Just want to answer parts of a review before this chapter start.
From kepic, who wrote: I find it improbable that Halios hasn't seen anyone die. We're talking about Nirn and Oblivion here.
While Halios has most likely seen death (his mother, Lily, at the least), he has grown up amongst the more non-violent Daedra. Plus, the concept of death is foreign to the more powerful Daedra, and as I understand it, one must have seen death and understood that it is death one has seen in order to perceive Thestrals. As such, at this point in time, Halios doesn't understand the concept of death. He will in the future, but not for another year or two in-story.
Chapter 18
Halios and Seren woke early the next day. As it was a Wednesday, the classes were to begin that day, and both of them wanted to have a relaxed morning before then. After showering and putting on their school clothes, the two went down to the common room where they were met by Luna Lovegood.
As they entered the common room, Luna greeted them with a smile.
"Good morning, Seren, your Haliosness!"
"Good morning, Luna." Seren said as Halios grumbled a little. "Did you have a good rest?"
"Mhm!" Luna said, nodding. "And I learned that Snorkacks are excellent protections against Blibbering Humdingers."
She looked around, before leaning forward and whispering to them; "There was a huge infestation of Humdingers here, but the Snorkack scared them away."
As Luna spoke, Halios noticed that several of the older students were looking at Luna with a sour look on their faces. As such, she could guess what a Humdinger was, and why the Snorkack had helped Luna.
"That's good." Seren said. "Luna, we are on our way down for breakfast. Do you wish to join us?"
"Oh, I would love to!" Luna said with a bright smile.
"Then, shall we?"
"Ok!" Luna said, rising from the sofa on which she had sat. Together, the three witches and one magical creature left the Ravenclaw common room and entered the Hogwarts proper. On their way down, they heard several students talk about the flying car they had seen during the ride to Hogwarts, but couldn't hear anything beyond what they already knew. It wasn't until they had sat down in the Great Hall they learned anything new.
Apparently, it had been Ronald Weasley in the flying car, and according to his older twin brothers, the reason he had done the deed was simple: Ronald had ran into Draco Malfoy on the platform, and they had started to insult each other, as usual. In anger, Ronald had decided to try and one-up Draco, and had somehow decided that taking the family car and driving it to Hogwarts was the perfect thing to do. Unfortunately for Ronald, due to him being seen by not only the students on the train, but also several muggles along the way, he was now in some serious trouble.
Halfway through the breakfast, Flitwick came and delivered their schedules. Halios and Seren looked at it and saw that it wasn't a bad first day. Herbology until lunch with the Slytherins, Charms from one o'clock to three o'clock with the Hufflepuff and then a break until eight o'clock, when they had Astronomy with all houses.
The classes for the next day, on the other hand, looked a bit worse. History of Magic on the morning, followed by double Potions after lunch and finishing the day of with Defence. The two worst teachers in a row, followed by the fop Lockhart. Friday looked better again, with only double Transfiguration after lunch, and the rest of the day free. Monday was Charm, Herbology and Potion, and Tuesday was Defence, Charms and ending with History. All in all, not a bad week.
Saying goodbye to Luna when she went to her first lesson, Halios and Seren left the castle and went down to the greenhouses, where their lesson was soon to begin. They spent the lesson going over what they had learned last year, and after three somewhat boring hours, they returned to the castle for lunch.
During lunch, they sat with Hermione and Neville, with Luna joining them after about ten minutes. They spent the lunch talking, Neville, Halios and Seren about the upcoming lessons, and Hermione trying to make sense of whatever strange animals Luna was talking about. Once lunch was over, the four friends said goodbye to Luna, who was having a Potion class during that afternoon, and walked together to the Charms classroom.
The Charms class was very much like the Herbology one, namely a review of what they had learned last year. Once the class was over, Neville and Hermione went to the library, while Seren and Halios took a detour to the Ravenclaw common room in order to buy two copies each of notes for the second year History curriculum from an older Ravenclaw. After paying for the copies, they joined Hermione and Neville in the library, where they started to study History in preparation for the next morning.
Partway through, Luna joined them, and when the clock neared five, they went down for dinner. After finishing the dinner, they returned to the library, and stayed there until it was time for them to go to the Astronomy class. The pattern repeated itself during the class, and once it was over, four bored twelve year-olds made their way to their dorms in order to sleep.
The next morning began as any other. They woke up, performed their morning rituals (washing, brushing, dressing, stuff like that), and went down for breakfast. After they had finished eating, they went to their first lessons of the day. History of Magic was – surprise, surprise – boring beyond all beliefs, but thanks to the notes they had bought the day before, they could ignore the droning of the teacher/ghost and still learn something.
Potion was a bit more interesting, despite Snape's caustic personality. After a quick quiz on what they had learned the last year and some of what they would learn that year, Snape put them to work brewing a Swelling Solution. Despite some mishaps (Neville almost caused the cauldron he used to blow up, but the quick thinking of Hermione saved it), almost everyone were able to complete the Solution before the lesson ended. Snape simply snorted when they presented their Solutions, and while he didn't give them any points, he didn't take any either. All-in-all, the first Potions class of the year could be said to be a success.
Then, it was time for the Defence class, and Halios felt the sudden need to bring the Wabbajack. Taking the staff and shrinking it to the size of her wand, Halios left to join her friends at the classroom. They had to wait almost ten minutes before they were let into the classroom.
Looking around as they entered, Halios could only think of one word to describe the classroom; garish. Several periwinkle drapes hang along the walls and windows, and the carpets didn't match the drapes, as they were of a deep pink colour. At least five life-size paintings of Lockhart hang on the walls, and a giant close-up photo of Lockhart's face was plastered on the wall above the blackboard. Said picture gave a giant, gleaming smile every few seconds and had a strange look in its eyes. Truth be told, several of the students found it more than a little creepy.
As they sat down, the door to the Defence office opened and Lockhart stepped out.
"Welcome, all, to the Defence Against the Dark Arts!" Lockhart announced. "Led by me, Gilderoy Lockhart! Holder of the Order of Merlin, Third Class, honorary member of the Dark Force Defence League and five-time winner of the Witch Weekly's Most Charming Smile Award!"
Stepping in front of the class, he continued.
"I have been hired to teach you how to deal with all those nasty buggers that exist out there, and which I'm uniquely predisposed to deal with. But first, a small quiz to see if you have read my books."
Picking up a huge stack of parchment, Lockhart started to hand out the test. When she got the test, Halios had to stop herself from snorting as she looked at it. Short quiz her holy arse. There were at least 50 questions on the test from what she could see, and all of them were in the style of; 'What is Gilderoy Lockhart's favourite colour?' or 'What is Gilderoy Lockhart's greatest wish?'.
Taking her quill, Halios set out to answer the questions, though not in the way Lockhart hoped.
What is Gilderoy Lockhart's favourite colour? Gold, silver and copper, in that order.
What is Gilderoy Lockhart's greatest wish? A decrease in intelligence amongst the population outside of Britain, so that his books can be sold there.
In the book 'Beating the Banshee', how did Gilderoy Lockhart defeat the beast? He didn't. She died from laughter when she saw him.
In the book 'Year with the Yeti', what task did Gilderoy Lockhart perform which allowed him to stay with the Yeti? Nothing. He was captured by the Yeti for breeding purposes, but once the gestation period for Yeti's had passed, and Lockhart hadn't produced any young, he was kicked out by the Alpha Male.
Satisfied with her answers, Halios put down her quill and waited. Thirty minutes later, the last person finished the quiz, and Lockhart gathered them all up. After looking at a few of the quizzes, he spoke to the class.
"Well, it seems that most of you have been reading my books, but don't worry you who hasn't, that will be rectified during these classes."
Stepping behind the desk, Lockhart picked up a large, cloth covered object and put it on the desk.
"As you know…" Lockhart began, "there's a lot of things out there that can do you harm, and I will not always be there to saw you. As such, I will now introduce you to some of the most dastardly creatures you can meet. Behold!"
With a flourish, he removed the cloth from the object, revealing a caged filled with small, blue, winged creatures, about the size of a man's hand. The class was silent for a moment before a student spoke.
"A-are those…"
"Cornish Pixies!" Lockhart exclaimed with a smile. "Freshly caught too, you know!"
"But, those aren't really dangerous, are they?" the same student said, as snickering broke out amongst the rest.
"Don't be so sure." Lockhart said, shaking his finger at the student. "Crafty little bugger, these are. Now, let's see how you handle them."
And with that, he opened the cage and released the pixies.
Chaos.
There was no other word to describe what happened when the Pixies got free, though Halios had a feeling that her father would have called it 'fun'. The more sensible students ducked down under their desks for protection, while the rest tried to repel the Pixies using any means necessary, from ducking when they came close, to smacking them out of the air with Lockhart's books. Halios on the other hand, created a shield that stopped the Pixies from coming close to her or her friends.
"Come on, they're only Pixies." Lockhart said from his place in front of the class. "Here, let me show you how to do it."
Rolling up his sleeves, he brandished his wand and bellowed; "Peskipiksi Pesternomi!"
A second passed… but nothing happened. One of the Pixies laughed and grabbed his wand, throwing it out the window.
"Ah… well, I'll leave you all to it, then…" Lockhart said with a weak smile, before he tried to rush to his office. Unfortunately for him, a group of Pixies had anticipated this, and were guarding the door. Seeing this, Lockhart skidded to a stop and bolted the other way, Pixies following him. With the Pixies chasing him, he didn't have the time to open any doors, and was thus chased around the room.
Deciding to attempt to do something, Halios grabbed her wand and repeated the 'spell' Lockhart had used.
"Peskipiksi Pesternomi!"
A flash of red light later, and the Pixies were gone, but Halios stared at her 'wand' and saw that she had used the shrunken form of the Wabbajack instead of her wand.
"Are those… hams?" Neville asked as he stared at that which now flow in the air.
"I don't think so," Hermione answered. "They don't look like any hams I've seen. They look more like… Pastrami..?"
"What's the difference?" Seren said.
"Ham is made from pork, Pastrami from beef." Hermione answered. Seeing what had happened, the rest of the class crawled out from their hiding places, staring at the flying meat products.
Halios, on the other hand, simply waited for the other shoe to drop. While not very often, she had seen the Wabbajack in use before, and no matter what happened, there was always a twist or hidden function on its targets. Like a chicken that could breathe fire like a dragon, or a conjured Daedra that had a crippling phobia of butterflies and thus was useless outdoors.
She didn't have to wait long. The moment he noticed that there were no Pixies chasing him, Lockhart attempted to reach is office. The sudden and quick movement caught the attention of the flying Pastramis. Turning towards the fleeing man, the meat suddenly opened large mouths filled with shark teeth's and gave chase once again. This time, Lockhart was able to enter his office and barricade the door behind him.
But that didn't stop the Pastrami. A cracking sound could be heard as the meat gnawed their way through the door and into the office. A girlish scream could be heard from within, followed by pained sobs, and then silence. Looking at the now open door, and fearing what would be inside, Halios slowly walked over to it and looked inside.
The rest of the class couldn't see what she saw, but they saw her turn a greenish hue, before moving away from the door, muttering 'I'm going to be sick…'
"Is Professor Lockhart...?" a student asked, not really wanting to know.
"Lockhart is alive." Halios said, still slightly green. "But the meat appears to have a fondness for clothes, and I would prefer to not remember what I saw in there."
"Is it that bad?" Seren asked.
"Let me put it this way; I would rather see a group of ghouls perform a ballet, than look inside that room again."
The class shivered in disgust.
"Well, since the teacher is indisposed right now, I'd assume that the lesson is over, right?" Seren said. The rest of the class muttered in agreement, and after picking up their stuff, they left the classroom.
And that's that. The first lesson with Lockhart is over. In the next chapter, we will deal with Halloween and the Death Day Party.
Next to be written is chapter seven of A Ninja Summoned.
Until then, enjoy.
Baleygr
