3 Ch. 3

The irrational pounding on my front door forces me to stand up and move into my living room. My annoyance at being interrupted prevents me from putting on the typical 'Gilderoy Lockhart smile'.

Jerking the door open, I'm met with a rotund little wizard. The name, Douglas Clarke, surfaces in my mind. He's the junior publisher assigned with wrangling up Lockhart for his appearance at the event. It seems Rumihart Books Publishing felt Lockhart needed assistance arriving on time to scheduled events.

"Ah, Mr. Lockhart," the chubby wizard began as he forced his way into my flat. "I just wanted to go over a few things with you before the book signing."

"Book signing?" I hesitantly ask the bi-speckled man as I close my door.

With a dejected sigh, Douglas removes his glasses and begins cleaning them with a small piece of cloth from his robe pocket. "Today is the 19th of August, Mr. Lockhart. You have a book signing at Flourish and Blotts this morning," Douglas patiently explained.

The memory swiftly comes to me as I move back towards my kitchen. Poor Douglas. Forced to put up with Lockhart since the fraud refuses to hire an assistant. Old Gil didn't want to run the risk of someone being close enough to him to uncover his fraud. That and he's never been able to get someone to work with him longer than a few months due to his narcissistic mannerisms.

Except for Douglas here. He's been assigned to...me... for over a year now. Maybe due to his young age or lack of ambition. My money is on the fact he has to deal with beautiful money flirting with him to get to Gilderoy. The tubby little wizard doesn't look like he gets much female action on his own.

"Oh, yes," I reply as I open my fridge and look for a bottle of water. Which I don't seem to have any of. "Can I get you a drink?" I call over to my reluctant handler.

"uh...uh...No. No, thank you. Mr. Lockhart," Douglas stuttered in a bewildered tone of voice. I guess Gil never offered the man a beverage before. What a shitty host.

Grabbing a Butterbeer, I close the fridge door behind me. Placing the bottle cap on the edge of the counter, I smack the top of the glass and pop the cap off. I take a swig as Douglas begins to go over the timeline. I involuntarily lick the creamy butterscotch flavor off my lips. That's quite refreshing!

I half-heartedly listen to the man as I try to remember the events of the movie and book. As Douglas finishes explaining the timeline, I turn to look at the helpful little wizard. As I'm raising the Butterbeer up for another swig, my entire arm stops moving.

"Any questions, Mr. Lockhart," Douglas expectantly askes.

I ignore his question as I stare at the man. More accurately, I stare around him. Floating in the air around the wizard is colored boxes. Each one only contains a few words displayed on them, but those few words mean so much. A white box says 'English Language' and a blue box says 'Magic: Charms'.

A quick scan at all the boxes around the confused wizard seems to show all the primary school courses taught at Hogwarts. Transfiguration, Defense Against the Dark Arts, History of Magic, and so many more. There's even a 'Ballroom Dancing' box.

"Mr. Lockhart," Douglas worriedly asks.

I continue to ignore the man as I realize what those boxes are! They're Skill Cards! Just like in a manga I read earlier this year! Douglas has several cards in grey, white, green, and blue. Most of the magic-related cards seem to be various shades of blue.

As I focus on the darkest card hovering around Douglas, the Charms Card, another line of words appear on the card. 'EXTRACT'.

"Uh... Mr. Lockhart, are you okay?" Douglas continues asking.

A wicked grin takes shape as I focus on the word 'EXTRACT'. In less than a second, the Charms Card blinks out of existence, and the rest of the Skill Cards fade away.

Blinking my eyes several times, I focus back on the concerned face of Douglas. "Sorry about that o' chap," I joyfully begin, "I just remembered something that I was excited about!"

"Yes," Douglas hesitantly begins, "yes, well... Do you have any questions about the book signing today?"

"None at all," I happy reply. "Well, except for how soon do I have to be there?"

As exasperation returns to Douglas' face, he professionally answers. "We must Apparate in ten minutes if we hope to be there on time, Mr. Lockhart."

"Yes, well, I better go changed then," I excitedly say before spinning around and marching to my bedroom. After I close the door behind me, I all but run into the bathroom and to the mirror.

I stare at my reflection for a moment, but there's no sign of any Skill Cards floating around me. Squeezing my eyes shut, I concentrate on seeing my Skill Cards. After a full minute of nothing, I chalk that up as a waste as well. In a desperate bid for success, I raise my hand up and focus on the area around it.

It takes only a moment before a multitude of grey and white Skill Cards appear hovering around my hand! When I calm down a bit to really look at my cards, I'm annoyed to see the majority of my Magical Cards are a faded green color, almost transparent. My 'Magic: Charms' Skill Card is a bit darker green than my other cards.

Looking into the palm of my hand, I see the blue Charms card I extracted from Douglas. This card seems a bit different than when it was hovering around Douglas. There is a blinking 'ABSORB' on the card where it used to say EXTRACT.

With held breath, I push the ABSORB button with my thumb. The blue card disappears into my hand at the same moment an unexpected surge of energy slams into my head. I quickly recognize the energy as new memories and experiences, and I grin through the pain.

Blinking away a few tears and wiping a bit of blood from my nose, I look back at my hand. My faded green Charms skill card has been replaced with a solid blue card. A shout of joy leaps from my throat as relief and excitement come flooding out.

This is what I needed! This is what will allow me to live as Gilderoy Lockhart without fear of being exposed as a fraud and con-artist! With just a few visits to areas filled with witches and wizards, I can acquire all the skills Lockhart has falsely claimed to actually have!

My mind comes to a screeching halt. Today is the 19th of August! Gilderoy has the book signing in Diagon Alley today! With as crowded as the movie and book made the event to be, I can gain all the skills I need and more!

Pulling my wand out of my waist holster, I cast a few additional spells to tidy up the bathroom. Spells that I didn't know a few minutes ago! Not only do I feel comfortable casting these new spells silently, but my arm feels like I've made these wand motions hundreds of times.

Not only did I gain the knowledge of Douglas' Charm work, but I gained the muscle memory needed to cast each one of the spells. Giving it some more thought, I come up with several Charms that Douglas must have specifically learned for his work as a book publisher!

This is amazing and overpowered!

"Mr. Lockhart!" Douglas called through the bathroom door. "We need to be leaving soon."

"Not a problem, my good man," I happily call back. "I'm just finishing up, and then I'll be set to go!"

"Yes, well, I placed a set of robes you should wear," Douglas says through the door. "I laid them on your bed. If you don't need anything else, I'm going to Apparate over to Diagon Alley and ensure Mr. Flourish has everything ready for your arrival."

"Wonderful," I call back to Douglas. Giving myself a wink in the mirror, I step out of the bathroom. As I'm looking over the outfit Douglas set out for me, I pause in my 'tisking' of his choice.

It looks like Lockhart's vanity is leaking through my personality the more excited I become. That will be a problem if I hope to change Gilderoy for the better. Deciding the navy blue robes Douglas picked would do nicely, I focus on getting dressed as quickly as possible.

With a final look in the mirror, to ensure I'm presentable for my fans, I concentrate on my next piece of magic. Douglas had arranged for the stockroom of Flourish and Blotts to be the designated Apparition area for my arrival. I couldn't really force my way through the lines of witches waiting to see me, now could I?

With a crisp crack and a touch of nausea, I find myself in a dark and musky storeroom. I can't help letting out a sigh. Bits of Lockhart's attitude keeps popping up when I'm not focused on maintaining a more conservative appearance.

The excited chatter of women filled the storeroom as an old worn door popped open. Douglas and a middle-aged man with curly red hair stepped into the cramped space. Looking towards the aged wizard, a slew of Skill Cards pop-up around his head.

"Mr. Lockhart, if you remember, I'm Charles Flourish, the store manager," the red-head said as he extended his hand in greeting.

I could only smile and clasp his hand in a firm handshake as I chose to EXTRACT a blue-colored Transfiguration card from Mr. Flourish. The moment the rest of the cards disappeared, I gave the man my full attention. Mostly.

As I began to wonder about the limits of my new ability, I noticed my body moving almost on autopilot. It was as if my body just knew what was expected of it before a crowd, and it performed without complaint. Instead of trying to stamp out Lockhart's little habits, I decided to let it slide. Just this once. So I could collect all the skill cards presented to me.

Maybe a bit of Lockhart's tendency to showboat isn't so bad after all...

With that thought, I notice myself gliding out of the storeroom and strutting before a crammed room of witches and wizards. The best part was seeing all the little Skill Cards floating around the heads of my adoring fans!