Hi everyone... My apologies for the delay in publishing this chapter. I have just been packed with work and couldn't get my motivation up to write much. I had this chapter ready to go a long time back, but yeah... whatever... I'm back now...

Chapter 56 is here... Enjoy!

"Accio wand" shrieked Neville as he pointed his wand at his old wand, which was lying on the floor, far away from him. Just as he uttered the spell, a wand swooshed towards him swiftly. The next moment, Neville's hand stumbled while catching it and the wand fell to the floor.

Hermione gave a chuckle as Neville picked up his old wand.

"You did well," she remarked with a smile, looking at Neville.

The room of requirement had turned into an enormous hall for the phoenix juniors to practice in. It was almost the size of 2-3 classrooms, giving enough space for everyone to do their thing.

It was the morning after the Christmas Ball, hosted by Gilderoy Lockhart. Everyone, except Daphne, had turned up to the room of requirement. Later that afternoon, the students of Hogwarts were going to leave for their Christmas break. And hence this session was going to be the last one for the term.

Neville had been getting used to his new wand, the one that he had bought from Ollivander's wand shop at Hogsmeade during their visit on Halloween weekend. And the truth was, ever since he had started using his new wand, he had felt himself perform at a much higher level than ever before. And every once in a while, he would go and thank John for advising him to change his wand.

"You should not be using your father's wand, Neville," remarked John during one of their first phoenix juniors' sessions.

"Why not?" asked Neville, surprised.

"Because it's your father's wand, not yours... Parents' wand does work reasonably well for their kids, but nothing ever comes close to your own. It's about time you got one of your own," replied John.

And that piece of advice changed everything, and now, Neville was improving like never before. Harry and Ron always made it a point to spend some time with him during the session. When it came to wandwork, they had complete confidence in everyone to take care of themselves, everyone except Neville. But in the recent few sessions, they were getting more and more impressed with how well he was doing. And they made sure Neville knew about it.

Right beside Neville, Hermione and Ron were going at each other, alternating attack and defence. While in a different corner of the room, Draco was practising his hexes with John.

Some time passed and everyone had switched up what they were doing. Hermione had taken a spot in one corner to practice her charms. Neville and John were doing basic transfiguration, while Ron joined Draco in practising the hexes.

...

{{{ The following section of the story will comprise 2 different scenes, taking place in 2 different places, simultaneously. Text in the normal font will represent one scene, and text in italics, similar to this, will represent the other scene. Hope there won't be any confusion. Enjoy reading... }}}

...

For a long time now, Harry had been practising to produce a Patronus that could communicate with whomever he wanted. In all the phoenix juniors sessions, whether he practised his transfiguration with Ron, charms with Hermione, duelling with Daphne and Draco, or guided Neville in whatever he was doing, there was always one thing he gave time for. With the help of John, he would always spend some time trying to produce a Patronus which could send a message. And he had succeeded in doing so as well.

One evening, about a month ago, Harry had successfully produced a Patronus and sent a message to Hermione who was with Neville in another corner of the room. But unfortunately for him, he had only managed to do so successfully a few more times after that. Unlike anything else, Harry found it nigh impossible to consistently succeed in producing a Patronus that could communicate.

And hence, even that morning, apart from spending a few minutes here and there with Draco, Neville John and Ron, Harry stuck to practising the Patronus charm. They had been there for well over an hour and unfortunately for Harry, it had been a deeply disappointing day. Whether it was the fight with Daphne the night before, or the fact that she had refused to turn up that morning, making some excuse up, or maybe, that ever since he had woken up that morning, he had been feeling a little uneasy, a bit short-tempered and was finding it hard to focus, Harry did not know. Whatever the reasons were, Harry was getting frustrated, so much so that he was struggling even to produce a Patronus, let alone one that could send a message.

...

"Fool... Fool... Fool..." cursed Voldemort angrily. Lockhart would have probably been annihilated had he somehow been in front of the Dark Lord at that moment.

"My Lord? He cannot be given such an important..." began Barty but was angrily cut off by Voldemort.

"How many times have I told you to not question my choice?"

And Barty shut up immediately. Voldemort was angry and he was not about to add fuel to the fire.

...

Harry had just tried and failed yet another time in producing a Patronus when he noticed Hermione walk over to him.

"Hey," she greeted as she walked over to him.

"Hermione... what happened?" asked Harry.

"Having a bad day?" she asked in return.

"No, I'm fine," replied Harry hastily. And Hermione gave him a curious look.

"Maybe you should take a break and do something else," suggested Hermione calmly.

"No, Hermione... I don't need a break," yelled Harry in reply, and looked taken aback by what he had just done. Hermione was taken aback too and had retreated a few steps in shock. And the rest of the juniors in the room had stopped what they were doing and were now staring at the pair.

"Sorry... I didn't mean to," began Hermione.

"Leave me alone," interrupted Harry with a similar tone, even if he may not have yelled it this time.

Shocked and stunned by Harry's behaviour, Hermione retreated back to where she came from, leaving Harry alone with himself.

...

"Crucio"

And Barty Crouch Jr writhed in pain. He knew this would happen if he ever crossed his master, and that day had arrived. However, more than anything, Barty knew that it was displaced anger. He was basically taking what Lockhart would otherwise be taking.

"I can't see her anywhere, can you, Barty?" sniggered Voldemort. "You promised me months ago that you will bring Jane to me, alive... Where is she?" he added angrily.

"Crucio"

"Do not question me... when you can't do your own task..."

Voldemort's angered voice thundered and echoed across the manor.

"Yes... My Lord..." pleaded Barty, as he twisted and turned in pain.

...

Ron gestured to everyone non-verbally to get moving with what they were doing. He glanced at John who took the indication and walked over to Harry.

"Are you alright?" he asked as he walked over to Harry. However, while he uttered his words, he noticed a drastic change in Harry's expression, from a reasonably neutral one to an exasperated look.

"Not you too..." muttered Harry under his breath.

"Huh? I beg you pardon?" retorted John.

"Nothing... what is it?" asked Harry.

"You have been a bit distant today. Has it got anything to do with Daphne?" asked John calmly.

"No"

"Look, Harry... I have never bothered about what goes on between you two... but if you need someone to talk to... you can talk to me," said John, reassuringly.

"I'm fine, alright? Go and get on with whatever you were doing," retorted Harry, frustrated.

"You're not fine... You never act like this," retorted John, calmly. However, it was not even the tip of the iceberg, for what happened next, took him and everyone else by shock.

In a quick and unexpected motion, Harry had his wand pointed at John and stunned him with the stunning charm. John flew back a few feet and fell to the ground motionless.

...

{{{End of Section}}}

...

"John," exclaimed Ron and dashed towards him. Draco and Neville stood motionless, while Hermione dashed towards John as well.

Harry stared at John angrily, his face was red and he was clutching his wand tightly.

It took a few seconds, but John got up gingerly and stared at Harry, shocked.

"Stupefy" cried Harry again, this time, John was ready and shielded himself instantly.

"Harry," exclaimed Ron and Hermione together. "What are you doing?" added Ron, shocked. He had his wand at the ready and so did Hermione.

"Guys... stay back," whispered John and walked cautiously towards Harry.

"Expelliarmus"

"Expelliarmus"

"Stupefy"

Harry directed a barrage of attack directed at John, but he was equal to the task and defended easily.

John, however, did not have intentions to just stand there and defend whatever Harry threw at him.

The moment he got half a chance, John began a barrage of attacks of his own. However, he had the advantage of experience and skill that Harry did not have. Harry was no match to John, especially since John could perform magic without incantation. Within seconds, Harry had been pushed back a few times, had fallen on his back once and had gotten his legs in a tangle.

And there was a sudden switch, that seemed to have turned in Harry. With every attack, with every instance he misread John's attack, Harry's face got redder, and his anger seemed to grow stronger. But suddenly, he was not angry anymore.

"Wait..." remarked Harry, with a confused tone and got up with his wand by his side.

John, Ron and Hermione, who were all near enough to Harry, spotted the sudden change in his expression. John walked over to Harry cautiously.

"I'm... uh... sorry... I don't know what came over me," whispered Harry, his voice barely audible.

"Harry... you're scaring us... what just happened?" asked John as he walked over to him and placed both his hands on Harry's shoulder.

Harry thought for a few seconds, trying to understand why he had acted the way he had.

"I don't know... I just got really angry for a minute there," replied Harry. "I'm so sorry... I should have never attacked you," he added.

"It's alright... Apology accepted," said John with a smile on his face. Ron walked over to Harry.

"Mate... is everything alright between you and Daphne?" he asked, looking concerned.

"We just had a fight... It's not a big deal," replied Harry. Whatever had happened just then, had nothing to do with Daphne. But he knew how it looked, and he knew there was very little he could say to prove otherwise.

"I think we have all had enough today, haven't we? You all need to leave in a few hours anyway," said John and glanced at everyone.

A few minutes later, the six of them made their way out of the room of requirement.

"Hey... I don't think I need to say this, but let's keep what happened between us, shall we?" remarked John. Everyone nodded in agreement. Harry gave a wry smile in relief.

However, John pulled Harry aside. Ron and Hermione noticed this but didn't react to it.

"Harry..." began John.

"John... if this is about earlier... I'm sorry, yeah? I don't know what came over me and it will never happen again," said Harry hastily. With every minute that passed, Harry grew more and more embarrassed.

"Hey... it's fine, alright? You don't need to keep apologizing. What has happened has happened," retorted John calmly. "There is something else though," he added. Harry looked at him, intrigued by his tone. John took out his watch from his pocket and held it out.

"What happened?" asked Harry, confused, as he took the watch.

"Last night, for some reason, my watch went off... and it was showing that you were in danger," replied John cautiously.

"What? When?" asked Harry, shocked.

"Some time close to the end of the ball," replied John.

Harry went into a deep think and after a few seconds replied, "but nothing happened last night," he said.

"When I came down, I saw that you were talking with Lockhart," said John.

"Lockhart? He was just... he was just being himself, you know? Talking about being a celebrity and all... and wanted to have a drink with me and talk more about himself, I suppose," replied Harry, perplexed. "Could it be a false alarm?" he asked.

"Maybe... Hasn't happened before though..." replied John. "Well, stay alert and careful, Harry," he added, looking concerned.

"Yeah, of course," replied Harry and with that, the boys left for the common room.

The Christmas holidays were a nice change of pace. John could easily roam around the castle and enjoy its emptiness. Sure, it wasn't like he was the only one in the entire school who stayed back for Christmas, but he was definitely amongst a small minority that did.

It was a nice afternoon, and John found himself strolling around the castle with a book in his hand. He was now on the 2nd floor and strolling along when he heard a noise. John looked around the corridor and couldn't see a soul.

"Whose voice was that?" he wondered and cautiously walked ahead. The further he got, the louder the voice became. A few steps later, John realised that the voice he had heard, had come from Lockhart's office.

"Get him out of the castle, you fool," said an angry voice.

"Yes, My Lord," replied Lockhart, his voice barely audible and definitely different from his usual tone. John's ears perked up.

"You know what will happen if you fail me"

"My Lord... I will not fail you again," pleaded Lockhart.

"This can't be true... Lockhart was shivering... And there was only one person who had that effect on wizards and witches... Voldemort... He was here to spy for Voldemort... The watch... he was going to hurt Harry... Oh my..." John's mind was suddenly numb. Just as a million thoughts fired in all directions, he heard something that made him panic instantly.

"Idiot... there's someone listening to our conversation... You fool," said Voldemort in an angry and urgent tone.

John quickly gathered himself and started running away from Lockhart's office. He would have gone a few feet away when he heard the door open behind him. He turned around for just a quick glance and realised that Lockhart had his wand in his hand and was ready to use it.

John took out his wand instantly and saw a jet of red light fast approaching him. He slashed his wand and shielded himself.

"Mr Smith," exclaimed Lockhart as he walked a little closer to John.

"You deceitful little..."

"Careful what you say to your Professor, Mr Smith"

"Professor? You think you're going to be here for long, once everyone finds out your true colour?"

Lockhart fired a couple of more stunners at John, however, he seemed to shield himself pretty well. However, John's defences weren't good enough to last long enough against a desperate Lockhart.

One of Lockhart's spells breached John's defences and he fell to the ground.

"Aha... finally... I thought I had lost my touch," exclaimed Lockhart with a beaming smile. He walked closer to John and stunned him a few times till he was unconscious and dragged him into his office.

After a few minutes, John regained consciousness and found himself inside Lockhart's office. He turned around and saw Lockhart standing behind him.

"Do you really think you can get away with this?"

"Mr Smith, you're smart and clever. But if I had let kids like you get in my way, I wouldn't be where I am," remarked Lockhart as he walked over to John.

"Now... let's make this quick and easy, shall we?" he added as he took out his wand and pointed it at John.

"Go on... kill me and be done with it," sighed John in a defeated tone. "But you'll not get away with this," he added in a fierce tone.

"Kill you? Now why would I do that, when I could easily alter your memories?" smirked Lockhart.

"Obliviate" muttered Lockhart. John felt a strange sensation in his head.

After a few seconds, with a grin on his face, Lockhart muttered, "Mutatio Memoriae"

Lockhart walked away from John who seemed to look woozy and unsteady and the next moment brought back a glass of water.

"Mr Smith," exclaimed Lockhart as he handed John the glass. John absent-mindedly took the water and drank it. After a few seconds, he looked up, glanced at Lockhart and then got up hastily, confused.

"Professor Lockhart?" he exclaimed, confused.

"Are you alright, Mr Smith?" asked Lockhart with a concerned tone. "You fainted the moment you walked in," he added as he helped John get up to his feet. Lockhart bent down and picked up the book John had with him.

"Yeah... I'm... fine," replied John, confused as he looked around.

"You should take a break, Mr Smith. Enjoy your holidays... Take it from someone like me, who works non-stop, taking a break is just as important as working hard or studying hard," said Lockhart with a beaming smile.

John gave a quick nod and walked out of Lockhart's office.

"How are you doing, mate?" greeted Ron as he bumped fists with John.

"Brilliant... how are Molly and Arthur doing?" retorted John.

"Hey... how have you been?" greeted Hermione as she gave John a quick hug.

"Everybody is fine... They were upset you had decided to stay back at Hogwarts," replied Ron with a chuckle.

"What can I say... I like it here," smirked John.

It took a while, but eventually, everyone settled down in the great hall. Harry joined the group a couple of minutes later and took his seat beside John.

Just as he did, he noticed something, that none of the others had.

"Who's that?" asked Harry, intrigued and gestured towards an elderly gentleman sitting along with the other professors. The intrigue wasn't just because of the presence of an unfamiliar face. It was also because of how differently he was dressed. There was of course the way muggles usually dressed, and then there was the way wizards dressed in Britain, two completely different styles. But this man had somehow turned up with the 3rd kind of attire. Shirt and trousers, a vest and a jacket and a neck-tie to finish it up. He had a prominent and marginally intimidating moustache, though his demeanour seemed a lot more jovial. And he also had a walking cane.

"Wow," gasped Hermione, surprised. Ron looked confused at the state of the man.

"What's he wearing?" remarked Ron. John looked surprised as well. He didn't know that there was going to be an addition to the staff mid-year.

"I don't think he's from around here," replied John.

Soon, everyone had spotted the odd professor out and there were murmurs across the great hall. Fortunately for everyone, Albus Dumbledore welcomed the new professor once everyone was done with their glorious Hogwarts feast.

After the customary greetings, Dumbledore continued, "With a great round of applause, I would like all of us to welcome, from the rich wizarding nation of the United States of America, Professor Benjamin White," he said and initiated a round of applause that the students and the rest of the staff joined in on. Benjamin White stood up, walked up to the front, and bowed down to accept his welcome.

"Professor White," continued Dumbledore as he gave him a quick glance, "has graciously accepted our request to extend his expertise in the vast knowledge of duelling and combat to all of us," he added.

"Thank you, Albus," said Benjamin with a warm smile. "Thank you, everyone," he added glancing at all the students.

"There will be slight modifications to all of your timetables. Heads of your respective houses will take care of that for you," added Dumbledore.

Post concluding remarks, the students left for their respective classes.

"Professor of Combat, has a nice ring to it, doesn't it?" remarked Ron.

"Dumbledore's going to have all of us trained to face You-Know-Who one day," added Harry.

"It's going to be interesting learning from him. Magic in the USA is very different from the way we have it here," remarked Hermione.

But to all of their disappointment, they found out the following morning, that the Combat Trainings were only going to be arranged for 5th years and above.

Otherwise, the second half of their 4th year took off on top gear. The intensity of the classes and the amount of homework being given in every single subject had gone up a notch.

So, it wasn't a surprise to either Hermione or John that the other hadn't talked about resuming their sessions. However, a couple of weeks into the term, one late afternoon, Hermione approached John.

"Can we meet in the room of requirement later today?" asked Hermione as the pair made their way from their Arithmancy class.

John chuckled and replied, "we don't have to, not anymore," he said.

"Why?" asked Hermione, alarmed. "You promised me, we'd get to the decluttering eventually," she added.

John continued grinning. Finally, looking at the confused expression on Hermione's face, he replied, "I don't have to help you de-clutter your thoughts," he said.

"But you promised..." began Hermione, looking distraught, but got interrupted by John.

"Hermione... I promised you that I'd help you de-clutter your thoughts. I never said I'd personally do it for you. Besides, I don't have to do it for you... because you can do that for yourself," he replied with a twinkle in his eye.

"But, I don't know... how..." retorted Hermione.

"You do... what's the first thing you do when you perform Legilimency? Or, what is the first thing you do to protect yourself with Occlumency?" he asked in return.

Hermione thought for a second and replied, "To perform Legilimency, the first thing we do... is to focus on what we want to know... clear your mind..." she said and paused with a shocked expression. "... we get rid of all irrelevant thoughts and focus on what we want. And to protect us from Legilimency, we should be alert at all times and we should have an unburdened mind, and we should ourself from all emotion," she added excitedly.

"There you go," retorted John, proudly.

"Wait... so you've been teaching me... without actually teaching me?" asked Hermione, shocked.

"Well... I did tell you that decluttering should be a natural process and that we should never let anyone do it for us," smirked John.

Hermione was in awe and had gone into deep thought. She realised how much better she had handled some of the things she saw and experienced, all those moments Harry and Daphne spent with the group, ever since she had started her sessions with John.

As the pair made their way back to the common room, Hermione spoke up again.

"We could still meet up in there, you know?" she remarked.

"Of course, we can... are you really interested in legilimency?" retorted John, surprised.

"It's a neat skill to have. Besides, it's something I can't learn from a book. I'd need an instructor," replied Hermione and added, "like you," with a small grin.

John gave a chuckle and replied, "sure... why not?"

So, that evening, Hermione and John sneaked into the room of requirement, as they always did. And just like every other time recently, Hermione, first had to demonstrate Occlumency and resist John's advances, and then after a few attempts, the roles would be reversed.

It seemed like just another day for Hermione. She had applied all the rules and best practices that John had suggested and had succeeded in keeping John away from invading and reading her mind. It had been one of her most successful days in doing so. However, the case with John was different.

It had all started off in a typical fashion. Hermione was putting up great resistance and John had started using his tricks to get around Hermione's defences. However, it all started going south when he began exerting himself.

"It is just a minor headache," he told himself. "I'm just tired, it's been a long day," he thought. But the harder he tried to ignore the progressively increasing pain, the worse it seemed to get.

After a while, he decided to give up.

"Let's swap," he told Hermione.

"Looks like someone's coming up short," she taunted with a chuckle as she prepared herself to invade John's mind.

"Legilimens"

And the images started flashing in front of her eyes.

"Who's teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts this year?" asked John. Dumbledore remained silent, and so did Snape.

"You have appointed someone, right?" he asked.

The image skipped to the next one and Hermione saw herself.

"Guess who's our Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher this year," said Hermione as she walked over to John.

"Gilderoy Lockhart," exclaimed Hermione, excitedly.

And the image changed again. This time, Hermione found herself in the great hall, on the evening of their first day back at Hogwarts, and she saw Lockhart through the eyes of John.

"We all have something to learn about his experience and expertise," said Dumbledore with a smile and walked back to his seat.

Hermione was wondering why she was given free rein into John's mind, there seemed to be very little resistance from his side. It was then that she heard a noise and her concentration broke off.

Hermione opened her eyes and saw John lying on the ground, his hands clutching his head tightly like he was in unbearable pain.

"John," exclaimed Hermione as she crept near him.

"Aargh! My head... hurts," he exclaimed weakly, still clutching his head.

"Oh my God... Did I do something wrong?" she exclaimed, shocked and placed her palm over John's forehead. He seemed to be running a temperature and also seemed to be shivering a little.

"My head's been hurting for a while... I thought I was tired, but... this... is hurting like never before," he exclaimed in anguish.

Hermione and John made their way out of the room of requirement and went straight to Madam Pomfrey. John had gotten significantly better in the few minutes since they had stopped their session, but Hermione insisted on taking him to Poppy.

Madam Pomfrey, however, had very little insight on why John had experienced the headache. John stayed overnight at the hospital wing.

"Where's John?" asked Ron as he saw Hermione come alone for dinner.

"He's at the hospital wing," replied Hermione, gloomily.

"What happened?" asked Ron, alarmed.

"John's at the hospital wing?" asked Harry, who hadn't been paying attention.

"He has a headache and a mild fever," replied Hermione.

Ron and Harry looked at her confused.

"He went to Madam Pomfrey for a headache?" asked Ron, confused.

Hermione remained silent.

"What were you two doing?" asked Harry as he noticed Hermione's conflicted expression.

Harry and Ron's intrigue grew even more as Hermione remained silent for a few seconds. Finally, she decided to spill the beans.

"We were in the room of requirement," she whispered, breaking the silence.

"In the room of requirement? Why?" asked Ron, surprised.

"John has been training me... for some time now," replied Hermione.

Ron and Harry looked shocked, in a good way though.

"He has been teaching me legilimency," added Hermione in a whisper.

"Legilimency?" retorted Harry.

"He's teaching you to read other's minds?" asked Ron, excitedly.

"Yes... you could say that" whispered Hermione in reply.

"Brilliant," exclaimed Ron.

"That's what you two have been up to," remarked Harry as if a realization hit him.

"Why didn't you tell us this before?" asked Ron, surprised.

"No reason," lied Hermione and quickly diverted the topic. "That's why he went to Madam Pomfrey. I was worried that I had done it to him, you know?" she added.

"What did she say?" asked Ron.

"We told her everything. She didn't seem to think I caused it. John's gotten better though, he should be back tomorrow morning," replied Hermione.

And John was indeed back the following morning. To anyone who asked him, he shrugged off his stay at the hospital wing as an insignificant occurrence, but internally, he was worried.

The headaches had stopped about an hour after he had left the room of requirement, and his head hadn't hurt ever since. From the moment he was back, to test out a theory he had, he tried to perform legilimency on random students. And almost immediately, he felt the headaches return and he stopped instantly. In the following few days, he tested the theory a few more times, and the results were the same. Every time he stressed and strained to perform legilimency, his head hurt. The longer he attempted, the more pain he felt radiating from his head.

Hermione, John, Harry and Ron were walking back to the common room sadly. They had just witnessed a mauling that the Gryffindor quidditch team had received from Slytherin. The Slytherins weren't just ahead by a big margin of 120 points, but Draco Malfoy had then managed to catch the snitch before Colin Creevey could, which meant that Gryffindor had lost by a whopping 270 points. And with that defeat, any chance they had of lifting the quidditch trophy had vanished.

Once they had gotten back to the common room, Hermione approached John.

"Hey," she said as she sat down beside John.

"Hi"

"I was wondering if we should get together for another session," she remarked hopefully.

John looked around tentatively. "I don't think we should," he whispered looking a little worried.

"Why?" asked Hermione, confused. "Wait... are you still?" she began but got cut off by John.

"Yes," he interjected before Hermione could finish.

"What?"

"I think this is a side-effect of my... well... the permanent transformation," he whispered.

Hermione looked concerned, alarmed and confused all at the same time.

"I tried a few times, to put my mind, my brain under stress... I tried to perform legilimency, but every time I do, I get the headache," he said.

"But what about our regular classes? I thought you were doing fine," retorted Hermione, looking worried.

"I was doing fine... Severus' potions helped me significantly. Maybe I should start taking them again," sighed John.

However, the real reason why he was getting headaches, he'd never find out. How could he, when he doesn't even remember how, when or that it happened?

A few days went by and life in Hogwarts was progressing smoothly for everyone. John had put his headaches behind him. Harry and Daphne were doing fairly well, they seemed to have put their differences behind them as well. The phoenix juniors' sessions were happening time and again too. They were into their 4th week since being back from the Christmas holidays. It was late in the evening and the entire group of phoenix juniors had just made it out of the room of requirement. As Harry, Neville, Ron, Hermione and John made their way back to the Gryffindor common room, they found the common room chatty and more crowded than usual.

"He might be rubbish at teaching, but he sure does know a thing or two about throwing parties," they heard someone say.

"Valentine's day at Hogsmeade might actually be decent this year," they heard from another direction.

As they made their way into the common room, Ron spotted Dean and Seamus engaged in an animated discussion.

"What's up lads?" he asked as he walked over to them.

"Haven't you heard?" remarked Dean, surprised.

"Lockhart's throwing a party at Hogsmeade... on Valentine's day... says he's going to make it the most memorable one ever," replied Seamus, excitedly.

Ron turned back to glance at the rest. He had a mixed reaction on his face, while a couple looked excited and the rest confused.

Meanwhile, a long way away from Hogwarts...

"Barty..." called out Voldemort.

"Yes, my lord?"

"Benjamin White... find out who he is," said Voldemort. Barty nodded and left for his next mission.

So... How was this chapter? Hope you liked the "2 scenes" happening simultaneously. And overall, I hope you enjoyed the chapter. I'll get chapter 57 up next week... I promise 😁

PS - It's a big one... the next one... Stay tuned!