History Strongest Magister Harry: Hogwarts Year 2
Chapter 3: Professor Lockhart
Early morning in Hogwarts felt more like a ghost castle. Students were still asleep or getting ready for their first day. Harry was out running around the lake with Orochi on his heels. It was your typical morning routine and after a refreshing shower he was off to the Great Hall for breakfast. The Great Hall barely had any students and Harry was making his way to the Slytherin table to sit down. On the way he spots an owl coming towards him. The owl was unusually tabby in color and a Horn Owl. This must be Earnest who was Astoria's delivery owl.
Apparently she sent a message stating that she'd eaten all the dangos Harry had sent two days ago. In all seriousness the girl has an addiction problem and it just made him giggle on the inside. Three dozen box full of dangos were not enough for here little tummy and she pleaded with Harry to deliver her some more since her parent mandate that she only gets one a week.
Sighing Harry sent of a message to Astoria telling her that he couldn't do anything until the weekend which would hopefully sated her need for more delicious treats.
Third year Students are required to choose two new electives to broaden their horizon in the magical world. Harry chose Care of Magical Creature, Arithmancy and his core classes were mandatory so if he wanted to forgo the core classes he wouldn't be able to. He knew everything there is to know about Ancient Runes and Muggle Studies and they were useless class for someone who came from that side of the world. To be frank Harry thought there would be more electives and knew there were supposed to be ten more for students to choose from. Harry guessed that the cut back in Hogwarts Funding had reduced the staff and classes to what is now.
Though Harry felt that Hermione was taking too many classes when he took a glimpsed at her schedule when she thought no one was looking. Several of her classes overlapped each other and Harry knew that she couldn't be at two places at the same time without the manipulating time. Negi-sensei spoke of time traveling devices that the Magical used and as well as his experienced in time travel. The thing that Harry was worry about was Hermione's twelve year old body wouldn't be able to handle the work load. Trying to talk to her would be like belittling her so Harry made a mental note to keep an out for his little sister.
Harry was making his way to his first class of the day and it was Defense Against the Dark Arts taught by Gilderoy Lockhart. The class buzzing with excitement and Harry was sitting in the front row with Hermione next to him all fresh and ready to learn. The older teens overlooked the younger students and waited for their teacher. Our young Magister had a look of utter boredom, which Hermione had never seen before. Usually she would see Harry with a book in hand and or writing in his notebook but this was new.
The room had portraits lining the wall of Professor Gilderoy Lockhart in different outfit. Most would smile and show his bright teeth while others were waving their wands around with pride as if they had defeated something.
"Good morning class!" Professor Lockhart said strutting in with his fancy outfit that would make any Monarch of 1800 jealous. His blue eyes sparkle all around the classroom and the girls were melting in their seats. "Now to start off my name as you know is Gilderoy Lockhart, number one best author of Magical Me. I will be teaching you many things on how to protect yourself against dangerous beast. But first I have a quiz that will tell me if you read my books."
Harry did not like this person one bit. His ever growing ego and self worth was by far more inflated than anyone Harry had encountered during his travels with his fathers and mother. Believe me, Harry had met a lot of people from the richest person in the country to the poorest person in the world.
"You may begin," Professor Lockhart said and Harry literally finished the quiz in under a minute.
The quiz wasn't about anything to do with spells or protection method against creatures. No it was more about Professor Lockhart's and most of the questions were about trivial stuff like 'who's Professor Lockhart's hero' and 'what's Professor Lockhart's favorite color'. It goes on and on.
"A mister?" Professor Lockhart starts off seeing Harry flipping the quiz over and sitting around doing nothing.
"Kousaka, Professor Lockhart," Harry answered.
"Yes, em what's your full name my boy?" Professor Lockhart casually said with a smile on his face.
"Harry Kousaka, sir," Harry gently answered and knew what was going to happen next.
"You've finished your quiz Harry?" Professor Lockhart asks and instantly the entire room went dead silent. Hermione's head whip up to Harry's face that turned cold and unreadable.
It is well known in Hogwarts to never use first names towards any students unless given permission. Even so it was written in the Professor's handbook that they have to refer all students by their last name unless told otherwise because most, if not, all students were going to be Lords and Madame of their Houses. There had been instances where a teacher was called into a duel for addressing one young lord in an informal manner.
"Yes Professor Lockhart," Harry softly said and then he added sternly, "And Professor Lockhart, it is unprofessional of you to address me by my first name during class and or out of class. Please refrain from doing so in the future."
"Why's that?" Professor Lockhart asks a little confuse.
"It is unprofessional and extremely rude also students in this school will one day rule their House and shape Britain," Harry calmly answered.
"Say no more and my apologies Mister Kousaka," Professor Lockhart said and pick up the paper and scan over it. "You've done your reading but you've got the question 20 wrong and you've put more than one answers for some of these questions. For example my favorite animal is the Hawk."
"True but Magical Me says that your favorite animal's a Fire Turtle," Harry said and the Professor didn't look at Harry but at all the questions that had more than one answers.
"No it doesn't," Professor Lockhart said trying to convince the boy. True to his nature Harry pulled out the recent biography of the Professor and turn to page 125 and point to the passage. The professor pull up then read the passage, "I need to talk to my publicist about this outrage."
"Then in Walking with the Yeti, you said that your favorite animal was the dire wolf," Harry said and again he pulled out that book.
"I see, no matter," Professor Lockhart said a little flushed and then announce to the class, "For question 20 will not count against you and an extra credit to any who can find me these typos."
Professor Lockhart glanced over at Harry for a moment and looked away.
"Now since everyone's done let's see who's been doing their reading," Professor Lockhart said gathering the paper works and went through all of them. "I see that Miss Granger got it all correct. Yes Mister Kousaka?"
"Will we be learning spells that you created when you were combatting a squad of Dark Ravens?" Harry asks offhandedly.
"No, that's too difficult for you to learn," Professor Lockhart answered and then he pulled out a cage covered in red drape from under his desk. Again Harry had his hand up, "Yes Mister Kousaka?"
"Can you incant the spells for us?" Harry asks and Hermione glared at her older brother.
"Well, I guess there's no problem, saying the spells and able to do it are two different thing," Professor Lockhart said smiling, "Ahem, 'Ive Lesk baeside eg degai gauide'. (Av lyset beseire jeg deg). That means 'By my power I banish you'. Yes Mister Kousaka?"
"Av lyset beseire jeg deg, means by the Light I vanquish you," Harry said narrowing his eyes.
"Very good!" Professor Lockhart said happily, "I can see that Hogwarts holds many many potentials. You, Mister Kousaka are one such potential, are protégé perhaps. Keep this up and I may offer you an apprenticeship. Now we will start small and work our way up! Now don't be afraid these are dangerous creatures but you have me here to defend you. BEHOLD!" He pulled the cover off and there were a dozen Cornish Pixies flying angrily around in the cage.
Cornish Pixies are blue-winged pixies with a devilish streak to create havoc wherever they go. They travel in packs and almost brought down the entire European nation in 1300's, both magical and mundane were the target of these nefarious beings. Luckily wizards and witches were employed to deal with these pests. For the most part the Cornish Pixies are considered no more than a rat infestation.
"Cornish Pixies, what are we? First years," A boy Harry didn't know scoff off.
"They may be bitty but they are a force to be reckoned with!" Professor Lockhart warned the class and Harry could tell his professor was trying to really scare the class but it wasn't really working that well. Most of the class scoffed at the warning and some were snickering at the idea of pixies being dangerous.
"Professor Lockhart is correct they are 'a force to be reckoned with', please forgive me for interrupting your class, sir," Harry join in and the Professor had a looked of a confuse for a split second and then he beamed at our Magister with pride. "During the 1300's the Pixies had brought the entire nation of Europe to a halt."
"You don't mean?" Hermione asks Harry.
"Yes, Hermione-san, the Black Death," Harry nod at his sister who blush a little, "On the magical side it is called the Pixie Infestation. With access to magical ingredients, the Pixies spreads dangerous components all over Europe killing over 300 millions in both. They are mostly dangerous if they numbers in tens of thousands."
"Yes, that's right!" Professor Lockhart boom getting the attention back to him, "Thank you Mister Kousaka, twenty points to…What house are you in?"
"I'm a Specter, Professor Lockhart, I don't have a house affiliation," Harry said and the baffled looks on the Professor's face told Harry all he need to know, "You do know there are more than one classification of students who are able to attend Hogwarts, correct?"
"Yes, I knew that, I was just testing you!" Professor Lockhart said and had a fake smile. Professor Lockhart puffed out his chest and he saw that most of class was now a little apprehensive about how dangerous the Pixies were. That was a good thing so he could be heroic to the students and they will admire him.
"What spells will we need to use on the pixies?" A Chines girl asks.
"And you are?" Professor Lockhart said eyeing the girl intently.
"Cho Chang," Cho answered.
"The spell is simple, it's Pixelex, just a flick of the wrist and they will be unconscious," Professor Lockhart said and he pulled out his wand, "Like so, Pixelex!"
The spell sprang from the wand and hit all the Cornish Pixies. The single spell stopped all the pixies for a moment and suddenly they pile into a huddle murmuring and screeching at one another.
Harry stifle a laugh from what he could hear and Hermione peer over at her brother figure in question.
One of the blue pixies popped its head up from the huddle and glare at the Professor who didn't know what's going on. He was having his heads in the cloud feeling the superior with his wand in hand. Professor Lockhart would shoot a grin at several girls who returned with a very content sigh.
"Professor Lockhart, I would advice you to step away from the cage," Harry softly said after hearing a very disturbing notion from the pixies.
"Don't worry my boy, you're in good hands," Professor Lockhart smiled mistaking Harry's advised for that of fear. The blond man didn't see the all the pixies began to glow eerie silver.
CRASH!
All heads whip towards the cage and there was one pixie breaking through the cage with it's bare hands. The rest of the pixies were cheering on the cage floor for their champion. The one lone pixie had an aura around it and it's eyes glows with deadly purple, if purple could be that dangerous then this pixie would class as one. It shot out of the cage and punch the Professor on the forehead. The body of their Professor lifts off the ground and crashed into a pile of Portraits. Professor Lockhart sprung up to his feet and every student was hoping to see the courageous man fight a measly pixie. A second later the 'hero' bolted right towards the door.
"Umm, Students, first hand experienced, I'll be back!" Professor Lockhart stammers over his shoulder and out the door all the while sporting a black eye.
Every student in the room save for Harry was looking at the pixie that sent their hero, well not Harry's, fleeing in fear. A few second later the students in the front of the classroom got up and scramble to the back of the room except for Harry who was really enjoying the show. The pixie zips up to Harry's face and ranted and raved at Harry.
"You're really funny," Harry said through his chuckling and the pixie paused for a moment and then rave a little more, "Yes, I can understand you and you can understand me."
All the pixies from the cage fly out and land on Harry's desk and they were looking up at Harry.
"No, I will not do that," Harry replied in shock.
Another pixie screeched.
"I could," Harry answered in a maniacal way.
Another screech.
"Well, I did warn him but I wanted to witness the fable Pixie Share," Harry elaborated clasp his hands together and bringing it up to his chin and rest his elbows on the table. Slowly the young Magister leans forwards, his green eyes studying the creature in front of him, and all the Pixies were a little nervous by the Magister presence.
All eyes were on Harry, more so by the pixies who had a looked of disbelief.
"Harry-nii?" Hermione asks from the back of the room.
"It's all right, you can come back now," Harry gesture to the entire class.
The Pixies on the other hand got back into a huddle and whispers amongst themselves. By the sound of it they were in a heated debate. Some were screeching and chatting in excitement while others sounds extremely angry. After a good minute of hearing them debate the pixies stood upright in line facing Harry. One pixie, the tallest among them all, floated forwards and look up at Harry.
"We'll be back," the largest Cornish Pixie said sternly and then all at ones they zoomed out of the room through the windows shattering it in the process.
"What just happened?" Someone asks.
"For ones I don't know," Harry said bluntly.
Later that day Harry was hearing his classmates regaling their First class with Professor Lockhart. Some of the boys pretty much laughed at it while all the girls were defending the Professor with venom in their argument. Harry had heard that the Professor on the other hand gave a great speech about giving first hand experiences for the students. Citing that he knew the students could handle a plain Cornish Pixies. Word of Harry's intervention on the other hand gave little credit to the professor when it was told that he didn't do any spells to defeat the pixies.
He had a talk with the Headmaster and explained what happened. To his credit Harry didn't expect his Headmaster to laugh so hard he had to get Madam Pomfrey to attend the aged man. The head nurse on the other hand didn't find it at all funny to be dragged all the way up to the Headmaster's office for silly things like this. The Head Nurse was even murmuring about a black eye given by a pixie.
The next day Harry had Care of Magical Creature and the Professor put him up on a pedestal to act as translator for the animals. It was nice to meet different magical creatures but to be a translator to them was a little annoying. Professor Kettleburn was an old man who knew his trade but his ways of making Harry do all this felt a little degrading. So at the end of the class Harry told the Professor he will not be translating for him. The Professor was flabbergasted but in the end he relented.
Potion class was a little different now that they were in third year circular course. Hermione was definitely excited and he could tell by her bag full of books and her constant companion his gift he gave to her last year. Professor Snape didn't relent on his strict teaching style and at the same time he kept his 'follow the board' instruction. The man knew what he was doing but Harry could tell it wasn't enough for the students to learn. He wrote some things down in his notebook and finished his potion before anyone. For ones Harry didn't feel the eyes of one Daphne Greengrass on him during Potion class.
Later that afternoon Harry was making his way out of the Library when he bumped into Hermione. On a closer inspection Harry picked up a tale tell sign of anxiety.
"Harry-nii, can we talk?" Hermione asked and Harry picked up on her fearful tone and her hands were fidgeting together told more than her words.
"Okay, my room's near by," Harry said leading Hermione to his private dorm room.
Hermione entered the room to find it cozy and little big for one person. On the desk she spot a black stone slab and several piles of parchment neatly stack to the side. Then there was the white owl perched on her stand near the window.
"Harry, I might be reading into this a little too much but I think I'm being stalked," Hermione said in fear and slump onto the couch.
Harry's eyes narrowed dangerously and his mind raced through all of his interactions with Hermione but he was focusing on those around himself and Hermione.
"Harry-nii?" Hermione cautiously asks.
"Sorry, I was thinking about what you said," Harry said softening his eyes and that made Hermione relax.
"I know it's childish but I don't know what to do?" Hermione said in defeat.
"Did you tell Professor McGonagall?"
"No, even if I did she can't do anything without evidence," Hermione scarcely said. "I know you think I'm being egotistic but I felt like I'm being watched and I felt like my clothes were peeling off."
"Don't underestimate your intuition Hermione," Harry said getting up and Hermione's eyes shot up at Harry and he didn't use chan after her name. "With magic it gives you more credit to your claim. If anyone approaches you or you feel like you're being followed I suggest you should always be with one or two friends."
"Okay," Hermione said thinking of a plan.
"And one more thing," Harry said handing a little red pouch with the kanji for luck. "This was given to me by the resident Japanese King of the Youkai for luck and protection. Keep this on you at all times. Think of it as a protection charm."
"Okay," Hermione said taking the small little bag and string it around her right wrist. "Thank you!"
"Any time Hermione-chan," Harry said and lift the girl back on to her feet.
The two talked and sat around the private common room for the next several hours. When the two emerge from the private dorm an equally pissed off looking Professor McGonagall and Professor Lockhart was greeting them. Professor Lockhart was redder than usual and Harry was surprised that he wasn't screaming at them.
"Good evening Professor Lockhart, Professor McGonagall, is there something wrong?" Harry asks politely.
"As a matter of fact-" Professor McGonagall starts off in her strict tone but the blonde Professor cut her off.
"Yes! You're not supposed to invite girls into your private quarters! What would your parents think? And another thing Miss Granger I thought you had a head on your shoulder but to go into someone's private quarter is utterly stupid and moronic!" Professor Lockhart snapped angrily.
"First, there's no rule against inviting friends to my private quarter and the portrait that hid my quarter are spelled to monitor anything before letting anyone in. Second, my parents would be proud for helping my friend with her personal situations. Third, do not insult Hermione when you know so little of what happened!" Harry sternly said and felt Hermione hiding behind his bigger frame to get away from Professor Lockhart.
Both Professors felt a cold chill go down their spines. Professor McGonagall had never heard Harry talked like this and knew that he was really serious about it. Professor Lockhart on the other hand brushed the chill aside and sneered at the boy in front of him. The seconds of silent felt like hours and Hermione could tell that Harry was glaring at Professor Lockhart with his frightening green eyes.
"That is true," Professor McGonagall said breaking the silent. "And what seems to be the problem that you couldn't talk to me about?"
"Miss Granger came to me asking for advice," Harry said and his voice returned to his normal soft tone. "But without evidence Miss Granger felt like she needed an advice from me."
"What seems to be the problem?" Professor Lockhart said switching from his strict tone that was directed at Harry to a gentler sultry manner towards the younger girl.
"That's a personal matter between myself and Miss Granger?" Harry strictly said.
"Miss Granger, I am your Head of the House, anything you feel that needed to be brought up I am here," Professor McGonagall said and then she looked over to Professor Lockhart, "Gilderoy, I can handle it from here, you may leave!"
"Kousaka, you have detention with me after dinner!" Professor Lockhart snapped.
"Excuse me?" Professor McGonagall dangerously drawls out which got the other Professor to backpedal.
"Never mind," Professor Lockhart coward and walked away.
"There are no rules against inviting friends to your Private Dorm but when you do please use careful judgment!" Professor McGonagall started off when the Defense teacher was out of view.
"We will, Professor McGonagall," Harry assure the Professor, "I'm just a little shocked Professor Lockhart's accusations and unprofessional manner."
"Rest assure I will have a long talk with our new Professor," Professor McGonagall said and the gleam in her eyes told Harry that she was going to have more than a talk.
"Professor!" Hermione voices out which caught the Professor, "I think I'm being stalked, Professor. Harry-nii told me that my magic may be telling I may right."
"How so?" Professor McGonagall asks.
"Like I'm constantly being watched and I felt violated at times like I'm being stripped," Hermione said, "But without evidence I, I thought you would brush me off."
"Miss Granger, what you are experiencing is one of Hogwarts new protection ward to keep anyone from unwanted harassment in sexual nature," Professor McGonagall said, "I had several students come to me with the same allegations. Thanks to that horrid debacle that happened last year Hogwarts was able to hire Ward Layers."
"Ward Layers?" Hermione asks.
"Think of them as the people who installs electrical wiring in a house," Harry offered. "How affective is this ward?"
"Extremely affective," Professor McGonagall dangerously intoned. "Between you and I, it has prevented one incident since school started this year. The Prefects should be giving a lecture in their respected dormitory in two nights from now since we know how affective the wards are."
"I see," Harry said thinking, "I think you're in good hands Hermione-chan."
"Thank you Professor McGonagall," Hermione said.
"Now you must know one thing, these feelings are the wards warnings you to leave the area and get help or come to any professors. Also if this persists I will have the Portraits see who's been stalking you," Professor McGonagall offered motherly. "And one more thing, these wards have the capacity to incapacitate an individual and alert any staff member if anything happens. Now of to dinner and Mister Kousaka, thank you."