"My aunty once had a run in with Lockhart," Susan began to explain. "She didn't like the man at all. Claimed he was nothing more than a..." Susan's face flushed a bit, but she continued. "Fraudulent idiot with no sense of pride and the moral ambiguity of a slug."
"Pretty harsh words coming from someone so respectful like Amelia Bones," Harry said as Hannah nodded.
"And if Susan's aunt is the one saying it, then you know it must be true."
"I still think none of you know what you're talking about," Astoria grumbled before being shushed by Daphne. The group of five eventually managed to collect a copy of Standard Book of Spells, Grade 2 and met up with the rest of their friends in the line near Misses Davis, who was looking even more excited to see Gilderoy Lockhart than Astoria, Hermione and Tracey combined.
"This is so exciting!" Tracey practically squealed. "I can't believe we're going to actually meet Gilderoy Lockhart."
"I don't know why you're so excited," Daphne sighed.
"Aw, come on, Daph!" Tracey whined at her best friend. "Don't be like that."
"I have to agree with Daphne," Terry added while Blaise gave a nod of his head. "Maybe it's just me, but Golderoy Lockhart doesn't seem all that special. His stories are way too fantastical to be real."
"How could you say that!?" Tracey sounded aghast at the thought that someone did not believe the books written by Gilderoy Lockhart were true. Hermione and Astoria seemed to be of the same opinion, if their gaping mouths were any indication. "Of course everything that happened in those books are real!"
"I think I would know if these books were real or not," Terry sounded very convinced of himself. "My parents are authors so I know a lot about story writing. First off, if this book was about a real life situation, I doubt the titles would be something as corny and horrible sounding as these ones. They sound more like a poetry story for children than a biographical tale of a real life event."
"That doesn't mean anything," Tracey argued, "and besides, these titles are catchy. You ever think that maybe that's why he gave these books those titles?"
"I'm beginning to think we may want to keep these two away from each other," Lisa mused to the others, those who had not gotten caught up in the argument.
"Why bother?" asked Daphne with a shrug. "If she's not arguing with Terry, Tracey will just end up doing so with someone else. That girl practically lives for arguing with others... and shoving her foot in her mouth."
"Besides," Blaise added after he was sure Daphne was finished. "It's entertaining to watch these two go at it like that."
Lisa looked over at Terry and Tracey as they continued to argue over whether or not Gilderoy Lockhart's books were real or fiction. Standing near them and watching the two were Astoria and Hermione, who looked like they were both siding with Tracey, though the blond girl seemed a tad reluctant. She had obviously not forgiven Tracey for her brat comment earlier.
"I'll never understand how those two can argue about anything and everything," Neville said, shaking his head. Harry just shook his head while Daphne spared a glance at the round faced boy.
"Fortunately for you, you don't have too."
A few seconds later, Gilderoy Lockhart came swaggering out from behind a curtain that looked like it had been set up specifically for that purpose. As almost every female in the vicinity swooned, Harry studied the man and determined in that instant that none of the stories written about him were actually true.
The first thing Harry took in about the man was his looks and wardrobe. There was no denying that from an objective standpoint Gilderoy Lockhart was what many women would consider handsome. He had a strong jaw line, jaw length wavy blond hair and bright blue eyes. Looking at the man, Harry figured that he was what Hitler would have called a perfect Aryan.
At least until the psychopathic dictator got a good look at Lockhart's clothing. The man was wearing the biggest eyesore Harry had ever seen. His robes were an atrociously loud color of forget-me-not blue that exactly matched his eyes, and there was a pointy wizard's hat sitting on his head at a garish angle. All in all, the man looked like a showboater, and the way he was hamming it up to the crowd only served to provide more evidence towards that theory.
It could have also had something to do with the table Lockhart took a seat at. Surrounding the man on both sides were large posters of himself, all winking and flashing a dazzling smile with white teeth at the crowd.
Harry stopped paying attention to the man after that. There was nothing interesting to look at as far as he was concerned. Instead, he turned to Susan and Daphne, who were the closest to him in the line and began conversing with them.
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