A/N: The face-claim for Gareth Pewsey is Joel Courtney.
Chapter 2: Gilderoy Lockhart
The next morning, Morgan saw that her uniforms and robes had been altered. Her robes now bore the Hufflepuff crest and had yellow trim. Her ties were now yellow with black stripes. She put her secondhand books in her secondhand purple tartan shoulder bag. She considered taking her journal with her and decided to take it with her, so no one decided to look through it while she was gone, despite it being locked. When she was at the Burrow, she usually hid her journal under her mattress, because one couldn't be too careful when leaving personal items around the home with Fred and George there.
Morgan left the dormitory and entered the common room to see a group of first-years standing around a corkboard. She walked over to them and asked, "What's going on?"
"We're just looking at a map of Hogwarts," said one of the boys, Gareth Pewsey. He had short, spiky looking black hair.
"Oh," replied Morgan. She looked at the map closely hoping to memorise it. When she was sure that she got it memorised, she left the common room. If she didn't, she could always ask Fred and George, who seemed to know all the short-cuts in the castle. She exited the tunnel, which she thought was an inconvenience, and went in the Great Hall.
When she got into the Great Hall, she looked at the Gryffindor table out of habit. She felt relief when she spotted Ron sitting there, eating. He was sitting next to Hermione who had her copy of Voyages with Vampires propped against a milk jug.
Morgan ran over to Ron and hugged him, "Merlin, Ron, I thought you weren't going to make it here."
Ron's ears turned pink at the display of affection. "Blimey, Morgan, you almost knocked me into Hermione."
"Sorry," said Morgan releasing Ron. "I'm just glad that you're okay." She looked at Hermione, "Sorry for almost knocking Ron into you, Hermione."
"It's okay," said Hermione, turning back to look at her book.
Harry looked at Morgan, "Morning, Morgan."
Morgan looked at Harry a little surprised since she didn't see him sitting next to Ron. "Oh, sorry, Harry. I didn't see you there. Good morning."
Harry gave a slight smile and stared into his bowl of porridge.
Ron looked at Morgan, noticing the yellow-and-black tie. "Blimey, Morgan. I thought Professor McGonagall was joking when she said that you were sorted into Hufflepuff."
Morgan almost gave a small smile at that. From what she had heard from Fred and George, Professor McGonagall didn't seem like the joking type. Morgan looked at the Hufflepuff table and saw Professor Sprout passing out the time tables.
"I better get to the other Hufflepuffs," Morgan said. She rushed over to the table and crammed herself between Sidney Puckeridge and Isabella. She looked at Sidney who had strawberry blonde hair. "Sorry."
"It's fine," said Sidney. She scooted over to make room for Morgan.
Morgan looked at Isabella, "Sorry."
"It's okay," said Isabella.
Morgan looked at Aileen Lynch who was sitting across from her and reading Holidays with Hags by Gilderoy Lockhart.
"Oh, I don't care too much for that book," said Morgan as she got six pikelets.
"Me neither," said Aileen slamming the book close. "I'm not entirely sure how I feel about Lockhart." She looked at Lockhart and seemed to examine him.
Morgan looked too. Lockhart, she supposed, was handsome. His wavy blond hair was under a turquoise hat with gold trimming and he wore turquoise robes to match his hat. Oh, he's a fraud, she thought. She frowned at the random statement that she had thought. She remembered how Lockhart had dragged Harry up front in the cameras at Flourish and Blotts despite Harry not wanting to. Even then, she thought that Lockhart was a glory-hound.
"Are you kidding?" asked Isabella Tintwistle sounding incredulous. "He had done all these great things! He wrote about them!"
"If he travelled with trolls without all his fancy hair-care products, I'll eat my journal!" declared Morgan as she grabbed the strawberry jam and cream.
Gareth snickered in his bowl of porridge.
"I agree with Morgan," replied Mikayla. "I mean look at him. Can you believe that he willingly travelled with trolls?"
Morgan looked at Lockhart again and nodded, "I know, right?"
"He's so…I don't know what the word is, but looking at him, I suspect that he wouldn't even go near trolls," replied Gareth.
They looked at Lockhart again to see that he was talking to a very annoyed looking Professor Snape.
"Oh, yeah, definitely," replied Sidney. "I'm with Morgan. If he went near trolls, I'll eat my ties."
Morgan got some toast right as the ceiling opened up to let it the owl post and Morgan looked up to see the owl post arrive. Hermes swooped down and dropped two letters in front of Morgan before landing.
"Thank you, Hermes," said Morgan. She grabbed the letters and looked at them as Hermes helped himself to her toast.
Morgan saw that one letter was from Percy and the other was from her parents, more specifically, her mother. Oddly enough she didn't feel dread at seeing both letters, which she took as a good sign. Before she could open her mother's letter, she heard a roaring sound that sounded oddly like her mother yelling at Fred and George.
She turned around to see a Howler floating in mid-air, shouting, no, bellowing, right at Ron in their mother's voice, "Ronald Weasley! How dare you steal that car! I am absolutely disgusted! Your father's now facing an inquiry at work, and it's entirely your fault! If you put another toe out of line, we'll bring you straight home!" It turned to Ginny, who looked like she wanted to hide in a hole and in a nicer voice, it said, "And Ginny, dear, congratulations on making Gryffindor. Your father and I are so proud." It turned to Ron and blew a raspberry at him before it ripped itself into pieces.
Morgan wanted to go over there and comfort Ron but she went back to her breakfast and the two letters that were unopened. She opened the one from her mother and looked at the letter, which basically more of a note:
Congratulations on making it into Hufflepuff. Your father and I were surprised, but we're really proud of you.
Love Mom & Dad
She felt relief at the words. She wasn't sure why she thought that her parents would be angry at her for not being in Gryffindor.
At least it wasn't as embarrassing as getting told in a Howler, so she was glad for not being embarrassed in front of everyone.
The second letter was from Percy, who was asking if she could spare a bit of her time to see him in the library after school. Morgan wrote 'yes' and wrapped the note around Hermes's leg. Hermes took flight and Morgan watched the owl fly around the Great Hall for a few moments, before he landed in front of Percy.
Professor Sprout passed Morgan her timetable and she looked at it. Apparently all of the Houses had classes together.
After breakfast, they went to their Charms class. Before Morgan could even get close to sharing a table with Ginny, Luna ended up sitting next to her. Morgan ended up sitting next to her fellow Hufflepuff, a straw-berry blond boy named Alistair Thaxted.
Charms was taught by a tiny wizard that had to stand on a pile of books to see over his desk. When Morgan first saw Professor Flitwick, she thought that Fred and George weren't exaggerating when they had said Professor Flitwick was short. He took the register and when that was finished, had them take notes.
Morgan had a feeling that she'll grow to like Professor Flitwick.
Transfiguration was next. Again Luna ended up sitting next to Ginny, which frustrated Morgan.
Transfiguration was taught by Professor McGonagall, who seemed to be strict but fair. She had taken the register and gave the Weasley girls a slightly suspicious look. Morgan figured that Fred, George, and Ron gave her enough trouble if the letters from Hogwarts were anything to go by.
After she took the register, she told them that Transfiguration was very complex and dangerous magic and that if anyone messed around in her class, they will leave and not come back. She made them take a lot of complicated notes and then passed out matches to turn into needles.
Morgan found that she was having trouble with it. She wasn't the only one but she figured that she would have luck with it.
At the end of the lesson, Ginny was the one who had turned had her match silver.
After Transfiguration was lunch. At the end of the day was Defense Against the Dark Arts, a class that Morgan was sort of dreading. Morgan saw Harry, Hermione, and Ron on the stone steps. Hermione was reading one of Lockhart's books.
Morgan stood with Luna and Ginny.
"Luna, what do you know about Seers?" asked Morgan.
Luna seemed to brighten at being asked a question. "Seers can see and predict the future. They predict prophecies. My dad told me that the Divination teacher is a Seer." She was giving Morgan that look again.
Morgan nodded, telling herself that after dinner, she would go to the library and see if they books about it.
"Well, isn't this a strange sight?" called a familiar voice.
Morgan recognized it as George's voice. She turned to look at him and Fred.
"What?" asked Morgan confused.
"A Hufflepuff, a Gryffindor, and a Ravenclaw standing together," said Fred. "It's strange to see three houses interacting."
"All we need is a Slytherin and it'll be more of a sight to behold," said Ginny.
George laughed, "Yeah, right. Like a Slytherin would want to hang around with you three."
"They might," said Luna. "They're not all bad like you make them out to be."
"And who are you?" asked Fred, eyeing Luna.
"Luna Lovegood," said Luna.
"You're Xenophilius's daughter?" asked George. "The man who writes that rubbish magazine that Morgan loves to read?"
"It's not rubbish!" exclaimed Luna.
"It really is interesting if you give it a chance," replied Morgan.
Luna smiled at Morgan.
"It's Mad Morgan all over again," said George.
"Come on, guys, don't call her that," said Ginny sounding exasperated.
"Signed photos? You're giving out signed photos, Potter?" a loud, scathing voice shouted in the courtyard.
Morgan turned to see what was going on. It was a blond boy who Morgan recognized as Draco Malfoy.
"Everyone queue up! Harry Potter's giving out signed photos!" Malfoy yelled at the crowd.
"Do you think if I ask Harry nicely, I can get you one, Ginny?" teased Morgan. Fred and George laughed heartily at that.
Ginny's face reddened, "Shut up, Mad Morgan."
Morgan knew that Ginny didn't mean any harm behind the insult.
"Jealous?" replied Malfoy loudly. "Of what? I don't want a foul scar right across my head, thanks. I don't think getting your head cut open makes you that special, myself."
Morgan looked at her older brothers, "What do you two know about Seers?"
"They see and predict the future," said George. "If you're planning on taking Divination in your third year, I wouldn't advise it."
"Yeah, Professor Trelawney is a fraud," said Fred.
"Like Professor Lockhart?" asked Morgan.
Fred, George, and Ginny looked surprised at her declaration.
"What makes you say that?" asked Ginny.
"His pristine ways," said Morgan grasping at straws to help her futile argument. "Do you think someone like him would travel with trolls?"
"What's all this, what's all this?" asked an older sounding voice. Speak of the devil, it was Lockhart. "Who's giving out signed photos?"
Fred and George seemed to examine Lockhart as he threw his arm around a disgruntled looking Harry's shoulders. Lockhart jovially yelled, "Shouldn't have asked! We meet again, Harry!"
"Now that you mention it, Morgie, you do have a point," mused Fred.
"He wasn't even passing out signed photos!" snarled Ginny glaring at Lockhart.
"That's very telling, isn't it?" mused Luna. "He's not even bothering to hear Harry out."
Morgan nodded, "You should've seen him in Flourish and Blotts. Spotted Harry and just pulled him in the spotlight. He's obsessed with leeching off of Harry's fame."
"That's because he doesn't have any," joked Ginny.
They laughed at that and the bell rang.
"We better get to Potions," said Morgan.
"Off you go, move along there," called Lockhart to the crowd.
Morgan rolled her eyes as the three first years walked to the dungeons where Potions was held.
Morgan finally managed to sit down next to Ginny while Luna sat on Morgan's other side.
"Why are you called Mad Morgan?" asked Luna confused.
Morgan looked at the blonde. "It's because I pointed out that some of the theories from The Quibbler seemed plausible. So Fred and George called me Mad Morgan for an entire summer. There's no malice behind it so it doesn't bother me." She shrugged.
"It still doesn't seem right," Luna said.
"That's how they work," said Ginny. "Teasing all of us is how they show they care."
Professor Snape strode in the classroom silencing conversations. Snape took the class register stopping to giving Ginny and Morgan a disdainful look after getting to their names. Morgan figured that Fred and George also gave Professor Snape a hard time. And if Ron was anything to go by, he and Harry probably gave Snape a hard time too.
He had them partner up and made them make a simple boil curing potion. Morgan knew how to make it because she would her mother make it whenever they got boils. Snape had looked at them, probably trying to figure out if they were anything like their trouble-making brothers.
Throughout class, Morgan noticed that Snape was giving her and Ginny probing looks, which made Morgan feel as if Snape was trying to read their minds. Snape seemed to arch an eyebrow at Morgan and she went back to potion making.
At the end of class, Snape seemed to concede that Morgan and Ginny weren't anything like their brothers, but that didn't mean that he liked them.
The next and last class was Defense Against the Dark Arts, a class that Morgan kind of dreaded.
Luna sat next to Ginny, so Morgan ended up sitting next to Mikayla in the middle of the row. Morgan found that she didn't mind not being able to sit next to Ginny. They couldn't be like Fred and George, who were always together, along with Lee Jordan. Morgan figured that it was necessary to distance themselves from each other. Maybe getting sorted in Hufflepuff was a good thing.
Morgan sat all seven of her books on the desk. She felt a bit ashamed of her second-hand books, considering that Mikayla's books looked brand new and that even Ginny's books were new and a present from Harry.
When the class was settled, Lockhart took the class register, to make sure that everyone was there. After that was done with, he reached over and picked up a Slytherin girl's book. "That's me," Lockhart said pointing at the book cover. "Gilderoy Lockhart, Order of Merlin, Third Class, Honorary Member of the Dark Force Defense League, and five times winner of Witch Weekly's Most-Charming-Smile Award—but I don't talk about that. I didn't get rid of the ghouls by smiling at it!"
There was silence and Morgan ended up coughing into her sleeve, suddenly finding that her throat was a bit dry.
"I'm glad that all of you bought a complete set of my books—well done. I thought we'd start today with a little quiz," said Lockhart.
Mikayla made a squeaking noise.
"It's nothing to worry about, it won't hurt you," said Lockhart with a grin. "It's just to check how well you've read them, now much you've taken in…"
He passed out testing papers and went back to the front of the class, telling them that they have thirty minutes to complete it.
Morgan looked down at her paper.
1. What is Gilderoy Lockhart's favourite colour?
2. What is Gilderoy Lockhart's secret ambition?
3. What, in your opinion, is Gilderoy Lockhart's greatest achievement to date?
"What hell is this?" whispered Mikayla. "It's all about him. Look at this…'How many times has Gildeory Lockhart won Witch Weekly's Most-Charming-Smile Award?'"
"Which side is Gilderoy Lockhart's best side for photographs?'" Morgan read. "Merlin, I knew it." She set the test down and uncapped her ink bottle.
For the first question, Morgan wrote: Black, just like his heart and soul. For the second question, she wrote: For committing fraud. For the third question, she wrote: Doing the hippogriff in 5 seconds.
She knew Fred and George would be proud of her for her answers.
After the time was up, Lockhart collected the tests. He looked through them. His frowned deepened as he reached one and he forced a smile.
"Hardly any of you read my books," said Lockhart. "None of you remembered—"
Morgan ended up tuning him out. From the corner of her eye, she could see that Mikayla was looking bored. She had her arms crossed and was slouching back in her seat.
For the remainder of class, Lockhart read a chapter from of his books. When the bell rang, Morgan gathered her stuff up when she heard Lockhart say, "Miss Morgan Weasley…I would like a word with you."
Morgan and Ginny turned to look at Lockhart as Ginny slowly gathered her books and Lockhart waited until Ginny finished up.
"Yes, Professor Lockhart?" Morgan asked as soon as Ginny left the classroom.
"Morgan, Morgan, Morgan," said Lockhart shaking his head. "You might want to be careful with…throwing out false accusations around. They'll make you look mad."
"I wrote that as a joke, but since you're taking it seriously tells me something about you," said Morgan. She quickly added, "That you can't take a joke!" She turned and left the classroom, leaving a stunned Lockhart behind, before he can give her a detention.
In a way, she did write the fraud part as a joke rather than an accusation, but she really wasn't expecting Lockhart to take it so seriously. Also if he really was doing all those things that he says he did, he should've ignored it or taken it as a joke, like the rest of her answers that she had written down, but he got defensive about it.
Morgan found the library and walked in. She looked for Percy and spotted him sitting at a corner table, with three books around him. He was reading a book. Morgan walked over and sat down at the table, startling Percy. He glanced up and smiled at Morgan as she took out her red leather journal, setting it on the table.
"Hey, Morgie," said Percy. Percy was the only one that Morgan didn't mind calling her that. "How were your classes?"
"We didn't have Herbology and History of Magic today," said Morgan. "I'm kind of sad that we didn't. I was looking forward to Herbology."
Percy nodded, "And what do you think of Professor Lockhart?"
"He's a self-righteous old fraud," said Morgan.
Percy looked a little surprised by Morgan's outburst. "What makes you say that?"
"We didn't learn any defense spells," said Morgan. "We took a test that was basically all about him. He also read chapters from one of his books. We didn't take notes like the other classes have done. We didn't do anything in that class. And…" She trailed off. "And he's leeching off of Harry's fame like he did in Flourish and Blotts and the courtyard."
"I wasn't in the courtyard," said Percy. "What happened in the courtyard?"
Morgan told him what had happened and Percy nodded, like he was mulling it over.
"What do you know about Seers?" asked Percy.
Morgan shrugged, "Just what Luna had told me. That they can see and predict the future."
"Hey, Perce," greeted a cheerful female voice. Percy's knee bumped into the table as the person started him.
"H-Hey, Penelope," said Percy, his face and the tips of his ears red. Morgan was a little intrigued by Percy's reaction. Morgan looked at the girl. She had curly blonde hair and she had a tie that was in Ravenclaw's colours. She even wore a pin with a P in it.
"Morgan this is my g—friend and fellow prefect, Penelope Clearwater," said Percy. Morgan frowned, "Penelope, this is my baby sister, Morgan."
Penelope reached a hand out, "Hello, Morgan."
Morgan awkwardly shook Penelope's hand and responded, "Hi."
Penelope noticed the red leather journal, "Do you like the journal I sent you for your birthday?"
"It came from you?" asked Morgan surprised.
Penelope nodded, "Yeah. Percy said that he wanted to get something special for your birthday, but he couldn't afford anything."
Morgan briefly felt a little ashamed of Penelope knowing how poor they were. She looked at the Ravenclaw. "Well, it's very nice of you to send me the journal. It's very lovely."
Penelope seemed to brighten up at that.
"Here's some books that I want you to read," said Percy, moving the books that he had to Morgan.
Morgan picked one up and looked at it. It was a book about notable Seers that caught her interest, "Okay. Thank you." She looked at the other two, which was also about Seers. "I'll read these books." She noticed how Percy seemed more interested in Penelope and took that as her cue to leave.
At dinner, Mikayla said, "You're right. He's a fraud."
"Who?" asked Morgan as she looked up from one of the books that Percy had told her to check out.
"Lockhart," said Mikayla as she twirled her fork.
Morgan nodded at that. "He is."
Aileen asked, "But how did you know?"
Morgan shrugged, "I read an article from the Quibbler and thought that it made some amount of sense." She was probably the most untrustworthy Hufflepuff out there because she lied a lot. She was probably the only Hufflepuff that was a liar. "But when he read us stuff from his books rather than teach us defensive spells, it seemed to be at least a little true."
Aileen gave Morgan a look that Morgan was sure meant that Aileen didn't believe her. Morgan shrugged, "Like I said. It's just a theory."
"You never said it was a theory," said Mikayla.
"Whatever." replied Morgan, "Believe me or not. I really don't care."
In a way, she wanted Aileen and Mikayla to believe her. She wanted friends outside of Ginny and Luna.
Aileen was giving Morgan a thoughtful look. She said, "You're all right, Morgan."
Mikayla nodded in agreement, "Yeah, you're cool in my books, Morgan."
Morgan smiled at them. Yes, they were going to be great friends.
