Chapter 245: Permanent Spell Damage

Under Ivan and Hermione's astonished gaze, their former Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher opened the doors and walked towards them, wearing a long lilac robe that looked the same as before.

"Well, hello there!" he said. "I hope you want my autograph, don't you?"

Ivan and Hermione shook their heads, indicating they didn't need it.

Looking at Professor Lockhart in front of her, Hermione didn't have much sympathy.

She felt particularly uncomfortable. She felt that she used to be too naive to adore such a person.

Because of the books Lockhart wrote, Hermione once thought he was the greatest wizard in the world, and could even recite the contents of each book.

But all that was false, and Lockhart was stealing other people's achievements.

A year ago, in the Chamber of Secrets, he was going to erase the memories of Ivan, Harry, Ron and Hermione with the dememorizing charm. Fortunately, he used Ron's broken wand, and the spell ended up hitting him.

In short, Hermione fully recognized Lockhart's true face as she faced him now.

Actually, Ivan missed the days of Lockhart. He might not be a good teacher, but his presence was really convenient.

Whether it was the difficulties encountered in the running of the paper, the approval of the Restricted Section of the library, Snape's escape or Filch's punishment, or the awarding of points to Gryffindor, in many ways, Lockhart provided a lot of help to Ivan.

Of course, in his opinion, Ivan was also his most loyal reader.

"Er... how are you, Professor?" Ivan hesitated and asked quietly.

"I'm very well, thank you," Lockhart said exuberantly, pulling a rather battered peacock feather out of his pocket. "Now, how many autographs do you want? I can write altogether now, you know!"

"Oh, we don't want any at the moment, thank you," Hermione waved her hand.

At the end of last semester, she threw all of Lockhart's signatures she had collected into the stove and burned them, leaving none behind.

"Professor, should you be wandering the halls? shouldn't you be in a ward?" Ivan looked around, as Lockhart's ward should be nearby.

"You call me Professor, have we met before?" The smile slowly faded from Lockhart's face. For a few moments he looked intently at Ivan and Hermione.

"Yes, we have. You used to teach us at Hogwarts, remember?" said Ivan.

"Teach?" repeated Lockhart, with a slightly perturbed look. "Me? Did I?"

After receiving a positive answer, the smile reappeared on his face so suddenly that it was quite alarming.

"I taught you everything you know, I hope, didn't I?" said Lockhart with a smile. "Well, what about those autographs, then? Let's say a dozen, you can give them to all your little friends and no one will be left out."

Ivan and Hermione looked at each other and stepped back in silence.

"We have to go, Professor!" said Ivan, "You know, we both went out to buy drinks, and our friends are still waiting for us."

"They're Hogwarts students, too?" Lockhart said cheerfully, "I can go with you. Maybe they need my autograph, too."

No one would ask for his autograph, and with Sirius's temper, the crazy Lockhart would definitely be expelled.

But at that moment, a head popped through a door at the end of the corridor and a voice said, "Gilderoy, you naughty boy, where have you gone?"

A motherly looking healer wearing a tinsel crown in her hair came running down the hallway, smiling warmly at Ivan and Hermione.

"Oh Gilderoy, you have visitors! How nice, and on Christmas Day too! You know, he never gets visitors, poor lamb, and I can't think why, he's so sweet, isn't he?"

Ivan and Hermione knew why, they could tell him that with Lockhart's current notoriety in the wizarding world, no one would visit him.

Currently, whenever Lockhart was mentioned, people often added the word "fake."

For Lockhart, living in this illusion for the rest of his life might be the best possible outcome.

"Autographs!" Gilderoy said to the Healer with another bright smile. "They want a lot of them, they won't take no for an answer! I just hope we have enough photographs!"

"Listen to him," the Healer said, taking Lockhart's arm and carrying him lovingly as if he were a precocious two-year-old. "He was quite well known a few years ago; hopefully this penchant for giving autographs is a sign that his memory might be coming back a bit. Could you come this way? He's in a locked room, you know, he must have slipped out while I was bringing in the Christmas presents, the door is usually locked..."

Seeing the expression on Ivan and Hermione's faces, he lowered his voice to a whisper, "Not that he's dangerous! But... a bit dangerous to himself, bless him.... He doesn't know who he is, you see, he wanders away and can't remember how to get back.... It's very kind of you to have come to see him!"

If it hadn't been for the wand he was using, it would have been Ivan, Harry, Ron and Hermione in the room.

They had just finished fighting the Basilisk, they were all at the end of the battle, and had no ability to resist.

Thinking about this, Ivan and Hermione lost any trace of sympathy that had built up in their hearts for Lockhart.

in their hearts for Lockhart.

"Sorry, but we stopped by!" Hermione waved her drink. "We've come to see Ron Weasley. He's in that room."

"I know Ron, a cute red-haired boy. I heard he helped the famous Sirius Black clear his name, which is really amazing." The healer smiled and said, "Although you're not specifically visiting Gilderoy, can you come to his ward for a while before you return? He seems familiar with both of you. It shouldn't take long, and this might help him."

Hearing what she said, they both felt that rejection would seem too unreasonable.

Ivan and Hermione could only nod, and followed Lockhart and his Healer down the corridor in the opposite direction of Ron's room.

The Healer pointed her wand at the door to Janus Thickey's ward and muttered "Alohomora," and the door opened.

She led the way inside, holding Gilderoy's arm firmly until she settled him in an armchair next to his bed.

Compared to Ron's ward, it was cold and clear.

Everything was white, even the temperature was a few degrees lower than outside.

There were no recreational facilities in the ward, only cold treatment equipment. Ivan could hardly imagine how terrible it would be to live there all the time.

"This is our long-term resident ward," he informed Ivan and Hermione quietly. "For permanent spell damage, you know. Of course, with intensive healing potions and charms and a bit of luck, we can produce some improvements.... Gilderoy seems to be regaining some sense of himself, but most of the others show no signs of improvement."