Well now, nothing can make me doubt my own suspicions of Lockhart like the main characters also suspecting Lockhart much too early! There’s going to be some kind of twist . . . then again, Lockhart seems to be rather unhealthy, all of a sudden . . . Okay, I just reread the scene where Hermione heard Lockhart and Astoria through the door . . . Is she the one draining his magic? And if she’s the attacker, is her magic draining so quickly that she’s still growing weaker over time, even after draining an adult wizard and a bunch of Pureblood kids?! Holy crow, I am boggled . . .
Oh no, the inevitable misunderstanding due to English pronouns being ambiguous and simplistic! And due to Lockhart and Draco both having really nice hair! Still, I’m not totally sympathetic to the Golden Trio on that one . . . the Polyjuice gambit feels less justified in this timeline, somehow. (Also, I’m not sure I ever really grokked just how short the timeframe for Polyjuice is. No wonder Crouch, Jr. had to keep it with him in a flask all day!)
I understand why you use so much British slang terms in this story, and usually, I can figure out the meaning from the context. But boy oh boy, did I sit through a moment of dread this chapter while I looked up what “doing a bunk” meant. I guess I should have known, considering canon!Lockhart tried to fly the coup when things got scary, but it sounded so much like a euphemism for drugs or something . . .
Oh, your Dumbledore gets angry! I like seeing an angry Dumbledore! He shouldn’t be chill during a moment like this. I am curious to learn his reasoning for letting Lockhart run the investigation in the first place, and letting things get this bad. He must have had some goal in mind, even if it was just to out Lockhart as a plagiarist/scammer . . .
And now Draco’s been attacked. I still can’t quite shake the idea that all of these attacks are happening purely to frame Harry, but that feels like a little much. Plus, Myrtle is the only one who knows about the fight Harry and Draco had, and she couldn’t have left the Chamber to tell anyone, so it might just be a coincidence after all.
Aha! Spooder time! But no animate car to save the day, this time . . .
One typo: “. . . his notebook clutched white-knucled in his hands.”
—doctorlit and the Chamber of Speculations