The slacker professor at Hogwarts

Chapter 108 Bloodline Magic

Chapter 108 Bloodline Magic

"Oh, really? This cosmetic is so amazing?" Umbridge accepted Lockhart's gift, her politeness bordering on exaggerated, her smile even brighter than Lockhart's.

His almost fawning manner stunned Dumbledore, Fudge, and Scrimgeour, who were standing at the door.

Fudge stared incredulously at his trusted aide, then looked at Dumbledore with a "This is too outrageous!" expression, utterly bewildered. "Dolores (Umbridge) is a fan of his too?"

Dumbledore was clearly starting to lose his composure, but he still maintained his dignified image, simply smiling and saying, "We can never truly understand a person, can we?"

Yes!

The Auror leader, Scrimgeour, wholeheartedly agreed. His female boss, who usually acted arrogantly towards her subordinates, as if saying, "You owe me so many Galleons," was now fawning over a handsome peacock. The way she was subtly humbled was not only shocking to him, but also an eyesore!

As the group walked in, Umbridge was already asking Lockhart if he wanted to take charge of the leadership positions in the practical departments under the "Beast Consulting Office".

He even enthusiastically introduced Lockhart to the Centaur Liaison Office, saying, "How's the Centaur Liaison Office? We need to contact some Centaur tribes from time to time. You know, these guys who are good at taking over can always get some treasures from other wizards, like magical items or something."

"Or the Fire Dragon Research and Restriction Bureau would be a good option. The heads of various dragon farms would come to curry favor with them; it's a great opportunity to expand your network. Those who can afford to run dragon farms are all big shots—"

"Speaking of which, the house-elves have relocated their office. Yes, this office might be more suitable—"

She was getting more and more outrageous, and Fudge couldn't stand it anymore, so he strode in. "Hey, Dolores, the direct superior of the 'House-Elf Relocation Office' is the 'Outliers Office,' which is on the same level as the 'Beasts Office.'"

Just then, Dumbledore whispered from the side, "That sounds like a good arrangement."

"Oh, I mean," Fudge quickly changed his tune, "the Beast Office and the Alien Office are always like this, right? Cross-management. It's time to set up a 'House-Elf Relocation Office' in the Beast Office too!"

He did leave room for maneuver, not letting Lockhart work part-time in the subordinate department of the "Outliers' Office," but instead planning to have Lockhart form his own department.

This seems to be the norm for his interactions with Dumbledore: obedient, but not completely obedient, like a child with his own ideas facing a stern father.

And so, Lockhart's job at the Ministry of Magic was officially confirmed.

She joins the "Beast Consulting Office" and leads a "House-Elf Relocation Office" on her own.

Well, it's a good match for my major.

House-elves have always been classified in an academic sense as being in the gray area between dark magic creatures and magical animals.

House-Elf

Lockhart recalled Dobby, the house-elf who belonged to the Malfoy family but was loyal to Harry Potter, the Malfoy's enemy.

But he quickly put the matter out of his mind. His short half-day experience at the Ministry of Magic reminded him somewhat of his previous life as a corporate slave, and even a promotion and raise couldn't arouse much interest in him.

Or you could say this: there is no magic here.

He loves magic, pursues magic, and embodies magic; a mere official position in the Ministry of Magic is not enough to attract him.

Yeah, I'll come over again when I get my salary. I'm still pretty happy with this.

Lockhart was more focused on Dumbledore in front of him. This one no longer seemed to be an illusion created by the Confusion Charm, but the real Dumbledore.

Is the matter resolved?

Back in his office at Hogwarts, Dumbledore confirmed his suspicions by placing a golden cup on his desk and wearily taking off his glasses to rub his nose.

Obviously, searching for such a small item in Gringotts vault, which is protected by all sorts of strange and unusual magic, is quite unusual.

To do it without anyone noticing is extremely difficult.

"You said there were six, but only told me five. Now we've found one."

Dumbledore's expression was somewhat complicated. "The key issue is that he also knows you told me this, so I'm not sure if he will make other, more covert Horcruxes."

this is the key of the problem.

Lockhart had to admit that blindly telling Dumbledore this information ultimately changed the future. Would Voldemort still turn Nagini into his Horcruxes?

This seems to have become uncertain.

Even more uncertain is whether Voldemort will create other Horcruxes. After all, even if he believed in the number "seven" and didn't know that Harry Potter was one of his Horcruxes, Voldemort might still have considered making another one.

Things have become complicated.

"Is there any way to find other Horcruxes using these existing ones?" Lockhart looked at Dumbledore with some anticipation.

Dumbledore shook his head, pulled some documents from a nearby shelf and placed them on the table. Among them was a thick tome, "Deciphering the Secrets of Black Magic." He gestured with his hand, "All the information we can find is here. My answer is no."

Seeing Lockhart curiously flipping through the pages, he clapped his hands and summoned two cups of hot drinks. After moistening his throat, he casually recounted, "Ancient wizards passed down a proverb—'Love can make a soul eternal,' which has been interpreted in different ways throughout history."

"From a magical perspective, the existence of 'love' allows life to continue in this world. The same principle can be extended to different areas: hatred, pain, responsibility, regret, obsession, and everything else."

Lockhart expressed his confusion as to why these topics were suddenly brought up.

"Love—" Dumbledore opened his palm and shook one of his fingers. "It is only a part of life, and it makes life eternal."

understood.

Lockhart exclaimed in astonishment, "This is the basis for Horcruxes?!?"

Dumbledore nodded, gesturing to the portraits of past headmasters hanging on the surrounding walls. The people in the portraits were animated. "They are the most common ones," he said.

Is magic difficult?

It's really not difficult for Dumbledore.

He succinctly explained the most essential technique of Horcruxes in just a few words: to preserve a part of life, thus making life eternal.

"In principle, it doesn't matter how many pieces the soul is broken into, as long as a small part of it is enough to support the soul to appear intact in the real world."

Lockhart couldn't help but think of Lily Evans, whose love protected Harry through magic, allowing her to reappear in the real world at opportune moments. This adventure was one example, as was Lily's appearance when Harry clashed with Voldemort in the original story.

Dumbledore tapped the book "Deciphering the Dark Magic" with the finger of the strange ring on his hand. "The reason why Horcruxes are dangerous is that they are too successful. Wizards who use them lose their reverence for life, lose their reverence for 'human beings' who are born, grow old, get sick, die, and are full of limitations. They even stop paying attention to other people, society, nature, and everything else and only care about themselves, ultimately losing their sociality completely."

"When humanity is lacking, animalistic instincts take over the mind. The power of dark magic can easily erode the will and eventually turn a person into a beast."

Yes, Voldemort's face had become horribly serpentine, making him look like he had no nose.

Dumbledore then handed over another book, titled *The Tales of Beedle the Bard*, saying, "There's a story in here called 'The Hairy Heart of the Wizard'."

"The story is about a male wizard who cuts out his heart and locks it in a box, so that he is no longer troubled by any emotions, not even the death of his family members. He seems very successful and lives a wealthy life. But when he meets the girl he loves and tries to open the box to prove his heart, he discovers that his heart, which has been isolated from the world for so long, has grown mold and is full of dark power."

"The same is true of love—a beautiful thing; locking it up and hiding it away in a special place can also bring terrible harm."

Dumbledore's gaze was deep and unfathomable. "It can easily turn into hatred."

Lockhart's eyes lit up. "I get it!"

"You mean!" he exclaimed excitedly, pointing to the golden cup on the table, "that we can modify this Horcrux..."

Could this affect his life condition?

"???" Dumbledore stared at Lockhart.

Is that what he meant?

Is it possible to interpret Horcruxes, a form of dark magic, from this perspective?

He looked thoughtfully at the golden cup on the table. He had originally planned to wait for the phoenix that had just been reborn from the ashes in the plate to grow up, and then use its venomous fangs to crush it.

This modification of the Horcrux, thereby affecting Tom's life state?

Will this work?

I don't know, but Lockhart thinks it's worth a try.

Of course, modifying the Golden Cup requires more advanced magical and alchemical abilities, which he is not capable of.

But the other Horcrux, Tom in the diary, is exactly his area of ​​expertise.

Should we look for an opportunity to try?

Anyway, there's still plenty of time left in the Christmas holiday season.

But when he returned to his office with the materials he had borrowed from Dumbledore, he found that Snape had been waiting for him for who knows how long.

Old Si looked worried; clearly, Voldemort's resurgence had some impact on his mindset.

"Do you know why everyone calls him the Dark Lord, but not Gellert Grindelwald?"

Old Si asked a question.

Lockhart put away the documents, deep in thought. "Because his methods are rather vicious, cruel, and ruthless?"

"Yes!" Snape said, his expression cryptic. "The First Wizarding War brought immense suffering to many. In that era, every wizard who dared to defy or even oppose Vulpix feared that the Death Eaters would storm into their homes and slaughter their loved ones!"

The threat of terror is clearly so effective in a wizarding society, a place imbued with magic.

"After I decided to betray him, I began to guard against this happening, so I cast an ancient spell to make it impossible for anyone to find my family."

Snape's expression was very serious. "I think you'll need it too!"

Lockhart then realized that he sometimes subconsciously neglected the original owner's family, and now he had provoked Voldemort.

Who knows if I'll be retaliated against like this?

"Is this spell difficult?" he asked quickly.

"It's not difficult, much simpler than the Patronus Charm. It doesn't require the wizard to be in any particular state of mind; a blood relationship is enough," Snape explained. "It's a blood-related spell."

Lockhart exclaimed, "Harry Potter?"

silence--

After a long silence, Snape let out a long sigh. "Yes, the magic Lily cast for the child, I taught her."

What a painful thing it was that he found this magical spell in the library and shared it with Lily, but Lily ultimately died because of this spell.

That Lockhart guy really deserves to die! He keeps making him mention Lily, Lily, Lily, and if he keeps doing it, he'll mention it a few more times.

I feel like I'm becoming desensitized.

Old S glared at Lockhart, clearly annoyed. "Want to learn?"

"Learn!" Lockhart nodded hurriedly. After all, he had enjoyed many benefits from the original owner of this body, and he couldn't let himself cause the death of someone else's parents and relatives.

"This magic—"

Snape's lips curled slightly. "Strictly speaking, it's actually a form of dark magic. It's recorded in a book in the forbidden section called 'The Captive Lover'."

"During that time, I was particularly fascinated by powerful black magic. After finding this magic, it completely opened the door to a new world of magic for me—so-called evil black magic can actually be in the name of love."

It was such an interesting thing to let Lily learn black magic from him, but he never had the chance to explain to Lily that the magic was actually black magic, nor could he use it to explain that black magic wasn't all bad.

Because Lily got married, she married Potter.

"In the name of love, this magic severs some or all of the social connections between blood relatives, making it impossible for a group of people or even the whole world to ever connect with the cursed person again. This is the true nature of this magic."

Snape's gaze was deep. "The blood kinship described by the ancient wizards is not a blood relationship in the strict sense. Lily's blood magic affects not only her blood relatives, but also Harry's uncle Vernon, who has no blood relationship with either Lily or Harry."

"According to the book 'The Captive Lover,' the witch completely severed her lover's social connection with another witch, causing the witch to never be able to find her lover again, and even if they stood face to face, she would not see him."

"Lily's spell was aimed at Varian and all his men, so that Harry wouldn't be found by them while he was under the protection of his blood relatives."

"When I cast the spell on my parents and relatives, it was aimed at all wizards, to make all wizards stay away from them completely."

"How exactly to do it is up to you."

"But I must remind you that you must do this as soon as possible. Since they have sent werewolves to attack us and the students, they may also attack your family, or even kidnap them to threaten you."