AN: I hadn't originally planned to do this scene, but decided 'why not'. Also, there are still mandrakes growing in herbology. I'll put it in the rewrite, or maybe my beta might add it.
Disclaimer: I own nothing but 'Hlifskera'. You'll know it when you see it.
Hermione had eventually been eventually forced to ask Binns about the legend of the Chamber of Secrets. It all sounded very unlikely in all honesty. An heir of Slytherin, a secret chamber and a monster to kill muggleborns. It sounded like something from the magical version of a James Bond film. He'd sent his concerns off to Gornuk, who had alarmed him with the records of the last supposed opening of the chamber by none other than Rubeus Hagrid.
Apparently the incident had led to the death of a girl, but there had never been enough evidence for a conviction. Hagrid had a pet monster of some sort, according to the testimony of Tom Riddle, a Slytherin prefect. That put Harry on edge, since Gornuk had found no sign that Hagrid had actually been related to Slytherin. There wasn't any evidence his monster, possibly a spider, could cause petrification or instant death.
Tom Riddle however, was an enigma, disappearing soon after leaving Hogwarts. He was probably a halfblood, given the muggle name but still being allowed into Slytherin, which meant Gornuk would have to find out who his mother was. Gornuk mentioned he would message Dumbledore to find out anything else and promised to keep Harry's name out of it.
Harry then followed up with a letter to Vernon, voicing his concerns about Gilderoy Lockhart. Gornuk had wanted him to keep his head down around the man, but Harry had a feeling Lockhart wasn't about to let him. Harry had waited for several weeks before a reply, conspicuous on paper instead of parchment arrived, carried by a very irritated Hedwig. It was again surprisingly polite, though he did sound a little irritated at Harry's thorough description of Lockhart. The man clearly still despised magic. Unlike Gornuk however,Vernon believed Harry should work to get rid of Lockhart if he could.
Lockhart had probably stolen credit from others, judging the supposed discrepancies in his books. The only thing was that no-one had come forward, which Vernon felt was ominous. He'd asked 'that Remus fellow' for ideas and heard about some sort of mind wiping charm. Vernon warned Harry that the man could look at him as his next meal ticket and use all kind of freakishness to control him. Harry had felt oddly touched reading this, before going over Vernon's ideas for getting rid of Lockhart.
One was look at finding a way to discredit him in public, perhaps in a situation he knew would Lockhart would fail in. Two was to confirm what 'freakishness' the man was actually good at, since the man clearly had a way to cover up his fraud. The third was to find a way to reveal the root cause of Lockhart's charm to 'the girls' since it clouded their opinions of the man. Harry thought the wording sounded a little sexist, especially since female part-Veelas had similar effects on men, but had to agree.
Unfortunately, Harry wasn't certain how he could do any of this. He didn't want to come off looking like a spoilt brat or vindictive ass. He also knew the persecution part-Veela faced and frankly didn't want to contribute to it. Gornuk would have a fit for one thing. So he decided to sit and wait. Fortunately, he didn't have to wait for long.
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The four had been genuinely excited at news of a duelling club. Harry had been practicing some of the shields Monall had taught him, along with a range of different distraction spells. He had a feeling it would be better not to use them in public, but the experience had left him itching to try duelling. Ginny Weasley had also seemed very excited, something Ron found a little frightening. Harry remembered stories of the Bat-Bogie Hex well and had quietly added it to his list of distraction techqniques. It had to be hard to fight with winged rodents coming out of your nose.
The four, alongside Ginny and the twins, arrived in the Great Hall along with students from every house. Apparently the attack on Filch had scared a lot of people and everyone wanted to learn a little self defence. Personally, Harry thought that if there was a monster running around the castle, duelling wasn't going to do much good but decided not to say anything. It might just be student with a few nasty curses memorised though, so better safe than sorry.
The moment he saw who was leading the club, he groaned. There was Gilderoy Lockhart, in some foppish Renaissance inspired duelling outfit which frankly would only have looked good on Monall because he wore it when it was contemporary. Harry turned to leave, but heard a voice call his name. "Harry! Leaving so soon? Come, come, we can't have that!" Harry felt his arm grabbed by the man and found himself dragged in front of everyone in the hall. "Welcome one and all to the Duelling Club! Professor Dumbledore has kindly allowed me to train you all up a bit, considering these dark times." Harry tried to pull away during all the clapping, but Lockhart had a vice-like grip on his arm. He looked around to find Snape looking on in amusement. "Now, please give a big round of applause for Harry Potter, my assistant."
Harry wanted to crawl up into a ball in shame. He didn't want to be Lockhart's assistant and he certainly didn't want to be in front of all these people. "Please sir-"
"Mr Potter is going to help me demonstrate the correct use of the Disarming Charm!" Lockhart continued his speech, either ignoring or not hearing Harry's protest and forcing Harry to stand opposite him. "Now Harry," he said, grinning condescendingly. "The first thing you want to do is bow to your opponent. It implies respect." Well, Harry definitely wasn't bowing then. "After that you assume a duelling stance and on the count of three we each cast our spells, to disarm only. Any questions."
Harry thought about telling Lockhart he hadn't told him the spell, but opted not to bother and shook his head. Lockhart looked a little put out when Harry barely nodded to his fancy bow, but started the count down none the less.
"On three. One, two, three! Expelliarmus!" Lockhart fired off a beam of red light, that Harry easily ducked. The man's aim was terrible. "Excellent use of a dodge Harry! Of course, if I'd wanted to disarm you, it would have been all too easy." Somehow Harry doubted that, but opted to say nothing.
"Now Harry, I want you to try blocking it so everyone can see how to prevent hostile spells," said Lockhart smoothly. "The incantation I want you to use is 'Protego'. Got that?" Harry nodded stiffly. "Good. On three. One, two, three! Expelliarmus!"
Harry had been practising the basic shielding charm for weeks before this and so as he saw the red light moving towards him he quickly whispered the spell, conjuring a shield that absorbed it easily. There was another round of applause and Harry was forced to listen to Lockhart prattle on about how well he was doing. Harry caught Snape looking at him out of the corner of his eye and gave him a pleading look. Snape snorted. Actually snorted. Of course, no-one but Harry was paying him attention, but that didn't mean it hadn't happened.
"Harry?" Lockhart's voice called impatiently and Harry snapped his head around.
"Yes Professor?"
"Come now Harry!" cried out Lockhart in mock exasperation. "In a real duel you would be dead by now! Anything could happen- including this!" Lockhart gave a fancy flourish with his wand and yelled "Serpensortia!" at the top of his lungs. Harry stared in horror as a very small snake plopped onto the floor in front of him. He remembered this one from his time in the reptile house at the zoo. He couldn't remember its name, but it was incredibly poisonous. Harry slowly backed away.
"Relax Harry!" cried a jovial Lockhart. "Just keeping you on your toes. I'll get rid of it!" Whatever spell Lockhart cast next did not get rid of the snake however, instead sending it flying up into the air, hissing madly. The snake landed hard and rushed its presumed attacker. Unfortunately, that happened to be Harry. As it struck out, Harry cast the only shield he knew that could stop a physical object.
"Hlifskera!" Harry growled out the Old Norse spell and made the accompanying hand gestures just in time for a bronze shield sprung into existence just in front of the snake. The shield looked odd compared to the usual charm. Concave instead of convex, the edges appeared thicker than the centre and it hummed unstably. Then the snake hit the barrier and the entire shield began to collapse around it. The outer edges quickly snapped shut and the entire thing constricted into a small ball. There was the sound of painful crunching, then the shield evaporated, showering Harry and several students near him with red paste.
Harry didn't even feel the eyes of the entire room on him. He was too busy staring murderously at Lockhart, whose face had gone pale. "What the hell!" yelled Harry furiously. "Are you trying to kill me? Do you even know how poisonous that thing was?"
Lockhart stepped back, finally finding his voice. "Now Harry do calm-" Lockhart's placations were cut short as Harry's fragile temper snapped and he fired a volley of hexes at the man. Lockhart tried to bring his wand up, but was too slow and was hit by all but two of the spells. He keeled over, his knees reversed. The entire room was deathly quiet, watching as Lockhart's hair fell out, the skin on his face erupted into boils and his tongue became massively engorged, covered in horny protrusions.
"Mr Potter!" barked Snape. "Ten points from Gryffindor for excessive use of force! You two!" he snapped gesturing to two Ravenclaw girls standing close to Lockhart. "Take the professor to the hospital wing. Everyone else to their common rooms. Potter!" Harry snapped to attention. "Come with me."
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