'Hermione!' Ginny called when they passed her in the hall on their way to breakfast. She was wearing Hermione's old robes, resplendent with their new Gryffindor colours and had the headband Hermione had transfigured in her hair. Already, her hair looked a little less flat. 'You just missed it, Ron got a howler from mum.'

Hermione didn't know what a howler was, but from Theo's reaction it was probably embarrassing. She smiled slightly, and congratulated the younger girl on her sorting.

'I asked the hat to put me in Slytherin, but it said that boldness was exactly why I should be in Gryffindor.' Ginny said with a scowl.

'You're definitely a Gryffindor.' Theo agreed. 'But its okay, there's some Gryffindors who aren't insufferable and we let them study with us.'

'Insufferable? That sounds like something Professor Snape would say!' Hermione scoffed, but she did invite Ginny to join them in the library after lunch. There wasn't much time for them to talk if the two Slytherins wanted to get breakfast but Ginny did call back a warning not to sit near Ron in lessons because he'd snapped his wand and it kept backfiring.

They didn't have to worry about that until after lunch. Blaise Zabini handed them their timetables as they sat down and the duo quickly discovered that they would be starting Mondays with transfiguration, followed by history of magic. With Lockhart after lunch, the day promised to be painful.

Transfiguration turned out to be another trans-sentience transfiguration, so Hermione was assigned an essay instead and excused to the library with the expectation of submitting a roll of parchment on theory of the transfiguration. Perhaps, if she included some magical webbing for the transfiguration she would finally receive a good mark.

History of magic had moved on from goblin leaders to early international politics which might perhaps have been an interesting subject if anyone other than Binns taught it. Fortunately, both Theo and Hermione were at an advantage; the Nott family had long ben considered authorities on wizarding history and Lord Nott had made sure to cover everything they would need to know for second year in their summer lessons.

Things finally began to look up at lunch when they met in the library and Ginny came bouncing in to meet her.

'How was your first morning?' Theo asked dryly as she plopped into the chair next to him.

'Brilliant.' Ginny enthused, telling them all about her charms lesson where she'd managed to earn ten house points. She didn't have any homework yet, unlike Hermione, so Theo offered to work with her on her wandless magic - repeating the words Hermione had told him about the dangers of using a wand too much almost verbatim. She had to jump up to fetch a different book to hide her proud grin.

Harry and Neville joined them after quarter of an hour; Ginny had been correct about Ron's wand and it had backfired spectacularly during transfiguration.

'I'd get him a new one, but I don't think he'd accept it.' Neville sighed.

'Please do, for all of our safety. We've got defence with you lot.' Theo scrunched his nose.

'Mum would get him one, if she wasn't so angry.' Promised Ginny, sounding embarrassed.

'I've got a spare at home.' Hermione admitted. 'But I don't think my brother would appreciate me giving it away.'

'Not if it's anything like the one you're using now.' Pointed out Neville with a raised eyebrow. 'The quality of the wood is incredible, even for a wand.'

'I don't really know. It's a hereditary wand.'

'A hereditary wand?' Theo asked, sounding morbidly curious. 'As in, it belonged to a dead wizard?'

'I assume so. There's a whole pile of them and we got to pick one.'

'Weird.' Ginny breathed. 'We bury wizards with their wands here.'

'But I guess, if the rest of the Grindelwalds are like Hermione, they would have barely used their wands so it would be different...'

'It's still weird. Hey, Ginny, if we leave now I can take you up to transfiguration to the way to defence.' Neville packed away his stuff when Ginny agreed and the two Gryffindors left. Harry, Theo and Hermione made their way to Lockhart's classroom in silence.

Unlike Quirrel's classroom which had been very bare, Lockhart had chosen to decorate his classroom with life size portraits of himself, posing in various sets of brightly coloured robes and holding trophies more often than not. They took seats right at the back and the two Slytherins watched in amusement as Harry pulled out every one of his books and stacked them around his desk like a fort.

Lockhart was late to his own lesson, bursting through the door with a bright grin and a large cage covered in a crimson cloth that clashed spectacularly with his teal robes. He began by handing them out a test and any slight hope that may have remained for the subject was quickly dashed. The test was full of questions like; what is Gilderoy Lockhart's least favourite food and what form does his patronus take.

A note landed on Hermione's desk, covered in Theo's neat calligraphy.

'Do you think he can actually cast a patronus?'

Hermione mouthed back her negative reply decisively.

'Help!' Another note landed on her desk, this time courtesy of Neville. Hermione glanced down at her own test, scrawling in as many answers as she remembered and guessing at the others. Even in Lockhart was an idiot, she still intended to get top marks in his class.

Eventually, Lockhart gathered up the papers. He tutted in disappointment at the answers and made comments on how he'd mentioned such tidbits as his favourite colour.

'How the hell did you know that?' Theo grumbled.

'He was wearing Lilac robes at dinner last night. I guessed that he'd wear his favourite colour for his first appearance.' Hermione answered with a smile. Theo groaned.

'I've got nothing right.' Harry muttered, still hiding behind his pile of books.

'Look out.' Theo cautioned. Lockhart was standing beside the cage at the front, cautioning them on their greatest fears. 'Five galleons on Flobberworms.'

'Done. Flobberworms don't need a tall cage; I think it's Billywigs.' Neville snickered.

Lockhart whipped the cover off the cage to reveal a whole mischief of pixies. Most of the wizarding children snickered slightly and one of the Gryffindors let out a guffaw that even Lockhart couldn't interpret as fear.

Neville barely had time to utter his fear before Lockhart popped open the cage and pixies barrelled across the room like blue cannon balls. Whilst pixies weren't dangerous and rarely caused problems in their natural populations, such a large group that had been confined for who knew how long was havoc. Neville didn't even get a chance to grab his wand before he was seized by his collar and dragged upwards out of his chair. Hermione managed to bat one pixie away before he was so high that the fall would injure him. Meanwhile, Theo grabbed magical me and started batting furiously at any that came near the back row. Harry grabbed his wand and cast a nice shield charm, sheltering them from the worst of the flying books and ink pots.

Across the room, Crabbe and Goyle were snatching at pixies like cats chasing a torch beam whilst Malfoy cowered beneath his desk with Pansy. Ron was desperately trying to gather his books into his bag whilst even the pixies didn't dare approach his wand which kept whistling and letting off explosions like a firework.

'Round them up!' Lockhart bellowed from the front, ducking as a copy of Gadding with Ghouls soared over his head and shattered the massive window behind him. A moment later he drew his wand and uttered some rhyming nonsense that did nothing, except one of the pixies took the opportunity to grab his wand and chuck it through the smashed window.

Lockhart dove under his desk, just as one of the pixies released the chandelier above. It released with a rattle of chain and Neville's scream as he plummeted.

'Stop!' Hermione screamed. Magic exploded out of her in a blast of white light, rippling over the entire classroom and freezing everything in place. The chandelier froze meters from the ground, a spray of parchment drifted aimlessly where a book had exploded against Harry's shield and a splatter of ink glittered where it had frozen mid-smash.

'Oh, thank Circe.' Neville breathed, wriggling until his robe tore and then dropping the last meter to the floor.

'Get rid of them.' Hermione gritted, hands outstretched and pulsing with pale light as she fought to hold everything still.

'Accio Pixies' Theo flicked his wand at a cluster of blue and the little forms whizzed towards him. He caught them with little thought for their delicate wings and shoved them back into the cage. Neville and Harry quickly caught on and slowly their other classmates emerged from beneath their desks. With a couple of wary glances in Hermione's direction, most set to grabbing the closest pixies and shoving them back into the cage. Others took the opportunity to hurry out of the classroom in the direction of the hospital wing.

'Theo. Help.' Hermione urged and Theo vaulted over the desk, grabbing her hand. She snatched at his magic, perhaps a little roughly if his wince was anything to go by but Theo never faltered, pushing his magic into hers and taking the brunt of the effort of holding the spell.

'Got it.' Theo grunted and Hermione slipped out, withdrawing her magic. Soon, Theo was holding the spell alone. His hands glowed, slightly cooler and bluer than her own had and the pulses of magic came slightly more frequently. Already the strain was showing on his face, so Hermione set to helping to gather up the last of the pixies and second later she shut the golden cage with a snap.

Theo released the spell barely a second later and the chandelier finally landed with a crash. Lockhart's desk splintered and Hermione ducked beneath Harry's shield charm as shards of wood pattered against it.

'Great work.' She breathed. 'Now let's get out before he can do anything worse.'

'I don't think he will be doing anything.' Neville breathed from the other side of the room. 'Seamus, go and get Madam Pomfrey.'

She had assumed that Lockhart would have escaped when the pixies were all frozen, but either he had been too terrified or her magic had actually recognised him as a threat. He had still been under the desk when the chandelier had hit it, and now he was crushed beneath the massive iron rings. Blood pooled beneath his head.

'Circe.' Hermione breathed. Student's crowded around them, faces pale and nervous.

'Out of the way!' Madam Pomfrey bellowed from the back of the crowd and they parted like the Red Sea to let her through. Seamus trailed behind her with a large bag which clinked at he put it down. The matron knelt beside the teacher quickly. 'Everyone out. Out, out... not you Grindelwald. Potter, Nott, you stay here too. Finnegan, fetch Professor McGonagall and Dumbledore immediately.'

The trio paused, then returned to her side as the rest of the class reluctantly left. There was a dead silence, but conversation burst out as soon as the students were clear of the room. Silence reigned in the classroom, broken only by Madam Pomfrey's muttering.

'Blood replenishing potion, please.' She commanded and Hermione quickly dove into the large bag, rummaging around until she found the specified potion and handed it over to the matron who poured the entire vial down Lockhart's throat.

'Now, we need to get this off; you're all accomplished wixen. Slow and steady, please.' Madam Pomfrey commanded.

'Link hands. Harry, lift the chain and the top ring, I've got the bit over Lockhart, Theo get the middle ring.' Hermione commanded. Despite their fear and exhaustion, her friends obeyed. Their magic was familiar and comforting and they all reached out with ease and wrapped the massive chandelier in magic. Madam Pomfrey raised her eyebrows sceptically.

'On the count of three.' Madam Pomfrey said. 'Three... Two... One!' Hermione lifted slowly. The physical connection kept the magic coordinated even as they focused on separate parts and the chandelier lifted off smoothly and evenly.

McGonagall and Dumbledore burst into the room with a bang, almost shattering the trio's concentration. The chandelier dipped and wavered alarmingly and McGonagall's sharp voice called out an incantation. Cool, smooth magic wrapped around the chandelier, supporting the trio's efforts and eventually taking the burden from them entirely. They all breathed a sigh of relief as the massive metal rings were levitated across the room by the transfiguration professor and dropped with a clang a safe distance away. Dumbledore hurried across the room with an uncharacteristically grave expression on his face to assist Madam Pomfrey.

'You have done very well.' McGonagall informed the trio. 'Excellent, controlled use of magic in difficult circumstances, a powerful show of compassion and bravery. Fifty points, each.'

Hermione's jaw dropped open. She couldn't remember ever receiving a point from the intimidating professor, even when she'd submitted detailed essays that superseded OWL and occasionally even NEWT level.

'And perhaps a calming draught for everyone who was in this lesson. Please return to your dormitories, notify your classmates that you have the remainder of the afternoon off andShe elves will drop off potions for you to take shortly.' McGonagall added. The trio nodded and quickly gathered their belongings before fleeing the classroom.