Harry Potter And The Prince Of Slytherin

Draco signaled Pansy who started distributing thick binders among the students who were looking at them curiously.

"This is something that I"ve worked on for quite some time and is basically a guide for what you need to do in order to at least pa.s.s your exams." Draco said, "Even though learning is important, we can"t have you failing your cla.s.ses, so this will help you at least pa.s.s your exams."

"Is this similar to the one you gave to Longbottom from Gryffindor?" Blaise asked.

"Yes." Draco nodded, "I want all of you to at least learn the spells and potion recipes that"ll be required to pa.s.s your exams for this year. After you learn that we can start working on your spells. Consider this as a test, if within two weeks you can learn all the stuff written on there for your second year, then you can consider yourself worthy enough to be in this club. Otherwise, just know that you"ll be dragging others down with you. So put your all into it and try and pa.s.s this test of mine to prove yourself to me, that you"re at least a hard worker."

Everyone seriously nodded.

"That"s it for today then." Draco said waving his hand around, "Go ahead and start studying and if you run across any problem you can ask me or Theodore."

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The week pa.s.sed by quickly without much disturbance from anyone. McGonagall and the other professor eased up on the situation and weren"t hard on Draco anymore either. Draco didn"t even saw Lockhart around the school anymore, neither was he present in the hall. Draco felt that Lockhart was hiding from him but he didn"t have any proof to back it up either. Draco wouldn"t really care about Lockhart to much but his action these days seemed too suspicious even for him. According to Hermione and Ginny who were still attending Lockhart cla.s.ses, Lockhart had been teaching them seriously. Not only was he not teaching them stuff about himself but with that included he still taught magic properly.

According to Hermione, the spells that he taught were described in detail at the same level as his. Draco found it incredibly suspicious that Lockhart was suddenly teaching them magic and was moving according to the schedule, however for an adult wizard teaching a bunch of second-year students some spell wasn"t a hard thing at all. Lockhart could be easily faking it since with the whole school board observing them, he had to act seriously if he wanted to keep his reputation intact.

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Today was Sat.u.r.day morning, Harry was awakened by Oliver wood to come to inform him about him the Quidditch practice today. Harry waking up went down the spiral staircase to the common room, his Nimbus Two Thousand on his shoulder. He had just reached the portrait hole when there was a clatter behind him and Colin Creevey came dashing down the spiral staircase, his camera swinging madly around his neck and something clutched in his hand.

"I heard someone saying your name on the stairs, Harry! Look what I"ve got here! I"ve had it developed, I wanted to show you —"Harry looked bemusedly at the photograph Colin was brandishing under his nose.

A moving, black-and-white Lockhart was tugging hard on an arm Harry recognized as his own. He was pleased to see that his photographic self was putting up a good fight and refusing to be dragged into view. As Harry watched, Lockhart gave up and slumped, Panting, against the white edge of the picture.

"Will you sign it?" said Colin eagerly.

"No," said Harry flatly, glancing around to check that the room was really deserted. "Sorry, Colin, I"m in a hurry — Besides I don"t understand your fascination with me since there is already someone way popular than me at school."

"You mean Mr.Black?" Colin said frowning a little, "I picked the wrong timing, I think I may have p.i.s.sed him off. Mr. Black wouldn"t even hesitate to beat up Lockhart, so for me going near him would be asking for a deathwish."

Harry scoffed seeing the difference in treatment between them two. He started wondering if he had fought harder against Lockhart would Colin leave him alone as well.

"By the way, where are you heading Harry?"

"Quidditch practice —" Harry said as he climbed through the portrait hole.

"Oh, wow! Wait for me! I"ve never watched a Quidditch game before!"

Colin scrambled through the hole after him.

"It"ll be really boring," Harry said quickly, but Colin ignored him, his face shining with excitement.

"You were the youngest House player in a hundred years, weren"t you, Harry? Weren"t you?" said Colin, trotting alongside him. "You must be brilliant. I"ve never flown. Is it easy? Is that your own broom? Is that the best one there is?"

Harry didn"t know how to get rid of him. It was like having an extremely talkative shadow. "No, I am not the youngest player there is a girl on the Slytherin team who is months younger than me."

"I see. I don"t really understand Quidditch," said Colin breathlessly. "Is it true there are four b.a.l.l.s? And two of them fly around trying to knock people off their brooms?"

"Yes," said Harry heavily, resigned to explaining the complicated rules of Quidditch. "They"re called Bludgers. There are two Beaters on each team who carry clubs to beat the Bludgers away from their side. Fred and George Weasley are the Gryffindor Beaters."

"And what are the other b.a.l.l.s for?" Colin asked, tripping down a couple of steps because he was gazing open-mouthed at Harry.

"Well, the Quaffle — that"s the biggish red one — is the one that scores goals. Three Chasers on each team throw the Quaffle to each other and try and get it through the goal posts at the end of the pitch — they"re three long poles with hoops on the end."

"And the fourth ball —"

"— is the Golden Snitch," said Harry, "and it"s very small, very fast, and difficult to catch. But that"s what the Seeker"s got to do, because a game of Quidditch doesn"t end until the Snitch has been caught. And whichever team"s Seeker gets the Snitch earns his team an extra hundred and fifty points."

"And you"re the Gryffindor Seeker, aren"t you?" said Colin in awe.

"Yes," said Harry as they left the castle and started across the dew-drenched gra.s.s. "And there"s the Keeper, too. He guards the goal posts. That"s it, really."

But Colin didn"t stop questioning Harry all the way down the sloping lawns to the Quidditch field, and Harry only shook him off when he reached the changing rooms; Colin called after him in a piping voice, "I"ll go and get a good seat, Harry!" and hurried off to the stands.

The rest of the Gryffindor team were already in the changing room. Wood was the only person who looked truly awake. Fred and George Weasley were sitting, puffy-eyed and tousle-haired, next to fourth year Alicia Spinnet, who seemed to be nodding off against the wall behind her. Her fellow Chasers, Katie Bell and Angelina Johnson, were yawning side by side opposite them.

The Weasley twins were very worried about their sister being in Slytherin so they couldn"t really sleep these days well. Their pranks against Slytherin have decreased but that seems to have taken all the fun out of them as these days they just sat their quite making their usual jokes from time to time. In fact, the whole Weasley family was like that. Percy has been more and more strict and Ron just seems lost sometimes.