Chapter 11:

Professor McGonagall's classes were always hard work, but today was especially difficult. They were given a beetle each to turn into a button and Skylar picked up her beetle annoyed.

"Why can't we turn a button into a beetle instead?" she questioned as Ron snickered at her.

Skylar had a knack for transfiguring objects without a wand, her issue was, they always seemed to transform into beetles, whether she wanted them too or not.

"That's not the assignment." Hermione said to her

"Would make me feel better." Skylar mumbled before she put her beetle down and pulled out her wand.

"What would happen if you tired to transfigure a beetle?" Harry asked her "Would you get more beetles?" he was grinning and she sent him a scowl.

"I'll make you a bet that I can transfigure it into a button before you." she responded. Harry looked annoyed this time, Skylar had a knack for wand work.

"What would be the point? You'd win." Ron grumbled.

Harry and Skylar turned to him as he tried to transfigure his beetle. Unfortunately for Ron, when he'd crashed the car into the Whomping Willow, he's snapped his wand, causing it to hang by only a few splinters. He had tried to remedy this by patching it up with borrowed spellotape, but it seemed to be damaged beyond repair. It kept crackling and sparking at odd moments, and every time Ron tried to transfigure his beetle it engulfed him in thick grey smoke that smelled of rotten eggs. Unable to see what he was doing, Ron accidentally squashed his beetle with his elbow and had to ask for a new one. Professor McGonagall wasn't pleased.

"Wands are kinda hard to mend once broken, a lot of the time it's impossible to fix and you have to get a new one." Skylar admitted as the bell rang. "That's why they snap wands when you get expelled or arrested, it's useless afterwards." Everyone was filing out of the classroom except her, Harry and Ron, who was whacking his wand furiously on the desk.

"Stupid — useless — thing —"

"Write home for another one," Harry suggested as the wand let off a volley of bangs like a firecracker.

"Oh, yeah, and get another Howler back," said Ron, stuffing the now hissing wand into his bag. " 'It's your own fault your wand got snapped —' "

"I think one Howler's enough." Skylar mumbled "I can write to my parents if you'd like, they can send you a new one to at least get you through the year?" she offered

"Are you kidding! You mum would tell mine!" Ron said, his eyes wide as they left the transfiguration room and moved to lunch.

"No she wouldn't, not if I explained the issue to her." Skylar believed "Or we could ask my dad, he'll have loved the story about you guys flying to Hogwarts." she rolled her eyes.

"I can't ask your parents for a wand, they can't buy that for me." Ron believed

"They bought the twins their's." Skylar shrugged and Ron looked surprised

"They what?"

"Your parents had to pay for two wands and my mum took it upon herself to pay for them herself." she shrugged "Didn't you know that?"

Ron shook his head as they entered the Great Hall to find Hermione waiting for them. She proudly showed them a handful of perfect coat buttons she had produced in Transfiguration, though this seemed to just worsen Ron's mood.

"What've we got this afternoon?" said Harry, hastily changing the subject.

"Defence Against the Dark Arts," said Hermione at once.

"Why," demanded Ron, seizing her schedule, "have you outlined all Lockhart's lessons in little hearts?"

Hermione snatched the schedule back, blushing furiously. Ron turned to Skylar who simply shrugged.

"You haven't outlined them with hearts too have you?" he asked

"No." she shrugged but he looked at her suspiciously all the same.

"Sky!"

The four looked up as Leon came trotting toward them, a grin on his face.

"Hey Leo." Skylar grinned as he sat beside her. "How was your first class?"

"I got lost on my way there with Ginny." he was grinning despite this.

"That's a good thing?" Ron questioned and Skylar nudged him.

"Who'd you have?"

"Transfiguration with McGonagall." he grinned "We turned matches into needles."

"I remember that." Skylar smiled

"Yeah you turned your needle into beetles." Ron said, smirking slightly and Skylar looked annoyed.

"Thanks Ron." she muttered

"I couldn't do it." Leo sighed "But transfiguration seems fun, though Professor McGonagall has a bit of a scary side to her."

"She's fine as long as you don't get on her bad side." Skylar chuckled "What you got next?"

"Potions."

"Ouch." Harry, Ron and Skylar all said

"Just don't annoy Snape and your fine, read the instructions really carefully when making a potion." she warned and Leo nodded.

"I'm gonna go read some of the textbook before I get there." he mumbled looking worried and taking a sandwich from the table he got up and left the Great Hall.

"Poor boy." Ron said and Skylar nodded

"Hopefully Snape doesn't hate him like he does Nick." she muttered.

They finished lunch and went outside into the overcast courtyard. Hermione sat down on a stone step and buried her nose in Voyages with Vampires again. Skylar pulled out a piece of parchment and a quill to write a letter to her parents while Harry and Ron stood talking about Quidditch. After a moment they were silent and Skylar looked up to see Harry looking at a very small first year with mousy-hair. He was staring at Harry as though transfixed and didn't look away even when Harry noticed him. He was clutching a weird object in his hand which Skylar thought looked a bit like a camera but was also, not a camera she'd ever seen before. When Harry tuned to him, he went bright red, but opened his mouth to speak instead of run.

"All right, Harry? I'm — I'm Colin Creevey," he said breathlessly, taking a tentative step forward. "I'm in Gryffindor, too. D'you think — would it be all right if — can I have a picture?" he said, raising the camera hopefully.

"A picture?" Harry repeated blankly.

"So I can prove I've met you," said Colin Creevey eagerly, edging further forward. "I know all about you. Everyone's told me. About how you survived when You-Know-Who tried to kill you and how he disappeared and everything and how you've still got a lightning scar on your forehead" (his eyes raked Harry's hairline) "and a boy in my dormitory said if I develop the film in the right potion, the pictures'll move." Colin drew a great shuddering breath of excitement and said, "It's amazing here, isn't it? I never knew all the odd stuff I could do was magic till I got the letter from Hogwarts. My dad's a milkman, he couldn't believe it either. So I'm taking loads of pictures to send home to him. And it'd be really good if I had one of you" — he looked imploringly at Harry — "maybe your friend could take it and I could stand next to you? And then, could you sign it?"

"Signed photos? You're giving out signed photos, Potter?"

Loud and scathing, Draco Malfoy's voice echoed around the courtyard. He had stopped right behind Colin, flanked, as he always was at Hogwarts, by his large and thuggish cronies, Crabbe and Goyle.

"Everyone line up!" Malfoy roared to the crowd. "Harry Potter's giving out signed photos!"

"Come on Draco, really?" Skylar sighed as she shook her head, Draco glanced at her and she turned back to her parchment, ignoring the boy. He seemed unhappy by this.

"No, I'm not," said Harry angrily, his fists clenching. "Shut up, Malfoy."

"You're just jealous," piped up Colin, whose entire body was about as thick as Crabbe's neck.

"Jealous?" said Malfoy, who didn't need to shout anymore: Half the courtyard was listening in. "Of what? I don't want a foul scar right across my head, thanks. I don't think getting your head cut open makes you that special, myself."

Crabbe and Goyle were sniggering stupidly.

"Is that what you really think?" Skylar asked smirking slightly

"Stop it Rosenwald."

"'Rosenwald'? That's a first." she smiled "But I guess you're right, you're not jealous Harry has a scar and you don't, you're just jealous he has something you don't."

"Don't be ridiculous." Draco said as his cheeks tinged slightly pink.

"Ridiculous am I?" she asked with a smug look on her face.

"Doesn't mummy ever tell you it's rude to earsdrop." Malfoy said in a way to get the conversation off of what he thought. Skylar's expression however fell and she pursed her lips.

"She does, right next to telling me how Malfoys are lazy." she added "A pile of gold they're slowly eating away at, thinking they're too good to work and actually do something to help society, maybe you should get a signed photo Draco, frame it and then in a few years when you've eaten through that small fortune you'll have something that can make more." she offered as Crabbe and Goyle had stopped laughing and were looking at her menacingly as they rubbed their knuckles.

"What's all this, what's all this?" they turned as Gilderoy Lockhart was striding toward them, his turquoise robes swirling behind him. "Who's giving out signed photos?"

Harry started to speak but he was cut short as Lockhart flung an arm around his shoulders and thundered jovially, "Shouldn't have asked! We meet again, Harry!"

Draco took Lockhart's appearance as an opportunity to escape as he slid back into the crowd, scowling at Skylar who watched him vanish.

"Come on then, Mr. Creevey," said Lockhart, beaming at Colin. "A double portrait, can't do better than that, and we'll both sign it for you."

Colin fumbled for his camera and took the picture as the bell rang behind them, signalling the start of afternoon classes.

"Off you go, move along there," Lockhart called to the crowd, and he set off back to the castle with Harry pinned to him. Skylar, Hermione and Ron watched as Lockhart walked him off and into the castle.

"You really have a way to get rid of Malfoy." Ron said to Skylar as Hermione put Voyaging with Vampires away and the three moved off for a side door to follow Harry and Lockhart.

"It helps when you know what he's thinking." she added with a shrug.

They moved down a corridor lined with students and up a staircase before coming to the Defence Against the Dark Arts Classroom. Harry was already inside and at a table at the back, a stack of books in front of his face as he hid himself behind them. Skylar, Ron and Hermione moved over to sit with him as Skylar noticed it was Gilderoy Lockhart's books he'd stacked before him.

"You could've fried an egg on your face," said Ron. "You'd better hope Creevey doesn't meet Ginny, or they'll be starting a Harry Potter fan club."

"Shut up," snapped Harry, Ron sent a smirk at Skylar and she hit his shoulder at seeing Harry's embarrassed face.

When the whole class was seated, Lockhart cleared his throat loudly and silence fell. He reached forward, picked up Neville Longbottom's copy of Travels with Trolls, and held it up to show his own, winking portrait on the front.

"Me," he said, pointing at it and winking as well. "Gilderoy Lockhart, Order of Merlin, Third Class, Honorary Member of the Dark Force Defence League, and five-time winner of Witch Weekly's Most-Charming-Smile Award — but I don't talk about that. I didn't get rid of the Bandon Banshee by smiling at her!"

He waited for them to laugh; a few people smiled weakly.

"I see you've all bought a complete set of my books — well done. I thought we'd start today with a little quiz. Nothing to worry about — just to check how well you've read them, how much you've taken in —"

When he had handed out the test papers he returned to the front of the class and said, "You have thirty minutes — start — now!"

Skylar looked at the paper and read the first question:

What is Gilderoy Lockhart's favourite colour?

Her forehead furrowed and Skylar continued on:

What is Gilderoy Lockhart's secret ambition?

What, in your opinion, is Gilderoy Lockhart's greatest achievement to date?

Reading through the questions she recognised that all the questions were about Lockhart, not a single one was about any of the dark arts or defensive magic. There were fifty-four questions in total about the man at the front of the class.

Half an hour later, Lockhart collected the papers and rifled through them in front of the class.

"Tut, tut — hardly any of you remembered that my favourite colour is lilac. I say so in Year with the Yeti. And a few of you need to read Wanderings with Werewolves more carefully — I clearly state in chapter twelve that my ideal birthday gift would be harmony between all magic and non-magic peoples — though I wouldn't say no to a large bottle of Ogden's Old Firewhisky!"

He gave them another roguish wink. Ron was now staring at Lockhart with an expression of disbelief on his face; Seamus Finnigan and Dean Thomas, who were sitting in front, were shaking with silent laughter. Hermione, on the other hand, was listening to Lockhart with rapt attention and gave a start when he mentioned her name.

"… but Miss Hermione Granger knew my secret ambition is to rid the world of evil and market my own range of hair-care potions — good girl! In fact" — he flipped her paper over — "full marks! Where is Miss Hermione Granger?"

Hermione raised a trembling hand.

"Excellent!" beamed Lockhart. "Quite excellent! Take ten points for Gryffindor! And so — to business —"

Skylar and Harry shared a look as Lockhart bent down behind his desk and lifted a large, covered cage onto it.

"Now — be warned! It is my job to arm you against the foulest creatures known to wizardkind! You may find yourselves facing your worst fears in this room. Know only that no harm can befall you whilst I am here. All I ask is that you remain calm."

Skylar watched the teacher as Harry leaned around his pile of books for a better look at the cage. Lockhart placed a hand on the cover. Dean and Seamus had stopped laughing now. Neville was cowering in his front row seat.

"I must ask you not to scream," said Lockhart in a low voice. "It might provoke them."

As the whole class held its breath, Lockhart whipped off the cover.

"Yes," he said dramatically. "Freshly caught Cornish pixies."

Seamus Finnigan couldn't control himself. He let out a snort of laughter that even Lockhart couldn't mistake for a scream of terror. Skylar had clapped her hand over her mouth and moved to snicker behind Harry's pile of books herself.

"Yes?" He smiled at Seamus.

"Well, they're not — they're not very — dangerous, are they?" Seamus choked.

"Don't be so sure!" said Lockhart, waggling a finger annoyingly at Seamus. "Devilish tricky little blighters they can be!"

The pixies were electric blue and about eight inches high, with pointed faces and voices so shrill it was like listening to a lot of budgies arguing. The moment the cover had been removed, they had started jabbering and rocketing around, rattling the bars and making bizarre faces at the people nearest them.

"Right, then," Lockhart said loudly. "Let's see what you make of them!" And he opened the cage.

It was pandemonium and Skylar dived for her desk, crouching herself below it.

The pixies shot in every direction like rockets. Two of them seized Neville by the ears and lifted him into the air. Several shot straight through the window, showering the back row with broken glass. The rest proceeded to wreck the classroom more effectively than a rampaging rhino. They grabbed ink bottles and sprayed the class with them, shredded books and papers, tore pictures from the walls, up-ended the waste basket, grabbed bags and books and threw them out of the smashed window; within minutes, half the class had joined Skylar and were sheltering under desks while Neville was swinging from the iron chandelier in the ceiling.

"Come on now — round them up, round them up, they're only pixies," Lockhart shouted.

He rolled up his sleeves, brandished his wand, and bellowed, "Peskipiksi Pesternomi!"

It had absolutely no effect; one of the pixies seized his wand and threw it out of the window, too. Lockhart gulped and dived under his own desk, narrowly avoiding being squashed by Neville, who fell a second later as the chandelier gave way.

The bell rang and there was a mad rush toward the exit. In the relative calm that followed, Lockhart straightened up, caught sight of Harry, Skylar, Ron, and Hermione, who were almost at the door, and said, "Well, I'll ask you four to just nip the rest of them back into their cage." He swept past them and shut the door quickly behind him.

Skylar gapped at their teachers antics, her mouth hanging open and her eyes wide.

"Can you believe him?" roared Ron as one of the remaining pixies bit him painfully on the ear.

"He just wants to give us some hands-on experience," said Hermione, immobilising two pixies at once with a clever Freezing Charm and stuffing them back into their cage. "Come on Sky." Skylar shot the girl an annoyed look before she crossed her arms stubbornly. Regardless she turned her eyes onto one of the pixies and it flew itself right into the cage, crashing into the opposite bars.

"Hands on?" said Harry, who was trying to grab a pixie dancing out of reach with its tongue out. "Hermione, he didn't have a clue what he was doing —"

"Rubbish," said Hermione. "You've read his books — look at all those amazing things he's done —"

"He says he's done," Ron muttered.