with his arms folded, eyes on Harry. He didn't clap but he didn't sneer either.
When Hermione passed him a look, he just said, "It was… tolerable."
Then, quieter: "He's found his rhythm."
And finally, Dumbledore rose.
He didn't speak at first. Just stood there, eyes glimmering in the candlelight the old, bright blue of his gaze reflecting a thousand sparks from the enchanted ceiling.
When he did speak, his voice carried warmth, pride, and a faint melancholy.
"First, you gave us Hogwarts' heart," he said softly. "Now you've shown us its fire."
He turned slightly, eyes meeting Harry's. "To believe truly is to remember who we are, even when the world forgets. Well done, my boy."
The students quieted, almost instinctively.
Harry smiled faintly, rubbing the back of his neck. "Guess I got carried away."
Ron snorted. "Carried away? Mate, you nearly set the Hall on fire."
"Emotionally," Luna added dreamily.
Hermione rolled her eyes, still grinning. "Don't encourage him."
Dumbledore chuckled softly. "Encouragement, Miss Granger, is sometimes the wisest kind of mischief."
The laughter rippled again warm and easy. For the first time in months, there was no tension of exams, no storm of politics or fear hanging over them.
Just light, music, and magic.
Harry looked around the hall the glowing faces, the banners, the gentle hum of Hogwarts itself resonating in the stone.
He leaned into the mic again, voice low, almost teasing.
"So," he said, "since you lot aren't tired yet…"
A roar of NOOO! answered him before he could finish.
He grinned, sparks flickering around his wandtip.
"Alright then," he said, eyes shining. "Let's make some noise."
The lights dimmed, the instruments shimmered back into readiness and as the crowd leaned in, Harry whispered,
"This next one… is called Beggin'."
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(Harry's POV*)
[Beggin'-by Måneskin]
["Put your loving hand out, baby
'Cause I'm beggin'"]
If Believer was thunder, then Beggin' was lightning.
The first beat dropped and the Hall moved with it. Ron hit the drums like he'd been born behind them, Hermione's fingers glided across glowing keys, and Luna's harp shimmered beside her like threads of starlight.
Neville's bass pulsed through the floor, steady, grounded, the heartbeat beneath the noise while Daphne and Tracey filled the air with soft, silvery strings that wrapped around everything.
And I—
I just let go.
No more holding back.
No politics. No Serpent Council breathing down my neck. No secrets humming under my skin.
Just music.
["I'm beggin', beggin' you…
So put your loving hand out, baby
I'm beggin', beggin' you
So put your loving hand out, darling
Ridin' high when I was king
I played it hard and fast, 'cause I had everything
I walked away, but you warned me then
But easy come and easy go, and it would end…"]
My voice echoed through the Hall not amplified, just amplified by belief.
Every word came from somewhere old, somewhere raw.
Every note carried every sleepless night, every scar, every laugh that kept me from breaking.
The crowd started clapping along hundreds of hands keeping rhythm.
The floating candles swayed like they were dancing too, and the ceiling reflected stormlight, lightning flickering in time with the beat.
["So anytime I bleed, you let me go
Yeah, anytime I feed you, get me? No?
Anytime I seek you, let me know
But I plan and see, just let me go
I'm on my knees when I'm beggin'
'Cause I don't want to lose you
Hey yeah, ra-ta-ta-ta…"]
When the chorus hit, I felt the hall's magic surge back.
Hogwarts itself was humming, as if the castle wanted to sing with us.
Even the professors couldn't help it, Flitwick was standing on his chair clapping in tempo, Sprout's plants on the windowsill had started blooming mid song,
and even Snape's robes fluttered from the sonic vibration.
And Dumbledore he wasn't watching me anymore.
He was watching the students, thousands of them shining like candlelight, laughing, shouting, alive.
I caught his eye once. He just nodded, that small, knowing nod of someone who'd seen too much war and finally got to see peace for a minute.
When the last note faded, I let the silence stretch.
No one moved. No one even breathed.
And then, the applause broke like a wave.
It wasn't wild this time. It was… full.
Like everyone knew they'd just been part of something bigger than a song.
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