Chapter 5:
That night was another full house. So full, the Count found himself without his own seat. Dumbledore and Lupin insisted that Sirius sit with them and the few reporters honored enough to be allowed into the managers' box. "No, that's fine. I'll just take a seat in Box Five," Sirius replied.
Lupin hesitant. "Do you think that's a…wise…decision, sir?" he asked, the Phantom's threats and warnings still hanging over the younger manager.
"I'm sure our dear phantom will understand that there are hardly any seats left," Sirius replied before parting the curtain and slipping into the box. Dumbledore and Lupin looked at the other, shook their heads and then walked back to their own box. No one saw the mysterious shadow slinking along the deserted corridor by Box 5 as the opera started. The figure moved the curtain back and saw the Count sitting there. The curtain was moved back, startling the Count in the box. He turned around to see who had startled the veil and saw no one. "Must've been the wind," he said to himself.
The curtain on stage rose and La Cissa took the stage to an adequate amount of applause. Kristin received much more, plus some grumblings when those familiar with the opera realized the newest star was in the silent role. La Cissa pushed on anyway, figuring that once the people were reminded of her talent, they would stop the grumbling. Harmony and two other opera members opened the opera, telling the audience that the pageboy (Kristin) had caught the lady's (Narcissa) eye, so the lady dressed the pageboy up as a maid so her husband would never know.
Fudge entered as the lord and told his wife he was leaving, but to the audience mentioned how attracted to the new maid (who he doesn't realize is a boy). He left amid applause as Narcissa began to sing about how much of a fool her husband was. However, she was cut off as the Phantom decided that now was the perfect time to voice his discontent. "Did I not leave specific instructions? Box five was supposed to be left for my personal use!" the voice echoed around the opera house.
The people began whispering amongst themselves and the old patrons immediately jumped to the Phantom of the Dungeons while the newer ones tried to rationalize the voice out. Kristin recognized the voice instantly and panicked. "I know that voice. It's him, he's here!" she said, more to herself. Harmony and Narcissa picked it up though. Harmony shot her friend a sympathetic look; La Cissa took out her frustrations on the young opera singer.
"You! You little frog! Toad! You are the silent role, so keep quiet!" Narcissa snapped at Kristin, her replacement.
The voice came back, angrier than before. "A toad? You dare admonish her? You, Madame, aren't even supposed to be on the stage. Perhaps your accusation is personal?"
"What? What type of mind games are those?" La Cissa asked Kristin, but the girl was shaking. Flitwick motioned to La Cissa o begin again, which she did. This time, when it came time for her to laugh operatically, she croaked. She tried to keep going, but every time she laughed, she croaked. Flitwick stopped and then started the music again amid the twitters of the audience. This time, the croaking occurred every time she opened her mouth. Now, the entire audience just continued to laugh. This caused La Cissa to croak more as she began to cry in humiliation.
The other new thing that accompanied La Cissa's croaking was the maniacal laughter. Kristin went paler than anyone on the stage thought possible. Before someone could go check on her, a collective gasp came from the mezzanine section as well as a few screams. As La Cissa's croaking and the laughter continued, the chandelier was swinging more and more violently. "The chandelier is going to come down!" one hysterical woman cried as the same time Narcissa collapsed to the stage in tears.
Fudge ran out onto the stage to comfort the diva as she cried she couldn't go on. Lupin and Dumbledore ran from their private box while Sirius kept his eyes trained on Kristin, whom Harmony was trying to calm down. Lupin and Dumbledore made it to the stage to calm the audience down. "Ladies and gentlemen, please remain in your seats. We will take a short break while Miss Kristin Wright prepares for the role of the Countess," Dumbledore announced, greeted by a spatter of applause.
"In the meantime," Lupin said, stepping in, "we will ask that our very talented ballet corps perform one of the opera's ballet. Maestro, is the ballet from Act III suitable?" Flitwick nodded as the managers left the stage. Once the orchestra and the ballerinas were ready, the music began. People settled down in their seats and put the preceding incident behind them.
However, it would be a night none soon would forget. Harmony was busy dancing with the other girls when she saw something odd. Shadows that looked like human figures were behind the sets. Crew members knew not to run where they would cast shadows so not to disturb the experience. These forms also looked like they were in the middle of a struggle. Harmony fell out of step with the other girls while watching the shadows fight, especially as a rope was whipped out by one. Madame McGonagall didn't reprimand her daughter since she too was mesmerized by the fight going on. Harmony danced closer and closer to the backdrop as the figure with the rope approached the other form, closing the gap.
Harmony pulled the backdrop down and the body of Hagrid came tumbling down, a rope around his neck. She screamed and back up, drawing everyone's attention to the dead chief of sets. Lupin and Dumbledore couldn't make it to the stage fast enough. People were screaming and rushing for the doors. "Ladies and gentlemen, please remain calm. It was an accident. Please," the managers pleaded.
Kristin raced to the stage and caught sight of the body. For a minute, Harmony and McGonagall thought she was going to be sick but she regained her strength. "Sirius?" she called. "Sirius!"
The count ran onto the stage. "Come with me," he said, extremely concerned about Kristin.
She shook her head. "No, to the roof. It's a lot safer there," Kristin said. With that, the couple ran for the door to the Opera House roof. Meanwhile, Harmony was giving a statement to the police inspector while the managers continued to calm down their employees and patrons. Only McGonagall stood separate from the chaos. She shook her head.
"Oh, Severus," she moaned, "what have you gotten yourself into now?"
A/N: I know this is short, but it's just to show you all I haven't forgotten. I now have the "Phantom" DVD, so that should help somewhat. Thanks to all my reviewers:
SarahtheBardess: Yes, I have seen the movie. However, I'm focusing more on the musical version than the movie one for this fic. After all, Severus fell asleep listening to the Original London Cast, not the movie soundtrack.
cerzee: Thank you. I enjoyed the book as well and always refer to the Phantom as Erik, of course. I took a friend to see the movie and she was confused whenever I said "Erik" since she hadn't read the book.
clara200: Thanks!
Anyway, for those also reading the EL trilogy, EL3 should be updated either later today or tomorrow. I like to do massive updates now since transferring chapters is now a rather menial task just to upload it. Mac