SERPENT'S SONG | Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets [2]

𝘅𝗶 | 𝘁𝗼𝗺 𝗺𝗮𝗿𝘃𝗼𝗹𝗼 𝗿𝗶𝗱𝗱𝗹𝗲

Lockhart entered the classroom with a dramatic flourish, his turquoise robes and matching hat almost blinding. He started by giving them a quiz about himself, which Gwen absolutely failed. She knew nothing about the man, and honestly, she didn't believe he'd truly done all the things he's said he had. She'd only been nice about him to Justin earlier as he was an admirer. Instead, she wrote down ludicrous answers to the test, things that would probably offend Lockhart, but he was self-centred enough to believe that she was genuinely just uneducated on his supposed achievements.

When he went through the test at the end, Gwen could hardly believe how self-absorbed one person could be. He went over the questions, calling out the correct answers. Ron and Gwen were staring at him with looks of utter disbelief, Harry had an eyebrow raised, seemingly thinking the same as the other two, and on the desk beside Gwen, Seamus and Dean were shaking with silent laughter. Hermione, however, like many of the other girls in the room, were hanging onto his every word.

In the second half of the lesson, he released a manic bunch of Cornish Pixies into the room. The chaos was immeasurable, and it was only Gwen and Hermione that seemed to have any chance against them. Even Lockhart's own wand was stolen and thrown out the window. He'd run from the room when the bell rang, following the rest of the class, and Gwen, Harry, Ron and Hermione were left to clear up the mess.

'He just wants to give us a hands-on experience,' Hermione said, as she and Gwen nipped the last of the frozen pixies into the cage. They'd used the Immobilising Jinx on them, one by one, managing to round them all up.

'Hands-on?' said Ron. 'Hermione, he didn't have a clue what he was doing--!'

'Rubbish,' she said, sweeping up her things. The three of them made their way out of the classroom. 'Look at all those amazing things he's done.

'He says he's done,' murmured Ron, just quiet enough that only Harry and Gwen could hear, and the look the three of them shared showed that they agreed with him.

• • •

That evening, Gwen found herself in the Library, a couple Charms textbooks around her and some old scraps of parchment. The Tom Marvolo Riddle diary was on the table beside her, open so that she could write down some new charms she wanted to learn.

Her favourite class by far was Charms, and, in her free time, she worked on learning as many spells as she could. She was now challenging herself to fourth year magic, which was much more difficult, but would definitely be worth it. She'd mastered all of the first and second year charms and jinxes, and was now halfway through mastering the third year ones.

She wondered if this year she'd be joined by Theodore Nott again. The two of them had become study-buddies last year, perhaps even what you could call friends. She'd missed their evening library sessions over the summer, and she hoped he would join her again.