Chapter 16

Early the next morning, Harry woke up first before his dorm mates, he quietly got dressed and went downstairs to get some breakfast, in the common room he looked over and sitting there in her usual spot was Hermione, Harry smiled and called out "Hermione."

Looking up, Hermione spotted Harry and smiled and said "Harry, good morning!"

She got up to greet her friend, since the two always woke up early they decided to let their friends sleep while they went downstairs to get breakfast. The entire way there the two talked about what their classes would be like and they agreed when they were done with their classes they would return to the dueling room for some much needed practice. Arriving at the great hall the two walked over to the Gryffindor table and sat down, they started to pile up their plates and enjoy their breakfast until they spotted Professor McGonagall walking over to them. The Professor greeted "Good morning Mr. Potter, Ms. Granger, I hope you both are doing well."

The two returned the greeting and the professor handed them their schedules, the two immediately read their schedules.

Breakfast: 7-8:30

Lunch: 12-2

Dinner: 5-7

First class: 9-10:30, second: 10:40-12, third: 2-3:30

Monday: Defense, charms, history.

Tuesday: potions, astronomy, transfiguration.

Wednesday: Herbology, defense, charms.

Thursday: History, potions, astronomy 12-1:30.

Friday: free study period, transfiguration, herbology.

Their classes were still with the same houses and they both saw their first class of the day was herbology with the Hufflepuffs, Harry was already dreading what defense would be like but at least the day ended with one of his favorite classes. Harry and Hermione talked about their schedule but the two avoided the topic of defense, mainly because Harry didn't want to think about it and Hermione was still waiting to see what kind of professor Lockhart would be and if what Augusta said was true. Over breakfast they were joined by the rest of their year mates, Harry saw that Lavender and Parvati were excited for Lockhart's class but he saw Neville and Ron weren't looking forward to his class, breakfast soon came to an end and Harry and his friends left to get their supplies before heading to herbology. They were outside heading to one of the greenhouses but on the way there they saw Lockhart was talking with an annoyed Professor Sprout.

Harry tried to ignore Lockhart and head to class however Lockhart noticed him and said "Harry, it's good to see you again, I would like to borrow you for a quick minute."

Harry didn't want anything to do with Lockhart, thankfully Neville grabbed his arm and pulled him along and said "Come on we're going to be late!"

Harry realized Neville was helping to get him away from Lockhart, the two quickly ran past the stunned professor and ran to the greenhouse. Harry and Neville made it to the greenhouse before they stopped to look at each other, they both started to smile before they started laughing, Harry patted Neville on the back and thanked him for getting him away from Lockhart, their friends soon joined them along with Professor Sprout and it looked like the professor was smiling before awarding Neville ten points for being on time. The class started and Professor Sprout informed the class that they would be working with mandrakes.

The professor went over what made mandrakes dangerous and what their uses are in potions, since they take a long time to fully mature they would be working on them from time to time throughout the year. The professor assigned the students to their own groups and Harry saw he was working with Neville, Ron, and a Hufflepuff boy named Justin Finch-Fletchley. Justin was a curly haired muggleborn who sounded a bit smug when he introduced himself and talked about how he was down for Eton but then he got his Hogwarts letter. Justin mentioned Susan had talked about them and he was glad to meet them, although Harry's opinion of the boy dropped when he started talking about Lockhart and his books.

Nearby, Hermione was working with Fay, Susan, and Megan Jones, the four girls heard the conversation and Megan said "Justin, they didn't ask about Lockhart so stop bothering them." Justin stopped talking and Megan turned to Harry and the others and said "Sorry about Justin, he's a nice guy but he tends to ramble on when no one asks him to." Harry told them it was alright and greeted the two Hufflepuffs, they all heard Professor Sprout instruct the students on what to do before telling them all to put on their earmuffs.

The four boys put on their earmuffs and got to work on repotting the mandrakes, even with their earmuffs on they could hear how loudly the mandrakes were crying, Harry did notice one Hufflepuff boy pass out because he wasn't wearing his earmuffs right. When class ended Harry asked Neville if he ever worked with mandrakes but Neville shook his head and seemed excited to work with them. Harry talked with Susan and Hannah and the two girls agreed to meet them in the dueling room after their classes, they also greeted the other second year Hufflepuffs before leaving for their next class.

They made their way to defense and as soon as they entered the classroom Harry noticed how the classroom was covered in moving portraits of Lockhart wearing different outfits. Once they sat down Harry noticed how most of the girls were admiring the portraits of Lockhart, he looked at the Ravenclaws and saw only two girls were focused on their books while the rest kept looking at the portraits. Class started and Lockhart came out of his office and Harry noticed he was wearing a different outfit from earlier, Lockhart spoke "Welcome to defense against the dark arts, I am your professor Gilderoy Lockhart, Order of Merlin third class, honorary member of the Dark Force Defense League, and five times winner of Witch Weekly's most charming smile, it is a pleasure to meet all of you."

Many of the girls let out happy sighs while many of the boys rolled their eyes or groaned, Lockhart pulled out a stack of papers and said "I would like to get to know every one of you but first we need to see how well you know me."

Lockhart passed around a test and Harry scanned the parchment and saw it was all questions about Lockhart, not a single question was about defense. Harry and Neville glanced at each other knowing they were going to hate this class, the two boys put random answers since they didn't know what Lockhart's favorite color was, what was his greatest achievement, or what was Lockhart's dream. When everyone was done Lockhart took back the test and started to grade them, Harry got out one of the defense books Augusta got him and he and Neville started to read it to pass the time. When Lockhart was done grading the tests he gave Hermione ten points for getting every question right, Hermione wasn't sure how to feel, Lockhart put the tests away and went into his office before returning with a cage.

Lockhart spoke "For the rest of class we shall be working with dangerous creatures, now I want all of you to be prepared and try not to scream."

Many students paid attention wondering what it could be, Lockhart pulled off the cover and many started laughing when they saw the cage was full of Cornish pixies. Seamus called out that pixies were more annoying than dangerous, Harry noticed Hermione seemed disappointed however the laughter stopped when Lockhart reached for the cage saying they should see more closely how dangerous they really are. Lockhart opened the cage and unleashed chaos in the class as the pixies started to throw and break many things, many of the students tried to hit the pixies with their books while others took cover. Harry saw three pixies were trying to grab Neville so Harry quickly took out his wand and hit the pixies with stinging jinxes making them let go.

Lockhart took out his wand saying he'd handle it, he tried to cast a spell but the spell did nothing, the pixies grabbed Lockhart's wand and threw it out of the window before they continued to throw and tear different things. Lockhart ran to his office and told the students to handle the pixies before closing the door behind him. Harry glared at seeing how Lockhart was a coward and a fraud, Augusta was right about him. Harry was pulled away from his thoughts when he heard a few girls scream and he turned around to see the pixies started to pull on many of the girls' hair. Harry and Hermione took out their wands and raised them as they both cast "Immobulus!"

With a quick flash the pixies all froze and many of the girls pulled them off their hair, Hermione looked at the door and glared as she realized Lockhart really was just a fraud. The students thanked Harry and Hermione for helping them and they gathered the pixies and put them back in the cage before class was over. Harry kept looking at the door to Lockhart's office as the students left, he didn't see Hermione storm out with Fay and Sally-Anne following her. Neville and Ron were about to follow but Harry grabbed them both by their robes and said "Hang on a moment."

The three were soon the last students in the class, Ron asked "What is it?"

Harry walked up the few steps to Lockhart's office and tried to open the door but saw it was locked, Harry got an idea and a wide smile started to appear on his face. Harry walked back to the two boys and said "Ron, grab the cage. Neville, get your wand ready."

The two boys looked confused but did what Harry said, while Ron was holding the cage Harry said "Lockhart ran off to leave us to deal with the pixies, let's see how he handles them. I'm going to unlock his door and pull it open, Ron, you will need to throw the cage into his office and I'll quickly shut it. Neville, I need you to cast a strong locking charm as soon as I close the door."

The two boys were surprised by Harry's plan but soon the two smiled just as wide as him and agreed, they made sure the cage was open and the pixies were starting to move again, Harry walked up to the door and pulled out his wand and whispered "Alohomora." Harry heard the door quietly unlock so he nodded to his two friends, once they were ready Harry pulled the door open and Ron threw the cage, once Harry saw the cage enter the office he slammed the door close and heard Neville cast the locking charm. Harry made sure they couldn't be seen so Lockhart wouldn't know it was them, he started to count "one, two, three…"

They all heard Lockhart scream and was soon followed by objects being thrown and broken. They heard Lockhart try to open the door but thanks to Neville's spell it wouldn't open for a while. The three boys ran out of the classroom laughing, they kept laughing as they walked to lunch, once they calmed down Neville asked "Should we have done that?"

Harry shrugged his shoulders and said "He's the great Gilderoy Lockhart, order of Merlin third class, honorary member of the Dark Force Defense League, and five times winner of Witch Weekly's most charming smile, if he thinks children can handle pixies then they should be no problem for him."

The three started laughing again before making it to lunch, they rejoined their friends and saw Hermione looked upset. Harry decided to reach into his bag and pull out his book on defense and offer to let Hermione read it and promise they can practice the spells later in the dueling room, this seemed to cheer her up and she thanked Harry. The group of friends started to eat and Harry noticed how even Lavender and Parvati looked upset with Lockhart as the two tried to fix their hair, Harry guessed it wouldn't be long before Lockhart's class became the most hated class. Lunch was mostly peaceful but Harry found himself feeling annoyed when an overexcited Colin took his picture by surprise and asked Harry if he could sign it when he developed it. Thankfully, Demelza told Colin to stop bothering the other students while they are trying to eat, Harry noticed the two seemed to become friends since Colin listened to her.

When lunch was over the group of second years made their way to charms, once they arrived they were greeted by a cheerful Professor Flitwick who after gathering the homework for the summer had decided to spend the first day back performing all the spells they learnt last year in charms. When class was over the professor informed the class what spells they'd need to read about so they could perform them in their next class, Flitwick walked up to Harry and his friends and said "It's good to see you and your friends again Mr. Potter, I hope you three are ready for our first dueling lesson of the year."

Harry, Hermione, and Neville greeted the professor and promised they'd be ready for their dueling lessons to continue. With their classes done for the day the group of friends made their way up to the dueling room, Dean and Seamus tagged along while Lavender and Parvati returned to the common room, Ron decided to go look for Oliver and ask about practice. When they made it to the dueling room they noticed the room looked cleaner than before and one side of the dueling room had the same kind of furniture as the common room while on the other side there were targets on the wall. Harry spoke "Looks like one of the teachers decided to make this place more comfortable for us, I wonder if it might have been Professor McGonagall or Professor Flitwick."

They were soon joined by Susan and Hannah then by their Slytherin friends, the group of friends were happy to greet each other again after a long time. Just like usual they started working on their homework first and after a while they practiced casting the spells they knew from first year, Dean and Seamus did have some trouble with a few spells but Harry was able to show them how to properly cast the spells by the time dinner started. When it was time for curfew the students returned to their dorms to sleep however after Harry closed the curtains around his bed he summoned the journal to his hand and continued to read about his mum's second year.

According to the journal James started to ask Lily out multiple times, however Lily thought James was still an arrogant prat so she rejected him each time. Harry remembered his dad admitted to how he acted in the past and he could see how much it annoyed his mum, it also explained why they didn't start to fall in love until early in their sixth year. Harry continued to read and found out Lily and Daphne's mum, Isabel, became friends because their defense teacher at the time made a contest between the two and the winner would win their house one hundred points. Lily and Isabel both proved they were intelligent and stubborn since they both answered every question almost at the same time, however the teacher decided to ask them a question only a fourth year would know, Lily remembered reading about the question and answered it and won the points. Isabel was disappointed she lost but after that day she and Lily started to spend more time together and the two girls became good friends.

Harry kept reading and found out a few times a group of Slytherins tried to harass Lily and called her a mudblood however her friends Alice and Marlene were always there to help her and sometimes James and his friends would get into fights with the Slytherins. Lily also wrote about how she had attended some of the quidditch games and even though James did brag about becoming a chaser he at least had the skill to work with the rest of his team. Lily did write about how the Gryffindor seeker became sick and had to miss the last game but James stepped up to play as their seeker, even though he took a bludger to the face James was able to catch the snitch and win the cup. Harry enjoyed reading his mum's diaries since it let him feel like he was getting to know the real them, he finished reading about Lily's second year and now had to wait before he could read about her third year.

The next day they attended history first and just like usual the ghost professor put almost every student to sleep, Harry and Neville were able to stay awake since they were ignoring the professor and playing a game on a piece of parchment, although Hermione looked like she didn't approve but they promised her they'd read the book later. It was soon time for potions and once again Snape put the instructions on the board and told the class to begin, it didn't take long for Snape to criticize Harry for the way he was chopping his ingredients and insult Neville for forgetting to stir counterclockwise. Harry did his best to ignore the professor and focus on his brewing while also reading the instructions on the parchment he wrote them on, however the potion was ruined when Malfoy decided to throw something into Harry's cauldron and ruin the potion. Snape berated Harry for being stupid enough to ruin a simple potion and he took more points away when Harry tried to say it was Malfoy, Harry had to start all over again and was barely able to finish the potion in time but Snape still failed him for handing in a pathetic excuse for a potion.

Harry stormed out of the room angry at seeing Snape was still just a bastard who let Malfoy and his group get away with anything, he considered giving the professor another chance since Quirrell admitted that Snape was trying to save him but that chance died in that class. Harry decided instead of going to lunch he'd head for the dueling room to blow off some steam, once he walked in Harry immediately turned to the targets and pointed his hand and cast "Diffindo, incendio!"

Harry managed to cast the two spells wandlessly and he saw them hit their target, Harry smiled then heard clapping as someone said "Amazing! Can you cast frictionless next?"

Turning to the other side of the room Harry was stunned to see Luna sitting on one of the couches. Harry asked "Luna, what are you doing here?!"

"There were too many wrackspurts in Ravenclaw so the nargles told me I'd have more fun here, can you cast frictionless next?"

Harry was confused by what Luna said but she sounded cheerful when she asked him to cast, he hadn't meant to reveal to anyone he can cast wandlessly since he intended to keep it a secret. Harry said "Luna, you can't tell anyone about what you just saw me do, please can you keep it a secret?"

Luna nodded with a smile on her face and said "I won't tell anyone, not even the minister and his army of heliopaths can get me to tell them."

Harry was again confused but decided to accept what Luna said, she again asked if Harry could cast frictionless so Harry started to show Luna how he could cast spells wandlessly. Harry saw how amazed Luna was to see him cast wandlessly, seeing the amazement in her eyes and the smile she had made Harry forget how upset he was with potions. Luna grabbed her wand from behind her ear and asked Harry if he could show her how to cast, Harry agreed and started to teach Luna. Harry spent all of lunch trying to show Luna how to cast some of the easier spells and she was picking them up quickly, Harry enjoyed being around the little blond and he got use to her comments about the creatures she talked about.

When lunch was over Luna had to leave for her next class, Harry apologized for keeping her from lunch however Luna reached into her bag and pulled out two apples and handed one to Harry. Luna smiled and said "I had a lot of fun Harry, it reminded me of the fun I had with daddy when we went searching for crumple horned snorkacks, I hope you don't mind if I come by again."

Harry didn't know what creature she was talking about but smiled and said "I had a lot of fun too Luna, I'd be happy to practice with you in the dueling room again."

Luna's smile brightened and she thanked Harry before reaching into her bag and pulling out a magazine and handing it to Harry, Luna said "Thank you Harry, I want you to have this, daddy will send me another one soon so I want you to have it."

Harry looked at the magazine and saw it was called the Quibbler and it was written by Luna's father, Harry thanked her and Luna happily skipped away. Harry looked at the magazine and shrugged his shoulders, he walked over to a couch to eat his apple and he started to read the Quibbler, just from reading the first article about the rotfang conspiracy Harry started to understand more about the strange things Luna talked about. Harry decided to head back to the common room but on the way there he ran into his friends, they saw Harry wasn't upset because of potions anymore but they saw he was reading a magazine, Harry told them about practicing with Luna and how she would join them in the dueling room.

Harry spent some time reading the Quibbler and saw it explained many of the creatures Luna talked about, while he didn't believe any of it he at least could understand Luna a bit more. The next morning Harry slept in because of the late night astronomy class they had, at least the teachers were nice enough to give them a free study period the morning after that class. When it was time for their transfiguration class the students were told they would begin transfiguring living creatures and turning them into objects, McGonagall had given the students a beetle and instructed them to turn them into buttons, after a quick demonstration the students tried to cast the spell. Harry and Hermione were the first ones to turn their beetles into buttons earning them five points each, for the rest of class the two helped the students around them and by the end of class most of the students were able to complete the transformation.

The day ended with another class in herbology where the students worked on their mandrakes before heading to another greenhouse to work with leaping toadstools. Harry was able to speak to some of the other Hufflepuff students and while Wayne Hopkins seemed nice, Harry found Zacharias Smith to be pretty arrogant and Ernie Macmillan seemed to dislike him from the start. Thankfully class ended soon and Harry and his friends left, since it was a Friday Harry decided to head for the dueling room with his friends but instead of practicing, he decided to play some games with his friends.

The group of friends were able to practice their spells while having fun, they had levitated rubber balls before playing catch with their wands, if they weren't quick enough they would either get hit or have to dodge the rubber balls. Ron and Lilian continued their rivalry and started to play chess, Seamus got Blaise and Susan to play exploding snap and whoever the cards exploded on they had to eat a bean from Bertie Bott's. Harry had gotten an idea and practiced the rotating charm on some of his friends, he pointed his wand at Neville and cast circumrota to make him rotate for a minute before letting him walk, he always made sure they were close enough to the couch before they fell over.

The day ended and Harry and the other Gryffindors returned to their common room, Harry said good night to his friends so he could get to sleep early, however Harry was woken up early when he felt someone shaking him while saying "Harry it's time for practice, get up already!"

Harry sat up and saw Oliver was in their dorm, he sleepily asked "Oliver, what are you doing here?"

Oliver answered "It's time for practice, I got us the field early so let's go!"

Harry didn't know practice was this early, he groaned as he got out of bed, Oliver walked over and shook Ron awake saying it was time for practice. The two boys got ready but were half asleep as they walked down the stairs, they followed Oliver out to the quidditch pitch where they joined the rest of the team in the locker room. Harry noticed the rest of the team was still sleepy and only Oliver was fully awake, Oliver started to explain a plan he came up with over the summer to help them win their games and finally get the cup however most of the team was still too tired. Harry missed most of what Oliver said since he fell back asleep and was woken up by Katie, they went out to the pitch to practice and as soon as they walked out Harry noticed Hermione, Fay, Sally-Anne, Dean, and Seamus were in the stands.

Harry got on his broom and flew over and asked "What are you guys doing here?"

Dean answered "Oliver woke us up too so we went down for breakfast, Hermione suggested we should come out here to support you two."

Hermione held out some toast and said "Here, you shouldn't practice on an empty stomach."

Harry smiled and thanked her before taking the toast, Fay gave Harry some food and told him to give it to Ron, Harry flew back to the team and handed Ron the food and the two ate while Oliver went over some last minute ideas. They all heard the sound of something clicking and when they looked they saw Colin was also there with Demelza, Colin was holding his camera and taking many pictures. Oliver thought they were spies for Slytherin before Harry explained who they were but then they all noticed the Slytherin team showed up ready to practice.

Oliver marched over with the rest of the team following him, he spoke "What are you doing here, I booked the pitch for early practice!"

Flint smirked and said "Well we got special permission from Professor Snape to practice so we can train our new seeker."

The rest of the Slytherin team moved and revealed Draco Malfoy was there, Malfoy wore a smug look and said "We need to practice so why don't you just hop on your useless twigs and leave."

Harry spoke up "We booked the pitch first with the deputy headmistress, while it was nice of Professor Snape to give you permission, I'm pretty sure we get the pitch first." Harry made sure to emphasize the word professor.

Some of the Gryffindors chuckled while the Slytherins glared, they were disturbed when the Gryffindor second years approached and Seamus asked "What are you bloody snakes doing here, we came to see a real quidditch team practice."

Malfoy spoke "We're here to practice using our new brooms my father generously donated to the team."

Looking closely at their brooms Ron gasped and asked "Are those the brand new nimbus 2001?!"

Malfoy looked smug and said "My father generously donated these to the best quidditch team, they easily outclass the older model and make your cleansweeps look like slugs."

Hermione spoke up "At least no one on the Gryffindor team was pathetic enough to buy their way onto the team, they got in with pure skill and talent."

Malfoy's smug look turned into a glare before saying to Hermione "No one asked for your opinion you filthy little mudblood!"

The Weasleys nearly attacked Malfoy but were held back by the chasers, Harry was about to pull out his wand but stopped when Fay moved and punched Malfoy in the face as hard as she could. Malfoy stumbled back and was caught by the other Slytherins. Sally-Anne and Hermione quickly grabbed Fay since it looked like she was about to attack him again, Fay yelled "Don't you ever call Hermione that again!"

Malfoy cried out in pain as blood gushed from his nose, this nearly caused a fight between the two teams but it was quickly broken up when McGonagall and Snape showed up, both teams were kicked off the pitch and Fay was given a week of detention and lost Gryffindor fifty points but she didn't look bothered by it at all. Since practice was canceled the Gryffindors returned to their tower where an upset Oliver left for his dorm saying he needed to rethink his plan. The rest of the team left but not before Fred and George first congratulated Fay for teaching Malfoy a lesson. The group of second years sat in the common room where Hermione asked what that word meant, she remembered Voldemort called her that as well but she hadn't asked anyone what it meant, Fay looked angry and explained how pure bloods like Malfoy use that word to insult muggleborns since they think blood purity matters, she also explained how her mum is a muggleborn and had to deal with that word.

Hermione frowned but said "Well, it doesn't matter to me if Malfoy keeps calling me that, if the best he can do is insult my blood status then it shows he has nothing else to brag about."

Harry remembered he told Hermione something similar to that when they met on the train, he smiled at hearing she listened to his words. Fay spoke up "If he calls you that again then I'll punch him again, I'm not going to stand by and let that whiny tosser insult my best friend."

The other second years nodded and agreed with Fay, Hermione shook her head but smiled at hearing how much Fay cared about her. With their morning cleared up and they wouldn't practice with Flitwick until after lunch, Harry asked Hermione if she wanted to go to the library, she happily agreed and a few of their friends tagged along with them.

I will be honest when I created the schedule for first year I wasn't thinking about the other years so for the sake of this story imagine the other years have a schedule that works around this one.

Please comment and let me know what you thought of the chapter.