"I'm not sure what to do," Millie said, sighing as she set aside Wanderings with Werewolves.
Rachel looked up from where she was coping her Potions notes, complete with references from their textbook, into her two-way book.
"What do you mean?" Hermione asked, setting down her quill.
"After Lockhart's quiz, I don't know what to put in our notes. What if the year end test includes things like what is his favorite color?" Millie asked.
"Well, today's quiz didn't count for anything, he just wanted to see if we did the reading," Hermione said. "I don't think he'd put questions like that on an actual test."
"I wouldn't put it past him," Theo said, shaking his head.
Neville nodded. "I think just include actual things we should know."
"If he puts things like 'what is Gilderoy Lockhart's secret life ambition?' on the final exam, we can go to Professor Dumbledore," Theo said.
"I don't know that we'd get anywhere with that, but I agree with Neville. Our books should be resources of useful information," Hermione said.
"Hello."
Rachel jolted in her chair at the unfamiliar voice and turned around to find a small Ravenclaw girl with long blonde hair standing in the doorway.
"Hi, are you lost?" Hermione asked.
"No. The Muahorns told me that I would find a good study group here," the girl said. She walked over to one of the empty chairs and sat down.
"What's a Muahorn?" Theo asked.
"Muahorns feed off the shadows and converse with people through psychic waves," she explained.
"Who are you?" Neville asked.
"My name is Luna Lovegood. I was just sorted into Ravenclaw on Tuesday," she said. She had taken out her copy of The Standard Book of Spells, Grade One and opened it.
"You realize that we're second years, right? We're not even studying the same things as you," Millie said.
"I don't suppose it will matter all that much," Luna said, undeterred.
Millie looked at Hermione, who shrugged. "Isn't there a group of first years you could join? The Ravenclaws usually have study groups for each of their years," Hermione said.
"The Muahorns thought this was a better study group for me," Luna said, turning a page in her book.
"Alright then," Hermione said after a long moment of silence. "Well, today let's review the Freezing charm and review the theory of transforming beetles into buttons. We also have the essay on Mandrakes for Herbology, but I think we should do that on Saturday after we've dropped by the library for some research materials."
Rachel dug through her bag for her Charms book.
"Are you sure we didn't get enough practice with the Freezing charm in Defense?" Theo asked.
"That wasn't a review under controlled conditions, and we didn't study the theory first," Hermione said.
Rachel smiled, because she knew Hermione liked things to be done in order.
"Latin is pretty straight forward, immobilis, meaning immobile and unmoving," Neville said.
"The wand movement is a little more complicated than some of the spells we've learned, but I noticed in Defense that it didn't have to be exact. The spell still worked even though I was doing two small arcs and then drawing it back," Millie observed.
"Let's talk theory," Theo said.
Rachel half paid attention, but mostly watched Luna.
Luna was twirling a strand of her hair and her attention seemed to wander. One moment she was looking at her book, then she was staring out the windows, then she was watching where Theo was explaining the theory behind the Freezing charm. She seemed completely calm, and almost detached, despite the fact that she'd wandered into a fully formed study group.
Rachel wondered why Luna wasn't with the other Ravenclaw first years. She knew from Hermione's experiences in Gryffindor that other Houses weren't quite as protective of their first years as Slytherin House, but it still seemed odd that they'd let a first year roam the castle on her own during the first week.
"So, let's take turns practicing the Freezing charm on each other. Everyone has mastered finite incantatem, right?" Hermione asked.
Rachel nodded and stood up, wand in hand.
"Why don't you start, Rachel, and I'll be the one who gets frozen," Theo offered, standing in front of one of the armchairs in case he tipped over while he was frozen.
Rachel bit her lip and reminded herself that she'd just performed this charm in Defense and there had been a lot more people around. In here it was just her friends and Luna. "Immobulus," she said quietly, ending her wand movement directly pointed at Theo.
Theo frozen in place, his entire body rigid.
"Finite incantatem," she said quickly, not liking how helpless being frozen had left Theo.
Theo stumbled slightly as the spell released him. "Well that felt weird. Who's next?"
"I'd like to be frozen next, I want to know what it feels like," Hermione said, coming over to stand in front of the other armchair. "Theo, since you were just frozen, why don't you give it a go?"
They continued to trade places until it was Millie's turn to freeze Rachel.
"Immobulus," Millie said.
Rachel braced herself and then realized she couldn't move any part of herself. Not her fingertips, not her eyelids, not her muscles. She could still feel her heart beating, but that was the only thing she could feel. It felt familiar somehow and she didn't like it at all.
"Finite incantatem," Millie said.
Rachel quickly exhaled and inhaled, grateful to feel air in her lungs again.
"Let's find something else to practice this charm on when we review again. Surely we can borrow mice from Professor McGonagall," Millie said as she went back to her chair.
Rachel nodded and found Luna watching her with a curious stare.
"I think I agree," Hermione said. "It was strange, but I'm not sure I'd want to do it again."
"Agreed," Neville said quickly.
On Sunday morning they were halfway up the staircase when Hermione said "Can we all stop in the library before we go on to the study room?"
"Sure, I wanted to look in the magical creature section for books about imps anyway," Millie said.
"We can get books in a moment, I just," Hermione cut herself off. "Just follow me for a few minutes."
Rachel raised her eyebrows and glanced at Neville, who shrugged in return. Sometimes it was hard to guess what Hermione was thinking.
They followed her into the library, past Madam Pince's desk, through the Herbology and Astronomy sections and wound up near the back of the library with books about government and wizarding law and the archives of the Daily Prophet.
Hermione looked around to see if anyone was nearby and motioned them closer. "So I did some checking and there are things we should discuss," she said quietly.
"I'm almost afraid to ask," Theo said, though he also kept his voice low.
"Luna Lovegood is only a first year, but some people seem to know her quite well already," Hermione continued.
"She's a pure-blood, of course they know her. Her father runs The Quibbler," Theo said.
"That's just it though, some people are really quite cruel to her. They call her Loony Lovegood and say that she's crazy. It seems like the first year Ravenclaws are excluding her from their study groups," Hermione said
Rachel frowned. "Her own House is making fun of her?" The Sorting Hat had considered her for all of the Houses, but now more than ever she was glad it had picked Slytherin.
Hermione nodded. "And I was thinking, would it really be so bad for us to have a first year in our group? She seems studious enough, and going over the first year materials with her would be a good refresher for when we take our OWLs."
"Hermione, no," Theo said firmly. "I mean, not about Luna, she can stay if people are okay with that, but we're not worrying about our OWLs until fifth year. We have four more years of school before we take them. I promise, as soon as we finish our final exams for fourth year we can worry about them. We'll buy every OWL study guide there is, we'll make a huge review chart to plan how we're studying, we'll do everything. But we aren't going to even discuss them until then. Okay?"
Hermione sighed. "Well, we should keep in our minds that they will happen, but you're right, we need to focus on learning the material well now so that we're better prepared once we reach fifth year. We can't do that if we're constantly reviewing previous years. But, I still think we'd be okay with helping Luna with first year materials and it wouldn't hurt us either."
"I'd be okay with Luna staying in the group. She's a little odd, but she seems nice enough," Millie said.
"I think it's a good idea, especially if the Ravenclaws are saying she can't study with them," Neville said.
Rachel nodded. "She seems like she fits well with us. I don't mind if she stays."
"Okay, she can stay. What are we supposed to do when she starts talking about creatures that don't exist? It's a little awkward, but I don't really want to be the one to confront her about it," Theo said.
"They don't exist?" Rachel asked. She hadn't heard of any of the creatures that Luna had mentioned in the past few days, but she had kind of taken for granted that there was a lot she didn't know about the magical world.
Millie shook her head. "Her dad's magazine, The Quibbler, is full of made-up stuff and conspiracy theories. My dad says it's stupid, but it's kind of fun. No one takes it seriously though, except Luna and her dad."
"I wouldn't say no one," Theo said. "There are all sorts out there. I don't know that there's any harm in just letting her say what she wants, but we should probably have a united response."
"Maybe it's a coping mechanism?" Rachel suggested. Torey had talked to her about coping mechanisms recently and about how some are healthy and some are unhealthy and how they relieve stress and anxiety.
Hermione brightened. "That makes sense. I read about that when I was doing psychology research this summer. Maybe she feels like she has to believe, for her her father's sake. If it's a coping mechanism, we should be supportive without further enabling her."
"So we should kind of go along with what she's saying, and not say the creatures aren't real, but also not encourage conversations about them?" Neville asked.
"Exactly. We can ask if she mentions a creature, but we shouldn't try to convince her they aren't real, or bring them up on our own," Hermione said.
"Alright, I can do that," Theo said.
Rachel nodded and decided she'd ask about what they could do to help Luna, next time she saw Torey.
"Alright, if that's all resolved, let's get some books and start studying," Hermione said with a nod. "Let's meet at the front desk in fifteen minutes."
They split up and Rachel went to the Potions section and started looking for books that explained how different potion ingredients responded to each other under different conditions. She eventually selected Magical Concoctions and Reactions and checked it out.
The others showed up not long after Rachel and they all checked out their books and then left the library. They went down the Defense corridor to their study room.
Luna looked up as they entered. "I thought you might not be coming back," she said as she peered at them.
"We were in the library getting research materials, we often do some independent research on Sundays," Hermione said, holding up the two books she was carrying.
Luna nodded, but she was still watching them.
Rachel wondered if Luna was nervous - she knew that she would be. "Why don't we go over our study schedule, so that Luna knows?"
"That's a good idea," Hermione said, sitting down as the rest of them got settled. "So on the weekdays we come here after our classes finish, usually after third or fourth period, depending on our schedules and then we work on homework. After dinner, it's usually just me and Neville, because the Slytherins have mandated study groups with their prefects. You're still welcome to join us after dinner, of course. On the weekends we come up here after breakfast and then make plans for the day. Typically we spend some time on review and some time on general research into things that interest us. We usually visit Hagrid for tea after lunch, you're welcome to come with us as well."
"You probably won't be familiar with the things we're studying, but it will help you prepare for next year," Theo added.
"And we're happy to help you with first year material as well. We all did pretty well last year, so let us know if you have any questions or if you just want someone to review with you," Millie said.
Luna nodded. "I'd like that. There aren't many people that let you ask questions."
"Well, we like questions, and when we don't know the answers, we're pretty good at finding them," Hermione said.
"That's good," Luna said, the corners of her lips tilting up in a slight smile. "It's nice to find things when you need them."
Rachel smiled back and then opened the book she'd gotten from the library. She wanted to make additional notes in the two-way book about the interactions between the valerian and the Sopophorous beans they'd used in the Sleeping Draught, as she strongly suspected that would be on an upcoming test.
On Tuesday afternoon Rachel went to Defense with a touch of trepidation. Last Thursday's class had not predisposed her to trusting Professor Lockhart in the slightest.
"Wonder what he's going to unleash on us this time," Theo said as they waited outside the classroom after lunch.
"Maybe we should sit at the back? It gives us more time to respond," Neville suggested.
"I think that was just a test, I doubt he'd do something like that again. He wanted to see if we could think on our feet," Hermione said.
"Well at least you can think on your feet," Millie said. "Everyone just copied you."
"I don't know, it's very Slytherin to use an effective solution when you see one," Theo said. "Practical really. And we would have been there all day if we'd just let Hermione hunt down the pixies one by one."
"My point being, now that we've had that demonstration, there's no reason for him to repeat it," Hermione said, giving Theo a pointed look.
"My point is he's unpredictable and possibly incapable so we don't know what he's going to do. He was cowering under his desk, from pixies," Theo said, raising his eyebrows. "And you were there at Flourish and Blotts when he grabbed Rachel."
"You can't possibly think I approve of that, it was awful," Hermione said defensively. "However, I think we need more lessons with him before we can judge his aptitude as a professor."
"Let's not have an argument about a professor's aptitude right outside his classroom door unless we all really want detention," Millie said, looking around them and then looking pointedly at the closed door to the Defense classroom.
Rachel nodded, mostly just wanting Theo and Hermione to stop arguing at all.
"Alright. We can wait to judge him, but I still think we should be prepared for anything. It makes sense to be prepared," Theo said.
"That I can agree on," Hermione said.
"Thank Merlin," Neville said quietly as more of their classmates approached.
They didn't have to wait long for Professor Lockhart to show up, his lilac robes billowing around him. "Yes, I know you're all eager to get to work! Come on in and we'll get started," he said as he opened the door and went inside the classroom.
Rachel glanced to the side just in time to catch Theo rolling his eyes.
They took seats near the back and waited while everyone found desks and sat down.
"Now, I don't have any pixies today, but don't be disappointed. Today we will be going on a voyage. A voyage with vampires," Professor Lockhart said, holding up a copy of his book Voyages with Vampires. "I'm sure you're all eager to hear about how I sailed on the Black Sea, the passengers and the crew on our ship of the damned slowly disappearing, my search for the cause of the mysterious deaths, and my confrontation with the vampire."
Rachel took out a quill and a piece of parchment, grateful that he did not have any pixies.
"Imagine with me, the Black Sea, where the Greek Argonauts once sailed. I was on my way from Constanta, Romania to the Ukraine on a fact finding expedition as there were reports of a Vodianyk in Kiev. My ship, the humble Blue Danube, with the stalwart Captain Barbu," Professor Lockhart said, drawing his hand across the space in front of him.
"After our first night, a rapid knock came at my cabin door. I knew that sound, it was the sound of someone who needed my specialized assistance. I opened the door and asked 'What has happened?' before the Captain could speak. He looked weary as he explained that one of the deckhands had been found dead and asked if I might take a look." Professor Lockhart paused here to nod solemnly. "The Captain had of course heard of my expertise with dark creatures and feared that something might be on his ship."
"I examined the body and immediately knew what we were dealing with. The deckhand's body was pale, his skin pulled tight against his features. When I opened his eyes I found they were bloodshot. I searched his body, and sure enough I found two puncture wounds near the crook of his elbow. Many people only think to check for puncture wounds on the neck, but some vampires are smart and avoid the neck for this very reason. However, it's still popular when a vampire is working by seduction. Young ladies, I will warn you now, if a gentleman asks you to go home with him, insist on checking his teeth. Vampires have two sharp fangs where their incisors should be. Some vampires will use a glamor, but if you run your fingertip along their teeth you'll still be able to feel the fangs," Professor Lockhart explained.
Rachel wrote the symptoms of being bit by a vampire down along with the information about the incisors. She couldn't imagine asking to check someone's teeth on a date. She also couldn't imagine going on a date, so it was probably a moot point.
"Anyhow, I told the Captain that there was a vampire aboard the ship and that we must begin discreetly checking the teeth of everyone onboard. The Captain was reluctant to do so, but I took a stand. I told him if you do not act now, there will be another murder on your good ship, and I cannot in good conscience stand by and do nothing. This persuaded him and we began with the passengers since there were fewer of them. There was one man, Costel Maier, who was dreadfully pale. I kept my wand close at hand while we examined him, since vampires are typically pale and gaunt," Professor Lockhart continued.
Rachel added 'pale and gaunt' to her notes.
"However, Mr. Maier's incisors were entirely normal, if not straight." He paused and smiled, showing off his straight white teeth. "We continued our search through all of the passengers and crew of the ship, to no avail. Night fell and we were forced to wait, dreading what the next day might bring. Alas, in the morning there was another body, and another body the morning after that. As you know, vampires only need to feed biweekly and do not need to drain an entire body in order to feed. This vampire was on a gluttonous murder spree. I was forced to admit that something must have gone wrong with our search. Fortunately, there was a clue. The last body was one of the cook's assistants. Now, I'll need an assistant for this next part. Ah yes, Rachel Snow, come up here."
Rachel froze. Professor Lockhart wanted her to assist him?
"Come now, don't be shy. I promise you will come to no harm," Professor Lockhart said with another one of his smiles.
Rachel forced herself to stand and walk to the front of the classroom. She could feel everyone looking at her.
"There we go. Now Rachel here will be playing the role of the cook, Andrei Albu. Now the cook was also pale, but not gaunt in the slightest. Indeed, he was quite rotund. I calmly asked Mr. Albu if I could examine his mouth, and he said, now Rachel this is your line, he said 'I have no need to submit to your examinations!'"
Rachel was certain she couldn't speak even if she wanted to.
"Your line, Rachel?" Professor Lockhart prompted. "Do you need it again?"
Rachel closed her eyes. This wasn't happening.
"Anyway, I realized that I needed to examine his mouth without him realizing it. So I told him a joke. I said 'Did you hear about the Chameleon Ghoul who went into the city?' and he said he hadn't. So I said 'He blended right in!' and he paused for a moment and then he laughed and laughed. Rachel, this is where you laugh. Be sure to show off your teeth," Professor Lockhart instructed.
Rachel jumped as he put his hand on her shoulder.
"No laughter? Well, pretend she's laughing. As he laughed, I spotted it. The cook was a vampire. He had used a Shrinking charm on his fangs to hide them. 'I've got you now!' I said, brandishing my wand. And he said 'No, it is I who have got you!' as I stumbled back. I was trapped and I had to think quickly. Then I spotted it. My salvation. This humble head of lettuce. Now what I did next was highly dangerous and should not be attempted unless you are trained in dealing with dark creatures. I used a Switching spell on the vampire's fangs. Now, instead of wanting to bite heads - or bodies - he would only want to bite heads of lettuce. I shoved the head of lettuce at him and he devoured it. Go ahead Rachel, this is the important part," Professor Lockhart said.
Rachel opened her eyes to find that Professor Lockhart was holding a head of lettuce in front of her.
"Here, just, take a ravenous bite," he said, pressing the head of lettuce to her mouth.
"Stop! You're embarrassing her!" Millie shouted.
Professor Lockhart startled and looked out at the students. "Who was that?"
"Me," Millie said, standing up. "Millicent Bulstrode. Leave Rachel alone."
Theo stood up, then Hermione, and then Neville.
"Well, no harm done," Professor Lockhart said, taking away the lettuce. "Though, don't take this the wrong way dear, I don't think you're destined for the stage. Go take a seat."
Rachel fled back to her seat and quickly covered her face with her hands. She couldn't believe that had just happened.
"And that is how I saved the rest of the crew and the passengers of The Blue Danube. For your homework, write a short story about what you would do if you found yourself at sea with a vampire. Class dismissed," Professor Lockhart said.
Rachel shoved her notes and her quill in her bag and hurried out of the classroom and down to their study room.
"Rachel, are you okay?" Neville asked.
Rachel nodded and sat down in one of the armchairs away from the table. She didn't feel okay. She felt like she was going to melt into a puddle of embarrassment. Her jaw ached because she'd been clenching her teeth so tightly.
"Well that went well," Theo said, sounding irritated.
"That was awful," Millie said.
"We'll do something about it," Hermione said firmly.
"Like what?" Neville asked.
"Go to Professor Snape," Hermione said. "I'm pretty sure he'll make sure that doesn't happen again."
Rachel would have preferred that Professor Snape didn't know about it, but if that's what it took to get it to stop, she was willing to go along with it. As long as she wasn't the one who had to tell him.
"Detention. You will be returning at seven tonight and you will not be leaving until this is cleaned up. Without magic!" Severus said, looking out over the oozing mess that had come from the Weasley twins' cauldron. The mess had resisted a Vanishing spell, which meant that the twins had been experimenting instead of brewing a Shrinking Solution like the rest of the class. Somehow they never managed to get caught in the process - if he watched them closely, they brewed the correct potion, if he moved through the classroom, they always seemed to be doing the appropriate thing when he checked on them.
"Yes sir," said one of the twins, unrepentantly.
"Dismissed," Severus said, deciding it was best if the students left before he completely lost his temper. His only hope was that the twins received less than an Outstanding on their Potions OWL. He could not take four more years of this.
Severus sighed as he looked over his classroom. They'd been back at school for one week and two students had already melted cauldrons and a third had spilled a corrosive potion that had left pockmarks in the stone floor. Sometimes he wondered at the wisdom of remaining a teacher, but he couldn't leave. Not while Rachel was attending school, and not until they had further information about the Dark Lord's movements. There had been no sightings since he'd fled the castle in June.
"Professor Snape, sir?"
Severus looked up to find Hermione Granger in the doorway with Rachel and the rest of their study group right behind her. "Yes?" he asked.
"I was wondering if we could speak with you for a moment about something that happened in our Defense class today," Hermione said.
Severus immediately looked at Rachel, who was looking down and had her shoulders hunched. "Yes, come in and close the door behind you," he said, standing taller as he prepared himself to go hunt down Lockhart for whatever he'd done to Rachel.
The group entered the room and Severus cast a privacy ward so their conversation wouldn't be overheard by any enterprising eavesdroppers. "What happened?" he asked.
"It was awful," Millicent Bulstrode began at the same time as Hermione said "Professor Lockhart started his lecture-"
"One at a time, please," Severus interrupted.
They all looked at each other and then Theodore Nott stepped forward. "Sir, Professor Lockhart tried to use Rachel in a demonstration from one of his books. He called her to the front of the class and wanted her to play the role of a vampire he had cursed. He held her by the shoulder to keep her up there and shoved a head of lettuce in her face. The only reason he stopped is because Millie got up and yelled at him."
Severus felt a familiar flood of rage fill him. They had spent all this time working with Rachel so that she would feel comfortable talking in class and then Lockhart did something like this?
"We should have tried to stop him sooner, but we didn't know what to do," Hermione said.
"I'll take care of it," Severus said shortly. "You have my direct permission to leave class and come here if he does something like this again or if you feel threatened by him. Ten points to Slytherin and ten points to Gryffindor for standing up for your classmate. I believe there is some time before dinner. Rachel, may I speak with you for a moment alone?"
"We'll wait in the hallway for you, Rachel," Neville said.
The group shut the door behind them and Severus turned to Rachel. "Are you alright?"
Rachel nodded, though she didn't look up.
"I promise you that I will take care of this. Today. If you ever feel uncomfortable in class, you can always come here," Severus said, aiming to sound comforting. He wasn't sure that he succeeded.
Rachel nodded again.
"How did your other classes go?" he asked, hoping to get a verbal response.
"Okay," she whispered.
"Good. Is everything okay in your dorm and with your friends?" he asked.
"Yes," she whispered.
"Okay. If you need anything, I want you to tell me," Severus said, hoping that the more times he repeated that message the more likely it was that Rachel would actually come to him if she did need something.
Rachel nodded.
"Alright, go join your friends," he said, removing the privacy ward.
"Thank you," she said quietly and then hurried out of his classroom.
Severus waited for a few minutes, formulating a plan while he allowed his anger to settle. He knew how to be cold and calculating. The only reason he was alive was because he had learned at a young age to master his emotions. Not soon enough to prevent himself from making some serious mistakes, but soon enough to keep himself alive.
He walked from his classroom, wandlessly casting a locking charm as he left, and made his way up through the castle and to the Defense corridor. He threw open Lockhart's door without knocking and was satisfied when he saw Lockhart leap up from his chair.
"Severus, you startled me," Lockhart said, smoothing his robes.
Severus watched carefully to see if Lockhart's hands went anywhere near the wand that was placed carelessly on his desk. "I told you to stay away from Rachel."
"How can I possibly do so? She's in my class!" Lockhart said, still sounding flustered.
"I told you not to touch her, I believe I made myself perfectly clear in Flourish and Blotts," Severus continued, his hand clenched around his wand.
"Severus, don't be ridiculous, I did no such thing!" Lockhart said, his eyes darting down to Severus' wand.
"Really, did you not call her up to the front of your classroom, hold her there, and shove lettuce in her face?" Severus demanded.
"It wasn't like that. I simply asked Rachel to help me with a demonstration." Lockhart now sounded distinctly panicked.
"Don't use her like that. In fact, don't even call on her in class," Severus said.
"That's absurd, she's a student. What do you think will happen when I tell Albus about this?" Lockhart asked.
"Let's ask him, shall we?" Severus took his pouch of floo powder from within his robes and tossed the powder into the fireplace. "Headmaster's office. Albus, we need you."
"On my way," Albus called back, his voice sounding distant. A few moments later he stepped through the fireplace. "Severus. Gilderoy. What seems to be the problem?"
"Severus is being absolutely ridiculous. He says I can't even call on Rachel in class," Lockhart said quickly.
"He brought Rachel up to the front of the classroom to have her pretend to be a vampire, held her there, and shoved lettuce in her face," Severus said. He didn't know what the whole lettuce thing was about, but he wasn't going to let it go unsaid.
"Gilderoy, what is this?" Albus asked.
"I asked Rachel to help me with a demonstration. You must be familiar with the vampire I cursed to only eat lettuce," Lockhart said.
"Ah yes, Voyages with Vampires. I must admit I preferred Year with the Yeti. However, I must ask you to refrain from using Rachel in your class demonstrations. She's somewhat of a special case. In addition, when you ask her questions, restrict them to yes or no or true or false questions. Rachel has some difficulties with talking in front of people," Albus said
"Also, he is not allowed to touch Rachel at all," Severus added.
"Yes, of course. Physical contact between staff members and students is strongly discouraged," Albus agreed.
"I trust we have an understanding," Severus said, looking directly at Lockhart.
"We do, though I must say, you really shouldn't coddle students like this. It's not good for them," Lockhart said, shaking his head.
"As I said, Rachel is somewhat of a special case and accommodations must be made. If you have any questions about what is or isn't allowed concerning Rachel, I urge you to speak with me for clarification," Albus said, a hint of steel in his voice.
Lockhart bowed his head in acquiescence.
"Was that everything, Severus?" Albus asked.
"Assuming that he behaves appropriately, then yes," Severus said.
"Then I'll bid you gentlemen a good day," Albus said. He left through the fireplace.
"Don't force us to have this conversation again. You will not like the consequences," Severus said, keeping his tone just on the edge of threatening.
He stalked out of the classroom before Lockhart could reply. He didn't need to hear anything the man had to say.
"How was your week?" Torey asked after Rachel had settled down on the couch.
"Mostly okay," Rachel said after considering it for a moment. "In Charms, Professor Flitwick asked me a question about the origins of incendio, and I said 'yes, that's true'."
"That's great," Torey said. "How did you feel when you said it?"
"Nervous. It took me a moment before I could speak. I looked at Professor Flitwick and I pretended he was the only one there. I still haven't managed to talk in the Great Hall, even to my friends," Rachel said, a little bit annoyed with herself.
"It's okay. It's okay to be nervous, and it's okay that you haven't talked in the Great Hall yet. This is a huge amount of progress and you've only been in school for less than two weeks. Give yourself time," Torey said with a gentle smile. "Speaking of which, how are you doing with seeing me once every two weeks now that you're back in school? Do you feel like it's often enough?"
Rachel nodded. "Yeah, it's okay. I feel like I'm not as nervous this year. It helps to already know all the teachers and the classrooms, and to already have friends."
"Good. If you do decide you want to go back to once a week, just tell me or Professor Snape and we'll arrange it," Torey said.
"Okay," Rachel agreed. She didn't think she needed to see Torey that often. After all, she was doing a lot better at speaking. "Oh. There's a new girl in our study group. I wanted to ask you about her."
"Oh? Is this someone you knew before?" Torey asked.
Rachel shook her head. "No, she's a first year. She found her way to our study room, and we decided to let her join us. Apparently other students are mean to her, even in her own House. Her name is Luna Lovegood, and some of the students call her Loony Lovegood," she said, feeling her brow furrow.
"That sounds really unpleasant for her. Do you think it would be wise to talk with Professor Snape and ask him to talk to her Head of House?" Torey asked.
"That's a good idea," Rachel said. She wasn't sure if the professors could do anything about it, but it was worth trying at least. "Also, she talks about animals that aren't real and we're not really sure what to do about that."
"What do you mean?" Torey asked.
"Luna has told us about Muahorns, who eat shadows and communicate psychically, and Nargles, which steal things. But Theo and Millie said that they're made up and they don't exist at all. We've been just trying to be supportive and we don't say that they don't exist to her, because we don't want to upset her," Rachel explained.
"I think it makes sense not to upset her on purpose," Torey said, nodding. "There are lots of reasons why someone might make up something. Sometimes it's because they're imaginative and they want to see different things around them. Sometimes it could be because they're lonely and they want company. Or it could be that she's seeing or hearing something and she's trying to find a way to describe what she sees or hears."
"Millie says that Luna's father writes a magazine with made-up stuff in it," Rachel said.
"Then it's also possible that these creatures are something that her father taught her to believe in," Torey said. "Does she claim to see or hear these creatures when you're around?"
Rachel thought about it for a moment and shook her head. "She's never said it was there or was telling her something right then."
"Okay, that's something to look out for, and maybe to let Professor Snape know if that happens. Otherwise, I think you're doing the right thing by being supportive of her and letting her tell you about them," Torey said.
Rachel smiled. "Good. I wanted to check if it was the right thing to do or if we were making things worse for her."
Torey smiled back. "That's very thoughtful of you. What else has happened since school has started?"
Rachel took a slow breath. "Well, we have a new professor and there's a lot I could say about him."
"Oh really?" Torey asked, looking intrigued.
Rachel nodded and prepared to explain the class sessions she'd had with Professor Lockhart. It was a lot.