~`~`~`~`~
Chapter 3
~`~`~`~`~
Barely in time for class had the trio slammed into their seats. Professor McGonagall glanced at them sternly from behind her spectacles, but didn't say anything. She took roll and began to teach them how to turn a raindrop into a rose. So far, though, only Hermione could figure it out.
"Class!" she called above the roar of chatter and spell casting. "Class, listen to me! You have to enunciate the words properly. Dauerruse! Dow- wer-roos! Do you understand?"
Still, no one could successfully change the raindrop to a rose. The closest attempt gave the drop an odd rose shape or turned red, but was nowhere near becoming solid.
McGonagall flung her hands high above her head in defeat. "It isn't that difficult! It's the same thing we've been doing all year! It's all very simple! Raindrops to roses, whiskers to kittens." Again, much to the amusement of Ron and Harry, and the disappointment of Hermione, music floated in on some invisible thread. McGonagall began to sing.
Bright copper kettles to warm woolen mittens
Brown paper packages turn into strings
These are a few transfiguring things.
Cream into ponies
And crisps into strudel
Doorbells to sleigh bells to schnitzel with noodles
To wild geese to flies to bright colored wings
These are a few transfiguring things.
Girls to white dresses to blue satin sashes
Snowflakes to hay to a nose or eyelashes
Just like silver white winters will turn into springs
These are a few transfiguring things.
When the Charms fail
When the Potion clings
When I'm feeling sad
I simply remember transfiguring things
And then I don't feel
So bad.
The music stopped and McGonagall clamped a hand over her mouth. She stared at the class with wide eyes as though she were hoping above hope that she had just dozed off and dreamt the whole thing.
When no one said anything she took her shaking hand away from her face and said in a quivering voice, "This should be reported to Professor Dumbledore immediately. I--I think that I ought to go and tell him. Class dismissed." She ran from the room in a swish of robes and bobble of her crooked hat.
Hermione glanced at her friends in disbelief. They only shrugged their shoulders back at her. The rest of the class began to file out and she grabbed her bag to keep up.
As she and the boys were strolling down the hall on their way to their dormitories, she looked at them in confusion.
"Do you think we should be worried about all the singing?" She wrung her hands a little nervously. "I mean, it's kind of odd, don't you think? Do you think it's got something to do with Voldemort?"
Ron gritted his teeth, but Harry looked at her as though just noticing she was there. "Voldemort?" he said slowly. "Hmm, I hadn't thought of that." He shrugged. "It's just singing, though. It's not like there's something that's going to kill us or anything."
"Oh, I know that, Harry," she scoffed. "It's just that...oh, I don't know what I mean."
"What will this end up like?
I wonder
What will the ending be?
I wonder
It could be so exciting
A chance for us to sing and be free
My heart should be wildly rejoicing
Oh, what's the matter with me?"
She glanced pleadingly at her friends who were smirking at her.
"I always long for musicals
To do the things they never dared
Now here I'm facing musicals
But why am I so scared?
A chorus with several lyrics
What's so fearsome about that?
Oh I must stop these doubts, all these worries
If I don't I just know I'll turn back
I must wait for the things I am seeking
I am seeking the courage I lack"
Hermione stood between them and linked her arms with theirs and began to march them down the hallways ceremoniously.
"The courage to sing songs with reliance
Face my mistakes without defiance
Show you I'm worthy
And while I show you
I'll show me"
She began to make them run alongside her down the halls as the passerby laughed and a prefect or two tried to stop them, but they couldn't keep up with her fast pace.
"So...
Let them bring on all their singing
I'll do better than my best
I have confidence I'll be put to the test
But they'll have to agree
I have confidence in me
Some how I will impress you
I will be clear and loud
And all those choruses, Heaven bless them
They will be so easy and I'll be
With each step a little more certain
That everything'll turn out fine
I have confidence the music is all mine
You'll have to agree I have confidence in me
I have confidence in arpeggios
I have confidence in refrain
I have confidence that choruses come again
Besides notes you see I have confidence in me
Sound doesn't lie in numbers
Sound doesn't lie in wells
Sound lies in rehearsals and practice
When you rehearse, rehearse!
I tell you all I sing I give my heart to
All I sing becomes my own
I have confidence in confidence alone"
She stopped and looked to Harry and Ron and breathed a sigh of, "Oh, help."
"I have confidence in confidence alone"
She thrust out her chest and gripped their arms tighter before sprinting off to the end of the hall at the portrait of the Fat Lady.
"Beside notes you see
I have confidence in meeeeeeee!"
She stopped abruptly and looked up at the portrait sheepishly to avoid the eyes and laughs and snide remarks of her friends. The Fat Lady looked highly amused, but let them in anyhow with the password which was, kind of ironically, "confidence."
As soon as they crawled through the Portrait hole and into the common room, Harry and Ron began to tease her mercilessly.
"Again you sing, Hermione," Ron said to her. "That makes twice already. It's really quite funny you know."
Hermione shoved him roughly by the shoulder before sitting down next to a bewildered Seamus and a large group of Gryffindor girls from the third year up. They had all been listening to Seamus talk about himself with rapt attention and were not exactly pleased to see a disgruntled Hermione so rudely interrupt.
She turned to the sandy-haired Irishman with a grumpy, "'Lo, Seamus." He quickly replaced his confused open-mouthed stare to a flirtatious and cocky grin.
"Oh, Hermione, what a pleasure," he said in a smooth voice. "We were just talking. Perhaps you'd like to join in?"
She looked at him coolly and took in the crowd of girls around him. "No, no, that's all right Seamus. You seem to have enough girls in your little fan club for the time being. I might join in when you get below the forty person count."
He grinned good-naturedly. "Oh, that's all right, 'Mione. No hard feelings." With a quick glance at his little harem, he turned to her and whispered, "I'm actually having a tough time with the lot of them. Who knew that girls were so much trouble? Ever since that little gym excursion over the summer I haven't been able to get rid of them. You should see how it is at the Great Hall. There are nearly a hundred of them. In here it's like being on holiday. Only Gryffindors and sometimes Padma Patil on her sister's invitation. I'd a never guessed that having a reputation with the opposite sex could be so troublesome, and yet so much fun. It's like I have the school's whole female population at my beck and call. And all the guys are coming to me with their girl problems. I think I could get used to this."
Music sprang into the room as though an orchestra were situated not even ten feet away; a nice jazzy beat with really loud Bum, Bum, Bum-ba-dum-ba- dum over and over again. Seamus gave them one wide-eyed look before bursting into song.
"The name on everybody's lips is gonna be
Seamus
The guy who's givin' all the tips is gonna be
Seamus
I'm gonna be a celebrity
That means someone that everyone knows
They're gonna recognize my eyes
My hair, my teeth, my tongue, my nose."
His little entourage of girls was giggling uncontrollably at the thought of his tongue.
"From just some dumb Hogwarts sidekick I'm gonna be
Seamus
Who says that flirting's not an art?
And, who in case he's never missed,
Can say he started with a kiss?
Seamus; me."
He stood from the couch and began to walk in a really seductive way around all the girls who still couldn't control their giggles. As he snapped his fingers with the beat they began to stand up with his command of "Girls." They took over his singing.
"They're gonna wait outside in line to get to see
Seamus"
Seamus cut in-
"Think of all the girls that'll be mine and be with me
Seamus"
Parvati and Padma Patil walked up on either side of him and hung on him in a very school inappropriate fashion.
"And I'll be there with a pair
Of twins with long legs up to their waist"
They giggled and sang:
"Here a twin, there a twin, everywhere a twin, a twin"
He continued:
"But always with the best of taste!"
He let the girls go and walked up to Hermione. She stared at him in a state somewhere between disgust and amusement.
"Mmmm, I'm a star
And the girls love me
And I love them
And they love me for loving them
And I love them for loving me
And we love each other
And that's because none of us got enough love in our childhoods
And that's romance
Kid."
The girls crowded around him as they sang.
"He's givin' up his humdrum life he's gonna be"
"SING IT!" Seamus cried.
"Seamus
He made a scandal and a start"
He let go of his girls and strode up with a wild and jerky dance.
"And Draco Malfoy'll shit I know
To see his rep. go down below
Seamus; me!"
His girls kept calling out "Seamus" in sultry voices as the music calmed down. And, of course, slowly but surely they began to come back to their senses and they all looked at one another in surprise at what they'd just done. That is, all but Parvati and Padma who were too giggly at the fact that they'd actually got to hang on THE Seamus Finnegan that they'd been mooning over for months.
Seamus turned to Hermione in a frantic and frightened state. "Hermione? Wh-What was th-that?"
She gave him a sympathetic glance and turned to Harry and Ron. "You know, this might not kill us by physical means, but it's likely to make us wish we were dead from the embarrassment. I think McGonagall's got the right idea. Dumbledore needs to know. Come on." And with that they were out of the common room and on their way to the Headmaster's office.
~`~`~`~`~
Ok, another fun chapter. It's been a while, but it's still fun to write. If you're waiting for the plot, don't worry, it's coming. This chapter's songs were my versions of "My Favorite Things" from the Sound of Music, "I Have Confidence" from the Sound of Music, and "Roxie" from Chicago. Ok, review.
Barely in time for class had the trio slammed into their seats. Professor McGonagall glanced at them sternly from behind her spectacles, but didn't say anything. She took roll and began to teach them how to turn a raindrop into a rose. So far, though, only Hermione could figure it out.
"Class!" she called above the roar of chatter and spell casting. "Class, listen to me! You have to enunciate the words properly. Dauerruse! Dow- wer-roos! Do you understand?"
Still, no one could successfully change the raindrop to a rose. The closest attempt gave the drop an odd rose shape or turned red, but was nowhere near becoming solid.
McGonagall flung her hands high above her head in defeat. "It isn't that difficult! It's the same thing we've been doing all year! It's all very simple! Raindrops to roses, whiskers to kittens." Again, much to the amusement of Ron and Harry, and the disappointment of Hermione, music floated in on some invisible thread. McGonagall began to sing.
Bright copper kettles to warm woolen mittens
Brown paper packages turn into strings
These are a few transfiguring things.
Cream into ponies
And crisps into strudel
Doorbells to sleigh bells to schnitzel with noodles
To wild geese to flies to bright colored wings
These are a few transfiguring things.
Girls to white dresses to blue satin sashes
Snowflakes to hay to a nose or eyelashes
Just like silver white winters will turn into springs
These are a few transfiguring things.
When the Charms fail
When the Potion clings
When I'm feeling sad
I simply remember transfiguring things
And then I don't feel
So bad.
The music stopped and McGonagall clamped a hand over her mouth. She stared at the class with wide eyes as though she were hoping above hope that she had just dozed off and dreamt the whole thing.
When no one said anything she took her shaking hand away from her face and said in a quivering voice, "This should be reported to Professor Dumbledore immediately. I--I think that I ought to go and tell him. Class dismissed." She ran from the room in a swish of robes and bobble of her crooked hat.
Hermione glanced at her friends in disbelief. They only shrugged their shoulders back at her. The rest of the class began to file out and she grabbed her bag to keep up.
As she and the boys were strolling down the hall on their way to their dormitories, she looked at them in confusion.
"Do you think we should be worried about all the singing?" She wrung her hands a little nervously. "I mean, it's kind of odd, don't you think? Do you think it's got something to do with Voldemort?"
Ron gritted his teeth, but Harry looked at her as though just noticing she was there. "Voldemort?" he said slowly. "Hmm, I hadn't thought of that." He shrugged. "It's just singing, though. It's not like there's something that's going to kill us or anything."
"Oh, I know that, Harry," she scoffed. "It's just that...oh, I don't know what I mean."
"What will this end up like?
I wonder
What will the ending be?
I wonder
It could be so exciting
A chance for us to sing and be free
My heart should be wildly rejoicing
Oh, what's the matter with me?"
She glanced pleadingly at her friends who were smirking at her.
"I always long for musicals
To do the things they never dared
Now here I'm facing musicals
But why am I so scared?
A chorus with several lyrics
What's so fearsome about that?
Oh I must stop these doubts, all these worries
If I don't I just know I'll turn back
I must wait for the things I am seeking
I am seeking the courage I lack"
Hermione stood between them and linked her arms with theirs and began to march them down the hallways ceremoniously.
"The courage to sing songs with reliance
Face my mistakes without defiance
Show you I'm worthy
And while I show you
I'll show me"
She began to make them run alongside her down the halls as the passerby laughed and a prefect or two tried to stop them, but they couldn't keep up with her fast pace.
"So...
Let them bring on all their singing
I'll do better than my best
I have confidence I'll be put to the test
But they'll have to agree
I have confidence in me
Some how I will impress you
I will be clear and loud
And all those choruses, Heaven bless them
They will be so easy and I'll be
With each step a little more certain
That everything'll turn out fine
I have confidence the music is all mine
You'll have to agree I have confidence in me
I have confidence in arpeggios
I have confidence in refrain
I have confidence that choruses come again
Besides notes you see I have confidence in me
Sound doesn't lie in numbers
Sound doesn't lie in wells
Sound lies in rehearsals and practice
When you rehearse, rehearse!
I tell you all I sing I give my heart to
All I sing becomes my own
I have confidence in confidence alone"
She stopped and looked to Harry and Ron and breathed a sigh of, "Oh, help."
"I have confidence in confidence alone"
She thrust out her chest and gripped their arms tighter before sprinting off to the end of the hall at the portrait of the Fat Lady.
"Beside notes you see
I have confidence in meeeeeeee!"
She stopped abruptly and looked up at the portrait sheepishly to avoid the eyes and laughs and snide remarks of her friends. The Fat Lady looked highly amused, but let them in anyhow with the password which was, kind of ironically, "confidence."
As soon as they crawled through the Portrait hole and into the common room, Harry and Ron began to tease her mercilessly.
"Again you sing, Hermione," Ron said to her. "That makes twice already. It's really quite funny you know."
Hermione shoved him roughly by the shoulder before sitting down next to a bewildered Seamus and a large group of Gryffindor girls from the third year up. They had all been listening to Seamus talk about himself with rapt attention and were not exactly pleased to see a disgruntled Hermione so rudely interrupt.
She turned to the sandy-haired Irishman with a grumpy, "'Lo, Seamus." He quickly replaced his confused open-mouthed stare to a flirtatious and cocky grin.
"Oh, Hermione, what a pleasure," he said in a smooth voice. "We were just talking. Perhaps you'd like to join in?"
She looked at him coolly and took in the crowd of girls around him. "No, no, that's all right Seamus. You seem to have enough girls in your little fan club for the time being. I might join in when you get below the forty person count."
He grinned good-naturedly. "Oh, that's all right, 'Mione. No hard feelings." With a quick glance at his little harem, he turned to her and whispered, "I'm actually having a tough time with the lot of them. Who knew that girls were so much trouble? Ever since that little gym excursion over the summer I haven't been able to get rid of them. You should see how it is at the Great Hall. There are nearly a hundred of them. In here it's like being on holiday. Only Gryffindors and sometimes Padma Patil on her sister's invitation. I'd a never guessed that having a reputation with the opposite sex could be so troublesome, and yet so much fun. It's like I have the school's whole female population at my beck and call. And all the guys are coming to me with their girl problems. I think I could get used to this."
Music sprang into the room as though an orchestra were situated not even ten feet away; a nice jazzy beat with really loud Bum, Bum, Bum-ba-dum-ba- dum over and over again. Seamus gave them one wide-eyed look before bursting into song.
"The name on everybody's lips is gonna be
Seamus
The guy who's givin' all the tips is gonna be
Seamus
I'm gonna be a celebrity
That means someone that everyone knows
They're gonna recognize my eyes
My hair, my teeth, my tongue, my nose."
His little entourage of girls was giggling uncontrollably at the thought of his tongue.
"From just some dumb Hogwarts sidekick I'm gonna be
Seamus
Who says that flirting's not an art?
And, who in case he's never missed,
Can say he started with a kiss?
Seamus; me."
He stood from the couch and began to walk in a really seductive way around all the girls who still couldn't control their giggles. As he snapped his fingers with the beat they began to stand up with his command of "Girls." They took over his singing.
"They're gonna wait outside in line to get to see
Seamus"
Seamus cut in-
"Think of all the girls that'll be mine and be with me
Seamus"
Parvati and Padma Patil walked up on either side of him and hung on him in a very school inappropriate fashion.
"And I'll be there with a pair
Of twins with long legs up to their waist"
They giggled and sang:
"Here a twin, there a twin, everywhere a twin, a twin"
He continued:
"But always with the best of taste!"
He let the girls go and walked up to Hermione. She stared at him in a state somewhere between disgust and amusement.
"Mmmm, I'm a star
And the girls love me
And I love them
And they love me for loving them
And I love them for loving me
And we love each other
And that's because none of us got enough love in our childhoods
And that's romance
Kid."
The girls crowded around him as they sang.
"He's givin' up his humdrum life he's gonna be"
"SING IT!" Seamus cried.
"Seamus
He made a scandal and a start"
He let go of his girls and strode up with a wild and jerky dance.
"And Draco Malfoy'll shit I know
To see his rep. go down below
Seamus; me!"
His girls kept calling out "Seamus" in sultry voices as the music calmed down. And, of course, slowly but surely they began to come back to their senses and they all looked at one another in surprise at what they'd just done. That is, all but Parvati and Padma who were too giggly at the fact that they'd actually got to hang on THE Seamus Finnegan that they'd been mooning over for months.
Seamus turned to Hermione in a frantic and frightened state. "Hermione? Wh-What was th-that?"
She gave him a sympathetic glance and turned to Harry and Ron. "You know, this might not kill us by physical means, but it's likely to make us wish we were dead from the embarrassment. I think McGonagall's got the right idea. Dumbledore needs to know. Come on." And with that they were out of the common room and on their way to the Headmaster's office.
~`~`~`~`~
Ok, another fun chapter. It's been a while, but it's still fun to write. If you're waiting for the plot, don't worry, it's coming. This chapter's songs were my versions of "My Favorite Things" from the Sound of Music, "I Have Confidence" from the Sound of Music, and "Roxie" from Chicago. Ok, review.