Chapter 175: A Collection of Lockhart's Tales (Edited)

After leaving the bookstore, Professor McGonagall kept her promise and took Fish out for ice cream, and then, instead of leaving, took him for a stroll through Diagon Alley.

Although her mood was dampened by Gringotts and Lockhart's high-speed mining cart, Professor McGonagall was generally very happy today.

The fact that Fish had grown up meant a lot to Professor McGonagall, both for having solved a major problem in her mind and for the sense of accomplishment she felt in raising her son.

So, in good spirits, Professor McGonagall planned to take Fish outside to play for a while today.

Not knowing what Professor McGonagall was thinking, Fish just happily followed her around the stores in Diagon Alley, buying lots of snacks and eating them along the way.

They even went to the Magical Animal Shop and Gambol & Japes Joke Shop, which they had refused to take him to last time.

But now Fish had lost interest in hunting owls, and the magical toys that Professor McGonagall was so concerned about didn't interest him much either.

Although he was initially intrigued by the fireworks and strange props, once the novelty wore off, he grew bored and was more intrigued by the erratic golden Snitch.

The only thing that made Fish slightly unhappy was the fact that he couldn't eat Comey's Chinese food because he was out.

So, after walking around for a while in the afternoon, Fish volunteered to come back and didn't want to miss dinner.

Back home after a long day of play, Fish turned into a kitten, found a trophy and went to sleep in it.

Since discovering that Fish likes to sleep on trophies, Professor McGonagall has searched through all the trophies she has won and placed them around the house for Fish to use as cat nests.

While placing the textbooks she had purchased in Fish's room, Professor McGonagall suddenly had the impulse to take one of the seven books from Lockhart's collection and sit down with it next to Fish to peruse it.

Although Professor McGonagall remembered Gilderoy Lockhart as a troublesome fellow in her student days, he was not as fond of pranks as the twins, but he made as much noise to attract attention as Fish did at the Sorting Ceremony when he grabbed the Sorting Hat.

For example, he had carved his name in six-meter letters on the Quidditch pitch and projected his portrait into the sky as the mark of Dark Magic.

Professor McGonagall was most impressed that one Valentine's Day he would send himself 800 valentines, forcing the cancellation of breakfast that day because of the amount of owl droppings and feathers that had landed in the cereal.

One of these unfortunate cereal bowls belonged to Professor McGonagall, and she has never had cereal again, one of her favorite breakfasts.

If that were the case, there was never any shortage of troublemakers in Gryffindor, and even if Lockhart were a Ravenclaw, Professor McGonagall would not treat Lockhart any differently because of it.

What really made Professor McGonagall hate Lockhart was his attitude toward learning.

As a Ravenclaw, Lockhart's talent wasn't bad, but he studied for attention and to satisfy his inexplicable vanity.

So when he realized that his hard work would only lead to similar results as the rest of his classmates, Lockhart stopped trying hard and did everything he could to get attention.

This upset Professor McGonagall, who was so devoted to her education and so traditional and old-fashioned, that she became as disgusted with Lockhart as the other teachers when she discovered that he would not change.

But since Dumbledore had chosen him to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts, and since Professor McGonagall had more or less heard of him over the years, she was willing to put aside her prejudices and use Lockhart's book to find out his current status.

Opening the book, Professor McGonagall straightened her glasses on the bridge of her nose and read it word for word.

As far as she remembered, the book was full of Lockhart's boasts about himself, since he still was and liked to show off.

But aside from this awkward content, the descriptions of the werewolves, and some of the responses to them, were spot on.

This surprised Professor McGonagall, who remembered that Lockhart did not have the strength and calmness of mind found in the book.

"Is it possible that Lockhart has finally stopped wasting his talent?"

Professor McGonagall whispered, not quite believing it, after all those years at the school he hadn't changed, only gotten worse, and she didn't think Lockhart was going to change much after graduating.

Besides, it was clear from the book that he was still the same vain Lockhart, but what was said about werewolves was true....

Professor McGonagall pinched the bridge of her nose and decided to read the other six books before making a decision.

Although they looked like books to read over several days, in reality, stripped of all the self-aggrandizement and travel stories unrelated to Defense Against the Dark Arts, there wasn't much in each book, not even half as much as there was in the first year's Defense Against the Dark Arts: Self-Defense Guide.

It's just that some of the tips for dealing with dangerous magical creatures are very practical and unique.

This made Professor McGonagall feel very puzzled.

From the contents of these seven books, it was clear that Lockhart had real skills, and it was no wonder that the Ministry of Magic had awarded him the Third Degree of the Order of Merlin and made him an honorary member of the Defense of the Dark Arts League.

For his performance in the books alone, Lockhart was worthy of the title.

But this Lockhart was so different from the uneducated, reputable man Professor McGonagall remembered, that she now felt a strange disconnect with him.

"Perhaps my preconceptions about Lockhart run too deep..."

Professor McGonagall closed the book and mentally readjusted her opinion of Lockhart.

On the one hand, Lockhart's books were more attractive than other textbooks, so it was no wonder they continued to sell at such a high price.... After all, storybooks were a relatively popular industry in the wizarding world, given the lack of entertainment.

"Huh?"

Professor McGonagall suddenly found another use for these books: they could be read to Fish as a storybook.

Fish didn't like learning because textbooks were too boring, but the books were so entertaining that Fish could learn a lot of practical things by listening to the stories.

The only thing to watch out for is that Fish doesn't get carried away with the self-indulgent content.

But that's okay, because Fish doesn't read books full of words anyway, so he can cut them out as he reads them.

Thinking about it, Professor McGonagall suddenly felt that Lockhart's books... were worth the price.

They were expensive, but worth the money, and with Lockhart's writing and reputation, and the exciting plot, you couldn't say the five-gallon book was worth it, but it was also within the acceptable range.

"Fish.

Professor McGonagall woke the kitten, who was sleeping on the trophy.

"Meow?" (=Φω=)

The sleepy kitten poked its head out of the trophy and looked up at Professor McGonagall.

"Do you want to hear a story?"

Professor McGonagall waved Lockhart's book in her hand.

"Meow!" (=ω=)

Fish immediately jumped off the trophy and landed on Professor McGonagall's lap, looking up at her expectantly with his triangular ears perked up.

Professor McGonagall smiled, opened the book in her hands and slowly read what she had cut out.