Hope Mikaelson Goes to Hogwarts

Chapter 4: The Howler or Gilderoy Lockhart, Which is Worse?

Hope's POV:

It's the next morning and I am utterly exhausted. Right now we are in the Great Hall eating breakfast. Hermione is trying to get me to eat something while Harry and Ron are discussing Ron's broken wand. "Say it, I'm doomed." Ron says. "You're doomed." Harry confirms. 

"Hi Harry!" A boy says, coming up to us, using an old fashioned camera to take a picture of Harry. I blink, the light blinding me for a little bit. "I'm Collin Creevey, I'm in Gryffindor too." The boy says. I smile at his innocence. "Hi Collin, it's nice to meet you." Harry says. 

"Ron, it that your owl?" Dean Thomas asks as a bird swoops down and drops a red letter in front of Ron. It then flies into a food bowl. I hold back a laugh for Errol, that poor owl is very old. "Bloody bird's a messy." Ron whines. I kick his shin. 

"Ow!" He cries, but he doesn't push it any further, knowing my love for the old owl. I scratch the bird affectionately before he flies away. "Oh no." Ron whines. "Look everyone, Weasley's got himself a Howler." Seamus Finnegan says. I roll my eyes. 

"Go on Ron, I ignored one from my Gran once, it was horrible." Neville says. I smile sadly at the kind boy. Ron shakily opens the envelope. It burst open. Mrs. Weasley's voice booms over the Great Hall. If a few people weren't looking at us before, they defiantly were now.

"RONALD WEASLEY! HOW DARE YOU STEAL THAT CAR, I AM ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTED! YOUR FATHER IS NOW FACING AN INQUIRY AT WORK AND IT IS ENTIRELY YOUR FAULT! IF YOU STEP ANOTHER TOE OUT OF LINE, I'LL BRING YOU STRAIGHT HOME!" 

After that her voice become gentle. "Oh and Ginny dear, congrats on making Gryffindor, your father and I are so proud." With that the letter tears itself up. Harry, Hermione, and I sit here stunned. I've never experienced a Howler before and from the sound of it, I don't want to again.

Molly is truly terrifying. I'm glad they don't have those in my world, my mom would've had field day. Ron looks scarred. I grin and stand from the table. "Come on guys, let's head to class before Ron is attacked by another letter." I say. Hermione laughs with me and they all stand up. 

Once we have everything we head towards our first class of the day, Defense Against the Dark Arts. I really hope this guy is better than Quirrel, in the teaching aspect and the all together good person aspect. We sit in our usual spots, Harry next to me and Hermione next to Ron. 

I honestly don't know why the seats are like this, Hermione and Ron can't stand each other. As the two of the begin bickering Harry and I get all the things we need for this class out. "Isn't this the guy from Fourish and Blott's? Gilderoy Lockhart?" I ask. "Yeah that's him." 

"I don't get why Dumbledore would hire him. From what I can tell from our first encounter, he's too self absorbed to be a teacher." I say. "I agree. But Dumbledore knows what he's doing." He reminds me. I nod in agreement. 

Once everyone is in class Lockhart comes out of his office dressed in extravagant dress robes. "Let me introduce you to your new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. Me." Oh boy, this isn't going to end well. 

"Gilderoy Lockhart, Order of Merlin Third Class. Honorary Member of the Dark Force Defense League and five time winner of Witch Weekly's most charming smile award." He says. Oh give me a break. I glance over to see Hermione soaking in everything he is saying. 

I roll my eyes and look around the room. Every girl besides myself is staring at him with heart eyes. Gross. Luckily all the boys in the class look even more annoyed than I am. "But I don't talk about that." Well you are so..."I didn't get rid of the Bandon Banshee by smiling at him." 

He then proceeds to let out a laugh the ironically looks like he needs an inhaler. "I see you all have bought a complete set of my books, well done. Now I thought we'd start today with a little quiz." I glance over at Harry and he gives me the same confused look everyone else has. 

"Nothing to worry about. Just to check how much you've, uh, taken in." He says, passing out the quiz. I look at it and silently groan. "These questions are all about him." I mumble to Harry. "What is Gilderoy Lockhart's favorite color?" Harry reads. 

"What is Gilderoy Lockhart's greatest achievement to date?" I question. This is ridiculous. "You have thirty minutes, start... NOW!" He says. I groan and pick up my quill. I hurriedly write down everything. If I didn't read the books then I wouldn't know any of these answers. 

Luckily I did read them. I even know his favorite color is lilac. Once the thirty minutes is up we all turn in the sheets of paper. He goes through them. He frowns at most of them and shakes his head at a few. 

"Tut tut, hardly any of you remembered my favorite color is lilac. But Miss Hermione Granger knew that my secret ambition is to rid the world of evil and market my own range of hair care potions. Good girl." He says, winking. I hold back a gag. 

That is not appropriate class room behavior. I think I might have found a teacher I hate worse than Quirrel. At least I learned something last year. I'm not gonna get anything out of this year. What a waste. Lockhart then draws his wand. 

"Be warned. It is my job to arm you against the foulest creatures know to wizard kind." He taps the cage next to him and it rattles. What the hell? "You may find yourselves facing your worst fears in this room." Not likely buddy, good try though. 

"Know only that no harm will befall you whilst I am here. I must ask you to not scream. It might PROVOKE THEM!" He yells pulling the tarp off the cage. I hold back a laugh. This guy can't be serious. Pixies? "Cornish Pixies?" Seamus asks. 

"Freshly caught Cornish Pixies." Lockhart clarifies. Seamus begins laughing. "Laugh if you will Mr. Finnegan, but pixies can be devilishly trickle little blighters. Let's see what you make of them." He says, and with that the idiot opens the cage.