allendalepharm Chapter 162 Magic Enters Daily Life, Home
Chapter 162 Magic Enters Daily Life, Home
Chapter 162 Magic Enters Daily Life, Home
Lockhart suddenly found himself with nothing to do.
The two books that have occupied my most energy recently have been finalized. Snape's book and Rita's book are already generating buzz. Since he, as a co-author, is currently very famous, there's not much to worry about in terms of sales.
Moreover, Dumbledore gave it extremely high praise, approving that "Severus' Potions Class" would be used as the textbook for the third and fourth years, and planning to write letters to recommend it to headmasters and potionists in other schools.
As for the other book about Voldemort, Lockhart plans to release it after he finishes all his courses and leaves the school, and he doesn't intend to promote it beforehand, but will directly ship it to major bookstores around the world.
This is, after all, a biography about the Dark Lord, and it was published while Voldemort wasn't really dead. Even if Voldemort himself didn't intend to hold Lockhart accountable, some supporters would still take the initiative to do something to show their loyalty when Voldemort couldn't show up and make a statement.
Therefore, the timing of publishing a book is very important.
When Lockhart leaves Hogwarts, he'll be free to roam the world, and these people won't even know where to look for him if they want to cause him trouble.
But people are sometimes just that strange.
The more I imagine where I'll go after leaving my job, the stronger my desire becomes to buy a house and settle down in a small place.
Lockhart took this sudden thought seriously, carefully examining his own heart, and then suddenly realized that the ethereal path of magic had vaguely reached the end he could reach at this stage, and it was time to put his feet on the ground and practice a life of magic.
Then let's do it.
He made a decision.
This is not an awkward approach. His Gringotts Bank vault is overflowing with Galleons, and he has the ability to satisfy any sudden whim that all his money can solve.
It is necessary to publish a book and flee to avoid the limelight after the end of one's term, but this does not conflict with buying a house as a residence before fleeing.
If it's too bad, I'll just give up on it.
Even if he has less than three months left in his term.
Rich and willful.
So awesome!
When Lockhart made this decision, his mind was filled with images of the impoverished and cramped life he had lived in his previous life. This did not make him feel sad at all; on the contrary, he felt exhilarated by the carefree and prosperous life he was in now.
He didn't actually like the magical mansion that the original owner of the body lived in.
The ostentatious decor style filled with self-portraits did not suit his aesthetic, and the place, which was full of traces of his original life, was not suitable for him to embark on a completely new life of his own.
Lockhart does what he thinks of; he never procrastinates on things that bring him joy.
He quickly turned his attention to Hogsmeade Village, which was "next to" Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and one weekend he visited the local bigwig, Aberforth Dumbledore, the owner of the Hog's Head pub.
He always managed to find the most influential person in a certain place to help him. When he went to Knockturn Alley, he would ask the owner of Borgin Burke and the owner of the Leaky Cauldron. When he went to the Ministry of Magic, he would ask Fudge. At Hogwarts, he would ask Dumbledore. And when he came to Hogsmeade, he would ask Dumbledore's brother, Aberforth.
Don't be fooled by the fact that the Hog's Head is located in the most inconspicuous corner of Hogsmeade Village. When Aberforth opened the pub here, none of the current shop owners in this village had even been born yet.
The cumulative influence it exerts far exceeds what most people can imagine.
Moreover, Aberforth himself was a powerful magic master, specializing in combat, and was already a dueling champion during his childhood school years.
Like the Leaky Cauldron in Diagon Alley and Knockturn Alley, his bar always has all sorts of people having secret talks. These wizards, who have been walking the edge of darkness for years, know best which place is the safest.
Aberforth was a reclusive, eccentric, and stubborn old man in his brother Albus's eyes, but when Lockhart visited, he found that the old wizard was actually quite talkative, well, only towards wizards he thought highly of.
"At the last Anti-Dark Magic League meeting, Ms. Melis invited you to join the 'We're Not Dead Yet' club. Albus had such a sour face at the time, but you didn't care about his opinion at all. That's when I thought you were a promising young man."
Lockhart paused for a moment, "What's the big deal?"
Aberforth laughed. "Why don't you try another professor?"
Ah this...
Lockhart recalled for a moment, realizing he hadn't really considered how Dumbledore felt at the time. But, who cares? He smiled slightly, "Headmaster Dumbledore is a magnanimous and great man, how could he possibly mind?"
Aberforth chuckled and said nothing more.
The two walked along the main road of Hogsmeade Village, and Aberforth casually introduced the ancient village, "This is the only village in England that is entirely populated by wizards and has no Muggles. It was founded at the same time as Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."
Lockhart's expression turned strange. "Fudge told me that the Ministry of Magic, created based on the Act of Secrecy, did one of its biggest things: it made wizards live in their own communities, strictly separating them from Muggles. And yet, there's only one pure wizard village in all of Britain, and it wasn't even created because of the Act of Secrecy?"
He said he didn't understand.
Aberforth sneered, "The Secret Service Act is a joke, and of course, opposing it is a joke too!"
This topic seemed to have inadvertently touched a nerve, and his speech quickened considerably. "In England, apart from Hogsmeade Village and some professors who live at the school, all wizards live in places where Muggles exist. It's impossible for them to be completely ignorant about Muggle affairs. But look at Hogwarts' Muggle Studies class, haha, so the current Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry is a joke!"
Good guy.
Dude, you're 109 years old and you still maintain such a vigorous cynical state.
And so the two chatted idly, passing by an exquisite and quaint house. Aberforth casually introduced it, "This is Minerva's, oh, that is, Professor McGonagall's house."
Lohatt nodded, saying nothing more. Professor McGonagall had moved into Hogwarts immediately after her husband's death, making it hardly a topic for casual conversation.
"Over the thousand years since Hogwarts was founded, countless professors have come to live in this village, and they have created one secret passage after another to make it easier to come and go."
Aberforth pointed in a certain direction, "There, there, and there too, oh, this way too. In this little village, I know of at least six secret passages..."
"Many people say that Hogwarts is the safest place in the world, but in fact it is ridiculously drafty, with passageways for entering and leaving the school everywhere."
He knew of at least six secret passages in this village.
Lockhart was starting to lose his composure.
It's outrageous!
Voldemort clearly didn't understand Hogwarts, the place he called home. Otherwise, he should have occupied the village first before attacking Hogwarts, leaving the school completely undefended.
Aberforth led Lockhart around looking at some empty houses, but unexpectedly, the young man took a fancy to a small building next to his bar.
The small building has two and a half floors, is made of piled stones, has a cellar in the basement, two floors above ground, and a small attic with a pointed roof.
Its only unique feature is that it is backed by mountains, and there is a small garden outside the back of the house. It is quite nice to sit on the wooden chair in the garden and enjoy the view of the snow-capped mountains in the distance.
Of course, the house is fully furnished, meticulously maintained, and equipped with a fireplace connected to the Ministry of Magic's Filo network, making it a move-in ready place that perfectly suits Lockhart's needs.
Aberforth peered over the garden stones and fence towards the sheep pen behind his bar, chuckling, "This place is deserted because it's haunted."
Lockhart blinked, looked back at the building, and asked in confusion, "Wizards are afraid of ghosts?"
Aberforth looked puzzled. "Of course, there's a screaming shack in the corner of the village. Because of the rumors of it being haunted, no one dares to go near it."
"And the ghosts here are even more special; they are terrifying demons."
Lockhart's heart skipped a beat, and following his gaze, he looked towards the sheepfold next door. "Are those your goats?"
Immediately, Aberforth's expression turned stern. "Did Aberforth tell you this?"
Lockhart shrugged. "Do you think that's possible?"
Abufo thought for a moment, his expression returning to calm. That made sense; Abufo wasn't a gossip. He looked at the young man with a hint of curiosity. "Abufo told me that you know many secrets that others don't."
indeed.
He knew that Aberforth had been accused of using improper magic on goats, something Dumbledore had told Hagrid in an inappropriate tone. Lockhart knew that Aberforth's favorite thing to do with his younger sister was to feed the goats together, and given his feelings for his sister, he wouldn't do anything so bizarre as to go off on a winding path.
Interestingly, even now, the Pig's Head pub in Aberforth still has a strong smell of mutton and is covered in strange grease.
"Black magic creature breeding." Lockhart gestured to the little blond boy in a red cloak who had suddenly appeared on his shoulder. "This is also one of my research areas."
It's not hard to guess what Aberforth is doing.
In ancient witchcraft, sheep have always been the embodiment of evil. In modern times, influenced by Muggle anatomy and biological science, the study of evil has begun to develop a clearer system, namely the route of "from flesh to spirit, and then from spirit to flesh", which cultivates the most bizarre type of elf - the wish elf.
The most famous are Aladdin's lamp in bedtime stories, and various demons that tempt wizards to fall.
This thing works very well.
Wizarding history records numerous cases of people attempting to resurrect loved ones and reunite with them using this method, and without exception, they all succeeded!
Because all of these wizards were killed by the so-called wishing spirits, and then successfully went behind the veil of death to reunite with their loved ones.
A reverse reunion is also a kind of cult-like happy ending.
Lockhart believes that the reason Dumbledore didn't stop his brother Aberforth from doing this is because Dumbledore simply doesn't believe his brother can successfully cultivate and summon the so-called Wishing Spirit.
This is the case.
At a glance, he could tell that Aberforth's progress in cultivating this dark magic creature was only at the level of creating a "new folder"—nothing had been accomplished yet.
This typical Gryffindor brute-force battle wizard is genuinely not good at this.
As Lockhart was thinking, he saw Aberforth suddenly look at him expectantly.
do not!
I'm not getting involved in this!
Fortunately, Aberforth knew a thing or two about how to get along with people, and didn't make any presumptuous demands. Instead, he did his best to help him buy the house.
And so, Lockhart finally found a place to stay in this magical world, and also had an interesting, eccentric old man as a neighbor.
The other children clearly liked this arrangement, as they had to hide in the office every day at Hogwarts, and even in their own little huts or tree hollows when Lockhart was teaching, they were not free at all.
Now that this place is so big, it's enough for them to start experiencing real life too.
"This will be our home from now on."
Lockhart spoke with a sigh to the unjustly killed fairy beside him, watching with a smile as the little golden retriever and Boggart fought over the next piece of land they were to live in.
"Oh, right, we also need to pick up Ms. Car."
It's really amazing.
He originally planned to buy a place to live temporarily for two or three months, to try to experience what it's like to have your own little territory. But once he actually settled down, he suddenly felt a heavy sense of groundedness.
It was as if all the restless souls had suddenly settled down, becoming free and at peace.
Home, a haven for the soul, is sometimes just that magical.
It became concrete in an instant.
Perhaps this is the secret to how magic finds its way into life, so wonderful.
(End of this chapter)