Chapter 4: First Lesson with Professor Lockhart

I don't own Digimon or Harry Potter

"Well, this is a fine way to begin the first day back at Hogwarts." Daisuke muttered to herself as she sat down at the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall, the enchanted ceiling was a dull cloudy grey and it looked like it was going to rain too. Demi-Veemon sat on her shoulder as she filled her plate with bacon, eggs and toast and began eating, feeding her partner some smaller pieces as well.

"Morning." Both looked over at Hermione who had one of Professor Lockhart's books propped open against a milk jug in front of her.

"Voyages with Vampires…are you really reading that again, you read it twice on the train yesterday." Daisuke said to her friend.

"Oh, I don't want to forget anything. What if he's going to give us a quiz during our first lesson?" Hermione replied.

"Then you had better be sure to double check the appendices in case he asks really specific questions like that." Demi-Veemon said sarcastically.

"Oh, good idea." Hermione said, handing him a piece of toast before doing just that. The Digimon giggled and munched on the toast happily while Daisuke rolled her eyes. She spotted Nearly Headless Nick floating above the table to the door and he bowed his head when he floated past Jun and Percy.

"Good morning, Percy, Jun." he greeted.

"Hello Sir Nicholas." Jun said with a smile as she and Percy took their seats at the table and began eating, not long after that, Ron and Harry joined Daisuke and Hermione at the table.

"Sleep alright?" Harry asked Daisuke as she bit back another yawn.

"Just fine." She answered, though she was lying, as soon as she had her vision last night, she hadn't been able to get back to sleep for very long.

"Good morning." Neville Longbottom greeted as he sat across the table from them. "Post should be here any minute, I think my Gran is sending a few things that I forgot at home."

"She gave you a Remembrall last year to avoid that happening, remember?" Ron asked the round-faced boy who bashfully blushed.

"I think I forgot that at home too." He admitted making the four friends share a look, Neville seemed to have the worst luck at remembering things at times.

A few moments later, the Great Hall was filled with the hoots and flapping wings as a hundred owls circled overhead, upon finding the recipient of the male they carried, they dropped it from their beaks or swopped in to drop it off and snatch some food off the plates of the students.

Neville yelped when a parcel landed on his head followed by a smaller one which he caught before he opened it and pulled out his Remembrall which made him smile brightly when he saw no red smoke for now.

"Incoming!" Demi-Veemon suddenly cried out as something large and grey fell into Hermione's milk jug spraying them all with milk and feathers.

"Errol!" Ron exclaimed. "Bloody bird's a menace." He huffed as a few students around them chuckled, watching the Weasley pull the family owl out by the feet.

"You can say that again." Daisuke grumbled, milk dripping from her hair and down her face. "Good thing Salem isn't here right now; I'd let him eat that ruddy bird."

"He'd probably complain about it giving him indigestion." Demi-Veemon said, looking at the owl as it laid on the table motionless, a damp envelope in its beak. "And it brought a letter too."

Ron tugged the letter free and tore it open, the welfare of the owl forgotten as Hermione poked it with her finger to see if it was still alive or not. "Oh, it's from mom, she just wants to know if Harry and I are okay after she heard about what happened to us on the platform…and she wants me to give Ginny a hug for getting sorted into Gryffindor like everyone else."

The others looked down the table and saw Ginny sitting with a few of the other First Year students. "Best do it later. That way neither of you will be too embarrassed by it." Daisuke whispered, Ron nodded just as Professor McGonagall moved up and down the Gryffindor table handing out the timetables to each student.

"Double Herbology first, we'd best be on our way." Hermione said. The four of them left the castle together and made their way across the grounds to the greenhouses, by the time they had arrived the rest of the class was already there.

They joined their fellow Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs as they waited for Professor Sprout, they soon saw the plump Herbology teacher making her way towards them, by her side was Gilderoy Lockhart, the blonde-haired man wearing perfectly neat and tidy turquoise robs and his teeth glinting in the sunlight.

"Ah, hello there." Lockhart greeted the assembled students. "Professor Sprout and I were just having a discussion on the right way to tend to a Whomping Willow. Now, I am the first to admit that I am no expert. But I have come across a few of those rare plants on my travels."

Professor Sprout rolled her eyes at his comments before she spoke to the students. "Greenhouse Three, follow me." She told them. The students all began muttering to themselves, they had never been in Greenhouse Three before, from what they had been told by older students, it housed more interesting and dangerous magical plants.

Professor Sprout opened the greenhouse door and the students followed her inside, just as Daisuke and Harry were about to follow Hermione and Ron through the door Daisuke spotted Lockhart reaching out to grab Harry by the shoulder, so she pushed her friend ahead and slammed the door behind them.

"Thanks." Harry whispered and she gave him a small grin.

"Don't mention it. The less time you spend around that jerk the better." She replied. The students all put on their dragonhide gloves along with thick, grey coats to protect their robes from the dirt and plants and they soon were in two lines either side of the room.

"Now then, we'll be repotting Mandrakes today. Now, who can tell me the properties of the Mandrake?" Professor Sprout asked from her place behind a bench at the front of the class and to nobody's surprise, Hermione's arm shot into the air. "Yes, Miss Granger?"

"Mandrake or Mandragora is a powerful restorative. It is used to restore those who have been transfigured or cursed to their original state." Hermione said.

"Excellent, ten points to Gryffindor." Professor Sprout said, making the other Gryffindor's smile while the Hufflepuffs nodded slightly. "Mandrake root is a common ingredient used in most antidotes, it is also however dangerous, who can tell me why?"

This time however, it was Neville's hand that shot into the air first. "The cry of the Mandrake is lethal to anyone who hears it." he stuttered out.

"Exactly, another ten points to Gryffindor." Professor Sprout said proudly. "Now, the Mandrakes we have here are very young so their cries won't kill you yet, but they will knock you out for several hours."

Harry and Daisuke looked at the dozens of pots in the greenhouse, each one holding some sort of magical plant, the leaves of which were twitching every so often.

"All of you take a set of earmuffs and put them on, quickly now." she instructed. The students hurried to do just that, grabbing a set of earmuffs before putting them on and the moment they did, the earmuffs blocked out all sounds completely.

Professor Sprout put on her own pair of earmuffs before she rolled up her sleeves and grasped one of the plants and pulled hard. Harry let out a gasp nobody could hear as he looked at what was connected to the leaves, a fat, brown baby that was wailing loudly. Professor Sprout pulled an empty pot towards her and shoved the Mandrake in before burying it with soil and compost until only its leaves were visible.

After a moment, she gave the students a thumbs up and they removed their earmuffs. "Now, four to a group there is plenty to go around. I will give you the signal when it is the end of the lesson. Be sure to keep your earmuffs firmly in place, you don't want to miss your first day back because you were careless. Oh, and mind the Venomous Tentacular, it's teething." She added before slapping a dark red plant making it retract the feelers that were slowly crawling over her shoulder.

This made a few of the students let out a chuckle before they began splitting off into groups of four. Daisuke and Harry paired up with Neville and a Hufflepuff student they recalled was named Justin Finch Fletchley while Ron and Hermione were with Seamus and Dean Thomas.

"Justin Finch Fletchley, delighted to meet you." The boy said, shaking Harry's hand excitedly, Harry smiled slightly as he continued. "Know who you are of course, the famous Harry Potter. And you're Daisuke Ainsworth, heard a lot about you too."

Daisuke blushed bashfully as her hand was shaken as well. "Nice to meet you too, Justin."

"That Lockhart's something isn't he?" Justin then asked, pouring dragon dung compost into his plant pots. "Really brave, I'd have died if I were cornered in a phone box by a werewolf. But he stayed cool and zap! Just fantastic!"

Daisuke and Harry rolled their eyes. "Well, that's nice to hear." Harry said quietly before everyone was ready to begin repotting the Mandrakes. Once their earmuffs were back on, no sound could be heard and a good thing too. The Mandrakes seemed to not like being pulled out of their previous pots, they did everything to try and remain in them.

Daisuke grunted and pulled a rather fat and ugly looking Mandrake from the pot, and she retched in disgust at the sight of it, she then cried out in pain when it bit down on her finger when she tried to push it into another pot. She glared over at Harry, Ron, and Hermione who she saw out of the corner of her eye chuckling under her breath, oh they were gonna regret that.

Eventually the lesson was over, they shed their work coats by the door of the greenhouse and headed off to their next class, the Gryffindors had Transfiguration and they were all sore, tired, and sweaty from Herbology.

Professor McGonagall's lessons were never easy, and it seemed that the first lesson back would be just as tricky. "I can't believe she had us transforming beetles into buttons." Ron huffed as they all walked into the Great Hall for lunch.

"Just be glad she didn't want us turning them back again." Daisuke replied, sitting down at the table with her friends. "What have we got after lunch?"

"Defence Against the Dark Arts." Hermione said with a smile, looking at her timetable before it was snatched away by Ron.

"Why the heck do you have all his lessons surrounded by little hearts?" he asked her, she didn't answer and snatched her timetable back, her cheeks bright red.

Daisuke groaned, rubbing her eyes at her friends before she noticed a young boy sitting across from the four of them, looking at Harry with wide, awe filled eyes and, in his hands, he held a sort of normal, muggle camera. "Hi there, what's your name?" She asked politely.

Her voice seemed to snap the boy out of his stare, and he squeaked. "I…I'm Colin Creevey, I'm in Gryffindor too."

"Hi, Colin. Nice to meet you." Harry said.

"Um…i…is it alright…i…if I took a picture of you Harry?" Colin asked.

"A picture?"

"Yeah, to prove that I met you." Colin said eagerly. "I know all about you, everyone's told me about how you survived being attacked by You-Know-Who and how you stopped him again last year and about your scar. A boy in my dormitory told me that if I developed the pictures in the right pictures, they'll move. It's brilliant here, isn't it? I was just hoping for one picture, and maybe you could sign it?"

"Signed photos? You're giving out signed photos now, Potter?" an oh so familiar voice questioned, loudly and snarkily, making the four friends turn to see Draco Malfoy walking over to them, flanked by his lackies Crabbe and Goyle. "Everyone line up, Potter's giving out signed photographs now!" he shouted to the others in the Great Hall.

"No, I'm not!" Harry growled out.

"You're just jealous!" Colin piped out. "Jealous that he's famous and you're not!"

"Why would I be jealous of having some ugly scar on my forehead? I don't think getting your head cut open or your parents being killed makes you that special." Draco replied

"Eat slugs Malfoy." Ron grumbled as Crabbe growled, cracking his knuckles menacingly as Draco sneered.

"And what're you going to do, Weasley?" he questioned, unaware of a jug of juice floating up behind him, Daisuke's wand under the table and with a subtle flick of the wand, the jug upended over Malfoy making the boy shriek from the ice-cold juice now covering him head to toe.

Colin quickly snapped a picture with his camera, grinning impishly as Draco and his cronies stormed off, Draco leaving behind wet footprints as the laughter soon died down.

"Thanks." Harry whispered to Daisuke who winked before she paled seeing Oliver Wood walking down towards them.

"Harry, good thing I caught you. Quidditch practice starts today after lessons. Meet us in the Entrance Hall with your kit, okay?" he asked, and Harry nodded quickly. "And Daisuke, you're joining too."

"Me?" Daisuke asked in surprise, she hadn't thought of trying out for the team, they did so well last year apart from the match when Harry was injured due to stopping Quirrell and Voldemort.

"Of course. Fred and George told me about how good you were on that new broom of yours, figured we'd give you a chance to prove yourself. You'll be subbing for the Chasers if you do well enough." Oliver continued, glancing down the table at the three Gryffindor Chasers, Katie Bell, Alicia Spinnet and Angelina Johnson.

"Right." Daisuke said with a smile. Soon, lunch was finished and the Gryffindor and Slytherin students made their way to their first Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson. Malfoy was still dripping wet from earlier making him all the grumpier. The students entered the classroom and took their seats, Daisuke sat beside Hermione while Harry and Ron sat next to them at another desk.

"Good Lord…" Daisuke whispered, seeing the entire room was filled with portraits and photographs of Lockhart, all of them posing and smiling at the class.

A short while later, the door to Professor Lockhart's office opened and the man stepped out, grinning widely at them all. "Me, Gilderoy Lockhart. Order of Merlin, Third Class. Honorary member of the Dark Force Defence League and five-time winner of Witch's Weekly Most Charming Smile Award." He said, walking down the stairs from his office to them.

Daisuke gagged before Hermione smacked her in the arm making her hiss and glare at her friend who along with most of the other girls in the class were swooning at Lockhart.

"I didn't get rid of the Bandon Banshee by smiling at it." Lockhart continued, leaning against his desk beside a covered cage that rattled about for a moment. The class was silent, a few students weakly smiling. "I see you've all brought a complete set of my books, well done."

"Yeah…how much of the money is going into your pockets I wonder." Daisuke thought, glaring at the pompous man.

"Now, we're going to begin with a small quiz. Nothing too strenuous, just to see how much you've read and how much you remember." Lockhart told the class, and he flicked his wand, and several sheets of parchment flew out and landed on the desks in front of everyone. "You have thirty minutes, start now."

Daisuke looked through the questions and frowned. The questions were all about him, nothing about anything else he did in the books. "What the heck?" She whispered, noticing Hermione already going through the quiz with her quill and ink, looking around she saw some of the other girls doing the same including Tracey Davis and Daphne Greengrass from Slytherin. "Is every girl except me charmed by this git?" She thought.

She took her quill and smirked, oh she'd answer the questions, just not the way Lockhart was expecting. With a mischievous giggle that would make Fred and George Weasley proud she got to work.

Thirty minutes later, the tests were handed back to Lockhart who began reading through them one by one and shook his head. "Hardly any of you seem to remember my favourite colour is lilac, I say so in the Year with a Yeti. And some of you need to read Weekend with a Werewolf more carefully, I clearly state in Chapter 12 that my ideal birthday gift would be harmony between magic and non-magic people. Though I wouldn't say no to a bottle of Firewhiskey either."

Ron and Harry shared a look of disbelief while Seamus and Dean, who sat in front of them, snickered and giggled silently.

Lockhart continued going through the papers and his face turned bright red when he saw the answers Daisuke had written down, Daisuke smirked coyly when he glanced at her, and she waved innocently as he sputtered. "Right um…oh it seems Miss Hermione Granger here answered each question correctly, full marks. And ten points to Gryffindor as well."

Hermione blushed and beamed brightly at his attention, making the other girls in the class huff and glare at her. "Now then, to business." Lockhart said. "I am here to teach you how to protect yourselves against the foulest creatures in the world. Some of you may face your darkest nightmares in this room but fear not. I happen to have the knowledge to protect you. Now I ask that you not scream, it might…provoke them!" he tore off the tarp covering the cage on his desk revealing it to be filled with bright blue creatures that began buzzing about the cage, shrieking and chattering as the class looked at them.

"Cornish Pixies?" Seamus asked in disbelief.

"Freshly caught Cornish Pixies." Lockhart said and Seamus burst out laughing. "Laugh if you will Mr Finnigan. But Pixies are devilish tricky blighters, let's see what you make of them now." he unlocked the cage and opened the door.

"You idiot!" Daisuke snapped, the pixies flew out of the cage and began swarming the students who all screamed and ducked for cover as the pixies began causing havoc, they tore up books, threw them around at the students, some scrunched up the torn pages and used them to pelt Lockhart who dived for cover.

"Ah, get off me!" Hermione yelped as some pixies grabbed her hair.

"Hold still!" Harry told her, running over, and using one of Lockhart's books to smack the pixie, sending it hurtling through the air. Most of the class began fleeing the classroom in a panic leaving only Daisuke, Ron, Hermione, Harry, and Neville behind.

Two pixies grabbed Neville by his ears and began lifting him up into the air and they then hung him from the chandelier in the room by his robes. "Ah, get me down!" he shouted, struggling before gulping at how high he was.

"Come on round them up, they're only pixies." Lockhart said, whipping out his wand. "Pesterpixie Pesternomi!" he waved it about, but nothing happened except for a pixie to snatch his wand and fly off with it.

The pixie hollered, waving the wand about and the giant dragon skeleton that hung from the ceiling suddenly began to fall to the floor. The chains holding it snapped thanks to the pixie's magic. Lockhart gulped before he ran towards his office, grabbing one portrait as two pixies tried to fly off with it.

"Um…I'll just leave you lot to handle this." He told Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Daisuke before he ran into his office, slamming the door shut.

"What're we going to do now?" Ron asked.

"This!" Daisuke shouted, pulling out her wand as did Hermione.

"Immobulus!" the two shouted together, their wands emitting a pulse of blue light. Suddenly, the pixies all stopped causing mayhem, they simply floated through the air, motionless, silent and Neville let out a sigh of relief.

"Why is it always me?" he asked.

"I'll get ya down Neville." Daisuke said with a smile, she waved her wand and using the levitation charm, lowered her friend back to the ground.

"Thanks, Daisuke." He said with a grateful smile. The bell rang a few moments later and the five left the classroom after gathering what was left of their things.

"That idiot." Daisuke huffed, stomping ahead angrily. "He put us all in danger, and that spell he used was bogus just like his books!" she ranted.

"I'm sure it was an accident. The pixie must have snatched the wand before the spell could take effect." Hermione said, trying to excuse Lockhart's actions.

"Hermione wake up and smell the hummus! That man is a fraud!" Daisuke told her friend who turned her nose up at her making her, Harry, and Ron groan. "Well, thank goodness that was our last lesson. Harry, I'll meet you and the others in a bit. I've just got to do something."

"Okay, don't be late." Harry told her. Daisuke nodded and she walked off. Once she turned the corner, she looked around before heading off. It was time to investigate her vision, she remembered a girl's bathroom and water. According to Jun, the girl's bathroom on the second floor often flooded so that was a good place to start.

As she arrived at the bathroom, she saw water leaking under the door. "This is the place." She thought, pushing open the door and she heard someone crying inside. She raised an eyebrow and quietly shut the door behind her. "Hello?" she called out softly.

"Who is there?" a voice questioned. "Are you here to make fun of me?"

"Make fun of you? Why would I do that?" Daisuke asked softly, walking further into the bathroom and she saw a pale blue ghost floating in the air, she had long hair in twin pigtails, wore broken glasses and old Hogwarts Robes with the Ravenclaw crest on them.

"Everyone makes fun of me." The girl sniffled. "Afterall, I'm moping, miserable, Moaning Myrtle."

"Moaning Myrtle?" Daisuke asked. "Why would they call you that?"

"Because they like to make fun of me. Nobody comes to visit me; they're all scared of me." Myrtle said, floating to the ground. "And why are you here?"

"My name is Daisuke Ainsworth, it's nice to meet you." Daisuke said with a smile, bowing slightly. "And forgive my intrusion, I just wanted to meet you in person. My cousin, Jun has told me about you."

"Oh…y…you're not here to hurt me or make fun of me?" Myrtle asked softly.

"Nope. Would it be alright if I got to know you?" Daisuke replied with a kind smile. "Being a ghost must be lonely."

"It is, the other ghosts don't like to talk to me. They claim I'm too young and childish to interact with them." Myrtle huffed. "Yet they tolerate Peeves and he's the worst of the bunch!"

"Has he bullied you?" Daisuke asked softly and Myrtle nodded. "Oh, I'm sorry."

"Thank you…um you said your name was Daisuke?"

"That's right."

"Would it be alright…i…if you visited me again?" Myrtle asked softly.

Daisuke smiled and nodded. "Of course, I'll even introduce you to a few friends of mine." she told the ghost. "And also, would it be alright if I asked you to let me know if anything weird happens around here?"

"Why?" Myrtle asked.

Daisuke shrugged. "It's Hogwarts, strange things tend to happen around here." She said and both girls shared a giggle.

"I'll do my best." Myrtle said softly.

"Thanks. See ya around." Daisuke told her before she left the bathroom and ran off to meet Harry and the rest of the Quidditch team.

The end of the chapter

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