FILK: Can I Prevail In My Seekerness?

[Caius Marcius]

No: HPFGUIDX 97394

The latest from H.M.S. Dumbledore –  In the Gilbert and Sullivan 
original, this is nearly 10 minutes of continuous music – even with 
the generous amount of repetition that they always throw in, this is 
still the longest single filk I've ever written.

Can I Prevail In My Seekerness (PS/SS, Chap. 11)

To the tune of Can I Survive This Overbearing? – i.e., the Act I 
finale of Gilbert and Sullivan's H.M.S. Pinafore 

Text and MIDI at:

http://diamond.boisestate.edu/gas/pinafore/web_opera/pn12.html

Dedicated to Eric Oppen

THE SCENE: HARRY'S debut in Quidditch, not without both incident and 
revelation.

HARRY (Recit.) 	
Can I prevail in my Seekerness
Or fight off all this knee weakerness?
Yet I am now a Gryffindor  res'dent
Some say they would have me for pres'dent!

HARRY & GQT:
Teammates, ahoy!
It's Lee!  It's Lee!  

Aye, aye, my boy,
Emcee will he!
Now give us, pray,
Your play-by-play,
Hear what he'll say—
Emcee will he!

LEE JORDAN
The Quaffle goes to Angie J.
She passes it to our Ms. Spinnet
But Flint acts in a mangy way
Through dirty tricks they scheme to win it

SQT			 		  
Ah, cool one! Ah, cool one!

LEE JORDAN
She scores a goal!  Oho! Oho!
It's ten to oh, it's ten to oh

LEE JORDAN & GRYFFINDOR FANS:
Now they are hit! Wood makes the save!
Marcus responds with his worst blow
Ol' Slytherin's players are but knaves
But they shall not defeat us! No, no!

QUIRRELL.
Now he is hit, his plight is grave
Young Harry P. to woe will go
The Gryffindors may think him brave
He soon must fall – look out below!

LEE JORDAN & GRYFFINDOR FANS: (as Quirrel sings previous verse again)
Bludgers are blocked! Goal posts are near!
Now Johnson clears the field ahead!
Give our Bell lion-hearted cheers
This time we'll be the victors, instead!

HARRY	
My friends, loss of control I'm finding,
For high, my broom, my broom is climbing;
When I am gone, oh, prithee tell 
My team that, when I died, quite hard I fell!

LEE JORDAN & GQT: (turning away, weeping).
Of broom, alas, control he's losing,
For ah! He's headed for a bruising

HERMIONE: 
This deed past Snape we cannot put 
So let's give, me to him, a red hotfoot

LEE JORDAN & GQT:	
Rejoice, my teammates all
Our Harry now has fought it—
Not to the earth he'll fall!

HARRY (with the Snitch in his mouth)				
Ah! ennagame — Icautit!

LEE JORDAN & GQT:			
Ah! Ennagame — icautit?

WOOD (incredulously). 
Caught it?

FRED:
Caught it?

ALL:				
Yes, yes — ah, yes, he caught it!


LEE JORDAN & GQT:
Oh joy, the capture of the Snitch
We now shall praise in perfect pitch
That Slytherin has been bought low
Our record now is one and oh
Harry's won the contest!

The draught of triumph we'll drain full
As we delight McGonagall
This year the House Cup we'll win back
Let others cobb and haversack,
We know that we're the best

SNAPE
He thinks in skill he's overrich
Due to his winning in Quidditch 
He does not see his foulest foe
Is working hard to bring him low
And that makes me depressed

Although I find the lad quite dull
I've saved him from a broken skull
Through magic methods bright or black
I'll  battle off ev'ry attack
Upon that worthless pest

LEE JORDAN & GQT (as Snape repeats previous verse):
Oh joy, the capture of the Snitch
We now shall praise in perfect pitch
For Slytherin has been bought low
Our record now is one and oh
Harry's won the contest! 

(Exit SNAPE & QUIRRELL. As the cheering throng breaks up a bit, 
HERMIONE & RON share their suspicions of SNAPE) 

HERMIONE: This very day
RON: Did Sevvy Snape
HARRY: An evil jinx
HERMIONE: Place in your way
RON: Narrow escape
HARRY: Right from the brink
HERMIONE: A dog stands guard 
HARRY: He watches what?
RON: In Snapey steals 
HERMIONE: He gets bit hard 
HARRY: What is his plot?
RON: What is the deal? 
TRIO & GQT: This very day, etc.

HAGRID:
Forbear, ev'ry misgiving you must ban
He is a teacher – Dumble's right-hand man
MYOB you had all better damn well
Ask not of Fluffy nor of Nicky Flamel

TRIO:
Speak, Hagrid, speak				
You must tell!
Speak, Hagrid, speak
Who's Flamel?

HAGRID:
Now it was merely a slip of tongue - 
To know this stuff you're far too young
Of Nicky F. and of Dumbledore 
And Fluffy of the canine roar

(The  Trio skip merrrily & teasingly around HAGRID)

TRIO:
Fla, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, 
Fla, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, 
Fla, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, Flamel.
Fla, la, la, etc. 

TRIO:
Though it may have been a slip of tongue
A brand new clue upon us sprung
Of Nicky F. and of Dumbledore 
And Fluffy of the canine roar
 
HERMIONE & RON
For the kid with scar has a single goal
He shares with his two allies

HARRY
We've pledged that we'll detect what the thing is they protect
Keeping it safe from bad guys

TRIO (with GQT joining in, with appropriate pronoun changes)  
Our lips are stiff in their upper part 
We have become a team
In unity of will we experience a thrill 
Focusing like a laser beam

The books we'll read and the halls explore
We'll open gates and the dog make snore
We'll burn the vine and we'll snatch the key
And we'll solve each puzzle that they pose us logically

(The TRIO raise their wands a la The Three Musketeers)

We have our wits and we have our wands
We'll play the game though we start as pawns
We'll cross the board through a Knight's gambit
In other words, we're gonna do the whole damn bit!

(The Whole Damn Bit is repeated extensively by the TRIO and the GQT – 
Exeunt Omnes, triumphant & determined)

   -	CMC

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