Chapter Ten: Howlers, DADA and Quidditch
Raiden woke on Monday morning with a sense that things were going to go wrong today. He didn't know what, but he sensed that it would somehow involve the idiot of a DADA teacher, Gilderoy Lockhart. Groaning, he got up and dressed, before going up to the great hall for breakfast with Draco and Daphne. The three of them, with the addition of Blaise Zabini made an interesting quartet, and they were fast becoming close friends.
Halfway through breakfast Draco nudged Raiden and indicated the Gryffindor table to him. Raiden turned irritably and said, "Why do I have to look at the Gryffindorks this early, Draco, it'll ruin my appetite."
"No it won't, it might give you a laugh though," was the reply. Seeing Raiden's raised eyebrow, Draco elaborated, "Weasel's shown up, and his family owl just landed in front of him with a Howler."
"What's a Howler?" Raiden asked, just before an explosion of sound occurred over at the lions table. Half covering his ears, Raiden could still clearly hear the shouted words and when his mind put two and two together he almost choked on his porridge.
"Merlin, Weasel flew a car to Hogwarts? That's suicidal, what about the statute of secrecy?" he said before joining his friends, and most of the hall in laughing at Ron, who had turned tomato red with embarrassment.
Shaking his head, Raiden finished his breakfast and headed off to class. The first day was fairly light, Potions with Gryffindor, where Raiden took the opportunity to have a few digs at Ron over the Howler, mostly comparing Mrs Weasley to a banshee. Professor Snape then took an even total of one hundred points from Gryffindor throughout the lesson for Ron's "inability to concentrate" even when it was Raiden provoking him.
Following Potions was Transfiguration where Raiden again used his visualization trick to do the complete transformation. Like Professor McGonagall had said in first year though, it was harder to do although still manageable. Raiden resigned himself to having to possibly learn the hard way as he continued up the school although he would try and keep doing it his way as long as possible though. That lesson was transforming animals into water goblets and Raiden got it correct the second time he did it, as his first attempt gave him a water goblet with wings.
Then came lunch and a free period, which Raiden used to go over his notes for Potions and Transfiguration and start his homework in those subjects while his friends were relaxing. Once the free period was over the last lesson of the day commenced, DADA with Gilderoy Lockhart.
They walked into the room and sat down, seeing a test paper in front of them, face down. Blaise leaned over and nudged Daphne, but his whisper of "A test the first day? What's the git trying to pull on us?" was audible to both Draco and Raiden who nodded in agreement.
"I think it might be to test our current knowledge level which would be a good thing for a new teacher to do I suppose," Raiden muttered back. Shaking his head he added, "Although if it's on those books of his I'm going to fail miserably as I was almost sick from reading all the crap that's contained in their pages."
Draco and the rest of the quartet laughed quietly before sobering up as Lockhart entered the room in a pretentious swirl of robes with a smile so bright that Raiden considered bringing sunglasses to class so he could see without going blind. Shaking his head he turned the test paper over and almost threw up his breakfast.
Instead of Defence related questions, it read like a test out of a trashy magazine. Raiden read the page, his eyebrows going higher and higher. Turning to his friends Raiden saw identical looks of disgust on Draco and Blaise's faces but was shocked to see Daphne industriously scribbling answers on her test. The look of near bliss on her face surprisingly made Raiden somewhat jealous, although he didn't know why. He didn't feel that way when she talked to Draco or Blaise.
Shaking his head, he started writing nonsense answers to the questions, answers designed to purposefully infuriate the dimwitted idiot that they had to call Professor.
What is Gilderoy Lockhart's secret ambition? To grow a brain.
What is Gilderoy Lockhart's favorite colour? White, to match the inside of his perfectly empty skull.
What would Gilderoy Lockhart's ideal birthday gift be? A set of instructions on how not to be a total git.
The questions went on and on and Raiden had fun thinking up the most insulting things he could think of to answer them. When the test finished he handed in the paper and then thought of Defence related things while the man read through the papers. To his horror, he realized that having to answer such drivel had numbed his brain to the point where it couldn't think of Defence at all, even first year stuff seemed to have flown out of the filing cabinet in his brain where he kept it.
Raiden shook his head and then sent a truly lethal looking glare at the man that was doing his best to kill off Raiden's love for the subject. Draco and Blaise were doing the same but Daphne and the rest of the girls were batting their eyelashes at Lockhart and seemed annoyed that the boys weren't as enthralled with him as they were.
After the dismal lesson ended, the class packed up and left, with Raiden hissing things in Parseltongue under his breath. Since only his friends were around to hear it, he was safe in using it. He followed them to the Slytherin common room and put his bag away, flopping down on the couch with a frustrated sigh.
"Merlin, a whole year of that idiot and we'll be insane, as well as a whole year behind in proper Defence work. How Dumbledore hired that man is beyond me, Voldemort would do a better job I'm sure."
Blaise grinned at him and then said, "Think you could contact his spirit and convince him to come teach us?" Only us of course, no reason to let the whole school benefit from his knowledge."
Daphne flopped down next to Raiden, just avoiding ending up in his lap. "You're not afraid that he'll teach us the Dark Arts and forget the Defence parts of it are you?" she queried sarcastically. The three boys shook their heads.
"Nope, it might be cool actually. And really, in order to learn Defence against the Dark Arts, we do need to learn what we're up against surely," Blaise countered. Draco entered the friendly debate and Raiden leaned back against the couch smiling. He thought it would be cool for Blaise's idea to become reality but he didn't know how to make it work without revealing his secret.
Getting up he walked to his room, where he sat on his bed, closed his eyes and reached with his mind. There was a weak bond with his master, centered round his scar, a bond which allowed him to sense his master's presence and communicate with him even though it wasn't perfect.
Master, he called. He felt surprise and then a reply came back.
Yes, Raiden, what is it.
Um, my friends and I are utterly bored in our defence class and we need a decent teacher. Blaise suggested you. You'd only be teaching me and my friends of course.
(chuckle) Raiden, while that might be amusing, I'm at a critical point in my research. Do what you did last year, read from your textbooks.
(sigh) Master, the textbooks were written by the git that teaches the class, the books are more glorified fantasy than useable facts.
I'll see what I can do. You'll have to wait for Halloween though, I really am at a critical research stage otherwise I'd be there tomorrow.
(sigh) Ok Master. Do I have permission to tell them about you?
Only if Severus can protect their minds enough to keep our secret from Dumbledore.
Would the Fidelius charm work?
It might, although I've never heard of it being used to protect information before.
Ok, Master. Goodbye.
Goodbye, Raiden.
Raiden opened his eyes and found his friends crowded round his bed. Smiling at them he got off the bed and then walked to the door. Just then his stomach rumbled and they all grinned as the rest of the quartet's stomachs rumbled in sympathy. Pushing down their curiosity, Draco, Blaise and Daphne followed Raiden up to dinner.
The next day, the four friends had other things to worry about than idiotic defence teachers and Draco, Daphne and Blaise had mutually decided not to bother Raiden about his brief meditation session, for that was what he'd told them it was. They knew he was keeping something secret but they knew that he would tell them when he was ready.
The first lesson was Astronomy and Professor Sinistra was half asleep as usual, which made for a fun lecture as she frequently interrupted herself with yawns. Herbology went off without a hitch that afternoon, though Raiden objected to wearing large fluffy earmuffs. He didn't mind the colour, just the fluffiness. Draco objected to the lesson on the principle that "Malfoy's don't get dirty." Daphne merely grinned at the outraged blond and stuffed a handful of compost down his shirt, followed by Blaise rubbing a handful in his hair. Both got handfuls of dirt in their faces for their trouble.
After cleaning up from Herbology, they went inside to spend a few hours before dinner relaxing, and being silly. Raiden was persuaded to forgo the studying and join in a game of Exploding Snap which he lost in spectacular fashion. He ended up with singed eyebrows and burnt hands, which he went to Madam Pomfrey to be treated for. After an explanation which garnered a head shake and a smile from the school nurse, he returned to find his friends in the entrance hall, waiting for him to join them for dinner.
The next few weeks flew by in a blur of classes, studying and laughter. The next notable event was the Slytherin Quidditch try outs. Blaise, Daphne and Draco had been practicing their Chaser techniques, and formations, which had been shaped and honed nicely from weeks worth of practice, while Raiden could almost sense the magical trail the Snitch left in the air as it flew. The four second years were ready to take on the Chasers and Seeker that were currently on the team.
"Alright you lot. Slytherin Chasers and Seeker on this side. Hopefuls on the other. Chasers will play each other, whichever team has the most goals after fifteen minutes wins. Potter, you want to be our Seeker? You have to beat Terence to the Snitch. If you get it you're on the team. If not, then you're not. Understand?" Marcus Flint, the team captain yelled.
Raiden, Blaise, Daphne and Draco nodded determinedly and flew up into the air. The game was on.
After the most brutal fifteen minutes Raiden had ever experienced the results were in. Draco, Daphne and Blaise had flown brilliantly, disrupting the more experienced players with moves that were legal, yet improvised as well, flying up and around the three incumbents and totally demolishing them. One move was a move where Draco, Daphne and Blaise each picked an opposing chaser to play chicken with, and then when they got close enough, they did a corkscrew turn around their chosen player throwing off their sense of direction and allowing Draco to steal the Quaffle from them. The end score of the Chaser match was Hopefuls: ten, Incumbents: four.
Raiden had flown well against Terence Higgs, the incumbent Seeker. Terence tried to throw off the younger boy by bumping and harassing him. Raiden replied in kind, even hissing at him once in Parseltongue. Terence didn't know it was Parseltongue but the hissing unnerved him enough for Raiden to put on a burst of speed and grab the Snitch, securing his place on the team.
When practice ended, Marcus Flint looked sour when he announced, "The new team members are Greengrass, Zabini and Malfoy for Chasers and Potter for Seeker. The Beaters stay as they are, and I'm Keeper so I'm staying as well. First practice is next week."
As the team began to break up, Raiden nudged Draco who looked at him blankly and then remembered the brooms.
"Oy, Flint, wait," he yelled.
Marcus turned round, his eyes narrowing. "What do you want Malfoy?" he said. Draco grinned and then stood beside Raiden as they presented a package to the Slytherin captain.
"I believe the team will like these," Draco said smoothly.
Marcus stared at the two second years and then a wide grin appeared on his face. Turning briefly he yelled out, "Get over here you lazy sods, Malfoy and Potter here just ensured us our Quidditch Cup victory this year."
The team came over to exclaim over the brooms. "Nimbus 2001's, how did you do it" they exclaimed in reverence.
Draco smirked and replied, "Potter here, originally didn't want to play but I convinced him. We were thinking up ways to humiliate the Gryffindorks this season and then this genius says, "I don't want to play but how about I get the team these brooms." He split the cost with my father, and before you ask, I didn't want to buy my way onto the team, we got on it by skill alone which is how we wanted it."
"You'd have got on anyway, Malfoy but thanks. You too Potter. Are these team brooms or personal ones?" Marcus asked.
"The brooms that Harry and I have are personal ones, the others are team brooms," came back the reply. Fortunately the team accepted this and hurriedly shrunk the brooms, placing them in their pockets.
"Don't want them sabotaged do we" Flint smirked. Negative head shakes met him as the very happy Slytherins trooped in for lunch before an afternoon of relaxing and planning the utter humiliation of Gryffindor and the rest of the school at Quidditch.