Ch 71 - Fooling Lockhart

On Thursday

Since the disastrous incident that was the Cornish Pixies, Gilderoy Lockhart had not brought live creatures to class.

Instead, he opted to read passages from his books to them, and sometimes reenacted some of the more dramatic bits.

He usually picked Harry for the reconstructions in previous classes.

So far in this specific lesson, Harry had been forced to play a simple Transylvanian Villager whom Lockhart had claimed to cure of a Babbling Curse, a yeti with a head cold, and a vampire who had been unable to eat anything except lettuce since Lockhart had supposedly dealt with him.

Hermione obviously didn't believe a single word of this, but decided it wasn't worth wasting her breath to refute the claims.

She had more difficult issues to deal with.

Today, Harry was again hauled to the front of class immediately upon walking into their next Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson, this time acting as a Werewolf.

If he didn't have a very good reason for keeping Lockhart in a good mood for today in particular, Harry'd refused it without a second thought.

Lucifer and Hermione were at the back of the class practicing disillusionment charms.

The magic was intricate, beyond anything Hermione'd studied so far, but Lucifer knew it would be useful.

Being able to turn himself invisible would be crucial if he didn't want to use Harry's cloak.

He was much ahead, when being compared to Hermione.

The most she'd managed so far however was making everything below her waist faintly translucent, as if she was a ghost from her skirt down.

"You'll get it," Lucifer said  reassuringly as Hermione threw her wand down onto her desk in frustration, "This is fifth-year magic. It's already impressive you've even gotten this far...."

"Not good enough..." Hermione grumbled in a very bad mood.

"Nice loud howl, Harry - exactly - and then, if you'll believe, I pounced - like this - slammed him to the floor - thus - with one hand, I managed to hold him down - with my other, I put my wand to his throat - I then screwed up my remaining strength and performed the immensely complex Homorphus Charm - he let out a piteous moan - go on, Harry - higher than that - good - the fur vanished - the fangs shrank - and he turned back into a man. Simple, yet effective - and another village will remember me for forever as the hero who delivered them from the monthly terror of Werewolf attacks."

The bell rang and Lockhart sprang to his feet.

"Homework - compose a poem about my defeat of the Wagga Wagga Werewolf! Signed copies of Magical Me to the author of the best one!" He yelled out to them as they began to trickle out of class.

As the bell rang, Harry slid back through the class towards them.

"What happened to you?" Harry asked, looking at the girl's spectral legs.

"Lucifer got sick of my teasing....so he  killed my legs..."

"Potter, don't take her seriously...."

"We should go....." Harry chose to ignore both of them, his eyes upon other students leaving.

Hermione snarled her nose up, glancing over at Lockhart.

She had always let the man know of her detest for him, so playing the nervous fangirl would not be easy in theory.

Keeping the remorse act up is going to be very difficult.

"All right... let's do this..." she sighed and walked up to his desk.

"Ah, Miss Granger, come to argue with me on how the Werewolf should have bitten my throat instead?" He asked in a venom-like tone.

"I-I am really sorry for my past behaviour P-Professor. I just wanted to get a book o-out of the Library for some background reading," Hermione inhaled deeply before continuing, holding out a slightly shaking hand with a piece of paper in it, "but the thing is, i-it's in the Restricted Section of the Library, so I need a teacher to sign a note to let me check it out. I'm sure it would help me u-understand what you say in Gadding with Ghouls a-about slow-acting v-venoms..."

"Ah, Gadding with Ghouls!" Lockhart said loudly, taking the note to sign it immediately, "Quite possibly my favorite one, you enjoyed it?" He also thought, it's quite unbelievable.

Hermione almost failed to act the part, she threw that one in the Granger's fireplace, "W-Well... absolutely, the way you trapped that last one with the tea-strainer, simply spine-chilling of a read...."

"Well, I'm sure every bad student needs to be given another chance to correct her mistakes..." he said, with a nice smile on his face. (or that's Lockhart thinks at least)

He pulled out an enormous peacock quill, "Yes, nice isn't it?" He said, missing the look on the three boys' faces of utter disgust, "I usually reserve it only for book signings, but I can make this one exception," he said with a wink.

If Lucifer hadn't looked at Hermione's face, he'd have missed her trying to keep from vomiting all over Lockhart's desk.

He scrawled an enormous, loopy signature and handed it back to her, "So, Harry," he turned his attention to said boy as Hermione gently folded and stuffed the note into her bag, "Tomorrow's the first Quidditch match of the season, I believe? Gryffindor against Slytherin, is it not? I hear you're a useful player. I was a Seeker, too. I was asked to try for the National Squad, but preferred to dedicate my life to the eradication of the Dark Forces. Still, if ever you feel the need for a little private training, don't hesitate to ask. Always happy to pass on my expertise to less able players."

By then Lucifer, Ron, and Hermione had already made it to the door, but Lockhart spoke so loudly, you could hear him clear into the corridor.

They were out of the classroom for a few seconds when Harry joined them, "I don't believe it," he said as Hermione pulled the note back out to take a look at the signature, "he didn't even look at the book we wanted!"

"That's because he's a brainless git," Hermione said, putting it back into her bag. "So self-absorbed... arrogant... I hate him!"

They made it into the Library and walked straight up to Madam Pince.

As usual, she was a thin, irritable woman who looked like an underfed vulture.

"Moste Potente Potions?" She asked as Hermione handed her the note, holding it up to the light as though she just knew it was a forgery.

It proved to be the real deal for Pince and she went and got the book.

She came back with an old, large, and moldy-looking book.

Hermione took it and placed it carefully into her bag, not wanting to damage the worn down book.

They casually walked out of the Library and five minutes later, were barricaded in Moaning Myrtle's out-of-order bathroom once again.

Upon seeing Lucifer, Myrtle started to flirt with him.

He wasn't an idiot, he noticed her attitude was flirty only for him.

She did eventually remember something that upset her and flew into the toilet once again, crying as she did.

Hermione was really happy, Myrtle was now gone, took the book out.

She opened it carefully, and it became painfully obvious why it was in the Restricted Section.

Some of the potions had grueling effects or after-effects.

Some of the illustrations were enough to make Hermione turn her head until Lucifer read through the Potion on the page.

One of the illustrations even made him chuckle, it was a man who looked like he'd been turned inside out.

But, everyone else's faces looked horrified.

Finally, Hermione turned the page and found it, "Here it is, The Polyjuice Potion!"

It was decorated with drawings of people halfway through transforming into other people.

"This is the most complicated Potion I've ever seen..." she said, while scanning the recipe.

"Lacewing flies, leeches, fluxweed, and knotgrass," she murmured to herself, listing off the ingredients as she got to them, "Well, they're easy enough, they are in the student store-cupboard, we can help ourselves.... Oh, look, Powdered Horn of a Bicorn - don't know where we are going to get that-shredded skin of a boomslang - that'll be tricky too, and of course, a bit if whoever we want to change into."

"Excuse me?" Ron asked sharply, "what d'you mean, a bit of whoever we're changing into? I'm drinking nothing with Crabbe's toenails in it-"

"It can be hair, you know?"

"We don't have to worry about that yet, though," Hermione quickly said, "Got to add those bits in last."

But, also Harry had some concerns, "Do you realize how much we are going to have to steal? Shredded skin of a boomslang? That's not in the students' cupboard. What're we going to do, break into Snape's private stores? I don't know if this is a good idea..."

Hermione shut the book with a snap, "Well, if you two are going to chicken out then fine!" she said forcefully.

Her cheeks were pink, and she looked rather angry, motioning to herself and Lucifer twice as she spoke, "We don't want to break the rules, you know.

2. We think threatening Muggleborns is far worse than brewing up a difficult Potion. But if you don't want to find out if it's Malfoy, then fine, I'll take this book back to Madam Pince and turn it back in!"

It was a moment before either of the other two said anything, "I never thought I'd see the day when you would be persuading us to break the rules," Ron said, "Alright, we'll do it."

"How long until you say it'll be ready?" Harry asked, looking at her and the book.

Hermione looked notably happier and opened the book back up, "Well, since the fluxweed has to be picked on the full moon, and the lacewings have to be stewed for twenty-one days, I'd say a month from now? And that's only if we get all the ingredients."

"A month? Malfoy could have half the Muggle Borns at school taken out by then," Hermione shot him a nasty glare.

"I still don't believe it's Malfoy," Lucifer said unsurely, "But it's the only lead w- Did you just sniff me?"

"What!? N-no!" Hermione stuttered, trying to explain why her face is near Lucifer's neck, "uh-I there was a beetle in your hair!! yeah a beetle.... definitely!"

He obviously didn't believe her crappy lies.

*******

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