12 Chapter 12

"I think this is taking too long, so long story short. I was homeless, scraping around for food every day, and while I believed in the Dark Lord's mission, at that point in time, I did not have the luxury of upholding the dignity that came with it. Without the Dark Lord, I once more had to worry about money. It was unavoidable. And so I saw you one day at a book signing and eavesdropped about your exploits from your nearby fan. Having exhausted every other resource, I took a chance and asked you for a job, any job and surprisingly, you took me on. Even when my former colleagues gave you subtle threats, you ignored them and hired me as a photographer." At this point, his face has lost all emotion, his expression is stoic, and his voice level, telling the story with a clinical tone.

"Once more, I had been uplifted by a great and powerful wizard. I felt such joy and utter respect for you, the same respect I held for the Dark Lord. But it was displaced. I learned more and more about you over the years, and that respect faded. You stole your stories from other accomplished wizards. Everything about you was false and a front. Even when I thought you were so powerful to ignore the threats of multiple houses of nobility, you were actually such a dunderhead that you didn't even register the dangers. But that was fine. I had a job and was earning money. So even if I felt a bit sick at the sight of you, I could hold on, and you were also an accomplished master of mind magic, which also held at least some merit." His face is still blank, and when he mentions the previous Gilderoy, I wince having those memories, though nothing he says yet seems to be the reason why he has decided to murder me.

"I worked for you. I bore the humiliation amassing all the money I could without alerting any of the righteous idiots in the ministry in preparation for when the Dark Lord would undoubtedly reappear because those traitors would not help him. Over time you gave me more and more responsibilities, foisting tasks on me that you didn't want to do, and I was fine with that as it allowed me to steal more from your coffers. Apart from handling all your appearances, I was even handling your mail, screening it for anything important and handling them, notifying you of anything important and sending all the fanmail to you after I had checked everything for curses." His blank expression slowly fades, the edges of his lips begin to turn downwards, and his eyebrows start to scrunch.

The mention of the mail itself makes me wince as I remember the mail I had received from Hogwarts with their condolences for my mother's death.

"While sorting through your mail, I came across quite a lot of letters regarding a family member of yours. I set them all to the side to give to you later, but then I came upon a letter from your family stating your mother's death, my once teacher at Hogwarts. But the address was from nowhere I've ever heard of in the magical world, and it was from your father, your muggle father I had found after a little research."He suddenly stands up and strides to stand directly in front of me. He bent forward till his pudgy face was right up against mine, his stinking breath clogging up my nostrils.

"For a short time, I- I respected you!! A dirty little half-blood like you, I thought you were a pureblood, but you were just a liar! I feel violated. You lied about your blood and took advantage of me, you found me at my lowest point, and you used me. I thought of you on the same level as the dark lord when I met you. I feel so ashamed of myself, disgusted with myself because of you and your whore mother!" He snarls, spitting all over my face, acting like he was a young drunk girl, which I took advantage of when in actuality, he is a fat middle-aged man with psychopathic tendencies with a hard-on for torture. I feel so misrepresented right now and scared because of Digby Delusional Digworth.

"I couldn't hold on anymore. I could no longer bear the humiliation of working under you, not when you had such disgusting blood. So I hid those letters and kept them from you, waiting for the perfect moment to torture you to death. But, unfortunately, too many fans and people watched your movements, so I had to be more subtle. No longer wanting to rush your death, I had more time to think about your demise, and I realised that I still needed money to support the Dark Lord's mission when he returned. So it wasn't hard to get you to make me the prime beneficiary of your will. I just used a quick quotes quill to write it out and then got your signature. You didn't even look, trusting me over all those years, and just signed it with all those other things I handed you." He regains his calm and stands back up to his full height, but he stays stood in front of me and looks down at me with a smirk, enjoying the expression on my face at the realisation he is the reason that I was unaware of my mother's death.

"But that must have been months ago. So why are you only doing this now? Why have you waited all these months only to accost me now and kill me in my house, and I thought you weren't going to torture me and that you were going to kill me subtly?" I ask, perplexed. After all, I got here months ago, and on that day, I discovered my mother had died a month ago, meaning he could only have done what he was saying within the month between my mother's death and my appearance in this world, so why- oh, wait.

"You are such a fool, as always, Lockhart. Maybe this will refresh your memory, that day in the Leaky Cauldron where you told me about a fetching young thing you were courting, and I gave you some advice? Do you remember, Lockhart?" He says, an annoyed look on his face looking down at me like I am a fool, like I am the fool when he is the goddamn fool. So I try to search my mind for the memory, and I find it, but it is hazy, being absurdly close to the moment when Gilderoy was pushed aside, and I took over this body. So employing my Occlumency, I dive into my mind and find the memory, and then I focus intently on it to bring out its all.

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Sitting in the Leaky Cauldron, I, the incredible Gilderoy Lockhart, had just finished a fan meeting in one of the upstairs rooms enlarged into a giant hall so all my fans could fit. So now I am sitting at a table in the pub enjoying a light meal and some wine to relax after such a hard day's work.

Digbeth is beside me, talking to me about some such nonsense or other. He is lucky that I am so magnanimous to hire him and lift him up from the beggar he was, I could easily do all of his work myself, after all, but the man needs the job.

"So if you can attend this gathering in Germany, we can garner much attention. With more reputation, we can spread your books even further than the English-speaking countries and have them translated for each country, spreading your stories far and wide." He is saying something to me, but my attention is drawn to the young blonde sitting at a table in the far corner of the room with all her friends.

She is chatting and giggling cutely while sometimes looking over at me and both of us staring into each other eyes, my charm on full display as I show her my dazzling smile.

"Yes, yes, that is great, Digbeth, just great. Get right on that, will you." I say, paying more attention to the beautiful creature in the corner than the pudgy man beside me.

"My name is Digby, sir, Digby. I have told you that many times, you bastard." Digbeth responds though I am not really paying attention, he seems to whisper something at the end, but I really can't afford to waste any time on him, as that would risk the cute blonde girl not getting the full impact of my award-winning smile.

"Yes, yes, Digbeth. More importantly, do you see that gorgeous young girl over there, the one with the shiny blonde hair? She is a fan of mine, freshly graduated from Hogwarts, and a Hufflepuff, and I arranged for us to meet later today. At the end of the night, she will be in my bed and spend the rest of the night with me. Such is the life of Gilderoy Lockhart, and this lucky girl gets to be in a small part of it." I say, just to get Digbeth to shut up and stop annoying me, along with the added benefit of seeing the envy on his face and the jealousy in his voice as he wishes that he could be in my position.

"Is that so, Mr Lockhart. Well then, perhaps I can be of assistance. I have recently heard from some friends of mine that a vial of dragon blood helps to promote nighttime activities, helping you last longer and have a lot more energy. I took the trouble of procuring myself some, but I, uh, I haven't had the opportunity to use it. Perhaps you will have better luck, sir." He finishes self-depreciatingly, pulling out a vial from his robes and passing it to me under the table. I suppose if he is telling the truth, then to wield such a thing in public would brew all sorts of rumours, good man Digbeth.

"Truly?" I ask, and he rapidly nods his head to my query. I quickly grab hold of the vial and stow it away in my robes. This will undoubtedly heat up tonight's encounter and make for a more pleasurable evening. I look over to the blonde Hogwarts graduate, and we catch each other's eye. I can not wait for tonight.

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"You gave me dragon blood, saying that it was an aphrodisiac. Was that not dragon blood? Was it actually poison?" That was the lady I woke up with on my first day in this world, which means that Gilderoy did drink the dragon blood, and any idiot can tell it is dumb to drink an entire vial of dragon's blood as an aphrodisiac. But I made sure to ask if it was poison. After all, Gilderoy was not bright, and this man was very aware of that, so I had to keep the act going.

"It was not a poison. It was, in fact, an entire vial of dragon blood. And I did not lie about it being an aphrodisiac, but it was a one-use item as afterwards, you would die from the effects of the powerful blood within you. But, unfortunately, you did not use it for some reason, and afterwards, you lied about going to Antarctica and stayed in your home for months. Obviously, you had figured out my intentions and were cowering within your home, but the thought of your fame disappearing drove you to open the door when I threatened it, which proved to be your end." He says, still directly in front of me, but he begins to take a few short steps back.

With all this information, I have a clear timeline. Digby found out about Gilderoy's blood status, got him to sign a will, and gave him dragon blood. Gilderoy drank it and had a heated moment with the young blonde but died in the middle of it. I took over and woke up.

However, the blood was still affecting me, so I didn't question anything and proceeded to hump the blonde to work off the effects of the blood and fell asleep. Digby visited, confused by me not dying. Still, I lied about Antarctica and shut the door on him, he has been trying to get me ever since, but since I locked myself up, he has had no purchase until now, that is.

"Well, this is the last one, Gilderoy, and then farewell. I can't say it was fun because it wasn't. It was hell, but at least your death will ease my suffering, and your money will also fill the gap. Crucio!" He shouts, and I scream in pain, not expecting the sudden curse to assault me.

Still, I clench my teeth together after a moment, accidentally biting my tongue and filling my mouth with the rich metallic taste of copper. The taste in my mouth brews an idea. I quickly opened my mouth and spit the blood out, hitting Digby's face as he was still standing close.

Acting quickly with Digby dazed, I muster all my strength to my legs and stand up off the floor with the chair still attached to my backside. I jump towards him, hoping to hit him, but he stumbles out of the way, realising what I am doing and trying to rub the blood from his face.

I land with a clatter and hear wood being broken. Then, acting quickly before he is fully aware, I begin to test my bonds while on my side with the chair still attached and my hand on the back of the chair facing toward Digby and the fireplace.

Finding some slack, I begin to wriggle intensely to try and free my left hand from its bonds, and I start to get somewhere with it, my left hand now being somewhat free and stretching out onto the wooden floor. I hear Digby cursing behind me and rapidly stumbling around, trying to get the blood out of his eyes. Unfortunately, I have only managed to free my left arm when he gets some semblance of himself.

"LOCKHART, DO YOU THINK I AM AN IDIOT? I KNOW THE EXACT AMOUNT OF CURSES I HAVE CAST ON YOU, AND I KNOW YOU LIED EARLIER WHEN YOU SAID FIVE! I STILL HAVE ONE LEFT, AND I AM GOING TO MAKE SURE THIS ONE HURTS THE MOST. CRUCIO!!!" He thunders behind me, and intense pain impacts my entire being, worse than all the times before put together and lasting longer than them.

The pain increases until it hits a threshold, and something breaks within me, channelling all the pain inside me. I point my tied-up right hand behind me towards Digby, and I yell with all my might. "UP!!!!!!"

The broom above the fireplace flies off the wall approaching Mach speeds and, with a meaty thunk, impacts the back of Digby's head, sending him to the floor and the wand out of his hand sliding across the wooden floor.

It comes to a stop near my free hand, and I quickly begin to finger at it trying to pick it up, but it is just out of grasp, and I can hear clambering on the phone behind me, meaning Digby is still not out for the count.

"LOCKHART, YOU-"

Come on, come on.

"-BASTARD! I AM GOING-"

Please, I'm nearly there. I am touching it.

"-RIP YOU LIMB FROM LIMB! I DON'T-"

FUCK, FUCK FUCK, COME ON!!

"-CARE ABOUT THE MONEY ANYMORE. I AM GOING TO-"

"STUPEFY!!" I cast, his wand held tightly in my grasp and aimed at Digby, the red light impacts his struggling form, and he collapses back to the floor.

All tension leaves my body, and I stop moving. I am just lying there, still strapped to the chair on my side, thanking Merlin that I am alive.