Chapter 4- Singin' with my eyes closed
"Welcome
back Ms. Granger."
"It's good to be back
Professor Oceania. Even if I was only gone for a day."
"I know the feeling." The professor of Muggle
Studies said smiling.
Hermione took a seat with the
rest of the class, and began to get her books out.
"Oh, you won't need your books today. I have a fun assignment
for us to do."
"What is it?" Pavarti
Patil asked anxiously.
"As you all know we have
been studying Shakespeare. Now I think it's time we showed all we
have learned by putting on a production of King Lear."
"How will you decide who gets what part?"
"Well I have a basic idea in my mind. I just have to hear
you sing all separately."
"I don't
remember singing in King Lear." Hermione said timidly.
"Right you are Ms. Granger. 10 points to Gryffindor. We
are doing a rendition of the play- but we're turning it into a
musical. So who wants to sing first?"
Rose
Zeller raised her hand, and began to sing. After a few moments she
was stopped because, really the girl couldn't sing.
Each person sang their song of choice a little better than the
last, until the only person left was Hermione.
"Ms.
Granger will you please sing for us?"
Hermione
closed her eyes, and began to sing.
It's funny when you find yourself looking from the outside
When all I want is to out there
Why did I let myself believe miracles could happen?
Cause now I have to pretend
Like I don't really care
I thought you were my fairytale
My dream when I'm not sleeping.
A wish upon a star that's coming true.
But everybody else could see that I confused my feelings with the truth.
When there was me and you.
I swore I knew the melody that I hear you singing
And when you smiled you made me feel like I could sing along
But then you went and changed the words
and now my heart is empty.
And all that's left is used-to-be's.
I know you're not a fairytale
and dreams are made for sleeping.
And wishes on a star just don't come true.
And now even I can tell
That I confused my feelings with the truth.
Cause I liked the view.
When there was me and you.
Hermione opened her eyes, and heard applause.
"I really messed up. I..." She struggled to find the words.
Hermione secretly played guitar and sang. This was a song she had composed about dreaming. She loved to write songs in the stillness of solitude, and she wanted to keep it that way. She had never ever imagined her voiced sounded good enough to merit applause.
Professor Oceania flicked her wand and the cast list appeared on the board.
King Lear
Characters:
King Lear - Dean Thomas
Goneril - Pavarti Patil
Regan - Lavender Brown
Earl of Kent - Anthony Goldstein
Earl of Gloucester - Seamus Finnigan
Fool - Rose Zeller
Edmund - Wayne Hopkins
Edgar - John Branstone
Narrator - Professor Oceania
and
Cordelia - Hermione Granger
Hermione's eyes ran down the list, and stopped and stared at her name. She had gotten the lead girl's role. She had never expected that, and she had never wanted that.
"Professor Oceania, I..." She paused not knowing exactly what she wanted to say.
"Don't worry. I'll help with the lines if you need it. Here's your script.
Hermione took the script from her professor's hand, and looked fearfully at the booklet. Flipping through it she saw she had at least two long solos. Then she looked at the highlighted lines. While she didn't have that many, they contained "thees" and "thous" so it would be harder to remember.
"Excuse me, Professor Oceania, you never said when we'll be putting on our production." Dean Thomas said, looking a little nervous at the fact that he won the leading guy role.
"Oh I didn't. I'm sorry. We'll perform it in a month's time."
Just as she finished speaking the bell rang and the class began to file out.
"Read through, and begin to memorize your lines please!" She called out after the class.
Hermione took a peek outside the window on her way back to the common room. She was finished with classes for the day, and she sincerely wanted to go outside. Luckily the weather agreed with her mood.
Sitting down, she pulled out her homework and began to work on it. Ever since they had started their fifth year at Hogwarts not only had they been getting more homework, but it was time consuming as well.
As soon as she finished her regular homework, she went on to practicing her lines. Hermione had about a quarter of them memorized by the time the sun was beginning to disappear. By the time the sun was almost all the way down, she finally went in for supper.
"So, how was Muggle Studies?" Ron asked through bites of his food.
"Okay. We're starting this huge project that will take a month. Then we have to present our project to the whole school." Hermione said cautiously. She wanted to keep the play a secret for as long as she could.
"How was Divination? " She asked.
"Oh loads of fun." The boys said sarcastically together.
"I told you not to take that worthless subject."
"You asked." Harry said, exasperated.
Hermione just shook her head, knowing the argument that almost always followed after talking about Divination.
"Hermione can we borrow your transfiguration essay? I need about another foot." Ron asked hopefully later that night.
"No, you can't. It's time you guys actually started doing your own homework. After all this year you have to take O.W.L.S. without me. What are you going to do without my help?" She asked.
"We will fail, and will end up in fewer classes than Neville."
"Hey!" Neville yelled from across the common room.
"Sorry Neville." Harry said putting a hand up to apologize to him.
"Well, I guess I could let you borrow an inch, but not foot. You have to find the other eleven inches. Deal?"
"Deal." The boys said cheerfully.
Yet inside they were smiling mischievously. Hermione had forgotten that the assignment was only supposed to be a two feet long to begin with.
Many Gryffindor fifth and seventh years had an overload of homework, so they stayed in the common room for the longest amount of time. But after awhile, even they began to clear.
After about two, Harry, Ron, and Hermione were the only ones there.
"You know, this year is going to be harder than ever, right?" Hermionne asked sleepily.
"Do you always have to bring up O.W.L.S?"
"I didn't mean the tests."
"Then what did you mean?" Ron asked.
"I meant, Snuffles is hiding, and with the Order, everything is harder. Everything is worth so much more now."
"What do you mean? Do you mean we're not capable of fighting what comes our way?" Harry asked defensively.
"That's not what I meant." Hermione snapped.
"Then what did you mean?
"I meant that so much more is at stake. You know the odds Harry. You know how much more easy it will be for You-Know-Who to lure you to him. I'm not saying you're not strong. I'm just saying so much more is at stake."
"Every year has gotten harder mate, you can't deny that." Ron said, agreeing with Hermione.
"Do you think I don't know that? Do you think that as soon as I found out that the most feared wizard is after me, I thought, 'Oh, this is going to be a piece of cake.'" Harry said, standing up. A cup near the window began to shake, as his face turned red with anger.
"Calm down Harry. I know you know all that. I didn't mean that." Hermione tried to apologize. "I was just tired. We're all tired. We all just need to sleep."
"Mate, come on. Hermione was just making a statement. You don't have to go all defensive on us."
"Yeah, you're right. I guess. We all better go to bed, so we don't bite each others heads off." Harry said, suddenly smiling.
They all went up to bed, ready for a long sleep.
By the morning there was no way anybody could tell they had argued. It was just something they did every once in awhile. They knew that they had to stick together. They had to stay strong.
Yet, the ultimate test was about to come. One that had been in the brewing ever since the end of their fourth year.
"Ready for potions?" Ron asked after they had finished their transfiguration class.
"Are we ever ready for potions?" Harry asked, groaning slightly.
"True there. But maybe today will be better." Hermione said hopefully.
"What planet did you just come down from?" Ron asked, as they entered the dungeon.
"Homework please." Snape snarled, as the bell rang.
After he had collected all the homework, he began to explain the potion of the day.
"While he have been working on learning about Veriterserum, you are not competent enough to brew it, until you get into your N.E.W.T.S. class. So, instead we shall be working on a Truth Potion. You will work in pairs, and at the end you will test the potion on somebody from a separate group."
He paused, scanning the room. His eyes rested for a moment on Harry, before continuing.
"So, Malfoy, Parkinson, Zabini and Goyle. Crabb, and Read. Potter and Granger, Weasley and Longbottom."
Everybody except for maybe Blaise Zabini was happy with their partner for once.
As they got out the ingredients and flipped through the pages, Hermione couldn't help but steal a passing glance at Draco Malfoy.
He looked less than pleased that his partner was Pansy, while she looked ecstatic.
"Hermione...earth to Hermione. We need to heat a solution of dragons blood, until it boils, then we wait."
"Oh, right." Hermione said, looking down at her textbook.
After about twenty minutes the potion was looking about the right shade of green.
"Add Jabberhead feathers, and let simmer for two days." Hermione read, quietly to Harry.
They had already gotten points taken off by Snape for talking too loudly (or so he said,), so they were careful about the volume of their voices.
"Right." Harry said, dumping a small cup full of feathers into the mixture making it turn a hue of violet that would even make Tonks cringe.
"Is it suppose to do that?" Hermione asked nervously. She didn't want to get this potion wrong, especially when Snape was teaching the class.
Harry's finger frantically went across the page, resting at the point that they had stopped.
"After adding the Jabberhead feathers the concoction should turn a violent shade of violet, and then after about five minutes turn to a pale periwinkle color." He read quickly.
"Good, then we've done it correctly." She said pointing to the potion which color had begun to change.
"Ah, so that is the color periwinkle. I always wondered."
"What? Only eight crayons in your box Potter?" Malfoy sneered as he walked past to return some ingredients.
Harry just shot him a look of loathing, and turned back to the potion.
"I don't know how you put up with him. He's horrible." Harry said, packing up the ingredients.
"I just have to. McGonagall said there would be no changing, or we would be under serious consideration to be kicked off."
"Why?" Harry asked sharply.
"She says it shows character to work with people you don't like. She says we shouldn't be wimps, and we should take the chance to learn to deal with difficult people."
"Bullocks."
"Agreed."
"You know we have Quidditch practice tonight right?" Someone asked Draco as they ate dinner.
Draco's daydream ended quickly, by the voice of Zabini telling him something.
"What man?."
"Now come on. We have Quidditch practice in less than fifteen minutes."
"Right. You guys go ahead. I'll catch up." He said, looking at a particular brunette.
"No man. You're coming now. Quit staring at the Mudblood, or daydreaming, or whatever, and come now." Blaise said forcefully. He pulled Draco up from his seat and dragged him out of the Great Hall.
"You got to snap out of it Draco. You have been daydreaming all summer. You have to stop, and come back to reality."
"Sure Blaise. Whatever you say." Draco said half heartedly. His mind was still elsewhere.
Author's Note: Thanks to all who reviewed, and are going to review. Sorry it takes so long for me to update. I'm in the process of moving, and I have to use my sister's laptop. Also, I give a big hand to my wonderful beta girl...Niki. (Note from my Beta Girl: Thank you, thank you very much!)
Finally...The song is from High School Musical. It's called, When There was Me and You
So...
See that really cute little button down there?
It means to leave a comment, about how I can improve, or if you liked the story or not.
Thanks,
Ann
