Major forgiveness requested regarding the lateness of this chapter. My computer had had a fatal hardware failure a week ago, and I only just got it back from the company for repairs this afternoon (Hurray for extended warrenties). Still, without further adu, here is the chapter that ought to have been posted yesterday.

Chapter Two

Flight to Hogwarts

The few days remaining of summer after the trip to Diagon Alley were incredibly tense at the Burrow, chiefly due to Faykan. Anyone mentioning Lockhart being the new Defense teacher, even in passing, would be sent an angry glare from the boy, and one time small objects were thrown across the room by his magic after the twins attempted a prank that involved changing Fay's normally black hair into the same golden blond of the new Professor.

Harry was hoping that his best friend would finally be able to relax when they reached the train station, but at the same time he wasn't sure what madness might occur as the proximity to Lockhart drew closer.

On their last evening, Mrs. Weasley conjured up a supremely sumptuous dinner that included all of Harry's favorite foods, and ending with a mouthwatering treacle pudding. Fred and George rounded off the evening with a display of Filibuster fireworks; they filled the kitchen with red and blue stars that bounced from ceiling to wall for at least half an hour.

Harry caught Fay pointing out the superb style that the twins had with their display loudly to Mrs. Weasley, which was in turn his retaliation for the earlier prank they had played on him. The pair of them had a long moment of extreme embarrassment while their mother gushed about what good boys they really were in spite of their joking natures, before it was time for a last mug of hot chocolate and bed.

It seemed to take an extremely long time for everyone to get started the next morning. Despite them all getting out of bed near dawn, the shear amount of things to do had them dashing about till the very last minute before they had to leave. Mrs. Weasley was in a towering temper, people kept constantly colliding with each other on the stairs, many of them half dressed with bits of breakfast in their hands; and Mr. Weasley nearly fell and broke his neck tripping over a stray chicken as he crossed the yard carrying Ginny's trunk to the Weasley's car, a Ford Anglia model.

The only person who was immune to the chaos appeared to be Faykan, who had had the foresight to pack the night before, leaving only the things he would need that morning out.

Harry personally had no idea how the nine people, seven trunks, two owls, and a rat were going to fit into the very small car. Faykan had sent his raven, Roac, to fly ahead to Hogwarts the night before saying that his familiar hated confined spaces. Harry had assumed, wrongly of course, that the car was completely non magical.

Mr. Weasley just gave Harry a wink as he opened the trunk, revealing that it had been magically expanded so that the luggage fit easily inside. After they had all piled into the car, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley in the front with Ginny, while Harry, Faykan, Ron, Fred, George, and Percy were all sitting comfortable in the back side by side, Mrs. Weasley glanced around at the interior of the car. "Muggles do know more than we give them credit for, don't they. I mean, you'd never know it was this roomy from the outside, would you?"

They finally got to King's Cross at a quarter to eleven, as people kept stopping them from leaving fully and needing to go back to the Burrow to retrieve forgotten items, and they almost dashed across the street into the station. Mrs. Weasley sent Percy into the illusionary barrier between platforms nice and ten first, followed by Mr. Weasley, Fred and George. "I'll take Ginny and you three come right after us," Mrs. Weasley told the three second year boys, grabbing Ginny's hand and setting off. In the blink of an eye they were gone.

Harry and Ron attempted to pass the barrier together, but they crashed headlong into a seemingly solid wall right where the barrier was supposed to be. Thankfully Faykan had warned them to look casual, so they hadn't run at full speed, which had prevented their carts from rebounding heavily against the sealed barrier. A few people looked over at the heard the small crash, but lost interest as there was very little damage done. "Why can't we get through?" Harry hissed to Ron. Faykan ran his hands over the barrier, muttering some spell in his strange language that neither of the other Gryffindor boys could understand.

Finally, Faykan had to give up, turned to face his friends and shrugged in defeat. "We're going to miss the train," Ron whispered. "I don't understand why the gateway's sealed itself." Harry looked worriedly to a clock on the wall. It read two minutes past eleven; they had missed the train. "It's gone," said Ron, sounding stunned. "The train's left, how are we going to get to Hogwarts?"

"If the barrier is sealed, how are your parents going to get back through to us?" Harry asked Ron worry evident of his face. "Oh, they'd just apparate; you know, disappear and reappear to where they want. The only reason the use stuff like Floo powder and the car is because we can't apparate yet."

Faykan's eyes widened, "Harry, Ron, the car, we can wait there for Mr. and Mrs. Weasley!"

"Better yet, we can fly to Hogwarts ourselves!" Ron countered, started to get excited himself.

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The three boys made their way out of the station through the crowds of muggles, buffered on either side by the press of people. They turned down the side road where the Ford Anglia sat waiting, and Ron unlocked it with a series of taps from his wand. Faykan shrunk their trunks and pocketed them, while Harry placed Hedwig and Scabbers in the back seat.

Finally all three boys piled into the front, Harry in the middle with Ron driving. "Check that no one's watching," said Ron, starting the ignition with another tap of his wand. Harry watched Faykan stick his head out of the window, and he finally declared that the way was clear. Ron pushed a tiny, silver button on the dashboard, and they, their familiars, and the car vanished from sight. Harry could still feel the seat as it vibrated, hear the engine, but he could see nothing around him. It was slightly discomforting.

"Let's go," the voice of Ron said to Harry's right. The car lifted off, and they went soaring into the sky. Before they made it into the cloud cover, there was a popping noise and the car, with everything in it, reappeared suddenly. Ron pounded the button, muttering about how the booster was faulty, and after a few seconds they re-disappeared. After they made it into the clouds, the invisibility booster shorted again, but it made no difference to the three boys, so they left the button alone. Staring at the solid mass of grey clouds surrounding them Harry finally asked, "Now what?"

"Well, we need to head north until we find the train," Faykan replied, and Ron pushed the accelerator, shooting them forward as he aligned the car to the dashboard compass. After a short while, they dipped below the clouds to find the Hogwarts Express making its way along the ground like a scarlet snake. "Well, all we've got to worry about now are airplanes," said Ron. The three of the broke out into fits of laughter, and for a while none of them could stop.

Many hours later, after the enjoyment of flying to Hogwarts had abated, as the car quickly turn out to be very hot, and all three boys were sweating profusely, even after removing their sweaters. "Can't be much father, can it?" Ron finally said, his voice cracking with thirst; they hadn't thought to bring anything to drink. "Why couldn't we get onto the platform?" Harry finally asked. "I have an idea, but…" Faykan began, but at that moment the engine had begun to whine. "It's probably just tired," said Ron. "It's never been this far before"

The three boys ignored the ever increasing whining from the car as the sky grew darker. Faykan crawled into the backseat, unshrunk their trunks one at a time, and pulled out a set of robes for each of them, each of them taking a turn driving while the others got dressed in the back seat. Faykan finally reshrunk the last trunk and returned them to his robe pocket.

Finally a familiar sight greeted them as they descended below the clouds; the castle of Hogwarts loomed before them, high turrets looking like spikes rising into the sky. Unfortunately the car began to shudder and was losing speed, "Come on," Ron said cajolingly, shaking the steering wheel a bit, "we're nearly there, come on…" As they glided over the black lake, the engine finally gave out with a loud clunk and splutter. "Oh, no…" Ron said. The nose of the car dropped. They were falling, gathering speed, heading straight for the solid castle wall. Ron screamed, twisting the steering wheel around; they missed the dark stone wall by inches as the car turned in a giant arc, soaring over the greenhouses, the vegetable patch, and finally over the black lawns, all the while losing altitude.

Ron released the steering wheel and whipped out his wand, attempting to command the car to halt with various whacks from his wand, when Harry bellowed for him to avoid a quickly upcoming tree, but far too late for Ron to turn the car. With an earsplitting bang of metal on wood, they crashed headlong into the limbs of the tree.

Harry looked up from where he had hit the dashboard, now sporting a golf ball sized lump on his head, while Faykan was bleeding profusely from his now broken nose. Ron let out a low, despairing moan as he held up his broken wand, the two pieces of wood held together barely by a thin string of unicorn hair. Faykan quickly moved to open his door and jump out, just as something smashed into his door with the force of a bull, knocking him into Harry and splattering more blood over the three boys.

Harry looked down at Faykan, who appeared to have been knocked unconscious from the force of the blow, and was now bleeding from several deep cuts on his face and arms. "What happened?" Harry asked when Ron gasped, and they looked out the cracked windshield to see a branch as thick as a python collide into it, buckling the front of the car slightly. The tree they were stuck in was flailing madly with its limbs, attacking the car viciously. Harry and Ron screamed as the branches started to pound fiercely onto all sides of the car, shattering windows and denting the metal.

"We're done for!" Ron moaned as the ceiling sagged, but suddenly the floor of the car was vibrating; the engine had restarted. "Reverse!" Harry yelled, and the car shot backward; falling out of the tree as it attempted to crush them; they could hear its roots creaking as it almost ripped itself up, lashing out at them as they finally sped out of reach.

"That," panted Ron, "was close. Well done, car…"

The car, however, had reached the end of its tether. With two sharp clunks, the doors flew open and Harry felt his seat tip sideways: Next thing he knew he was sprawled on the damp ground with Faykan's body draped on top of him. Hedwig's cage flew through the air and burst open; she rose out of it with an angry screech and sped off toward the castle without a backward look. Then, dented, scratched, and steaming, the car rumbled off into the darkness, its rear lights blazing angrily, as Ron yelled after it.

"Can you believe our luck?" said Ron miserably, bending down to pick up Scabbers. "Of all the trees we could've hit, we had to get one that hits back."

"Come on," said Harry wearily, hefting Faykan, who was still unconscious, "we'd better get up to the school."

It wasn't at all the triumphant arrival Harry had pictured. Stiff, cold, and bruised, they seized both of Faykan's arms began half dragging, half carrying him up the grassy slope, toward the great oak front doors.

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Severus Snape was in a foul mood. Not only were Potter, Weasley, and Undol all missing from the train, but rumor was that they were last seen flying an enchanted car towards Hogwarts, no doubt hoping to make a grand entrance amidst their cheering housemates.

Severus waited in a shadowy nook of the entrance all, pondering how he would best punish the three boys if they had been in his own house, to suggest to the Headmaster naturally, the extremely unlikely idea of expulsion aside. Potter was far too important to Dumbledore to be expelled, and Undol was a wild card to be watched, and obviously they couldn't expel Weasley and not the others too, as it would look far too suspicious. Personally, Severus would have had the boys in detention every single free hour of the school year for the idiocy they had showed, but sadly it was not for him to decide.

When the three boys finally entered the castle, Severus knew something had clearly gone wrong. Potter and Weasley were bruised, cut and bleeding, and they both were supporting Undol, who was unmistakably unconscious with a face matted in blood. Forgoing his wish to punish them for the time being, Severus hurried out of the shadows toward the boys and took Undol's weight himself, able to support the child better than two twelve year olds, ignoring the gasps of shock that Potter and Weasley gave as he erupted from the shadows.

"Follow me," he said coldly, and together they hurried up to the hospital wing. Madam Pomfrey was still at the feast, so Severus decided to heal the boys as best he could without her. Luckily their injuries weren't severe, and after a simple handful episkey and several scourgify spells, all three boys looked good as new, and Severus finally cast renervate on Undol, bringing him back to consciousness. Groaning from the sudden awakening, Undol turned slightly and opened his eyes to find Severus bending over him, giving him a final examination to be absolutely positive that he was injury free.

"Where am I?" he asked, squinting slightly as his eyes adjusted to the wand light that Severus was running over him.

"In the Hospital wing, Mr. Undol." Severus replied slowly, letting the boy soak in the information. When the boy finally sat up in the bed Severus had placed him in, the Potions Master moved to face the three boys, glaring down at them. Potter and Weasley were staring at their feet, perfectly aware of how deep they were in this mess.

"So," Severus said softly, "the train isn't good enough for the famous Harry Potter and his faithful sidekicks Undol and Weasley. Wanted to arrive with a bang, did we, boys?" Undol started to respond, but Severus cut him off, demanding to know what had happened to the car. They looked at him stunned, as if he had read their minds. Severus pulled the copy of the Evening Prophet and showing them the headline: Flying Ford Anglia Mystifies Muggles. He read the article to them aloud, finally looking up at their horrified faces as he finished. "You were seen," Severus hissed at them, "by no less than seven Muggles."

Severus then left them to stew in their fear as he fetched Professor McGonagall and Madam Pomfrey, just in case there were any injuries he missed. When he had returned with them both in tow, none of the boys had moved. They seemed to have been frozen in fear of what was going to become of them.

Madam Pomfrey examined the three boys quickly, and after healing a few minor injuries that Severus had missed, mainly on Undol's arms and back, she left to return to the feast. Professor McGonagall finally stood to look at the three boys.

"Sit," she commanded, and both Potter and Weasley seated themselves quickly into chairs next to Undol's bed.

"Explain," she said, and the three boys launched into their story of how they were prevented from passing the barrier in King's Cross, decided that taking the car was their only option, and flew the entire distance to Hogwarts, finally crash landing into the Whomping Willow, which was the cause of their injuries.

"Why didn't you send us a letter by owl? I believe you have an owl?" Professor McGonagall said coldly to Potter when they had finished.

"We panicked," Undol said sullenly.

"That," said Professor McGonagall, "is obvious."

There was a knock on the hospital door and Severus opened it, revealing the Headmaster. Albus strode into the room, and all three boys froze again. Albus was looking unusually grave, and after a long silence, and he finally said, "Please explain why you did this." All three boys flinched at the disappointment in his voice, or at least appeared to flinch; Severus wasn't sure about Undol's sincerity.

Severus watched as they repeated their story in detail for the Headmaster, and Weasley finally said that they would collect their things, assuming that they were going to be expelled. Albus assured him that they weren't going to be expelled today, as Severus knew would happen, and Albus said that he was going to write their families. 'A lot of good that will do,' Severus thought. With that, the Headmaster left, motioning for Severus to follow.

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After Professor McGonagall sentenced them to a detention each, as thankfully Harry managed to persuade her to not dock points from Gryffindor by stating that school hadn't officially started when they took the car, she left them with a plate of sandwiches and a jug of pumpkin juice that she summoned from the kitchens. They all ate as many as they could, as the plate kept refilling itself, and finally rose to head to Gryffindor Tower, walking through the silent castle and up the stairs to the portrait of the Fat Lady.

"Password?" she said as they approached.

"Err…" said Harry.

He then realized that they had not received the new password, but thankfully Hermione appeared, dashing around a corner toward them.

"There you are! Where have you been? The most ridiculous rumors; someone said you'd been expelled for crashing a flying car."

"Well, we haven't been expelled," Harry assured her.

"You're not telling me you did fly here?" said Hermione, sounding almost as severe as Professor McGonagall.

"Skip the lecture," said Ron impatiently, "and tell us the new password."

"It's 'wattlebird,'" said Hermione impatiently, "but that's not the point…"

But whatever the point was, the three boys never heard, because when the Fat Lady's portrait opened, there was a sudden storm of clapping. The whole of Gryffindor House was still awake, and were packed into the common room waiting for Harry, Ron and Faykan to arrive. Arms reached through the portrait hole and pulled the boys inside, leaving Hermione behind to race after them.

People were congratulating them for the inspired entrance they had made, and both Fred and George were jealous that they hadn't been invited to come with them. They were about to be swarmed by the rest of their house, when Faykan staggered, still weak from the amount of blood he had lost, despite the blood replenishment potions Professor Snape had given him. Harry and Ron used this as their excuse to escape up to their dormitories.

They hurried up the stairs, right to the top, and at last reached the door of their old dormitory, which now had a sign on it saying 'Second Years'. They entered the familiar, circular room, with its six four-posters hung with red velvet and its high, narrow windows. Faykan returned their trunks from his pocket, and finally collapsed onto his bed, falling asleep immediately.

Harry was about to get into bed himself, when the dormitory door flew open and in came the other second year Gryffindor boys, Seamus Finnigan, Dean Thomas, and Neville Longbottom. They spent the next twenty minutes retelling their story to their dorm mates, and finally were allowed to go to bed.

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The enchanted sky of the Great Hall was a dull, cloudy gray as Draco Malfoy sat down for breakfast. He was terrified for his friends in Gryffindor when he hadn't seen them at the start of term feast, as he had heard the wildest rumors the night before; about Harry, Ron and Faykan being expelled for crashing a flying car into the Whomping Willow. When he saw his friends entering the Hall, his heart gave a relieving leap; they hadn't been expelled, probably.

The three Gryffindor boys sat down near Hermione at the Gryffindor table, and Draco was about to go ask them what happened, when the swirl of mail owls appeared, and Draco saw the Weasley family owl plunge into a milk jug near Ron. From the other side of the room, Draco could easily see the bright red envelope of a Howler. Longbottom said something to Ron, who looked white as a sheet as he slowly tore open the letter. The roar of Ron's mother's voice shook the Hall, causing dust to fall from the ceiling.

"RONALD WEASLEY! HOW DARE YOU STEAL THAT CAR! I AM ABSOLUTLY DISGUSTED! YOU WAIT TILL I GET HOLD OF YOU, I DON'T SUPPOSE YOU STOPPED TO THINK WHAT YOUR FATHER AND I WENT THROUGH WHEN WE SAW IT WAS GONE!"

Mrs. Weasley's yells, magnified a hundred times louder than usual, made the plates and spoons rattle on the table, and echoed deafeningly off the stone walls. People throughout the hall were swiveling around to see who had received the Howler, and Ron sank so low in his chair that only his head could be seen.

"WHEN WE RECEIVED THE LETTER FROM DUMBLEDORE LAST NIGHT, I THOUGHT YOUR FATHER WOULD DIE OF SHAME, WE DIDN'T BRING YOU UP TO BEHAVE LIKE THIS, YOU, HARRY AND FAYKAN COULD ALL HAVE DIED! YOUR FATHER'S FACING AN INQUIRY AT WORK, AND ITS ENTIRLY YOUR FAULT! IF YOU PUT ANOTHER TOE OUT OF LINE WELL BRING YOU STRAIGHT HOME!"

The ringing in Draco's ears finally subsided, while the red envelope burst into flames as Ron dropped it to the table. A few people laughed, namely Nott, but gradually the usual babble of talk broke out again, all thoughts of the Howler forgotten.

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Harry, Ron, Faykan and Hermione left the castle together, crossed the vegetable patch, and made for the greenhouses for double Herbology with the Hufflepuffs. At least the Howler had done one good thing: Hermione seemed to think they had now been punished enough and was being perfectly friendly again. They arrived to find the rest of the class awaiting Professor Sprout. Moments later, she came striding into view across the lawn, accompanied by Gilderoy Lockhart. Harry noticed that Faykan tensed immediately at the sight of the man, and put a hand on his shoulder, ready to restrain the smaller boy if he tried to lash out at the Defense Professor. Lockhart was immaculate in sweeping robes of turquoise, his golden hair shining under a perfectly positioned hat that matched his robes.

"Oh, hello there," he called, beaming around at the assembled students, as though he hadn't known they would be there, "just been showing Professor Sprout the right way to doctor a Whomping Willow! But I don't want you running away with the idea that I'm better at Herbology than she is! I just happen to have met several of these exotic plants on my travels..."

Harry heard Faykan mutter, "A Whomping Willow? The things these wizard will come up with…"

"Greenhouse three today, chaps!" said Professor Sprout loudly just then, looking distinctly disgruntled, and not at all her usual cheerful self.

The amassed students muttered excitedly about what new interesting plants they were going to work with while Professor Sprout unlocked the greenhouse. Harry was about to drag Faykan inside, when Lockhart's hand shot out.

"Harry!" he said casually, flashing another near-blinding smile, "I've wanted a word, you don't mind if he's a couple minutes late, do you, Professor Sprout?"

Clearly she did mind, but Lockhart attempted to close the door in her face, only to be stopped as Faykan put his foot in the doorway.

"Professor Sprout may not mind, but I do," Faykan said bitterly, leveling an angry glare as he forced the door back open and started to push Harry inside, but the grinning Professor wasn't going to give up that easily.

"I'm certain I could have just a few moments of Harry's time." He said, trying to grip Harry's arm and pull him back. Faykan glared murderously as Lockhart dragged Harry away, talking nonstop.

By the time Harry finally got back to the greenhouse, Professor Sprout was telling the students that they were to be repotting Mandrakes that day. After explaining how they were to do it, she set them all to work in groups of five, and the four Gryffindors were joined by a curly haired Hufflepuff boy that Harry had never spoken to before.

"Justin Finch-Fletchley," he said brightly, shaking Harry by the hand. "Know who you are, of course, the famous Harry Potter... You're Hermione Granger and you're Faykan Undol, always the top two students in everything, except History of Magic" he continued, turning to each of them in turn and ignoring Faykan's complaint of 'Binns' incorrect information', "and Ron Weasley. Wasn't that your flying car?"

The Hufflepuff boy continued speaking for several minutes, commenting on how brave and wonderful he thought Lockhart was, which caused Faykan to break the metal trowel he was holding. As he magically repaired the tool, Justin started talking about himself, mentioning that his mother wanted him to attend a prestigious muggle school, but that he persuaded her with Lockhart's books to allow him to attend Hogwarts, until they had to start the repotting and he finally fell silent, mainly becaus they had to wear earmuffs to prevent the screaming Mandrakes from knocking them out.

The Gryffindor's next class was Transfiguration, and Ron was having a very hard time working with his broken wand. When Harry and Faykan commented that he should mail home for a new one, Ron scoffed and said he didn't want another Howler. During lunch, Harry read on their schedules something that he knew wasn't going to end well; their next class was Defense Against the Dark Arts.

After they finished eating, the four Gryffindors went outside to the courtyard and Hermione sat to read her 'Voyages with Vampires'book. Harry, Ron and Faykan discussed Quidditch, until Harry felt that he was being closely watched. Looking up, he saw a very small, mousy haired Gryffindor first year boy holding a muggle camera. The moment Harry looked at him, the boy went bright red.

"All right, Harry? I'm, I'm Colin Creevey," he said breathlessly, taking a tentative step forward. "I'm in Gryffindor, too. D'you think… would it be all right if… can I have a picture?" he said, raising the camera hopefully.

"A picture?" Harry repeated blankly.

"So I can prove I've met you," said Colin eagerly, edging further forward. "I know all about you. Everyone's told me. About how you survived when You-Know-Who tried to kill you and how he disappeared and everything and how you've still got a lightning scar on your forehead," his eyes raked Harry's hairline as he said that, "and a boy in my dormitory said if I develop the film in the right potion, the pictures'll move."

Colin drew a great shuddering breath of excitement and said, "It's amazing here, isn't it? I never knew all the odd stuff I could do was magic till I got the letter from Hogwarts. My dad's a milkman, he couldn't believe it either. So I'm taking loads of pictures to send home to him. And it'd be really good if I had one of you," he looked imploringly at Harry, "maybe your friend could take it and I could stand next to you? And then, could you sign it?"

Faykan's eyes narrowed at Colin, just as a loud, scathing voice echoed around the courtyard, "Signed photos? You're giving out signed photos, Potter?"

Theodore Nott stopped right behind Colin, flanked, as he always was at Hogwarts, by his large and thuggish cronies, Crabbe and Goyle.

"Everyone line up!" Nott roared to the crowd. "Harry Potter's giving out signed photos!"

"No, he's not," Faykan growled angrily, fist clenching. "Shut up, Nott." Harry saw that Faykan was itching to draw his wand and curse Nott into oblivion.

"You're just jealous," piped up Colin, whose entire body was about as thick as Crabbe's neck.

"Jealous?" said Nott, who didn't need to shout anymore: half the courtyard was listening in. "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."

Crabbe and Goyle were sniggering stupidly.

"Eat slugs, Nott," said Ron angrily. Crabbe stopped laughing and started rubbing his knuckles in a menacing way.

"Be careful, Weasley," sneered Nott. "You don't want to start any trouble or your Mommy'll have to come and take you away from school." He put on a shrill, piercing voice. "If you put another toe out of line'…"

A group of Slytherin fifth years nearby laughed loudly at this. "Weasley would like a signed photo, Potter," smirked Nott. "It'd be worth more than his family's whole house…"

Ron whipped out his Spellotaped wand, but Hermione shut 'Voyages with Vampires' with a snap and whispered, "Look out!"

"What's all this, what's all this?" Gilderoy Lockhart was striding toward them, his turquoise robes swirling behind him. "Who's giving out signed photos?"

All Harry saw was a blur of motion as Faykan whipped his wand out and yelled, "arrna en' me'urramya mallen sen!" Black storm clouds surrounded Nott, Lockhart, and Colin and thunder boomed as bolts of lightning flew around them. Dragging Harry by the arm, Faykan dashed back to the castle, Ron and Hermione in tow.

Faykan finally released Harry's arm when they were inside the Defense classroom, and immediately took the farthest seat from the front, Harry and Ron sitting next to him. Hermione took the chair in front of Faykan, just as the rest of the class filed in. Minutes later, Lockhart entered, slightly damp and his hair amiss, but he plastered a smile on his face as he turned to the class.

When the whole class was seated, Lockhart cleared his throat loudly and silence fell. He reached forward, picked up Neville Longbottom's copy of 'Travels with Trolls', and held it up to show his own, winking portrait on the front.

"Me," he said, pointing at it and winking as well. "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!"

He waited for a few people to laugh; a few people smiled weakly, Faykan coughed loudly, and Harry swore he could hear the word 'git' mixed in.

"I see you've all bought a complete set of my books, well done. I thought we'd start today with a little quiz. Nothing to worry about just to check how well you've read them, how much you've taken in…"

When he had handed out the test papers he returned to the front of the class and said,

"You have thirty minutes, starting, now!"

Harry looked down at his paper and read:

1. What is Gilderoy Lockhart's favorite color?

2. What is Gilderoy Lockhart's secret ambition?

3. What, in your opinion, is Gilderoy Lockhart's greatest achievement to date?

On and on it went, over three sides of paper, right down to:

54. When is Gilderoy Lockhart's birthday, and what would his ideal gift be?

Lockhart looked at Faykan, who was the only person not writing on the quiz paper "Um, excuse me Mr.…" he paused, unsure of Faykan's name.

"Undol," Faykan finished for him, looking both bored and irritated.

"Undol, are you finished with the quiz already?"

Faykan scoffed, "Absolutely, seeing how I'm not going to do it at all."

The entire class stopped at and looked at Faykan. Hermione just kept writing on the quiz, while Lockhart looked completely at a loss of how to handle the situation.

"Uh… why won't you do the quiz Mr. Undol?" he asked stupidly.

"Well, there is nothing on this quiz that has anything to do with Defense Against the Dark Arts, so why should I waste my time answering questions about you?"

The entire class was watching this exchange now, the quiz completely forgotten.

Lockhart seemed very agitated by Faykan's contemptuous glare, but masked it immediately with a wide smile, "Well, Mr. Undol, the quiz is to see how well you've read my books, which is important for me to see how you can handle my teaching style. You do not have to take the quiz if you feel you don't have anything to learn from it, but you may find yourself sorely unprepared.

Faykan just shrugged, and leaned back in his seat, while the sniggers of Seamus Finnigan and Dean Thomas could be heard, who were sitting in front. After the quiz, on which Hermione won Gryffindor ten points, Lockhart finally decided to try and teach something.

"Well, down to business," he said, bending down behind his desk and lifting a large, covered cage onto it. Harry was watching as Faykan glanced once at the cage then rolled his eyes dramatically, which sent Harry and Ron into a small fit of giggles.

"Now, be warned," said Lockhart, "It is my job to arm you against the foulest creatures known to wizard-kind! You may find yourselves facing your worst fears in this room. Know only that no harm can befall you whilst I am here. All I ask is that you remain calm. It might provoke them!"

As the whole class held its breath, Lockhart whipped off the cover.

"Yes," he said dramatically, "Freshly caught Cornish pixies…"

Faykan couldn't take any more, and burst out into a fit of laughter that even Lockhart couldn't mistake for a scream of terror, and the class followed suit.

Smiling at Faykan, Lockhart said "Right, then, if you find them so amusing, let's see what you make of them!" and he opened the cage.

It was pandemonium. The pixies shot in every direction like rockets. Two of them seized Neville by the ears and lifted him into the air. Several shot straight back through the front window as they were blasted by Faykan's quickly drawn wand, showering the floor with broken glass. But the rest proceeded to wreck the classroom more effectively than a rampaging rhino. They grabbed ink bottles and sprayed the class with them, shredded books and papers, tore pictures from the walls, upended the waste basket, grabbed bags and books and threw them out of the smashed window; within minutes, half the class was sheltering under desks and Neville was swinging from the iron chandelier in the ceiling.

"Come on now, round them up, round them up, they're only pixies," Lockhart shouted.

He rolled up his sleeves, brandished his wand, and bellowed, "Peskipiksi Pesternomi!"

It had absolutely no effect and one of the pixies seized his wand and threw it out of the window, too. Lockhart gulped and dived under his own desk, narrowly avoiding being squashed by Neville, who fell a second later as the chandelier gave way.

The bell rang and there was a mad rush toward the exit. In the relative calm that followed, Lockhart straightened up, caught sight of Harry, Faykan, Ron, and Hermione, who were almost at the door, and said, "Well, I'll ask you four to just nip the rest of them back into their cage." He swept past them and shut the door quickly behind him.

"Can you believe him?" roared Ron as one of the remaining pixies bit him painfully on the ear.

"He just wants to give us some hands on experience," said Hermione, immobilizing two pixies at once with a clever Freezing Charm and stuffing them back into their cage.

"Hands on?" said Harry, who was trying to grab a pixie dancing out of reach with its tongue out. "Hermione, he didn't have a clue what he was doing."

"Rubbish," said Hermione. "You've read his books; look at all those amazing things he's done…"

"He says he's done," Faykan retorted loudly.

arrna en' me'urramya mallen sen: storm of thunder encircle them

Potential Spoilers ahead, you have been warned!

So, once again my sincerest apologies for the lateness of the chapter, no one plans for computer failure. Small bits of extension here and there as needed for the plot to feel more alive, as I felt that from the Burrow to the station, and again from the station to Hogwarts felt a bit on the too canon side of things, which I know many would argue is the least of my concerns regarding how true to canon the story its, trust me there is a reason that things play out this way, and the change in the pacing is coming, primarily starting in PoA year.

once again changed Severus' perspective to relate more of what he already knows regarding the undol family, but to be fair this chapter was more or less left alone, as it was a transition, other than making it more fluid and smooth.

More in due time. ~F