Chapter 96

A couple of weeks had passed since classes had resumed, and not only had Ethan been making great progress in his personal endeavours, but he also believed he was getting closer and closer on cracking down on Lockhart.

For once, as the Second Year Slytherins and Gryffindors entered the Defence Against the Dark Arts room, Lockhart was not late, and already in the room, waiting for them. He sat in the thinker's pose, his chin against his fist as he acted oblivious to his students arrival.

He looked serious, and Ethan knew why. Since classes had resumed, Ethan had been harassing him with questions regarding his 'classes', and Lockhart's supposed expertise. But in the end, Ethan was still a kid who remained mostly inexperienced in the dangers of the magical world, while Lockhart had a NEWT in Defence Against the Dark Arts, and he did steal the tales of accomplished wizards.

But today, they would be speaking of a subject Ethan was well acquainted with, as they would be speaking of vampires.

Ethan had been surprised when he learned of the subject they would be studying, considering it was up to Lockhart to choose what they would be studying.

The Professor was taking a risk by teaching them about this, but Ethan was pretty sure their teacher was doing this to shush him down.

Ethan's words had a stronger impact than it seemed, and even though Lockhart had been answering all of his questions, the mere fact that Ethan was obviously doubting his expertise was enough for other students to sprout a seed of doubt.

Of course, as things stood, those who believed in Lockhart and worshipped him did not change their stance on the Professor. It was the others, boys mostly, who already had doubts to begin with, who had these thoughts reinforced.

As the students were about to seat however, Lockhart looked up slowly, his half-lidded gaze falling on them as if he knew of something they did not, and said, "You will be forming pairs today. And you cannot be of the same house."

Most of the students of both houses looked troubled by the revelation, and looked at each other with animosity. Gryffindors and Slytherins had an ages long rivalry that extended to and beyond the Quidditch Field.

Fortunately, Ethan shared no such feelings as he approached the Potters' group. As he did, Cassia, who was at the front of the group, looked down awkwardly, her thoughts chaotic.

But as she looked up and was about to speak, she found Ethan to have walked past her, treating her like air as he passed an arm around Sophia's shoulders, making the girl yelp as he laughed, "Never change."

Even as she stared, Ethan did not give her even a glance. This left her confused. Hadn't they settled things at the end of last year?

Meanwhile, Sophia wriggled out from under Ethan's arm with a pout, and said, "I told you to stop scaring me like that!"

Ethan flashed her a grin, "Sorry kiddo, but your reactions just make my day."

"Who are you calling kiddo? I'm older than you! It's only a couple of months, but I'm still older!"

Ethan smiled but chose not to respond to that, and instead asked about her holidays as they sat down, "So, how was France?"

Everything was quickly forgotten as Sophia beamed, "It was great! I got to see the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre and Versailles!"

As she said this however, she suddenly blushed and added, looking down, "These are muggle places, you probably don't know of them…"

When she had exchanged with her friends, they had nearly all be confused by her excitement. Only Hermione, the other muggleborn among her friends, had known about it.

Yet, Ethan's smile did not waver as he said, "Of course I know about them! Did you get to go in the Eiffel Tower? And which of the three was your favourite?"

Sophia smiled softly, but as she was about to answer Lockhart cleared his throat loudly and said, "If you cannot form the groups yourselves, then I'll do it myself! Harry Potter, you are with Draco Malfoy. Nott, you are with Dean Thomas…"

Lockhart quickly formed groups, until he said, "Highburn with Vincent Crabbe!"

Sophia looked at Lockhart in confusion, and although she wanted to say something, to protest, Lockhart was quickly going through names, not leaving them the opportunity to put a word in.

As for Ethan, he looked at his teacher with narrowed eyes, his disdain for the Professor rising inside. This was nothing but a petty response, worthy of a child.

"Lastly, Grindelwald with Cassia Potter."

Ethan lightly glanced at Cassia, who looked back, transfixed, but he only looked for a moment before turning to Crabbe. Seeing the way he was looking at Sophia, Ethan reached out with his mind to the boy.

It was nothing intrusive or even offensive. However, the sheer weight of it was enough to warn Crabbe. Once he was sure the message had passed, Ethan finally looked away, just in time for Lockhart to start his class.

"Vampires were made famous with the many tales told about them, both within the muggle and magical worlds. Of course, the prose of these writers were lacking compared to true masters, such as your truly, and this resulted in people vastly overestimating vampires, blowing them up to be more than they actually are."

So that was his goal all along, to discredit Ethan by playing down the dangers a vampire represented.

Although on the larger, international scene, Ethan's popularity stemmed from his defeat of Ramesses, and the events surrounding his trip to Egypt, in Hogwarts many knew of his magical might from his fight with Quirrell and Lord Holderbaum, both vampires.

"Although they look like humans, they are but mere ravenous beasts in the end."

Malfoy snickered at that, and spoke while showing no curtsey, "There are no born vampires, they all used to be human. Hiding as one is not hard for them."

Ethan, among others, was surprised at the unexpected bout of knowledge coming from Malfoy, but Lockhart shook his head, sighing, "They might be good at disguising themselves, but that is only enough to fool the inexperienced."

Before anyone could protest his claim, he quickly followed with, "I know, for I had to face several of them through my adventures. And while they may be scary to the ignorant, vampires suffer from many weaknesses. If you read Voyages with Vampires, you should know what happened to the last vampire to have crossed me?"

Several hands shot up, mostly girls. Cassia was among them, and happened to be the one who was picked to answer, "You left him only capable of eating lettuce!"

Lockhart made his signature laugh, awarding Cassia with 20 points, leaving the girl blushing. Ethan's gaze glazed over her, but he said nothing to her, addressing his teacher instead, "What kind of magic did you use to accomplish this? To accomplish this, one would need to change the very body of the target, somewhat like the Animagus spell."

If these two weeks of probing had taught Ethan one thing, it was that Lockhart knew how to stick to his script, and he had all his stories memorized by heart. However, at the same time, his knowledge of magic itself was restrained to these, and bound by his arrogance.

So even as Ethan clearly lacked any form of respect in the way he addressed him, Lockhart still replied with a confident grin, "I have fortunately mastered the Animagus Spell, as you most certainly read in my Marauding with Monsters. I transformed into my fearsome lion form to take down a particularly strong Fire Troll."

Tracey, who had been paired with Neville, raised her hand. Lockhart, likely believing she would be praising him as she was a girl, nodded with a beaming smile. Unfortunately for him, she was not among his fans.

"Using the Animagus spell grants a wizard the attributes of the animal they turn into, but in your case, facing a Fire Troll, how does it make sense to use it? A lion only has strength and speed over a wizard, but a Fire Troll is much stronger than a lion. Why deprive yourself of magic to only gain a strength lesser than the beast you faced?"