Ravenclaw Head's Office
Professor Flitwick was buried in a mountain of parchment assignments.
Dim light from the magical chandelier hanging from the ceiling cast a warm glow throughout the room.
The surrounding bookshelves were filled with ancient magical texts, and occasionally a few books would emit soft murmurs, as if conversing in whispers.
Just as he was feeling tired and considering whether to get some alertness potions from Professor Snape, a crisp knock suddenly broke the room's tranquility.
"Come in!"
Professor Flitwick didn't look up, lightly waving his wand.
With a soft "click," the door slowly opened automatically.
Only then did he raise his head.
When he saw who stood in the doorway, Professor Flitwick was slightly surprised, then quickly beckoned.
"How surprising to see you! Come in quickly. Is there a new case?"
Sherlock wore neat wizard robes with a slightly open collar.
His hair was somewhat disheveled, and his eyes held their usual sharp gleam.
With Professor Flitwick's permission, Sherlock entered the office, his gaze quickly scanning the surroundings.
This wasn't his first visit to the Ravenclaw Head's office.
Compared to before, nothing had changed.
Professor Flitwick wasn't surprised that Sherlock could reach this place.
With Sherlock's abilities, answering the Ravenclaw door knocker's questions was child's play.
Seeing Sherlock enter, he immediately jumped down from his high carved chair.
The result was that jumping down made him even shorter than when he was seated.
When he realized he had to look up to see Sherlock, Professor Flitwick immediately jumped back onto his chair.
Up and down in less than three seconds.
After completing this maneuver, Professor Flitwick coughed and pointed to the chair across from him. "Sit down first."
When Sherlock was seated and their eyes were level, Professor Flitwick nodded with satisfaction.
Sherlock didn't mind Professor Flitwick's obsession with height and got straight to the point: "Professor, I'm not here about a case this time. I heard Professor Lockhart graduated from Ravenclaw, so I'd like to ask you about him."
"Gilderoy Lockhart?" Professor Flitwick raised his eyebrows at the name. "Why the sudden interest in him?"
"Because of his performance in Defense Against the Dark Arts class."
Sherlock described Professor Lockhart's recent classroom behavior and stated his suspicions directly.
"He's not here for teaching."
"So that's what you think?" Professor Flitwick first showed surprise, then nodded slightly. "I understand. What aspect of him would you like to know about?"
"Everything. Everything you know about him."
Hearing this somewhat unusual request, Professor Flitwick didn't seem surprised but rather amused: "You're quite something, this child... Well, I'll tell you."
He looked at Sherlock with affection, increasingly feeling that Sherlock not coming to Ravenclaw was a significant loss. Intelligence, alertness, strong curiosity—what excellent potential!
Unfortunately, what was done couldn't be undone, and it was too late to discuss it now.
But even though Sherlock was a Gryffindor, he was still willing to provide assistance within his professional capacity.
After agreeing to help Sherlock, Professor Flitwick fell silent, lost in memories of the past.
Sherlock didn't interrupt, just watched him quietly.
"As a student, Lockhart was extremely clever," Professor Flitwick finally spoke, his voice low and tinged with nostalgia. "Lockhart was a half-blood wizard—his father was a Muggle, his mother a witch, and he had two sisters. I must say, Lockhart had excellent natural advantages. He inherited not only his father's handsome looks but also his mother's magical talent. In contrast, both his sisters were Muggles. Because of this situation, Lockhart's mother favored him terribly. Under such unreserved indulgence, Lockhart inevitably became somewhat arrogant."
Sherlock nodded. Family environment had an enormous impact on children.
A typical example was Harry's cousin Dudley, who had been spoiled rotten by the Dursleys.
But there were exceptions, like Harry himself.
It was practically miraculous that Harry, growing up in such an environment, had developed such a pure and kind character instead of becoming a vengeful social deviant.
"The year Lockhart received his Hogwarts letter, I had just recently become Ravenclaw's Head of House," Professor Flitwick suddenly laughed. "Do you know, Sherlock? Young Lockhart nearly became a Hatstall."
"A Hatstall?"
Sherlock reacted quickly, immediately deducing what had happened based on Professor Flitwick's statement.
"So, he almost went to another house. Let me think... it would have been Slytherin, right?"
"You're as sharp as ever," Professor Flitwick said approvingly, confirming Sherlock's deduction while continuing:
"After Lockhart entered Ravenclaw, he expected to become everyone's center of attention as he had in the Muggle world, but reality disappointed him. He and his mother had forgotten one thing—Hogwarts gathered magical children from all over Britain and Ireland, so he wasn't the most eye-catching one there.
However, from my observations, while his magical talent wasn't as exceptional as yours or Miss Granger's, it still surpassed most of his peers. He could achieve good grades in academics using just his brain, without much effort.
But his biggest flaw was being too ambitious—he had to be the most outstanding at everything, or he wouldn't even try. All the teachers, including myself, knew that if he had been willing to work steadily, he would have achieved something significant in the future—though not as exaggerated as he claimed."
Professor Flitwick sighed softly, a hint of regret crossing his face, as if he felt sorry for Lockhart.
"What did he claim?"
"You're interested in that too?" Professor Flitwick looked at Sherlock with some surprise.
"Dear Professor Flitwick, I said I wanted to know everything about him."
"Very well. He often boasted to classmates that he would create a Philosopher's Stone before graduation, lead England's Quidditch team to win the World Cup, and become Britain's youngest Minister of Magic after graduation."
Sherlock's expression was notably flat.
Seeing Sherlock's reaction, Professor Flitwick couldn't help but chuckle: "Actually, I really think the Sorting Hat should have put Lockhart in Slytherin, because he studied purely for attention and was extremely eager for various awards. To show off, he begged the headmaster to let him start a school newspaper, just hoping his name would be printed for everyone to see.
Unfortunately, Dumbledore didn't grant his wish, so he started doing even more outrageous things. He used magic to carve his name in twenty-foot letters on the Quidditch pitch, which earned him a week of detention. Later, he projected his portrait into the sky like a Dark Mark, which naturally resulted in more point deductions and detention.
Even worse, he sent himself eight hundred Valentine's cards, filling the Great Hall with owl droppings and feathers so that everyone couldn't even eat breakfast."
Professor Flitwick described several other incidents from Lockhart's student days.
After hearing Professor Flitwick's account, Sherlock understood why the professors had reacted as they did when they saw Lockhart at the start of term.
Professor Flitwick's expression grew serious, and his face showed confusion: "But what's most puzzling is how he obtained his positions. In fifth year, no one knew what method he used, but he somehow convinced the prefect at the time to voluntarily approach me and say he wanted to give up his prefect position to Lockhart.
You should understand that the prefect position at Hogwarts is highly significant—it requires not only excellent academic performance but also outstanding leadership and character. It's usually achieved through multiple selection rounds and fierce competition, yet he managed it so easily. In seventh year, he did the same thing again, making the male Head Boy willingly hand over his position.
These two incidents caused quite a stir at school. Everyone speculated about his methods, but no one ever found a definitive answer. Honestly, I even suspected he might have veela blood."
Professor Flitwick frowned, his confusion becoming more apparent.
"Hmm."
This time, Sherlock just smiled without comment.
Regarding these two incidents, if he had wanted to, he could have done the same thing.
He simply disdained to do so.
"For all these reasons, when he graduated from Hogwarts, we all breathed a sigh of relief. Later, he became a somewhat famous author, traveling the world and often visiting exotic locations. During this process, his fame grew until he became a celebrated star in the wizarding world, even earning the Order of Merlin, Third Class."
Professor Flitwick paused here and said emphatically, "You know, I don't even have that!"
Sherlock could sense the strong resentment in Professor Flitwick's words.
Just by putting himself in Professor Flitwick's position briefly, Sherlock understood where his resentment came from.
A former student had become his colleague and possessed honors that he himself didn't have.
The key point was that he hadn't thought highly of that student at the time.
It was completely backwards.
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