The next chapter is up, as usual, likes, comments, questions, suggestions, reviews, follows, etc. are appreciated. Please note that a passage is taken from the HPCoS book. And of course all the characters….
Chapter 12 A New "Professor"
It was a dark and stormy night. The cold winter winds whipped up along the Gryffindor tower. Although the tower was magically reinforced it was a common joke among Gryffindors that one day a storm would carry them off into the Black lake. While others slept soundly in their beds with only homework or relationship drama on their minds, Ron Weasley could not sleep. He twisted restlessly in his covers before laying back with a sigh. I should ask Fred and George tomorrow where the kitchen is, maybe a glass of hot chocolate would help.
He sat up and allowed his eyes to adjust to the dark dormitory, listening to the only noise, the soft snores of Neville Longbottom. Even though he was only one week into his second term of his first year at Hogwarts, he found himself up into the early hours once again, worried about one person. Just a few months prior his little sister Ginny (15 minutes still counts as younger) had lost her arm due to the events surrounding the sorcerer's stone.
The mysterious stone apparently could have brought He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named back to life, but it had been destroyed by Professor Dumbledore. Not that Ron was very interested in the stone, his sister had nearly died and although his parents had deemed her fine to return to Hogwarts, Ron suspected she wasn't alright. He hadn't really spoken to her in days, she often took her meals in the dorms and would come in late to class and sit at the back before darting out at the end. He had never known her to be this withdrawn, this shy. He couldn't help but wonder what she was writing about in her journal, and why she felt she couldn't share with him.
Ron slipped on his slippers and walked over to window overlooking the Hogwarts grounds. He could make out a stag grazing in the lawn not too far from a large willow tree. He was hard at work trying to eat the grass below the thickening layer of snow.
A loader snore from across the room startled Ron and he reflexively grabbed his wand off the nearby bedside table. As quick as he startled though, he relaxed. Neville was snoring consistently once again. The other boys Dean, Seamus, and Harry were relatively silent sleepers; although Harry had a knack for tossing and turning in his sleep. Based on the thud Ron had heard the night before, he suspected that Harry might have fallen out of bed. He didn't blame him the though, his friend had grown as much in a month as most boys grow in multiple years. Dean wasn't the tallest first year boy anymore, at 5 foot and 2 inches, he was dwarfed by Harry who was now 5 foot 9 inches and growing. Something to do with the Philosopher's Stone stabbing him during the fight with You-Know-Who/Professor Quirrell.
Magic always seemed so normal before but now with Neville being… part beast, Harry and his new powers, and Ginny with her missing limb; Ron couldn't help but think things were getting far too strange for him to keep up. At least Hermione was normal like him. He smiled despite his anxiety and thought back to waking up after being knocked out during the chess game. Hermione was sitting next to him calling his name, she looked so….
He flushed and looked at the other sleeping boys in the room as though they could have heard his thoughts. He got up from the window and went back to his bed, shifting Scabbers away from his pillow. He needed to get some sleep, they were finally having defense against the dark arts class tomorrow and second year Gryffindors had theirs in the morning. He would try to talk with Ginny, he thought resolutely.
I won't let her get hurt again.
The next morning Ron woke up, feigning being refreshed like the other boys. Dean, Seamus, Neville, and Harry dressed slowly, and Ron wondered if they too were apprehensive about the new professor. At the start of the term feast Professor Dumbledore had informed them of the hiring but had not disclosed their name, only that they were to arrive the following week due to delays with their previous work.
When the boys finally entered the common room Ron was surprised to see Hermione chatting with Parvati Patel and Lavender Brown. He had been under the impression that she didn't get along with the other girls in their house. Seeing the boys, the girls stood and packed up their schoolbooks for the day. Ginny joined them at the last moment and the nine first year Gryffindors headed to the Great Hall.
The Great Hall was buzzing with students that morning, clearly many were excited to meet their new professor whoever they were. Ron pilled some pancakes and sausages onto his plate and watched as across the table from him, Ginny nibbled on a piece of buttered toast. Next to her Hermione noticed him and got a look on her face that Ron recognized as inspiration and he watched her take her wand out. She pointed it at the bowl of oranges in front of them and spoke the indication for levitation, "Wingardium Leviosa!"
"My parents say that oranges contain Vitamin C that will keep us from getting sick," she said, and the oranges passed themselves to himself, Ginny, and the others.
"Wow Hermione, that was so precise!" said Lavender, opening her orange up. The others copied her except for Ginny, who held the orange in her hand. Lavender noticed her as well and immediately said, "Oh Ginny let me help you with that!"
"I don't need help," Ginny said crossly and placed the orange on the table.
"I-I'd didn't mean to offend you, I just-," Lavender stammered, face turning red.
"It's fine," Ginny said grabbing her bag and standing up from the table, "I'm not hungry anyways."
She left. And almost simultaneously their large group dispersed. Lavender and Parvati left to go and speak to Professor McGonagall. Neville switched to sitting at the Ravenclaw table with Luna. And Dean and Seamus started talking to one another while trying to balance oranges on their heads.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione looked dejectedly at one another. Hermione rubbed her forehead and sighed, "I'm sorry, I thought she would like the magic and orange facts. I didn't think about how she would actually open it."
Harry picked up Ginny's orange and pealed it quickly. "We can still bring it to her for eating during class. I don't know what the new professor will be like, but Professor Flitwick always allows students to eat in class and his class is right after Defence."
"Yeah," Ron agreed, "that's a good idea. We should probably head there soon as well."
Approximately 6 and ½ minutes later he and Harry sat down at their desk and Hermione at hers with Neville. Ron noted that Neville seemed to be doing a lot better ever since his secret had come out to the group. Maybe he thought that his friends would be able to protect the other students if "Mimb" were to emerge again. The room itself gave very little information about the professor except that they must not be very organized as there were many cardboard boxes scattered around the room, seemingly waiting to be unpacked.
The bell rang and Ginny dashed in, taking her seat alone behind the table of Ernie Macmillan and Justin Finch-Fletchley. Harry waved to her and tossed her the orange which she caught with ease. While she looked grumpy, she did start to eat the orange and Ron was glad that her slight crush on Harry seemed to have remained.
Suddenly the door to the mystery professor's office opened and a blond handsome young man strode out. He walked as though he was receiving thunderous applause from an audience of thousands which contrasted severely with the silence in the room. A couple students gasped including Hermione, and Ron realised then that he knew who the professor was. His mother had many books with his face on the cover; it was Gilderoy Lockhart.
"Me," he said holding up a book with his face on it. "Gilderoy Lockhart, Order of Merlin, Third Class, Honorary Member of the Dark Force Defense 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!"
Ron frowned. This guy is a fraud for sure. He glanced at Harry, who looked skeptical as well, whereas on his other side Hermione was blushing with a bright smile on her face (which most definitely did not bother him at all),
Lockhart waved his wand and a small cardboard box at the front of the room opened. Bright orange books like the one he was holding passed themselves out to the class.
"Now with the sudden departure of your last professor, I couldn't set the book list for the term, but you can borrow these copies!" he winked and added, "I just so happen to know the author." He paused, waiting for the class to laugh.
They didn't.
"This week's assignment is to read the first five chapters of Travels with Trolls and to create a diorama of your favorite battle. Go ahead and start reading now." He said. As the students started to read, Ron watched as Lockhart began to unpack more boxes and decorate the classroom with large pictures of himself. Where does Dumbledore find these people?
When class ended 80 long minutes later, Ron swore that he saw a small blur of orange hair flee the classroom instead of his twin. Frustrated with the lack of progress with her, he gathered his belongings and began walking to charms with Harry and Hermione. Hermione was talking about what she planned to do for the project (given that she had already read the chapters assigned), while Harry was clearly tuning her out.
Ron occupied himself by looking at the numerous portraits on the wall. Each one supposedly took years to make, with contributions coming from the artist, the subject, and friends and family members in order to perfectly capture the personality of the subject. He wondered if Lockhart's portraits had been completed by himself alone or by himself and some fans. Were any of these portraits along the walls a true representation of the person who lived? Nothing is true after all.
His ruminations were halted with beginning of charms class. They were learning the theory about the Skurge charm today. It was a simple charm for removing ectoplasm that can build up in places where ghosts frequent. Professor Flitwick said that he would often perform it before the start of the school year and after holidays due to the number of ghosts that inhabit Hogwarts. Neville was sent to the hospital wing around half-way through the class when Malfoy "accidently" tried the spell on Neville and caused a skin reaction on his neck. As class wrapped up, they were all assigned one foot of parchment to describe locations around the castle that would most likely need the charm performed. It was then that Ron then realised that Ginny's seat was already empty. She hadn't been in class.
He was just thinking of how to possible bring it up to her during their upcoming lunch when Neville ran up to him, Harry, and Hermione.
"Harry! Ron! Hermione! I need your help; Trevor is stuck in the trip step and I can't get him out!"
"Don't worry Neville, we'll get him out," Harry reassured him confidently.
"We can use the shrinking charm we learned last term," said Hermione.
It was a easy task to remove the toad from the step. Ron reassured Neville that forgetting the shrinking charm wasn't a big deal and that he probably would've done the same thing if it had been Scabbers. The four of them then went down the stairs towards the great hall to try to catch a late lunch before potions class.
Harry stopped on the stairs in front of the third floor and turned to the group. "What did you say?"
"No one said anything, Harry," Hermione said frowning in concern. "Maybe you heard one of the portraits talking?"
"No it wasn't a portrait. It said-," Harry froze and looked around. "It says its going to kill!"
He then took off, storming down the stairs, leaving the three of them to follow closely behind. As they reached the first floor their feet and the bottom of their robes became soaked in water. Looking down, Ron could see that the water was starting to pour down the staircase itself.
"What the-," Ron began.
"The voice is this way," said Harry. He splashed his way down the corridor leaving the three of them to run after him again.
"It must have Moaning Myrtle," panted Hermione as they ran after Harry, "she haunts the first-floor girl's bathroom. Sometimes she has tantrums and floods the bathroom, Mr. Filch must not have spotted this one before it could spread."
As they reached the bathroom Ron could make out something red written on the walls.
THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN OPENED. ENEMIES OF THE HEIR BEWARE.
"What could that mean-," Ron started to ask.
Neville suddenly squeaked in fear and fell backwards into the cold water. He pointed silently at the torch next to the message. Hanging by her tail was Mrs. Norris. It looked as though she had been hit by the Petrificus Totalus charm. The four of them did nothing for a moment, starring at the hanging body in shock.
"I don't think Moaning Myrtle did that," said Ron. Harry approached the frozen cat and removed her from the wall. "I suppose we bring her to the hospital wing?" he asked, clearly unsure on how to help it.
Sounds of splashing came up the hall and it became clear that lunch was over.
The other kids gathered around them, reading the message, and looking at the possibly dead cat in Harry's arms.
"What happened!" "Is that Mrs. Norris?" "Did they kill that cat?" "What is the heir of Slytherin?"
All the voices started at the same time. But Ron could still make out the jeers of Draco Malfoy.
"Enemies of heir beware? You'll be next Mudbloods," Malfoy sneered, to the laughter of the other first year Slytherins. Ron was about to respond when another voice cried out in pain and anger.
"MY CAT, YOU MURDERED MY CAT!"
That's it. We're done for.
