The slacker professor at Hogwarts

029 Pensieve and Journal

Leaving aside the inherent value of the book "The Complete Guide to the Arts of Meditation," Voldemort's reading notes from his youth alone are enough to prove its worth.

No one can deny Voldemort's top-level skill in the field of magic.

Lockhart could imagine how heartbroken Lucius Malfoy must have been when he had to sell the book.

But there was no other way. If Arthur Weasley found out that he had kept this, his previous excuses during the Wizengamot trial at the Ministry of Magic, that he had been bewitched by magic and worked for the Dark Lord, would be completely exposed, and he would probably be sent straight to Azkaban.

Hehe~

Lockhart chuckled somewhat sarcastically as he continued flipping through the pages.

A golden light flashed, and the little golden retriever jumped into his arms with a peach in its mouth. It moved its little bottom to find a comfortable position, hesitated for a moment, then forcefully broke the peach in half and handed one half to him.

"Good girl, but I need to read now, you can eat by yourself."

Lockhart rubbed the little golden retriever's fluffy head.

Just then, long pink whiskers sprouted from his body, quickly converging into a pink, semi-transparent figure that lay on his back, its long golden hair hanging down, peeking out from his left shoulder to curiously look at the little golden retriever in his arms.

"Gurgle!"

The little golden retriever stared wide-eyed at Lockhart, and seeing that the other party showed no fear, it suddenly became a little angry. It stretched out its third fluffy little paw and nudged Lockhart, then pointed at the wronged fairy, "Goo-gi?"

—Where did this slutty, cheap woman come from?

—When did you bring another woman home?

—Is she still your sweetheart?

"Shh~"

Lockhart held up a finger to silence the two dark magic creatures. "You don't even have genders, stop acting so dramatic. You need to concentrate when you're reading so you can absorb wisdom."

His attitude was firm, so neither the little golden retriever nor the wronged fairy dared to bother him anymore, and they could only stare at each other.

The little golden retriever was clearly much fiercer; its shattered golden eyes seemed to begin to glow, and a terrible fear and despair rapidly spread throughout the environment, frightening the Boggart in the peach tree hollow by the fireplace in the corner of the office, who trembled and kept hitting its head.

As the golden retriever gradually matures, under the guidance of Lockhart, who knows a little about everything, he not only learns to restrain his magical influence but also begins to understand how to amplify and strengthen it.

Knowing that its fear magic environment couldn't affect its master, it used it recklessly.

The unjustly killed fairy had no idea.

She was clearly frightened.

The pink, translucent body instantly detached from Lockhart's back and floated into the air, turning pale. Its body split open with gaping maws full of fangs, and its head reverted to a rabbit's head.

As soon as she was frightened, the earth immediately granted the guardian the power to break free of her restraints and summoned her.

Large amounts of blood began to seep out from every corner of the office grove.

A small ball, no bigger than a palm, flew out of Lockhart's pocket. Its rapidly expanding body burst through the small cloth bag coated with the Unseen Stretching Charm, causing the crystal bird-snake skull meditation basin inside to explode out.

It was none other than the Winged Demon, rapidly spreading its wings in mid-air. Its green back and dark blue front wings made it look like a giant butterfly.

The winged demon was incredibly fast, transforming into a streak of blue lightning as it pounced on the little golden-haired girl who had terrified the unjustly killed fairy.

Yoho!

Anyone can call someone "little brother".

"Goo-gi!!!"

The little golden retriever reacted extremely quickly, letting out a short bark, and a blue lightning bolt shot out rapidly from the peach tree hole, revealing that Boggart had transformed into another winged demon.

"Quiet!!!" Lockhart shouted unhappily.

In an instant, the terrifying magical environment surrounding the little golden retriever and the surging blood of the wronged fairy vanished completely. The little golden retriever quickly shrank back into his arms with an innocent look on his face. The fangs and gaping mouth of the wronged fairy disappeared, and she fell from mid-air onto his back, transforming back into a pink, semi-transparent witch.

Only the two winged demons were fighting in mid-air, completely ignoring him.

Very well, my servant's servant is not my servant.

This is very Western.

Lockhart looked at the winged demon and the boggart with a helpless expression, pressing down on the little golden retriever with one hand and rubbing the cheek of the wronged fairy with the other. "Let them be quiet, okay? The knowledge in this book is very important to me, and I need an environment where I can concentrate."

The little golden retriever, having spent a bit more time with him, naturally knew that its owner was a little unhappy, and quickly ordered the Boggart to get lost.

Boggart turned into a cloud of black mist in mid-air, muttering something unintelligible, and flew back into the tree hole.

The winged demon was about to give chase when it was called back by the wronged fairy who had come to her senses.

A blue bolt of lightning flashed, and the winged demon landed on a branch in front of Lockhart. It stayed there for a moment, but then began to stare at Lockhart's head with restless intent.

The golden retriever stood up, hands on its hips, staring at the clueless creature.

With it around, no one can hurt its owner!

An aura of fear and despair surged forth, and the winged demon suddenly tensed up on the branch as if startled, falling straight down like a piece of wood.

It rolled a few times on the ground, its blue and green glowing skin twitching intermittently.

The wronged fairy hesitated for a moment, glanced at Lockhart, but ultimately did not react.

"Great, everyone quiet down and enjoy your leisurely weekend. Isn't that wonderful?"

Lockhart picked up the crystal bird-snake skull meditation basin and the tattered little cloth bag and placed them on the table beside him. He took out a row of chocolates from the drawer, tore open the wrapper, broke them in half, and handed them to the little golden retriever and the wronged fairy. "Here, have some, these taste good."

The little golden retriever's eyes lit up, and it excitedly took the chocolate, finding a comfortable position in Lockhart's arms again.

The wronged fairy looked at the thing with some doubt, hesitating whether to try it or not. Seeing that the little golden retriever was already happily eating it, she quickly took it and took a small bite. Her eyes lit up and she gave Lockhart a sweet smile.

Lockhart stroked her cheek, letting her rub against his palm like a kitten for a while, then stroked the little golden retriever's head before picking up his book again.

The study of the Pensieve making technique essentially involves topics such as memory, soul, personality, and time, and the knowledge in this book is extremely important to him.

By drawing parallels and corroborating his own experience and understanding of the Oblivion Curse, he always comes up with many wonderful ideas.

Moreover, there were Voldemort's reading notes, which contained many divergent and extended thinking annotations, greatly inspiring Lockhart.

This expert has written quite a few reading notes.

In the sections where the authors shared their insights from their respective professional fields, a note read—"Foolish insights!"

In the margin below the chapter "Personality, Memory, and the Brain," he wrote: "This method might be useful for pre-processing tools when making Horcruxes; this chapter should be the most valuable part of the book..."

Next to his analysis of how to better use the Pensieve, he wrote a long, excited paragraph, marked with many exclamation marks: "Based on the retrieval of memories, examining the relationships between memories and clarifying the integrity of mutually corroborating memories—this touches upon aspects of personality. I truly wish the inventor of Horcruxes, this ancient magic, understood these concepts; it's a huge gap! And today I will fill it! I will improve it!"

Below is another section, using different ink, which seems to be notes from different periods.

—"In practice, I found the Pensieve to be far too cumbersome for organizing and building memory integrity; no wonder so few people can master this skill."

—"I decided to improve it, and I did!"

—"Organizing memories chronologically is the best method! With this in mind, I know what medium to use instead of the Pensieve—a diary!"

"—It's very effective. The integrity of the memories brings about a complete personality. The diary is starting to resemble me more and more. Perhaps once I fully understand the knowledge of Horcruxes, I can give the diary complete life!"

A diary?

The Pensieve?

Lockhart hadn't expected that these two things could be connected, but following Voldemort's line of thought, everything seemed perfectly reasonable.

He looked at the text with some amazement, and after confirming that nothing was missing, he turned to the next page, only to find that Voldemort had written something in the blank space at the top of the second page.

—I did it!

—"A magical diary created using the techniques of Pensieve and Horcruxes; it has truly come to life!"

—‘Recalling past scenes? Organizing memories? No! These are not the most important abilities! It becomes the ability to communicate!’

—"A person who knows you best and understands you completely—you can communicate with them without any reservations!"

The font size below suddenly increased.

The strong are often lonely; they need to learn to confront their own hearts! And I created a magical artifact that allows us to face ourselves, making everything tangible and accessible! — Tom Riddle

Awesome!

Lockhart couldn't help but slap his thigh in amazement.

His eyes were fixed intently on every word in the book, filled with admiration for Voldemort, the great strategist.

Keep in mind that Voldemort was only 16 years old when he wrote these reading notes!