Snakes And The Moon

Chapter 10

When it was their next Defence Against the Dark Arts class, Harry was so glad he had his gloves on as he was ready to scratch Lockhart's throat open. He had asked a volunteer to come to the front of the class so he could demonstrate how to deal with a situation at hand and of course he picked Harry.

Harry had groaned and dragged himself out of his seat and towards the front of the classroom. Lockhart had him stand in front of everyone and much to Harry's horror, he asked him to pretend to be a werewolf.

"Why do I need to do that, sir?" Harry asked sceptically. There was no possible way Lockhart could know he was a werewolf, himself. The man was completely incompetent and he doubts the faculty would tell him. He'd feel betrayed if that were the case. But that's what the Memory Charm is for.

"Because, Mr Potter. I'm going to show the class how I dealt with those horrible beasts and you can all take notes in order to prepare yourselves for the future if a situation arises," Lockhart smiled confidently then grinned. "Although, you won't need to worry if I'm around. I'll have everything under control."

Harry cringed and looked around the class, seeing all the girl's faces in awe at his false bravery and some of the boys giving him curious looks. Harry wanted to smack them all. He is no beast, he's a regular boy who's just trying to live as regular a life as he can. It's people like Lockhart who give him a bad name, but he didn't share any of these thoughts out loud for fear of being exposed.

Harry swallowed his pride and took in a shuddering breath, nodding to Lockhart. "Alright then," he muttered.

"Excellent!" Lockhart grinned. "Now I want you to give a nice big howl Harry, just like the monsters let out. Go on then," he encouraged.

Harry clenched his fists tightly and took in a deep breath, then to his utter humiliation he let out a half attempted howl. Lockhart shook his head at him quickly and demanded him to be louder, therefor Harry clasped his hands over his mouth and let out a louder one. Lockhart looked impressed.

He then got out his wand and held it up at Harry's throat, making his eyes go wide. "Now, this is where I jumped on the rogue werewolf and pinned it to the floor after casting the incredibly complex Homorphus Charm, although nothing is too difficult for Gilderoy Lockhart," Lockhart smirked cockily. "It then let out an agonised moan and suddenly all it's fur vanished, it's terrible claws and fangs retracted and it turned back into a simple man. The village I rescued will always remember me as the hero who saved them from the beast that nearly killed them."

Harry was glaring at the insults, werewolves were not "its", they're real people like him. He then shoved Lockhart's wand away from his throat with a grunt and stalked back to his chair, face red from embarrassment and shame.

Eventually the bell rang and Harry shot out of the class with lightening speed, still not trusting his self control. He briefly overheard Lockhart yelling about writing a poem on werewolves for homework but for once, Harry didn't care about completing any school work, he just wants to get away.

Harry looked back and waited for Ron and Hermione to follow him but he saw they had paused in the empty classroom and were talking alone to Lockhart. Harry pressed his ear closer and began listening in. Hermione was trying to persuade Lockhart that she needed to get a signed note to access the Restricted Section in the library because she wanted to read more of his older and dangerous books locked away in there. With a few compliments sent his way, Lockhart signed the note with a smile and thy both ran out the class looking for Harry.

He beckoned them over from where he was standing near the door and they all walked off. "That was probably the worst class we've had so far," Harry scowled. "Even worse than the pixies."