Chapter 45 - chapter:45 Parkinson

Heri watched Snape bare his teeth. He looked fit to kill. "One — two — three —" Both of them swung their wands above their heads and pointed them at their opponent. "Expelliarmus!" cried Snape There was a dazzling flash of scarlet light and Lockhart was blasted off his feet. He flew backwards off the stage, smashed into the wall, and slid down it to sprawl on the floor. Malfoy and some of the other Slytherins cheered. Hell, Heri was tempted to cheer as well but she didn't want to do anything Malfoy's ilk approved of. Lockhart got unsteadily to his feet. His hat had fallen off and his wavy hair was standing on end. "Well, there you have it!" he said, tottering back onto the platform. "That was a Disarming Charm — as you see, I've lost my wand — ah, thank you, Miss Brown — yes, an excellent idea to show them that, Professor Snape, but if you don't mind my saying so, it was very obvious what you were about to do. If I had wanted to stop you it would have been only too easy — however, I felt it would be instructive to let them see . . ." Snape expression could have melted rock. Possibly Lockhart had noticed, because he said, "Enough! I'm going to come amongst you now and put you all into pairs. Professor Snape, if you'd like to help me —" They moved through the crowd, matching up partners. Lockhart paired students together with little care, creating teams like Theodore Nott with Neville, Lavender Brown with Zacharias, and Sally-Anne with Millicent Bulstrode. It was like he couldn't see what kind of disasters he was creating. And it was a disaster. Spells of all colours were shot out with little attention to the spell they were supposed to be practising. "I said disarm only!" Lockhart shouted in alarm over the heads of the battling crowd. He might as well had been shouting at the clouds to stop raining for all the good his words did. "Stop! Stop!" screamed Lockhart, but it was no use. Fed up with the situation, Snape took charge. "Finite Incantatem!" he shouted, jabbing his wand into the air. All at once, the spells of the students deteriorated, returning the room and its inhabitants back to normal. "Dear, dear," said Lockhart, skittering through the crowd, looking at the aftermath of the duels. "Up you go there, Macmillan . . ." Heri and Hannah sprang into action and pulled Ernie away. "Careful there, Miss Fawcett . . . Pinch it hard, it'll stop bleeding in a second, Boot — "I think I'd better teach you how to block unfriendly spells as well," said Lockhart, standing flustered in the midst of the hall. He glanced at Snape, whose black eyes glinted, and looked quickly away. He forced a cheery smile back onto his face. "Let's have some volunteers — How about it, Miss Heri Potter? And maybe — ?" A hand shot into the air before Heri had the time to decline. "I volunteer, Professor!" There, stepping out from where she had been fawning over Malfoy was Pansy Parkinson, a simpering look on her face. Malfoy whispered something in her ear and she smirked widely. "Excellent, excellent!" said Lockhart, "Up on the stage with the two of you." Unwilling to make a scene by protesting now, Heri grudgingly climbed up on the elevated platform, her face smooth and relaxed. "Now, Heri," said Lockhart as Snape attended to Parkinson. "When Pansy points her wand at you, you do this." He raised his own wand, attempted a complicated sort of wiggling action, and dropped it. Snape smirked as Lockhart quickly picked it up, saying, "Whoops — my wand is a little overexcited you see —" Parkinson stood haughtily as she waited, her expression as smug as ever. Heri eyed the other girl and said to Lockhart, "Professor, do you mind showing me that block again?" "Scared, Potter?" Parkinson called out, tittering nastily. Heri's lifted her brows in a questioning manner. She allowed some cattiness to escape her. "Of you? Perhaps if you were aiming at a person standing next to me." Muffled snickers broke out as Parkinson flushed and then glared at Heri. "On the count of three!" Lockhart called out from where he stood at the edge of the stage. The girls held their wands at the ready. "One . . . Two~oooo . . . Three!" Heri tossed up a simple shield as Parkinson flung a trip jinx at her. Without waiting the amount of time expected of her during what was supposed to be a demonstration, Parkinson fired a stinging hex. Having enough already of being on the defensive, Heri dodged lightly to the side and returned fire by turning one of Parkinson's shoes into a squid. Parkinson squealed at the disgusting feel and fell to the ground. Snarling, she shrieked, "Serpensortia!" Heri watched, startled, as a long black snake shot out of Parkinson's wand. It fell heavily onto the floor between them and coiled defensively, hissing angrily. There were screams as the crowd backed swiftly away, clearing the space at the edge of the stage. It looked to be a rat snake, a constrictor type that had only a little venom that actually didn't do much harm to a human. They were also docile by nature unless they were harassed. Unfortunately, the shouting and running about did absolutely nothing for its temperament. §What is this?§ The snake lashed its tail in agitation as it flicked its tongue out and took in all the confusing scents in the Hall. §Threat?§ "Parkinson, are you mad?" said Heri, her eyes not leaving the enraged serpent. "You just brought an angry snake into a crowd of people!" "Don't move, Potter," said Snape, his wand at the ready. "I'll get rid of it —" "Allow me!" shouted Lockhart. He brandished his wand at the snake and there was a loud bang; the snake, instead of vanishing, flew ten feet into the air and fell back to the floor with a loud smack. Infuriated, hissing savagely, it reared caught sight of the trembling Justin with his wand pointed at it.