AN: Thank you guys so much! Just a few more chapters and second year is over. I couldn't have done it without all of the lovely followers and favorites. And of course, massive shout-out to the reviewers: 09113664593c, To the TARDIS, Majerus, 1sunfun, serenityselena, Penny is wise, Eternal She-Wolf, Books are air, Cassandra30, Kairan1979, Narnia and Harry Potter 4 EVER, ginnyandharryluvr, kentrek1, elmoryakhan, red-jacobson, geetac, Spring Raine, Snowball1982, Lightningblade49, magitech, MariusDarkwolf, Tellur, serialkeller, BelovedDaughter, B00kw0rm92, Wonderbee31, and Element Kitsune.
Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter franchise.
"I think I'll be taking that," A voice said from behind, a hand reaching around Neville to pluck the notebook right out of his grasp.
The kids whirled around to find Gilderoy Lockhart smiling at them. Neville felt a chill run up his spine at the glint in the man's eyes.
"How did you-" Seamus sputtered, blinking furiously.
"How did I finish those autographs so quickly? Oh children, when you've been famous for as long as I have, you find ways to speed up the process," He chuckled, pulling a special quill out of his pocket. "If you tell those silly little fans that you need privacy, they give you it. Those pathetic sheep don't notice that each signature looks exactly the same. They don't marvel at your quick pace. They're rather stupid, honestly."
"But I'm not complaining. It just makes it easier to fool them." He grinned like a shark.
"Neville," Lavender whispered. "What was in that notebook?"
Lockhart overheard easily. "Young Longbottom simply found a curious note which may have…implied that I was not the person to stop that Ghoul. In fact, if you'll read through all of my notebooks, you'll find that I was not the person to do any of the things I have claimed."
"No, really?" Dean mumbled under his breath.
Lockhart ignored him. "It would be more than a bit impossible for one person to do all of those things. Any simpleton could figure that out in a day. Does no one bother to check the dates anymore?"
"Why?" Parvati asked him, voice cracking.
"Because!" He hissed. "I deserve that fame. I should have the opportunity to get noticed. No one would take me seriously based off of looks alone, so I knew I had to do something. I just didn't have the skill to take down those creatures myself. Sometimes I persuaded village idiots to do the task for me, but occasionally I just happened to be at the right place at the right time."
"Why didn't any of those people step forward?" Neville asked bravely.
"Oh, kids, kids, kids. You really just don't get it. To be honest, when I realized someone had broken into my office, I'd hoped it would be someone with a better understanding of the world. Someone with more of a brain, perhaps. Maybe then I wouldn't have to explain so much." He tsked at them.
"Why are you telling us so much?" Seamus wanted to know.
"It gets a little stifling, you see, keeping all of this to your chest for so long." Lockhart beamed at them malevolently. "After a while, you just want to share your great accomplishments with the world. You five will have to do. Besides, it's not as though you'll remember any of this later."
"You see kids, you don't get to be where I am without having at least one special trick up your sleeve. In my case, I have two. My dashing good looks, and my superb Obliviation technique." He began to pull out his wand, relishing in the fear in their eyes.
Neville felt his knees start to give out. He slumped, caught by Seamus and Dean.
"What's Obliviation?" Lavender asked Parvati, her voice an octave higher than usual.
"To Obliviate is to remove someone's memories of anything from a single event, to all memories of a person, to their whole life. It is utilized by the Ministry to wipe the memory of magic from Muggles' minds. For you, however, I think removing this incident and any doubt you have of me should suffice," He smirked, advancing towards them. He began twirling his wand ominously. "Now, which one of you should go first?"
Lockhart, it seemed, wasn't a very good multi-tasker, for he dropped his wand and it clattered to the floor. Lockhart cursed, slowly bending over to pick it up.
What Neville did next resulted from pure instinct. He rushed at Lockhart, knocking the surprised man back into his desk. Neville made a mad attempt at grabbing the wand, but Lockhart shoved him out of the way and grabbed his wand back. Neville backed away in fear until he had reached his friends.
Lockhart stood quickly, sneering. "Well Longbottom, it looks like you've solved my dilemma. You'll get to be an example for your friends. Show them how it's done."
Neville shrank backwards. He could hear Parvati's sharp intake of breath behind him. The other four huddled around him, making Neville feel just a little bit braver. At least he wouldn't be alone. He braced himself for the hit.
"What's going on?" Charity Burbage arrived at the door to Lockhart's office with a stack of paper floating behind her. She hadn't expected to find him with his wand pointed at Neville Longbottom, who, if she was honest, was one of her favorites.
Lockhart spun around, his charming smile back in place. He knew better than to try anything with Charity. She wasn't a bumbling fool, unlike the others he typically practiced on. He suspected that his act hadn't changed her mind about anything.
Charity lifted her chin so that she could look down at Gilderoy. She had a bad feeling about this.
"Kids," She said calmly. "Why don't you head back to the Common Room? I'll meet up with you later. Professor Lockhart and I need to have a quick chat."
The quintet scurried out of the office, shooting her grateful looks. Charity took a deep breath. She really should've taken that headache potion earlier.
"What did we need to discuss?" Lockhart asked, pretending as though she hadn't just found him holding a student at wandpoint. He slid into his desk chair. Charity refused to sit across from him, and furthermore, she refused to let the subject drop.
"Well, initially we were going to discuss your backwards method of grading, but now I think we're going to discuss why exactly you looked about ready to curse Neville Longbottom!" Charity's voice rose as she became absolutely livid.
Lockhart stood, feeling threatened by her. Charity was not one to be trifled with. "Come now, Charity-"
"That's Miss Burbage to you," She said frostily.
"Miss, eh? Don't have a handsome young man pining after you?" He came closer. "Because I would be more than happy to fill in."
Charity stiffened as he came close enough for her to feel his breath on her face. He leered suggestively at her. She batted her admittedly short and sparse eyelashes up at him. He grinned and leaned in. Just as he closed his eyes, she brought her knee up to hit him in the groin.
"Ugh!" He brought his hands down instantly to cover them and moved back. His face had turned a shade of pink that even he wouldn't consider wearing.
Charity smirked at him. "Got a problem?"
Lockhart appeared conflicted. Standing or sitting wasn't really an option, which meant he had to stand there, cupping himself, as Charity Burbage watched on.
"Listen, Lockhart," She spat. "I know for a fact that you're not supposed to be casting any spells on students. I don't know what you were trying to do to those kids, but stay away from my Gryffindors." And with that she marched resolutely out of his office, leaving him there in an upright fetal position.
Finally, it was the day Oliver had been waiting for. The final match of the season had arrived, and it was Gryffindor versus Ravenclaw. This was the match that would decide the winner of the Quidditch Cup. Oliver had been pacing back and forth in the changing rooms for over an hour now, as the team sat around him.
"Alright team. It's true that Philbert Deverill is sitting out there, along with some Puddlemere United fans. It's true that they're probably expecting us to win the game. And I won't try and deny that I would be really happy if we were to win the Quidditch Cup. Let's just be thankful that no matter what we do, it won't be a repeat of last year."
Harry grimaced, remembering the devastated look on Oliver's face as the boy visited him in the Hospital Wing after the match against Ravenclaw.
"We can do this. Just think about it as a match against any other team," Oliver instructed. Harry couldn't help but wonder if he was trying to reassure the team or himself.
"Hello out there to all you lovely witches and wizards," Lee said smoothly. "It's a fine day out, isn't it? In fact, I would say it's perfect weather for Quidditch. Good thing we have the final match of the year, Gryffindor versus Ravenclaw, to take advantage of it. I'm sure you're all very excited, so let's get started, shall we? For Gryffindor, we have captain and Keeper Oliver Wood, Chasers Angelina Johnson, Alicia Spinnet, and Katie Bell, Beaters Fred and George Weasley, and Seeker Harry Potter!"
"And for Ravenclaw, we have…well, who really cares?"
"JORDAN!" McGonagall bellowed.
"Alright, alright, keep your hair on," Lee said hurriedly. He mumbled through the Ravenclaw introductions, adding "They might look a little more formidable if they had their old captain Roger Davies back."
"Shake," Madam Hooch ordered.
Oliver stepped up to shake Scott Roberts', the Ravenclaw Keeper, hand. He had a limp grip, and he seemed barely able to look him in the eye for more than a minute. Oliver rolled his eyes. He was nervous about this?
"And the game has begun!" Lee shouted into the microphone. Nearby students covered their ears at the volume. "Oh, sorry. The game starts off with Gryffindor in possession of the Quaffle, with Johnson passing to Bell, who quickly passes to Spinnet. Weasley saves her from a Bludger—probably Fred, you sly dog—and she passes back to Johnson, who sails right past Roberts, and Gryffindor gets ten points!"
Oliver grinned. Things were going great. He carefully maneuvered around the middle hoop to block one of the Ravenclaw chasers from scoring.
"And Ravenclaw fails to score, with Gryffindor back in possession of the Quaffle. Bell doesn't even bother to pass to anyone, because it seems the Ravenclaw chasers have been detained by the Gryffindor chasers and beaters. Bell soars down the pitch and Gryffindor scores yet another goal. Man, this game is boring…" Lee trailed off.
"Jordan!" McGonagall snapped.
"Okay, okay, I get it. Seriously though, I wish there was something for entertainment value here."
Harry, searching for the snitch, privately agreed. Ravenclaw had yet to score a goal, and the game had been going on for a while by that point.
"Harry!" Oliver called. "Just catch the snitch so we can win already!"
Harry nodded, turning back to the sky. Cho Chang, the Ravenclaw seeker, seemed to be trying to block his vision by flipping her hair all around her whenever he was near. He wondered briefly why she didn't tie it back; girls were usually required to do so. He shook it off just in time to spot a speck of gold right above the Gryffindor stands. He swooped in quickly, keeping his eyes trained on it. But he wasn't expecting Cho to fly directly beside him and shake her hair out in front of his eyes. Harry blinked frantically, his eyes burning, and when he was able to see again, the snitch had disappeared.
He sighed, frustrated. Cho didn't seem to know where the snitch was, and had just been following his lead. Harry signaled to Oliver for a time out, who quickly dismounted his broom. The team gathered in a tight huddle.
"It's her hair," Harry said simply.
"Harry, dear boy, now is really not the time to start noticing girls like that," The twins chimed.
Harry resisted the urge to stamp his foot. "No, not like that. Her hair won't stop getting in my way."
"That's against the rules," Katie mentioned.
"I'll make a complaint to Hooch," Oliver decided. Madam Hooch had been standing nearby and called Cho over.
"Chang, tie your hair back," She barked.
"I don't have a hair band," Cho simpered.
"Lucky for you, I always carry some extra," Angelina said smugly.
"Gee, thanks," Cho said sarcastically.
"No problem!" Angelina chirped.
"And finally, the time out is over folks. Remember the score is at Gryffindor 190, Ravenclaw 10. Are you sure we can't just end it now?" Lee whined.
"Jordan," McGonagall warned.
"Fine," Lee groaned.
Fred was having the time of his life. There really wasn't much reason for him to be shooting Bludgers at the Ravenclaws, because they were just sort of hanging uselessly in the air, but it gave him and George something to do. Perhaps the funniest reaction was when the beaters got pelted, because they seemed to forget that they had bats for the express purpose of beating the Bludgers away.
The girls really felt like it was just practice at the Burrow again. Roberts was an inept Keeper who didn't seem to know what he was supposed to do. The only good chaser on the team had been Davies, and since he was out of the game, there wasn't much competition. The most the others could do was call them names, and ever since one had made a crude comment towards Angelina and George had aimed a Bludger at his head, they had kept relatively quiet.
Oliver, for his part, was absolutely giddy. He had spotted Philbert Deverill in the Gryffindor stands, and the man had given him a thumbs up. Oliver had almost died right there, but it had gotten better. Sitting next to Deverill had been the current Keeper for Puddlemere, Joseph Summers. Oliver felt ready to explode from happiness. He most likely would've too, if another Ravenclaw chaser hadn't tried to come at him.
Harry had been roaming the skies for what felt like ages until he spotted another flesh of gold situated comfortably in front of Lee Jordan, who merely grinned at Harry. Harry took a deep breath before heading straight for Lee and McGonagall. Cho seemed to think he was about to attempt a crazy stunt, but Roberts yelled at her to stop him, so she pursued.
The two were neck and neck, but Harry abruptly flew under her.
"What are you doing?" She shrieked, trying to look down at him. Doing so made her broom lean, causing her to let out another shriek and slow to a stop.
Harry raced ahead of her, turning back to give her an impish grin. She glared at him. He kept looking back until McGonagall gave a shout.
"Potter!"
He turned forward just in time to slam to a halt, reaching out and plucking the snitch from underneath Lee's nose and doing a triumphant spin in the air, raising the tiny, fluttering ball above his head.
"Finally, Harry Potter catches the snitch!" Lee teased.
Harry just beamed back at him.
"Gryffindor wins, ending at 370 to 20. With this match, Gryffindor wins the Quidditch Cup! Let me tell you, I've never been so happy for a match to be over in my life!" Lee exclaimed.
Oliver flew at Harry, grabbing him into a quick, "manly" hug. "Whoo!" He shouted.
The rest of the team quickly bombarded Harry before they flew down to get the Quidditch Cup from Hooch.
"I don't care what anyone says, you guys are the best team ever!" Oliver declared fiercely once they were alone. "I'm taking you guys to the World Cup with me, no matter what."
"Why, Ollie—"
"—are you crying?"
"No," Oliver lied. "I've just, y'know, got a speck of dirt in my eye. From the game," He explained hastily.
"You were wearing your goggles during the game," Katie remembered, confused.
"Shh!" Alicia whispered. "Let him keep a semblance of manliness."
Oliver shot them a dirty look. "You know what, I take it all back. You guys are the worst!"
"Do we still get a party?" The twins shouted after him.
"Notice how he still hasn't let go of the cup," Angelina muttered.
The team watched him storm away before bursting into laughter.
"Now, remember what I told you," Katie instructed quietly. "Don't do anything that could even be thought of as something a couple might do. You and I both know that we're just friends, but Leann doesn't. Well, not exactly. It's just that, we've only just been friends again, and I don't want to wreck that. So I need you to act like we're not very close."
Cormac nodded sadly. We're just friends, he thought angrily to himself. Don't try to make it anything more.
"It's only for a little while," Katie comforted him. "Just until things cool down. Then we can be like we've always been."
The trouble was, Cormac didn't want things to go back to the way they were. Cormac wanted to be able to stroll through Hogsmeade, holding Katie's hand for the whole world to see. As long as Katie and Leann were friends, that didn't seem like an option. And he wanted Katie and Leann to be friends, he really did. Katie seemed to love Leann like a sister, and Cormac didn't want her to give that up. But at the same time, he wanted to call her his girlfriend so badly.
"Okay, now let's go down. Wait, no, you should go ahead of me, I'll come down later." Katie fluttered around the room, face flushed.
"Katie," Cormac tried to get her attention.
"I just don't want her to get the wrong impression, y'know?" Katie smoothed down her skirt.
"Katie," Cormac attempted again.
"What if she realizes what we're trying to do? Oh my gosh, what if she doesn't believe me?"
"Katie!" Cormac said firmly, taking her by the arm. "Everything's going to be fine. You guys have been friends for years now; nothing's going to change that. We'll go down together, and if she does get the wrong idea, I'll go talk to her myself, and explain everything."
Katie mulled this over for a moment and began to nod. She launched herself at him unexpectedly, squeezing him tight. "You'd really do that for me? Cormac, you're the best friend ever!"
He forced a smile onto his face and gently tugged her arm towards the door. As they descended the stairs, Leann glanced up and waved them over. He felt Katie exhale next to him. He grinned.
Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Leann were all in a corner of the room. Harry had rounded up all the available people he could think of to help free Dobby. He hadn't intended Leann to be there as well, but Katie had sworn she wouldn't help unless Leann was invited. The fourth years were wrapped up in their own little romances, as were Penny and Percy. Ron joked that Oliver was too, just not with a real person. Harry had asked the other second years, but Seamus had said they had a rather serious problem themselves, and they needed to work on that first.
"So, I guess the first thing we need to do is figure out everything we know about house elves," Hermione said immediately, assuming the position of leader. Leann had surmised that she was very good at that.
"Not much," Cormac admitted.
"Ron?" She asked meekly.
"Nope." The ginger shrugged.
"How about you Leann?"
The girl seemed surprised to be included. "Um, well, we had one, but he died when I was about eight. Floppy was so nice though. He took such great care of me. We used to play together all the time. Once, I accidentally freed him because I asked him to put away my clothes, but he said that he'd still work for us."
"Wait!" Hermione interrupted. "You said that you freed him?"
"Yeah," Leann said slowly. "I don't really see how it's that important though."
"It's okay," Ron told her. "We don't really get it either."
"No, see, the main problem this whole time is that we don't really know how to get at Lucius Malfoy. But if Leann could free Floppy, then why can't Draco free Dobby?" Hermione talked very fast naturally, but when she was excited about a new theory, she tended to speak so fast that her words blurred together, making her sentence sound a bit jumbled.
"That was the main problem?" Harry mumbled.
"We can't exactly go up to Malfoy and ask him to free his house elf though," Cormac said. "It won't work. Regardless of the fact that he's too lazy to ever do anything himself, he wouldn't do it just to spite us."
"We just have to find a way to make him think it's his idea," Hermione told them, as though the answer should have been obvious.
"Oh, yeah, of course," Ron nodded, a knowing look on his face.
"You get it then?" She turned to him, bouncing with energy.
"Er, not exactly, no," Ron conceded.
Hermione sat back in her chair, crestfallen. "This is going to take a while."