The Corrupted Phoenix

The Lies of a Lockhart - Part 2

Stumbling into the bookshop, Melodie was met with several flashing lights and clicks of cameras all pointing at one pompous looking man. He had honey blond hair and shining blue eyes but Melodie knew when looking at him that he was not all that he seemed.

Of course Melodie had received her letter for second year supplies when she arrived in Diagon alley, the owls not reaching Mortem, from Draco who she had asked to hold onto it for her at the end of the previous year. Glancing down at it, she noted the only changes were that second years were allowed brooms, and that the book list had been advanced to second year level. She huffed already impatient with how slowly the school taught the subject to the students, they were flooded with theory and homework but only had a rare lesson of practical work.

Defence was the worst from her past experiences as Quirrell was a pathetic professor with his stutter and was scared of anything that moved. She was glad he was gone but this new professor seemed to obsessed with this obviously arrogant man which could quite possibly be worse. At least last year she was able to self study in the class, tuning out the stuttering professor, keeping her grade an Outstanding.

Another flash of the cameras brought her back to reality, a warm hand tugging her through the rambunctious crowd. She smiled at Draco as the made their way up the stairs and away from the crowd, the others already waiting for them. The group of friends scoured through the bookshelves looking for any interesting reads or any subject that could be useful to learn in the future.

A book on occlumency and legilimency was picked up as well as a book on ancient runes that looked to be in the grey area of magic and therefore not in the Hogwarts libraries. Several more questionably grey books were picked up before the group made their way down their stairs and into the bustling crowds again.

They were jostled about as they made their way to the counter and payed for their books neglecting to waste their money on the books of Lockhart, the title 'Magical Me' set of warnings and a short reading of the first few chapters did nothing to deter those thoughts for the group.

"This is laughable!" sneered pansy skimming the lines over Melodies' shoulder.

"Surely someone who takes facts from this idiots books can't be teaching us at Hogwarts," commented Theo paralleling Pansy's sneer.

Suddenly, there was a shout, and Melodie was ripped away from her friends and pushed onto the makeshift stage, dozens of cameras flashing in her face. She glanced to the side analysing the situation and saw the same honey locked man as before.  He was standing next to her flashing a smile at the cameras, but she noticed on occasion he would glance at her a hungry look in his eyes.

"Miss Potter! is it true Mr Lockhart knew you when you were a baby?" Questioned one of the photographers. She was bombarded by more questions before she spotted Draco in the crowd and called out to him. His father was looming behind him a disgruntled expression on his face, before stalking forwards through the crowd. He stepped up onto the stage face looming over the crowd and scowled at Lockhart taking a protective stance in front of the two children.

He started to talk scathingly to Lockhart but Melodie ignored him taking comfort in Draco. She cursed herself for acting so childish but this was the first time someone had grabbed her and clearly wanted her for fame. "I don't even know who he is," she whispered hugging him tight. "I know, I'm sorry I let you go," he whispered back before drawing away as their friends walked towards them.

"Are you okay!" Pansy asked frantically hugging the girl tightly, "Draco you should take to your father about that Idiot, how dare he drag my friend like that."

"What do you think he's doing now," Draco huffed point towards his father who had almost finished talking to the now terrified looking man.

The two turned back to Melodie who was taking comfort in Pansy's arms, still startled by the camera flashes in her face.
Draco's father stalked over to them and made sure their books were purchased before leading them out of the shop.

They wandered around the rest of the alley, topping up on inks and parchment ready for the coming year, before each of them were port keyed back to their respective homes. Mr Malfoy held both Draco's and Melodie's arms as he port keyed them back to the manor.

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The rest of the summer was spent with the group meeting up at various points and Melodie staying with the Malfoys until it was time for Hogwarts again.
The quad walked easily through the entrance of Kings Cross and spent their time saying goodbye to each other before, the now second years went to find a compartment with their friends.

Reaching a compartment, the group sat ready for, hopefully, a more calm year than the last. "How were your summers guys?" Melodie asked the group, now more comfortable with her once icy presence. "They were great apart from that incident with Lockheart a few weeks ago," Pansy replied huffing. "I know i only hope our new defence teacher is better than him," said Blaise rolling his eyes "Though it's not likely considering the book list." The groups faces went sour at the thought. But they relaxed as they continued with their chatter before they were again back at Hogwarts.

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Hey guys, First i'm so sorry! it's been over a year since i last updated, a lot of different things have been going on and i've not found the time toor motivation to write, whose guessing what this years resolution will be :D
I hope you enjoyed this chapter, it is a bit all over the place but i promise i'll have more coming out soon. Thank you to all that have stuck around and Hello to any new readers, i hope you've enjoyed the story so far. I also wanted to say thank you to all the lovely comments as they'll continue to motivate me.
-Lovelyangel