Chapter 2: Getting' the "Hook Ups"
"Allright! Then it's a done deal! We are now the soon to be famous boyband, Lumos!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~The door was slightly ajar. The classroom was full of students, restless students. Then, the anxiety was broken as a slimy thing resembling a huge frog latched itself onto Ron's shoulder randomly ribbitting.
"What in the bloody hell?!" yelled Ron who jumped up from his seat and began jerking his upper body left and right and back left while slowly progressing towards the empty teacher's desk.
"Why don't you just pull it off, Weasley?" shouted Draco, whose arrogant smirk revealed that he was enjoying the free entertainment.
"DON'T TOUCH IT."
All the students' heads snapped back to see the door creak open and reveal...
"Percy?! What in the dickens are you doing here?!" asked Ron as he continued twitching and twisting in an attempt to get the nuisance of a frog off of him without having to touch it.
"That frog, dear brother, is coated with a venomous slime that can only be created by a dark wizard. If your skin touches that frog, the slime will wrap itself around the skin and slowly, slowly, slowly creep over your entire body before insinuating you with over ten thousand particles of instantaneous poison," said a rather calm Percy, as he eyed his younger brother's reaction to the life or death news.
"THEN WHAT IN THE BLOODY 'ELL AM I SUPPOSE TO DO?!" yelled a frantic Ron as the frog continued to stay latched onto his shoulder, ribbitting innocently from time to time. Percy, despite the panicked yelling of his sibling, leisurely walked up to the front of the class next to Ron. He passed his analytical gaze over each student before announcing in a casual, articulate, and clear-cut voice...
"That...is what I am here to show you."
With that said, Percy deftly flicked his wand out from a hidden pocket in the inner flannels of his pitch black, wizard's robe and whispered commandingly while locking gazes with the naive frog, "Soumonev Grof Leviosa." The frog appeared to mesh into an oozing, bubbly blob of various shades of green as Percy pointed the tip of the wand directly at the frog. Ron stood petrified, still, and trying very hard not to breath, as if with an intake of breath, something might happen to him as well.
The horrific glob then drifted up into the air and expanded into an eight-sided, thin star-shaped sheet of ooze. The students watched amazed as Percy then aimed his wand carefully at the ooze, and shot a bolt of swirling fire orbited by cackling electricity. An ear-popping GMMPPHHOP caused everyone to sit up straight and look towards Percy, who had a thin smile of satisfaction on his lips. He then whacked the thing, which looked remarkably similar to a frog, with the side of his hand and it disappeared into an illogical puff of blue smoke.
"Now class, what I just did was discard a lethal Groggier from Ron's shoulder -carefully and cautiously- those two Cs being the main objective," said Percy, slipping his wand back into the depths of his robe.
"...You mean you're our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher...?" murmured Hermione through the obvious shock of having come to this startling conclusion.
Percy smiled politely, glad that someone had finally had the common sense to at least bring up the subject. "Yes, Hermione, I am the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. I decided that the ministry life was a tad boring and it was a direct request from Dumbledore."
A Slytherin, horrified that a Weasley was going to teach him how to defend himself, decided to raise his hand and put his new teacher to the test.
"Yes, Avery?"
"Professor Weasley, why didn't you just annihilate the frog at once instead of tearing off one coat of it and then destroying it?"
Percy laughed a short laugh at this seemingly naive question and was about to answer it when Hermione quipped in, "Because he had to remove the poisonous covering first or when he whacked that....thing....the ooze might have slopped onto Ron's skin and killed him."
A smile brightened Percy's lips as he nodded in agreement and awe at the sharp wit of his brother's friend. "Yes, that's positively right, Hermione. I had to get the ooze far enough away from Ron so that when I did destroy it, it wouldn't touch him, or any of you for the matter. Without the venomous coating the Groggier is not as lethal and therefore can be incinerated with a heated object, such as a wand, provided you cast a Eralf Hgih." Without bothering to call upon a student with their hand raised, Percy continued, as if he already knew what the next question thrown at him was.
"An Eralf Hgih is a defensive spell that creates a dramatic increase of temperature in your wand by causing the molecular particles to move at an alarming speed. The excruciating heat can not be felt by the wand owner, but it can be felt quite painfully by any thing or one who comes in direct contact with it."
The class went silent, marveled at the knowledge of Percy, one whom a majority of them had assumed to be, well, a nut head. Their unsaid thoughts were cut short.
"All right, well that's the first lesson for today. You're all dismissed." And with that, the class slowly filed out, jabbering excitedly about their first DADA lesson. Ron, Hermione and Harry stayed behind to have a word with Percy. Draco paused at the door only to yell, "Oi! You two! Meeting at the lake at lunch!" then disappeared into the mass of students breaking for recess. Percy quirked a brow.
"Meeting at lunch? About what? Since when did you start hanging around that Malfoy brat?" Percy inquired almost immediately after Draco had disappeared. The trio just shrugged and mumbled a couple "He's really an okay guy," "Quidditch stuff y'know?" and "Just straightening out a misunderstanding" before Ron changed the subject. "So what brings you here?" Percy heaved a great sigh before answering, "Well, even with Mr. Crouch gone, the department is still being investigated about that incident two years ago at the Tri-Wizard Tournament." Percy paused, seeming as if remembering his old boss was turning him misty-eyed. "Anyways", Percy hurriedly continued, "I heard Dumbledore was in a bit of trouble finding another teacher for the Defense Against Dark Arts class so instead of wasting away my usefulness, I applied." The three nodded their heads in understanding. "So, does mum and dad know of this?" Ron asked. "Oh yes. They were quite pleased actually. Dad thought it was a good break from the Ministry. Didn't want me to get caught up in all the hoo-ha going on." Percy answered, waving his hand dismissively at the last sentence. "Well, I have important matters to attend to," He continued while straightening his robes and pressing out the creases. "I shall see you later."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~Earlier~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Right after Draco had left the class no sooner had he been confronted by a number of girls smiling, some occasionally winking at him as he passed by. "Damn that must've been one hell of a show." he smirked. He dismissed the scene from his mind when he caught himself smiling, mentally reminding himself that there was only one girl he'd return a wink to. No sooner had he turned another corner when he found himself bombarded by little flying dwarves trying to resemble cupid. "What in the bloody hell?" he managed to mutter. He was even more surprised when the whole lot stopped him.
"What, has that smarmy bloke Lockhart returned? It's not even Valentine's Day for crying out loud!" Draco said aghast, obviously irritated, while the little men cornered him to a wall.
"Are you Draco Malfoy?" one of the more burly of the lot asked. "And what if I am?" Draco asked, rather smartly. The chief dwarf grunted and took that as a "yes."
"So you're the bloke who has gotten the attention of all the young witches.", He replied grumpily. Never had the poor dwarf been overcome by so many 'howlers', all screaming for an immediate Valentine to be sent to this Draco Malfoy as well as a couple of other young men by the name of Harry Potter, Neville Longbottom, Ron Weasley and Oliver Wood. Half his staff had to get their hearing checked. "Well then, we're here to give you your-ahem-Valentines."
"Valentines!? There must be about fifty of them!", the overwhelmed yet flattered blonde thought. Draco just shook his head and started to walk off when a pair of hands seized him and held him to the spot. "Where d'you think yer goin'?" Draco looked up and glared furiously at the gang of cupid dwarves. "Unhand me immediately!" he yelled.
"Oh no laddie, not till we deliver all these Valentines."
Draco somehow didn't appreciate the evil grin the dwarf gave him.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Now~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~As soon as the last class before lunch had finished, Ron, Harry and Hermione had raced down to the lake. They were greeted by the sight of Oliver Wood, casually skipping rocks above the surface of the lake.
"Hey Oliver!" Harry yelled, all three of them waving salutations. Oliver turned around almost immediately and grinned when he saw his best Seeker and former teammate.
It had nearly been three years since they last saw each other. That last year was the best year Oliver had ever had as the Gryffindor quidditch captain. Not only had they finally won the quidditch cup but respective England quidditch teams also swarmed him, offering him a star position as Keeper. He had played professionally for Puddlemere United and had led them to decent victories for three years in a row. He was now 20 years old and decided to take a break and enjoy life a little.
"How've you been?" exclaimed Harry, excited to see his former captain. "Great!" Oliver replied, "What about the lot of you? Gotten into any trouble lately saving the world?" He chuckled and was answered by a playful punch from Ron. "Hey there Ron! How's the twins? I haven't seen them in ages!" inquired Oliver, almost as if he desired the whole team to appear in front of him so they could practice on the field one more time. "They own a joke shop in Hogsmeade now. I think it's called 'Hopping Mad.' its doing quite well actually." Ron smiled at the last part. His brothers have been able to provide a great deal for the family funds with a little left over to suit their needs as well. Despite the rotten pranks they pulled on him, Ron appreciated them a whole lot more than they knew.
Oliver was about to reply, when out of nowhere Neville came running down the hill. He was speeding with a terrible look on his face, sensing he could not stop.
"Whoa there Longbottom! Slow down before you trip!" Oliver called out.
Too late. No sooner had Oliver spoken that Neville happened to trip on a root and came rolling down. Simultaneously they all spoke:
"Blimey! He's coming right at us!" Ron managed weakly, obviously laughing at the mishap.
"Quick, somebody, DO SOMETHING!" Hermione shrieked, covering her face with her hands, eyes peering between her fingers.
"No time..." muttered Harry, deciding whether to try and stop him or dive out of the way.
"Everyone move! QUICKLY!" Wood yelled.
Harry managed to pull Hermione out of harm's way while Oliver tackled Ron to the side just in time to see Neville splash into the lake. A long tentacle then tossed him out, compliments of the squid.
The four gathered around the poor boy, trying to justify whether or not a trip to Madame Pomfrey's was needed.
"A-ah-I-I'm-f-f-fine!" Neville managed to stutter, obviously in shock with his encounter. Relieved, the group sank into a couple of chortles and shaking heads. "I'm sorry I'm late." Neville continued, "I must've misplaced my remembrall again. Grams is gonna nuke me this time." They laughed heartily at his response.
"Heheheh, its okay Neville." Ron assured him, "We're still one person short." Ron looked up at almost the instant Draco appeared and started to walk up to them. "Well speak of the devil."
They all turned to see Draco arriving at their spot and nodded heads back and forth, acknowledging each one's presence. It was Harry who broke the silence.
"So Malfoy, what's this meeting about?" he asked.
"Well Potter, I guess it seems fair to say that we all want to do this boyband am I right?" He stated, looking at them with a raised brow as if he were inquiring them again. He seemed satisfied with their enthusiastic nods. Neville almost broke his neck. "Well then," he continued, "let's get to work." He reached into the inside of his robe to produce a decent amount of sheet music.
"What's that?" Neville asked.
"This, my dear cohort" Draco drawled rather quietly, as if what he was about to explain was something top secret, "is our ticket to an agent as well as stardom!" He then passed them out to each of the band members. Hermione, seeing as she wasn't needed, retreated to a shady spot under the tree to view them from afar.
"Alright boys, let's get this show on the road!" Draco exclaimed.
"Whoa, hold on a minute." Oliver paused, "Why don't we warm up first? I mean, I'm not exactly a high note hitter without a little exercise."
"Yeah!" Ron chimed in, "Good idea."
"I agree." Neville said.
Harry simply nodded.
"Oh alright." Draco gave in, rather grateful for the suggestion seeing as how he probably needed the exercise.
The boys then started off with some little harmonizing snippets. As soon as they had finished, the sheet music was brought forth once again. "Remember that song we kinda impromptued with at the party?" Draco asked. They all nodded. "Well, I transformed them into actual lyrics. I've entitled it 'Fly Fly Fly.' This'll be the one that tops the charts!" They all looked at him skeptically. Draco's face drooped into a moody expression.
Harry, seeing this, tried to perk them up. "Come on you guys, you saw how good we were that night!" He exclaimed. "The whole party was roaring! Now let's get serious here. We can really do it, if you all are willing to put up your part." He gave them an encouraging smile before continuing on. "Now show me what you've got!"
He shot a look at Neville who nodded and broke out in a deep voice. Harry started to 'aaaaah' smoothly before nodding towards Draco to continue. Draco opened his mouth and joined, his voice emitting from his mouth silkily. Harry nodded towards Ron who accompanied them with his slightly high yet melodious sound. Finally Harry looked at Oliver who broke out the highest voice anyone has ever heard with a passion.
Upon hearing the mesmerizing harmony, Hermione instantly turned her head from the lake to the group. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. "They sound perfect." She said in awe, "Almost too perfect!"
"I agree."
Hermione turned her head immediately to her left to see whom the admirer was only to find herself in surprise.
"In fact, I'd like to be their manager."