Lockhart... No context needed
Ron was someone with a lot of patience, well he thought he had a lot of patience. He’s going through 7 years of school… Again, and he’s not even saying anything about it! Sure, people would think he was crazy if he did say anything. But still, he hasn’t even had one mental breakdown, and that was something to be proud of.
But anyways, why in god's name did his little sister run to him crying about Lockhart. He was genuinely about to pick a fight, magic or not. There is no way someone is hurting his sister and getting away with it scot free, they deserve at least a few broken bones.
Before Ginny told him what happened, he thought that Lockhart had beaten her or something, but then she said “He tried to touch my…” (She couldn’t say that last word), but Ron got the idea. As he comforted Ginny, speaking soft words to her. But while he was doing that, he was also wondering if Lockhart had a death wish.
The fucking prat had just tried to molest his sister, Ron was actually so relieved Ginny said something about it, but he stiffened when he heard what Ginny said next. “I sent a letter to mom just now, I didn’t mean to but-” Ginny sobbed even harder, Ron hugged her tight.
Although he didn’t approve of Ginny writing a letter to Molly, he knew she couldn’t help it, even though she was being groomed at the time, Molly was still one of the only parental figures she had, so it was natural for her to think of Molly. They also had to take in account that she wasn’t thinking straight, Lockhart had just tried to groom her, she was scared, a very common feeling, he would’ve done the same.
“It’s alright, It’s not your fault, you were afraid. Do you want to take this to one of the teachers?” Ron said comfortingly, he couldn’t pick a fight with Lockhart even though he wanted to. Lockhart would overpower him definitely, and to be honest, he was slightly afraid of the memory wiping charm Lockhart had said he mastered in.
He was going to take off Lockharts layers one by one, and those who told him to forgive, can shut the fuck up, because they’ve never been groomed before. It is the worst feeling anyone can experience, it breaks you from the inside until there is nothing left inside of you.
Ginny shook her head and sniffled. He could understand that, there were only so many teachers that weren’t weirdly obsessed with the ‘light’.
After taking his sister to the girls bathroom, he waited for her to finish washing her face, after she was done. He took her to the great hall and if Ginny noticed Ron piled more onto her plate, she didn’t comment on it.
After lunch was over and Ginny was feeling a little bit better about herself. Ron and her separated, unfortunately, Ron’s next class just so happened to be Defence, did he ever want to step foot in such a class? Absolutely not… Wait a freaking minute, why is Lockhart even here, Quirell didn’t even do anything last year, why’d the guy leave?
Ron didn’t know what was wrong with him, but for some odd reason, he found himself strangely missing the stuttering teacher. But thankfully, they had Defence with the Slytherins, so he could probably just stick to Hadrian. The guy seems to be pretty much untouchable.
He met up with Samuel and Lucas soon enough and they lined up to the class pretty quickly, word spread quickly around Hogwarts and now some people believed that Lockhart was a fool. They were right of course, but without solid evidence, those sayings could be just rumours.
Once the doors to the class opened, Samuel and Lucas sat next to each other, while Ron was dragged to sit next to Hadrian. Pretty sad the chairs would only allow two per table. He thought that this class could end without much problem, but he should never be sure of himself anymore.
“Me, Gilderoy Lockhart, Order of Merlin, Third Class, Honorary Member of the Dark Force Defence 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!" Lockhart announced, eyeing him and Hadrian intently.
He found himself backing up to Hadrian subconsciously. That stare gave him the creeps, Hadrian was all too pleased it seemed on having Ron backing up into him.. He didn’t mind, actually, he hadn’t minded anything when it was about Hadrian. But he did mind Draco glaring daggers at him. If stares could kill, then he’d be six feet under exactly forty two times already.
Lockhart went into roll call and then stopped when he got to Hadrian’s name. “Ahhh! I know who you are, everyone’s been raving about you, heir of Slytherin, top of the year and whatnot. So many titles for someone so young, well, if you need some lessons on how to stay humble, you know who to owl.” It was truly fascinating how Lockhart could run his mouth. It was an impressive talent.
Hadrian didn’t think so as he looked at Lockhart darkly. Everyone in the class was silent. They knew that Hadrian’s title one upped Lockhart’s in every way possible and disrespecting Hadrian could not do one any good. Lockhart gave an awkward laugh and continued on. Stopping again when he reached Ron’s name.
“You know, you are really famous outside of Hogwarts as well, "Ron Prewett, the first Weasley to be in Ravenclaw, then kicked out as soon as they heard. A dashing tale of rebirth. Don’t get too cocky now, please, if you’d want me to make a book out of you, well then. Don’t be afraid, because I am here.” Then Lockhart chuckled and continued on without further incident
But, unfortunately for Lockhart, damage had been done. The thing was, When people realized Hadrian was kind of obsessed with his tailor, as said in all the events he went to during the summer.
People started trying to figure out who his tailor was, it was only revealed during Hadrian's birthday, and when people found out that fact. They started buttering up to Ron, sending him gifts and commission letters. Most of which he denied, it was the Summer, he’d do commissions during school, not during the Summer.
But back on topic, the students in that class were people who definitely knew about Hadrian's obsession with Ron, because rumour had it. Hadrian would make sure that if you intentionally tried to even mention Ron’s name in a not so innocent way, you were going to get instant karma. Draco was one, his father had already been kicked off the school board, and banned from being in Slytherin events, and Duncan’s parents already filed for divorce and his mother got bankrupt. Ron himself thought ‘the joke’ was hilarious.
So when Lockhart said that, the students would soon come to nearly feel bad for the man. Key word ‘Nearly’.
When Lockhart started teaching, it was even worse. First, he took out a stack of papers and then explained that these were a test. As if anyone read the entire series in one month, the books were so badly written and embarrassing that it would be an honor for anyone to read even a chapter of his books.
He remembered a few of the answers from the book and wrote those down. But even then he had such a hard time grasping the fact that one could even be so egotistical to write a fifty page test or whatever all about themselves. He read it in the books but literally nothing could have prepared him for this.
Other people felt the same way it seemed, Lucas was clutching his hair, Samuel seemed to just be writing down random answers. While Hadrian just didn’t do the test at all. He sat alone quietly, not bothering to even open the test. Ron really wanted to follow him. But, he would always finish everything in full. It was something he couldn’t help.
After around 20 minutes, Lockhart came out to collect everyone’s papers, and checked them on the spot. He let everyone do a bit of chatting as he did so. After ten minutes of probably not so careful marking. The blond was finished. His face wasn’t exactly happy anymore as he looked straight at Hadrian. “Mr Slytherin, may I ask why you haven’t written a thing on your paper?” Lockhart said through gritted teeth.
“Because it’s useless, you wrote 40 questions or so about yourself, you act as if everyone can do what you say you can do. It’s fiction, those books of yours are complete and utter fantasy and useless to this class. If you can’t see that then you must be a fool.” Hadrian said coldly. That answer stumped Lockhart obviously.
“Mr Slytherin, you watch your tongue. I am still your defence against the dark art’s professor! You will treat me with respect.” Lockhart sneered, his nose still high up. Hadrian just stared at the professor and said. “Then how about we check if your teachings are approved by the school board.” Hadria muttered, just loud enough for Lockhart to hear.
That shut the blonde up. Lockhart spluttered, trying to find a counterargument. But the man just looked behind him and then brought out a cage covered in a towel from underneath his desk. His smile was nowhere to be seen. It was oddly hilarious to look at. Hadrian seemed pleased and the students all took a sigh of relief.
Theodore was the first one who spoke up. “What’s in the cage?” He said hesitantly, Draco rolled his eyes and got a glare from Hadrian. Lockhart returned to his smiling face at this point and said. “Glad you asked, in this cage, will be your greatest fear yet. The epitome of darkness, but don’t worry, I was advised to keep you safe.” Lockhart grinned.
Then he took off the towel, and inside the cage were a bunch of little fairies flying around. Everyone looked at Lockhart strangely and Ron just rolled his eyes. After some useless explanations about them, like they were called cornish pixies, extremely dangerous and chaotic. Lockhart opened the cage…
Complete and utter chaos filled the room as students screamed and tried their best to get away from the terror. Theodore nearly got pushed out of the window, Draco had his wand snatched. The lights got broken, a chandelier nearly fell on Samuel, thankfully, Lucas managed to grab him. Lockhart tried to capture the pixies with a useless spell. The man ended up just ducking under the table.
Ron and Hadrian were kind of the only ones able to capture the pixies, some simple freezing charms were able to subdue the pixies. Ron breathed a sigh of relief after the mess was over. If he hadn’t remembered to learn that spell, he might’ve faced some severe consequences.
He stumbled back a little bit, Hadrian catching him in the nick of time. “You alright?” He asked, Ron nodded in response. “A bit lightheaded, but I’m fine.”
After the mess was over, Lockhart got up and grumbled. Before putting on his signature smile and saying “Well, that was quite the show wasn’t it, congrats to Mr Prewett and Slytherin for the excellent use of the freezing charm, I could’ve immobilised the pixies just fine, but I felt that it was necessary for you all to have some hands on experience. Let’s say, 10 points to each of your houses should suffice.”
All the students looked at Lockhart in disbelief. Hadrian just scoffed and Ron was still relying on Hadrian’s support to even stand up. “That’s got to be a safety hazard or something.” He breathed, Lockhart heard that and chuckled awkwardly. “Well, it really isn’t, you see, it’s quite normal for practicals to be shown at Hogwarts,”
The class ended without further incident. Pansy Parkinson and Daphne Greengrass were called to stay back. Ron wanted to speak up for them, but Lockhart shooed them out very quickly.
Safe to say, all the students lost their faith in Lockhart and Ron was going to have to resort to self studying to get good grades again.