Hydrus Black chapter 43

Chapter 43 -

"Hydrus wasn't in Lockhart's class." Hermione noted as she and Liv walked through the hallways of Hogwarts.

"Neither was Draco," Liv pointed out.

"Good," Ron huffed as he and Neville started walking alongside them. "The less we see of them, the better."

"Oh, honestly, Ron," Hermione sighed. "Draco might be a bit rough around the edges, but Hydrus has been nothing but a gentleman to me and Liv, most likely because we're not the ones needlessly trying to pick fights with him."

"He started those fights!" Protested Ron, his face turning slightly red.

"He ended them, more like." Liv snorted. Earning a glare from Neville and Ron. "Just saying," She said in mock surrender.

"I don't know how he hasn't gotten expelled," Neville scowled. "He attacked a teacher; any one of us would have been kicked out if we did the same."

"Not exactly," Hermione said, looking uncomfortable.

"Yeah," Liv agreed. "I wouldn't have gotten caught," She said matter-of-factly.

"That's not what I meant," Hermione sent an annoyed look at Liv before continuing to talk to Neville. "Hydrus and Lockhart were in a duel. I researched them, and unless made clear before the duel starts, there aren't many rules. Physical contact isn't one of them, so Hydrus didn't technically break any rules."

"He probably broke something else, given how Lockhart looked by the end of it," Liv said in an amused voice. "Rumour that's going around is that Hydrus and Draco's mums have signed permission for them not to attend Lockhart's class. Lots of people are looking into doing that." Liv added.

Since coming to Hogwarts, Lockhart's popularity had been slowly dying. At first, the majority of people were thrilled to have him amongst them, which was natural; who didn't want to meet a celebrity? Especially one that boasted as many achievements as Lockhart did. However, it didn't take long for the students to start noticing that something was up. Lockhart's lessons seemed mostly to consist of reading his books and reenacting some scenes from them, with very few practical lessons. Eventually, even the dimmer students started to realise that Lockhart wasn't going to be teaching them anything important. That was the last thing anyone wanted, given that Voldemort was out and about, doing who knows what? Things were especially bad for the fifth and seventh years as they had to perform their OWL and NEWT exams, exams that were important to their futures.

The duelling club was Lockhart's best chance to retrieve his quickly dying stardom, but he had ended up shooting it down faster than before. Firstly, he had been easily defeated by Snape; he tried to play it off as if he had done it on purpose, which was when he duelled Hydrus. Not only did he miss a relatively simple spell for someone who could do all of what Lockhart had claimed to do, but he also got soundly beaten by a twelve-year-old. Admittedly, a very talented twelve-year-old, but still twelve. Hydrus had not only beaten Lockhart, but he had also embarrassed him beyond belief. In his latest classes, everyone had noticed that Lockhart's smile looked like he was forcing it on his face. One thing was for sure: there weren't many people who were taking Lockhart seriously now.

"I reckon he's not got long before enough people complain and get him kicked out," Liv said as they arrived at the common room. Ron and Neville looked pleased by that, though Hermione looked conflicted. Liv knew why. Hermione had lived her life by the books, and according to those very books, Lockhart was one of the most talented wizards to ever exist. It appeared that reality was quite different. It was hard for the girl to know that the words she trusted were false, but it was undeniable at this point.

"I suppose it's probably for the best," Hermione said eventually before giving the Gryffindor password to the Fat Lady in the portrait. The portrait opened up, revealing the entrance to the common room.

"Oh shit," Liv said suddenly.

"Language," Hermione chastised automatically.

"What's wrong?" Neville frowned.

"I just remembered I need to return one of the library books today," Liv groaned. "If I don't, then Pince is going to throw a fit." The librarian of Hogwarts, Madam Irma Pince, was a strict witch who guarded the Hogwarts library with immense protectiveness. She always seemed reluctant to let any student take out a book, no matter how old or responsible they were. All the prefects had stressed the importance of returning any book they had taken on time and in the same condition it was taken, unless they wanted to suffer the consequences. Liv wasn't sure what those consequences were, but given the way that some of the older students had quickly nodded at the prefect's words, she was sure that she didn't want to find out. "It's in my room, I had better get it and hand it over quickly before curfew starts."

"We can come with you if you want," Neville offered.

"It's fine," She waved him off. "Just got to return a book and be back, shouldn't take long."

"That took far longer than it should have," Liv said irritably as she walked through the Hogwarts hallways.

(.)

She had managed to get to the library relatively quickly and handed over the book to the irritating woman. As far as Liv was concerned, that should have been the end of it. But no! Madam Pince had chosen to instead lecture her about returning her precious books in a timely manner, even though Liv had indeed brought them back within the accepted time frame. Not only that, the woman had forced Liv to stay in place and not run off as she proceeded to double and even triple-check the book to make sure that it wasn't damaged in any way. Honestly, Liv was sure that the crown jewels didn't get this much fuss. The worst part of this for Liv was the fact that she and Hermione were regulars in the library, and Madam Pince knew that, having walked past them repeatedly. She should know by now that Liv wasn't going to do anything to the books.

Honestly, that woman needed a boyfriend or something.

Seeing that she still had a bit of time before curfew, Liv had chosen to walk around Hogwarts for a bit before she finally returned to the common room. As she was walking back, she was passing by Lockhart's classroom when she heard a loud cry that made her stop in her tracks. She paused and frowned, walking closer to the doors of the classroom. She gently opened it and peered inside. She didn't see anything out of the ordinary, not at first, anyway. But as she considered leaving, she noticed something: Lockhart's portraits were all empty. Usually, they would always be filled with Lockhart in some outfit or the other, smiling at people as if he were blessing them with his presence.

However, now they were all empty.

Frowning, she quietly made her way into the classroom and walked over to the stairs that led up to Lockhar's office. She slowly climbed up them and eventually reached Lockhart's door, noting that it was slightly open. She peeked inside and froze as if she had been hit with a body bind. In Lockhart's office, lying on his desk, was an unconscious Hydrus Black. Standing on the other side of the desk, thankfully not noticing her yet, was Lockhart, who seemed to be arguing with all of the portraits of himself.

"You can't do this," One portrait protested. "What if we get caught?"

"We won't get caught," Real Lockhart scoffed. "Look, I admit, I'm not the best at most forms of magic."

"Your pants at them, you mean?" Another portrait translated.

"But the one thing I am good at is memory charms." Real Lockhart continued, ignoring him. "Just need a minute or two and I can convince the boy that I'm his best friend."

"Atta boy, that's the trick," Another portrait of Lockhart, one wearing a knight's armour for some reason, said proudly.

"But won't people notice if the boy who hates you is suddenly your biggest fan?" A portrait of Lockhart dressed as a medieval noble asked in a concerned voice.

"I'll make it gradual," Lockhart assured him.

'Right, better go put a stop to this,' Liv decided, aiming her wand in the room. "Rennervate," Liv whispered. The spell shot from her wand and hit Hydrus in the side. His eyes shot open, and he spotted her hiding behind the door. She gave him a discreet thumbs-up before gesturing behind him. He turned his head and looked at Lockhart, who was still occupied with arguing with his portraits. Hydrus slowly sat up and stared blankly at Lockhart's back.

It was at this point that Lockhart's portraits had all gone silent, looking as if they had been frozen in place. Lockhart appeared to have noticed this and finally turned around before spotting Hydrus Black staring at him.

"Do you know that a giraffe's heart is approximately two feet long and weighs about eleven kilograms?" Hydrus asked in a flat tone.

"Um...no..." Lockhart eventually said once he regained the ability to speak.

"Well, apparently they do," Hydrus informed him before he got up and leapt at Lockhart, taking him down to the ground. Lockhart let out a very unmanly shriek before pushing the lighter Hydrus off of him. He quickly got up and ran out of the class, nearly knocking Liv over as he slammed the door open on his way out, meaning it almost slammed into her. "Hi, Liv, thanks, Liv," Hydrus said casually as he rushed past her, chasing after Lockhart.

"This is supposed to be a place of learning," Liv sighed before running off after them. It took her a great deal of effort to catch up with the much faster Hydrus. "Are you okay?" She asked loudly as Hydrus chased after Lockhart, who was running like the hounds of hell were nipping at his feet.

"No, I'm in too much of a rage," He yelled while running.

"Lockhart!" Hydrus shouted, having chased after Lockhart for the better part of a minute. The fraud had managed to get out of the castle and was now rushing towards the forbidden forest. "Stop or I'll break your kneecaps!"

"Aren't you going to do that anyway?" Liv panted, barely keeping up with him.

"He doesn't need to know."

"I heard that!" Lockhart cried over his shoulder before he entered the forest. Right now, he didn't know what to do. This wasn't how this was supposed to go. He was supposed to catch the boy, fiddle with his mind a bit, and soon things would all be perfect, but no! The boy had woken up! Likely because of Cooper, who was also chasing after him. There were now two witnesses that he had to deal with! He needed to get out of here and take some time to think.

He resisted the urge to cry as he ran through the forest. He did not do well in the 'great' outdoors, thank you very much. All the mud and stones and sticks would ruin his precious clothes; they cost a fortune, you know. While running, he chanced a glance behind himself and saw Black and Cooper still following. He cursed loudly; if he had been looking forward, then he might have noticed the stray tree root in front of him. He tripped and landed face-first on the ground with a yelp. He quickly rolled onto his back and pulled out his wand, aiming it at Cooper and Black, both of whom had already stopped in their tracks, appearing to be frozen in shock. A smile appeared on his face as he slowly got up to his feet, keeping his gaze and wand trained on them.

"This isn't how I wanted to do this," Lockhart said, breathing heavily, not even noticing their gaze drifting past him. "This isn't how I wanted this to go. But desperate times call for desperate measures. A few memory charms should sort this out."

"Memory charms?" Liv repeated, breaking out of her shock. "You...you're a fraud!" She realised. To be fair, she had already known that he was a fraud, but now she knew exactly how he had done it. "You never did those things, did you? The stuff you said in your book. Someone else did them, and you just took the credit."

"Apart from the few incidents that I made up from scratch," Lockhart sighed. "It was for the best; those people were not photogenic at all, far better for someone like me to take the spotlight. I had to just sell a few more books, solidify my fortune and get a good wife to settle down with. All would have been perfect. I had been hoping to secure Bellatrix Black," Lockhart revealed. Hydrus finally snapped out of his shock and growled at Lockhart. "She would have been perfect. Strong, smart, and beautiful, she would have been a fine wife. I had been hoping to ask her hand with your backing, Hydrus, but that didn't seem likely." Lockhart said sourly.

"I would never let you touch my mother; you shouldn't be near her," Hydrus growled. "You don't deserve to even be near the air she breathes."

"Let's see how long you can hold that opinion for," Lockhart said, shaking his wand in a mocking manner.

"Screw you," Hydrus spat before taking a step back, though he didn't stop at one; he continued to walk backwards. Liv quickly began following his league and did the same.

"What are you two doing?" Lockhart frowned.

"Leaving you to them," Hydrus said before he turned and ran with Liv running as well.

"Them?" Lockhart frowned before he heard a noise behind him. He turned and was barely able to let out a scream before a spider the size of a horse leapt on him.

"What the hell are those?!" Liv shouted as she ran alongside Hydrus.

"Acromantulas, giant spiders!" Hydrus told her. "Don't let them catch you!"

"No shit!" She said, taking a look back. She felt her body's energy improve as she saw the swarm of giant spiders chasing after them. Thank Merlin for adrenaline. "They're catching up on us! You know any good spells?!"

"I got a few,"

"Well, use them then!"

"I can't,"

"Why not?!"

"I don't have my wand!"

"WHAT?!"

"Lockhart must have removed it when I was in his office," Hydrus guessed.

"You were chasing Lockhart without a wand?!" Liv pulled out her own and shot an incendio spell behind her shoulder. The fire spell hit one of the spiders in chase, knocking it off its feet, causing it to trip up two more spiders.

"My hands were more than sufficient for him!" Hydrus said as they neared the edge of the forest. "Come on, we just got to get out of the forest."

"Trying..." Liv huffed, feeling her energy slowly dimming. The spiders were catching up to them, and she couldn't focus on casting magic as she was too busy trying not to trip and run straight. She looked back once more. The spiders seemed to have unlimited stamina, given how none of them seemed to be slowing down. As she shifted her gaze forward, she realised her mistake when her foot hit a rock. She landed on the floor, crying as she felt something twist in her left ankle.

"Liv!" Hydrus slid to a halt and quickly grabbed her arm. "Come on, we've got to go!"

"I can't!" Liv cried. "My leg! Just...just go!"

"Not without you!" Hydrus said stubbornly. "Come on!"

"Arania Exuma!" A voice yelled before a blue wave shot over their heads. The wave crashed against the spiders, knocking them all back.

"Daph!" Hydrus grinned as he spotted Daphne, standing a short distance away with her wand out.

"Hey," Daphne smiled at them before aiming her wand once more at the spiders. "Glacius!" She yelled, a light blue spell shot out from her wand and froze the trees and ground in the spider's path, making it harder for them to chase after them.

"Whoa!" Liv gasped just as Hydrus picked her up bridal style. "Isn't the freezing spell a fifth-year spell?"

"Daphne's always been talented with ice-related magic," Hydrus informed her, but he ran as fast as he could. Daphne might have knocked the spiders back and made things harder for them, but that didn't mean the spiders were going to give up if they were still within range of them. "Merlin, you're heavier than I thought," Hydrus grunted.

"You had better not be calling me fat," Liv warned him, taking her wand and firing a purple spell over Hydrus's shoulder. It hit one spider and caused it to backflip and land on top of a different spider, which ended up with the two of them knocking over two more spiders.

It didn't take long, but the trip quickly got out of the forest. Not taking any chances, they kept moving until they were sure that they were safe in the Hogwarts wards. Once they were sure they were safe, Hydrus dumped Liv on the ground as gently as he could before plopping down onto his butt and taking in several deep breaths.

"T...thanks, Daph," Hydrus said as she took a seat next to him. "I...how did you find us?"

"I was looking for you," She said, snuggling into his side. "You didn't show up in the common room. I was walking around and spotted you and Liv running from the windows."

"Lockhart had ambushed me," Hydrus said, pausing to take in a deep breath. "Didn't think the cunt was capable of it, to be honest. Next thing I know, I'm waking up in his office."

"I heard a noise coming from inside," Liv revealed, holding onto her sprained ankle. "I investigated and found you unconscious on his desk. Woke you up, and the next thing I know, we're getting chased by spiders the size of horses."

"So...pretty standard morning for Hogwarts then," Daphne said flatly, earning laughs from the other two.

"Thanks, Daph, you were amazing," Hydrus said before leaning forward and kissing her cheek, earning a pleased smile from the girl.

"I helped too, you know," Liv huffed before looking down at her ankle. It hurt a lot, but she was pretty sure that the school nurse could sort it out quickly enough. She looked up again in time to see Hydrus lean forward and kiss her forehead.

"Thanks to you, too." Hydrus grinned, ignoring her blush as he and Daphne grabbed her arms and helped her stand up on her one good leg. "Come on," Hydrus said, putting one of her arms over his shoulder while she put the other one over Daphne's. "Let's get you to Madam Pomfrey. The sooner we get there, the sooner the adults can yell at us."