13 Lockhart's Class

The next day

Lucas made his way into the great hall. He had kept up with his training schedule and didn't skip even a single day over the summer that's why he was one of the few ones this early in the great hall.

When he came through the stone doorway he was greeted by a special Gryffindor excitedly waving at him.

A visible smile formed on his face and he waved back, which in turn made the girl smile as well.

Quickly walking over to her and sitting down he said "It's good to see you, Hermione."

"It's nice to see you as well, Lucas. How was your summer?"

As Lucas filled his plate with food he began to tell her all about it "It was great, my mom and I travelled to Italy. The beach was beautiful and the water was warm. We also visited Rome, which was spectacular. Unfortunately I had no clue about the magical side there. I would have loved to get my hands on some old, maybe even roman empire old, magic books. Apart from that I have started to learn how to cook from my mom. How about you?"

"That sounds lovely." she started before she almost couldn't contain herself from her giddiness "I read so many books you wouldn't believe it. At first I read the new second year books, but they weren't enough so I went shopping in Diagon Ally, where …"

Hermione felt like Lucas really listened to her and was interested in whatever she told him, something she rarely felt with other people. The only other person that made her feel like that was Holly, but not to this extent.

The two talked until the end of breakfast, when they had to separate in order to get their school supplies from their dorms. She didn't want to stop their chat, but she hated even more to be late for class, so they said their goodbyes and walked away.

Lucas' first class was with a teacher he had met briefly during his school shopping trip. Gilderoy Lockhart.

"Professor Lockhart, you look radiant today as well." he said as he entered the classroom. "And your smile always brightens my day."

"Well thank you, it is alway nice to hear the positive effects I have on my students." Lockhart said as he flashed his signature smile towards Lucas, who sent something the book called a probe, which is basically a small quantity of legilimancy that should be able to invade other people's minds undetected, at him.

He had already done this before, on the day he first met him. Lucas made sure to leave a favourable impression and butter him up. The problem wasn't invading his mind, the problem was hiding his machinations from Dumbledore.

----

Flashback.

"Excuse me, Mr. Lockhart?" Lucas said finally arriving in front of his signing desk. He had been waiting in line for an hour already, even though he came expecially early the room still ended up getting crowded.

"Ah, another admirer! How splendid to meet you. What can I do for you, my dear? Gildory said flashing his pearly whites.

While he was talking, Lucas established eye contact and sent the probe. It swiftly arrived at his mindscape, where it found a very basic shield. Nothing he couldn't just ignore. But the probe was here for a different purpose, it had to slowly and carefully dive deep into his subconscious, where it would sort of disolve, leaving no traces behind. This would give Lucas the power to subtly influence Lockharts mind, but needed a long period of time to take effect.

The probe had only one instruction, when Lockhart will arrive at Hogwarts he will help him out with his requests, without asking any questions or froming any memories of doing so.

----

The probe arrived at Lockhart's mindscape without issues, and Lucas could feel the connection building between them, without being in his head himself.

If he now focused on that connection he would find himself mentally inside the professors head.

His mind was cluttered with mirrors and statues of himself, which wasn't surprising, but nonetheless creepy.

He could also feel his command that has been subtly influencing his disposition towards him for a while now laying dormant, opening Lockhart up to his influence, something that would open many opportunities. Unfortunately it was not yet time to reap what he had sown. Maybe another week or two.

15 minutes later the last students had arrived as well and the second school year officially started.

To be frank, this class was laughable, almost insultingly useless.

At least the other subject were taught by the same teachers as the year before.

And so the first week swiftly passed and friday afternoon came.

At the end of transfiguration Lucas was called upon by McGonagall "The headmaster would like to see you."

A cold shower went down his back and a little bit of panic started to settle in. Clamping down on his emotions he composed himself before answering "Yes I understand."

A few students immediately started to gossip and whispers could be heard throughout the class.

"Is everything alright?" Hannah, who sat next to him asked quietly, and Susan moved in closer to hear his response.

With a rather emotionless voice Lucas answered "Yeah, it shouldn't be anything serious."

"If you could stay behind until all the other students have left, I would then lead you to Professor Dumbledore's office." said McGonagall.

With a nod Lucas stood to the side and waited. A million possibilities went through his head.

'Where did it go wrong? This is not part of my plans.'

'It has to be that. I can't think of anything else.'

His mind went over everything he had done last year, down to every single day, which was only possible thanks to his accomplishments in the mind arts.

'No there is another possibility.'

He had arrived at two conclusions either the squad had snitched on him, or he had overlooked something at the ward securing the forbidden library. Both would influence his plans severely.

"If you may follow me Mr Foster" Lucas was brought back to reality by McGonagall's voice.

"Yes, of course." he replied before standing up and walking after her. "If you don't mind me asking, but could you let me know why the headmaster wants to meet with me?"

Lucas probed to get a better read on the situation.

"You don't need to be nervous, after all you are one of our best students. I believe it won't be anything serious." McGonagall misunderstood his inquiry as someone being tense or nervous about meeting the headmaster.

He stopped trying to find out more after this, as obviously she didn't know anything either.

Arriving at the gargoyle statue the transfiguration teacher turned to him and said "The password is lemon tea."

Then Lucas walked onto the gargoyle's platform and said clearly "Lemon Tea."

With a rumble the stairway started to wind upwards. When he reached the top he stood in front of a wooden door.

As he was about to knock a voice came from inside "You may enter!"

Stopping for a moment Lucas took a deep breath and opened the door. He stepped inside and at first looked around the room. In almost every spot on the wall hung a portrait, to the sides were bookcases and on one such shelf sat the sorting hat.

It was awake and stared back at him 'I must say you have grown remarkably, a little too much on the dark side, but nothing I didn't see coming.'

That completely shattered any expectations Lucas had of this visit and he didn't really know what he should do with this information.

'You can use mind magic without sitting on my head!? How much do you know?' he wanted to ask the hat a few more questions but he heard steps approaching.

He had to concentrate and pay utmost attention to this meeting, his future was most likely at stake here. With a cleared mindscape and not a thought distracting him he awaited Dumbledore's arrival.