Harry's twelfth birthday was celebrated with the company of family and friends, including the Weasleys. Ron slept over that night and was with Harry when the Malfoy house elf, Dobby showed up to warn Harry not to return to Hogwarts. They concluded that Draco was just playing prank on them. The same conclusion was reached even when they discussed it with his father. James offered to speak to Lucius, but Harry said it wasn't a good idea as Dobby might be severely punished and he didn't want Draco thinking he fell for his prank.
A Quidditch game with his father in the heat of summer was always one of the many things that made Harry feel the warmth of home and family. Both father and son were attempting to score Quaffles over each other as an owl flew towards them.
"I won!" Harry said cheekily when he scored a Quaffle while James was preoccupied with taking the letter from the owl.
"That's cheating," James tickled Harry as the latter giggled.
"Who's the owl from?" he asked as they landed on the ground.
"Hogwarts. Must be your new school list."
Harry sulked. He loved Hogwarts, but he was having so much fun at home. Nevertheless, he opened his letter and scanned through the list.
"Dad, aside from the Standard Book of Spells, the whole book list is written by a Gilderoy Lockhart. Is he a famous wizard?" asked Harry.
"Lockhart's a famous author that claims to have been on many adventures based on which he writes his books. But I knew him in school. He gave teenage me a run for my money in conceit and attention seeking. As headboy, I had to rebuke him for pasting a huge picture of him of himself on the school notice board to advertise his autograph signing. He refused to comply until I threatened him," James shook his head.
"People wanted his autograph in school?" Harry was astonished. He didn't think Lockhart was a successful author even back as a student.
"Yeah. He had his looks, charm and marketing skills. Managed to build himself up to be to be more that he was with the gift of his gap. In school, he used to give out beauty and fashion tips. Wasn't hard to convince people of his knowledge, given his looks and how he groomed himself. Would have stuck to his element if only he'd stuck to that."
Harry raised his eyebrows. "He's not in his element with the things he currently writes about?"
"I'm afraid I'm not entirely convinced of his magical knowledge. I rather suspect he's at least exaggerating his hand on experiences. But this is of course just an assumption".
Just then, Hedwig arrived with a letter from Hermione.
"Hermione's still on vacation with her parents but she'll be home soon and plans on going to Diagon Alley next Saturday," said Harry.
"Brilliant, we'll do our Diagon Alley shopping then too. Owl the Weasleys if they're free next Saturday, so we can coordinate," said James.
Diagon Alley was packed when Harry arrived outside Flourish and Blott's. Joining him were the Marauders, Weasleys, Grangers, Miranda and Jenny. A large poster outside Diagon Alley announced that Gilderoy Lockart was signing autographs for his new book that day. Mrs. Weasley, Miranda and Jenny looked elated as James and Sirius rolled their eyes at each other. Harry suspected the latter two women only tagged along to meet Lockhart.
"Miranda fancies the insufferable prick" said Sirius as he crossed his arms and pouted.
"I do not" protested Miranda. "I just happen to admire his work."
"Which you have to admit are admirable and well accomplished. Doesn't hurt that he has his good looks to go with it", Jenny added.
"Jenny, you too?" said James with a frown.
"I think you both are just jealous" said Miranda.
"Are not," said James and Sirius together.
"We just see through the surface of Lockhart's pretty package," said James.
"Umm hmm" neither Miranda nor Jenny seemed to believe their explanation.
As they listened to Lockhart's speech, Harry couldn't help but get the same vibes from Lockhart that his father suspected. Something about Lockhart seemed fake. His thoughts were interrupted by Lockhart calling him up front. He looked at James who also looked uncomfortable.
"Lockhart, there's no need to …" James began.
"Nonsense, come on, boy. Don't be shy," he dragged Harry upfront as James mouthed "It's alright, just go with it".
After bragging about having Harry by his side and having their picture taken, Lockhart announced that he would be Harry's professor. Harry really hoped his father's intuition about Lockhart wasn't entirely true as he wanted to learn proper Defense Against the Dark Art's from a competent teacher. Fortunately, he already had competent teachers in the form of the Marauders. Just the other day, his dad taught him the basic disarming spell, Expelliarmusl Harry enjoyed expelling things from the arms of his family and household staff until James had said the household staff were off-limits to practice the spell on. But regardless of whether Lockhart was a competent professor, Harry's bigger worry was that Lockhart would not leave him alone in school and continue to bring unwanted attention on him. His thoughts were interrupted by Lockhart giving him a free copy of his collection of books for school.
Harry took James aside after Lockhart had let him go and Mrs. Weasley has taken his books to get them autographed by Lockhart.
"Harry, don't worry. I'll do all that I can to stop your picture from making the frontpage. Unless, you actually want to be on the frontpage," James winked as Harry scowled. "I'll take that as a no".
"Dad, do you mind if I gave my free books from Lockhart to Ron? I want him to also have new books", said Harry.
"Certainly. I was going to suggest the same thing. I'll be right back with a new set while you inform Mrs. Weasley," he said as Harry nodded.
"Here are the Transfiguration and Potions ones," said Jenny.
"Thanks" said James as he added the books to the completed collection in front of him.
"James, is part of the reason you're against Lockhart because Lily used to go out with him?"
"Oh please. Lily only went on one date with him that ended with her throwing her drink on him," James grinned at the memory. "Although to be fair, she would probably have done the same thing to me if we went out in fifth year."
"Yeah," she chucked. "So Lockhart's going to be Harry's professor."
James narrowed his eyes and pressed his lips together. "I pity the Hogwarts students. But at this moment, I really need to find a way to stop Harry's picture from making the front page."
"Any ideas so far?"
"I was thinking about asking Crouch for help. He may only be courteous because of Harry's fame, but I figure there's nothing to lose. What do you think?".
"That might work, but the moment you voluntarily ask a favor from Fudge, you'll be obliged to return any favor he asks you which might require you compromising your principles," Jenny pointed out.
"That's true. But do you have any better ideas on how to handle this?" he asked.
"I have a friend who's an editor at the Daily Prophet. I could get him to handle this," she offered.
"That would be brilliant. Thank you very much Jenny," said James gratefully.
Just then they heard a noise behind them. They turned around to see Arthur had shoved Lucius against a shelf.
"What's going on?" asked Jenny apprehensively.
"Even the most decent person feels like punching Malfoy every two sentences that come out of his mouth. At some point, they lose self-control to not act on it," James shrugged before they both ran towards the commotion.
As they left Flourish and Blotts after the fight has been diffused, Harry explained to James the events that led up to Arthur attacking Lucius including Draco mocking him about making the frontpage, Ginny defending him, Lucius showing up and mocking Arthur for his lack of money and Arthur finally losing his cool when Lucius's taunts had gone too far.
A/N: Please, please review so that I know if it's any good. After various protests, I've decided that I'm going to keep James and Jenny as friends for now and develop them as friends. And then I'll see how it goes and how readers feel.