Chapter 3: Auditions

Greetings to you all! Sorry it took so long SpeedDemon315 and I have been swamped with school things. Please forgiveus and don't chase after us witch torches and pitchforks! Enjoy this chapter!

Disclaimer: We do not own any of the charcters or ideas from Harry Potter and Phantom of the Opera

Days passed by and all Hogwarts students could talk rapidly about was the musical and who would attend the auditions.

"I bet Hermione Granger will get the role of Christine or maybe Meg. She definitely has the sweet personality of both girls and has talent." said a Gryffindor.

"Nah, Cho-Chang has it in the bag. She has the style to play Christine." argued a Ravenclaw.

"Pfft! You two are sooo wrong! It's Pansy who will top that crybaby Cho and that Mudblood Granger without even lifting her pinky. She just doesn't posses raw talent, but skill as well." sneered a Slytherin.

Later that day in Care of Magical Creatures class, Draco overheard the Golden Trio talking about the musical. He decided to do a bit of eavesdropping.

"Oh my God," Hermione gushed, "I can't wait for tonight. I hope I get the part of Christine. I wonder who will be the Phantom and Raoul. Are you guys going to audition?"

"I don't think so Hermione," Ron said, "music really isn't my thing…"

"Oh come on Ron!" Hermione begged desperately, "I would really like it if you at least tried…" She gave him the puppy dog pout.

"Hermione you have to stop using that. It doesn't work on me anymore."

She glared at him and turned away in a huff, "What about you Harry? Are you going to audition? You have such a lovely singing voice."

Harry thought for a moment, "I was considering trying out for the Phantom."

Hermione threw herself at him, wrapping her arms around his neck, "Oh thank you, Harry! I knew you wouldn't let me down!"

Draco felt jealousy rise in his chest for some reason. He didn't exactly know why, but at that moment he decided to audition for the part of the Phantom in The Phantom of the Opera.

The big day arrived when Friday came rolling in and all lessons were cancelled. Every student, from Gryffindor to Slytherin, attended the auditions for "The Phantom of the Opera."

"Alright," began Dumbledore, "for those who want to audition for The Phantom, please step forward and we'll hand you the script to sing and act from." Almost every boy stepped forward. Dumbledore sighed, "This may take a while."

The same thing happened for Christine and Raoul. Many people were auditioning for more than one part; they were all hoping to get a good part in the end. After many long and tiring hours, the auditions ended and everyone went up to bed, eagerly awaiting the posting of the cast list the next morning.

Later That Night

Dumbledore rubbed his temples together and scanned through piles and piles of parchments that contained notes about everyone who auditioned. From listening to every student act and sing to scratching down notes about their performance, Dumbledore's ears, fingers, and brain were very sore and throbbed painfully.

"Being a director of musical isn't easy, but it's fun once the difficult tasks are out of the way," he murmured to himself and dug out a fresh piece of parchment paper. Dipping his exotic peacock quill into the inkpot, he gracefully wrote The Phantom- and stopped at that. He put the feather by his mouth in a thoughtful expression and his mind whirled about, thinking about who would be worthy enough to play The Phantom, one of the most crucial parts in "The Phantom of the Opera". Dumbledore went back to his notes and took out the ones he had written for the boys who audition for The Phantom. Seeing the amount he would have to go through to find the right boy made Dumbledore wish he had twenty heads and arms.

"Time to look at the first one," mumbled the Headmaster and began reading the notes on the first boy. The first boy was Ron, but Dumbledore didn't spend too much time on him because one: he kept on turning red and messed up on his lines, two: he couldn't sing correctly, and three: he just couldn't act.

"He can be an extra," concluded Dumbledore and wrote EXTRA on Ron's sheet. "Next one."

The other ones weren't that much different to Ron's, some did worse or a little bit better, and others were good and one thing, but awful on the other thing. Dumbledore gave himself a mental note that he'll be having a lot of extras in this play. He was halfway through the pile and ready to accio a butterbeer when one paper closer to the end slipped out and floated gently to the floor. Sighing in exasperation, Dumbledore picked it up and his eyes stopped cold at the name written at the top: Draco.

Hmmmmm…I wonder what Mr. Malfoy has to offer. So he read the notes. There were plenty of notes on him, mostly positive ones. His voice, his movement, his acting, his projection, and anything else that had caught his eye beforehand were all there on the parchment paper. After finishing it, Dumbledore leaned back in his chair and stared at Draco's notes and Harry's notes, the one he was about read. Reading them both brought back that particular event of the audition and Dumbledore couldn't understand why he completely forgot about it.

Flashback

Everyone clapped for Harry after he finished singing a few lines from "The Mirror (Angel of Music)" and recited and acted out a couple lines. He was great, everyone could tell and many of the Gryffindors thought Dumbledore should just hand him the Phantom part for his superb audition.

As Harry left the stage, Draco came out of nowhere and walked so close to him and purposely bumped Harry's shoulder with his own. Harry turned his head to glare at Draco but he just smirked, his eyes saying, "This is how you do it."

Draco stepped up onto the platform and a hush fell over the crowd and went right back to noise. The Slytherins were cheering, but all the others laughed and wonder what was Draco doing up there, auditioning for The Phantom. It was no point, after seeing Harry work wonders, they all knew who the winner was. During all the utter chaos and noise level, Draco remain cool and clam, his pale, ice-cold blue eyes and his face betrayed no emotion even when he smiled to the Slytherins for the encouraging words and ignored all the taunts and jokes directed on him. It was time for him to show them all, to show them what he could do and prove not only to them, his father, but himself that he wasn't useless and he could beat Harry. He narrowed his eyes on Dumbledore and walked up to him and the Headmaster handed him the script and two song sheets.

"Sing the high-lighted parts from the song "Music of the Night" and "The Phantom of the Opera". Then recite the high-lighted lines from this scene." instructed Dumbledore, flipping the pages to the right page. "Good luck." Draco took the sheets without replying and waited for the signal from Dumbledore to tell him to sing "The Phantom of the Opera". When the whole school finally quieted down, all were eager to see how Draco's audition would go. Dumbledore nodded at him for him to go and Draco opened his mouth to say the first words.

"Sing once again with me, our strange duet. My power over you grows stronger yet." He could hear music in the background and he continued.

"And though you turn from me to glance behind. The Phantom of the Opera is there, inside your mind." He made sure his words sounded dark, seductive, just like the Phantom's voice was suppose to sound like. The music ended and Draco went to "Music of the Night" and began to sing again.

"Nighttime sharpens, heightens each sensation. Darkness stirs and wakes imagination. Silently the senses abandon their defenses." He paused and waited for the next moment to begin singing again. He continued with the next two lines and switched to acting and saying the lines. He poured everything he had and learned into those lines, using them to make him feel like The Phantom. He acted his pain, his love, his rage, and his loneliness, and when he was done, he caught glimpses of teary eyes from female students and teachers who dabbed their eyes with a handkerchief. Pride swelled inside of Draco, for he knew Harry didn't cause this much of a wave of emotion to them, he just got them in awe. He got them into sympathy and shedding tears for the Phantom, which was what he intended to do. Draco handed back the script and music sheets to Dumbledore and strolled off the stage, feeling like he could carry the world. What made it more interesting was when Draco turned to scan the crowd to see the expression on Harry's face his eyes noticed Hermione. He stood frozen in disbelief at the dazed and dreamy expression, her eyes filled up with amazement and bewitchment. It looked like he had enchanted her, just like The Phantom did to Christine. Draco didn't know whether to smirk or look disgusted, he just kept staring at her until he felt a hand grasp his shoulder and whirled him around.

"Congrats, Draco," said Pansy and he forced a believable smile on his face, angry that she had broke off his gaze at Hermione. When he glanced back behind him, Hermione wasn't there.

End of Flashback

Dumbledore smiled to himself at that memory; what an audition that was. Draco could put everybody in a trance with that voice of his.

"It looks like I found our Phantom…and Raoul," he said out loud, looking at notes of Harry and Draco. "This should be quite interesting." He chuckled of what would happen tomorrow and how fate would be fickle for them.

"That is the job of a director, to bring everyone together. They'll thank me one day." He signed more parts a lot quicker and with more enthusiasm, for a sneaky idea popped into his head and he plotted it out while he assigned parts. He couldn't wait to start practicing the play!

That Night In The Gryffindor Girl's Dormitories

That night, Hermione lay in bed staring at the canopy above. She couldn't sleep. Part of it was because she was anxious for the cast list to be posted, but she also didn't understand what happened to her when Draco sang. She felt as if she was in some magical trance. Why does he do this to me? She thought. Why does he have to torture me so? She rolled over and tried to fall asleep, which she did eventually accomplish. Although, it was a restless sleep full of dreams about Draco and the play.