The first day of second year for a Gryffindor was truly brutal.
After Herbology and Transfiguration in the morning, they still had Defense Against the Dark Arts in the afternoon.
After lunch, the two of them headed straight for the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom.
There was still more than an hour before their afternoon lesson, but it would be nice to get to the classroom and read for a while.
The sky outside was overcast, so they couldn't even go out into the courtyard to enjoy the sunshine.
Harley had thought she and Hermione would be able to sit quietly and read together for ages before anyone else showed up.
But she was wrong. Someone had even arrived before she and Hermione did!
Lavender and Parvati, the pair of best friends, had finished lunch early and taken seats in the front row.
Two Hufflepuff girls whom Harley vaguely recognized were with them. The four of them had firmly claimed the very center of the first row.
"Looks like our dear Professor Lockhart is very popular!" Harley whispered to Hermione.
"Him?" Hermione scoffed.
Harley had told her what happened before Herbology that morning, and Hermione's opinion of Professor Lockhart had changed completely.
After all, according to Harley, she'd only used a very simple spell.
Yet Professor Lockhart couldn't even break a simple spell cast by a weak, defenseless second-year girl. He hadn't even managed to dodge it!
Hermione, who trusted Harley completely, had no reason to doubt her.
Though Hermione had seen Harley effortlessly kill a Troll and didn't believe Harley when she called herself a petite, adorable, and delicate girl, she hadn't initially thought Professor Lockhart was all that weak.
After all, in his books, Professor Lockhart had supposedly killed entire groups of Trolls with ease more than