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just how quickly an opinion could change on somebody. But as the week and more Defence Against the Dark Arts classes passed, it started to make some sense. As somebody who had presented themselves under such a positive light in their books was bound to not match up to that portrayal in real life. What shocked her most of all was the chasm that lay between book Lockhart and real-life Lockhart. They seemed like completely different people, just with the same name. 

This theory was one that Saffron voiced to Rachel and Rowan on their first Friday in the school, at the meeting they had arranged to have in the library. It had been exciting to finally catch up with them properly. Of course, they had exchanged words and looks in the corridors during the week, but this was the first time the three of them could sit down together to properly converse.

It had been a good enough week for the twins. Rachel was enjoying Hufflepuff and seemed very proud to have ended up in the house, especially since their head of house, Professor Sprout mentioned how she had taught their father Oscar, and that he would be proud of her for ending up in it. She shared a dorm with four other girls; Darcy, Elena, Krystina, Louise, and Pheobe. The way Rachel described it suggested the five girls got on like a house on fire. Rowan, on the other hand, shared a dormitory with only two boys, called Henry and Kyle, both of whom he got on well with. Others that he liked included two girls called Luna and Paige. 

The day previous, Rachel and Rowan did something that Saffron suggested they do, which was to try and integrate their friends if possible. She had gotten the idea from Parvati, who had often brought Lavender to go and hang out with Padma and her friends during their first year. It was a way of keeping the twins close and it seemed that it had worked so far, as Rachel brought Elena and Rowan brought Kyle and the four of them had gotten on just fine.

The only issue they both seemed to have was also Professor Lockhart. When Rowan spoke of him, Saffron's blood was boiling hotter than ever before. 

"You should have seen it," Rowan told her, anxiously looking over his shoulder to make sure they were alone. "He got mad at me for not knowing who presented him with his Order of Merlin because he said who it was the day before but I--I couldn't remember. Everyone was staring, and then I felt it,"

Saffron's eyes went wide. "You felt it? 

Rowan nodded and Saffron bit her lip furiously. By it, they meant the Grey, and seeing as neither of the twins had visited it properly yet, they still got frequent headaches because of it. Lockhart had triggered one in Rowan and the fact that he had done so angered her.

"Were you okay?" Saffron asked him concernedly.

"Yeah," said Rowan. "It got really bad, I asked to go the toilet and didn't come back to class after because of it. Kyle had to take my stuff for me, it was so embarrassing,"

Rachel shook her head. "You shouldn't be embarrassed, you can't do anything about it,"

"That's what's so embarrassing," replied Rowan quietly, staring down at his lap. "That I can't do anything about it,"

Turning to Saffron, Rachel questioned: "Why would Professor Dumbledore hire someone like that?"

"Because Professor Dumbledore is a moron,"

There were three distinct whipping sounds in the form of Rachel, Rowan and Saffron alike, turning their heads to find the source of the sentence. For none of the Mitchells would say such a bold and out-there comment like that. 

Neither Rachel nor Rowan knew who the person was when their eyes met the person. Saffron, however, did and wasn't entirely surprised by who it was.

Lisa Turpin, a second year Ravenclaw stood there, examining a bookshelf, looking across at the Mitchell siblings who sat in shock in their secluded area of the library. She smiled at them. "Oh, come on, you have to agree. Who else would hire somebody like Lockhart? Exactly, only a moron would,"

"But Professor Dumbledore is a genius," replied Rowan matter-of-factly, his eyebrow arched at the girl who he saw as an intruder.

"I'm surprised that you of all people have told your little brother and sister such great things about Dumbledore, Saffron," Lisa walked over to the four seated table and took the only vacant seat. She turned to Rachel and then Rowan. "I'm Lisa by the way,"

"Rowan," said Rowan.

"I'm Rachel," said Rachel tentatively. "It's . . . nice to meet you,"

Saffron wasn't entirely sure if Rachel's underlying message in that sentence was to ask Saffron whether or not it was nice to meet Lisa.

"Why me of all people," Saffron questioned Lisa confusedly.

"Just with everything that happened last year," Lisa confided in her. "Dumbledore had so many chances to stop it all, but he never seemed to cop on and take them," She leaned in closer to them. "So many people in this school worship Dumbledore to the altar, but not me, not my family either, we think he's twisted, just check his history,"

"What history?" 

"I won't bore you with the details," Lisa told her with a small smile. She gestured around to the walls of books in the library. "It's all in here, after all,"

Saffron furrowed her eyebrows at that. Lisa seemed to be hinting towards something far more sinister than the typical background that everybody talked about when it came to Albus Dumbledore; that he defeated Gellert Grindelwald and led the charge during the war against Lord Voldemort. Whatever it was Lisa was alluding to, Saffron was curious to find out.

"Hiring Lockhart is just another poor decision he's made, and he's made a lot," Lisa continued. "That's why I said you of all people would know, Saffron, because we all heard the rumours. We all know what happened in the chamber last year,"

"You-- you do," Saffron's eyes widened. As far as she knew it, nobody knew that a part of Lord Voldemort was living inside of Professor Quirrell, excluding her group of friends. So how could Lisa know?

"Of course I do," said Lisa as though it was obvious. "How Professor Quirrell tried to murder Harry Potter,"

"What?" blurted out Rachel in horror, suddenly losing some of the colour in her face. "That happened?"

"You never told us," Rowan looked at Saffron accusingly. 

"Because I didn't think it was important," insisted Saffron, feeling relieved that Lisa didn't know the full story of what happened in the underground chamber.

"That sounds important to me," said Rachel weakly.

"It was just one big accident," Saffron assured them briskly, irritated that Lisa had to bring this up in such a dramatic way. "It won't happen again,"

"Lisa?"

The Mitchell siblings and Lisa all looked at the source of the new voice that had come into the fold. Yet again, Saffron wasn't surprised at who she saw. Neither was Lisa, but the curveball was that Rowan wasn't surprised either.

"Olly?" said Rowan in surprise. 

"Hello, Rowan," Olly greeted him with a grin. "Saffron, and I'm assuming you're Rachel,"

Rachel nodded whilst Saffron looked from Olly to Rowan in surprise.

"You two know each other?"

"The Ravenclaw common room has ways of bringing people together," explained Olly bracingly. "We were both locked out of it for half an hour on Wednesday night, we only got in when Marietta Edgecombe showed up,"

"Olly's awful at getting the answers," Lisa said to Saffron.

Saffron blinked. How had the conversation gone to so many different places in only a matter of minutes? "Oh, right,"

"I just came over to say that we have to go, Lisa," Olly said to Lisa with sincerity. "We're going to miss Charms, and I don't want to be late for the first one,"

"Perfect," said Lisa brightly, standing up and pushing her chair. 

"You can come if you want," Olly said to the three Mitchells. The siblings exchanged glances with each other before politely rejecting his offer. He nodded at them. "Maybe another time, especially you Saffron, just think about it,"

"I will," said Saffron in agreement.

Once Olly and Lisa left, Rachel and Rowan rounded on Saffron.

"You said it wasn't dangerous!" Rowan hissed at her, so as to not be too loud warranting getting kicked out from the library.

"I can't believe you didn't tell us," said Rachel in annoyance.

Saffron sighed. "I didn't go into the details because I didn't want the two of you to be thinking about it instead of what's going on with youse, Professor Quirrell is gone now so it doesn't matter,"

"But what if Professor Lockhart is just as bad?" argued Ron adamantly. "Like Lisa said---"

"Don't mind Lisa," Saffron told them firmly. "She's a bit stubborn, Professor Dumbledore is a great man, he won't let anything bad happen to any of us,"

"But Lisa said---" started Rachel, before getting cut off by Saffron.

"That's enough," she stated with a note of finality. "Stop focussing on one small incident and focus on what's happening now, alright?"

Rachel and Rowan both looked like they wanted to protest, but Saffron hastily changed the subject to talking about their favourite classes thus far. All the while, thinking about how Lisa actually had a point. Professor Dumbledore didn't seem to be doing a good job and with everything he had accomplished in his life, there had to be a reason behind that. She just wished she knew what it was and had a newly kindling desire to dig up what it was.