Alright, another creative way to say I don't own Harry Potter and all that Jazz: I own more patents and copyrights on condoms than I own on Harry Potter and Co, and seeing as I have never actually touched one, let alone designed or bought a patent for one, how many copyrights do you think I own on Harry Potter?
Ok, that part out of the way ((I disliked writing Act 1 Scene 2 a lot. It just wasn't fun, and I think it showed. I hope you like this part better! It was a blast to write! Wheeeee!)), now onto the good stuff, and the entrance of everyone's favorite: Draco Malfoy! Wheee!
Oh, and:
~Draco's thought~
[Harry's thought]
Scene Three
Draco Malfoy was many things, but a fool was not one of them. He saw long ago that Voldemort's side was not the best one to be on, if only because he was certain that the Light side would win. Draco did not, however, believe the Light side ((of the force ~_^)) would win because they had more people or superior tactics. No, they would win only for one reason: they needed to win more. So many things depended on them winning, that they would all sacrifice their lives to guarantee victory. None of the Death Eaters Draco knew, and he knew almost all of them, would willingly give their lives for Voldemort and his cause, with the possible exception of Wormtail, and that was Voldemort's real weakness.
~Dumbledore, McGonagall, the people in the Ministry, the Weasels, that Granger girl, Potter – especially Potter – would all give their lives willingly in a Kamikaze attempt to defeat Voldemort or protect someone else. That was why they won. Fortunately, I saw that when my father and his cronies didn't.~
Draco had gotten out of the Death Eater just as his seventh year started. He had, like any good Slytherin more interested in saving his own skin than being loyal to a cause he didn't believe in, run to Dumbledore with all the information he had. It had been enough for them to prepare for the attack Voldemort made on Hogwarts and keep the casualties to a minimum, and it had also bought Draco immunity in the wizarding courts prosecuting the Death Eaters. He had even gone so far as to speak as a witness against his father. True, he had nothing personal against Lucius, except for a few instances of physical abuse, but he figured it was what etiquette demanded of him: if you are going to be a traitor, you might as well go all the way. Besides, it also helped solidify his new position as a "good guy" with the others of the Light side. It also had been very interesting to see his father receive the Dementor's Kiss. Not many people had the opportunity to witness something that unusual in their lives. Draco felt privileged.
~And who wouldn't? It's not as if he ever inspired anything other than a mild respect in me, and that wasn't my fault. He just never did anything…interesting to warrant anything more than tolerance. As far as we cared about each other, it might have been Millicent or Cho Chang for all that either of us bothered to think who the other was. I suppose that if we had had a more loving bond between us, it would have been easier for Harry Potter to get up there and testify against him…Yeah, Harry Potter in a pair of tight jeans and-NO! NO NO NO! I am NOT going that way. The LAST thing I need now is a distraction of that kind…~
He sighed. He hadn't seen Harry Potter since they had graduated, but Draco just couldn't seem to forget about him.
~I have other things to think about. More important things. Things like, what am I going to do once my cash flow runs out?~
The Ministry of Magic had confiscated the entire Malfoy estate and most of the Malfoy possessions, including a huge account in Gringotts, and Draco and his mother–who had since passed away, clinically from cardiac arrest, although Draco suspected she had poisoned herself to escape from the embarrassment of life–had been living three years off of his own personal account, far smaller than that which was his family's. His normal lavish lifestyle was no more, and Draco was beginning to feel the squeeze as his rent became harder to pay each month.
~I need to find some sort of,~ he shuttered, ~job before I run out of cash, or else…No, there won't be an "or else." Malfoys have never stooped that low before, and we never will in my generation, if I have anything to say about it!~
He sighed as he began his walk up the stairs to his apartment over some shop in Hogsmead, where his mother had insisted they stay after their manor had been taken over by the Ministry. He hadn't had the heart or time to leave it yet.
~I don't really know that I'm good at anything. Potions, perhaps, but that has little practical use as of now, since I refuse to become an apothecary. I really don't know what I could do…~
His thoughts continued as such until he reached his front door. On the porch where his welcome mat would be if he believed in such things was the most recent edition of the Daily Prophet. With a sigh, Draco picked it up and began to read through it as he opened his door. He pushed open the door and stepped into his apartment without flipping on the lights, since it was still day, and read through the front section. What he saw when he opened to the local news made the wheels in his mind begin to spin rapidly. The front page of the local news section read:
"The Globe Two, local theatre, holding auditions for Romeo and Juliet this weekend."
~Here's an option…I've spent all my life deceiving people, acting should come naturally to me!~
His trademark smirk found its place once more on his face, after having been long gone.
~Thus enters our hero stage center, I guess,~ he thought. ~I'd better go figure out what I'm gonna do for this thing…~
Saturday rolled around, and Draco, like Harry went to his audition for Romeo and Juliet. His monologue was a short piece from Julius Caesar:
"This was the most unkindest cut of all;
For when the noble Caesar saw him stab,
Ingratitude, more strong than traitor's arms,
Quite vanquish'd him. Then burst his mighty heart;
And in his mantle muffling up his face,
Even at the base of Pompey's statua,
Which all the while ran blood, great Caesar fell.
O, what a fall was there, my countrymen!
Then I, and you, and all of us fell down,
Whilst bloody treason flourish'd over us.
O, now you weep, and I perceive you feel
The dint of pity. These are gracious drops."
In truth, Draco chose this piece because it spoke of his long-dead relationship with his father…almost. Had there been any love in the relationship, Draco was certain this was how his father would have felt. He smiled as he looked at the piece. It fit his life very well, and he could, therefore, easily act it out with all the emotion needed.
Saturday and his audition passed by, as do days and events, and before he realized it, Sunday was upon him. He awoke around 8:30, exactly the same time as Harry Potter, though he didn't know it. Falling into his normal routine, Draco got up and made coffee before planning out his day at the small kitchen bar-like counter. As he sipped his coffee, which he was relatively sure made up more of his blood than his cells did, he ran through a checklist of things to do.
~I have to get some more coffee. I'm almost out of the canned stuff, and I need carrots, apples…~ he went through a short list, then magically cleaned his coffee cup and put it away before walking back to his room to change for the day. At about the same time as Harry, Draco left his apartment on the opposite end of Hogsmead and proceeded to the small market a block behind the Weasleys' joke shop. He had finished shopping and was returning home with full arms when a barn owl descended from the sky to land on his head. Draco was about to protest it destroying his beautifully slicked back hair ((yes, he still wears it like that…ick)), when it dropped a letter into his grocery bags and flew off. Curious, but not enough to make him stop in the middle of the street to find the letter, Draco continued home. Once more inside the building that had become his sanctuary over the past few years, Draco magically put away the groceries and retrieved the letter from the bottom of the bag addressed to a "Mr. Draco Malfoy."
~From the theatre, undoubtedly,~ he thought as he spotted the green seal on the back. Calmly, he opened it, and read through the letter, skimming the boring pleasantries at the front. Finally, he got to the part he had been waiting for.
"'Your talent has been recognized'…blah blah blah…'cast to the part of Juliet in our production of Romeo and Juliet.' Juliet? What?" He looked at the letter confused, then read on. "'As you may or may not remember, we are producing this play the way it would have been produced in Shakespeare's time to make it as real as possible. That means that men will be playing all the parts, both male and female…' Fuck. That's definitely something I should have listened to."
Draco sighed. Had he been three years younger, he would have turned them down right there, for Malfoys did not play women, but that was a long time ago, when his ego had been roughly the size of France. Also, he had had more money back then. Now, he was just thankful to have something resembling a job where he didn't have to get down on his knees and kiss up to some pathetic excuse for a manager while he groveled before customers to make sure they came back.
~I suppose it could always be worse. I could have had to resort to whoring. Besides, perhaps the man playing Romeo will be good for a few nice fucks. It's been too long…~
He smiled at that thought. Draco had never really been delusional about his sexuality: he had known during his 3rd year at Hogwarts that he was gay, and had definitely done something about it. It was surprising how many people at Hogwarts were looking for the company of the hottest guy in the school, and a good third of them were male. This did not mean he was a whore, however. He had chosen his partners with care, and there weren't many of them in his four years of being sexually active at the school. Perhaps 10 at most, and the majority were his own Slytherin year mates, but he hadn't had many lovers since then. Even those he had had, all three of them, were not very interesting, and didn't last longer than a few weeks at most. He was starting to feel out of practice.
~I just hope that if I do find Romeo seducible, we don't end up like the real Romeo and Juliet. That would be just my luck. Meet the love of my life through a stupid play and wind up dying with him because society won't let us be. At least we have nothing to worry about from my parents…~
However, a little voice in the back of his mind said, "the only real love of your life won't have issues from his parents either, or have you forgotten that fact, but suicide might be necessary anyways. No one would ever believe the son of a Death Eater winding up with the Boy-Who-Lived."
~Shut up!~ he commanded himself, but the nagging voice's echo didn't go away.
"No one would ever believe the son of a Death Eater winding up with the Boy-Who-Lived. No one…"
Whoooo! Another chapter down, and a lot faster than I thought it would be! Amazing! Well, I'm sorry it's rather short. I just couldn't think of anywhere else to take it, and it seemed to end itself rather well. I would like to apologize for a mistake I found in the last chapter ((I reposted it all nice and fixed!!)). I said that Harry ran into the four teachers in Honeydukes, when it should have been the Three Broomsticks. That's all fixed, and I hope you all can forgive me. Bad Vivi got all confused. ::smacks self::
Well, since I have been producing chapters by the ton, I don't have stars for you, but I do have another batch of cookies shaped as stars! Is that good enough? I hope so! ^_^ Who gets cookies this time…well, let's see!
Wiccachic2000: Don't worry. You and a ton of other people thought the same thing. I just like being tricky! ^_^ Maybe in the sequel (yeah right) I'll cast him as Miranda from The Tempest. ^_______^
mistykasumi: Does this answer your question, mistykasumi? ^__^ Bonus points if you can tell me how this ends before I know ((odds are if you send me the response before I finish the last chapter, you will know before I do! ~_^)).
AmZ: Sorry you didn't like that last chapter. It was really just filler until I can get to the next chapter ((Act One Scene Four)). That's when it starts getting good. I'm afraid I don't know what you mean by "Mary-Sueage" though. I'm just guessing it's not that good. I hope you enjoy this one and the next ones more than the last one.
Ran: I believe you posted for the last one too, right? Along with mistykasumi? I dunno for sure ((meaning: I'm too lazy to go look it up right now)), but for anyone who posts for two chapters, you get DOUBLE COOKIES cause I love getting reviews more than anything!!! YAY! ::grin:: I hope this chapter answered your question as to who's Juliet, and I hope you look forward to the next chapter too! Yay beans!!!
Hippie Flower=Voldie's Kid: YOU WRITE YOUJIxAYA STUFF TOO! I ADORE YOU because you like me and my DracoxHarry-ness and you believe in the other best pairing out there, at least in Weiß: YoujixAya! Wheeee! You get double cookies! ::hands out two cookies:: Enjoy this part and the next ones! ::runs off to eat her own cookies:: Merci!
JadeDragon: I would never do such a thing as to leave you in the dark like that! ((Alter ego pops up: YES SHE WOULD! YES SHE WOULD!!!)) Well, maybe ONCE, like at the end or something, but never for something that important. ^_^ I value fans too much and I don't feel like bothering with hate mail now, so I was wise and tagged it on! ^_^ Yes, the silent conversation was another highlight of that chapter, but I think the best part was when Kat got all excited because he was the son of one of the Marauders, but I'm biased. Hope you enjoyed this chapter too!
MistWalker: I completely agree. Harry is too often the predictable things! COME UP WITH SOMETHING NEW! If I can do it, all you other writers out there, you can do it too! All it took for me was a half-hour shower, and I had the idea. It just popped into my head as I was washing my hair the second time ((no lie! I have to wash my hair twice to get it clean! Stupid oily hair. It's like, if I don't wash it every day, I wind up looking like Snape, since my hair is just about his length and so dark of a brown it's almost black. I suppose I could cut it short and dye it silver and look like Draco, but then I would have to dye it, and I don't think my hair would dye silver…it'd wind up red, undoubtedly. Stupid Irish roots…Wow, I just went off on a tangent…Sorry!)). Yes, where was I? Oh, yeah! I definitely think that the Harry as Auror/DADA teacher ((as if he WANTS to take Snape's position and make his own life a living hell the entire time he's there…))/Minister of Magic thing is all overused. Originality is good. I mean, look at Picasso! He's still famous, and he took originality to an art form, literally! ^_^
Well, thanks for reading. Please remember, I LOVE COMMENTS AND REVIEWS! ESPECIALLY GOOD ONES! ^_^ I will give out more cookies next time, which I hope will be tomorrow. We'll see, won't we. Laterz, people! I LOVE YA!
~Vividian.