He was poking fun at her, but not in the way that men usually did — Gallivan was teasing her as if she were in on the joke. Johanna smiled at him, bright and honest. "It's like you can feel the rhythm in your veins," she said, because he was being so nice to her that she may as well be open about it.

Usually people didn't ask her about music; usually they thought that she was talking about it in the way that other debutantes did, when they were going to show off on the pianoforte.

"I really like the drums the best, but usually things like this just have a string quartet — but it's still good. Sometimes I use music to keep time."

  

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set by Bee

She was odd, Johanna Appplegate. But her unexpected answers to everything made her interesting – and Theo thought he would have come to this conclusion even if he had not also been worrying about how weirdly enamoured he was by her in general.

But talking like this was not doing any harm, so... he may as well let it happen. And though he had never had any real opinions on music, he somehow understood that appeal. The rhythm in your veins – being so present in your body, letting yourself be lifted and carried by something outside yourself. Like you were swimming in it, enough to lose yourself. Not so unlike the thrill of flying, maybe: the rush of air around you, and the pounding of your heart in your ears as you descended. He tilted his head to the side, considering.

“The drums,” Theo echoed, surprised and intrigued again in equal measure. They were a rarer occurrence here. “There’s usually some drumming in the stands at quidditch matches,” he commented, with a grin (the more raucous fans leading the chants), “but, well, I – don’t know if I’d go as far as to call it music. Do you play, then, or prefer to listen?”

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   Johanna Applegate

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Hanna liked the way that Gallivan grinned, and she grinned back at him. "Maybe I should go to Quidditch matches more often," she said, only half-joking. She'd gone consistently when she was at school, but less since then — the noise at Quidditch games seemed as if it would be a bit much for her brothers.

"I just listen," Hanna said, with a slight smile. "I can play the pianoforte, but I've no talent for it." Cecelia's obsession was useful; Hanna's mostly just made her weird outside of the Season and talkative when it came to puzzles. But she could not be completely jealous, because Hanna was probably the only person who found her hobbies more interesting than painting.

  

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set by Bee

“Listening is its own kind of talent,” Theo protested brightly; but beneath the joking there was something about her self-deprecation, her ‘just’ listening, that he earnestly wanted to counter. He didn’t like much here, at these parties – but he did like her.

“And maybe you should,” he agreed, of the quidditch games. He liked her enough that he wasn’t even joking, entirely. Maybe he meant it. Maybe he would invite her sometime. He would certainly have to try and sit with her like this again.

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