Miss Hogwarts

Miss Hogwarts

Chapter Eleven
The Pageant

Harry dodged a first-year Hufflepuff girl as she skipped inches away from his Invisibility Cloak and wondered if the first-years would be scarred for life after tonight.

“You still there?” Ginny asked.

“Yeah...”

“I really don’t understand why you have to cover yourself up. Everyone will see you in a while, anyway.”

“I don’t want to be applauded while I’m going up there,” Harry said through gritted teeth.

The Great Hall was decorated in a very different manner from the other Halloweens Harry had spent in Hogwarts. Instead of Jack-o-Lanterns and bats, purple streamers decorated the walls, and banners of the four Houses hung from the ceiling.

The professors’ long table was placed below the platform, and like the House tables it looked longer than it usually was. The platform, meanwhile, looked like a full-fledged stage now. A velvet backdrop had on the words “Miss Hogwarts” in glittering script that changed colors every second. There were lights onstage, although where they came from Harry wasn’t sure. A backstage seemed to have been built, too.

Harry would have been impressed by the new decorations if his nerves weren’t twanging with tension. It had been all right in the common room, but it seemed as though as he got nearer the stage, he became more and more edgy.

“Ginny, Paul and I have to be with the audience, but I’ll try to sneak backstage every now and then,” Hermione was saying. “Will you be okay?”

“Don’t worry, we’ll be fine,” Ginny replied, although Harry could have sworn she was swallowing.

Hermione laid a hand on Ginny’s shoulder. “I’m sure you will,” she said. “Hope you’ll enjoy the show. We have a few surprise guests tonight, you know.”

She then took both of Ron’s hands and squeezed them. “Good luck.”

Ron swallowed and nodded at Hermione.

“Harry,” Hermione went on, looking at an entirely different spot than where Harry stood, “You’ll be great. See you three later, all right?”

“See you, Hermione,” said Ginny.

Hermione went off to the professors’ table. Professor McGonagall was already there, and so were Madam Hooch and Professor Sprout. The three professors spoke to her in hushed voices. Harry presumed that Professor McGonagall was reminding Hermione of the first-years about to watch.

“Come,” said Ginny, motioning for him and Ron to follow her. She led them towards the side of the stage, then behind the curtains.

The backstage was surprisingly spacious. There were even two small lavatories on one side. About a dozen people bustled here and there. Harry could see what looked like a mysteriously pretty dark-haired lady sitting on a chair on one corner, popping Every Flavor Beans into her mouth with shaking hands.

When certain that nobody was looking, Harry removed his Cloak and hid it in Ginny’s bag. Ginny then led him and Ron to the other corner.

“Hey Justin,” said Harry to the pretty lady.

Justin looked up. “Oh—hi,” he said, grinning nervously. “You look great.”

Harry grinned back. “So do you.” And Justin did indeed look beautiful—if Harry had to put it that way. His lengthened hair was piled on top of his head. He was wearing a slinky sparkling yellow gown.

Justin took another bean and bit at it. Then he coughed and spat the bean out. “Urgh, soap,” he muttered, wiping his mouth.

“Ah, Justin, you’re ruining your lipstick!” Hannah exclaimed, running over to him. Harry saw that she had been talking to Ernie Macmillian and two sixth-year Hufflepuff boys whom Harry had seen around the school. The three of them were wearing matching black tuxedos.

Harry joined Ginny and Ron in one corner and sat down on the chair Ginny had placed there. “You okay?” she said.

“Is that what everyone will be asking me tonight?” Harry muttered.

“Well, you do look a little pale.”

“I have this sticky flesh-colored thing on my face—how can it be anything else but pale?”

“It’s a concealer,” Ginny told him, rolling her eyes. “Sure, your face looks okay, but the tension’s in your voice. How about that Harriet voice?”

Harry straightened his back and flipped his hair over his shoulders for Ginny and Ron to see. “I’m fine, Ginny darling,” he said in perfect Harriet style that surprised even himself. “How about giving your brother a pep talk? He’s sweating.”

“I’m not,” Ron grunted, standing up and heading towards the divider that separated the backstage from the stage itself. Harry saw him take a peek through the dense curtains into the audience.

“You know,” Ginny said, her eyes following Ron’s back, “I’m really starting to worry about him.”

“I’ve been worrying about him since breakfast,” Harry said truthfully.

Ginny peered into his face. “He’ll be on stage only once. I’m more worried about you, actually.”

Harry let out a snicker which he tried to sound as confident as he can manage. “You still think I’ll screw up?”

Ginny pressed her lips together. “No—it’s just that...all the pressure’s on you, like in those Quidditch matches...and I thought you have every right to be nervous ‘cause all the Gryffindors want you to win.” She paused as she reached for something inside her bag. “But the difference is that you’ll be alone out there, and Ron will be with you only for a short while....”

As soon as Ginny got the words out, something stirred inside Harry. She was right. But instead of feeling nervous, he suddenly felt bolder.

Ginny held out a Chocolate Frog. “Chocolates are supposed to be therapeutic,” she said, smiling.

“Thanks.” He unwrapped the chocolate and shoved it into his mouth.

Just then, Ron exclaimed—“DAD?!”

Harry and Ginny stared at him. “What?” they said together.

Ron turned to them, looking horrified. “Dad—he’s—he’s HERE, Ginny!”

Harry accidentally swallowed the barely-chewed Chocolate Frog. He and Ginny followed Ron and peeked from behind the curtain. Harry had to squint to see a redheaded man take a seat on the Gryffindor table. Two other redheads—Fred and George—joined him.

“Who else?” Harry said, scanning the audience. Apart from the students and teachers, there were certainly many other people in the Great Hall. They were taking seats on the House tables.

“Look!” Ginny exclaimed, pointing to another man sitting beside Mr. Weasley. “That—that’s Professor Lupin!”

“Why am I not surprised?” Harry mumbled weakly.

“Professor Lupin?” Ron whined. “Isn’t it that time of the month?”

Harry saw Ginny look at her brother witheringly. “Do you mind?”

Harry heard someone enter the backstage. The three of them turned around to see Cho—followed by none other than Roger Davies. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Justin’s jaw drop. Roger was wearing a skimpy sequined blue gown with a very low neckline—so low, that his cleavage was showing.

Cleavage.

Indeed, someone had Transfigured his torso. Harry noticed that Roger’s waist looked smaller, too, and his hips wider. The Ravenclaw girls (at least, Harry assumed that they were the ones who had done the Transfiguration) didn’t do too well with the arms, though—Roger’s biceps were still apparent. But the Transfiguration was in itself—

“Brilliant,” Harry heard Ginny whisper beside him. She was ogling at Roger’s boobs.

“Blimey,” Ron muttered weakly from the other side of the room.

“McGonagall will be so proud,” Harry agreed, staring.

Roger and Cho sat down across Justin and Hannah, who were both staring. Harry saw Justin swallow and arrange his own fake breasts. By the looks of it, he had used some kind of cloth for them.

Betty Sparks suddenly stormed into the backstage, followed by Eric Slevin. She was holding several parchments against what seemed to be an improvised clipboard. “We have ten minutes!” she yelled, looking around. “Where’s Malfoy?”

“Right behind you, Sparks, and be quiet,” Malfoy said smoothly, materializing behind Betty all of a sudden with Pansy Parkinson right beside him. “Ever heard of backstage whisper?”

Betty whipped around, scowling at him. For a Hufflepuff she was incredibly plucky—but only because she was tense, Harry reasoned. “For your information, Malfoy, the backstage has a Silencing Charm. I can yell for all I care.”

Malfoy smirked. Harry, meanwhile, was not impressed. Perhaps it was because he had already seen Malfoy with the waist-length silvery-blonde hair already that Harry wasn’t too surprised to see him looking like a Fleur Delacour clone, what with the makeup and the short, dark-green dress with a strap on only one shoulder.

“Hmm,” Ginny said to Harry. “Nice dress.”

“It looks like something out of the Amazon,” Harry commented.

Malfoy’s eyes fell on the two of them. Harry simply grinned and waved in a flourish.

Harry and everyone else in the backstage then heard Hermione’s voice from outside, magically magnified: “Your attention, please. Miss Hogwarts will be starting in a very short while.”

The Great Hall erupted with cheers and banging of tables.

“All right,” Betty called. “The four of you—you know the entrance—”

“Coaches and the others will stay behind,” Eric said forcefully.

Harry saw Ginny roll her eyes. “Does he expect us to join you?”

Harry didn’t answer. The spell on the Chocolate Frog probably hadn’t diminished yet. The Frog was jumping inside his stomach. What else could be the thing that was making his stomach feel so queasy?

“Harry?”

Harry looked back at Ginny’s apprehensive eyes. “Hey—you told me you were okay,” she said.

“I’m okay,” Harry mumbled. He had expected this. He was less nervous than he had predicted, but he was still...nervous.

Ginny apparently sensed it. She threw her arms around Harry’s neck and brought him close to her. “You can do it,” she whispered, her breath tickling his ear.

Harry, stunned at first, slowly brought his arms up to embrace her—and a miraculous thing happened. All traces of anxiety slowly ebbed away. He let out his breath in a whoosh and fell limp in her arms.

“FIVE MINUTES!” Betty yelled.

Harry groaned just as Ginny broke away from him. She thus carefully removed his glasses without breaking eye contact with him, reminding Harry of the night he kissed her....

“That felt weird,” Ginny said, her face flushed and her eyes twinkling, “hugging you with those breasts on you...”

Instead of feeling embarrassed, Harry laughed with her.

“LINE UP! YOU KNOW THE DRILL!”

Ginny gave him two thumbs up, which Harry returned along with a big grin. He already felt better as he joined Justin.

“That was cozy,” Justin muttered airily as Harry fell in place beside him.

“Just shows that we’re not complete ladies in this contest,” Harry said, smiling.

“Hmm. Good point,” Justin said, grinning knowingly.

Harry’s heart was thumping loudly now, as though trying to break out of his ribcage. But it was more out of anticipation than nervousness, he knew. He took a deep breath and stretched his arms.

As though on cue, music blared from the stage. The drums and trumpets created a dramatic crescendo—upon hearing it, the audience cheered loudly.

“Ready, everyone,” Betty said, her voice shaking.

Harry caught Ginny’s eye. He gave her a determined, if not brave, sort of nod.

“LADIES AND GENTLEMEN,” came Hermione’s voice. “PRESENTING—THE CANDIDATES OF”—Harry took a last deep breath—“MISS—HOGWARTS!”

Just as the intro of their entrance song played, Justin made his way through the curtains. Tumultuous applause rang from the audience. Harry waited for two seconds, then—without thinking, without fretting about what he should or should not do—he swept the curtains with graceful arms and went out to greet the audience.

The first thing Harry noticed was that the audience was just a blur of motion and colors. There were applause, shouts and banging of tables, particularly on the left side of the audience, where he knew the Gryffindors were. He thought he heard his name being chanted. The teachers’ table in front, meanwhile, was relatively hushed.

Harry glided across the stage, smiled widely and waved, then fell in place on the right side of the stage with one hand hung loosely on his hips and one leg bent outwards in front of him. He didn’t feel the need to think about what to do—everything just came naturally.

More applause rang when Roger came strutting onstage. Then Malfoy followed, and the Slytherin table fell into riotous applause. Malfoy posed beside Harry and gave him the barest hint of a smirk with a toss of his long hair.

The music changed its pace. Justin took the cue and began their dance. Roger followed, then Malfoy; Harry, being on the other side of the stage, started dancing the last. This is amazing, he thought when he realized that he knew everything by heart and that he was moving so smoothly. I’m enjoying this. This is weird!

The music changed its pace again. Malfoy took his cue. He walked towards the front, grinned widely and waved gracefully. “A pleasant evening!” he said in a high-pitched girly voice. “From the House of the greatest wizards and the most beautiful witches of all time—SLYTHERIN!”

The Slytherins applauded loudly. Malfoy turned around stylishly and went back to his place.

Later on, Justin pranced to the front, his hips swaying, put both hands on his hips and tilted his head on one side. “Ladies and gentlemen,” he said in a soft bedroom voice that was almost like a real lady’s. He paused for effect—Harry had the impression that he was looking at the audience seductively. “You’re in for a surprise. HUFFLEPUFF!”

Justin tossed his head and smiled. The Hufflepuffs cheered wildly. Harry was impressed—Justin was even better than Malfoy!

Then—Harry realized that he was going up there in a few seconds.

Everything happened in a daze. Harry found his feet carrying him in front. He straightened his back, as though to show his new breasts, and raised an arm to wave at the audience with only his wrist moving. “Good evening,” Harry/Harriet said huskily, giving them the open-mouthed grin Ginny had taught him. “I represent the House of the brave...the bold...” Harry assumed a different pose, one more seductive. “And the daring...” He raised both arms wide. “GRYFFINDOR!”

The Gryffindors stood up collectively and yelled themselves hoarse. Heartened, Harry gave them another wave and went back to his place.

Roger went to front after a short while. The audience gave a collective “Whoa!” as he did—no doubt surprised at the sight of Roger’s new goodies. Harry’s gaze fell on the teachers’ long table in front of the audience. If Harry squinted, he could just make out Professor Dumbledore’s face looking at Roger in amusement. Professor McGonagall, meanwhile, was staring, as though not believing that she was capable of teaching her students to do such damage to their bodies.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” said Roger—he sounded as though he was attempting to make his deep voice as husky and high-pitched as possible—“Only the most intelligent of the lot will win the crown. RAVENCLAW!”

Roger went back to his place. The four of them resumed dancing until the music ended, after which they stood to pose.

Hermione’s voice came back up. “And now, presenting our hosts,” she said. “Meg Leroux and Lee Jordan!”

Meg and Lee got up on stage through the stairs on either side of the stage. The two of them met on center and regarded each other with wide smiles.

“I’m green with envy,” said Meg. She was, Harry knew, a seventh-year Ravenclaw.

“Oh?” Lee asked.

“Yes.” Meg motioned to the four of them. “These girls are so pretty that all the boys in my House have their mouths hanging open at them!”

The Ravenclaws laughed. Roger waved at them, grinning.

“The thing is, our pretty ladies here won’t be judged only by their looks and how they strutted up here just now. Coming right up is the talent portion,” Lee said.

Meg nodded to the audience. “Yes. We also have the evening gown competition, and the question-and-answer portion. The winner of Miss Hogwarts must prove herself—himself—not only beautiful, but also talented and witty.”

“Precisely,” said Lee. “The most versatile of them all will earn his—I mean her—House two hundred points. That goes along with a really pretty tiara and scepter.”

The audience laughed.

“Oh, don’t laugh just now,” Meg said to them. “You have to admit that it took a lot of guts and determination for these four to be here tonight—just because they feel it is their duty to play a role in the building of the Hogsmeade Orphanage. Isn’t that right, Miss Slytherin?” she added mischievously, turning to Malfoy.

Harry had to bite back a guffaw. He thought he heard Fred and George laugh first before the audience followed. Malfoy simply smiled, but right beside him, Harry knew that Miss Slytherin was seething inside.

“Right,” said Lee. “I think it’s time for these ladies to head backstage and prepare for the talent portion...meanwhile...let me introduce to you our judges...”

Harry didn’t hear the rest. He was busy sighing with relief. The contest was barely over, he knew, but at least something was off his back just now.

He gave the audience a last wave as they applauded, then went backstage.

Ginny was waiting for him right there. She raised a hand for a high-five, which Harry gave to her. “You were great!” she gushed. “Daring indeed!”

Harry laughed.

“That was great, Harry,” said Cho, grinning widely. Betty and Hannah were nodding behind her.

“Thanks!” Harry said breathlessly.

“Okay, Harry,” Ginny said excitedly just as Malfoy entered the backstage. “Talent portion! Come on!”

As Ginny grabbed his hand and led him to their corner in the backstage, muttering something about Heaven at Midnight, a thought hit Harry right then and there. It was an almost bizarre thought, as though it could only be a dream...and scary, too.

But it could happen.

He could actually win Miss Hogwarts.