AN: Thanks for all the reviews and follows guys! It means a lot! :)
It was as Hazel tucked into her breakfast on Friday that she realised something.
Well, two things. The first was that she, Ginny and Colin had made it down to the Great Hall without getting lost for the first time all week. That was thanks to her and Ginny sacking Colin from navigation duties. He'd somehow led them to the Herbology gardens on Wednesday morning!
The second thing was that in just five days, Hogwarts already felt more like home to her than Privet Drive had in all the years she had lived there. There were so many weird things she didn't understand and so many more she had yet to see but there was a familiarity about the castle now, a comfort she couldn't really explain. It just felt right to be here.
Did they really have to go back next summer?
Still, she was really looking forward to today. For all Hogwarts felt like home, school was school, and the weekend was just around the corner. And today was when she'd finally see Gilderoy Lockhart in action.
They had a Charms lesson first though. That went about as well as usual.
"Do you think Professor Flitwick is mad at me?" Colin asked as they made their way to Defence Against Dark Arts.
"I can't see why," Ginny said, "I mean, all you did was set fire to his classroom."
"It was an accident!" Colin said, "I was just casting lumos and it actually worked!"
"It worked very well," Hazel said. Colin's lumos had quickly turned from a nice, soft glow to launching stars that bounced around the room and set fire to anything they touched.
"It's the first spell I've managed to properly cast," Colin sounded very dejected, "I hope Professor Flitwick isn't cross."
"Nah, this sort of thing happens all the time," Ginny said as she dusted ash off her school bag, "I don't think Seamus Finnegan has got through a class yet without blowing something up."
"You still managed to work the spell," Hazel said. Why could she still smell burning? "I've not done it yet."
"And it livened up the morning," Ginny stopped suddenly and stared at Hazel, "I think your hair's still on fire."
"Put it out! Put it out!"
By the time Ginny had beaten the ember out of Hazel's hair and they'd dowsed it with some drinking fountain water, they were outside Lockhart's classroom.
"It honestly doesn't look that bad," said Ginny.
It felt bad, and it would be weeks before it grew out! She couldn't keep her hand on her head like a weird teapot forever!
"Yeah, it's not that bad," said Colin, "It's just like a black spot!"
Yup, weird teapot it was.
They were joined a few minutes later by Romilda.
"Hey," said Ginny, "How was the hospital wing?"
"Fine," She tossed her long, unburnt hair, "Madame Pomfrey cured the scald in a few seconds."
"Sorry, Romilda," Colin said miserably.
Romilda waved it off, "I was happy to get out of class, but I'd have been so mad if any landed in my hair. Just imagine the damage!"
"Yeah," Hazel said sadly, "Imagine."
"Oh, that looks dreadful," said Romilda and Hazel's head shrank into her shoulders, "Here!"
She pulled a ribbon from her pocket and tied Hazel's hair into a bun.
"There we go, always have a backup when it comes to hair!"
"Thanks, Romilda!" That was so much better!
The door swung open, and they took their seats. Romilda went up to the front which seemed the best spot as far as Hazel was concerned but Ginny led them to the back.
"Don't you want to sit closer?"
"No."
"Come on, Ginny, this is going to be great!"
"Did you hear anything Ron and Harry said about their class? All he did was unleash a horde of pixies on them!"
"Hermione said he was just testing them."
"I'm not sure I'd take Hermione's word on anything to do with Lockhart."
The door swung open before Hazel could answer and in swept Gilderoy Lockhart. His blonde hair was flawlessly swept back, and his robes were a beautiful forget-me-not blue that matches his eyes. He was wearing a long cape that flowed as he walked, a bit like Snape, only Lockhart made it look really cool rather than absolutely terrifying.
"Good afternoon class!" He beamed at them. How could any human have such an amazing smile? "I hope you've all had a good first week back and that it hasn't tired you out too much!"
There were murmurs from the class.
"Good! Because what I am going to show you in this class will test your nerve and your skill. Do not be fooled by my accomplishments, I make defeating the dark arts look effortless. You will not be so comfortable should you face them. Still, it is my job here to share with you just a little piece of my skill, which I should think needs no explanation. I'm sure the Baden Banshee would agree!"
He grinned at the class and Hazel giggled; partly at the joke, partly because that smile was just so…amazing! Ginny looked on disdainfully.
"However, an important piece of housekeeping first. I can see you've all got a full set of my published works, very good! I just need to see how well you've taken it all in."
He moved around the desks and passed parchment to each of them. Hazel took the parchment and her chest fluttered that he was so close.
Please don't notice the burnt spot…
"This is just a little quiz to see how much you've learned from my achievements. Nothing too serious and nothing too difficult. You'll have half the class and a prize to whoever gets the highest score."
Hazel grabbed a quill so quickly she nearly knocked over Ginny's ink bottle.
1. What is Gilderoy Lockhart's favourite holiday destination?
That was easy! He was in the south of France in Holidays with Hags when he'd defended a tavern from one. He'd been so brave…
2. What honour did the village of Chigu grant to Gilderoy Lockhart upon his defeat of the Tibetan Yeti?
She had only read Year with a Yeti once…what was it they'd called him? Oh wait! Yes, Pawo, the local word for 'warrior'.
The questions went around the back of the parchment as well and some of them were very difficult.
49. Who wrote in the Daily Prophet when Gilderoy Lockhart received his Order of Merlin that it was a crime he had only received the third class and that Cornelius Fudge should be sent to St Mungo's?
She had no idea. What was St Mungo's?
50. How many galleons did the Wimborne Wasps offer Gilderoy Lockhart to stand in as their seeker?
"That's time, everyone," Gilderoy collected up the parchment and Hazel felt that fluttering again. She definitely hadn't gotten them all right, but she had hopefully done okay, "Let's see."
He sat at his desk and began marking the quizzes. He looked so dreamy when he was concentrating. This must be how he looked when he faced hags, yetis, banshees and all sorts of monsters. Why was Ginny tapping her fingers on the desk like that? It was really annoying!
He stood up at last and smiled that smile again, "I must say I had hoped you would have taken in more from my books than this, tut tut. Nobody remembered that it was dear old Elias Worthington who wrote about me in the Daily Prophet, though I was of course honoured by a mere third-class medal. And the Wimborne Wasps offered me a thousand galleons to help them win the league, but I thought it unfair to take the place of their seeker. Though I'm sure the Wasps though the Bats were the greatest evil at the time!"
He grinned around at them all again. There were a few weak laughs, including from Hazel.
"But," he shuffled through the parchments again, "We do have a clear winner. Hazel Potter! Come up and get your prize!"
Her stomach lurched. She'd never won anything in her life!
She hurried to the front of the class and Lockhart handed her a signed photograph of his beaming himself. It was good, but the smile he was giving her was so much better. Her heart did that fluttering thing again and she found it a little hard to breath.
"Well done, Miss Potter, back to your seat."
She held her prize tightly in both hands. Colin clapped with the rest of the class and even Ginny was amused.
"You should see your face," she giggled, "I didn't think anyone could go that pink."
"And now, to business," Lockhart was suddenly serious. Hazel's heart skipped another beat, "It is my duty to arm you against the worst our world can throw at you. Rest assured, that you are perfectly safe."
He pulled out a cage and whipped off the cover to reveal what looked like little winged, blue people with pointed, mischievous faces.
"That's right, Cornish Pixies!" said Lockhart.
"Oh no," Ginny whispered.
"Delightfully devilish and tricky to handle."
"Surely he's not thick enough to open the cage again?"
"Let's see what you make of them!"
"Oh god, he is..."
It went pretty much as Harry had described it. The pixies smashed through windows and threw anything they could get their hands on, parchment, quills, ink bottles. The chandelier was undone and landed with a crash in the middle of the room. Everyone ran for the doors including Lockhart.
"That was brilliant!" Colin beamed as he picked quills out of his hair, "Such a good class!"
"Are you joking?" Ginny wiped her face. There were big, black streaks of ink running through her red hair, "He didn't teach us anything! What sort of idiot would release pixies again when he can't control them!"
"He can too control them!" Hazel answered a little shrilly. She rubbed where Euan Neil's Travels with Trolls had landed on her head but at least her photo was safe, "He was just letting us see what they can do."
"Of course he was," Ginny said, "If he's going to demolish his classroom every week, we'll be finishing the year in the cloakroom."
Hazel went to bed on Friday night with every intention of having a lie in, she really did. That was why she was so annoyed to wake up early on Saturday morning. There was no sound from the other girls, apart from Romilda snoring, so she pulled the curtains back to let in the warm summer light. Nearly everyone else was enjoying their lie ins. Lucky them. Maybe there was a lie in potion she could learn.
Atia Malfoy's bed was the only empty one. How long had she been up for? Where had she gone? Breakfast wouldn't even be ready yet.
Still pondering Malfoy's whereabouts, Hazel settled to read Year with a Yeti until Ginny was finally awake. There were still faint black streaks through her hair despite liberal use of Romilda's Mrs Margate's Magical Miracle Shampoo. The miracle only went so far apparently.
The plan was for they and Colin to go down and visit Hagrid's but there was no sign of Colin as they waited in the common room. Eventually they went down to breakfast but there was no sign of him there either.
"Where do you think he is?" Hazel asked. Her hair was still up in a bun as Mrs Margate couldn't do much for her black spot.
"Developing his photos maybe?" Ginny said.
"Shall we go to Hagrid's without him?"
"Yeah, come on. If he is developing photos, he'll be there all day."
The sky was a perfect forget-me-not blue as they left the castle and crossed the lawns. The ground was wet with the morning dew and the air fresh with the smell of wild-flowers and cut grass. It was the sort of day that it was impossible to be cross on.
Except someone was giving it a very good go.
"What's going on?" Ginny asked as five figures in scarlet quidditch robes approached from the pitch. Fred, George, Angelina, Katie and Alicia all looked very bad tempered, "What were you doing?"
"What were we doing?" Fred asked, "Isn't it obvious? We were sweeping chimneys."
"Only joking," said George, "We were painting watercolours."
"In between dancing the waltz."
"Okay," Ginny scowled, her ears going a little red, "Okay, I get it! What happened?"
"Malfoy happened, that's what," Fred and George explained between them what had happened that morning.
"He called Hermione a what?" Hazel was confused by the word. It was obviously bad because Ginny was open-mouthed in horror.
"A mudblood," Fred scowled. Angelina and Katie's frowns darkened.
"It's so unfair!" Alicia stamped her foot and looked like she was about to cry, "He's the most horrible person in the school but because his dad has bought them all Nimbus 2001's, they're going to win the quidditch cup."
"Seriously?" Ginny's said, "Proper 2001s?"
"Oh yeah," said George, "Down to the last twig."
"But they're so expensive!" Ginny said, "There's league teams who don't have them yet!"
"You have met Malfoy?" said Fred, "Small? Ratty face? More gold than brains?"
"Is he any good?" asked Ginny.
"Who cares," said George, "Ravenclaw are all on Cleansweeps and Hufflepuff have nothing better than a Comet 260. They could have Errol as seeker, and they'll still win."
"Come on," Angelina checked her watch, "Wood wants us back in the Common Room ASAP to plan."
"Plan what?" George snorted, "How to rob Quality Quidditch Supplies?"
They headed towards the castle.
"I still can't believe Malfoy called Hermione a mudblood," Ginny shivered at the word, "I knew he was bad, but to go that far?"
"Is it really that horrible?" Hazel bit her lip. She had never seen the twins that angry or Ginny that revolted. It was a little shaming that she hadn't had the same reaction.
"It's the single most disgusting thing he could have said," Ginny said as they resumed their walk towards Hagrid's hut, "It means dirty blood. People like Hermione are just filth on the shoes of someone like Malfoy. And the Hat still put his sister in Gryffindor. Maybe next year it'll put a banshee in Hufflepuff."
"Maybe she doesn't think the same way as Malfoy?"
"Do you really believe that?"
"Hazel! Ginny!" Colin came running up the path, his camera bouncing around his neck, "You'll never believe what happened this morning!"
"We heard," said Hazel, "We met the team."
"Oh, well I hope Ron's okay. He didn't look very well."
"Ron?" Ginny went a bit pale, "What's happened to Ron."
"He tried to curse Malfoy! The spell backfired from his broken wand though and he was throwing up slugs non-stop!"
"Slugs?" Hazel's breakfast churned in her stomach.
"Lovely," Ginny grimaced, "Bill taught us that spell. You're only meant to bring up one slug but with Ron's wand…"
"That's so cool!" Colin said, "They were huge too! I mean some of them were the size of my hand!"
"Please stop talking," Why had she taken that second croissant?
"Well, he, Harry and Hermione are at Hagrid's now. I hope he hasn't stopped yet, I'd love a picture to show Dennis!"
"Harry's at Hagrid's?" Ginny's ears went a bit pink, "Maybe we should go back to the common room. If Ron's not well, he wouldn't want us on top of him."
Hazel gave Ginny a knowing look, "Because it's definitely Ron you're worried about, right?"
"Sorry, do you want to see the slugs in person?"
"Actually, the Common Room sounds great."
They led a disappointed Colin back to Gryffindor tower. The armchairs near the fire had been taken by the team who were whispering intensely to one another. Colin went to develop his photos from that morning while Hazel and Ginny played some wizard chess.
"I don't suppose you want to make a contribution?" Fred said loudly into the packed common room. Atia Malfoy had just come through the portrait.
"We're not picky," said George, "We'll take Nimbus 2000s if we must."
"I bet she's loving her brother lording over everyone," Alicia scoffed, "After all, we're all just filthy muggle-lovers, right?"
There was a ripple of unpleasant laughter.
Atia scowled, turned on her heel and left through the still open portrait hole.
Hazel half wanted to go after her. Yes, what her brother had said was horrible, and they seemed a very unpleasant family but to have the whole house laughing at her. It was hard to describe that feeling unless you'd experienced it for yourself, everyone sneering and scoffing.
She knew the feeling very well.
Thankfully Ron had stopped belching up slugs by the time he returned to the tower, and they got to spend the Sunday with Hagrid instead. They even took Fang for a walk around the grounds. Atia Malfoy didn't come back to the common room and there was no sign of her anywhere, except during class.
It wasn't until the following Wednesday that she spoke with Atia again. She had been on her way to History of Magic until she realised she'd forgotten her essay on Herbert the Haggard.
"Just forget about it," Ginny told her, "Give it to him next class."
"Are you joking?" Hazel said, "After the hours it took to write, I never want to see it again after today."
"Alright, I'd cover for you, but I don't think old Binns will even notice you're gone."
Hazel headed off for the common room. She turned into a corridor that was empty but for two people; Atia Malfoy and a Ravenclaw boy she didn't recognise. He had cornered Atia against a statue of a humpbacked witch while her bag lay ripped on the floor.
"I'm warning you," said the boy who had curly hair and was holding Atia by her front, "Any more mouth from your brother and you'll be having more accidents like this one."
What did she do? Should she get a teacher? A prefect? Could she find anyone in time? She had to do something! She couldn't just leave her like this.
"Hey!" She said, "Leave her alone!"
The boy dropped Atia and turned to point his wand at Hazel instead.
Now what?
"Stay out of this," the curly-haired boy said, "Unless you want jinxed like this one!"
There was a strong urge to run away but a little voice at the back of her mind kept her feet planted. She had never been particularly brave and certainly didn't feel it now.
"I said, leave her alone!"
"Or what?" The boy sneered, as cold and cruel as Malfoy's.
Or what indeed. She hadn't even made her wand spark on command yet. Maybe she could throw it at him?
What a superb plan.
She was still thinking of what she was going to say to stop herself being jinxed when there came the sound of pounding footsteps, and the boy was thrown to the floor. Crabbe and Goyle stood over him, cracking their knuckles and with ugly scowls on their stupid faces. Cooper had to be two years above them but the Slytherins looked like giants beside him.
"Thought you could bully my sister, Cooper?" Malfoy swaggered up behind them with a cocky sneer, "After a little revenge, are we?"
Cooper scrambled to his feet, but his wand was at Malfoy's feet. Crabbe and Goyle stood protectively in front of him.
"Any more lip about me or my family and this'll happen again, Malfoy," Cooper said, "She's not in your house. You can't protect her all day."
"Big words for such a nobody. Why don't you crawl back under your rock?"
"What's going on?" Hazel jumped at the new voice. Professor Flitwick was standing at her elbow.
"Nothing, Professor," said Cooper as he grabbed his wand, "We just bumped into each other."
"Come along then or you'll be late for charms!" Professor Flitwick gave them one last long look before accompanying Cooper.
"Did he get you?" Malfoy asked Atia who was gathering her things back into her torn bag.
"No, he didn't," She snapped.
"Good," Malfoy wasn't helping, "Cooper's a pathetic little worm. He'll not dare cross me again."
"That makes me feel so much better," Atia was hunched over trying to keep her things from falling out again. It looked horribly awkward and painful.
"Did you speak to Dumbledore like you said you would?"
"For the last time, he's not going to change my house."
"Senile old fool," Malfoy shook her head, "Just wait until I write to father about this."
"I've already written to father, there's nothing he can do."
Malfoy looked up suddenly as if just realising Hazel was there and sneered, "What are you doing here, Potter? Or do they not bother calling you Potter if you're not that brother of yours?"
Her stomach dropped horribly. How could Malfoy make her feel so small, so pathetic so easily?
"Leave it," Atia grabbed Malfoy by the arm, "Come on. I'm going to be late for class."
With a final cold laugh, Malfoy led Crabbe and Goyle after Atia.
Had Atia Malfoy just stopped her brother from bullying her? Was she actually worried about being late to History of Magic?
It was hard not to feel a little confused.
With a shake of her head, she headed for the common room.
Atia Malfoy didn't spend much more time in the Common Room in the next few days and they were getting enough homework that it went out of her mind.
It was a few days later that she felt it.
It was late in the evening. Most of Gryffindor had gone to bed and the fire was getting smaller and smaller in the huge grate.
Hazel had curled up in one of the chairs away from the fire with Year with a Yeti but she wasn't making much progress through it. Her head was throbbing from the transfiguration homework Professor McGonagall had set. And she thought algebra had been hard! She was regretting that she'd said she would wait up for Harry. Why did he have to do his detention tonight? He'd been horrified with the idea of spending an evening with Lockhart. She wasn't sure why. It sounded like a great way to spend a detention, hardly a punishment at all. How could spending time with a man who had wrestled a yeti bare-chested on top of the Himalayas be bad?
It came out of nowhere. A sudden, intense surge of dread that flowed into her chest and poured down her back. Her shoulders tensed like she'd jumped into an icy pool and her breath quickened at once. What was going on? She looked around for the danger but there was nothing. She was alone in the Common Room. Her book lay open on the floor. Had she fallen asleep? Was it just a dream?
The portrait of the Fat Lady swung open, and Hazel jumped as if expecting a bear to leap through. It was only Harry, but he looked pale and worried.
"How was it?" Why did she sound so breathless?
"Terrible," Harry didn't sound much better, "He didn't shut up once. How can someone talk for so long and say nothing?"
"Have you forgotten Uncle Vernon and the drill lectures?" He smiled but it was fixed and his eyes kept flicking this way and that, like he was looking for something else in the room, "What's wrong?"
"Nothing," he said too quickly.
"Harry…"
"Did you hear anything?"
She shook her head. Far from pleased, Harry looked even more concerned.
"It was in Lockhart's office, during my detention. I heard a voice."
"Well Lockhart was there too. Had you tuned out that much?"
"This is serious, Hazel."
"What sort of voice was it?"
"I don't know," Harry looked into the embers, "I'm sure it's nothing."
Hazel bit her lip, "It doesn't feel like nothing."
"Don't worry about it. I'm sure I'm just tired, or bored crazy by Lockhart's fan mail," He smiled but he was still thinking about it, she could tell, "I'm okay. I'll go wait for Ron in my dorm. Thanks for waiting up."
He gave her a quick hug and climbed the stairs for bed.
Hazel went up to her own room but lay staring up at her four-poster bed, Romilda's snores rasping in her ear. Harry was probably right, he was probably just tired, or his imagination had gone a bit mad. But it had scared him, no matter how much he tried to hide it. She knew how to spot it well enough by now. Her own sense of dread had faded but where had it come from? Why now? Had it really just been a dream?
She settled deeper into her duvet, between worrying about Harry and Romilda trying to wake the dead in a fifty-mile radius, it wasn't going to be a peaceful sleep.
