PRINCESS ➳ harry potter , draco malfoy (OLD VERSION)

22 || Mudblood

Katie's first Defence Against The Dark Arts class came too soon for her liking. With a scowl on her face, she plopped down in a seat next to Ron. Harry and Hermione sat in the seats across from them.

Judging by his facial expression, which was nothing short of a glower, Ron was not enthused about Defence Against The Dark Arts either. Having had his fair share of embarrassing encounters with the new DADA teacher already, Harry piled as many books on his desk as he could to hide his face, much to Hermione's annoyance.

The light chatter in the class died down as Professor Lockhart waltzed into the room. Hermione's whole face lit up bright pink and she swooned over Lockhart. Katie and Ron exchanged sidewards glances in response to this.

"Me," Lockhart said finally, picking up Neville's copy of Travels With Trolls and holding it up for the class to see. "Gilderoy Lockhart, Order of Merlin, Third Class, Homorary Member of the Dark Force Defence League and five times winner of Witch Weekly's Most-Charming Smile Award — but I don't talk about that. I didn't get rid of the Bandon Banshee by smiling at her!"

Lockhart paused and waited for the class to laugh, but no one did. Hermione, however, was smiling broadly and admiring Lockhart from a distance.

"I see you've all bought a complete set of my books — well done. I thought we'd start today with a little quiz. Nothing to worry about — just to check how well you've read them, how much you've taken in..."

Lockhart handed out the test papers. Katie stared down at the pages in front of her. Every single question was about Lockhart. These questions included what his favourite colour was, his secret ambition and so on. Katie must have left half of the paper blank, while Ron didn't even bother picking up his quill.

After an agonisingly slow half hour, Lockhart collected the papers and made quick work of marking them. Over all, he seemed very dissappointed by the results.

"Tut, tut, hardly any of you remembered that my favourite colour is lilac. I say so in Year with a Yeti. And a few of you need to read Wanderings with Werewolves more carefully — I clearly state in chapter twelve that my ideal birthday gift would be harmony between all magic and non-magic peoples — though I wouldn't say no to a bottle of Ogden's Old Firewhisky!"

Harry contorted his face in disgust, Hermione let out a hum of contentment, Ron was looking at Lockhart with an expression of pure disbelief, and Dean and Seamus, who were sat at the top of the room, were shaking from trying to hold back their laughter. Lockhart continued to speak.

"...but Miss Granger knew my secret ambition is to rid the world of evil and market my own range of hair-care potions — good girl! In fact, full marks. Where is Miss Hermione Granger?"

Hermione let out a small but very audible gasp. She blushed furiously and lifted her shaky hand into the air, making Katie and Ron snigger.

"Excellent!" Lockhart beamed. Hermione looked as though she was going to pass out any moment. "Quite excellent! Take ten points for Gryffindor! And so, to business..."

Lockhart bent down beneath his desk and pulled out a cage that had a purple cloth draped over it. He placed the cage down atop of his desk and turned to face the class with a sincere glint in his eye.

"Now — be warned! It is my job to arm you against the foulest creatures known to wizardkind! You may find yourselves facing your worst fears in this room. Know only that no harm can befall you whilst I am here. All I ask is that you remain calm."

Harry finally peered around his pile of books to take a look at the cage, which Lockhart was now reaching towards. Neville was trembling with extreme fear.