Hey everyone! I was very happy and excited to write this fic. I'm kind of satisfied with how it turned out. I might write another part but who knows!
Special thanks to my best friend/beta Dash (DashFnanz).
Also, thank you Angela (Cinderella) for your encouragement.
Prompts used from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry (Challenges & Assignments)
ASSIGNMENT#10
Religious Education: Elizabeth & Mary
Task 2 - Write about visiting a distant relative (any interpretation of distant is acceptable)
"Now, girls! I want all of you to be on your best behaviour when dear Gilly gets here. No comments on his recent events and remember in the theory of half-blood, half-blood wizards get married to half-blood wizards only," said Mrs Bennet as she fussed over an uninterested Lydia's robe and pinched Kitty to stand erect. The rest of her daughters from oldest to youngest—Jane, Lizzie, Mary, Kitty and Lydia—stood in a line in front of their furnace waiting for their guest to arrive through the Floo network.
"I don't remember that being taught at Hogwarts," whispered Lizzie to Jane while rolling her eyes. The only response that Lizzie received was a light punch on her arm and Jane's usual line, "Be nice, Lizzie!"
"Mum, the only recent event was the Chamber of Secrets fiasco. Mr Gilderoy Lockhart, who was my Defence Against Dark Arts teacher during my sixth year was involved in it. Is he Gilly?" asked the ever sombre Mary, who was in year seven.
"The one and only," winked Mrs Bennet. "Such a handsome fellow," she continued with a dreamy smile. "Can you imagine our luck? My mother's sister's husband's sister's son Gilly is a wealthy and famous author. He's out of St. Mungo's and now needs a wife."
"Mum!" grasped Lizzie.
Mr Gilderoy Lockhart had been transferred to St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries after the whole hushed up Chamber of Secrets fiasco that took place with second year Harry Potter and first year Ginny Weasley. During that incident, Mr Gilderoy's Memory Charm had backfired and erased most of his own memories and he ended up in St Mungo's for quite some time. After being released from the Hospital he decided that it was time for him to settle down. He did search far and wide, but none were willing to associate with a handsome, only partly rich fraud. His last option was his distant relatives the Bennets who had five lovely daughters.
"How can you even want to associate with that guy after him being exposed!" remarked Lizzie indignantly.
"Even though he has a handsome face," Kitty added cheekily.
Mrs Bennet dismissed Lizzie's claims. "You three," she said, pointing at Mary, Kitty and Lydia. "are yet in school and are not going to be married anytime soon. Jane has her Mr Bingley." said Mrs Bennet and looked at a blushing Jane, "while Lizzie here is perpetually single. You shall do for dear Gilly."
"So you make me come early from work just to meet Mary's conceited, pompous, silly DADA's ex-teacher who is just out of St Mungo's? This is ridiculous. I'm getting out of here!" said Lizzie, preparing to leave before anyone could stop her. She gathered her robes and was ready to Apparate to her house when suddenly everyone heard a pop and there stood Mr Gilderoy in flesh and blood. Gilderoy was a man of medium height, a few inches taller than Lizzie. He was a handsome wizard with wavy blonde hair and particularly straight and shiny teeth, dressed in flamboyant red dress trousers and a white shirt along with a flashy red robe.
Lizzie froze. She gave one look at the man and Apparated into her father's study, leaving her mother to deal with "dear Gilly".
The rest of the Bennet sisters were stunned. Mary, Kitty and Lydia were used to Mr Gilderoy's unique style of dressing while Jane was not. Jane worked in the wizarding fashion sector and wondered if she should get him to book an appointment with a designer or if this was a temporary phase that began because he just got out of St Mungo's. Mrs Bennet, on the other hand, broke into raptures.
"My dear Gilly! How wonderful of you to visit us!" she exclaimed and began to introduce her daughters, afraid that dear Gilly would run away any moment. "These are my daughters, Jane, the oldest."
Jane was the reputed beauty of the family. Whoever would end up as a spouse to Jane would be incredibly lucky to have such a talented and beautiful wife. She gave him a dazzling smiling that charmed Gilderoy. "What a beautiful creature! She is the one." thought Gilderoy, daydreaming about their future together. Unfortunately, Gilderoy's bubble was burst with Mrs Bennet's voice.
"Liz… Oh! Where has that girl gone again." she mumbled but continued with the introduction as if it was an extremely crucial task. "My second oldest daughter Lizzie is currently not present. And these are my other daughters whom you must have taught at Hogwarts. Mary, Kitty and Lydia."
Mary gave a brief nod. She was not pleased with Gilderoy after knowing the whole truth. Kitty and Lydia gave him a giggling smile as that was their usual nature.
"Thank you, Mrs Bennet, for having me here. Not everyone wants me anymore due to some false claims that have been spread around," said Gilderoy with a dazzling smile which usually charmed everyone but here had the opposite effect. Jane averted her eyes. Mary gave him a stare, and Kitty was observing his shoes and Lydia his robe. The only person who smiled in return was Mrs Bennet. "I hope that you don't believe in them." he continued with a worried expression on his face.
"No, no, Gilly! When we heard those claims wizards made about you, Gilly, I outright dismissed them and claimed it to be impossible." declared Mrs Bennet with a lot of gestures. The Bennet sisters wondered who the "we" stood for in that sentence. The younger three had witnessed the events that transpired at school. The rest of the family believed these events due to the various accounts of first-hand witnesses. Mrs Bennet did believe in them but didn't care as anyone who had money was a half-blood was good enough for her girls. It didn't matter if the money came from writing atrocious stories to looting. Money is money.
"Then I'm not worried!" said Gilderoy and broke out into a smile. "Although Mrs Bennet, from now onwards I ask you to address me as Mr Gilderoy Lokhart because I have authored many books, or Professor Gilderoy Lockhart as you must have heard from the younger Miss Bennet that I teach Defence Against Dark Arts at Hogwarts."
"But Mr Gilderoy, Professor Dumbledore has appointed a new teacher this term because you were recovering at St Mungo's" pipped Mary inquisitively.
"Oh, no! That's sad. However, I'm hoping to be back soon. My students will be missing this handsome face of mine." winked Gilderoy intending to make the Bennet sisters swoon and hopefully the eldest Bennet sister fall in love with him. Once again, this desired effect didn't take place. Secretly, Gilderoy had no intention of going back to Hogwarts after the Chamber of Secrets fiasco. He planned to stay thousands of miles away from Hogwarts and Dumbledore, and McGonagall and Snape and every other witch, wizard and squib working at Hogwarts.
"Now that you've met my daughters, let's go eat some dinner, " said Mrs Bennet trying to hush everyone into the dining room.
Gilderoy let everyone proceed ahead of him as he didn't know his way around. He also wanted to spend some time with the oldest Bennet, Jane. "What a beautiful creature. Mrs Jane Lockhart! How wonderful does that sound! She is the one whom I'm going to marry. What perfect children we shall have."
Unfortunately for him, the first person to scurry out was Jane. That left Mrs Bennet and him behind. Suddenly, Mrs Bennet seemed to have remembered something and yelled loudly like a banshee, "MR BENNET, GET LIZZIE TO MEET OUR GUEST!" This made the poor Gilderoy jump out of skin with fright.
-x-x-x-x-x-
When Lizzie had Apparated she accidentally did it right on Mr Bennet's desk and took her father by surprise. Mr Bennet was sitting on the chair which was situated in the corner of the room reading what a wizard would call "muggle literature." He worked in the Muggle Liaison Office and was a close friend of Arthur Weasley. These two were what one would call muggle-mad i.e. obsessed with muggle artefacts. Both of them had a collection of muggle artefacts and often traded them. Mr Weasley preferred objects and Mr Bennet literature. He was extremely fascinated by the literature and managed to stock up multiple books in his study. Lizzie had inherited a love for reading, which made her his favourite daughter. She often joined him in reading and interpreting Muggle literature.
"Lizzie dear, I know you love my desk, but please do me a favour and get off it," Mr Bennet joked, "I have something to show you." Lizzie blushed from embarrassment and jumped off to join her father. She was curious about what he had for her.
He continued explaining about his latest readings and research. "Now, I'm reading a bit about this Greek Muggle called Socrates. He says something important here, "The unexamined life is not worth living."
"I read about that some time ago. Socrates said those words before being sentenced to death for corrupting the minds of the youth and something of that sort," replied Lizzie grumpily.
"Now your mother would not agree with Socrates. Instead, she would say that the unmarried life is not worth living." quipped Mr Bennet. Making a sport out of family and friends and especially his wife was what Mr Bennet loved to do besides reading muggle literature.
"Now don't get me started on Mum," groaned Lizzie. "I didn't Apparate on your desk for some worldly fancies, but Gilly is actually Gilderoy Lockhart. You do know what he did last year at Hogwarts, don't you? The poorly patched up Chamber of Secrets fiasco. How in Merlin's name can Mum think that inviting him over is a good idea?" grumbled Lizzie. Although, she hid the main reason Gilderoy Lockhart was present here. Her mother playing matchmaker between Gilderoy Lockhart and her was something her father should not get a whiff of else that would be another jest added to the existing ones.
Lizzie and Mr Bennet settled into a comfortable silence, each reading from their respective book. This comfortable silence was shattered by an ear-piercing voice which demanded that Mr Bennet bring Lizzie to meet the guest. Mr Bennet put down his book, sighed and said, "Come on Lizzy we better meet this Gilly, else there would be no more peace in this house."
Lizzie nodded in agreement and lifted herself off the chair and followed her father into the dinning room.
I wrote another fic finally! Yayyyy! Thank you for reading till the end.