Ch 5: Bigby's Basic Spellbook

A/N: OMG AN UPDATE! Lockhart is an interesting character in his one-demensionality, I have to wonder if he was not even all that good looking when he was younger and magically enhanced himself during puberty to the determent of his magical powers. As we approach yet another divergence from canon, do recall that I do not own a thing.

Harry's investigation into Lockhart would have to wait however, as that weekend were the Quidditch tryouts. Even the next defense class on Thursday had no leads, as Lockhart lead them in a discussion on the finer points of awareness and defense. "The key is, you see, being always prepared. Why, if I had let the Trolls get to me, you'd never have had me as your teacher!" "And what a loss that'd be." Ron grumbled quietly. Harry sighed and continued to try writing notes but kept getting distracted by thoughts of Lockhart casting spells.

Harry and Hermione were essentially dragged to the pitch by Draco and Ron. Neville followed along out of curiosity. The Gryffindor Captain was an excitable fellow, and dragged all of them on the pitch. Wood explained the game in general principle. There were tons of rules and lots of different things to keep track of. Oliver Wood had a main opening for a seeker but was also looking for players to be second seats for tired players. Games had a tendency of running long due to needing the seekers.

Oliver ran them through many exercises, and Harry proved to be a good seeker, somehow. Oliver wanted to run him through some seeker work but Harry spoke up, he didn't want to be on the team. He wanted to study more magic, which was true, he wanted to study his arts. Draco and Hermione agreed but Ron, who was a decent Keeper and Neville who was also pretty good at Seeking wanted to stay on. Hermione sighed but the three left the two to it. With the rest of the day off and very little homework, they decided to visit Hagrid.

They were within twenty feet of Hagrid's house when the front door opened, but it wasn't Hagrid who came out. Gilderoy Lockhart, wearing robes of plaest mauve today, came striding out. "Surely you must know something about cockatrices? Wights? Darkmant-" He then noticed Harry, Hermione and Draco there and sighed. "Never mind!" He strode toward the castle. Harry gave his two friends a meaningful look and ran after the professor. They reached the halls when Harry felt a familiar strange sensation roll over him. "Professor, watch out!" he shouted.

Lockhart spun around, surprised, and a nasty smell came out of one of the corridors. A group of odd looking creatures shambled forth, all of them had long sharp teeth and pallid flesh. One of them looked especially wretched. The stench seemed to emanate from the leader, almost overpowering Harry and Lockhart but they managed to overcome. Lockhart stepped forth, whispered something to himself, then said "Stay behind me Harry!" He stared down the creatures and shouted, "Illustrio Persona, Figmenta, Duplicity Convexa!"Suddenly, there were four Lockharts when before there was one. Harry smirked at the tactical idea, he too shouted, "Illustrio Persona, Figmenta, Duplicity Convexa!" Now there were also four Harrys as well.

The creatures looked very confused but attacked as they could. A creature attacked Lockhart but seemed to hit only an image which vanished as soon as it was struck. Another hit an image of Lockhart as well. The leader snarled and attacked Harry, but it too was drawn off by an image. The last creature attacked with it's leader and destroyed an image. There were now only two Harrys and two Lockharts. "Got any other ideas Professor?" Harry asked nervously. The professor smiled, "Always! Brace yourself Harry, this battle is about to get more crowded! Conjura Monstra, Cornish Pixies!" The Cornish Pixies from Harry's first class appeared behind the monsters and snarled to attack and each one started gnawing and biting at the bizarre creatures.

"I think I'll avoid summoning anything else into this battle Professor... Incendio!" Harry aimed at the leader, his flame a simple red, that barely burned the creature. The creatures were too busy to take notice of the weak flames and attacked the pests attacking them. The Cornish Pixies were too fast for the creatures however and laughed at the pitiful attempts. "Perhaps a stronger spell is in order... let's see... yes... Incendio Trio!" Lockhart aimed at a nearby creature to him. Three jets of fire burst from his wand, one orange, one yellow and one blue.

The creature fell over and burned merrily, producing more of the horrible smell. "You should try a duo for now Harry, I don't think your core could take a trio. Though with the ability to cast the second echelon already... Still." Harry nodded and cast again at the leader. "Incendio Duo!" Two jets of flame came out, one orange and one yellow. The jets burned the leader but he wasn't down yet. The creatures screeched and ignored the pixies, focusing on the two wizards again. One of the creatures manged to hit Lockhart and his other image vanished while the leader weakly scratched at Harry's image causing the last creature to try and hit Harry but missed. The Pixies bit the leader hard and he fell, dying as well.

"Two left Harry, keep it up! Incendio Trio!" Three jets fired from Lockharts wand again, taking down the ghoul who had hit him. "Incendio duo!" Harry fired two yellow bolts of fire, even though he felt like he had concentrated hard enough for two blue. It didn't matter, however, as the creature was taken out. Harry breathed hard. "Excellent work! Let's see... 10 points to Gryffindor for marvelous Spell work." Lockhart winked. The Cornish Pixies chattered. "Oh right, Dismissed." The Pixies vanished, presumably back to the classroom. "Now then, Harry, if you wouldn't mind coming with me to my office? I believe we have a LOT to discuss. No worries, Filch and Hagrid will help take care of our mess, I could take care of it myself you see only I used a lot of my power with those Ghouls."

Harry and Lockhart reached the professor's office and Lockhart unlocked it with a spell. "Can't be too careful." He winked to Harry. Professor Lockhart's office was, in a word, weird. It was covered in pictures of the professor and signed copies of his own books were on the shelf. The professor smiled as he lead Harry to a chair and sat down across from him. "My dear boy, I am astounded and delighted to be in the company of a fellow Artist, and one so talented too!" he began, then held up a hand to prevent Harry from asking him questions, "Not just yet, I know you have a lot of questions of me, as I do of you!"

Lockhart sighed and seemed to be thinking, "Honestly, I wasn't prepared for another Artist, I had lost all hope after graduating from Hogwarts." he said, "Let's start at the beginning, I am a student of Bigby, sort of. He sent a book through the planes and it wound up here. I trained in Magic and Arts as much as I could and as you can see, I became quite well known for my Magic." he winked, "Though I'm sure you can guess I used some Art as well. Who might be your teacher?"

"To be honest sir, I don't know." Harry responded, "I've heard of Bigby, or at least, his many spells but my book seems to have no author anywhere. I found my book in an odd library, and have been focusing on my classes with the Professors here at Hogwarts and the many lessons my author put into his book." Lockhart nodded, "I see, and yet, you reached the second echelon in your second year! Magnificent!"

"Well, I did have some help..." Harry responded, "Ah yes, your friends." Lockhart said and Harry didn't bother to correct him. "So.. What do you know of the world of our authors?" Harry asked, "It seems much more dangerous than our own," Lockhart responded and Harry nodded, "Beyond that, it'd be hard to tell without a resident to tell us more." "I see..." Harry said, and for some reason he felt like he didn't want to tell Lockhart about Isyndel. "Any other questions Harry?" Lockhart asked, "What about the.. Ghouls? Have you fought them before?"

Lockhart nodded, "Ah yes, in my travels I have fought many creatures. Pity I can't write about them because no ones ever heard of them before!" "Is that why you were asking Hagrid?" "Yes, I was hoping the gamekeeper would know. He has an affinity with animals, much more than the aging Care of Magical Creatures Professor." Harry nodded, he had faced several creatures that no one seemed to know of. "

Now then, I won't ask to see your book as we both know that is incredibly rude and personal, but I can teach you what I know. Both Arcane and monster-wise. We could share some knowledge from our authors, as after all, we are now the only TWO artists I know of." "I would like that Professor, I would like that a lot." Harry smiled, glad to have someone experienced in the arts on his side.