𝐭𝐰𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐝; 𝐲𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐡.𝐩

𝓨𝓮𝓪𝓻 2, 𝓒𝓱𝓪𝓹𝓽𝓮𝓻 10: 𝓣𝓱𝓮 𝓡𝓸𝓰𝓾𝓮 𝓑𝓵𝓾𝓭𝓰𝓮𝓻

~ chapter ten: the rogue bludger ~

i'm sorry it took me so long to update—but hey, on the plus side, i graduated eighth grade today! so now that i'm on summer break, i'll get loads more time to update. i aim to get halfway through 'prisoner of azkaban' by the time summer vacation ends. we'll see how far i get. now, without further ado, here's chapter ten of 'chamber of secrets', so enjoy this chapter.

Since the disastrous episode of the pixies, Professor Lockhart had not brought live creatures to class. Instead, he had read passages from his books to them, and sometimes reenacted some of the more dramatic bits. Usually, Y/N and Harry were picked to help him with these reconstructions; so far, they both had been forced to play simple Transylvanian villagers whom Lockhart had cured of Babbling Curses, yetis with head colds, and vampires who had been unable to eat anything except lettuce since Lockhart had dealt with him.

This time, it was only Harry who was hauled to the front of the class during their very next Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson, this time acting like a werewolf. If he hadn't had a very good reason for keeping Lockhart in a good mood, he would have refused to do it.

"Nice loud howl, Harry—exactly—and then, if you'll believe it, I pounced—like this—slammed him to the floor—thus—with one hand, I managed to hold him down—with my other, I put my wand to his throat—I then screwed up my remaining strength and performed the immensely complex Homorphus Charm—he let out a piteous moan—go on, Harry—higher than that—good—the fur vanished—the fangs shrank—and he turned back into a man. Simple, yet effective—and another village will remember me forever as the hero who delivered them from the monthly terror of werewolf attacks."

The bell rang and Lockhart got to his feet.

"Homework—compose a poem about my defeat of the Wagga Wagga Werewolf! Signed copies of Magical Me to the author of the best one!"

The class began to leave.

"Signed copies?" Y/N asked incredulously. "Who wants signed copies of this guy's book?"

"Me," Hermione said in a slightly hurt tone.

"Anyways," Harry jumped in, "ready?"

"Wait till everyone's gone," said Hermione nervously. "All right...."

She approached Lockhart's desk, a piece of paper clutched tightly in her hand, Harry, Y/N, and Ron right behind her.

"Er," Hermione stammered, "Professor Lockhart? I just wanted to... er... to get this book out of the library. Just for background reading." She held out the piece of paper, her hand shaking slightly. "But the thing is, it's in the Restricted Section of the library, so I need a teacher to sign for it—I'm sure it would help me understand what you say in Gadding with Ghouls about slow-acting venoms—"

"Ah, Gadding with Ghouls!" said Lockhart, taking the note from Hermione and smiling widely at her, "Possibly my very favorite book. You enjoyed it?"

"Oh, yes," said Hermione eagerly. "So clever, the way you trapped that last one with the tea-strainer—"

"Well, I'm sure no one will mind me giving the best student of the year a little extra help," said Lockhart warmly, and he pulled out an enormous peacock quill. "Yes, nice, isn't it?" he said, misreading the revolted look on Ron's face. "I usually save it for book signings."