Arch Mage, the Path of Magic Chapter 14 (Patreon)

Hey friends and fans, Kairomaru is here with another chapter of Arch Mage, the Path of Magic! Harry is returning to Hogwarts! After a somewhat eventful summer, what will our Spellcrafter spend his time with during his second year? Well, there’s always friends and a new ‘little sister’ to dote on. Not to mention dealing with a certain peacock all year. Perhaps Harry will make some progress on a certain Dark Magic removal? Along with some of his other Magical interests.

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So, without further delay, please enjoy.

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Chapter 14 – Little Sister, Professor Failure

Getting through Platform Nine-and-Three Quarters on September first was always an exercise. The crowds swelled up as parents sent their children off for another year at Hogwarts and the earlier you were the better, usually. Harry had been seen off by Sirius without too many shenanigans, for the Marauder at any rate. He still noticed the various looks of amazement and surprise he was getting from his peers and their families. His accomplishment was simply too unheard of to elicit many other responses. Thankfully, he made his way onto the Hogwarts Express without incident.

Harry found himself a nice compartment, empty, and settled himself in easily. His trunk was unshrunk, levitated onto the over head rank, and then he pulled out an old tome, worn from age, and one of his notebooks. He wanted to go over a few more things on the trip since it took a few hours. He was making what he felt was real progress on figuring out how to remove the Blood Malediction on Daphne. Not to mention that he had other projects that were keeping parts f his attention as well.

“I wonder if Professor Flitwick would let me skip Charms Class entirely since I have my Mastery?” Harry mumbled to himself thoughtfully. It would certainly give him a bit more time to go over his own interests.

A knock on the door to the compartment came several minutes later. Harry looked up as the door opened and saw a short blonde girl standing in the corridor with her trunk. She had blue-grey eyes, a small smile on her lips, and from what he could tell, radish earrings. The fact that those weren’t even that odd compared to some accessories on the Magical side of things barely registered to Harry.

“Would you mind if I sat here?” The blonde girl questioned politely.

“Of course, come in.” Harry offered with a smile. “Do you need any help with your trunk?”

“Maybe a little.” The blonde looked at the item next to her.

“Sure thing.” Harry pointed at the trunk and the luggage levitated slowly off the ground and into the overhead rack. “All done.”

“Thank you very much.” The blonde smiled at Harry, moving to sit across from him.

“No problem.” Harry chuckled, almost surprised at the lack of reaction from the girl. It was kind of refreshing though. “I’m Harry Potter, may I know your name?”

“Hello, Harry Potter, I’m Luna Lovegood.” Luna introduced herself, her smile widening a little bit.

“Nice to meet you, Luna.” Harry returned her smile. She was small enough that a part of Harry wanted to reach out and gently pat her head.

Luna pulled out a magazine from her robe pocket. The Quibbler was infamous in Magical Britain as a tabloid, full of outlandish stories and claims. Harry grinned at Luna’s choice of reading material, and the fact that she was reading it upside down, and went back to his own book to take notes. He wouldn’t figure this out if he didn’t look into every avenue of research.

“Good morning, Harry.” Hermione greeted Harry once she’d found his compartment.

“Morning, Hermione, need any help?” Harry smiled, motioning to her trunk.

“I’ve got it.” Hermione pulled out her wand and tapped the trunk. The bushy-haired Witch easily levitated her luggage into the overhead rack next to Harry’s trunk. “Who is this?” Hermione queried as she put her wand away.

“I’m Luna Lovegood.” Luna introduced herself with a smile, looking up form her upside down magazine.

“Hermione Granger, a pleasure.” Hermione returned the introduction with a small smile of her own. She took the seat next to Harry and snuck a peek at what was in the old book he had floating in front of him. Unfortunately for the ever-curious bookworm, the material was too advanced for her. It might as well have been in another language for all that she was able to understand from a brief glance.

“Curse Removal, if you’re curious.” Harry snickered, having caught Hermione’s glance at the worn tome.

“For that project you won’t talk about, yes?” Hermione gave a playful roll of her eyes at her friend.

“Exactly.” Harry nodded faux sagely, making Hermione giggle a little.

Once the Hogwarts Express had left King’s Cross, the trip was mostly quiet in the compartment. The turning of pages was one of the few sounds, as all three occupants read during the ride. The lull was broken when Michael Corner, Anthony Goldstein, and Terry Boot came by to chat for a bit from their compartment further down the train. Harry had happily welcomed a break, even getting Hermione to focus on the conversation instead of reading while their housemates chatted with them. The three boys left when Anthony spotted the Trolley Lady making her way down the corridor.

“Anything from the trolley, dearies?” The kind old lady asked the group of three.

“Would you two like anything?” Harry asked Hermione and Luna politely.

“Harry, I can get something myself.” Hermione tried to dissuade him from buying her anything.

“Doing it away.” Harry replied cheekily, a grin on his face.

“Of course, you are…” Hermione faked a sigh before smiling. “A Sugar Quill or Cauldron Cake would be nice.”

“Luna?” Harry turned his eyes on the small girl.

“They don’t have pudding, do they?” Luna looked over at the cart.

“I’m afraid not, dear.” The Trolley Lady apologized with a warm laugh.

“Do you have Fizzing Whizzbees?” Luna titled her head cutely.

“Yes, those we have.” The old lady smiled at the girl.

“A Sugar Quill, two Cauldron Cakes, two Fizzing Whizzbees, and a pitcher of Pumpkin Juice, please.” Harry put down the appropriate amount of coins and the snacks and drink were handed over. The Trolley Lady moved on and closed the door to their compartment behind her.

“Thank you, Harry.” Hermione accepted the Sugar Quill and the Cauldron Cake from him with a smile.

“Thank you, Harry Potter.” Luna beamed at Harry, opening one of the Fizzing Whizzbees and letting the floating sherbet balls loose in front of her. She grinned and ate one right out of the air with a small giggle.

“No problem.” Harry waved off their thanks, opening one of the Cauldron Cakes for himself and taking a bite. The pitcher of Pumpkin Juice was poured into the three cups they’d been given as the trio enjoyed the snacks together.

The compartment was filled with chatter while they ate. Luna revealed that her father was the owner and publisher of the Quibbler. Hermione hadn’t seemed too impressed by the magazine when Luna had let her look at it. The bookworm valued knowledge, and the Quibbler was more tabloid than facts. But she had enough tact not to deride the magazine that their new friend’s family owned. Hermione had told Luna about herself and being muggleborn. Luna had only asked a few questions about terms she didn’t know, like what a Dentist was. Harry didn’t need to speak too much about himself…the entire Magical World knew of him to some extent. Even more so recently with Minister Fudge making a front page spectacle of his Charms Mastery.

When the Hogwarts Express arrived to Hogsmeade Station, the trio disembarked without issue. Harry briefly noticed that several people actually seemed to be giving him a little extra space. Harry greeted Hagrid with a smile and wave before ushering Luna towards the friendly Groundskeeper. The boat ride across the lake would be fun for Luna on a clear evening like this one. Harry and Hermione hopped into a carriage, joining Mandy Brocklehurst and Padma Patil. The four exchanged greetings and some quick stories from their summer doings. Harry accepted their congratulations on both his Charms Mastery and the team victory for the British Junior Dueling League.

“Huh, the song really is different every time.” Harry chuckled as he applauded the Sorting Hat’s song along with the rest of the Great Hall.

The Sorting started and there wasn’t much fanfare, all things considered. Harry perked up a bit when Luna’s name was called though.

“Lovegood, Luna.” McGonagall called and Luna skipped up to the stool before sitting down. The old hat was placed on her head for a moment, a very animated moment as it appeared the Sorting Hat was having some kind of chat with Luna.

“Ravenclaw!” The Sorting Hat declared, getting an applause from the table of blue and bronze.

“Luna!” Harry waved the blonde over with a grin, patting the bench on his right side since Hermione was sitting at his left.

“Hello, Harry.” Luna smiled brightly as she sat down next to him. She settled in and turned to watch the rest of the Sorting with the other Ravenclaws.

The next name that caught Harry’s attention was Ginny Weasley. The younger sister of Ron and the Twins. Much like everyone expected, she went to Gryffindor, where she was welcomed by her brothers. Harry had honestly forgotten that she had four brothers currently attending Hogwarts. But he’d never really interacted with Percy Weasley before, so that wasn’t unexpected.

The food appeared shortly after the Sorting and everyone began to eat. As always, the meal was delicious. Harry chuckled when he saw Luna molding her mashed potatoes into the shape of a castle with a little gravy moat around it. The girl was clearly the free-spirited type, not taking anything too seriously.

“Oh, pudding.” Luna perked up a little when dessert appeared. The pudding was out of her reach though.

“Here you are, Luna.” Harry levitated the pudding over to Luna, much to the surprised squawks of a few of the Ravenclaw students.

“Thank you, Harry.” Luna was all smiles again as she took a good portion of the pudding for her dessert.

“Hey, uh, Harry…could we get that back?” One of the older Ravenclaw students requested the pudding dish to be returned.

“Sure thing.” Harry sent it back with merely a thought.

“Is the Firstie a friend of yours, Harry?” A Third Year, Edgecombe, if Harry recalled correctly, asked from slightly down the table.

“This is Luna, she’s my new little sister.” Harry gently patted Luna’s head, making her nearly glow with happiness.

“Harry…that’s not how that works.” Hermione mentioned, torn between sighing at her best friend’s antics or giggling about them.

“I don’t mind.” Luna shook her head, her long hair swishing around from the motion.

“See?” Harry shot a grin at Hermione.

“We’ve only known Luna for a few hours.” Hermione pointed out to Harry, though she wasn’t exactly trying to dissuade him. That would be an impossible task, knowing Harry.

“And if anything happens to her, I will unmake the ones responsible.” Harry stated firmly, his eyes sweeping along the Ravenclaw table, catching the gaze of all in ear shot. Contrary to his stern words and gaze, he was still gently patting Luna’s head as she enjoyed her pudding.

Harry’s warning would quickly make the rounds through the House. And not too long afterwards, would reach Hufflepuff and Gryffindor. Slytherin would be out of the loop for an extra day or two since they tended to isolate themselves from the other three Houses.

“Harry…please don’t threaten others…it’s against the rules.” Hermione worried that Harry might get in trouble for his words.

“I’m not threatening, I’m warning, that’s completely different.” Harry nodded at his own logic.

“Yep.” Luna nodded her head in agreement with her new big brother.

“Oh Merlin…” Hermione facepalmed at the two of them already in agreement like this.

Luna would happily follow Harry to the Ravenclaw Common Room after dinner. Harry was grinning as he showed Luna around the Common Room. Hermione was giving her input on things as well, since she was already liking Luna and enjoyed having a younger girl around to pseudo-mentor. That became a boon when it was time for bed and Hermione could lead Luna up to her dorm room. As a male, Harry couldn’t cross the ward that protected the Girls’ Dorms. Well…he could, but he was fairly certain Flitwick wouldn’t like him removing or altering the castle’s wards like that.

-First Day of Classes-

“Ready for your first day of classes, Luna?” Harry smiled at the small blonde.

“Yep.” Luna had just finished her breakfast and, at Hermione’s insistence, brought her schoolbag with her.

“Brilliant.” Harry nodded, pulling what looked to be compass from his robe pocket and handing it to his new little sister.

“What’s this?” Luna blinked at the compass.

“Tell it what classroom you want to find and it’ll guide you through the corridors until you reach it.” Harry explained the compass to her with a grin. “I enchanted it with a Location Charm for you.”

“Thank you, Harry!” Luna hugged him and Harry returned it warmly. It was a simple Charm, and all he’d had to do to ‘make’ the compass was remove the magnet from it. Now the Location Charm would point unerringly to Luna’s requested class.

“Harry…did you bring that compass from home?” Hermione asked him curiously.

“Nah, I had to fly over to Hogsmeade last night to buy it.” Harry shrugged off the egregious rule-breaking like it was no big deal.

“Harry!” Hermione looked around as if one of the Professors would suddenly swoop in with punishment.

“It’s fine, Hermione, I was back in the Common Room before curfew.” Harry assured her with a grin. As if THAT was the entire issue.

Hermione took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. She was just going to let that be. She wasn’t the same lonely, bossy girl that she had been when she came to Hogwarts. If Harry got in trouble for his shenanigans, then that was on him. Hermione would focus on being a good role model for Luna.

-Potions-

“Already done, Potter?” Snape drawled, looking at the newly turned in vial. It looked the appropriate shade of lilac at the very least. The fact that the spawn of James Potter had somehow cut down the time needed to brew it by almost half an hour was not lost on the Potions Master.

“Yes, Professor.” Harry kept his tone neutral, the same as Snape’s. They’d had no further altercations since back in First Year, and both seemed content to barely acknowledge each other.

Harry returned to his seat quietly, wandlessly lowering the heat on Megan Jones’ cauldron without the Hufflepuff girl knowing. That would keep her potion from overheating and coming out with less efficacy. Snape would happily deduct points for such things after all. He took out his Potions notebook and flipped to the page he’d marked. While everyone else was focusing on their brewing, Harry further delved into another of his many Magical projects.

‘Since the Boom Berry’s juice is the source of its restorative properties, the flesh is treated as an afterthought. But if I can make use of it to figure out the formation, then my idea might just work out.’ Harry mused to himself as he compared the fairly common ingredient against other potential ingredients. He’d try them all over time, of course, but finding success gave him proof of concept to build from. A desire to make another breakthrough, along with a not inconsequential amount of spite towards Snape, was leading Harry further into Potion Making nowadays.

-Defense Against the Dark Arts-

Harry was sitting next to Hermione in the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. They were waiting for Professor Lockhart to show himself and the chatter in the room was a mix of curious, bored, and in some of the girls’ cases, amorous. A few of them whispering about Lockhart’s deeds from his books. Harry was bored, and currently counting the bones in the dragon skeleton hanging above the classroom. He’d certainly had enough of seeing Lockhart’s face, given all the portraits and pictures that the man had put up in the classroom. He wondered if he’d be able to get Lockhart to give him free study during this period like Quirrel had done last year.

Lockhart came out of the Professor’s Office at the top of the stairs in the front of the room. His robes swished in a somewhat dramatic manner while he placed his hands on the banister and looked down at the students with his signature smile. “Let me to introduce you to your new Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor.” Lockhart declared, his tone a little over the top for an introduction. “Me. 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… but I don’t talk about that. I didn’t get rid of the Bandon Banshee by smiling at her!” He gave a ‘charming’ smile that had Harry rolling his eyes. The man certainly enjoyed the sound of his own voice.

“Hah~” Hermione sighed, starring at the blonde man with adoring eyes.

Harry barely held back a snigger at the look on Hermione’s face. “Really?” He whispered to her; the humor clear in his voice.

“Hush!” Hermione pointedly focused on Lockhart, refusing to meet Harry’s eyes.

“I see that you’ve all bought the complete set of my books, well done.” Lockhart nodded to the stacks of books he saw on the desks. “Now, I thought we’d start today with a little quiz.” He smiled at the students, picking up a stack of parchments. He seemed to ignore the confused sounds (and the annoyed groans) of some of the students. “Nothing to worry about.” Lockhart assured the class as he handed a stack to the students in the front desks. “Just to check how well you’ve read them.”

“Thank you…” Hermione nearly squeaked when Lockhart handed her a stack to pass back to the others behind her.

“Snrk.” Harry barely suppressed his snort of laughter. Hermione shot him a look, her brown eyes promising retribution if he said anything.

‘Wait…are ALL of these questions about him?’ Harry noticed as he started reading over the questions on the quiz. ‘What is Gilderoy Lockhart’s favorite color? What is Gilderoy Lockhart’s secret ambition? When is Gilderoy Lockhart’s birthday and what would be his ideal gift? What in your opinion is Gilderoy Lockhart’s greatest achievement to date?’ He read off mentally, becoming more and more annoyed at the complete lack of relevance to the subject. This ‘quiz’ was nothing more than an ego trip for the puffed up peacock!

“You have thirty minutes!” Lockhart announced once he was standing in front of his desk again. “Start!” He bade the class to begin and the scratching of Quills was soon heard.

‘We’ll just see what Professor Flitwick thinks about this quiz of his.’ Harry subtly used a Copying Charm to duplicate the quiz onto some spare parchment on his desk. “Now…let’s answer some questions.” Harry had a mocking grin on his lips as he put quill to parchment.

‘What is Gilderoy Lockhart’s favorite color?’

‘Who cares?’ Harry wrote for the first question.

‘What is Gilderoy Lockhart’s secret ambition?’

‘It’s not very secret if others know about it, is it?’ Harry quietly snickered to himself as he wrote his second answer.

‘When is Gilderoy Lockhart’s birthday and what would be his ideal gift?’

‘Whenever he says it is, it’ll probably keep changing as he gets older. He’d want a mirror to admire himself in.’ Harry mocked the man’s narcissism and vanity.

‘What, in your opinion, is Gilderoy Lockhart’s greatest achievement to date?’

‘Making people actually believe he did the things in his fantasy books.’ Harry rolled his eyes at this question.

He’d read through the first two of Lockhart’s books in chronological order and had noticed a time discrepancy that put Lockhart in two places at the same time while separated by a thousand kilometers or more. One of which he claimed his wand had been taken from him, so that ruled out making Portkeys. Not to mention long distance Apparation to that level was nearly suicide for all but the most skilled of experts.

Harry was feeling good about his various answers when he turned in his quiz along with all of the others. Hermione was looking at him, seemingly knowing that her best friend has done something, but not sure what it was. Harry just smiled at her, pretending that nothing was amiss.

“Tut tut…” Lockhart shook his head, flipping through a few of the quizzes. “Hardly any of you remembered that my favorite color is lilac.” He looked almost saddened at the fact. “I know that I mentioned it in my second book.” He flipped to the next quiz in the stack and his signature smile reappeared. “Ah, but Miss Hermione Granger recalled that my secret ambition is to rid the world of evil, and market my own brand of haircare products. Good girl.” Lockhart shot her a smile directly.

“Thank you, sir…” Hermione blushed under his attention.

‘Good luck beating Sleekeazy's.’ Harry chuckled in his mind. The Potter Family had sold their Potions business two generations ago, but their famous haircare potion was still the most popular in Magical Europe. A small royalty was still paid to the family to this day from each sale that the new owners made.

“Now!” Lockhart slapped the stack of quizzes onto his desk loudly, startling a few of the students. “Be warned. It is my job to arm you against the foulest creatures known to Wizardkind.” He tapped what appeared to be a covered birdcage with his wand, agitating whatever was inside. The sound of metal rattling was heard beneath the burgundy cloth. “You may find yourselves facing your worst fears in this room. Know only that no harm can befall you as long as I am here.” Lockhart reached for the top of the burgundy cloth. “I must ask you not to scream.” He yanked the cloth off of the birdcage. “It might provoke them!” Lockhart shouted, in clear conflict with his own words.

What was trapped in the cage was a small swarm of little, blue, winged creatures. They made chittering noises as they flew about inside the cage, smacking against the bars. To anyone that had read their textbook last year, or had just had the misfortune of finding these little pests in their home at some point, they were easily identified.

“Cornish Pixies…?” The unimpressed voice of one student was heard from the back.

“Freshly caught, Cornish Pixies!” Lockhart corrected, as if that greatly increased the threat they were to any half-competent Witch or Wizard. The chuckling of the students informed him that his theatrics had failed to strike fear into any of them. “Laugh if you will! But pixies can be devilishly tricky little blighters!” Seeing that none of the Second Year students were even remotely concerned, Lockhart grabbed the latch on the cage door. “Let’s see what you make of them!” He opened the door and the pixies blasted out across the room, shrieking and cackling as they grabbed anything they could lift and threw it around.

“AAAHHH!!!” Many of the students screamed in panic, ducking and diving out of the way. Hiding under desks, swatting the little blue pixies away with hands or books. The pixies went from merely tossing things to outright destroying them, shredding books page-by-page, smashing things from the walls and desks. It was pure pandemonium in the classroom.

“Come now! Round them up! Round them up! They’re only pixies!” Lockhart yelled over the racket.

“Help!” One boy cried out as three pixies worked together to lift him into the air by his robes.

“Get away!” A girl screamed, slapping two pixies away from her that were pulling her robes up and getting dangerously close to exposing her underwear.

“Get off!” Another boy bashed a pixie across the room with one of the Lockhart books. This only incited the other three harassing him to attack more.

“Peskipiksi Pesternomi!” Lockhart waved his wand, only for nothing to happen. It was quickly snatched out of his hand by a pixie that flew off with it. He let out a rather high-pitched squeal as he was beset by four pixies that tugged at his robes and hair. Lockhart rushed up the stairs and slammed the door to his office behind him.

“Ehehehe!” The pixie with Lockhart’s wand cackled, flying up to the dragon skeleton in the room. A tap of the wand against the chain saw a spark and the skeleton began to fall, several students screaming as it headed for them.

“Harry!” Hermione, safe beside Harry as the two sat inside a cubic Barrier, cried out for him to help their classmates.

“I knew he was a useless twit.” Harry raised his hand and everything in the room, that wasn’t human, stopped moving.

The pixies hung motionlessly in the air. The dragon skeleton had stopped falling as if time itself had stopped. The Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws all watched as the dragon skeleton rose back into the air, the chain reattaching securely to hold it up once more. The Cornish Pixies were all gathered together under Harry’s power and shoved back into the birdcage. Said cage was then locked with a spell that wouldn’t let them out until Harry released it, or it was overpowered.

“What a mess.” Harry dispelled the Barrier and stood up from his desk. “Reparo.” He uttered the spell, mostly to let his classmates know what he was doing. They all watched as the various torn, smashed, and broken objects around the room mended themselves and were then returned to their previous places. “Seriously, do I have to teach this class myself or something?” Last year they’d had the almost incomprehensible Quirrel, and this year an incompetent that believed his own hype from the books he'd written.

“We might actually learn something from you, Harry.” Susan spoke up, her wand in hand from where she’d used Flipendo to blast away the pixies that came after her and her friend Hannah Abbot.

“I don’t have a Defense Against the Dark Arts Mastery though…” Harry hummed thoughtfully. “Regardless,” He shrugged. “I think we should bring up this ‘class’,” And the way he said the word showed the depths of his sarcasm. “To our Heads of House immediately. What about you all?” He looked around the room, seeing nods of agreement that quickly became calls of agreement as the students packed up their bags together.

“St-Students?” Lockhart had poked his head out of his office after the noise had died down. “Where are you all going? Class hasn’t ended yet.”

“We’re going to report your class to our Heads of House, sir.” Harry waved over his shoulder as the rest of the students started filing out. “I’m sure the rest of the Professors will have something to say about what happened here today.”

“This was all just an accident!” Lockhart called out, hoping to stop the students from leaving. “Sit down and we can continue our lesson!” He gave his signature smile again, but even the girls that had previously been charmed by his looks weren’t stopping as they left. Hermione looked nearly devastated as she past by Harry on her way out of the room. “Students!” Lockhart raised his voice, but Harry had more than enough of the peacock already.

‘Wow…it took him four words before he realized that he’d been silenced.’ Harry thought to himself, unimpressed by Lockhart even more now. Lockhart, silenced and without his wand, made to head down the stairs. “None of that now.” Harry muttered under his breath while shaking his head. “Bind.” The whisper wasn’t even necessary but Harry felt his spell take hold, locking Lockhart in place before he could take the second step that would let him reach the first step of the stairs. With Lockhart not going anywhere for a while, Harry followed after his classmates.

“I’m so embarrassed.” Hermione mumbled lowly as they walked along with the rest of the Second Year Ravenclaws towards Flitwick’s classroom. “He’s so dashing in his books…”

“Well yeah, who wants to make themselves out to be a bumbling fool? Even if it is the truth.” Harry shrugged, understanding why Lockhart would want people to think he was a great Wizard. “I still can’t believe anyone didn’t see the inconsistencies in his books. I only read the first two and already found one.”

“You did?” Hermione looked over at him, her brown eyes were alight with curiosity.

“Yeah, in both books he claims to be in a certain place on a certain date. However, in one he specifically mentions that his wand was taken away. And the locations are at least a thousand kilometers apart. So, how could he have been in both places, dealing with two different incidents, at the same time?” Harry laid out the time discrepancy he’d found to his best friend.

“Oh…” Hermione’s eyes widened at not having caught something so obvious in her binge reading of all of Lockhart’s books. “D-Do you think he just made them all up?”

“Possibly,” Harry honestly didn’t know for sure. “But I know the incident in the first book is based on a real thing that happened in the mid-eighties over in continental Europe.”

“So, he just claimed credit?” Hermione looked scandalized. In her mind, stealing credit for someone else’s work was one of the most deplorable things to do.

“No idea, but since no one came forward to counter him, perhaps people believed it?” Harry couldn’t really say he cared much. “I’m just amazed he got an Order of Merlin for events that he either wasn’t involved in, or outright made up for his books. Not to mention an honorary membership with the Dark Force Defense League. Those guys aren’t what they used to be, according to Sirius, but they have a reputation that they wouldn’t want sullied.”

The young Spellcrafter recalled that the Dark Force Defense League had lost a lot to Grindelwald back in the late Thirties and early Forties, or so Andromeda had told him when he’d run across the group’s name in a book as a kid. When the League went to try and stop the Magical interference in World War 2, they’d naturally come up against Grindelwald’s forces, and it hadn’t ended well for them.

“Hello, Harry!” Luna skipped down the corridor towards him.

“Hello, Luna.” Harry accepted the hug his new little sister gave him. “Are you already out of class?”

“A lot of the Second Years are at the Charms classroom complaining about Professor Lockhart.” Luna informed him, pointing down the corridor where the classmates that Harry and Hermione had been following were gathered.

“Ah, yeah, there was an incident.” Harry mentioned as Luna fell into step with him.

“Was everyone okay?” Luna asked with a slight tilt of her head.

“Yes, no one was hurt much.” Harry patted her head. Luna was a sweetheart that cared for the wellbeing of others.

“Only because you stepped in when Lockhart ran away.” Hermione mentioned with a slight huff. The fact that she’d dropped the Professor Title for the man showed the depths of her displeasure towards him. “I should have helped too. I know how to cast the Immobulus Charm.” She regretted not taking action sooner, having been safe within Harry’s Barrier spell.

“Well, lets tell Flitwick our side of the story and then let the Professors handle it, yeah?” Harry smiled at her.

“I hope he gets sacked.” Hermione muttered vindictively.

“Whoa!” Harry faked a shocked look. “Hermione wishing ill on Professors? What has become of my best friend?!” He placed his hand over his heart.

“You hush!” Hermione swatted him lightly. “What he did was completely irresponsible! No Professor should ever put their students in danger like that and then run away!”

“True, true.” Harry nodded in agreement. Beside him, Luna was nodding along with Harry, almost in perfect sync.

‘Why is that adorable?’ Hermione questioned herself, before shaking her head. Luna had to be the reason. Harry wasn’t cute like that. He was intelligent, competent, and rather handsome… ‘Stop it! Stop it! Stop it!’ Hermione repeated in her mind like a mantra until they were at the door to the Charms classroom.

-End Chapter-

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Well now…I do believe that Lockhart is going to be in trouble!

Harry points out inconsistencies and knowing Hermione, she’ll be looking for ALL of them now. The bookworm will probably make an organized list too! That may not bode well for Gilderoy Lockhart in the future.

But now LUNA has arrived! Adorable little sister acquired! *Headpats for Luna*

Harry has more and more Magical projects he’s working on. Are they connected? Separate endeavors? Or has Harry already figured some things out and is just waiting for the proper time?

Keep reading to find out!

Until I get your reviews, later!