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Lockhart made his way into the classroom, and the whole class, whether out of anticipation or dread were all ears. He studied the classroom carefully before clearing his throat, shushing Seamus Finnigan (which was a specular accomplishment seeing as the boy always had something to say). He picked up Neville's copy of Travels with Trolls, holding it up high for the class to see. He pointed at the handsome portrait of himself on the cover.

"Me," he winked at the class, and Saffron noticed Hermione grip the side of her chair tightly. "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!"

Saffron realised too late that he had wanted a reaction of laughter. She could only smile as laughing too late would make it clear that it was a pity smile.

"I see you've all bought a complete set of my books -well done. I thought we'd start today with a little quiz. Nothing to worry about, just to check how well you've read them, how much you've taken in -"

Saffron's eyes widened. She knew what Lockhart had done, yes, but in terms of actually reading the books? She hadn't opened a page. As he handed out the test papers, she felt nervous. She was going to leave a very bad first impression on the man and first impressions were very important.

Hermione was already huddled over her paper so as to not allow Saffron or Harry, who were on either side of her, copy her answers. Sighing, Saffron looked down at her own paper and predictably couldn't answer a thing.

But not because it was about his defence books as per se, no, but because it was about who he was as a person. Saffron knew nothing about him other than he brushed up well, wrote a few books, and was called Gilderoy Lockhart. She didn't think she had to know anything else. But, she tried. Her trying, however, made no impact to any grade or impression she could get out of it. She didn't have the faintest as to what his secret ambition was, when he was born, or who gave him his first broomstick. All she felt certain of was that he won the most charming smile award from Witch Weekly, simply because he had said so minutes before.

After half an hour, Lockhart took up their papers, by hand, strangely enough, and was the embodiment of disappointment as he looked through them. Saffron's insides churned at seeing such a reaction.

"Tut, tut - hardly any of you remembered that my favourite colour is lilac. I say so in Year with the Yeti. And a few of you need to read Wanderings with Werewolves more carefully - I clearly state in chapter twelve that my ideal birthday gift would be harmony between all magic and non-magic peoples - though I wouldn't say no to a large bottle of Ogded's Old Firewhisky!"

Saffron pouted. She wasn't exactly sure what he was playing at necessarily. He seemed to want to make the class about himself rather than about the subject of Defence Against the Dark Arts. However, she understood that she was no teacher and even though his methods weren't the norm compared to her other classes, it didn't automatically mean they were flawed.

". . . but Miss Hermione Granger knew my secret ambition is to rid the world of evil and market my own range of hair-care potions - good girl! In fact", he took another look at the paper and Saffron watched Hermione stretch up out of her hair as much as humanely possible. "Indeed, full marks! Excellent, now, where is Miss Hermione Granger?"

Trembling, Hermione raised her hand, holding her breath so much she too had gone bright red in the face.

"Good girl!" Lockhart beamed right at her, showing off his pearly white teeth. "Quite excellent! Take ten points for Gryffindor! And so - to business -"

Saffron raised her eyebrows and watched as Lockhart lifted up a large, covered cage onto his desk. She knew he'd be a good teacher, he obviously just wanted to gauge how well the class knew him before commencing with the syllabus.

"Now - be warned! It is my job to arm you against the foulest creatures known to wizardkind! You may find yourselves facing your worst fears in this room. Know only that no harm can befall you whilst I am here. All I ask is that you remain calm."

Saffron bit her lip and waited with the rest of the class for the unveiling of what rested within the cage.

"I must ask you not to scream," remarked Lockhart dramatically "It might provoke them."

"Yes," he yelled, after throwing the cover off the cage. "Freshly caught Cornish pixies!"

Staring at him open-mouthed, Saffron waited for him to tell him that this was supposed to be some sort of a joke. At the top of the classroom, Seamus felt similarly, snorting obnoxiously with laughter.

"Yes?" Lockhart furrowed an eyebrow at him, with his ever-present smile.

"Well, they're not - they're not very - dangerous, are they?" Seamus tried his best to contain his amusement but was failing miserably.

"Don't be so sure! Devilish tricky little blighters they can be!"

Saffron felt herself agreeing with him. They could certainly be tricky little buggers, she remembers when Rachel was grounded in Squires one day which meant she was locked in the attic by herself. While she was there, a large amount of the pixies swarmed around her, putting her in such distress she magically burst the locked door of the attic open and rushed to her siblings in a flood of tears. The Pixies could be nasty and annoying, but they wouldn't kill you.

"Right, then," Lockhart announced, "Let's see what you make of them!"

Saffron's jaw dropped. Lockhart had opened the cage.

It was pure chaos. Windows were smashed, books were thrown around the room, Neville was hoisted into the air, Lavender's chair was pulled out from under her and one shot right into Ron's face, knocking him flat onto the ground. Saffron ducked for shelter under her desk, perhaps she was wrong. Maybe pixies could kill you, for if they were as effective in killing as they were in wrecking the classroom, they could be lethal.

Hermione grabbed onto Saffron's hand in order to shield herself under the desk too. They heard Lockhart yelling: "Come on now - round them up, round them up, they're only pixies! Peskipiksi Pesternomi!"

Saffron felt certain that the pixies must have been frozen or slowed down by his spell. Hence, she stood up from her position on the floor to find that the spell had done nothing whatsoever. To make matters worst, Lockhart watched in horror as one of the pixies snatched his wand off of him and threw it right out one of the broken windows. Saffron screeched when she looked up to see that Neville had been dragged all the way up to the top of the classroom and was hung onto the chandelier by the tips of his robes.

She dragged herself and Hermione under the desk again just in time, as the chandelier collapsed under Neville's weight and with a deafening howl and crash alike, Neville and the chandelier hit the ground. Shrapnel shot across the room in the form of glass.

It had absolutely no effect; one of the pixies seized his wand and threw it out of the window, too. Lockhart gulped and dived under his own desk, narrowly avoiding being squashed by Neville, who fell a second later as the chandelier gave way.

When the bell rung, Saffron wasted no time in following the rest of the class, including Neville who luckily hadn't been injured too badly, in large part due to Hermione being brave enough to conjure a freezing charm to halt the fall.

Reaching the door right before Hermione, Harry and Ron, Saffron heard Lockhart ask them to put the rest of the pixies back in the cage. But feeling like she didn't want to ever step foot in that classroom ever again, Saffron sprinted out, not listening to one word Lockhart said and stood against the wall, waiting for her friends to follow.

To her horror, it was Lockhart who followed.

"Sir, what are you doing?" Saffron stared at him in shock, watching the man slam the door behind him, effectively blocking the others from leaving the room.

"They volunteered," Lockhart enunciated breathlessly, his eyes shut and pants emitting from his mouth every second. "Some good practical experience, yes,"

Not waiting for a reply from Saffron, Lockhart hurried off leaving Saffron alone, hearing pixies from across inside the room still struggling against those who remained in the room. Taking a deep breath, Saffron re-entered the room to try and help but found that the biggest problem was actually another argument brewing between Ron and Hermione, but with Harry involved this time, on Ron's side.

"Hermione, he didn't have a clue what he was doing -" Harry was saying, grabbing a pixie and attempting to freeze it.

"Rubbish," said Hermione, idly doing likewise to a pixie lying lazily on an opened book. "You've read his books - look at all those amazing things he's done -"

"He says he's done," Ron muttered irritably.

Saffron gulped. Did she actually agree with Ron over Hermione? The answer was a hesitant yes.