Hey guys!
Here is this week's chapter, we're finally starting second year. I want to thank everyone who has been sending their reviews, I really appreciate them. I want to thank Soraslove who has become my beta reader recently, so you will see less grammatical and ortographical mistakes. Plus, I am going to checkevery chapter and make corrections in the redaction so in the next few weeks I'll be uploading them.
I'd like to add that in this chapter I use the idea of Seel'vor Quantum Leap's Lockhart's quiz. I used a few questions but I changed the answers. The scene is not exactly the same, just based on. I love this story so I can't avoid making some references from it in my story. If you haven't read it, please do, is funny, interesting and even thoug is unfinished, is really good.
I have read a few suggestions on how to deal with Lockhart and other characters. I agree with some, not so much with others but I have read every single review and I appreciate the comments.
Now, without further addings on my part, my new chapter of Pack of Wolves.
DISCLAIMER: I don't own the Harry Potter Universe or its characters, only this particular vision of the story and the characters you don't recognize.
"The fuck?!" a grumbling Harry exclaimed as stood up after he felt the portal to the Platform Nine and Three-Quarters solidify itself smashing him and making him fall to the ground.
Harry palmed the wall and he turned to see Sirius and Amelia looking at him and the entrance curiously.
"Has this ever happened before?" Harry asked to his parents.
"Not that I'm aware of" Amelia answered him honestly. Sirius palmed the entrance as well and he fell through it realizing that it was open again. Harry followed him and he found that the platform was closed again.
"Looks like it closes when it feels your signature" Amelia said quietly, while she pondered the reason that this could happen.
Harry nodded in agreement. "So what can I do to cross over?" Harry asked to his mother as he thanked Hermione mentally for insisting in going early to have a good compartment on the train.
Amelia smiled, "We'll have to apparate" she said simply, "Hold on tight, this might feel unpleasant, Harry" she instructed as she held his shoulder and he held her waist. A moment and a sick feeling later, Harry and Amelia were standing inside the platform.
Harry felt like he was about to throw up but he could control himself.
"No matter how many times I have experienced it, I hate Side-Along Apparition" he said to no one in particular.
"Well, you only get to experience it until you're seventeen" Sirius said mockingly as he held Harry's trolley with his things.
Harry glared at him but decided ignore and instead turned to Amelia, "Thanks for the help mum" he told her happily as he gave her a hug.
"You're welcome Harry, now get your things and get going, you need to find the others" she dismissed him.
Harry grinned and he took his stuff as he headed to the train.
"No hugs for me?!" Harry heard Sirius shout at him from behind him, Harry turned around and shouted back, "No! That was for your cheek! See you on December!" And with that he entered the train.
He found Hermione, Susan and Dora sitting on the very last compartment of the train.
"What took you so long?" Dora asked annoyed.
Harry sighed, "I couldn't pass the barrier to enter the platform, for some reason, every time I tried to get past it, it wouldn't let me through. Sirius could pass through so mum apparated me to the other side of the barrier" he explained, still confused for the reason of this to happen.
"Do you think this may be connected to the warning Dobby gave me a few days ago?" he asked Hermione.
Hermione didn't knew what to think, this was really weird, and they were used to weirdness, even for magical standards so she answered honestly.
"I don't know Harry, if this were the second or third time it happened, then I would say yes, however, since it's the first time something like this has ever happened in general, to you or otherwise….I'm not sure " she told her boyfriend.
Dora was thinking about Harry's situation and about the warning the stray house-elf had given him, she then corrected herself, 'the Malfoy's house-elf'. She knew that this was no idle threat, for it would be really dangerous if a house-elf decided to act outside his master's orders.
Susan was on the same train of thought as her 'sister-in-law' and her cousin. She believed that this could be an isolated incident but felt the warning was true for events to come.
They broke out of their musings by the entry of Daphne and Tracey.
"Hey girls! Daphne! Tracey!" the group greeted them as they entered the compartment. Dora enlarged it so they could all fit and left to look for her friends, Susan going with her.
"So, how are you two?" Tracey asked concerned for her two Gryffindor friends.
Harry and Hermione smiled at each other, "We're doing okay, seems that the time we spend away served us to finally come to grips with everything that happened in Diagon Alley" Hermione answered as she held Harry's hand.
"Yeah, I missed her greatly these past two weeks, the mirrors were not enough. I got to learn how much she makes me happy and how much I need her" Harry said happily.
Hermione rested her head on his shoulder, "Me too, it was really hard to be apart from him, so now I'm happy that we will be together for the next three and half months at the very least" she said merrily.
Daphne smiled warmly at her friends. She had the nickname of 'Ice Queen', given to her by her housemates from her stoic demeanor; however, this was really far from the truth. Harry and company had learnt that this was just a mask. When she was with Harry, Hermione or Tracey, she revealed her true self, a caring, warm, gentle, kind and affective motherly type. In front of the rest of the world, including Neville and the Twins; she was the cold ice Queen.
After some small talk, Neville and the Twins arrived to the compartment and sat with them. Dora and Susan returned a little bit later and sat with them too.
They were talking about unimportant things until Daphne spoke seriously, "So guys, what are you going to do with Lockhart?" she asked to Harry and the Twins.
The three pranksters feigned hurt, "What would make you think we would do something at all to our handsome, courageous and manly DADA professor?" Harry asked.
The girls all paled and turned a little bit green, "courageous and manly? Really Harry?" Dora asked sickened at the thought.
Harry and the Twins laughed hard at the girl's reaction to the man they had been fawning over a couple of weeks ago. Once they calmed down Harry spoke, "I don't know about the Twins but I will definitely make his life hell in Hogwarts" Harry said ferociously, his eyes with a glint of mischief that only rivaled by the time he made the prank on the Head's Table and the living food attack.
Hermione this time made no effort in reprimand him. Lockhart had hurt him and her greatly and she had found put that she was probably felt more vengeful than her boyfriend as she had thought of hurting the man everyday. However she hadn't said a word, first she wanted to know what Harry was going to do to the fraud, if it wasn't enough, she would act by tearing the man limb by limb.
"What are you going to do to him Harry?" asked Fred curious, so he and his brother wouldn't repeat the prank.
Harry smirked, "My plan is going to harass him with pranks if not daily, then weekly. I also want him to tell the truth of his books and I want to humiliate him some way as payback for what he did to Hermione and me" he said evilly.
Hermione pouted a little bit, "No pain?" she asked as if she was asking if there was no juice on the table.
All her friends bar Harry looked at her with astonishment. "Who are you and what have you done with Hermione Granger?" asked an amused Daphne.
"What?!" complained Hermione, "Is it wrong to want to hurt the piece of filth that hurt my boyfriend and myself to the point that he broke his knuckles in anger and sadness and made me feel I was going to lose the person I love the most?" she asked her friends to which they all shook their heads.
"Na, we don't think it's wrong Hermione, it just felt a little bit out of character coming from you" Susan answered to her 'sister-in-law'.
Harry smirked, "Don't worry hon, he'll suffer enough with what I have planned to do with him" he said as he and Dora shared knowing looks.
Dora looked at Harry and she knew that Harry had a really cruel side of him and she knew that as well as Moony and Padfoot who had thought him some really nasty pranks. Like the one he used on the Slytherins last year to make them soil their pants.
'Damn, Lockhart will have it bad, really bad' she thought to herself with no pity for the man who had dared to mess with her family.
Any further comment was interrupted by the appearance of one Draco Malfoy and his goons.
"Look who we have here, Scarhead, the Double Face, the Zombie, the Squib, the Ice Queen and her servant, the Mudblood and the blood traitors, quite the freak show you have grouped Potter" the blonde Slytherin git said with a sneer, his two goons smirking at the 'freaks' like their 'boss' said.
Harry smiled at him, "Look who we have here, Albino Prick and his security trolls Crap and Soil" Harry said, imitating the same sneer his former cousin had used on them.
"How dare you?! My father will hear about this!" Draco exclaimed angrily at the Boy-Who-lived remarks.
"Your father has no power now, Malfoy, he lost a great part of his fortune when he got divorced so he can't do shit" Harry said coldly to the little prick.
Draco began to tear up, he had never been spoken back too and the lack of fortune had indeed made life harder for him.
"This is all your fault Potter!" Draco exclaimed as he tried to grab his wand only to receive the end of Harry's fist.
Harry looked at Draco whimpering on the floor, "Their divorce was your father's fault, had he cared for your mother and actually loved her she wouldn't have accepted the divorce, so don't go blaming me for things I had no hand in" Harry said sternly.
Draco glared at him as he stood up, their foreheads almost touching, "'I'll get you for this Potter, just wait and see" the Scion of House Malfoy warned his nemesis and source of disgrace.
"Leave Malfoy and take Twiddle Dim and Twiddle Dum with you" Harry ordered as he closed the door of the compartment, locking the door with a Colloportus spell so no one could open the door from outside.
He sat heavily on his seat; his friends had stayed quiet during the whole encounter. Hermione snuggled against him burring her head on his chest, "You okay?" she asked simply.
Harry took a few seconds to answer, "Yeah, he just came in a bad moment and took the brunt of it" Harry said a little bit guilty for rubbing on Draco's nose his parent's divorce.
In an attempt to lighten the mood, George mused out loud, "Do you have any idea who Malfoy called Double Face and Zombie, whatever that is?"
Everyone sniggered at the question, glad that Weasley Twin number one had broken the grim atmosphere.
"I think that Double Face is supposed to be Dora" said Neville with a smirk.
The Metamorphmagus look offended, "That's it? Double Face? I believe he ought to know I have more than one face" she said indignant making everyone smile.
Hermione spoke next, "I believe he referred Susan as Zombie" she said, making her, Tracey, Dora and Harry chuckle.
The other students were confused, "What's so funny?" asked Daphne sternly, obviously mad at not knowing what they were talking about.
Dora was the one who answered, "Zombie is a living corpse, the muggle equivalent of an Inferi… although that's not right, a zombie is a corpse, in Sue's case she should be Skeleton"
Susan glared at her cousin for insinuating she was to be called Skeleton.
Harry smiled, "You know, that fits, after all she owns and used to live in the Ossuary" Harry said with a grin on his Face only to receive a punch on his shoulder from his sister.
"Hey! That hurt! Don't you realize your knuckles are 'bony' and they hurt?!" Harry said sniggering only to receive yet another punch.
"Okay, okay, I give up" he said as he lifted his hands in a surrendering way. Hermione smirked at him.
Fred, always right on business, spoke again, "Okay, Harry, you need to let us know what pranks you're going to use on the Girly Man" he asked seriously.
Harry smiled, "Alright, I'll tell you …"
-oOo-
As the students got down from the train, they all headed to the carriages that were going to take them to school.
Dora, Daphne and the Twins separated and went to their friends. As Daphne, Tracey, Neville and Hermione hopped on one of them, Harry stood frozen in admiration at the creatures that were pulling the cart.
"I never thought I'd got to see a theastral" Harry said as he recognized the winged skeleton horses.
Hermione looked at him curious, "What are you talking about Harry?" she asked.
Harry smiled, "I believe you can add something to 'Hogwarts; a History', the carriages are moved by horse-like creatures called theastrals, they are believed to be a bad augury since only people who had seen death can see them" Harry explained to his girlfriend as he caressed the horse's head.
Hermione was not convinced so she hopped down. She got closer to the place Harry was waving his head and she gingerly moved her hand to the spot.
She gasped as she felt the smooth texture of the theastral's skin, even while to Harry looked like rugged paper.
"T-This is incredible!" she said out of breath. Neville and the Slytherin Duo copied their friend's movements and gasped as well as they felt the head of the creature.
"Gran is not going to believe this" he said excitedly. The girls nodded in agreement.
After a few minutes of petting the animal, the five got on the carriage and they headed towards their school.
The Great Hall was filled with students happy to see their friends and excited for the new school year. Many girls were excited to see the famous Gilderoy Lockhart sitting in the Head Table between McGonagall and Snape, both looking exasperated because of the celebrity's rambling.
Harry locked his gazed with McGonagall and he could feel her stare on him. He somehow felt that she was sad. He gave his professor a warm smile. Minerva nervously returned it as she left the Hall to get the first years.
The sorting passed without anything important other than the few kids that joined Gryffindor including the Twin's younger sister, who was received warmly by them, and another kid named Colin Creevey, who Harry felt some wariness toward since the boy kept staring at him wide eyed, the same way Ginny did.
"Looks like you have two fans on the House" Neville said sniggering, much to his cousin's annoyance, "Shut up Babyface" Harry spat back to his cousin and best male friend (His best friend overall was Hermione and his best female friend was Dora).
Neville mock glared at him and threw him a piece of broccoli that hit right on his eye. Harry retaliate by sending back a few potato slices that flew like disks hitting him and Ron Weasley who was on Neville's other side.
The redhead, angry to be interrupted on his eating time, threw a whole chicken leg to Harry and the green eyed wizard moved. The piece of chicken hit Percy squarely on his face.
The redhead prefect stood up indignant and took points from his brother and put him detention next day with Filch for his disrespect. The Twins and the Potter family members of Gryffindor (Harry, Hermione and Neville) smirked with knowing looks as they saw Ron being punished by his brother.
Harry and Neville shook hands and they returned to their food feeling good about themselves.
'I can't believe you got a detention for Ron on your first Hour at Hogwarts!' she scolded him mentally, feeling sorry for the pureblooded git, even though she detested as much as she did Malfoy, to which Harry just grinned.
Both were bullies that had tried time and time again to get under her skin the past year but Harry had been there for her and mostly of the time he got in problems for defending her and that made her hate those two for being the reason Harry got in trouble.
She then thought about it, 'Harry could avoid those particular problems if he could control better is temper' then another thought came to her mind, 'He CAN control his temper, his Occlumency works perfectly, that means he just enjoys screwing with them when they do something to me' she rationalized.
It shocked her momentarily to know that she had no further opinion of that would normally make her think it was bad or incorrect way to act, and what was more shocking was that she felt glad, elated to know Harry would stick up for her or even get in trouble for her sake, 'I need to get a grip on my moral compass' she chastised herself.
Dumbledore stood up and he began giving his welcoming speech, including his always present 'Don't go into the Forbidden Forest' warning, the increase of prohibited items from Filch, and his introduction of this year DADA teacher Gilderoy Lockhart.
Screams could be heard from most of the girls. 'Geez, its like if the Beatles were presenting here and now' Harry thought to which Hermione nodded in agreement.
Something that had strengthened Harry and Hermione's relationship this summer despite the book signing incident, was Harry educating Hermione about music. He made it his job to teach her about several bands and different music genres.
It was obvious that Hermione's favorite genre would always be classical music, but thanks to Harry's lessons, she began listening the Beatles, Michael Jackson and Elvis Presley, focusing on Pop and Rock n' Roll instead of Harry's heavier preferences, with the sole exception of Nirvana.
Harry would always support her in her passion of the classic music as he himself liked Beethoven and Mozart. Plus, hearing her play her violin was something he enjoyed a lot the same way she did with him playing the guitar.
Back to the present, the girls were screaming and shouting to the 'Girly Man', as the Twins had began calling him. Harry smirked as he took out a red letter from his pocket. Hermione recognized that it was a Howler, but why would Harry have a Howler? She asked herself.
The answer came soon as Dumbledore quieted the girls and Lockhart took a seat. As soon as he began to lean down to his seat, Harry used a mild Banishing Charm on the Howler and it flew below the man's seat and when he sat down, the Howler opened making a strong farting sound that could be heard on the whole Great Hall.
The place was silent for a few seconds and Lockhart's face began to turn red in embarrassment and finally the Great Hall exploded in laughter.
"Smooth Harry!" Neville told his cousin. Hermione smiled at him for his perfectly timed actions and the Twins' grin was unmatched.
"You truly are a Marauder Harry, you managed to get someone's detention in the first hour back to Hogwarts and play a prank on a teacher" George said to the raven haired wizard.
"We'll bow down to you once we arrive the Common Room, oh Great King of Pranks!" Fred added.
Harry caught his Hufflepuff sister and cousin's smiles as well as his Slytherin friend's smiles, a small nod from the girls congratulating him on his task.
"Alright, alright, now that we all have dined and laughed, is time to get some sleep, so I bid you good night" Dumbledore said, dismissing the students.
The students went to their common rooms, directed by their prefects. Once in Gryffindor's common room, George and Fred fell to their knees dramatically in front of Harry and began their 'We're not worthy' chant over and over again making everyone look at them weird.
Angelina, Katie and Alice got to their side and greeted Harry and company.
"Why are they doing that?" Angeline asked as she pointed at the Twins antics. Neville smirked and answered, "That would be because of Harry's prank on Lockhart!"
The chasers looked at him wide eyed, "That was you?!" asked a mortified Alicia.
Harry nodded merrily, "Yeah, a well timed Howler and a Banishing Charm did the trick" he explained.
The girls looked at him incredulous. "I would have believed it from Fred and George but never in my life I would have thought you could do something like this" Alicia scolded him.
Fred smiled, "Alicia, remember he was the one who made all the professors dance last year, of course he could have done this" he said simply.
Alicia nodded sheepishly, "Oh, yeah, right, I forgot about that" she said.
Harry smiled and he hugged Hermione, who was at his side. Hermione snuggled closer as they sat on one of the couches and they waited for their Head of House to come to meet her students.
However the moment was broken by Ron whose face was red, "So you think is funny that Percy give me detention huh, Potter?" he shouted at the raven haired student.
Harry looked at him sternly, "I had no actual intention of getting you in detention to be honest, however is your fault for throwing quite a big piece of chicken. In case you didn't notice, Neville and I were goofing around with little pieces of vegetables" Harry said.
Hermione giggled as she thought of her best friends fighting with the food. Ron saw this and he mistook it as her laughing at him.
"What are you laughing about Mudblood?!" Ron shouted at her, making every student gasp at the insult, her included since she hadn't said or done anything to him.
The air became cold and the atmosphere dense and heavy. Harry was seething in anger and he took a single step forward.
"What did you just say, Weasley?" he said in a frightening cold voice. Hermione placed a hand in his shoulder and she saw Harry turn to her. She shook her head and she walked straight to Ron.
She stood in front of him for a few seconds and a loud slap broke the silence.
Ron was lying on the floor with Hermione's hand imprinted on his left cheek. "I don't know what I have done to you to deserve your foul words and frankly I don't care. What you said was hurtful and uncalled for… Just be thankful it was me who hit you instead of Harry, or you wouldn't have left the common room alive" she said icily to the weeping red-haired boy as every student returned to their previous conversations, leaving a humiliated Ronald Weasley lying on the floor, trying to understand what had just happened.
The next day, Harry and Hermione headed down to have some breakfast. The group had decided to skip training this week since it was the first week of school so they could re-adapt to school.
As Harry and Hermione were talking, Professor McGonagall approached to her favorite students and handed them their schedules.
Harry groaned when he saw that they had Lockhart that day.
"Is something wrong, Mr. Potter?" McGonagall asked curious about Harry's reaction.
Harry looked at her strangely; Minerva only called him that way when she was angry at him or when they were on public. There were no other students in the Hall except a few Ravenclaws so he thought she was mad at him for some reason.
"Eh, just something about the schedule, excuse me Aunt Minnie; did I do something to make you angry with me? If it is about the prank on Lockhart I'm not going to apologize to the big fraud, I have reasons to act the way I did" Harry said defensively.
Minerva was taken because of Harry's reaction and felt shocked to hear him calling her Aunt Minnie, she was about to speak when Hermione spoke first.
"Harry! Show some respect towards Professor McGonagall!" she scolded him making him lower his guard. McGonagall heard a low 'Sorry' coming from her student's lips.
"Now why did you react like this?" she asked sternly, knowing that Harry's outburst probably wasn't McGonagall's fault.
Harry looked at her and later at McGonagall and he spoke, "Aunt Minnie only calls me 'Mr. Potter' when she's angry at me" he said not looking at their eyes.
Minerva understood his outburst and she felt guilty for making him feel that way on top of everything she already felt.
"I'm sorry Harry, I didn't realized that my words could have such an effect on you" she told him gently.
Harry understood that she may have another reason to call him that way so he just asked. McGonagall turned her sight from him momentarily, "Harry, would you please come with me so we can speak privately?"
Harry nodded, feeling curious to know what had changed about his teacher's demeanor and after a quick peck on the lips he left Hermione to follow their Transfiguration Professor.
They arrived to her office a few minutes later and after a few seconds McGonagall gathered all her Gryffindor courage since she was not used to apologizing to anyone.
"Harry, I wanted you to come here so I could apologize to you" she told him simply.
Harry looked at her strangely, "Apologize? For what?" he asked sincerely.
Minerva felt a lump on her throat and she found it hard to speak, "Harry… is my fault that you were hurt at the end of last year… you came to me when you felt the Stone was in danger of being stolen… and… I just ignored what you said, rather rudely by the way…" the usually stern looking woman said sad and brokenly.
Harry was stunned to see this side of his professor. The woman he respected the most above all Hogwarts' staff, the woman who had become an honorary aunt or grandmother as she showed him a side no one else knew she had, the kind woman who was his Aunt Minnie.
Harry realized that she was trying to find words to speak but her stuttering prevented her of doing so. Harry rushed to her and he held her tightly in a hug.
His action broke the dam and the Transfiguration Professor began sobbing openly and unashamedly. Harry just held her close as he rubbed circles on her back soothingly.
After a few minutes, the woman felt calmer and Harry spoke, "There's nothing to forgive Aunt Minnie. I don't need explanations so don't worry about it… In fact I'm happy this happened since it made me closer to my family and looks like to you as well" Harry said with his patented Potter Heart-Breaking Smile.
Minerva chuckled, "I know that many people must say you look like James, but you actually ARE more like your mother" she said warmly as SHE hugged him.
Harry was taken off guard but he recovered quickly and returned the hug affectionately, "Thanks Professor" he said simply as no more words needed to be said.
"I promise I won't let you down again Harry" she told his unofficial nephew.
Harry smiled at her and nodded, the emotion making a knot on his throat.
Both left her office and Harry headed to his first class after he told Hermione mentally where he was headed.
They met on the greenhouses along the rest of the Gryffindors and the Slytherins and Professor Sprout began the day's lesson. They would be learning about Mandrakes.
She explained that once they had been worked on, the solution that came from the Mandrakes could be used to de-petrify people who were on that state.
"And what can cause petrification Professor?" Hermione asked.
Pomona Sprout smiled at the question, "There are few spells that can create that effect as well as some creatures like Cockatrices, Medusas, Basilisks if you look the reflection of their eyes and the extinct Svaltáfars or Black Elves that lived in the old Norse countries" she explained to the awe of the students.
Hermione lifted her hand again, "Professor, is there more than one Medusa?" she asked curious to know if the Greek Creature was unique or a whole race of creatures like the Lamias.
Sprout smiled again at the young girls hunger for knowledge, "There are several Medusas in existence, contrary to the muggle mythology's assumption, though they are rare and few habiting Greece and the Mediterranean area" she explained.
She also explained that the cry of a mature Mandrake could be deathly but little Mandrakes' cry would just give a person a small headache. She instructed everyone how to protect themselves and began changing the pots of the Mandrakes.
After a tedious class, the Gryffindors headed to their Transfiguration class, which they had with the Ravenclaws. This time they had to transfigure a small animal into a glass goblet.
As usual, Harry and Hermione were the firsts to do the task and they then began helping their peers to change theirs. At the end of the class they had gained thirty points for Gryffindor.
As the students began to leave to have some lunch, Harry and Hermione stayed behind, wanting to speak to their professor.
"Is there something I can do for you Harry, Miss Granger?" she asked.
Harry smiled, "Yeah, actually there is but I wanted to know first if you have free time to listen to us since this may take a while" he asked concerned to importunate their professor.
Minerva checked on her schedule, "I am indeed free to speak, please take a seat" she offered.
The students did as told and she spoke, "What do you wanted to speak about Harry?" she asked, glad that they were back to normal.
The couple looked at each other and Harry spoke, "You see, this summer I talked to Sirius and my family about several things, including Voldemort's probable return and the changes we need to create so that the situation becomes less dire if he does come back to wage war against us" he explained.
Minerva listened to Harry closely. She, along Harry's family and friends, Filius and Dumbledore shared the belief that The Dark Lord would return someday. She had supported Harry and Sirius in their decision to ask Filius' help to train Harry. This matter was important so she nodded, indicating he could continue.
"Well, Hermione, Sirius and I talked about politics, finances and stuff but one topic that came between Hermione and I was Hogwarts and we agree that the school needs to change if it wants its students to be strong and prepared for when the time to fight comes" he said calmly.
Minerva was curious about what changes he was referring to and so she asked. Hermione was who answered.
"I believe that the first change to be made would be to upgrade the quality of the existing classes Professor. That would include removing Professor Binns, since his class method is to read the books verbatim, making the class boring and students usually end up having a nap in History of Magic save a few students like Harry and I. As a matter of fact, one can learn more of the class by reading the text book than attending" Hermione exposed the topic of History of Magic.
Harry added his opinion, "We have seen the program for the seven years, the only subject for the seven years is goblin wars, nothing about modern history or even ancient history. It doesn't include muggle history which is also important" he explained.
"There is a saying that 'history tends to repeat to again to those who are doomed to repeat it', however, how can they know they are wrong if and they have not learned it in the first place? The Blood War was almost a copy of Grindewald's movement on the ninety forties, and people seem to have forgotten about that" Harry explained.
Minerva thought about it and she realized that she had received similar complaints from other students but she thought they were exaggerating. However, that Harry and Hermione, two of best students in the school and also two of the best in Europe according to the inter-school surveys, were bringing this up and that meant it was most likely true, or a very close.
She nodded, thinking about it but she wanted to hear more so she could begin to change things.
Harry resumed the talk with another class, "Another class that needs a new professor and an update would be Muggle Studies" he said.
Minerva's eyebrow lifted curiously, "And how can you know this, seeing that you haven't even taken the class?" she asked.
Harry smirked at her reaction, "We have friends who have taken the class and I have all the school text books of every subject, and I can say that what Professor Burbage teaches is at the very least a hundred years out of date" he said.
Minerva looked at him wide-eyed, "I am a half-blood and have muggle raised in my early years but surely muggles have not changed much in the last fifty years, or have they?" she asked disbelievingly.
Harry laughed good-heartedly, "I think you've spent a lot of time in the magical world Aunt Minnie. To answer your question, yes, muggles have evolved a lot in the last fifty years… Do you know for example that man has already set foot on the moon?" he asked, making Hermione chuckle when she saw the astonished face of their professor.
"Are you serious?" she asked making Hermione groan as she triggered a very familiar pun.
Harry smirked, "No Professor, you should know by now I'm Harry, Sirius is my godfather" he said with a grin only to receive a mild stinging hex from his honorary aunt.
"Okay, sorry" he pouted while Hermione shook her head, "Yes Professor, man has already stepped on the Moon. Neil Armstrong became the first man to stand on the moon in July 21st of 1969 in the Apollo 11 mission" she explained.
Minerva was in awe to know something so astonishing. But the surprises didn't end there.
"Did you know that muggles have weapons that can destroy a whole city with a single attack in a matter of seconds?" Hermione asked to her professor.
"That can't be possible!" the woman exclaimed. Harry just nodded grimly.
"It is possible. World War II, the city of Hiroshima in Japan was eradicated on August 6, 1945 and had over one hundred THOUSAND casualties. Nagasaki, Japan was the other city that was attacked on August 9, 1945, killing over seventy thousand casualties. Chernobyl's nuclear reactor near the city of Pripyat, Ukraine had to be evacuated on April 26th, 1986, six years ago because of an explosion. The place to this day is inhabitable because of the radiation" Hermione explained.
McGonagall paled to hear about some of the events that marked Earth's history.
Hermione smiled, "Not everything is bad, medicine has been evolving too. The death rate in accidents has decreased because of the new techniques and equipment in hospitals. For example, do you know that muggle doctors and people in general can sometimes bring people back from the death?" Harry asked his professor.
Minerva gasped as she heard Harry's words, "H-How… How is that possible?!" she shrieked in astonishment.
Hermione smiled, "In 1960 the Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation technique was worldwide announced, it consists in compressing a person's chest while giving him/her breath to breath respiration or artificial respiration. After 1947 defibrillation began being used on humans. Defibrillation is the process of send small electrical shocks to a person's chest if their heart stops beating to reactivate it. It doesn't always work but you have around one hour margin to make it beat again, after that, the person is officially declared death" she explained. Trust Hermione to remember those facts.
Minerva understood the transcendence of muggle technology and history. She decided there and then that they were right in both accounts.
Harry realized that their point had made it into their professor's head.
"Divination is another class that needs to change. Few people have the 'gift', its impossible to make Prophecies if you don't have the ability as we all know" Harry said, referring to his particular case. McGonagall nodded as well as Hermione.
"Besides, I've heard that Professor Trelawney is used to predict a random student's death year after year, that's highly unprofessional… besides, Divination is just rubbish" Hermione said indignantly, much to Minerva and Harry's amusement.
"I have the same opinion as yours, Miss Granger" Minerva said while giving her student a brief smile.
Harry become more serious (no pun), "Snape also has to leave; his method of teaching is just writing instructions on the blackboard and intimidating every student that is not a Slytherin. He is extremely biased towards his house and he gives detentions and removes points for the most ridiculous things, like breathing too loud, yawning, see a fly pass by, for helping another student and to look at him in the wrong way, just to name a few" Harry said heatedly.
McGonagall had no comment about that since she knew he was right.
Hermione continued, "Astronomy is a good class but needs to be updated. There have been significant changes in the last years and the Astronomy Tower could actually get one of the advanced telescopes for a better class. And DADA should have competent professors. Professor Quirrel made it hard to understand because of his stuttering and we are convinced that Lockhart is a fraud" she said calmly, having no particular issue with that class.
Minerva just nodded; she suspected they were right on this account too but something entered her thoughts.
"How do you know about Professor Lockhart?" she asked curious. Harry and Hermione glanced at each other and explained the events of their summer, including what they discovered about the books.
"In one book he says he defeated and ghoul with a reducto and in another he says he defeated a werewolf in a hand to hand combat… Ghouls are incorporeal and werewolves are many times tougher skinned than a human being, I know, I have fought hand to hand with one and I can confidently say that my punches hurt me more than it hurt him. Their skin is quite hard and resistant almost like wood" Harry explained sheepishly as he remembered some of his lessons with Remus.
Both females chuckled as they both knew who he was talking about.
Minerva thought about it, she was sure what Harry and Hermione had told her was correct. The problem was how she would make the changes. She decided she would need to check her manuals from school, there had to be a way.
"Anything else you would like to add?" she asked believing they were done. How wrong she was.
"As a matter of fact yes" Harry said with a smile plastered on his face.
Hermione spoke, "We believe that Muggle studies should be an official class for every pureblood first and second year student and the school should add a class about the Wizarding World an its laws, customs and culture which should be obligatory for first and second years, plus an obligatory class of Magical Theory for the first years as this would make the students do better in classes. When Harry explained intent and projection to me when we started Transfiguration last year it made it a whole lot easier for me to do the spells"
McGonagall nodded in agreement, their suggestion had merit and it would have better results on the students in long term.
Harry spoke again, "I also believe that you should promote more the advanced classes since very few people know about them. We do because we read Hogwarts; a History and I would say that they do sound appealing" he said as he thought about those particular classes.
Hermione had stumbled upon them around the end of their first year and she told him about them. Having never heard of them before, they asked older students about them. Oliver Wood and Penelope Clearwater were some of the student that confirmed this information.
Harry had listened raptly when Hermione had listed the classes. Ghoul Studies, Alchemy, Magical and Muggle Art, Musical Abilities, Magical Detection, Dueling, Healing, Teaching Methods and Headship Preparations were the ones she told him.
The Transfiguration Mistress nodded ashamed of the truth behind Harry's words. They didn't promote them and few students actually took those classes.
Harry took a deep breaths, "And we finally to the last three points. First, sports" he said with a grin.
"What about them?" she asked curious.
"I think that is unfair that there is only one Quidditch team per house and only seven students get the opportunity to enjoy the sport. There are very few matches on the year and I believe that it would be a good idea to add an unofficial league. Teams made by friends and give them the opportunity to play" Harry said.
"Besides, we've seen that most magical people have bad physical conditioning, maybe you could add a Physical Education class to help them have better conditioning and health. You could even add muggle sports like football, basketball, tennis, even swimming" Hermione said, "And you can promote other Magical sports by doing clubs of these particular sports like Gobstones" she added as an afterthought.
Minerva nodded. She was an avid Quidditch fan and there were indeed few matches for her taste. An unofficial league could be a good idea as well as the Physical Education Class. The Muggle sports could attract many muggleborn and half-blood students, even a few less bigoted purebloods. She had been a soccer fan herself when she was a little girl.
"The second point could be to add muggle classes" Hermione said.
"Many muggleborns and half-bloods return to the muggle world and they return severely unprepared. Math and Physics could be supportive classes for Arithmancy since they are both related to numbers and calculus, Chemistry works fine with Herbology and Potions since they are essentially their muggle counterparts. Literature can be added to the Art and Culture classes the school has already" Hermione explained.
"And now the final point is one of the most important points… I believe the school should eliminate the House Cup and the Houses as a whole and use a year and gender system" he said simply.
McGonagall looked aghast, her horror clearly printed on her face, "That would destroy the school principles! How could you think of that?!" she exclaimed quite heatedly.
Harry lifted his hand in an appeasing manner, "I believe that the House system promotes rivalry, competition, discrimination, conflict and bigotry. The students discriminate each other by judging their house and the characteristic of said house like in Hufflepuff's case, since everyone thinks they are the 'losers' House when it's actually the House of the loyal and the hard workers" Harry explain.
"If you don't agree to that, you could instead change the detention and penalty system. Indicating a specific detention and point removal according to the action instead of removing points because you can" Hermione added as an alternate option.
"You could convince Binns to handle the detentions; that would certainly scare students and prevent them to break the rules" Harry joked.
Hermione and McGonagall looked at him sternly until their gaze softened. Hermione took a parchment out of her book bag and handed it to Professor McGonagall.
"You don't have to act now or even say anything about what we've told you Professor, we are only asking you to give it a thought" Hermione said warmly to her favorite professor.
She stood up, Harry as well and they said their goodbyes to their professor. Minerva stayed sitting on her chair looking at the list. 'I need to speak with Filius and Pomona, maybe Poppy as well, they probably can help me decide about what to do but, knowing them as I do, I think they'll agree with most points… I need to find my manuals and Hogwarts' Rules and Guidelines for the Professors and the Deputy official' she thought before heading to her private quarters to look for the material she wanted to read.
Harry had mixed emotions about this class, on one side, he wanted to make the Girly Man suffer for what he had done to him and Hermione, but on the other hand he wanted to just leave the class, sensing that it would be a waste of time.
However, the chance to humiliate Lockhart was just too tempting to pass up. He sat in the very front of the class, doing his best to look studious and attentive. He was calm and collected, thinking about his future pranks since he was ready for this one. Before he had sat down at his place, he surreptitiously placed paint balls in the back corners of the classroom with the help of Neville.
Hermione took the seat next to him Neville straight behind him with Susan, since they shared this class with the Hufflepuffs. Harry's grin was feral in nature and Hermione could see the gears on his brain twisting in pranking opportunities.
"Behave!" Hermione snapped, swatting his shoulder, "I don't want you to have detention so early in the year" she scolded him, "As much as I want to take down the 'Grinning Ponce' myself" she said in a near whisper that only Harry could hear.
"But, Hermione..." He whined playfully, "I have the perfectly simple joke to play on him, Neville and I are already prepared for this!" he explained.
Hermione just started rubbing her temples, "Just don't get caught" she ordered him.
The door to the office opened, and Lockhart stepped out, resplendent in his eye-watering yellow robes, "Good morning everyone, let me introduce myself although I'm sure everyone knows me… "I" the man said with great emphasis, "am Gilderoy Lockhart. Order of Merlin, 3rd Class; honorary member of the Dark Force Defense League, and five times winner of Witch Weekly's most charming smile award! But, enough about that! I didn't defeat the Bandon Banshee by smiling at her" He waited a moment for them to laugh. None did.
Suddenly a paint ball shot from nowhere, hitting him hard on the chest, 'That will leave a mark' Hermione winced as she saw the shot hit his target. She smiled at Harry warmly. Both ignored the indignant looks of their female companions with the exception of Hermione and Susan of course.
Lockhart was surprised and taken off guard but he cleared his throat nervously ignoring the stain on his precious robes and trying to act professionally, "I see you all bought a complete collection of my books!" Lockhart exclaimed happily.
"Considering we didn't have any bloody choice..." Harry muttered, just loud enough for Lockhart to hear him, but quietly enough for Lockhart to dismiss it.
"Well, let's get started" He said as he grabbed Hermione's copy of Gadding with Ghouls, making the Brightest Witch of Her Age frown at him for taking her stuff without any care of the world, even if she was going to burn the books when she could.
"Before we get started on today's lesson, I thought we could have a little quiz, to see how much of my books you've managed to remember" Gilderoy said happily, expecting to see the happy faces of his younger fans.
Hermione, Neville and Susan gagged. "This is just great!" Harry exclaimed sarcastically.
"Ah, Mr. Potter, is really a pleasure to meet you my boy, and I'm glad to see that you're eager" Lockhart complimented, smiling at the Boy-Who-Lived-and-Though-is-More-Famous-Than-Him, apparently oblivious of Harry's clear antagonism to him.
"If that's the way you want to interpret it, Professor, don't let me stop you" Harry replied, giving the man a fake smile.
Lockhart was confused for a moment, but then brushed it aside. He handed out the papers, letting people take one and then pass them back. "You have thirty minutes to answer the questions. I'm sure I could find some house points for the winner"
"Ooh!" Neville and Harry mocked in unison.
"Begin!" Another paint ball flew straight to Lockhart's forehead. The slapping sound made everyone wince. The man's eyes glistened, "Excuse me for a little bit, I'll… go change my clothes, I'll be right back so keep with working with your quiz" he instructed and ran 'with his tail between his legs'.
Hermione opened the parchment, and started to write her answers pouring all his distaste for the man in the response section of the quiz. For the first time on her life she didn't care what a professor would think of her.
Harry did the same as her and for the most part, he didn't really care what the useless fraud thought of him, but he was oddly proud of some of his answers and the reaction of the git to the paint balls.
None of them knew that Neville and Susan had answered very much like Harry and Hermione.
Lockhart returned after the half hour and called out "Time!"
Lockhart sat patiently, reading through the quizzes. As he was reading through, marking them, he began making odd comments.
"Miss Granger?" he spoke suddenly.
"Yes, Professor?" she replied innocently.
"What's this? I don't think this is quite right, do you?" Lockhart gazed at the young girl with a pathetic expression.
Harry smiled dangerously as he took his girlfriend's test form the man's hands and he read it, "The answers may not be what you have written in your books, Professor, but I don't believe them to be inaccurate, actually I believe this answers have more merit" Harry replied.
Gilderoy Lockhart's face became red. "You... you honestly don't see a problem?"
"Not at all, sir" Hermione replied instead of her boyfriend. Neville and Susan peeked at the test and began laughing hard. The rest of the students were curious as to what had made them laugh so hard.
Hannah Abbot, Susan's best friend spoke, "Can I see Susan?" she asked.
Harry flicked his wand, sending a copy of the parchment to her. As she read, she began laughing hard and Neville did the same as Harry giving a copy of not only Harry and Hermione's tests copies, but his and Susan's as well to every student in the class.
Everyone laughed at the answers the four of them had written on the quiz. Hermione read some of Harry's answers to the quiz.
What is Gilderoy Lockhart's secret ambition?
To own the largest harem of little girls the world has ever known. I suspect he may have some really dirty intentions.
What, in your opinion, is Gilderoy Lockhart's greatest achievement to date?
Creating a series of books that are so expensive, it would bankrupt several small countries, and then successfully getting them part of a mandatory reading list. I demand to have my money back!
What is the most important thing to remember when facing a Dark creature?
Only face an enemy whose name can be used with some alliteration to create an irritating book title.
Has Gilderoy Lockhart ever suffered from any illnesses?
Well, I do know he has a big list of afflictions such as verbal diarrhea, although he isn't the one who's affected; he also suffers from delusions of grandeur; he is deaf since he doesn't listen to what people says and has cognitive deficiencies and lack of social abilities since he can't recognize sarcasm.
What is Gilderoy Lockhart's recommendation for preventing hair-mussing when facing ghouls?
Severus Snape's Slime-It-Down hair gel! Guaranteed to style it or dissolve your hair, otherwise he'll give your money back!
How was Gilderoy Lockhart able to defeat the Werewolf in Hand-to-Hand combat?
Is this question for real? A werewolf, a creature with far superior strength to a human, and he thinks he can beat it in hand-to-hand? More likely the werewolf saw him coming and fell over laughing
What was the secret weapon Gilderoy Lockhart used to defeat the Yeti?
While hanging upside down in the Yeti's lair, he used the Force to summon his lightsaber, before chopping off the Yeti's arm... hang on; no… that was Luke Skywalker from Star Wars... Huh... I have no idea he could use any weapon then
How did Gilderoy Lockhart track down the terrible Yeti?
He asked the villagers. Moron.
How did Gilderoy Lockhart defeat the Yeti?
He shit his pants when he saw it. The stench of bowel-loosening terror killed the Yeti. Poor thing...
How does Gilderoy Lockhart recommend keeping your robes wrinkle-free during a confrontation with a Vampire?
Albus Fondlemore's Sticky Semen Starch – guaranteed to make your robes hard as diamond, or a full refund!
She kept reading until another paint ball flew straight to Lockhart's groin. The males winced and crossed their legs imagining the pain of the weeping man on the floor.
With a muffled sigh, Hermione looked over at Harry, who was grinning at her. She nodded her head in grudging acceptance, before turning back to Lockhart; she saw him on the floor, shook her head and returned to her seat.
After a few minutes, Lockhart stood up trembling. 'I have to admit the man is doing his best to maintain his superstar appearance' Harry grumbled internally. Hermione giggled as she her soul mate's words.
"So... to business. My job is to prepare you all to face the darkest and most deadly creatures in the world! You may find yourselves facing your worst terror in this room-"
"We already are" Harry muttered, making Neville snigger behind him.
"You should all know that as long as I am here, no harm will come to you" Lockhart completed smoothly.
"I have brought a group of creatures to class today... they're very dangerous. If you scream, they may attack us!" He made his way over to a cage on his desk, which was shaking slightly.
"Behold!" He ripped the cover off, revealing a cage full of electric-blue creatures, each one about six inches tall, and slightly satanic-looking.
"Pixies!" Seamus Finnegan laughed, "You think Pixies are dangerous?"
Lockhart smirked, "So you're not afraid mister Finnegan, then let's see how you deal with them then!" He called out, flicking the door of the cage open. The pixies, not being as stupid as Lockhart, made their break for freedom, deciding to trash the classroom before departure. Every student, bar Harry and his friends, leapt under their desk to escape the little menaces.
Harry glanced round the room, noting the pixies wreaking havoc. To Harry's glee, they'd grabbed Ron Weasley by the robes, hauling him up to the ceiling, so he could dangle from the large dinosaur skeleton hanging there, "They look to be having fun, don't they?" he asked Hermione.
"Why aren't they bothering you?!" Hannah asked to the members of the Pack, drawing her wand.
"Notice-me-not charm, keyed to them" Harry replied. Susan, feeling compassionate for her friend placed the spell on her.
"We should help the others" Hermione said, glancing around the room, seeing their classmates terrified, trying to hide from the little creatures.
"Well... yeah, we could" Harry said reasonably, "Or, we could watch the pixies pick on Weasley" He said as he leaned back in his chair, watching how the blue little buggers began making drawings on Ron's face with some ink they found Merlin knows where "I know which one I pick" he said while he helped the pixies by shooting three paint balls on the redhead. One on his forehead, one on his stomach and one in the groin
"Weasley" Neville and Susan replied, slipping back into their seats. Hermione just rolled her eyes with a grin and sat back down.
"If you four would just nip them back into their cage?" Lockhart said from under his desk, where he'd taken refuge after the pixies had stolen his wand. Harry glared at the man and unleashed the fury of the paint balls.
Like a machine gun, paint balls began to impact on him, making his new robes stain in different colors.
Hermione turned to Harry, "The Immobulus charm should work here" she said as she cast the spell on the pixies. The blue creatures stopped their movements and they seemed like if they were floating around.
"Potter!" Ron shouted, still hanging from the skeleton in the classroom, "Get me down!"
Harry looked up with a smirk, "Sorry, Weasley... can't help you, I don't like you enough to do so" He turned back to the Pixies and he along his friends returned the pixies to their cage. Lockhart looked up from under his desk, seeing the danger from the creatures and the paintballs had passed. The other students were warily climbing into their seats. "E-Excellent work, Miss Granger..." He stammered, "Ten points to Gryffindor"
Hermione nodded, "Thank you Professor" She said politely.
"For homework, describe how you would have defeated the Pixie invasion" Lockhart instructed as he dismissed the class.
Harry, Hermione, Neville and Susan left the classroom to head to Daphne and Tracey's room to spend the rest of the day with their friends.
This was it! Thanks for reading and I expect your reviews! See you next week!