Gilderoy Lockhart

"*Fame's a fickle friend.*"
— Lockhart providing advice for Harry Potter.

**Gilderoy Lockhart** was a character in the *Harry Potter book series*.

Lockhart was a wizard, a best-selling author and an Honorary Member of the Dark Force Defence League. He was Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor for a year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Lockhart gained fame by taking credit for the heroic acts of other witches and wizards, whose memories he erased in order to steal their story. He wrote fraudulent books about supposed encounters with Dark creatures.

The opening of the Chamber of Secrets proved Lockhart's cowardice and he was later struck by a Memory Charm he had intended for Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley. He then lived at St Mungo's Hospital in the Janus Thickney Ward.

## Biography

### Early life and career

Lockhart attended Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He used to tell people he was a Seeker who was asked to try out for the England National Quidditch team, but it's unknown whether he was telling the truth.

When Lockhart graduated Hogwarts, he went travelling around the world. He began erasing the minds of any heroic witches and wizards who had defeated a Dark creature, and he wrote their story down in books by saying he had done it. The books became very popular, and very few people ever suspected the truth. Lockhart took the memories of a witch who defeated the Bandon Banshee, and an Armenian warlock who defeated the Wagga Wagga werewolf.

Lockhart's speciality was in Memory Charms but he proved very incompetent at performing other spells due to lack of knowledge and skill. Lockhart's books included Break with a Banshee, Voyages with Vampires and Wanderings with Werewolves. He became the world's favourite Dark Arts defender, he was awarded an Order of Merlin and became a member of the Dark Force Defence League. By 1992, Lockhart penned an autobiography called "Magical Me".

### Chamber of Secrets

"*Nice big smile, Harry. Together you and I are worth the front page.*"
— Gilderoy Lockhart when meeting Harry Potter at the Magical Me book signing.

In the summer of 1992, he had a book signing at Flourish and Blotts. He had a special blue feathered pen, and seized the day when he found Harry Potter in the audience. In order to increase Lockhart's own fame, Harry was dragged to the front and Lockhart pointed out even Harry was a "fan" of him. They had lots of photographs taken, and he gave Harry a collection of books. He announced he was going to be the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts. When he saw a fight at the book signing, he wanted the newspapers to tell everyone for attention.

Students in every school year at Hogwarts had to bring Lockhart's collection of books to study. Albus Dumbledore knew two of the wizards whose memories were erased and whose life work were taken by Lockhart. Being one of the few people in the world who knew what Lockhart was up to, he asked him to teach at Hogwarts. He hoped doing was going to bring the truth to light.

"*Well, I'll ask the three of you to nip them back into the cage.*"
— Lockhart running away when Cornish Pixies wreck the classroom.

Dumbledore persuaded Lockhart to teach by telling him Harry Potter was one the students he'd be teaching. Lockhart thought of the attention he'd get for teaching a wizard of such fame. However, he proved to be an incompetent teacher who was condescending towards the other teachers. He was rude to Professor Sprout by "teaching" her the right way to doctor the Whomping Willow.

Lockhart was very arrogant, and he thought Harry flew to school in a flying car because he encouraged him to seek fame at the book signing. He thought Harry was now fame-hungry and asked him to stop searching because he will have plenty of time for it when he's older. Lockhart heard Colin Creevey wanted a signed photo of Harry. He "saved" the day by having Colin take a photo of the two of them together, telling Harry he shouldn't be signing autographs so young because he looked "big-headed".

Lockhart's first lesson teaching second-years went very wrong. He gave a quiz about himself, then he unveiled Cornish Pixies. They broke out of their cage, destroyed the room and failed to subdue them using a spell that didn't work. He ran away like a coward when they took Lockhart's wand and dropped it out of a window. He hid under a nearby desk, and asked the second-years to put them back in the cage while running away. Hermione Granger thought that Lockhart had wanted them to sort it out in order to teach them, but she was the only one who gave him the courtesy.

Lockhart "taught" Hagrid how to get Kelpies out of a well even though Hagrid how to do it. He wanted to give Hagrid a signed a book he authored about it, and send it to him for help. Harry began avoiding Lockhart every time he saw him in a corridor, who was searching for ways for the two to spend time together. He asked for Harry's detention, signing fan-mail together. He droned on about fame for four hours until Harry heard a voice which Lockhart couldn't hear.

"*It was definitely a curse that killed her - probably the Transmogrifian Torture. I've seen it used many times, so unlucky I wasn't there, I know the very counter-curse that would have saved her.*"
— Lockhart's advice on the Petrification of Mrs Norris.

When the Chamber of Secrets was opened, Lockhart started telling everyone what he could do about it, never thinking he'd have to act upon it. He kept giving everyone advice and when he was wrong and given the right answer, he lied that he actually thought of that in the beginning. He originally told everyone Mrs Norris was killed, but then agreed with Dumbledore that she was actually Petrified.

He claimed he could make the antidote to revive the Petrified. However, by then he didn't want live creatures in lessons. He spent lessons reading books and acting out scenes from them. He kept giving Harry acting roles, and he had howl like a werewolf. Homework involved thinking of a poem about the way he defeated the Wagga Wagga werewolf.

However, when Harry was knocked off a broom and broke his arm due to a rogue Bludger, Lockhart thought he could heal it but did the wrong spell. Harry had a boneless arm, and spent days in the Hospital Wing. He founded a Duelling Club and invited Professor Snape to help teach. He droned on about what a skilled dueller he was, only to be defeated when he was flamboyantly twirling around. He claimed that he let the spell knock him over on purpose. He championed Harry when he duelled Draco Malfoy. Draco conjured a snake, which Lockhart launched into the air using the wrong spell.

In January, Lockhart sent Hermione, who was a fan, a card when she was in the Hospital Wing. For a short time, Petrifications stopped and he bragged to the other teachers that he caused it, because the culprit was afraid knowing he was going to find them eventually.

On Valentine's Day, Lockhart decorated the Great Hall in pink flowers and had heart-shaped confetti falling from the blue sky. He gave a speech, thanking everyone for the fourty-six cards they sent him. He then announced that he had invited dwarves in golden wings to deliver cards and sing poems to their chosen Valentine. He pointed everyone to Professor Flitwick if they wanted entrancing enchament, and to Professor Snape for Love Potions.

In April, Rubeus Hagrid was framed for opening the Chamber of Secrets and taken to Azkaban. Lockhart was very happy about it, telling Harry he knew Hagrid was no good and that he he was glad the true culprit had been found. He kept saying Hagrid was guilty and whinged about being on patrol every night.

"*Am I a Professor? Goodness. I expect I was hopeless, was I?*"
— Lockhart finding out he was a Professor when he erased his memories.

When Ginny Weasley was kidnapped and taken to the Chamber of Secrets, the other teachers called him out. Because he had bragged he knew how to find it and about what he could do, they gave him the chance to save the day. He attempted to say he had no memory of bragging, but they kept saying he could solve the problem. Lockhart went to the office to prepare, then started packing up to run away. Harry and Ron heard the teachers speaking to Lockhart, and decided to invite help rescue Ginny.

However, they found him packing up, and he fessed up to the truth. He tried to say it took talent to get stories and erase memories. Now he had finally admitted the truth, he wanted to erase their memories but they used a Disarming Charm. They then forced him to go to the Chamber of Secrets. They opened the entrance and asked Lockhart to jump down the pipe first, but Ron had to push him. In the caves, Lockhart attempted to knock Harry and Ron over. He took Ron's wand, planning to erasing their memories and tell everyone they went insane when they found Ginny.

However, the wand was broken and the Memory Charm hit him rather than the target. The caves shuddered and rocks fell, cutting Lockhart and Ron off from Harry. Harry defeated the Basilisk and saved Ginny. Lockhart was befuddled, looked at them and wondered who they were and who he was. He was taken away for medical attention on Dumbledore's orders, and the news that he would not be coming back to teach the next year was celebrated by both teachers and students.

### Order of the Phoenix

"*I'm very well indeed, thank you! [...] Now, how many autographs would you like?*"
— Lockhart greeting Harry, Ron and Hermione at St. Mungo's.

Lockhart was sent to St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries. He lived on the Janus Thickney Ward and never made a complete recovery. He had only a few memories. Dumbledore decided he had suffered enough for the crimes he committed, and didn't tell the wizarding world he was a fraud. Lockhart was very happy.

In December 1995, Harry, Ron and Hermione entered the Spell Damage section, and found Lockhart heading towards them. He wondered whether they wanted an autograph, telling them he could now do joined-up writing. He looked at Harry and vaguely remembered that they had met once before. He was shocked to find out he was once a teacher and didn't think he had been a good one. Even though he had no memory, he was very much the same Lockhart, fame-obsessed and signing autographs.

A Healer named Miriam Strout found them, telling Lockhart off for wandering away from the locked ward he lived on. She was happy Lockhart had company since no-one ever went to spend time with him. She told them Lockhart was "very well known a few years ago" and thought that Lockhart wanting to signing autographs was a sign of memories coming back.

Lockhart's bed was surrounded by images of himself, and he was often sent fan-mail. He had lots of letters off Gladys Gudgeon. He had no idea why but thought it was probably because he was good-looking. He put their autographs in envelopes, but they were talking to Neville Longbottom and he was annoyed because he didn't learn "joined up writing for nothing, you know".

## Appearance

Lockhart was considered very good-looking, a fact he knew. He was very vain. He had wavy, blonde hair and bright blue eyes. He had perfect, white gleeming teeth and wore bright clothing, including one forget-me-not piece the same shade of Lockhart's eyes.

## Trivia

* During the second-years first Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson by Lockhart, they had to answer these things based on what he had wrote in books:
	+ Lockhart's favourite colour was lilac.
	+ The ideal birthday gift to give him was harmony for wizards and Muggles.
	+ He wanted to rid the world of evil and create a range of hair-care potions.
* He used a special peacock quill to sign books.
* He had a loopy signature.

## Notes and sources

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 *Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets*, Chapter 10
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 *Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets*, Chapter 16
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 *Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets*, Chapter 11
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 *Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets*, Chapter 4
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 *Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets*, Chapter 6
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 *Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets*, Chapter 18
7. ↑ *Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets*, Chapter 7
8. ↑ *Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets*, Chapter 9
9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 *Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets*, Chapter 13
10. ↑ *Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets*, Chapter 15
11. ↑ *Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets*, Chapter 17
12. ↑ J.K. Rowling and the Live Chat, Bloomsbury.com, July 30, 2007
13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 *Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix*, Chapter 25
14. ↑ *Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets*, Chapter 3