DISCLAIMER: I own nothing. Harry Potter - J.K. Rowling, Macbeth - William Shakespeare. Not Freelancer's.
SUMMARY: Hermione gets it into her head that it would be fun to put on a play, and since almost everyone agrees with her, she gets permission to hold auditions for and direct a play. She doesn't want to do any old play, though... nooo, she's got her sights set on a big one: The Tragedy of Macbeth. It takes hard work and dedication from everyone involved, but they manage to pull it off, and some unlikely friendships are made along the way. However, something goes wrong on opening night, and it's going to take a miracle to make this show go on...
PAIRINGS: Hermione Granger / Severus Snape, because I've wanted to write a story about them for quite some time and never got around to it until now, Albus Dumbledore / Minerva McGonagall, because there's no way I can write something that doesn't have that pairing in it, and minor Neville Longbottom / Parvati Patil, because I think they're cute and it's working pretty well in my other story. ^_^
~~~
"You know what would be really fun?" That was the question Hogwarts's Head Girl, Hermione Granger, had for her two best friends, Ron Weasley and Head Boy Harry Potter, as the two of them walked toward the Great Hall for dinner one night in mid October, about six weeks into their seventh year at the world's finest wizarding school.
"Tying up Draco Malfoy and throwing him into the lake?" Harry said.
"Besides that," Hermione said.
"Cancelling Potions for the rest of the year?" asked Ron.
"No," Hermione said. "I like Potions. It's an interesting class. But anyway, what I was thinking is that it would be really fun to put on a play."
"A play?" Harry and Ron repeated in unison.
She nodded. "Yeah, a play."
"Like, 'To be or not to be'?" asked Ron.
"'That is the question: whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, or to take arms against a sea of troubles, and, by opposing, end them," Hermione finished. "Yes, like that, but probably not Hamlet. I never really liked that play. It frustrates me."
Ron and Harry looked at each other, then nodded. "Right," Harry said. "Okay."
"I mean, think about it," Hermione continued. "Hamlet... the guy had issues. He should have just killed Claudius and gotten it over and done with, but noooo, he had to go think about every little detail, and all those stupid delays cost him and everyone else in the play their-"
"Hermione," Ron interrupted, "we get the point."
Hermione rolled her eyes at him, then said, "Hey, if I get permission to put on a play, will you two audition for it?"
"Sure," Harry said, and Ron looked slightly surprised. Harry looked at Ron and shrugged. "Why not?"
"Fine," an exasperated Ron said. "Pick a play, Hermione, and we'll audition for it."
"Yay!" she squealed, and hugged both of them. "Now, what play? We should definitely do something by Shakespeare; the language is just so beautiful, and all his plays are brilliant..."
Hermione began naming off random Shakespearean plays as they sat down at the Gryffindor table near two other seventh-years, Seamus Finnigan and Dean Thomas. "What's she going off about this time?" Dean inquired.
"She wants to do a play," Harry answered.
"Will you two audition for it, too?" Hermione asked.
Dean and Seamus looked at each other, then shrugged. "Sure, why not?" Seamus said, speaking for both of them. "What play?"
"I don't know yet," she answered. "Should we do a comedy, a tragedy, or a history?"
"Comedy," said Ron.
"Tragedy," Harry and Dean chorused.
"History!" Seamus said, and when the others gave him strange looks, chuckled and changed his vote to comedy.
"I've been leaning toward tragedy myself," Hermione said. "Shakespeare's comedies are brilliant, but most people here wouldn't understand a lot of the humor, and if tragedies are really well-performed, they can be so moving."
"Okay, then, do a tragedy," said Seamus. "Did you have one in mind?"
She sighed and listed several Shakespearean tragedies. "Othello, Julius Caesar, Cymbeline, Romeo and Juliet, Antony and Cleopatra, King Lear, Richard the Second, Hamlet... but I don't really want to do Hamlet just because it's so darn frustrating." She paused, then nearly shouted, "I've got it! Macbeth!"
"Macbeth?" the boys repeated.
She nodded vigorously. "Uh-huh. Macbeth. You know, double double toil and trouble, fire burn and cauldron bubble?"
Ron chuckled. "Fred and George tried doing that in Potions one time. Their cauldrons exploded. Snape wasn't too happy."
"Well, it serves them right," Hermione said. "Those two get in more trouble than anyone I know, and that includes all those present." She took a deep breath, let it out slowly, then said, "All right. After dinner, I'll talk to Professor Dumbledore and ask if he'll let me hold schoolwide auditions next week. I should have enough scripts by then. Will you guys do me a favor and ask other people to try out? It's a big cast, and we'll need a lot of people."
"Sure," Dean said. "No problem."
~~~
After dinner, Hermione had to hurry to catch up to the school's headmaster, Albus Dumbledore. She caught him just before he reached the statue of the stone gargoyle, which slid away to reveal a staircase if the password was correct. "Professor Dumbledore!" she called. "Do you have a minute?"
Dumbledore nodded. "Yes; three, actually. Is everything all right?"
"Yes, everything's fine," she said. "I just wanted to ask you a question. You see, I think it would be a very fun and educational experience if the students put on a play, and I was wondering if you would allow me to organize it."
"A play?" Dumbledore said, interested. "Which one?"
"Macbeth, by William Shakespeare."
"Macbeth," Dumbledore repeated, and smiled. "Excellent play. Did you plan on directing?"
"I was hoping to."
"When do you plan on holding auditions?"
"Next week, if it was all right with you."
He nodded. "Yes, it is perfectly all right with me, Miss Granger, but I do have one request."
Hermione was delighted. "Name it."
"I must ask that you have a faculty member as a production assistant of some sort. I understand that there is swordfighting and other dangerous activity in this play, and although I am fully confident in your ability to be an effective administrator, I would feel much better if there was adult supervision."
That was reasonable. "You've got it, Professor," she said. "Um... did you have a certain faculty member in mind?"
"Well, now that you mention it, Professor Snape would probably be the most qualified..."
Hermione nearly choked. "Professor Snape?"
"Yes," Dumbledore said. Then he smiled as he brought up memories of the past. "The last time the students organized and performed a play was in January of nineteen seventy-six, Severus's fifth year. It was Julius Caesar, and he delivered an amazing performance as Cassius. James Potter was Caesar, Peter Pettigrew was Brutus, Sirius Black was Mark Antony, Lily Evans was Calpurnia, Remus Lupin was Octavius, Lucius Malfoy was Cascus... I could probably name off the entire cast if I so desired, but I don't think this is the time or the place. If you like, I'll speak to Professor Snape and ask him if he'd be willing to assist."
"No, that's all right," she said. "I... I think I should do it." Hermione wasn't fond of Snape, but this was her production. She was determined to organize it herself, and if that meant asking for Snape's help, then that was how it was going to be.
Dumbledore looked mildly surprised. "Very well, then. Please let me know the exact date on which you plan to hold auditions, and we'll make sure the whole school knows. Good luck, Miss Granger."
"Thank you, Professor," Hermione said, and headed toward the Potions classroom. Might as well get it over with now.
~~~
Severus Snape had just started correcting a stack of essays from the third-years when a knock on his door caused his concentration to break. He hated interruptions, but everyone knew that, and he was usually not interrupted unless it was a good reason. "Come in," he said.
The door opened, and in stepped Hermione Granger.
Snape felt a surge of irritation mixed with curiosity as Hermione came into his line of sight. He didn't like any of the Gryffindor students, and she was one of the ones he disliked the most. Granted, she had matured from the know-it-all mudblood she had been when she first arrived at Hogwarts into a clever and competent young witch, but that still didn't change the fact that she was born to Muggles. "What do you want, Miss Granger?"
"Is this a bad time?" Hermione asked.
"Yes, but since you're here, you might as well say whatever it is you came here to say," Snape replied.
Hermione silently counted to three to steady herself, and then spoke. "I asked Professor Dumbledore if I could organize and direct a production of Macbeth, and he said that I could as long as I had a faculty member as a production assistant. Your name came up. He said that you were Cassius in Julius Caesar in your fifth year, and... and that you were very good."
All of a sudden, Snape wasn't quite so irritated at being interrupted. He let out a soft sigh and lifted his gaze to the ceiling. "I know where I will wear this dagger then: Cassius from bondage will deliver Cassius. Therein, ye gods, you make the weak most strong; therein, ye gods, you tyrants do defeat. Nor stony tower, nor walls of beaten brass, nor airless dungeon, nor strong links of iron, can be retentive to the strength of spirit; but life, being weary of these wordly bars, never lacks power to dismiss itself. If I know this, know all the world besides, that part of tyranny that I do bear I can shake off at pleasure." Few people knew of his passion for Shakespeare, and he could tolerate anyone that deeply interested in the great playwright and his works, even someone like Hermione Granger - when the subject in question was Shakespeare, of course.
Hermione was blown away. "Professor, that was... that was wonderful!"
Snape fought the urge to smile at the compliment. "Thank you, Miss Granger," he said, trying to sound unenthusiastic. "Yes, we performed Julius Caesar when I was a student. So, you want to do Macbeth? Do you think you can handle it?"
She nodded. "Yes, sir, I think I can. I don't give up easily."
"I know you don't. You've demonstrated your ability to triumph over adversity on several occasions."
Hermione took a deep breath, then said, "Professor Snape, will you be the assistant director?"
An hour later, Snape finally stopped asking himself why he said yes.
SUMMARY: Hermione gets it into her head that it would be fun to put on a play, and since almost everyone agrees with her, she gets permission to hold auditions for and direct a play. She doesn't want to do any old play, though... nooo, she's got her sights set on a big one: The Tragedy of Macbeth. It takes hard work and dedication from everyone involved, but they manage to pull it off, and some unlikely friendships are made along the way. However, something goes wrong on opening night, and it's going to take a miracle to make this show go on...
PAIRINGS: Hermione Granger / Severus Snape, because I've wanted to write a story about them for quite some time and never got around to it until now, Albus Dumbledore / Minerva McGonagall, because there's no way I can write something that doesn't have that pairing in it, and minor Neville Longbottom / Parvati Patil, because I think they're cute and it's working pretty well in my other story. ^_^
~~~
"You know what would be really fun?" That was the question Hogwarts's Head Girl, Hermione Granger, had for her two best friends, Ron Weasley and Head Boy Harry Potter, as the two of them walked toward the Great Hall for dinner one night in mid October, about six weeks into their seventh year at the world's finest wizarding school.
"Tying up Draco Malfoy and throwing him into the lake?" Harry said.
"Besides that," Hermione said.
"Cancelling Potions for the rest of the year?" asked Ron.
"No," Hermione said. "I like Potions. It's an interesting class. But anyway, what I was thinking is that it would be really fun to put on a play."
"A play?" Harry and Ron repeated in unison.
She nodded. "Yeah, a play."
"Like, 'To be or not to be'?" asked Ron.
"'That is the question: whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, or to take arms against a sea of troubles, and, by opposing, end them," Hermione finished. "Yes, like that, but probably not Hamlet. I never really liked that play. It frustrates me."
Ron and Harry looked at each other, then nodded. "Right," Harry said. "Okay."
"I mean, think about it," Hermione continued. "Hamlet... the guy had issues. He should have just killed Claudius and gotten it over and done with, but noooo, he had to go think about every little detail, and all those stupid delays cost him and everyone else in the play their-"
"Hermione," Ron interrupted, "we get the point."
Hermione rolled her eyes at him, then said, "Hey, if I get permission to put on a play, will you two audition for it?"
"Sure," Harry said, and Ron looked slightly surprised. Harry looked at Ron and shrugged. "Why not?"
"Fine," an exasperated Ron said. "Pick a play, Hermione, and we'll audition for it."
"Yay!" she squealed, and hugged both of them. "Now, what play? We should definitely do something by Shakespeare; the language is just so beautiful, and all his plays are brilliant..."
Hermione began naming off random Shakespearean plays as they sat down at the Gryffindor table near two other seventh-years, Seamus Finnigan and Dean Thomas. "What's she going off about this time?" Dean inquired.
"She wants to do a play," Harry answered.
"Will you two audition for it, too?" Hermione asked.
Dean and Seamus looked at each other, then shrugged. "Sure, why not?" Seamus said, speaking for both of them. "What play?"
"I don't know yet," she answered. "Should we do a comedy, a tragedy, or a history?"
"Comedy," said Ron.
"Tragedy," Harry and Dean chorused.
"History!" Seamus said, and when the others gave him strange looks, chuckled and changed his vote to comedy.
"I've been leaning toward tragedy myself," Hermione said. "Shakespeare's comedies are brilliant, but most people here wouldn't understand a lot of the humor, and if tragedies are really well-performed, they can be so moving."
"Okay, then, do a tragedy," said Seamus. "Did you have one in mind?"
She sighed and listed several Shakespearean tragedies. "Othello, Julius Caesar, Cymbeline, Romeo and Juliet, Antony and Cleopatra, King Lear, Richard the Second, Hamlet... but I don't really want to do Hamlet just because it's so darn frustrating." She paused, then nearly shouted, "I've got it! Macbeth!"
"Macbeth?" the boys repeated.
She nodded vigorously. "Uh-huh. Macbeth. You know, double double toil and trouble, fire burn and cauldron bubble?"
Ron chuckled. "Fred and George tried doing that in Potions one time. Their cauldrons exploded. Snape wasn't too happy."
"Well, it serves them right," Hermione said. "Those two get in more trouble than anyone I know, and that includes all those present." She took a deep breath, let it out slowly, then said, "All right. After dinner, I'll talk to Professor Dumbledore and ask if he'll let me hold schoolwide auditions next week. I should have enough scripts by then. Will you guys do me a favor and ask other people to try out? It's a big cast, and we'll need a lot of people."
"Sure," Dean said. "No problem."
~~~
After dinner, Hermione had to hurry to catch up to the school's headmaster, Albus Dumbledore. She caught him just before he reached the statue of the stone gargoyle, which slid away to reveal a staircase if the password was correct. "Professor Dumbledore!" she called. "Do you have a minute?"
Dumbledore nodded. "Yes; three, actually. Is everything all right?"
"Yes, everything's fine," she said. "I just wanted to ask you a question. You see, I think it would be a very fun and educational experience if the students put on a play, and I was wondering if you would allow me to organize it."
"A play?" Dumbledore said, interested. "Which one?"
"Macbeth, by William Shakespeare."
"Macbeth," Dumbledore repeated, and smiled. "Excellent play. Did you plan on directing?"
"I was hoping to."
"When do you plan on holding auditions?"
"Next week, if it was all right with you."
He nodded. "Yes, it is perfectly all right with me, Miss Granger, but I do have one request."
Hermione was delighted. "Name it."
"I must ask that you have a faculty member as a production assistant of some sort. I understand that there is swordfighting and other dangerous activity in this play, and although I am fully confident in your ability to be an effective administrator, I would feel much better if there was adult supervision."
That was reasonable. "You've got it, Professor," she said. "Um... did you have a certain faculty member in mind?"
"Well, now that you mention it, Professor Snape would probably be the most qualified..."
Hermione nearly choked. "Professor Snape?"
"Yes," Dumbledore said. Then he smiled as he brought up memories of the past. "The last time the students organized and performed a play was in January of nineteen seventy-six, Severus's fifth year. It was Julius Caesar, and he delivered an amazing performance as Cassius. James Potter was Caesar, Peter Pettigrew was Brutus, Sirius Black was Mark Antony, Lily Evans was Calpurnia, Remus Lupin was Octavius, Lucius Malfoy was Cascus... I could probably name off the entire cast if I so desired, but I don't think this is the time or the place. If you like, I'll speak to Professor Snape and ask him if he'd be willing to assist."
"No, that's all right," she said. "I... I think I should do it." Hermione wasn't fond of Snape, but this was her production. She was determined to organize it herself, and if that meant asking for Snape's help, then that was how it was going to be.
Dumbledore looked mildly surprised. "Very well, then. Please let me know the exact date on which you plan to hold auditions, and we'll make sure the whole school knows. Good luck, Miss Granger."
"Thank you, Professor," Hermione said, and headed toward the Potions classroom. Might as well get it over with now.
~~~
Severus Snape had just started correcting a stack of essays from the third-years when a knock on his door caused his concentration to break. He hated interruptions, but everyone knew that, and he was usually not interrupted unless it was a good reason. "Come in," he said.
The door opened, and in stepped Hermione Granger.
Snape felt a surge of irritation mixed with curiosity as Hermione came into his line of sight. He didn't like any of the Gryffindor students, and she was one of the ones he disliked the most. Granted, she had matured from the know-it-all mudblood she had been when she first arrived at Hogwarts into a clever and competent young witch, but that still didn't change the fact that she was born to Muggles. "What do you want, Miss Granger?"
"Is this a bad time?" Hermione asked.
"Yes, but since you're here, you might as well say whatever it is you came here to say," Snape replied.
Hermione silently counted to three to steady herself, and then spoke. "I asked Professor Dumbledore if I could organize and direct a production of Macbeth, and he said that I could as long as I had a faculty member as a production assistant. Your name came up. He said that you were Cassius in Julius Caesar in your fifth year, and... and that you were very good."
All of a sudden, Snape wasn't quite so irritated at being interrupted. He let out a soft sigh and lifted his gaze to the ceiling. "I know where I will wear this dagger then: Cassius from bondage will deliver Cassius. Therein, ye gods, you make the weak most strong; therein, ye gods, you tyrants do defeat. Nor stony tower, nor walls of beaten brass, nor airless dungeon, nor strong links of iron, can be retentive to the strength of spirit; but life, being weary of these wordly bars, never lacks power to dismiss itself. If I know this, know all the world besides, that part of tyranny that I do bear I can shake off at pleasure." Few people knew of his passion for Shakespeare, and he could tolerate anyone that deeply interested in the great playwright and his works, even someone like Hermione Granger - when the subject in question was Shakespeare, of course.
Hermione was blown away. "Professor, that was... that was wonderful!"
Snape fought the urge to smile at the compliment. "Thank you, Miss Granger," he said, trying to sound unenthusiastic. "Yes, we performed Julius Caesar when I was a student. So, you want to do Macbeth? Do you think you can handle it?"
She nodded. "Yes, sir, I think I can. I don't give up easily."
"I know you don't. You've demonstrated your ability to triumph over adversity on several occasions."
Hermione took a deep breath, then said, "Professor Snape, will you be the assistant director?"
An hour later, Snape finally stopped asking himself why he said yes.