Ginny yawned happily and rolled out of bed. She had read the entire script of Romeo and Juliet - it was so wonderful, a story of two lovers who defied their families in order to be together, even though it had a tragic ending. In fact, she might have even been looking forward to being Juliet if only Malfoy was not her Romeo.
As she walked down to breakfast, she imagined acting out the balcony scene, where she and Romeo profess their love for each other. She smiled as she imagined Harry Potter there - if only Harry were Romeo. Or even Michael Corner, or Dean Thomas. Anyone would be a better Romeo than Malfoy.
The following morning, the rest of the cast was listed on a sheet of paper outside the Great Hall. Glancing briefly at the list, she noted that most of the cast were prefects. Ron was going to play Tybalt, Hermione was Lady Capulet, and Paris was played by Michael Corner, who was one of the few people cast who was not a prefect. Dumbledore had said he would ask others to join in, so Michael must have volunteered, Ginny figured.
The first rehearsal would take place the following Tuesday after dinner in the Great Hall. That night in the common room, she sat with Hermione, Ron and Harry around a small table, browsing the script.
"Are you sure you're okay with this, Ginny?" asked Hermione, glancing through the later acts in the script.
Ginny shrugged, "I don't really have a choice - Dumbledore seems pretty certain that this is a good idea. I figure we'll just take his word for it. Besides, it's not like I have to do anything with Malfoy anyway," she said, hoping she was right.
"He better not touch you -" started Ron angrily, standing up.
"Calm down, Ron" Hermione said, pulling him back into his chair. "I'm sure Ginny can handle herself just fine." Ginny gave Hermione a thankful smile.
"It'll be fine, Ron," Ginny started, smiling at her brother, "every single rehearsal will have all four heads of houses, and Dumbledore. If Malfoy tries anything tricky, everyone will see."
Ron looked skeptical, but instead of complaining further he flipped open his script. "What is this nonsense anyway? Thy, thou, art… Can't they just talk normally?"
Hermione looked at Ron with an exasperated look on her face, clearly annoyed at his comment. Brushing him aside, she turned to Ginny, "So, I'm going to play Lady Capulet, Ginny. I'll be your mother!" They both giggled. "Let's rehearse our first scene together."
Ginny flipped open to her scene with Hermione, and they started running through lines, completely forgetting about the drama which was sure to lie ahead on Tuesday.
~*~
Finally, Tuesday night rolled around, and nearly the entire cast of Romeo and Juliet was sitting around on the floor in the Great Hall. The long tables had been pushed aside, and instead the floor was covered with some mats for sitting on, with a few chairs in the front for the four heads of houses, and Dumbledore.
Each prefect had a script in front of them, and they were flipping through idly. Some people seemed to be completely captivated with the story, whereas others seemed completely bewildered.
Looking around the room, Ginny noticed that Malfoy had not yet shown up. In fact, the majority of the Slytherin prefects and cast members were missing. Ginny looked towards where Dumbledore and the heads of houses were busy surveying the room, deep in discussion. She saw Dumbledore say something to Snape, which caused him to turn and leave the room, a bitter expression on his face. Ginny figured that Dumbledore had asked him to find his students and ask them to come to the rehearsal. Professor McGonagall left shortly after Snape, seemingly interested in disciplining all the Slytherin students who had not yet shown up.
Soon enough, Snape returned with a dismal train of miserable looking Slytherin prefects, except no Malfoy, Ginny noted. However, she did not have to wonder long what had happened to him. She heard a stern voice in the hallway, very faintly. She strained to listen.
"Mr. Malfoy, it is your duty as a prefect to play the role of Romeo in this play. I daresay you'd like to keep your prefect status?" a severe sounding Professor McGonagall asked.
Ginny heard a muffled mutter in response, which seemed to be quite resentful.
"Ten points from Slytherin, Mr. Malfoy - now get inside and learn your lines," said Professor McGonagall. Ginny heard a sulky sounding complaint, but it seemed to be the end of their conversation.
Moments later, Professor McGonagall entered the Great Hall, with a sullen looking Malfoy in tow, a battered looking pile of parchment in his hands. He walked over to the other Slytherin students, and sat down among them.
"Mr. Malfoy," started Dumbledore, "I must ask, what happened to your script?" he asked, amusedly, glancing at Malfoy's decrepit and burned looking pile of parchment.
Malfoy looked at Dumbledore expressionlessly. "I burned it," he said simply, seemingly proud of himself, "It was useless." The Slytherins around him snickered quietly, and Snape had a rather entertained smirk hidden on his face.
"Well, Mr. Malfoy," said Dumbledore, nonchalantly, "how do you expect to memorize your lines if you can't even read them? Here - you shall borrow my script," he said as Professor McGonagall walked Dumbledore's script over to Malfoy. As she placed it in front of him, she gave him a rather stern look, as though saying that any further vandalism against the script would lead to disciplinary action. Malfoy tried to look unconcerned, but Ginny could almost see him clenching his fists in anger, trying to hold back from saying something cynical.
"Now," said Dumbledore, clapping his hands together, "are we ready to begin?" The students looked up at him with mixed emotions. "All right," he continued imperturbably, "who is the Chorus?" Ernie Macmillan raised his hand. "Act 1, Prologue. Mr. Macmillan, would you please start with your lines?"
Ginny listened as Ernie read the lines of the chorus, enjoying hearing the rhymes of the opening sonnet orally. As the students began reading the first scene of Act 1, Ginny smiled as she listened to the play being interpreted in front of her. Most people seemed to be pretty skilled at reciting lines verbally, although some definitely needed work. It was almost laughable listening to Pansy recite the lines of Lady Montague, the role of Romeo's mother. She sounded as though she was lovestruck by Malfoy - which, in terms of the play, would be completely incestuous.
Malfoy, himself, seemed deadened as he read his lines in a flat monotone, with a trace of cynicism underneath. He didn't get much better at all during the love scenes - not that Ginny herself was putting much effort into pretending she cared at all about Romeo. As the reading went on, she began to feel more and more indifferent, and began matching Malfoy's monotonous manner. She was a bit irritable, because whenever she did lapse out of her dull sounding voice, Malfoy would not even make an effort to add any emotion to his. She almost wanted to shout at him, or slap him, just to see if he would react in a way that was not lifeless and uninteresting.
By the time the reading was finished, most prefects were bored from sitting around and listening both Malfoy and Ginny read the demise of their characters in dry voices and deadpan sarcasm, leading to a rather anticlimactic finish. As Ernie finished off the last line of the Chorus in the script, nearly everyone let out a sigh of relief that they had finally finished. Surely Dumbledore must have realized what a horrible idea this was, Ginny thought to herself; but alas, she was mistaken.
"Bravo! Bravo!" cried Dumbledore, the only person in the room clapping his hands and showing any form of enthusiasm, "That was a marvelous beginning." The prefects looked at each other in disbelief. "Now, we will have to work on that, of course," Dumbledore continued, "I would like you all here Saturday afternoon, you will run through scenes in groups of people. Work on memorizing your lines, if you please, and perhaps those who do well will receive a surprise." Hermione looked suddenly excited. "Have a good evening," he said, nodding his head in farewell. "Miss. Weasley, Mr. Malfoy - a word please?" he added, as the other prefects began to stream out of the room.
Ginny groaned apathetically. It was going to be no barrel of roses working with Malfoy on this project, and already they were about to get lectured for their lack of concern about the play. Sighing, she got up and began heading over to Dumbledore, ready to hear whatever he had to say.
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