Chapter 10: Worth It

Rosier's been stalking us. Or, at least he was. James and Siri spotted him and stuck him to the ceiling while I put a Silencing Charm on him. No one found him until the end of the day when he really had to pee. The three of us now have detentions for the next month. It was worth it.

Since the disastrous episode of the pixies, Lockhart had not brought live creatures to class. Instead, he read passages from his books to them and sometimes reenacted some of the more dramatic bits. He usually picked Harry to help him with these reconstructions; so far, Harry had been forced to play a simple Transylvanian villager whom Lockhart had cured of a Babbling Curse – which Leo said he must be afflicted with -, a yeti with a head cold – Leo remarked that that was impossible since they lived in below zero temperatures and were thus unlikely to ever get head colds -, and a vampire who had been unable to eat anything except lettuce since Lockhart had dealt with him. Leo spent the last half of the class arguing about this one in particular.

Harry was hauled to the front of the class during their very next Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson, this time acting a werewolf. Leo wasn't sure why, but the idea of Lockhart saying that he could beat a werewolf bothered him far more than any of his other claimed accomplishments.

"Nice loud howl, Harry — exactly — and then, if you'll believe it, I pounced — like this — slammed him to the floor — thus with one hand, I managed to hold him down — with my other, I put my wand to his throat — I then screwed up my remaining strength and performed the immensely complex Homorphus Charm - he let out a piteous moan — go on, Harry — higher than that — good — the fur vanished — the fangs shrank — and he turned back into a man. Simple, yet effective — and another village will remember me forever as the hero who delivered them from the monthly terror of werewolf attacks."

The bell rang and Lockhart got to his feet.

"Homework — compose a poem about my defeat of the Wagga Wagga Werewolf! Signed copies of Magical Me to the author of the best one!"

The class began to leave. Harry returned to the back of the room, where Leo, Ron, and Hermione were waiting.

"Ready?" Harry muttered.

"Yeah, you lot might want to leave for this though," Leo shrugged, taking the piece of paper from Hermione. "Plausible deniability and all that."

The other three looked nervous at this statement but obliged, leaving the blonde alone with Lockhart for the first time ever. Leo strode further into the room, stopping at Lockhart's desk and slapping the piece of paper down in front of him.

"You're going to sign this," Leo stated simply.

"Why, Mr. Black, if you wanted my autograph, all you had to do was -" Lockhart began, beaming excitedly.

"Ew, gross, no," Leo wrinkled his nose. "Think I'd rather live in the Forbidden Forest for the rest of my life than ask for that. No. I just need a book, and you're going to let me get it."

"Oh?" Lockhart questioned, sitting up straighter with a smug expression on his face. "And if I do, what will you do for me, Mr. Black?"

"Not expose you to the world as the complete and total fraud we both know you are," Leo gave a small shrug.

Lockhart's face paled considerably.

"I don't - what – such an outlandish -"

"Save it," Leo snapped. "You and I both know the truth. Sign my paper and the rest of the world won't need to."

Lockhart was quiet for a moment before a broad smile stretched over his face.

"Even if I was lying about all my accomplishments – and I'm not saying I am – what proof do you have? Who would believe the nephew of an infamous mass murderer over me? I am a respected and talented wizard who constantly battles the darkest creatures -"

"They don't need to believe me, they just need to believe the witnesses," Leo placed his hands on the desk and leaned forward slightly. "And there will be witnesses. Loads of them. You may have persuaded people not to talk – but I happen to speak a universally understood language: money. And I have loads of it."

Lockhart's smile fell.

A few minutes later, he handed Hermione the signed permission slip before scarpering off to the girl's bathroom on the second floor where they had arranged to meet. Leo had never stepped foot in a library and wasn't planning on starting now. He felt that some things in life should remain a mystery. Libraries were one of those things.

Ten minutes later, the trio joined him. Immediately, Hermione opened Moste Potente Potions carefully, and the four of them bent over the damp, spotted pages. It was clear from a glance why it belonged in the Restricted Section. Some of the potions had effects almost too gruesome to think about, and there were some very unpleasant illustrations, which included a man who seemed to have been turned inside out and a witch sprouting several extra pairs of arms out of her head. Leo made a mental note to ask Draco if he could brew that particular potion later. There were so many puns he could make with that.

"Here it is," said Hermione excitedly as she found the page headed The Polyjuice Potion.

It was decorated with drawings of people halfway through transforming into other people. Looking at the faces of intense pain, Leo decided he wouldn't drink the potion. He'd experienced enough pain to last several lifetimes.

"This is the most complicated potion I've ever seen," said Hermione as they scanned the recipe. "Lacewing flies, leeches, fluxweed, and knotgrass," she murmured, running her finger down the list of ingredients. "Well, they're easy enough, they're in the student store-cupboard, we can help ourselves...Oooh, look, powdered horn of a bicorn — don't know where we're going to get that — shredded skin of a boomslang — that'll be tricky, too and of course a bit of whoever we want to change into."

"Excuse me?" said Ron sharply. "What d'you mean, a bit of whoever we're changing into? I'm drinking nothing with Crabbe's toenails in it —"

Hermione continued as though she hadn't heard him.

"We don't have to worry about that yet, though, because we add those bits last..."

Ron turned, speechless, to Harry, who had another worry. "D'you realize how much we're going to have to steal, Hermione? Shredded skin of a boomslang, that's definitely not in the students' cupboard. What're we going to do, break into Snape's private stores? I don't know if this is a good idea..."

"We don't have to steal it," Leo shrugged. "Just ask Snape's favorite student to get it from him."

"You're not suggesting -"

"I am."

"But how do we know we can -"

"Because he'd love to get one over on Linguini, just like I do."

The trio exchanged a look before groaning and relenting, deciding to go along with Leo's idea. His last one had gone pretty well, after all.

"How long will it take to make, anyway?" said Harry.

"Well, since the fluxweed has got to be picked at the full moon and the lacewings have got to be stewed for twenty-one days...I'd say it'd be ready in about a month if we can get all the ingredients."

"A month?" said Ron. "Zabini could have attacked half the Muggleborns in the school by then!" But Hermione's eyes narrowed dangerously, and he added swiftly, "But it's the best plan we've got, so full steam ahead, I say."

That Saturday, Leo trudged over to the Quidditch Pitch with the rest of the team, the only one around with high spirits. Of course, he attributed this mainly to his naturally boisterous personality as well as the fact that he lacked the ability to be easily intimidated. Especially not by a bunch of gits in green flying around on something he used to use to sweep the Dursley's floor.

The team pulled on their scarlet Gryffindor robes, then sat down to listen to Wood's usual pre-match pep talk.

"Slytherin has better brooms than us," he began. "No point denying it. But we've got better people on our brooms. We've trained harder than they have, we've been flying in all weathers —"("Too true," muttered George Weasley. "I haven't been properly dry since August.") "— and we're going to make them rue the day they let that little bit of slime, Malfoy ("Oi!" Leo shouted indignantly.), buy his way onto their team."

Chest heaving with emotion, Wood turned to Harry. "It'll be down to you, Harry, to show them that a Seeker has to have something more than a rich father. Get to that Snitch before Malfoy or die trying, Harry, because we've got to win today, we've got to."

"So no pressure, Harry," said Fred, winking at him.

Leo waved farewell to the team as he sat on the bench, taking out his wand and practicing using Incindeo. He was trying to learn how to cast it non-verbally, the first of many steps he was taking to master his Elementalist abilities. He was hopeful that, eventually, he'd be able to conjure it silently without the use of a wand, just like his dad could.

Leo heard the rain start to fall outside some time later. He didn't have a clue what was going on in the game until he heard Lee Jordan, who was commentating, say, "Slytherin lead, sixty points to zero."

A sharp whistle alerted Leo that something was wrong – or that they had won, either way. He ran out onto the pitch to see his team flying down and huddling together. He ran over to join them.

"What's going on?" said Wood as Leo joined them whilst Slytherins in the crowd jeered. "We're being flattened. Fred, George, where were you when that Bludger stopped Angelina scoring?"

"We were twenty feet above her, stopping the other Bludger from murdering Harry, Oliver," said George angrily. "Someone's fixed it — it won't leave Harry alone. It hasn't gone for anyone else all game. The Slytherins must have done something to it."

Leo frowned at this before turning to look at the Slytherin team and locking eyes with Zabini. He made a subtle, rude gesture and received a glare in return.

"But the Bludgers have been locked in Madam Hooch's office since our last practice, and there was nothing wrong with them then..." said Wood, anxiously. Madam Hooch was walking toward them.

"Wood, if I can sneak into Lockhart's room and cover him in mice without him waking up, I think the Slytherins can sneak in and tamper with a Bludger," Leo rolled his eyes.

The rest of the team looked interested in hearing more.

"Listen," said Harry getting them back on track, "with you two flying around me all the time the only way I'm going to catch the Snitch is if it flies up my sleeve -"

"Well, you did swallow it last time we played Slytherin -"

"Go back to the rest of the team and let me deal with the rogue one," Harry finished, ignoring his cousin's remark.

"Don't be thick," said Fred. "It'll take your head off."

Wood was looking from Harry to the Weasleys.

"Oliver, this is insane," said Alicia angrily. "You can't let Harry deal with that thing on his own. Let's ask for an inquiry..."

"If we stop now, we'll have to forfeit the match!" said Harry. "And we're not losing to Slytherin just because of a crazy Bludger! Come on, Oliver, tell them to leave me alone!"

"This is all your fault," George said angrily to Wood. "'Get the Snitch or die trying,' what a stupid thing to tell him —"

Madam Hooch had joined them.

"Ready to resume play?" she asked Wood.

Wood looked at the determined look on Harry's face.

"All right," he said. "Fred, George, you heard Harry — leave him alone and let him deal with the Bludger on his own. Leo, you stay out here in case he falls and needs a Softening Charm or something."

Leo gave a salute.

The rain was falling more heavily now, and Leo had to constantly spit it out of his mouth as he stared up at the sky watching Harry as he ducked and bobbed and weaved past the Bludger. He hoped the match ended soon. He didn't want 'he drowned on land' to be carved on his gravestone. He squinted through the silver sheets of rain to the Gryffindor goal posts, where Adrian Pucey was trying to get past Wood.

He turned back to look at Harry, wincing just as the Bludger hit him in the arm. Seeing the odd angle it was now at, Leo assumed it was broken. Harry suddenly leaned forward on his broom and pelted toward Draco, who screamed and dove out of the way. Leo saw Harry's hand grasp the Snitch with his remaining hand before his broom began careening down toward the ground.

"Spongify!" he shouted, just before Harry landed in the mud and passed out.

He quickly ran towards his cousin, shaking him in an effort to wake him up. His team crowded around him, and many Gryffindors swarmed the field to check on their Seeker. Much to Leo's irritation, Lockhart joined them, pushing through the crowd to kneel at Harry's other side. Just then, Harry came to.

"Oh, no, not you," he moaned.

"Doesn't know what he's saying -," said Lockhart loudly to the anxious crowd of Gryffindors pressing around them.

"Oh, no, I think he knows exactly what he's saying," Leo replied, taking Harry's glasses and attempting to wipe the mud from them.

"-Not to worry, Harry. I'm about to fix your arm," Lockhart continued in a louder voice, trying to drown Leo out.

"No!" said Harry. "I'll keep it like this, thanks..."

He tried to sit up, but Leo pushed him back down before putting his glasses back on him. They heard a familiar clicking noise nearby.

"I don't want a photo of this, Colin," Harry said loudly.

"Lie back, Harry," said Lockhart soothingly. "It's a simple charm I've used countless times —"

"I don't think you have -" Leo argued, growing nervous and panicked at the man's insistence.

"Why can't I just go to the hospital wing?" said Harry through clenched teeth.

"He should really, Professor," said a muddy Wood, who couldn't help grinning even though his Seeker was injured. "Great capture, Harry, really spectacular, your best yet, I'd say —"

"Stand back," said Lockhart, who was rolling up his jade-green sleeves.

"No — don't —" said Harry weakly, but Lockhart was twirling his wand, pointing it at Harry, and -

"Depulso!"

Lockhart flew back through the crowd, who all turned to see Leo sitting there, his wand pointed at where Lockhart had been moments ago and his chest heaving rapidly. He slowly lowered his wand as people stared at him, shocked that he had so blatantly attacked a teacher. McGonagall appeared through the crowd, looking furious.

"Well, someone had to do it," Leo said in an attempt to lighten the mood.

McGonagall was not amused.

Uncle Siri,

We won our first match against Slytherin thanks to Harry. Unfortunately, there was a hitch. There was a rogue Bludger that only targeted him and ended up breaking his arm. Lockhart appeared after I made sure Harry made it safely to the ground and tried to heal his arm. Before he could finish his spell, I blasted him across the field with the Banishing Spell. McGonagall has me in detention until Christmas holidays.

It was worth it.

Love,

Leo

P.S.: I'll find out about Pettigrew one way or another, so you might as well tell me.