Tableaux

Tableaux

Backstage, and a shaking hand paints a red lightning bolt onto a pale forehead as a tall man pulls on an overcoat and picks up his umbrella. A last glance at the seething faces of the Dursley family, and they walk through the curtain. So the play begins.

~

Green eyes blink to adjust to the light and the sheer number of people in the audience. Take a snapshot of that look on his face and then watch as he stumbles through the crowds in awe, giggle and gasp at his innocence and lack of knowledge, then stare intently as he walks through a door and into a shop. Suddenly the theatre's silent again.

~

Scene: Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions.

Enter Harry, stage left. Malfoy stands centre-stage; Harry approaches with Malkin.

Malfoy: Hullo. Hogwarts too?

Harry: Yes.

Malfoy (drawls): My father's next door buying my books and mother's up the street looking at wands. Then I'm going to drag them off to look at racing brooms.

Continue in same vein until characters fully established, then take another snapshot; Harry gazing out of the window at a grinning Hagrid and Malfoy glaring sullenly at his back. Hold that pose...and on with the show.

~

Scene: Diagon Alley, a little after lunchtime.

Harry and Hagrid walk down the street, Hagrid explaining Quidditch.

Harry: And what are Slytherin and Hufflepuff?

Hagrid: School houses. There's four. Everyone says Hufflepuffs are a lot o'duffers, but--

Harry: I bet I'm in Hufflepuff.

Hagrid (darkly): Better Hufflepuff than Slytherin. There's not a single witch or wizard who went bad who wasn't in Slytherin. You-Know-Who was one.

Harry: Vol- sorry - You-Know-Who was at Hogwarts?

Photograph, and fast-forward. Wand shop. Station. On train; press play again.

~

Scene: Hogwarts Express.

Ron and Harry sit alone in a carriage, surrounded by sweet wrappers and piles of cakes.

Harry: But in, you know, the Muggle world, people just stay put in photos.

Ron: Do they? What, they don't move at all? Weird!

Another soft *snap*, but the scene's only just beginning.

Skip a bit, and off we go.

Enter Malfoy, flanked by Crabbe and Goyle.

Formal introductions made and insults thrown, and Malfoy holds out a hand to Harry. Harry refuses, sharing a small smile with Ron, and a million flashbulbs light up the auditorium to capture the horror on Malfoy's face.

~~~

4 Privet Drive, Summer

Harry stands in front of a mirror, trying to remove the slightly faded red line on his brow. It will be painted again before September, but he can at least try.

Curtain's down for Act 1, and the audience are getting restless: photographs won't keep them, and they don't care that their star has to breathe.

~

A Definition of Normality, by Harry J. Potter

1) Normal is wondering what homework you've got without realising it's all locked away in a cupboard

2) Normal is jeans and too-big sweaters

3) Normal is collecting post from the front door, and for some reason opening the occasional advert from a double glazing company you've never heard of

4) Normal is waking up in the middle of the night to go to the loo without four people yelling at you to turn off your 'Lumos' spell

5) Normal is photographs that don't move

~

ACT II

Scene: Gryffindor Common Room, September

Harry is surrounded by his housemates, all wondering whether his summer was really that bad and offering their sympathy.

They joke about how good it must be to have found his 'real life', and then exit Harry, pursued by many pairs of eyes. His forehead hurts and he vaguely wonders if he's allergic to that stupid scar.

~

Repeat as necessary.

~

And the rest of five Acts pass in a blur, dragging longer and longer between the brief respites at the Dursleys, where Harry finds to his surprise he misses 'real life' more and more. This Muggle life is still normal to him, and he wonders if that's such a good thing.

He stares at the photos that cover his room and slams his drawer on an infuriating image of Sirius before the incident; grinning at the Weasleys' borrowed camera and trying to drag an annoyed Remus into the shot. This should have captured a moment of time, the smile an illusion, however brief, to remind Harry of those few days at Grimmauld Place where everything was peaceful - at least, in comparison to the rest of the time. But wizard cameras never lied, and holding the pose too long meant the smile faded slightly and despair flashed in Sirius's eyes.

However much his 'normal' changed, Harry would never get used to those damn photographs.

~

Wiltshire, the Same Night

Malfoy is pacing up and down his palatial suite in anger, occasionally glaring at a Witch Weekly poster of the Boy Who Lived before resuming his brooding.

*Flashback to Hogwarts, a month before*

Harry walks into the Entrance Hall. Enter Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle, stage right.

Malfoy (glares): You're dead, Potter.

Harry: Funny, you'd think I'd have stopped walking around...

Malfoy: You're going to pay. I'm going to make you pay for what you've done to my father...

Harry: Well, I'm terrified now. I s'pose Lord Voldemort's just a warm-up act compared to you three.

*End Flashback*

Malfoy turns to his mirror in a moment of whimsicality.

(mocking) 'Mirror, Mirror, on the wall, who's the fairest of them all?'

'In face it's you, oh Draco fair,

If you would stop gelling your hair.'

(a pause, to let young Malfoy glare)

'But if you look, well, then you'll see,

You're not the star of this story--'

('Whatever, what's this mean for me?')

'Young Potter's beauty lies inside--'

('He seems to like to let it hide.')

'He hasn't - like you - schemed and lied.

I know that you don't care a speck,

But, Master, please, just go and check--'

(frustrated now, 'Oh, what the heck!')

Silence reigns. Draco tries to examine the picture's eyes to find out what the mirror was talking about, but it's impossible to see anything when the image doesn't show any signs of life.

He wonders why the number one magazine, which charges a Galleon and five Sickles per issue, can't spare a bit of cash on proper photos once in a while.

~

Harry has a life in pictures. They start way back when he was eleven, and have been documented in enough publications for him to have been able to make a timeline along the wall.

He has decided that each of the stills (thank goodness it cost so much to print in motion!) is a perfect capture of life, and realises that if one detail in that tableau were to move, the entire mood would be ruined and the rest of the line would have to start from scratch.

~

4 Privet Drive, Later that Summer

One day when the Dursleys are out, he throws caution to the wind and switches on Dudley's new computer. He has no idea how to use it, but luckily neither does his cousin, so the rest of the work desk is covered with 'How To' guides.

1) Place document on scanner, following marks on side to make sure the image is straight.

(Harry places an array of photos on the scanner)

2) Prescan the image

(Harry presses the button and prays, amazed when a rendition of his pictures appears on screen)

3) Select scan area

(Harry carefully drags a box around the first photo)

4) Set desired scan mode and resolution

(Harry has no idea what this means, so he skips to the next instruction)

5) Click on the 'Scan' button

(Harry clicks and watches in awe as the image appears for real)

He scans every image and spends hours making a small collage: a still life of his 'existence' so far.

~

Tableau /táblo/ n. (pl. -eaux) silent motionless group arranged to represent a scene (Oxford Minireference Dictionary and Thesaurus)

Tableau vivant tä-blo-ve-va, n. a 'living picture', a motionless representation by living persons in costume (Chambers Dictionary)

~

*Flashback, Little Whinging District Primary School, 7 years ago*

Harry, Vernon and Petunia are sitting in a crowded hall to watch the school nativity, in which Dudley plays a sheep. Harry's fairly sure that the casting was only because there were no pigs in the traditional scene; and Petunia thinks that it was because Joseph's parents are school governers and is glaring at them across the aisle.

The scene is set to music, and on cue each of the people and animals move into place for the final tableau.

Halfway through, the girl playing the donkey - Harry vaguely wonders whether she's in his class - trips over, and what follows ruins what could still have been salvaged.

Cow: Runs over to see if donkey is all right

Mary: Yawns widely, dropping Jesus in the process

Joseph: Picks up Jesus doll to toss in the air and catch

Dudley: Rolls on floor with laughter

Teacher/Prompter: Rushes on and shouts at cast

Mood broken, and still life shattered with one motion.

*End Flashback*

~

ACT VI

Scene: Platform 9¾, September

*Version A - Still Life*

Enter Harry through back curtain. Malfoy hovers in the wings, finally entering.

Enter Ron, behind Harry, followed closely by Hermione and Ginny.

Harry turns to laugh at something Ron says, and Malfoy glares at his back.

Malfoy (muttering to mirror): I told you so!

Ron (raised eyebrows): I always said that git was bloody insane. There's your proof.

(ripples of appreciative laughter)

Harry pictures the still-life in his mind and nods in satisfaction.

~

*Version B - *

Enter Harry through back curtain. Malfoy hovers in the wings, finally entering.

Enter Ron, behind Harry, followed closely by Hermione and Ginny.

Harry turns to laugh at something Ron says, and Malfoy stares at him calculatingly while trying to look menacing.

A huddle of random first-years brush past, knocking Malfoy off-balance. His gaze remains focussed.

Malfoy (muttered): Ouch. Stupid kids.

Harry turns to look and catches Malfoy's eye, and two inconsequential actions break everything.

Malfoy aims a mental 'Incendio' at the poster in his trunk and Harry imagines how his still-life will change as a consequence.

~

A REVISED Definition of Normality, by Harry J. Potter-Malfoy

1) Normal is staying up late marking godawful DADA essays while Draco whispers caustic comments about the standard of work you'd expect from Hufflepuffs.

2) Normal is two wardrobes full of designer robes and tight-fitting trousers

3) Normal is receiving constant owls to confirm what time his classes end this evening

4) Normal is waking up in the middle of the night to listen to his breathing as he sleeps

5) Normal is the countless moving clips that adorn our bedroom walls, telling the story of our lives