Fears | June Potter and the Haunting Voice | Book 1

Chapter Four; Gilderoy Lockhart

Chapter Four; Gilderoy Lockhart

The next morning, the four long House tables were laden with tureens of porridge, plates of kippers, mountains of toast, and dishes of eggs and bacon, beneath the enchanted ceiling which was a dull, cloudy gray. June and Ginny start across from Hermione, Harry and Ron sn at the Gryffindor table, who had her copy of Voyages with Vampires propped open against a milk jug. There was a slight stiffness in the way she said " 'Morning," to the boys which told June that she was still disapproving of the way they had arrived.

"Mail's due any minute — I think Gran's sending a few things I forgot." said a boy from Harry's year, Neville Longbottom, June thought his name was.

June was a few bites into her porridge when, sure enough, there was a rushing sound overhead and a hundred or so owls streamed in, circling the hall and dropping letters and packages into the chattering crowd. A big, lumpy package bounced off Neville's head and, a second later, something large and gray fell into Hermione's jug, spraying them all with milk and feathers.

"Errol!" said Ron, pulling the bedraggled owl out by the feet. Errol slumped, unconscious, onto the table, his legs in the air and a damp red envelope in his beak. Ginny and June started to whip off the milk when Ron gasped a, "Oh, no —"

"It's all right, he's still alive," said Hermione, prodding Errol gently with the tip of her finger.

"It's not that — it's that."

Ron was pointing at the red envelope. It looked quite ordinary to June, but Ron, Neville and Ginny were looking at it as though they expected it to explode.

"What's the matter?" said Harry.

"She's — she's sent me a Howler," said Ron faintly.

"You'd better open it, Ron," said Neville in a timid whisper. "It'll be worse if you don't. My gran sent me one once, and I ignored it and" — he gulped — "it was horrible."

June looked from their petrified faces to the red envelope. She then turned to Ginny, who wasn't as terrified as her brother was.

"What's a Howler?" June whispered.

"It's a letter that Mum enchanted to get after Ron," she answered, but June was still confused.

June turned her attention back to the letter, which had begun to smoke at the corners.

"Open it," Neville urged. "It'll all be over in a few minutes —"

Ron stretched out a shaking hand, eased the envelope from Errol's beak, and slit it open. Both Ginny and Neville stuffed their fingers in their ears. Asplit second later, June knew why. She thought for a moment it had exploded, a roar of sound filled the huge hall, shaking the dustfrom the ceiling.

  "— STEALING THE CAR, I WOULDN'T HAVE BEEN SURPRISED IF THEY'D EXPELLED YOU, YOU WAIT TILL I GET HOLD OF YOU, I DON'T SUPPOSE YOU STOPPED TO THINK WHAT YOUR FATHER AND I WENT THROUGH WHEN WE SAW IT WAS GONE —"

Mrs. Weasley's yells making the plates and spoons rattle on the table and echoed deafeningly off the stone walls. People throughout the hall were swivelling around to see who had received the Howler, and Ron sank so low in his chair that only his crimson forehead could be seen.

  "— LETTER FROM DUMBLEDORE LAST NIGHT, I THOUGHT YOUR FATHER WOULD DIE OF SHAME, WE DIDN'T BRING YOU UP TO BEHAVE LIKE THIS, YOU AND HARRY COULD BOTH HAVE DIED —"