Hogwarts' First Annual School Play

It was not until after the first auditions had taken place that either Professor Johnson or Professor Snape realised that a crew would be needed. After a quick announcement was sent around, people began signing up to be selected.

Meanwhile, the tension of the auditions was growing. Many people who thought they would do well actually did poorly, and many people who did not have very high expectations of themselves did very well. The students who were auditioning in the later part of the week were growing more nervous as time went by and their classmates described the experience to them. It seemed as if the whole school was hung in suspense.

Professor Snape and several of the students discovered the effects of caffeine during the week when they stayed up late to practice auditions or review roles. Finally, the last audition came. Roger Davies performed a very conceited version of Aragorn.

And then, the tension grew, as over the weekend, students and staff alike waited for the list of cast and crew to appear. Now the school really seemed to be hanging in suspense. Students passed the time by predicting who would be getting parts. The staff kept bothering Professors Johnson and Snape to ask if they were nearly done. Harry felt that his head would soon explode from the tension until he heard himself being discussed by several fourth and fifth year students.

"Harry Potter. He'll probably get a role."

"Oh, yes, especially since he's so famous."

"D'you reckon he'll be Frodo?"

"Nah, I'm thinking Gollum."

"Gollum?"

"Well, Snape's one of the major casting people!"

"True..."

"But Johnson would make it fair."

"Oh, she'd try, but who says she'll succeed?"

"I think it really all depends on what his acting's like."

Harry shook his head and went to find Ron and Hermione. With Snape deciding, he'd be another rock. He hoped Professor Johnson was good at arguing. He'd rather be nothing than an inanimate object.

Meanwhile, Ginny was having her own doubts. "Do you really think I'll get a role?" she asked Colin Creevey doubtfully.

"Of course! You said you did pretty good on your audition. You should get something. I mean, Lord of the Rings doesn't exactly have a small cast."

"Yeah, but what if I'm Arwen? From what I've heard, she doesn't really do much. She does some embroidery and marries Aragorn. I don't know why Hermione wants to be her!"

"It could be worse."

"Really?"

"Yeah!" Colin exclaimed. "You could be Ioreth! She's an old lady who talks too much, and a bunch of people tell her to shut up."

"How's that worse?"

"I dunno." Colin shrugged.

In Hufflepuff, Susan Bones and Hannah Abbot had come up with a list of probable castings. They were trying to get other housemates' opinions.

"Ernie," Susan asked, "do you think we're right to peg Justin as Sam?"

Ernie just rolled his eyes. They'd taken into account the acting they'd seen from each student, Snape, and each student's overall personality to create a list of overall cast. Of course, the less they knew the person, the smaller role they plugged the person into. For example, Luna was Ioreth because all they knew was that she was strange.

Ravenclaws had gotten a similar list started, but there was more support in their house.

"Ok," Marietta said, "so far, we have Seamus as Frodo, Roger as Legolas, and Goyle as Gimli. Who'd we decide for Arwen, again?"

"Well," said Cho, sniffling, "seeing as Snape's a deciding factor, it'll be Parkinson."

In Slytherin, no one talked about casting. Instead, they complained about how the school was becoming too 'Muggle-friendly'.

"It's dreadful," Draco muttered. "If Snape hadn't been at the top, I never would have bothered auditioning.

Most of the students around him agreed.

Finally, on Monday morning, the list was posted. Crowds gathered. And the reaction of the students was mixed.