Hermione sat in her chair with her spine completely straight, books stacked on the desk in front of her as she awaited the start of the lesson despite the drone of chatter around her.
Currently she was sitting in the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, awaiting their first ever lesson from the esteemed professor Lockhart. It was also the first time she had seen so many of her fellow students arrive so early to class. Most were girls that were fawning over their new professor, while there were a few boys who were interested in his experiences and wanted to be just like him.
One person who was not here yet though, was Harry.
Hermione glanced worriedly at the empty chair next to her and recalled what Harry said about their new professor on the train. It was obvious he didn't think very well of him, which was strange to her since Hermione thought the two might get along well with one another as fellow warriors and defenders of the innocent.
Maybe Harry didn't like the competition? Or maybe it was jealousy as Hannah suggested?
While both ideas were possible, Hermione didn't think either one was the case, nor did she believe that Lockhart was the fraud that Harry and Ron claimed.
She continued turning over theories in her head until the bell rang to signal the start of class, and Harry himself seemingly materialized out of nowhere into the seat beside her.
"Harry!" Hermione exclaimed, surprised by his sudden appearance due to her being so dee pin thought a moment ago.
"Hermione." Harry greeted her as he too prepared for their class.
"I was starting to wonder if you were even going to show up!" Hermione hissed at Harry as everyone else quickly settled down while they awaited their new professor.
"Nah. I'm already skipping Potions, so I can't really just decide to skip another class." Harry replied lazily, yet Hermione couldn't help but feel there was more to it. Before she could ask anything else, the door opened and professor Lockhart entered with a flourish of flamboyant blue robes that twinkled with actual starlight, his smile nearly blinding to all of them.
"Welcome. It is I, Gilderoy Lockhart, Order of Merlin, Third Class, Honorary Member of the Dark Force Defence League, and five-time winner of Witch Weekly's Most Charming Smile Award. But I don't talk about that. I didn't get rid of the Bandon Banshee by smiling at her!"
Lockhart joked as he introduced himself while making his way to the front of the class, smiling at each of them as he passed by. Hermione could have even sworn his gaze lingered on her for a moment, making her face heat up while all of those stories of princes and princesses she read while growing up came to mind. Hermione didn't notice that it was actually Harry that Lockhart was looking at, who continued appear completely uninterested in everything.
"I am here, after much persuasion by Dumbledore himself mind you, to teach you all everything I know about combating the Dark Arts and dangerous creatures that inhabit our world. Though I doubt that will be possible. But first, a little exam to see what you all already know, and to see if anyone has already started reading their textbooks for the year."
When he finished speaking, Lockhart, by hand instead of magic, passed each of them several pages filled with questions. But they were questions unlike any the students had seen on an exam before.
What is Gilderoy Lockhart's favorite color?
What is Gilderoy Lockhart's favorite snack?
What is Gilderoy Lockhart's greatest ambition?
While everyone else, mostly the boys, were wondering if these questions were for real, Hermione attacked the test with the same fervor she would any other test, her mind rapidly summoning information from the books that she committed to memory before school even started.
But one person hadn't started his exam. He hadn't even looked over the questions they had been given. Instead, Harry was staring at Lockhart intently, as if he were waiting for something.
Hermione didn't even notice until Harry raised his hand, immediately after Lockhart had taken a drink of his tea.
"Did you really do all of the things you claimed in your books?" Harry asked, not even bothering to wait until he was called on.
"Hm?" Lockhart, along with everyone else in the classroom, looked up at Harry's question. But only Hermione noticed that something was different with their teacher's eyes. They looked as if they had glossed over.
"Oh Harry." Lockhart said with a tone of exasperation. "Harry, Harry, Harry. Of course I would never do anything so stupidly dangerous and hazardous to my life."
The silence that followed was so deafening, you could have heard a quill hit the floor. Hermione personally felt as if her insides had turned to ice.
"What?" One of the other students, a Ravenclaw by the name of Su Li, uttered in disbelief.
"I said that I would never do anything so Stupidly dangerous and hazardous." Lockhart proudly repeated, stunning them further.
"So your books are all lies?" Lavender Brown asked incredulously.
"Well not entirely. But I wouldn't have sold nearly as many of them if I gave the credit to those who actually did all of those things. I mean, one of them was a witch with hair on her chin! And don't even get me started on the Armenian warlock! None of them had any of the camera presence needed for fame! So I actually did them a favor by taking all of the credit."
"And they were ok with this?!" Hermione nearly shrieked as she shot to her feet, her voice filled with righteous fury.
"Well, no. Not really. That was why I had to erase their memories of ever doing these things. But only after learning every single detail of how they did it!" Lockhart declared, his every word increasing the horror the students were feeling.
The only one remaining calm, Hermione noticed, was the one who started all of this. Harry.
...
Outwardly, Harry was completely calm. Inwardly though, he was completely pissed.
Harry was a member of the Companions. They thrived on great deeds and telling stories as they feasted and drank in Jorrvaskr, even if such stories were occasionally embellished. No one truly cared so long as it didn't bugger the realm of disbelief.
A group of ten bandits growing to thirty?
No one cared.
Swapping a few wolves or a bear for a troll?
Get the man a drink!
However no one could stand braggarts and liars. Especially those who profited off their lies.
Lockhart wasn't just a fraud though, he had actively ruined the lives of numerous heroic witches and wizards while also putting anyone who might need their expertise at risk in the future. And now, Harry had the truth from him.
Every eye moved to Harry as he stood, his face mask of stoicism as he walked to the front of the classroom towards Lockhart. Who, incidentally, was already recovering from the effects of the Veritiserum that Harry had spiked his tea with, only a couple drops that were further diluted within the tea.
"Wait, no.... Dismiss everything I just said children! I wasn't in my right mind!" Lockhart hurriedly tried to tell them as his mind cleared, but it was already too late.
"Professor..." Harry said as he approached the fraud, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "I have a song I'd like to sing to you if you don't mind."
"I-I don't really think a song would be too appropriate right now Harry-!" Lockhart sputtered as he tried to pull out his wand.
"I'm sorry children, but I can't allow my reputation to be ruined like this! OBLIV-OOF!"
The spell was cut off as Harry drove his fist into Lockhart's stomach, forcing the breath from his lungs as the man doubled over in pain with wide eyes.
"There once was a hero named Ragnar the Red." Harry began, his tone completely flat as he grabbed Lockhart's wrist and twisted it until there was a very audible crack, followed by the clattering of his wand as it fell to the floor and the man's scream of pain.
"Who came riding to Whiterun from ole Rorikstead." Harry continued as he then grabbed the front of Lockhart's robes and chucked him across the classroom while the other students watched.
"And the braggart did swagger and brandish his blade, as he told of bold battles and gold he had made." Harry walked towards the fallen heap that was Lockhart, before grabbing and throwing him again, this time into the wall.
"But then he went quiet, did Ragnar the Red, when he met the shield maiden Matilda who said," this time Harry was talking as he drove a foot into Lockhart's gut, before hauling him up with one hand so that he could drive his fist into his face.
"You talk and you lie, and you drink all our mead, now I think it's time you lie down and bleed." Harry continued even as he pummeled their teacher.
"And so came the clashing and slashing of steel, as the brave lass Matilda charged in full of zeal." Harry said as he then lifted the man up, and slammed him down on his own desk with his head hanging off the edge.
"And the braggart named Ragnar was boastful no more," Harry said with note of finality as he conjured a Bound Blade in his right hand and raised it up over his exposed neck. "As his ugly red head rolled around on the floor."
Harry brought the blade down on the final note of his song, amidst the gasps and screams of his classmates coupled with Lockhart's begging to be spared. Luckily for him, Harry couldn't actually behead him in front of a bunch of second years.
Instead, Harry stopped the blade the second it made contact with Lockhart's skin, leaving a shallow cut on his neck instead of taking his entire head off.
Now they were treated to the sight of a celebrated hero and author begging for his life, soiling his own robes as he did so.
"P-please! I'll never do it again!" Lockhart sobbed as Harry held the blade there for a moment, letting the threat hang instead of immediately dismissing it.
"You're right. You won't." Harry finally said, dispelling the blade and taking a step back. "You'll be coming with me to the headmaster's office, where you can tell him in detail what you just told us." He added while healing the injuries left from beating he gave the man. There would be no reason to let him garner sympathy from others in light of what he had done.
"H-Harry, I can't do that! I'll be ruined!" Lockhart exclaimed urgently as he climbed down from the desk, shuffling closer to his wand as he did so.
"Precisely." Harry replied, using Telekinesis to snatch Lockhart's wand from where it had fallen to the floor earlier, and keeping him from reclaiming it to possibly do further harm.
"The alternative is me saying 'fuck it' and continuing where I left off a second ago." Harry added as he conjured another Bound Blade, and Lockhart gulped audibly.
"As for the rest of you!" Harry stated with authority as he turned his attention to the class of Gryffindors and Ravenclaws. "I expect each of you to continue your lesson by reading ahead. I'm sure there are some old textbooks lying around that you can use instead of the rubbish this fool assigned us. That will be all unless another professor tells you otherwise."
Once he had finished talking, Harry grabbed Lockhart by his robes and pulled him from the classroom to go and see Dumbledore, soiled robes and all.
...
The second the door closed behind the two of them, the classroom erupted into a drone of discussion as everybody talked about what just happened.
"I can't believe it!"
"So Lockhart was a fraud this whole time?"
"I knew something was off about him. He was too perfect."
"Harry was quite dashing though, wasn't he?"
"Right? You couldn't even tell who was really the adult or the student."
Even Hermione was too stunned by this development to think straight, which was a first for her. But even so, so many questions raced through her mind at the situation as she tried to rationalize it.
How had Lockhart managed to fool so many people?
How did no one realize until now?
Did Dumbledore know? And if so, why did he hire him as a professor?
No one heeded what Harry told them to do before leaving, as they all instead discussed what this meant for their future classes. After all, the term JUST started, so they couldn't spend the rest of the year doing self study for DADA like they had last year after Quirrel disappeared.
The discussion continued until the bell rang to signal the end of class, and the start of the destruction of Lockhart's reputation.
Immediately the two primary gossips in Gryffindor, Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil, began to spread the word about Lockhart's fraudulence to every student they passed, while Parvati's twin sister in Ravenclaw, Padma, did the same. And while none of the students they told the story to really believed them, none of them cared. The truth would come out soon enough anyways.
The Hogwarts rumor mill was nothing if not persistent.
Next the second year Gryffindors had Transfiguration class with the Hufflepuffs, which was the first sign of something being amiss as profesor McGonagall didn't even note Harry's absence as she welcomed them back from their summer break. During the class though, Lavender and Parvati made sure to tell as many Hufflepuffs that they could about the situation.
After that class was over it was time for lunch, and that was the first time the rumors seemed viable since Lockhart wasn't present for his next class after them.
Hermione could hear more and more people talking about it as word spread, some saying that there was an inquiry for improper conduct, and others stating that Harry outed Lockhart after cheating in an honorable duel.
After lunch was Herbology, again with the Hufflepuffs, and still no Harry. But once that class was over the rumors had begun flying in ernest as people were now insisting that Lockhart was caught in a scandal with a female student.
Their last class of the day was A History of Magic with professor Binns, which was also with the Slytherins.
It was perhaps the most attentive class professor Binns ever had though, not because of the lesson, but because of the collective interest in the ongoing situation. When the bell rang, there was a rush to the Great Hall for dinner as the majority of students were interested to see if there would be any word of what happened.
As she sat down to eat, Hermione was treated to the latest variant of the rumor flowing through Hogwarts, how Lockhart was planning to turn them all into his mindless thralls with his mental manipulation magic, and Harry bravely fought back in an epic battle for the ages.
It disturbed her how close that one actually was, considering Lockhart did try to Obliviate them...
Suddenly the muttering and discussion quieted down as the headmaster strode into the Great Hall, with Harry right behind him before he peeled away and took a seat at the Gryffindor table beside Hermione.
"So what happened?" She hissed the second Harry sat down.
"Wait." Harry replied as he loaded his plate. And sure enough, as soon as Dumbledore reached the staff table he remained standing.
"If I may have all of your attention please." Dumbledore spoke up, and every single eye was on him.
"I am sure that word has already spread regarding the events that took place this morning, but please allow me to shed some light on the subject. Firstly, Gilderoy Lockhart will no longer be teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts. Effective immediately."
There was a low rumble of noise at this announcement as students realized the rumors were true, and Hermione noticed a mixture of responses on the faculty, mostly either smugness or vindication at the loss of their newest colleague. Dumbledore however waited a moment before gesturing for quiet as he continued.
"The reason for his dismissal is that professor Lockhart was found to be guilty of academic dishonesty, as all of the tales regarding his exploits were fictitious and dramatic retelling of actual events, only with himself as the main character. Not only did he take credit for the actions of several exceptionally brave and gifted witches and wizards, he also completely wiped their memories of their heroics after questioning them.
"Additionally, he tried to Obliviate an entire class of second years after his actions were revealed. For this, he will be questioned thoroughly by the Ministry to identify each of his victims, after which they will determine his punishment. Here at Hogwarts however, we will focus on our studies. That being the case, I shall be taking over Defense Against the Dark Arts until we have found a suitable replacement. On that note, please, tuck in."
The reaction was immediate as everyone began to talk instead of eating, even while Dumbledore himself began to casually fill his plate and eat while also sharing a conversation with professor McGonagall.
"The Ministry is getting involved?" Hermione hissed to Harry, who was also the center of attention as he continued eating.
"Yup. They can't afford not to." He replied btween bites as he cleaned the bone of a chicken leg, before starting on another. "Not only did Lockhart steal the credit and memories of skilled witches and wizards, nearly all of them were from foreign nations and Ministries. With it out in the open, Fudge has to do something about it."
"And no one knew?"
"Albus actually did, apparently." Harry said, and Hermione just gaped at him in disbelief.
"Evidently several of Lockhart's victims were his friends, so Albus went out of his way to get Lockhart to teach here to try and confirm his suspicions. He even went so far as to use me as bait to stroke Lockhart's ego. He just didn't tell anyone what it was he was doing."
"I-I can't believe it... How manipulative!" Hermione exclaimed in shock from the headmaster's plan.
"When you're someone like Albus Dumbledore, you have to learn to use your mind and stack the deck more often than not."Harry stated plainly, having experienced his own fair share of politics in Skyrim. It was because of that that he never made a grab for the imperial throne, despite having the greatest claim to it as Dragonborn.
"Speaking of, we actually get to learn directly from him!" Seamus stated excitedly, perking up their fellow Gryffindor's as they discussed what his classes would be like. Some thought they would learn amazing defensive spells from him, others actual combat, and more still thought they might get a chance to learn about some rare and exotic dangerous creatures.
The one thing they all agreed on though was that everyone hoped he wouldn't assign them much homework.
Hermione watched Harry smile wryly as they listened to their classmates speculations, and suspected that learning from professor Dumbledore would be similar to learning from Harry. Not that she would mind.
Speaking of...
"Harry..." Hermione spoke to him quietly.
"Yeah?"
"When do you think you would start your own lessons again?" She asked curiously, drawing the attention of their classmates.
"I think I'll give it a week or so, let everyone get back into the swing of their actual lessons before we add more." Harry told her after a moment of thought. This prompted yet another wave of excitement amongst the students, since they would be learning from both harry and Dumbledore at the same time.
Once they all finished eating dinner, the students began to return to their common rooms to tuck in for the night. Or chatter as they continued discussing the day's events, and how the school year was already off to an eventful start. Harry meanwhile, had other matters to attend to.
While everyone else was busy getting ready for bed or visiting in the common room, Harry entered his trunk to find a solitary figure already within.
"Does master Harry need anything?" Kreacher asked while giving Harry a deep bow of respect.
"Nothing for the moment." Harry answered while heading towards his desk, leaving Kreacher to continue his cleaning as he swept the interior of the trunk with a broom.
With his newfound loyalty towards Harry, he decided to have the elf act as a guard within the trunk to prevent anyone from stealing any of his remaining artifacts, something Sirius agreed with since it meant he wouldn't have to deal with Kreacher himself anymore. Plus the elf was old, so it was less work on him than keeping the entirety of Grimmauld place clean.
For the better part of an hour Harry wrote in Tom Riddle's diary, telling him about their classes and how amazing it was to be back in the castle, the only place that truly felt like home to him. Tom then reciprocated the feeling, while also dropping a teaser about the Chamber of Secrets.
Once he finished writing to Tom, Harry planned to go over the memories he acquired from Albus the day before with his Pensieve. Memories pertaining to Tom Riddle and his life leading up to him becoming Lord Voldemort.
Following the order Albus laid out to him, Harry first entered the memory of a Ministry employee that paid a visit to the Gaunt family, where he saw Marvolo, Morphin and Merope for the first time. The only things of note was Harry getting a peak into their lives, seeing the Gaunt family ring for himself, and seeing the situation that would lead to Morphin and Marvolo's imprisonment in Azkaban.
The second memory took place many years later, when Albus traveled to the orphanage where Tom Riddle was raised and met him for the first time while simultaneously revealing the world of magic to him. Here, Harry saw that Tom had already established a rapport for terrorizing his fellow orphans, while the matron also told Albus of the incident involving the seaside cave.
The third memory returned to the Gaunt family home, where Morphin now resided alone after the deaths of his father and sister. Then he was visited by a teen Tom Riddle, who revealed his identity to his uncle before stunning him, making the memory go dark. But Harry already knew from Albus that Tom's father, Tom Riddle senior, was killed along with his entire family in their estate not too far from here. Deaths that were blamed on Morphin, which subsequently resulted in him spending the rest of his life in Azkaban.
The next memory showed a young adult Tom Riddle, on business for his employer, meeting with Hepzibah Smith and learning about the Locket of Slytherin and Cup of Helga Hufflepuff.
The final memory was once again Albus's, showing Voldemort as he tried to acquire a teaching position at Hogwarts as the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. This was the memory that caught Harry's attention the most, as he was even requesting to be called Lord Voldemort, his appearance was already distorted by what Harry assumed to be the creation of Horcruxes, and apparently it was after this event that the curse on the position seemingly started.
"Kreacher, I need some mead." Harry said as he exited the final memory, processing everything he just witnessed as he went and collapsed into one of the chairs by the fire.
Several of the memories were just visuals of events Harry already knew about, such as the meeting with Hepzibah where Riddle learned about the cup and locket. But one of them was truly eye-opening.
"Could it really be...?" Harry murmured to himself in between sips of mead as he ruminated on the final memory he had seen, the one where Riddle came to Albus about teaching at Hogwarts. Also, when the curse on the DADA position started.
As far as Harry knew, such curses, if there was one, typically needed some kind of focus to sustain themselves, even in this world. Additionally, Hogwarts was widely considered to be the most secure location in wizarding Britain, if not all of wizarding Europe. And the castle was filled with countless hiding spots where one could safely stash something without fear of it ever being found.
"There's a Horcrux in the castle..."
***
"Get in there, scum!" Mad-Eye Moody snarled as he roughly threw the figure into a holding cell.
His normally pristine wavy blonde hair was disheveled thanks to his rough treatment, and his flamboyant robes had been traded for a ratty black and white prison jumpsuit, despite the fact that he wasn't being sent to prison just yet.
"Now see here! There's no need to treat me like this!" Lockhart declared while picking himself up off the stone floor of his cell in outrage, even as Moody closed the door on him.
"Shut yer gob Lockhart! Or I'll chuck you straight to the Dementors!" Moody snarled back at him, and the once renowned hero recoiled in fear of the dreaded guards of Azkaban prison. "As it is, the only reason you're still here is because the Ministry wants to get as much info from you that they can." He added, prompting Lockhart to turn a variety of of colors that even Moody hadn't seen on a person before.
The grizzled Auror scowled at him one last time in disgust, before thumping away to return to his desk for the evening. Admittedly, he felt no small amount of vindication from Lockhart being exposed as the fraud he always knew the man to be. No one, and he means NO ONE, goes through the ordeals that Lockhart claimed to and then comes out of them looking so pristine.
"Why me?" Lockhart lamented as Moody left him, wondering how everything could have gone so wrong.
The day had started like any other, aside from it being the first day of his new teaching position. A position he didn't even want mind you, but he eventually accepted the begging and pleading of Albus Dumbledore himself after thinking of how much the students would benfit from receving his tutelage, especially young Harry Potter.
But the young boy had betrayed him!
Lockhart had hoped to become something of a proper mentor for the boy, possibly even taking him on as an apprentice to take the world by storm as he taught him how to navigate fame and popularity. Instead, the boy blatantly admitted to dosing him with Veritiserum, which was ILLEGAL by the way, forcing him to spill the truth behind his books to an entire classroom of witnesses.
THEN, the boy proceeded to beat him within an inch of his life in front of the entire class, WITH HIS FISTS! Yet no one seemed to care about the savage muggle beating he had taken. Instead they treated him like HE was the criminal! HIM! Gilderoy Lockhart! All because of a dozen or so modified memories.
He could see the headlines in tomorrow's paper now.
'Lockhart, Locked Up!'
Rita Skeeter would no doubt have a field day writing a scathing story about his predicament, while his fans would lament this injustice.
Lockhart's expression softened at the idea of his fans, who would no doubtedly try and arrange his release as soon as they heard what was going on. Unfortunately though, none of them would likely hear about what was happening until they read the paper tomorrow.
"Best start practicing my speech for when they release me then." Lockhart said to himself, convincing himself that his release was a forgone conclusion, no matter what the Ministry believed, and that this would merely be a minor hiccup in his lustrous career.
"Please, please. The ones deserving of applause today are each and every one of you, my adoring fans." Lockhart began practicing, pretending that the blank wall before him was a horde of devoted fans, reporters and cameramen desperately trying to get his photo for the Daily Prophet.
Lockhart continued on like that for an hour or so, ignoring the looks he got when one of the Aurors brought him his dinner, a bowl of porridge that looked more like grey paste. So Lockhart naturally asked for steak instead with a glass of fire wiskey, but was promptly ignored when he did so.
Finally after a couple hours of rehersing, while hungry he might add since there was no way he was going to eat that porridge, Lockhart decided to get some rest for the speech following his imminent release, the thought of him being sent to Azkaban never even crossing his mind. He even laid on the dirty floor, figuring it would add to his image after spending the night in such ghastly conditions.
Unfortunately, Lockhart was still hungry.
He had never gone so long without eating before, having been forced to miss both lunch and dinner for the first time in his life. And with a bed so uncomfortable, Lockhart had an even harder time falling asleep.
Tossing and turning for what felt like hours, Lockhart only grew increasingly tired and hungry as the night wore on. He got so hungry in fact, that the smell of food began to persistently tickle his nose.
"Did they bring the food I requested?" He asked while sitting up to look at his cell door. Except Lockhart was no longer in the cell.
Instead, he was now lying in a small meadow with grass on all sides, while a stream trickled nearby and soft music floated through the air.
"What the-?" Lockhart muttered as he looked around in confusion, before noticing a table set up behind him.
"Look who's finally awake." Declared the man sitting at the head of the table, though Lockhart barely noticed him.
Practically floating through the grass towards him were the most beautiful and exotic women Lockhart had ever seen. Not only did some of them have light skin or dark skin, several had green, yellow or even grey skin while possessing other inhuman traits, such as small tusks, pointed ears, or red eyes. there was even one girl with a thin layer of fur covering her body, accompanying cat-like ears and a tail.
"Please come with us." The first girl to reach him purred, leaving Lockhart in a daze as he stared at her in disbelief. She, like all the others, was clad only a sheer gown that did nothing to obscure the features of her body from his gaze, while the most heavenly scent wafted from her body into his nostrils.
Lockhart did not know when he had taken his seat at the table, directly across from the other man, but when he had he finally realized that all of his favoite foods were arrayed before him.
"I hope the feast is to your liking." The man said, his voice like silk and honey on Lockhart's ears as he tried a small bite of meat, offered to him by one of the many beautiful ladies surrounding him.
It was the single most delicious thing he had ever put into his mouth. And that wasn't the hunger speaking.
"Ahn..." Lockhart moaned as he slowly chewed the meat, savoring every single flavor as it seemingly melted on his tongue, it was so tender.
"Would you like a drink?" Another girl asked, drawing Lockhart's attention to his other side to see the speaker holding a goblet up for him. And the second the wine-red liquid within touched his lips, Lockhart genuinely believed for a moment that he had died and gone to heaven.
"What is this?!" He demanded between several long gulps, until the goblet was completely empty.
"Do you like it? How about some more?" His strange host offered, and then a second later the stream that was gurgling nearby turned wine-red, exactly the same shade as the drink he had just had.
"I can't believe this.... I'm dreaming..." Lockhart uttered in awe of everything around him. The food, drink, and especially the women.
"Believe it. And for just a little effort on your part, all of this and more can be yours." The man across from him offered with a devilish grin.
"Really?" Lockhart asked in disbelief.
"Really."
"What do you want me to do?" Lockhart immediately asked, not feeling the least bit wary of the man before him. Obviously, the man recognized his greatness.
"I don't need anything just yet." The man said dismissively. "But soon, the people of the world may be feeling down in the dumps. When that happens, I want you to go out and spread some merriment to them."
"Is that all?" Lockhart asked incredulously, looking away from the man as the women around him began to sensually rub their hands up and down his arms and shoulders.
"Yep. You shall become the beacon in the darkness, the light in a world of darkness. And everyone will love you for it as you bring fun back into their lives." The man said, and Lockhart hung on to his every word.
"Truly? Everyone?"
"Everyone."
Lockhart liked the sound of that, as the image of everyone in the world flocking to his side filled his mind. Loving him. Bowing to him. Worshipping him the way these women already were.
"Who are you?" He asked the man eventually, even as gowns began slipping off bodies while more food was brought towards his mouth.
"Me?" The man asked, his eyes filled with mirth as his appearance began to shift before Lockhart's eyes, changing from a normal man to something notably more....demonic.
"You can just call me, Sam Guevenne."