Chapter 109: You've Finally Taken the Bait

Chapter 109: You've Finally Taken the Bait

When Lockhart made a decision, he wanted to act immediately. This wasn't some "strong execution ability," but rather an uncontrollable, surging desire, just like when he played games or scrolled through short videos in his previous life without needing anyone to urge him.

Magic, for him, was a joy.

When magic entered every aspect of life, every small thing in life became enjoyable.

This was the greatest meaning of his transmigration to the wizarding world; he lived in joy every moment.

Magic was truly interesting.

He decided to change some strategies. Ever since he realized that Voldemort's creation of Horcruxes had become uncontrollable and unpredictable, he felt he had to seize some initiative.

Whether facing Voldemort or Dumbledore.

Yes, and Dumbledore.

Old Dumbledore was truly a good person, a great wizard. Because he was unbelievably powerful compared to other wizards, yet he always treated the world with kindness and warmth, even with self-imposed restraint.

But old Dumbledore was also a political creature, with his own clear agenda. Lockhart couldn't guarantee that he would always follow Dumbledore's path in the future.

He should be the free wind in the forest, the unrestrained spring flowing through the mountain streams, yearning for magic and joy, and should not be drawn into the inexplicable political narratives of Voldemort or Dumbledore.

Holding one of Voldemort's Horcruxes would give him too much initiative in the future.

Late at night, the moon disappeared behind the clouds, becoming dim and unclear. Snape, who had been sitting by the window all night, enduring the cold wind, finally relaxed his brow in drunken sleep.

Lockhart had the Boggart transform into his likeness and pretend to sleep in another corner. He, meanwhile, donned his red cloak and quietly left the office.

He didn't go far, just stood at the corner of the seventh-floor staircase in the castle, hidden within the cloak, quietly opening Carrot's Bedtime Fairy Tales, waiting patiently.

He knew that a figure would appear soon.

After all, he was too familiar with Tom. After Ginny returned from accompanying the professors on their adventure for so many days, after the increasingly powerful effects of Ginny's Patronus Charm made her feel more and more out of his control, and after Voldemort sent Dark wizards and werewolves to attack, he would surely be unable to resist confirming whether his own hidden card, the Basilisk, was secure.

Definitely.

And it was about this time.

Indeed, Lockhart didn't wait long. Ginny, in her spectral state, appeared again at the top of the stairs.

Wobbling, disoriented, yet her feet kept moving, as if she were sleepwalking.

As she walked, upon reaching the corner of the staircase, she suddenly vanished, completely disappearing.

Ginny had no idea she had walked into Professor Lockhart's red cloak, even stepping into the fairy tale book. She only felt herself walking down the stairs step by step.

But this staircase seemed endless, one section after another, as if it would never end.

"Ah~"

At the top of the stairs, Lockhart sighed. While allowing Ginny to join his Duelling Club certainly involved the quiet intention of using her to influence Tom, he was also genuinely and diligently teaching Ginny how to resist the erosion of Dark Arts.

But clearly, Ginny's talent in this area wasn't great.

Like Snape, who had good talent for Dark Arts and also for defending against Dark Arts, was destined to be very painful.

But like Ginny, who only had talent for Dark Arts, she would easily become a Bellatrix-like figure if she wasn't careful. Experiencing a major life problem could easily lead to her mind being completely consumed by Dark Arts.

She could only pray that life wouldn't influence her to walk the path of a Dark wizard, and also pray that fate would always favor her, preventing her from encountering major setbacks that would darken her, allowing her to have everything smoothly from childhood to adulthood, just like in the original story.

Lockhart was out of ideas.

He had taught her everything he could, but Ginny truly couldn't resist Tom's influence. If it were Harry or Hermione, they would probably have completely broken free from the vortex by now.

"Let me help you forget all this. This isn't an adventure you can handle."

Lockhart slowly drew his wand, gently waving it at Ginny's back.

"Obliviate!"

Silver light scattered. In the hazy glow, a huge, brawny werewolf shadow suddenly emerged from Ginny's reflection on the wall beside the staircase. The dark shadow, claws extended, lunged down to bite her.

The werewolf was so greedy and vicious. It directly tore off a part of her shadow, carrying torn silver threads, and swallowed them.

Life plunder. She would completely lose everything of Tom's influence on her, including her Parseltongue talent and Dark Arts talent.

He wondered if she would still be as adept and fond of using Bat-Bogey Hexes in the future as she was in the original story. Her skill in casting that spell had even earned the praise of Professor Horace Slughorn, who had seen countless elite wizards.

But regardless, Ginny had completely escaped from the "Chamber of Secrets" adventure.

She should have played the role of the "princess" in the adventure, misguided by an evil witch (Tom), then captured by a dragon and put in mortal danger (Basilisk), confined in a castle (Chamber of Secrets), awaiting the hero's rescue (Harry).

Life plunder was indeed so evil.

Lockhart would not consider this a forceful arrangement made for Ginny's own good. He had always disliked the paternalistic arrangement of others' destinies, casually pointing out right and wrong in others' lives. He simply made his own choice.

His choice was that he needed Tom's diary Horcrux, and it had to be a Horcrux that Dumbledore temporarily didn't know about.

It was that simple.

He gently opened the fairy tale book and watched Ginny emerge from its pages, from his red cloak, habitually continuing down the stairs. Eventually, she woke up with a gasp, frantically running towards the Gryffindor dormitory—

Kid, unfortunately, your adventure is over. Now it's my turn.

He once again turned his gaze to the fairy tale book. Inside was a Hogwarts, with young wizards and professors, with Ginny, with the Chamber of Secrets, with everything from his memories of Hogwarts.

Tom, in the diary Horcrux, would not detect any problems, because this was also built upon his shared memories of Hogwarts.

This was the first step in Dumbledore's story of "The Wizard and the Hopping Pot": locking the heart in a box.

The second step was the dark power quietly eroding the heart.

Time slipped away. The Hogwarts within the fairy tale book welcomed the next day. As the sun rose and set, "Ginny" returned to her dormitory and once again opened the diary, confiding everything that happened today to "Mr. Diary."

Lockhart sat on Ginny's dormitory bed, reached for a very girlish pink quill from the desk, dipped it in ink, and diligently wrote in the diary.

"Professor Lockhart made us help him sort through book manuscripts again. It's so annoying. I just want to spend more time with Harry, not do such troublesome things."

The handwriting quickly vanished from the diary pages. After a while, a string of letters reappeared.

"A book about him teaching you the Patronus Charm? Is that right? He's clearly eager to brag about such things!"

Hoo-hoo~

Tom, you're taking my pulse too, aren't you?

Lockhart chuckled. While he was trying to figure out Tom's behavioral logic, the other party was also trying to figure him out, and quite accurately too.

"No!"

He chuckled slyly, writing in the book, "It should be a biography, about the Dark Lord Voldemort. The book is titled The Dark Lord Voldemort: A Pure-blood Supremacist with a Muggle Father?—"

Before he finished writing, the ink on the page vanished, leaving only a series of exclamation marks.

Tom was utterly shocked!

"How dare he!!!"

Lockhart ignored his shock. In fact, Ginny wouldn't have paid attention either. She was a rather self-centered young witch who usually didn't care about topics irrelevant to her, focusing more on self-expression.

He continued writing.

"I had no idea Voldemort had a Muggle father, and that his mother lured him with a Love Potion—"

"Ginny's" perspective was clearly different from others', her words full of longing.

"His mother must have loved his father very much, trying her best to keep her husband by her side, yet she couldn't help but feel pity and released him, only to face his resolute departure."

"His mother didn't use the Love Potion again to bring her husband back. Instead, she despairingly chose death, only for her child, gritting her teeth and holding on until she gave birth to the child at the orphanage gate before dying."

What bloody Love Potion?!!!

The ink in the book instantly vanished, leaving only Tom's furious roar.

—

Why blame her, this poor woman! To speculate so maliciously! Ha, I get it. Just because Voldemort opposed Muggles and encroached on wizarding living space, and failed, those people maliciously imagine, thinking Muggles must be the victims, and wizards, who possess magic, must be the ones in control, right? People always think they know everything!

She merely dressed herself up, used a bit of that "beauty potion" that you young witches all love. Is it wrong for a woman to dress up a little just so the man she loves will look at her a little longer?

It was that man, obsessed with her beauty, who abandoned her ruthlessly, even when she was pregnant, after she lost her father and brother, cutting off her financial resources and making her unable to buy wizarding beauty potions, ultimately losing her beauty!

Is that how it was?

The truth of the matter held no significance for Lockhart.

He cared about the emotions expressed in Tom's words. The deepest emotions in a wizard's heart were always related to magic. That intense emotion clearly told him: he cared so much about his mother.

Little Tom, I've got you! He picked up the quill again. "Merlin's beard, so that's how it is! She was a great woman, a great mother! I must persuade Professor Lockhart to give up writing this book; it's a harm to a poor woman!"

Tom was silent. He clearly knew that Ginny's influence wasn't enough to make this professor abandon such an idea.

"About the book you just mentioned, the one about him teaching us the Patronus Charm, right? Maybe that idea will make him focus on it instead. He always wants everyone to know he's Harry Potter's professor!"

!!!!

Tom replied again, clearly realizing this was a turning point.

Yes, that would benefit him more than writing about Voldemort's private life. Voldemort isn't someone to mess with. This would be a better idea if he wants to show off.

"Right? Isn't that a good idea?" The pink quill quickly wrote. "Ginny" began to voice her troubles. "But I don't really understand the Patronus Charm. I might need some content that will impress him. Can you teach me the Patronus Charm?"

Tom was silent again. After a long while, he finally replied, "I've never paid attention to that magic before. Its scope of application is too narrow; it's not worth my valuable time."

"Merlin's beard, you clearly missed the most amazing magic! Professor Lockhart says the Patronus Charm's power comes from beautiful memories, and it can even let us see our deceased loved ones!"

"Ginny" frantically hyped the wonders of the Patronus Charm to Tom, even using the recently mentioned Dark Lord Voldemort as an example, saying that Voldemort surely had a way to see his mother through this magic.

"His mother loved him so much. If he also loves his mother, and he casts a Patronus Charm, he'll definitely be able to see his mother! Merlin's beard, that's just too romantic!"

!!!

!!!

!!!

Tom issued three exclamations, finally unable to resist asking, "Tell me the incantation and wand movement, and all the key information about this magic!"

Okay, then~

My dear little Tom!

You've finally taken the bait!

A satisfied smile appeared on Lockhart's face in front of the diary.

He waved his wand. Silently, silver mist surrounded the diary, slowly eroding Tom inside the diary, just like little Tom had influenced the open-minded Ginny before.

Little Tom, Professor Lockhart's private lesson is now online. Let me give you a thorough private lesson on love and the Patronus Charm.

.....

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