Title: A Tower of Lies
Author: dem bones
Genres: General/Angst
Summary: There were many people who desired to know the secret from Ravenclaw's Diadem even Lockehart. Who knew this innocent desire would create a liar out of him?
A/N: Written for Season 2 Game Day-Round 7 Used prompts: Jack and Jill, Dementors, Freedom
Word Count: 1,793
While there were many muggle legends told around the muggle world, there were also many legends that originated in the wizarding world.
Many talked about the tales contained in the Tales of Beetle Bard but besides that not many legends persevered time.
There was however one legend every Hogwarts student knew. A legend told throughout history through the talented and through the downright ambitious and that was the legend surrounding Rowena Ravenclaw's Diadem, an object with the rumoured ability to grant knowledge to its wearer.
It was rumoured many went to Hogwarts for exactly this reason. Many old wizarding families who had the desire to pursue this relic wasted generations trying to obtain it. If they didn't obtain it they would tell their kids, and their kids would tell their kids. It was a cycle of storytelling that continued for many generations.
Gilderoy Lockhart was one such person. He was the youngest son of his mother and father who had three children altogether. His mother Victoria was a muggleborn who was sorted into Gryffindor while his father was a Ravenclaw. It was a happy marriage at first...eventually however his mum had grown to be quite cruel and rancorous. His father had eventually discovered that his mum was dying of Dragon Pox. The mediwitch had told them that she needed bed rest and that's generally where she spent most of her time.
The four had been assigned to care for her every need; however it was also noted that the boy's father had work to deal with as well.
With all the work their father had to do their mother had begun to get worse. It eventually came to a point where she couldn't even remember things like she used to.
Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pail of water.
With no supervision and a hyper-awareness of their mum's current state, the older brothers had grown tired of the constant hassle in caring for her.
'Little Gilderoy' doesn't even do anything,' they said.
Eventually the older brothers began lying to their mother, blaming everything they had neglected to finish on little Gilderoy.
It came to a point in which his mother began to show the utmost favouritism towards her older sons and Gilderoy was left in the dark.
His father had eventually caught wind of this however after he came home one day. His boss had fired him from his job at the Auror department so he was already quite grave.
He returned and saw his older sons beating up Gilderoy.
"What are you two doing," he roared.
The two boys stepped away from Gilderoy.
"Are you alright?"
"I'm fine," Gilderoy said.
It was sometime later that his father had got a job working as a cursebreaker and occasionally he'd bring Gilderoy along.
His father had taught him many things. Gilderoy had been a quick learner and for the first time in his life he felt happy.
One day, however, the older boys turned their mother against Gilderoy for the last time. Distraught, his father disarmed the boys before swooping little Gilderoy away in his arms.
Then his father had told him about the Diadem.
"Those boys think they could do anything they want...well they can't. Gilderoy I know you'll grow up and become better than them. You're smart. I know they probably told her everything but don't let them get you down," he said before wrapping his arms around his son in a comforting embrace.
"You know what I'll tell you a story. There is a legend surrounding the house of Ravenclaw. It is rumoured Rowena Ravenclaw had a daughter by the name of Helena Ravenclaw who died at the hands of the Bloody Baron. Legend had it that she had stolen the diadem when she had been on the quest of stealing the heart of a boy she liked by the name of Arthur Snubsalot; that item is the Diadem of Ravenclaw. It is a granter of knowledge, a fitting symbol for Ravenclaw. So surely if you are sorted in Ravenclaw it only proves you are as smart if not smarter than the knowledge granted by the diadem. You have nothing to prove to your brothers."
It was several years afterwards when Gilderoy and his brothers had attended Hogwarts.
His older brothers, Mathias and Nathan had been sorted in Hufflepuff a couple years before him and Gilderoy had been sorted into Ravenclaw.
At first he hadn't been interested in obtaining the Diadem but eventually news had come around that a rumoured dark lord was beginning to wreak havoc around the United Kingdom and some renowned aurors named James and Lily Potter had been cornered in a dark alley but had escaped mostly unscathed.
Apparently there were a lot of articles about them in the Daily Prophet and Gilderoy was intrigued. Who would have thought a substantially average wizard and his muggleborn wife would obtain fame so easily? Surely if it was that easy he could also become famous and then his brothers would have to treat him with the respect he deserved.
It was worth noting Gilderoy had no outstanding skills and he was quite a clumsy lad. With traits like that he was often teased just for existing and his brothers would often laugh at him.
Eventually however news had come around that Gilderoy's father had died in an accident. An article written by Rita Skeeter told the whole story and there had been testimony from a goblin known as Griphook.
"We told him to refrain that the ruins were unstable, we told him it would be better if he remained behind and allowed us to reap the treasures but he went on alone. He was always very clumsy, our lives were always on the line."
'Lies' Gilderoy had thought. 'Sheer lies.'
He had known his father. His father wasn't clumsy; he was an honest man. Gilderoy had grown sick and tired of his brothers treating him like dirt. He was sick and tired of the lack of respect and he aspired to be that one person whom everyone respected for his intelligence.
Rumours had circulated that an object reminiscent of Ravenclaw's Diadem had been spotted at a store in Borgin and Burkes in one of the cabinets present there.
One day after he had returned home he had stopped there with one of his friends. An ugly fat man stood with a shady thin man both staring at him with expressions that could only be described as men of ill intent.
Gilderoy looked around the shop. There was the Monkey's Paw and the Hand of Fate—and that was when he heard screaming coming from outside the shop. Outside it seemed the entire vicinity of Knockturn Alley was flooded with dementors.
Roger DeBaise, one of Gilderoy's only friends, had always aspired to join the Order of the Phoenix when he was finished with school. He had persistently worked hard to try and master the Patronus charm, so when Gilderoy ran outside it wasn't too surprising for him to see that Roger had managed to cast a Patronus charm to drive away the Dementors.
No, what was surprising was the fact that no other witch, wizard or hag knew how to cast a Patronus charm. Poor Roger really didn't have a chance when all of those dementors began drawing closer to him, and even his Patronus couldn't match them.
For the first time in his life, Gilderoy thought he was going to die, and that was the fear that drove him to run away. It was the first time in his life he made a decision that could possibly distinguish him as a Slytherin.
Gilderoy ran until he crashed into an old woman in a dark alley.
"What're you doing here, boy?" She asked.
"D-Dementors..."
"Wait a minute, aren't you a little young to be walking around here by yourself."
"I-"
"Save it. You could stay at my house until the Dementors leave."
After the Dementors had left, Gilderoy returned to the store. Outside the store, Roger DeBaise was sprawled on the ground staring blankly into the sky.
"Roger, are you alright?" Gilderoy asked. His friend however was unresponsive.
A woman with short curly blonde hair arrived with a quill and some parchment in hand.
"Wow, is it really true you managed to cast the Patronus charm all by yourself?" She asked. "I heard some witnesses testify they saw it but I didn't know you were so young. It's quite a brave thing you did."
Gilderoy swallowed as he stared down at his friend...his only friend at school.
"Uh, yes I guess I did," he said. It was the first lie he ever told.
Jack fell down and broke his crown
With all lies came the stress in keeping consistent. Gilderoy Lockhart had learned many things in his life but he had been quite the master of memory charms. It was a skill he had tried to polish with his ambition to become the best. The first obliviate was always the hardest.
To cover up that lie, he had cast the memory charm.
The diadem...something unobtainable and beyond reach had become the reason why he became a liar. It was a fickle thing, the path to becoming intelligent.
He began using his talent to steal other people's talents, incasing himself in shoes with laces tied together. The more one tried to untie the knots the more knotted it became. Cutting the laces always created more damage than it was worth.
Eventually Gilderoy's brothers had died and at that point he lost his freedom.
When he had obtained a right to become a professor at Hogwarts it was a dream come true teaching the boy who lived. Perhaps it was that time that the lies had got to him. When he looked at Harry Potter, he didn't seem smart, he didn't seem bright, yet towards the end he had the impression that some intelligence wasn't learned from textbooks.
And Jill came tumbling after.
Lying about his intellect, he felt caged and yearned for freedom. He was always a man who lied to get everything he ever wanted so it was only fitting that he release himself of these burdens. When it came to be too much he had contemplated actually killing the boy.
Perhaps it was for the best that he erased it.
Whether anyone picked up the pieces is inconsequential, as the Diadem of Ravenclaw would forever be the symbol of the desire one only finds in unobtainable wishes.