Felicity's POV
"Say it," Ron groaned during dinner that night, "I'm doomed." He had been desperately trying to tape his wand back together using Spell-O-Tape, but his efforts were in vain. I glanced at the wand and Ron sympathetically. "You're doomed," I agreed.
"Hiya, Harry!" an over-enthusiastic voice chirped. Hermione, Ron, Harry, and I turned to the source of the noise when a bright flash went off, instinctively making us all blink in surprise. "I'm Colin Creevey! I'm in Gryffindor, too," a little boy said, grinning and holding a large camera. "Um, hi, Colin. Nice to meet you," Harry replied, sounding confused and mildly uncomfortable.
"Ron," Dean's voice interrupted from across the table, "is that your owl?" We all turned to the rapidly approaching bird that was indeed Errol, the Weasleys' family owl. "Um, guys," I began, "I think he's gonna-"
Errol cut me off by crashing into the bowl of bread rolls in the center of the table, making most of the Great Hall howl with laughter. Ron's face turned bright red as he plucked the letter from the clumsy Errol's beak.
"The bloody bird's a menace," Ron grumbled. He looked over the letter and his face paled instantly. "Look, everybody! Weasley's got himself a Howler!" Seamus shouted over the laughter. I glared at him and threw the closest bread roll at his face. He stuck out his tongue childishly, and I returned the gesture.
"Go on, Ron," Neville encouraged, "I ignored one from my Gran once... it was horrible!" I laughed a little at the memory as Ron began opening the envelope hesitantly.
"RONALD WEASLEY! HOW DARE YOU STEAL THAT CAR! I AM ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTED! YOUR FATHER IS NOW FACING AN INQUIRY AT WORK, AND IT'S ENTIRELY YOUR FAULT! IF YOU PUT ANOTHER TOE OUT OF LINE, WE'LL BRING YOU STRAIGHT HOME! Oh, and Ginny, dear, congratulations on making it in Gryffindor, your father and I are so proud."
The entire Great Hall was silent for a moment after the Howler ripped itself apart. People finally resumed their previous conversations, except for Ron's and Ginny's beet red faces.
***
Our first class the next day was DADA with Professor Lockhart. "Let me introduce you to your new Defense Against The Dark Arts teacher... me," a cocky voice sounded from the top of the stairs in the room. Don't judge a book by it's cover, Felicity, he could be really nice and humble, I thought to myself. Ron and Harry exchanged half disgusted and half annoyed looks with each other while Hermione swooned next to me.
"Gilderoy Lockhart," he continued, walking down the stairs, "Order of Merlin, Third Class; honorary member of the Dark Force Defense League; and five times winner of Witch Weekly's 'Most Charming Smile' award. But I'm not here to talk about that. I didn't get rid of a banshee just by smiling at it." He flashed us all a smile and winked.
He's got to be joking, right?
"Now," he said, his voice taking on a more serious tone, "Be warned. It is my job to arm you against the foulest creatures known to wizardkind." He tapped a covered metal cage on his desk with his wand and it shook violently. "You may find yourselves facing some of your worst fears in this room. But know that no harm can come to you whilst I am here. Now, I must ask you not to scream, as it might provoke them!" Lockhart shouted the last part, which made his advice seem pretty hypocritical. He pulled the maroon colored cloth off of the cage to reveal...
Pixies.
"Cornish Pixies?" Seamus asked incredulously from behind me. "Freshly caught Cornish Pixies," Lockhart corrected proudly. Seamus and Neville laughed. "Laugh if you want, Mr. Finnigan, but pixies can be devilishly tricky little blighters. Let's see what you make of them!" Lockhart flung open the door to the cage, releasing the purple creatures into the room.
Everyone in the room screamed as the pixies flew around, pulling hair and ripping papers out of spell books. "Come on, come on, round 'em up!" Lockhart shouted over the chaos. "You try rounding them up!" I yelled, swatting one away from my face with a book. The pixie, in a purely coincidental fashion, I swear, hit Lockhart in the face, making him shriek like a first year.
Six of the small creatures pulled Neville into the air by his ears and robes and hung him from the chandelier. By now, most of the students had fled the classroom, leaving me, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Neville to deal with the pixies.
The miniature devils had managed to steal a wand and sent the skeleton of an ancient God-knows-what crashing into the ground. I looked to Hermione, who had just pulled a pixie out of her now tangled hair, and shouted, "Freeze them!" She understood and nodded swiftly. We pulled out our wands and pointed them into the air.
"Immobulus!" we chanted together. Instantly, the noise stopped as the tiny creatures floated through the air, quite... well, immobilized. I sighed in relief as we began grabbing the pixies we could reach and putting them back into their cage.
Neville, who I had almost forgotten about for the time being, groaned from the chandelier. "Why is it always me?" he asked. I sighed. I'd been wondering that since we were born.
YOU ARE READING
enchanted • draco malfoy
Fanfiction"and I was enchanted to meet you... all I can say is I was enchanted to meet you." Felicity Longbottom, Neville Longbottom's twin sister, has been waiting her whole life to go to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. She's fiery, confident, an...
