It wasn't long after that the students made their way to their dorms. Penny led the way for the Ravenclaws and Harry was looking forward to some reading before bed. Hopefully with a good night's sleep he'd be prepared to deal with the first day of classes. He was already dreading getting his timetable tomorrow, if only because he didn't want to know when he'd have to be in the presence of either Snape or Lockhart. The blonde peacock had already made a showing of himself at dinner when Dumbledore announced him. Harry really felt like the man was much more pomp than substance.
-First Defense Against the Dark Arts Class-
"I was right." Harry huffed to himself watching Lockhart strut around the front of the classroom. Then the narcissist had the gall to make them take a test about himself! 'Who the hell cares what this moron's favorite color is?' Harry raged in his own mind. The blonde idiot, as Harry now dubbed the man in his mind, then proceeded to unleash Cornish Pixies on the classroom. The troublemaking little sprites had quickly started tearing the classroom up after easily taking Lockhart's wand and tossing it out of the window.
"Students! Use what you've learned from my books to stop the pixies!" Lockhart called out as the Pixies finished destroying the front of the room while Lockhart literally hid under the Professor's desk.
"Absolutely useless." Harry growled as the Pixies started zipping towards the students. "Stop!" He intoned and his voice echoed with power. A nifty little trick that Penny had found out was that verbally stating the intent of a Wandless spell gave a noticeable improvement. It didn't even have to be a proper incantation, just the intent behind the Magic itself. Harry awed his entire class by demonstrating this with his command. The Cornish Pixies all froze in mid-air and hung there, stopped in whatever position they'd been in at the time. The Impedimenta Jinx slowed a target or targets down. Taking that spell a bit further resulted in the Immobulus Charm, which rendered said target or targets completely immobilized. It had been easy for Harry to refine his Wandless Impedimenta into a Wandless Immobulus over the summer. With a movement of his hands Harry made the floating Pixies gather into one area. Then he simply continued using Levitation to stuff the little troublemakers back into their cage. A Wandless Colloportus Charm had the caged door locked and only then did Harry release his first spell. The now free Pixies instantly went back to flitting about their cage but were clearly staying away from the cage door. Harry's Magical display had frightened the little blighters into staying within their cage.
"Excellent Mr. Potter, simply excellent! I trust you remembered that from the time when I…" Lockhart began only to be cut off by Harry.
"Shut it you pompous windbag!" Harry growled at the incompetent man. "Do you have any idea what a swarm of Cornish Pixies could do unprepared students?! How the bloody hell did you think this was a good idea?! You're so incompetent you make Professor Quirrel from last year look good! At the very least the man tried to teach even with his horrible stutter!" The young Artificer raged at the blonde twit. "Make no mistake I'll be reporting this to both my Head of House and the Headmaster!" With that said Harry Wandlessly Summoned his bag to himself and stormed out of the room. He was going to do just what he said and see Flitwick and Dumbledore about that idiot.
"That is most troubling indeed, Mr. Potter." Flitwick grumbled as he finished listening to Harry's account of what happened in his first Defense Against the Dark Arts class of the year. In truth the part-Goblin Charms Master was tightly reigning in his emotions lest he storm into Lockhart's office and tear strips from the man for endangering the students.
"Should I go to the Headmaster with this too, Professor?" Harry asked his Head of House.
"You should prepare for your next class, Mr. Potter." Flitwick advised the Second Year. "I have a free period right now so I'll personally see the Headmaster about what Professor Lockhart has done."
"Alright Professor, thank you for seeing me so quickly." Harry thanked the Charms Professor and Flitwick dismissed him from his office. Flitwick sat in his office for several minutes after Harry left, to cool his head, before he made his way to Dumbledore's office. He wasn't one to judge others but Lockhart was proving to be a less than competent teacher compared to his reputation.
-Dumbledore's Office ~ Several Minutes Later-
"I see; that is most troubling Filius." Dumbledore nodded as he mulled over what he'd just heard. "Perhaps Professor Lockhart will need some assistance with his first time teaching? I believe I can clear some time in my schedule to sit in on a few of his lessons. If I see anything else like this I'm afraid I'll have to try and find a replacement. As it stands I think a Notice of Deficiency will serve to let Professor Lockhart know that his current methods are not up to Hogwarts' Standards."
"I believe that would be for the best." Flitwick nodded. A 'Notice of Deficiency' was basically a warning to a Professor that their performance was currently unacceptable. It was the first step in the 'Process of Dismissal' for a Professor. Professor Snape had quite a few brought against him over his years as Potions Professor. But the man's NEWT graduates were some of the best Potioneers in Magical Britain and even Magical Europe. So the Head of Slytherin had managed to retain his position at Hogwarts through the sheer competency he could produce in the students that did make it through his classes.
-After Classes-
Harry quickly made his way towards his hidden workshop with Penny in tow. Once there Harry tested that the Ward Lock was still working before the two entered. Harry checked over the workshop area before heading into the smithy. Everything was as Harry had left it at the beginning of summer, Penny checked over the Transfiguration that made up the forge and happily stated that the stone showed no signs of reverting. This was a testament to Tonks and Penny's success with their Permanent Transfiguration. Of course it only worked because they were changing stone into a different shape of stone. They hadn't transfigured it into another material or tried to expand or shrink it. The stone was still the same at the base level just in a different shape so Permanent Transfiguration was possible.
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