Imagined Cast: Alfie Boe as Jean Valjean; Norm Lewis as Javert; Lea Salonga as Fantine; Matt Lucas as Innkeeper Thénardier; Jenny Galloway as Madame Thénardier; Nick Jonas as Marius Pontmercy; Samantha Barks as Éponine Thénardier; Katie Hall as Cosette Fauchelevant; Ramin Karimloo as Enjolras; Robert Madge as Gavroche; Mia Jenkins as Young Cosette.

Disclaimer: I own nothing. The characters, setting and general plot are property of Victor Hugo, Cameron Mackintosh, all of the casts and all of the creative teams that have produced any production of Les Misérables.

Note: This is based off the musical stage adaption, not off any film adaption or the original novel. There are elements of the book (street names of the locations in numerous French towns and cities; family ties are also as they are in the novel), but almost all of the information comes from the musical stage adaption.

I have made a change: giving the character of Enjolras a surname. Before all the book/musical purists attack me, here is my explanation: I have never leaned toward the name "Enjolras" as a surname. Therefore, since this is my take on Les Misérables, this is my name for him: Enjolras Louis-Philippe D'Aubigne. The middle name is a reference to Louis-Philippe I of France, the king of the July Monarchy. The surname is a reference to Nigel D'Aubigne, who fought in the Battle of Hastings (ironically, the French fought and won that battle).


Prologue: A Hawk and a Sparrow

Paris, France, June 1832


A seventeen-year-old young woman sat by the grimy window of her family's small apartment in the Gorbeau House on the Rue des Vignes-Saint Marcel, gazing at the street below. A movement in the sky caught her attention.

In the sky above the rue, a large hawk circled, its beady eyes searching for prey. Its gaze landed on a nest near the window of the Gorbeau House. Three tiny hatchlings surrounded a female sparrow. The male sparrow perched dexterously on the rim of the nest, watching the hawk carefully.

Without warning, the hawk dived. The male sparrow immediately rose in defense and met the hawk in midair. The young woman in the window watched the events unfold, mesmerized yet sure the hawk would kill the sparrow.

The hawk snapped its curved beak at the sparrow, causing the sparrow to dart back and forth in an absurd, deadly game of cat-and-mouse.

The hawk seemed to tire of the sparrow's antics and dived sharply. In a desperate move, the sparrow dashed forward and hooked its claw on the hawk's wing. The hawk flapped its wing frantically, but the sparrow held fast. The hawk finally freed its wing and flew off, nursing its injured wing.

The sparrow flew back to the nest, where the three hatchlings and the female sparrow chirped almost with praise. The male sparrow puffed its chest in pride.

The young woman leaned against the windowpane, thinking. What have I just seen? she asked herself. The small defeating the great, the weak overpowering the strong…

Though she did not know it, it could be an omen. An omen of what was to come.