The Man Who Knew Almost Nothing

Chapter Twelve

The amazing disappearing Lockhart

The discussion had taken longer than Harry had planned, and glancing out the window at the breezy mid-autumn weather, he felt a little badly that Gilderoy had been outside for the better part of the morning. Sirius, looking toward the door as Harry left the couch, picked up the textbook on the coffee table and began flipping through it idly.

“I’m trying to teach Gilderoy a little magic,” said Harry.

“He was four years behind me in school. I heard he made Argus Filch look like a first rate wizard,” Sirius chuckled. “But ... if I remember correctly, the old charms professor took a special liking to him. Tutored him when no one else believed in the guy. I’m not saying that he can’t do magic, but you’ve got your work cut out for you.”

“We’ll see about that,” said Harry as he walked outside, remembering the flying quill and his theories about Gilderoy’s magic.

The wind whipped Harry’s robes about him as he stepped out of the cottage. It was a clear and sunny late morning. Only a few wispy clouds marred the brilliant blue of the sky. He looked out across the slightly rolling landscape and frowned as he began walking around the cottage. He had not expected Gilderoy to stray far from familiar surroundings. He circled and house a few times before yelling for Gilderoy. There was no answer.

The door to the cottage creaked open to reveal Sirius, who looked puzzled or else amused.

“You haven’t lost him, have you, Harry?”

“That isn’t funny.”

Sirius scanned the horizon, shrugged, and said, “Suppose not. Why don’t you grab your broom, get some perspective.”

“Right.”

“I’ll try and pick up the scent, if I can. Haven’t done any tracking in quite a while,” said Sirius before becoming a large black dog.

“Don’t scare him if you find him,” Harry cautioned before dashing inside to the broom closet where he retrieved his Lightning Strike Four Hundred, his personal broom.

Sirius was out of sight by the time he mounted the broom and kicked off. The wind blew through his hair as he rose above his cottage and scoured the ground below for any sign of Gilderoy. He could see a large black shape, Sirius snuffling along the ground, on the other side of a small rise. The grass was high and brown, moving likes waves upon the ocean beneath him. The sight would have been pleasing, very simple, but no less beautiful, if the circumstances had been different, if Harry had not been so concerned.

Harry scanned the horizons for any sign of color among the brown, cursing his memory as he couldn’t remember what color exactly Gilderoy had been wearing that morning. Blue or purple, he thought, closing his eyes for a moment. Something somber to match his mood, and his lovely eyes. Something that would show up well against the brown and dull colors of autumn.

Harry zipped forward on his broom, his eyes glued to the ground for any sign of Gilderoy, not too worried about being seen. He lived in a relatively secluded area. Not any muggles for several miles in any direction. That was a good thing. He couldn’t imagine what Gilderoy would say or do if he were left to his own devices around muggles. He chuckled despite himself.

“Here, let me levitate that for you! I’ve just learned how,” he imagined Gilderoy saying, or, “So tell me do you have any relations in the wizarding world? Let me tell you about my lover and his godfather.”

It was a lucky thing that the nearest village or even farm was miles away.

Harry made wider and wider circles around his cottage, occasionally passing over Sirius, who would bay mournfully and return to his tracking. He was beginning to feel more and more concerned. He wracked his brain for possible answers. Were there any port keys in the neighborhood? None that he could recall. Gilderoy certainly couldn’t have accidentally, much less intentionally, apparated anywhere. He just didn’t have the skill or know-how. And no one just disappears, Harry told himself, trying not to panic, which was becoming increasingly difficult.

As Harry passed over Sirius for the tenth time, Sirius transfigured back into a man and waved his arms to signal Harry, who immediately stopped in midair and landed to join him.

“Well?” Harry asked, dismounting hurriedly.

“I can’t pick up anything out here,” said Sirius, rubbing his nose. “I don’t know if it's the cold, the ragweed, or just a general loss of instincts on my part.” He shook his head. “I don’t think he could have come this far out even at a run either. We should double back,” Sirius suggested, who had covered a much greater distance as a dog than he could have as a man.

“Right,” Harry agreed.

“Don’t worry. We will find him soon. Probably just found a comfortable place to sit and have a nap,” Sirius reassured him.

“I hope you’re right, because if anything’s happened to him I’ll never forgive myself,” said Harry, mounting his broom again and rising into the air at top speed.

Night had fallen by the time Harry and Sirius returned to the Little Burrow. They had found no sign of Gilderoy Lockhart, no indication that he had ever been anywhere near the cottage or surrounding fields. Harry toppled from his broom and lay on the ground. His hopes had diminished with the last light of the sun as it set over the hills. Something horrible had happened to Gilderoy; he just knew it. Sirius knelt by his side and calmly stroked his back as he let out a strangled sob.

“Come inside, Harry. You have books. There must be something in one of them that will help us. A tracking spell or something. Goodness knows I haven’t hit the books in a while, but we can’t give up, Harry,” said Sirius.

“What if they all weren’t captured? What if a Death Eater came looking for me and found Gilderoy and killed him instead?”

“They were all caught. Believe me. I am almost certain about that. And even so, Harry, there would be a body, and it would have been left in plain sight,” Sirius assured him, pulling him firmly to his feet. “Come on now! You won’t do him a bit of good by going to pieces.”

“I know,” said Harry, grabbing his broom and allowing Sirius to lead him inside.

“Where are your advanced charm books, Harry?” Sirius questioned, depositing his godson on the couch.

Harry wiped his eyes and looked at the bookshelves in the corner before replying, “Third shelf. The best ones are on the far right, but I can’t remember any of them containing a spell ...”

“Third shelf, right,” said Sirius, interrupting him intentionally. “There must be something we can use in these,” he said, removing two of the larger, advanced spell books from the shelf. “You search one and I will search the other,” said Sirius.

“We need Hermione,” said Harry in frustration after a few minutes of the skimming the book.

“There’s the fire,” said Sirius, gesturing toward the hearth without looking up. “We may need some assistance,” he admitted. Harry could detect a hint of worry in his features behind the bravado.

Harry laid the book aside and went to the fire, taking a small jar from the mantel and throwing some powder into the flame.

“Hermione Weasley,” he said loudly.

A few moments later Hermione’s head appeared in the fireplace. Her hair was wet, and she was in a bathrobe. It appeared as though she had been called from the shower.

“Harry, I thought it was you,” she said with a smile, winding a towel around her hair. “What can I do for you?” she asked.

Harry tried to speak, but found that he couldn’t. Taking a deep breath, he tried again. There was a lump in his throat that he couldn’t talk around. He shook his head.

“Harry? Is everything all right?” she asked.

“Gilderoy ... is missing,” Harry managed to choke out.

“Missing? What do you mean missing? Did he ... walk out on you, Harry?” questioned Hermione.

“Hermione,” said Sirius, walking over to join him by the fire, “he just went out for some air. A couple of hours later, he was gone.”

“We searched for a long time ...” said Harry.

“And you still didn’t find him?”

“We wouldn’t be calling you if we had,” answered Sirius. “Know any good spells for a situation like this?”

Hermione pondered the question for a moment and answered, “I know Harry wouldn’t have put a tracking charm on him beforehand, so that’s no good. But I do remember a spell where, using an article of clothing or a possession, a person might be sought out by using a wand as a pointer, a sort of blood hound spell.”

“You wouldn’t know the incantation off-hand, would you?” asked Sirius.

“Sorry, but I don’t, and it does seem to be a terribly useful spell. I believe I can look it up and have it for you in an hour,” she said.

“Thank you, Hermione,” said Harry.

“What are friends for? I’ll apparate over just as soon as I have it.”

When Hermione’s image had disappeared from the fireplace, Harry returned to the couch and Sirius went to the kitchen.

“Your cupboards are practically bare!” Sirius yelled.

“I was going to go for groceries tomorrow,” said Harry miserably.

“You have some bread. I suppose I could toast it, maybe magic up a jar of jam. What do you say?”

“No thanks.”

“Harry, really. You haven’t eaten since breakfast and neither have I for that matter. We’ve got a bit of waiting to do. No sense in fasting.”

“I had a big breakfast. I just don’t feel hungry,” said Harry.

“He cooks too?” asked Sirius with a big grin.

“No, but he washes up with the best of them,” Harry replied, smiling a little despite himself.

“That’s my boy! I’ll have a big plate of toast for us in just a minute. We might be up all night you know. We’ll need to keep our strength up.”

“And you think we’ll find him?” questioned Harry, leaving the couch to join his godfather in the kitchen.

“I have no doubt about it, and by this time tomorrow you will feel absolutely silly about getting all worked up over all this.”

“Now you see why I want you around.”

“Hmm?”

“No one else could ever make me feel better about misplacing my lover,” said Harry, drawing strength from Sirius’s confidence.

“Harry, if you really and truly want me here, I will move in, but only if you don’t have any doubts.”

“I have never, well, not since I actually met you, had any doubts about you and your place in my life.”

“Then, if your beloved Gilderoy agrees, I will moved in tomorrow or whenever is convenient,” said Sirius with a smile. Harry could still see the misgivings in his eyes.

“And the three of us will all have a family again.”

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