Chapter 98

Later that day, some time after dinner, Ethan was summoned to the Headmaster's Office, no doubt because of what had happened with Lockhart.

It had been his head of house, Potions Professor Snape who had delivered the summon. The stern man's face had been unreadable as he did, so Ethan could not tell what the Professor thought of the whole debacle.

It had quickly spread out through the school like the plague though, and caused a veritable clash of reputations. On the one hand was Lockhart, the older and more famous Professor, yet who was seemingly in the wrong, and on the other was Ethan, whose budding fame as a heroic figure was being played out.

The issue might have seemed to be a small one, and in the span of the school year, it probably would end up being just that, but for now, classes had resumed for barely half a month, and Lockhart's classes had started annoying more than one.

So, the students on Ethan's side did not really care about him, his cause was more of a funnel for them to pour their frustrations, while the other side were Lockhart's supporters, those swayed by his fame, and was mostly made of girls.

Ethan was among the only ones not to care about the issue. His goal was to get Lockhart fired, and possibly expose his terrible actions in the past, but he could not care less about his reputation in the school.

He arrived in front of a gargoyle, behind which was a spiralling staircase going up. Ethan remembered one was supposed to speak a password to have the staircase appeared. Since it was already here, then Dumbledore should be waiting for him.

As he climbed the steps though, he saw Malfoy coming out of Dumbledore's office, looking sheepish. More importantly, he was not alone, as he was accompanied by a tall man with long pale blond hair.

The similarity between him and Draco had Ethan guess that this was none other than the patriarch of the Malfoy Family, Lucius Malfoy.

Lucius was one of the most powerful men in Britain, and one of his many accolades was the position of chairman on Hogwarts' Board of Governors.

The man looked livid, but the moment he saw Ethan, his face considerably eased as his expression turned into a reserved one, and greeted, "Mr. Grindelwald, I do not believe we have had the pleasure to meet."

Ethan supposed introducing oneself was not considered of proper etiquette as Draco picked on some cue left by his father, and introduced him, "This is my father, Lucius Malfoy. Patriarch to the Malfoy Family, Chairman of Hogwarts' Board of Governors, President of the Malfoy Conglomerate and Honorary member of the Marchant's Galore."

If Ethan was supposed to feel impressed, that had failed.

Still, while he did not hold Draco Malfoy very highly, Ethan did understand that Lucius Malfoy was one of the most powerful men in the country, and disrespecting him for no reason would just be dumb.

Ethan was not going to make a fool of himself trying to mimic the rules of ancient families, which he did not even know, so he simply nodded, replying, "Indeed we did not. Ethan Grindelwald, a boy doing his best to redeem a name too heavy for him to bear."

One of Lucius' brows shot up at the short introduction, clearly intrigued by it. It was short, but it said everything Ethan believed mattered to Lucius.

He could not tell whether Lucius Malfoy was pleased or bothered by his words as the man showed a perfunctory smile, changing the subject, "I have heard of what the charlatan Lockhart did. I tried my best to have him fired for his behaviour, but Dumbledore has grown senile, and would refuse to even punish him."

Ethan looked past him at the closed door, which he guessed was the only reason Lucius dared to say this, and nodded, "Not surprising. The Headmaster usually dotes on members of the school, faculty or students. It matters not, Lockhart will mess up again."

Lucius grinned, this time visibly satisfied with what he said, "Indeed. You can consider to have the Board of Governors on your side, on this issue."

"I will be sure to remember this. Now, I have to meet the Headmaster." Ethan felt like snorting hearing Lucius accentuate that last part, but he refrained from doing so, cutting the conversation short instead.

He nodded at the two, before walking past them. As he reached the door however, Lucius said, "If you ever become interested in realizing your family's legacy, you would most certainly find support in several powerful families."

His family's legacy… Ethan knew exactly what Lucius Malfoy was speaking of. Gellert Grindelwald's goal during the war had always been to abolish the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy, and have wizardkind rule over Muggles.

Ethan did not answer Lucius, choosing to enter the Headmaster's office after knocking instead.

Dumbledore was inside already, sitting behind his desk and looking at Ethan with a kind smile. As the latter closed the door behind him, Dumbledore said, "You must have met with Mr. Malfoy. I am afraid my answers left him unhappy."

Ethan stopped in front of his desk, "Would you care for a piece of advice?"

A chair appeared next to Ethan with a flip of Dumbledore's hand as he cooed, "I would never refuse advice from my students!"

Sitting down, Ethan spoke in a neutral tone, "While I am sure you have plans for Mr. Malfoy, he does have a lot of influence. If your position were to be compromised, and something similar to last year were to happen, students could be put at risk."

Dumbledore's eyes twinkled behind his glasses as he chuckled, "Those are a lot of ifs, but I will keep that in mind."

The boy felt no mental intrusion, even as he looked Dumbledore in the eye, but he was sure the Headmaster had access to at least some level of Empathy. Not that it would lead him anywhere into Ethan's thoughts, just as Ethan's Empathy did nothing to read Dumbledore.

"If you are interested, this old man also has a piece of advice for you."

"I would never refuse wisdom from my elders!"

Dumbledore smiled and said, "Let nature take its course."

Ethan instantly realized what the Headmaster was talking about Lockhart, and mused aloud, "So you do know that Lockhart is a con."

Dumbledore immediately chided him, "He remains your Professor."

"Then let me rephrase. You already know that Professor Lockhart made up his reputation, and is not actually a legend in the making. And you want me to stop trying to expose him? Why?"

"If Gilderoy really is an impostor, then he will not need anyone's help to show his true colours. Instead, forcing it to happen would only result in doubt."

Ethan frowned, knowing there was some truth to that. Once fooled, most people would become stubbornly unreceptive about any criticism concerning what had fooled them. In this case, die hard fans of Lockhart would continue believing in him, even if shown clear evidence of his true nature.

But if there were no traces of outside interferences, and Lockhart was to be solely responsible for his downfall, then even those extreme fans would come to realize the truth.

There was still one problem, though.

"Does that mean you are ready to sacrifice a year of education in Defence Against the Dark Arts to expose him? Shouldn't you strive to act in the best interests of your students as the Headmaster?"

Dumbledore's smile never wavered. He fiddled with his long beard, and said, "I do admit that my employment of Professor Lockhart mainly stemmed from personal reasons. However, you should also consider that anyone with the required level in the subject know about the jinx on the position, so we are not crawling under applications."

Dumbledore paused, before adding with a twinkle in his eyes, "There is also a lot to learn from a bad teacher: what not to do, how to not be."