Michael Brown
„Michael, do you know why Harry Potter and his friends are watching you so intently?" Luna asked me, walking next to me with a small, serene smile on her face. The fact that we were being followed didn't seem to bother her, as she asked her question quite casually, her tone no different from her usual one. She was truly fearless. I could only wish to become as brave as her one day.
"I have no idea" I lied casually, doing my best to ignore three most famous Gryffindors following us from afar, doing a poor job at hiding. Despite my words, I actually had some suspicions about their reasons, though obviously I wouldn't voice them with so many people listening. I decided to give some believable suggestion instead, hoping it would convince Luna "Maybe they didn't like the fact that I made everyone cheer for Lockhart after he disappeared Potter's bones? Potter probably holds some sort of grudge"
"Hmm…" Luna hummed, making me sweat a little, before nodding her head and frowning "Yes, it makes sense. Maybe you should do something about it though? It wouldn't be good for the 'boy who lived' to get infested by nargles"
"I wouldn't worry about him. Potter has this whole 'chosen one' aura around him, so I doubt nargles would be able to touch him" I reassured Luna, relieved she believed me. In truth, I already suspected why Potter and his sidekicks were following me. The most rational explanation was that they already knew about my involvement with Tom, so their plan was to follow me around, waiting for me to find the Diary. The moment I did so, they would attack me, taking both me and Tom to the Ministry to be tortured and interrogated by some sadistic faceless agents.
Well, either that or they just still believed I had shit my pants and the look they were giving me was just utter disgust.
Either way, I had to be very careful not to reveal the fact that the Diary was currently in the hands of Gilderoy Lockhart, Death Eater extraordinaire. Unfortunately, I still wasn't able to broach the subject of the Diary with him yet, as he had a habit of disappearing whenever I approached him for a private conversation.
Speaking of Lockhart, me and Luna, as well as most of the other students, were currently gathering in the Great Hall, where my favourite teacher would conduct his first 'Duelling Club' session. While most would think it was just one of Lockhart's fancies, in my opinion it was quite a brilliant plan, as it would realize several of Lockhart's objectives:
1. Organizing a self-defence class would make Lockhart a lesser suspect. After all, who would assume that the person responsible for their safety was actually roaming the school at night and petrifying pureblood students for their sins?
2. Making every student show their skills was a good way for Tom, who would obviously see Lockhart's memories, to assess the threat level of his potential enemies and allies. It was especially useful in the case of Harry Potter, the natural enemy of liberty.
3. Duelling club would also allow Lockhart to play a fool in front of everyone, making his cover even more full proof.
Overall, Lockhart's decision to start the Duel club was another proof of his strategic genius. It was truly a shame I was the only one able to appreciate his craft though. Still, I was happy that Lockhart's (and by extension Tom's) plan was going swimmingly.
Since the dueling club session was being held in the Great Hall, someone made some changes to the room - the four house tables were moved to the sides of the hall to make room for the huge empty space in the middle, which would serve as a dueling area for the students. The number of students attending made the hall quite crowded despite its huge size, as many children decided to attend the lesson, either genuinely interested or just scared of another attack.
Potter's group stood at a distance from Luna and me, apparently still pretending that they were not watching me. To be honest, their attempts were quite clumsy and more than a little embarrassing. I would have expected the Ministry's child soldiers to be a bit more subtle than that. I was distracted from my musings by someone speaking to me.
"Brown, why are you here?" Marcus Fawley asked, approaching me from the side. He was looking at me with an odd mixture of interest and dread, though I had no idea why "Are you actually intending to learn something or you just want to mess with another tradition?"
"That's quite hurtful, you know?" I said, looking at Marcus with a fake offence, putting a hand on my heart. Still, I decided he deserved a proper answer "I actually think that duelling club sounds like quite a fun activity, a practical one at that"
"That's…good?" Marcus replied hesitantly, blinking upon hearing my answer. Apparently he didn't expect me to say something like that "I guess I should just be happy to see some appreciation of the wizarding culture from you"
"I'm actually quite curious why it wasn't part of our curriculum before" I declared "It's not like it's any more dangerous than quidditch, so it's quite weird some pureblood's petrification was needed for it to return after years of absence"
"Not 'some pureblood', it was Herbert Burke. Is it really too hard for you to learn the identity of the victim, Brown? It's not like…" Marcus was about to say something more, but at that moment Lockhart entered the Hall. Although he had his usual charming smile on his face, for some reason he looked less confident than usual, as his walk was a bit stiff and his hair a bit disheveled. He livened up upon seeing students gathered in the Great Hall though, giving everyone a huge smile.
"Hello everyone!" Lockhart shouted, making all students focus on him. Seeing he had everyone's attention, he continued, voice cheerful "Can you please all move to the sides of the hall? I intend to conduct a small demonstration today, so I will require some space"
After students followed his order, Lockhart moved to the center of the Hall at a leisure pace. Upon arriving he looked around the room and spoke.
„Can everybody see me, can you all hear me? Excellent" He took a small pause, giving everyone another charming smile "In the light of the dark events of recent weeks, professor Dumbledore has granted me permission to start this little duelling club to train you, in case you ever need to defend yourselves, as I myself have done on countless occasions. For full details, see my published works"
After saying these words, he took off the cape he was previously wearing, throwing it at the group of older female students currently standing on his left side. Contrary to their canon reactions, they didn't seem too pleased to receive it, as they ignored the flying cape, letting it fall on the ground and giving Lockhart a cold stare. Noticing it, Lockhart's face stiffened slightly, as if not expecting such a reaction. Nonetheless he continued speaking, though his voice sounded a little more strained than before.
""L-let me introduce my assistant, professor Snape" He announced hurriedly, pointing his hand to the entrance. At that moment Snape arrived in the Hall, apparently patiently waiting for Lockhart to announce him beforehand. It certainly didn't surprise me, given Snape's obvious love for dramatics. That man wouldn't miss any opportunity to show off. After he approached Lockhart, our DADA teacher continued "Professor Snape has sportingly agreed to help me with my short demonstration. Now, I don't want you youngsters to worry. You will still have your potions master when I'm through with him"
What followed was a rather thrilling performance by both Snape and Lockhart. Lockhart's brilliance was a given, with him deliberately getting hit with Snape's overpowered expelliarmus, but Snape pretending to believe that Lockhart was just some talentless impostor was quite a pleasant surprise. There was no way an ancient vampire like Snape couldn't see Lockhart's true power, so it must have been a play. I didn't know if they had worked together from the beginning or if the whole play was improvised, but either way I was quite impressed with their performance.
After Lockhart finished playing the idiot, he decided to have everyone practice duelling in pairs. I, of course, ended up with Luna, although despite Lockhart's instructions, we had not yet started casting spells. There was a good reason for this though.
Upon noticing our inaction, Snape approached us, a typical frown on his face.
"Brown, Lovegood, why aren't you practicing?" Snape asked. Despite his general distaste for students, Snape was actually quite cordial when interacting with me. I didn't know why yet, but for some reason he was a little gentler with me than with other students. Maybe he was subconsciously recognizing me as a fellow immortal?
"We…don't really know what to cast, professor" I declared, making Snape raise an eyebrow. Seeing his confusion, I decided to clarify "Professor Lockhart hadn't taught us any offensive spells yet"
After hearing my words Snape put a hand on his mouth and cursed something under his breath. After a few seconds he lifted his hand and spoke, his voice strained.
"I will only show it once, so watch closely" Snape declared, taking out his wand and showing us a specific movement "This is how you cast expelliarmus. Learn it and join the rest of the students"
Not even waiting for us to thank him, Snape walked away in the direction of Draco Malfoy, most likely planning to bait his godson into attacking Potter with some advanced spell. What a good guy.
"You know, he is actually quite nice for a vampire, isn't he?" I stated, sending a look of appreciation towards our potions professor.
"He is. Maybe I should stop wearing a garlic necklace for his classes?" Luna agreed.
We spent the next few minutes practicing expelliarmus, waving our wands and hoping something would happen. Luna was the first to succeed, managing to cast expelliarmus after the first two minutes. It took me longer, as I had to spend an additional five minutes trying to cast the spell, but eventually I succeeded too, making me smile triumphantly.
Unfortunately we weren't able to enjoy our victory, as soon the duel between Draco Malfoy and Harry Potter escalated, making everyone, including us, focus on them.
Apparently losing a duel made Malfoy quite angry, as he decided it would be a good idea to conjure a snake and make it attack Potter. Lockhart's masterfull failure of the intervention only made the snake angrier, making it go berserk and attack one of the muggle-born students standing next to Potter, only to be stopped by Potter's usage of parseltongue. Why did it even work? It wasn't even a real snake, just a magical construct created by a twelve-years-old boy. Was parseltongue a conceptual ability or something? Was I overthinking it?
Although it was probably good that Potter stopped a furious snake from assaulting a child, most of the students had started whispering, already thinking about the implications of his ability. Everyone was looking at Potter with an odd mixture of curiosity and fear in their eyes, waiting for his reaction. Potter himself looked quite confused, giving a show of not understanding the situation he found himself in. While it was probably just an act, with him being the Ministry's agent and all, it didn't mean I shouldn't take advantage of the opportunity presented to me. After all, I had to make sure no one would suspect Lockhart.
"Ehhh? He used parseltongue?" I exclaimed loudly, looking at Potter with wide eyes "Doesn't that mean he is the heir of Slytherin?"
As the Hall erupted with shouts and accusations, I decided to ignore the angry glares of the Gryffindor trio sent in my direction.