Summer months. Super Hot. Kimberly hogging the fan. I hate this so much. Too bad magic was forbidden outside of school; otherwise, I would use a freezing charm to turn my room into my private little ice cube.

I'm so sorry, where are my manners? My name is Malcolm Hargreaves, but most people call me Mal. It was actually my sister who came up with that one. She had gone on a trip to France with my dad one year, when I was young, and had found the word, 'bad' in the French-English dictionary. Mal. She thought it would be cute to give me the nickname.

Now, I hate the fact that she calls it cute, but I can't help but remark about how appropriate the name is. I have the worst luck of anyone in my family. Take my school year, which ended two months ago. I had to fight off one of my friends who was under the curse of one of the darkest and most powerful wizards alive. I mean, it could've been worse. I could've ended up dead. Still, why is it that I couldn't start off my tenure at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry normally?

Contrary to my poor luck, I had made three very close friends at Hogwarts. The first was Caitlyn Brookheart, who I sort of have a crush on. She's extremely smart and reliable. The cool thing is that she lives really close to me, so during the summer, she and I had met up quite often to hang out. Of course, I'm still extremely shy when talking to her, and she knows it.

The second is Grayson Gastan. He's living in Kent at the moment and had only come up once or twice over the summer. He and I are close friends and I feel like I could count on him for anything. He is a genius at Transfiguration and at Defence Against the Dark Arts, two subjects I have extreme trouble in.

The last of the friends that I had the pleasure of meeting last year is quite an interesting one. His name is Allen Rhodes and he tired to kill me last year. Well, it wasn't really him. It was Voldemort trying to kill me through him. It's all very confusing. He only dropped by in London once over the summer, and it was just a short visit. I often wonder what he does in the summer, although, I often wonder what he does in general, seeing as it was hard to know what he was up to even in the school year.

I lay on the sofa at home, wearing nothing but a t-shirt and thin shorts, fanning away at myself with a magazine while Kimberly was safely locked away in her room with the electric fan for comfort. Sometimes she makes me so angry that my hair turns a really dark combination of black and red.

Oh wait. I haven't told you about that yet.

You see, I'm what Dumbledore described as a metamorphmagus. To use a better term of words, I'm a shape shifter. Of course, I can't do too much right now. I barely have control over my hair, which changes colour with my emotion. It's not voluntary.

Last year, I received lessons from a Nymphadora Tonks to help better control my abilities, but I didn't get too far. It was actually interesting telling my parents about this ability. I decided to do it in person as opposed to writing a letter to them about it. Suffice it to say, they were both pretty shocked that I had this strange ability.

Anyways, where was I? Oh, right. I was laying on the sofa one day, when my Barn Owl, Brittle, swooped right in the open window and dropped a few letters on my lap. One was from Grayson, trying to show off his new Nimbus 2001 to me, a copy of the Daily Prophet and a letter from Hogwarts.

My heart jumped with joy at the last one! When I left the school, I felt bored. It was only then that I realized that I had had an amazing time there, and that I really missed being there. Perhaps it was the fact that these days, I didn't get to see my friends on a regular basis.

I opened it up to find a list of books and supplies that I needed for the year ahead. Immediately, I was confused by the list of books. Almost an entire series of books written by a man named Gilderoy Lockhart. Gilderoy Lockhart? Who the heck was that? I peeled myself off the hot, leather sofa and marched over to Kimberly's room. I went in without a knock, and immediately, I gush of cold air hit me in the face. It felt really nice.

"Hurry up and close the door!" she shouted, as I nervously closed it behind me, "What do you want?"

I forgot to mention. I'm a nervous wreck. Despite the fact that I might be described as 'adventurous' and 'intrepid' by some of my friends for my actions last year, but to be honest that's not who I am. I'm timid, quiet and shy. Everything that happened last year was just Grayson pushing me.

Of course, entering Kimberly's room was quite a challenge for my timid brain to handle. "I got my book list, do you know who Gilderoy Lockhart is?" I asked.

"Oh, him?" Yeah, he appeared on my list too. My friend, Natasha, thinks he's the hottest man alive, but I look at his face and I think he's a dweeb."

"Have you ever read one of his books before?"

"Natasha tried to get me to read one of them before, I can't remember which one, but I remember reading and periodically looking at the cover, thinking 'this doofus did all this crap?'"

I giggled at that. My relationship with my sister could be described as love-hate. Most of the time she insults me and laughs at my metamorphmagic abilities. Other times, we share a good laugh with each other.

She was going into her fourth year at Hogwarts, and I had discovered last year that she was highly desired by many of the guys at school, particularly in her year. On more than one occasion, someone from her year would try to get me to hook them up with my sister. It was embarrassing to say the least.

It was at that moment when our mother pushed the door open a bit and poked her head through it. "What are you two doing inside on a day like this?"

She noticed the letter and snatched it out of my hands. "It's my book list, mum."

"Looks like we'll have to take a trip to Diagon Alley tomorrow. Jeez, they have you reading Gilderoy Lockhart? Those books are nothing but lies. Mark my words, one day they'll find out he's been writing nothing but fiction!" she exclaimed.

"Hey! We can get all of Owen's new stuff for his first year!" Kimberly mentioned.

Oh yes. I forgot to mention. My younger brother was going to Hogwarts this year.