We were doing laps above the forest, low enough that my feet sometimes touched the tip of the trees. I was hoping not to find eight-legged monstrosities because even with flames to help me fight them off… they are just one thing I can't deal with. They say if you want to avoid something, it will likely hit you in the face, and here I was, looking at a giant spiderweb between two thick tree trunks. I just looked up, wanting to tell Professor Lockhart, when I saw his eyes registering it, then moving on as if nothing happened. Wait… what? Is he blind, or is he ignoring it on purpose?"

"Um, Professor?"

"Don't worry, my young friend! They are not that smart to look up and spot us! But… they seem to be gone from here! We are going to make a few rounds again, and if nothing, we will head back! You can come with me telling Professor Umbridge that we didn't see anything!"

Wait a minute. Wait a Merlin-enchanted minute! You are… a coward! You brought me out here to be your… witness?! So I can say you did what you could; you just didn't find any spiders?! I am not in the mood to take the fall for you or with you!

"I can see them, Professor."

"I think you are mistaken, young Conrad!" He said, without waiting. "I couldn't see even one of them! You see, my senses are sharp and honed by countless decades of-"

"Revelio!" I waved my wand before pointing at the now somewhat flickering, glowing spiderweb. "See? There! I think that is a clue we could investigate!"

"..."

Yeah. That's right! I couldn't help but smirk inside when I saw his expression, unable to refute it any longer and follow me as I descended between the trees, touching down before the 4 or 5 meters wide web. Down here, it was much darker than in the sky, and finally, my reasoning started to clear up, realizing what I had just done. Great… I was so riled up that I dragged myself into a spider-filled pit… damn it, Conrad!

"Well…" Professor Lockhart looked around, trying to look nonchalant, masking his twitching hands with folivorous movements. It reminded me of parading clowns for a moment. "This is an old one! No worries, you are young, inexperienced! Mistakes happen! Let's go! They probably moved, so the others will have to search the forest to find them! We don't have time for that for ourselves, ahaha!"

"Um… Professor…” I said, looking to our left as I already saw multiple eyes watching us and heard their pincers clicking, calling for reinforcement.

To my horror, Professor Lockhart mounted his broom and was taking to the sky, leaving me behind without question or hesitation. I was so flabbergasted by his move that I missed my chance to follow, and a precise ball of spider silk hit the broom, flinging it out of my grasp and sticking it to a tree.

"Shit!"

Spinning around, I was already casting accio on the closest spider, surprising it, drawing it near me before following it up with my newly learned blue flames and then finishing it with a flippendo, sending it into its comrades. What I did not expect was the explosion it caused and the screeching sound of its brethren as it caught on fire.

I could still hear the scurrying of many legs coming from all directions while I rushed to my broom, summoning the blue flames once again to burn off the spider's silk and get out of there. I just managed to free it and go into a roll, dodging, hearing multiple splattering sounds where I was standing a moment before. I didn't need to look back to know that more had arrived, and they were keen on capturing me alive. For what purpose? I wasn't keen on finding it out.

The moment I got back to my feet and started running, I climbed onto my broom, kickin' off to fly up, but with another nasty noise, the end of it got stuck in something, jerking me backward, almost making me fall off it. A huge, rhino-sized spider came out of the trees, its silk coming out of its back end, connecting to my broom. It was trying to pull me down after it made a perfect shot, and I felt a bit impressed… and highly disgusted.

"Frigus Ignis!" I cried out, replicating Lockhart's hand movement and sending a wide swath of blue flames to cover my back, burning away the silk and freeing myself. I did not care if the whole forest burned down… I just wanted to get to Lockhart and strangle him! Preferably, doing it slowly…

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"Oh, Conrad!"

"Professor," I replied, landing next to him at the castle, managing to get back only a moment later after he touched down. It seems he was not that good of a rider.

"Well, we should go-" He said as if nothing had happened.

I had already surveyed the area, and most students were inside the castle as it was close to dark, and nobody wanted to miss dinner in the Great Hall… Perfect for me. With a flick, I could wordlessly use the disarming charm, blowing his wand away before picking him up with the wingardium leviosa spell, and I could easily smash him into the ground. If I did it fast and spun him upside down at the end, he would break his neck. For sure. Quick, clean, and… I would be found out moments later.

"Yes…" I replied, and my voice was shaking from anger, trying to hold my impulses back from taking control. "We… should."

I said no more, only watching his back all the way to Professor Umbridge's office. I think he felt it, too, as his steps were swift, tethering on the edge of walking and running. I was imagining multiple scenarios on how I could surprise him and throw him off the stairs, out of a window, or straight into one of the weapons the suits of armor were holding. Oh well… he has to wait a little. I hate him because he is a coward and a pompous one at that… Professor Umbridge, on the other hand, is simply crazy.

"Come in."

It was her annoying voice that dragged me back from my fantasies as we entered her office, and I had to bury all my negative feelings if I wanted to avoid any more punishment.

"Oh. You." She looked at Lockhart and then at me, raising an eyebrow, feeling curious about what I was doing here.

"The spiders seemed to move places-" Lockhart started, but Umbridge simply flashed a smile like a kind neighbor. It had its effect at once as Lockhart fell silent in a hurry.

"Did they, now?"

"I was there. They did." I answered, surprising Lockhart, too, I guess. "We only found webs that we burnt away. Nothing happened besides that."

"Wands out, please!" She said, giggling, but her tone was telling us it was an order and not a request.

Neither Lockhart nor I were in the place to refuse, and we watched as she pointed her own at them, saying, "Prior Incantatem!" Luckily, both of ours showed the same spell of blue flame. Lockhart's did because he taught it to me, and mine because I used it against the spiders. Of course, we both knew it was not true, but I guess Professor Umbridge presumed I would not dare to lie to her… not for Lockhart's sake. Or she let us go because she wanted him to butter up to me. Whatever the reason was, we were excused, and getting back to Lockhart's 'office,' he was visibly in a good mood.

"Professor," I spoke up, watching him; my wand was still in my hand.

"I knew we would hit it off!" He laughed jovially, turning towards me, feeling a bit awkward as my face was anything but friendly.

"You left me behind… Professor."

"I did? I thought you were following me closely! I remember saying, we are running away!"

"Professor, please, I am not my mother to be swayed so easily." I shook my head with a soft smile, and his bravado disappeared even more quickly than it did before Umbridge. "Yes, I know about it."

"D-does…" He asked, gripping his wand. I knew he was considering attacking my memories, so I immediately cut in.

"No. I do not intend to tell either. I don't care about what my mother does, Professor."

"That-"

"BUT!" I raised a hand, watching his eyes, ready to fight at a moment's notice. "Now you owe me twice… no, thrice. One, I don't tell my father anything." Even though that is a lie, as I already did. He doesn't have to know that. "Two, you left me behind. Three, I did not say anything to Professor Umbridge. That is already three times, Professor! I want to be reimbursed."

"You are a weird boy, aren't you…?" He whispered.

"I get that a lot. I want one thing, and we can act as if nothing happened, Professor! I want to learn memory charms!"

"That… won't be easy."

"I don't really care." I shrugged, "Teach me that, and everything will be fine!"

"What a young, ambitious boy you are, Conrad Anguine!" He returned to his jovial mood, "I can teach you that; what do you say about every Saturday at… 8 in the evening?"

"Sure." I nodded, not asking why, and after we shook hands on it, I left. I had to air out of my thoughts because while talking, I was thinking up memories I wanted to plant into his head, just to mess with him a little.

…

….

……

"You are joking!" Quincy said, finding me after dinner as I recounted everything that happened to me while sitting in the common room with her.

"Nope!" I rubbed my forehead, "That man is a complete joke! I just hope he didn't lie about memory charms being his forte!"

"Be careful! Avoid his wand all the time, Conrad! Memory charms can be just as bad as any curse! I will look up ways how to break them! I think I saw some books on legilimency in the library; I may borrow some!"

"What about the potions?" I changed the topic as she was already getting a parchment and quill out and writing up a list of what to look for.

"I started brewing them! Some will need a month to be ready, so we have time!"

"Well… if we take too long, spring will come and go and come summer, we are going to leave school."

"You are right… but I wouldn't worry. We are still good!" She said, smiling at me.

"Mhm… I hope so too!"