allendalepharm 031 Solitary confinement and manuscript
031 Solitary confinement and manuscript
Lockhart quickly learned what had happened.
A large group of children were brought to his office.
Harry, Hermione, Ron, Neville.
Draco, Gore, Crabbe, Pansy.
The kids who got into trouble just happened to be members of Lockhart's "Duel Club".
In fact, if it weren't for Harry Potter's particularly outrageous "kill you" ability, it wouldn't be so easy for an average young wizard to knock down a 15-meter pole on the Quidditch pitch.
"And so they started fighting on the Quidditch pitch, the magical light flashing everywhere, and many of the students who should have been cheering for them ended up getting injured!"
Professor McGonagall's voice was extremely stern. "Is the school teaching you superior skills so you can use them for this kind of thing?"
Her eyes quickly scanned the crowd.
"Miss Granger, I always thought you wouldn't do such a thing."
Professor McGonagall's words were a huge blow to Hermione.
She was almost in tears, pointing urgently at Draco across from her, "They attacked first! It was so dangerous! They cast a spell on Harry! If I hadn't reacted quickly, Harry would have fallen from the sky."
Draco stared at her coldly. "I didn't, we didn't do anything! You... you have no idea what pure-blood pride is. We would never do such a thing on the field!"
"Nonsense!" Hermione shrieked. "Many people saw it! Harry was hanging in mid-air and almost got thrown off! I cast a spell on you then, and Harry's problem was immediately solved! And you're still saying it wasn't you!"
"No!" Draco's eyes turned red. "That's how you guys are. You think I'm a bad person, but you never even consider whether I would do such a thing. You just push all the bad things onto me."
"Professor!" He looked at Professor McGonagall, "This whole incident was caused by them targeting me; we were merely retaliating!"
The two sides argued again, each sticking to their own version of events, while Professor McGonagall, Head of Gryffindor, and Professor Snape, Head of Slytherin, stood by with dark expressions.
Lockhart, however, realized what was happening.
Clearly, Draco and his friends were wrongly accused this time.
If his judgment is correct, the one who targeted Harry was Dobby, the Malfoy family house-elf loyal to Harry, who sensed the danger at the school and hoped to use this method to get Harry away from the place.
The technique was a bit rough.
Like dark magic creatures, house-elves, as magical creatures, don't really understand human behavior and logic.
But Lockhart couldn't say this.
He had no way of explaining why he knew about someone like Dobby.
A house-elf has infiltrated the school and is attacking students with impunity. Who knows if Headmaster Dumbledore has actually been watching?
If Deng Xiaoping knew this, having experienced too many political battles, he wouldn't simply treat this as child's play. He might even wonder if it was some kind of trick by Voldemort's side.
Anyway, Lockhart isn't involved.
But letting these kids make noise in his office wasn't a solution, so he tapped on the table to signal everyone to quiet down.
His teaching over this period of time has had a certain influence on these students.
It was much more effective than Professor Snape's snort; even Harry and Hermione shut up.
"According to the school rules, all of you who attacked your classmates are to be put in solitary confinement."
Seeing that the kids were about to speak, he just looked at them coldly and said, "Say one more word, and I will ban you from participating in this year's Quidditch Academy Cup."
They all became obedient at once.
Draco and Harry have a strong sense of honor and can't imagine how much trouble their inability to participate in the competition would cause the school.
Solitary confinement is considered the most severe punishment at Hogwarts; the next level is expulsion.
But in reality, each professor has their own discretion in deciding what constitutes "solitary confinement."
In the original books, Umbridge would use a pen that drew blood and carved blood-stained words on the back of Harry's hand as punishment, while in the original Lockhart's case, it was used to help reply to fan mail.
But none of this matters.
Now they're really in trouble.
Lockhart was hardly a saint. Knowing that the curse on his position was taking effect, he was hoping for a group of powerful helpers by his side, and these young wizards just delivered themselves to his doorstep.
How could we possibly not use it!
Aside from attending classes, everyone has to come to him for confinement, which means they have to face the crisis together with him.
Lockhart pointed to the Quidditch club that ran across the entire office. "You must pay the price for your actions and make amends to the students you've hurt. And this club, you need to find a way to get it back!"
The repairs to the office are actually not a big problem.
Harry and Draco, unusually working together, rode their flying broomsticks and pulled the ball back to the court, while Hermione cast a restoration spell on the windows and walls.
It's worth mentioning that Pansy, who seems to be a rather marginal character among the group, is also a healer.
As they come from an ancient, pure-blooded family, they receive more training than ordinary students.
Their repair spells weren't very powerful; they could repair windows perfectly, but they left an ugly crack in the wall where the hole was.
Hermione looked very apologetic about all of this, and looked helplessly at the crack, almost crying.
Lockhart stared at the crack with a deep, unsettling gaze, but ultimately said nothing.
What's meant to happen will happen; he'd like to see how the curse will descend.
He hung the string of Cornish elves that had been hanging from the oak trunk in front of the crack, clapped his hands, and said, "See, this isn't bad either, is it?"
Hermione looked apologetically at Lockhart's bright smile, opened her mouth, but didn't know what to say.
Lockhart did not comfort her.
This isn't the first time Hermione has used magic on a classmate. Last year, she directly attacked Neville, her methods swift and decisive. She's a Gryffindor who seems intelligent but is equally fearless when faced with trouble.
Having a better memory is beneficial.
"Looks like I'll have to find you guys something to do."
When everyone finished their work and returned to the office, Lockhart took out a large pile of books and materials borrowed from the library and distributed them to the energetic little ones. "I'm planning to compile a book called 'Where Are the Dark Magic Creatures?' Maybe you can help with that."
"There are eight of you in total. I ask each of you to choose the most common dark magic creature and then compile the most detailed information about it as possible."
Lockhart has a wealth of experience with black magic creature defense, but more detailed and accurate academic descriptions and historical cases require extensive research.
This is an extremely energy-consuming task.
With these people helping us now, things will be much easier.
If he continues to supplement these materials with various defensive techniques and key points, they will likely become an indispensable teaching material for defense against the dark arts courses in various magic schools.
This will also be a highlight of his participation in the "fairytale lives" of these little ones, and from the perspective of the magical path of "fairytale romance," the benefits will extend beyond this book.
As Harry, Hermione, and Draco step onto the front lines against Voldemort, as Hermione enters politics, and as Draco and the others begin to become pillars of the pure-blood family, many wondrous reactions will occur because of this book they co-authored.
Lockhart expressed his anticipation.
The choices made by the little ones are quite interesting.
Slytherin students like Draco Pansey tend to choose creatures of dark magic that are already being effectively used in wizarding society, such as Dementors.
Harry and his ilk, on the other hand, tended to choose based on what they were exposed to.
For example, Ron chose a ghoul, and he kept one in his attic. Lockhart didn't know why the ghoul could stay there, whether it was because it always had corpses to eat or something else.
Neville chose the mischievous elf, which is actually a broad category. For example, the Cornish elves that hang in offices like wind chimes are one type, and another more common type for young wizards is Peeves in castles. Poor Neville must have been frequently bothered by mischievous elves.
Hermione chose the Grindylow, a humanoid sea monster with horns and green skin. This was clearly something she learned from "Hogwarts: A History of the School," since the mermaids in the school's Black Lake kept Grindylows as pets.
Harry's choice is interesting—the Basilisk.
Lockhart looked at his choice with a strange expression, wondering if it was the protagonist's halo or some kind of destiny's guidance.
"Strictly speaking, the basilisk is not a creature of dark magic in the strict sense."
Harry hesitated for a moment, somewhat embarrassed, and was about to suggest he choose another one, but then he heard Draco chuckle beside him, and his expression instantly hardened. "Professor, can I choose this one?"
"certainly."
Lohat nodded, thinking this was a good opportunity to educate the young wizards. He simply had them put down their books and materials, pulled up a chair, and began to explain things to them.
"What I'm about to tell you, I will not admit to teaching you after I leave the office."
"Because although it follows the most rigorous academic classification, it is offensive to the existence of many intelligent beings."
"In real life, the Ministry of Magic of various countries always has too many considerations and will make many definitions that do not conform to academics but conform to the interests of various groups."
He shrugged and joked, "For example, centaurs; they wouldn't like us calling them magical creatures."
"But as long as we clearly understand the specific distinctions in our minds, we can find our own defensive strategies more quickly." Lohart tapped his head. "Keep this wisdom in your head, and use it when it matters, rather than just talking about it, understand?"
The young wizards nodded quickly.
Of these people, Harry, being a sensitive child, felt it most acutely.
He caused a huge mess today, relying on Professor Lockhart's teaching abilities to not only nearly destroy Professor Lockhart's office, but also get Professor Snape and Professor McGonagall to bring them to Professor Lockhart to hold him accountable.
He was once afraid that he would not have the opportunity to receive guidance from Professor Lockhart in the future.
He loved everything about magic so much, but never before had a professor led him to understand and experience the magical world so deeply. He didn't want to miss this opportunity at all.
We can't take what the professor said out and cause him more trouble; he understands that.
"very good."
Lockhart pulled a small blackboard to his side, quickly wrote a few words on it, and placed it in front of everyone so they could see clearly. "We will explain the difference between magical creatures and magical animals from three perspectives—magic power, magical properties, and biological characteristics."