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CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE: Confrontations in Unexpected Places

Lockhart was fumbling with the cabinet next to his bed when Harry entered his private room. The former teacher looked round, saw Harry and blinked, smiling innocently. "Tell me, young man, do you happen to know how this thing opens?"

"You can drop the act, Lockhart,"Harry told him. "Zacharias squealed. He told us everything."

"Squealed?" Lockhart looked confused. "Then this Zacharias is a pig?"

"Some people would say so but no. He told us that he and Harriet Kenwood cured you months ago. He told us how you erased Harriet's mind and threatened to do the same to him if he didn't co-operate with you. How you erased Hermione's memory at the honeymoon cottage. How you got Zacharias to feed you titbits on what effect it was having and how you erased Imelda Creevey's memory when she stumbled across you and Zacharias in one of the classrooms. All in all, he's given us more than enough to have you convicted of illegal use of memory charms."

Lockhart's eyes changed abruptly, becoming more lively and cunning. He let out a theatrical sigh. "I always thought it was a mistake to let him keep his memory but erasing both of them would have aroused too much suspicion and he seemed the more malleable."

"But why erase them in the first place?"

"Because of you, dear Harry. Because once my memory was restored I remembered how I lost it in the first place. I remembered you dragging me down to the Chamber of Secrets, wanting to play the hero. Because of you I have spent years of my life wasting away in here."

Harry laughed bitterly. "I thought from the start that someone did this out of revenge but you? I was expecting Lucius Malfoy. What do I get instead? Gilderoy Lockhart."

"And that's the thing,"Lockhart snapped. "Once that would have impressed people. Once Gilderoy Lockhart was regarded as one of the greatest wizards of his generation, a hero, an idol! You did more than rob me of my memory, my life. You robbed me of my reputation, the one thing that mattered to me. Gilderoy Lockhart is forgotten and who do they remember instead? You. Harry Potter."

"I never wanted to be remembered like this."

"Which makes it all the more galling! I spent years carefully creating my image only for you to tear it apart in seconds. You become famous by an accident of birth. The Chosen One. Zacharias was very forthcoming when I questioned him. He told me about how you were revered for your final battle with You-Know-Who. How you actually married that silly little girl you insisted I risk my neck to try and save. And how she was cruelly taken from you in her prime. A tragic hero! One whose life has been filled with pain and yet has risen above it all. Oh, they must love you. You should be grateful to me for giving you more pain. It truly was providence that saw me return just as you were about to marry again. I remember Hermione of course. Always so attentive in classes. A pity in a way that she was the one, at least she appreciated my image. I considered erasing your mind but that would be too easy. So I erased her mind on your wedding night. Gave you a fleeting moment of happiness and then snatched it away from you. Let you live out the rest of your life knowing what might have been."

"Except you didn't,"Harry replied. "I want Hermione to get her memory back. But even if she never does, she'll be happy. We'll be happy. I'll make sure of that. You see, that's the difference between you and her. She has a family, people who care about her. All you ever had were a bunch of fans who fell away once they saw you for what you really were. An empty life built on lies. Hermione would never have ended up here."

Lockhart sighed. "In that case, there's only one thing left for me to say. Expelliarmus!"

Harry hadn't even realised Lockhart had retrieved his wand from his bedside cabinet. The first he knew was when his own wand flew out of his hand. Lockhart covered him with the wand, gesturing for him to move round until he was backed up against the bed.

"Your marriage may have survived Hermione's memory loss,"Lockhart observed,"but what if I was to erase your memory too? How would you fare if neither of you remembered the other?"

"I don't know,"Harry answered. "But Hermione's children are standing behind you. They might have something to say about it."

Lockhart spun round. Lined up behind him were James, Albus, Rose, Lily and Hugo, all their wands pointed directly at him. He considered the situation for a moment then pointed his wand upwards in a gesture of surrender and handed it to James. Then he turned back to Harry, putting on his most charming smile. "Harry. Is there, ah, anything I can do to convince you to look kindly upon me?"