It had been three days since Ethan had returned to Hogwarts, and the rumours about Lockhart's classes had already been spreading wildly.
Some tried to defend him, mostly girls enamoured with the facade the man showed to the world, but even then, most of the school understood by now that he was a unique teacher, to say the least.
So, it was apprehensive that Ethan entered the classroom for the first time. His fellow Slytherins either looked bored or excited, all for different reasons he was sure.
But 2.00 p.m. struck, and Lockhart was nowhere in sight. They had to wait a whole ten minutes for him to burst into the room, a cape bellowing flamboyantly behind him as he exclaimed, "You all passed my test wonderfully!"
He quickly reached the front of the class, and leaned on his desk, flashing them a smile, "I wanted to see what you would do without my guiding hand, and you all passed by staying in the class."
Lockhart hardly fooled anyone however, as he was very clearly breathless from running all the way to their class. He might be trying to hide it, but he was doing a very bad job at it.
Shamelessly leaving his explanations at that, Lockhart looked at the students, before unlocking his bag and distributing exam papers to all the students with a swipe of his wand.
However, the exam questions were quite atypical, and of the very same nature as the ones the other classes had gotten. Instead of being about the dark arts or fantastic beasts, they all were about Lockhart himself.
"You might have heard about the questions from your schoolmates, so I changed them a little for every class. Don't worry, I don't mind you speaking about me between classes, I am used- Wait, what are you doing?!"
Everyone turned their heads to look at Ethan when they heard Lockhart's exclamation. And they too were shocked by what they saw as Ethan had his wand out, and had burnt the exam paper.
As the idiotic test turned into ashes, Ethan looked up innocently at Lockhart, and asked, "Wasn't this the test? We should not be taking things from strangers blindly, because they might be cursed?"
Lockhart paused for a second, before exclaiming loudly, "Wonderful, Mr. Grindelwald! You are the first of my students to catch onto the REAL test! 1 Point to Slytherin!"
The rest of the students looked at the piece of paper as if enlightened, but Ethan stared at Lockhart. He knew this was bullshit, and he did not need to look into Lockhart's head to know that. Staring into his eyes however, Ethan did make an unexpected discovery.
With how strong his mind had gotten, Ethan had gotten the ability of empathy, which allowed him to passively feel the emotions of those around him. That ability was further strengthened when he looked at them in the eyes. Only people with Occlumency shields on could shield themselves from this ability.
And what surprised Ethan was that Lockhart was one such person. For a person he expected to be a total buffoon, traces of Occlumency were surprising.
Although, now that he thought about it, the Memory Charm might have to do with the Mind Arts. Ethan did not know for sure since he had not learned it, although he supposed he would soon learn about it since it was in the second year program.
That surprising discovery aside, Ethan's goal this year with Lockhart was to expose him as the fraud he was, and that as soon as possible. After all, Ethan did not want to waste an entire year with him, as he happened to somewhat like Defence Against the Dark Arts.
After that, Lockhart spent the rest of the class telling about his tales. Of course, Ethan did not just leave him be, and asked about every question that came to mind, in an effort to take down his narrative.
Unfortunately, for all his faults, Lockhart was an excellent liar, and he told the stories as if he had truly experienced them. There were no loopholes in his tales, which might explain the enthusiasm for his books.
After all, all the stories he told did actually happen. He just was not the hero in those stories. Instead, he had stolen the stories from them, and erased their memories with the Memory Charm.
It did not matter though. Ethan was sure that Lockhart would make other mistakes with time.
After that, the Slytherins also had their first potions class of the year. Snape was as warm as always.
As the class ended however, Ethan surprised his friends by saying, "Don't wait for me, I'll be going to the library."
They all looked at him in shock.
Theodore looked at him up and down, and asked, "Who are you and what have you done to Ethan?"
Ethan opened his mouth to snap something back, but Daphne quickly followed, "You could at least come up with a good enough lie if you wanted to ditch us."
"You guys-"
He did not get to say much more as Tracey poked his side, winking as she said, "Of course you're going to the library."
It was now Tracey's turn to be looked at strangely, as they knew that she would be the last person to miss an opportunity to tease Ethan.
But then, she followed with, "You want some privacy to meet with dearest Eva," she started hugging herself, "oh Ethan, you're so cool, let's marry and have lots of babies!"
Theodore and Daphne both grinned, so Ethan quickly stopped them, "Alright let it go. Don't be mean to the girl, she's just-"
"Crazily in love with you?"
"Intense?"
"Stalking you?"
Ethan rolled his eyes, the girl was not so bad. Yes, she did often 'coincidentally' find herself in the same general area as Ethan, but she was harmless. He doubted she would be his last fangirl too, if things followed their original timeline even a little.
Tracey looked at Miyuki, who was calmly sitting on Ethan's shoulder, somehow always at a perfect balance despite him moving, and said, "You can tell us if you know, Miyuki."
Both Ethan and Miyuki looked at the girl, confused. Did she know Miyuki could speak? They had not told anyone yet…
They quickly dismissed it as a coincidence, his friends did know that Miyuki could understand them, up to an extent at least.
"Whatever, I'll just go. I'll see you guys at dinner."
Ethan actually did not lie, as he did go to the library, and to read books too, as uncharacteristic of him as that may be.
Something he was reminded of as soon as he got into the library as Mrs. Pince, the librarian, squinted her eyes at Ethan, taking a good look at him as she asked, "Grindelwald in my library? Now that's something new. And here I thought you were too good for us."
Ethan was not amused by the woman's words. Still, he had something to ask of her, so he smiled and said politely, "Of course not. I have just always been a more practical person, but sometimes, you still need books, which is why I am here."
Pince rose a brow, and asked, "What are you looking for?"