The realism of her situation did not set in until dinner, when she walked into the Great Hall and every single Hogwarts student turned to look at her with odd looks of curiosity and shock on their faces. She had never quite understood how rumors and news traveled the school so quickly, but for the first time in her life she greatly wished Hogwarts was not such a gossip mill.
The only person who was not looking at her was Malfoy himself, who was busy glaring at every person who dared glance in his direction. Taking a quick look in his direction, she contemplated the horror of having to play the lead in a love story opposite him, and realized how completely wrong it would be. It went against every moral she had ever had concerning Malfoy and his family..
With half a mind wanting to march straight up to Dumbledore and shout at him, she dismally trudged over to Harry, Hermione and Ron, and sat down in an empty seat. She ate quickly, staring at her fork as it shoveled food into her mouth as Ron, Hermione and Harry tried to convince her to talk to Dumbledore.
Once she had finished devouring her food, she bolted out of the Great Hall, as fast as she could while trying not to call attention to herself, which was practically impossible.
After dinner, Ginny uneasily wandered the hallways, dazedly searching for Dumbledore's office. She hoped to meet him outside on his way back from dinner, so she would not have to try to break into his office to find him.
She curled into a small ball at the base of one of the gargoyles outside his office, and buried her head in her hands, trying to breathe deeply and erase the situation from her mind.
"What the hell are you doing here? Filthy Weasley." Ginny heard an all-too recognizable voice say.
She looked up slowly, "I need to talk to the Headmaster, Malfoy," she said tiredly, a hint of frustration in her voice. She was not in the mood to fight with Malfoy - there would be plenty of time for that later if she had to go through with this. Now was the time for brainstorming a way to get out of her current situation.
They waited for a moment in silence. "My father will never let Dumbledore go through with this. No way father would let Dumbledore put a Malfoy and a Weasley together," said Malfoy with undeniable malice in his voice. Ginny rolled her eyes - she had gotten so used to him insulting her family that it almost did not matter anymore, particularly at the current moment.
Suddenly, Dumbledore came sweeping up the hall. Ginny jumped to her feet immediately.
"Headmaster!" Ginny said as she started walking towards him. "Headmaster, I can't be in the play - I just can't."
"Yes," started Malfoy, walking up behind her, "I can't be in a play with a Weasley."
"Ahh, it is so nice to see my favorite students again," said Dumbledore nonchalantly, "Please do accompany me up to my office so we can discuss this play further, I do expect that you are wanting to look at your scripts, no?"
Ginny glanced disbelievingly at Dumbledore, and then quickly glanced at Malfoy who looked absolutely livid. The headmaster walked past her and Malfoy indifferently, sweeping towards his office. Wearily, Ginny turned and trudged after Dumbledore, with Malfoy stomping along closely behind.
As they entered Dumbledore's circular office, Ginny smiled weakly as she saw a brilliant looking Fawkes perched near the door. She looked around, glancing at the spindly tables full of silver whirring devices, and the portraits of all the old headmasters on the wall. The portraits all appeared to be sleeping, but she could almost hear whispers about Malfoys and Weasleys being hissed back and forth.
Ginny snapped back to reality, and realized that Dumbledore and Malfoy had already approached the headmaster's desk. Malfoy sat down in a nearby chair nobly, as though he owned the office.
"Please," started Dumbledore, "please do sit down." He said, beckoning at a nearby armchair. "Would you like a drink?" he asked as he waved his hand and two goblets of pumpkin juice appeared on his desk.
Ginny walked over to the second armchair and sat down, inadvertently moving as far away from Malfoy as possible. "Ummm… Headmaster?" she asked meaningfully, "I can't do this - I just can't."
"Of course you can, Miss. Weasley." Dumbledore said as he distractedly looked around his office, searching for something. "So can you, Mr. Malfoy." He added, just as Malfoy had opened his mouth to say something. "It's an assignment for both of you, as prefects, to work together to unify the houses of this school."
"But professor- " started Ginny.
"No arguments, Miss. Weasley," Dumbledore said firmly, as he began searching underneath objects on his many shelves, "I have made up my mind." Dumbledore walked back to his desk and sat down. "Ah! I remember." He said, pulling out his wand and flicking it in the air. Three stacks of parchment appeared on his desk, loosely bound. "Now, here are your scripts," he added, waving his hand at the parchments, which slowly started drifting towards Ginny and Malfoy.
"You can't do this to me," said Malfoy angrily. "My father - I'll tell my father, he'll never let you do this."
"Mr. Malfoy - I have already discussed my ideas with the governors, and they believe that it is a perfectly acceptable way to unify Hogwarts.
Ginny looked at the packet of parchment fearfully, but nevertheless scooped it off the table as it came close. Malfoy, on the other hand, continued to start at the script unresponsively as it neared the end of the desk. Dumbledore flicked his wand at Malfoy's script, and it floated over to him and landed directly in his lap. Malfoy looked quite bitter, and seemed about ready to pull out his wand and mutter a burning spell for the pile of parchment.
"Obviously, Mr. Malfoy will play the role of Romeo, and Miss. Weasley will be Juliet," he added, glancing at both of them. "We will figure out the other roles in due time, but it is important for you two to begin looking over your lines as soon as possible."
"What am I supposed to do with this… thing?" Malfoy asked as he prodded the script disgustedly with his wand. "It's just a load of words - you expect me to memorize this?" Ginny looked at the parchments curiously - it did look quite complicated. She had never even seen one of these Muggle "plays" anyway.
"Yes, Mr. Malfoy, you will have to memorize all of your lines by the time we perform," Dumbledore said, as he idly flipped through his own copy of the script.
"Wait - perform?" said Malfoy, "I'm not a bloody fairy - I'm not going to get up onto a stage and do tricks, and kiss that - that Weasley"
"I have a name, you know," Ginny heard herself blurt out irritably. She could not believe Dumbledore was going to make her do this - it was going to be a long year, she could tell already.
"There need not be any talk of dancing and fairies - you will merely be portraying Romeo and Juliet as it is written in the script," said Dumbledore, seemingly entertained by their situation.
"Well, what do I have to do then?" Malfoy questioned bitterly, glaring at the headmaster.
"Why don't you just read the script and find out?" Dumbledore said, an amused tone creeping into his voice.
"All right, I would like both of you to come to the Great Hall after dinner next Tuesday - the other roles will be decided by then, and we will read through the script together with all of the members of our cast. Thank you for coming this evening, good night," Dumbledore said, nodding farewell to Ginny and Malfoy.
Malfoy seemed livid, but he nodded good night to Dumbledore as he rose to his feet, before stomping out of the room. Ginny glanced at Dumbledore once more, but he seemed confident in his decision, so she too turned and left the room.
Outside in the hall, Ginny paused to look around once more, but Malfoy had already rushed off to his chambers. Letting out a deep breathe, Ginny tried to collect her thoughts - she would be playing the role of Juliet, in a play she had never heard of, opposite a boy she absolutely despised, in front of the entire school. "Oh good, Ginny," she muttered to herself, "what an excellent way to make yourself feel better."
After returning to her dormitory, she climbed into her bed and drew the curtains shut. Flipping open to the first page, she idly browsed the character list, looking bitterly at Romeo, wondering why it had to be Malfoy. Sighing, Ginny flipped over to the first page of the play, and began to read.
Two households, both alike in dignity,
In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,
From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.
From forth the fatal loins of these two foes
A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life;
Whose misadventured piteous overthrows
Do with their death bury their parents' strife.
The fearful passage of their death-mark'd love,
And the continuance of their parents' rage,
Which, but their children's end, nought could remove,
Is now the two hours' traffic of our stage;
The which if you with patient ears attend,
What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend.
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