Chapter 20: Magical Me
Disclaimer: As usual, you know the rules, neither Harry Potter, Bioshock or anything else I reference is owned by me.
They stepped out of the portal, walking into the alley besides Gringotts, carrying several bags loaded with gifts and other bits and pieces that they had picked up on their trip to New York. Initially they had planned to spend a few days there and then move on but it turned out Elizabeth hadn't properly focused when opening the rift. "Who the hell thinks a purge is a good idea?" Harry asked as they stepped out of the rift. "I mean seriously, what the hell, letting people just commit whatever crime they want for a night to 'cleanse themselves' to prevent other crimes." Harry muttered in disbelief at the alternate version of America they had visited, for an entire night they could commit any crime, everything was legal. they had arrived the day before that had happened.
They had corrected the mistake the day later, one night in a hotel, a day shopping and then they left to go to the New York that was in their timeline. Still, Harry just couldn't seem to wrap his head around the situation, it just seemed too outlandish and crazy for them to have come up as a solution for crime and apparently unemployment... but then again you didn't need to count the dead among the unemployed. Glancing out into the street Harry saw a lot of people around, he looked at Elizabeth, "has the alley ever been this busy?" He asked, unsure as to why it seemed a lot more crowded than usual, albeit he wasn't an expert on the situation having only been here three times before but even on those times it hadn't been as busy as it was now. His first time here it was pretty full as people rushed to get school supplies for their children but looking at the crowd gathering around Flourish and Blotts, it definitely showed that something was going on. "Want to check it out?" Harry asked and Elizabeth shook her head.
"Not yet, let's get rid of these bags and get some money." Elizabeth said calmly as they walked out of the alley, making their way past the crowd of people with a little bit of difficulty and towards the exit of the alley. "They seem happy to see someone." She muttered glancing back at the crowds as the barrier opened to let another group of people in, the two barely getting out of the way as a group of witches nearly barrelled into them. "Come on, let's get this put away... I'll admit I'm slightly curious now." she said as they walked into the bar area.
"What can I get for you?" the voice of Tom the owner was quick to greet them as they walked up to the counter with their bags.
Elizabeth was the first to speak, placing her bag on an empty stool in front of where she stood, "we need two rooms for the next couple of days." She requested politely. "And before I forget, can you tell me what's going on in the alley? There's a big crowd and we could barely get through." Elizabeth explained as Tom looked for available rooms.
"That?" He asked in surprise, apparently expecting people already to know about it. "Haven't you seen the Prophet recently? Gilderoy Lockhart is going to do a book signing later today. I'm not surprised to see the Alley is already busy, witches are pouring in from all over the country. Heck I think my wife is out there as well." He said with a bit of a joking laugh.
There was a pause as the two shared a glance. "Didn't he write half this year's booklist?" Harry asked quietly, getting a nod from Elizabeth. "I suppose we should see if we can get a look." Harry said slightly louder as Tom placed two keys onto the counter in front of them.
"Your rooms are on the third floor." Tom said politely and they took the key, he nodded to them and they made their way to the steps, both a bit surprised at not having to pay up front but shrugged their shoulders, it's not like he didn't know where they were.
"So, drop stuff off and see if we can get into the store?" Harry asked curiously, it was intriguing to him to see someone draw more attention than he did with his scar, he wondered if the person lived up to the hype or was just generating the hype for his own personal gains.
"We'll see, I don't feel like fighting through a horde of people just to see an author." Elizabeth said almost dismissively before looking at Harry. "But maybe they'll have some kind of organisation to it so those who are just there to buy will be able to get in without a hassle." She said, showing a slight level of interest to go see this celebrity that was drawing so much attention and was responsible for the majority of the booklist. They separated to their rooms and dumped their bags and within a few moments were back on the way to the alley. the crowd had grown a bit bigger now but they were also a bit more organised, a couple of staff members were quickly rushing about trying to get them to form an organised queue while shoppers who weren't here for the book signing were being let in and out with a bit more ease. The two walked past the store, a sign advertising that Gilderoy would be here to sign between one and two gave them enough time to get in and potentially get out before he came on site. They entered the store, getting a handful of dirty looks from the others waiting to see him, no doubt assuming they were going to be trying to push ahead of the queue.
Inside the store it was just as hectic if not more so than outside, with the aisles blocking movement as well as the people already loitering inside it made it difficult to manoeuvre. Harry and Elizabeth made their way over to the counter, hopefully the attendant would have the books already ready for students so they could just pick up and get out of there. stopping in front of the counter, Elizabeth waited until the person in front. "Yes miss, how can I help you?" The clerk asked in an out of breath voice.
She felt sorry for him, the man looked like he had been run ragged. "We're here to collect two sets of second year school books."
The clerk nodded his head. "Right, right, that's good, I've got the Lockhart books stacked back here ready for each student but you need to grab the rest from the shelves," he said quickly as he looked back to where he could see several reporters setting up to take photos of Lockhart when he came out. "We normally have them all set out but with this event happening so suddenly left us completely playing catch up." The clerk explained tiredly and Elizabeth nodded in understanding, things like this would cause disarray if unprepared for.
"Can you point us in the direction of the right books."
"Certainly, third aisle, second bookcase, fourth aisle, third bookcase, first aisle, fourth book case and the last batch of books are on display over by where the reporters are setting up." He explained and paused as he recognised the lightning bolt mark. He looked like he wanted to say something but stopped himself. "I'll sort out the Lockhart books while you're grabbing the rest." the clerk offered and the two turned to head back into the madness of the main shop. They separated quickly moving to opposite ends of the store, Harry moving towards the back where the reporters were standing around, hoping that they wouldn't notice him. He didn't want to answer any questions, he had no interest in his name being on the papers.
"Excuse me." He said politely as he pushed past the reporter. The man in question glanced at him but seemingly didn't pay much attention as he moved, leaving his cameraman and walking into the store. Harry walked over to the books, glancing around at the books he reached up to grab two copies of the one he needed. He flicked the first one open, glancing through a few pages, curious as to the transfiguration spells that they'd be learning this year.
Someone cleared their throat to his side. "Why am I not surprised to find Harry Potter with his nose in a book." A familiar voice spoke up, drawing Harry's attention away.
"Hmm? did you say something?" He asked jokingly, keeping his expression neutral and slightly dismissive before looking up from his book and smiling at the person in front of him. "How has your summer been Susan?" Harry questioned as he closed the book, moving on the from the joking jibe, "Did you get the letter I sent you?" Harry asked, quickly getting a nod in response.
"My aunt does want to speak to you about that." she said with a hint of warning in her voice. "How did you get the letter past all of our protective wards?" She asked and Harry just smiled slightly. "Because that caused a bit of trouble for the wardmakers that the letter was able to be dropped off without any indication as to how it was done."
"All I'll say for now is that it was a rush job, we were in America so we had to make sure it got back to you before we got back to the UK." Harry explained elusively and Susan frowned. Behind Harry, Witches and Wizards were being let in towards the area set up for Lockhart's appearance and Susan followed their movements as she continued to talk to Harry.
"Regardless, Auntie isn't happy about it, if you were able to find a gap then how do we know someone else can't exploit it?" Susan asked and Harry lost the smile almost immediately, taking on a more serious expression.
"I can guarantee that no one that is a threat to you can possibly recreate the circumstances, at least as far as I am aware it's a unique thing from a unique set of circumstances." Harry explained gaining another frown.
He felt a presence behind him and tensed, glancing back over his shoulder he saw a woman standing behind him, arms crossed looking quite imposing and stern. "That's not a satisfactory answer Mr Potter..." the woman spoke and Harry glanced between her and Susan and then looked back smiling weakly.
"You must be her Aunt then." Harry said with a veneer of calmness that tried to hide his nervousness but he could tell just from a glance that it wasn't fooling either of the two Bones women.
"Relax Harry, we're not going to ask you to spill your secrets here in public like this." Susan said calmly a warm smile on her face as she looked up at her aunt. "We're not are we Auntie?" She questioned and her Aunt relaxed her posture slightly.
"No Mr Potter, we're not, though I would ask if you could tell me later when we have chance to talk more privately," The woman said and walked around him to stand next to Susan.
Susan gestured to her aunt. "I don't think you've properly met my Aunt yet, Harry Potter, my Aunt: Madame Bones. Auntie, this is Harry Potter."
"Pleasure to meet you Madame Bones, near panic attack aside, I've heard a lot of things about you. Susan was really helpful when we were investigating what happened at Hogwarts." Harry said politely making sure to praise Susan's part in the situation, "without her, the professors would have been caught completely flatfooted." He said with another smile, drawing a small blush from Susan.
"I didn't do that much..." She said evasively and Harry shook his head.
"Means, Motive and Opportunity, you were the one who went over that, stopped us getting focused on one person, albeit it didn't work as we thought it was going to and we never got to fully investigate people but you kept our eyes open."
"Ladies and Gentlemen, here promoting the release of his autobiography: Magical Me, I am happy to introduce to you holder of the Order of Merlin 3rd class, honorary member of the Dark Force Defence League and something that he assuredly doesn't want anyone to forget, Five-time winner of Witch Weekly's Most Charming Smile award. I give you Gilderoy Lockhart." the manager spoke and stepped off the stage as the crowd that had been let in started cheering loudly. Harry, who had his back to the stage saw the slight frown on Madame Bones face and the suspicious one on Susan's made him turn around to see the man that a lot of people had apparently come to see. A man came out, in gaudy robes that just screamed expensive, he stood posing for the cameras that were scattered in front of the raised platform. Harry looked surprised, in his mind someone who had apparently done half the stuff that he had written about surely wouldn't have come off this unscathed. The man glanced his way, Blue eyes glanced at his green and Harry mentally cursed as his eyes flicked to the scar. He turned his back, trying to return to the conversation that he had been having with the Bones duo. Again, he saw the frowns on their features and Harry spoke up, curiosity getting the better of him.
"You two don't seem too fond of him." He said quietly, making sure they could hear it but not the others. Amelia looked at him and gave a slight nod.
"It's nothing," she dismissed calmly as she looked over the crowd.
"You learn to read people when you're in Aunties line of work," Susan explained quickly seeing her Aunt wasn't as willing to explain much more in the situation. "Sometimes it's just a hunch but I've learnt to trust her instincts, it normally doesn't steer her wrong." praising her aunt drawing a small smile as she spoke.
"Hmm... I guess he has to be pretty good if he doesn't have a scratch from any of these creatures he's dealt with." Harry said suspiciously as he looked around at the two as Susan's eyes widened. "What?" Harry asked as a hand came down on his shoulder. he tensed as a voice spoke in surprise.
"Bless my soul, Harry Potter." the voice said loudly drawing gasps from the crowd. He closed his eyes, resigning himself to the fate that was about to happen. Opening them again after a second he looked at Susan and mouthed the word 'help' as he was pulled back towards the stage. After a split second, that threw Harry slightly off balance, the movement stopped.
"Don't you think it's a bit inappropriate to be grabbing children like that." The voice of Elizabeth cut in with a slight edge.
The hand came off his shoulder and Harry quickly turned, looking at the Blonde-haired man that had grabbed him, a slight glare appearing on his features before he quickly kept himself under control. "You're right, you're right, I apologise Mr Potter, I got a bit over excited with the announcement that I wanted to make." He said politely and smiled at Harry before turning back to face Elizabeth. "I was told about you, you would be Elizabeth DeWitt, the assistant helping the classes at Hogwarts, wouldn't you?" Lockhart questioned and Elizabeth nodded reluctantly, even though she wasn't officially working at the moment, the fact that he had said her full title and drew attention to her forced her to agree, acting as a representitive of the school. "WONDERFUL! Perhaps you could both join me on stage, it would only be suitable for this announcement I plan to make." He said looking between the two for confirmation, Elizabeth glanced at Harry and both did not look like they wanted to do it but after a moment she relented, shrugging her shoulders in an indifferent gesture which Lockhart quickly took to be acceptance. "Excellent, come join me up here." He said quickly moving back onto the raised stage. "Ladies and Gentlemen, when Young Mr Potter walked into the store to buy his books for the current school year, he no doubt expected to pick them up and be on his way, but now not only will he receive a copy of these books signed by myself absolutely free, he along with all the other students will also be getting the real Magical Me." He said with a flourish drawing gasps and cheers from the crowd. "Yes, I have taken the post of Defence Against the Dark Arts and am looking forward to teaching the next generation of students." He called out grandly drawing even more cheers and applause. With a slight bow, he then rested an arm over Harry's shoulder and one round Elizabeth's side. "Smile you two, together we'll make the front page." He whispered as cameras started flashing in their face.
Harry glanced sideways to Elizabeth to see her own look of discomfort at the situation, though the way she glanced at the arm wrapped around her, he could tell it was less the fact that the photos were being taken and more Lockhart's hand on her that was off putting to her.
It would be several minutes before they could move away, Harry with a stack of his books in hand he made his way back towards Susan and her aunt. "That... was disturbing." Elizabeth muttered brushing at her side where the hand had been resting. "I think I need a shower, I feel dirty now." She grouched as they walked further away from the stand, the two Bones women following after them. "He's the new Defence Teacher? Did he accept the position just to improve his book sales?" She continued to rant drawing an amused chuckle from the group. "And who just grabs someone like that, surely manners are still a thing. Doubly so a child."
"Hey!" Harry protested and Elizabeth ruffled his hair, much to his annoyance and the amusement of Susan.
"You're still technically a child, even if you never act like one until you get told off." She said cheekily and Harry stood there mock glaring at her.
"But it shows how famous you are, this will no doubt be front page news now. He knows how to work a crowd." Susan said in reluctant respect. "But a crowd and a classroom aren't the same." She added as they made their way over to buy the books.
"Arthur NO!" A female voice shouted out and there was a loud crash followed by a lot of shouting. Madame Bones cursed under her breath and quickly drew her wand.
"Out of the way," She called out pushing past the crowd that had now shifted their attention to watch whatever had broken out. "move out of the way," she commanded again, her voice cutting through the chatter and they backed out of the way as they started to recognise who she was. "What is going on here!" She shouted out angrily at the confrontation drawing it to an almost immediate halt. following behind her Harry, Susan and Elizabeth saw the forms of Lucius Malfoy tangling with a red headed man, no doubt the Arthur that they had heard shouted a moments ago. Looking around Harry recognised Ron and the Twins, they were too focused on the scuffle to spot him.
"Ah, Madame Bones." Lucius was the first to recover, dusting himself off and straightening his robes, "how pleasant to see you today." He said with no sincerity behind his words but Amelia didn't take the bait. "This is nothing more than a simple misunderstanding that escalated a bit quicker than either side anticipated." He said politely and Amelia frowned, glancing between the two as Arthur looked to pick up his spilt items.
"And that led you to brawl like muggles?" She questioned sharply and Lucius didn't respond. "There has been no damage done and I'm not on duty so I do not want to drag you both into questioning, both of you go your separate ways and I will forget this happened." She said strictly and Lucius and Arthur nodded their heads.
"I would like to speak to you when you're next on duty, I have something important I need to speak to you about." Lucius spoke quietly, glancing over at Elizabeth for the briefest of moments.
"I will be in my office from nine tomorrow morning," Amelia spoke with suspicion as to his actions and with a slight nod of his head, Lucius turned around.
"Come Draco." Lucius said calmly and the two walked out of the store, Draco pausing to nod to Harry, Elizabeth and Susan and a slight acknowledgement to Ron, the two didn't like each other but they had worked together for a little bit and it had dulled the hostility slightly.
"Now what could he want to speak to me about." Amelia muttered quietly as she looked at the Weasleys. She sighed, "Arthur, you need to stop rising to the bait." She said as she reached down and picked up one of the books that had fallen in the fray. "You know he has powerful associates that could make life difficult." She chided lightly as she passed it to a younger female redhead. "What even started this fight?" She asked as the crowd started to break up, attention shifting back to Lockhart.
"It was a matter of family honour," Arthur said, still showing his frustration at the situation. "I appreciate your restraint with this situation, it won't happen again." Arthur apologised and Amelia smiled.
"As I said, I'm off duty, spending time with my niece, I don't think she'd appreciate it if I gave up what little free time that I had to do something over a minor disagreement." She said pointedly and Arthur got the point, nodding his head in understanding.
"Of course, of course." he turned around and looked to his children and his wife. "Come along, let's see if we can get our books before the crowd starts getting even more hectic." Arthur spoke, moving out of the way of Amelia and the trio behind her. As they passed, again brief greetings were given to each other as they finished moving towards the counter.
"So, if you don't mind me being a bit forward with this," she started politely as she walked up to Amelia. "What do you think Mr Malfoy wants to speak to you about?" Elizabeth asked curiously.
"You know him?" She asked in surprise getting a nod from Elizabeth. "Huh, interesting," she muttered more to herself than Elizabeth, "to be honest I have no clue whatsoever, he's been different recently, his voting block in the Wizengamot shifting and drawing a lot of attention recently with the Magical Creature Employment Act, he and several of his allies which were predicted to block the act voted in favour of it." Amelia explained as she placed Susan's books on the desk.
"He went for that?" Elizabeth asked in surprise. Sure, she had spoken to him about it before the incident at Hogwarts but she hadn't expected him to have shifted his views on it that easily, even with how she spelled it out for him.
"Well his popularity has increased and he's even recruiting a lot of people to work on some of the companies he owns which are also seeing a lot of benefit from this change in image." Amelia said as she handed over the money. "I don't trust it though, no one has a change of heart like that without some sort of agenda." She said more to herself than Elizabeth. "But, as long as he's acting like this, perhaps some of the inequality will start to disappear." She said a slight glimmer of hope in her voice. "At least until he shows what he's truly planning." She stepped aside, letting Elizabeth and Harry back to the counter to pay for their books.
"He wasn't serious a moment, ago was he?" Harry asked, finally finding his voice, looking back towards the area where Lockhart was signing books with a peacock quill. "He's not really going to be our new Defence teacher, is he?" Harry question in disbelief.
"It does look to be that way, I doubt he'd flat out lie in an attempt to get on to the front page." Amelia responded. "You might want to keep your study group going this year." She said looking at Harry and Susan.
"You don't think he's going to be good?" Susan asked and Amelia didn't respond for a moment, watching the man talking to a few witches that were giggling under his attention.
"I think he can talk among the best of them but I'm still not sold on his claims." Amelia finished, "now, it was nice meeting you Mr Potter, Miss DeWitt," she bid farewell and the two left the store ahead of them.
"Suddenly, I'm not looking forward to returning to Hogwarts..." Harry said, trailing off in resignation.
"So, the threat of mortal danger does nothing, but a celebrity professor makes you want to run away." Elizabeth deadpanned as she took the bag of books. "At least you only have to deal with him in class, I've got staff meetings, meals, lessons and probably a patrol or two where I'm going to have to be around him." She sighed, shuddering slightly as she did, resisting the urge to brush away at where his hand had rested when they were pushed into the photos. "Feel sorry for me Harry," she jokingly requested as the two left the store chuckling as they went to continue their shopping.
HPCVHPCV
But summer wasn't going to last forever, eventually Elizabeth had to return to Hogwarts ahead of the students in preparation for the start of the second year. Harry would be staying at the Leaky Cauldron for the last few days before they made their trip to the school and she would be catching up with each of the Professors so that she knew what to expect on the first few days of lessons. Her first meeting would be with Lockhart, she walked towards the office which he had been given, a muggle notepad in her hand, a pen clipped to it. Looking through the information she had already taken from both Sprout and Flitwick she didn't have to write much of anything, both having been prepared and making their own handovers for her. She wasn't looking forward to this conversation and she wasn't looking forward to dealing with Snape afterwards but she'd do what she was paid to do at this time. She stepped up to his classroom door and knocked on it.
No answer came through and she tried the handle pushing it open and walking in. No sign of Lockhart in the room so she cut across it, glancing around at the standard set up that currently had little to no personal touch, other than a picture of himself by the blackboard. she walked up a couple of steps at the back of the room to another door and knocked on it. "Professor Lockhart?" She called out and waited for several moments.
"Come in," His voice called through and Elizabeth turned the handle walking into the room. Immediately she was caught off guard by the decorations, pictures plastered all the walls, none of the pictures were different, they were all portraits of him, some of them talking to each other, others were studying their appearance and some were apparently reading newspapers.
"Huh, an interesting design." She said to Lockhart, tearing her attention from the pictures of the man that had noticed and were staring at her as they continued their actions to the man in question who was sat behind the desk with a smile on his features that showed off his pristine white teeth. "I'm here to get any lesson plans you've got so I know what I'm getting into for the first week back." Elizabeth explained clinically, not wanting to spend any longer with the man than she had to. He was probably a nice enough person a bit enamoured with himself but she didn't want to get to know him at all at this point in time. Maybe after the students were back and settled in then she would take the time to talk to him but until then, she'd keep it polite and to the point.
"Yes, Elizabeth, come in, take a seat." He said with a gesture to the chair at the opposite side of his desk. Nodding her head, she walked over and sat down, acutely aware of the whispering of the portraits. It was one thing that she was glad that there were no portraits in the head boy/girl rooms, the constant chattering was at points insufferable. "I plan to have a little test for the students on their first day." He said without any hint of joking, getting a nod from Elizabeth, it was a good way to start, to find out what they had learnt in their previous year and where he could expand on from there. "Here, take a look." He said passing over a quickly written test that he had prepared. Taking the parchment, she unrolled it and looked at the questions listed:
Q1: What is Gilderoy's favourite colour? She paused, glancing back at the man in disbelief, part of her thinking this was nothing more than a little prank. Q2: What is Gilderoy Lockhart's secret ambition? Again, another question that had nothing to do with defence against the dark arts and more to do with himself. On and on the questions, went, fifty-four in total and while there were a few that had potential, asking how he had defeated the various dark creatures in the book but the majority of them were completely unrelated to anything to do with the class. "Wow." Elizabeth muttered quietly.
"Do you like it? I'm especially fond of question fifty-four." He said happily and Elizabeth stared at him with a dead eyed look, she couldn't believe that he was actually being serious. "Now I know, it doesn't scream defence," he added hastily upon seeing the look that she was giving him. "In fact, some of those you would think are completely redundant and pointless but there is a reason behind this." He said with a flourish as he stood up and walked to the window. "You see, these students, they need to be tested to see if they've studied the material." He looked back at her with a knowing smile. "I know what it's like to be a student, even the due diligent ones sometimes will cut corners and this is a perfect way to show them that I will be considering their actions, to show them that even the littlest bit of information could be of use to them in the dangerous world that is out there. After all, if it wasn't for my ability to gather information, I never would have been able to track down the werewolves that were hounding that village." He said with a brief gesture to one of the book covers that he had on display.
That explanation caught Elizabeth off guard, she had after reading that quiz, expected a person with no talent and was more interested in using this to add to his celebrity status. His comments though, made a lot of sense to her. "I will admit I didn't see that when I looked at the test itself, when you put it in that light I can see what you're doing with the test. I'm assuming that you're planning on explaining this to them after the test?" She questioned and he nodded slightly. She jotted a couple of notes down, "anything else that you have planned?" She asked with a look and he nodded again.
"I have a few plans, for the younger years I think I'll take some time to deal with the magical pests that they can potentially find. With my older students, I'll probably start working on some of the topics that are covered in my later books." Lockhart explained, watching as she continued to quickly write down notes. "You were here last year, what can I expect from the students?" Lockhart asked out of interest and curiosity.
Thinking for a moment, Elizabeth put her notepad down. "It depends on the year, last year I was solely working with the First Years, having only just come into learn magic myself." She started, "I was missed where I used to live in America and when I came here I was found by Professor Babbling, she introduced me to the world and I've started learning essentially from the ground up, the first... now second years are a good group, a few troublemakers but you always get them." She explained, thinking of the feud between Gryffindor and Slytherin, "though from what I was told it's a lot less antagonistic." She thought about some of the actions that the older students had taken and some of the rivalries that had formed, thankful that she had been able to avoid most of the trouble.
"Ah yes the rivalries, I remember back when I was here, they were the same, Gryffindor and Slytherin out for each other's blood almost, have you ever heard tales about the Marauders?" He asked with a smile, chuckling as he remembered things that they had done. Elizabeth shook her head and "Pranksters of legendary record, no one was safe but one person in particular drew their attention more than anyone else. In fact, he works here, our Potions master himself." That drew Elizabeth's attention, it revealed a little bit about the angry man, let her know a bit about what had shaped him. If he had been victimised by these Marauders... she pushed the thoughts away, it didn't matter to her, she'd seen how he had treated the younger years with no connection to that and it was unacceptable. "But that is neither here nor there, are there any pranksters that I need to watch out for?" He asked curiously and Elizabeth was tempted to say no, just to see how he'd react but after a moment nodded her head.
"The Weasley twins, they're the main pranksters in the school, though they never did anything to extreme last year... They were probably a bit more interested in the other situations in the school." Elizabeth said evasively, not knowing how much he had been told about last year, she didn't want to say much in case people wanted it kept on the quiet side.
"Ah yes, Dumbledore told me about that, terrible business, it's a shame I wasn't here, I could have perhaps helped in saving him, I did learn a few different medicinal potions and perhaps the poor professor could have still been with us now." He sighed sadly, showing a hint of grief for the loss of life, recovering quickly he clapped his hands. "But, if it wasn't for that, how could I have taken this wonderful job? A light at the end of a gloomy tunnel, no?" Lockhart questioned with a bright smile. Elizabeth rolled her eyes, standing up and gently brushing the robes she was wearing to straighten them out.
"I think that's all I need for now Professor." She said politely, picking up the notepad that she had placed on his desk. "I have to go find some of the others now so I will see you when class begins." She finished with a slight bow of her head and turned, heading towards the door, acutely aware of the portraits watching her leave, a slight shudder going up her spine.
How is it that in one moment he can seem pretty intelligent and actually quite capable and then moments later feel like a lecherous creep? She thought to herself before dismissing the problem, perhaps she was just being a bit paranoid in regard to him after seeing the situation with Quirrell, not everyone is out to cause problems for her. And hopefully, this one doesn't have Voldemort growing out of his head. Walking down the stairs to the Entrance Hall, she glanced over the banister at the doorway to the dungeons. "Time for me to enter the dungeon." She said with amusement.
Needless to say, this year would be an interesting one.
TBC
Well there's another chapter done, I'm happier with this one than the last one and I love the chance to expand on the Lockhart character a little bit. Impressive acting on his part or could there actually be something underneath all the flash and fakeness?