Harry Potter‘s Gilderoy Lockhart might have been a narcissistic charlatan who not only wasted an important year of education for young wizards and witches, he almost got Hogwarts shut down thanks to his incompetence. But, man, did he have a great smile. Also, it was hard to hate him since he was played by the great Kenneth Branagh, who made an otherwise repugnant fraud so damn charming. And that perfect mixture of false bravado and charisma he brought to the role are fully on display in a newly unearthed, never-bef0re-seen photo shoot of the terrible Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, featuring him in a series of ridiculous poses.

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In #HarryPotter, #KennethBranagh played #GilderoyLockhart, a famous wizarding writer who had a penchant for deception and exaggeration. The one thing he did not lack, however, was charisma, as evidenced in this unearthed author photo shoot. 😱😂 Click the link in our bio for more photos and #ChamberOfSecrets director #ChrisColumbus’ commentary. #HarryPotter 📷: Warner Bros. Pictures

A post shared by Entertainment Weekly (@entertainmentweekly) on Oct 17, 2018 at 12:37pm PDT

Entertainment Weekly shared these photos. Incredibly, they’ve been kept from Muggle eyes since Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets was released in 2002 (yeah, 2002!). The film’s director Christopher Columbus said the shoot took place on a bluescreen stage, and that Branagh, who he says is “one of the funniest people” he has ever met, had no problem hamming it up and having a great time.” That’s pretty obvious from these hilarious pictures. He is embracing full Lockhart cheese.

These unearthed Gilderoy Lockhart author photos are a TREAT, fellow #HarryPotter fans: https://t.co/6PbAL6Cw8o pic.twitter.com/xaTYXcWQTd

— Jessica Derschowitz (@jessicasara) October 17, 2018

After 16 years, EW released the pictures of a Gilderoy Lockhart’s photoshoot. Kenneth Branagh is a god. #harrypotter

(Check them out here: https://t.co/t6pFqClfZI) pic.twitter.com/s98FKCN8sm

— snaps (@mydeerlily) October 18, 2018

I can’t pick a favorite. New photos released of Gilderoy Lockhart from @EW and you won’t want to miss them. pic.twitter.com/Xlk1UXRs2d

— Julie Jo🎃👻 (@enchanted_holly) October 17, 2018

Gilderoy Lockhart obviously didn’t do any of these things as he traveled the world stealing the stories of other more talent wizards, but in fairness, what are the odds those wizards looked as good doing heroics as Lockhart does only pretending to have done them?

And of course we know why it has taken 16 years for us to see these images–Lockhart forgot he took them.

Which of these is your favorite? Tell us why in the comments section below.

Featured Image: Warner Bros.