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Over the objections of the Hogwarts faculty- including an angry rant from Professor Fisher about 'incompetent bureaucratic morons', little of which was really appropriate for the ears of his young students- Professor Reed is taken away on suspicion of theft.
Anti-American sentiment intensifies, with whispers spreading about "those Yanks spying on us" and "stealing the Silverlight spell." People start eying Professor Fisher carefully, in the halls. (He ignores it, rather pointedly.) People write in to the Headmistress complaining; why did they bring in those Americans in the first place, why does that man Fisher still work there, similar nonsense. She develops a curt form letter assuring parents that Hogwarts hiring standards are of the highest quality, with a strong undertone of none of your business. The letters continue anyway.
Students graffiti the Transfiguration classroom with insulting suggestions for places Professor Fisher can take himself. Filch catches those responsible and they clean it up as their detention. McGonagall makes a displeased speech that night at dinner about respecting faculty and innocence until proven guilty. Some students listen.
After a week's gone by- it feels longer to all involved, particularly Tamara, but only a week- there's a new article.
Gilderoy Lockhart Apprehends Silverlight Culprit
By Russell Peasegood
Gilderoy Lockhart, Order of Merlin, Third Class, Honorary Member of the Dark Force Defence League, and five-time winner of Witch Weekly's Most Charming Smile Award, has done it again!
Only recently released from St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries, most wizards would need rest, more time to recover from the horrors of a Memory Charm gone wrong, but not Gildery Lockhart. Known throughout the magical world for his daring feats of magic, Lockhart is back in the game with a bang.
"It never made sense to me," Lockhart told the Prophet. "Why steal a wand of someone you're chaperoning? Of course you'd be under suspicion! She couldn't have hoped to get away with it. So, of course, I had to investigate."
Lockhart used his famed powers of deduction to locate prime Ministry suspects. In the course of interviewing them, he was able to identify the janitor who had stolen the wand. "Poor man wasn't right in the head," according to Lockhart. "Thought the wand made him special, powerful- attacked me when I tried to get it away- just look what he did to my cloak! But I got it back from him, never fear."
The wand is now in the possession of Ministry Officials, and will shortly be returned to its rightful owner, Miranda "Silverlight" Swan. Tamara Reed can be expected to be released shortly.
When commended on his actions, Lockhart said, "Of course, of course. Couldn't let the poor girl go without her wand- couldn't let the Ministry officials bungle it like that- something had to be done!"
Asked about his future plans, Lockhart told us, "Why, doing whatever good I can, of course. Britain needs all the wizards it can get right now!"
If Lockhart's past adventures are any guide, that will be quite a lot of good indeed.
As promised, the next day, Hogwarts sees two arrivals: Professor Reed, released by the Ministry, and Gilderoy Lockhart, Miranda's wand in hand.
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parental_guidance
"You have Gilderoy Lockhart taking you Dementor-hunting," Emma points out. "You didn't have an angle on that either, but then suddenly- famous celebrity!"
parental_guidance
"Oh, yeah, um-" Emma digs around through a pile of things, and finds a copy of the Prophet article about Miranda's wand. (She keeps the ones about Miranda clipped out; she thinks they're cool.) Since Lockhart was the one who found the wand, there's a picture of him standing with it proudly next to the article, smiling his usual smile and posing for the camera. "That guy. He used to write books about his trips, before he was in the hospital, he goes and kills Dark creatures all over the world."
chanuphis
"He got my wand back, and before I talked to Hermione about him I would've said that's the important thing. But the memory charm habit is seriously bad."
witch_please
"What's he even casting them for, do you know? I mean, you cast it so someone forgets something, he must have had a goal." She smirks. "Forgetting the bad haircut?"
chanuphis
"Hermione didn't go into a lot of detail, she kept saying she's not sure if he's even effectively the same person after being so very obliviated and hospitalized and that it was years ago."
witch_please
"Yeah, okay," Alli concedes. "Well, as long as he behaves himself. Otherwise- grrr!" She bares her teeth in a comically ineffective snarl.
chanuphis
Miranda giggles.
She takes a couple of weeks to get through all the available reading on Occlumency, and a while after that before she's pretty sure she's not detecting any progress with the meditative exercises, and then, only a couple of weeks before exams, with Karen too busy freaking out about how she has to study to do anything, Miranda goes looking for Emma.
She takes a couple of weeks to get through all the available reading on Occlumency, and a while after that before she's pretty sure she's not detecting any progress with the meditative exercises, and then, only a couple of weeks before exams, with Karen too busy freaking out about how she has to study to do anything, Miranda goes looking for Emma.
parental_guidance
Emma is on her way back from the Owlery, having sent her parents their usual weekly update. She spots Miranda in the hall and waves. "Hey, what's up?"
chanuphis
"I'm going to ask Hermione to Confund me, but - in case it works I might want to be walked back to my dorm, and Karen's studying like she thinks the penalty for an Acceptable is being hung by her ankles for a month, so I thought I should probably ask somebody else."
parental_guidance
"Yeah, sure, I can do that," Emma says immediately. "When did you want to try...? Now? Later?"
chanuphis
"My appointment with her is in about fifteen minutes."
Miranda is a nervous little Silverlight.
Miranda is a nervous little Silverlight.
parental_guidance
Emma's not quite as hug-prone as Jenny, so she just pats Miranda comfortingly on the shoulder. "You'll do great," she says loyally. "And then you can go save the world from Dementors."
chanuphis
"Yeah, but - the reason I studied Occlumency even though it's obscure and hard is that I think it would be really bad if a mind spell worked on me, and I'm going to go ask a really good witch to cast one on me. I'm nervous."
parental_guidance
Emma blinks at her, thrown a bit off-kilter. "Uh. Really bad? I mean, it's just being a little confused. It's not- Unforgivable, or anything."
chanuphis
"Unforgivable is just a word somebody made up for exactly three spells. Lockhart spent years and years in the hospital because he got memory charmed, just the once, a little too hard. People who've been Imperiused or even Cruciated can get up and walk around after a lot of the time."
parental_guidance
"Lots of spells are terrifying if you do them wrong," Emma agrees. "It's not really any worse than Apparating, though, is it?"
chanuphis
"Apparating is bad if you mess it up by accident. Memory charms are bad when you do them exactly right. You lose your memory."
parental_guidance
Emma thinks about this. All of these spells fall under 'scaryscaryscary', she's never tried to sort them into amounts of 'scaryscaryscary'. "I think I'm still more afraid of Crucio...?" she says, more questioningly than she really intended. "If nothing's messed up, I mean. They're both really scary, though."