Chapter 21: Professor McGonagall's Request for Help
Lockhart was actually a bit embarrassed about the office turning out like this.
According to his agreement with Dumbledore, his position as the Defence Against the Dark Arts professor was, in fact, a yearly throwaway, oh, no, it should be said a one-year term.
That is to say, he was only using this office temporarily for a year, but he had no way to restore it to its original state at all.
This was not his property.
Fortunately, Professor McGonagall didn't seem to mind. She seemed to have something to say, but looking at the few young wizards beside her, she hesitated for a moment and then said, "Perhaps I can wait until after your class to talk?"
She didn't want her personal matters to affect the children's learning.
Lockhart nodded. "Then please wait a moment. Today is a training class, and I only need to talk for a little while."
He clapped his hands, drawing the attention of the curious children to himself. "Today we will continue practicing the Disarming Charm. Oh, Harry, what's that expression? Pride is not a good thing."
"Harry, Draco, don't think that just because your Disarming Charms, counter-measures, and anti-spells are already proficient that I'll be satisfied. In the next class, I will require both of you to perform more flexible combative exercises while sitting on flying brooms. Your current level is far from enough!"
In fact, the talent of these two young wizards in charms had already reached the point where Lockhart secretly envied and was jealous. He had to criticize them more to suppress their momentum and maintain the authority and influence of a professor.
Producing two dueling masters would be the perfect achievement of his teaching career this year. In the future, mentioning it would be enough to raise his status no matter the occasion.
As he spoke, he looked at Ron and Hermione. "The two of you probably need to start learning from the beginning, but don't worry about falling behind Harry and Draco. You are still second-year wizards, and you have plenty of time in the future to improve yourselves."
Lockhart had his own ideas about teaching. Whether it was the current "Duelling Club," ordinary classes, or the N.E.W.T. class, he always liked to pick out a few outstanding students to cultivate first, and then let them "lead the new ones." This always made things much easier for him.
"Let's pair up."
"Having the experienced lead the new ones makes it easier to consolidate knowledge and notice details you might have overlooked in the past."
"So, Harry, you teach Ron, and Draco, you teach Hermione."
Draco almost jumped up. "Why do I have to be paired with her!!!"
If this wasn't in front of the professor, the Mudblood's curses would have already escaped his lips.
Lockhart just looked at Draco with an inscrutable expression and said quietly, "A truly shrewd Slytherin doesn't make enemies on all sides and attract so many rivals, Draco. You need to know how to get along with even those who disagree with you."
Draco pursed his lips and didn't speak for a long while before solemnly nodding.
Hermione also looked very unhappy, but she obviously understood better how to respect the arrangements of her idol, Professor Lockhart, and silently gripped her wand without saying a word.
"Very good." Lockhart smiled as he looked at the young wizards. "Now it's question time. You can ask any questions you have, and after I've guided you, you can start practicing."
Hermione raised her hand first. After receiving his permission, she excitedly pointed at the trees in the office. "Professor, how did you do this?"
This was exactly what she yearned for—magic with changes that broke conventional effects, she could feel it.
Harry quietly tugged her sleeve and whispered a reminder, "Hermione, we can only ask questions about the Disarming Charm right now."
Hermione was taken aback and shrank her head a little embarrassedly.
"It's okay, I can explain, but don't make it a habit." Lockhart turned back to look at the surrounding trees, some of which looked as thick as if they had grown for decades. Even he, who knew what was going on, marveled at them. It was natural for the young wizards to be curious. He shook his head with a smile. "You will never be able to do this."
"!!!"
The young wizards were all stunned, not expecting such an answer.
Even Professor McGonagall, who was quietly listening on the side, hesitated whether to interrupt and say something.
Lockhart looked at the discouraged young wizards and explained with a smile, "Actually, the principle behind achieving this effect is very simple: the Animation Charm from the field of alchemy, the Germination Charm and the Engorgement Charm from the field of domestic cultivation. That's it. They are all very basic spells."
"It's like Transfiguration. The most fundamental principles are actually just a few, but truly delving into it requires a lifetime of immersion."
"This isn't to say you need to spend a lifetime learning..."
Lockhart raised an eyebrow. "Rather, it requires your life, your thoughts, your existence, and even everything in your life to serve as nourishment for the growth of magic."
The "Forest Witch" of the Amazon was a wizard who had been abandoned as a baby and raised by gray wolves from a young age. She spent most of her life in the forest before leaving with a troll to live in Manhattan, USA.
During her life in the big city, whenever the Forest Witch encountered a situation that required fighting, she didn't choose to use the magic popular in modern wizarding society. She still retained her original casting habits, and in every battle, she would cast spells to transform the environment like this.
She called it "returning to nature, and nature will give her strength," but Lockhart preferred to describe it as the "Forest Witch's battle domain."
"Everyone has their own magical path to walk." He patted the large tree trunk beside him, his words full of profound meaning. "Sometimes when we see some wonderful magic, we will always be moved by it, but please remember, this is someone else's magic, someone else's life, someone else's soul, not yours."
"We can never become someone else; we can only become ourselves."
Such profound principle was still too early for the few bewildered second-year wizards; they didn't understand it.
Professor McGonagall, who was pursing her lips to the side, felt it deeply.
As an internationally renowned Transfiguration master, she had diligently cultivated and taught generations of students year after year. Transfiguration was taught continuously from the first to the seventh grade, but how many true Transfiguration masters had been cultivated?
At least in recent years, there hadn't been any noteworthy ones.
Looking back a dozen or twenty years, there were indeed some good seedlings. Potter, Sirius Black, and the others had learned the advanced Transfiguration skill of Animagus early in their school days, but unfortunately, due to the impact of the war, they never lived to become Transfiguration masters.
Lockhart stroked the large tree for a long time without speaking.
Because what he had just said didn't actually apply to himself.
He had already digested a small part of the "Forest Witch's" memory. Whether he could truly digest all the memories in the future and completely devour the Forest Witch's adventurous life was uncertain, but the future was promising.
If the original Lockhart was a "memory thief," then he might go a step further and become a "life thief."
He could never become a saint, remaining indifferent in the face of the precious memories and even lives of these powerful wizards. He didn't want to transmigrate to this magical world only to continue being a Muggle who couldn't use magic.
Without these memories, he was just a Muggle. Since he chose to retain these memories, he had to know how to make good use of them.
Steal other people's lives, digest other people's adventures!
"Alright, end of discussion, you can start practicing."
Practical exercises were the easiest way to observe whether students had mastered the knowledge well, whether it was Harry and Draco who were responsible for teaching, or Hermione and Ron who were learning.
Lockhart only needed to watch from the side to understand the progress of the few people.
After all, he understood the Disarming Charm too well.
Of the three major areas of Defence Against the Dark Arts—facing dark wizards, facing dark magical creatures, and facing duels—although he couldn't cast the magic in these areas, his judgment was definitely sharp.
However, he didn't focus all his energy on the young wizards today. He invited Professor McGonagall to sit down at the desk behind a few large trees and asked the reason for her visit.
"It's like this." Professor McGonagall took out a letter from her wizard robe. "A strange incident occurred at the Urquart family's castle. After their request for help from the Ministry of Magic was fruitless, they wrote to me asking if I could provide assistance."
She sighed. "This has been confirmed to be a problem caused by dark magical creatures, but no one can solve it."
The proud professor rarely spoke flattering words. "Professor Lockhart, you are the most insightful person I have ever met in this field. Perhaps you will have a way."
The Urquart family?
Lockhart raised an eyebrow, quickly flipping through his memories and finding the answer in the memory of a powerful wizard.
The family of Professor McGonagall's husband. The powerful wizard in the memory had even attended the funeral of Professor McGonagall's husband, Elphinstone Urquart, as a close friend of the Urquart family.
This family generally came from Durmstrang Institute, pure-blood, traditional, and had great influence in their own Ministry of Magic and the Ministries of Magic of various European countries.
If even such a powerful force couldn't solve the problem, it could only mean that it was very troublesome.
Lockhart took the letter and read it. The writer affectionately called Professor McGonagall "Aunt Minerva" and first flattered her with a bunch of words before recounting the problem that had occurred in the castle.
The described content could almost be called a standard castle horror story.
Overnight, the entire castle was covered in bloodstains, various poisonous snakes and spiders crawled everywhere, the house-elves in the castle died mysteriously, and the faint singing of a female voice could be heard in the middle of the night.
After ruling out the possibility of a malicious curse and confirming that it was the work of dark magical creatures, such a castle could basically be judged as directly disposable.
Although dark magical creatures looked like they had "biological" characteristics, they were essentially "phenomena" and couldn't be killed at all without targeted means.
In the wizarding world, there were many such eerie places where humans had to move out due to the appearance or occupation of dark magical creatures.
Coincidentally, Lockhart searched through his memories and actually found the answer.
And there were two of them.
He handed the letter back to Professor McGonagall, thought for a moment, and then replied, "It might be one of two things: 'Cellar Rot' or a 'Vengeful Fairy'."
Professor McGonagall was taken aback. When she received this letter from young Urquart filled with despair, she actually held almost no hope of solving the problem. She had only tried asking Lockhart, thinking that "Lockhart seems to be really capable, otherwise, just ask and see" as a better-than-nothing idea. She didn't expect to actually get an answer.
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