By Marie Noire
Chapter Five : Dress RehearsalSnape skulked slowly between rows of students with bubbling cauldrons in front of them, his scowl deeper than usual… deep enough to make even the Slytherins nervous. Neville Longbottom looked as though he was going to faint if Snape so much as looked in his general direction. Potter and Granger had buried their noses in the book, quietly and carefully measuring out everything twice, wary beyond their usual caution due to Snape's abysmal mood. Ron had volunteered to be Neville's partner and had opted to have Neville simply stir, while he added the ingredients himself. Even Malfoy refused to look up at Snape, as though meeting his eyes would immediately call his wrath down upon them all.
It wasn't that Snape was doling out more detentions or minus points than usual… in fact he had been strangely silent. That was more intimidating than his customary fits of spleen… at present the entire class would've given anything to hear him say "Ten points from Gryffindor!" As luck would have it, he remained disconcertingly silent.
They finished their potions in silence and tested them out with very few problems for once. It was a shrinking potion, turning their chairs into doll-house-sized furniture. Even Neville and Ron's was marginally successful, albeit not as small as it was supposed to be. Harry and Hermione's was perfect in every detail… as was Malfoy and Goyle's.
"Quills out. Here are the instructions for the antidote, the Re-Growing formula-" he said in a tight voice as he returned to his desk.
"Excuse me… sir?" a Gryffindor boy stood and raised his hand with obvious reluctance.
"What?" Snape retorted in a growl.
"Um… some of us… have a… a prior engagement, sir… we have signed passes to report to the main hall now." He answered, producing a rumpled pass with red writing on it.
"Indeed… and just who signed this pass?" his eyes narrowed.
"Professor Duquesne, sir."
If it were possible for his sour expression to become worse, it would have. "I'm not in the mood for any Duquesne's little ideas. You are not excused. Sit down."
He was almost astonished when both Crabbe and Goyle stood up as well. "But sir… we're the baritone section."
"I don't care if you're the entire 1812 Overture! Sit down before I deduct twenty points from your house! NOW!"
The whole class gasped… Crabbe and Goyle promptly plopped back into their seats… Malfoy looked as though he'd just been slapped.
He was in the middle of announcing the ingredients in rapid fire when there was a knock at the dungeon's large oak door. He growled in frustration and wrenched it open.
"What do you want?" he demanded, much like a bear woken up early during hibernation.
Chantal's voice reached the students ears from behind Snape's black shape. "Good afternoon, Professor Snape. I need to collect my baritones… not to mention several tenors, some altos, and two sopranos."
Snape was incredulous when over half of his class rose to their feet and started gathering their things with grateful looks… including Malfoy. "Oh no." he snarled. "NOT Malfoy… you can have Potter with pleasure… in fact take his cohorts with him if at all possible… but NOT Malfoy."
Chantal smiled mildly and responded with strained politeness. "Desolée, monsieur… but Malfoy is one of my soloists… he needs to rehearse."
Malfoy chose that moment to pipe up, no doubt hoping to dispel the growing tension between the two teachers. "Yes, sir… I need to rehearse-"
Snape whirled on him in an instant. "Sit down, boy! Mademoiselle Duquesne… there are less vital classes you can rudely interrupt! I suggest you go do it and stop wasting my time."
Again that infuriatingly polite smile. "I teach during all other class periods, monsieur… and I would not like to cut into their homework time for a dress rehearsal. If your beloved Slytherins are doing so well in Potions, then an hour a missed class won't hurt them, wouldn't you agree?"
The look he gave her could have frozen Mount Vesuvius in mid-explosion. "Take them then… but rest assured I shall speak to the Headmaster about this."
If she would just back down once, he would be satisfied… but like her former house dictated, she refused to be cowed by him. "Who do you think suggested this solution? And don't worry about the students having trouble. I've been informed that Miss Granger has volunteered to have an inter-house study sessions to cover whatever is missed in class."
His temper flared again. "Last I checked, clever little Granger was NOT on staff here. She would do well to keep her misshapen mouth shut in the future. And YOU would do well not interrupt my classes with your musicology NONSENSE!"
Without a word, he swept out of the dungeon, shouldering past her, his direction that of Dumbledore's office. Chantal discreetly waited until he was well out of earshot before turning to the shocked class with a smile. "Well… now that the volcano has retreated… shall we go to rehearsal?"
One chorus of "yes, miss" and a few staircases later, Chantal and her choir were all assembled in the main hall. The participation was better than she had originally thought. Not only did she have just fewer than one hundred student, but the group was equally divided between the houses. Even a few of the teachers has agreed to participate; including the blushing Hagrid and somewhat shy Remus… the icing on the cake was Dumbledore's involvement.
"Alors… everyone quiet down, s'il vous plait… " she called out in general. She was awarded by a hush in the conversations and the wide-eyed attention of her students. "I know this is our last rehearsal before the performance and I want us to get going, oui? I am pleased to announce that professors Lupin and Hagrid have agreed to be a part of our choir in order to even out the men's section… and as a special treat, Headmaster Dumbledore will also be joining us for the finale piece."
Applause swiftly followed from students and professors alike and Chantal was forced to restore order so as to place everyone on the stage. The Christmas program she'd picked had blossomed from a dinky little concert with one or two songs for the kids to sing into a full-scale production that, to her figuring, would take a full hour to perform. Dumbledore had insisted that she take her idea and run with it… and so she had. Everyone had been delighted to learn the extra musicology necessary for the show… floating candles, sparkling stars, streaks of colour and scents. And to her credit, she had perfected and improved her original levitation spell to the point where she now used a glass globe large enough to fit a person in instead of a rubber super ball.
The sudden memory of the first time she had showed that spell to anyone nearly stole her breath. As she fought to regain it, her eyes met Dumbledore's… behind his half-moon-shaped spectacle, his gaze was knowing… as though he divined exactly what had crossed her mind. He smiled enigmatically and she shook her head to clear it.
She took a deep breath and resumed explaining to everyone where each vocal section should stand and where the soloists should be placed within their parts. As the students skipped up onto the stage, she noticed something. On their school robes, each student wore a badge announcing their House… and in neat rows, each section had divide itself into rows of Slytherins, Gryffindors, Hufflepuffs, and Ravenclaws.
She clapped twice to get everyone's attention again. "Attendez, wait a moment… this is not a Quidditch match, it is Christmas."
She was rewarded with a look of complete confusion from everyone except Dumbledore… who appeared to be napping lightly next to one of the many fireplaces. She approached her tenor section with purpose, pointing at each boy's patch and announcing his House. "Is there any particular reason why you've segregated yourselves this way? Slytherins to the left, Gryffindors to the right?"
"Well… that's how it usually goes, professor." A Hufflepuff boy offered helpfully. "We don't usually do much together outside of our Houses…"
"I understand that, Rowan. But for the purpose of this concert and the sentiment behind it, I will have to insist on a temporary band of these House badges. Christmas is a time to forget differences and this I consider this separation to be inappropriate. Robes off everyone."
There was a brief moment of stunned silence until Harry took a deep breath and shed his robes off, revealing the school-boy attire he wore underneath it, complete with tie. Ron followed, as did Neville and Hermione… not to be outdone, Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle shrugged out of their robes. Everyone came off the stage in order to place their robes with their bags and when they returned, no one knew what House the others were from, excepting for the closest of friends.
"Excellent… merci beaucoup. Malfoy, I need you closer to the centre… next to Potter, if you would. Hermione, Ginny… I need you two on either side of Patricia. Fred and George stay right where you are. Hagrid, if you would, please place yourself right behind my baritones here… Professor Lupin… to Hagrid's right. Boys, please be sure that you give Professor Lupin enough room to come join me on the floor, d'accord?" choosing to ignore the warring looks that flashed between Malfoy and Potter, she offered suggestions and orders up for fifteen minutes before she was convinced she had it right.
"Everyone remember your spots and the two people you are standing between for tomorrow night! Now, let's sing."
She nodded at Professor Sprout, who had volunteered to be the show's pianist in order to free up Chantal's hands for conducting and give her a chance to sing as well. She had agonized over which pieces to put in the show and had ended up with the cream of the crop. Carols of the Bells was the most traditional one she had chosen… and with Hagrid singing with the baritones, her ears certainly rang afterwards. Luckily she had talked the well meaning half-giant into toning down his volume just a bit. Next up was the softer, almost lullaby-like Candlelight Carol… and an upbeat a cappella version of Angels We Have Heard on High for the seventh years only… then a mixture of Here We Come A-Wassailing and Joy To The World. Her favourite was a duet that she and Remus had decided to work on called A Strange Way To Save the World. The finale, however, was spectacular… a long medley of traditional and often forgotten carols called "Journey to Bethlehem"*… In Dulcé Jubilo, Unto Us A Child Is Born, While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks By Night, O Little Town of Bethlehem, Good Christian Men Rejoice, Silent Night, Once In Royal David's City, Coventry Carol, We Three Kings, I Saw Three Ships, O Come To Bethlehem, The First Noel, Away In A Manger, and Hark the Herald Angels Sing. A section, or a soloist, or the entire choir overlapping the carol before it and uncurrenting the one after it until nearly everyone was singing a different carol that somehow managed to sound like a joyful salute to the day sang each song. The suddenly everyone would break into Adeste Fideles in its original Latin format. Each student had a glass ball that they would levitate out over the audience by the sheer magic of the music. The stars that made up the ceiling would twinkle and sparkle in time with the tempo. And Chantal herself would use that huge glass globe to its ultimate effect.
* This medley is from Michael Crawford's A Christmas Album, track 5.