21
Gilderoy Lockhart
The next morning Emily forced herself out of bed and got ready for her first day back. She was already missing Mipsy waking her with her morning coffee, she wondered if she could work out a deal with one of the elves in the kitchen to leave her a cup of coffee as she was getting up each morning. Meeting up with Draco in the common room, the two second years made their way to the Great Hall together. As they walked into the hall Emily looked over to the Gryffindor table and saw her brother was already seated there. Even though she had been told he was alright it was nice to see it with her own eyes. Emily and Draco took their usual places across from Marcus, quickly loading up their plates with food. When Emily took her first sip of coffee she sighed in satisfaction.
"I can't believe you actually bought one of those things," Draco said referring to the muggle travel mug Emily had filled with coffee for the morning.
"Why wouldn't I? It makes it so much easier on me and I'll be less grumpy in our morning lessons, you should be happy." Draco rolled his eyes at her in response.
Just then the mail came in, among them was the Malfoy family owl, Hermes, who flew towards the two second year Slytherins dropping a package in front of them. They started to open it when they both were shocked by the angry voice that was filling the hall.
"– HOW DARE YOU STEAL THAT CAR? YOU WAIT TILL I SEE YOU NEXT! YOU COULD HAVE BEEN EXPELLED! I CAN'T TELL YOU THE THINGS THAT WENT THROUGH MY MIND WHEN WE NOTICED THE CAR GONE-"
The flatware on the table was rattling from the sound. Emily turned to see where the voice was coming from. She saw a red envelope hovering in the air as, what she assumed was Mrs. Weasley's voice, came from it. Ron Weasley appeared to be trying to sink further into his chair which only made it blatantly obvious who the recipient of the Howler was.
"– LAST NIGHT WE RECEIVED A LETTER FROM DUMBLEDORE! I DID NOT RAISE YOU LIKE THIS YOUNG MAN! YOUR POOR FATHER WAS SO EMBARASSED! DO YOU EVEN REALIZE YOU RISKED YOUR LIVES?-"
That caught Emily's attention, how had they risked their lives? Both boys looked unharmed but that meant very little with the healing spells and potions at the magical world's disposal.
"– I AM ABSOLUTELY APPALLED WITH YOUR BEHAVIOR! YOUR FATHER IS FACING SCRUTINY AT WORK AND IT IS YOUR FAULT! IF YOU DISOBEY JUST ONE MORE RULE I AM BRINGING YOU STRAIGHT HOME!"
Emily watched as the hall fell silent and the Howler burst into flames. Slowly people began to turn back to their breakfast.
"Ouch," Draco said taking a sip of his tea. "I am so glad my parents would never send a Howler."
"They would just threaten us through Sev."
Draco laughed, "Perhaps I feel worse for us now."
Emily nodded she felt a little bad for Weasley, a Howler was extremely humiliating. She had never heard one before, she had only read about them after she and Draco had passed Longbottom last year, who at the time had been holding a red envelope far in front of him as he raced to the door to go onto the grounds. It was then that she had asked Draco why he was so fearful of the letter and he had explained to her about Howlers.
Emily and Draco looked through the package Narcissa had sent, which turned out to be their weekly care package, while Severus was going along the table passing out their time tables for the year. The Slytherin second years had History of Magic for their first class of the day followed by Herbology with the Ravenclaws.
History of Magic was the usual boring ramblings of Professor Binns who still seemed to be stuck on goblin wars. Since Emily had yet to be assigned homework she spent the period reading a book she had ordered on creating spells. The Howler had given her an idea but she wasn't sure if she was skilled enough yet to complete it.
When class let out Emily and Draco were walking down the hall when she felt Lockhart's signature approaching. The man threw his arm around her shoulders smiling at her as if it was an everyday occurrence. Many of the girls in the hall were glaring at her in jealousy. Emily was uncomfortable but refused to allow her face to show anything other than a blank stare. When he appeared to not be saying anything Emily looked at him and raised an eyebrow. "Can I help you?"
Emily heard Draco snort before trying to cover it as a cough.
"Emily… oh dear Emily," Lockhart said still smiling at her as he squeezed her shoulder. "I was talking to your brother this morning and well – I mean it was so obvious after his little stunt – that it was my fault." Emily looked to Draco noticing he too was baffled by what the man was saying. How was Harry and Weasley's decision to fly a car to Hogwarts in any way related to Lockhart? "I think I gave him a taste of what publicity is like. You were both on the front page because of me and well of course he just had to do it again."
Emily remained silent. Maybe if she didn't respond, the man would say all he needed to and leave her alone. Anyone who looked at her brother could tell he didn't enjoy attention. He certainly did not fly a car to make a front-page headline. His name wasn't even in the article once.
"I had to remind him that he needed to calm down his attempts to be seen by the public. There is so much time for that after you finish school. You know, when I was twelve, I was a nobody much like yourselves. Though a few people know you both, so that is a start."
Emily watched his eyes search once again for her scar, she decided to clear her throat as his eyes wandered lower. He seemed to shake himself immediately flashing a smile at her. "Well I guess my point was, I just wanted to let you know that while I understand you must be eager, like your brother, for another taste of publicity, that you should refrain from stunts like his. If you ever need pointers though feel free to stop by my office at any time." With that he gave her shoulders another squeeze before walking off down the corridor.
"That man is insane," Emily huffed. "I smell terrible now. What was he wearing?"
"Who does that?" Draco said still staring in bewilderment after the man.
"Imbeciles," Emily answered pulling out her wand and waving it at herself to get rid of his smell. "I'm going to have to change at lunch. These are going to have to be washed before I can wear them again."
"Come on we're late for Herbology." Draco grabbed Emily's hand realizing they were standing in a now deserted hallway.
"Lovely, thank Merlin Professor Sprout is nice. She should understand." Draco nodded and the two took off running through the castle slowing down as they reached the greenhouses. They both took a few breaths before opening the door to join their class.
"Where have you two been?" Professor Sprout asked the Slytherin duo.
"We were waylaid by Professor Lockhart after History of Magic," Emily answered.
Professor Sprout nodded in understanding, "Very well take your places." Once Emily and Draco were situated Professor Sprout began, "Today we will be working with Mandrakes. Can anyone tell me the properties of the Mandrake and give an example of what it is used for?" No one seemed to be eager to answer so Emily raised her hand.
"Miss. Potter, go ahead."
"Mandragora is a restorative plant that is as powerful as it is difficult to grow. It is more commonly referred to as the Mandrake plant and though it is used in many antidotes it is most widely known for its use in the Mandrake Restorative Draught which is the only potion that can bring back someone from a petrified state."
"Very good, fifteen points to Slytherin!" announced Professor Sprout. "Can anyone tell me why Mandrakes are considered dangerous?"
Again Emily was the only person to raise her hand and was called on to answer. "Once the plant is considered fully matured from adolescence, the Mandrake's cry becomes fatal to those who hear it."
"Excellent Miss. Potter, ten points to Slytherin! The Mandrakes you have before you are just babies, so their cries cannot kill you yet, but you can pass out from them so I would like you all to take a pair of earmuffs," Professor Sprout said pointing to a bench were a bunch of earmuffs were piled in varying colors.
As everyone scrambled to fight over which colors they did or did not want Emily and Draco reached into their bags pulling out their own earmuffs. Narcissa had told them that they would need them from time to time starting this year, thankfully they had both thought to grab them this morning before leaving the dorms.
Once everyone had their earmuffs on Professor Sprout put a pair on herself and pushed up her sleeves grabbing the green leaves coming out of the dirt. She pulled up producing a wrinkled rough skinned baby from the pot. Its coloring was a light green and the baby was wailing at the top of its lungs. Professor Sprout reached under the bench in front of her pulling out a larger pot before burying the baby in the new dirt till only the leaves were visible once again. She wiped her hands on her apron and took off her earmuffs motioning for the student to do so as well. "I want you to do just as I did when working with your Mandrakes. We will have four people to a tray please. As you can see the compost is over there in the tubs and the pots are stacked in the back. Please keep your earmuffs on."
Emily and Draco were joined by Blaise and Theo. "Shouldn't you be with your bodyguards?" Emily said as she brought over a pot for their Mandrake.
"They will be fine on their own," Theo sneered.
Emily just rolled her eyes, "Let's get this over with. Theo put the new compost in the empty pot, Blaise hold the pot so it doesn't fall off the bench. Draco, hold the old pot while I pull the Mandrake out." When she saw their nods she instructed them to put their earmuffs on. Emily looked around her to see everyone else had their earmuffs on as well before she pulled the Mandrake out of its old pot. Even though the Mandrake was wriggling and trying to kick her they were able to repot the Mandrakes they were assigned quite quickly and with little difficulty. When they were done Professor Sprout excused their group for the day. Emily felt bad for her other classmates who had not thought to delegate the tasks beforehand and were struggling to carry out the assignment.
Theo stayed and waited for Crabbe and Goyle as Emily, Draco and Blaise went to the common room. Emily was anxious to change her clothes and she swore she was getting goofy looks from all the girls she passed. Clearly, they could smell Lockhart on her no matter how many spells she used.
"I am going to change and take a quick shower," she told the boys.
"I think I'm going to take a shower as well," Draco decided as he held open the door to the dorms. "We have lunch and then Defense do you want to meet in my room before we go to lunch or the common room?"
"I'll just go to your room, we can play some exploding snap or something until lunchtime."
Draco nodded as he and Blaise took off to clean up after being in the greenhouses.
After Emily finished her shower and had changed, she left her uniform out for the elves in her basket before making her way to Draco's room. Draco was sitting on the bed and Blaise was lying on the floor with a pillow reading. Emily walked to the bed laying down on her back. "So, Lockhart is weirder than we thought."
Blaise got up and joined them on the bed, setting his book down on Draco's desk as he did so. "We haven't even had his class yet today," Blaise said confused.
"He stopped us on our way to Herbology to have a little chat."
"Why?"
"He doesn't want Emily to go looking for publicity. He seems to think her brother and Weasley were looking to get in the paper when they flew that car to school."
"Why did they fly that car?"
"All we know is that apparently the barrier wouldn't let them through and they panicked, deciding to take the car instead of wait for help."
Blaise just nodded his head. "Sounds like a Gryff. Is it time for lunch yet? I'm starving already."
Emily cast a 'tempus' with her wand to check the time. "Perfect timing lunch is just about to start."
Lunch was uneventful and when they were finished the three second years went to the courtyard to relax like many of the other students. Emily noticed her brother was there with Hermione and Weasley. Hermione had her head buried into one of Lockhart's books while Harry and Ron were having their own conversation. Emily decided to go over and say hi to her brother.
"Hey Harry," she greeted ignoring Draco's shaking head. "Hermione, Ron."
"What do you want?" Weasley snapped at her.
"Ronald!" Hermione shrieked. "How rude can you be, honestly?"
Ron turned red, looking away just as a very small boy approached them. He was holding a camera and staring between Emily and Harry. Harry seemed to turn as red as his friend Weasley at the attention. Emily merely raised an eyebrow in curiosity.
"Hi! I'm Colin Creevey, I'm in Gryffindor with Harry, but I'm a first year," the boy said quickly as if he was rushing his words. "I was wondering if you two would mind taking a picture with me?"
"And you want a picture with us because…" Emily said looking at the boy with a blank stare.
"I want to prove that I have met you two," he said coming closer to them, his eyes shown with eagerness and awe. "Everyone has told me all about you two. How you defeated You-Know-Who when you were babies and that you have scars that look like lightning from the curse!" his eyes went to their foreheads though he looked a bit puzzled at not finding matching scars on their heads. "I like to take pictures and I was told that if I develop them in a potion the picture can move," the boy was jittery with his excitement, letting it show more with each sentence.
"I had no idea so many things were possible! I just got a letter from Hogwarts and all the odd things I had done made sense! My dad is a milkman so he had no idea that magic was real. He seemed to think it was a prank at first but I'm taking lots of pictures for him to show him everything I'm learning. It would be great if I had one where I was standing with you two and after I develop it you both could sign it!" Emily looked at the boy who was breathing heavily from his quick pace of talking. She then looked at her brother who seemed to be calculating if he could escape the courtyard before the boy could take a picture of them.
"You are signing photos for your fans now, Potter?" Emily watched as Theo came towards them, as always Crabbe and Goyle were flanking him on either side. "Signed photographs of Harry Potter," Theo called turning around to the crowd. "Quick form a line, no pushing each other!"
"I am not!" Harry said his face going red from embarrassment to anger.
The little first year told Theo he was just jealous. Emily thought the kid had a small bit of guts to stand up to the second year Slytherin but he would be crushed if he wasn't quiet.
"I don't want to be like Potter! He is a Gryffindor with a gash on his head. You need to learn that a scar doesn't make you special here," sneered Theo.
"Theo…" Emily went to step in but instead Weasley pushed himself forward pulling out a wand held together by tape as if to fight Theo himself. Emily was starting to wonder what was with Gryffindors and picking fights they couldn't win.Granger seemed to be the only one with a brain and reached out in an attempt to pull the redhead back.
"Oh I wouldn't do that Weasley," Theo said shaking his finger at the red head. "Any more trouble and your mummy will have to come and take you straight home!" People in the crowd were laughing, all of them thinking back to the Howler.
"What do we have here?" Lockhart said as he strode towards them. He was wearing bright turquoise robes that differed from the purple he had worn that morning. "Did I hear correctly that someone is giving out signed photos?" Lockhart's eye caught the twins and was instantly at their sides with an arm around each of them. Emily was going to kill Theo for causing a scene, slowly.
"Oh Mr. Creevey," said Lockhart flashing him a smile. "All three of us will pose for you and we can all sign it for you once you have it developed!" The boy seemed even more excited at the prospect of getting Lockhart in the photo with them and quickly took the picture before the bell went off to signal lunch had ended.
"Time to go to class everyone," Lockhart called to the crowd. He tightened his arms around the twins and set off back into the castle dragging them with him. His fingers had started to trace a circle into Emily's shoulder and with each swirl of the finger she plotted Theo's murder.
"I just covered for you both. We all had talks this morning and I believe I told you to not go looking for publicity. Your schoolmates are going to notice, you are trying too hard." Emily could feel the glares of the entire female population on her as they walked through the castle, though for Emily there was nothing to be jealous of when it came to Lockhart. "Here is the first pointer I will give you both, you are not ready to be handing out signed photographs of yourselves. You just look to be seeking attention…" Emily had to withhold a snort keeping her mask of indifference in place. "I just don't think you two are ready to be carrying them with you wherever you go yet. Like I said this morning just give it some time."
He finally released them as they reached his classroom. Emily groaned as she cast a spell on herself to get rid of his cologne, she was going to have to change before dinner now as well. Deciding to sit in the back of class for the first time since coming to Hogwarts Emily was shortly joined by Draco who slipped into his place next to her.
"That man has to be the biggest idiot I have ever met," Emily said glaring at the man's back.
Just then Lockhart cleared his throat calling attention to himself before Draco could ask Emily what the idiot had wanted.
Lockhart picked up one of the books sitting on Longbottom's desk and pointed to the picture on the front. "Me," he said smiling at the room. Emily let her focus wander a bit as he then launched into a tirade on his many awards, mostly focusing on how often he won the Most Charming Smile Award from Witch Weekly. He then informed them they would be starting class by giving them a quiz to see how much people had read.
Emily thought that was a reasonable thing to do and was shocked that he would think of it, that was until she was handed her quiz and began to read the questions.
What color is Gilderoy Lockhart's favorite?
What is Gilderoy Lockhart's lifetime ambition?
What do you find to be Gilderoy Lockhart's greatest accomplishment?
It seemed to never end... all the way to number 54, If you were to get Gilderoy Lockhart a birthday gift what would he want you to give him?
Emily reluctantly filled it out not wanting it to cost her a grade because she found the man's arrogance intolerable. Half an hour later he finally retrieved all the papers and began to flip through them. "Most of you seemed to have forgotten how much I love the color lilac. You know I mention it in Year with the Yeti... The greatest gift anyone could give me would be harmony between our world and the non-magicals, though I would never turn down a nice large bottle of Firewhiskey."
Lockhart winked at the class and went back to looking through the papers. Emily watched as all the other girls seemed to give a collective sigh. She just shook her head, this class could not end quickly enough for her. Lockhart set down the papers on his desk before moving to grab what appeared to be a large covered cage. He brought it forward setting it on the table in the front of the room.
"As your Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher it is my job to prepare you to face the foulest creatures in our world! In this classroom we shall face some of your greatest fears together. Know that I shall never let any harm come to any of you! Please remain calm with what I am about to show you!"
Most of the class seemed to be quiet, now fearful at what he had just said. Emily on the other hand was skeptical and leaned back in her chair as Lockhart pulled off the cover.
"That is correct," Lockhart said dramatically. "Cornish Pixies!"
The boys in the class burst into laughter. Emily was covering her smirk with her hand. Lockhart looked around trying to figure out why they were laughing. Finally, Finnegan raised his hand informing the man that pixies weren't the least bit dangerous.
"Oh but they can be!" Lockhart said trying to draw the class back in. The pixies were a bright blue color, standing just about eight inches in height. They kept rattling the bars on the cage and making faces at the students.
Suddenly Lockhart told them to get their wands out as he opened the cage releasing the pixies into the room. Emily crossed her arms to watch what she knew was about to unfold. It was complete chaos. The pixies went flying off in every direction. Poor Longbottom found himself hoisted onto the iron chandelier on the ceiling by two of the pixies. Some just flew straight for the window breaking the glass in their escape, other pixies where grabbing parchment and ripping it to shreds or throwing ink bottles across the room. Lockhart for his part just kept yelling at students to round them up. Finally, he made a big show of rolling up his sleeves and shouting "peskipiksi pesternomi!"
Emily turned her head again to hide her laughter at the man who had just made that spell up. The only Latin in that phrase was 'pester' and 'nomi' meaning 'specified pests' but she had a feeling that was a complete accident. As expected his spell had no effect on the pixies, seeing this Lockhart dove to hide under his desk.
The chandelier on the ceiling eventually gave way, causing Longbottom to come crashing back to the ground. When the bell rang everyone rushed to the door to escape the madness in the room. Emily, Draco, Harry, Granger and Weasley were the only ones left as Lockhart asked them to put the pixies in their cage. Emily heard a moan and noticed Longbottom had not been helped from the room.
"We'll take him to Madam Pomfrey," Granger offered before turning to her companions instructing them to help her support Longbottom. As the four Gryffindors left the room Emily could hear Weasley ask Granger if she still believed Lockhart was amazing.
When the door was shut Emily let her annoyance show on her face. "This man is going to drive me insane!"
Draco just snickered at his best friend and sat down so as not to get in her way. He knew offering to help would only turn her annoyance on him, plus it was rather fun to watch the girl huff about. Emily swished her wand immobilizing the pixies before summoning them to her one at a time.
Once the pixies were in their cage Emily headed back to her dorm to change and take a shower for the second time that day all thanks to a man named Gilderoy Lockhart.