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**Chapter 1
First Appearance**
The weather was bright and refreshing. Sunlight spilled across the green lawn in the garden, a soft, cool breeze drifting through the air, and above it all the sky stretched in a clear, glass-blue shade.
The scene outside the window was beautiful—but in the chair by the desk sat a handsome young man with curled blond hair, looking distinctly anxious.
In his hand was a letter, sealed on the back with a large embossed H. It wasn't ordinary post—it was an invitation from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
> To:
Mr. Gilderoy Lockhart
Our school is honoured to invite you to serve as Professor of Defence Against the Dark Arts. If you accept, we ask that you reply with your required teaching materials and any reasonable requests.
Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore
Lockhart wasn't sure whether he was a transmigrator. In his memory, he had another name—Oliver . When he woke up, he had become Lockhart.
Two sets of memories now lived in his head, and he couldn't tell whether Oliver had crossed into Lockhart's body, or whether Lockhart was dreaming the life of Oliver.
But everything suggested that the Harry Potter films he remembered were real—and Voldemort's resurrection was real as well.
He had lived here as Lockhart for a year now. Apart from continuing to write books for money, he'd been quietly sharpening his magical ability.
Lockhart was not useless. He was a gifted half-blood wizard, a former student of Ravenclaw House.
From the moment he entered Hogwarts, he had been one of the most talented in his year, graduating with honours in every subject.
Sadly, he hadn't taken the right path after leaving school. After a brief period working as an Auror, he had quit the Ministry out of fear.
Using his exceptional skill with memory charms, he had cheated his way into fame—becoming an internationally celebrated figure and bestselling author, a recipient of the Order of Merlin, Third Class, an honorary member of the League Against the Dark Arts, and five-time winner of Witch Weekly's Most Charming Smile Award.
His name echoed everywhere in the wizarding world.
If he refused to teach at Hogwarts, perhaps he could avoid disaster—but was shamefully dodging fate really the answer?
After Voldemort's return, a famous half-blood wizard like Lockhart would hardly be safe…and the temptation of becoming the professor to the Boy Who Lived was simply too strong.
At the same time, he was even more curious: what would happen to him if he never touched Ron's broken wand?
Thinking about who he was now, he had to admit—he was a very successful fraud. He had never once risked his life, yet he was hailed as the bravest adventurer alive.
He had never captured a single Death Eater, yet he enjoyed enormous respect among Aurors.
To prepare for whatever might come in the school year ahead,Oliver hadn't just buried himself in every magical book he could find—he had trained himself relentlessly.
{To live—and live well.}
That was Lockhart's only thought. With his knowledge of the future, Lockhart had carefully revised every basic spell a Hogwarts graduate ought to know, straight from his textbooks, as well as everything he learned when he served as an Auror.
"Now that I know everything…I should be the protagonist."
"Jim! Pack my things—I'm going out to practise magic."
"Master! Your most loyal house-elf, Jim, wishes to remind you that your book signing for your new work, The Amazing Me, will be held at Flourish and Blotts this afternoon!"
Damn. He'd almost forgotten—having house-elves around had made memory irrelevant.
"Get the robes ready. The new ones."
Lockhart dressed quickly in his formal robes and stepped into the fireplace.
"Flourish and Blotts!"
"Smile this way, Mr Lockhart! Wonderful! No wonder he has the most charming smile!" A journalist darted around him, firing her camera so quickly each flash burst in a puff of smoke.
Surrounded by eager readers, Lockhart—with his golden curls, bright blue eyes, and a smile showing twenty gleaming white teeth—was the centre of the bookshop today. But Lockhart's attention was elsewhere.
"Why hasn't Harry Potter appeared yet? He should be here by now."
He smiled brightly as he dug through his memory for the right moment in the story.
Suddenly the crowd erupted with noise. Lockhart's sharp eyes caught sight of a red-haired man and a blond man wrestling. —There were a few differences from memory, but finally—they were here.
"Get him, Dad!"
"Stop it, Arthur!"
A whole section of shelves was knocked over as the two men grappled. One, a well-dressed middle-aged wizard, struggled free and yanked a wand from inside his coat pocket.
"Filthy Weasley…blood-traitor! How dare you strike me!"
"Lucius Malfoy!"
The other man drew his wand as well. A duel was about to ignite, and the people nearby stumbled backwards, afraid of being hit by a stray curse.
Just as the tips of their wands lifted, Lockhart stepped straight into the gap and flicked his own wand:
"Split left and right!"
In one stroke, Malfoy and Weasley were blasted apart, tumbling to the floor.
"Gentlemen! What sort of grudge requires this spectacle—fighting in a bookshop, a place of learning? Even if you're not striking children, it's hardly right to destroy the shelves. The little ones are watching!"
Ignoring Malfoy and Mr Weasley still on the floor, Lockhart glanced at the boy beside him—dark hair, round glasses, lightning-shaped scar.
"Is that Harry Potter?"
Lockhart reached out and pulled Harry from the crowd.
"Is Mr Weasley alright?" Harry twisted around, anxious.
"He's fine—it was a forced-movement charm. You're Harry? Harry Potter? James Potter's son?"
"Yes, sir. Did you know my father?" Harry's voice rose with excitement at the word father.
"He was my bravest comrade! A real hero—fearless before the unknown!"
After all, James and Lily weren't going to show up and say they didn't know him—he could claim what he liked.
And technically, they had been comrades—they just hadn't known it.
"I'm sorry—your mother was a beauty too."
"Ladies and gentlemen! Despite a few unpleasant moments, today is our lucky day! Our hero—Harry Potter, the boy who defeated the Dark Lord—has come to Flourish and Blotts to buy my autobiography! I'm deeply honoured!"
The crowd burst into applause.
"But what he doesn't know," Lockhart continued, shaking Harry by the shoulder, "is that he'll soon receive something far greater than my humble work,
The Amazing Me—a truly amazing Gilderoy Lockhart!
For I will be the new Professor of Defence Against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts!"
Cheers exploded, flashes burst like sparks. Lockhart, still clutching the photograph with Harry, caught sight of Lucius Malfoy out of the corner of his eye—quietly slipping a small leather diary into Ginny Weasley's stack of old books.
It seemed placing the diary with Ginny wasn't a whim at all.
It was part of his plan.
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