For all who are concerned... the chickens are doing well. They say, "Bawk!"

Next came the Slytherin presentation. After much thought, the decision was made that the only ACCEPTABLE play for proper purebloods to do would be "The Wizard of Oz." After all, it at least had a wizard in it. Apparently, there were several Death Eater-y witches as well. The house elves were forced to play munchkins and were frighteningly good in their musical numbers.

Draco threw a fit and demanded they let him be the Great and Powerful Oz, despite the fact that he was told no several times as well as explained the basic premise behind the whole "man behind the curtain" thingy. Eventually, to avoid conflict, Snape played the wizard and Draco played a very sour-faced tin man. When he sang about his need for a heart, the entire room tittered. Of course, they laughed out right at Goyle's "If I only had a brain..." and Ron needed to leave the room when they saw Crabbe in his flying monkey costume.

Near the end of the show, Snape suddenly discovered that he was VERY allergic to his stage makeup. Despite the dramatic moment (Mildred Bulstrode had just melted into a puddle... it took her 8 minutes to die), he leapt off the stage, ran down the aisle and disappeared through the Great Hall doors. It was discovered later that he didn't stop moving until he hit the lake - the same lake that Gryffindors refused to approach for the next three months due to Snape-cooties.

The last group to perform was the Gryffindors. Initially, the problem was Harry. How in the world could they go on stage without their very own superstar? Yet, Harry refused. He didn't want to be the center of attention any more than necessary (and he had serious, vomit-inducing stage fright. Ew... that grossed me out).

He was talked into it by Ron, who had sudden dreams of costumed stardom (must also have been bitten by the dangerous drama bug). Ron showed Harry a picture of his mother, dressed in a hula skirt and coconut bra and dancing the hula. After the initial horror of seeing his mother in a hula skirt - and Ron did NOT help by saying she looked hot - Harry decided that there must be drama blood in his veins. He agreed to be in the play.

The Gryffs decided to let McGonagal chose what their show would be, based on the fact that they had to live with her for the next few years and it wouldn't do to make her mad. Who knew that McGonagal was a closet Shakespeare fan? They ended up doing exerpts from all of his plays. All of them. All. The boys all ended up in long tunics and tights, which they hated. Except for Neville... he found the tights to be very flattering. The girls, of course, all loved their beautiful, long dresses - once they were allowed to be in the play at all. In the spirit of Shakespeare, our lovely Minerva wanted an all male cast as dear "William" would have needed. That idea was gently but firmly vetoed.

The performances went well, although Ron matched Mildred Bulstrode for longest and most dramatic death scene. Ginny tripped and tore her dress. Neville came in before his cue... six times. Each time he waved and said, "Right-o." Hermione performed hers with a perfect British accent (that was a joke... get it?). Harry kept trying to fall on his sword and put an end to the long and drawn out show.

Finally, the curtain went down and the clapping died. The students hoped Dumbledore's bug had died with it. They were correct. The next day, the red curtain came down and things settled back into normal.

Until the notices went up - "Mandatory Synchronized Swimming Class..."