The news of Lockhart’s suspension came to no surprise to most of the students but it was greeted by some with disappointment – mainly the girls of his classes. The boys cheered at his demise but the girls were broken hearted. But then, they were told that till he gets his wand checked he will be suspended.
"Professor Snape will be doing the Defense against The Dark Arts class till Lockhart returns." Dumbledore stated.
Every girl in the Great Hall cheered with joy about the short suspension of their favorite teacher. The other houses were looking at each other like what the heck.
Gilderoy Lockhart walked into the Great Hall with a smile on his face. He walked over to Dumbledore and handed him a letter. He went to his seat and started to eat breakfast.
Dumbledore looked at the letter and sighed, "Gilderoy Lockhart's wand is perfectly okay, by Ollivander’s evaluation. His suspension is over."
The girls cheered and the guys were silently booing. Harry glanced over to Draco and shook his head. Gilderoy Lockhart’s wand misfired spells that their wands were perfectly able to do. Everyone knew something was not right with Lockhart’s wand and he was just given the green light to start teaching again. They had to do something about Lockhart. No one liked him and wanted him out in the worst way possible – beyond being killed.
Harry, Seamus and Draco left the Great Hall, Draco handed Harry the five Knuts that he lost as they whispered to each other. Seamus looked at them and whispered, “Meet me in the Room of Requirement with Professor Snape. It is time to start getting serious about getting him out of here.”
Harry looked at Draco and said, “Think Snape will come. Seamus, when should we be there?”
“Tonight,” Seamus said before rushing off.
Draco and Harry looked at each other and shrugged before they headed off to get to their morning classes.
It was after Potion class; Draco stood at the desk of Professor Snape and talked to him about meeting them along with several of the other House members. He nodded before Harry disappeared around the corner.
Harry smiled as he went to the other Houses and spoke with their Prefects and found that several of them wanted to go to this meeting too. Harry knew that all of the Houses will probably throw out several suggestions about how to get rid of Lockhart.
That night everyone who was invited to the secret meeting of those who wanted to help deal with the Lockhart problem, there had to be about sixty students within the room itself.
“Okay, Potter, why did you call this meeting?” asked Morrigan.
“I didn’t call this meeting, Seamus did,” Harry said.
“Then, where is he?” asked Morrigan. Her hands on her hips.
Just then, Seamus walked into the room with three bags in hands. “Sorry, I’m late. I had to get around Mrs. Norris. Good, Draco, you brought Professor Snape with you. He’ll be needed for this,”
“And why should I not report you to Dumbledore?” Snape hissed, not very happy with being in the room with several students.
“Because we will need your Potion knowledge about this subject we are about to discuss, Professor,” Seamus stated.
“And what subject would that be?” Snape hissed once again.
“Potions,” Seamus replied. Snape raised an eyebrow as many of the students looked at Seamus like he was stupider than Neville Longbottom. Seamus didn’t even noticed the looks as he pulled out several boxes of what looked like muggle items.
Ron looked at the box and asked, “What is Lax ah tives?”
“That’s laxatives, it is stool softeners, eat enough of them and you will have loose bowel movements but eat more than it is stated and you will have the runs for several visits to the bathroom,” Seamus stated, as he placed them by the cauldron that was there. He pulled out candy making molds and placed them on the tables in front of him.
“What are you planning, Seamus? To give Lockhart these Lax ah tives?” asked Morrigan. She was not sure this plan of his would actually work.
Harry turned to the others. “I have lived with muggles all of my life. The laxatives will make Lockhart go to the bathroom a lot, but Seamus, how many boxes did you get to make him go to the bathroom to where he wouldn’t be able to teach?”
“Forty-seven boxes, it will make him have the runs to end all runs. He’ll be passing liquid by the time this is all over and he will not be able to even sit down without trouble,” Seamus smiled.
Ron spoke up, “You should have told my twin brothers about this, this is something that they would pull.”
“I know, it was them who mumbled something about getting him troubled by something he ate. That’s when I came up with the idea of laxatives,” Seamus stated.
“Couldn’t we try something else before this as I hate to say this but it does sound very serious?” asked Morrigan.
“True but this will make him leave the classroom as a more intelligent teacher will be in his place,” Seamus stated. “With him in the bathroom and then perhaps the hospital wing, we will have at least three to five weeks without him teaching.”
Snape looked over at Seamus and whispered, “You should have been in Slytherin, Mr. Finnegan as you are very cunning,”
“Thank you, sir, I think.” Seamus said. “Anyways, my plan is to melt these chocolate flavored laxatives and make them into candy for Lockhart on Valentine’s Day present that came from one of us.”
“I think it would best be done by someone not from this school, you will be expelled if they find out that it is any one of us.” Snape suggested in a firm voice.
“We will have to swear to silence once this is in motion, including you Professor. We will take a blood oath that we will keep this silent.” Morrigan added.
Everyone agreed to what Severus and Morrigan has suggested. A small dagger was handed to one person who nicked his finger and handed it to another who did the same. Soon, everyone’s finger was pricked and they circled around a piece of paper.
“The blood we place upon this paper shall be our bond of silence concerning the laxative candy sent to Lockhart,” Snape said, as he placed his finger onto the paper. The other students followed suit. “Now, let us get down to business here. Seamus, Harry, Ron, Morrigan, Gretchen, Draco, you need to remove the laxatives from their boxes and put them within this cauldron. The others shall get the molds ready for the melted chocolate to be placed within them.”
It was another three hours before the molds were finished curing and popped out of the molds onto a counter. Seamus told them to shave off any part of the chocolate to make sure it looked like it was professionally done. Soon, the candy was done. Seamus looked at the chocolate and smiled.
“Think this will work, Seamus?” asked Morrigan.
“Yes, I hope so. It will cause him to have hours of the runs. When he gets to the hospital wing for the potion to stop the runs, Severus will substitute another potion that will keep him with the runs for another day. I know it is cruel but this will help us get a new Professor all that quicker.” Seamus stated, as he waved his wand over the box as the cover covered the chocolate treasure. “Now, we take this box to the Owlery to send this lax treasure to Lockhart.”
“Someone will have to loan us their Owl to deliver it to him. The best time to do so is before class begins so he can wonder who sent it to him,” Gretchen suggested.
Severus nodded. “I agree with her. That would be the best time and he might be prodded to eat some, if the right person was to nudge him to eat some.” He glanced over to Hermione. “But if he offers any to any of you, politely decline them, but if you happen to eat one, do come see me immediately, I do not care if it is in the middle of a Potion class or not. The strength of these candies will hurt you if you even have one,”
The students nodded before they all filed out of the Room of Requirements after it was decided to use Gretchen’s Owl to do the delivery of the lax candy. Snape walked his students back to their House. He had a smirk on his face as he overheard several other students’ state that they were going to write letters to their parents about their new Professor, Professor Barfhart. The students had now started to call Professor Lockhart Barfhart.
Severus walked into his private office with a smirk on his face. ‘This is going to be a good Valentine’s Day, it will be the worst one for Lockhart,’