With the cold laughter still ringing in her head, Star sat up bolt right in her bed. She was clutching the pendant of her necklace as she looked about the room. All the girls were still asleep and looked undisturbed. Star glanced down at the blood-red stone of her pendant. Dumbledore had given it to her as a going-away gift before she had left for the Salem School of Socrcery in her home country, America when she was 12. He had said that it was part of the Sorcerer's Stone and he had assured her that it had been drained of power. As Star looked down at the stone embedded in weaving silver strands, it seemed to glow. She pulled the pendant closer to examine it, but the alarm on her watch beeped shrilly through the silence. Star jumped and quickly reached toward her nightstand to turn it off.
She let out a sigh as the dormitory became quiet once again. Star pulled back the covers and stepped down onto the stone floor. She shivered and yanked her feet back onto the warm bed. She glared down at the freezing floor and then crawled to the end of her bed. Star opened the curtain, pulle dback the lid of her trunk, and rummaged through her clothes. Thinking she should look at least semi-formal, Star pulled out a long white, sleeveless oriental dress. It was embroidered with shimmering blue string into Chinese symbols and pictures. She quickly chnaged into it on her bed and slipped on the matching shoes. She lowered her feet and stood up, walking over to the only mirror in the room. She brushed her curly brown hair and pulled it back into a half-ponytail, letting a few blonde highlights frame her face. She lightly rouged her lips and applied some silver eyes shadow. Star smiled as she looked at her reflection. That was one thing she prided in herself; she could get ready very quickly and yet still look like she had spent hours infront of the mirror.
She grabbed her school robe for warmth and walked down the corridor into the dark common room. A small green flame burned in the hearth. She quickly walked out of the common room, through the empty corridors, and into the class room. Snape was standing by the piano.
"You look very nice Miss Moonsong," Snape commented, smiling.
"Thank you Professor."
Snape sat down and started to play some warm ups. Star practiced on pronuciation and projection for about half an hour. Then Snape started to play Lux Aeterna a few times. Even though it was an hour, it seemed only a few minutes had passed when Snape stopped her.
"That's all the time we have. I wish you luck," Snape said.
A pain struck Star's stomach. "You - you mean I'm singing A Capella?"
Snape let out a laugh. "Of course not! You're certainly are talented enough to sing an A Capella piece, but this song would be horrid without accompaniment."
Star let out a sigh of relief and looked at him.
"But I'm not going to be in the Great Hall with you. I'll be up here, but the music will be playing down there for you. I can also hear you up here. It'll be just like I'm playing next to you," he said, spotting her panicked face.
Star let out a sigh and nodded. She was starting to get that nervous, churning feelin in the pit of her stomach. Snape walked over to Star and smiled at her softly, placing on her bare shoulder.
"You'll do fine," he said, reassuring her.
Star smiled at him and nodded. "Thanks Professor. I'll see you later then. Bye."