I thank everyone of you for your heartwarming and encouraging reviews. I really appreciate it!

And while you're at it ...do excuse my pathetic attempt at poetry, while reading this chapter.


CHAPTER 17

The Fall Of Lockhart

Dear Dee

I can safely say that this Christmas was the best Christmas I have ever had. It wasn't the presents. We, I mean, Blaire, Harry, Neville, Draco and I were able to have a wonderful day with our grandparents and Prof and our parents portraits and Aunt Petunia and Dudley and Mrs. Black and we were even visited by Mrs. Black's sister and her husband and daughter.

Nymphadora Tonks, who prefers to be called Tonks is probably the weirdest person I have ever met. You see, she's a metamorphmagus (a person who can change their appearance at will!) and I didn't think the Wizarding World could get any weirder until, Prof told us about wizards who could change to an animal at will. Apparently it's pretty dangerous and takes years of hardwork, when you does it alone, and you cannot become one without the assent and supervision of the Ministry.

But if I know Draco as well as I think I do, I think he wants to become one... without the permission of the Ministry...an illegal animagus! I think that's because of all the injustice against him and his mum, but really! He could be thrown into prison! And he isn't even of age! Not to mention he's already talked us into agreeing...but then I protested...it didn't feel right. We'd be betraying Prof's trust.

But what do you know! The next day, Draco asked Prof about it and he looked shocked! But then he said he wouldn't allow us to become, but that didn't stop us from studying how to become one! Can you believe it! He gave us the permission to learn to become one! And maybe when we're done learning, we could talk him into allowing us to be animagi! Who knows we may even be of age when the time comes!

Oh did I mention, Prof gifted me a book on new strategies in Transfiguration and though it is a bit complicated, I think I'm going to enjoy reading it. We succeeded in making a few higher level but useful potions for our grandparents and Aunt and Dudley as well as some Wizarding sweets... Dudley was really excited, until he tried the flavoured beans...the poor fellow's been trying to rid his mouth off the taste of earwax ever since!

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Severus was seeing less and less of his young charges once term began. Usually, they'd make it a point to come over to his quarters for a cup of tea whilst they studied or did their homework. But now, the library seemed to be infested with the Swarm, making him regret his decision sometimes.

Severus knew how dangerous it was to become an animagus and hence he simply asked them to research on the topic. Though illegal, Severus knew this would probably be a way of helping them slip from Voldemort's hands if ever the dreaded occasion arose. This was solely for their safety and nothing else.

Deep down, he knew they were too young to even initiate the transformation. However, once they grew older, he wouldn't let them transform until he had Minerva around to supervise them...But first he was going to have to convince her...For that he needed to convince Dumbledore. But that could wait. Severus was going to limit their animagus study time to an hour a day or they wouldn't get any academic study done.

To Severus, this year had been a bit of an irritation...and all because of bigheaded Gilderoy Lockhart. The man was unbearable and Severus was half tempted to pour a little drought of the living death in his cup one morning. The blame, however, would ultimately fall on him.

Severus sighed in irritation as the man called his name from the top of a nearby staircase. Severus didn't stop to see which one it was, he merely walked on as though he hadn't heard a thing.

It wasn't a surprise that the fool hadn't caught up with him, for Lockhart took every one of his steps with absolute alertness and though Severus didn't blame him, he didn't feel the smallest ounce of pity for him.

Days went on slowly and January gave way to February and Harry's second match began approaching. The days went on and on the fourteenth of the month, Severus woke up to some sort of large lump trying to pull away his blanket.

He blinked his eyes and snatched up his wand in less than a second only to look as a winged dwarf? In his quarters!

Severus was so stunned he tried to leap up his bed but the blasted creature held him down with force, Severus had not known it possessed. In retaliation, he blasted the thing away from him only to be dragged along with it. The dwarf hit the opposite wall and so did Severus and soon he found himself on his back on the floor with the little beast sitting smugly on his middle.

Severus growled and raised his wand to stun the thing, but it spoke first.

"I have a message for you from an admirer. Listen to me so I can get on with my job."

Severus pushed it off him and sat up and folded his arms across his chest trying to look as menacing as possible from his position on the floor. It looked like these cupids couldn't be fazed. He partly considered blasting the creature to pieces and moving on with his day.

"Oh?" he hissed instead. "What is it?"

The dwarf pulled out a roll of parchment and cleared his. It unrolled the paper and said or rather sang in a sort of off tune:

"Severus, the most wonderful of his kind,

A man of his word, his loyalties and mind.

For, he isn't only a person so clever and bright,

He's a warrior for what's light and right.

.

Severus, today I get a chance to,

Throw my heart right out at you,

To tell you exactly how gratified,

To you is this world so imperiled.

.

Words cannot describe my dear man,

You're worth, and in my limited time span,

This lousy poetry without any wit,

Was the best I could come up with.

.

All the very best to you Severus,

Though it best remain between us,

For only our eyes, both black and twinkling blue,

For the sake of the reputation you hold so resolute."

Severus knew his face was getting redder by the minute with both mortification and a little of something else he grudgingly recognised as self-sufficiency... And while he was grateful to the old man for not telling him this in the face and cause him embarrassment, he would have preferred if he hadn't sent the message at all. And definitely not in this fashion.

He grabbed hold of the parchment and burnt it to ashes.

"Get out!" he hissed at the dwarf.

"With pleasure." it grunted and stood up. "But first, do you have a message for your admirer?"

"No, I don't." he roared ferociously, dignity be damned.

The creature shrugged and hurriedly scampered off, opened his heavily warded door as though he did it every day, and disappeared from view. Severus scowled walked to his living room and found Venn snoozing on his sofa. She opened her eyes a fraction, gave him a lazy tail wag and closed her eyes again.

Severus snorted, his anger cooling down just a little. Dogs were meant to protect their masters...the sad truth in their case was that the fact was the exact opposite. Severus lashed his wand tightening the wards around his rooms.

He then dressed and decided to head up to the Great Hall for breakfast and by the way both, students and ghosts hurriedly moved out of his path, Severus came to the conclusion that he looked quite fierce. The site that greeted him when he reached the Hall further soured his mood. The reason being the Great Hall itself... barely recognisable with all its pink flowery drapings and decorations in every corner. Severus found himself feeling quite sick.

But what took his mood to its highest peak of annoyance and irritation was the hated Lockhart sitting, or rather standing by the staff table dressed in the most atrocious attire that left Severus with no appetite for breakfast.

The height of it all was when the dope took it upon himself to save Severus a seat next to him and announced to the crowd of both disgusted and starry-eyed children that he, Severus, would 'willingly' supply them with some of his best love potion.

Dumbledore sent him an imperceptible wink and he scowled back at him. Severus scowled harder at the students sitting below and when everyone turned to their meals, he took great pleasure in silently making rips on the back of the dolt's pink robes.

However when the schmuck turned to Dumbledore and said, "So Albus, did the cupid you borrowed do its job successfully?"

"Oh, yes." Dumbledore chuckled. "Very successfully."

"To whom did it deliver the message too?"

"To a dear friend of mine, Gilderoy."

"How lovely!" the moron exclaimed enthusiastically and stood up to tell the rest of the school that he had hired the dwarfs to send messages around from one to their valentine for the rest of the day.

Severus felt pure satisfaction when he made a huge rip in the robes right from the man's shoulder blades to an inch above the hemming that swept the floor. And what lightened his mood for the rest of the day was the way Lockhart kept telling the students that his robes were very much in fashion everytime he caught them staring at his back and giggling, hardly aware of the actual state of his robes.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Days went on after the crazy Valentine's day with Lockhart's rather showy robes, and Slytherin won their Quidditch match again, by a larger margin than their match against Gryffindor. Neville now noticed that Harry seemed more focused on whatever he'd been working on all year. Blaire mentioned to him one day that he'd been writing and recieving letters all week! The problem was no one knew what he was up to, except that it involved Gilderoy Lockhart.

Then it looked like Harry had taken Professor Snape into his confidence and was frequently making floo calls whenever he was free...and the professor was letting him! To Neville's surprise, it looked like Professor Snape was thoroughly looking forward to Lockhart's downfall and Neville wouldn't be surprised if even Dumbledore was aware of what was happening.

During the Easter break, Harry seemed to have stopped all his activity. He began focussing more on his academics and even took a better interest in their hourly animagus study, which by April, hadn't gone too far thanks to their limited time and their scarce availability in the library.

When Blaire asked the Professor if the Flourish and Blotts library questioned the books that were borrowed from them, he said, "They don't. But I'd advise you to order from them after your final exams. And though I don't regret my decision of letting you learn, I will not appreciate it if your grades start lowering."

So that put their animagus studies on hold, for the only other way of getting information was to break into the restricted section which none of them had the will to do.

Neville was a bit miffed at Harry for not sharing his discoveries with them and one day in May, after Harry's third game and Slytherin's win which bagged them the cup, Neville asked him, "Are you ever going to share your findings with us?"

Harry scrunched up his nose and said, "It's too dangerous, Nev. He's hurt many people in the past and if he knows you know, he'll hurt you too. It's best I keep it secret until the whole school is present, so with the teachers around he can do nothing bad..."

Neville sighed and let it go. How dangerous could someone as stupid as Lockhart be? Maybe he was just acting stupid, because his books said otherwise...and Neville had watched most of the girls in the Gryffindor common room practically swoon whenever they open his books. For even Hermione Granger, it turned out, had decided that outdoing Blaire wasn't her main obsession anymore. For though she was still the top in Gryffindor, she was more interested in repeatedly studying Lockhart's books. Ron Weasley and Tilly Ollivander's annoyance at being ignored started to show.

Anyway, if the man really was bad, there was going to be a lot of shocks and sobbing among the starry-eyed section of the school.

May died away and the exams speeded up to them like waves rushing to the shores. The atmosphere around everyone was tense and quarrels between the Gryffindor and Slytherins was a common thing. One day, both Draco and Harry became victims to a couple of sixth year Slytherins itself, both who seemed to 'accidentally' assume them to be dummies, placed right in the middle of the corridor.

And while both sixth years were sent to the Headmaster's office by an enraged Professor Sprout, Harry and Draco were sent to the hospital wing with a broken bone and a deep gash each. Prof could only grind his teeth as the culprits were only given a grave warning of expulsion, a week of detentions, as well as a deduction on a hundred points each, putting Slytherin right down to the bottom. His hands were tied thanks to the reputation he had to hold.

The only satisfaction Neville felt was when he realised that with the sixth years three hour detention alternating between Hagrid and Filch, they weren't going to get enough time for last minute prep. It served them right.

...

The exams began and Draco was quite pleased with how he fared in Potions. It looked like he had finally found a subject to excel in. For Neville, it was Herbology, For Ethan, Transfiguration, and Blaire was a complete pro in Charms. Harry seemed quite happy with his tests and even claimed that sitting in the library with those Charms and History textbooks really paid off

Lockhart's exam was a joke. Sure enough, Draco had studied the different ways of defending himself against a dark creature. He had not, however, bothered looking up Lockhart's favourite shampoo or his preferred shoe brand. And he'd practiced as many spells he could learn in the library with the triplets and Neville. He had not thought about brushing up on how to produce a loud troll growl or how to scream like a banshee while Lockhart knocked you to the ground showing off his excellent set of teeth.

In other words, it looked like almost everyone had just about failed in DADA.

It was during lunch, however, after the History of Magic exam that almost everyone gathered in the Great Hall for lunch, when an owl with a red envelope ("That's a howler" he said to Harry in answer to his question.) clutched in it's claws, entered the Hall. And everyone felt silent as they watched it fly towards the head table.

"What does it to?" Harry whispered.

"Sends a message, rather loudly. It's usually sent by someone who's very angry with you." Draco whispered.

"Oh." Harry said thoughtfully. "I think I know whom it's from."

Draco watched as the owl dropped the letter infront of a pale faced Lockhart and it burst open a second later, the voice of a woman shrieked out, "HOW COULD YOU! MY OWN SON! MY OWN SON A FRAUD! I WAS SO PROUD OF YOU, GILDEROY! I GAVE YOU EVERYTHING YOU WANTED! I GAVE UP EVERYTHING FOR YOU! I EVEN PUT ASIDE MY DAUGHTERS FOR YOU! NOW YOU GO AND DO SUCH EVIL?

"IS THAT HOW YOU REPAY YOUR OLD MOTHER? BY BEING A THIEF? A DECEITFUL CHEAT? A CREDIT STEALER? I AM ASHAMED OF YOU! WHY, GILDEROY WHY? I SEE THE MISTAKES IN THE WAY I BROUGHT YOU UP. AND IF I EVER GET HOLD OF YOU, I'LL HAVE YOU ACROSS MY KNEE BEFORE YOU CAN SAY 'MOTHER'! GILDEROY LOCKHART! YOU ARE AN ABSOLUTE DISGRACE!"

And the envelope burst into flames.

The drop of a pin could have been heard through the tense silence in the Great Hall. Draco's mind was spinning with the information.

Lockhart, now as everyone's attention was on him took his head in his hands and moaned, "My mother! My poor mother! They've brainwashed her! My blackmailers! Oh Ma!" Then he spoke quietly, his voice reaching everyone's ears. "I've been blackmailed for years and I never gave in to it and now, I must go and explain to her my true predicament, even if I lose her, I. Please excuse me."

Slowly, Lockhart stood up and shakily started making his way out of the Hall ("Can he act!" Harry whispered to him in surprised disgust.) when, the door to one of the chambers to the Great Hall opened a very hairy warlock entered.

"Ghoing somvher Ghildhroy?" he asked and Lockhart screamed.

"L-L-Levon G-Gevorgyan!" Lockhart stuttered. Then composing himself immediately he said, "What are you doing here, old friend?"

"Old frrend?" the man, whose name Draco couldn't remember, growled. "You obhlivhiated me! You saidh you captured verevolf! I captured verevolf! I captured Vaga Vaga Verevolf! You asked me the dhetails and you obhlivhiated me! You are cheat!"

There was a collective gasp around the Great Hall.

Lockhart laughed nervously and said to the man, "And if I obliviated you, as you say, dear Levon, how is it that you are here?"

"Vone of Hogvarts student sent frrend toh summon my lost memories! Then elf, fed memories backh toh me and I meet student and we sent letters, me toh him and he toh me."

"Same here!" announced an ugly witch with chin-hair as she entered the Hall next. "I am Brenda Walsh and it was I who got rid of the Bandon Banshee. This sham approached me and politely asked me for every detail! And I gave them to him, thinking he wanted to get rid of a Banshee somewhere else. He then obliviated me. I have my memories back all thanks to that young boy and his ever so loyal friend!"

Ominous whisperings began spreading around the Hall.

"Wait! Wait!" Lockhart tried. "I can explain! It isn't as it looks!"

"Is it not?" said another wizard as he entered with a large group of other people, coming to stand around Lockhart with Brenda Walsh and another wizard. "You, Lockhart, are a fraud! A lazy fool! And I have summoned the Aurors who shall make an appearance shortly. I am Willius Kishen, an old friend of Albus Dumbledore." he waved at the silent, twinkly-eyed Headmaster, who waved back happily. "And the man who trapped the chameleon ghoul in the tea strainer. I too was obliviated by this bloody fool! I raise my hat to that boy and his friend for having the courage to help us without the fear of being obliviated himself."

"And it is I, Tashi Dawa, who took down that yeti in Tibet. I was obliviated by Lockhart as well, just as soon as I gave him the information he wanted. The twit ought to be-" Dawa was cut off when Lockhart desperately pushed him and Brenda Walsh aside and rushed down the isle to the door.

"Stop him!" a witch from the crowd yelled. And while wands were raised in his direction, no one dared fire in fear of hurting the students. Lockhart stopped short as he ran by the Ravenclaw table and roughly grabbed a girl from her seat and held her up by her arms as a shield.

Draco felt Harry jump up to his feet and looking at him, he saw his friends face contort in a mixture of fear and anger.

"Aim at me and you'll lose the girl." Lockhart said.

Draco turned to Lockhart again and realised that the girl he was holding in a death grip was none other than Blaire! Her face was expressionless, but her eyes were wide and alert.

Draco didn't realise he was standing up until he found his shoulder bumping with Harry's and he realised that he wasn't the only one. Ethan, Neville, all the professors, the Weasley twins and most of the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs too were standing. Prof was fuming, Draco saw him raise his wand and hesitate, for a wrong move on Lockhart's part and Blaire would suffer the brunt if his curse.

Dumbledore was now looking fiercer than Draco had ever seen him, he was about to say something, when Lockhart said, "make a sound and you'll lose the girl."

The atmosphere was getting tenser and tenser and everyone knew not to make a sound.

Steadily he began backing down the lengths of the isle, but it wasn't seconds before, Blaire swung both her legs up at the same time and forcefully drove her hard shoe heals into his abdomen. Lockhart losened his grip on her and let go of one of her arms and aimed to slap her face in rage.

Blaire took that as an opportunity and the moment his hand came swinging in, she took aim, opened her mouth and sunk her teeth into his palm. Lockhart yelled and let go of her other arm and flung her away with such force, Blaire banged her side painfully into one of the seats of the Hufflepuff table.

Blaire was helped up immediately by a boy called Diggory and she limped to stand next to a red faced Ethan, who pulled her behind him. As Draco watched Blaire and Ethan, he missed what happened next, but a loud gasp from further down the table and he saw Lockart holding up someone else, but he couldn't see who it was thanks to the crowd of standing people in front of him.

But through the gaps he could just make out Lockhart holding up a small boy, probably a first-year Hufflepuff, his eyes on the staff, the other wizards and witches and all the students sitting infront of him.

A seventh year sitting further down the table, therefore behind Lockhart's line of sight, finally gathered his courage and shot out a nonverbal stunner, but it missed Lockhart by a millimetre and Lockhart turned wildly to look at him as he held on to the boy even tighter. The boy squeaked in pain, but he didn't relent his hold.

His eyes were wide and desperate, and he looked more dangerous than Draco had ever imagined him to be. Draco shot a look at Harry, who now seemed quite calm, but his eyes betrayed worry.

Draco's own heart was pounding with anxiety, but it only increased, when Lockhart placed a hand around the boy's neck and said, "Watch it, or he'll be dead!"

He continued backing towards the exit, the whimpering boy still held in a death grip, until he reached the door, which burst open from behind and a couple of wizards whom Draco took for Aurors barged in, wands at the ready.

"Don't move." one said.

But Lockhart flung the boy at them and as one of them moved to catch him before he hit the floor, Lockhart flung him to the floor with one kick in his side and ran out of the Hall, with the other Auror at his heals. Screams and shrieks followed them. Then they heard a loud boom coming from the Entrance Hall, which was followed by a cloud of dust that rushed into the Great Hall.

It was surprising, how a man with such little knowledge of magic was able to outsmart that Auror and another three waiting in the Entrance Hall, by simply blasting the roof with a bombarda! The Aurors too keen on catching him, had no time to protect themselves.

In the end, the spell left the Entrance Hall with a flood of water, thanks to the presence of a pipe right above...and three badly injured Wizards and one with a few minor scratches.

Lockhart was now a legend, and this time he had earned a name for himself... The man had escaped and the uninjured Auror who'd caught the Hufflepuff boy, sent a message to the Auror Department... The country and perhaps the rest of the Wizarding World would now be in search of Gilderoy Lockhart...It was a wonder how a man could be destroyed within minutes.

Once peace was regained, in the Great Hall, Dumbledore said, "As intrigued as we all may be with today's events, I will appreciate it if we finish our meal. Young Blaire Potter and Ruthwick Storm will make a complete recovery whilst they're in Madam Pomfrey's capable hands and I have no doubt that Gilderoy Lockhart is halfway out of this country already... hence, it shall do us no good being in the current state we're in."

Draco looked around and found no sign of neither Blaire nor Ethan.

Dumbledore went on, "I have asked the house-elves to add a pint of calming drought into our goblet's of pumpkin juice, and I request you all to drink the entire goblet before we do anything else." Then Dumbledore turned to the newcomers and said, "My friends, while there is nothing we personally can do about Lockhart, we would appreciate it if you could join us for this meal."

"No, thank you, Albus." said Kishen. "I think we will all like to join in on the search for that swindler. If you don't mind, we will leave immediately. Though we all appreciate you and your staff and students for giving us this opportunity."

"Not at all." Dumbledore said affably.

"We apologise for the Hall." Tashi Dawa said.

"Do not worry yourselves over it." Dumbledore said graciously. "We will have it fixed with a little magic before the students leave the Hall. And I believe we will have to ask our Charms Master to charm our walls and roofs incollapsible in the future?"

"Of course, Headmaster." Flitwick said happily.

Kishen turned around to look at Harry and gave him a wink and Harry sighed in resignation, blushing slightly.

Then the man said, "And before we leave, I believe the boy in question really needs a round of hearty congratulations, for not only uncovering this scandal, but also for finding a cure for the obliviated. I present to you all, the one and only, Harry Potter!"

There were many gasps and whisperings and applause from all around the Hall, and Harry's face steadily became redder by the minute.

When the cheering died away, Brenda Walsh said, "Harry Potter, you have our unending gratitude. And we will repay you in kind. Never hesitate to ask us for aid whenever you are in need of it. We are but a floo call away and we will be by you just as soon."

The wizards and witches bowed low and hurried out through the door they had entered.

All eyes turned towards Harry and Draco muttered quietly, "I suppose you didn't want to risk us getting obliviated, eh?"

Harry nodded slightly.

Draco growled softly, "Were you aware that you too could have been obliviated?"

"I was careful." Harry said with a frown.

"Only just." Draco said and sighed. "That explains your study in Charms. Harry, that was pure logic! Obliviation means memory loss...you asked Dobby to summon those memories." Draco shook his head in wonder. "And why were you researching History? How exactly did you realise what he was doing?"

Harry moodily lifted a forkful of carrots from his plate and said, "It's a long story."

Draco frowned. "You know it isn't your fault, right?"

"What isn't?"

"Blaire's predicament?"

Harry sighed, "Yeah, I know. I already apologized to her and she's still yelling at me about how it isn't my fault. Ethan and Nev aren't making it easier, they're just adding more fuel!"

"Is Ethan with her?"

"Yes."

"How is she?"

"Better. Madam Pomfrey's fixed her rib and now she's trying to get Blaire to co-operate with her and allow her to apply that cream for those bruises, but Blaire really wants to keep 'em."

Draco laughed heartily.

"Did you see Professor Snape's face?" he asked then.

"Uh-huh." Harry said. "He looked like he'd wanted to break a couple of Lockhart's ribs himself. He's there in the Entrance Hall now, with Professors Flitwick and McGonagall."

They stayed silent for a moment.

"Will you tell us?"

"Tell you what?"

"The long story."

"Story?...oh, right, of course."

"When?"

"As soon as Blaire's out of the Hospital Wing? Let's meet up in our dungeon room. Let's hurry through lunch and meet up with Blaire and Ethan. Oh look! Nev's done already!"

Draco's mind wandered away from Neville who was impatiently waiting by the door for them.

"When will Blaire send her order to the F and B?"

"F and B?...oh! She sent it yesterday. Tomorrow, they'll send her the brochure. Blimey, I'm not in my right mind today!"

"Your not the only one." Draco whispered dishearteningly.

And then, when lunch had finally finished, Dumbledore's stood up and beamed at everyone.

"Before we all leave to go ahead with our plans, I would like to dish out two hundred points to Harry Potter-" he waited for the claps to die down, "- for courage, determination, and good thinking! I shudder to even think how many other lives would have been disrupted had he not found out about our former Professor's misdeeds.

"And before, I forget, I believe, the unfortunate chore of correcting your Defence Against the Dark Arts answer papers has fallen upon me-" he was interrupted by groans from all around. "I am moreorless aware of how dedicatedly you worked in this particular field this year and, instead of correcting them, I want you all to write a four foot long essay on a dark creature of your choice.

"I want you to describe it's appearance, it's nature, it's strength and weaknesses and most importantly, the different ways to defeat one should it come in your way. We most certainly cannot let this year go to waste, can we? You will bring the essay over to me before you set off for your holidays next week, all of you, bar our fifth and seventh years...Thank you."

The groans and few cheers this time were louder that before and Dumbledore sat down on his chair chuckling.

tbc...