Gilderoy Lockhart and Luna Lovegood
The next day, Harry had only just started his porridge when, 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. Not seeing Hedwig among the owls, he went back to his porridge as Daphne and Tracy opened their copies of that morning's Daily Prophet, why they did not just buy one copy and share it between them he didn't know. Suddenly without any warning, a roar of sound filled the huge hall, shaking dust from the ceiling.
RONALD WEASLEY HOW DARE YOU STEAL THAT 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-"
Looking across the hall at the Gryffindor table, he could just see the top of Weasleys head as he had sunk so low in his chair that only his crimson forehead could be seen, people throughout the hall were swivelling around to see who had received the Howler.
"-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 SEAMUS COULD BOTH HAVE DIED-"
Looking down the table, Harry could see the Weasley twins giving their younger brother thumbs up while grinning from ear-to-ear, no doubt that those two trouble makers thought it was great that their brother had gotten a howler within 24hrs of been at school.
"-ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTED - YOUR FATHER'S FACING AN INQUIRY AT WORK, IT'S ENTIRELY YOUR FAULT AND IF YOU PUT ANOTHER TOE OUT OF LINE WE'LL BRING YOU STRAIGHT BACK HOME."
A silence fell across the hall, as the red envelope ripped itself up, the only sound to be-heard was that of Draco Malfoy who was sat at the very end of the Gryffindor table laughing like a hyena as he pointed at Weasleys bright red face. Harry himself had a slight smirk on his face as he went back to his breakfast.
"Well what did the prat expect after stealing and flying a car to school?" Daphne asked as she went back to reading the paper and eating her breakfast.
"I don't know what he expected but I guarantee Malfoy isn't going to let him live it down for a long time." Tracy replied as she too went back to her paper and food.
Fifteen minutes later and they were heading to their first class of the school year, Herbology with the Hufflepuff's. Harry, Daphne and Tracy left the castle together with the rest of the 2nd year Slytherin's, crossed the vegetable patch, and made for the greenhouses, where the magical plants were kept. As they neared the greenhouses, they saw the rest of the class standing outside, waiting for Professor Sprout. They had only just joined them when she came striding into view across the lawn, accompanied by Gilderoy Lockhart. Professor Sprout's arms were full of bandages and a slight scowl was on her normally kind face.
Professor Sprout was a squat little witch who wore a patched hat over her flyaway hair; there was usually a large amount of earth on her clothes and her fingernails would have made Aunt Petunia faint. Gilderoy Lockhart, however, was immaculate in sweeping robes of turquoise, his golden hair shining under a perfectly positioned turquoise hat with gold trimming.
"Oh, hello there!" he called, beaming around at the assembled students. "Just been showing Professor Sprout the right way to doctor a Whomping Willow! However, I don't want you running away with the idea that I'm better at Herbology than she is! I just happen to have met several of these exotic plants on my travels..."
"Greenhouse three today, chaps!" said Professor Sprout, who was looking distinctly disgruntled, not at all her usual cheerful self.
There was a murmur of interest. They had only ever worked in greenhouse one before - greenhouse three housed far more interesting and dangerous plants. Professor Sprout took a large key from her belt and unlocked the door. Harry caught a whiff of damp earth and fertilizer mingling with the heavy perfume of some giant, umbrella-sized flowers dangling from the ceiling.
Just then, Lockhart spotted Harry and his smile grew larger showing off every one of his straight white teeth.
"Harry Potter, I've been wanting a word with you." Lockhart said as he attempted to put his arm around Harry.
"I'm sorry sir you must be mistaken." Began Harry in his most polite voice as he moved out of Lockhart's reach. "I'm not Harry Potter, I'm Harry Davis, twin brother of Tracy Davis." He lied easily as he gestured towards Tracy.
"Are you really?" Lockhart asked with a confused look on his face.
"Its true sir, Harry Potter is in Ravenclaw." Tracy lied doing her upmost to keep a straight face, backing her adopted brother without question.
"Oh well then, my mistake I'll let you get to your class." Lockhart said with a winning smile and a wave as he headed towards the castle.
"Why did you lie to Lockhart?" Daphne asked a smirking Harry who was watching Lockhart walk away.
"Well apart from the fact that he's a fake, I wanted to see if the dimwit would fall for it." Harry replied with a snort of laughter.
"I can't believe the gullible idiot fell for that." Tracy laughed, Harry and Daphne joining her in laughing at Lockhart's retreating back.
"Well as amusing as that was to watch, we have a class to be getting on with, so let's get inside." Professor Sprout said from behind them, startling Daphne and Tracy both of whom gave a slight scream.
"Of course Professor Sprout." Harry said with a charming smile as he turned to look at the squat Professor before heading inside the greenhouse followed by Daphne, Tracy and the Professor.
Professor Sprout went to a trestle bench in the center of the greenhouse and stood behind it. About twenty pairs of different-colored earmuffs were lying on the bench. When Harry, Daphne and Tracy had taken their places, the Professor began the lesson.
"We'll be re-potting Mandrakes today. Now, who can tell me the properties of the Mandrake?" Sprout asked the class. Harry's, along with half of the classes, hand went into the air.
"Yes, Mr. Potter." Sprout said nodding at Harry to answer.
""Mandrake, or Mandragora as it is known in some parts of the world, is the main ingredient in a powerful restorative potion," Harry began in a polite, respectful tone. "The Potion is used to return people who have been transfigured or cursed to their original state." He finished with a slight bow to show he had finished his explanation as he did every time he explained something to his professor's questions.
"Very well answered Mr. Potter, 15 points too Slytherin." said Professor Sprout. "The Mandrake forms an essential part of most antidotes. It is also, however, dangerous. Who can tell me why?"
"The cry of an adult Mandrake will kill you; however the cry of a baby mandrake will only knock you out for several hours." Harry answered once again.
"Brilliant, another 15 points too Slytherin." Beamed Professor Sprout. "Now, the Mandrakes we have here are still very young."
She pointed to a row of deep trays as she spoke, and everyone shuffled forward for a better look. A hundred or so tufty little plants, purplish green in colour, were growing there in rows. They
Looked quite unremarkable to Tracy, who didn't have the slightest idea what Harry meant by the "cry" of the Mandrake.
"Everyone take a pair of earmuffs," said Professor Sprout.
There was a scramble as everyone tried to seize a pair that wasn't pink and fluffy. Harry himself took a pair of pink ones just to see if anyone would dare to say anything to him about it. Everyone noticed but nobody dared say anything.
"When I tell you to put them on, make sure your ears are completely covered," said Professor Sprout. "When it is safe to remove them, I will give you the thumbs-up. Right - earmuffs on."
Harry snapped the earmuffs over his ears. They shut out sound completely. Professor Sprout also put a pink, fluffy pair over her own ears, rolled up the sleeves of her robes, grasped one of the tufty plants firmly, and pulled hard.
Daphne let out a gasp of surprise that no one could hear.
Instead of roots, a small, muddy, and extremely ugly baby popped out of the earth. The leaves were growing right out of his head. He had pale green, mottled skin, and was clearly bawling at the top of his lungs.
Professor Sprout took a large plant pot from under the table and plunged the Mandrake into it, burying him in dark, damp compost until only the tufted leaves were visible. Professor Sprout dusted off her hands, gave them all the thumbs-up, and removed her own earmuffs.
"As our Mandrakes are only seedlings, their cries won't kill yet," she said calmly as though she'd just done nothing more exciting than water a begonia. "However, they will knock you out for several hours, and as I'm sure none of you want to miss your first day back, make sure your earmuffs are securely in place while you work. I will attract your attention when it is time to pack up.
"Four to a tray - there is a large supply of pots here - compost in the sacks over there - and be careful of the Venomous Tentacula, its teething."
She gave a sharp slap to a spiky, dark red plant as she spoke, making it draw in the long feelers that had been inching sneakily over her shoulder.
Harry, Daphne and Tracy were joined at their tray by a curly-haired Hufflepuff boy Harry knew by sight but had never spoken too.
"Justin Finch-Fletchley," he said brightly, shaking Harry by the hand. "Know who you are, of course, the famous Harry Potter, top of every class we took last year, are you hoping for top of every class this year too?" he asked in polite yet excited voice.
"That is the goal yes." Harry replied with a nod before turning to introduce Daphne and Tracy. "This is Daphne Greengrass a very good friend of the family and this is Tracy Davis, my adopted sister."
"Pleasure to meet you both." Justin smiled as he shook their hands, unlike most students, Justin didn't seem to care that the three of them were Slytherin's.
"That Lockhart's something isn't he?" said Justin happily, as they began filling their plant pots with dragon dung compost. "Awfully brave chap. Have you read his books? I'd have died of fear if I'd been cornered in a telephone booth by a werewolf, but he stayed cool and - zap - just fantastic." Harry was about to say something sarky about Lockhart but Justin carried on talking before he got the chance
"My name was down for Eton, you know. I can't tell you how glad I am I came here instead. Of course, Mother was slightly disappointed, but since I made her read Lockhart's books I think she's begun to see how useful it'll be to have a fully trained wizard in the family..."
After that, they didn't have much chance to talk. Their earmuffs were back on and they needed to concentrate on the Mandrakes. Professor Sprout had made it look extremely easy, but it wasn't. The Mandrakes didn't like coming out of the earth, but didn't seem to want to go back into it either. They squirmed, kicked, flailed their sharp little fists, and gnashed their teeth; Harry spent ten whole minutes trying to squash a particularly fat one into a pot. In the end, he just punched the top of its head until it was back in the pot.
By the end of the class, Harry, like everyone else, was sweaty, aching, and covered in earth. Everyone traipsed back to the castle for a quick wash and then they hurried off to Transfiguration with the Gryffindors.
Professor McGonagall's classes were always hard work, for anyone not named Harry Potter, but today was especially difficult. Everything Tracy had learned last year seemed to have leaked out of her head during the summer. She was supposed to be turning a beetle into a button, but all she managed to do was give her beetle a lot of exercise as it scuttled over the desktop avoiding her wand.
Harry was sat back relaxing in his seat, 10 perfect black buttons on his desk. Tracy noticed that her brother was sat smirking at Ron Weasley, who was having even worse luck than she was. She noticed that Weasleys wand seemed to be spell-o-taped together and it kept crackling and sparking at odd moments, and every time Weasley tried to transfigure his beetle, it engulfed him in thick gray smoke that smelled of rotten eggs. Unable to see what he was doing, Weasley accidentally squashed his beetle with his elbow and had to ask for a new one. Professor McGonagall wasn't pleased.
This of course made Harry's smirk grow wider and when the redhead noticed Harry, smirking at him his face grew redder than his hair, which was quite the feat. Just to rub salt in the wound Harry held up one of his perfect buttons so Weasley could see, causing the redhead to begin bashing his wand against the table in anger, which lost him 10 points from Professor McGonagall, not something Gryffindor could afford seeing as how they were already minus 400 points as it were.
"Do you have to wind him up?" Tracy asked him as they were heading down to lunch. She tried to sound stern but the effect was lost due to her slight smile.
"I haven't the faintest idea what you're talking about dear sister of mine." Harry smirked as Weasley and his two friends stormed passed them without saying anything, it seemed that Weasley had finally learned not to cross Harry Potter, though the three of them doubted it would be long before he put his foot in his mouth and got on Harry's bad side once again.
After they finished lunch, they went outside into the overcast courtyard. Harry sat down on a damp rock and took out The Dark Arts, a beginner's guide, volume 4. Daphne and Tracy stood discussing the upcoming Quidditch season, Pro league not the Hogwarts league. However, after a minute, Harry became aware that a pair of eyes were focused on him and his head snapped up and he saw the very small, mousy-haired boy he'd seen trying on the Sorting Hat last night staring at him as though transfixed. He was clutching what looked like an ordinary Muggle camera, and the moment Harry looked at him, he went bright red.
"All right, Harry? I'm - I'm Colin Creevey," he said breathlessly, taking a tentative step forward. "I'm in Gryffindor, D'you think - would it be all right if - can I have a picture?" he said, raising the camera hopefully.
"No." Replied Harry a hiss entering his voice.
"So I can prove I've met you," said Colin Creevey eagerly, ignoring Harry's answer of no and edging further forward. "I know all about you. Everyone's told me. About how you survived when You-Know-Who tried to kill you and how he disappeared and everything and how you've still got a lightning scar on your forehead" (his eyes raked Harry's hairline) "and a boy in my dormitory said if I develop the film in the right potion, the pictures'll move ." Colin drew a great shuddering breath of excitement and said, "It's amazing here, isn't it? I never knew all the odd stuff I could do was magic until I got the letter from Hogwarts. My dad's a milkman, he couldn't believe it either. So I'm taking loads of pictures to send home to him. And it'd be really good if I had one of you" - he looked imploringly at Harry - "maybe your friend could take it and I could stand next to you? And then, could you sign it?"
"Signed photos? You're giving out signed photos, Potter?"
Loud and scathing, Draco Malfoy's voice echoed around the courtyard. He had stopped right behind Colin, flanked, as he always was at Hogwarts, by his large and thuggish cronies, Crabbe and Goyle.
"Everyone line up!" Malfoy roared to the crowd. "Harry Potter's giving out signed…" WHAM. Harry's fist connected with his mouth knocking out his front teeth, busting his lip and dropping the blonde boy flat on his back. Crabbe and Goyle looked to be on the verge of jumping on Harry before he turned to glare at them and they suddenly remembered what happened the last time they had tangled with Harry. Half the courtyard had turned at Malfoy's shout and they cheered when Harry put him flat on his back in one shot.
"Look out." Tracy said in his ear pointing to his right, looking over, Harry spotted Lockhart making his way over.
"What's all this, what's all this?" Gilderoy Lockhart was striding toward them, his turquoise robes swirling behind him; he didn't pay Malfoy the slightest bit of attention. "Who's giving out signed photos?"
Harry started to speak but he was cut short as Lockhart flung an arm around his shoulders and thundered jovially, "Shouldn't have asked! We meet again, Harry, you got me with your little joke last time but this time I know without doubt that you are indeed Harry Potter." Lockhart said with a laugh and a wink as though he thought it was a game between himself and Harry.
"Come on then, Mr. Creevey," said Lockhart, beaming at Colin. "A double portrait can't do better than that, and we'll both sign it for you."
Colin fumbled for his camera but before he could take the picture, Harry spoke up.
"Lockhart, I give you 5 clear seconds to release me before I shove Malfoy's head so far up your ass that when he spits it's coming out of your mouth." Harry hissed his anger taking over. "1…2…" Lockhart suddenly released Harry and jumped away from him as though burned, it seemed that he was taking Harry very seriously as he stared fearfully at the 2nd year Slytherin.
Harry glared at both Lockhart and Creevey before storming off towards the castle, the crowd in front of him parting like the red-sea as he walked towards them, giving him free passage to the castle.
"I'm sorry sir but my brother hates being grabbed by strangers the way you just did, your very lucky he didn't break your arm." Tracy said explaining Harry's reaction with a sad shake of her head; she knew exactly why Harry hated being grabbed like that but she'd be dead before she told any of these people about her brothers' childhood.
"Come on we've got defence next, we best make sure Harry's calmed down or he might just murder the prat." Daphne said with a glare at Lockhart before she and Tracy began walking towards the castle at a brisk pace.
They reached Lockhart's classroom and found Harry sat at the very back of the class glaring at his desk with all his Lockhart books piled in front of him on his desk, most likely so he didn't have to look at the real Lockhart.
"Are you ok Harry?" Tracy asked as she and Daphne took seats on either side of Harry.
"I'll be fine." Harry replied in a somewhat calm tone, relaxing even further as Tracy began rubbing circles on his back hoping to calm her brother down quicker. Daphne kept quiet as Tracy whispered reassuringly in Harry's ear.
Five minutes later, Lockhart led the rest of the students into the classroom. Lockhart went to walk down the middle of the room, when he spotted Harry and decided to walk around the very edge of the class on the other of where Harry was sat.
When the whole class was seated, Lockhart cleared his throat loudly and silence fell. He reached forward, picked up Neville Longbottom's copy of Travels with Trolls, and held it up to show his own, winking portrait on the front.
"Me," he said, pointing at it and winking as well. "Gilderoy Lockhart, Order of Merlin, Third Class, Honorary Member of the Dark Force Defence League, and five-time's 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!"
He waited for them to laugh; a few people smiled weakly.
"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-"
He began handing out test papers and when he got to Harry's table, he quickly gave them to Tracy before beating a hasty retreat from Harry's burning glare.
Harry looked down at his paper and read:
1. What is Gilderoy Lockhart s favourite colour?
2. What is Gilderoy Lockhart's secret ambition?
3. What, in your opinion, is Gilderoy Lockhart's greatest achievement to date?
On and on it went, over three sides of paper, right down to:
54. When is Gilderoy Lockhart's birthday, and what would his ideal gift be?
Harry looked over the test twice just to make sure he was really seeing what he thought he was seeing before he screwed up the paper and threw it to the front of the classroom with a disgusted scowl on his face, there was no force on this earth that would make him take that pathetic excuse for a test.
Lockhart saw what Harry had done with his test but very, very wisely kept his mouth shut on the subject.
Half an hour later, Lockhart collected the papers and rifled through them in front of the class.
"Tut, tut - hardly any of you remembered that my favourite colour is lilac. I say so in Year with the 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 large bottle of Ogdeds Old Firewhiskey!"
He gave them another roguish wink. Tracy was now staring at Lockhart with an expression of disbelief on her face; Seamus Finnigan, Ron Weasley and Dean Thomas, who were sitting in front, were shaking with silent laughter. Hermione Granger, on the other hand, was listening to Lockhart with rapt attention and gave a start when he mentioned her name.
"... but Miss Hermione 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" - he flipped her paper over - "full marks! Where is Miss Hermione Granger?"
Hermione raised a trembling hand.
"Excellent!" beamed Lockhart. "Quite excellent! Take ten points for Gryffindor! And so - to business-"
He bent down behind his desk and lifted a large, covered cage onto it.
"Now - be warned! It is my job to arm you against the foulest creatures known to wizard kind! 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."
In spite of himself, Harry leaned around his pile of books for a better look at the cage. Lockhart placed a hand on the cover. Dean, Ron and Seamus had stopped laughing now. Neville was cowering in his front row seat.
"I must ask you not to scream," said Lockhart in a low voice. "It might provoke them."
As the whole class held its breath, Lockhart whipped off the cover.
"Yes," he said dramatically. "Freshly caught Cornish pixies."
Seamus Finnigan couldn't control himself. He let out a snort of laughter that even Lockhart couldn't mistake for a scream of terror.
"Yes?" He smiled at Seamus.
"Well, they're not - they're not very - dangerous, are they?" Seamus choked.
"Don't be so sure!" said Lockhart, waggling a finger annoyingly at Seamus. "Devilish tricky little blighters they can be!"
The pixies were electric blue and about eight inches high, with pointed faces and voices so shrill it was like listening to many budgies arguing. The moment the cover had been removed, they had started jabbering and rocketing around, rattling the bars and making bizarre faces at the people nearest them.
"Right, then," Lockhart said loudly. "Let's see what you make of them!" And he opened the cage.
It was pandemonium. The pixies shot in every direction like rockets. Two of them seized Neville by the ears and lifted him into the air. Several shot straight through the window, showering the middle row with broken glass. The rest proceeded to wreck the classroom more effectively than a rampaging rhino; strangely, however they seemed to give Harry's table a wide birth as though they didn't want to get close to still fuming young wizard. Though none in the class could see it, the Aura around Harry just screamed dangerous and the tiny magical creatures could sense this and thus kept away. Within minutes, half the class was sheltering under desks and Neville was swinging from the iron chandelier in the ceiling.
"Come on now - round them up, round them up, they're only pixies," Lockhart shouted.
He rolled up his sleeves, brandished his wand, and bellowed, "Peskipiksi Pesternomi!"
It had absolutely no effect; one of the pixies seized his wand and threw it out of the window, too. Lockhart gulped and dived under his own desk, narrowly avoiding being squashed by Neville, who fell a second later as the chandelier gave way.
Harry gave a growl of annoyance before removing his wand and pointing it in the air, muttering under his breath, there was a sudden bright flash of magic and when the flash had faded everyone could see the pixies suspended and frozen in midair.
Harry glared at Lockhart one last time before he got up and left the classroom followed by Tracy and Daphne as the Professor and students began coming out from under their desks.
"Wow, he stopped thirty-odd pixies with one spell." Daphne heard Granger's awed voice seconds before she snapped the door shut.
Two weeks later, a Saturday
Harry was walking back to the Slytherin common room after his first lesson with Professor Flitwick, which turned out to be a review on just what Harry had mastered ahead of time. The tiny Professor had been very impressed, even clapping when Harry began showing he could do all the 3rd year Charms and Transfiguration spells, however he fell off his chair in shock when Harry produced a full corporal Patronus, in the shape of a stag. Harry had managed to master the spell over the summer wanting to master one of the most difficult Charms out there to impress the Charms master even more.
"Never in all my years have I seen a 2nd year mange so much as a vapour when attempting the Patronus Charm let alone a Corporal Patronus, simply amazing." Flitwick had whispered in awe as he stared from the silvery-white stag to Harry.
"Actually I mastered the spell at the end of last year." Harry had lied to his Professor as he could not very well tell the man that he practised magic over the summer, even if his wand didn't have the trace due to it once belonging to Phineas Nigellus Black, former Headmaster of Hogwarts.
"Simply amazing." Flitwick had replied with a beaming smile. "Harry my boy; I have a feeling that you will be more powerful than Albus Dumbledore himself before you reach your 7th year."
"Perfect." Harry had thought as he gave the tiny man a charming yet embarrassed smile that only seemedgenuine but was not of course.
Harry was pulled from his thoughts as he rounded a corner and laughing and jeering reached his ears. Looking down the corridor, Harry spotted a group of girls ranging from 3rd to 5th year standing in a circle and from what he could see pushing a small blonde girl around between them.
"Bullies." Harry hissed as he heard a faint crying that was undoubtedly coming from the small girl as the older girls pushed her around. He removed his wand in anger prepared to defend the poor girl when he saw that one of the girls was wearing a prefect's badge. Prefects were meant to prevent bulling not do the bullying; Hadrian James Potter saw red as he began unleashing his anger and spells upon the unsuspecting group. Thankfully, he had enough self-control not to kill any of the girls.
"Diffindo." His cutting curse connected with the back of one of the girls' knee dropping her screaming to the floor.
"Expulso." His next spell smashed into the back of another girl sending her crashing into her friends, which caused confusion throughout the group and therefore they did not see Harry walking towards them. Thankfully, the small blonde-haired girl who had been the victim of the group of girls had the foresight to drop to the floor out of the way of the incoming spells.
"Incarcerous." "Stupefy." The 1st spell wrapped the third girl in tight ropes before his stunning spells smashed into the back of her head dropping her stunned to the ground. After that, it was a matter of seconds before Harry had the group of bullies bound and stunned on the ground; within a minute one second year had taken out five students who were all at the least two years older than himself.
"Are you ok?" Harry asked as he reached the blonde girl still taking cover on the floor; he bent down and helped her to her feet. Upon looking at the girl close up her saw that she had straggly, waist-length, dirty-blonde hair, very pale eyebrows and protuberant eyes that gave her a permanently surprised look, she had chosen to wear a necklace of Butterbeer corks around her neck instead of a normal necklace.
Harry knew at once, why the girls had chosen to bully her, simply because she was different from everyone else in the school that Harry had met so far, which in no way shape or form gave them the right to bully her or anyone for that matter.
"Yes, I'm fine thank you." The girl replied dreamily as she began straightening her robes. "Luna Lovegood." She introduced herself with a dreamy smile when she had finished with her robes; she held her hand out to Harry obviously expecting him to shake hands.
"Harry Potter." Harry replied as he took Luna's hand and raising it too gently brush his lips against her knuckles.
"A pleasure to meet you Harry Potter." Luna said in her dreamy voice.
"And you Luna, where are your friends." He asked her as he looked down at the stunned group.
"I don't have any friends, everyone in Ravenclaw thinks I'm strange and avoid me or as you saw bully me." Luna replied in a dreamy matter-of-fact voice.
"Well in that case, how would you like to be friends with me?" Harry asked with a charming smile.
"Really? You want to be Friends? I've never had a friend before." Luna said in a normal none dreamy voice.
"Well you have a friend now Luna." Harry smiled at the smaller girl knowing exactly what it was like not having friends.
"Thank you Harry Potter." Luna said in a happy voice as she suddenly gave Harry a tight hug before letting go, blushing slightly.
"You're welcome Luna." Harry laughed, for some reason he felt a protectiveness about Luna that he only felt with Tracy and Daphne. "Now why don't you head to your common room until it's time for dinner and I will deal with these people?
"What are you going to do with them?" Luna asked in her dreamy voice though there was no concern in her voice for the group of girls.
"Oh nothing bad I assure you, just send a message to the whole of Hogwarts."
"Ok then." Luna then gave Harry another hug before skipping away.
Harry watched her go and once she was out of sight he pointed his wand at the group of girls levitating them into the air before he set of towards the great hall.
One hour later
The professors and students entered the great hall for dinner when they stopped dead in their tracks at the sight before them. Five huge 6foot tall crosses stood throughout the great hall, each holding a girl tied to them Crucifixion style.
"What in the world, who would do this." Professor McGonagall gasped in shocked horror.
Before anyone could respond a school owl came flying into the hall, dropping a folded piece of parchment at Dumbledore's feet. Picking up the parchment the Headmaster found the words.
"Read my aloud to the great hall."
Clearing his throat Dumbledore unfolded the parchment and quickly scanned the writing before he indeed began reading it too the hall.
"Dear students and staff of Hogwarts,
What you see before you is but a warning,
the next time I find a group of students or anyone bullying
a 1st year student or any student, then they will find themselves
on a one-way ticket to St. Mungo's permanent ward. Most especially
if the bully is a prefect who is appointed to prevent bullying not do the
bullying, as was the case with this group here.
Oh and Luna Lovegood is now under my protection anyone caught
bullying her or upsetting her in any way will find themselves in a
world of pain,
You have been warned.
Dumbledore finished reading the note into the stunned silence as the students and professor's turned to look at Luna Lovegood who was smiling a happy smile, with a few tears leaking from her eyes.
"Miss. Lovegood have these students being bullying you?" Dumbledore asked the young blonde-haired girl in a kindly voice.
"Yes headmaster." Luna replied in her dreamy voice.
"Why did you not report it to a teacher or your head of house?" Dumbledore asked in that same kindly voice.
"Because I did not want to be a bother when the professor's have enough on their hands with dealing with classes and such." Luna answered honestly in her dreamy voice.
"Miss. Lovegood, every professor at this school will always have time for a student being bullied or in need of any kind of help." Dumbledore said in a gentle voice with a kind smile.
"I understand sir." Luna replied with a nod of her head.
"Do you know who saved you from this group of bullies?" Dumbledore asked after a moment's pause.
"Yes sir, but I will never tell, I will never break his trust or betray him." Her answer was more for Harry than anyone else in the hall, however it got the message across to all.
"Very well, I would never dream of asking anyone to break their friends trust." Dumbledore said with an understanding nod of his head
"Would you mind helping me get the girls down and to the hospital wing?" Dumbledore asked Snape and McGonagall.
"Of course Headmaster." The two replied almost in unison as they removed their wands and headed towards the girl nearest them.
Half an hour later and the girls and the crosses had been removed from the hall and the students were sat at their tables eating their dinner and chattering amongst themselves about what had happened and the warning given about Luna Lovegood been under someone's protection.
At the Ravenclaw table, Luna Lovegood had gone from the house oddball to the houses little princess as everyone wanted to make sure that her protector saw them treating her with the upmost respect.
"I know you'll never admit to it, but that was a very kind thing you did for that girl." Tracy whispered in Harry's ear.
Harry turned and winked at Tracy before he looked across the hall at Luna who met his eyes and mouthed a quick thank you before going back to her meal.
End of Chapter
Well what did you think? Like it? Don't like it? Please drop me a review.
AN: I apologize for the long wait, however I recently moved house and my parents and I have been busy redecorating and sorting the place out. Plus our bloody internet supplier took over a week to get my internet sorted and get me back online.