F&L: Meanwhile, With Gilderoy Lockhart. . .

Gilderoy Lockhart was, if he said so himself, damn good with the Mind Arts. Honestly, it was the one thing he had that put him head and shoulders above all his peers and many other older Wizards besides. Accordingly, he liked to keep that capability to himself to use as an ace in the hole, as the parlance went. Of course, this wasn't out of any real sense of fair play, keeping his best tricks back for the sake of leveling the playing field. No, it was for an altogether more selfish purpose.

Gilderoy Lockhart was in the business of accruing wealth, power, and fame by any means necessary. The means he tended to use to achieve such things were via the Mind Arts. See, he knew he was no great battle mage. He could admit that much in the privacy of his own head. His skill at Defense was uneven and patchy, and his Charms Work was just all right. He was a decent hand at Transfiguration, of course, but nothing exceptional. In any other scenario, Gilderoy Lockhart might have been doomed to the life of an average Wizard, full of little reward and much in the way of Mindless Drudgery.

However, with his talent for the Mind Arts, a rare and valuable discipline of Magic, he was far more capable of borrowing the talents and accomplishments of others. Of course, some would say he was stealing them, but they were simply jealous that they hadn't been smart enough to figure out a loophole to riches and fame themselves. Gilderoy Lockhart would often use his grasp of the Mind Arts to dominate the wills of better Combat Wizards on various hunts and investigations, use their talents to his own ends, then utilize the Mind Arts to wipe their memories afterward. Unlike Obliviation, memory wipes with the Mind Arts were far more difficult to detect. You would need to be a Natural Leglimens or a master of Leglimency to figure it out. Once he had his puppets mind wiped, Gilderoy Lockhart would then be free to take credit for the Hunt or Investigation entirely, thus gaining the fame and rewards of such successful endeavors for himself.

It had worked out well for him so far, granting him fame, riches, and no small amount of power, as he had been able to force certain tricks out of his thralls to shore up his deficiencies in Defense and Charms while they had been dominated. It had even won him the Order of Merlin! True, it was without Crossed Wands, meaning Third Class and thus, the lowest rank of said award, but he had been able to parlay that into taking the defense position here at Hogwarts after the prior Defense Professor had died in a horrific accident. This posting would be his in to higher grades of the Award, and likely allow him no small amount of materials to study and gain more power with, or seeds to plant in the minds of talented students with the Mind Arts to make for future thralls, once they had graduated.

Case in point, he had recently had the occasion to watch a duel in Slytherin House between Draco Malfoy and Blaise Zabini. Both seemed talented Combat Mages, though of the two, Lockhart could gain no read on Blaise without trying something far more blatant than he wished to try. That alone was interesting, as it spoke of another Natural Talent with the Mind Arts for such a young Wizard to have such good Occlumency Shields. Unfortunately, such talent also meant that he would be unable to easily plant any seeds in Blaise's mind or make the Young Wizard a thrall without using his abilities in a blatant enough manner to draw suspicion from Dumbledore.

Likewise, he had immediately ruled out doing something similar with Draco Malfoy, not because of the strength of Malfoy's Occlumency Shields, mind you, but because he could not afford to make an enemy of Lucius Malfoy, who would definitely be able to tell something had changed in his heir. The Man had supposedly been the Dark Lord's Second back during the last war, and you didn't hold that sort of position without having a few tricks to scan for and safeguard against the Mind Arts. Besides, Draco had lost the duel, which meant he was the less capable puppet anyway.

It had been during the duel when Lockhart's attention had been drawn to Gemma Farley. The Seventh Year Slytherin Girl's Prefect was a fairly pretty brunette with a cute upturned nose and a petite build. She also seemed to be knowledgeable enough about the spells being used in the Duel, at least most of them, that Lockhart was fairly sure that she would be an excellent substitute Thrall. She seemed to be calling them out as they were cast, at any rate. Plus, with her status as a Prefect, Lockhart might be able to use that status to more easily move about the castle at night. After all, Prefects were often tasked with supplementing the night watch that the Cantankerous Caretaker, Argus Filch, stood every night.

Lockhart smirked as a plan began to form in his mind. He had noticed that he was being scrutinized by one of the Ministry Workers every so often. Magnus Gamp, he had been informed that the Man's Name was. Further looking into things proved that Magnus Gamp had been one of the very few Wizards to actually deal with one of the Dark Lord's Inner Circle during the war. He and Mad-Eye Moody had taken down Antonin Dolohov, tracking the Dark Wizard down on the Continent and defeating him in a magical battle, capturing him to be brought back to Britain and sentenced to Azkaban. Lockhart shuddered when he thought of actively making a move while that Man was in the Castle. He shouldn't expect to ever see his fabulous mansion again.

Of course, Magnus Gamp couldn't be in the Castle all the time. It was a simple matter for Lockhart to activate one of the few sleeper thralls he had in the Ministry, Vice-Head of the Magical Examinations Bureau Isobel Burke, who had been a fan of his for years and had fallen under his sway because of it, and get her to recall Magnus Gamp. Apparently, there was a slate of make-up exams for Witches and Wizards who had been sick during the OWLs last year, which was scheduled for the coming week. It was a simple matter to Floo Call Isobel Burke, trigger her, and have her place Magnus Gamp on the Schedule of Proctors for Tuesday and Wednesday, necessitating his return to London for those two days. That should give Lockhart plenty of time to dominate Miss Farley.

Of course, when the time came, everything went as planned. He had found Miss Farley patrolling the Hogwarts Library Restricted Section on Tuesday Night. He plastered his best and friendliest smile onto his face and made his way over to her. She spotted him, a frown on her face, before that expression melted into one of acceptance. That was just as planned. After all, professors visiting the Restricted Section were hardly uncommon. It helped that Lockhart was projecting a subtle aura of calm via Empathy to help smooth over any objections and smother doubts. He was pleased to see Miss Farley take to such prompting readily. It would make the next part far easier for him.

"Professor. Looking for something specific?" Questioned Gemma Farley.

"Actually, Miss Farley, I was looking for a book on dueling." Offered Lockhart.

He sent Miss Farley a small nod, a pleasant smile, and a bit of subtle mental urging. He wanted Miss Farley to want to be friendly to him, after all. It would make this process much easier if she wanted to be helpful, after all.

"Dueling Professor?" Queried Gemma Farley.

Her doubts were clear for anyone with a developed Empathic Ability to sense. A bit of Leglimency managed to tease out that Gemma was one of those who had at least partly bought into his accomplishments. She didn't believe that he would need such a book. Well, Gilderoy Lockhart was nothing if not a skilled liar and improviser. He would simply have to play this off. Flattery might help her open up further. At the very least, it couldn't hurt to try.

"When you get to a certain level, you're always looking for new tricks. You would know something about that, wouldn't you? I overheard your conversation at the Duel between Mister Zabini and Mister Malfoy. You're quite the budding duelist yourself." Flattered Lockhart, with a bit more emotional and mental prodding.

"I mean, I'm sure I'm not on your level, Professor. You get invited to all those Hunts and Investigations, after all." Demurred Gemma Farley.

Embarrassment at praise? How adorable! Useful too. By stoking the underlying feelings that made her embarrassed to receive praise within her, Lockhart might even be able to get further in this initial attempt to enthrall Gemma Farley than he had planned. He sent positive emotions into her mind at that with Empathic Projection before speaking again.

"Nonsense, Miss Farley! Why, I wouldn't be surprised if you had the makings of an excellent Huntress yourself." Responded Lockhart, sending emotions of curiosity and longing into Gemma.

"Really, Professor?" Asked Gemma Farley.

Lockhart knew he had her now. All he had to do was offer something that Miss Farley couldn't resist, such as one-on-one mentoring, and she would gladly step into private for some advice. Once that happened, all it would take was a bit of eye contact for Lockhart to begin the enthrallment process proper. He would have his Slytherin Prefect Minion soon enough. However, he would need to be careful. Magnus Gamp wouldn't be gone forever. Best to do this slowly. Even though he could make a perfect thrall with an hour's worth of work, he wouldn't try it until he could be sure he could get away with it. For now, planting the seeds would serve just as well. If everything else went well, he might have his perfect Thrall sometime in October.

"Of course, Miss Farley. In fact, if you wish, I could offer some personal tutoring on the subject that would help you along your goal. Say, twice a month sessions?" Questioned Lockhart, sending a mental urging to accept into Gemma's Mind.

"That would be amazing, Professor! When did you have in mind?" Queried Gemma Farley.

"Shall we say the second and fourth Saturdays of the month?" Asked Lockhart, sending more affirmative impulses over to Gemma's Mind.

"I'll be there, Professor." Nodded Gemma.

And with that, Lockhart knew he had his path forward with her. Indeed, if Miss Farley was any indication, the Prefects of this School had no real Occlumency Shields to speak of. Strange that the younger students had them, but the Prefects didn't. It was something to puzzle over later. After all, let it not be said that Gilderoy Lockhart would question it when opportunity knocked. After all, the Prefects were the ones he needed onside most out of the Student Body. If he could get one prefect in each house as a Thrall, then he would be able to start using them to spread his influence to other students. If he played this right, then Lockhart might even be able to siphon off Family Secrets and Wealth from the collection of Pureblood Ladies in the School. Seventh year had a number of fairly enchanting ladies, after all. He didn't much care for the boys, however. After all, once business had been finished, Gilderoy Lockhart would indulge in pleasure, and he did not swing that way.

For now, though, he and Gemma Farley stepped into an alcove to talk, and Gilderoy Lockhart met the Seventh-Year Slytherin Girl's Prefect's gaze. He immediately began using Leglimency to instill urges into her already softened mind. Just enough to plant the seeds of eventual enthrallment, but it was still a step in the right direction if he was going to fulfill his plans. As he began to plant the seeds of her eventual enthrallment in Gemma Farley's Mind, Gilderoy Lockhart couldn't help himself. Visions of a dozen seventeen and eighteen-year-old pureblood ladies from Seventh Year clinging to him, offering him pouches of galleons and family grimoires, danced through his mind. It was almost enough to make him lose concentration. Almost. However, by the time he was finished, Gilderoy Lockhart was one step closer to that fantasy becoming a reality.

He just had to do this slowly to avoid notice. . .

XXXX

AN: All right, so here we have the promised Gilderoy Lockhart interlude. As stated, the Man is a giant creep, but one that is really good with the Mind Arts, Manipulative as all Hell, and able to seize opportunities when presented. He took advantage of everyone being pissed off at Malfoy's cheating attempts to come up with a plan to get the Seventh Year Girls' Prefects in every house as his thralls and has begun to implement it, making openings to do so while he can. Ultimately, it is going to be up to Blaise to deal with it at some point, though he still thinks Magnus Gamp is handling it right now. He'll learn otherwise at some point in the year, and it isn't going to be fun for him.

At any rate, the next chapter will be another time-skippy chapter before we get to the first opening of the Chamber of Secrets in October. I'll also have a couple of images out after that as well, before going into the main plot of Chamber of Secrets.

Stay tuned. . .