Chapter Five: Professor Lockhart

Disclaimer: If I made a list of the things that I owned compared to that of what J.K. Rowling owned, hers would be a lot longer. A whole lot longer.
"Did you understand any of that?" Josie asked Reagan as they walked down the corridor after their Arithmancy class ended.

"Sort of," Reagan replied. "I'll have to look over my notes again."

Josie snorted. "You know sometimes I wonder if you and Caitlin were switched at birth. You remind me of your Aunt Hermione."

"My mum was good in school," Reagan replied. "She was one of the top on her class. And my dad, well he could have been the top of his class if he didn't have Voldemort after him for seven years. But he did all right. Besides, I don't think who you parents are should determine how you do is school. If we went by that rule, then you should be in Slytherin."

"Oh, please don't remind me," Josie retorted. "There's Cal." Cal was waiting at the base of the stairs for them.

"Hello Cal," Reagan said. "How was Divination?"

He shrugged. "Same as last year. She said that Joseph Miller is supposed to die this year. Though last year she predicted he would die and he didnÕt. He rolled his eyes when she announced it. She was standing in front of him and said that she had awoken from a dream. Something about seeing someone fall a great distance and seeing the letters JM and she looked at Joseph. He laughed out loud and Daniel Hall coughed something that sounded like 'phony.' The entire class laughed, it was very funny. Professor Brown didn't think so. She didn't take points off because Daniel blamed it on me. She was a Gryffindor and said she'd never take points off of her former house. Daniel is a Hufflepuff."

"Joseph Miller?" Reagan asked. "The Hufflepuff Keeper?"

"Yeah, he's supposed to get hit with a Quaffle at a Quidditch match," Cal explained. "I don't know, Professor Brown seems a little off."

"I think my dad said he knew her," Reagan replied. "Do you want me to ask him if he knows is she's for real?"

"Na," Cal replied. "She can't be too far off her rocker. Even after we laughed at her, she didn't give us any homework."

Cal, Reagan and Josie sat down at the Gryffindor table, ready for lunch. They sat and ate quietly and quickly. Today was Wednesday and was their first day of Defense Against the Dark Arts, with Professor Lockhart. Reagan hurried her friends along, eager to get to the classroom.

"What do you think he'll be like?" Josie asked, sitting down next to Cal. Reagan took a seat a row in front of them, next to Lane.

"I don't know," Reagan replied. "It can't be much worse that the stories I heard about his father."

"His father?" Cal asked.

"Yeah, his father taught my parents and my uncles," Reagan replied.

"My dad never mentioned him," Josie commented.

Reagan shrugged. "I remember some story about Cornish pixies and how he had no idea what he was doing, ever."

"Cornish Pixies?" Cal asked, his eye brows raising. Reagan nodded and turned toward the teacher as he began the class.

"Good afternoon!" Professor Lockhart exclaimed and everyone in the room jumped. "My name is Gareth Lockhart. Now I'm sure some of you may recognize my last name from a story you were not doubt told by your parents. A tale about Cornish pixies comes to mind. However, let me assure you that the only thing I have in common with my father is blond hair and my last name. Unlike my father I am skilled in the dark arts. I have trained as an Auror and also as a medi-wizard. I have been on the field, usually reversing curses and tending to the injured." Professor Lockhart paused to take roll before he continued.

"Caitlin Weasley?" he called.

"Here, Professor," she called.

"Ethan Weasley?"

"Here."

"My my, I have two Weasleys. Tell me now, Caitlin and Ethan who are your parents?" Professor Lockhart asked.

"My parents are Percy and Penny Weasley," Ethan replied.

"Mine are Ron and Hermione Weasley," Caitlin explained after her cousin. A slight murmur went through the classroom with the mention of Hermione Weasley. It was a common known fact that Caitlin's mum was the Minister of Magic.

"Ah, and does anyone else have Weasley blood in them?" Professor Lockhart asked. Caitlin and Ethan looked at Reagan and she slowly raised her hand.

"Ah, yes of course, Miss Potter."

"My mum is Ginny Weasley," she replied.

"Its remarkable," Professor Lockhart said. "Ethan and Caitlin look like Weasleys, but you don't."

"I'm a Potter, not a Weasley," Reagan replied.

"Yes of course," he said. "You do look more like your father than your mum." He turned back to the attendance list and Reagan sank into her seat. Somehow he had made her feel guilty because she didn't look like the rest of her family. Reagan, Darenn and James were the only non redheaded cousins in their family, well on the Weasley side. However, they had no control over that, it wasn't their fault they didn't have red hair.

Professor Lockhart didn't comment on anyone else's family heritage and he finished up with the roll and put it away.

"Now, I'm sure you are all curious about me. Here is a little back history for you. My father, as you may have guessed, was Gilderoy Lockhart. He in fact taught Defense Against the Dark Arts here at Hogwarts from 1992 to 1993 before he tragically lost his memory in the spring of '93. He then lived in St. Mungo's and that is where he met my mother. She was one of his caretakers, and saw something in him that she liked. My mother was granted permission to move my father out of psychiatric care and into a secured location where she would take care of him. They married and soon I was along. They moved to the Colorado Rockies, and that is where I grew up.

"My father died in an avalanche when I was five years old, and my mother then moved me back to England. He had always told me stories about all the things he had done, but he told them to me as if he knew them as bedtime stories, not the stories of his life. Once I could read, I read all of his books and learned about everything he claimed to have done. Both my mother and father had gone to Hogwarts so when it was my time, I too went. After Hogwarts, I returned to America and went to Stanford University of the Magical Arts and trained as a medi-wizard, specializing in war time medicine and curse reversal. After three years there, I returned to England and trained as an Auror, and for the past three years, I have served as an medical Auror, working mostly abroad where dark wizards pop up every now and then trying to take over the world." Professor Lockhart stopped and took a sip of his water. "Now does anyone have any questions?" Hands shot into the air.

"Miss Perrot," Professor Lockhart said, calling on a dark haired Slytherin.

"Have you written any books?"

"As a matter of fact I have," he replied. "Though they haven't sold as well as my father's books did. I didn't make mine up though, and they're mostly medical journals and such. It is quite hard to get out of the shadow of a famous parent, though I doubt any of you have that problem." Reagan glanced at Caitlin who mouthed a "what?" at her and Reagan shrugged her shoulders. Reagan and Caitlin knew what it was like to live in the shadow of a famous parent, as did Lane, whose father was a retired Australian Quidditch player now the Australian Ambassador to the British Ministry of Magic.

"Mr. Cameron," Professor Lockhart said.

"What house where you in, while you were at Hogwarts?" Duncan asked.

Lockhart smiled. "Well, lets see. I'm witty and smart, and quite brave as well. I am also very loyal, though I tend to be sneaky when I want to get what I want. So which house do you think the sorting hat put me in?" No one moved. Professor Lockhart smiled at everyone though no one had a clue.

"Come now, certainly someone can at least guess?" he asked. "All right then, ten points to the House who figures it out, we'll make a competition out of this. Talk to your house mates and come up with an answer. Ask me questions, do what you can and what you need to to get the right answer."

"This is hopeless," Lane said, turning towards Reagan. The two Gryffindors scooted closer to their house members.

"Does anyone have any ideas?" Bolton Stumps asked.

"Well, we have a one in four shot of getting it right," Hayden replied.

"Lets look at what info we have," Reagan suggested.

"Reagan, we don't have any," Caitlin replied. "Thats the problem."

"Sure we do," Reagan said. "He said he was witty and smart, and quite brave, and also very loyal, though he tends to be sneaky."

"That describes every House, Reagan," Lane replied.

"He sounds a bit cocky," Josie commented.

"We can ask him questions and find out other things," Reagan suggested.

"What kind of questions?" Duncan asked.

"Lets make a list," Josie said and pulled out a parchment.

"Right," Reagan said. "How about was he a Prefect? Was he Head Boy?" Josie scribbled down the questions as she said them.

"We can ask if he Quidditch played for his house team," Lane suggested.

"Good," Reagan replied.

"And if he did what position did he play?" Bolton said.

"Oh, we can ask what his fave quidditch team is," Josie said as she wrote the questions down.

"And what his favorite subject in school was," Cal suggested.

"Look," Reagan said, reading the calculations on the parchment. She pushed it over to Caitlin and Ethan. "He went to school with Mackenzie." Mackenzie was their eldest cousin, their Uncle Charlie's daughter.

"Really?" Ethan asked. "I wonder if he knew her."

"We can ask," Caitlin suggested and Josie added it to the list.

"Wait, that would mean that he would know Jordan as well," Ethan said. Jordan was their Uncle Charlie's son, and a seventh year. "Jordan would have been a first year when Professor Lockhart was a seventh."

"Do we have enough questions?" Lane asked.

"I think so," Josie said and got up. She went and talked to Professor Lockhart, writing his answers down on her parchment.

"What was that bit about famous parents and no one else would know what it was like?" Lane asked Reagan.

"I know, who would know better than us about living under the shadow of famous parents," Reagan replied.

"And for you two its not just famous parents but siblings we well," Caitlin added. "Lane has Erika's shadow to live under and Reagan, well, Reagan has to deal with both James and Darenn's shadows."

"Erika's isn't so bad," Lane replied. "She was just good a lot of stuff. She didn't play Quidditch and I do, so that got me out from underneath her. But Reagan, you all play Quidditch and you are all good at everything."

"But I'm the only girl," Reagan replied. And I have a magical connection with my father, she thought. "People didn't expect me to be like my brothers because I was the first girl in like three generations or something."

"Thats true," Lane said. "But still, why would he think that we don't know what its like?" Reagan shrugged again, though she was curious about the answer.

"All right, I'm back," Josie announced and sat down.

"So?" Cal asked.

"All right," Josie began. "He was a Prefect, and he was Head Boy. He also played for his house team and played Beater. He was also the captain in his sixth and seventh years, and he said that James was an excellent seeker. His favorite team is the Chudley Cannons, he knew Mackenzie, William, Philip, Cameron, James and Jordan. Goodness you lot have a lot of relatives. Anyway, his fave subject was Defense Against the Dark Arts, and he said that he is happy to be back and teaching it."

"Well, that doesn't tell us much," Duncan said.

"It sort of does," Reagan said. "He said that James was an excellent seeker. Well, if he didn't play seeker himself then why else would he notice?" Her house mates stated at her with blank and confused expressions on his face. Reagan sighed and continued. "Professor Lockhart would have had to watch James play a lot to know if he was good or not. And if he was never up against him, seeker to seeker, then he would have had to coach him, like a captain does. Professor Lockhart said he was captain his sixth and seventh years, and James played seeker since his first year. James would have been a second year when Lockhart was a sixth year."

"He also said he knew Mackenzie, Philip and William. When he was Head Boy, Mackenzie was a sixth year Prefect and Phil was a fifth year Prefect. He could have known William from the Quidditch team; Will played Chaser," Ethan commented.

"Yeah, and if he was in the same house as them, he would have known Cameron and Jordan, even if they were a lot younger than he was," Caitlin explained. "I think he was in Gryffindor."

"We need more proof," Reagan said, shaking her head. "I'm going to see if I can find out any thing else." She got up and walked over to her teacher.

"Ah, Miss Potter," he greeted her. "I'm glad to see you're on your feet and not fainting at the sight of me."

"Sorry 'bout that, Professor," she apologized. "It won't happen again."

"No need for apologies, Miss Potter. Under the same circumstances, I would have fainted too."

"I was wondering if I could ask you some more questions, about what house you were in?"

"Absolutely."

"Who was the Head of your house when you were at school?" she asked.

"Ah, Miss Potter, I cannot answer that. Don't ask me specific things that would directly tell you what house I was in. Ask me questions that will serve as clues," Professor Lockhart said.

Then something clicked in Reagan's head. Clues, he meant this as some sort of riddle. They had to think logically to figure it out.

"All right," she replied and paused, thinking quickly. "How many times did your house win the Quidditch Cup while you were at Hogwarts?"

"Four," he replied. "Once when I was a first year, then again when I joined the team. I played for three years and was captain for two of them."

"Who did you take to the Holiday Balls?" Reagan asked.

Professor Lockhart smiled. "My fourth year I took a girl from Ravenclaw, my fifth year I took a girl from Hufflepuff, and my sixth and seventh years I took your cousin, Mackenzie."

"So did you have a lot of classes with her?" Reagan asked.

"A few," Lockhart replied.

"Hmm," Reagan replied. "I don't ever remember her mentioning you."

"Really?"

"Yeah," Reagan replied. "Mackenzie would come home in the summer and tell us all stories about being at Hogwarts. I think that seeing you and hearing your name wouldn't have been as much of a shock if I had heard of you before. I'd heard stories about your father, but never about you."

"Thats peculiar," Lockhart replied and rubbed his chin. "I was quite good friends with her."

"Really? I remember one time she told me a story about Professor Snape walking into the Great Hall and his robes had been charmed to sparkle red and gold. That was back when he was still teaching, and she had said she thought it was the funniest thing. I hear he retired the next year."

"I do remember that," Professor Lockhart replied, grinning from ear to ear. "And I will proudly say that I was guilty of that act. I never did like Snape much and he never thought much of me either. Mackenzie was the only one how knew it was me of course, she was so afraid that I would loose points for our House and..." Professor Lockhart stopped and looked at Reagan. "Her House, of course, I meant..."

Reagan grinned. "You should be more careful about letting your guard down, Professor." Lockhart gaped at her. Smiling, Reagan turned on her heal and walked back to her house mates.

"So?" Cal asked.

"He was in Gryffindor," Reagan replied.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~


"Does anyone have a guess?" Professor Lockhart asked, thirty minutes later. Reagan's hand shot in the air, along with the other nine Gryffindors.

"All right, anyone from Slytherin?" he asked, realizing that the Gryffindor house must have figured it out. "Ah, Mr. Stone."

A tall Slytherin stood up. "Were you in Gryffindor, sir?"

"Yes," Lockhart replied. "Congratulations to both houses as I know that Gryffindor house figured it out as well. So, now should I give each house ten points, or should I not award any points? Either way you'll be even."

"I think you should give us points, sir," Ethan replied. "That way we at least earned some points."

"Mr. Weasley makes an excellent point. Ten points to Gryffindor and ten to Slytherin. Now, if you please, I have a few notes for you all to take down." The students moved around, taking our parchment and quills, ready to take notes.

Professor Lockhart lectured for the rest of the class period. He talked lengthy about fighting dark magic without the use of a wand, but with the use of your head and your logic. As class ended and everyone filed out of the room, he pulled Reagan aside.

"Good job today in class, Miss Potter," he said to her.

"Thank you Professor," she replied.

"You were right, I did let my guard down for a split second and you found out the information that you needed. Did you ever consider being an Auror?"

"The thought had crossed my mind, yes."

"Well, you'd make a good one. You could also look into a career as an Unspeakable."

Reagan scoffed. "I don't think that my father would enjoy that. He'd think it was much to dangerous."

"Your father, yes, he is a great man," Lockhart said. "It was an honor to meet him and know him and even a greater honor to serve under him. I think I'll write to him and inform him of how well you did today."

"Thank you Professor," she replied. "Though I am a bit confused. All I did was ask you a question. You're the one who let your guard down. So it was really your doing that I found out what house you were in."

"True," he said. "But you got me talking and asked the right questions. You made me want to prove to you that I knew Mackenzie and that changed my focus. It is a good technique that is hard to teach."

"Well, thank you Professor," Reagan replied and turned to leave. "I'll see you at diner."
A/N: All right, so not much of a cliff at all, which is a nice change of pace. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to asked, and I'm still looking for anyone interested in illustrating this or "Secrets that Were Kept." Leave me a message in the review box, or just e-mail me. My address is on my author page. Read and review please. (I'm always afraid that if I don't put that then people won't do it.) ~EE