Chapter Three
-James-
“OI JAMES! WAKE UP!” I hear Sirius yell as he throws a pillow at me. I put on my glasses and look around the room. Peter and Remus are playing chess, and Sirius is picking up another pillow, getting ready to throw it at me. “THE CAST LIST!’ Is the first thing I think of as I get out of bed and get ready as quickly as possible.
“What's the matter mate? Meeting up with a girl or something?” Sirius asks, as soon as he sees how quick I'm hurrying to get ready.
“No, the cast list for the play is out, and I really don't wanna get a part, so I better find out sooner than later if I got one,” I reply, as I run out of the room, rushing to the music and theatre hallway. As soon as I get there, I see a crowd of people huddled around a poster on the wall. ‘That must be the cast list,’ I think to myself, as I shove through the crowd to see the list. When I get there, I see the list.
Achilles - James Potter
Patroclus - Regulus Black
Chiron/Melanus - Evan Rosier
Thetis - Pandora Rosier
Odysseus - Barty Crouch J.R
Briseis - Narcissa Black
Helen - Dorcas Meadows
Hector - Severus Snape
Paris - Lucius Malfoy
Deidamia - Bellatrix Black
REHEARSALS EVERY MONDAY, WEDNESDAY, AND FRIDAY AFTER CLASSES!
I stood there gawking at the cast list. ‘This can’t be happening,’ I thought to myself, ‘I can’t be in the play, what about rugby?’ I rush to Professor Slughorn's office and open his office door.
“WHY WOULD YOU PUT ME AS ACHIlLLIES?” I yell as soon as I see him.
“Why, Mr. Potter, I thought you would be happy as Achilles. After all, you were the one who auditioned,” he responds calmly.
“Yes, well- I’m not happy, and I need to get out of this play right now, I can't be the lead role, I have no experience!” I shoot back.
“Well, I wouldn't have thought that you didn't have any experience, plus I can't make anyone else the lead role, you're the only one who is good enough to play Achilles!” Slughorn exclaims.
“ME? WHAT ABOUT REGULUS? OR LITERALLY ANY OF THE OTHER KIDS WHO COME TO THEATRE REGULARLY?”
“MR. POTTER! I will not tolerate you yelling at me that way! You are going to be Achilles and that's final! Now, breakfast will be ending in 30 minutes so I suggest that you get to the canteen as quickly as possible,” he says. I scowl at him as I walk out towards the canteen.
-Regulus-
“C’mon guys!” Pandora says, when we're all sitting in the canteen, “The cast list is out!” We all go sprinting to the music and theatre hallway. When we get there we see the list being crowded around by a pack of people. We all push our way through the crowd and as soon as we get there we see the cast list. As soon as I saw the cast list, I gawked. James? As Achilles? There's no way. I mean sure, he was good at acting, but he can't have been THAT good. I walked away from the whole crowd. ‘I need to get out of here right now,’ I thought to myself. As I’m walking away I hear a voice shout my name. I turn around to see who it is. Pandora.
“What?” I ask her with a slight attitude.
“I was just wondering, do you want to go to the kitchens with me? Breakfast is already over and I’m pretty hungry.” Pandora says. Until then I hadn’t realised how hungry I was.
“Sure,” I say to her, “let's go to the kitchens.” She smiles and we walk towards the kitchens, leaving the cast list behind us. When we get to the kitchens, the staff asks us what we’d like to eat, and then walk away. As we get some food, I start to smell smoke.
“Do you smell that?” I ask her.
“Yeah, but I-” she starts to say, but is interrupted by the servers running out of the kitchen, and the smoke alarm going off. I turn around only to be met by massive flames. The fiery orange flame is almost mesmerising. Pandora screams. In a flash, so many things happen at once. Pandora runs out of the kitchen. I try to run after her but a beam falls and blocks my path. I turn around and run the other way, looking for another exit. I start to get dizzy from the heat and smoke, and the last thing I remember is someone yelling my names, as I black out.
-Sirius-
The smoke alarm goes off when I’m in english with Remus and Peter, James is nowhere to be found. When the alarm goes off, McGonagall does a head count, and we all run out of the building. When we get outside, Dumbledore walks over to all of the students and tells us to quiet down.
“There is a fire in the kitchens, it’s raging out of our control, everyone please go to your dorms!” Dumbledore exclaims. Peter runs off somewhere with his chess club buddies, and Remus and I are left walking to the dorm
“Do you know where James is?” I ask Remus. Remus just shrugs as he grabs my hand and we keep walking towards the dorm. When I hear a crash and start to smell smoke, I turn around. The main building is engulfed in flames. Then it hits me.
“Oh my gosh, James is still in there!” I yell, as I let go of Remus’ hand and run towards the main building.
“SIRIUS! NO!” Remus yells, as he chases after me. When I get to the main building I start to look around in the flames and smoke. I see something gleaming on the ground. James’ glasses.
“Oh no… Oh no no no no no…” I say.
“MR. BLACK!” a voice shouts. I turn around. McGonagall.
“You know you're supposed to be in your dorm!” she says.
“No, you don't understand, it's James, he’s still here somewhere!” I exclaim, then she gasps, calls Slughorn, and they start to look around in the flames.
-James-
“REGULUS!” I shout, while I run through the kitchens, looking for him. I saw him run in here but never come out. As I’m running through the kitchens, I turn a corner and see him. He’s lying there unconscious on the ground with dirt all over him.
“Oh my gosh… Regulus,” I murmur. I hear a crash and look around. The building is falling apart.
“Regulus, wake up… please,” I whisper. He stirs a bit and opens his eyes slowly.
“James? What are you doing here?” he mumbles, but then passes out again.
“Shit shit shit,” I say, as I look around for a way out. My thoughts are interrupted by a cracking sound. I look up. The ceiling is going to fall on us soon if I don't get us out of here. I swear I hear Sirius’ voice, but I can't see anyone around us. My glasses fell off a while ago, but that's the least of my worries.
“MR. POTTER!” McGonagall shouts as she and Slughorn run over.
“Quick, you have to help me,” I stammer, “the ceiling’s about to fall and Regulus won’t wake up!” The professors look up to see the ceiling on the verge of falling.
“Okay, Horace, you need to take Mr. Black to the hospital wing, I’ll help Mr. Potter. And for gosh darn sake, HURRY!” McGonagall yells. She helps me out of the building as some people rush to put out the fire.
-Regulus-
I wake up. My throat feels drier than the Sahara Desert. I try to push myself up, but my wrist is throbbing. I look around ‘the hospital wing’ is the first thing I think of. I tried to remember what happened. Fire. Ceilings falling. James. I have to get out of this place. Make sure he's ok.
“Ah, Mr. Black,” Madame Pomfrey says, as she pulls open the curtain around my bed, “how are you feeling?”
“Fine, thanks,” I respond, “How long have I been asleep? Is James okay? What happened?” The questions all come spilling out.
“Woah there! One question at a time!” Pomfrey says with a chuckle.
“How long have I been out?”
“Tsk- 5 days, you've missed a lot sadly,”
“Alright- Is James okay?”
“Oh, James Potter? Yeah, he’s fine! He comes up to check on you every twelve hours or so. You two must be pretty good friends!”
“We aren't even- oh whatever- Can I just go now?”
“Eager to get out of here, are we Mr. Black? But yes, you can leave,” she says with a grin.
“Alright well, see you,”
“Bye! Come back anytime!” I walk out of the hospital wing and quickly head towards the dorms. As I walk there I look at my watch., 5 pm. Everyone is out of classes and dinner starts in an hour. Just enough time for me to get to the dorms and back. When I get to the dorm building, I walk inside and start walking up the stairs. When I get to the third floor, I turn down a hallway. When I get to the dorm I’m looking for, I knock on the door. After a few moments, the door unlocks, and Remus opens it.
“Hi,” I say, “is James there?”