Gadding with Ghouls

• Type: Book
• Owners: Authored by Gilderoy Lockhart; a signed copy was owned by Harry Potter; required reading for students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry during the 1992-1993 school year.
• Maker: Written by Gilderoy Lockhart. Sold at wizarding bookshops such as Flourish and Blotts.

Gadding with Ghouls is one of the autobiographical works of the celebrity wizard Gilderoy Lockhart. Like his other books, the cover features a large, moving photograph of Lockhart himself. In the photograph, Lockhart winks and flashes his famously brilliant teeth at the reader. The title follows the author's signature alliterative style, which is consistent across his entire bibliography, including titles such as Holidays with Hags and Wanderings with Werewolves.

The book purports to be a factual account of Lockhart's brave encounter with one or more ghouls, whom he presumably defeated. It was presented as an educational text, intended to instruct young witches and wizards on how to handle dangerous dark creatures. However, the contents of Gadding with Ghouls, like all of Lockhart's works, are entirely fraudulent. Gilderoy Lockhart did not perform any of the heroic deeds he describes. His method involved finding witches and wizards who had genuinely accomplished these feats, interviewing them to get all the details, and then erasing their memories with a powerful Memory Charm. He would then publish the stories as his own. The book was a required textbook for the Defence Against the Dark Arts class taught by Lockhart at Hogwarts during the 1992-1993 school year.

Gadding with Ghouls is first mentioned on the booklist that Harry Potter receives for his second year at Hogwarts. The extensive list, composed entirely of Lockhart's expensive books, placed a significant financial strain on students, most notably the Weasley family. At Flourish and Blotts in Diagon Alley, Gilderoy Lockhart held a book signing to promote his autobiography, Magical Me. During a publicity stunt, he presented Harry Potter with a complete, complimentary set of his works, which included Gadding with Ghouls. The book is a key element in establishing Lockhart's character as a vain and self-absorbed fraud. It highlights the gullibility of much of the Wizarding World, including figures like Molly Weasley and, initially, Hermione Granger, who were great admirers of Lockhart and his supposed achievements. The eventual revelation of Lockhart's deception at the end of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets serves to completely discredit the contents of this book and all his other publications.

In the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Gadding with Ghouls and Lockhart's other books are prominently featured as props. The cover art used in the film depicts actor Kenneth Branagh as a preening Gilderoy Lockhart. (film) Gadding with Ghouls is one of seven known alliterative books by Lockhart. The full set includes:

• Break with a Banshee
• Gadding with Ghouls
• Holidays with Hags
• Travels with Trolls
• Voyages with Vampires
• Wanderings with Werewolves
• Year with the Yeti