chapter 10
Hogwarts, 1973
Another week had passed during which Gilderoy decided his target.
"Why did you discard that boy, Severus Snape? He is very talented, from what the journalist said. He is the best in potions, and he even created a spell that is now widely popular here in Hogwarts" asked Allanon.
"He frequent all the time those death eaters. Do you have an idea of how bad it would be to associate myself with him? It would be like shooting myself in the foot, my fame would be destroyed and everyone would think of me as just another terrorist" he explained.
"Moreover he is the less pleasing when it comes to appearance" the other three were all girls and two of them were particularly hot.
"Alice Griffith is a noble, so it would be difficult to approach and while Pandora would probably be my best option, since we also share the same house, but I want to get to her when I'll be capable enough to enter that damn room. That is the best way to get someone like her interested in me" I said.
"So, you have decided for the young Gryffindor girl? Why does this not surprise me?" said the old druid, with a tired voice.
He had obviously investigated by himself, about these four students, and among them Lily Evans stood out with a charm and beauty that put her to the top of this school.
She wasn't as curvaceous as Pandora, but her proportion still appeared to be perfect and went well with her height and face.
She was the kind of girl that always stands out in any crowd and that could capture the innocent heart of many young boys with just a smile.
Skeeter had mentioned, that in many considered Lily to be the most beautiful girl currently in Hogwarts, to the point that even some Slytherins are interested in her and have gone against their own prejudices just to approach her.
Just to be refused as the girl is quite headstrong.
"Either way it doesn't really matter, who I start with, they are all interconnected" thought Gilderoy.
It seems to be true that geniuses always frequents each other.
Lily Evans and the other two girls happened to be part of a group of friends and the other guy was a childhood friend of Lily, although from what he read from the mind of one of Lily's hardcore fan, they all hated him and Severus was probably the favourite victim of Gryffindor pranksters.
"Do you have a plan?" asked Allanon.
"Being me is the plan?" Gilderoy obviously didn't mean something along the lines 'as long as you are sincere and show your true self she will fall in love with you', he was just being his usual arrogant self and he won't spare any trickery to achieve his goals.
"That talking hat should change his occupation, where is the Ravenclaw in you?" lamented the old druid.
"There is no meaning in making too many plans, I need to adapt to the situation. You know me, I'm quick with this things" said Gilderoy and Allanon could agree that when this little guy wanted a to achieve something he usually came up with several tricks on the spot.
Soon Gilderoy saw his target, she was reading in the library and while she was sitting alone, many of the tables near her were full of people, who just pretended to study and kept stealing peeks of her.
"Remember to not try to use legilimency, she is not as good as that Skeeter, since she is younger and must have started to train later in her occlumency, but she is already somewhat accomplished and it is still to early for you to risk reading her mind. Also I won't help you, I don't plan to risk getting out of your mind and entering others especially for something like this." admonished Allanon.
"You can still tell me her feelings right? You said during one of my training session that our feeling affects our magic and an expert in the mind arts can read the wavelength of magic and understand the state of mind of the person in front of him".
"So, you did pay attention? Sometimes I believe you are just ignoring me" Commented Allanon.
"I just don't see the worth in looking at you while listening" replied disinterested Gilderoy.
"How about showing respect to your master?" said the druid.
"I'm allowing you to freeload, isn't that enough" Said Gilderoy, but when Allanon was about to retort, the boy silenced him as he was about to reach the girl.
"How are you going to approach her?" asked the druid, deciding to not insist on the previous discussion, as he truly want this to work for the sake of his disciple, who has been lonely since the first time he met him.
"Her book. It is a muggle book and I'm confident that whatever she is reading I'll know it. I've passed my whole life reading books to improve my writing".
"How do you know that?"
"It looks to be new and no book here is new" said Gilderoy, since he had already visited the library a few times and he knew that the majority of the books here looked to be a few centuries old.
He then sat at the same table while bringing out his charms book which for the first time he was going to read normally.
The tables were public propriety and anyone could sit on them and the only reason she was the only one using that table was that the others were too timid to try sitting near her.
Although Gilderoy found it hard to understand what made them think that staring at her was less suspicious.
Maybe they just weren't just able to resist the temptation of looking at her one time after the other, fearing she may depart the next moment.
"That's Oliver Twist, right?" asked Gilderoy, getting the attention of the girl.
"You also read it?" she asked with an impressed expression.
"It would be stranger for someone born in England to haven't read Charles Dickens" replied Gilderoy, happy with the fact that his intervention seemed to work better than he expected.
"You don't have an idea of how few people bother themselves with reading muggle authors here. Even those, who like me have muggle parents, don't think it is important to read these masterpieces of our culture. They deem them as useless, since they all plan to find a job in the magical side of the world in the future." Lamented the girl with a troubled expression.
"That must be why the current literacy of the wizarding world isn't up to standard. They don't even teach literature here in Hogwarts." Said Gilderoy, who also found this troublesome as he lost the occasion to boast his talent and knowledge in front of other first-years, because of this.
"Yeah, you are right. Although I must say that you are quite young to have read Dickens." She said.
"I want to write some books in the future to bring some good literature in the wizarding word too" said with a smile Gilderoy.
"That would be a great achievement. What do you like the most about Dickens?" She asked, and Gilderoy knew that now they had officially started a discussion, as she too seemed interested.
"His characters. You can feel the liveliness that transpires from them. Although many say that they tend to fall too easily in stereotypes, I still think that they are well done and once read they become unforgettable for the lectors. In addition I love his humour, but this is a trait that is shared by many English authors." explained Gilderoy.
"You are quite mature for your age. I believe that the majority of my peers are far more childish than you… and don't say that it is because I'm among Gryffindors" she added, when she saw him open his mouth.
"I was just going to accept your compliment. I think to be more mature than all your peers from any house after all" hearing his words she let out a soft laugh, void of any malice, that sounded harmonious and pleasing to the ears of the listeners.
Gilderoy always though that he was the most perfect being in the world, but the girl in front of him was a close second.
"Sorry about that. I'm far too used to hear similar comments about my house. Is Dickens your favourite author?" she asked after getting her laugh under control.
"I prefer Arthur Conan Doyle" said Gilderoy as he dreamed to one day become an adventurer who goes around solving mysteries.
"As for me…" she tried to speak but was interrupted.
"Shakespeare or Jane Austen, right?"
"Is it that obvious?" she asked with a blush.
"For me it is" replied Gilderoy with a proud face.
"How did you guess it?" asked Allanon, who had been watching silently and was sure that Gilderoy didn't use legilimency.
"50% because she is a girl, and 50% because she looks like the kind of person, who likes love stories" replied Gilderoy with certainty.
"Rather than that, tell me how her emotions were?"
"This lad seems to be quite sincere, the emotion she showed with her behaviour and the emotions I picked up from her magic are always similar. She seems to be interested." maybe it was too much for Gilderoy to question the sincerity of a thirteen years old girl, but if he takes himself as an example it is obvious that you can't trust just the exterior appearance.
Suddenly they could hear the click of a photo-camera and Lily expression immediately became bothered and Gilderoy didn't need to ask Allanon to understand that now she was feeling uncomfortable.
"Do you want to continue speaking somewhere else?" I proposed.
"Are you sure? You just came here and you probably wanted to study charm" she said while looking at the charm book I had brought to have an excuse for sitting here.
"No, you are the first friend I made here and it would be sad to just stop our discussion" said Gilderoy, while looking down.
"First friend? Don't you speak with your roommates?" asked Lily, but Gilderoy couldn't see her expression as he was still feigning to be embarrassed, while looking at the floor.
"Well, you know… I'm more mature than the other first-years and in Ravenclaw people are more solitary" he replied.
"Is she feeling pity?" asked Gilderoy to Allanon.
"Yes she is" replied the druid and Gilderoy barely stopped a smirk from appearing on his face.
"Let's go have a walk then. I have nothing to do for the next hour" she said as she got up, and Gilderoy walked to her side.
"Does it happen often?" asked Gilderoy, but Lily just looked at him strangely, failing to understand the subject of Gilderoy phrase.
"Being photographed" clarified the boy.
"Ah yeah, you don't have an idea. Literature isn't the only lacking thing about the wizarding word. The law is obsolete too. I once asked one of those guys to stop taking photos of me and my friends, but he just said that it was legal to do so. Guess what? I looked for it in the library and I found out that he was right. Only nobles can't be photographed without their permission, since they are political figures" she lamented with a frown on her face.
"No wonder there is no class about the constitution of wizarding Britain, even though half of Hogwarts students are muggle-borns new to this society. The ministry probably wants to hide from them the truth about our society" said Gilderoy.
He too was quite mad about the situation. After all, while it is true that he might be a half-blood, his position isn't much better than muggle-borns. Pursuing a political position would be hard for him, but luckily that was not his aim from the start.
"Someone once told me that being a muggle-born wouldn't have made a difference, but I guess that was a lie" said Lily with a sullen expression.
"You are right, but I think you are a great person, and one day you'll be able to make a difference in the right direction" said Gilderoy, prompting a smile from Lily.
"You just met me a few minutes ago" she said with a smile.
"Someone who likes to read can only be a great person. I'm the perfect example of that. Having this said, I'm sorry to tell you that now that we are friends you'll have to deal with a lot more paparazzi" said Gilderoy, and Lily couldn't help but laugh about the confidence emanated by the boy on her side.
"I'm sure that our friendship will be worth the bother" she replied.
Mission succeeded.
Although Gilderoy envied a little the fame of his new friend, he liked the fact that he could bask now in another wave of jealous gazes.
Only someone like Gilderoy Lockhart can strike a friendship with the most beautiful and capable girl of his school, who is also two years older than him.
(You must admit that i wrote a great chapter. I like how i made their frienship start. Don't forget to leave some powerstones and if you want to read ahead join my Patreon)