The Plays The Thing

The Play´s the Thing

by Shakespearechick

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CHAPTER VI

***

" `Come, shall we hear this music?´ "

" `Yea, my good lord. How still...´ Dang it. `How still... how still the evening is, as hush´d on purpose to grace harmony.´ "

" `See you where Benedick hath hid himself?´ "

"Wait, what´s my cue?"

" `Come, Balthasar, we´ll hear that song again.´ "

"Oh."

"Well."

"Well? Oh. `O - O, g-good my lord, t-tax not so bad a voice, to slander music any more than once.´ "

" `Come, Balthasar, we´ll hear that song again...´ "

" `O, good my lord... tax not so bad a voice... to slander music any more than once. To slander music any more than once... O, good my lord...´ "

Hermione walked into the milieu of voices hoping the actual rehearsal had not begun yet. Harry and Seamus were on her left apparently coaching Neville on his lines. Harry caught her eye and walked over.

"Hey, Hermione. You made it finally."

"I got held up talking to Professor Vector after class. But... I don´t see Trelawney here yet..."

"Oh, she´ll float through the doors in a minute, I´m sure," Harry said wryly. "Malfoy doesn´t seem too eager for that, though," he said with a nod in Malfoy´s direction. Reluctantly, Hermione turned to look at him. She hadn´t talked to him since their encounter yesterday after the Quidditch match, and she was still a little confused over what exactly had happened. Not to mention what she had gotten herself into for tomorrow.

Malfoy was pacing over a two foot area in the aisle, his script half crumpled in his left hand as he muttered what were hopefully his lines under his breath.

"I guess he doesn´t have all of his lines memorized so perfectly," Harry said with glee. Hermione turned back around to him and frowned.

"We´ve had a lot of Arithmancy homework lately..." she said, trailing off as she realized some instinct to defend Malfoy was forming.

Harry gave her a weird look and then shrugged as Trelawney made her usual melodramatic entrance into the hall.

"Gather round, my students, gather round," she intoned, motioning them all to the front of the stage. Hermione was shuffled forward with the crowd with Harry, Seamus and Neville behind her and Ron joining them. "I want to update you on our progress - which is going splendidly. For now, of course, for now." She scanned the group. "In the next few rehearsals we will finish the play up and then go back to work on particular scenes and staging. This will mean you all will need to separate into different groups to rehearse certain scenes. We must not get behind, for time is working against us, always. And the fate of some of us here will hinder our progress."

Hermione noticed Trelawney´s eyes linger on Harry for a second. She scoffed under her breath but then found her own eyes searching out Malfoy. He was on the other side of the group, still looking uncomfortable. Part of her was glad because it meant he wasn´t such a consummate actor after all. Well, he was good, but at least he wasn´t as flawless as he had appeared to be up until this point. However, another part of her was nagging her with sympathy for him. They really had been bogged down with some difficult Arithmancy problems recently, plus there had been the Quidditch game on top of the fact that today´s scene was Malfoy´s biggest speech...

"As you all recall, we last left off with Don Pedro informing the others of his plan to bring Beatrice and Benedick together," Trelawney continued, and Hermione suddenly found herself looking back into Malfoy´s unreadable eyes. She quickly turned her attention back to Trelawney. "Scene Two is a short interlude between Don John and Borachio where they devise a new plan to disrupt the impending marriage of Claudio and Hero. Then comes Scene Three, which is one of the most interesting and entertaining parts of the play. We come upon Benedick," she motioned to Malfoy, "in the orchard, where he is railing against the folly of falling in love and how he can´t stand the whole thing. Don Pedro, Claudio and Leonato come in and begin their set-up. By the end Benedick believes Beatrice is in love with him and suddenly he has new enthusiasm for love. Shortly thereafter, Beatrice comes upon him, and they have an amusing exchange. That concludes Act Two and Act Three picks up with the same trick being played out on Beatrice, but we will no doubt have to stop before then."

She surveyed the group one last time and gave a tight smile.

"All right then, let´s have Don John and Borachio up on the stage and Benedick waiting in the wings. At that point the next scene calls for a role of a `boy´, which we will decide later. I will read it for now."

Hermione moved to the seats with Harry and Seamus as Ron gave her a faint smile on his way to the stage. She was glad to see he no longer appeared as hesitant and nervous as before, even if he was alone on the stage with Graham Pritchard.

Ron took a deep breath. " `It is so; the Count Claudio shall marry the daughter of Leonato.´ "

Graham leaned in conspiratorially. " `Yea, my lord; but I can cross it.´ "

" `Any bar, any cross, any impediment will be medicinable to me: I am sick in displeasure to him, and whatsoever comes athwart his affection ranges evenly with mine," Ron snarled. " `How canst thou cross this marriage?´ "

" `Not honestly, my lord; but so covertly that no dishonesty shall appear in me.´ "

" `Show me briefly how,´ " Ron whispered, gesturing to Graham to follow him to the side of the stage.

"Ron´s becoming quite the natural, isn´t he?" Seamus whispered in Hermione´s ear and she couldn´t help but agree. He was certainly getting into character and acting his part.

" `I think I told your lordship, a year since, how much I am in the favor of Margaret, the waiting gentlewoman to Hero,´ " Graham replied.

"Ew, Borachio and Margaret. Poor Lavender," Hermione heard Ginny whisper to Seamus.

"Bad image, Gin," Seamus whispered back.

" `I remember,´ " Ron said up on the stage.

" `I can, at any unseasonable instant of the night, appoint her to look out at her lady´s chamber window,´ " Graham continued.

" `What life is in that, to be the death of this marriage?´ " Ron snapped.

" `The poison of that lies in you to temper,´ " Graham murmured.

"Oooh, that´s a good line," Seamus hissed across the row. "Someone write that down."

"Don´t get any ideas," Ginny hissed back.

"It´s already written down, and - just... shhh!" Hermione whispered back, suppressing a smile at her friends. Harry shook his head at them all and tried to keep a straight face as he watched the scene.

" `Go you to the prince your brother; spare not to tell him that he hath wronged his honoring marrying the renowned Claudio - whose estimation do you mightily hold up - to a contaminated stale, such a one as Hero,´ " Graham explained.

" `What proof shall I make of that?´ " Ron said skeptically.

" `Proof enough to misuse the prince, to vex Claudio, to undo Hero, and kill Leonato. Look you for any other issue?´ "

" `Only to despite them, I will endeavor any thing.´ "

" `Go, then; find me a meet hour to draw Don Pedro and the Count Claudio alone: tell them that you know that Hero loves me; intend a kind of zeal both to the prince and Claudio, as, - in love of your brother´s honor, who hath made this match, and his friend´s reputation, who is thus like to be cozened with the semblance of a maid, - that you have discovered thus.´ "

"Wow, that was a really long speech for a Slytherin, don´t you think?" Seamus commented.

"I didn´t know they had that much competency," Ginny whispered back.

"Well, it is Pritchard and not Crabbe. Or Goyle," Harry said as an afterthought.

"For crying out loud, the speech isn´t even done!" Hermione whispered back.

" `They will scarcely believe this without trial,´ " Graham went on. " `Offer them instances; which shall bear no less likelihood than to see me at her chamber-window; hear me call Margaret, Hero; hear Margaret term me Claudio; and bring them to see this the very night before the intended wedding,´ " Graham paused to look over his lines for a moment. " `For...for in the meantime I will so fashion the matter that Hero shall be absent, - and there shall appear such seeming truth of Hero´s disloyalty, that jealousy shall be called assurance and all the preparation overthrown.´ "

It took Ron a moment to remember that this was the end of the speech, and he cleared his throat once more.

" `Grow this to what adverse issue it can, I will put it in practice,´ " Ron said thoughtfully. He turned to Graham. " `Be cunning in the working this, and thy fee is a thousand ducats.´ "

" `Be you constant in the accusation, and my cunning shall not shame me.´ "

Ron gave a devious smile. " `I will presently go learn their day of marriage.´ "

"Good, good," Professor Trelawney said quickly. "You both exit off and we switch scenes to Leonato´s orchard."

Ron barely nodded at Graham as he stepped off the stage and made his way to the empty seat beside Hermione.

"Do you think she´ll ever give us true direction?" Ron muttered as he sat down.

"You both were quite good," Hermione replied. "Plus, it´s Professor Trelawney. She´ll probably give us more direction when we focus on certain scenes. Or, she´ll leave it all to the stars..."

"Hey, good job, Ron!" Harry said from the other side of Hermione. Ron merely nodded and turned back to Hermione. It took her a moment to notice Rom was talking to her, because she was watching Malfoy as he made his way up to the stage.

"Hermione? Hermione?" Ron nudged her shoulder.

"Oh - hm - sorry, what?"

He rolled his eyes at her.

"I asked why you were late," Ron repeated, giving her a curious look.

"Oh, I stayed behind in class to speak with Professor Vector," she explained. "We´ve had some tough problems recently, and we have a project coming up."

"I thought you spoke with her after the Quidditch game," he replied. Something tightened in her stomach as she looked up at him.

"Oh - well, I did. But I still had some questions, especially after today´s class."

"I see," Ron said, though she heard the skepticism in his tone.

"Malfoy doesn´t look like he´s in such a great mood," Seamus said with a chuckle. "Too bad we´re still in the comedic parts."

Ginny leaned forward and asked Hermione, "He does look a bit sourer than usual, don´t you think?"

"He looks distracted," Hermione began but was thankfully interrupted by Professor Trelawney before she had to continue.

"Can I have Don Pedro, Claudio, Leonato and Balthasar up here on the stage as well?" she asked.

Dutifully, Harry, Seamus, Fred and Neville excused themselves from their seats, grabbed their scripts and headed for the stage. Trelawney spoke to them briefly and indicated they should wait just off stage for their entrance after Benedick´s monologue. Then she turned her attention to Malfoy and spoke with him for several minutes. Hermione watched curiously.

Next to her Ron stretched out his arms and yawned. "How much longer must we suffer?" he quipped.

"You can hardly complain," Ginny interjected from behind them. "I don´t even have any lines in the scenes we´re rehearsing today in this double rehearsal! And yet, here I sit!"

"Oh, now, but you get to ogle Seamus..." George joked, earning him a swift kick to his chair from his sister.

"And perhaps we´ll see Malfoy mess up, for once." Ron muttered. Hermione listened to them silently, her mind still on the actions up on stage. She knew the speech Malfoy was about to recite very well; it had always been one of her favorite humorous scenes in Shakespeare´s plays. But, of course, she had never dreamt Malfoy - of all people - would be the one performing it. Did he have a sense of humor? One that was more light-hearted? Could he smile and jest his way through this speech, especially the superficial parts, while capturing an undertone of bitter wit subtly? If he could, then it would be truly acting. Because this speech was totally un-Malfoy-like in so many ways. Not to mention he´d seemed distracted all day, even in their Arithmancy class, though she had tried to keep her eyes off him. She was nervous about tomorrow and their meeting. She was dreading it but then there was this spark of curiosity about just what might happen. They´d had some rather unexpected conversations together thus far, and who knew what would happen in Hogsmeade.

Professor Trelawney backed up off the stage and clapped twice. "All right, we shall begin. Again, I´ll speak the role of the Boy for now." She cleared her throat and advanced back onto the stage, approaching Malfoy.

" `Signior?´ " she questioned him.

" `In my chamber-window lies a book: bring it hither to me in the orchard,´ " Malfoy commanded dully.

" `I am already here, sir,´ " read Trelawney.

" `I know that; but I would have thee hence, and here again,´ " Malfoy spouted back. He then spun around elegantly and began walking across the stage, one hand stroking his chin thoughtfully and the other holding out the script.

" `I do much wonder that one man, seeing how much another man is a fool when he dedicates his behaviors to love, will, after he hath laughed at such shallow follies in others, become the argument of his own scorn by falling in love: and such a man is Claudio.´ "

Malfoy brought his hand away from his face and paused on the stage, facing the audience. " `I have known when there was no music with him but the drum and the fife; and now had he rather hear the tabor and the pipe,´ " he declared, finding the mood of the piece. His voice took on a booming quality and then subsided to an effeminate mocking tone as he described the effects of love. " `I have known when he would have walked ten mile a-foot to see a good armor; and now he will lie ten nights awake, carving the fashion of a new doublet. He was wont to speak plain and to the purpose, like an honest man and a soldier; and now is he turned orthography; his words are a very fantastical banquet, - just so many strange dishes? May I be so converted, and see with these eyes? I cannot tell; I think not: I will not be sworn but love may transform me to an oyster; but I´ll take my oath on it, till he have made an oyster of me, he shall never make me such a fool.´ "

He stopped again, as if to catch his breath and look down at his lines. Hermione was impressed thus far; it was far from perfect or what she imagined the perfect Benedick would do, but considering the distracted and impatient mood Malfoy seemed to be in, it was fairly well done. He lacked some of the buoyant humor necessary for the moment, but this was still Malfoy. Who knew what Trelawney had been thinking in the first place...

" `One women is fair, yet I am well,´ " he continued, gesturing with his hands to make the point. " `Another is wise, yet I am well; another virtuous, yet I am well: but till all graces be in one woman, one woman shall not come in my grace.´ " Malfoy paused, appearing to reread his line. Hermione glanced down at her own script.

"...one woman shall not come in my grace..."

None of the other students to catch the bawdy joke, but it took Malfoy a moment to recover. He scowled, and then moved over to the center of the stage and gazed off, as if he was envisioning his perfect mate.

"Rich she shall be, that´s certain; wise, or I´ll none; virtuous, or I´ll never cheapen her; fair, or I´ll never look on her; mild, or come not near me; noble, or not I for an angel; of good discourse, an excellent musician, and her hair shall be of what color it please God.´ "

He glanced down at the page again, but Trelawney´s voice called out to halt him.

"Wait, wait! The next line of yours signals the entrance of Don Pedro, Claudio, Leonato and Balthasar. However, I´d like you to go over that speech again..." She walked over to Malfoy and began talking to him in a hushed whisper, pointing to the script and illustrating what she apparently wanted from him. He watched her with stilled indifference - and Hermione watched him.

Finally, Trelawney stepped back and motioned to Malfoy. "Take it again, from `I do much wonder...´ "

Obligingly, Malfoy took a deep breath and started again. Trelawney seemed to have given him some instructions on tone, and even some more grand gestures. As she watched, Hermione sensed Ron growing impatient next to her. Then she sensed his glance on her, and turned to find him looking at her with slightly narrowed eyes.

"You´re fixated on him," he mused decidedly.

"I enjoy this speech; I´m just curious how he´ll do it," Hermione responded tersely. She felt guilty beneath his stare and it made her nervous. Not that she had anything to feel guilty about. Except perhaps for the hiding of her meeting with Malfoy she had planned tomorrow, but that really wasn´t hiding anything. It was merely not informing her two best friends of everything that was going on in her life.

Hermione shifted edgily in her seat and returned her attention back to the stage and Malfoy. Trelawney may have actually done some decent directing, as she noticed him executing some of the lines with uncharacteristic humor and expressive gestures - much more than the first time round.

Ron seemed to notice this too, and caught the look of enthrallment on both Ginny and Hermione´s faces.

"You know who would have been a better Benedick?" he muttered under his breath blandly.

"Who?" Hermione responded distractedly.

"Lockhart."

Hermione turned sharply towards him to respond, but Malfoy´s speech had ended and once again Trelawney was speaking to them all.

"Don Pedro, Claudio and Leonato all come out into the orchard, prepared to begin their trick to bring Benedick and Beatrice together. But first they come out and ask Balthasar to sing them a song. When he is finished, they `casually´ bring up the subject of Beatrice and the trick goes from there. Mr. Malfoy, when you see them come in, retreat here to just outside the curtain. Eventually we´ll have some orchard scenery so you can hide behind a bush. You are to eavesdrop; but they know you are there and this whole show is for your benefit. Everyone in place?" She looked around at Harry, Seamus, Fred and a very nervous looking Neville. "Places then; begin with your last line, Mr. Malfoy."

"Hardly," Hermione managed to whisper back to Ron rather lamely, so she thought, before Malfoy spoke. He either didn´t hear her or chose not to respond.

" `Ha! the prince and Monsieur Love!´ " Malfoy noted wryly as the first three walked on stage. " `I will hide me in the arbor.´ "

Harry took center stage, strode grandly around, and then gestured to Neville.

" `Come, shall we hear this music?´ "

" `Yea, my good lord. How still the evening is, as hush´d on purpose to grace harmony!´ " Seamus said.

Harry grinned at him and cupped one side of his mouth as he lowered his voice. " `See you where Benedick hath hid himself?´ "

Seamus grinned back and winked. " `O, very well, my lord: the music ended, we´ll fit the kid-fox with a pennyworth.´ "

" `Come, Balthasar, we´ll hear that song again,´ " Harry said, raising his voice and calling Neville out of the shadows.

" `O, g-good my lord, tax not so bad a voice to slander music any more than once,´ " Neville choked out and Hermione was sure that he meant it.

" `It is the witness still of excellency to put a strange face on his own perfection. I pray thee, sing, and let me woo no more,´ " Harry replied encouragingly.

" `Because you talk of wooing, I will sing; since many a wooer doth commence his suit to her he thinks not worthy, yet he wooes, yet will swear he loves,´ " Neville recited in nervous, hurried monotones.

" `Nay, pray thee, come; or, if thou wilt hold longer argument, do it in notes,´ " Harry said slyly.

" `Note this before my notes; there´s not a note of mine that´s worth noting,´ " Neville said, appearing more comfortable with speaking onstage.

" `Why, these are very crotchets that he speaks; note, notes, forsooth, and nothing.´ "

" `Now, divine air!´ " Malfoy exclaimed as an aside from next to the curtain. " `Now is his soul ravished! Is it not strange that sheeps´ guts should hale souls out of men´s bodies?´ " He scoffed audibly. " `Well, a horn for my money, when all´s done.´ "

Hermione´s attention quickly moved from Malfoy back to Neville when she heard him clear his throat and mutter, " `The Song.´ " He took a deep breath and began singing.

" `Sigh no more, ladies, sigh no more,
Men were deceivers ever,
One foot in sea and one on shore,
To one thing constant never:

Then sigh not so, but let them go,
And be you blithe and bonny,
Converting all your sounds of woe
Into Hey nonny, nonny.

Sing no more ditties, sing no moe,
Of dumps so dull and heavy;
The fraud of men was ever so,
Since summer first was leavy:

Then sigh not so, but let them go,
And be you blithe and bonny,
Converting all your sounds of woe
Into Hey nonny, nonny.´ "

Neville stopped and looked around nervously as the audience broke into surprised applause.

"Good thing Seamus tutored him, eh, Ginny? Eh?" George whispered over his shoulder at his sister. She nodded and then realized he was goading her again and kicked his chair once more.

Up onstage Harry gave a grand, contented sigh.

" `By my troth, a good song.´ "

" `And an ill singer, my lord,´ " Neville conceded with good humor.

" `Ha, no, no, faith; thou singest well enough for a shift.´ "

" `An he had been a dog that should have howled thus, they would have hanged him,´ " Malfoy remarked from the side, with a biting sense of sarcasm that Hermione wasn´t entirely sure was acting. " `And I pray God his bad voice bode no mischief. I had as lief have heard the night-raven, come what plague could have come after it.´ "

" `Yea, marry, dost thou hear, Balthasar?´ " Harry continued merrily. " `I pray thee, get us some excellent music; for to-morrow night we would have it at the Lady Hero´s chamber-window.´ "

" `The best I can, my lord,´ " Neville quoted with a small nod.

" `Do so: farewell,´ " Harry replied and Neville bowed and exited the stage. Harry watched him go and then turned grandly to Fred and raised his voice. " `Come hither, Leonato. What was it you told me of to-day, that your niece Beatrice was in love with Signior Benedick?´ "

Malfoy stopped dead in his pacing tracks. Hermione though his natural paleness suited his shocked look quite well.

Seamus grinned at the scene and leaned in towards the other two men. " `O, ay: stalk on, stalk on; the fowl sits,´ " he murmured, indicating Malfoy. He then raised his own voice. " `I did never think that lady would have loved any man.´ "

" `No, nor I neither,´ " Fred said with a look of faint disbelief. " `But most wonderful that she should so dote on Signior Benedick, whom she hath in all outward behaviors seemed ever to abhor.´ "

" `Is´t possible? Sits the wind in that corner?´ " Malfoy said incredulously.

" `By my troth, my lord, I cannot tell what to think of it, but that she loves him with an enraged affection; it is past the infinite of thought.´ "

" `May be she doth but counterfeit,´ " Harry proposed, throwing his hands up in the air.

" `Faith, like enough,´ " Seamus acknowledged with a shrug.

" `O God, counterfeit!´ " Fred boomed with shock and offense. " `There was never counterfeit of passion came so near the life of passion as she discovers it.´ "

" `Why, what effects of passion shows she?´ " Harry asked.

" `Bait the hook well; this fish will bite,´ " Seamus urged conspiratorially.

" `What effects, my lord?´ " Fred asked, stalling for time. " `She will sit you, you heard my daughter tell you how.´ "

" `She did, indeed,´ " Seamus urged.

" `How, how, I pray you?´ " Harry enunciated desperately. Fred looked blank for a moment and then called the other two men in closer. They made a small huddle and Fred whispered and made huge gestures and suddenly Harry and Seamus pulled back in shock. " `You amaze me!´ " Harry charged. " `I would have thought her spirit had been invincible against all assaults of affection.´ "

" `I would have sworn it had, my lord; especially against Benedick,´ " Fred answered.

" `I should think this is a trick, but that the white-bearded fellow speaks it,´ " Malfoy mused, attempting a concerned tone, but turning sarcastic at the next line. " `Knavery cannot, sure, hide himself in such reverence.´ "

Seamus glanced over at Malfoy and leaned in close again. " `He hath ta´en the infection: hold it up.´ "

Harry nodded and raised his voice ever so little. " `Hath she made her affection known to Benedick?´ "

Fred shook his head. " `No; and swears she never will: that´s her torment.´ "

" `´Tis true, indeed; so your daughter says,´ " Seamus said to Fred. " `Shall I,´ says she, `that have so oft encountered him with scorn, write to him that I love him?´ "

" `This says she now when she is beginning to write to him; for she´ll be up twenty times a night; and there will she sit in her smock till she have writ a sheet of paper: my daughter tells us all,´ " Fred declared.

"Hey, Hermione, remember never to confide in Ginny," George whispered to her. She moved her eyes from the action on the stage to his jovial face and smiled faintly.

"What would I have to confide, dear George?" she asked sweetly, playing along.

"Love, apparently," he grinned and then turned back to face the stage. Hermione saw Ginny lean over and whisper some insults, no doubt, into her brother´s ear and then wink at her. Hermione smiled back faintly, and then turned her attention back to the stage. These days, when anyone made parallels between people´s character´s and their selves she felt nervous for some reason.

" `Now you talk of a sheet of paper, I remember a pretty jest your daughter told us of,´ " said Seamus.

" `O, when she had writ it, and was reading it over, she found Benedick and Beatrice between the sheet?´ "

There was a gasp of surprise and then laughter from the students. Hermione felt ill. Seamus looked thoroughly amused.

" `That,´ " he replied in simple jest.

" `O, she tore the letter into a thousand halfpence; railed at herself, that she should be so immodest to write to one that she knew would flout her; `I measure him,´ says she, `by my own spirit; for I should flout him, if he writ to me; yea, though I love him, I should.´ "

Suddenly Seamus threw his hands up in the air and then crouched down on the stage. " `Then down upon her knees she falls, weeps, sobs, beats her heart, tears her hair, prays, curses; `O, sweet Benedick! God give me patience!´ "

Malfoy, and even Harry and Fred, looked startled at the great force and energy Seamus put into that line and so paused for a moment, regarding each other in stunned silence. Seamus blinked at them innocently.

" `She doth indeed,´ " Fred finally recovered. " `My daughter says so: and the ecstasy hath so much overborne her, that my daughter is sometime afeared she will do a desperate outrage to herself: it is very true.´ "

" `It were good that Benedick knew of it by some other, if she will not discover it,´ " Harry said.

" `To what end?´ " exclaimed Seamus. " `He would make but a sport of it, and torment the poor lady worse.´ "

" `An he should, it were an alms to hang him,´ " Harry said gravely. " `She´s an excellent sweet lady; and, out of all suspicion, she is virtuous.´ "

" `And she is exceeding wise,´ " Seamus prompted.

" `In everything but in loving Benedick,´ " Harry concurred.

" `O, my lord, wisdom and blood combating in so tender a body, we have ten proofs to one that blood hath the victory. I am sorry for her, as I have just cause, being her uncle and guardian,´ " said Fred.

" `I would she had bestowed this dotage on me: I would have daffed all other respects, and made her half myself,´ " Harry said softly. He paused for a moment in contemplation. " `I pray you,´ " he announced suddenly with new vigor. " `Tell Benedick of it, and hear what a´ will say.´ "

" `Were it good, think you?´ " Fred asked skeptically.

" `Hero thinks surely she will die; for she says she will die, if her love her not; and she will die, ere she make her love known; and she will die, if he woo her, rather than she will bate one breath of her accustomed crossness,´ " Seamus explained.

They all shrugged and sighed, as if it was a great tragedy.

" `She doth well: if she should make tender of her love, ´tis very possible he´ll scorn it; for the man, as you know all, hath a contemptible spirit.´ " Harry spoke these last words loudly in the direction of Malfoy, who had been listening to this conference with well-acted confusion and disbelief.

"Oh!" Malfoy exclaimed indignantly at this, throwing his hands up with such fury that he brushed the curtain aside. Seamus, Harry and Fred all turned at looked at him in surprise but then glanced away, remembering their characters. Their characters who knew Benedick was there anyway and were so easily persuaded they had all imagined the sound. Perhaps it was a bid call.

" `He is a very proper man.´ " Seamus quoted, trying to sound sincere.

" `He hath indeed a good outward happiness,´ " Harry agreed tersely. Judging by their attitudes they were losing their grip on the acting part and no longer thinking of Benedick abstractly, but thinking of Malfoy. Hermione frowned, but Seamus managed to get back in character for his next line, and Harry followed him.

" `Before God! and in my mind, very wise.´ "

" `He doth indeed show some sparks that are like wit,´ " Harry quotes, enjoying the teasing.

" `And I take him to be valiant,´ " Seamus continued, flawlessly.

" `As Hector, I assure you,´ " Harry agreed with a wry grin. " `And in the managing of quarrels you may say he is wise, for either he avoids them with great discretion, or undertakes them with a most Christian-like fear.´ "

" `If he do fear God, a´ must necessarily keep peace: if he break the peace, he ought to enter into a quarrel with fear and trembling,´ " Fred recited, finally being forced to check his script.

" `And so will he do,´ " Harry acknowledged. " `For the man doth fear God, howsoever it seems not in him by some jests he will make. Well, I am sorry for your niece. Shall we go seek Benedick, and tell him of her love?´ "

" `Never tell him, my lord,´ " Seamus said. " `Let her wear it out with good counsel.´ "

" `Nay, that´s impossible: she may wear her heart out first,´ " Fred said dramtically.

" `Well, we will hear further of it by your daughter: let it cool the while.´ " Harry sighed. " `I love Benedick well; and I could wish he would modestly examine himself, to see how much he is unworthy so good a lady.´ "

Over on the side Malfoy was also having issues staying in character. His outward show of guilt at his supposed treatment of Beatrice had turned into an incredulous look as Harry spoke of Beatrice´s virtues and Benedick being unworthy.

" `My lord, will you walk?´ " Fred said abruptly. " `Dinner is ready.´ "

Harry nodded eagerly and the three of them moved across the stage, away from the side Malfoy hovered in.

" `If he do not dote on her upon this, I will never trust my expectation,´ " Seamus told them gleefully. Harry laughed.

" `Let there be the same net spread for her; and that must your daughter and her gentlewoman carry,´ " Harry told Fred. " `The sport will be, when they hold one an opinion of another´s dotage, and no such matter: that´s the scene I would see, which will be merely a dumbshow.´ " He paused as another idea entered into his head. He grinned at his friends mischievously. " `Let us send her to call him in to dinner!´ "

They all laughed heartily and exited the stage.

"Very good, very good,´ " Professor Trelawney´s voice rang out eerily from the front of the stage. "You three have mastered the tone of the scene well. We shall work on some staging that will be involved later." She nodded at Harry, Seamus and Fred as they descended the steps from the stage and then turned to face the rest of the students. "This is, of course, a double rehearsal because of the Hogsmeade trip tomorrow. So, let us have a short break and then we will resume with Benedick´s monologue in reaction to this news he has heard. There is merely that speech left and the interaction between Benedick and Beatrice at the end of this act and we shall call it a day. I would like the whole cast to stick around to watch, so you get a feel of the interaction going on. We´ll be breaking into smaller rehearsal groups in a few days."

At the end of her words, the students took up chattering with each other quite loudly.

"You were excellent!" Ginny gushed to Seamus as they all returned to their seats.

"I´m rather impressed with your brother," Seamus announced, indicating Fred who was sitting down next to George. "He came close to cracking a few jokes, but managed to stay in character."

Fred shrugged. "I´ll save the laughs for the actual performance."

"Oh, perfect," Hermione groaned. "As if there wasn´t enough to fret about already."

"Come now, it´ll all work out in the end," Harry said mildly.

"That´s what she´s afraid of," George joked.

"What do you mean?" Ron asked.

"Honestly Ron, have you read the play?" Fred mocked him.

"Love, everything ends in love," George said melodramatically.

"And our poor Lady Beatrice here wrestles with love in her heart," Fred continued.

"Honestly," Hermione rolled her eyes as the twins went on.

"Life imitates art, you know," George whispered.

"Not my life," Hermione interjected.

"The question is: who is our young Beatrice´s Benedick?" Fred questioned.

"Is it Ron? Harry? Seamus?" George declared through laughs.

"Alas, I think she´s rather keen on the library," Fred ended and they all laughed at that - even Hermione, who was relieved that even with the mention of "Benedick" not one of them had mentioned-

"Mr. Malfoy!"

Hermione´s head snapped round to the direction of the call, and felt queasy when she saw it was Professor Trelawney who had called him. And now she was motioning to her.

"Miss Granger, if you could join us over here for a moment, before we begin again?"

Hermione nodded slowly and rose from her seat. She looked at her friends. "Duty calls."

They all nodded sympathetically and continued joking around as she walked over the edge of the stage where Malfoy stood avoiding her and looking quite bored.

Hermione decided to keep her eyes on Professor Trelawney and not look up at Malfoy.

"I simply want to discuss the end of this scene, which is between you two," Trelawney explained. Hermione nodded. Trelawney turned to her first. "When you hear the line `When I said I would die a bachelor, I did not think I should live till I were married,´ I want you to begin walking towards the stage from the back down this center aisle," she indicated. "That way Mr. Malfoy will be on the stage, facing you, and addressing you as if you were walking through the gardens to tell him of dinner. You can ascend the stairs and walk on stage for the exchange, but when you leave, exit off the front of the stage and walk back up the center aisle. For the actual performance you can then walk around outside the hall to return to back stage and re-enter onstage at the opening of the next act, all right?"

"Yes, I understand," Hermione answered lightly. Trelawney nodded and then turned to Malfoy.

"This next speech is very important too, and once again it has some crucial wit and comic bits. But we also get a sense for the more sensitive side of Benedick." Malfoy scowled at this, but Trelawney didn´t seem to notice and went on. "First, he can hardly believe what he was heard - but he does. Then he is a bit offended and shamed by his friends´ perception of him - that he is proud and would scorn love. He moves on to Beatrice´s virtues, and seems quite happy that she allegedly loves him." Trelawney paused and once again looked at Malfoy directly. "I was very impressed with your memorization of that first speech - you seemed quite comfortable with it and didn´t have to glance at the script too often. Of course, there is still plenty of time for people to learn their lines, so you are ahead of the game. Do you have this speech down as well?"

Malfoy looked down at her almost insolently for a few seconds before replying. "I´ve used a few tricks to get the lines memorized, but, no, with the Quidditch game and all I have barely looked over this speech."

She nodded at him distractedly and turned back to Hermione. "That´s fine. You both have been excellent, thus far, and I´m sure the lines will be the least of our problems." She paused and looked from one student to the other with an intense, yet vacant, stare that reminded Hermione of her reactions when she claimed to have visions.

"Are you okay, Professor?" Hermione asked instinctively. Trelawney looked at her as though she wasn´t even there.

"Of course, dear," she said after a moment. "But perhaps you two should go over this brief scene for the next few minutes, before we resume."

Then, without an explanation or second glance she walked away to discuss things with some of the other students.

Malfoy´s eyes narrowed as he watched her retreating back and then he reluctantly bent down and took a seat on the edge of the stage. Hermione now found herself at eye level with him as she stood there.

"You, uh, were decent with that first speech," Hermione offered awkwardly.

"I´m glad you approve," Malfoy said with a tone that clearly indicated he could give a rat´s ass if she approved or not. "Apparently this stupid play thing is very important to you." His eyes flickered briefly up into hers before he turned and casually began surveying the other students.

"That´s great," Hermione snapped irritably. "If you hate this so much, why did you audition? You must have known there was a huge possibility you would be acting with people you seem determined to despise."

He took his time formulating an answer, appearing very interested in everything but her. A small smirk pulled at his lips and he finally spoke.

"It´s always good to do the opposite of what your enemy expects you to do. It keeps them on their toes." His smirk widened and he looked at her directly. "It also can prove to be very amusing."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Amusement value? Such as slipping a book on Oscar Wilde among my other texts?"

"You seem quite fixated on that gift."

"Oh, it´s a `gift´ now?"

He shrugged. "We have two copies."

Hermione found herself intently watching his reaction as he gauged her own reaction to this. She considered his statement of doing the opposite of what everyone expected.

"You really are enjoying this, aren´t you?"

She was only rewarded with a sardonic smile as he moved his attention from her to the script in his hands.

"That´s yet to be seen."

"You´ll be there, though?" she asked, suddenly torn between her desire to see what would come of their meeting and her instinct to run away from him as fast as she could. Playing games with any Malfoy was probably asking for trouble.

"The Three Broomsticks? Six o´clock?" he asked, refusing to say yes or no. He shrugged his shoulders and then pretended to be reading over his lines. Hermione was about to protest when Professor Trelawney called out to them.

"Okay, my students. Let us finish going over the end of this scene and we will quit for the evening."

Hermione frowned and began to head for her seat when Malfoy´s voice stopped her progress.

"No wands."

She spun around quickly.

"Pardon?"

"No wands," he repeated, a glint in his eye. "We wouldn´t want things to get out of hand..."

For a moment she stood there, speechless, deciding whether or not she trusted him enough to go without her wand. But then again, he did have a point: if things went wrong and they starting arguing... perhaps it was best that they were on equal, no-magic footing.

She answered him with a nod and then turned around to begin walking again. The other students were probably wondering why she had stopped in the first place. But once again, she was halted by his voice.

"You know, one of these times when we are told to go over our scene together, we probably should."

She turned to retort to him, but discovered her had already stood up and moved to the center of the stage and was doing a good job of nonchalantly ignoring her. She gave a sigh, trying to suppress her amusement at the truth of his flippant statement that had been delivered with the subtle arrogance she had learned infiltrated every word and action he said and made.

As she sat down with her friends, Malfoy began reading from the script.

" `This can be no trick: the conference was sadly borne. They have the truth of this from Hero. They seem to pity the lady: it seems her affections have their full bent.´ " He glanced up, gazed around the stage in wonder and began reading again. " `Love me! why, it must be requited.´ " Malfoy paused at this line, his telling sigh making it clear he was not eager to continue.

"So much for being able to act!" Seamus muttered.

"I don´t think Malfoy realized he would have to make himself a fool for love to be this character," Ginny agreed.

"Mr. Malfoy?" Trelawney prompted, and he gave another quick sigh before continuing.

" `...it must be requited. I hear how I am censured: they say I will bear myself proudly, if I perceive the love come from her; they say too that she will rather die than give any sign of affection. I did never think to marry: I must not seem proud: happy are they that hear their detractions, and can put them to mending. They say the lady is fair, - `tis a truth, I can bear them witness; and virtuous, - `tis so, I cannot reprove it; and wise, but for loving me, - by my troth, it is no addition to her wit, nor no great argument of her folly, for I will be horribly in love with her.´ "

Hermione glanced down at her own copy of the script to see how much time she had before she had to get up to make her entrance.

" `I may chance have some odd quirks and remnants of wit broken on me, because I have railed so long against marriage: but doth not the appetite alter? A man loves the meat in his youth that he cannot endure in his age.´ "

Discreetly, Hermione rose from her chair and made her way to the back of the aisle.

" `Shall quips and sentences and these paper bullets of the brain awe a man from the career of his humor? No, the world must be peopled. When I said I would die a bachelor, I did not think I should live till I were married.´ "

Hermione took a deep breath, clenched her fingers around her script, and began her progress down the aisle. Malfoy stepped up to the edge of the stage and peered out at her and stepped back as if surprised.

" `Here comes Beatrice. By this day! she´s a fair lady!´ " Hermione could detect the wry amusement in his voice before she even made it to the steps. " `I do spy some... marks of love in her,´ " he continued with devilish delight as she ascended the stairs and he backed away, assuming a casual position.

" `Against my will I am sent to bid you come in to dinner,´ " Hermione said with natural disdain.

He gave her an eerily saccharine smile. " `Fair Beatrice, I thank you for your pains.´ "

" `I took no more pains for those thanks than you take pains to thank me,´ " she answered with an aspect of confusion at his humor. " `If it had been painful, I would not have come.´ "

" `You take pleasure, then, in the message?´ " he offered wittily.

" `Yea, just so much as you may take upon a knife´s point, and choke a daw withal,´ " she retorted. When he made no sign of moving or answering she began to walk away. " `You have no stomach, Signior: fare you well.´ " She turned her back on him, descended the stairs and walked back up the aisle.

She could feel Malfoy´s eyes on her back.

" `Ha! `Against my will I am sent to bid you come into dinner,´ " he repeated with satisfaction. " `There´s a double meaning in that.´ "

Hermione turned around and watched the last seconds from the back of the theatre, her attention concentrated on the distant figure of Malfoy.

" ` `I took no more pains for those thanks than you took pains to thank me;´ that´s as much as to say, any pains that I take for you is as easy as thanks. If I do not take pity of her, I am a villain; if I do not love her, I am a Jew, I will go get her picture.´ "

"Good, good," Trelawney declared from the darkness. "I guess that´s a wrap then - until Monday."

Instantly the hall was full of chattering and noise as the students grabbed their belongings and made for the exit.

Hermione hastened back to her seat to meet up with her friends.

"To dinner?" Ron asked loudly. They all laughed.

"Sure," Harry said and the others nodded. "But we should let the House Elves get this place turned back into the dining hall and set-up for dinner."

Ron gave an exaggerated sigh. "Okay, I guess we can drop off our book bags in the dorms."

With that, the Gryffindors made their way up to their dorms and Hermione tried not to think about where she would be for dinner tomorrow night. She suddenly wasn´t very hungry.

***