Chapter Twenty-Two: Gilderoy Lockheart
Hey guys, I just wanted to apologize for the long delay of updates, but I've been extremely busy these past couple of months with Thanksgiving and Christmas. I appreciate your patience! :D
That morning in potions class they started learning about the fire protection potion and Snape assigned them to gather the ingredients together for homework while meanwhile Ginny was starting to learn the wrist movements for the levitation spell (Wingardium Leviosa) that Harry and his friends learned last year. After the first period bell rang the first and second year Gryffindors switched classes and Harry and his friends started learning the shrinking spell (Reduico) as well as the engorging spell (Engorgio ) while Ginny learned the cure for boils and had to write an essay about it.
Finally, it was time for the second year Gryffindors and the second year Hufflepuffs to have herbology class together. Harry was just as confused as the rest of his classmates when he saw some ugly kind of plant that was sleeping in some of the pots up on top of the table that resembled a human baby but uglier. There were also two rows of fuzzy earmuffs. That's when suddenly Professor Sprout entered the room.
"Hullo there welcome to greenhouse three second years. Now who can tell me what kind of plant this is?" She questioned them as a few hands shot up in the air and neither Harry nor Ron were surprised that one of them belonged to Hermione. "Yes Miss Granger?" She questioned as Hemione instantly put her hand down.
"A mandrake or a mandragora is an ingredient used in potions for those who have been transfigured or cursed back to their original state. A mandrake's cry can be fatal to all those who hear it." She replied.
"Well done Ms. Granger ten points to Gryffindor!" Mrs. Sprout exclaimed excitedly as Hermione beamed with pride. "Now considering the fact that the mandrakes are still rather young their cries won't kill you yet, but they could still knock you out for several hours which is why I've given each of you a pair of earmuffs." She explained to them. "Now go ahead and put them on and then you grasp your mandrake and pull it straight up!" She exclaimed before she demonstrated it once she knew that everybody had their earmuffs on.
However, Neville hadn't had his own properly and his eyeballs rolled back inside his head as he let out a great big gasp for breath before he collapsed and felt himself go unconscious. "Ah I see that Mr. Longbottom has been neglecting his earmuffs." Mrs. Sprout said.
"So what are we supposed to do with him?" Ron wondered.
"Just leave him there." Mrs. Sprout said before Harry and Ron just simply looked at each other and shrugged.
Later on, Harry and the rest of the second year Gryffindors went to defense against the dark arts with the Slytherins. The one thing that Harry and Ron both didn't like about Hermione was the fact that like all of the other young witches she seemed to be obsessed with Gilderoy Lockheart. Ginny Weasley seemed to be one of the few witches that thought he was just as annoying as all of the wizards in the school.
Instead of teaching them any defensive spells, their whole entire first class seemed to be with Lockheart bragging about all of his achievements and tested them about it. Harry and Ron just simply exchanged looks before they started guessing the best, they could on all of the answers. Although Harry remembered that his father taught him that he shouldn't guess on his tests he had absolutely no idea who Lockheart was and he had absolutely no interest in learning about him either.
After they were finished with filling out their test papers Lockheart suddenly turned to face the class. "And now for today's lesson." He began.
"It's about time." Ron muttered underneath his breath with a roll of his eyes.
"What was that Mr. Weasley?" Lockheart inquired before Harry elbowed him in the ribs.
"Oh I said, you have the heart of a lion so I wonder why you weren't sorted into Gryffindor." Ron replied and whenever he lied his cheeks turned pink.
"Really? Oh. Well, it's probably because of the fact that I have my brains." He boasted with a rather proud and shimmering grin before winking at him. "Well anyways as charming as my smile is I didn't get rid of the Bandon Banshee by smiling at her." He said as Ron just simply rolled his eyes again and shook his head. "Even though it's won me a lot of awards." He added with a chuckle.
"Anyways, today we will be facing a very most unpleasant creature." Lockheart began once again.
"You're not kidding." Ron mumbled and this time Harry elbowed him even harder. "Ouch cut it out Harry!" He snapped and that's when all of a sudden Lockheart pulled a red sheet off of a cage that held a bunch of tiny blue creatures inside of it. Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle along with Seamus Finnegan all started to snicker.
"Cornish pixies!?" He cried out with another chuckle.
"That's right freshly caught Cornish pixies and laugh all you want to Mr. Finnegan but pixies can be devilishly sneaky little blighters. I must ask you not to scream though or you may provoke them. Let's see what you make of them!" Lockheart cried out before he opened the latch on the cage door and all of the pixies flew into the room.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione suddenly found themselves under attack along with the rest of their classmates. A couple of the pixies started dragging Neville up into the air by his ears while some more pixies started pulling at Hermione's hair. That's when suddenly Hermione had had enough and withdrew her wand and pointed it up at them and then waved it all around. "Immobulus!" She cried out and all of sudden the pixies froze in midair while Neville dangled from the chandelier.
"Why's it always me?" He questioned as Ron lowered his head and tried his best to suppress his laughter before the bell rang that signaled them that it was time for them to go to lunch.