CoS 6

[pauraque_bk]

Icon! I made this one myself, as all the existing versions I could find followed the movie and had 'Yes' instead of 'Of course' (that, or a magic 8-ball gag). Free to take, if anyone wants.


CoS 6: Gilderoy Lockhart

'Oh, hello there!' Lockhart called, beaming around at the assembled students. 'Just been showing Professor Sprout the right way to doctor a Whomping Willow![...]'
'Greenhouse Three today, chaps!' said Professor Sprout, who was looking distinctly disgruntled, not at all her usual cheerful self. (70)

'That Lockhart's something, isn't he?' said Justin happily, as they began filling their plant pots with dragon-dung compost. 'Awfully brave chap. Have you read his books? I'd have died of fear if I'd been cornered in a telephone box by a werewolf, but he stayed cool and -- zap -- just fantastic. (73)

Sprout is the only female to have a nonplussed reaction to Lockhart, and Justin the only male who seems to have been taken in by his act. Perhaps good justification for the fact that they're both frequently portrayed as gay in fanfic. :)

It seems likely that Lockhart knows what he's doing when he doctors the Willow, or else Sprout wouldn't be so annoyed at being shown up... and of course, the Willow turns out to be fine. Perhaps add Herbology to the short list of things Lockhart actually knows about.

[Lockhart:] '[...]But when I was twelve, I was just as much of a nobody as you are now. In fact, I'd say I was even more of a nobody! I mean, a few people have heard of you, haven't they? All that business with He Who Must Not Be Named! [...] I know, it's not quite as good as winning Witch Weekly's Most-Charming-Smile Award five times in a row, as I have [...]' (71)

I'd forgotten that Lockhart was quite this delusional in his self-aggrandizement. He comes off as less absurd in the film, which offers neither this nor the cut scene (on the DVD) of the pop quiz.

Everyone filed out of the classroom except him and Ron, who was whacking his wand furiously on the desk.
'Stupid ... useless ... thing ...'
'Write home for another one,' Harry suggested, as the wand let off a volley of bangs like a firecracker.
'Oh yeah, and get another Howler back,' said Ron, stuffing the now hissing wand into his bag. 'It's your own fault your wand got snapped--' (74)

I get that this is useful for the end of the book, but it seems a bit excessive to have poor Ron go through his entire second year of school with a non-functional wand. Shouldn't that leave him terribly behind?

(Oy, don't get me started on Ron "whacking his wand furiously"...)

Colin drew a great shuddering breath of excitement and said, 'It's brilliant here, isn't it? I never knew all the odd stuff I could do was magic till I got the letter from Hogwarts. (75)

What are the odds of two brothers both being Muggleborn wizards? I think this supports the idea of Muggleborns not being entirely random, but genetically distributed.

It's hard to understand how Colin became this squeeing Harry fanboy all of a sudden, unless perhaps he identifies with Harry for having been raised Muggle as well.

In any case, Colin apparently exists to demonstrate that Harry's fame has gone beyond what he can control or predict. But I wouldn't be surprised to see him play an important role later on. Compare the way young Peter fawns over James in OotP to the Colin-Harry interaction here.

[Lockhart:] '[...]I state clearly in chapter twelve that my ideal birthday gift would be harmony between all magic and non-magic peoples[...]' (78)

Now, isn't that an interesting thing to put in one's book. He clearly wants people to know where he stands politically -- and perhaps he particularly wants this class to know, too, that he places himself firmly near his new boss on that issue.

Hermione raised a trembling hand.
'Excellent!' beamed Lockhart. 'Quite excellent! Take ten points for Gryffindor![...]' (78)

Either this class is all Gryffindor, or students' robes are identifiable by house after all; he doesn't know who Hermione is at this point.

'Rubbish,' said Hermione. 'You've read his books -- look at all those amazing things he's done...'
'He says he's done,' Ron muttered. (80)

Perceptive Ron.

I typed this up some hours ago, and only noticed as I was preparing to post that where I see Ron's perceptiveness and tendency to accurately predict future plot developments, a lot of others probably see jealousy of Hermione's crush on Lockhart. I know Ron/Hermione suggestions are all over the books, I just tend not to see them because... I don't care. It's just not my mindset while I'm reading. Eh, I don't have a point here, just an observation about the way I read the books.


Previous re-read posts are here.

Comments

[scarah2.livejournal.com]

It has been observed that Ron is often wrong in his perceptions, unless he's joking, and Hermione is usually right in hers, unless she gets upset or worked up.

Could it be possible that Ron's speculator works better when he's emotional, i. e. jealous?

[pauraque]

Yeah, I think that's where the "Ron is a Seer" theory comes from. It's like what he sees in the Mirror of Erised in PS/SS, which is well on its way to coming true (he's already a Quidditch hero and a Prefect) -- it wasn't a sincere or intentional prediction on his part, but there's truth in it.

[atdelphi.livejournal.com]

What are the odds of two brothers both being Muggleborn wizards? I think this supports the idea of Muggleborns not being entirely random, but genetically distributed.

Ooh - I've never thought about it, but the idea of there being a pattern to the occurance of Muggleborn wizards is an interesting one. I'd love to see someone who actually knows something about genetics (i.e. not me) tackle it.

Then again, we only ever hear about Colin and Dennis's dad, don't we? It could be possible that their mother was a witch who died/left when they were young, leaving them to be raised as Muggles.

[pauraque]

I'm no expert, but I did a post on wizarding genetics last year.

[atdelphi.livejournal.com]

Cool! *files away to read tonight*

[dancing-moon.livejournal.com]

I always took the Sprout scene at her being annoyed that he was blathering on as usual, but being much to polite to remark on it (she just takes it out on the kids...) Snape is also annoyed when Lockhart starts trying to butt in on his teritorry, though he is of course more vocal with his complaints :)

[slinkhard.livejournal.com]

'He says he's done,' Ron muttered. (80)

Interestingly, Hagrid later also makes a remark along these lines, despite not being known for his perception either.

Either this class is all Gryffindor, or students' robes are identifiable by house after all; he doesn't know who Hermione is at this point.

DADA are all Gryffindors, if PoA is anything to go by, although in the films they're Gryffindor/Slytherin.

[nakedcelt.livejournal.com]

It seems likely that Lockhart knows what he's doing when he doctors the Willow, or else Sprout wouldn't be so annoyed at being shown up... and of course, the Willow turns out to be fine. Perhaps add Herbology to the short list of things Lockhart actually knows about.

That, or Lockhart didn't actually touch it, and was confabulating when he said he'd been "showing Professor Sprout the right way to doctor a Whomping Willow".

I'd forgotten that Lockhart was quite this delusional in his self-aggrandizement.

Rowling has said somewhere that Lockhart is the one character of hers who is actually based on a real person. But the written character is considerably toned down.

[serriadh.livejournal.com]

Is there not some speculation to the effect that he is modelled on the father of her first child?

I'm not sure about where the evidence is for that!

Also, didn't she once say Snape is somewhat based on a teacher she knew? I always found that incredibly interesting - was he morally ambiguous, or does she mean he was a shite teacher?

[pauraque]

JKR has said that Lockhart is not based on any one person she knows, just an amalgamation of qualities of many people she's met.

However, she did indeed base Snape on a chemistry teacher she had. There was an article on him at one point... I have no idea where it is now, maybe someone will inform us.

[serriadh.livejournal.com]

Having just checked out JKR's website, she categorically denies that Lockhart is based on her first husband, but does state that he is the only character she has deliberately based on one person(not sure where that leaves Snape).

[pauraque]

Oops, 'scuse me. I'm not sure where it leaves Snape either, because I vividly remember her naming this chemistry teacher she'd hated, and reading a newspaper article about him. Huh.

[wolfie-thu.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure where it leaves Snape

I'm certain that somewhere on her site she mentions that while some of the characters have traits of people she's known, besides Lockhart, 90% of the characterization is from her head.
So I think that would mean Snape has some similarities to her old teacher (i.e., things like his way of teaching, the insults he uses), the rest is purely made up.

[fennie-snake.livejournal.com]

There's a paperback 'unofficial biography' of JK Rowling by Sean Smith that goes into the genesis-of-Snape thing in detail...The 'real' Prof. Snape was a Mr Nettleship who taught science and liked to fire unexpected questions at unwary students. Joanne (who hated Science) was one of his brightest pupils, so he picked on her a lot. His friends and family recognised him in the books straight away, but didn't want to mention it... surprisingly, he wasn't too put out when they finally broke the news to him - he called it "an elegant revenge"... Very Snapeish.

[pauraque]

Yep, that's the guy. I love that name, too... Nettleship, very wizardish.

[pauraque]

Rowling has said somewhere that Lockhart is the one character of hers who is actually based on a real person.

I think you're misremembering about that. Snape is the one who she's said is definitely based on one real person, and she's named him (an old teacher of hers). There were rumors that Lockhart was based on her ex, as sacred_sarcasm says, but she put that rumor down recently.

[arclevel.livejournal.com]

I think Sprout's reaction is the same as the other teachers -- first, she's upset that he's teaching there. Second, and more immediately, he's blatantly showing her up, honing in on her job and area of expertise. And quite likely making it harder for her to finish bandaging.

Do we have any idea to what extent Lockhart actually *believes* his own publicity? That is, how much is he faking it and how much is genuine delusion? It seems like there must be a fairly significant level of actual delusion going on in terms of his abilities; if he were faking it, you'd expect him to not *try* so many advanced magics with an audience, since he'd expect them to usually fail. OTOH, if he was genuinely delusional, then I'd expect a rather different reaction, more a collapse, when his delusion collapses, that is, when he's called to go into the Chamber and just can't.

Academics don't seem to be key at Hogwarts in many ways. In most schools, if a student's most vital piece of equipment was broken, the teachers would *insist* that it be repaired or replaced. If student finances made this impossible, they would probably attempt to help cover them. Yet I don't think we ever see a teacher directly comment on Ron's wand. Similarly, we don't hear about any of the petrified students receiving tutoring to catch them up, and Colin missed the majority of the school year!