Hey guys like the previous chappie? Hope so because this one's showing about how much a show-off Gilderoy Lockhart is, and what a big fake he is indeed. Just for a head's up, he's getting pretty sleazy and snobbish if I can make him that way, and I don't own Harry Potter. Read and review please.
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It was a cool sunny day down at Hogwarts, and it was also the day after young Harry Potter had escaped from the Dursley's with Fred, George, and Ron Weasley. Salena was just about to put on her travel cloak to pick up supplies in Diagon Alley when Naomi suddenly coiled around her left ankle and gave a puzzled look.
"Mistress, are you going with Severus Snape to Diagon Alley, or with Professor Dumbledore?" Salena giggled and looked back at the mirror to check her hair making sure it was neat so she wouldn't look like a muggle bum in the streets.
"Neither Naomi, I'm going on my own this time. Don't forget I am the daughter of one of the world's greatest wizards…so I should be able to handle myself for one day."
"Do be careful mistress, remember the last time you went out, the old man with the tall pointy hat and huge cauldron belly?"
"Luckily his wife was there to help; besides his glasses fell off when he bumped into me."
"Can't I go with you mistress? It's getting boring here with no students around to watch and stalk for trouble…please?"
"Only if you let me shrink you to the size of a coral snake and if you stay in my purse but I'll leave the front pocket open so you can see where we're going." Salena pulled out her wand and pointed it at the large snake before Naomi shrank into a normal size and crawled up her leg and into her purse.
"There, now we shall be on our way." With that Salena apparated both her and Naomi to Diagon Alley and they stopped off at Madame Malkin's dress shop to pick up some clothes Salena had left to be mended.
"Welcome back Ms. Sardinia, your robes have been mended just as you asked last week."
"Many thanks Madame Malkin, I have been eager to retrieve them…by the way do you know where I can find the book, "History of Wizards", it's very rare but I know there's still some being sold out here."
"Oh why yes, just yesterday there where ten copies delivered over at Flourish & Blotts Bookstore, but I suggest you hurry Ms. Sardinia; it's rather crowded because of that handsome man…"
"Gilderoy Lockhart, the wondrous wizard, I know Madame. Don't worry I'll be sure to dodge as many fans of his I can."
"You're not a fan miss? Almost every witch in London is a fan of that sweet man."
"No offense Madame but I've seen many wizards do things far better than he ever has, believe me. Thank you again Madame Malkin, see you soon."
"Good-bye dear, do be careful out there." Salena gave her a nod and turned to leave for Flourish & Blotts to get the book that contained her father's history and her own as well. She had been searching for it for months, but had always come up unsuccessful.
As she walked, or more like squeezed through the large group of women waiting in line for autographs by Gilderoy Lockhart, she walked over to the manager and asked him for the book.
"History of Wizards you say? Well you're in luck young miss; I have only two copies left in mint condition."
"How much sir?"
"Twenty galleons and five sickles…would you like to pay now or later?"
"Now would be nice thank you." The manager nodded and went to the back of the store while Salena reached in for her money when she felt Naomi try to slither out of her purse. Catching the snake's eyes she gave her a look of warning and Naomi coiled back inside as she was told. The manager soon came back and already had packaged the book in paper and string and Salena handed him the money before departing the store after squeezing through every woman there.
Just as she walked out she heard someone call out to her.
"Eleanor how nice to see you again!" turning to her left she spotted Lucius and Draco Malfoy just about to go in Madame Malkin's shop.
"Lucius, Draco, how have you boys been?" Lucius took Salena's hand in his and kissed her knuckles.
"We've been quite well Eleanor, what are you up to nowadays?"
"Oh I'm just picking up supplies for Severus's laboratory, he would have come too but unfortunately he has business in cleaning up his classroom thanks to Peeves for putting a muggle paint bomb in one of the potions he was brewing."
"Must be messy back there…I do hope it's not too much trouble for him to clean. So how have you been lately?"
"Quite well like yourselves, I'm also being promoted to Potions' Assistant so I can stick around in Severus's classes to make sure everyone passes whether they like it or not."
"Now that's what a real professor's all about. So you'll be giving the mudbloods and half bloods a hard time maybe?"
Salena's eyes twitched at that word, oh how she couldn't stand it when it came to pure blood Slytherins from the house she thought knew better.
"With all due respect Lucius, I'd appreciate it if you wouldn't say that word around me or your son around my students."
"What for, are you mud-muggle born or a friend of one?"
"Neither, I'm just a pureblood witch who can't stand listening to such harsh language about kids or people who don't like to be called nasty names."
"Very well then…well if you'll excuse us, we have to get back to shopping for Draco's school supplies. Nice seeing you again Eleanor."
"You too Lucius, see you at school Draco."
"Good-bye professor." Draco and Lucius walked into the dress shop and Salena turned on her heel and continued walking for about twenty minutes until she bumped into someone and made them drop their things they'd been holding, along with her. The woman had long curly red hair and had been holding four or five books and was just hunched over to pick them up when she caught the woman's eye.
"Mrs. Weasley? Is that you?"
"Yes, I am Molly Weasley, but who are you?"
"Oh sorry, I'm Eleanor ma'am, Eleanor Sardinia. I tutored your sons Ron, Fred, George, and Percy Weasley in some of their classes at Hogwarts. Though they know me better as Professor Sardinia, I know them all better by skills."
"Oh you're one of the new teachers; yes Ron and Harry have told us all about you. They say you're one of the fun teachers, giving them fun ways to learn more about their studies."
"Well yes, but it's not always about fun, I mean these kids need to learn if they're going to be prepared for what's out there. I recognized you because your kids look more like you and not Arthur, well not very much but still…"
"Well it's nice to meet a professor they actually like, Ron's always complaining about how hard most of his classes are, we don't know if he'll ever get used to doing such hard work, even if he passes his classes."
"He sounds like Draco Malfoy, though he's not spoiled like him."
"Oh we give our children all the love and support they need, and they never complain about it one bit."
"My parents did the same, although we didn't have much we still had family, and that's what we cared about the most. I grew up with an older brother, and my mother and father were excellent parents, did everything they could to raise us to be good people."
"Oh how lovely…well I should get back to the family, it was nice meeting you Professor Sardinia."
"You too Mrs. Weasley, I'll see your boys at school." Salena waved goodbye to the woman and left for the food market before going back to Hogwarts.
After three hours of shopping Salena looked into her purse and saw her sweet little Naomi nestled beneath the covers of her purse and decided not to disturb her until they returned. Apparating them both back to Hogwarts she stopped off at Snape's room to find him no where in sight. Shrugging slightly she just left the bag of ingredients and was about to walk out when she spotted a purple leather book standing out on one of the desks and saw it was a journal, probably from one of the students. Ignoring her curious thoughts she turned away and went back to her quarters until she saw the headmaster come her way, and he seemed calm but she caught a flicker of disappointment in his eyes.
"What's the problem Professor Dumbledore?"
"We've got a new Defense against the Dark Arts teacher."
"Oh that's good news…"
"No it's not…it's that man…"
"Do you mean who I think you mean?"
"I'm afraid so, Gilderoy Lockhart. He took the job just right after you left for Diagon Alley."
"Oh come on headmaster be realistic, we both know he's just a big show off trying to get everyone to love him."
"I know but he's all we have so we'll have to try. Besides his skills are legend after all…so maybe you could try and be patient with him."
"Alright I'll try, but if he causes any more trouble than he already is, then I'm gonna lose it."
"Fair enough, but do be patient alright?"
"Okay then Albus, I can do that."
Dumbledore nodded and walked away back to the direction he came from and Salena walked into her quarters to find her dear Naomi no where in sight. If that snake wasn't back by nightfall she would have to cut back her hours on keeping guard in the castle. Untying her robe she hung it up on the coat rack and pulled off her shoes to keep her feet relaxed until dinner began. She hadn't had any visions recently, so she figured it was time to rest a while before the next one came up. Salena laid down on her bed and right when she felt her back meet the sheets her eyes felt heavy; closing them a bit she drifted off to sleep.
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Inside the Slytherin common room: two hours later:
'What the bloody hell is taking that woman so long? She says we'll be late if I don't hurry, but the feast is twenty minutes and we'll be late if she doesn't hurry!' Snape walked up and knocked loudly on Salena's door, only to have the door whooshed out in front of his face with Salena's face inches from his, fully dressed in hair and make-up, and by the look on her face she hadn't been up for very long.
"What is it Severus?!" she snapped viciously almost like a snake.
"I-I was just coming to see if…you were ready…"
"Well I am so could you wait until I get my wand ready, besides I was looking for Naomi. She seems to have disappeared again…I'll check and see if she comes back after dinner later on. If not I'll kill her myself…"
"Very well, now let's go before the sorting begins." Snape grabbed her arm just as she was about to put her wand in her pocket and dragged her out to the door before she reached back and slapped his hand hard and off her forearm.
"Grab me like that again and next time the target will be your face understand?!" she spoke to him as if she were his mother, and he just gave a stiff nod before leaving for the Great Hall and she walked along behind him.
As the Sorting Ceremony began, Salena noticed two of her favorite students were missing. Ronald Weasley and Harry Potter weren't seated at the Gryffindor table with the others. Turning over towards Dumbledore, she leaned to him and whispered.
"Professor, it seems we have a few missing students…any idea where they might be?" Dumbledore looked at her and smirked what appeared to be an "I know exactly where they are" smirk. Looking away with a small smile Salena went back to eating her meal and soon the feast ended but she knew exactly where the boys might have been.
Two hours later:
The feast ended sooner than most people thought it would, Salena was still concerned about Harry and Ron; she planned to stay awake until she was sure they were safe, but she was so deep in thought that she didn't see where she was going and bumped into someone along the way.
"Sorry I didn't see you…" Salena stopped dead short when she saw she had ran into none other than that show-off, pompous, stuck-up, bragging, phony, book-writer Gilderoy Lockhart. He just smiled and took her hand in his and kissed it softly before speaking in a smooth voice.
"No need to apologize my dear lady, a man always enjoys a good moment when he comes across a beautiful woman. Might I ask your name miss?"
Salena hesitated slightly but relaxed once she figured this was part of his daily routine.
"Sardinia…Eleanor Sardinia."
"Eleanor eh? Such a pretty name…then again all the pretty girls have such lovely names, especially ones like you my dear?" Salena's eyebrows rose all the way to the top of her forehead at this man's alleged forwardness.
'Is this man for real?' she thought as she pulled her hand away and was about to turn when Lockhart spoke up again.
"So I guess I'll see you around professor?" rolling her eyes and turning back around with a small smile on her face she just gave a stiff nod and turned back to the Slytherin common room she passed on her way. She ran into her room and slammed herself down on the bed not realizing Naomi was already on it until a loud hiss echoed the room.
"Oh sorry Naomi, I didn't see you there." Naomi just shook herself up a bit before looking back at her mistress.
"It's alright, just watch where you're going next time! What's the rush for anyway?"
"Lockhart ran into me and I think he tried to put the moves on me."
"Are you talking about that book writer that had the bookstores jam packed with female fans and jealous men? I almost couldn't see the bookshelves with so many people."
"Better watch out because most of the students here are big fans of his, especially some of my Slytherins… poor girls."
"Why do you say that mistress?"
"Those girls have no idea what they're getting themselves into nowadays…can't they see he's just a show-off, idiotic moron with good hair?"
"That seems to be his only good quality Sally…other than that I can't see any others."
"Great, now I need you to keep any eye out around here, I sense something is…uneven right now, somewhere in the palace."
"I won't question your reasons Salena, but shouldn't you check a little further into this, just to be sure?"
"Yes I should but just do it so we can both be sure alright Naomi?"
"Yes mistress."
"Y'know you could try to bring down the hissing where the students can't hear it?"
Salena jumped at the sudden voice and turned around to see Snape leaning against the doorway. Taking a deep breath she pulled him into the room and closed the door before locking it.
"Damn you Severus don't sneak up on me like that! What're you doing here anyway?"
"Well for one thing I saw how quickly you ran back here after your little talk with Lockhart, and two some of the students have been complaining about hearing a deep hissing sound through the walls."
"How can they hear it, only I can hear a snake speak…?"
"Not you, I'm talking about Naomi here, some thought as they walked into the Great Hall they could hear a strange slithering noise. I told them it was probably one of the teacher's class pets gone missing again, and that it was harmless." Salena felt a flush coming to her face and shook it off before looking directly into two dark eyes glaring at hers.
"I appreciate the help Severus, now if you don't mind I'd like to go shower a bit and get a good night's sleep." Salena nodded and left for the showers leaving Snape behind and to prepare herself for bed since she needed a good rest. While she turned the water on and walked in to bathe, her head was filling with many thoughts about the strange slithering noise students were claiming to hear in the walls.
"Strange, Naomi knows better to keep her hissing level at a low, no way any student could here her. Guess I'll check it out in the morning after breakfast since I'm checking the corridors for any signs of pranks the Weasley twins might pull."
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Ten o'clock that morning:
Breakfast had just ended a little while ago, and now Salena was scouting the halls to make sure every student got to class on time. Little did she know though, a certain new teacher was watching her every move while talking to Severus Snape.
"Lockhart do you really intend on staring at her all day, or are you standing there to see if any of your fans here want an autograph?" Lockhart didn't seem to hear him, instead he walked in the direction Salena was in and pretended to just bump into her by mistake.
"Ow! That was my foot genius!" she snapped as his foot almost crushed her own, luckily she had on boots.
"Terribly sorry my dear Eleanor, I guess I was too easily distracted by your charming beauty…and I must say you are quite lovely."
"Flattering Lockhart…"
"Oh please call me Gilderoy."
"Fine…Gilderoy…you're very flattering but sadly I'm not one to swoon in front of a man as easily as most of your fans are."
"Oh a feisty one eh? Well I suppose I could try a little something different say…maybe in my quarters after lunch?"
"I appreciate the offer Gilderoy….but sadly I can't. I'm sorry but I have a lot on my mind at the moment." Lockhart just smiled widely and took Salena's hand and kissed the back of it.
"Very well, another time then?" Salena scoffed and gave off a small fake smile.
"We'll see…now if you'll excuse me, I have to get to class."
With that Salena walked back in the direction Snape had left a few minutes before after rolling her eyes and into the Potions Classroom. Now she had a job as not only a flight professor, but also Potions Assistant since she was just as good as Snape.
She had walked in just as Snape was about to begin the class full of first years who looked in her direction as she walked in.
"Sorry I'm late Professor Snape, I ran into a…friend in the hallway."
"Quite alright but please try to be on time more Professor Sardinia. This is my assistant Professor Sardinia; some of you will have her also as a flying coach later on during the day. Now to continue on our discussion…"
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Later on that afternoon:
"Severus do you always have to be so hard on the students just because some are muggle-born, and others are half-blood?"
"Its part of my teaching method, they need to learn how to master the fine art of Potion-Making by being able to handle whatever they can create even if they are under stress."
"Well right now we can't afford much impact on the first years, especially the muggle-borns. You know how badly most of my Slytherins treat them so badly…especially Draco and his friends."
"Your Slytherins; please Salena you're starting to sound like a worried mother. Almost reminds me of Molly Weasley…mother of the blood traitors…"
"Don't say that! The Weasleys are actually very good people from what I've seen, and just because Arthur Weasley is fascinated by Muggles doesn't mean he's a blood traitor."
"You honestly have to defend everyone that seems like a poor excuse for a wizard or witch don't you Salena?" Salena's leg answered that as she kicked Snape's leg from under the table they sat at that night for dinner. Snape winced slightly but nonetheless went back to his original calm manner.
"Professor McGonagall, where's Potter at this evening?" Salena asked leaning over to the Transfigurations teacher.
"He's serving detention tonight for a mishap in the muggle world…something about a flying car…" Salena just sighed and went back to eating her food before a strange noise came to her ears.
"I must…kill…I…must…kill…" it hissed lowly sounding like it came over head.
"What?"
"Something the matter Elly?" McGonagall asked giving Salena a puzzled look. Salena didn't answer; she was too busy caught up in a vision flowing through her head now.
She saw herself in a corridor not too far away from the Great Hall, and looked around until she saw water on the floor, and Mrs. Norris, Filch's cat, licking up some of the water, and the same hissing noise came from behind her. Not daring to move from her spot she saw a large shadow over Mrs. Norris, who stood still soon after hissing at the shadow, and fell over petrified. Suddenly the shadow disappeared and Salena turned around to see nothing there but a trail of words written in blood.
The words said, "The chamber of secrets has been opened, enemies of the heir beware."
"The heir? Oh no…it can't be…the heir of Slytherin…" just then the scene changed and she saw a first-year Gryffindor boy take a picture and fall over just like Mrs. Norris, the scene changed again and another student along with a ghost who got full-blasted. Then she saw a girl, it was Hermione Granger, and she saw her fall over with a mirror in her hands that slipped from her fingers after she hit the floor. It changed again, and this showed a room with snakes' heads on both sides, mouths wide open, and a statue of an old man fused into the wall with water surrounding parts of it.
The vision soon vanished and Salena came back to see Snape, Dumbledore, and McGonagall all staring at her as if she'd just been injured or something.
"Sorry, just dazed out for a second there professors." She stated calmly and went back to eating her food and later on filed out of the Great Hall with the other teachers and students until they all suddenly stopped at seeing Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger standing in front of an upside down Mrs. Norris on the torch handle, along with bloody words on the walls just like in Salena's vision.
"Severus, it's just like in my vision…I saw this happen…back in the Great Hall." She whispered to him and he leaned over to her.
"You saw this…back there…did you see anything else?"
"Yes, about four more students and a ghost being attacked like this."
"Alright, go back to the headmaster's office and wait there until we sort this out okay?"
"Alright, but don't be long." Salena walked off and left to wait by the gargoyle guarding the way to the headmaster's office. The password had probably been changed again, so she decided to wait until they came to talk.
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Hey sorry about the long wait my viewers…once again the other might be longer so it'll take a little longer to upload okay? If you have any ideas for the story please let me know and maybe I'll put it in there. See ya next time everyone!