I do not own Harry Potter, only the OC
Hello guys, Badger here. I am glad that people seemed to enjoy the last chapter, despite how all over the place it was. Thankfully, my brain was calm enough today and I was able to write what I think, is a good chapter. It took a little bit longer to write this chapter, as I had to do college work, attend a work shift and also sort out all my stuff, choosing what I will keep for when I go to University in September. [Hopefully]
I also need to ask. According to Shelleykids, I am a homophobe. Did I say something in the previous chapter. Can any of you please tell me what I said that makes them think I am a homophobe? I would also like to say, I am not a homophobe. I have gay and bisexual friends. I believe that love is love no matter the gender, so do not think I am a homophobe please. If I said something that makes you think that I apologise.
Anyway, here is the new chapter, I hope you enjoy.
Chapter 17
Voices in the night
"Good morning class" Professor Sprout called out, tapping her wand on a pot to get their attention
"Good morning Professor Sprout" The class replied
"Welcome Green House 3, Second Years" Sprout said, with a smile "Today, we are going to repot Mandrakes…who here can tell me the properties of a Mandrake root?"
There was looks on uncertainty across the classroom, except for one student, who raised their hand.
"Yes, Miss Granger" Sprout said, gesturing for Hermione to explain
"Mandrake, or Mandragora, is used to reverse the effects of those who have been petrified" Hermione explained "However, it is also quite dangerous, a Mandrakes cries are fatal to anyone that hears it"
"Excellent, ten points to Gryffindor" Sprout said
Hermione smiled, before she looked at James, with a smug look on her face. James just rolled his eyes slightly, as he kept his attention on Professor Sprout.
"Now, our Mandrakes, currently, are only seedlings" Sprout explained "So, their cries won't kill you, yet…but they will knock you out for several hours, which is why I have given each of you a pair of ear muffs, so put them on right away"
Immediatley, all the students put on the ear muffs that were next to their pots. Harry chuckled slightly, as James looked a little bit ridiculous with the ear muffs on him, which caused James to send him a small glare, though there was no heat in it.
"Make sure they're fully wrapped around your ears and watch me closely" Sprout continued, as she held onto some roots sticking out of a pot "Grasp, your Mandrake firmly and pull it sharply from the pot"
As soon as she pulled the Mandrake from the pot, it began yelling out a high pitch scream, which caused several students to put their hands over their ear muffs, to muffle the screams even more. Professor Sprout didn't take notice of this and continued talking, as she placed the Mandrake into a different pot.
"Then, place him in your second pot and cover it in soil, to keep him warm" She explained, as she demonstrated what needed to be done
The screams of the Mandrake, however, proved to be too much for Neville, as he ended up fainting to the ground.
"Seems Mr Longbottom has been neglecting his ear muffs" Sprout sighed
"No ma'am, I think he's just fainted" Seamus Finnegan replied, after taking a moment, to see if he was alright
"Right, well, just leave him there, I'll wake him up later" Sprout said, which caused Seamus and Dean Thomas to share a look before they shrugged "Now off you go, plenty of pots to go around, grasp your Mandrake and pull it out"
All the students pulled their Mandrakes out at once, which made the amount of screaming unbearable. Harry and Daphne shared a look of displeasure, whilst James looked at his Mandrake in disgust, as if the very sight of it offended him. If Harry was already annoyed about everything involving Dumbledore and Dursleys, last night, then this wasn't really helping. He already knew he was going to hate the rest of their Herbology lessons.
…
"Ok, how bad do you think he will be?" James asked
The trio were currently sat in their first Defence lesson of the year. The three of them had read the books they needed for their curriculum and couldn't believe what they read. At first they gave him the benefit of the doubt that, even though he used his own books, the books would at least have something to do with Defence, but no. They were just stories of his greatest achievements, not even giving details on spells, or even how to defend yourself. This made them wonder what his lessons will be like.
"I think he'll be worse than Quirrell, from last year" Harry replied "What about you Daphne?"
"I prefer the wait and see approach" She answered, after a moments thought "I was speaking to Astoria earlier and she kept gushing over the man…bloody infuriating"
"She doesn't seem to be the only one either" James replied, gesturing to the other girls.
The rest of the female students in the classroom were giddy, as they waited for the 'Legendary' Gilderoy Lockhart to appear. The only girl who wasn't gushing, was Susan Bones, who didn't look bothered. Unfortunately, she was sitting next to Hermione Granger, who was practically bouncing in her seat, with a mix of excitement and impatience. Susan noticed their gaze and mouth the words 'kill me', to them. Before anything else could happen, the door to the Professors office opened, where Lockhart walked out, which caused all the female students, besides Susan and Daphne, to begin applauding, much to everyone's dismay. Lockhart, however, smiled soaking in the applause, before he addressed the class when they died down.
"Let me introduce your new Defence Against the Dark Arts professor…me" He said "Gilderoy Lockhart, holder of the Order of Merlin, third class…Honorary Member of the Dark Force Defence League, and five-time winner of Witch Weekly's Most-Charming-Smile Award…but I don't talk about that. I didn't get rid of the Bandon Banshee by smiling at her!"
Lockhart then proceeded to laugh and smile at his own joke, flashing his, impossibly, white teeth. This caused Harry to facepalm, Daphne to gag and James to hit his head on his desk.
"Now, I am glad to see all of you have bought my books" Lockhart said, as he began passing out sheets of paper to everyone "I thought we should start with a quiz before the lesson starts, nothing to worry about, it is to make sure you properly read the material…you have thirty minutes…you may begin, now"
Harry looked down at his sheet of paper and he couldn't believe what he saw.
"Look at this…'What is Gilderoy Lockhart's favourite colour?' He whispered to James and Daphne "'When is Gilderoy Lockhart's birthday and what would his ideal gift be'"
"Who…in the hell…gives a shit?" James asked "I thought the books were bad…this is worse"
"What shall we do?" Daphne whispered to them
"Lets have some fun" James smirked, before he began to write "Nobody cares…people who like him"
Harry and Daphne smiled, when they realised what he was doing and started doing the same thing.
…
"Tut, tut, hardly any of you remembered that my favourite colour is Lilac" Lockhart said, as he read over the results, when the test was over "'I clearly say so in Year with the Yeti'"
He then read over a sheet of paper, where he looked confused, then angry, before calming himself down slightly, making Harry wonder if he came across his own results, or James' and Daphne's.
"Of course there are always the jealous ones" He muttered "But Miss Granger knew that my secret ambition is to rid the world of evil and market my own range of hair care potions, good girl"
Hermione smiled and looked like she was about to faint, before Lockhart grew serious and removed his wand.
"Now, be warned" He said "He said, it is my job today, to arm you against the foulest creatures known to wizard kind"
He tapped his wand against a covered cage, which began to rattle wildly.
"You may even find yourself facing your own fears in this room" Lockhart continued "Know only that no harm, can befall upon you, whilst I am here…I must ask you not to scream, it might provoke them!"
With an exaggerated flourish, Lockhart removed the covering from the cage, to reveal a bunch of blue creatures, that were eight inches tall, with pointed faces and wings.
"Cornish Pixies?" Seamus Finnegan laughed, along with the rest of the male students
"Freshly caught, Cornish Pixies" Lockhart corrected "laugh if you will Mr Finnegan, but pixies can be devilishly tricky little blighters…lets see what you make of them"
Before anyone could say or do anything, he opened the cage, where all the pixies flew out, causing the students to jump out of their seats in shock and fear, as the pixies began ripping up books, breaking objects in the classroom and spilling ink all over the students.
"Come on now, round them up, they're only pixies" Lockhart called across the room
The students didn't listen, instead most of them ran out of the classroom, as the pixies continued to wreck the classroom and attack the students. Neville Longbottom tried to get out of the classroom, but was grabbed by several pixies, lifting him up into the air and leaving him dangling on a chandelier. Seeing that something needed to be done, Lockhart lifted his wand into the air.
"Peskipiski Pesternomi!"
The spell had no effect whatsoever and one of the pixies snatched his wand. Seeing no other option, he joined the rest of the students that were running out of the room.
"That man is an idiot" Daphne hissed
"Show some respect" Hermione replied "He is probably just giving us a hands on experience"
"Hands on experience?" Susan repeated "Granger, you have lost it!"
"Still, what are we going to do about the pixies?" Harry asked
James punched one of the pixies that was trying to tear apart his robes and removed his wand, pointing it into the air.
"Immobulus!"
A massive light bursts from his wand and all the pixies immediatley froze in the air, each one with a look of shock on his face. Seeing that Neville was still dangling on the chandelier, he then use a levitating charm, to slowly lowering him down to the ground.
"Thank you James" Neville said quietly
"Don't worry about it" James smiled "How about you study with us tonight?"
"Really?" Neville asked "You're sure?"
"Of course" James replied, which caused Neville to smile slightly, before he looked at all the floating pixies "We should probably start putting these guys back"
…
James walked down the grounds of the castle, into a small forest clearing, where he came across the person he was looking for. Luna Lovegood. She was throwing some food, that was kept in a bag, to a small group of black, skeletal horses, which James knew to be Thestrals. Luna seemed to notice his approach and turned to face him, a smile on her face.
"Hello James" She said "What brings you here?"
"Looking for you actually" James responded, standing next to her "I wanted to know how you know my name…and please don't lie to me"
"I never would" Luna replied "I am a seer…or at least, have seer abilities…all girls born in the family possess the ability…I hope I didn't startle you"
"Don't worry about it" James said
The two of them stood in silence for a few moments, just watching the Thestrals feed and play with their infant.
"You can see them too…may I ask who?" James asked softly
"My mother" Luna replied "I was watching her working on a spell and it went wrong…I was nine"
"I'm sorry to hear that" James replied, respectfully
"Of course, I don't need to ask you the same question" Luna replied "Who you have lost…do the others know about…"
"Please…" James interrupted, closing his eyes, a pained look on his face "Don't…just…don't"
"I understand" Luna nodded "I'm sorry"
"It's fine" James replied, slowly opening his eyes "I just don't want to talk about it…maybe one day I will be able to…but just not today"
Luna nodded, before she removed an apple from her bag, took a small bite out of it, before throwing it to the baby Thestral. It glanced at the apple for a moment, before it began to eat. James and Luna said nothing and just watched in silence, enjoying the peace as well as each other's company.
…
Harry yawned as he finished writing the last of his essay. It was now late in the day and he was studying alongside James and Neville. Daphne, Tracey and Susan had joined them, but they all left sometime ago, feeling tired. As he closed the book he was studying from, he heard a faint, raspy voice, that slowly but surely got louder.
"Kill….Kill….time to kill…"
"What?" Harry said out loud
"What is it Harry?" James asked, looking up from his parchment
"Didn't you hear it?" Harry asked
"Hear what?"
"That voice" Harry replied
"What voice?" James asked "Must be your imagination Harry…you must be tired and no wonder, its pitch black out there…I mean, look at Neville"
Harry looked to see Neville, flat out asleep, his drool pooling onto his book and the table.
"I guess so" Harry said, uncertain
"Hey, if you hear it again, let me know" James replied "hearing voices, even in the wizarding world, is never a good sign"
Harry nodded, as he thought about what just happened, whilst James went to wake up Neville. Even if it was just his imagination, it still made him uneasy and nervous, as what it said kept repeating itself in his head.
'Kill….'
…
There we are guys, that was Chapter 17, I hope you enjoyed. A little bit happened in this chapter.
The Mandrakes lesson I chose to keep to canon. Lets be honest, there isn't much I could change there. Then, there was the Defence lesson. When I began writing Second Year, the idea of having Lockhart being an actual famous wizard and not the fraud he is in canon, but changed my mind last minute. Maybe in another fanfiction. I am still uncertain where I will take his character in the story, but we will have to see.
I have to ask, what did you think about the small moment between James and Luna. I know that this moment, in canon, doesn't happen until 5th year and is between Harry and Luna, but I thought it was a sweet moment between the two. The reason for this, is because teachergirl told me about what they think about the idea of a Valentines ball and now that I think about it, it will be odd. Instead of there being a ball, there will be the occasional moments between characters, to see what you guys think about them being a couple. For Luna having seer abilities: I have seen other people do this. It makes sense to me, considering her character and I thought it will be interesting. Luna also knows more about James then he would like. If you are wondering about what that something is, it has something to do with James' photo from chapter 3. If you want to guess what it is, let me know. No one has gotten it right just yet.
The ending segment was pretty easy to do. Seeing as Harry wasn't put in detention like he was in canon, I had to alter it slightly. It won't be long until the attacks start. Also, Neville will become a part of the friend group. I seem to be only one who thought Neville would have been a better friend then Ron.
Anyway, that is all for this chapter and I'll see you in the next.
Pairing Poll results, so far:
James/Pansy: 3 James/Harry: 6 Harry/Susan: 8 James/Daphne: 7 James/Tonks: 3 Harry/Fleur: 3 Harry/Tonks: 2 James/Luna: 5 James/Astoria: 2 Harry/Daphne: 4 Harry/Astoria: 1 Harry/Ginny: 0
Badger out
