"…Seamus, Hektor, and Lavender. I'm very sorry. You three will NOT be the next Witchzard Idol." Harry announced. The three eliminated contestants hugged one another, smiled sadly and stepped forward. Lavender gave Parvati one last hug before the remaining contestants walked out of the stage.
"Well, contestants, I guess your time is up." Pansy told them.
"But before we leave, let's give them the stage, as they sing their good-bye song." Harry added, as the lights dimmed and the two hosts walked to the left corner of the stage to watch them.
- - Backstage - -
As the remaining contestants walked backstage, they all sat down at their respective dresser chairs, exhausted.
"Some night, huh?" Ginny asked aloud, grabbing a brush from her dresser and brushing her hair softly.
"I can't believe Lavender just got eliminated." Parvati sighed dejectedly, looking sadly at Lavender's empty dresser chair. Just then, Luna Lovegood tumbled into the backstage area, wearing a headset and carrying an oversized bag full of cold water bottles.
"Here," Luna said dreamily, distributing each contestant a cold water bottle. "That was a wonderful performance, guys, although I sensed the presence of some Skidderflies on the stage. I was worried it might affect your performances but it turned out to be quite harmless." She said, as everyone stared at her.
"What are Skidderflies?" Draco mouthed to Blaise, who shrugged and mouthed back, "I dunno. Maybe one of your goons know."
"Who? Crabbe and Goyle? Yeah, I reckon they speak stupid, so maybe they'd understand what Lovegood was talking about." Draco whispered to Blaise.
"Damn right, you are." Blaise whispered back as the two sniggered. Everyone looked at them curiously and they shut up, not wanting to attract attention.
"So Luna, are you part of the backstage people or something?" Hermione asked her.
Luna nodded. "Yeah, assistant. I convinced them to let me take part in the backstage crew so I could capture all the Skidderflies and Snorkacks flying around here. Nasty things. Speaking of them, there's one flying out now. I have to catch them. See you later." Luna said, jumping in the air, as if trying to catch and imaginary mosquito.
"Weird girl, that one." Dean commented, as they heard a crash nearby.
"I'm okay!" Luna called out in a muffled voice. Cho stood up. "I'll help her. I'm going to the bathroom anyway." She said, grabbing her purse and heading off to Luna's direction.
"So Neville, do you think you did well?" Dennis asked him. Neville shook his head. "N-no. I-I think all of you did you loads better than I did." He stuttered.
Draco snorted. "For once, Longbottom, you're right."
"No, that's not true, we all did great." Hermione cut in. "Neville, you did quite all right." She told him kindly.
Draco scoffed. "Oh please! If we all 'did great', how come three of us got eliminated?" he said mockingly.
Hermione glared at him. "That's not the point!" she said angrily. "The point is that we all tried our best-"
"-and since three of us didn't try our best, they got eliminated. " He said in a bored voice. "What??" he asked in an annoyed tone as nearly every contestant glared at him.
Hermione narrowed her eyes at him. "What are you trying to say?" she asked him slowly. "Are you implying that we all didn't do well at our performances tonight?"
All eyes were on Draco. "Never said that. All I said was SOME of us didn't 'do well' during performance." He replied.
"Are you talking about yourself or the eliminated contestants?" Hermione asked him casually.
"Are you calling me a liar?"
"Hmm…I don't know. What do you think?"
"I know what you're trying to say. Don't you ever call me a liar, you-"
"Don't even say that name, Malfoy!"
"What name, mud-"
"That name!"
"You know, it'll do me good if you'll stop cutting me, Granger."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Guys!" Ginny hissed. The two looked around and saw that nearly everyone was staring at them. "Could you lower it down a little bit? The show's still on." She told them hastily.
Hermione looked at her apologetically. "Sorry Ginny. It's just that Ferret here…" she glared at him.
"My fault again!" Draco exclaimed angrily. "You never really give up, do you-"
"What's going on in here?" a voice interrupted them. It was Harry. The show was over and he, Pansy, and the three eliminated contestants went backstage, only to find Hermione and Draco glaring at each other as if there were no tomorrow.
Ginny went over to him and wrapped her arms around him. "Oh, it's nothing." She told him casually. "Just another one of those heated arguments you always see in reality TV shows."
"Right." He said, giving Ginny a kiss and looking at Hermione suspiciously.
"That was a great performance, Lav." Parvati told her, as she sat down next to her and handed her a water bottle. Lavender giggled. "As if you watched our whole and last performance," she said. "We could practically hear a screaming match going on in here."
"Yeah, what happened?" Seamus asked them, taking off his jacket and grabbing a water bottle.
"Can somevody tell me vat haven?" Hektor said, in his thick, Russian accent, looking very confused at the situation at hand. Everyone looked at Hermione and Draco expectantly.
"It's a long story." Hermione explained, looking uneasy. Draco merely yawned.
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"Splendid show, contestants, hosts" Dumbledore congratulated them, as everyone mumbled a quiet "Thanks." Three days after their performances, Dumbledore called them again and they met in the same old empty classroom, this time without Hektor, Lavender, and Seamus. "Alright contestants, I know you're still exhausted from your first performance, but after that 3-day rest I have granted you, it has come to my decision that you should start rehearsing soon, since you will be performing next week at the same time, same place." He announced, as a groan was heard from the contestants. Dumbledore smiled sadly at their tired faces and continued talking.
"We have also decided that we should not have different venues for every performance. Instead, we will use the same one and it is being re-constructed to look similar to the stage of American Idol. For this 2nd round, you will still be singing in groups." he explained. "4 members per group except for one which will have 5 members. And as for the songs, you will sing 70's, 80's or some random disco song!" he told them brightly.
"Great." Ron whispered to Harry. "Not even my mother listens to these types of songs, and she's ancient." Harry chuckled softly. "She better not hear you, Ron, or you're dead for life." He whispered back as Ron cautiously looked around, as if expecting his mother to spring up behind him any moment.
"And now for the groups. I have picked them myself. Group 1 is Hermione Granger, Cho Chang, Ginny Weasley, and Romilda Vane. Next group is Draco Malfoy, Ron Weasley, Zacharias Smith, and Blaise Zabini. Third group is Michael Corner, Vladimir Volkov, Dennis Creevey, Dean Thomas, and Poliakoff.
Fourth group is Padma Patil, Cassandra St.Pierre, Gabrielle Delacour, and Katie Bell. And lastly, Neville Longbottom, Parvati Patil, Millicent Bulstrode, and Hannah Abbot. CD's are to your right, lyrics are to your left. Two days after tomorrow are your rehearsals so you will need to memorize your song choice by then. No questions? Alright, I'll be in my office!" Dumbledore said, as he swept out of the room, his cloak trailing behind him.
Harry sighed wearily and clapped his hands. "Alright, you heard Dumbledore. Let's get a move on. And Pansy," he said in an exasperated voice. "Could you please concentrate on our practices and not stare at Draco's arse like last time?" he asked her, as Draco scowled at Pansy and some of the contestants giggled.
'Nice going, Pansy' Hermione thought to herself. 'Now everyone knows how much you adore Draco's butt cheeks' She thought, rolling her eyes. Then a moment later, the room burst out laughing and Pansy ran from the room.
"Nice job, Hermione!" Ron yelled at her, laughing at the same time.
Hermione looked confused. "What are you talking about?" she asked them.
"Your little outburst earlier, that's what we're talking about." Cho said, grinning at her.
Hermione looked puzzled. Then recognition dawned in her face. "You mean-, what I said-about Pansy-adoring butt cheeks?" she asked them weakly.
"Yeah!" Cho said, as Hermione reddened. "I cannot believe I just said that out loud." She murmured. Cho shrugged. "Well, you said it, and that's that." She said, still grinning.
"Good grief, Granger," Draco snorted, trying to control his laughter. "I didn't know you had a sense of humor after all." he said, doubling over with laughter.
"Neither did I." She grinned. "But I hope she's okay, though." Hermione said with a worried look on her face.
"Oh, don't worry, she'll be fine." Millicent Bulstrode choked, as she passed by Hermione to conjure a glass of water. "She'll be back in a while." She assured her.
Harry clapped his hands once more. "Alright, alright. Due to Hermione's er-joke," he said, grinning at her. "Your song-choosing time is a little delayed. But right now, we have to get back to work." He said in a serious tone, as everyone picked themselves up from the ground (A/N: Some of them were rolling on the floor or sitting down while laughing) and began to go and talk to their group mates.
"Thanks for the entertainment, Granger." Draco said, as he passed her.
"That was a tad bit too short for entertainment, Malfoy." She replied.
"Maybe. But it was funny enough."
"Nice to know I made a Malfoy laugh." She smiled, as she joined her group.
A note from beautiful-gorgeous06: Hey people. Sorry this chapter is shorter than my regular chapters. I know they're supposed to perform in this chapter but I'm quite stressed at the moment and I need a lot of time to think, so I'll just put their performance in the next chapter. Anyway, hope you enjoy this chapter. I rather like it so I hope you'll like it too! -beautiful-gorgeous06