Chapter 4: Howler, Classes and Bed.
Harry woke up the next morning. He rolled over onto his side and saw that the dawn was breaking through. He let out a yawn before he stretched himself and went back to sleep, intending to take in a few more hours before he had to wake up for class.
Meanwhile, Hermione was sitting up in her bed, reading over her notes and homework that she had done over the summer. Even though she had been through them all, it didn't hurt just to look through it once more. She sighed as she looked over to her left and smiled softly when she saw Mia curled up under her bed.
Mia's black hair was practically the only thing visible. Mia loved her sleep and Hermione knew it. That's why it was funny to see Mia sleep like her life depended on it. Hermione's smile faded as she remembered Mia's words to her before they left for the summer, how Hermione kept a distance between them, and Harry words about how water was more in tune than he thought. She still puzzled over what he had meant and tried to find books and information on it yet turned up empty handed and it drove her mad!
How was she supposed to know what everything meant when there were no books to help her?
"Books don't always have information on life," Mia mumbled in her sleep. She turned over before she let out a contented sigh and snuggled into her pillow, leaving Hermione staring at the other female in a stunned shock.
"I guess Harry was right when he said that Mia had a habit of reading people's mind," she muttered to herself. She shook her head and turned back to her notes, intending to concentrate for the day of their first classes and wondered what classes she was going to have.
Harry made his way into the Common Room. He was all washed and dressed but not completely awake. He blinked through bleary eyes at Mia and Hermione standing near the fireplace. Mia was looking quite happy with herself and Harry shook his head. He couldn't understand how Mia could be so cheerful and bouncy early in the morning.
"Breakfast!" Mia called out with delight in her voice.
"Time-tables," Harry called back and got a scowl in his direction.
"Now, why did you have to go and mention that?" she demanded. "I was happy!" Harry just grinned as he led the way down the stairs toward the Great Hall before he came to a stop.
"Oh hell, Lockhart in there," he muttered and Mia grinned.
"Forget did ya?" Mia asked before she walked past him and entered the Great Hall for her breakfast.
They made their way over to their house table and sat down for their breakfast. The papers and the mail came just as everyone was tucking into their breakfast. Ron looked up only for his face to pale when he saw a brown owl heading toward him.
The owl crashed landed into a bowl before it dropped onto the table and Ron shook his head.
"Bloody owl," Ron muttered before he noticed what the owl had been carrying. "Uh oh," Ron groaned out while Hermione reached out and poked the owl.
"I think it's still alive," Hermione told him and Ron shook his head as he lifted the red envelope that the owl had dropped.
"Weasley got himself a howler," Seamus called out, causing Harry, Mia and Hermione to look at Ron in confusion.
"A what?" Hermione asked.
"You better open it, Ron," Neville spoke up. "Best get it over and done with. I ignored one from my grandmother once…it was horrible."
With trembling hands, Ron turned the letter over and started to open it when all of a sudden it yanked itself out of his hands and formed itself into a mouth shape. The loud voice of Molly Weasley screamed its way throughout Hogwarts, trying her best to raise the dead.
"RONALD WEASLEY, HOW DARE YOU STEAL THE CAR WITHOUT OUR PERMISSION. I WOULDN'T HAVE BEEN SURPRISED IF THEY'D EXPELLED YOU. YOU WAIT TILL I GET A HOLD OF YOU. I DON'T SUPPOSE YOU STOPPED TO THINK WHAT YOU FATHER AND I WENT THROUGH WHEN IT HAD GONE…!"
Mia whined as she covered her ears, ducking down on her seat while everyone in the Great Hall spun around to see who got the howler. Harry was wincing as he fought hard not to cover his ears while Hermione looks liked someone was trying to stab her.
"WHEN WE GOT A 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…"
Harry sighed; he had wondered when his name was going to crop up in the situation. He focused hard on his breakfast as his eardrums throbbed in agony of listening to the volume of Molly's voice.
"WE ARE ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTED WITH YOU. YOUR FATHER IS FACING AN ENQUIRY AT WORK, IT'S ENTIRELY YOUR FAULT AND IF YOU PUT ANOTHER TOE OUT OF LINE WE'LL BRING YOU STRAIGH BACK HOME!" The letter plunged into silence before it turned to it's right. "Oh, and congratulations Ginny, on making Gryffindor."
With that, Ginny looked around, embarrassed, while the letter tore itself up. Harry looked around and saw Hedwig flying toward him and winced slightly, hoping that Sirius hadn't given him a howler. Hedwig came to a stop, but in front of Mia.
Mia reached out and took the letter then Hedwig made her way over to Harry, who reached out and stroked Hedwig's white feather before handing her a piece of bacon and some water.
Mia opened her letter, read it before she burst into laughers.
"Mia?" Harry asked and Mia looked up at him.
"Dad just going on about how brilliant the stunt you pulled and what your dad would have been like is he was still alive, never mind you mum," Mia explained, giving the brief contents of her letter and Harry groaned.
"At least he didn't send a howler," Harry muttered and Mia bit back a grin.
"He said if your mom was still alive, she would most definitely send a howler," Mia told him. Harry shook his head as he finished off his breakfast when McGonagall made her way over to her house table.
"Time Tables," she called out as she handed out the years their timetables. Mia looked at hers.
"We have Herbology today," Mia told them and Harry grinned.
"Great, I wonder what Professor Sprout is going to teach us this year," Harry told her as he looked through his timetable before making a face. "We have DADA with Slytherin."
"And we're stuck with the fraud," Mia muttered under her breath.
"Will you stop calling him a fraud? He's not a fraud!" Hermione snipped and Mia rolled her eyes as she turned back to her breakfast before looking at her watch.
"We better get a move on, we have…" she was cut off from a blinding flash, causing her to snatch her hand out and grab the object before grabbing the intruder by their shirt.
Once her sight came back into view, she saw that she had a camera in her right hand and was holding a young boy of 11 in her left hand. "What…" she trailed off.
"I'm Colin Creevy, I wanted to take a picture of Harry Potter to prove to my father that I at the same school as him," the small blonde explained and Mia sighed.
"Buddy, ask first next time," she told him as she let him down and handed him the camera back.
"Okay, sorry," he told her and she nodded as he walked off before shaking her head.
"Flaming mental, the lot of them," Mia muttered as they stood up and headed out of the Great Hall and into grounds where the Greenhouses were.
"I hope we're not going to do anything extremely dangerous this year," Ron muttered as he peered at the rows of Greenhouses.
"It's only the first day, I hardly think she is going to throw us into the lake," Hermione huffed. "Although, Lockhart has written some good books on Herbology."
"Of course he has," Mia retorted with a roll of her eyes and looked off to the side only for her eyes to widen. Harry turned in the direction she was looking at and rolled his eyes when he saw Lockhart following their Herbology teacher - Professor Sprout.
"Hello everyone!" Lockhart cried out, jollily and Ron groaned. "Just giving Professor Sprout here some tips on how to deal with certain plants."
"Is he our Herbology teacher?" Mia muttered under her breath and got headshakes from people. "Then I don't think he is in any position to tell our Herbology teacher anything."
"Greenhouse 3!" Professor Sprout called out, causing everyone to freeze on the spot while Mia shot Hermione a frustrated look. Greenhouse Three had more dangerous plants in it than the ones they were used to.
"You jinxed us!" she hissed and Hermione rolled her eyes before they all made their way into the greenhouse. Harry made to step in when Lockhart stepped forward and grabbed Harry's arm.
"Can I have a word with you, Harry?" Lockhart asked, using Harry's name like they were old friends. "You don't mind, do you?" Professor Sprout shot him a look saying that she did mind but Lockhart, as blind as usual, missed it and smiled. "Thank you." With that, he shut the greenhouse door in her face before turning to Harry. "Harry, I know you admire me and look up to me but trust me when I say that trying to get yourself on the front page every time isn't a good thing."
"What?" Harry demanded, he couldn't believe what he was hearing, did Lockhart seriously say that he thought Harry admired and looked up to him?
"If you want, I could give you some tips on when you should do things to get yourself on the front page," Lockhart rattled off only to stop when the door opened and Mia was standing there.
"I don't think so," Mia snipped at him before she grabbed Harry by the sleeves and pulled him into the Greenhouse with her, shutting the door on a bewildered Lockhart.
"Classic," Harry told her and she shot him a grin as they moved closer near where the rest of the class were.
"Good morning Class," Professor Sprout greeted them.
"Good morning Professor Sprout," everyone greeted back and she smiled at him or her.
"Today, we are going to be re-potting mandrakes, who can tell me what the properties of Mandrakes?" Sprout called out and Hermione's hand shot up into the air, narrowly missing Mia, who jumped slightly.
"Mandrake or Mandragora is a powerful restorative. It is used to return people who have been transfigured or cursed to their original state," Hermione told them and Sprout nodded.
"Excellent, ten points to Gryffindor," Sprout told her. "Now, Mandrake forms an essential part of most antidotes. It is however dangerous, who can tell me why?" Hermione's hand shot up once more.
"The cry of the Mandrake is fatal to anyone who hears it," Hermione informed them and Sprout nodded.
"Another ten points," Sprout told her and lifted up her earmuffs, causing everyone else to do the same. "Now, the mandrakes we are re-potting are not fully mature, meaning their cries are not fatal, however, they will knock you out for a good few hours so make sure your ears are fully covers," she pulled the muffs on and everyone did the same. "Grasp your mandrake firmly," she grasped the bottom of the lefts and yanked it out, showing a muddy and ugly baby like instead of roots.
Everyone watched in morbid fascination as the mandrake's mouth opened and was letting out a yell that none of them could really hear as they watched Sprout place the mandrake into another pot and started pouring soil over it.
Neville felt his eyes roll into the back of his head before he fell down, causing Harry and Seamus to look in the middle then looked at Sprout.
"Hm, I see that Longbottom had neglected to wear his earmuffs," Sprout stated and Seamus shook his head.
"No Professor, he just fainted," Seamus explained and she looked at him before sighing.
"Just leave him there then, I'm sure he'll wake up in his own good time," she told them before clapping her hands. "Get a move on!"
Everyone reached forward and grasped a mandrake before pulling them out of the ground, and stared at them.
Draco smiled slightly as he reached forward and tickled the baby till his finger got caught in its mouth, causing him to fight for his finger. Soon he got it free, with an annoyed expression, he placed the mandrake into the pot and started putting soil over it.
Soon, the class was over and everyone made their way out of their class, tired. They had been in there for most of the morning and were quite hungry as they made their way over to the Great Hall.
"I wonder what is for lunch," Ron muttered as he led the way in and made their way over to the house tables.
"I don't care, as long I eat something," Mia told him as she grabbed a jug and poured out some pumpkin juice for herself when the food appeared.
"It was a good class though," Hermione told them. "Though, Lockhart did write a good book on Mandrakes."
"Is there anything he hasn't written?" Harry muttered under his breath and got a glare in returned, telling him that Hermione had overhead what he had said. He sighed to himself as their lunchtime came to an end and understanding dawned on Mia.
"Oh shit, DADA," Mia moaned. "I forgot all about that class."
"It'll be great!" Hermione squealed. "Finally a teacher who knows what he is talking about."
"Oh bloody hell, where is Voldie when you need him to AK you?" Mia asked as she dropped her head into her arms on the table. Harry just reached over and patted Mia on the back while shooting a look at Draco, who rolled his eyes.
They made their way into the DADA class and settled themselves. Hermione was sitting in front with Susan Bones with Mia and Harry sitting behind her. Draco was sitting next to Goyle to Harry's right; second table back while Ron sat next Harry's right with Seamus.
Lockhart stepped out of his room and stood at the top of the stairs.
"Me," Lockhart started, waving his hands around the room, showing the various pictures he had of himself around the room. "Gilderoy Lockhart, Order of Merlin, third class, Honorary Member of the Dark Force Defence League and five time winner of the 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!"
Mia dropped her head into her table with a silent thud.
"Drown me, stab me, hang me; kill me please!" Mia chanted under her breath while Harry bit back his sniggers.
"You all have a test," Lockhart announced, causing Mia's head to jerk off the table.
"Already?" Mia demanded. "We've only just started this class!"
"It is to see how well you've read my books," Lockhart soothed, sending her a smile before looking away, missing that Mia jabbed her index finger in her mouth, mouthing she wanted to gag. "Here you are." He handed a bunch of parchments to Susan and Hermione, who both sighed up at him before giggling to each other and handed the rest of the parchments out.
Harry grabbed his and looked over the pages, his eyebrows rising, when he saw the questions.
"I don't think they are to do with his books," Harry muttered and Mia snorted.
"They're all about him!" she muttered before she looked up and saw Lockhart tip the turner, signally that they all should get a start on it.
"No, no, no," Lockhart moaned out. He had gathered the tests back in and was disappointed over the answers. "Rarely anybody got my favourite colour as Lilac!" Lockhart told them.
"Gay," Mia hissed to Harry, who bit down on his tongue.
"Ah! But there is one person who got all the answers correct, Hermione Granger, where is she?" Lockhart called out and Hermione blushed as she raised her hands, causing Mia's to drop her head into her hands.
"Oh god, why me?" she moaned out. She just had to get a female best friend that would fall for this idiotic prick's charms and get all his answers correct.
"Clever girl," Lockhart told Hermione with a wink before he turned back to the original topic of the class - Defence. He moved over to the table that was in front of the girls that had a cloth covered cage on top of it and tapped it hard. "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'm here. All I ask is that you remain calm."
The girls gasped as they looked toward Lockhart like he was their white knight on a horse ready to save them. Mia rolled her eyes and yawned before leaning to Harry.
"Wake me up when class finishes," Mia muttered to Harry she slumped back in her chair and closed her eyes, allowing herself to drop off to sleep.
Lockhart, oblivious to what was happening, yanked off the cloth and everyone looked to see Blue pixies rattling the cages. The girls let out little screams while the boys laughed slightly.
"Cornish Pixies?" Seamus asked and Lockhart looked at him.
"Yes," Lockhart told him.
"They're not dangerous," Seamus retorted and Lockhart shot him a smug look that said that he knew something that Seamus didn't.
"Don't be fooled for a minute, they can be dangerous when they want to be," Lockhart told them before he yanked open the cage. "Now defend yourself!"
The Pixies let out screeches as they flew out of the cages and started wrecking havoc, leaving everyone trying to get away from them.
"Relax everyone!" Lockhart shouted as he raised his wand. "Peskipikdi Pesternomi!" Lockhart shouted only for nothing to happen. A pixie grabbed his wand and brought it up to where the large skeleton dragon was hovering and used the wand to unlatch the metal hook, sending it crashing to the ground.
Mia shot up like a shot with her wand held firmly in her hand as she took in the sight only for her eyes to widen.
"What the hell!" Mia exclaimed before her hand rose up with her wand in it. "Impervious!" she shouted and the pixies stopped in mid-air. "Back to your cages!" she demanded and they formed themselves into a line before they moved back into the cage. Mia flicked her wand and the door locked behind the last pixie.
"What did you just do?" Lockhart demanded and Mia glared at him.
"Just told them to go back into their cages," she told him before shoving her books back into her bags and standing up. "And if you don't mind, I'm going to head back up to the common room where it's safer…there is no idiotic teacher bumbling up there." With that, she left the classroom, leaving the women insulted and the men amused.
"Fun day," Ron muttered to Harry as he leaned in. Harry just covered his snickers as he watched the crest-fallen dumbfounded look on Lockhart's face. He couldn't believe that one girl hadn't fallen for his charms!
"Ah, no worries, I'm sure she was just worried about me making a fool out of myself so she decided to help me," Lockhart told everyone before flashing them a smile and had the girls swooning over him once more while Harry just stared at Lockhart.
"Shit, he just signed a death wish contract," Draco muttered before he buried his head under his arms, wishing to god that summer were here already.
Harry made his way up to the common room with Hermione ahead of him. She was talking with Susan about how wonderful Lockhart was and how rude Mia was to him. Harry just shook her head when he felt someone beside him and turned to see Ginny walking beside him.
"Oh, hey, Ginny is it?" Harry asked and Ginny blushed as she nodded.
"Yeah, how is it going?" she asked, shyly and Harry shrugged.
"So and so, considering it's only the first day," Harry told her and Ginny blushed even deeper. "How is your first day at Hogwarts?" Harry asked and Ginny shrugged.
"Not really used to it yet," Ginny admitted and Harry nodded.
"Don't worry, I'm sure you'll fit in soon enough. The school can be friendly when it want to be," Harry told her and Ginny shot him a shy smile only to stop when Hermione walked over to them.
"Harry, do you need any help with your Herbology homework?" Hermione asked; her eyes narrowing slightly on Ginny and Harry looked at Hermione, confused by her actions.
"I thought you weren't talking to me," he asked, suspiciously, and Hermione laughed slightly as she shoved him.
"Oh Harry, you are so funny some times," she told him before wrapping her arm around his and resting her head on his shoulder. Harry just shook his head. Girls really confused him sometimes.
Ginny just watched as Hermione led Harry away, still keeping her head on his shoulder and felt jealously burning up inside of her before she shook her head sadly and climbed into the common room herself.
Once they were in the common room, Hermione pulled herself away from Harry and glared at him before making her way up the girls' dormitory, leaving Harry startled and confused. He looked around and his eyes landed on Mia, who was sitting at the small table at the back of the common room and made his way over to her.
"Hey Mia," he greeted as he sat across from her; she looked up from her homework and smiled.
"Hey, how did the rest of the class go?" she asked and Harry made a face and told her everything that happened.
"He said what?" Mia demanded after Harry explained what Lockhart had done after she had left the classroom. "I'm gonna kill him!" she told him, shocked. "I'm gonna wrap my hands around that scrawny neck of his and squeeze the life out of him!"
"Before you go on your murder spree, maybe you can tell me what the heck is up with Hermione," he told her and Mia looked at him. "She is acting all weird, one minute she refuses to talk to me, the next she's all cuddly then the next she's glaring at me!" Mia grinned. "I know you girls tend to change your mind a lot but this is just ridiculous!"
"Were you talking to Ginny when Hermione was all cuddly?" Mia asked and Harry nodded. "She's jealous of Ginny or shall I say, Ginny is jealous of Hermione." She sighed at Harry's puzzled look. "Ginny has a crush on you and Hermione knows it, she's making it clear that she is staking you."
"She doesn't have the right," Harry muttered and Mia arched an eyebrow. "Look, I like Hermione - she cute and all, but if she's gonna go all high and mighty about how she's allowed to fancy someone else but it's hell for me to look at another girl, I'm not interested." Harry stood up in frustration and stalked out of the Common Room, leaving Mia sitting back in her chair. She turned her head slightly and saw Hermione standing near the bottom of the stairs out of the corner of her eyes and nodded.
She was glad that Hermione heard it, maybe now she can see what she is at stake here.
"Are you gonna come out of there or what?" Mia asked and Hermione walked the rest of the way and looked at Mia with a sheepish grin.
"How did you know I was there?" Hermione asked and Mia grinned.
"I'm air remember, I can sense the change," she reminded and Hermione smiled softly as she sat down across from Mia.
"He's right, you know," Hermione admitted and Mia looked at her. "I am not being fair."
"Listen, I know you don't want to hear this but I truly think Lockhart is a fraud and I don't trust him. Harry isn't jealous or anything like that, he just senses that there is not something right about Lockhart, but you girls are too involved with his charms and good looks that you are being misled," Mia explained and Hermione pointed to the books.
"But he wrote the books," Hermione pointed out and Mia sighed.
"That's my point, anyone can write books. It is very easy to get these details from another book and turn them into your own words," Mia told her and Hermione shook her head.
"I'm sorry, but unless you have proof that Lockhart is a fraud, I'm going to believe in him," Hermione explained and Mia nodded.
"And I accept that, but you need to stop taking it out on Harry. Yes, Ginny has a crush on Harry but as Harry Potter, the boy who lived. She doesn't know him therefore there won't be anything going on there but if you are not careful, you will lose your chance before you even get it," Mia warned before she packed up her bag and made her way up into the girls' dormitory, leaving Hermione alone.
Harry made his way around the school. It was after curfew, he couldn't sleep properly and decided to take a walk around the school, hoping that it would help him to sort out his thoughts in order for him to sleep properly.
"Don't you know how dangerous it is to be out alone after curfew?" a male voice asked and Harry grinned as he stopped in his tracks and looked off to his left where the shadows were.
"Couldn't sleep either?" he asked and Draco stepped into view.
"Like hell, I can't sleep knowing that fraud is in this castle," Draco informed Harry as they both started walking once more and Harry laughed in agreement.
"Tell me about it, Mia is ready to kill him," Harry told him and Draco smiled.
"No wonder, after the way how he told everyone what she did was for his benefit!" Draco told him. "So, how come you can't sleep?" Draco asked and Harry sighed. He told Draco everything that was going on with Hermione and what Mia had said. Draco shook his head.
"She's crazy," Draco muttered and Harry laughed slightly.
"And you're just figuring this out?" Harry asked with a shake of his head as they reached the crossroad.
"Night," Draco told him.
"Night," Harry replied back as they went their separate ways to their own beds.
Harry let out a sigh of satisfaction when he climbed into his bed and rested his head on the cool pillow. He fell into a deep sleep the second his head hit the pillow.
"Night," Mia called out and Hermione sighed.
"Night," Hermione called back and they both fell into deep sleep.
All four of them were unaware of what was happening in their own school at that moment.
TBC
I know it's short and sorry that it was up late - work has been taking a lot out of me and I've not been sleeping well either so I'm kinda lacking in the inspiration - part of me wish I can just skip to year 4 because there is more action there (Rolls eyes).