The library was one of Rachel's favourite places at Hogwarts. The book club meeting to be held there was hosted by none other than her dear Head of House. Obviously these two facts meant that the chances of her missing the meeting were slim to none.

She walked past torches and lamps calmly but nearly jumped out of her skin at the sound of a beating drum followed by screams. Rachel stared around. Had Mr Kitridge developed a sense of humour that entailed scaring the students? She continued on, staring even more as she came across a huge vampire. She shuddered at the blood on the floor. She continued on, giving the ghoul a quick look. Ewww. It looked so slimy.

Clutching the book she had brought to her chest, she arrived at the stained glass windows, smiling instantly as her eyes found the Librarian. "Good evening, Mr Kitridge. The set up out there reminded me of Halloween.'' What were those? Those huge footprints? A 'yeti's'? Rachel moved closer to the bean bags, selecting a pink one that matched the dress she was wearing. She was bundled up to keep warm but the lower part of it was still visible. Smoothing the dress beneath her, she took a seat and tried to see the title of the book Mr Kitridge was reading.

Kitty hadn't been to last terms book club meeting. Her love of books and desire to meet friends had almost made her go, but her natural shyness had prevented her from going at the last moment. Thankfully this term she was much less shy than she had been last term and there was no way she was going to miss this meeting!

She walked into the library and followed the torches through the darkness. Then came the sound of drumbeats and screaming. Kitty yelped in shock and staggered backwards into a bookcase. For a wild moment Kitty wondered if the Hag had sneaked back into the castle and the screaming was of another student. But that screaming did not sound like a person, and Kitty soon realized that it was probably part of the book club meeting. Kitty straightened and continued to follow the torches fearfully, her book gripped tightly in her hands. She almost screamed again when she saw the ghoul and vampire, but caught herself just in time. Normally she would not have been scared of them (she loved vampires), but her encounter with the Hag had made her more delicate recently. Thankfully these were just decorations and she kept walking.

She breathed a sigh of relief at the sight of Mr. Kitridge and Rachel, glad that she had had the courage to keep coming. Hopefully neither one of them had heard her scream, that would be very embarrassing. "Hi Mr. Kitridge. Hi Rachel!" Kitty tried to smile and hope that she did not look scared or embarrassed. "What is making those screaming sounds?"

Kitty was wearing her usual black robes and dark lipstick and eyeliner, and her raven hair was combed - leaving bangs over her forehead. Sitting down shakily on one of the bean bags, she placed her book in her lap and wondered how many more were coming.

Ellery was loving this whole atmosphere, to be honest. Total gothic vibe, and she was into it. Plus, this was the book club, so…you know…it wasn't going to be that scary. This librarian looked like he couldn't hurt a fly.

"Hi, Mr. Kitridge."

No title? No problem.

Why was Dante here. He did not really love to reading. But he was bored and saw Ellery walking here and decided to follow her. So here he was at a book club. And it was actually a pretty cool set up. Now Dante understood by Nigel liked the Librarian. Besides hearing he loved his hair as much as his brother or whatever is left of it.

"Hey Mr Kitridge"

Dante greeted the man before taking a seat by Ellery.

"Hi Ellery"

Dante said smiling. He was hoping she would at least answer. But there is no guarantee since the last time the talked she hid underneath table.

Sadly for the lover of all books Hady had only been able to attend one of the previousclub meetings. This term though she was focused and taking as many breaks from her studying that she could in order to have some down time for herself. Which lead her here today.

There was a happy spring in her step as she entered the library which was shrouded in darkness only lit by the glowing torches. Her attention was peeked at this alone even as she hitched the strap of her bag up higher onto her shoulder the sound of the drums matching her footsteps. The screams making her even more alert as she looked around for what caused it. Clearly it wasn't the vampire or ghoul props. It was something else. Hady reached out and ran a finger of the slimy ghoul only to pull her hand back and rub her fingers together. Wax? Awesome!

Finally she reached the group and took a seat setting her bag on her lap. "Hello Mr. Kitridge, hello everyone," Hady greeted with a slight grin. It was by far easiest to greet them all at once.

Art had heard about the book club meeting, and thought it might have been a nice thing to do. He had removed his lab coat, and cleaned his glasses. His old. trusty jeans and woolen jumper were on, and his comfy shoes. Not a man of style, or wizardwear, this one. Walking towards the meeting area, Art paused to look at everything that greeted him. Fascinating. He smiled to himself, peering through his glasses at everything. Even the sounds were giving him the sort of nervous excited feeling.

Ah, there they were. Some of the students, and Mr. Kitridge. "Good evening everyone. Hello Mr. Kitridge," he said, with nods and smiles. He looked around for a few moments before choosing a bean bag he liked the look of. He carefully lowered himself down onto it, and wiggled around to make himself comfortable.

It wasn't Halloween anymore but somehow, Blaise was sure Mr. Kitridge hadn't gotten the message. Poor guy, just look how all out he'd gone. Vampire dolls, blood on the floor, creepy drumming. Now he'd have to go and think up something completely different for next year.

The calendar is your friend, Sir.

Deciding he wouldn't be the guy to tell him, Blaise simply took a seat on one of the bean bag chairs. Oh look, another Professor was here for the club. You'd think being his colleague HE would tell him how off his dates were but maybe...just maybe...he didn't know either.

Weird....

Leo had tried a new way of doing things. To give the students clues to the theme of the book meeting on their way to the meeting spot. He'd see how it panned out. If the students hated it or just got confused by it then he'd change it back to how he usually did it. Leo had just turned the page in the book he was reading when Rachel arrived as the first student. Gazing up at her Leo smiled and shook his head. "Good evening Rachel. The theme is not Halloween. The clues are supposed to make you think of a magical author."



Next student to arrive was another eagle, closing his book Leo turned his gaze to Kitty and smiled up at her reassuringly. "Good evening Kitty, oh the screams? It's just an old tape recording of a screaming banshee. Nothing to be worried about. I'll stop the recording when everyone has arrived." Which Leo realized would take a few more minutes since not everyone was as early as Rachel and Kitty.



The third student to arrive was also the third girl to arrive. At the sound of his name Leo turned to beam over at Ellery of the lions. "Good evening Ellery, how are you? I hope the vampire didn't give you a scare?" Seeing a vampire even if it wasn't a real one would scare him especially if he wasn't prepared to see one. Ellery didn't look rattled though so maybe Leo's idea would be a success after all?



In Ellery's wake Dante arrived. Beaming broadly over at the boy dressed in Slytherin green Leo greeted. "Good evening Dante. I hope the walks should we say 'surprises' didn't scare you too much?" Given what Leo had heard that the Hag had done he wasn't surprised if his props would scare some of the students.



Hady arrived after Dante, when she had take a seat and had set her bag in her lap Leo's eyes fell on the gooey substance on one of her fingers. Blinking and smiling at Hady Leo asked "Good evening Hady, did you test to see if the ghoul was real since you have some wax there on your finger?" It was good that Hady had tested if the dolls were real. It was easier to believe then.



It was a welcome surprise to see one of his newer colleagues make his way over to attend the book club meeting. Shooting the potions master as bright beam Leo said "Good evening Professor Newton, did you like the look of the gurgling wax ghoul?" It was always nice when other staffers showed up.



Blaise Bellaire arrived and silently took a seat on one of the bean bags. The boy did not greet him which made Leo very curious. Had the walk between the ghoul and vamp and sounds made him so frightened that he didn't want to talk to anyone. Beaming warmly at the youngling Leo greeted. "Good evening Mr Bellaire. Is everything all right?"

**

Glancing down at his wrist watch Leo deemed that it was high time to start. Those who arrived late could just silently slip in, take a seat and join in the discussion when they arrived. Closing his book and placing it beside him he sat up straighter on his bean bag. Raising his voice slightly to be heard by everyone Leo said warmly. "Welcome everyone to this year's book club meeting! For those who don't know me yet I'm Leobald Kitridge, the school's head librarian. I've been a member of the faculty of Hogwarts for 12 years and I still enjoy reading and caring for books and inspiring the student body to keep reading as much as I did when I first started working here."

Pulling out his wand Leo cut off the drums and banshee recording since the sound wasn't pleasant anymore to his ears with a few flicks. Letting his eyes travel over the students as he re-pocketed his wand he asked. "If we combine the vampire, the ghoul, the screaming banshee, the drums which were troll music and the snowy yeti footprints into books written by a magical author, can anyone guess which author were going to be discussing today?"


OOC: Meeting is now started! If you are just now joining us then please play as if you've been there all along. All are welcome still! Will continute approx 24 hours from now.

"Hello?" Mason called out cautiously as she stepped into the freezing room.

Sweet Merlin! What was it with this school? Why did it have to feel like the entire place had frozen over?

BOOM. BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.

Okay what?

If this was somebody's practical joke, well then Mason would have to give them a high five. This place was friken' scary.

To add onto the already frightening mood, a hell cat banshee monster started screaming. FAN-FLIPPIN-TASTIC! Mason wasn't even sure she was at book-club, this could very well have been an Occult-Meeting.

Well it sure looked like one with all this blood on the floor. Mason scrunched up her nose and stepped gingerly around the puddle.

If it wasn't for the firefly lamps, she was sure that she would have lost her way and ended up with that banshee hag thing. Mason sighed with relief as she saw the stained-glass windows and the comfy bean-bag chairs.

Both Kitty and Rachel were here, which brought her further ease. She took a bean-bag chair closest to them and plopped down.

Let the fun immense then!

Hady gave a small quiet laugh along with a nod of her head. "I did Sir, sorry about that. Really awesome decorations though, rather lifelike." The sounds. Blood. Size. All of it was really cool and just added so nicely to the whole book club thing.

Listening quietly as the music stopped player the fifth year silently took in what was said. Alright so the vampire, banshee, yeti prints, ghoul and such all went together it seemed. All these things were from magical books written by the same author.

Chewing her bottom lip in thought Hady kept silent for a few moments as she ran over the names of books and authors in her head. Finally she came to the conclusion of who they were most likely going to discuss. "Gilderoy Lockhart?" she asked quietly raising her hand slightly. He wrote tons of books about all different things.

"Hi Mason!" Kitty beamed at her Slytherin friend, glad that she was here too. Getting scared and having fun had something in common: They were both better with a friend.

Of course things were much less scary now that the banshee tape recording had been turned off and she realized everything here were just decorations. Now they could get on to the fun of talking about books.

Kitty raised her hand. "Newt Scamander? He has an entry in Fantastical Beasts and Where To Find Them for most of the creatures referenced in this room. Except vampires."

Oh, a magical author? Rachel nodded to Mr Kitridge as her brain took off in trying to list the authors who could have inspired today's theme. Newt Scamander was the most popular. There was Gilderoy Lockhart who highly appealed to her as the mysterious author as well but she didn't consider him to be an author. He was such a big fraud.

She turned her head to smile at Kitty. "Hello, Kitty.'' The younger Eagle wondered if the older one enjoyed the display out there. The second year always dressed in this Gothic fashion that gave Rachel the sense she enjoyed 'dark' things. Of course she could be wrong in this theory.

"Hello, Hady.'' She smiled at the flower girl then greeted Professor Newton and Mason. Rachel even smiled slightly at Blaise.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Rachel settled back against her bean bag as Mr Kitridge got started. She hadn't gotten the opportunity to think about more authors but she did note she had been right in thinking the footprints belonged to a Yeti. She raised her hand. ''I'm inclined to agree with Hady,'' she said quietly but loud enough for everyone gathered there to hear her. One should always speak quietly in a library.

She had seen the notice for the book club meeting and had certainly been interested. So after dinner Olivia made her way up to the library where it was going to be held only to find it looking a bit different than it usually looked. Low light which was caused by more than just the sun being down. And then shortly after she entered, she nearly jumped out of her skin at the sound of an eerie scream.

What was that?!

The Ravenclaw firstie tentatively started to move again once she had gathered her senses back. Relax Stone…likely something done on purpose and harmless. Something that was made clearer by the unsettling wax sculpture. Olivia had to take a couple deep breathes before continuing on, mildly relieved when she finally spotted the more comfy-looking area containing bean bags and gathered students along with Mr. Kitridge. And the potions master.

Olivia had slipped in and took a seat just as the librarian went to begin the meeting so she was quiet instead of vocalizing a greeting, instead listening to the man. As for the question, being posed, she too agreed with Hady and Rachel. “Lockhart for sure,” she mused in agreement, smiling at both girls. Thinking on it, those creatures were all in the titles of his faux books.

While he had had a very busy day--he just couldn't miss the book club meeting. For one, it was LEO and Leo was Paul's best buddy here at Hogwarts. SECONDLY...well, who didn't like BOOKS? Barbarians, that's who (according to Paul).

He had brought his banjo only because Leo had asked him to. Hehehe. The students were totally in for a treat, weren't they?

He had been here all along, of course, but he had remained very quiet. Why say much when this was for them, anyways? Art was here, too! That was very nice of the ole' chap! Paul smiled as most of them started guessing Lockhart...well. Hehe. What an interesting fellow that man was!

WERE THEY REALLY GOING TO BE TALKING ABOUT GILDEROY LOCKHART or NEWTON SCAMANDER TODAY OHHHHHHHH MERLIN! Someone please don't play tricks on David Truebridge like that. Look at the boy. He was crouched on the edge of his beanbag chair, his hand literally over his heart, his lips parted ever so slightly into a gasp of sheer wonder and joy as he kept both eyes firmly on Kitridge.

"Say it IS so," the second-year mumured in wonder. MAGICAL CREATURES WERE ONLY HIS MOST FAVOURITE TOPIC TO READ ABOUT EVER. EVER!

Ah well he thought all the props he had put up where interesting. But nothing really scary. Unless he had some nundu, demntors, or lethifolds. Then Dante would be a little scared. He just shook his head took his seat by Ellery. Whether she wanted to sit by him to not. So they were going to discuss Gildroy Lockhart. Dante knew the guy was a ravenclaw and well you had to be a little smart to fool all those people into think you are a celebrity.

Anyway people already answered and all Dante thought that he was an interesting guy.

Could use someone like that at Hogwarts again.

Just saying.

Scarlett had, at first, been REALLY concerned that she had walked in to a trap from the hag again. She was a bit terrified and scarred from the whole thing and kept expecting her to come back at any moment and try to EAT all of them. She was old and probably had done this before - she hated to admit it, but Scarlett felt like the hag could easily figure out another way into the castle to eat the kiddos. Shudder.

BUT THANKFULLY that wasn't it at all. It actually WAS the book club, and once she got over the creepiness of the vampire, she was VERY excited to get started. She loved to read! Her dad would LOVE this. Maybe she could convince the librarian to use her dad's new book in one of his meetings? HOW COOL WOULD THAT BE?!

Back to the topic at hand though - she raised her hand. "TOTALLY Lockhart. Or, more specifically - Lockhart's retellings of things OTHER wizards did," she said with a sly smile.

Looking over at Hady he smiled. "I'm glad you liked the decorations Hady. I thought I'd change things up a bit." Maybe it was something Leo could do again. It seemed like a success. "Lockhart is a spot on guess." She was first to connect the dots.



Leo's eyes drifted over Mason that had arrived earlier to land on Kitty. He shook his head as he answered kindly. "No Newt Scamander is not the author I'm looking for. He has though written about many creatures in the textbook you all use in CoMC class with professor Draper." He could definitely be the subject for another meeting.



Turning his attention to Rachel and Olivia he beamed broadly. "You are both correct. The props were set up to make you all think of Gilderoy Lockhart and his literary works." Even if none of it was self lived except for parts of his autobiography.



It was hard to miss David Truebridge that was practically sitting on the edge of his bean bag about to fall off it as he asked for a confirmation. Scarlett beside him delivered the answer. Looking from one to the other Leo said "You are corrrect Scarlett. We're going to be discussing Gilderoy Lockhart's works today. And David, watch yourself so you don't fall off the bean bag." Leo doubted that he'd hurt himself but he couldn't not caution him.

**

When it seemed like nobody else was going to guess Leo straightened and adressed the assembled students. "Many of you have figured it out we are going to be talking about Gilderoy Lockhart who is a famous author and a former professor of this school today, its the theme of the meeting."

Glancing over briefly at Scarlett Leo continued "Scarlett mentioned something important to know just minutes ago. None of the stories and facts in Lockharts books are based on things he has experienced or tested himself. All the stories/retellings were taken from other wizards and witches.

Leo couldn't help but grin over at his best buddy Paul who was sitting nearby and had remembered to bring along his banjo. Prefect. Smiling warmly at him he said with a look around at the students. "Did you all know professor Myers is quite a singer and song writer actually, and he has agreed to treat us all with a song about Gilderoy Lockhart today. Isn't that wonderful? Professor Myers the meeting is yours!" Meaning Paul could start singing his song whenever he was ready.

Gilderoy Lockhart was indeed whom they were going to be focusing their attention on today and still Rachel thought he was a fraud for publishing the situations he had experienced as his own. The nerve of some persons. For this reason, she didn't think very much about him and his short lived fame.

What did interest her was the fact that the lovely Professor who taught Herbology had brought his banjo. Oh? He was going to sing them a song? This was exciting! Rachel had indeed heard that Myers played the banjo and was even part of a Bluegrass band but she had never heard him play or sing. She watched him expectantly.

THE MEETING WAS ABOUT GILDEROY LOCKHART!!!!!!! Yessssssssssssssss. Davie remembered where he was when Kitridge reminded him not to fall off his bean bag, and with a slight grin, the second year scooted back up the squishy bag. "Are we going to be reading any of his works, sir?" he asked eagerly, because he just HAD to squeeze in ONE question before Myers would start his music.

A song about Lockhart. YAY. Davie turned his blue eyes to Myers, still grinning a bit. He was personally hoping this would be a parody song, because Lockhart seemed like an easy guy to parody. He'd made up ALL his books! His real story of buffoonery was better even than his made-up ones!

OH SNAP CRACKLE MERLIN.

Professor Paul was going to sing for them. Well good thing Dante decided to show up. Professor Paul himself said he was a bad singer. So now this was interesting. But yes it was Lockhart. So Dante did not need to say anything anyway.

"Go, Professor Paul!"

Sing Man, Sing.

Tiara had gotten to the meeting on time. Truly, she had. But.. then she had seen what Leobald had done to the library. She was all for decorations, props, the whole bit, but.. This was a library. It was SACRED. And he had just put blood, guts, and gore all about! That was NOT okay.

So she had stood there at the entrance having an internal battle raging inside. Finally her allegiance to Leobald - as misguided as he may be - had won out. She pulled up a beanbag chair just in time to hear 'Gilderoy Lockhart' mentioned and see a banjo. This.. ought to be interesting.

Maybe she should have stayed outside after all?

Paul turned a little red at Leo's words. "I--unfortunately, did not write this or COMPOSE this--I actually found it a few weeks back and thought it was simply HILARIOUS--" he chuckled and wiggled a little in excitement, slinging his banjo to the front. "It's actually from the time of Lockhart...so it's very curious--well--you'll see-"

And he began to strum his banjo. Paul could not sing very well. He merely got by. He wouldn't like, break glass or anything, but he was just...an average singer you know?

But anyways. Paul began to sing as well.

"A charming smile and bright blonde hair,
Gilderoy Lockhart, wizard extraordinaire!

Oh oh, his smile is the most delightful thiiiiiiing
OH OH--his teeth would put a vampire’s to shaa-aaaaame

oh oh, Gildy’s such a wonderful snag--
If only I could catch him, but I’m just a haaaaag

He’s got that winning smile!
he’s got that golden hair!
He’s got my heart with a key
That’ll never disappear!

He’s got those sky blue eyes!
He’s got a champion’s stare,
He’s got my heart with a key
That’ll never disappear!

Oh oh, he’s battled many wicked trolls
OH OH, he’s the bravest, most gallant soul!

Oh oh, all you yetis better beware,
Lockhart is here to grab you by the haaaaair--

He’s got that winning smile!
He’s got that golden hair!
He’s got my heart with a key
that’ll never disappear

He’s got those sky blue eyes
He’s got a champion’s stare
He’s got my heart with a key
That’ll never disappear

Oh oh oh oh MY HEART WITH A KEY
MY HEAAAAAART WITH A KEEEEEY
that won’t DISAAAAAAAPPEAR!"

....and he was done his ballad. Hopefully they thought it was as funny as he did. He had laughed a couple times during singing.

And thanks for the shoutout, Dante.

"It's called...Lockhart Has My Heart!"

Carl was late. He had gotten lost on his way to the library, which was a shame because it was already December and he had been to this place several times. So yes, you could laugh if you wanted. He walked past lit torches and lamps through the dark room, silently slipped into the meeting spot and took a seat at the back so that nobody noticed his tardiness.

And then Professor Myers was singing a song. The Hufflepuff had no idea what was going on (was music even allowed in the library?) but listened with a grin. His Head of House was awesome, was everybody watching? He clapped politely when the performance was over. Great song!

So, who was Lockhart? He seemed like a fascinating person.