The bell rang to signal that anyone not in the theatre was late and as the head teacher had so eloquently phrased it, 'not worthy of the power of the arts'.
Naturally as the bell finished ringing one James Potter sauntered into the theatre and took his seat next to his randy mates.
"Right!" Began the director. "I have finally cast the parts for Romeo and Juliet, and seeing as the design department has appeared to have nearly finished the set, we can get started pretty promptly."
There were murmurs and commotion as people sifted through their bags to find their already battered copies of the play, some people began speculating on who would play who.
"Oh, Lily, I really hope I get a part!" Marlene McKinnon said squeezing her copy of the play to her chest excitedly. Her friend simply looked at her and rolled her eyes.
"I don't. The only roles for women are Juliet and the mothers, and no matter what you're bound to end up acting like you're in love with whomever James plays." She nodded her head in his direction and sniffed. "He's such an oaf; I don't understand why he always gets the lead roles!"
Mary who until this point had been trying desperately to retrieve her copy of the play from her large bag finally looked up at her friends. "Lily, you only say this because he said that your monologue wasn't charismatic enough once. Don't you think this whole 'rivals' thing is going a bit far?"
Lily folded her arms and scoffed. "I was doing a monologue from Macbeth! It's not even supposed to be charismatic! It's Shakespeare for god's sake! And I'm perfectly capable of being civil it's he who chooses not to. Anyway it won't matter; I hope to be an extra in this. I'm going out for the lead in the next one instead."
"And that has nothing to do with the fact that James has said he doesn't want to be the lead in Posh because it's 'too close to home' if I remember correctly?" Marlene replied, Lily turned away in a huff whilst her two friends gave each other knowing looks.
"All right class now we have the stage lights working I shall begin handing out parts!" The director said silencing the group. "The cast is as follows; Marlene McKinnon as Rosaline, Sirius Black as Tybalt, Remus Lupin as Count Paris, Peter Pettigrew as Lord Montague, Mary MacDonald as Nurse.." and so on until all but the leads had been cast. Lily was smug; she had achieved her goal of being just an extra. Or so she thought. "Our Romeo will be James Potter and his Juliet shall be played by Lily Evans."
"WHAT?!" came the simultaneous yelps, both James and Lily had sat up straighter. Everyone around them began moving from the audience and up onto the stage.
"We will start from the ball scene where our two lovers first meet!" the director shouted so all could hear. Lily sat frozen in her seat, shock, she was definitely in shock.
"Sir, I don't suppose there's any chance you could maybe re-cast the role of Juliet." James' words snapped Lily out of her daze and she marched over to the pair.
"I wish to quit." Lily said.
"Noble of you." James replied about to walk off as Lily gave him a sarcastic smile.
"No I'm sorry but no, this is my decision and I stand by it now onto the stage both of you!" he began walking away and the two teens quickly pursued.
"But Sir, why?" James asked.
"But nothing! Miss Evans, I chose you as you are clearly right for the role. Both of you have strong chemistry its obvious to everyone, is that not what Romeo and Juliet's love was entirely based on." James looked at his teacher with a face of pure disgust, whilst lily blushed slightly.
"Yes but Sir, I hardly think Evans is worth dying for?!" James exclaimed waving his copy of the book about.
"Well tough. Its worth 20% of your final grade so if either of you quits I'll have to fail you. The world is full of people you won't have to work with but you have to be the bigger person. Now get on the stage." The director practically pushed them onto the stage before yelling action.
Determined to be the bigger person Lily put her head high and began following the scene as scripted. James, being the 'professional' that he is, too, decided to rise above it and continue on script.
They acted out the scene in one smooth motion, the director often liked to do things this way. He would make notes on each character and after the lesson these would be given to the students so they could work on them for next time.
As the kiss at the end of the scene drew closer, the tension in the room grew. It was just the two of them on stage so all other students stood huddled at the sides of the stage to watch. Marlene squeezed Mary's arm in anticipation.
Lily read her next line moving closer. "Saints do not move, though grant for prayer's sake."
James moved so that his lips were almost on hers and the whole room collectively held their breath encapsulated by the scene. "Then move not, while my prayer's effect I take." He went to close the gap.
The bell rang and both of them froze. Everyone else had been snapped from their reverie and began heading off the stage to head to their next class. James stayed routed to the spot; Lily flushed and stepped back slightly.
"Ahem, well that was –that was some good- a- acting. Well done James." Lily said backing away awkwardly and heading off the stage.
"Yeah…" He replied still in a daze. But as she began walking out he spoke again. "Lily?"
She turned around. "Yes?"
"Doesn't your dorm room have a balcony?" he asked she looked at him confused.
"Yes, it does actually." She said before quickly turning on her heels and walking out.
"Interesting," James shook his head. "Very interesting indeed."
A/N: i wrote this when i was ill so you'll have to forgive me, i wanted to move it here, so that it doesnt get lost. A lot of people really want me to continue this and perhaps in the future i will but for now im gonna say its done. Im always taking tumblr prompts so if theres always that. Reviews are nice too but ill still love you if you dont! :)