I mean, it is, but not . . . I only really use it in arithmancy, and even that, it's more about studying the magical properties of numbers than actually multiplying them.
[She sets up everything at the piano and opens her piano bench to reveal a notebook - it's just a spare - and takes it out, ruffles through the pages, and sits, then hands him his cake back. Once she's sitting, she writes out, erasing after each paragraph:]
You still live in a world governed by math, I bet. You can't get away from it. This ship is only possible because of it. Anyway, okay, let me try and explain.
Music is based on octaves, which is measures of eight. I turned that into a sequential equation that I can read. It's not entirely that simple - because of beat and meter, and tempo, and other factors - but music is basically math transformed, so I transformed math back into music. This may seem strange and not impressive, but it has some interesting applications besides playing - mostly with what I can program into computers.
I wrote this equation, which translates into this song.
Well, translating music is easy enough, but I also turn mathematical proofs into songs - that's not as pretty, I won't torment you with that. But thank you.
It's like you told me you can breathe without air.
[She considers it, but then, well:]
You might not understand it? But my favorite proof is my brother's soul.
[She cracks her fingers and plays. And plays. The music is strange, disjointed for a moment, but then suddenly it's like there's another person in the room. A teenage boy, someone irreverent, cranky, strange, artistic. Part of his voice is there, too, loud and brash and angry, but there's a tenderness to it, too.
She plays this song a lot. After about ten minutes, she stops, and takes a deep breath in.]
[He closes his eyes after a minute into it, trying to enjoy it-- and he's never really understood music, not really, but this is something even he can appreciate. It's short and sharp and beautiful, as exasperated as it is loved. Remus smiles sadly when she stops playing.]
[She closes her eyes for a moment and flips her book to another series of squiggly lines and numbers and letters, and plays Sirius.
She's spent so much time with him, so much time touching him, that this is easy. It's dark in places, and funny, and bold, and just a little dangerous. It's as though he's in the room, casual and beautiful and careless, and she plays it and plays it.]
I haven't figured it all out yet. I need more time, I think.
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