Priori Incantatem [HARRY POTTER FANFICTION]

Chapter 7: Unexpected Prospects

Chapter 7: Unexpected Prospects

November passed through Hogwarts without much incident. The Marauders continued to pull some rather astounding pranks and still no one knew exactly how they did them. Other than the upheavals caused by these jokes, life went on as usual. Even the Gryffindor-Slytherin rivalry, which had seemed so volatile a few weeks earlier, seemed to have reached some kind of standstill.

Finally December came with the promise of another Hogsmeade weekend and of course the Christmas holidays.

To none of her friends' surprise, Alice was once again going to Hogsmeade with Frank Longbottom. The two had been spending much of their free time together since their first Hogsmeade date. As of yet, none of the Gryffindor sixth year girls had dates to Hogsmeade, not even Kathleen, though Lily was secretly afraid that Gilderoy Lockhart would ask her again.

Lily had had a few offers, but she hadn't accepted any of them. None of the boys who had asked were quite what she was looking for, even though at least one of them was considered to be very attractive. Lily had been on a few dates, but nothing serious. In fact, something serious would have been very difficult indeed, as the Marauders tended to make the life of anyone who asked out Lily Evans a living hell.

*** 

The morning of the Hogsmeade trip dawned bright and beautiful, and as usual the Great Hall at breakfast was filled with excited chatter.

The Gryffindor table was somewhat more subdued than usual and several of the students had bags under their eyes and yawned constantly as though they hadn't slept well the night before, which was perfectly understandable under the circumstances.

Gilderoy Lockhart, who was still not apparently over his little crush on Lily Evans, had snuck out of the castle after hours the previous night and made his way to what he had believed to be the Gryffindor girls' dormitories. Convinced that Lily was merely playing hard to get, Lockhart planned to throw stones at the sixth years' window until Lily noticed and came to the window so he could ask her once again to go to Hogsmeade with him and confess his dying love for her in the moonlight, which was very flattering to his complexion.

Unfortunately, Lockhart had miscalculated; he was on the complete opposite side of the tower from where he had intended to be and was in fact throwing stones at Professor McGonagall's bedroom window.

Hearing the stones, an irate Professor McGonagall, in tartan dressing gown and hairnet, stuck her head out of the window to see who had the nerve to do such a thing. When she saw Lockhart standing there with yet another stone in his hand, she began to tell him off with enough volume to wake the entire tower.

"MR. LOCKHART!" Professor McGonagall shrieked. " WHAT IN MERLIN'S NAME ARE YOU DOING?"

"Er. That is." Lockhart stammered.

THIS IS ABSOLUTLEY DISGRACEFUL BEHAVIOR!" Professor McGonagall began. At this point, all of Gryffindor Tower was awake and were sticking their heads out of the windows in order to better hear and hopefully see what was going on. Those who could ran to the other side of the tower and reported back to everyone who couldn't.

"..A MONTH'S WORTH OF DETENTION AND FIFTY POINTS FROM HUFFLEPUFF FOR YOUR LEWD BEHAVIOR," McGonagall continued her tirade. "YOU MAY REST ASSURED THAT I WILL SPEAK TO YOUR HEAD OF HOUSE AND TO PROFESSOR DUMBLEDORE ABOUT THIS MATTER! NOW RETURN TO YOUR DORMITORY IMMEDIATELY, AND THAT INCLUDES ALL OF YOU!" McGonagall finished, including all of the gawking Gryffindors in this last statement before slamming her window shut. Lockhart fled, presumably to his dormitory, but it was quite a while before Gryffindor Tower settled down again.