The Darkening of Your Soul

Chapter 34

Chapter 34

Dumbledore picked up a bright red mug just as he shook open the Prophet in front of him, and Harry had the pleasure, nay, the privilege to see the revered Headmaster of Hogwarts dump an entire cup of coffee down his beard.

Seriously, it looked like Dumbledore had a sudden case of diarrhoea of the mouth which stained most of his silver-white beard a dull brown.

Desperately trying to hold back his cackles, Harry quickly held up his own newspaper high enough to bury his face behind it while his shoulders shook and the paper rustled in his hands.

“Did Dumbledore just spill coffee all over himself?” Blaise asked in disbelieving delight while Harry was holding his breath in an attempt not to burst out into peals of laughter.

“What?” Draco demanded, turning in his seat to look at the head table. “Look at him! He can’t even do breakfast right. No wonder this place has such low standards.”

All around them students took notice of their headmaster’s embarrassing little accident, and just as Harry peeked over the top of his newspaper, still holding his breath for all he was worth, Dumbledore all but jumped up and hurried out of the hall through the side door behind the head table. Unable to hold back his laughter any longer, Harry let go and bent over, cackling madly with sheer gratification at seeing Dumbledore’s stunned reaction at realizing Voldemort had returned in a brand new body.

Well, not really Voldemort, since Tom these days was an entirely different person, but Dumbledore didn’t know that, of course.

Thankfully, lots of students were laughing around them so Harry’s ridiculous reaction didn’t stand out too much. He just seemed like an immature child taking pleasure at seeing a grown-up spilling something all over himself, but he certainly wasn’t the only student with a reaction like that.

Their first class was Herbology and as usual they teamed up with Ernie and Justin to prune some buzzing primroses. Their flowers let off a soft noise in the wind, hence the name, but since it was late November, the primroses weren’t in bloom and just needed pruning to see them through the oncoming winter.

Theo sidled closer to Harry as they worked, while Ernie and Justin loudly discussed the discovery of Ravenclaw’s Diadem. Neither seemed very heartbroken about Lockhart’s fate, but from what Harry understood Justin had no clue who he was and Ernie had always thought Lockhart a bit of a fop, though Ernie’s mother was a huge fan and would surely be disappointed. At the table next to theirs Millicent and Daphne, together with Zacharias Smith of all people, were having a heated discussion about the evil Daily Prophet for slandering their beloved hero, while Tracey and Wayne Hopkins shared many a knowing look in between ducking their heads to hide their smirks.

That seemed to be the reaction at all tables. A portion of students were sad or angry about Lockhart’s arrest while the rest seemed quietly amused at his fate but were too polite or too insecure to say such things out loud.

“That Gaunt fellow,” Theo whispered in Harry’s ear while everyone else was distracted. “He’s the one you mentioned meeting and you said he was very closely related.”

Harry said nothing but continued snipping dead leaves off the primrose in front of him.

“Considering his fairly young age,” Theo continued, glancing around to make sure no one was overhearing them. “I’m going to guess he’s the son of You Know Who.”