Murmurs rippled through the hall again as the potions master appeared at the other end of the table, looking less than impressed.
"Did you know about this?" Hermione asked Harry, surprised.
Harry just shook his head. "He's probably here to make sure Lockhart doesn't remove anybody's internal organs."
Hermione pulled a face at him. "Honestly, Harry! I'm sure it was an accident."
Ron snorted, throwing his hands to his heart dramatically. "Oh yeah Hermione! An accident! Of course it was! Can't say a bad word about the guy because he's just so dreamy!"
Hermione huffed, turning away from the two of them to listen to what Lockhart was saying.
What followed was a rather entertaining floor show, during which Snape quickly disarmed Lockhart and sent him flying half way across the makeshift stage. The DADA teacher attempted to shrug it off of course, and when Snape snidely suggested that he might want to start by teaching the group how to block unfriendly spells, Harry bit back a smile.
"An excellent suggestion, Professor Snape! Let's have some volunteers. Anybody?" Lockhart looked around.
Ron nudged Harry sharply in the ribs.
Caught unawares, Harry stumbled forward, reaching out his hands to steady himself on the edge of the table.
"Potter! Excellent, up you come!" Lockhart beamed. "Do we have any willing opponents?"
Silence for a moment.
"I'll be happy to assist you, Professor."
Harry rolled his eyes - he knew exactly who the voice belonged to.
"Thank you Draco, but after yesterday's game, I think the two of you have had quite enough of each other for one week," Lockhart chuckled, somewhat nervously. "Anybody else? Somebody from Hufflepuff, perhaps?"
"I don't think my father would be too happy to hear you denied me an opportunity to learn how to defend myself, sir," Draco cut in, as arrogant as ever.
A loaded silence hung in the air, and Lockhart shifted awkwardly.
"Very well, up you come then," he said, eventually.
Malfoy scrambled up onto the stage, and Harry glanced in Snape's direction but his guardian made no attempt to return the eye contact.
"Scared Potter?" Malfoy teased, as the two of them pulled out their wands.
"You wish," Harry retorted, and then they took their places.
"On the count of three, cast your charms to disarm your opponent. ONLY to disarm. We don't want any accidents here," Lockhart began. "One… two…"
"EVERTE STATUM!" Malfoy cried, and Harry was thrown through the air, landing on the very edge of the table with a thump.
"Cheat!" someone cried, but it was drowned out by the laughter of the Slytherin group.
Incensed, Harry scrambled up and marched back to his spot.
Malfoy didn't look so clever now.
"RICTUSEMPRA!" Harry shouted, returning the favour to his worst enemy.
Malfoy landed by Snape, and though the potions master picked him up and planted him back firmly on his feet, Harry was sure he saw a small smile on his guardian's lips.
"I said disarm only!" Lockhart reminded them.
But Malfoy wasn't listening. "Serpensortia!"
A huge cobra snake flew from the boy's wand, landing on the table in front of Harry and hissing its displeasure at the crowd.
"Stay where you are," Snape ordered Harry, stepping forward. "I'll get rid of it for you."
"Allow me, Professor Snape," Lockhart said, pointing his wand at the snake and uttering a spell that Harry had never heard before.
The snake flew up in the air, before returning to its original spot, twice as angry as it had been before. Another solid spell from Lockhart, then.