November was one hell of a month in Hogwarts. Rumours were flying around about attacks on muggle-born students, including one already on little Colin Creevey which left him in a petrified state, and some of the Slytherins had begun making playful bets as to whether Eva or Hermione would be next.
To make matters worse, Eva couldn't even go home for Christmas. Her family were going on a trip to visit their non-demon-summoning relatives in France, so she had to stay in Hogwarts, where the threat of a killer monster lurked around every corner.
What didn't help whatsoever was that Harry, Ron, and Hermione were becoming more distant than before. They often met up in secrecy, hoping Eva wouldn't find out, and they would always end their conversations whenever she joined them.
Basically, November was a nightmare.
During December, Lockhart had announced a new club he had started, which he called the 'Duelling Club'. The idea of it was to help protect students from the current threats around the school. Most of the Slytherins didn't even bother to show up since they thought it useless, but a few of the boys did, as well as Millicent Bulstrode—Eva hated her—and Eva.
So Eva turned up to the Great Hall on her own and stood about alone. She shuffled her feet against the floor when someone tapped her on her shoulder. When she glanced up, the always friendly face of Cedric Diggory was smiling warmly at her.
"Diggory!" Eva squealed. "What are you doing here?"
Cedric laughed. "Duelling Club, apparently. Lockhart has decided that I'm his 'most promising student'," he drew quote marks in the air and rolled his eyes humorously, "and pressured me into attending. And you? You're doing this club? You do realise you have the option of leaving, right?"
"I'm considering taking it," Eva admitted as she glanced around. "But technically I'm not wizard-born, and there have been jokes in my house that I'll be next. Even though they're just messing with me, it's still off-putting to think there's a monster somewhere out to get me, so I thought I'd show up anyway."
He nodded in understanding. "I would do the same if I was in your position. Don't let it get to you though—most of Slytherin failed Divination so they're unable to predict the future anyway."
Eva snorted. "Suddenly I feel much better."
On the long stage in front of them, Lockhart appeared from the staircase near the front, wearing one of his most ridiculous outfits to date. "Gather round," he yelled, "gather round."
"Here we go," Eva sighed as she edged forward beside Cedric.
"Can everybody see me?" Lockhart called. "Can you all hear me? Excellent." He reached the end of the stage where Eva was standing and spun on his heel with his hand on his hip. "In light of the dark events of recent weeks, Professor Dumbledore has granted me permission to start this little Duelling 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."
He tugged his velvet robe of his shoulder and tossed it into the crowd. A group of screaming Gryffindor fangirls managed to catch it, and Eva couldn't help but cringe at the scene.
Lockhart placed a glove over one hand. "Let me introduce my assistant, Professor Snape."
Eva couldn't help but laugh as Snape glided onto the stage with his arms crossed over his chest and an irritated frown on his face. He clearly wanted to be there even less than Eva and Cedric did, if that was even possible.
"He has sportingly agreed to help me with a short demonstration," Lockhart announced. "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."
"Snape will thrash him," Cedric whispered to Eva.
"I assume you didn't fail Divination then?" she teased back.
Lockhart and Snape walked up to each other and drew out their wands. After holding them in front of their face and then by their sides, they both bowed, took a few steps away from each other, and stood ready to duel.
Eva noticed the difference in their stances though. While Snape angled his wand over his head with precision, Lockhart had one hand on his hip while the other held out his wand much lower.
Lockhart counted down. "1 . . . 2 . . . 3-"
The moment Lockhart said '3', Snape shouted "Expelliarmus", sending Lockhart flying across the stage. He landed flat on his back with a loud thud and remained there for a moment before slowly sitting back up and climbing to his feet once more.
Eva was laughing so hard that she leaned on Cedric for support. "Made my day, that has. Now I have no regrets from coming here."
"Excellent idea to show them that, Professor Snape," Lockhart forced a smile but he was clearly annoyed, "but if you don't mind me saying, it was pretty obvious what you were about to do and, if I had wanted to stop you, it would've been only too easy."
Snape wasn't buying it. "Perhaps it would be prudent to first teach the students to block unfriendly spells, Professor."
Lockhart smiled falsely and turned around. "An excellent suggestion, Professor Snape. Let's have a volunteer pair." His eyes glanced over the crowd. "Er . . . Potter, Weasley, how about you?"
"Weasley's wand causes devastation with the simplest spells," Snape argued as Harry climbed up on stage. "We'll be sending Potter to the hospital wing in a matchbox. Might I suggest someone from my own house?" He shrugged. "Malfoy perhaps?"
Snape spun on his heel and pointed at Malfoy. The blonde jumped onto the stage agilely and pulled his wand out from the inside pocket of his robe. Eva sighed and hid her face in Cedric's shoulder.
"This can't end well," she mumbled.
Cedric laughed and playfully nudged her off. "Watch, Eva, it'll be funny."
Harry and Malfoy strutted up to each other so that they were face to face. "Wands at the ready!" Lockhart called over.
Both of them pulled up their wands in front of their faces. Malfoy raised his eyebrows tauntingly. "Scared, Potter?"
"You wish," Harry murmured back.
They both placed their wands back by their sides and took a few slow steps away. Interestingly, they both took up the same stance as Snape with their wands held high above their heads.
"On the count of three, cast your charms to disarm your opponent," Lockhart ordered. "Only to disarm. We don't want any accidents here. 1 . . . 2-"
"Everte Statum!" Malfoy shouted, shooting his wand at Harry.
Consequently, Harry spiralled backwards through the air and landed sideways on the ground. Malfoy smirked while some of the Slytherins laughed. Somehow, against all odds, Harry was able to stand back up perfectly and he angled his wand back at Malfoy.
"Rictusempra!"
Eva's eyes widened as he used what she knew as the Tickling Charm on Malfoy. A beam of light emitted from the end of Harry's wand and met with Malfoy, causing him to double over laughing hysterically and clutch his sides as he wiped tears from his eyes.
It was strange, seeing Malfoy laugh genuinely, but Eva noticed that he actually had a really sweet and heart-warming laugh, at least when he wasn't snickering at other people's expenses anyway.
Rolling his eyes, Snape picked up Malfoy by the hood of his robe and pushed him forward. The spell wore off and Malfoy was back to scowling at Harry with his wand drawn and ready.
"I said disarm only!" Lockhart yelled.
"Serpensortia!"
Malfoy waved his wand forwards and a live snake appeared from the end. It landed on the stage and slid across the surface, baring its teeth and hissing at people. The crowd automatically stepped back while Eva was so mesmerised that Cedric had to physically pull her out of its way. The snake seemed to be approaching Harry, sticking its tongue out with each hiss.
Snape stepped forward from around Malfoy. "Don't move, Potter. I'll get rid of it for you."
"Allow me, Professor Snape." Snape halted in his tracks unimpressedly while Lockhart smugly walked forwards. "Alarte Ascendare!"
All Lockhart's spell actually did was throw the snake in the air before dropping it harshly to the ground. Now the snake was angrier than before, hissing at the crowds.
The snake began to approach Eva and Cedric with its head held upwards. The people around them moved far backwards while Cedric held a hand in front of her protectively with his other hand holding his wand out in front of him. Eva dug into her pocket and pulled out her wand to do the same. Out of the corner of her eye, she could've sworn she saw Malfoy's eyes widening in alarm.
Harry began to move forward with his wand by his side. He opened his mouth to speak, but only a hissed whisper came out in some other language. The snake momentarily hissed at a boy on the other side of the stage and then began to come for Eva and Cedric again with its teeth bared. They took slow and calculated steps back, since they knew it was pointless to try and outrun it.
Harry whispered the same intelligible line over and over again. Both confused and anxious, Eva gripped onto Cedric's sleeve.
She felt Hecate appear from behind her and the demon moved to stand in front of Eva, crouched defensively. Although, when Hecate heard what Harry was saying, she suddenly stood up again, muttered something about "parselmouth", and disappeared.
"Thanks for the help, Hecate," Eva grumbled quietly, her trembling hand holding out her wand.
The snake suddenly turned its head to Harry. All Harry seemed to need to do was shake his head before it simply stopped, completely losing interest in the pair.
"Vipera Evenesca."
Snape pointed his wand at the snake and a bright fireball shot out from the end. The light hit the snake and it burnt away from the centre outwards, leaving not a trace, not even ashes.
Still unsure, both Eva and Cedric kept their wands out but turned their heads to Harry, along with everyone else.
"What are you playing at?" the boy standing opposite them accused.
There was silence for a long moment as everyone attempted to wrap their heads around what had happened. After what felt like hours, Lockhart cleared his throat, although his expression was still completely bewildered.
"Potter, maybe you should take a break for today," he warned, forcing another unnatural smile.
Without needing any further confirmation, Harry nodded and quickly hopped off the stage. Ron and Hermione were instantly by his side as they dashed out of the room and slammed the doors to the Great Hall closed behind them. Eva hadn't even realised she was still trembling.
"Infernum, maybe you would benefit from taking a break too," Lockhart advised insincerely. "Dangers such as that are never for the faint hearted. After the many horrifyingly deadly creatures I have faced, I would know." He smiled proudly, posing in front of the crowd.
Now Eva was back. "I'm in no way faint-hearted, thank you sir," she snapped, stowing her wand away in her robes angrily. "And I'd rather if you didn't insinuate that about me without actually knowing me."
Hushed murmurs swept through the room, most in shock that Eva would even dare to speak to Lockhart in that way. That was the girls, anyway. The boys, however, were watching her with . . . admiration?
"Of course, but you needed not fear." Lockhart again placed his hands on his hips and smiled broadly to the now much calmer crowd. "None of you were ever in any true danger with me around, for I have plenty of experience in defeating even the absurdist of creatures. Snakes come easy."
Eva opened her mouth to argue once more but Cedric held her back. "Don't waste your breath," he whispered.
"Maybe we should allow one more student demonstration? With much stricter rules than before?" Snape suggested.
Lockhart paused for a moment and annoyedly smiled. "What a brilliant idea, Professor Snape, that is exactly what I was about to suggest. Let's have two more eager volunteers."
Malfoy's hand shot up. "I would like to go again," Malfoy sneered.
Snape nodded to him and Malfoy jumped back onto the stage. As Lockhart scanned the crowd, his eyes again stopped at Eva. "Miss. Infernum, maybe you would like attempt to prove your bravery against Mr. Malfoy?"
Eva scoffed and rolled gracefully onto the stage. "Easy."
Malfoy narrowed his eyes at her, and she did the same back. Slowly, she pulled her wand out from inside her robes and readied herself to take him on.
"Wands at the ready!" Lockhart commanded.
Eva took a few definite steps forward and abruptly pulled her wand up in front of her face. Malfoy did the same as they both continued to glare harshly at each other, though neither of them seemed to intimidate each other at all.
"Ready to get your arse kicked, Malfoy?" Eva taunted.
Malfoy scoffed. "In your dreams, Infernum."
They pushed their wands back down to their sides, backed up a few steps, and Eva copied the same stance Snape had used before. Her heart was racing with excitement and the room had gone silent once more.
Lockhart counted down once more. "1 . . . 2-"
"Colloshoo!"
Eva pointed her wand at Malfoy and for a moment it looked like it had done nothing, although a few of the older kids that were already familiar with the spell realised what she'd done. Malfoy sniggered at her and went to take another step forwards when he shouted out as he tripped face first into the ground. His shoes had been stuck to the ground with a thick green substance, rendering him completely unable to move.
"To disarm, Infernum, to disarm!" Lockhart yelled.
"But it's funny!" Eva protested, laughing while Malfoy lay in an uncomfortable writhing mess on the floor. The others in the room began to laugh too, all except the Slytherins.
"Finite Incantantum."
Snape angled his wand at Malfoy's feet and, after a quick bright beam of light, the green substance vanished from the soles of his shoes. Malfoy climbed back up off the ground, much angrier than he had been with Harry previously.
"Rictusempra!" Malfoy bellowed.
The same white light emitted from Malfoy's wand and hit Eva square in the chest. The force caused her to fall backwards and she found herself laughing uncontrollably. While she gasped for air, she rolled onto her side and gripped onto her waist in an attempt to stop the hysterics.
After a few seconds, the spell finally wore off and Eva was able to stagger back to her feet, wiping away the tears that had gathered under her eyes. However, just before she was able to perform any more spells, Lockhart stepped in between them.
"And that concludes today's rather eventful Duelling Club session." Lockhart removed his one glove and smiled yet again while Eva and Malfoy glared at each other. "As you can see, with the assistance of Professor Snape, I was able to arm you with a large array of both defensive and offensive curses and spells, all of which I have used on countless occasions.
"For more details, see my published works."
The next day was rather tense between Eva and Malfoy, and what didn't help was the fact that there was an icy blizzard raging outside, meaning that they were trapped indoors together. To make matters worse, their Herbology lesson had been cancelled, so that entire free period was spent in the Slytherin common room.
"So," Eva tossed a small green bouncy ball up and down as she lay on her back on a sofa opposite Malfoy, "any plans for Christmas?"
"Why do you care, Infernum?" Malfoy questioned distractedly as he flipped another page in his Charms book.
"Hey, just trying to be friendly here, calm down," Eva defended. "Fine, I guess I'll tell you mine. My older brother's at university. The rest of my family are going to France to visit my muggle relatives. I've been left at school like how you'd leave a puppy at a kennel," she told him. "What about you? Going back to your giant palace with your scary dad?"
Malfoy lowered his book. "You find my father scary?"
Eva scoffed. "Absolutely terrifying. That guy is creepy, without a doubt. Also, he looks just like you, so that's scary as well. It's honestly just uncanny. And he hates me, so that doesn't help."
"He doesn't exactly hate you," Malfoy countered. "For obvious reasons, he despises muggles. He just finds you unbelievably irritating, as do I."
"Like father, like son," Eva remarked. "So, Christmas at your fancy-shmancy castle then?"
Malfoy sighed. "It's Malfoy Manor. And no, my father is occupied with Ministry business, especially during this fiasco regarding Arthur Weasley," he spat. "Besides, I'm far too interested to see if Granger will be next, or you. My money is on Granger, but we'll see, I suppose."
"Oh, for fucks sake."
Eva sat up and threw her bouncy ball across the room so that it smashed straight into a small glass vase that had only just been replaced after the fifth year boys' game of dodgeball.
"Will everyone just stop betting against me? And that goes for you too." She pointed to the group of Slytherins gathered around the table at the back. "It was slightly funny the first time, and now it's not just sad, but it's also lame. Make these dumb bets, but don't get me involved." She stood up and stomped back upstairs to her dorm room. "Thank you for listening."
Later that day, they had yet another Defence Against the Dark Arts class. Since Lockhart tended to get annoyed if they left his collection behind and didn't bring it to class, Eva gathered his books in her arms and dumped them on her desk with a loud thud once she was inside the classroom.
As Hermione had started fangirling over Lockhart with another girl in the class, she'd moved seats to sit next to her and after some seat-swapping later, Eva somehow had found herself sharing with Malfoy. At least she had someone to complain about Lockhart to.
Malfoy arrived a few seconds later, his books carried much neater than hers. He sat down and stacked his on the end of his desk smugly while Eva braced herself for what was to come.
Lockhart stood in front of his desk as usual. "I see you've all bought a complete set of my books, well done. Now, I thought we'd start today with," he picked up a stack of papers, "a little quiz."
Eva moved her head from resting on her hand so that it landed on the desk with her hand pulling at her hair exasperatedly. Malfoy's eyebrows furrowed together in bemusement as his eyes followed Lockhart.
"Nothing to worry about," Lockhart assured as he handed around the quiz papers, "just to check how well you've read them," he handed two to Hermione's desk, Hermione blushing furiously, "how much you've taken in," Ron took his and Harry's with a fake smile.
Once Lockhart reached Malfoy and Eva's table, Eva refused to move her head. Malfoy snatched the quiz sheets from Lockhart with a sneer and slid one in front of Eva, hoping she'd move her head off the desk. Reluctantly, Eva sat back up and lazily picked up her quill as she read over the questions.
'Defence Against the Dark Arts – Second Year Essential Knowledge Test
1) What is Gilderoy Lockhart's favourite colour?
2) What is Gilderoy Lockhart's great ambition?
3) What, in your opinion, is Gilderoy Lockhart's greatest achievement to date?
4) When is Gilderoy Lockhart's birthday and what would the ideal gift be?
5) How many times has Gilderoy Lockhart won Witch Weekly's Most Charming Smile Award?
6) In his book Break with a Banshee, how did Gilderoy Lockhart bravely banish the Bandon Banshee?
7) Which is Gilderoy Lockhart's best side for photographs?
8) Has Gilderoy Lockhart ever won the Dunstable Duelling Championship for wizards or just been pipped at the post?
9) Which product does Gilderoy Lockhart use to clean his teeth with to achieve his famous dazzling white smile?'
"How the hell am I supposed to know this?" Eva whispered. "Why would I know his favourite colour? And his ideal birthday gift? We're not friends, he'd never receive one from me anyway."
"His best side for photographs?" Malfoy questioned, moving his head closer to the page to see if he was reading it correctly. "Even Quirrell was a better Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher."
"Hey," Eva turned her head to him. "Quirrell had good ol' Voldy growing on the back of his head, so we're not using him as a comparison. Got it?"
Malfoy rolled his eyes. "So casual when mentioning You-Know-Who. No wonder he despised mudbloods."
"Oi, I'm delightful thank you very much. I reckon me and Voldy could be besties, you don't know," Eva snarked, turning her attention back to Lockhart who was stood at the front of the class.
Lockhart placed the spare copies on his desk. "You have 30 minutes. Start . . . now!"
Eva sighed and began placing answers to the questions, some random and some sarcastic. A few times, she attempted to peek over Malfoy's shoulder, but he simply swatted her away like a housefly. All she knew was that his guesses were quite simply just guesses.
By the end of the 30 minutes, everyone had handed their quizzes back and Lockhart was sitting at his desk as he read through the assortment of answers. He seemed displeased if his expression was anything to go by.
"Tut tut," he scoffed as he flipped through the pages, "hardly any of you remembered that my favourite colour is lilac . . . especially not Miss. Infernum."
"How can you get an answer 'especially' incorrect?" Malfoy asked confusedly.
Eva shrugged. "I just said 'no one cares, but probably something everyone hates like neon yellow or dark brown or something'." Malfoy frowned in thought for a moment and then nodded.
"But, Miss. Hermione Granger knew that my secret ambition is to rid the world of evil, and market my own range of hair care potions." Lockhart winked at Hermione. "Good girl."
Hermione went pink and smiled sheepishly. "Thanks."
⊱ ────── {.⋅ ✯ ⋅.} ────── ⊰
Author's note: Some quality Lockhart content because as much as I hate him, he's got to be one of the best characters in the series. And Cedric, awwww, I love him.
Anyway, thank you so much for reading, stay safe, and ily lots!