He watched her take the ruby colored liquid and pour it into the container. She then took a small brush, dipped it into the fluid, and made tiny strokes along the base of the wall.
“So this is how you get rid of them?” he asked with a bemused expression.
“Oh yes. A little dragon’s blood goes a long way in keeping these roaches out.”
“Amazing.” But it wasn’t the blood he found so fascinating - it was her. Molly Weasley.
So many women in his life only cared for his money, his fame, his good looks. But he could see that she couldn’t care less. Molly was different from any woman he’d met. She had a giving soul and cared deeply for the people in her life, particularly her family. She looked beyond his outward appearance to appreciate his mortal being.
Aside from his mother, he had never known such a giving person in his life. And since he had no one like that who would take care of him, he conspired these sessions with her (bribing her with Galleons), so he could see her now and again. Being around her goodness made him feel so loved.
“Mr. Lockhart, if you don’t mind me saying, I can’t imagine that a man like you would keep such an unkempt house.”
He was so caught up in her angelic voice that he didn’t quite understand what she was saying. However, once he realized what she’d said, his eyes widened with embarrassment. “Oh, I’m sorry for the mess. This is all part of my research for the book I’m writing.”
“Oh yes, the book,” she muttered. She continued to apply the paint to the wall without looking at him.
“Yes. ‘A Good Witch’s Guide to Cleaning’or something to that. I’ll get the title sorted once I get close to the end of it.” He could sense from her low utterance that she was irritated. He had her working around the house all day, stealing her time away from her family. He’d been forced to come up with this ‘research’ idea to justify her visits with him.
“I really do appreciate the help, Mrs. Weasley.” He hated saying Mrs. Weasley.
“Well, Mr. Lockhart, keep in mind that I have my own house to tend to, and I can’t keep –”
She saw him reach into his pocket and pull out a lavender purse. He reached for her hand and placed the bag in her palm.
“I don’t mean to be selfish with your time.” He was amazed that her hand could still remain so soft after all the hard work she had done. He held on to it as he looked into her heated expression. “Just please take this in return for my gratitude. I know you want to give your family a good holiday.”
Her glare softened some as she pocketed the money. He had hoped it would make her smile, but he knew that would have been asking for too much. His best bet was that his money would keep her coming back for more.
She turned away from him, not only to hide the distaste his touch has caused her, but because she didn’t want him to catch the slightly satisfied smile that wanted to appear on her lips. This whole situation was rather annoying; she was stuck with him all day, cleaning his filthy house, while all he did was watch her do the dirty work. If it weren’t for her personal issues, she would have quit a long time ago.
But unfortunately, she needed him. Money had always been a problem for Mrs. Weasley and her husband, as their decision to have a big loving family was putting a lot of pressure on their finances. Mr. Lockhart excelled at a particular skill she couldn’t handle very well: he knew how to make money. It wasn’t a skill on its own, but she needed it desperately, and he could provide it for her. Nonetheless, he didn’t seem to mind at all. As long as she was cooperating for his research, his ‘generosity’ seemed infinite.
At first, she had thought this would be a piece of cake. The man was handsome and definitely charming, so there would be nothing to worry about. At least, she’d thought that before they started to work together. Within a week of being in his company, she already couldn’t stand him. Gilderoy Lockhart was the most selfish and insignificant human being she had ever met. He was so full of himself that he was probably thinking his mere presence was the best thing Molly could ask for. If he only knew how much effort was required for her to return to his house – which wasn’t even decent enough to be called that – he would certainly cut off his little payments. That was the last thing she wanted.
“Are you all right, Mrs. Weasley?”
She jumped. She had been so caught up in her thoughts she had almost forgotten he was there. And that would have been too good to be true, she thought.
“I’m perfectly fine, thank you.”
“Oh, good!” he exclaimed. “For a second, it looked like something was disturbing you. Of course, I would’ve dealt with that matter without hesitation! But you already know that while I’m by your side, you have nothing to worry about.”
Molly arched an eyebrow at the comment. Fortunately, she had turned back to the wall, so he didn’t notice the gesture.
“Of course!” she simply answered. “Then I suppose you won’t mind me asking you for your help on a little problem I encountered earlier.”
“Whatever your need is, I’ll be delighted to take care of it for you!” He beamed at her.
“It’s quite simple, actually. I was in the study upstairs this afternoon, checking if our little cleaning session had worked properly, and I noticed a boggart hiding in that big cupboard. I was wondering if you could go in there and scare the thing away."
“A...a boggart, you say?” Lockhart asked carefully, his lips twitching a bit.
“Yes. Annoying creature, isn’t it? I’ve never been lucky with boggarts, to be honest. Somehow I always have difficulty getting rid of the ones I come across. So I thought this was clearly more your field of expertise than mine.”
“Right...”
Molly could see her request didn’t please him too much. He was avoiding her gaze, looking rather interested by something on his robes.
“I’m sorry?” she prodded.
“I mean, yes, you’re very right, Mrs. Weasley. I can certainly manage the situation. A boggart, nothing more easy...a simple spell and it’s done!”
Gilderoy Lockhart gave his best Witch-Weekly smile before making his way to the study. Merlin knew he had never attempted to battle such a creature, but he couldn’t let Mrs. Weasley know that. He also knew that if he backed down now he would look like a coward and a fool.
He did not want to fail her.
He stepped into the room, leaving Mrs. Weasley to check up on some other things around the house. A few moments later, Lockhart reappeared in the kitchen, looking haggard and worn, yet he immediately perked up upon seeing her.
“Ah! Such a feisty devil this one is,” he said, still flashing his charismatic smile.
“Well, I’m glad you were able to get rid of it for me,” she said as she went to the cupboard to make some tea.
Lockhart tried to maintain a calm composure but found his throat feeling tight, as if he had fallen into a noose.
Mrs. Weasley looked over to him with a questioning stare. “It is gone, isn’t it?”
“It’s putting up a good fight, my dear,” he said, “but I fought back harder, for I did not want to fail you.”
Mrs. Weasley rolled her eyes as she turned back to the pot of tea.
He continued to regale her with his epic battle of man against boggart. “For a moment there, I thought I was done for.”
“Really?” she muttered under her breath.
“Yes, well…this one is really smart and…really, REALLY huge!” He held his hands as far apart as he could to show its enormity. He acted out the whole scene for her as she continued to tend to the stove. His performance was worthy of a Shakespearean play as he raced around the room to show her how he had outwitted the fiend. At one moment, he was shadowboxing to display his hand-to-hand combat skills. Then, he brandished his wand as if it were a sword to demonstrate how he had fenced the boggart into partial submission. Once he finished his tale, he paused to accept the adulations, but was greeted only by the sounds of clattering teacups on a serving tray.
Part of him panicked, thinking maybe she had lost faith in his abilities. He quickly rushed to her side to grab hold of her hand as she poured herself a cup of tea.
“But never fear, Mrs. Weasley. I will get rid of that beast for you.” He could sense that she was a bit startled by his touch, so he gave his best charming smile to ease the tension. Her smile back was less then pleased.
Lockhart stayed awake for hours that night, ignoring his mounting fan mail, while trying to find a way to defeat the boggart. Every day he would bravely charge into the study to try out what he had found. And every day he would come up with no results, leaving him feeling more defeated than the day before.
Night after night, he would dream that he was in the study, wand at the ready, and prepared to fight. The boggart would taunt him and then suddenly transform itself into his mother.
“Gillyweed, why do you hurt me so?” it would plead before pretending to fall dead to the floor. His body stood rigid at the sight of his dead mother. He couldn’t even get a spell out between his sobbing wails.
Through his tears, he could see Mrs. Weasley standing in the background looking severely disappointed. “You said you would protect me, Lockhart. Sounds like hollow words from an old fool.” Her dissatisfaction left him sleepless for many nights.
After days of less-than-victorious battles, Lockhart greeted the morning again feeling half awake but fully determined to win this round. He greeted Mrs. Weasley as usual, who waited for him outside the study where the boggart played.
“Today is the day!” he boldly stated before charging into the room. Surprisingly enough, he was able to hang in there for a few hours more than before. Yet in the end, he still ended up defeated, but this time he was crawling out of the room on his hands and knees.
As he sat on the floor, trying to contain his fright, his senses picked up on the familiar scent of home baked cookies. Mrs. Weasley stood at the end of the hall with a tray of milk and treats.
“I thought this might help you feel better,” she said, holding them out to him.
It was an unexpected pleasure to see her smile at him. He thought it was another boggart trick, but when she rested her hand on his, he knew she was real.
“Whenever I try to fight a boggart, it always changes into my husband and my children, lying dead on the ground. That’s why it’s so hard for me to fight them.”
“Well, you’re a loving mother, whose greatest fear is to see her family hurt. Obviously you’d hate to fight such a creature.”
“And you are a human being,” she started, sounding a bit remorseful at her words. “It was wrong of me to think that you wouldn’t have fears like mine and to let you face them while I sat back and watched.”
Mrs. Weasley nodded with a humbling smile before she straightened to leave. Lockhart tried to give her some money for her day’s work, but Mrs. Weasley waved her hand in protest. “No. I can’t take it. Not after what I put you through.”
“But I was glad to do it!”
“I know you were. But I wasn’t glad to watch you do it. Maybe at first I was…but-” she shook her head.
Lockhart could see the guilt etched into her kind face. She grabbed her purse to head for the door, but Lockhart took hold of her arm to stop her.
“But the children!” he said.
“What about them?”
“I know you want them to have a good holiday. Take my money for them.”
“The holiday is a few months away. We’ll manage just fine.”
But he could tell from the uncertainty in her tone that she wasn’t quite sure if they would.
Lockhart's mind scrambled as he tried to find another way to keep her from leaving. As her hand finally reached the doorknob, the idea came to him. “What about school? I know Hogwarts can get very expensive with their supply list. Maybe I could help? How many do you have?”
Her eyes shot downward as if she were hesitant to respond, “It’s just my six boys and one girl. My youngest, Ron and Ginny, haven’t started at Hogwarts yet.”
“Well my goodness, woman, no wonder you are working so hard for them. I was raised as an only child, and yet my mother spoiled me with everything. Surely, you would allow me to do the same for your children for all that you’ve done for me?”
She bit her lip as she mulled over his offer. “Wehave had to rely on a lot of hand me downs lately to get by with the expenses.”
He could see that she was about to reconsider, but the guilt still lay heavily on her heart.
“But, Mr. Lockhart-”
“Call me Gilderoy. All my friends do. Well, if I had any real friends they would.” The smile he showed her was pure and sincere. It didn’t flash with its usual charismatic charm, but beamed brightly from within his heart.
He could see Mrs. Weasley turning a bright shade of pink, which he thought matched perfectly with her beautiful red hair. “You would still call me your friend after I sent you in there to fight the boggart?”
“As long as you have milk and cookies waiting for me, I would gladly fight any creature you feared,” he told her.
He could tell his flattery was getting him somewhere with her, since she eventually agreed to continue on with him.
