Chapter 1
The sun streamed through our dark red curtains. I did not want to get up and face the uninviting task which awaited me.
"Wake up, wake up, wake up! I need to eat! Food! Food! Food!" Bella's brown hair swished in and out of my field of vision. "I NEED TO EAT!" She stuck her face in front of mine, her rectangle glasses almost falling off her face.
"Ok! Ok, I'm getting up. I swear." I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes. Grrr. Of course Bella chose to wake me up on a Saturday. For food, of all things. I dragged myself out of the warm, heavy comforters and opened the trunk at the foot of my bed. I grabbed a pair of jeans, a t-shirt, and some converse+socks and locked myself in the bathroom. I washed my face with icy, refreshing water, pulled on my clothes, and added some chap stick and mascara. I have a no-make up rule for myself. I think it's stupid the way some people slather on the stuff. I yanked my brush through my hair thick and pulled it into a high ponytail. I stared at my reflection and sighed. I have light brown hair with natural blond highlights and grey-blue eyes. My nose is a little big, and I have red, full lips. My eyebrows are thick like my eyelashes. I shook myself out of my daze.
"Ok, I'm good." I said as I walked out of the bathroom and grabbed my wand. Whew. 3 minutes flat. And on a weekend too. We stomped down to the common room, making sure to wake up all of my friends in my dorm. I am about to push open the portrait hole when a voice stops me.
"Well if it isn't Saba, aka Bronchitis." Hunter's voice carried across the room as people snickered.
"Oh will you give it a rest Hunter? That is just about the worst nickname I have ever heard. Who calls a Broncos fan Bronchitis? Why does it matter to you if I support a muggle sport?! Who do you support anyways? Probably some stupid Quidditch team, you have no idea about the other five hundred sports in the muggle world that are just as good!" I reflexively defended myself, and spun around to see the culprit stalking across the commons with an idiotic smirk on his face. His brown hair was carefully combed, as always and his green eyes danced mischievously.
Hunter was a good for nothing idiot who took pleasure in tormenting me every day. Most people liked him for his jokes, and he was pretty popular, except for with me. Well… he is good for a laugh. Except for when he makes fun of my football team. Then I swear, it takes every ounce of self control I have not to hex him into oblivion.
"Oh ignore him, he's just full of bull. Lots and lots of bull." Bella said, and yanked me through the portrait-hole.
The morning was windy, blowing peoples pointed hats every which way. I delayed my inevitable task as long as I could, pretending I had left my potions book on my desk, acting as though Peeves had stolen my favorite necklace and so on. I tried anything and everything to keep me away from McGonagall's office. Bella humored me for a while, but after I ran all the way to the Ravenclaw commons room under the pretense of having seen my friend Linde going inside while Bella knew perfectly well that Linde was eating breakfast, she decided enough was enough and practically dragged me towards the headmistress's office.
"Bella, she's going to refuse, I know she will! The last time Professor Kettleburn tried it, things burned down and exploded."
"Gabriela Saba, you are going in there and asking her, and mark my words, I will hex you if you don't."
"Why don't you do it?" I spat.
"Because it's not my idea, and McGonagall always says to take credit for your own ideas." She smirked, then shoved me towards the stone gargoyle guarding the door. I took a deep breath, then said, "Can-I-please-speak-to-Professor-McGonagall-it-is-very-important."
"Excuse me? I didn't catch that." The stone gargoyle had a puzzled look on his face, if that was possible.
"I said, could I please speak to Professor McGonagall? It is very important."
"I will see what I can do." The gargoyle replied haughtily.
I turned around, expecting to see Bella, but she had vanished long ago.
"Great. Thanks for the support Bella. I love you too." I muttered.
"What was that, Miss Saba?" Professor McGonagall stood before me, her hair tightly drawn back in her usual bun. She peered sternly over her glasses before beckoning me in and riding up the staircase. She led me through a wood door and beckoned for me to sit in a stiff backed chair in front of the headmaster's desk. "I hope whatever it is you have to tell me is important. I have the minister coming at noon. Well, get on with it!"
"Well Professor… I love the arts… you know, drama and such. And, well, I was wondering if we could, um, maybe, do a musical here?" I was starting to gain confidence. "I honestly think it could work, Professor, and I would organize it, and I would do the practices and it would be strictly non magical, except for the lighting and sets and all, but no magic in the actual musical and dancing and singing."
"Miss Saba, this kind of project shall take much effort and require adult supervision! I cannot think of any benefits that could outweigh the cons."
"I can! There are so many kids here who have potential talent and nothing, I mean NOTHING, in Hogwarts promotes Drama, the arts, music or anything! It makes me so mad! I think that everyone would jump at the chance to do this."
McGonagall considered. I looked around the room properly for the first time since entering. It was large and circular, with big windows and a cozy fireplace across from the desk. Portraits of previous headmasters surrounded the room. The portrait of Dumbledore winked at me, and said to Professor McGonagall, "Why not have the students decide, Minerva? I feel this would be more prudent and probably more effective. It could also help you decide how the student body would react overall to this… project."
"True…" McGonagall showed no surprise on having the painted Albus Dumbledore give her advice. In fact, it seemed like this was quite a normal procedure. "I will ask each head of house to post a flyer explaining the project, which you will write. Then we shall place a bucket underneath and a stack of tokens. Each student will say either 'Red' to disagree with the idea or 'Green' to agree. Will this suit your needs?"
"Oh, of course!" I was elated. It was more I could ever ask for. McGonagall waved her wand. Four buckets appeared, about 200 tokens in each one, each a strange greyish color. I grabbed them, jumped up, and headed for the door. "Thank you so much Professor!" I called over my shoulder. I heard her chuckle as I raced down the stairs. Soon, I was in the common room, yelling, "BELLA! SHE ACCEPTED!"
"AHHHHH REALLY? IM SO EXCITED! THIS IS JUST AMAZING, RIGHT SO I GET A LEAD ROLE RIGHT? I WANT DEMETER. OR GRIZABELLA. OR SOMETHING. I DUNNO. ARGH! I HAVE TO PRACTICE. EEEEP!" Bella came flying down the stair screaming.
"Keep it down, will you?" A fourth year yelled across the room.
"LIKE HELL WE WILL!" Bella screamed back, "AND BY THE WAY, WE ARE A YEAR OLDER THAN YOU, SO SHUT YOUR TRAP!"
The girl narrowed her eyes and stalked over. Oh great. Rose Weasley, a perfect daughter of the famous Hermione Weasley who helped Harry Potter defeat Voldemort, was out to get us. "And what has happened that requires so much screaming?" she asked us in a quiet voice that suggested, "you are so dead".
"A MUSICAL! HOGWARTS IS GOING TO HAVE A MUSICAL!" Crap. I forgot to tell Bella that its only if the students agree.
"Actually…" I proceeded to explain the compromise McGonagall and I had made. By that time, all of the Gryffindors were listening and whispering to each other excitedly.
"I'll get the lead for the guy part I hope. After all, there is no one who is more better looking, has a better voice or dances better than me." Hunter draped his arm across my shoulders and looked at me pleadingly.
"Auditions, pretty boy, auditions. And with all my heart, I hope that you don't even make it." I said and twisted around and punched his arm.
"Actually Hunter, I can think of someone infinitely more talented than you. And that's… me!" Allow me to introduce James Potter, the only guy in our year more bigheaded than Hunter. Nah, he's all right and sometimes fun to hang around, but can be a pain in the back. He walked up and shoved Hunter out of the way. Hunter pushed back. Both guys glared at each other before laughing and slapping each other on the back. James glanced at me before joking to Hunter, "I don't think we stand a chance of getting into the musical if she's deciding. Oh, the tragedy of it all! To think, the most talented actors in Hogwarts left out, all because one person thinks they're annoying!"
"And big-headed," I added.
"And egotistical." Bella said.
"And stupid." Sahej commented, swinging her long, straight black hair over her shoulder. She had quietly snuck up on us and made all of us jump in the air when she had talked.
"Well that's it for us. Looks like we're done for Hunter. We'll never be like again, and my acting career is over." James sorrowfully shook his head in mock sadness.
"Yeah, with these three around, they'll manipulate everyone into thinking we're awful, big headed, egotistical idiots! And we'll never find a spot in the musical." Hunter sunk into a couch and then yanked me down with him.
"You forgot stupid, Hunter, now you shouldn't leave any adjectives out, it might raise people's opinions of us." James said and jumped down beside us.
I pushed them both away got up and walked to the billboard. I put the bucket on a table below the bulletin board and then walked back to the couch. I sat down and tried to work on my poster, which is pretty hard to do when you are sitting next to the two biggest jokesters in Hogwarts. I swear, I moved everywhere, but they followed me from one couch to the next, knowing I was on the verge of cursing them, and enjoying every minute. When I turned Hunter's hair bright blue, they decided to pick on Bella instead. I finally got the poster done and pinned the baby blue paper to the bulletin board. I tracked down Linde, Oksana and Zaina in the Library soon afterwards. Linde is a Ravenclaw, so I gave her a bucket and poster to put in the common room. Oksana was to put hers in the Hufflepuff common room, and Zaina was going to put her bucket and poster in the Slytherin common room. When I got back to the Gryffindor common room, almost half of the tokens had been turned red or green. There was a line of people still waiting to turn their token a color. I had missed lunch when I was busy making my poster but soon dinner came around. I spotted Linde over at the Ravenclaw table and waved. She jumped up and came running.
"How do you think we are gonna manage this Gabs?" Only she could call me Gabs and she knew it. Mainly because she is one of the only people who is not intimidated by me. Bella, James and Hunter make up the rest of that list.
"Easily."
"YOU DO REALISE WE HAVE OWLS AT THE END OF THIS YEAR, RIGHT? THE PROFESSORS ARE GIVING US INFORMATION THAT WILL BE CRUCIAL TO OUR FLIPPING CAREERS!"
"Calm down Linz, you know I got this."
"We are all going to fail because of this musical! Oh by the way, guess what?"
"What now?"
"Slawek actually asked Fox out! To Hogsmeade!"
"WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME THIS BEFORE? Did you think grades were more important than teasing Oksana!?" Fox, aka Oksana, is another of my 'besties' and she has had a major crush on this polish guy, Sławek (pronounced swavick). We tease her day and night about it. I rushed over to the Hufflepuff table.
"OKSANA TEJCHMAN IS GOING OUT WITH SŁAWEK!" I screamed. Slawek turned bright red at the Ravenclaw table. Oksana slapped me across the face.
"Shut up you stupid idiot!" she hissed.
"Oksy has a boyfriend, Oksy has a boyfriend!" I sang.
"If you don't shut up I will tell all of Gryffindor you have a crush."
"In case you haven't noticed, that's not true!" I laughed.
"Oh, but I can make one up can't I?" Fox grinned evilly.
"EVIL! I swear to God, I will get Linde and we will kill you if you do that." I said, only half joking.
"Rictumsempra!" Oksana pointed her wand at me. I immediately doubled over wheezing. "Expelliarmus!" I cried. Her wand soared over to me, breaking the spell. "I swear, I am going to kill you!" I yelled at her.
"You might want to go have dinner. Before you kill me." Oksana said, then held out a hand for her wand. I obligingly placed it in her open palm.
"Might want to kiss Slawek good bye Fox, I doubt you'll live much longer!" I sprinted away from the table before she could register what I had said. I slipped across the Great Hall and into a seat next to Sahej and Bella. Unfortunately, that meant we were across from James and Hunter.
"Jeez, Saba, you have a set of lungs. Tone it down next time. Its not that we wouldn't like to see Tejchman killed or anything, but we would really like to be able to say that we don't know who did it, and say it truthfully." Hunter joked at me.
"Ah shut up Wolfe. We all know how much you would love to see me kicked out of Hogwarts."
"Yeah I would too!" Bella snorted. "Stuff would be so much quieter."
"As if you're one to be talking, Malek! You wake up half the school with your screaming in the morning." James slammed his fist on the table to emphasize his mock frustration with her.
"Potter, we hear parties in your dorm at 3:00 am when you're supposed to be sleeping. ALL of Hogwarts can't sleep because of you." Sahej intervenes.
"Well Panag, I can tell you for a fact-" Hunter starts to say when I kicked his shins. "OW! What was that for?"
"It means shut up and eat your dinner, I have to make my speech about the musical." I walked up to the staff table. "Professor McGonagall, should I talk to the students about the musical? I would love to make a few jokes about Potter… Oh dang did I say that out loud? I'm just kidding, Professor, I promise."
"No, I think I shall do that Miss Saba, thank you very much." She eyed me suspiciously. I guess she doesn't think I'm all that trustworthy. But I mean, I would never slip in an inappropriate joke in my speech. Except for maybe a laugh at Wolfe and Potter. But everybody would appreciate it! I trudged back to the table.
"What, did she not trust you to make a speech Saba?"
I smirked and replied, "Well I did hint that I might slip in a jab or two at you Potter, so I guess she felt safer making the announcement herself."
"Smart lady, she is." Seconds later, McGonagall's voice rang out across the room.
"Alright Malfoy, stop your jabbering." McGonagall glared at the
Slytherin table.
"Oh snap!" James smirked.
"Miss Saba from Gryffindor has had the idea to have a musical at our school." Cue the outbreak of cheering and stomping from the Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs. The Ravenclaws had more civilized cheering, a couple crying out, "Can I be the director?" The Slytherins seemed not to care, although some of the more outspoken ones booed. "I know there are many talented singers and dancers here, however we decided to ask the student body of Hogwarts wether or not they wanted to have this musical as a part of the school curriculum. We have placed a bucket in each common room…" I soon lost track of the speech and was gazing listlessly into space when James kicked me.
"McGonagall just asked you what musical!" He hissed.
"Oh dam it!" PJO reference there by the way. I jumped to my feet and cleared my throat. "We will be doing the musical CATS! CATS is a musical about well, cats. There is almost no dialogue, so you need to be a strong singer, and even stronger dancer. The auditions will be on September the twentieth if you want to be in the play. Song music will be posted in the commons for you to practice. Applications for directors will also be posted in the commons. You will have to turn them into McGonagall or me. Thanks so much guys. Turn those tokens green!" I sunk back onto the bench as people applauded. After my speech, most of the students disappeared into their common rooms. I walked slowly to the Gryffindor tower, burdened with Bella saying how certain it was that people would vote yes.
"Bella I'm really tired! Can you stop talking about that?" Of course, if Bella was a normal friend, she would have been offended. But this just made her talk even more. What if people don't vote yes? What if no one auditions? What if you are known as a failure because you mess up in the musical? I sped up the stairs into the dorm and quickly showered and changed. I flopped on my bed, and gazed at the heavy red canopy above me. It was so peaceful in here, and I was so tired. I slowly drifted off to sleep, with dreams of dancing tabby cats and singing toms.