I Learned Your Pulse

"Damn, you guys can sing."

"My mother dragged me to see West Side Story," Draco said, "a sort of Romeo-and-Juliet thing, and explained the original to me afterwards using those words."

"You saw West Side Story?" Hermione squealed, rushing over to him and flopping back on the loveseat so her legs were on the back part and her back on the seat, her ankles crossing and uncrossing themselves in midair as her neck craned itself up to look at him. "Who's your favorite character?"

"We'd still like to know who this Shakespeare bloke really is," said Ron, a little fed up.

"I'll explain," said Harry, wandering over to his best friend and girlfriend and starting to explainas he ushered Hermione back down.

Draco thought about her question carefully. "Probably Riff," he said.

"You're kidding!" Hermione struggled to sit up, her breathing a little strained as she folded her body. "He's so prejudiced!"

"It's not his fault," said Draco. "Did you misss 'Gee, Officer Krupke'?"

She now had her back to the arm, and her legs across his thighs, and people were returning to normal activities. "I didn't," she said, defiantly, "But seriously, those are just excuses not to end up in jail."

"They are not!"

" 'My Daddy beats my Mommy / my Mommy clobbers me' ?" Hermione sang mockingly. "They look fine to me."

"Lovely play," remarked Parvati, with some discernment, but she, too, grew bored and drifted off.

"That's obviously a false one," he said back. "What about, 'My Grandma is a Commie / My Grandpa pushes tea' ?"

"False as well," she retorted. "And why don't you like Tony, or Maria?"

Draco grinned and set his mother's letter aside on the coffee table. "You're supposed to like those two," he replied. "And they're not very dynamic characters."

"What do you mean, they're not?" she said, on the defensive.

"The only time I felt they were okay was when they were singing. Anita and Riff, on the other hand, are real characters."

"Hold on - Anita? Why do you like Anita?"

"She's independant -"

"Please, she hangs off 'Nardo like drapes."

"She does not! Did you not see their fight before 'America'?"

"I did see it," she consented, "But she's not very nice in the end."

"Only because the Jets were beating her -"

"Aha! Riff's gang!" her eyes flashed.

"He's dead at that point, remember? And then 'Cool' happens."

She growled, not wanting to accept he was right. "Well, Tony and Maria had the dance scene -"

"They never danced nearly so well as Anita or Riff did. Seriously, those two were on fire," he said, watching as she stuck her chin out dauntingly.

"They sing better -"

"Sing better?" he laughed. " 'Pueeeeeeeeeerto RRRRico / my heart's devotion,' " he sang, trying to sound like Anita and failing.

She laughed too. " 'Let it sink back in the ocean,' " she continued, smiling broadly. " 'Always the hurricanes bloooooowing,' "

" 'Always the pop-u-la-tion grrrrrrrrrrrrowing!' " he finished off, and he sounded so bad they both collapsed in a heap on each other, laughing and almost crying with mirth, earning them a few odd stares from people around them.