Hey, I'm back! Tests are over for now, although I've got two essays and another test soon... my Uni hates me.

Hopefully this and the next make up for my absence a bit :)

Enjoy!

Chapter Four: Rocky Horror

Riddle's sacking was the last thing on anyone's mind as the first Performance Evening of the year approached at an alarming rate. Everyone was exceedingly busy, and if Harry had had time to stop and think he would've missed the animosity between the Houses. As it was, no-one wanted to upset the person they were acting with, their dance partner, etc., so all was calm and civil.

It had been decided that the Performance was to be a production of the Rocky Horror Picture Show. All music would be played by students, even the sets and costumes would be created by those taking Visual Arts. It was designed to give them all a taste of 'the real world', of what their lives would be like after graduation. Harry felt that this simply equated to 'busy, in the extreme'.

It was quite interesting to find out who he knew amongst the cast. The list had gone up the day before, and Harry couldn't help but find some of the placements highly entertaining, as the cast were chosen from all those taking Acting, Dance or Voice:

Dr. Frank N. Furter:Sirius Black

Riffraff:Blaise Zabini

Magenta:Bellatrix Black

Colombia:Lily Evans

Rocky:James Potter

Brad Majors:Ethan Carter

Janet Weiss:Lavender Brown

Eddie:Jack Potter

Dr. Everett Scott:Ernie MacMillian

The Criminologist:Seamus Finnegan

All other Acting/Dance students are expected to take minor roles as Transylvanians etc.

Prof.s Slughorn, Lockhart, Jones, and Dearhart.

Sirius had so far copped a lot of flack for having to dress up as a transvestite, despite it being the lead role. His despair at having to act close to his cruellest cousin did nothing to endear the project to him, and Griffindors found themselves falling asleep to the sound of Sirius' grumbling.

James was possibly the most worried – he'd been spotted doing press-ups whenever he had a break, and was clearly nervous about having to bleach his hair. It had already been done once, turning it a bright orange due to his naturally darker locks. The second bleaching would be done the day before, and James was freaking out that he was going to lose all of his hair. It amused Harry endlessly to tease him about it in the halls:

"Hey James, should you be moulting?"

"Is there a ginger cat around? 'Cos you're covered in hair..."

etc.

James was not amused.

In fact, casting caused a lot of issues between students that Harry hadn't considered. Narcissa Black was furious that she didn't have a lead role when two new students did. Luna Lovegood didn't seem to care, as she was an understudy and close friends with Jack – Harry thought she would've been upset, but was proven wrong. Fred and George Weasley refused to act, since it would involve a lot of dancing. McGonagall blew up at them and sent them to do lighting. Daphne Greengrass deliberately sabotaged Lily's costume and was forced to repair it, and all in all people were going nuts, vowing revenge or crying in corners etc.

Even those with parts were having difficulty. Lavender Brown though Ethan wasn't good-looking enough to be her 'boyfriend' (Harry thought she had ridiculously high standards); Lily was awkward about dancing with Jack in an 'intimate' manner when it was clear to all that his older brother had the hots for her; and Sirius refused to so much as touch Bellatrix, let alone speak to her (unless in the context of the play). It was all getting rather tense, and this tension had definitely spilled into the orchestra pit.

So far that day, Harry had been snapped at 7 times by Draco Malfoy, 13 times by Professor Snape, 3 times by the new violin tutor, Conrad, and roughly 42 times by Lucius Malfoy, who was seated behind him on a tall stool and found the mere sight of Harry enraging. Since it was almost lunchtime, Harry decided to give up all hope that today would be less stressful than the day before.

Lunch break itself was more than welcome. Harry slid into his seat next to Ron, who had already managed to devour four sandwiches and was hastily creating a fifth. Hermione Granger sat opposite him, an expression of utter disgust at Ron's eating habits gracing her face.

"Hi Hermione. How's the wind section going?" From the tired look that breifly crossed her face, not well, but her attempt to be cheerful got full marks.

"Oh, alright. We'll certainly be ready for the Opening Matinee. How about strings?" Harry pulled a face at his mince and cheese pie.

"Apparently, I'm the sole reason we're not perfect." Ron turned to stare at him with his cheeks bulging from sandwich.

"Bu' I 'eard Pa'il -" Harry groaned before he could finish.

"Yeah, Parvati forgot to repeat a section – which was supposedly because I turned the page. It was a draft from backstage! But no, it must be my fault if Perfect Patil makes a muck-up!" Hermione took one look at Harry's glare and decided to excuse herself, heading over to sit with Lily and Lavender at the other end of the table. Harry buried his head in his hands and let out a deep groan. Ron simply turned back to his food and left his friend to sulk in peace.

"Honestly Potter, can you stop leaning back! That's the tenth time you've fucked up my playing!" Harry immediately wrenched his chair forward as far as he could, the glare from earlier now permanently etched onto his face. He was convinced Lucius Malfoy was moving forward, but if he complained to Snape the git would just tell him to shut up and get on with the music. Draco's grin was doing nothing for his mood either – it was highly probable that the Malfoy's had decided to see how far they could push him today.

"Hey Potter, you don't mind if I turn the page here? I have this bit memorised." His smirk dared Harry to refuse, and the challenge could not be ignored. He'd been asked to share with Draco after the 'Patil page incident' and if he admitted he didn't know the material as well as Malfoy it was an admission of being inferior to the blond. So Harry agreed, mucked up, and was promptly berated by Snape as both Malfoy's tried to hold back laughter.

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The Griffindor Dormitory was as silent as the grave the night before Opening. Everyone was exhausted and nervous. James was platinum blond and spray-tanned perfectly – he looked completely unlike himself, and Harry kept double-taking while talking to him. Sirius had locked himself in his room; according to Hermione, this was perfectly normal for him before a show, a nervous reaction of sorts.

Harry found himself desperately wanting to know how Jack and Rosalie were faring. Rose had ended up doing a lot of the choreography for the Transylvanian dancing, and had been too busy to so much as glance at him for the past fortnight. As for Jack – he hadn't done much acting before, preferring to sing with bands: he was bound to be extremely worried about the coming day. If they'd only been in Griffindor together, they would've sat together and talked through their worries, reassured each other. But with the twins in Ravenclaw Harry realised he was getting more nervous by the second. He'd only stuffed up once today, but once the day before performing is enough to freak anyone out – he had half a mind to run way rather than be forced to perform.

It was going to be a long night.

Hope you liked it, the next chapter is being written as I post this, so it'll be here soon :)

Please let me know what you think.