Chapter 2: Rehearsals

The practices were not always as fun. As in any theatrical process, problems ensued.

"Now, Father, you're living in the past. this is the…the…" Ron fumbled, trying to remember the rest of his line in a scene with Neville, who was playing King Hubert.

"The 14th century!" Flitwick prompted from the seats.

"The 14th century," Ron echoed, back on track. "I plan on marrying the girl I love." He mounted the horse costume/apparatus that housed the twins and Harry, ignoring the "Ow!" he heard after accidentally giving somebody a well-placed kick with his foot. "Ride, Diablo!" The horse didn't move. Ron repeated the command, and only then did the 'horse' trot across the stage towards the wings, albeit very slowly…and loudly.

"Fred! Get your hand out of my eye!"

"I can't until Harry moves his foot!"

"George is sitting on my foot!"

The horse costume fell apart, revealing the three struggling boys and bucking Ron to the floor, only feet from the exit. Flitwick sighed.

"We'll work on that, boys, but you can only get it up to speed if you all move in sync!"

"NSYNC?" Harry asked. "Like the Muggle boy band?"

"No, in synchronization! Foot, foot, hand, hand, foot, foot, hand, hand." Flitwick demonstrated. "And what's a boy band?"

"Never mind," Harry mumbled.

The problems didn't end there. Malfoy simply refused to die whenever Ron threw his sword through his heart during their climatic battle. He took great pains to try and explain why he thought the dragon should live and win.

"What good is a dragon if he can't take over the kingdom?" the Slytherin boy drawled. "I think the ending should be re-written." Ron responded by throwing his sword at him and hitting his mark for the fifteenth time. It was actually the one part of his role that seemed to give him no trouble.

"Just shut up and die, you git, so I can rescue my princess!" he snarled.

But none of these issues compared with the kiss scene between Philip and Aurora. Ron had avoided kissing Hermione awake for real all this time, and it was now dragging on into technical and dress rehearsals. He had come up with the temporary solution of kissing the end of a ruler, with the other end resting on Hermione's mouth. Some of the Slytherins in the ensemble were mocking Ron and claiming he had cooties - a claim that even Hermione was wondering about. Is he going to keep this up in the performances? Then: Does he really not want to kiss me? she thought sadly.

On the whole, everyone hoped that the performances would go off without a hitch…