Hello all you sinners, it's that time again for another chapter. I don't have a lot to say, but let's get some Q&As.
NightBringer325: That would be nice, but it would also mean cutting the plot short and Harry having somewhat a better year and the Chamber would be nothing but "Okay the Snake is still in School what should we do now?" Also good point with Dobby.
Sonic Sound: Okay yeah he should have remembered that spell on his own but being tracked is still on him outside of Hell count. I will try and get him not fully cannon.
Omegawolf000: Thanks for enjoying the story and chapter. But Harry has Sam, Cerberus, and Sebastian. No need for the Basilisk, even if it goes blind.
Biowind: Thank you, I am going to improve further down. It will start to changes will improve from further chapters.
Anyway, let's dive into Hell!
Chapter 16: Trouble After Trouble
Days after getting all their books and thing on the list, both Harry and Charlie, along with the Weasley family were rushing into King's Cross as they took the Ford Anglia. "I told you we should have taken Floo Powder to the Leaky Cauldron," Molly exclaimed to her husband. "You had to go and convince all of us to take that car of yours the Muggle way. Now, we're running late."
"I'm sorry, Molly. I had no idea that they would stop most of the time," Arthur told his wife as they ran through the station.
"There it is. Percy, you first," Molly told the oldest red-haired boy in the group.
Percy saw the magic gateway between platforms 9 & 10 and ran before vanishing into the pillar, followed by Fred and George Weasley. Ginny was the next to go followed by both Molly and Arthur to help their youngest get everything ready before the train departed.
"I'll meet you on the other side, Harry," Charlie told her brother as she rushed in ahead of him, ready to help the other Weasleys.
"Ready, Ron," Harry asked his best friend and the twelve-year-old nodded in agreement as Harry went first he charged, followed by Ron. However, they didn't end up going to Platform nine and three quarters and the Hogwarts Express. Instead, Harry and Ron ended up hitting a solid wall that made the luggage carts crash and spill their contents. 'What the fuck just happened,' he thought to himself as he clenched his arm and hissed from the pain. Ron was doing the same thing but he was clenching his leg.
"Oi! What's going on here," a station employee asked as he approached the boys, having heard the crash.
'Shit, what are we going to say,' Harry thought to himself as he stared at the man, then came up with the best answer he could think of. "We lost control of the trolley," he exclaimed as Ron nodded in agreement with his best friend.
"Well, be careful next time. Someone else could have gotten hurt," the station worker said before he helped pick up the luggage and set them back on the carts before he left the 12-year-olds alone.
When the boys were by themselves, they turned to each other. "What just happened? Why can't we go through?"
"I dunno. The gateway sealed itself for some reason," Ron said as he put his hand where the portal to the Hogwarts Express would be.
The Prince of Hell's thoughts were interrupted by the chiming of a clock nearby. "Crap! The train leaves exactly at 11 o'clock. We missed it," Harry said, finally seeing why they were locked out. Wondering what to do, Harry pondered the idea of calling his parents, Charlie, or even Razzle and Dazzle. Thinking it over and weighing his options, possibly showing Ron his connection to Hell's royal family was something he considered a risk that was going to be dealt with eventually. Taking out his phone, the adopted prince tried to contact Charlie before he saw the screen turn off without warning. "Dead? How can that be? I know I charged it," Harry muttered as he looked at the black screen. Pocketing his phone for later, he turned to Ron. "Maybe we should wait by the car."
"The car…" Ron repeated with a smirk. "Harry, we can fly the car to Hogwarts."
"What? But what about your parents," Harry asked as he worried for the worse.
"What other choice do we have? And we are allowed to use magic if it's an emergency," Ron told him.
"Well, we do need to get to school… Eh, why the hell not," Harry reasoned as he followed Ron back to the car. When there, he quickly took out his wand and unlocked the door so they could place their luggage inside. With everything packed, Ron took the driver's side and Harry took the passenger side. "You do know how to operate a car, right Ron?"
"Of course I do. Me, Fred, and George drove it around when Mum and Dad weren't looking. Of course, that was more around the Burrow," Ron explained as he tapped his wand on the car and the ignition started. Ron then pulled on the lever as the car floated up into the air about twenty feet or so above the ground.
"Ron, I should warn you that Muggles are not used to seeing a flying car. They don't even think it should be a thing for another hundred years," Harry told the red-haired wizard.
"Right," Ron agreed as he pressed a silver button on the dashboard and the car vanished into thin air and they camouflage themselves with the sky. "Alright, let's get going," he said as they sped off into the sky.
Hours passed as the boys were riding the car to the Scottish countryside. Suddenly, the invisibility booster was acting up and the car was fading in and out of view. That lasted over a minute as the car was visible. "Oh no the invisibility booster must be malfunctioning," Ron said as he continuously pushed the silver button.
"Well, at least it's out of the city," Harry stated as he looked around the area. "Let's get lower and see where we are."
"Right," Ron replied before driving the car closer to a bridge.
Seeing the tracks, the boys knew they were on the right path. "Now all we need to do is catch up with the train," Harry said.
"We can't be far behind," Ron theorized.
As if on cue, they heard a train's whistle go off. "Do you hear that," Harry asked.
"We must be getting close," Ron guessed.
Harry soon heard the whistle getting louder and noted a chugging sound. "Hold on," he said as the train was getting louder but it was nowhere in sight. "We flew over several things to get here," Harry remembered.
Realizing what Harry meant, Ron slowly turned his head with his friend. At the same time, Hedwig and Samael looked out the back of the car and their eyes went wide. Daring to look back, both of them saw the Hogwarts Express was right on their tail. Seeing that it was gaining on them, the boys did the most appropriate thing to do when a giant metal beast was charging in their direction. The 12-year-old boys panicked and began to scream like little girls. "How could this be worse," Ron screamed.
"It could have the face of a children's toy line on the front," Harry exclaimed before he reached over to the driver's side and turned the wheel so they wouldn't crash with the locomotive. Flying next to the bridge, the Ford did a barrel roll before Harry accidentally pulled on the door handle, opening the door and making him nearly fall out of the car. "Dammit! I knew we forgot to buckle up," he shouted, continuing his snark to cope with the frightening experience. 'I wish I had my Nimbus on me at times like these. Heck, I kinda wish I had wings like Dad and Charlie right about now!'
"Hold on, Harry! Take my hand," Ron called out as he reached for Harry. Soon, Sam wrapped his tail around Ron's wrist and helped save Harry by coiling around his master's arm.
Thanks to the two, Harry was pulled back into the car and Ron leveled it out to fly straight. After closing the door, Harry was quiet while he locked the door and buckled his seatbelt. "I think we found the train," the scarred boy remarked. As Ron nodded in approval as they flew above the locomotive on their way to Hogwarts.
Night had fallen shortly after as the boys flew over the black lake, soon seeing the castle in plain view with lights from inside illuminating the grounds in the darkness. "Still marvelous as always," Ron said as the boys were glad to finally make it to Hogwarts.
The majestic view soon ended when there was a grinding sound coming from the car and it began to seize up. "What's going on? Did we run out of gas?"
"Dad must have still been working on everything. He wanted to know how cars worked but was still figuring things out," Ron guessed as he kept trying to keep the car moving.
"Up! Up," Harry exclaimed as Ron frantically slammed his foot on the pedals of the car.
Panicking, Ron's voice cracked as he said it wasn't working. "Why are there three pedals if there are six directions!?"
"Never mind that! Land by that tree over there," Harry pointed to a large-looking willow tree.
They were coming down very fast and very hard as Ron took out his wand and kept shouting stop while slamming it on the steering wheel. He wasn't paying much attraction as the car crashed right into the tree as they pulled forward and a snapping sound was heard.
"Ugh, is everyone alright," Harry asked as Sam hissed and Hedwig hooted to let their master know they were both fine. "Ron?"
"No," Ron said as his voice was hushed. Harry looked to see that Ron looked okay, but his wand was snapped in half, dangling like a pendulum.
Seeing the busted wand, Harry felt sorry for his friend. "Be thankful it wasn't your neck," Harry voiced. Suddenly, the car began to shake and jerk around. "What was that," he asked as the car was jerking again. Soon, they saw a large branch of the tree hit the car's front as it banged on the roof. The tree was hitting the car on all sides, breaking the glass, and nearly hurting the boys. 'Oh shit! We're in a Whomping Willow. And we just woke it up,' Harry thought to himself as he remembered reading this type of tree from Stolas.
The car was getting pulverized by the tree as it kept on beating it like a punching bag until it hit the back of the car, making it land on solid ground. With the pummeling stopped, Ron and Harry looked up and saw the tree was ready to throw all of its weight down on the car. "Quick! Move the car before we become wizard pancakes," the dark-haired boy said to his friend. Gunning it, Ron drove the Ford Anglia out of the reach of the Whomping Willow just before it fell. Seeing it missed, the tree picked itself back up before it went back to sleep.
As the danger passed, the boys sighed in relief before Harry saw the seatbelts come undone by themselves. Before he could question why the doors flew open and the boys were thrown out of the car by the vehicle itself. As they picked themselves up off the ground, the Anglia's trunk popped open and the luggage catapulted out. Soon enough, the pets were rocketed out and the boys had to catch their animals. Once everything was out, the car drove itself and off the school grounds, going into the Forbidden Forest like it just wanted to sulk after a bad day.
"My parents are gonna kill me," Ron moaned as he saw the car drive away.
"So are mine," Harry said as he can feel the icy glares from both of his parents being disappointed in him.
Taking the time to leave their things with everyone else's luggage inside the castle, Harry started to explain everything about Dobby to Ron before leaving Hedwig with his bags. "See you, Hedwig," he waved goodbye before climbing up the steps. "A house-elf shows up in my home to warn me about not going to school this year, the train platform's gate seals on us, and we nearly get killed by a boxing tree. Clearly, somebody doesn't want me to be here," Harry remarked. "Can it get any worse than this!?"
"It just did, Mr. Magne," a familiar voice replied, prompting the boys to turn and see the inky black colors of Snape's clothing and hair right behind them. "My office, now," he told both Gryffindors.
The boys gulped as they followed Snape to his classroom, passing by Filch and Mrs. Norris along the way. The cat's blood-red eyes were focused on the boys while Filch only grinned at the two. "Oh, dear, we are in trouble," the night watchman voiced.
Soon, Snape brought Harry and Ron to the potions classroom and showed them a copy of the wizard newspaper, 'The Evening Prophet'. Seeing the flying car on the front page, Harry read the headline 'Flying Ford Anglia Mystifies Muggles' while Snape expressed his concerns with everything that happened. "You were seen by no less than seven Muggles. Do you have any idea how serious this is," Snape asked, slamming the newspaper onto his desk. "You have risked the exposure of our world. Not to mention the damage inflicted on a Whomping Willow that was on these grounds before both of you were born!"
"To be honest, Professor, I think it did more damage to us," Ron muttered, still feeling sore from the attack on the car.
"Silence," Snape scolded, shutting Ron up. "I assure you that were you in Slytherin and your fate rested with me, the both of you would be on the train home tonight!"
"So if Draco were to have done this as well…"
"I don't care if his father has connections! He'd be expelled with my word being final if this happened with him," Snape exclaimed. "As it is for you two…"
"They will not be expelled," announced another familiar and grandfatherly voice.
Turning to face the source of the voice, Harry saw Professor Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall in the doorway. "Headmaster, these boys have flouted the Decree for the Restriction of Underage Wizardry," Snape told Dumbledore.
"I am well aware of our bylaws, Severus. I have written a few of them myself," Dumbledore reminded the Potions Master. "However, as head of Gryffindor House, it is for Professor McGonagall to determine the appropriate reaction."
"We ended up getting locked out of the train platform before crossing through the gate. That's why we ended up doing everything with the car," Harry stated.
"We'll go and get our stuff, then," Ron said, feeling like they were going to be kicked out of school.
"I'm not expelling you, Mr. Weasley. Not today, at least," McGonagall stated, sounding like a reasonable grandmother rather than a teacher. "But I will be writing to your families about what happened as this was a dreadfully serious event. You will both receive detention as well."
"Yes, Professor," Harry said as he was glad to not be expelled, but had the feeling of getting a painful letter in the mail with the projection of both his parents and Charlie on the other end scared him. Maybe he can get a less harsh punishment if he told his end of the story, but this wasn't the time for pondering that. Both of the boys were soon given a meal by the Head of Gryffindor House and after they finished, they immediately went to their dorm.
Both Harry and Ron walked passed the many portraits that hung in the castle until they reached the Fat Lady. "Password?"
"Wattlebird," a familiar voice suddenly said behind the boys, startling them as they turned to see their bushy-haired friend, Hermione Granger.
"Whoa! Hermione? When did you become a ninja," asked a surprised Harry.
Hermione only gave a stern glare and pushed the boys inside to the common room, giving them a harsh look while the door closed behind them. "Where were you two?! You weren't on the train. I was worried sick, then I hear you flew a car to school and nearly got expelled? What were you thinking?!"
"Can't this wait till morning? I really want to go to bed after a day like this," Ron whined as he didn't feel like repeating himself.
Hermione still gave them both a glare as she was not going to drop the subject until she got an answer. Harry could tell that, so he gave a quick summary. "We got locked out of the platform's gate and thought we could use another way. We can explain more at breakfast," he said, wanting to see if his stuff was put away.
"Fair enough. But I do want a full explanation first thing in the morning," she told them before heading to the girls' dorms.
Feeling exhausted from the trip, both boys headed to their dorms and saw that everyone was asleep but them. "At least our stuff is still here," Ron commented as their luggage was brought up.
"Let's just get some sleep. At least things can't get any worse today," Harry muttered as he was technically correct.
The next morning at breakfast, Harry sat across from Hermione giving her the full explanation of the previous day. "I even tried to call my sister on the phone and I know it was charged, see?" He showed his now fully charged phone to her as Ron was tapping his broken wand.
"That explains why you did what you had to. But still, you should have used Hedwig to send a letter to the teachers," she told them both.
"Fat chance that would work since a house elf intercepted all the mail between us," Harry told her as he swallowed down some bacon.
"He's got a point," Ron said as he put the final pieces of tape on his wand to put it in one piece, but it looked crooked. "Say it, I'm doomed."
"You're doomed," both Harry and Hermione said in unison.
"Hi, Harry," a small boy greeted before the flash of an old-fashioned camera made Harry see spots for a few seconds. "I'm Colin Creevey. I'm in Gryffindor, too."
"Nice to meet you too, Colin," Harry said as he was rubbing his eyes from the flash. "But next time, don't take a photo without a warning. You might blind someone."
"Sorry. But I'm Muggleborn. I heard all about you and You-Know-Who. I wanted to get a picture to prove I met you. I never knew all the odd stuff I could do was magic until I got my letter. I want to document my entire first year at Hogwarts," Colin excitedly said.
"First, you have plenty to learn about doing magic in this school. Second, my last name is Magne now," Harry told the boy.
Suddenly the screeching of two owls was heard as they came swooping down towards Gryffindor's table. One was Hedwig while the other was Errol. Harry could see they both had letters in their beaks as Hedwig dropped her letter perfectly in front of him. However, Errol crash landed into several platters of food, sending everything all over the place as many students laughed and Colin snapped a photo of the crash. The youngest male Weasley complained about Errol's flying as he took the envelope from the aging owl. Both Harry and Ron knew who these letters were from and quickly looked at them. Harry's was a black envelope with the Morningstar sigil stamped on in red wax while Ron's was a sinister shade of red with a black ribbon holding the address to him.
"Oh no," Ron yelped as he turned pale white looking at the letter.
"Look everyone, Weasley's got himself a Howler," Seamus told everyone around the table. "I wonder if Magne has the same?"
"Go on, guys. I ignored one from my Gran once. It was horrible," Neville told them, advising them to open the letters immediately.
Both of the boys looked at each other and Ron volunteered to go first. He slowly broke the seal as the voice of his mother shouted in anger, sounding like an explosion went off in the hall and shook dust loose from the rafters. "RONALD WEASLEY!" This made the boy jump and drop the letter onto the table, watching it transform into a floating paper mouth with the letter itself as teeth, the envelope as lips, and the ribbon as a tongue. "HOW DARE YOU STEAL THAT CAR! I AM ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTED! YOUR FATHER IS NOW FACING AN INQUIRY AT WORK, YOU BROUGHT HARRY INTO THIS MESS, AND IT'S ENTIRELY YOUR FAULT! IF YOU STEP ONE MORE TOE OUT OF LINE, WE ARE BRINGING YOU STRAIGHT BACK HOME!" Scared, Ron nodded in agreement with the floating mouth's message before it turned to his sister. "Oh, and congratulations on making Gryffindor, Ginny. Your father and I are so proud of you," the Howler said in a much calmer voice. After the message was given, the magic letter blew a raspberry at Ron, shred itself into confetti, and spontaneously combusted.
Staring at the ash, Harry looked at his friend and only had one thing to comment on. "And I thought origami was supposed to be calming," he said, trying to lighten the mood a little while some of the other mean-spirited students like Malfoy laughed at Ron. "Well… maybe this will help you feel better," Harry remarked as he gulped, then began to break the seal of his own letter.
At the slightest chip in the wax emblem, the black envelope literally exploded into a raging inferno that forced Harry to throw it aside. As everyone in the Great Hall gasped at the sight of the flames, Harry looked a much paler color than Ron was when the image of a force so frightening and so menacing formed in the fire. When the silhouette was at full size, it began to walk through the flames without any issue to reveal an absolutely livid Lucifer Morningstar looking at his son with not a look of rage, but disappointment. "Harrison Bartholomew James Magne…"
"D-d-d-dad…" Harry stuttered out, afraid of what would happen since Lucifer decided to make a dramatic entrance into Hogwarts again. "I can explain," he tried to say while Colin took a picture of Lucifer's entrance.
The flames behind Lucifer flared up and released black feathers as the Devil himself narrowed his eyes, startling everyone in the Great Hall and prompting Colin to take another shot of the King of Hell. "And what do you have to explain? That you stole a flying car to school, got seen by regular humans, nearly crashed into the Hogwarts Express, and ended up disturbing a Whomping Willow? You better have a good answer for why you decided to do all of this," Lucifer said, sounding close to possibly destroying a wall as a way of holding back his anger.
Harry was sweating up a storm and gulped. "T-th-th-the portal to the train closed somehow and-"
"-And you didn't think to contact me, your mother, or your sister," Lucifer interrupted, continuing his interrogation of Harry.
"Th-the phone wasn't working," Harry stated. "A-a-and I think this might also have to do with what happened at my party," he added.
Hearing that detail, Lucifer's tranquil fury began to fade as the flames behind him became less of a blazing inferno and more of a large bonfire. "That could be more believable, but it does have some truth," Lucifer remarked. "But you still must be punished."
"I-I mean you are my dad…" Harry said not wanting to argue his statement even further.
"Until I find the real answer to your claims, you won't be getting music lessons from your mother. I'll be taking over instead," Lucifer stated with a sinister grin on his face.
Harry's face paled much more as he could pass for one of the ghosts around Hogwarts. "You mean…"
"Yes," Lucifer gravely said. "You will be learning polka."
Hearing this, Harry screamed like he was in mortal peril, but stopped after a second. "Wait, does that include Al Yankovic's style?"
"No," Lucifer bluntly stated, making Harry scream louder and in a higher pitch, much to the confusion and surprise of everyone. "I'll be looking forward to our first lesson, son," he chuckled. "But if you end up pulling a stunt like this again, I'll make sure your mother will have you wash Sebastian and Kirby with nothing but your toothbrush and a spray bottle," he warned "Now if you will excuse me, I have to pick up that car you stole. Arthur shouldn't be punished for your fuck-up." Stepping inside the flames again, everyone was surprised to see that the massive hellfire vanished with an unharmed Lucifer and didn't leave a single scorch mark.
Harry was completely stunned at the punishment he will receive unless his father can somehow prove the blasted house-elf was responsible for him missing the train. 'Grandpa, please make Dad find the proof he needs,' Harry thought to himself as he looked up towards Heaven.
"Your dad is scary, Harry. I see why many prisoners fear him," Hermione spoke up as she understood the pain of hearing bad polka music.
"Let's just get to our first class of the day and never mention this again, ever," Harry stated as he lost the remainder of his appetite and he fed the rest of his meal to Sam.
At the Staff Table, the teachers were stunned by Harry's father arriving out of a spontaneous fire and scolding his son. Well, all except for Dumbledore, who was used to the Devil's most dramatic entrances. Snape was keeping his cold emotionless face like usual, but his hand shivered just how scared he was. 'So that's what the King of Hell is like. I'll be sure not to push Magne too hard or else I'll be ending up dead or worse,' the Potions Master thought to himself.
Professor McGonagall was looking at the spot where Magne's father appeared and disappeared into ablaze. She started to feel Harry's adopted family were not muggles nor wizards as she had a completely rational fear of Lucifer's sheer magical ability to enter Hogwarts whenever he or the other Magnes pleased. 'I'll have to question Albus about this matter in the near future,' she thought to herself as she stood up to give the Gryffindors their timesheets.
Professor Flitwick was getting back into his chair as he fell over once the flames erupted in the hall. Professor Sprout quickly left the room in a hurry as she didn't want another surprise in the Great Hall. Madame Pomfrey was more concerned about the other staff asking if they were alright. And as for Hagrid, he was stiff in his chair as he understood the power of Lucifer and why he was feared by even Dark Wizards.
Gilderoy Lockhart was pretty much the only one that was both scared shitless yet questioning who that was. "Anyone mind telling me who that was and why he only talked to Potter?"
"Clearly you were not informed on everything upon being accepted as the new Defense Against The Dark Arts teacher," Snape told the author-turned-teacher. "That man was Potter's adopted father. A powerful wizard that chooses the muggle life as a jail warden. Also, Potter chooses to adopt his new family's name, Magne. Best to remember that, Lockhart."
"Right…" Lockhart replied as he showed a sheepish smile. "Well, I better be off. Have a good rest of the day," he stumbled off heading to the greenhouses of the school.
'I have no idea why the headmaster made him the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher,' Snape thought to himself as he stood up from the table and got prepared for his next Potions class.
Harry was glad that his first lesson was Herbology as he didn't want to deal with Snape after what happened with his father. He, Ron, and Hermione were heading to the greenhouse section of the school where all of the magical plants were being kept. When they entered, they put on the required protective wear and met with a few other classmates from Gryffindor and the other houses joined for the lesson. The classes waited in front of a large number of pots with moving leaves in about half of them until Professor Sprout came into view. "Morning everyone," Professor Sprout greeted everyone as they said their good mornings to the herbology teacher. "Welcome to Greenhouse 3, second years. Now gather around," she told the class as they were in front of many plants that were shifting in their pots with earmuffs in front of them. "Today, we are going to re-pot mandrakes. Now, who can tell me the properties of the mandrake root," she asked as she lifted a large pot in front of her as both Harry and Hermione's hands shot up. "Yes, Mr. Magne, Miss Granger."
"Mandrake, or Mandragora, is used to help return those who have been petrified to their original state," Hermione answered.
"But pulling up a mandrake is dangerous business as their screams can kill you," Harry added.
"Very good! 20 points to Gryffindor," Sprout said. "Now, our mandrakes are still only seedlings, so their cries won't kill you, but can still knock you out for several hours. That is why I've given you all a pair of earmuffs for auditory protection. Could you please put them on right away," she instructed the class as they each put on their earmuffs and flatten them down.
Harry was putting his on and flattening them down when he remembered something Stolas told him once and raised his hand. Seeing the boy's hand go up, Professor Sprout allowed him to speak. "Professor, I remembered something that someone close to my family said about Mandrakes when he had some of his own. Music can actually help calm them down or even stop crying out altogether."
"Well, Mr. Magne, let's try that method after my demonstration. Got to at least show you how we do it here at Hogwarts," Sprout told the second-year Gryffindor. "Everyone have their earmuffs on," she asked looking around the room, seeing everyone in view had their ears covered. "Good, good. Now, here's what you do. You grasp the mandrake firmly and pull it up sharply," she said as she pulled out the plant, revealing it to be a cluster of roots that resembled an ugly human baby. Immediately when it was yanked out of the soil, its cries were loud and definitely a surprise to many of the students, who started pushing down their earmuffs to block out the noise more. "Next, you dunk it into the new pot and sprinkle some soil on it to keep it warm," she yelled loud enough to instruct the class over the cries of the mandragora, which began to quiet down as it got fresh soil poured onto it. After watching the demonstration, Neville felt woozy and collapsed to the ground. "Longbottom's neglected his earmuffs," Sprout dryly remarked as she saw the Gryffindor pass out.
Looking closer, Seamus Finnegan saw Neville still had his earmuffs on. "No, ma'am. He just fainted."
Knowing that Neville wasn't the first student to pass out during the mandrake potting lesson and that he was still okay, Professor Sprout moved along with the class. "Yes, well, just leave him there. He'll wake up eventually. Magne, let's see about your music method that family friend suggested," the teacher said, focusing on the Prince of Hell after learning of Neville's condition.
Getting the okay, Harry pulled out his wand and uttered his spell "Accio, guitar and amp," he said. After another minute, everyone watched as Harry's guitar came floating into the greenhouse along with a small enchanted amplifier he got over the summer. Tuning the instrument, Harry plugged it into the amp and strummed the strings, giving everyone a slight hint at the music to come. Satisfied with the setup, Harry grinned as he began to play the intro to 'Walk' by Pantera. As he played his guitar, the amp provided not only the power it needed to work, but also the other instruments needed for the song he was playing. As the guitar riff sounded out through the greenhouse, the mandrakes actually seemed to move in time with the music as if they were metal fans headbanging at a concert. "Pull," he shouted to everyone as he got to the guitar solo.
Doing as Harry said, the students all pulled up their mandrakes and they were barely crying out. Mostly they were whimpering or were asleep as if the loud and heavy music acted as a lullaby to the plants. Everyone added their mandragora into the other pots supplied and started to add the soil, but Draco thought it was a smart idea to put his finger near the mouth of his mandrake and it bit down on him. The blond Slytherin pulled hard to get his finger out, then he looked over it to see that it was okay before practically dropping the ugly plant into the empty pot and dumping soil onto it. Impressed with the work, Professor Sprout gave Harry an extra 10 points to Gryffindor. "Excellent work, Mister Magne. That's definitely an interesting way of handling mandrakes, but it would be best to do it the old-fashioned way as more people know that more," Sprout said.
"Fair enough, Professor," Harry replied before tapping his things with his wand to send them back to his room with another spell. After the guitar and amplifier were out of the greenhouse, Harry lightly slapped Neville's face to wake him up before they both got to work on their own mandrakes.
After Herbology, was Transfiguration as Professor McGonagall was teaching them how to turn their beetles into buttons. Harry had no problem as his lessons were pretty much drilled into his head, but Ron had a hard time since his wand was broken. Whenever he cast a spell, it tended to backfire or not work properly, such as making his stag beetle smell like rotten eggs instead of properly doing the lesson. Even with magical Spellotape to keep it together, Harry could only remark that Ron's wand had a bad case of 'arcanile dysfunction'. "Think it's best to get a replacement," Harry said as he and his friends were heading to Defense Against the Dark Arts.
"And get another Howler? No thanks," Ron shuddered. "Your sister was nice enough to give us some extra money, but I don't want to tell my mom that my wand broke."
"It was a hand-me-down anyway, right," Hermione asked. "I'm sure that if you go to Diagon Alley and get a new one after the school year, you'll be much better after summer."
"Maybe, but I'm not taking that risk unless something really bad happens this year," Ron stated, taking his seat next to Harry.
When everyone made it to the Defense Against the Dark Arts room, they saw it was much more different looking than it did last year. Instead of garlic hanging in the room, there were portraits of Gilderoy Lockhart instead, including a framed portrait of himself painting a self-portrait. If it wasn't a different pose in the painting, Harry would have thought it was one of those endless image jokes. 'This guy is too much of a primping narcissist. He practically kisses himself in his own reflection. Who does he think he is? Dorian Gray? Something tells me I am not gonna learn much from this class,' Harry thought to himself.
The doors swung open and Professor Lockhart entered the class with golden silk robes. "Welcome to your new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher… me. Gilderoy Lockhart. Order of Merlin, Third Class. Honorary Member of the Dark Force Defense League. And the 5-time winner of Witch Weekly's Most Charming Smile Award," he arrogantly said, flashing his pearly-white teeth and making some of the girls swoon. "But I don't talk about that. I didn't get rid of the Bandon Banshee by smiling at her," he laughed for a few seconds.
The boys of the class just stared in confusion as to why this arrogant oaf was their new teacher after Quirrel unfortunate case of disintegration. "Only one of those things he said is true," Ron whispered to Harry, making him stifle a chuckle.
"Now be warned! It is my job to arm you against the foulest creatures to wizardkind," Lockhart said as he took out his wand and tapped on a birdcage that was covered in a crimson cloth as it moved and many squeaky mumbles were heard from it. "You may find yourselves facing the worse fears in this room. Know only that no harm can befall you whilst I am here. I must ask you not to scream. It might provoke them," he stated, shouting the last words before dramatically removing the cloth. As he did, there were several blue fairy-like creatures that were shaking the cage in attempts to break out. Their voices were so shrill, they sounded like a flock of arguing budgies.
"Cornish Pixies," Seamus laughed as he thought this was some kind of joke.
"Freshly caught Cornish Pixies," Lockhart stated as the Irish boy laughed harder. "Laugh if you will, Mr. Finnegan, but pixies can be devilishly tricky little blighters," he told the class as if it was a grave warning, but most of the boys only laughed more. "Alright. Let's see what you make of them," Lockhart said as he opened the cage. Immediately, the pixies cheered and swarmed all around the room, making a ruckus as they messed with everyone's supplies, pulled ears and hair, and ripped the pages out of books.
Everyone ducked for cover or ran around to try getting away from the beasts, but Neville was unlucky and two pixies lifted him up to the chandelier by his ears, leaving him hanging by his robes like his failure of a first flying lesson last year. "Please, get me down," Neville shouted.
"As soo as we can, Neville," Hermione called back before a pixie started pulling at her bushy hair. "Get off me!"
"Stop. Hold still," Harry said as he brought out his sword and grew it to regular size, slicing a pixie in half before he went to attack more.
Seeing the chaos was getting out of hand, Lockhart moved his wand around and attempted to cast a spell to deal with the pixies. "Peskipiski Pesternomi!" However, the spell was just like his teaching methods and accomplished nothing. At that, a pixie grabbed his wand and easily disarmed him. The pixie that stole his wand flew up to the ceiling where the replica skeleton of a dragon was hanging and destroyed the chain, bringing it down. Ducking out of the way for cover, Lockhart ran past his magical portrait of himself, who saw the rampage and ran out of frame for his own safety. "I'll ask the three of you to nip the rest of them back into their cage," he said to Harry, Ron, and Hermione after he failed to save a photograph of himself from a pixie.
"What do we do now," Ron exclaimed as a trio of pixies actually managed to snatch Harry's holy sword out from his hands.
Pulling out her wand, Hermione decided to perform a real spell that would actually help with the situation. "Immobulus," she shouted, unleashing a wave of blue light that paralyzed the pixies. When they were hit, the magical beasts could only float helplessly in the air, dropping whatever they held in their hands.
Neville looked around at the pixies, who could only move their big black eyes and blink as they drifted in the air. "Why is it always me," he questioned, remarking on his constant bad luck.
"I'd blame it being that awkward age," Harry guessed before pulling out his wand and using a Levitation Charm to safely get his classmate down. "I'm sure you'll have better luck in about three years."
"I hope so," Neville muttered as he dusted himself off. "Do we leave them there or what?"
"I'm all for target practice," Harry nonchalantly voiced. "You think if we hit them with another one of those spells they'll explode?"
"You really have a dark sense of humor, Harry," Ron said.
"Blame my dad. And if you want humor, we could always find a spell that makes them turn into breakfast cereal," the Prince of Hell said as he picked up his sword and shrunk it down to size before stuffing it back in his robes.
"Let's just round them back up and clean up this mess," Hermione stated as she waved her wand to round up all the pixies and stuff them back in the cage. While Harry used the repair charm to fix up the room to the way it was, Ron and Neville helped to at least pick up all the shredded books.
After a long day, Harry for the first time, wrote to his family and friends back in Hell.
"Dear, Mom, Dad, Charlie /Verosika /Octavia /Loona.
I hope this letter reaches you as I would hate to see them get intercepted. As you know, I had it rough getting to Hogwarts and I had a less than dramatic entrance to the school. I still have detention, but I am making it up in classes as I work hard. The new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher is worse than the previous one. Gilderoy Lockhart doesn't seem qualified to teach my class as he didn't do anything but unleash a swarm of pixies in class that caused mass chaos. I hate to say it because of last year's experience, but I think it should have been Snape to teach the class. Hope all is well.
Sincerely, Harry."
He finished as he took his wand and made four copies of the letters and handed them to Hedwig. The snow-white owl gladly took the letters as it was such a long time since she delivered a message home. "Here's hoping for a better year, Harry," he told himself, but knew that he was jinxing himself as his new adventure at school was just beginning.
And that wraps this chapter up! I hope you guys enjoyed it or not. I want to Thank WaterDragonMavrick for the editing and Beta Reading as always.
Next time, the first victim of the serpent strikes after some new information before Quiddich practice and the raciest word for a Muggleborn is dropped. And hopes to Harry on Lucifer's punishment. P.S. Harry was calling God his Grandfather and prayed to him. Anyway, See you All in Hell!