STRANGE LOVE | O. WOOD ✔

[9] : LOCKHART LOCKS A HEART

Astrid was afraid she had a case of the “Quirrell's” again and this time, she fell head first and hard. She fancied Gilderoy Lockhart, every girl did, but she was sure she was more in love with him. She had to be. She read every single book of his, she knew everything about him. She was utterly obsessed with Gilderoy Lockhart and she would not call it a problem actually. She liked being obsessed with him. It was odd but Astrid had always taken a liking to odd people or things.

"Stop giving me the puppy eyes Astrid, we're not getting into trouble so you can see him. Just go to his office, pretend you need help with something and boom! You get to see him and swoon over him all you want." Cedric said to Astrid that afternoon as they just finished their Potions, Charms and Transfiguration homework.

"That's an even better idea!" Astrid beamed. "Do you think he'll be able to smell the strawberry scented shampoo I used?" She asked, smelling her hair. When she scrunched up her nose, she realized she had answered her own question.

"Why are you so — so — so obsessed with him?" Cedric asked when they began to gather their things. Astrid let out a sigh. Of course Cedric wouldn't understand. No one would understand, except Hermione of course.

"Do you think he'll like it? Look, I even changed the color of my eyes. They're no longer that boring black, they're lilac! His favorite color." Astrid moaned. "I hope he notices. Oh dear Merlin!" She squealed when she saw a Ravenclaw sprawled on the floor. She rushed to his side and helped him up.

"Thank you. I'm normally not this clumsy. I guess I tripped over my own feet." He blushed a bright red and Astrid grinned at him. "I'm Apollo Brown by the way." He thanked Cedric for handing him his books.

"You're Lavender Brown's brother?" Astrid asked when the three of them walked together to the Hufflepuff basement. Cedric said he wanted to get a few hours of sleep in before dinner.

"No, cousin." He said as they both waved goodbye to Cedric and they watched him sprint away. "My mom is a geek on Greek names. My sister's name is Artemis, this is her last year but she is in Hufflepuff. My aunt is obsessed with flower names, her name is Antea and her eldest daughter is called, Peony. We don't really talk much, because she is at St Mungos."

Astrid felt as though she didn't need to know all that boring and utterly useless information but she just nodded and smiled. "Well, fancy meeting you Apollo, hope we run into each other again. But I've got to run, I need to go to Professor Lockhart's office real quick."

"Yeah, he's busy. Harry is serving detention with him." Astrid mentally screamed. "Hey, I never caught your name."

"Astrid Black." Apollo's bright blue eyes slightly widened and he fumbled with his books. His copy of Advanced Potion Making nearly fell.

"As in," He inched closer to her, looked around and asked, "Sirius Black's daughter?" When Astrid nodded, he gasped. "I just remembered that — uh — Lavender — I-I-I need to... go." Apollo sprinted away and left Astrid standing there alone.

Astrid shrugged it off and happily made her way to the Slytherin dungeons before making her way to Lockhart's office.

*

"Do you need help with something Miss Black?" Gilderoy asked Astrid. He was smiling and Astrid felt herself fall more and more in love with him.

"I need help with the spell we learned today sir." She said in a silky-smooth voice but this seemed to have no effect on Gilderoy, for he proudly stood up, placed his hands on his waist and beamed at her.

"I can easily help you with that!" Harry, who was still helping him answer fan mail, nearly fell out of his chair when Gilderoy had proudly boomed. "Harry, you might want to watch very closely." Astrid saw Harry roll his green eyes at him.

Astrid smiled, though they learned the spell today, she already had perfected it. Astrid learned spells extremely fast. Gilderoy looked at his clock and smiled at her.

"You should have come sooner, dinner is about to start." Astrid wanted to scream her lungs out, she wanted to punch someone in the face, but certainly not Gilderoy, she would never dare hit his handsome face. But she smiled, a creepy, toothy smile.

Astrid burst into tears when she reached the Gryffindor table. Oliver was extremely confused but engulfed her in a hug nevertheless. She wiped her eyes and decided that food would cheer her up.

"You okay?" Oliver whispered as he rubbed his thumb over her knuckles. Astrid nodded, food always made everything better. Where there is food, there is happiness.

"Yeah, this bread stick is to die for." She said, letting go if Oliver's hand to smear butter on one side before she popped it in her mouth. "Cedric and I met this Ravenclaw kid, Brown's cousin. He's extremely weird, basically told me his entire family history. Weird boy."

"I'm not talking about that Astrid. Why were you crying?" Oliver asked Astrid shook her head.

"Never mind that, it's stupid. Hey Harry, what did you and Lockhart do?" She changed the topic so quickly, it took Oliver aback. "Actually don't answer that, I need to go to Draco quickly."

She found Draco eating like a pig but she didn't complain, she too ate like a pig. She squeezed herself between Draco and Goyle, who turned a bright red when her leg brushed against his.

"I spoke to uncle Lucy about you know what and he said it can be arranged." She asked Goyle to pass her the tarts, and he shyly did so.

"Lilac suites you." Goyle softly said, burning a brighter red. "But I p-prefer you with y-your usual b-black color. I-I-I think you l-look b-b-beautiful with i-it."

Goyle looked like he was going to burst with embarrassment. His ears were a bright scarlet, his face matching them. His eyes were on his hands, where they limply lay on his thighs.

"Thank you Greg." Astrid smiled. "Is it okay for me to call you Greg?" He immediately nodded, still a deadly red. "Tell you what, I'll change my eye color before I go to sleep. My plan didn't work out anyway." She shrugged, popping a tart in her mouth. Goyle smiled at her before focusing on his food. "Is there something on my face?" She asked Draco as he stared at her, his eyesbrows were knitted together in absolute anger. He reminded Astrid of her uncle Lucius.

"No, but you will. A broken nose and blood if you continue to talk to Goyle." Draco sneered and Astrid rolled her eyes.

"Are you mad about Dobby? That happened two weeks ago, get over it. I got over it." She commented before she placed another tart in her mouth. She turned her back on Draco and demanded that Goyle play a game with her or do something stupid with her. "We don't have to have rules. Rules fucking suck."

Goyle immediately agreed. "How about...." He trailed off, picking up a tart and gingerly placed it in her mouth. Astrid immediately chewed.

"And for you...." She said, picking up a huge piece of meat and held it before his mouth. He gingerly took a bite and soon, which was very very weird, they began feeding each other. Draco gagged and rushed out the Great Hall.