Lockhart
Hermione is a self-disciplined person. It can be seen from her schedule.
Get up at 6:30, morning exercises at 7, go to class at 8:30, eat lunch at 11:30, read at 12, go to class at 1, go to the library at 3:30, eat dinner at 7, do homework, review, and read starting from 8, go to bed at 11 P.M. She implemented it strictly and conscientiously, insisting on countless winters and summers. Strict self-discipline does not necessarily mean she would treat others leniently. She imposed her schedule on Ginny, and specially formulated an enhanced version for the weekend.
Ginny was unwilling to be lonely and insisted on sitting down with Harry, Ron, Luna, and Colin, who had only recently recovered.
After persisting for a week, Colin suddenly missed that period of petrification.
On a cold morning in early February, under the hazy gray sky, five people on the playground were driven by a girl with bushy brown hair to run in the morning, forming a unique sight in Hogwarts. It reminded people of a shepherd dog and a flock of sheep.
Lunch was another disaster. The recipe was a full brainstorm-nutrition-package sent by Hermione's mother, including carrots, broccoli, bush peas, a large glass of kiwi juice, and various fish.
"Hermione, can I have a steak-and-kidney pie? just one bite?"
"Sure, if you still have the appetite after finishing this salmon. Oh, I almost forget. You guys, get those eggs for her, yes those… "
Everyone scrambled to throw the flavourless boiled eggs into Ginny's plate.
"Ginny, when this is over, you better get us a good meal." Colin threatened quietly.
"Fine! I'll take you guys out to the kitchen for boiling eggs!" It was obviously revenge.
Ginny had asked Commander Hermione for leave, and the official answer was that it was not approved except for bereavement leave, marriage leave, and maternity leave. These three things will be difficult for Ginny to get right now.
"Just one day, no, half a day."
"The house competition starts at the end of April," Hermione threw a list. "At your level, every single minute is precious, otherwise you won't be able to last a round. Not every house chose their candidate the way Gryffindor did."
Ginny looked at the arrangement:
April 25th, Gryffindor vs. Ravenclaw
May 5th, Hufflepuff vs. Gryffindor
May 15th, Ravenclaw vs. Hufflepuff
May 20th-June 20th, Due to the fifth and seventh grades participating in the O.W.L.s and N.E.W.T.s assessment, all activities will be suspended during the period. Other grades will be participating in their finals.
June 22nd, Meeting before the Final Competition
June 25th, Final Competition
"What about Slytherin? They're not competing?"
"Of course not! Wait till you see them at the Final."
"What? They're allowed to be ensured to the Final? Who did that?"
Hermione said with her eyes, who do you think!
It's said that misfortunes never come only once. On Valentine's Day in mid-February, everyone was shocked by the arrangement of the Great Hall early in the morning. All the walls are covered with gorgeous pink flowers, and a heart-shaped colored paper hangs from the light blue ceiling. The six who came back from morning exercises have not had the energy to make any comments.
"Happy Valentine's Day!" Lockhart shouted from the stage. "And may I thank the forty-six people who have so far sent me cards! Yes, I have taken the liberty of arranging this little surprise for you all - and it doesn't end here!"
He also invited a group of dwarfs wearing golden wings and carrying harps who would send out Valentine cards everywhere. In the afternoon, one of them caught - more like rob - Harry, as if the dwarf's life is depending on this mission of sing this card out loud to Harry.
"His eyes are as green as a fresh pickled toad,
His hair is as dark as a blackboard.
I wish he was mine, he's really divine,
the hero who conquered the Dark Lord."
Harry dropped the card and disappeared at the speed of light. Malfoy, who was watching the show, picked it up and shouted to Ginny, "I don't think Potter likes your Valentine's Card!"
Ginny heard this and hurriedly responded loudly without even thinking, "I did not write that! Didn't you hear that poem is fluent, lively, rhymed, well-organized, and grammatically correct all along?"
The people in the corridor even felt more awkward.
Ginny was very decadent all afternoon, who did this? Why didn't kiwi jump out to preside over justice at this time? Is it because she received too many Valentine cards?
After school, she sat in the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom and didn't want to move. She felt even more desperate when she thought of having to face Hermione's nutritional meals and intensive review later.
She looked at the dust floating in the setting sun, her thoughts were all mixed.
"Why aren't you leaving?" Lockhart walked in with a pot of coffee and a magazine.
Ginny's mood changed from depressing to angry when she saw him. Thanks to him, she somehow made a fool of herself again. "Why are you here again..." She decided not to show basic respect towards the teacher.
"I don't like staying in the office, my temperament, how can I put it... it doesn't match up with other teachers."
"Nonsense, it's because other professors don't want to see you." When people are absent, they don't always think before they speak, especially Ginny. She realized that her thoughts were already slipped out, and it's too late to make up, "Actually I mean..."
She couldn't explain it, but she actually meant the same.
"It's alright, after all, you're still a child, I won't take that seriously." Lockhart was not angry. He took a new cup and gave Ginny a cup of coffee. "Drink, do you want sugar?"
"Five, thank you." Ginny took a sip. "Give me two more."
Afterward, neither of them spoke. When the sun went down a little bit, Lockhart spoke:
"You are right, none of them want to see me." He looked at Ginny's surprised expression. "But I'm better than you, at least I like myself. "
"Who doesn't like themselves."
"You, I know what you are thinking as soon as I see your face, 'I am a big liar… I can't do anything… I am nothing', right?"
Eighty percent are correct, and another twenty percent are "I wish I were someone else, and it would be good if I hadn't given birth." Ginny was speechless.
"You are so boring," Lockhart waited for a while. "Why don't you ask questions? At least should you want to know how I know all that?" He didn't plan to wait for Ginny to ask, so he said, "Because I used to have that same expression."
"Liar, you will only show the most charming smile. You have made achievements and feel great every day. In a few months, I will have to make an even bigger fool of myself in front of everyone... I asked for it myself. I don't have the ability to challenge others... I have done so many regretful things in my life. This is definitely a milestone in my path of regretting."
"So you feel embarrassed? You still have a long way to go in the future. How can you live if you can't take a bit of humiliation?" Lockhart refilled himself a cup of coffee and helped Ginny fill up. "When I was a teenager, I did so many embarrassing things. You can't even imagine."
"Worse than Ron?"
"Much worse."
Lockhart was born in a small village in the suburbs, the middle child in a family of five children. He was born with only one wish, hoping that someone could take a good look at him, but it has not been fulfilled.
Lockhart's mother didn't. She went out of that village before Lockhart was five and never came back. It may be that she disliked her dumb husband and his cobweb wallet. Neither did Lockhart's father, he kept staring at the ceiling blackly after his mother was gone. The brothers and sisters each looked at what they were interested in, and the others in the village stared at the wheat field. No one had properly looked at Lockhart.
Lockhart's best talk was boasting, and his favorite thing was to make a fool of himself. This habit of his was gonna stay with him for a lifetime.
"I once rode on a pig and tied firecrackers to its tail. I lighted the firecrackers and rode the pig through the wheat fields, just to annoy others and let them chase me behind. I would push other children into the water and rescue them again, just pretending to be a hero. I used to say I know about everything wherever I go, the truth is I didn't know anything. I stole a firework made by a firework master and told the children in the village that I made it. I climbed to the top of the church, wanted to show it to them, but I lit the church and got myself into the hospital. My father almost choked me to death. In fact, I also wanted to choke myself to death, but I have to admit, I saw the most beautiful fireworks in my life that night."
Ginny felt like she's listening to the story of the Arabian Nights, never thought Lockhart had such a past.
"You don't actually have to overdo it. You are a wizard. It is pretty convenient to show something different if you want to."
"My parents are all Muggles, and I have no magic talent at all. I haven't even attended a magic school. No one knows about this."
He said calmly, but it was the most jaw-dropping thing Ginny had ever heard.
"Then how did you learn magic?"
"It was a girl called Tina, she taught me."
In the place where Lockhart was born, there was a well-known kid, a girl two years older than Lockhart, her name is Tina. She could do everything and solve any problems, the villagers said that's because she's a witch.
"Our people didn't hate wizards and witchcraft, they may be a little scared, but I think they are afraid of Tina herself. She's grumpy, talks mean, and loves to laugh at people."
The person she laughed at the most was Lockhart. Basically every time Lockhart did something stupid, she would be there and after watching the silly performances, she relentlessly taunted Lockhart without any sympathy.
"But I think the person she dislikes least is also me. She loves to talk to me and has taught me magic."
"You are a pure Muggle. It's impossible for you to use magic, right? It's like how pigs can't fly since they don't have wings."
"That's the strange thing. She said I could, and then I just… all of a sudden I could do magic. I asked her if she was a witch, and she said yes, but after all, she's a Mary Sue.
Ginny's heartbeats were racing. This is the third time she has heard this term.
"What is that?"
"Who knows. Maybe the kind of people that do very impressive things, she couldn't tell at that time. She told me a lot about the magic world, she said she would go to a school called Hogwarts in the future. One day she will be famous all over the world so that the whole world will hear her name, and she will be the leader in every field."
"Where is she now?"
The night when Lockhart burnt the church and was sent to the hospital, Tina came. Tina kept looking at Lockhart, watching him closely, with the most serious expression, as if fulfilling his wish.
Tina cried.
"I remember what she said to me that night, I remember every word she said. She said she liked me, she really liked me, and she liked me even more than being a Mary Sue. Because I am her."
Lockhart turned and looked out the window. The sun sank completely to the west. Where the light disappeared, there seemed to be a small village covered in dust with large wheat fields. In that small village, one night many years ago, a girl named Tina gave Lockhart her wand. She said she couldn't and didn't want to be another Mary Sue, and Lockhart has never seen her since then.
"But I wanted to be Mary Sue, like Tina, and I wanted everyone to look at me. I ran away from home at the age of sixteen and took Tina's wand and traveled around. The main purpose of travel was to hear the stories of others. Look at the pile of books I wrote. I have never done anything in it. They are all told by others. I'm just a writer of popular novels and find fun in other people's stories. Many students have probably started to doubt me."
Ginny nodded, she was suspicious.
"Sometimes I regret it. The older I get, the more I feel that I betrayed her because I betrayed myself. Betraying myself is worse than the whole world betraying you. I even hated myself."
"You just said that you like yourself."
"The moment I decided to tell you those things, I started to like myself." Lockhart smiled.
Ginny felt that Lockhart is treating her like an adult, so she was grateful. She said, "I know a person, who is very much alike the Tina you're talking about."
"I also know. Your sister gave me a hard time, and honestly, she does have a bad personality. But I can't really hate her in my heart, she reminds me of Tina. Sometimes I feel… They are sadder than anyone else."
Ginny thought to herself, you're worrying too much, she is definitely happier than anyone.
"Oh, I just want to tell you, be happy, you're doing just fine by not betraying yourself. Sorry, I probably talked too much. You know, I told a lot of lies, I dreamed of telling the truth just once."
Ginny also found that she knew too much, it was Lockhart's big secret.
"Are you not afraid of me telling on you?" she asked.
"Do you know why I haven't been exposed for so many years? The best thing I do is the Memory Charm. Then I get all the credits."
Ginny waited for him to draw out his wand, Lockhart didn't do it.
"Never mind, I'm not doing it. I'm tired. Besides, it's nice to have someone in the world to remember my story, at least remember that little place and Tina." He poured himself another cup of coffee without adding any sugar.
"Why?"
"Because I can never go back anymore."
I know Lockhart was supposed to be from Ravenclaw, but since this is an AU so :)
-Ye
