DISCLAIMER: I don't own Rose, Scorpius or long and confusing days. Nor do I own Twelfth Night, that belongs to William Shakespeare.
Getting it Right.
Blurb ...
Rose and Scorpius share a hate/hate relationship. So everyone thought-even Rose and Scorpius themselves. It just took them a while to get anything right. :ScorpiusRose PostDH NextGen:
CHAPTER NINE: The Long and Confusing One.
Tonight was our first ever run through of Twelfth Night. It was to be held after all our classes, so hopefully no one would come nosing around and see how incredibly crap we actually are at acting. This would have normally had me slightly irritated due to the shear amount of work I've still got to do and no time to do it in.
Oh no. Forget 'slightly irritated'. This morning, I'm beyond bloody pissed off.
"What the hell is your problem?" Bea asked me with a raised eyebrow as I grabbed the marmalade and slammed it down onto the Ravenclaw table in front of me with a loud bang that made everyone jump. I just glared at Bea.
"Malfoy!" I yelled at her. Honestly, did it really need saying?
"Oh," Bea frowned as she tentatively sat down next to me. "I dunno why you're so pissed off about that, I mean, it's Malfoy."
"Yeah, but Harley?" I repeated this key fact for the millionth time. "Seriously?"
Bea sighed, but didn't say anything, which only made me groan in frustration. I'd woken up this morning full of dread at the thought of having to act in front of my entire Muggle Studies class and having three essays to write, but y'know, more or less happy with the world.
Then, Bea and I began our usual walk down to breakfast, only to stumble across Malfoy and Harley snogging.
Yes, as in actual snogging! We had just turned to take our usual short cut, only to pull back the tapestry and find them going at it against the wall! I mean, of all the bloody places … no wait, that wasn't the point! The point was that Malfoy had told me that he didn't fancy her! And then there he was, snogging her! If that's not sending mixed signals, I don't know what is. I mean, everyone knows that Harley's been shamelessly throwing herself at Malfoy for years, but he only returned that once before breaking up with her!
When we'd stumbled across them behind the tapestry, they'd broken apart suddenly as Bea said, "Oh, bloody god, that's disgusting!" Malfoy looked stunned while Harley was faffing about, batting her eyes, pretending to look frustrated … hey, why don't we just go with she looked like a bloody idiot? Perfect!
"Do you mind?" she had said, glaring at us with one arm still around Malfoy's neck.
"Do you?" I had yelled back. "We walk this way every day! What the hell're you even doing up here?"
"I think that was plainly obvious before you two burst in," Harley said back, rolling her eyes.
Malfoy still hadn't said anything, just stood there staring between us like we were going to start throttling each other. Which I admit, I was very close to doing, since Harley flicked her hair several times before Bea got the message and took my arm roughly, dragging me from the corridor, despite the fact that I was still fuming.
We had remained silent all the way up until we got down to the breakfast table. Then, the tirade started. Malfoy and Harley still hadn't turned up.
"Yes, ok, it's Harley," Bea rolled her eyes. "It's gross. She probably just snogged him hoping to get a reaction. Everyone knows she's been practically in love with him for years and only makes herself look like an idiot in the end. But you don't have to keep yelling about it."
I just grumbled at that, taking one last glance at the door to the Great Hall before turning back to my breakfast. However, my eyes suddenly snapped back when finally, Malfoy and Harley walked in.
Harley was looking mighty pleased with herself, chatting absently as she stayed by Malfoy's side. Malfoy on the other hand was looking like he'd just been clubbed over the head with a broomstick. He walked, almost trance-like back to the Slytherin table, where Harley proceeded to sit so close to him, she was practically in his lap.
I think I actually growled.
"Ooh, going for the werewolf impersonation?" came Libby's voice as she and Jo joined us at the table. "Good thing, I heard from Toby that Professor Ackerly's getting in a real, live one for class next week."
"Oh, that's total bull," Jo snorted as Bea laughed. "You don't still listen to what my brother says, do you?"
"He was right about the test on Hinkypunks!"
"Only because Malfoy stole the answers to that test and handed them around our entire year group," Libby pointed out. She then glanced up at me with a grin. "Didn't you get a detention for that, Rosie? You tried to stop him, right?"
"Oh, thanks for reminding me," I muttered. I still remembered that day in fourth-year quite plainly and the subsequent water-fight we ended up having during that detention. The look on Professor Cushing's face was almost worth the extra six detentions we had to do the rest of that week.
"Speaking of Malfoy, you'll never guess who we caught him snogging up in the West Corridor before!" Bea said and I rolled my eyes as Libby and Jo both looked very interested and even Geraldine and the boys from our class leaned over to listen. And they say they aren't gossips! Ha …
"Who?" Jo asked at once.
"I dunno, Harley?" Libby said.
Bea's face dropped. "Oh. Suppose you can guess, then," she said. "Yeah, it was Harley. It was disgusting, she was all over him!"
"It's ridiculous," I huffed, glancing over at them again. The others all followed suit since apparently, Ravenclaw's are smart, but aren't good at being subtle. Harley noticed and threw us all a glare (with a hair flick for good measure) but unless I was imagining it, Malfoy was avoiding looking up. "Malfoy actually told me he doesn't fancy her and then he goes and bloody snogs her!"
"He actually told you that?" Libby asked as they all turned back to me with interest. "When? I didn't think you two talked much, other than saying how stupid you think the other is!"
"During that aforementioned detention he landed me in when he stole the test answers," I said, sighing.
"But wasn't that back when they were going out?" Jo asked, confused.
"No, this was after they broke up," I pointed out. I was a bit confused as to how I remembered that – I don't even like the bloke and I remember when he went out with his ex's! – but I continued on with my sentence anyway. "He was banging on about how she was 'too much' for him as his girlfriend. And now he's all over her! It's like she's his … I dunno, part-time girlfriend or something!"
Of course, remembering this made me even more pissed off and I stabbed my plate in anger. It broke, scattering pieces of scrambled egg all over Bea and causing her to cry, "Rosie!" I just groaned in exasperation; I don't have time for bloody plates!
"Er … it's ok," Bea said, tentatively poking my plate. "Reparo – there we go, good as new, see?" she said, smiling.
After that, the others were over the gossip and were perfectly content to go back to their conversation about whether Professor Ackerly was really going to unleash a werewolf in our classroom, but my mind kept going back to Mr and Mrs PDA over at the Slytherin table.
I honestly think I hate Harley as much as I hate Malfoy. And that's saying something.
I tracked down Malfoy for an explanation straight after breakfast. And by 'tracked him down', I mean 'hunted and attacked him'.
"What the hell is your problem?" I demanded as soon as I had slammed him into the wall of the corridor. I had ever so gently dragged him by the collar and thrown him through a tapestry, causing him to stumble into the corridor beyond before I had him at the wall. I'd nearly taken out some third-year in the process, but a quick visit to the Hospital Wing will fix whatever body part I managed to maim.
"Morning to you, too," he said scathingly, rubbing his neck where I'd grabbed him. "You sure are stronger than you look, Weasley."
I rolled my eyes, in no mood for one of his sarcastic days. "Enough with the compliments, Malfoy. They only sound weird on you."
Malfoy laughed. "Right. Whatever you want to tell yourself. So what was it you wished to ask, once you were done with dragging me into tapestries?"
"Harley!" I burst out. Malfoy raised an eyebrow. "I thought you split up over a year ago?"
"We did," he said, shrugging. "Nothing's changed."
I just gave him a disbelieving look. "Like hell! Why're you encouraging her?"
Malfoy just looked confused. "Encouraging? What the hell're you harping on about?"
"What the hell am I–? I mean that, upstairs!" I yelled, gesturing with a hand just in case he didn't get it. "When Bea and I walked in on you two snogging?"
"Oh, that," Malfoy looked like he didn't understand why I would even want to mention it. "That was nothing."
I just gave a very loud snort of laughter. "Oh nothing, sure! It didn't look like nothing!" I pointed out.
"Hey, I was just as shocked as you," Malfoy said, shrugging again as if it didn't matter. "If I had to describe it, I'd say it was long and confusing."
I didn't even know how to answer that. The word long kept ringing through my head, but I knew if I brought that up, it'd make things ten times more awkward than they were now. Huh. I'm actually learning to control myself. Well done, Rosie.
Since I had just stood there gaping, Malfoy took the opportunity to smirk at me. "Well, this is quite an interesting conundrum," he said, watching me with amusement. "Rose Weasley, rendered speechless."
"I – shut it," was all I said. Oh brilliant, Rose.
"Look, as much as I'd love to stay here and argue with you some more, I'm going to be late for Charms," Malfoy said. "So if there's anything else you want to say, now's your opportunity. Don't be shy," he added when I just threw him a withering look. "I know you're dying to scream at me some more."
"… Merlin, you're a bastard." How the bloody hell do I come up with these pearls of wisdom? Must be the effects of being a Ravenclaw.
Malfoy snorted. "You've only told me about a billion times since we met, but ok," He turned to leave, but spun around at the last minute as he pulled aside the tapestry. "See you when I kick your arse at Defence Against the Dark Arts later – don't think about me too much!"
I was left, staring mouth-opened at him as he disappeared, leaving me looking like a gormless idiot in the middle of the empty corridor. I didn't even bother try and make him explain.
It would've been just a typical Rosie/Malfoy argument and Lily wouldn't have really noticed. Until Rose practically tackled him and shoved him into the fourth floor tapestry, nearly killing her in the process.
"Holy crap!" Kitty cried as Lily got bashed around the head by Rose's bag. Her cousin didn't even pause to say sorry. "LL, you all right?"
"Was that Rosie?" Lily asked, nodding and rubbing her head.
Kitty nodded as well. "She just appeared out of nowhere! Bloody hell, remind me to never make Rose Weasley angry …"
"Even I know not to do that," said Hugo's voice and Lily's cousin joined them. "Who's my sister angry at?"
"That Malfoy bloke from Slytherin?"
"Oh," Hugo snorted. "Dunno why I bothered asking. That's always the answer. Never mind my crazy sister, we've got History of Magic! What subject are we doing again?" Hugo added to Kitty, who rolled her eyes.
"The Being Meetings of the Fourteenth Century," Kitty said, not noticing the fact that Lily wasn't paying her friends any attention and in fact was craning her sore neck to try and see where her cousin had got to. "Honestly ,Hugo, you'd think you were only my friend because I happen to be naturally good at History of Magic!"
"Well …"
"Oh, shut it. C'mon LL, we should get to class – LL?"
More curious than she should be, Lily was already halfway to the tapestry and quickly told Hugo and Kitty that she'd catch up later. They just shrugged and disappeared among the crowds of people in the corridor as Lily made her way to the tapestry. Glancing around it, she saw Rose looking rather pissed off and Malfoy simply bemused.
"… you encouraging her?" she just heard Rose say.
"Encouraging? What the hell're you harping on about?"
Rose then suddenly burst into a tirade about that Harley girl who was in Malfoy and Rose's year. Lily wasn't all that surprised about that, since it was common knowledge that Rose didn't like her. Lily admitted that she didn't know much about her, but I seemed natural to not like her either (considering when she thought about it, half of Gryffindor probably didn't like Lucy Harley). Lily was surprised, however to hear that Rose had apparently caught Malfoy and Harley snogging earlier that morning.
Eyebrows raised, Lily continued to listen. From the flow of the argument, it wasn't that hard to gather that Rose was seriously pissed off about this and that Malfoy was infuriatingly smug. Lily grinned just as Malfoy left Rose standing in the middle of the corridor beyond the tapestry, looking completely shocked.
Lily saw the small grin on Malfoy's face as he strode down towards the Charms corridor, past Georgie Benjy from Lily's year and apologising when he nearly knocked her over. Georgie had been willing to bet nearly twenty Galleons on Malfoy and Rose never going out, but Lily had been rather reluctant to agree, since she couldn't afford that much if she lost.
However, all things considered …
"Hey, Gee!" Lily called and Georgie looked up. "That bet of yours still on?"
She so deserved a point for this.
Rose: 16, Malfoy: 18, Lily: 3.
Seeing as Malfoy was as maddingly unhelpful as usual, I tried to find Bea to complain to during lunch time, since she had disappeared after Herbology. However, after several minutes of searching and finding no sign of my best friend anywhere, I eventually came across Al, who was apparently so happy that he was walking with a spring in his step.
"Are you skipping?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.
"What? No," Al immediately halted all traces of skipping as he stopped to talk. "I've been looking for you for ages and you'll never guess what I just heard! And saw, now that I think about it."
"Oh, what've the Idiot Twins blown up now?" I asked in exasperation.
"No, it's nothing like that, thank the lord," Al shook his head. "Nah, me and some of the blokes from my dormitory were just leaving lunch when we saw Bea and Parker having his huge row!"
"What, seriously?" I asked, interested now as we started heading towards the joint common room.
"Well, it certainly didn't look all sunshine, happiness and rainbows," Al told me. "In fact, she was screaming at him!"
"Bea? Scream? I don't think I've ever heard her raise her voice since I met her!"
"I know! They were in the Entrance Hall, but then Professor Cushing went off her nut because she was yelling so loud, so Bea dragged him to an empty classroom. You should've seen it, everyone was trying to listen; stood there for nearly ten minutes before I decided to try and find you."
"What in Merlin's name got her so angry?" I asked, shocked as we reached the joint common room. Al paused to open the heavy door and we edged inside, ducking a stray inkwell that was thrown near us and heading for our favourite sofa.
"Dunno, couldn't really tell what she was saying, I swear she went into ultrasonic at one point," Al said. "But I got the general gist. Remember when she accidentally burnt her hand in potions earlier? He saw that and practically insisted she go to the Hospital Wing. She snapped something about her not needing him to protect her all the time and it all went from there."
"Good Merlin …" I muttered to myself as I glanced around the joint common room. Being lunch time, it was absolutely packed and there was a huge crowd forming in the middle. From the looks of things, the Idiot Twins were attempting some other stunt to try and impress everyone. I saw flaming knifes and one of their mates with their wand at the ready. I seriously wondered sometimes whether those two were dropped on their heads as a baby or something because they really were utterly mad.
"So basically, Bea's trying to kill her boyfriend and if we're not careful, we'll be impaled by a knife …" Al said, eyeing the Idiot Twins carefully.
I snorted. "To be honest, I think Parker's the one in the most danger. She sent me letters during the holidays about how he was smothering her to the point where she threatened to burn his hair off."
"I hope she followed through with that."
"She did, apparently," I said. "Even then, he didn't back down."
Al just shook his head slightly. "I suppose this is Parker we're talking about. If anything bad happens to his precious Bea, the whole bloody world ends. That bloke always was a bit thick, wasn't he–?"
Al, however, was cut off by a sudden, loud bang and we both jumped a mile. Glancing behind us in bewilderment, we saw that James was attempting to juggle the flaming knifes while Fred was trying to swallow them. They both aimed their wands at each other and the fire grew in size with another loud bang. Everyone around them cheered.
"Bloody hell!" I yelled as I ducked a stray knife that went whizzing past my head.
"I swear, my brother gets stupider every day!" Al said in disgust as we both dived down to the floor, using the sofa as a shield. I glanced up at the Idiot Twins again, ever living up to their name and forgot for a second that James and Al were even related. They were just so different, sometimes I wondered whether James had been adopted into the family after being illicitly conceived by convicts or something.
We were so busy dodging the flaming knifes and there was so much yelling, cheering and screaming, that we didn't notice Bea turn up. I only realised that she had joined us when she was forced to hide with us as a bucket of water went flying. She was looking slightly dazed as my older cousin, Lucy, stormed forward, living up to her title as Head Girl as she yelled at the Idiot Twins, breaking up the crowd.
"Bea!" I said as we cautiously sat back on the sofa as Lucy continued to yell herself hoarse.
"Good thing you weren't here before, you could've been killed by those two!" Al said, gesturing behind us to his stupid brother and stupid cousin, who apparently weren't taking the whole 'you could have killed everyone in this common room, you idiots!' seriously. Al was completely oblivious to the fact that Bea looked like she was on the verge of crying.
"Al …" I muttered as he continued to ramble.
"I saw you yelling at Parker before," he added, grinning. "You went off your nut! Never seen you like it before! Did you give him a good ol' Bat-Bogey Hex that he'll never forget?"
Bea just stared at Al for a moment, before saying, "We split up, Al."
He sat there shocked for about ten seconds. Then, he said the rather intelligent reply of,
"Ooh …"
Bea was actually ok with breaking up with Parker, despite the fact that she had started crying while trying to explain what had happened.
"I'm sorry!" she had said as I sat with my arm around her and Al looked sympathetic. "I mean, I broke up with him! I wanted to, I was sick of it but god!"
"You went out for over a year," I tried to reason. "Anyone would cry about that ending, even if they were the one to initiate it."
Bea had agreed that I was probably right, though that didn't stop her from being upset. She was still sniffing slightly as we left Al in the joint common room and made our way down to the Great Hall for our first ever Twelfth Night practise. I walked with my arm around her, though it didn't seem to be helping. She took a deep breath as we entered the Entrance Hall.
"I wish it didn't have to end so loudly," she said, looking slightly guilty. "I think fine, I'm actually glad it's over. I couldn't take it anymore. But him on the other hand … anything less than screaming was not going to get through to him."
"I take it he was a little bit pissed off?" I asked.
Bea just gave me a look. "He actually started crying," she said. "I didn't realise blokes did that in real life!"
I just smiled sympathetically as we made our way into the Great Hall. I was surprised to find that all of the House tables had been moved to the sides and a huge stage had been conjured out of nowhere. Libby and Toby were already up on the stage, pretending to fight with fake swords and Geraldine and Amy Davis were already arguing with the last backstage member, Nancy Carter. Professor Hanson called everyone over to the stage and Bea and I moved to join everyone else.
"I just feel so guilty," Bea added as she waved hello to Libby. "Is that normal? He still really likes me and I basically ripped his heart out!"
I glanced at Malfoy, talking to his mates as we reached the stage. "You couldn't stay with him," I said, glancing away quickly as he'd caught my eye. "You can't be with someone you can't stand."
"Merlin, today has been bloody confusing," Bea moaned, rubbing her eyes.
We jumped up onto the stage and all sat along the edge as Professor Hanson stood in front of us. Looking down the line to my right, I saw Libby and Toby still with their fake swords, the three backstage girls still bickering, Leanne Kite looking keen to get started and Oliver Gemmel from my year next to her. Glancing to my left, however I was shocked to see not just Malfoy with his mates, but Trevor of all people, sitting next to Harley. Yes, as in Trevor Moyle, bloke in my year, looked like a monkey according to Malfoy (and was also my ex-boyfriend, but I tried not to remember that).
I pointed this out to Bea as Professor Hanson started delving into how we should portray the characters. "What the hell is Trevor doing sitting next to Harley?"
"Dunno," Bea shrugged. "What's the bet that she poisons him before the day is out?"
"Oh, I don't know, I think Malfoy might beat her to it …" I said back, since Malfoy was indeed looking disgusted by the presence of Trevor.
Bea snorted as Malfoy caught my eye again. He just rolled his eyes at my accusing expression. "Shut it, Weasley!" he mouthed.
"Wanker …" I mouthed back.
So the first thing we found out tonight, was that witches and wizards should never perform Shakeswotzit. It really only turns out ugly.
"Right …" Professor Hanson said, holding open her copy of Twelfth Night. "I guess we should start with a simple opening scene … Act One, Scene One?"
"Hang on, Professor," Leanne said, frowning at the page. "In the next scene, we don't have anyone to play the Captain."
"Oh, what?" Professor Hanson flicked ahead a few pages and as I copied her, I realised Leanne was right. "Damn … well, Leanne, since your part as Valentine is rather small, would you also like to play the Captain?"
"Do I get to wear a fake beard?"
"Er, if you want …"
"Brilliant!"
"Wait, Professor!" Geraldine called out, pointing at a page a little bit further into the play. "We completely missed out on casting Antonio!"
"For Merlin's sake!" Professor Hanson grumbled. "I can't believe this!"
"Head not screwed on right, Professor?" Tessa Bletchley from Slytherin asked, with a smile.
Professor Hanson shot her a look. "If you lot weren't so busy complaining about what parts you were given, then I wouldn't have forgotten!" she said. "Tessa, how would you like to play Antonio, since Curio's part is also quite small?"
"Oh. Um, ok …" Bletchley glanced through her copy of the play and frowned. "No, hang on, wasn't Antonio the gay bloke?"
"Well, there's always been a bit of debate about that," Professor Hanson said, grinning as several people laughed. "Some say he's just the ever-faithful and dedicated wingman of Sebastian, but others argue that he was actually in love with him …"
Eventually we progressed on to actual acting. Focused on her new casting, Professor Hanson had skipped ahead to Act One, Scene Two, which was the first scene Viola was in and she was supposed to have looked like she'd recently been close to drowning in a shipwreck. Geraldine thought she was helping by conjuring up some water and spilling it all over me.
"Thanks, Geral!" I managed to splutter as the cold water hit me.
"Oh, crap, sorry!" Geraldine said, aiming a drying charm at me instead. "I didn't mean to get you – only Professor Hanson said it might look more realistic if there was water on the stage and–"
"It's ok, Geral," I said. "Really."
I saw Malfoy almost shaking from trying not to laugh.
As it turns out, acting clearly wasn't one of our talents. Spells, we can do, but give us a play to act out for Muggle Studies and we completely fail. As we went through Act One, Scene Two, I slipped slightly on the water still on stage, Bletchley read her lines so slowly that Toby fell asleep watching and the backstage girls got into a huge argument about the texture of water needed to give the illusion of a beach.
"All right, all right!" Professor Hanson yelled, breaking up the argument Nancy Carter had apparently started. It looked like those three were going to be a problem. "That was, er, good for a first attempt! Tessa, I know you're concentrating on the words, but you need to understand the character as well as the language! Rose, is your knee ok? You hit the stage pretty hard. And you three," She shot Nancy Carter, Amy Davis and Geraldine a look before shaking her head. "Never mind. How about we do the first scene now? Scorpius, this is you!"
Malfoy reluctantly went up onto the conjured stage while the rest of us sat on the floor to watch. Bletchley stayed and Leanne followed on after as Malfoy opened his book. I almost felt embarrassed for him. It's stupid when you know someone's going to be really bad at something, yet you can't talk them out of it, no matter what you say. I knew Malfoy could yell (Merlin knows he's done enough yelling aimed at me), but acting?
As it turns out, that was the second thing I found out tonight.
"If music be the food of love, play on," Malfoy said, saying the first line of the play. "Give me excess of it–"
"Aha! See that!" Professor Hanson suddenly yelled, cutting in. "'Excess'! That is a key theme in Twelfth Night, it comes up throughout the play's plot! Orsino doesn't just love Olivia, he excessively loves her, just like Malvolio is also excessively in love with her and Sir Toby's excessive drinking … I hope you're all getting this down," she added and we all started, reluctantly summoning parchment and ink.
After a ramble worthy of my dad, Malfoy was finally able to carry on.
"Right …" Malfoy had muttered. "Er … well, give me excess of it, that, surfeiting, the appetite may sicken, and so die. That strain again, it had a dying fall: O, it came o'er my ear like the sweet sound …"
Malfoy continued on with his opening monologue and we were stunned into silence. Malfoy spoke with passion; he actually sounded in love. Either he really knew what he was talking about, or he was a bloody good actor. I exchanged a look with Bea, who shrugged as Professor Hanson looked ready to burst into tears.
He was amazing. I didn't really want to admit that, but amazing he was.
"He's not that good …" I muttered to Bea, knowing it was a downright lie.
"Rosie, are you kidding me?" she asked, shaking her head slightly. "He's … weirdly good. I had no idea that Malfoy could act."
"Me either," I answered. "For some reason, I never did ask him if he could perform on stage."
Bea just exchanged a look with me as Malfoy's opening lines came to a close.
"… so full of shapes is fancy, that it alone is high fantastical," he finished with a flourish. Bletchley, who had the next line, could only gape at him, while Harley clapped a few times.
"What?" Malfoy asked, looking confused.
"You're bloody amazing, mate," Danny Parker told him.
"That was wonderful!" Professor Hanson cried. Malfoy turned red as our Professor rushed up onto the stage to hug him.
"Oh, for the love of Merlin," I muttered.
Besides the Oh Mighty Powerful Actor Malfoy, it turned out that none of us could act very well. And when I say 'very well', I mean that none of us had any talent whatsoever. In fact, when Tom Ellis cracked out one of the two songs he had to sing, we found out that he could break bloody ear-drums with his voice.
"When that I was and a little tiny boy!" he sang loudly, completely oblivious to our cringing. His singing was horribly off-key. He cut himself off when we all yelled in protest. "I wasn't that bad, was I?" he asked.
"Oh, god yes!" Amy Davis cried.
"Yeah, not to be blunt or anything," Trevor said, still wincing. "But your singing is bloody awful."
"Ah, well," Tom shrugged. "Can't be the best at everything. I'll stick to Quidditch. We can use a singing charm, right?"
"Thankfully, yes," Professor Hanson said, rubbing her ears and after several goes (and realising that Tom's voice was so bad, it seeped through the spells) we could all at least stand to hear him sing.
We were all getting carried away slightly. Some were trying to be the better actor than everyone else and then there was Toby, who got rather into his part of acting as the drunken uncle of Olivia. He stumbled around the stage, yelling, "She'll none o' th' Count; she'll not match above her degree!" until eventually, he promptly smashed a chair we'd been using as a prop.
"Great, great!" Professor Hanson said, diving out of the way of a flying chair leg.
Libby found that she liked playing Fabian. Unfortunately in her enthusiasm, she fell off the stage, breaking her arm. Once she was sent to the Hospital Wing, Professor Hanson (who seemed to be trying to avoid physical movement at all on stage) decided to try a different scene.
I'm not sure if I'm that much of an actor. Bea says I'm good, but then, this is coming from my best friend, who also found out that she couldn't say so much as, "Nay, either tell me where thou hast been," without blushing bright red (coming from Bea, who never ever blushes). So I don't think I can really trust her judgement.
I ended up getting tongue-tied on one of my lines ("Woo-er I woo myself woo be his wife I woo," or whatever the hell is it) and we began a scene near the beginning where Viola (dressed up as a man called Cesario) first meets Olivia and she falls in love with 'him'. Everybody else in the Great Hall seemed to get how awkward it was to have myself act alongside Lucy Harley, however Professor Hanson was oblivious to the death glares we sent each other.
"Wonderful girls, you're really feeling the emotion!" she cried when eventually, Bea as Maria had to step in and pull us away from each other to stop myself from strangling her.
"Heard you had a 'talk' with Scorpius," she had muttered as Bea moved away with the three backstage girls, who were being attendants in this scene.
"And?" I had said back.
"And I'm warning you," Harley had almost growled. While it might have had an effect coming from anyone else, from her it only sounded hilarious. "You have nothing to do with our lives! So pull your bloody nose out of his arse before I hex you myself!"
"Funny, this morning it looked like he wanted nothing to do with your life."
"I said I'm warning you, bi–"
"OK!" Bea had cut in then and we never actually finished the scene.
"Right, you know what? I think we'll leave it there for tonight!" Professor Hanson had yelled when finally, Geraldine accidentally shot the backdrop with her wand and caused the entire thing to be set on fire.
"That took forever," Bea said, stretching as we all filed out and began our way back to our dormitories, while Professor Hanson tried to explain to an extremely pissed off Filch as to why there was a burning stage in the middle of the Great Hall. "And d'you mind explaining to me why you and Harley nearly killed each other on stage?"
"She was telling me to bugger off out of Malfoy's life!" I said. "Well, more or less. God, I wanted to strangle her!"
Bea snorted. "Just ignore her, Rosie. She's not worth it. Let's just get to bed before Professor Hanson calls us all back for a second run-through."
"Tonight was so bloody long," I agreed, yawning. Then I remembered everything that had happened today, starting with a kiss in a corridor, and I added, "And confusing."
Conclusion to long and very confusing days:
-Just try and avoid them at all costs. They're not worth it.
-Acting is not for me. Or anyone, really. But that's ok, seeing as this 'performance' is never leaving the loving comforts of our Muggle Studies class.
-Snogging is bad. It should just not exist. Even better, Malfoy should not exist. It sure would make my life a hell of a lot easier.
-Unfortunately, Malfoy is surprisingly good at acting. He's probably about the only person who is.
Rose: 16, Malfoy: 18.
(Great. I compliment him on his acting and he gets a bloody point!).
A/N: Updated, 2013: I had actually forgotten up until this chapter that James and Al were even related. Goes to show how different they are. I hope you all enjoyed this!
Until next time-
-Moon. : D