Outsider Chronicles: Dark Eclipse
The First Year is over and Leo is already working to right wrongs. However, darkness is beginning to stir, and not just at Hogwarts. As Leo gets more powerful, his nature as an Outsider begins to take effect and worlds are drawn together. Add in some family drama and reveals and Leos migraines are only going to get worse. Sequel to Black Zodiac
And we are back for more! Since a lot of people have been getting this wrong, I'll say this, Leo has no siblings at Camp Half Blood. Thats all I'm saying. Enjoy!
Chapter 7
The next morning I woke up, missing the familiar warmth of Holly next to me and it took a moment to remember why.
"Oh yeah, back to school," I muttered, before leaving myself out of bed, despite the fact I wanted to turn over and go back to sleep.
I headed downstairs where I found an irritated looking Holly and a spacy looking Luna, who was already receiving some looks from the upper years. I should probably head that off at the pass.
"Morning Holly, Luna," I said, making sure everyone could here me, "Are you two ready for breakfast?"
"That I am Leo," said Luna, "But I think Holly is more interested in caffeine."
Holly grunted.
"In that case, to war against bacon, eggs and coffee!" I said with a grin, grabbing Hollys hand and dragging her from the common room with Luna in hot pursuit.
We took a seat at the Ravenclaw Table where Holly was able to get her daily coffee fix, which served to wake her up nicely, and started tucking into the delicious breakfast...that was about as healthy as jumping off a cliff. I made a mental note to get Mum to send me a box of weetabix to give me a better option for when I didn't want something drowning in grease. As Breakfast continued, the rest of our friends arrived and greeted us, before heading to their tables. Neville stopped by to apologize for not stopping by on the train, before heading over to the Gryffindor table, only just missing getting brained by a low flying feather duster, which landed in front of Ron who, if the rumor mill was to be believed, had flown a car to school the previous day. And I'm sure that had nothing to do with Dobby's continued attempts to make up for nearly getting Holly killed. Less than a minute later, the entire hall was treated to the sounds of Molly Weasley's strident voice.
"RONALD WEASLEY! HOW DARE YOU STEAL THAT CAR! I AM ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTED! YOUR FATHER'S NOW FACING AN INQUIRY AT WORK AND IT'S ENTIRELY YOUR FAULT! IF YOU PUT ANOTHER TOE OUT OF LINE WE'LL BRING YOU STRAIGHT HOME! — Oh, and Ginny dear, congratulations on making Gryffindor. Your father and I are so proud."
Both Weasleys mentioned looked embarrassed, but while Ginny just went a little red and looked down, Ron looked like he was trying to phase through the floor, although he was still managing to stuff his gob.
"Right, now the morning entertainment is over, whats the first lesson?" I said, taking my schedule from an amused looking Flitwick.
It turned out to be Herbology with the Gryffindors. We said goodbye to Luna and met up with Hermione and Neville, before leaving the castle, crossing the vegetable patch and heading towards the greenhouses. Hermione seemed to be stuck somewhere between annoyed, incredulous and curious over the Howler, annoyed due to the noise, incredulous over who would actually put someone through something like that and curious over how they were made. As we neared the greenhouses, we saw the rest of the class standing outside, waiting for Professor Sprout. We had only just joined them when an annoyance reared its ugly head.
"Hey Holly!" said Ronald as he tried to push me out of the way.
Before he could say or do anything else though, he found himself being thrown over Hollys shoulder to land in a heap in a pile of mud. Sirius knew a bit about Judo and had taken it on himself to teach Holly how to fight. Hermione let out a sigh at her housemates antics.
"Sorry about him," she said, "He seems to have it in his head that he's Hollys friend for some reason."
"You don't need to apologize Hermione," said Holly, "You don't have any control over this moron. But you might want to warn him that the next time he tries that I'm going to see if I can control the water in his body."
Hermione nodded as we stepped over Ron and headed over to the other side of the crowd, just as Sprout came striding into view with an armful of bandages and a grinning Gilderoy Lockhart, who was still sparkling. Seriously, what kind of self respecting man sparkles?
"Oh, hello there!" he called, beaming around at us, "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 . . ."
"Greenhouse three today, chaps!" said Professor Sprout, who looked like she was considering feeding Lockhart to a Venomous Tentacula or something.
She opened said Greenhouse and we were immediately hit in the face with the smell of damp earth, fertilizer and the conflicting scents of dozens of different magic plants, which only served to make me sneeze, hard. By the time I was done with my sneezing fit and was able to follow the rest of the class in side, accepting the Hayfever potion Sprout offered me so I could actually do the work, Holly was looking furious.
"Whats up with you?" I asked as I downed the potion and blew my nose.
Gods damn my hayfever!
"Lockhart," she growled as we took our place at the tables, "He seems to think I want my bloody fame and wants to take me under his wing!"
I winced.
"Ouch, yeah, I can certainly see why you're annoyed now," I said.
"Are you OK Leo?" asked Hermione, looking at me worriedly, "Your eyes are a little red."
"I have really bad hayfever," I said, "If I want to do any work at all in here I need to take a potion to keep it at bay. Normally I'm OK, but Magical Plants tend to be a little more potent than their Muggle Counterparts."
Hermione nodded in understanding as Sprout stepped up to the end of table with a box of earmuffs.
"Attention everyone!" she said, hitting a pot with a trowle to get everyone's attenition, "We'll be repotting Mandrakes today. Now, who can tell me the properties of the Mandrake?"
To nobody's surprise, Hermione's hand was first into the air.
"Mandrake, or Mandragora, is a powerful restorative," said Hermione, sounding as usual as though she had swallowed the textbook, "It is used to return people who have been transfigured or cursed to their original state."
"Excellent. Ten points to Gryffindor," said Professor Sprout, "The Mandrake forms an essential part of most antidotes. It is also, however, dangerous. Who can tell me why?"
This time Neville was the one to answer.
"The cry of the Mandrake is fatal to anyone who hears it," he said
"Precisely, take another ten points," said Professor Sprout, "Now, the Mandrakes we have here are still very young."
She pointed to a row of deep trays as she spoke, and everyone shuffled forward for a better look. A hundred or so tufty little plants, purplish green in color, were growing there in rows. While they didn't look like much, anyone in the Wizarding World who had a brain in their skull quickly learnt that looks can be deceiving.
"Everyone take a pair of earmuffs," said Professor Sprout.
There was a scramble as everyone tried to seize a pair that wasn't pink and fluffy.
"When I tell you to put them on, make sure your ears are completely covered," said Professor Sprout, "When it is safe to remove them, I will give you the thumbs-up. Right, earmuffs on."
I placed my earmuffs on and was mildly surprised to find that they shut out sound completely. They were probably enchanted or something. Professor Sprout put the pink, fluffy pair over her own ears, rolled up the sleeves of her robes, grasped one of the tufty plants firmly, and pulled hard, yanking what looked like a small, muddy, and extremely ugly baby out of the earth. The leaves were growing right out of his head and he had pale green, mottled skin, and was clearly bawling at the top of his lungs.
Professor Sprout took a large plant pot from under the table and plunged the Mandrake into it, burying him in dark, damp compost until only the tufted leaves were visible. Professor Sprout dusted off her hands, gave us the thumbs-up, and removed her earmuffs, prompting us to copy her.
"As our Mandrakes are only seedlings, their cries won't kill yet," she said calmly as though she'd just done nothing more exciting than water a begonia, "However, they will knock you out for several hours, and as I'm sure none of you want to miss your first day back, make sure your earmuffs are securely in place while you work. I will attract your attention when it is time to pack up. Four to a tray, there is a large supply of pots here, compost in the sacks over their and be careful of the Venomous Tentacula, it's a pervert."
She gave a sharp slap to a spiky, dark red plant as she spoke, making it draw in the long feelers that had been inching sneakily over her shoulder. I decided not to question exactly why she called the tentacled plant a pervert because I wasn't sure if my sanity could take it, instead joining Holly, Hermione and Neville at a trey, slapped out earmuffs back on and went to work.
Let me tell you something, repotting Mandrakes was NOT EASY! For some bizarre reason, they seemed to really hate Holly and I and kept trying to escape when we tried to repot them. Nevelle on the other hand, the little buggers seemed to love and kept trying to snuggled up to him. By the end of the lesson, we were all sweaty, tired and most of the girls were quite twitchy from having to fend of the Venomous Tentacula that I was sure had somehow got into someone's Henti collection.
Unfortunately, the day had only just begun and we were off to Transfiguration where Holly ran into a slight problem of not having a wand any more since hers was basically destroyed and her Focus Gem took the form of her locket, although a short application of willpower fixed that and the locket turned into a elegant silver wand with a wave design on it. Unfortunately, that didn't change the fact that, thanks to her newly dense magic, Hollys control was shot to hell and she somehow managed to cause the beetle she was trying to turn into a button to explode, covering herself, me and the row in front of us in a rather excessive amount of green slime. Mcgonagall didn't look best pleased, but vanished the slime and suggested a few exercises to help her control, the same as she gave me last year.
After lunch, during which Holly bemoaned her cock up and Hermione tried to cheer her up, as well as met the ever annoying Colin Creevy, we trooped to the one class I was dreading above all other. Lockharts.
It began just as badly as I imagined, with the sparkling ponce entering the classroom with all the flourish and posture of a peacock. Oh, and he was still bloody sparkling. He reached forward, picked up Neville's copy of Travels with Trolls, and held it up to show his own, winking mug on the front.
"Me," he said, pointing at it and winking, "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 them to laugh; a few people smiled weakly, although I stayed resolutely silent, although in fairness that was because I thought I might be sick if I opened my mouth. Holly didn't look much better and Hermione looked like she was busy reevaluating everything she thought of the ponce.
"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 — start — now!"
"What the bloody hell..?" hissed Holly, staring at the questions.
"I second that notion," I muttered, before picking up my quill and beginning to write.
"You're actually doing it?" asked Holly incredulously.
I showed her the answers I had so far.
1. What is Gilderoy Lockhart's favorite colour?
Vomit Green.
2. What is Gilderoy Lockhart's secret ambition?
To be chased by a horde of bloodthirsty, middle aged fangirls.
3. What, in your opinion, is Gilderoy Lockhart's greatest achievement to date?
Putting his underpants on the right way around.
Holly snickered and immediately started doing something similar. Hermione noticed and looked somewhere between disapproving and amused.
Half an hour later, Lockhart collected the 'tests' and set about marking them. It was obvious when got to Holly and mine because his face went through a variety of colours and expressions that was rather interesting to watch.
"Ahem, yes, well," he said, looking shaken, "Hardly any of you remembered that my favorite colour is lilac. I say so in Year with the Yeti. And a few of you need to read Wanderings with Werewolves more carefully as I clearly state in chapter twelve that my ideal birthday gift would be harmony between all magic and non-magic peoples, though I wouldn't say no to a large bottle of Ogden's Old Firewhisky!"
He gave us another roguish wink and I had to resist the urge to blast him into the stratosphere.
"Now, to business!"
He reached under his desk and pulled out a covered cage.
"Now, be warned! It is my job to arm you against the foulest creatures known to wizardkind! 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."
I have to admit that the ponce knew how to play the crowd as most people in the room leant forwards, even Holly, as Lockhart placed a hand on the cover.
"I must ask you not to scream," said Lockhart in a low voice, "It might provoke them."
As the whole class held its breath, Lockhart whipped off the cover.
"Yes," he said dramatically. "Freshly caught Cornish pixies."
Seamus Finnigan let out a snort of laughter that even Lockhart couldn't mistake for a scream of terror.
"Yes?" He smiled at Seamus.
"Well, they're not — they're not very — dangerous, are they?" Seamus choked.
"Don't be so sure!" said Lockhart, waggling a finger annoyingly at Seamus, "Devilish tricky little blighters they can be!"
I had no doubt that was true, but I also had no doubt that they were hardly dangerous and could be dealt with fairly easily. They were electric blue and about eight inches high, with pointed faces and voices so shrill it was like listening to a lot of budgies arguing. The moment the cover had been removed, they started jabbering and rocketing around, rattling the bars and making bizarre faces at the people nearest them.
"Aww, their cute," mumbled Holly.
I blinked and gave my friend a look.
"What?"
I shook my head as Lockhart proceeded to prove how dumb he was and opened the cage. It was pandemonium. The pixies shot in every direction like rockets and began to thoroughly wreck the classroom, shooting through the windows, tossing books around, upending ink bottles over peoples heads. Two of them seized Neville by the ears and tried to lift him up, but a quick binding spell quickly disuaded them.
"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; 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 brained by one of his own pictures.
"Oh, enough of this," growled Hermione, getting to her feet, "Immobulus!"
Their was a flash of light and the Pixies were suddenly all frozen in mid air. It took a second for everyone who was cowering under their desks to realize it had gone quiet and stick their heads out. Lockhart looked around warily, before he leaped to his feet.
"Aha, their you go!" he said, "I knew that would work!"
Hermione stared at the Ponce for a moment, before the bell rang and everyone ran before the spell could wear off.
And thats the end of this chapter! I hope you liked it and my continued use of Anime tropes and having Holly beat the stuffing out of Ron! I don't really have anything to discuss here right now, so I'll sign straight out and ask you lovely readers to leave me an equally lovely review!