The Golden Trio

July 29, 2000 | London, England

POV Oliver

Oliver had expected all sorts of things when he entered the building. Cameras, casting directors, nervous children, even more nervous parents. But he was surprised by how quiet the whole thing actually was.

He'd always imagined auditions being hectic. Staff rushing through corridors, candidates rehearsing their lines at the last minute. But walking into the waiting area to find the children and their parents sitting quietly in their seats wasn't what he'd expected.

Except for one child.

She was sitting with her mother a few metres away, holding a few sheets of paper. Her eyes kept going over the same lines while her right foot bobbed restlessly up and down.

Wait! I know that girl!

"Hey, Princess!" Oliver called across the waiting area with a broad grin. "You look nervous!" he added, laughing at her.

Emma's head shot up, and she immediately fixed her eyes on him. For a brief moment, she looked relieved. Then her expression darkened, and she put her index finger to her lips, signalling for him to be quiet.

Oliver walked over to the mother and daughter and greeted them.

"Hello, Olli. What are you doing here?" Mrs Luesby asked.

Oliver began to grin wickedly as he looked at Emma.

"I'm auditioning for Hermione," he told Emma's mother.

"You're what?" Emma blurted out, forgetting to keep her voice down.

"What's the matter, Princess? Afraid I'll steal your part?" he taunted.

"Hermione's a girl! You idiot!" she said, folding her arms across her chest.

"Oliver Bennett? Please follow me," said a woman with a clipboard who was apparently there to take him to his audition.

Oliver looked back at Emma and said, "Good luck, Emma. May the better Hermione win!"

Before Emma could reply, the woman with the clipboard cut in.

"Oliver, you're auditioning for the role of Harry Potter," she said, looking confused.

Emma, visibly relieved, started laughing while her mother wished Oliver good luck. He said goodbye to them and followed the blabbermouth through the door.

The room looked far more ordinary than he'd expected. A camera stood on a tripod a few metres away, with a mark on the floor in front of it. Several adults sat behind a table on the other side of the room.

He already knew two of them.

Joanne smiled at him as though the whole thing had already been decided. Chris, on the other hand, looked considerably less enthusiastic.

"Hello, Oliver," Chris greeted him. "Good to have you here."

"Good to be here?" he replied uncertainly.

Oliver thought the whole thing was a waste of time anyway. The crazy author was determined to have him for the role, and by now he strongly suspected he'd get it even if he deliberately gave a bad performance.

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"What should I do?" Oliver asked impatiently.

***

POV Chris

While one of the casting directors explained to Oliver how the audition would work, Chris leaned back a little and watched the boy.

He'd already seen him in the waiting area a few minutes earlier.

Emma Watson, one of the final candidates for Hermione, had been sitting with her mother a few metres away.

"Hey, Princess!" Oliver had called across the room. "You look nervous!"

Chris had only been half-watching them at first.

Nothing particularly remarkable had happened. Oliver had teased Emma, Emma had fired back, and within moments there'd been barely a trace of the nerves Chris had noticed in her earlier.

But that was exactly what had caught his attention.

Neither of them had been acting. They hadn't even known they were being watched.

They were simply two children who had obviously known each other for a long time.

"Chris?" Jo called, nudging him.

Chris turned his attention back to the boy in front of him.

Oliver was now standing on the mark in front of the camera, looking at him expectantly.

"Right. Let's start with something simple," Chris said, holding out a page to Oliver. "Harry tells Ron about a mirror he saw his parents in."

Oliver took the page and began to read.

Chris watched him closely. Unlike many of the children who'd stood here over the past few months, Oliver wasn't muttering the lines to himself or trying out facial expressions.

His eyes simply went over the page once, then over the second half again, a little more slowly.

"I'm ready!" he said, closing his eyes and lowering the page. Chris made sure the camera was running before signalling to someone to begin.

Chris watched Oliver intently. He wanted to finally understand what made Jo so certain they'd already found the right Harry.

But when Oliver opened his eyes, Chris involuntarily held his breath. The boy looked at the casting director who would be reading Ron's lines and smiled so excitedly that Chris wondered whether he'd even explained the scene properly.

"My parents were there, Ron. My mum was standing right behind me and waved at me. And my dad, too. I could see them both!"

Oliver had taken a small step closer as he spoke and was waiting for his scene partner's reaction. Chris had been expecting a sad scene, but the boy was talking about seeing his dead parents as though it were the best thing that had ever happened to him.

And damn it, for Harry, it probably was.

"I know they aren't really there." Oliver had stopped smiling and looked at his scene partner in bewilderment. "But I can see them. Were you even listening to me? My mum waved at me!"

Chris leaned forward a little. He recognised the reproachful tone from the waiting area, but with Emma, Oliver had been waiting for her to get worked up. Now he looked as though he were desperately trying to explain something to his friend, who simply didn't understand.

"You don't have to come," Oliver said at last. "I just wanted to show you. I thought you might like to see them too."

Jo drew in an audible breath, and Chris felt a slight pang in his own chest. Oliver made him feel as though Harry really had just seen his parents for the first time and wanted nothing more than to spend a few more minutes with them.

More than that, he made Chris feel angry with Ron.

Chris glanced at Jo and could tell from her expression that the scene had affected her too.

Wow. The kid is good.

***

POV Oliver

"I'm sorry, Rupert," Chris said, and Oliver stared at him in disbelief.

Wait! What? Rupert was supposed to play Ron!

After Oliver had been given the part, he'd stayed for the screen tests with the final candidates for Ron and Hermione. Rupert had been the first to be put in front of the camera with him. And apparently the first to be sent home, too.

Oliver watched him leave, confused.

A few minutes later, the door opened again and Jamie Fletcher came in. Oliver didn't know him, but Chris greeted the boy with a brief nod.

Red hair, freckles, about the right age.

Jamie greeted the people behind the table, then came to stand beside Oliver. They exchanged a quick "Hi" before Chris explained which scene they would be doing together.

This time, it took longer.

They ran through two different scenes, and Chris had them repeat certain parts before repositioning them in front of the camera. Oliver had no idea exactly what they were looking for, but at least no one seemed to want to send Jamie home after five minutes.

Eventually, the door opened again and Emma came in.

Oliver looked at her for a moment, let out an audible breath and lowered his head slightly.

"Please, no," he joked.

Emma stopped in the middle of the room. Apparently she'd heard him, because her expression soured immediately. But she said nothing and went over to Chris and the others first, before being sent over to Oliver and Jamie.

Oliver had worked out what they were doing by now. First, they'd put him in front of the camera with the individual Ron candidates, and now one of the final Hermiones was joining them. They wanted to see whether the three of them worked together.

Emma stood next to him and gave him another reproachful look.

"Took you long enough!" he teased her.

"Oh, be quiet!" she retorted.

"Kids, look at the camera!" Chris called.

Click.

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