Draco didn't want to talk to anybody the next day, he stayed in his room and wouldn't let anybody in. The news spread that Colin Creevy, a Gryffindor first year was petrified last night. That scared all the students from all the houses, this thing went after Filch's cat, now it's going after students
On Monday morning, students were buying protective charms and amulets and being very cautious
" Do they really think those things will work?" Pansy asked
" It makes them feel better" Dianna said, she herself bought a green ring with an onyx stone that is supposed to protect against evil, she is muggle born, and that monster might know she is, for all she knew, she could be next, of course she made sure her ring would protect her, she went to Professor Snape and asked him if the ring was real
At first he thought her buying that ring was a waste of money but then realized that the monster was going after muggleborns
" The ring is real and will protect you in some sense, but will not protect you from whatever is happening at Hogwarts" Professor Snape said
Dianna's hope dropped
" But, I can make that ring useful to you the way you want it to be useful" Professor Snape said, " It will not protect you from the monster, that will be kind of hard since we do not know what kind of monster is doing this, but it will detect any threat to you and will help you avoid the threat"
Dianna's eyes brightened, " Yes please"
" Very well, let me see the ring"
She handed him the ring and he put the spell on it
" Thank you sir, but how do we know it will work?" Dianna asked
" Are you questioning my magic?" Professor Snape asked
" No, I just wish we could test it" Dianna said
" Very well, I will stand over here" Professor Snape moved to a corner in his office, " I am a threat, I am going to… stupefy you"
Dianna looked nervous
Professor Snape took out his wand and was about to say the spell when there was a light coming from Dianna's ring, and it tugged her away from fire of the spell
" Wow, it worked" Dianna said amazed
Professor Snape smirked
" Thank you so much Professor" Dianna said with a smile
" You are welcome, now you are dismissed" Professor Snape said
Dianna nodded and left the office
A few weeks passed and Dianna got a letter from her family telling her that Dudley was sick with the chicken pox and asked her to stay at Hogwarts for Christmas because they didn't want her to catch what he has
" Great, Dudley gets sick when I was looking forward to going home and be safe away from whatever this monster is" Dianna thought to herself, " And it's not fair, Christmas is still a while away yet, I'm sure the chicken pox won't last that long"
She wrote a letter to her parents asking her why she couldn't come to Christmas since there is still a while before the Christmas Holiday
The next day she got her reply saying that her Mum wanted to make sure all the germs were out of the house before her sweet DD came home, she assured DD that her parents loved her and missed her so much and really wanted her home but didn't think it was safe
When McGonagall came around with the Holiday list of people who were staying at Hogwarts, Dianna signed her name and so did Draco
Why are you staying?" Dianna asked
Draco shrugged, " I want to see what it's like staying for the Holiday"
Dianna smiled, " Good, I'll have someone to talk to besides Vince and Greg"
" Why are you staying?" Draco asked
Dianna shrugged, " Apparently my... family is very sick and do not want me near them in case I get sick too"
" Sick with what?" Draco asked
Dianna sighed, " Chicken Pox"
" What's that?" Draco asked
" Um… like Dragon Pox I guess" Dianna said
Draco shuddered
When Harry saw Dianna's name on the list he gave her a questioning look from across the room
Dianna just smiled
Later that day in potions class, Dianna was really confused when her ring was nudging her away from the Slytherin side of the Potion room and to the Gryffindor side
Just in time too, there was an explosion coming from Greg's cauldron and his swelling solution exploded and all the Slytherins and some of the Gryffindors were splattered with the goo and parts of their bodies started to swell
There was a lot of commotion going on after that
" SILENCE" Professor Snape yelled
It was silent
" Anybody who has been splashed, come here for the deflating draft… when I find out who has done this…" Professor Snape didn't continue
Dianna saw Granger sneak into Professor Snape's personal stores and come back out with something in her robes
" What on earth are they up too?" Dianna thought, she wasn't going to say anything though, she couldn't believe Granger wasn't caught
Professor Snape went to Greg's cauldron and scooped out what appeared to be the remains of a firework
" If I ever find out who has done this, I will make sure that person is expelled" Professor Snape said menacingly but he was looking straight at Harry
About a week later there was a notice on the board about a Dueling Club
" Oh how awesome, to learn more magic, hopefully how to defend ourselves if need be" Dianna said
" Defend ourselves from what?" Pansy asked
" Well for one, this monster thing, for another… The Weasley Twins"
" Really? You're worried about the monster?" Pansy asked, " It's going after muggleborns, you… are a daughter of a squib and muggle but that just makes you half blood, not as good as pure, but you're better than a mud blood, you have nothing to be afraid of"
" Well, I'd feel better anyway if I knew more magic then what we learn during classes" Dianna said, " We are not learning much in Lockhart's class but his achievements... Besides, it might be fun"
" I'm going" Draco said
" Me too" Milly said
Vincent and Greg always do what Draco does
" I'll go, sounds kind of fun" Blaze said
That night they were in the Great Hall waiting for the lesson to start
" I wonder who will be teaching it to us" Milly said
" Well, I heard that Professor Flitwick used to be a great duelist" Draco said
" Really? But he's so tiny" Milly said
" That just makes him harder to hit" Draco said with a smirk
It wasn't Flitwick, it was Lockhart who entered the room
"Gather round! Gather round! Can everyone see me? Can you all hear me? Excellent. In light of the dark events of recent weeks, Professor Dumbledore has granted me permission to start this little Dueling Club, to train you all up in case you ever need to defend yourselves as I myself have done on countless occasions… for full details, see my published works" Lockhart said getting up on the table so everybody could see him
" Great, we're being taught by this oaf" Draco said
"Let me introduce my assistant Professor Snape. He has sportingly agreed to help me with a short demonstration. Now I don't want any of you youngsters to worry. You'll still have your Potions Master when I'm through with him, never fear" Lockhart said with a grin
" Hmm, I predict this duel is not going to be in Lockhart's favor" Dianna said with a smirk
The rest of the Slytherins agreed
"As you can see, we are holding our wands in the accepted combative position. On the count of three, we will cast our first spells. Neither of us will be aiming to kill, of course" Lockhart said with a grin, " One, Two, Three"
"Expelliarmus" Professor Snape said loud and clear and a dazzling red light burst from Professor Snape's wand and blasted Lockhart off of his feet and into a wall behind him
The Slytherins all cheered for his head of house very loudly, some of the others from other houses did as well, not everybody liked Lockhart
" Um, well, yes, that was a disarming charm, as you see… I have lost my wand" Lockhart said nervously
" You've lost more than that" Draco whispered so his friends could hear
They chuckled
" Well, that was an excellent idea to show them that, professor but if you don't mind me saying so, a bit obvious of what you were going to do, I could have easily stopped you if I wanted to" Lockhart said nervously
Professor Snape glared at Lockhart but kept his anger in check
" Well then, I guess that's enough demonstrating, how about we split you all up in pairs… Professor Snape would you like to assist me in doing so?" Lockhart asked
Professor Snape nodded once and all the students broke up into pairs, Professor Snape had Harry duel Draco, Hermione duel Dianna, Ron duel Seamus Finnegan, Neville Longbottom with Justin Finch-Fletchley, Milly with Lavender Brown
When they started the duel, Dianna didn't put up her wand she just dodged when her ring told her to dodge, once Granger realized Dianna wasn't dueling, she put her wand down too
" Why aren't you participating?" Granger asked
" What did you take out of the potion stores?" Dianna asked
Granger looked surprised for a moment then cleared her face of that emotion, " I do not know what you're talking about"
" I saw you, I want to know what you took" Dianna said again
" I do not know what you're talking about and even if I did, it's none of your business anyway, we are in dueling club, so lets duel" Hermione said
Before anything else could be said or done, Lockhart told everybody to stop
" We should teach them how to disarm their opponent, How about a volunteer
" Malfoy, and Potter" Professor Snape said
" An excellent choice" Lockhart said with a smile
Harry and Draco was in the middle of the room and Lockhart showed Harry his way of disarming someone but Lockhart dropped his wand
" Looks like my wand is a little excited" Lockhart said with a nervous laugh
" How did this guy do everything he said in his books?" Dianna asked
The students bowed to each other
" Scared Potter?" Draco asked
" You wish" Harry said
" On the count of three, disarm the other opponent, one… two… Lockhart said but didn't get to three because Draco cast his spell early
A blast of white light shot at Harry knocking him off his feet
Harry got up and shouted, " Rictusempra"
Draco doubled over in laughter
The spell was canceled
Draco yelled, " Serpentsortia"
To everybody's horror, a black snake slithered out of Draco's wand and started hissing at everybody
" Don't move Potter, I'll get rid of it for you" Professor Snape said
" Allow me professor" Lockhart said aiming his wand at the snake and shot something at it that made it fly into the air and land on the ground in a rage, it spotted the first person which happened to be Justin Finch Fletchley
Harry said something, but it wasn't in English, Dianna heard this language one other time, on her birthday last year at the zoo, before Dudley was trapped in the cage, Harry is talking to the snake, she didn't think anything of it until now… Harry… Her cousin Harry… is a parselmouth
Harry said something again and the snake looked at him in puzzlement
Before anything else could be said, Professor Snape banished the snake, Everybody was staring at Harry in awe and fear
" Justin are you ok?" Harry asked
" What are you playing at?" Justin asked backing away
Harry looked confused
" Um… class dismissed" Lockhart said
The Hufflepuffs hurried Justin out of the class very fast, everybody else followed after the Hufflepuffs keeping their distance away from Harry
When they got to their common room, Draco voiced his anger, " He speaks Parsletongue, that… that… Gryffindor… a Gryffindor speaks Parsletongue, that is so, so, unfair. Parsletongue is supposed to be a Slytherin trait, it is what Salazar Slytherin is known for, everybody knows that, why does St. Potter get to speak it?"
Everybody let Draco fume
" Well, maybe this will cheer you up, everybody seems like they are afraid of Potter" Pansy said, " He won't be very popular for very long"
Draco smirked at that