Chapter 5

Albus groaned as he stepped into the entrance of the Great Hall.

"What's the matter?" Rosie asked.

"No one told me lunch was free seating," Albus said.

"Sit with me at the Ravenclaw table," Rosie said.

"But what about James and everyone else?" he asked.

"If they want to sit with you so badly, they'll move to the table." Rose said.

Albus, Scorpius, and Rosie all walked over to the Ravenclaw table. Tomoka beckoned them to sit with her and her friends, so they obliged. From where Albus was sitting, he could see James giving him a look like, "Why the bloody hell aren't you sitting with us?", which Albus ignored, which basically prompted James to sit down next to Rosie, across from Al.

"I never said you could sit with us," Rosie sneered at Scorpius.

"Come on, Rosie, I thought we were mates," Scorpius said.

"It's free seating, Rosie." Albus chided.

"Which brings me to why aren't you sitting with the rest of us at the Gryffindor table, little brother?" James said.

"Because I called him over here," Tomoka said. "May I please speak now?" No one said anything, so she continued. "I have decided to start a new club. The technical name will be something along the lines of, like, the Hogwarts Talent Club or the Hogwarts Performance Club."

"And...?" Albus said, waiting for more.

"And I want you to be in it," she said. "Or at least audition, because we need everyone to audition first. We wouldn't want to give the lead to some deadbeat, expressionless student with the voice of a screaming house elf."

Scorpius laughed, and tried to stifle it, but ended up snort-laughing.

"I'm glad someone thinks I'm funny," she said.

"Well I'm up for it, what about you, Al?" Scorp asked.

"Sure I'll do it." Al shrugged.

"Just think, my little brother Albus, a star on the stage!" James said dramatically. "Sign me up too."

"We might actually be able to perform a proper musical now," one of Tomoka's friends commented.

"What were you thinking of doing?" Rosie inquired.

"Well, if worst came to worst, we'd perform Cats," Tomoka admitted. She hated that musical, but it's mainly a female-led musical. "But, we'll come to a decision once we've got our members picked out."

"Aww, but what about-" one of her friends began.

"No." Tomoka interrupted sharply. She didn't glare at her friend, but she sure did want to. Tomi handed the boys fliers. "Be there. Four o'clock sharp. You can come and try out, too...um...Rose, right?"

"Right." she said. "I don't think you mentioned your name."

"Tomoka," she said, "call me Tomi."

A girl with honey-colored hair sped-walked through the classroom and sat down next to Albus. She was a Hufflepuff. She brushed a long piece of hair behind her ear that had missed her ponytail once she set her books down.

"Please tell me class hasn't started yet." she quietly pleaded pointlessly at Albus with her gold-flecked blue eyes once she plopped down in her seat.

"Trust me, you do not want this class to start," Al said. "There is nothing worse than a double period of History of Magic."

"Why?" the girl asked innocently. "I love history."

"Wait till you meet our professor." Albus said.

"Al, who are you talking to?" Scorp's blond head peaked over in front of Rose's redheaded one. "No! Too cool!" He got up and pushed a girl out of her seat next to the honey-haired ponytail. "Get out of my seat, Barbara."

"You don't have to follow your father's example and be as big an asshole as he is, Scorpius Malfoy." Barbara stalked away and found a new place to sit.

"Ah, how's it, newbie? Why weren't you in class before, huh?" he asked. "Oh, ew, you're a Hufflepuff. Barbie! You can have your seat back!"

"Don't be so cruel," Albus bumped Scorp's shoulder hard, and he started to rub it. "What is your name, newbie?"

"Hey! That's my name for her!" Scorp bumped Al's shoulder.

"My name is Aurelie-Amber." she said.

"Aurelie Amber." Scorpius repeated.

"That's quite a last name," Albus said. "Zac Amber. I say, it almost sounds better than Zac Efron."

"No, no, no, no, no, Amber is not my surname," she said.

"Middle name?" Scorpius said, confused.

"Why on earth would I tell you strangers my middle name? You only tell that to your best mates." Aurelie-Amber said. "Aurelie-Amber is my first name. Dylans is my last name."

"Why aren't we your best mates, Aurelie?" Scorpius teased. "I thought Hufflepuffs just loved making friends!"

"Oh, I have no problem making enemies either," she defended.

"Ooh, a spunky Hufflepuff. You know, I like you, newbie." Scorp said and shook her hand. "My name is Scorpius Malfoy."

"And I'm Albus Potter," Al and Aurelie-Amber shook hands. "And this is our friend Rosie."

"What?" Rosie said.

"Hi, I'm Aurelie-Amber Dylans." she said. "I arrived at school a tad late due to special circumstances."

"Oh, hi, I'm Rose Weasley," Rosie waved, being unable to reach Aurelie-Amber's hand.

"What should we call you since your name is so long?" Scorp wondered.

"Call me Aurelie or Lili [pronunced= Lee-Lee], whichever you'd like." she said. "At my old school and at home everyone either called me Amber or used my full name. I figured since this is a new school and I'm starting afresh, I might as well change what people call me."

"But why?" Al asked.

"Because I hated the way everyone else said my name. I mean, don't you have one person in your life that you hate the way they say your name?"

"Auntie Daphne." Scorpius said without thinking. "She makes my name sound like 'score piss'."

Albus burst out laughing, not even for a second thinking he could contain himself. "I'm sorry, Scorp, it was just too funny."

"It's not funny-"

"Settle down, children, settle," Professor Binns flew though the wall. Aurelie nearly jumped up into the rafters on the high ceiling. "Welcome back to Hogwarts. This term we shall cover the subjects..."

Professor Binns' voice almost became background music, his teaching style was so dry. During the course of the class, Albus found it so hard to pay attention to what Binns was saying that he played tic-tac-toe with Aurelie. When that got boring, they played hangman. When that got boring, there were fifteen minutes left in class, Al and Aurelie wrote notes to each other.

What do we do after the double-period is over? Aurelie wrote.

We—well, Scorpius and I are going to this thing my friend asked us to audition for. I'm not sure if Rosie is coming too. Albus answered.

What is it for?

My friend is starting Hogwarts' first drama club.

Oooh! Can I audition too? I love performing!

Really? Sure. Anyone can audition.

I've only been in a play at my old school. And I've never sang in public before...

Really?

Well, despite birthdays and such, but I've never sung a solo or an audition...

I'm sure you'll do well.

I don't want to embarrass myself... Maybe I'll just audition for a dancing and speaking part...

No, you should sing too. Let them decide if they want to showcase your voice or not. You should at least give it a go.

Fine.

Just as Aurelie had slid the note over to Albus, the bell rang. Time to go audition.

"Rosie, are you coming?" Al asked as they headed out the door and into a current of students trying to navigate the hallway.

"Yes, I'm not sure if I should audition, seeing as I'm nervous about singing in public." Rose said. "I think I'd rather come more for moral support."

"You should give it a go." Aurelie said. Albus flicked her for using what he'd told her. She just smiled.

"I don't know..." Rose said.

The four children walked through the Great Hall's entranceway, and found Tomoka. She came over and greeted them.

"New meat coming through!" she quoted upon seeing Aurelie.

Lili laughed, getting the "Mean Girls" reference.

Tomoka smiled triumphantly and proceeded to explain how the auditions would work. "Since we gave you all such short notice, we have a list full of well-known songs to choose from depending on who shows up today. If we get ten more people to show up, we'll audition people, if not, we're going to have to keep everyone who showed up, and we'll just warm up and get an idea of how we'll all work together." She handed the four of them the lists of songs and walked off.

"What are these songs?" Scorpius said as the quad checked out the list. "'I Dreamed a Dream'? 'Defying Gravity'? 'Tomorrow'..."

"They're songs from Muggle musicals," Aurelie answered. "You really don't know them?"

"No. Ahh... but here are some I do." Scorp said. "'Part of Your World", "Go the Distance', ooh, and a duet, 'A Whole New World'... So, what are you lot going to sing?"

"I dunno yet-"

"Hold it a second," Aurelie said. "You know Disney songs, but you don't know world famous musicals?"

"My father runs a very strict household," he explained. "There's hardly even any room for me to think as freely as I do. My father is a racist, and as much into keeping and protecting pure-bloods in our family line as my grandfather. Though I don't think it matters. Anyway, he only lets us watch Disney Channel, Disney movies, and ABC Family for the Harry Potter movie marathon weekends... And he only lets us listen to Disney songs and both Muggle and real Wizard Rock."

"Did somebody say Wizard Rock?" Tomoka strode over, as regally as any dramatic stage actress could muster.

"Why, yes, actually," Lili said. "Scorp here was just telling us about his unusually...erm...well just odd censoring that his father puts on things."

"Yes, I overheard," she said. "Let me know next time they're having a Phineas and Ferb marathon, and maybe I'll stop by." she gave a short laugh, mocking Scorpius. "Well, you've got seven minutes left to pick your songs."

"Does that mean we are auditioning?" Albus asked.

"No," she said, "but it's always good to be prepared. And it's seven minutes left to our final decision. Plus, my co-director isn't even here yet." She looked around, doing a headcount.

"Aurelie, what are you-"

"Shh! I'm trying to count!" Tomoka interrupted Albus. "...Okay, done. We have seven minutes to get seven more people to show. Great."

Just then Professors Boynton and Bailey walked through the doors. Tomoka gave an "Oh good" and walked over to them at the door.

"I'm glad to see you, Professor Boynton," Tomoka said, greeting. She turned to the other professor. "Professor Bailey, what are you doing here?"

"Don't be rude," Professor Boynton chided. "I decided that she should help us out sometimes too because she has experience in the theater too."

"Alright," Tomoka agreed. "Well, we need seven more people to show up to bother auditioning people. Do you just want to say forget it and begin warm-up excersizes?"

Just then James Potter opened the double doors with dramatic flair and strutted over to his brother and his friends, on his way giving Professor Bailey hi-5.

"We're tight," Claire Bailey mocked Tomoka's American accent.

"That's six more," Amelie Boynton said. "No, don't bother."

"Alright, guys!" Tomoka said loudly to get everyone's attention. "Thank you for coming, and congratulations on making it into Hogwarts' first Performance Club. Come over here and join us for warm-ups."