Monday. Lunch.

Harry couldn't believe it when Professor LaLlama came skipping into the Great Hall. He was carrying a stack of stapled papers, and handed them out to the cast members around the room.

He spotted the three of them, grinned, and rushed over to the Gryffindor table, and passed them around. He beamed at Hermione. "Miss Granger, you are going to be a star!"

Hermione forced a grin, but didn't show, which showed how great of an actress she was. "Thanks, Professor LaLlama. I'll definitely try." She took her papers, and hid her face behind them.

LaLlama beamed, patted Harry and Ron on the shoulders, and strode away to the next house.

Hermione stopped smiling, and looked over in an exasperated way. "The first rehearsal is today at four o'clock. I'm dreading this."

"Calm down, Hermione," Ron said in a soothing voice. "Maybe Malfoy won't be too bad today." Harry grinned at Ron in a mysterious way. Ron narrowed his eyes at him menacingly.

Hermione didn't notice. She looked at Ron. "Too bad?" she repeated, and snorted. "Yeah, right! This is Malfoy we're talking about."

Ginny, who was sitting across the table from them, said, "Hey, 'Mione, the next Hogsmeade trip is this Saturday. Why don't we all go together, so you can get your mind off the play and Malfoy?"

Hermione stopped her lament, and genuinely smiled. "That's sounds great!. Thanks, Gin."

Harry was surprised. How did girls know how to cheer up their friends? If he and Ron were Ginny-free, they would probably die.

It wasn't surprising that Malfoy smirked and rushed over to Hermione the moment they walked into the Great Hall, which now consisted a stage, and the giant house tables somehow disappeared.

The first thing Malfoy said to Hermione was, "So, Granger, ready to kiss me?"

Hermione looked liked she was going to hurl and Ron's ears turned scarlet. "Shove off, Malfoy."

Malfoy turned to face Ron coolly. "Why should I? I'm the star of a show. You--you are..what, stage crew?"

"Head Stage Manager," Ron growled. "It's a very important job."

"Yeah, whatever," Malfoy replied snottily. He turned to Hermione, patted her on the head like she was a dog, and strutted away to get backstage, smirking.

The moment he disappeared behind the curtain, Hermione blew up, causing Ron and Harry to jump in shock. "The NERVE of that idiot!" she raged. "One day, I'm going to take revenge! Do you think we can still use the gallows?

"Whoa, what's going on in here?" spoke up Ginny, who just came into the Great Hall when Hermione started her rampage.

"Malfoy's being retarded," Harry told her.

Ginny's eyes sparkled. She didn't look too worried. "Ah. As usual. Don't worry about it--Malfoy can't mess around on stage. That's stupid, and plus, Professor LaLlama will kill him if he does something to you."

Hermione stared at her friend. "Does something to me?"

Ginny nodded. "Yeah, you know, like--"

"I do not wanna know," Ron interrupted. Disgruntled, he left Harry with a very angry Hermione and Ginny.

Before Harry could say anything, Professor LaLlama came bursting through the curtains. "Rehearsal has begun! Where are my two stars?"

Hermione gave Harry and Ginny an exasperated look and went to sit next to LaLlama. Malfoy was already there. He grinned at her, and Hermione inched away from him. Everyone else sat in chairs in front of Professor LaLlama.

"Welcome, everyone, to the first rehearsal! I'm VERY excited!" It sure showed it. Everyone was giggling as Professor LaLlama bounced around on the stage. "Now, I think we should start in the beginning, so it would be great if we have Harry, Ginny, and Susan up here! Thanks!"

"C'mon." Ginny tucked on Harry's sleeve, and they climbed up to the stage where Susan Bone, Malfoy, and Hermione were standing with their scripts.

"Go!" LaLlama shouted from the back of the room with Ron and the Assistant Stage Manager, Jessica Lionard from Ravenclaw, a pretty blonde girl who always wore a headband.

Harry looked down at his script, as Ginny spoke her first line.

"Have you seen Lena anywhere, Barry? I'm supposed to meet her here at the game."

"No, sorry. I'm supposed to be looking for Sean."

Harry looked up. He saw Malfoy and Hermione standing next to each other, Malfoy grinning foolishly and Hermione looking rather annoyed.

The rehearsal went on and on for hours, and finally Professor LaLlama let them all leave at nine o'clock.

"I can't believe how long LaLlama kept us," Ginny said, rolling her eyes. "I thought it would be more like one hour."

"When we did rehearsals for Broadway shows, it was more like a days work," Hermione explained, "So, you should be feeling lucky that we only had five hours of rehearsal today."

"Hey, that was great rehearsal, huh?" Malfoy asked, as he popped up in-between Hermione and Ron, who growled low and menacingly. Malfoy didn't seem to notice. He put his arm around Hermione as they walked. "You know my favorite part?"

"Shove off Malfoy!" Hermione snapped, pushing Malfoy away from her.

"When you refused to kiss me."

"I have tons of homework to do!" Hermione screeched, looked really annoyed. "I gotta go!" She took off at top speed before anybody could say anything. They all turned to Malfoy, who was smirking.

"She loves me," he predicted. "She just won't show it."

And he set off to the Slytherin Common Room, laughing at the top of his voice, and Ron cracking his knuckles, cursing under his breath.