Harry McGonagall

Chapter 15 - Practice and Preparation

Harry Potter and all characters, etc. belong to J.K. Rowling, not me.

Harry McGonagall – Chapter 15 – Practice and Preparation

The next class they had was Herbology with the Slytherins, where they learned how to repot Mandrakes. Harry found it rather amusing when he noticed one of the baby Mandrakes try to bite Draco's finger off. 'Too bad Malfoy's wearing gloves,' he thought. He further wondered what Draco would say if he knew his own elf was betraying his family. 'How on earth can they be so stupid as to expect an elf they beat to be loyal?' He wisely didn't say anything about it in that room, for fear of the pompous idiot overhearing.

Before long, Harry, Hermione, and Padma were sitting together at the Ravenclaw table for lunch.

"Are you gonna tell your Aunt about the Malfoys' elf in Transfiguration class?" whispered Padma.

"I'll ask to talk with her and show her the memory."

"May I come," asked Hermione. "All I saw were walls."

Harry smiled slightly. "Yeah. I think she was trying to protect my identity," he whispered. "She didn't know if you knew, and didn't want to give it away. I think she does understand that I am safer if no one knows who I am."

"Probably," whispered Padma. "Can I come, too?"

-HM-HM-HM-

After lunch, they headed to the Transfiguration classroom, where they were surprised to see Matthew Shapon sitting at Aunt Minnie's desk. Harry glanced around the room, looking for either his aunt or a cat, with no success. He frowned. He supposed he'd have to wait until dinner to talk to his aunt. The Assistant Professor stood up, smiling nervously.

"Hello, everyone. I'm Professor Shapon. As you know, Professor McGonagall is now Headmistress, and has many important, time-consuming duties to perform. Sometimes, like today, she'll ask me to teach the class for her. She asked me to remind you that the same rules that apply when she's here also apply when she's not, which means no messing around." He then took a roll of parchment off the desk. "I'm now going to take attendance."

After roll call, he began teaching them how to turn a beetle into a button, which Harry and Hermione did on their first try, earning Ravenclaw two points each. It took until Padma's second attempt, because the button from her first attempt moved just as Matthew got to her desk to inspect her work. Harry noticed that Padma seemed to slightly blush whenever she had the Assistant Professor's attention.

-HM-HM-HM-

As the trio was headed down the stairs on the way to dinner, Harry stopped suddenly. "What's that?" he asked, pointing at a tiny electric blue creature flying in front of them holding a portrait.

"I don't know," said Padma with a smirk, "but it's got a picture of Lockhart."

"That looks like a pixie," said Hermione, but how..."

At that moment, Neville Longbottom came running up the staircase with his wand out. "Immobulus!" he shouted, sending a clever freezing charm Hermione had taught them in their study group the previous year at the tricky little blighter, causing it to stay where it was. "Got it!" he declared happily as he took a step toward it, only for his foot to fall through the trick stair.

"What happened?" asked Harry as he walked toward his friend.

"Lockhart, that's what. First, he gave us a pop quiz about his favorite color and other rubbish like that. Then, he let loose a bunch of Cornish Pixies on us. Once they got his wand, he ran for it! They picked poor Ron up and hung him from the chandelier."