"And now, for the annual Hogwarts talent show!" A small man squeaked out, halfway through his sentence magically making his voice louder.
Scattered claps rang through the Hall, but grew in volume when several teachers glared at the students. Many even found their hands coming together more forcibly than they would voluntarily.
"For our first act we have…" The small man anxiously looked toward the end of the conjured up stage. Silence echoed through the room, each head slowly turning to look for the 'first act'.
"Ahem…uh," the man fumbled with his tie, looked at the audience, looked back down the stage, then back to the audience. "Well… Let me introduce myself! I'm sure you all know I'm Professor Flitwick! Charms teacher and Head of Ravenclaw House!" Flitwick smiled at everyone.
As the students all groaned in impatience and annoyance, Flitwick's smile faltering slightly, a spotlight appeared out of no where, focused on the far side of the stage. Claps sounded again, and a relieved looking Flitwick proceeded to introduce the 'first act'.
"Seventh year, James Potter, everyone!" Flitwick told the audience enthusiastically, before slipping into the shadows.
James bowed several times as the students and teachers of Hogwarts clapped. As the applause quieted down, James took out his wand. He pointed it at his head, suddenly conjuring up a top hat. A few whistles and catcalls rang out, and James smiled arrogantly, but appreciatively, at his best friend, Sirius, in the crowd. A silence full of anticipation suddenly fell upon the Hall as James raised his wand once again. He was pointing it somewhere into the audience, and people craned their necks to see who was being 'chosen'.
"Who, me?" A boy with stringy black hair and a hooked nose stood up defiantly, James's wand following his movement.
"Why, of course, Snivellus." Most of the students laughed loudly at the insult.
"What an act-" 'Snivellus' retorted, before being cut off by James. He spoke at normal tones, but the Hall was so eerily quiet that everyone could hear him.
"Levicorpus."
'Snivellus' instantly found himself jerked into the air by his ankle, and spinning around ever so slightly. Again, most of the Hall laughed loudly and applause reached the ears of several Professors, who all looked a bit flustered and bewildered. A stern looking witch stood up and marched over to James.
"Put him down, now."
James smirked before waving his wand in the general direction of the unfortunate boy. "Liberacorpus."
"You dare use my spells against me, again?!" 'Snivellus' growled as he brushed himself off after falling onto the ground. James just kept smirking.
"Mr. Snape, am I to come under the impression that this is the second time this has happened?" asked the bewildered professor.
'Snivellus', or rather Snape, looked disdainfully at the witch, "You really believe Potter here is such a saint?" James's smirk faltered slightly as he watched his professor contemplate her answer.
"10 points from Gryffindor!" She finally decided on, though she winced visibly as she said it.
"Professor!" James exclaimed.
"Not now, Potter." She proceeded to march him off stage, remarking that he also had detention for the week.
Everyone in the Hall slowly sat down, after all of them had unconsciously jumped up at the raucous, and the stunned silence lifted as Flitwick came back to center stage.
"Now, for act two…" Flitwick stole a look down the stage, and smiled to see the mousy haired boy appear on time. He then introduced the boy, and the audience sat back to watch the act. The show continued with many incidents, countless House points being reduced, and multiple students receiving detention. One girl had her potion explode and boils erupt all over her skin, another boy set fire to Flitwick's robes (whether it was an accident or not was another matter), and another student had filled the Hall with tiny, jumping frogs.
As the students and professors rid the room of the last frogs, Flitwick, wearing an entirely new set of robes, came back up to center stage.
"For our final act, we have a very talented seventh year Slytherin! Evan Rosier!" The Slytherins seemed to be the only ones clapping, until the professors, after a short pause, joined them. The other students merely groaned, thinking of how badly this performance could go. Some Gryffindor's faces darkened, thinking about the Dark Arts.
Evan Rosier, a tall boy with black hair and lazy brown eyes, walked onto the stage. Sauntered, really. He pulled out his wand, and several students scooted their chairs back. A slow smirk spread over his features as he saw the tinge of fear on most everyone's faces.
"I'm gonna need a volunteer," Evan's eyes roamed over the audience, searching for a good candidate. No one volunteered. "Fine then, I'll just pick myself." The Slytherins in the audience smirked at the bewildered look of the other three Houses. "Hmm, how about..." Evan wiggled his eyebrows, "Darcie Smith."
A trembling girl stood up from the throng of Hufflepuffs, and stumbled up to the stage. The whole Hall held their breath, wondering what the Slytherin could possibly be planning. The small brunette stopped in front of the intimidating boy, looking up at him with terror in her gold eyes. A malicious look crossed Evan's face as he looked down upon her, raising his wand again.
"Rosier-" the stern witch stepped forward, about to stop the boy, this definitely did not look safe. But Rosier had already uttered the words.
"Avada Kedavra."