Kings, Lovers and Fairies-Chapter 14 -Nights of Glory and Stars: Part I
A/N: ~*baseballs, tomatoes, potatoes, tin cans hit her*~ Yes yes, I know, I've been a bad writer. I hope this makes up for it. I can see that this final part will be quite long so it is divided into three parts for each night. I hope you will enjoy them and please realize I have cut lines and cut scenes in the way it is written. For instance, Titania's monologue in Act II, scene I, is cut because of the length.
I hope it is easy to visualize and if you have any questions on the language please ask or something and I'll address it. More will be coming most definitely shortly.
Finally, I must give the most gratitude to all of my readers out there, everyone who kept bugging me to write more and especially Tidmag who was brave enough to IM me and prod me along!!! Thank you so, so much!!!
Please, enjoy, and I hope you can relate to all the girls that you'll see when Sev enters. I could!!
-Luv so much,
~*Ani-AO
-
The final rehearsal was Thursday night, filled with a few technical difficulties, two Ravenclaw elves knocking each other senseless while frolicking, and another sense of awe when the costumed fairy rulers arrived on stage. With anxiety, excitement, and tense apprehension hanging all over the stage, along with many hungry actors, Severus announced at eight:
"Well. The final rehearsal has gone extremely well for what it could have been. Dumbledore and myself have set up dinner for you all after you change in the great hall. Please, cast, crew, join there." A whoop of excitement came from the boys and everyone speedily went to the dressing rooms. There, they found black T-shirts with the name, production dates, cast and crew printed on them, and, a silver image that would move if you said the password. Laughing with released tension and excitement they dribbled into the Great Hall, a feast awaiting them, roasts and chickens as well as otherworldly food, fruit salad mixed with rose and lily petals, sparkling juices, dumplings filled with spices, and they filled their plates greedily. Harry, Hermoine, Ron, as well as Lupin, Oliver, Percy, Fred, George, Alicia and Anglina filled a table, spaces for the rest of the crew heads available. Oliver and Percy played with their feet underneath, Hermoine and Ron held hands above and Fred, Alicia, Angelina, and George snogged in everyone's sight. Snape swept into the room, traces of kohl still smudged around his eyes, hair still back into a ponytail, and joined their table, sitting next to Lupin. Harry gave him a small smile to which Snape returned and they continued their conversation.
"Oh Ron, I'm so excited," murmured Hermoine, cutting open a cinnamony dumpling.
"Excited is one word for it," Ron said uneasily, somewhat pale. Harry didn't say anything though his thoughts mirrored Ron's words. Although part of it was that he was slightly nervous about performing, he was more nervous of acting odd around Severus during the performances or not being good enough for him. Hermoine gave him a squeeze underneath the table and Fred and George, who were each gnawing on a chicken leg shook their heads.
"Oh, Harry, don't worry. You know-,"
"You've been absolutely wonderful during these last rehearsals." George interrupted, "And anyways-,"
"Oberon here," Fred fingered at Severus across from him, "here'll keep you on your toes." Severus glared and Harry smiled.
"Once you get up there, with full makeup and the effects blaring, you'll be fine. Angelina, Alicia, Minerva, they've all done wonderful jobs," Lupin began and the three ladies blushed, "People from all over the magic world are coming, the scenes Dumbledore has sit in on he says are wonderful, everything will be fine. You'd make James proud," He smiled benevolently at Harry who nodded, as a hush fell over the table. He looked to Snape who gave him a deep nod and smile and Harry didn't feel that badly anymore.
Alicia and Angelina shared glances and nodded and left the table disappearing as the conversation grew again. However, a hush fell over as they came back, wheeling a cart with a large chocolate cake sitting on it. The tables full of crew and cast began cheering as they approached Snape. Lupin and McGonagall smiled at Snape's look of surprise. Harry gave a whoop as they put the large cake in front of him, flowers adorning the top.
"Speech!" Fred and George hollered, "Speech!" Snape shot them a venomous glare as Harry laughed but stood, muscles sinewy beneath the tight black T- shirt he had got in the habit of wearing.
"Well, thank you girls, thank you everyone," The crowd grew silence as he continued, "These past weeks have been…well, I suppose everyone can agree an undertaking. I had such high hopes for this production," he began and the students waited with baited breath, "and you have gone above and beyond them. I have continually been surprised at the performances that have been given and the tasks that have been completed. Everyone should feel proud of what they do, no matter what anyone thinks. You all have proved to me your amazing talent," Harry's mouth dropped quietly opened, as had many others in the room, "And none of you should be scared of tomorrow. You will completely surprise the entire crowd. Thank you so much for this chance of working with you and remember, break a leg." He nodded, the stunned crowd absolutely silent until the thwacks of clapping echoed from one of the tables, Neville Longbottom standing and starting the applause that slowly spread, benches scraping against the ground as the entire assembly stood and applauded hard and long, whoops and cheers gathering.
Harry clapped hardest, smiling with slightly wet eyes at Severus who looked a bit uncomfortable but began to slice the cake.
Needless to say, most of the butterflies in peoples stomachs had disappeared after this.
-
On Friday most of the cast got up around 9:00, as they had the day off and crawled down into the common rooms after the late dinner of Thursday. Harry had gotten up earlier, gone down to the set to meet Snape, Hermoine and Ron had had a pre-show lucky breakfast on the lawn around the lake, couples talked and people tried to relax before crunch time. The crews had been up around 7, Anglina, Alicia and Trelawney flitting madly around the costume room, McGonagall fixing bolts and nails and spells, Sprout bandaging stems and petals, madness around the stage.
Call time was 4, but people were sitting in the dressing rooms by 3, Anglina picking her way over the 4 fairie girls to check on wings and make sure all was well for the extras costuming. Harry could be seen crawling and floating around vines, bugging the crew as they tried to work around him, but by 3:30, he was sitting in the boys dressing room behind a screen, Alicia applying his horns.
At 530, Trelawney was helping all the extras, ticket holders were drifting into Hogwarts, enjoying dinner before the play, and Cho was being transformed into Titania. Oliver was rushing like a madman, Percy following at his heels, Lupin keeping a kind of shaky calm over the whole thing.
The four fairy handmaidens makeup had been applied fully, Ginny's flowers ran all the way along her hairline down her neck, the vines extending from her lines attached to the whole thing, sparkling with jewels for the centers, Pavarti had goldleaf everywhere, rays of sun extending from her left eye, Eden's sky blues came subtlety out from her hairline and Kyra's stars ran in a choker around her neck and sparkle around all over, a jewel in her left nostril. Harry had more leaves all over his face, his makeup more heavily accentuated along with Snapes, his hair more silvery and silvery green.
Cho's makeup was complete, jewels at the corners of her eyes, eyeliner subtle and exotic, shimmer and sparkle all over, a large flower blooming pale pink from her eye, everything bigger and better.
At 6:30 the house began to fill, the designated green rooms overflowing with extras, madness and hysteria everywhere, mostly from Oliver, until Snape gathered everyone and told them, severely, to be calm with a few words. Harry followed him outside, giving him a quick, glossy kiss, almost fainting in ecstasy at the highlighted smudged eyes.
At 6:50, Oliver cued the prologue with everyone and the first scene, Penelope, Percy, Ron, Hermoine, Lee, Lavender, Seamus, and Roger gathered in the darkness backstage as Oliver and Lupin sped, talking magically to the lighting booth and ushers outside. At 6:59 exactly, the lights went down, and the prologue members took their places, Harry hanging from the vine in the darkness.
And the play began.
-
"How now my love? Why is your cheek so pale?/How chance the roses there to fade so fast?/" Ron, as Lysander, began gently, kneeling before Hermoine, holding both her hands. Hermoine smiled sadly at him, as the audience watched in interest.
No one had explained to them who was going to be Oberon.
"Belike for want of rain which I could well/Beteem them from the tempest of my eyes/" she said quietly. Ron shook his head from the ground, looking up to her with adoration.
"Ay me! For aught that I could ever read,/Could ever hear by tale or history,/ The course of true love never did run smooth; But either it was different in blood-," He stood.
"O cross!" Hermoine muttered angrily, "too high to be enthralled to low.'
"Or else misgraffed in respect of years-," Ron said quietly, letting go of one of her hands.
"O spite!" Hermoine said louder, despairingly, "too old to be engaged to long."
"Or else it stood upon the choice of friends-," Ron murmured, looking into her eyes.
"O hell!" Hermoine wailed, throwing her hands in the air, "to choose love by another's eyes."
Ron nodded sympathetically and let go of one of her hands, walking slowly over to downstage right as he spoke, "Or, If there were a sympathy in choice/ War, death, or sickness did lay siege to it,/ Making it momentary as a sound/," he sounded wistful, looking up into the darkness, "Swift as a shadow, short as any dream/ Brief as the lightning in the collied night,/ That," he looked over quickly to Hermoine who was watching him, "in a spleen, unfolds both heaven and earth,/ And ere a man hath power to say 'Behold!'" he cried, throwing an arm in the air, "The jaws of darkness do devour it up/," he murmured, "So quick bright things come to confusion./"
Hermoine began her way, downstage left, pondering as she held her chin in her hand, "If then true lovers have been ever crossed,/ It stands as an edict in destiny; Then let us teach our trial patience, Because it is a customary cross, As due to love as thoughts, dreams, and sighs/ Wishes and tears," Ron was nodding as she spoke in a firm but sad tone, "poor Fancy's followers."
1 "A good persuasion," Ron continued, and the scene played out.
-
They came to the second act, the auditorium went black, and quietly, haunting music filled with nature sounds began to pour out. The Athens set folded away and stagehands pushed, with spells or by hand, plants and flowers to their marked spots, the backdrop was lowered against the back wall and white specks of light began to appear through the wholes, diamonds of stars in the darkness. The audience watched, whispers and gasps as flowers began to bloom, vines lowered, plants stretched across the stage. Platforms grew out of the wall and ground, murky fog came across the ground, and two Hufflepuff 8th years came out to hold Eden as she danced. The fairies entered, Kyra first as she stalked the set, several people in the audience gasping at her stark, dark Cobweb. She slithered onto the raised level and lay on her stomach, arm dangling. Eden ran in, leaping onto the first 8th year as he lifted her into the air and her wings darted around his arms, she was passed to the second one, her legs stretching into the air as she turned herself around and crawled down his body, and onto the ground, laying on her stomach. Ginny glid in, tiny extra girl fairies spinning around her, Pavarti entering from the other side, gently patting small boy elves on the head and giggling with them. At this time, Harry appeared offstage, none of the audience being able to see them as they stared at the splayed out, stretching girls all over the stage. Some began to notice, pointing and whispering among themselves as he crept and leapt and crawled across vines and stage alike. Finally, he swung from the vine and landed with a thud on the raised level, the fairies screaming and the extras scattering. Several people in the audience jumped.
"How now fairies?" he crowed, horns glinting in the stage lights, "Whither wander you?" The vine hung next to him and he let his fingers crawl over it as the scattered girls slowly came closer, under him on the ground stage level.
"Over hill over dale/ Thorough bush thorough briar/," Ginny began, dragging her feet as she approached the raised level,
"Over park over pale/ Thorough flood thorough fire/" Pavarti continued, joltingly coming forward and back as she came.
"We do wander everywhere, swifter than the moons sphere/" Eden said breathlessly as she glid slowly over.
"And we serve the queen/ To do her orbs upon the green/" Kyra growled low, as she crawled belly down towards him. Harry lowered himself down onto the ground of the raised level, laying on his stomach as he listened.
"The cowslips tall her pensioners be," Ginny kneeled down, looked up at him.
"I them gold coats spots you see/" Pavarti repeated the action.
"Those be rubies, fairy favors," Eden did the same, reaching her hand up to him.
"IN those freckles live their savors," Kyra purred, doing the same action. They all chorused together then:
"We must go seek some dewdrops here/ And hang a pearl in every cowslips ear/ Farewell thou lob of spirits, we'll be gone/ Our Queen and all her elves come here anon/" They began to leave again but Harry jumped down, thudding in the middle of them. They screamed again.
"The king doth keep his revels here tonight!" He bellowed and they shrunk away, but he beckoned them forwards with a finger, "Take heed the Queen come not within his sight/ For Oberon is passing spell and wrath/ Because that she, as her attendant, hath/" He warned but said in a singsong voice, "A lovely boy, stolen from an Indian king; She never had so sweet a changeling." He nodded and walked around them in a circle, "And jealous Oberon would have the child/ Knight of his train to trace the forests wild/" He continued in a casual tone, "But she-," he paused and continued in a sarcastic kind of happy tone, "perforce witholds the loved boy,/ Crowns him with flowers and makes him all her joy;" He stopped walking and stood facing towards the audience, not caring that the fairies were behind him, staring in rapt attention as he crouched and explained excitedly, "And now they never meet in grove or green,/ By fountain clear or spangled starlight sheen,/ But they do square, that all their elves for fear,/" he gulped noticeably, "Creep into acorn cups and hide them there."
Kyra had stood during his last sentence and began to walk around him, observing him with shrewd scrutiny. "Either I-," She started in a low, questioning tone, "mistake your shape and making quite,/ Or else you are that shrewd and knavish sprite/ Call'd Robin Goodfellow: are not you he/ That frights the maidens of the villagery; Skim milk and sometimes labor in the quern/ And bootless make the breathless housewife churn;" She bent before him with a taunting look on her face as the fairies stood in a circle around him and nodded in eager agreement, "And sometime make the drink to bear no barm;/ Mislead night wanderers, laughing at their harm?" She clucked her tongue in a mock chide, "Those that Hobgoblin call you and sweet Puck,/ You do their work and they shall have good luck/" Her voice dropped to a stage whisper, "Are not you-," She prodded Harry in the chest, "he?"
Harry dropped his head, the horns glinting dangerously in the lighting, slumping as the fairies stared at him. Then he threw himself from the ground into the air and cried out jubilantly, "Thou speakest aright;/ I am that merry wanderer of the night." The fairies had run onto the ledges and were backing away as he pointed to himself with a thumb, "I jest to Oberon and make him smile/ When I a fat and bean-fed horse beguile,/ Neighing in likeness of a filly foal:/" He gave a whinny and was enchanted to rise into the air, his feet wiggling left to right as he made the horse noise. Falling to the ground again he bolted around the stage in a circle, walking behind the fairies as they giggled at him, "And sometimes lurk I in a gossip's bowl,/ In very likeness of a roasted crab/ And when she drinks, against her lips I bob/" He pantomimed gulping down a large drink and ended with a flourish of smacking his lips, "And on her wither'd dewlap pour the ale/" He roared in laughter, the fairies echoing, "The wisest aunt,-" he began in solemnity, his hands to his chest, "telling the saddest tale/ Sometimes-," he hissed in glee, "for a three foot stool misaketh me;/" He fell into himself, intertwining his arms and spreading his legs to imitate a three legged stool. The fairies approached cautiously as he stood still and finally Pavarti poked him and he fell over in a heap as they giggled, "Then slip I from her bum, down topples she,/" he crowed and jumped back up, "And 'tailor' cries and falls into a cough;/ And then the whole quire hold their hips and laugh,/ And waxen in their mirth and neeze and swear," the fairies fell over laughing, their wings twittering erratically, "A merrier hour was never wasted there." He laughed uproariously but then grew stock still and whispered clearly and urgently:
"But, room, fairy! here comes Oberon." He backed into the middle of the ledge where his rope hung and leapt onto it. The fairies backed down the ledge and downstage chorusing:
"And here my mistress! Would that he were gone!" A thick drumbeat was heard in the theater as Harry began to climb the rope, high up yet still in the line of sight of the stage as Pavarti and Eden threw themselves prone to the floor and Ginny and Kyra fell into one-knee kneels.
A buzz went through the audience as Cho entered, a regal Titania, an ethereal tint of light following her, chin high, gliding from left upstage. Her skin glimmered in shimmer, a glowing creature not of this earth. Murmurs of wonder flew through the wizards and witches and audience as she slowly crossed and the drums crescendoed.
No one saw Harry shut his eyes fiercely, thinking of a silent wish or hope or prayer for Severus as he began his entrance, hoped all would go well. He finally opened his eyes.
Snape entered the stage.
The audience audibly gasped. Whispers and mutterings flew through the audience, girls from the house of Slytherin who had gotten opening night tickets melted into puddles of ambitious goo, and the ones from Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff suddenly wished they were not nice girls.
Severus had no reaction. His eyes were like two jet-black, murky and filled with starlight laserbeams, focused on only one thing: what was ahead of him. Which was Titania and Puck. Harry wished he could wink or nod but Sev had told him not to. He just acted the part, watched anxiously between the two. Cho seemed to realize Severus was there and halted, her dress still pooling on the ground. She lifted her chin slightly higher, her eyes fiery and cool all together.
All were silent as they awaited for Severus to utter his first line:
"Ill met by moonlight, proud Titania,/" he said in a low, dangerous voice that Harry had heard before and only knew too well. The audience were in rapt silence, save for the females who had swooned into incoherent pools of incomprehensibility.
"What, jealous Oberon!" Cho taunted in her cool voice, "Fairies, skip hence;/" Her voice turned steely and the fairies began to rise, "I have foresworn his bed and company."
"Tarry, rash wanton," Severus' voice rose and his eyes flickered, "Am not I thy lord?" He asked in a baited breath. The fairies fell again into their positions.
"Then I must be thy lady:" Cho retorted and came a step closer, staring up at him, "but I know/ When thou has stolen away from fairy land,/ And in the shape of Corin sat all day/ Playing on pipes of corn and versing love/ To amorous Philida. Why art thou here, come from the farthest steppe of India?/" She asked in a softer tone, coming inches from him, "But that, forsooth, the bouncing Amazon,/ Your buskin'd mistress and your warrior love,/" She emphasized this but continued in a wide-innocent tone, " To Theseus must be wedded and you come,/" Cho continued in a kind of incredulous laugh, sarcasm dripping from her innocent tone, "To give their bed joy and…" a whisper, "prosperity./" She waited for a counter as she smiled slowly up at him.
Severus gave her a poisonous glare but began to smile unpleasantly, "How canst thou thus for shame, Titania/" he spat, "Glance at my credit with Hippolyta,/ Knowing I know thy love to Theseus?/" In cat-like grace he moved around her, looking at her from the other side, "Didst thou not lead him through the glimmering night/ From Perigenia, whom her ravished?/ and make him with fair Aegle break his faith/ With Ariadne and Antiopa?/" His eyebrows slowly moved up with the question and Cho's mouth turned into a look of fury.
"These are the forgeries of jealousy;/" She growled loudly and spun at him, her wings barely moving as they grew to their full height, "And never since the middle summer's spring,/ Met we on hill, in dale, forest or mead,/ By paved fountain or by rushy brook, Or in the beached margent of the sea,/ To dance or ringlets to the whistling wind/, But with thy," she shoved her arm out at him and he swiftly moved away and leaned against a tree that stood there, observing her, "brawls though hast disturb'd our sport./" She stood facing the audience, arms wide, moving around her, "The seasons alter; hoary headed frosts/ Fall in the fresh lap of the crimson rose,/ And on old Heims' thin and icy crown,/ An odorous chaplet of sweet summer buds/ Is, an in mockery, set; the spring, the summer, the chiding autumn, angry winter, change/ Theirwonted liveries , and the mazed world,/ By their increase, now knows not which is which:/ And this same progeny of evils comes/" she sighed and turned to Severus who had listened with kind of disdainful interest, " From our debate, from our dissention; We are their parents and original."
The audience waited with held breaths as Severus stood and didn't speak, walking around her, finally asking with a cocked head, "Do you amend it then; it lies in you/" he said in a loud, insistent tone, "Why should Titania cross her Oberon?" He asked in fury, "I do but beg," he forced out in a resigned, tense tone, "a little changeling boy/ To be my henchman."
Cho exploded and the audience was taken aback, "Set your heart at rest:" She snarled vehemently and the boys in the audience grew white, "The fairy land buys not the child of me./ His mother was a votaress of my order: And in the spiced Indian air, by night, Full often hath she gossp'd by my side, And sat with me on Neptune's yellow sands, Marking the embark'd traders on the flood," her tone was nostalgic, she stared away from Severus, off into stage right, "When we have laugh'd to see the sails conceive/ And grow big- bellied with the wanton wind;/ And she, with pretty and with simming gait/ Following,-her womb then rich with my young squire-/ Would imitate and sail upon the land,/ To fetch me trfles and return again,/ As from a voyage, rich with merchandise." She paused to take a breath, "But she-," curious and sad, "being mortal, of that boy did die." A pause, her voice heavy with sorrow, "And for her sake do I rear up her boy/ And for her sake I will not part with him." Cho finished in a finite, stormy voice.
"How long within this wood intend you stay?" Severus purred in an angry voice, his eyes full ofmalice as he approached her.
"Perchance till after Theseus' wedding-day/ If you will patiently dance in our round/ And see our moonlight revels, go with us/" She said in a casual voice, ignoring him. "If not, shun me, and I will spare your haunts."
Severus pounced up to her and came around her shoulders, his arms coming around her, "Give me that boy and I will go with thee," he enticed. Cho shook him off and spat back, her wings bursting back in a swift movement.
"Not for thy fairy kindgom. Fairies, away!/ We shall chide downright if I longer stay." The ethereal blue light returned and a blinding light filled the stage. When the normal lighting returned Severus was shielding his eyes with his arm and all were gone, except a huge white flower towards the back of the stage.
-
The lights came up again as the forest seemed more inviting, glowing and more flowery as Cho appeared from behind the flower and her fairies crouched in front of her. She stroked their wings lovingly and they smiled contentedly up to her.
"Come, now a roundel and a fairy song;/ Then, for the third part of a minute, hence; Some to kill cankers in teh musk rose buds/ Some war with rere-mice for their leathern wings,/ To make my small elves coats and some keep back. The clamorous owl that nightly hoots and wonders/ At our quaint spirits. Sing my now asleep/ Then to your offices and let me rest./" She smiled benignly to them and stretched languidly, disappearing in a heap behind the flowers. The fairies stood around her and sung in cooing, high voices
"You spotted snakes with double tongue,/
Thorny hedgehogs, be not seen;/
Newts and blindworms, do no wrong,/
Come not near our fairy queen."
Their voices went into a four part harmony, sultry Kyra's, blending Ginny's, cool Pavarti's and floating Edens,
"Philomel, with melody/
Sing in our sweet lullaby;
Lulla, lulla, lullaby, lulla, lulla, lullaby:
Never harm, nor spell nor charm,/
Come not our lovely lady nigh;
So goodnight, with lullaby."
They went into a humming until Ginny stepped forward and stamped down with her foot.
"Hence away! Now all is well: One aloof stand sentinel." The lights around the flower dimmed, but the flower stayed bright as Ginny stood watch. Severus began to slink around the ledge and came behind her, dwarfing the young girl. She had already gone quite stiff and he brought his hands slowly around her wings, to her shoulders, moved them down to her abdomen, smiling like a Cheshire Cat in the dim light. Ginny melted, swooned into him and slunk down and away as he approached the flower.
"What thou seest when thou dost wake;" he murmured in a clear tone, going behind the flower, his silhouette visible as he put the flower to her eyes, "Do it for thy true-love take/ Love and languish for his sake:/ Be it ounce or cat or bear/ Pard or boar with bristled hair,/ In thy eye that shall appear/ When though wakest, it is thy dear:/ Wake when some vile thing is near." The flower went dark, fading into the more foreboding forest around them and Severus disappeared.
Ron and Hermoine came from downstage right, weary and stumbling slightly as they made it to center stage and sat, slumped.
"Fair love," Ron breathed, stroking Hermoines cheekbone, "you faint with wandering in the wood:/ And to speak troth, I have forgot our way:/ We'll rest us, Hermia, if you think it good,/ And tarry for the comfort of the day./"
Hermoine patted his hand and smiled, "Be it so, Lysander: find you out a bed; / For upon this bank shall rest my head/" She began to lay back tiredly but Ron pulled her back up and spoke in urgent earnestness.
"One turf shall serve as pillow for us both; One heart, one bed, two bosoms, and one troth." Hermoine pushed him away with a tired smile.
"Nay, good Lysander; for my sake, my dear,/ Lie further off yet, do not lie so near./" Ron shook his head and crawled back on his hands and knees.
"O, take the sense, sweet, of my innocence!/ Love takes the meaning in love's conference./ I mean, that my heart unto yours in knit/ So that but one heart we can make of it/ Two bosoms interchained with an oath;/ So then two bosoms and single troth. Then by your side no bed-room me deny;/ For lying so, Hermia, I do not lie."
"Lysander," Hermoine said in a mischievous voice, "riddles very prettily:/ Now much beshrew my manners and my pride,/ If Hermia meant to say Lysander lied./ But, gentle friend, for love and courtesy,/ Lie further off; in human modesty,/ Such separation as may well be said/ Becomes a virtuous bachelor and a maid/ So far be distant l and, good night, sweet friend:" she touched a finger to his nose, " Thy love ne'er alter till thy sweet life end!"
Ron crawled downstage and lay there, "Amen, amen, to that fair prayer, say I;/ And then end life when I end loyalty!/ Here is my bed: sleep give thee all his rest!/" He stretched his hand across to Hermoine who stretched back and clasped it.
"With half that wish the wisher's eyes be press'd!" They closed their eyes and pretended to sleep. Harry bounded in and looked around before slumping and walking downstage right, crouching to the audience.
"Through the forest have I gone./ But Athenian found I none,/ On whose eyes I might approve, this flower's force in stirring love." He sighed and sat on the edge of the stage, letting his hand and flower fall to the ground next to him and hit Ron's foot.
"Night and silence," he gasped and looked to Ron before scrambling up to his feet, "Who is here?" He slunk forward and looked around to the ground at Ron, "Weeds of Athens he doth wear!" Harry's voice was excited and apprehensive, a loud whisper, "This is he!" he hissed aloud, "My master said,/ Despised of the Athenian maid;/" he looked to see Hermoine a way away and walked to her, kneeling down with pity and sorrow in his face, "And here the maiden, sleeping sound,/ On the dakn and dirty ground,/" A cool finger of his ran down her cheek and he clucked his tongue, "Pretty soul! She durst not lie/ Near this lack-love, this kill-courtesy." He crept back over and touched the flower to Ron's eyes, "Churl, upon thy eyes I throw/ The power this charm doth owe./ When thou wakest, let love forbid/ Sleep his seat on thy eyelid/" Harry stood and nodded, "So awake when I am gone; For I must now to Oberon." He said in excited glee and bounded down the center aisle, disappearing.
A/N: ~*baseballs, tomatoes, potatoes, tin cans hit her*~ Yes yes, I know, I've been a bad writer. I hope this makes up for it. I can see that this final part will be quite long so it is divided into three parts for each night. I hope you will enjoy them and please realize I have cut lines and cut scenes in the way it is written. For instance, Titania's monologue in Act II, scene I, is cut because of the length.
I hope it is easy to visualize and if you have any questions on the language please ask or something and I'll address it. More will be coming most definitely shortly.
Finally, I must give the most gratitude to all of my readers out there, everyone who kept bugging me to write more and especially Tidmag who was brave enough to IM me and prod me along!!! Thank you so, so much!!!
Please, enjoy, and I hope you can relate to all the girls that you'll see when Sev enters. I could!!
-Luv so much,
~*Ani-AO
-
The final rehearsal was Thursday night, filled with a few technical difficulties, two Ravenclaw elves knocking each other senseless while frolicking, and another sense of awe when the costumed fairy rulers arrived on stage. With anxiety, excitement, and tense apprehension hanging all over the stage, along with many hungry actors, Severus announced at eight:
"Well. The final rehearsal has gone extremely well for what it could have been. Dumbledore and myself have set up dinner for you all after you change in the great hall. Please, cast, crew, join there." A whoop of excitement came from the boys and everyone speedily went to the dressing rooms. There, they found black T-shirts with the name, production dates, cast and crew printed on them, and, a silver image that would move if you said the password. Laughing with released tension and excitement they dribbled into the Great Hall, a feast awaiting them, roasts and chickens as well as otherworldly food, fruit salad mixed with rose and lily petals, sparkling juices, dumplings filled with spices, and they filled their plates greedily. Harry, Hermoine, Ron, as well as Lupin, Oliver, Percy, Fred, George, Alicia and Anglina filled a table, spaces for the rest of the crew heads available. Oliver and Percy played with their feet underneath, Hermoine and Ron held hands above and Fred, Alicia, Angelina, and George snogged in everyone's sight. Snape swept into the room, traces of kohl still smudged around his eyes, hair still back into a ponytail, and joined their table, sitting next to Lupin. Harry gave him a small smile to which Snape returned and they continued their conversation.
"Oh Ron, I'm so excited," murmured Hermoine, cutting open a cinnamony dumpling.
"Excited is one word for it," Ron said uneasily, somewhat pale. Harry didn't say anything though his thoughts mirrored Ron's words. Although part of it was that he was slightly nervous about performing, he was more nervous of acting odd around Severus during the performances or not being good enough for him. Hermoine gave him a squeeze underneath the table and Fred and George, who were each gnawing on a chicken leg shook their heads.
"Oh, Harry, don't worry. You know-,"
"You've been absolutely wonderful during these last rehearsals." George interrupted, "And anyways-,"
"Oberon here," Fred fingered at Severus across from him, "here'll keep you on your toes." Severus glared and Harry smiled.
"Once you get up there, with full makeup and the effects blaring, you'll be fine. Angelina, Alicia, Minerva, they've all done wonderful jobs," Lupin began and the three ladies blushed, "People from all over the magic world are coming, the scenes Dumbledore has sit in on he says are wonderful, everything will be fine. You'd make James proud," He smiled benevolently at Harry who nodded, as a hush fell over the table. He looked to Snape who gave him a deep nod and smile and Harry didn't feel that badly anymore.
Alicia and Angelina shared glances and nodded and left the table disappearing as the conversation grew again. However, a hush fell over as they came back, wheeling a cart with a large chocolate cake sitting on it. The tables full of crew and cast began cheering as they approached Snape. Lupin and McGonagall smiled at Snape's look of surprise. Harry gave a whoop as they put the large cake in front of him, flowers adorning the top.
"Speech!" Fred and George hollered, "Speech!" Snape shot them a venomous glare as Harry laughed but stood, muscles sinewy beneath the tight black T- shirt he had got in the habit of wearing.
"Well, thank you girls, thank you everyone," The crowd grew silence as he continued, "These past weeks have been…well, I suppose everyone can agree an undertaking. I had such high hopes for this production," he began and the students waited with baited breath, "and you have gone above and beyond them. I have continually been surprised at the performances that have been given and the tasks that have been completed. Everyone should feel proud of what they do, no matter what anyone thinks. You all have proved to me your amazing talent," Harry's mouth dropped quietly opened, as had many others in the room, "And none of you should be scared of tomorrow. You will completely surprise the entire crowd. Thank you so much for this chance of working with you and remember, break a leg." He nodded, the stunned crowd absolutely silent until the thwacks of clapping echoed from one of the tables, Neville Longbottom standing and starting the applause that slowly spread, benches scraping against the ground as the entire assembly stood and applauded hard and long, whoops and cheers gathering.
Harry clapped hardest, smiling with slightly wet eyes at Severus who looked a bit uncomfortable but began to slice the cake.
Needless to say, most of the butterflies in peoples stomachs had disappeared after this.
-
On Friday most of the cast got up around 9:00, as they had the day off and crawled down into the common rooms after the late dinner of Thursday. Harry had gotten up earlier, gone down to the set to meet Snape, Hermoine and Ron had had a pre-show lucky breakfast on the lawn around the lake, couples talked and people tried to relax before crunch time. The crews had been up around 7, Anglina, Alicia and Trelawney flitting madly around the costume room, McGonagall fixing bolts and nails and spells, Sprout bandaging stems and petals, madness around the stage.
Call time was 4, but people were sitting in the dressing rooms by 3, Anglina picking her way over the 4 fairie girls to check on wings and make sure all was well for the extras costuming. Harry could be seen crawling and floating around vines, bugging the crew as they tried to work around him, but by 3:30, he was sitting in the boys dressing room behind a screen, Alicia applying his horns.
At 530, Trelawney was helping all the extras, ticket holders were drifting into Hogwarts, enjoying dinner before the play, and Cho was being transformed into Titania. Oliver was rushing like a madman, Percy following at his heels, Lupin keeping a kind of shaky calm over the whole thing.
The four fairy handmaidens makeup had been applied fully, Ginny's flowers ran all the way along her hairline down her neck, the vines extending from her lines attached to the whole thing, sparkling with jewels for the centers, Pavarti had goldleaf everywhere, rays of sun extending from her left eye, Eden's sky blues came subtlety out from her hairline and Kyra's stars ran in a choker around her neck and sparkle around all over, a jewel in her left nostril. Harry had more leaves all over his face, his makeup more heavily accentuated along with Snapes, his hair more silvery and silvery green.
Cho's makeup was complete, jewels at the corners of her eyes, eyeliner subtle and exotic, shimmer and sparkle all over, a large flower blooming pale pink from her eye, everything bigger and better.
At 6:30 the house began to fill, the designated green rooms overflowing with extras, madness and hysteria everywhere, mostly from Oliver, until Snape gathered everyone and told them, severely, to be calm with a few words. Harry followed him outside, giving him a quick, glossy kiss, almost fainting in ecstasy at the highlighted smudged eyes.
At 6:50, Oliver cued the prologue with everyone and the first scene, Penelope, Percy, Ron, Hermoine, Lee, Lavender, Seamus, and Roger gathered in the darkness backstage as Oliver and Lupin sped, talking magically to the lighting booth and ushers outside. At 6:59 exactly, the lights went down, and the prologue members took their places, Harry hanging from the vine in the darkness.
And the play began.
-
"How now my love? Why is your cheek so pale?/How chance the roses there to fade so fast?/" Ron, as Lysander, began gently, kneeling before Hermoine, holding both her hands. Hermoine smiled sadly at him, as the audience watched in interest.
No one had explained to them who was going to be Oberon.
"Belike for want of rain which I could well/Beteem them from the tempest of my eyes/" she said quietly. Ron shook his head from the ground, looking up to her with adoration.
"Ay me! For aught that I could ever read,/Could ever hear by tale or history,/ The course of true love never did run smooth; But either it was different in blood-," He stood.
"O cross!" Hermoine muttered angrily, "too high to be enthralled to low.'
"Or else misgraffed in respect of years-," Ron said quietly, letting go of one of her hands.
"O spite!" Hermoine said louder, despairingly, "too old to be engaged to long."
"Or else it stood upon the choice of friends-," Ron murmured, looking into her eyes.
"O hell!" Hermoine wailed, throwing her hands in the air, "to choose love by another's eyes."
Ron nodded sympathetically and let go of one of her hands, walking slowly over to downstage right as he spoke, "Or, If there were a sympathy in choice/ War, death, or sickness did lay siege to it,/ Making it momentary as a sound/," he sounded wistful, looking up into the darkness, "Swift as a shadow, short as any dream/ Brief as the lightning in the collied night,/ That," he looked over quickly to Hermoine who was watching him, "in a spleen, unfolds both heaven and earth,/ And ere a man hath power to say 'Behold!'" he cried, throwing an arm in the air, "The jaws of darkness do devour it up/," he murmured, "So quick bright things come to confusion./"
Hermoine began her way, downstage left, pondering as she held her chin in her hand, "If then true lovers have been ever crossed,/ It stands as an edict in destiny; Then let us teach our trial patience, Because it is a customary cross, As due to love as thoughts, dreams, and sighs/ Wishes and tears," Ron was nodding as she spoke in a firm but sad tone, "poor Fancy's followers."
1 "A good persuasion," Ron continued, and the scene played out.
-
They came to the second act, the auditorium went black, and quietly, haunting music filled with nature sounds began to pour out. The Athens set folded away and stagehands pushed, with spells or by hand, plants and flowers to their marked spots, the backdrop was lowered against the back wall and white specks of light began to appear through the wholes, diamonds of stars in the darkness. The audience watched, whispers and gasps as flowers began to bloom, vines lowered, plants stretched across the stage. Platforms grew out of the wall and ground, murky fog came across the ground, and two Hufflepuff 8th years came out to hold Eden as she danced. The fairies entered, Kyra first as she stalked the set, several people in the audience gasping at her stark, dark Cobweb. She slithered onto the raised level and lay on her stomach, arm dangling. Eden ran in, leaping onto the first 8th year as he lifted her into the air and her wings darted around his arms, she was passed to the second one, her legs stretching into the air as she turned herself around and crawled down his body, and onto the ground, laying on her stomach. Ginny glid in, tiny extra girl fairies spinning around her, Pavarti entering from the other side, gently patting small boy elves on the head and giggling with them. At this time, Harry appeared offstage, none of the audience being able to see them as they stared at the splayed out, stretching girls all over the stage. Some began to notice, pointing and whispering among themselves as he crept and leapt and crawled across vines and stage alike. Finally, he swung from the vine and landed with a thud on the raised level, the fairies screaming and the extras scattering. Several people in the audience jumped.
"How now fairies?" he crowed, horns glinting in the stage lights, "Whither wander you?" The vine hung next to him and he let his fingers crawl over it as the scattered girls slowly came closer, under him on the ground stage level.
"Over hill over dale/ Thorough bush thorough briar/," Ginny began, dragging her feet as she approached the raised level,
"Over park over pale/ Thorough flood thorough fire/" Pavarti continued, joltingly coming forward and back as she came.
"We do wander everywhere, swifter than the moons sphere/" Eden said breathlessly as she glid slowly over.
"And we serve the queen/ To do her orbs upon the green/" Kyra growled low, as she crawled belly down towards him. Harry lowered himself down onto the ground of the raised level, laying on his stomach as he listened.
"The cowslips tall her pensioners be," Ginny kneeled down, looked up at him.
"I them gold coats spots you see/" Pavarti repeated the action.
"Those be rubies, fairy favors," Eden did the same, reaching her hand up to him.
"IN those freckles live their savors," Kyra purred, doing the same action. They all chorused together then:
"We must go seek some dewdrops here/ And hang a pearl in every cowslips ear/ Farewell thou lob of spirits, we'll be gone/ Our Queen and all her elves come here anon/" They began to leave again but Harry jumped down, thudding in the middle of them. They screamed again.
"The king doth keep his revels here tonight!" He bellowed and they shrunk away, but he beckoned them forwards with a finger, "Take heed the Queen come not within his sight/ For Oberon is passing spell and wrath/ Because that she, as her attendant, hath/" He warned but said in a singsong voice, "A lovely boy, stolen from an Indian king; She never had so sweet a changeling." He nodded and walked around them in a circle, "And jealous Oberon would have the child/ Knight of his train to trace the forests wild/" He continued in a casual tone, "But she-," he paused and continued in a sarcastic kind of happy tone, "perforce witholds the loved boy,/ Crowns him with flowers and makes him all her joy;" He stopped walking and stood facing towards the audience, not caring that the fairies were behind him, staring in rapt attention as he crouched and explained excitedly, "And now they never meet in grove or green,/ By fountain clear or spangled starlight sheen,/ But they do square, that all their elves for fear,/" he gulped noticeably, "Creep into acorn cups and hide them there."
Kyra had stood during his last sentence and began to walk around him, observing him with shrewd scrutiny. "Either I-," She started in a low, questioning tone, "mistake your shape and making quite,/ Or else you are that shrewd and knavish sprite/ Call'd Robin Goodfellow: are not you he/ That frights the maidens of the villagery; Skim milk and sometimes labor in the quern/ And bootless make the breathless housewife churn;" She bent before him with a taunting look on her face as the fairies stood in a circle around him and nodded in eager agreement, "And sometime make the drink to bear no barm;/ Mislead night wanderers, laughing at their harm?" She clucked her tongue in a mock chide, "Those that Hobgoblin call you and sweet Puck,/ You do their work and they shall have good luck/" Her voice dropped to a stage whisper, "Are not you-," She prodded Harry in the chest, "he?"
Harry dropped his head, the horns glinting dangerously in the lighting, slumping as the fairies stared at him. Then he threw himself from the ground into the air and cried out jubilantly, "Thou speakest aright;/ I am that merry wanderer of the night." The fairies had run onto the ledges and were backing away as he pointed to himself with a thumb, "I jest to Oberon and make him smile/ When I a fat and bean-fed horse beguile,/ Neighing in likeness of a filly foal:/" He gave a whinny and was enchanted to rise into the air, his feet wiggling left to right as he made the horse noise. Falling to the ground again he bolted around the stage in a circle, walking behind the fairies as they giggled at him, "And sometimes lurk I in a gossip's bowl,/ In very likeness of a roasted crab/ And when she drinks, against her lips I bob/" He pantomimed gulping down a large drink and ended with a flourish of smacking his lips, "And on her wither'd dewlap pour the ale/" He roared in laughter, the fairies echoing, "The wisest aunt,-" he began in solemnity, his hands to his chest, "telling the saddest tale/ Sometimes-," he hissed in glee, "for a three foot stool misaketh me;/" He fell into himself, intertwining his arms and spreading his legs to imitate a three legged stool. The fairies approached cautiously as he stood still and finally Pavarti poked him and he fell over in a heap as they giggled, "Then slip I from her bum, down topples she,/" he crowed and jumped back up, "And 'tailor' cries and falls into a cough;/ And then the whole quire hold their hips and laugh,/ And waxen in their mirth and neeze and swear," the fairies fell over laughing, their wings twittering erratically, "A merrier hour was never wasted there." He laughed uproariously but then grew stock still and whispered clearly and urgently:
"But, room, fairy! here comes Oberon." He backed into the middle of the ledge where his rope hung and leapt onto it. The fairies backed down the ledge and downstage chorusing:
"And here my mistress! Would that he were gone!" A thick drumbeat was heard in the theater as Harry began to climb the rope, high up yet still in the line of sight of the stage as Pavarti and Eden threw themselves prone to the floor and Ginny and Kyra fell into one-knee kneels.
A buzz went through the audience as Cho entered, a regal Titania, an ethereal tint of light following her, chin high, gliding from left upstage. Her skin glimmered in shimmer, a glowing creature not of this earth. Murmurs of wonder flew through the wizards and witches and audience as she slowly crossed and the drums crescendoed.
No one saw Harry shut his eyes fiercely, thinking of a silent wish or hope or prayer for Severus as he began his entrance, hoped all would go well. He finally opened his eyes.
Snape entered the stage.
The audience audibly gasped. Whispers and mutterings flew through the audience, girls from the house of Slytherin who had gotten opening night tickets melted into puddles of ambitious goo, and the ones from Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff suddenly wished they were not nice girls.
Severus had no reaction. His eyes were like two jet-black, murky and filled with starlight laserbeams, focused on only one thing: what was ahead of him. Which was Titania and Puck. Harry wished he could wink or nod but Sev had told him not to. He just acted the part, watched anxiously between the two. Cho seemed to realize Severus was there and halted, her dress still pooling on the ground. She lifted her chin slightly higher, her eyes fiery and cool all together.
All were silent as they awaited for Severus to utter his first line:
"Ill met by moonlight, proud Titania,/" he said in a low, dangerous voice that Harry had heard before and only knew too well. The audience were in rapt silence, save for the females who had swooned into incoherent pools of incomprehensibility.
"What, jealous Oberon!" Cho taunted in her cool voice, "Fairies, skip hence;/" Her voice turned steely and the fairies began to rise, "I have foresworn his bed and company."
"Tarry, rash wanton," Severus' voice rose and his eyes flickered, "Am not I thy lord?" He asked in a baited breath. The fairies fell again into their positions.
"Then I must be thy lady:" Cho retorted and came a step closer, staring up at him, "but I know/ When thou has stolen away from fairy land,/ And in the shape of Corin sat all day/ Playing on pipes of corn and versing love/ To amorous Philida. Why art thou here, come from the farthest steppe of India?/" She asked in a softer tone, coming inches from him, "But that, forsooth, the bouncing Amazon,/ Your buskin'd mistress and your warrior love,/" She emphasized this but continued in a wide-innocent tone, " To Theseus must be wedded and you come,/" Cho continued in a kind of incredulous laugh, sarcasm dripping from her innocent tone, "To give their bed joy and…" a whisper, "prosperity./" She waited for a counter as she smiled slowly up at him.
Severus gave her a poisonous glare but began to smile unpleasantly, "How canst thou thus for shame, Titania/" he spat, "Glance at my credit with Hippolyta,/ Knowing I know thy love to Theseus?/" In cat-like grace he moved around her, looking at her from the other side, "Didst thou not lead him through the glimmering night/ From Perigenia, whom her ravished?/ and make him with fair Aegle break his faith/ With Ariadne and Antiopa?/" His eyebrows slowly moved up with the question and Cho's mouth turned into a look of fury.
"These are the forgeries of jealousy;/" She growled loudly and spun at him, her wings barely moving as they grew to their full height, "And never since the middle summer's spring,/ Met we on hill, in dale, forest or mead,/ By paved fountain or by rushy brook, Or in the beached margent of the sea,/ To dance or ringlets to the whistling wind/, But with thy," she shoved her arm out at him and he swiftly moved away and leaned against a tree that stood there, observing her, "brawls though hast disturb'd our sport./" She stood facing the audience, arms wide, moving around her, "The seasons alter; hoary headed frosts/ Fall in the fresh lap of the crimson rose,/ And on old Heims' thin and icy crown,/ An odorous chaplet of sweet summer buds/ Is, an in mockery, set; the spring, the summer, the chiding autumn, angry winter, change/ Theirwonted liveries , and the mazed world,/ By their increase, now knows not which is which:/ And this same progeny of evils comes/" she sighed and turned to Severus who had listened with kind of disdainful interest, " From our debate, from our dissention; We are their parents and original."
The audience waited with held breaths as Severus stood and didn't speak, walking around her, finally asking with a cocked head, "Do you amend it then; it lies in you/" he said in a loud, insistent tone, "Why should Titania cross her Oberon?" He asked in fury, "I do but beg," he forced out in a resigned, tense tone, "a little changeling boy/ To be my henchman."
Cho exploded and the audience was taken aback, "Set your heart at rest:" She snarled vehemently and the boys in the audience grew white, "The fairy land buys not the child of me./ His mother was a votaress of my order: And in the spiced Indian air, by night, Full often hath she gossp'd by my side, And sat with me on Neptune's yellow sands, Marking the embark'd traders on the flood," her tone was nostalgic, she stared away from Severus, off into stage right, "When we have laugh'd to see the sails conceive/ And grow big- bellied with the wanton wind;/ And she, with pretty and with simming gait/ Following,-her womb then rich with my young squire-/ Would imitate and sail upon the land,/ To fetch me trfles and return again,/ As from a voyage, rich with merchandise." She paused to take a breath, "But she-," curious and sad, "being mortal, of that boy did die." A pause, her voice heavy with sorrow, "And for her sake do I rear up her boy/ And for her sake I will not part with him." Cho finished in a finite, stormy voice.
"How long within this wood intend you stay?" Severus purred in an angry voice, his eyes full ofmalice as he approached her.
"Perchance till after Theseus' wedding-day/ If you will patiently dance in our round/ And see our moonlight revels, go with us/" She said in a casual voice, ignoring him. "If not, shun me, and I will spare your haunts."
Severus pounced up to her and came around her shoulders, his arms coming around her, "Give me that boy and I will go with thee," he enticed. Cho shook him off and spat back, her wings bursting back in a swift movement.
"Not for thy fairy kindgom. Fairies, away!/ We shall chide downright if I longer stay." The ethereal blue light returned and a blinding light filled the stage. When the normal lighting returned Severus was shielding his eyes with his arm and all were gone, except a huge white flower towards the back of the stage.
-
The lights came up again as the forest seemed more inviting, glowing and more flowery as Cho appeared from behind the flower and her fairies crouched in front of her. She stroked their wings lovingly and they smiled contentedly up to her.
"Come, now a roundel and a fairy song;/ Then, for the third part of a minute, hence; Some to kill cankers in teh musk rose buds/ Some war with rere-mice for their leathern wings,/ To make my small elves coats and some keep back. The clamorous owl that nightly hoots and wonders/ At our quaint spirits. Sing my now asleep/ Then to your offices and let me rest./" She smiled benignly to them and stretched languidly, disappearing in a heap behind the flowers. The fairies stood around her and sung in cooing, high voices
"You spotted snakes with double tongue,/
Thorny hedgehogs, be not seen;/
Newts and blindworms, do no wrong,/
Come not near our fairy queen."
Their voices went into a four part harmony, sultry Kyra's, blending Ginny's, cool Pavarti's and floating Edens,
"Philomel, with melody/
Sing in our sweet lullaby;
Lulla, lulla, lullaby, lulla, lulla, lullaby:
Never harm, nor spell nor charm,/
Come not our lovely lady nigh;
So goodnight, with lullaby."
They went into a humming until Ginny stepped forward and stamped down with her foot.
"Hence away! Now all is well: One aloof stand sentinel." The lights around the flower dimmed, but the flower stayed bright as Ginny stood watch. Severus began to slink around the ledge and came behind her, dwarfing the young girl. She had already gone quite stiff and he brought his hands slowly around her wings, to her shoulders, moved them down to her abdomen, smiling like a Cheshire Cat in the dim light. Ginny melted, swooned into him and slunk down and away as he approached the flower.
"What thou seest when thou dost wake;" he murmured in a clear tone, going behind the flower, his silhouette visible as he put the flower to her eyes, "Do it for thy true-love take/ Love and languish for his sake:/ Be it ounce or cat or bear/ Pard or boar with bristled hair,/ In thy eye that shall appear/ When though wakest, it is thy dear:/ Wake when some vile thing is near." The flower went dark, fading into the more foreboding forest around them and Severus disappeared.
Ron and Hermoine came from downstage right, weary and stumbling slightly as they made it to center stage and sat, slumped.
"Fair love," Ron breathed, stroking Hermoines cheekbone, "you faint with wandering in the wood:/ And to speak troth, I have forgot our way:/ We'll rest us, Hermia, if you think it good,/ And tarry for the comfort of the day./"
Hermoine patted his hand and smiled, "Be it so, Lysander: find you out a bed; / For upon this bank shall rest my head/" She began to lay back tiredly but Ron pulled her back up and spoke in urgent earnestness.
"One turf shall serve as pillow for us both; One heart, one bed, two bosoms, and one troth." Hermoine pushed him away with a tired smile.
"Nay, good Lysander; for my sake, my dear,/ Lie further off yet, do not lie so near./" Ron shook his head and crawled back on his hands and knees.
"O, take the sense, sweet, of my innocence!/ Love takes the meaning in love's conference./ I mean, that my heart unto yours in knit/ So that but one heart we can make of it/ Two bosoms interchained with an oath;/ So then two bosoms and single troth. Then by your side no bed-room me deny;/ For lying so, Hermia, I do not lie."
"Lysander," Hermoine said in a mischievous voice, "riddles very prettily:/ Now much beshrew my manners and my pride,/ If Hermia meant to say Lysander lied./ But, gentle friend, for love and courtesy,/ Lie further off; in human modesty,/ Such separation as may well be said/ Becomes a virtuous bachelor and a maid/ So far be distant l and, good night, sweet friend:" she touched a finger to his nose, " Thy love ne'er alter till thy sweet life end!"
Ron crawled downstage and lay there, "Amen, amen, to that fair prayer, say I;/ And then end life when I end loyalty!/ Here is my bed: sleep give thee all his rest!/" He stretched his hand across to Hermoine who stretched back and clasped it.
"With half that wish the wisher's eyes be press'd!" They closed their eyes and pretended to sleep. Harry bounded in and looked around before slumping and walking downstage right, crouching to the audience.
"Through the forest have I gone./ But Athenian found I none,/ On whose eyes I might approve, this flower's force in stirring love." He sighed and sat on the edge of the stage, letting his hand and flower fall to the ground next to him and hit Ron's foot.
"Night and silence," he gasped and looked to Ron before scrambling up to his feet, "Who is here?" He slunk forward and looked around to the ground at Ron, "Weeds of Athens he doth wear!" Harry's voice was excited and apprehensive, a loud whisper, "This is he!" he hissed aloud, "My master said,/ Despised of the Athenian maid;/" he looked to see Hermoine a way away and walked to her, kneeling down with pity and sorrow in his face, "And here the maiden, sleeping sound,/ On the dakn and dirty ground,/" A cool finger of his ran down her cheek and he clucked his tongue, "Pretty soul! She durst not lie/ Near this lack-love, this kill-courtesy." He crept back over and touched the flower to Ron's eyes, "Churl, upon thy eyes I throw/ The power this charm doth owe./ When thou wakest, let love forbid/ Sleep his seat on thy eyelid/" Harry stood and nodded, "So awake when I am gone; For I must now to Oberon." He said in excited glee and bounded down the center aisle, disappearing.