The slacker professor at Hogwarts

018 Dangerous Experiment

With everything in place, Lockhart returned to his office at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, his expression growing increasingly grave.

Magical experiments have always been synonymous with danger, fraught with countless unknown risks.

Countless people have died from magical experiments. The reason Luna, the crazy girl in the original story, could see Thestrals was because her mother blew herself up in a spell experiment when she was nine years old.

There are far too many cases like this.

Even the simplest basic potion mixing could have gone terribly if Professor Snape hadn't been keeping a close eye on it.

Dark wizards and adult wizards who have left school do not have the benefit of being looked after by potion masters. Every year, news of several dying or becoming maimed is so common that it can only be relegated to the sidelines.

For example, the most commonly used potion material, 'Narcissus Root', is easily attacked by a bacterium called 'Ledochek' during its daily cultivation and planting.

One can imagine the disaster that would occur if narcissus roots with medicinal mycelium inside were placed in a crucible—such a thing would be completely impossible at Hogwarts.

Snape didn't even need to lift a finger; the school board members who controlled the school's procurement channels would have already arranged for a dedicated herbalist to select the cleanest products, since their children also attended the school.

Therefore, you can never be too careful when conducting magical experiments.

Lockhart checked each of the three items—the avian skull crystal meditation basin, the Felix Felicis, and the newly changed wand—over and over again.

He tried to cast spells with his wand, but unfortunately, apart from successfully casting the Oblivion Charm, even the simplest Levitation Charm only managed to make the papers on the table sway slightly.

He was not discouraged. He could now clearly feel the magic power within him, something that his former self would have envied. He knew how to be content.

"What else needs to be prepared?"

He pondered for a moment, then his eyes lit up. He went to his desk and began writing letters to the four children, Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Draco, asking them to come to his office for training after dinner.

If something happens to him, these children will help him find other professors to come and assist him.

He had originally planned to send the young wizards from the NEWT class, but considering that these older students rarely get to visit Hogsmeade on weekends to play or date, he chose Harry and his friends, who had nothing better to do all day.

After sending the message by owl, he hung a sign on the door that read "Magic experiment in progress, do not disturb," closed the doors and windows, grabbed the little golden retriever, and repeatedly gave it instructions.

"I've bought you toys, so you need to know how to use them in crucial moments, understand?"

The little golden retriever blinked its eyes, nodded obediently, and ran to the office door with its newly acquired toy, the Magic Eye, squatting down like a doorman.

"very good."

Lockhart was very satisfied with its performance. He opened the bottle of Felix Felicis, took a sip, and rubbed his face to calm himself down as quickly as possible.

"Take it easy~"

He took a deep breath, trying his best to relax and immerse himself in the relaxed and composed state that Lockhart used when casting spells.

That state is the key to easily and successfully casting spells; being anxious and hesitant will only make the magic unsure of what commands to follow.

The technique for extracting memories is actually quite simple.

He pressed the wand against his temple and gently, slowly, carefully pulled out a silver, glowing, linear substance.

As it was flung into the meditation basin, the crystal bird-snake skull suddenly lit up, revealing numerous mysterious patterns and runes inside. Soon, the silver substance transformed into a silvery, mist-like liquid in the empty basin.

This is an experiment to see if there are any problems with the Pensieve sold by Mr. Bogin.

Fortunately, although Mr. Bokin was greedy, he upheld the integrity of a businessman, so the Pensieve was normal.

Looking down at the silvery liquid, one could vaguely see an old figure carrying a pumpkin lantern walking through the village streets.

Lockhart looked at this memory with great interest from this angle.

The old wizard pushed open his door, changed into his robe, extinguished the oil lamp, and curled up his thin, emaciated body into the warm quilt.

He let out a long, comfortable sigh and quickly drifted off to sleep, snoring softly.

Moonlight streamed through the window, and the faint sound of clothes rustling could be heard in the dim room. A hand slowly emerged from under the bed, holding a slender wand and pointing it at the old wizard on the bed.

"Forget everything, and all is emptiness!"

No one knows how powerful Lockhart's Oblivion Curse is.

In fact, the effects of many spells when they become extremely powerful far exceed what most people can imagine.

Take the Patronus Charm, for example. This spell can certainly be used to deal with the Dementors, the jailers of Azkaban, but no one has ever gone as far as Harry Potter, casting a spell that sent hundreds of Dementors fleeing in panic.

This is an effect that no normal wizard could produce; otherwise, Azkaban would have been breached long ago.

Lockhart's Oblivion Curse is no exception.

As the magic took effect, the old wizard on the bed trembled, and his entire head began to glow with silver light. Threads of silver light, like serpents, emerged from his head, swaying rapidly in mid-air, and then, as if fish were entering water, they all burrowed into Lockhart's head under the bed.

Memory theft is that easy!

When Lockhart quietly left, the old wizard in the bed was still snoring and having sweet dreams. When he woke up the next day, he was still as powerful as ever, except that he would forget the most wonderful memories of his life, nothing more.

In fact, many powerful wizards are unaware that Lockhart has stolen their memories.

Human thinking is a very unique thing. When the brain loses or modifies some memories, in order to protect itself, it will eliminate all cracks and abruptness, and may even automatically modify some memories to fit these changes, ultimately making everything seem reasonable.

Aurors often do this to Muggles, and I've never heard of a Muggle experiencing any conflict in memory or thought as a result.

in the office.

Lockhart's movements became faster and faster, and memories were extracted one after another, including those of the original Lockhart and those of the dozen or so powerful wizards.

Strip away all memories to examine whether there are any problems with your own memories, and to verify whether you have been affected by these memories.

Everything went extremely smoothly.

Later on, Lockhart could even easily wave his wand, causing strands of silver threads that floated from his temples to automatically fall into the Pensieve.

This action even gave him more ideas and inspiration based on Lockhart's original thoughts on the Oblivion Curse.

The more skilled he became, the more cautious he became.

He dared not loosen his grip on the wand for even a moment.

However, the paradox of the wizarding world is sometimes like this: when only a small fragment of memory remains in your mind, you get stuck.

Or rather, an overwhelming sense of fear, an involuntary surge within his soul, was frantically stimulating his brain.

Stop!

Stop right now!

Lockhart's hand froze, and a sudden, clear realization dawned on him—he, this transmigrator, was a Muggle! Completely devoid of the function these memories played in his brain, he was nothing!

He will then face a huge problem!

If he were to completely strip away these powerful wizarding memories, he would become a Muggle. And Muggles have no way to put those memories from the Pensieve back into their heads.

In fact, at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, even Dumbledore probably couldn't easily do something like this—stuffing memories from the Pensieve that don't belong to him into his own head!

Lockhart reacted with lightning speed; before a look of terror even appeared on his face, he had already expertly brandished his wand at the Pensieve, "Oblivion!"

In an instant, all the memories stored in the Pensieve surged out, turning into wisps of silver that floated into the air and swayed as they flew back toward Lockhart's head.

It's a real shame that this attempt seems to have yielded nothing.

All I know is that he was a Muggle in his past life, but that's hardly a gain.

Oh.

There's another clear realization—the original Lockhart was a complete idiot. Relying on the powerful Oblivion Charm, he recklessly stuffed magical memories into his head without any means of organizing or controlling them. No wonder he ended up as a brain-dead idiot!

He squinted at the silver threads rapidly approaching in mid-air, realizing that these were not just simple memories.

It seems I'll have to find some magical knowledge to study next.

Lockhart sighed, patiently waiting for these memories to return to his mind, when suddenly his expression changed, and he exclaimed, "Oh no!"