Chapter 3

~Gilderoy Lockhart~

September 1st 1975, Hogsmeade Station

I got off the train with Marlene in tow, ignoring the various people who were pointing and whispering about me. I had woken up the girl in time to get changed as we neared the station. As I looked around the station, I heard a loud booming voice in the distance, "Firs'-years! Firs'-years over here!"

Turning to look towards the voice, I couldn't help but be really taken aback by just how big Hagrid really was. He was as tall as a single story home and almost as wide as a bus. Despite knowing his gentle nature, I could not help but be a little intimidated at the sight of him. Surprisingly, Marlene was not intimidated by the huge man. Instead she introduced him to me, "That is Hagrid. He works in Hogwarts I think. He is a friend of my parents. Although he looks a little scary, he is very nice."

I suppose it was not surprising Marlene had seen Hagrid before as her parents were very likely members of the Order of the Phoenix. Before I could respond, we heard Hagrid's booming voice again, "C'mon, follow me – any more firs'-years? Mind yer step, now! Firs'-years follow me!"

Feeling Hagrid's repeated urging, I nodded and said, " We should keep up or it would be awkward if we were left behind on the station."

Following this brief conversation we joined up with the growing gaggle of first years around Hagrid. A brief scan on all their minds showed me that there were no other 'plot characters' in my year besides Marlene and Alecto. Speaking of which, Alecto was also theoretically a waifu candidate. At least in regards to looks, Alecto was a pretty young girl with nice auburn colored hair. However, given her environment growing up and her current mindset, I didn't feel it was necessary to consider her a viable target.

After seeing no more first years joining the group of students around him, Hagrid led us to the dock where the enchanted boats to Hogwarts were kept. Much to my amusement, Alecto ended up having to get into the same boat as me. I felt the desire to tease her, but looking at her quivering legs and terrified eyes, I chose to let her go. It would be embarrassing if I ended up causing her to faint or something.

Seeing that all the students were in a boat, Hagrid got into his own boat and said, "Yeh'll get yer firs' sight o' Hogwarts in a second, jus' round the bend here."

As the boats made the aforesaid turn, myself and all the other first years let out an impressed gasp as we got our first sights of Hogwarts. The castle itself was fairly average when compared to giant modern constructions I had seen in my last life. However, what made the castle so special was its ancient magic. I could feel the soft embrace of an almost imperceptible magic surrounding me. The most accurate description of this feeling I could give was probably a loving mother welcoming her beloved child home after a long separation.

It was a very wonderful feeling. I could understand now why so many people looked back at their time in Hogwarts with such fondness. It also lent credence to a popular theory from my last life of the boat ride being some sort of ritual. All of us kept looking at the castle on the cliff in wonder as we slowly sailed across the Black Lake.

We reached an entrance to a tunnel inside the side of the cliff which was covered by a curtain of Ivy. Hagrid yelled 'Heads Down' as the first boats reached the tunnel; although this was unnecessary for everyone except the half giant himself. We drifted along a dark tunnel, which seemed to be taking us right underneath the castle until we reached a kind of underground harbor.

After everyone disembarked safely, we all walked up a long flight of stone steps and stopped in front of a huge, oak front door.

"Everyone here?" the giant asked loudly.

Seeing that no one said anything, he raised his gigantic fists and knocked three times on the castle door.

The door swung slightly and a black haired woman who seemed to be around 40 years old appeared before us. Despite her modest emerald robes and strict eyes scanning us all, her good looks were evident. In slang from my previous life, she had strong 'professional woman' vibes.

Feeling a bit speechless at seeing such a 'hot' version of professor Mcgonagall, I lamented once again at the power of Universal Calibration. There was no way at all to tell that this lady was not too far from 80…

I stopped my musings as Hagrid spoke up, "The firs'-years, Professor McGonagall."

The woman nodded to the half giant and replied, "Thank you, Hagrid. I will take them from here."

Professor McGonagall pulled the door open fully, revealing the enormous Entrance Hall. Everyone stared around curiously at the stone walls lit with flaming torches. The walls were lined with knight armours and filled with different magical portraits. There was a magnificent marble staircase in the middle of the hall that led to the upper floors. Looking upwards as we followed behind Professor McGonagall, we could see the famous moving staircases of Hogwarts moving with a strange sense of rhythm.

Eventually we arrived in an empty chamber before Professor McGonagall addressed us, "Welcome to Hogwarts. The start of term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your respective Houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your House will be something like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of your House, sleep in your House dormitory and spend free time in your House common room."

She took a brief pause to make sure we were listening before continuing, "The four Houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. Each House has its own noble history and each has produced many outstanding witches and wizards. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your House points, while any rule-breaking will lose House points. At the end of the year, the House with the most points is awarded the House Cup, a great honor. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever House becomes yours. The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. You are to wait here quietly until I return to direct you into the Great Hall."

She then looked at some of the more unkempt looking students before saying, " While you wait, I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can so as to make a better impression on your housemates."

Most of the students were whispering to themselves nervously about the sorting as they watched Professor McGonagall leave. I chuckled quietly as I saw someone telling his neighbor nervously that his elder sister told him they had to fight a troll. It seemed the Weasley twins were not the only siblings that liked to spread that particular rumor.

I saw that Marlene looked like she was ready to go to war. Curious to see what she was thinking, I peeked into her mind only to be speechless at what I found. Marlene knew about the Sorting Hat so she wasn't worried about fighting a troll or anything. Instead she was worried that the hat thought she wasn't brave enough to be a Gryfindor. Marlene planned to threaten to set the hat on fire if it refused to send her to Gryfindor…

Worried that she might destroy a priceless ancient artifact, I couldn't help but comfort the girl, " You do not have to be so nervous Marlene. The hat should listen to your opinion about where to go. And I think you are more brave than you give yourself credit for. Didn't you stand up to those bullies while I was planning on running away?"

The girl shook her head at me firmly and said, " No I am not brave. My mom has always said I am a scaredy cat…"

I suppressed a laugh at that. We had briefly discussed her parents today and from what I could gather, they had exceedingly high expectations of Marlene in all facets of life and she was struggling to meet them. This girl intended to threaten to set the Sorting Hat on fire in the middle of the Great Hall with all the students and professors of Hogwarts watching. I was not sure what more you had to do to be called brave compared to this…

I wanted to try and convince her again but was cut short as Professor McGonagall re-entered the chamber. She looked us all over to see if we had taken her words to heart before saying, "We are ready for you now. Please follow me into the Great Hall as the Sorting Ceremony is about to begin."

We formed a line and followed Professor McGonagal into the Great Hall. All of us gasped in wonder again as we admired the beautiful hall.

The Great Hall was lit by thousands and thousands of candles which were floating in mid-air above four long tables that made up almost the entire length of the hall. On the other side of the hall, the professors sat at a table of their own. There were even ghosts high above looking down at us with curiosity. The ceiling itself was almost transparent offering a view of the cloudy sky.

We arrived on the other side of the hall and stopped in front of a stool. On top was a traditional wizard's hat which seemed quite tattered. Most of the first years looked around in confusion until the hat moved and started to sing.

In my opinion the hat's lyrics and singing voice were just so-so but it received a decent amount of applause. I was not too concerned with the Sorting Hat's mediocre singing skills but was more curious if the hat was an independent thinking being or just a very advanced version of a magical portrait acting on certain set parameters.

Watching the first person to be called being sorted into Slytherin, I couldn't help but think of what House I would end up in. In my heart, Ravenclaw was the most appropriate House. There was none of that Gryffindor vs Slytherin drama and they were not seen as easy targets to bully like the Hufflepuffs. It wouldn't be too bad to take an hour for my sorting and set a record for longest sorting by the way.

Eventually, my daydreaming came to an end when it was my turn to be sorted. With excitement and expectation, I stepped forward and donned the raggedy old hat. I had not even sat down on the stool before the hat shouted loudly, " Gryffindor!"

I froze mid motion, stunned at this turn of events. Where is my intellectual Ravenclaw? I was just fantasizing about enjoying a cup of tea in Ravenclaw tower next to a window and admiring the view of the Great Lake and Forbidden Forest below. It wouldn't be too much to flirt with the beautiful Grey Lady and consider how to revive her along with her mother Rowena Ravenclaw. Surely they would consider falling in love with me for achieving this monumental feat and letting them reunite after a millennium…

But now this damn ugly hat just made my fantasy go up in smoke! Nearly Headless Nick or something… go to hell!

I walked towards the Gryfindor table and sat down in a bit of a daze. I could not help but wonder if someone had secretly cursed me. I really could not get a win today…

I snapped out of my daze as I felt someone slapping my shoulders hard while laughing. I looked up to see Frank Longbottom sitting next to me with a big grin. He then slapped the table and said loudly, " I told you guys Gilderoy would definitely be a Gryfindor. Now whoever bet against me better pay up!"

I felt suffocated when I heard this guy talking. This must be his fault. He was the one cursing me to get into Gryffindor on the train earlier. I couldn't help but look at Alice who was sitting across us looking at Frank with a loving smile. I almost bit my tongue in anger at this point! Shit, I couldn't even try to steal Alice from Frank as revenge for him cursing me due to my newly found sense of morality! Feeling frustrated, I could only double down on my vow to exact payment for all this from Nevile in the future…

Although it was unexpected to get into Gryffindor, I managed to calm down after my little temper tantrum. I looked around the Gryffindor table seeing many familiar faces. Needless to say Frank and Alice who were next to me were already flirting again in their cringy, overly expressive manner. A little further down I saw the famous Marauders all huddled together and whispering to each other about something excitedly. A few seats next to Alice, I saw Lily talking happily to a girl next to her.

Seemingly sensing my gaze, Lily looked up to me and our eyes met for a moment. She gave me a sweet smile before turning back to her girlfriend next to her. Seeing her smile seemed to inexplicably completely calm down my slightly frazzled emotions. I could only sigh that Lily was indeed worthy of being the woman who enchanted both of the protagonist's fathers…

Marlene who was just sorted into Gryffindor came running and sat down next to me excitedly. Seeing her excited appearance I congratulated her, " Congratulations Marlene you got into Gryffindor just like you wanted!"

Her smile became bigger as she heard my words. She responded to me, " Yes I cannot wait to tell my parents. Hopefully they will be proud of me."

I just nodded along and said, " I am sure they will be very proud of you."

In fact, I had a vague feeling that Marlene would not get the amount of affirmation she expected from her parents but I really did not want to break her good mood. My musings of Marlene's family life was cut short as the Sorting Ceremony finally came to an end.

I got my first real close look at Albus Dumbledore in this life as he stood up from the main seat at the head table. I couldn't help but feel a contradiction when I looked at him. I could clearly see he was an old man with a long white beard, half moon glasses and slightly funny looking purple robe. He looked no different from a slightly out of touch retiree. Yet to my senses it felt like I was near a sleeping giant dragon. He did not make any moves to threaten me yet I felt the need to give him respect and deference as he could end me at any point if he wanted to.

I finally came in touch with the peak of this world and I couldn't help but feel a sense of loss and frustration. The gap between us was so huge I could not even measure it. I had to admit I had grown prideful over the past month due to my rapidly rising strength after getting a wand. Especially after my fight with those mooks on the train, I was even fantasizing of being able to punch Dumbledore and kick Voldemort before graduation. Fortunately I was sitting before Dumbledore and not Voldemort otherwise I would likely not even have a chance to regret my arrogance.

It was also the first time I met such a powerful magic user and this encounter really set into perspective the status of Dumbledore and Voldemort in the wizarding world and why both had so many fanatical followers.

I silently watched the powerful wizard spread his hand out wide and said to everyone with a smile, "I understand that everyone is eager to fill their bellies so I will save the announcements for after the banquet. For now, all I will say is, welcome to Hogwarts to those who just arrived. As for those who are returning, Welcome back!"

As the headmaster sat down, food magically appeared on all the tables. I honestly did not realize how hungry I had been until I actually started eating. I did not partake too much in the conversations around me, content to just listen for the most part. Eventually, everyone was full and the food slowly disappeared from the table.

Seeing the food vanish, Dumbledore stood up again and said, " Just a few more words now that we are all fed and watered. I have a few start of term notices to give you. First-years should note that the forest on the grounds is forbidden to all students. And a few of our older students would do well to remember that as well."

He looked pointedly at the Marauders here. " I have also been asked by Mr Filch, the caretaker, to remind you all that no magic should be used between classes in the corridors. Quidditch trials will be held in the second week of the term. Anyone interested in playing for their House teams should contact Madam Hooch. Now that the notices are done, let us all sing the Hogwarts school song."

What followed next was basically chaos as people sung in different tunes and speeds. The Marauders in particular were the last to finish singing, going for the slowest tune. After all the 'singing' stopped, Dumbledore wiped his eyes as if he had just heard a masterpiece and then said, "Ah, music, a magic beyond all that we do here! And now it is time for bed so off you all trot!"

The Gryffindor first years all followed Frank and Alice, who were the fifth year prefects to the Gryffindor Tower. After introducing us to the Fat Lady and informing us of the weekly password, we made our way into the common room. After letting us know we would receive our timetables at breakfast tomorrow, Frank and Alice separated the group by gender and led them to their respective dormitories.

The dormitory consisted of four-poster beds with red curtains, a wooden nightstand next to it and their school trunks at the foot of the bed. The bed curtains had the house mascot on them. A closet and a stool stood near the beds. Portraits hung on the walls and red banners hung from the ceiling. The dorm had a centrally located stove in the center of the room. Red armchairs were located near the stove.

I sat in the red arm chairs around the stove and chatted with my future dorm-mates of the next seven years for a little while before bidding them goodnight and getting into bed. The day had been very long and tiring for me and I was asleep within a few minutes of touching the pillow of my bed.

September 11th 1975, Hogwarts Castle

Despite my initial worries, being a Gryffindor was not as bad as I had been worried it would be. There was no 'Draco Malfoy' coming over to challenge my patience and no 'Slimy Git' trying to ruin my day with extreme bias. Rather, the unofficial leader of the first year Slytherins seemed to be Alecto. The girl couldn't look me in the eyes let alone think about coming over to provoke me. The current potions professor, Horace Slughorn seemed quite charmed by me and I had a feeling I could expect an invitation to the infamous Slug Club sometime soon.

Of course that is not to say that there was no trouble. Due to my duel on the express, there were a few Slytherin students who tried to mess with me either for revenge or bragging rights over my opponents. Unfortunately for them, I could feel their maliciousness a mile away. After the third such student appeared unconscious with his head stuck in a toilet, no more Slyherins came to bother me, at least for the time being.

This did intensify the rumors about me but at this point I had given up on the plan for anonymity. As long as I had a few cards up my sleeve, it was okay to show off my regular skills appropriately. It must be said that the narcissism and vanity that I definitely inherited from the original Lockhart were greatly satisfied by this limelight.

In regards to my classes, I can only say that I was fighting off boredom. Although, I had only just gotten my wand, I had more or less been using magic for almost a decade. Combined with my superior memory thanks to my Mind Palace, I was miles ahead of the basics being taught in the first year. As a side note, Gryffindor was currently in the lead for the house cup by 30 points due to all the points I had received in my classes. A part of me was curious if I could manage to get the 'Seven Years, Seven House Cups' achievement.

Unfortunately, the current quidditch team was quite good so it was unlikely I could become a first year exception like the Harry in the original timeline. Although I disliked James Potter for obvious reasons(competition for one of my favorite waifus), he was a very exceptional quidditch player. I didn't regret this too much however, as I really did not have too much spare time for quidditch in the first place.

The Hogwarts library was really a real holy place in my mind. It was the most comprehensive collection of magical books on the continent. It had books on everything from more mundane topics like History and Legal Studies to obscure topics like Alchemy and Ancient Magic. I had to prevent myself from salivating everytime I passed by the restricted section. It took a lot of willpower not to just dive into studying all sorts of advanced magics or even go looking for more advanced Legilimency and Occlumency techniques.

My current skill tree was basically totally supported by my superior Mind Arts. As long as someone managed to counter my Mind Arts, my combat ability would not even be as good as your average Hogwarts graduate. I anticipated that most of my time this year would be spent filling in my obvious deficiencies.

Aside from my continued magical studies, I tried my best to spend time with different waifu candidates. This endeavor was harder than I initially anticipated. Outside of Marlene, who was in the same year and House as me, it was quite hard to actually find people in the castle. Over the last few days I had just managed to introduce myself to Lily once outside of the library and have a very short conversation with Elena while finding her walking down the staircases towards the Great Hall for supper.

I could not help but envy Harry for having such a convenient tool as the Marauder's Map. Unfortunately, I lacked both the skill and understanding of Hogwarts to be able to craft such an artifact any time soon. This meant I could only acquire the original or at least the production method from the map's creators. It was unlikely the Marauders would just hand over their secrets so this required further planning on my part.

Most of my time with Marlene was spent exploring the castle and getting more familiar with it. Most of our conversations usually just centered around our classes and the different professors. As I had suspected, Marlene was indeed a very talented witch. Had I not existed, it was likely she would be the top student of our year.

Also like I had suspected, her parent's reactions to her admission to Gryffindor was a little lackluster which had greatly disappointed Marlene. Fortunately, she was quite popular amongst the different female students of Gryffindor and making so many new friends offset her depression. Ironically, Marlene had spent more time with Lily in the past few days than I had. Lily seemed quite fond of the younger witch treating her like a little sister.

Of course, while learning and interacting with waifu candidates was important, the most important thing in my heart was actually my family's safety. Although after the first week, it was early to say I was hailed as the next Dumbledore or something, my superior talent was visible to all. Slowly but surely, my growing influence will cause the plotline to change. My biggest worry was that some Death Eaters or even Voldemort himself might target my family.

For example, what if the mooks I beat on the train complained to their parents and then staged a classic plot of 'beat the young and the old appears'. I was safe in the castle but my family was not. I had considered too many scenarios in my head. Since moving was not an option my parents were currently willing to consider, I had thought of the legendary Fidelius Charm. Although it was a very high level magic, I was confident I could learn it by Christmas holidays. Even if I could not hide the entire house, I could at least create a safehouse for my family to retreat to.

This was a good idea I did plan to implement but it still had many flaws. First and foremost being that I couldn't just tell my family to live inside the house forever for the next several years. Both my parents had jobs and my sisters went to school. It was unrealistic and unfair for me to expect my family to just drop everything so I could feel better.

Aside from the Fidelius Charm, there were many more spells to learn that could increase the safety factor for my family but in fact, there would always be one more spell I could learn and there would always be some angle I didn't properly consider. What I really needed was a powerful and trustworthy guard.

Needless to say, when it came to the fastest and most reliable way to recruit a powerful and trustworthy person to guard my family, the first thing that came to mind was the Catalog and my single use of the Stamp ability. In some ways I was actually thankful for the limitations of Super Nightmare mode as the Bindings had always been the most distasteful part of the Catalog. Yet despite the distastefulness, it was indeed a strong temptation. With Bindings, you could acquire a loyal and powerful follower forever and even receive the points to become more powerful yourself.

While it was a little hypocritical to turn around and stamp someone after I had just recently resolved to be more responsible with my powers, I would rather compromise my morals a little rather than feel regret if something happened to my family when I did have the power to prevent it.

Ideally, I would be able to stamp one of the few Tier 6 powered waifus in the Harry Potter universe but they were all not alive at this point in the timeline. Since most of the population of the magical world counted as Tier 5, it became a question of whom would I use the stamp on to receive the most benefits. After much consideration I had narrowed the list down to three people; Bellatrix Lestrange, Queenie Goldstein and Perenelle Flamel.

Perenelle Flamel was the wife of famous alchemist Nicholas Flamel. Although after having lived for over half a millennium, Perenelle had not reached Tier 6, I theorized that she was likely to be the very peak of Tier 5 in strength. Aside from her own strength, the most obvious benefit of stamping her would be the possibility of learning the secrets of the legendary Philosopher's Stone. This would allow me to extend the lives of my family who could not benefit from the Everlasting Talent of the Catalog, whenever I eventually bought it. Her family was also deeply entrenched in the European magical community, accumulating friends and knowledge everywhere which would also help me a lot in the future after I graduated from Hogwarts.

Of course, she was the hardest of the three targets to track down. Likely due to the Philosopher's Stone, the Flamels kept a very tight lid on their whereabouts most of the time. Assuming I managed to track them down within a reasonable timeframe, there were still many difficulties in actually stamping Perenelle. She had been married to her husband for almost 600 years. It was likely that even if she tried to hide it, Nicholas Flamel would notice his wife of 600 years had changed.

With spells like the Imperius Curse and items like Love Potions being a thing, even if no one could detect the stamp, it was not difficult to theorize that Perenelle was under the influence of some sort of mind magic. This was very likely to pit me against Nicholas Flamel and even possibly Dumbledore. Given that I was almost Voldemort's enemy by default, I did not want such an outcome. However, given the possible benefits I was still willing to take on these risks and try to stamp Perenelle.

Queenie Goldstein was a powerful American half-blood witch and a natural Legilimens much like myself. She was also the sister-in-law of Newt Scamander, famed Magizoologist and the author of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.

Given her superior ability in the Mind Arts and excellent magic ability( she could cast some spells wandlessly with relative ease), Queenie could also be considered peak Tier 5. Aside from her strength, stamping her would give me a very skilled teacher in the Mind Arts which was admittedly my favorite branch of magic. Her relations to Newt could also likely open some doors for me though not as many as Perenelle.

While not as elusive as the Flamels, Queenie also seemed to generally live in a very low key manner, not appearing before others often. If I could find her, stamping her would be a little easier to hide as perhaps ironically, her skill in the Mind Arts themselves would dissuade people from believing she was under the influence of some sort of mental effect. It also helped that her significant other, Jacob Kowalski was a muggle.

Of course, her sister Tina and Newt were both also accomplished witches and wizards themselves so it was still possible for them to notice something and get in touch with Dumbledore(this old man really knew too many people). In general, I considered the risk lesser than with Perenelle as Tina and Newt didn't live together with Queenie( I am assuming anyways) which made the odds of detection lower.

Bellatrix Lestrange was a well known character to fans of the Harry Potter universe with a rich canon and fanon history. Bellatrix was a pure blood witch best known for her unwavering loyalty to Voldemort and his cause. She herself was a powerful witch mastering many obscure Dark Arts and likely to be considered peak Tier 5( before going to Azkaban version). I could learn powerful Dark Magic from her and perhaps access the Black and Lestrange family libraries(both families are members of the so-called Sacred 28).

Aside from her strong strength,her high position in the power structure of the Death Eaters made it so she would know a lot about their plans like possible raiding targets which could be very helpful if I wanted to protect my family. As a side note, I would probably also feel the least guilty of stamping her amongst my three choices.

Bellatrix was also probably the easiest to find amongst the three possible targets. Her erratic behavior style would likely help hide the fact that I had stamped her. There was still considerable risk of discovery as due to Voldemort's non-trusting nature, I would not put it above him to check the minds of even his most fanatical subordinates. As a sort of plus, Bella was likely the only of the three targets that would not likely cause me possible trouble with Dumbledore.

Now all I had to do was to try and find one of these three people… which likely required more planning… I felt like I had been stuck doing too much planning the past few months. Feeling a little tired mentally, I finished the Mind Partition I was using to do said planning for now and focused on my current situation… Detention!

Although it had felt quite refreshing to beat those mooks on the train, one could not just beat up other students without consequences… Looking at all the trophies left needing to be polished I felt a little sad. Next time I beat someone up I cannot leave any evidence behind!

AN/: So that is a wrap. Finally reached Hogwarts proper. Despite his wishes, MC is in Gryffindor. Some more of the protagonist's worries about his family. Introduced a few candidates for the only Stamp. Personally I like Queenie but wouldn't mind hearing who everyone else likes. Will still take some ideas for possible extensions of HP universe mind magic.

As always please enjoy and leave a review!