Hogwarts: Bourne Returns from Warhammer

Chapter 199 Lockhart: I’ll show you a little bit of my hand
In a sense, Gilderoy Lockhart is indeed an elite among wizards. He is a person with a strong purpose.

The reason why he came to Hogwarts to be a professor was to gain a reputation for himself and to establish good relationships with some "useful people".

Although not as famous as Harry Potter, Bourne was indeed classified by him as a "useful person".

Therefore, as soon as they met, he greeted Bourne warmly.

"Is your grandfather, Professor Slughorn, feeling better?"

he asked Bourne with great concern.

“Some time ago, I originally wanted to go to St. Mungo’s to visit his old man.

However, I had a new book signing to prepare for at Flourish and Blotts Bookstore in Diagon Alley, and I was really busy.

Have you read the newspaper?

No matter how fully prepared I was, there was still a little hiccup at the book signing - my readers and fans were really enthusiastic. Director Arthur Weasley of the Ministry of Magic and Mr. Malfoy, They actually got into a fight over my signed book - you know, I didn't want that..."

As he spoke, he showed Bourne the Daily Prophet in his hand. The moving photos in the newspaper showed a scene of two men fighting in the street.

"I see."

It dawned on Bourne.

He just said to himself that although the twins usually like to play pranks, they rarely get really mean to others.

Just now, they had a disagreement and wanted to start a fight with Malfoy and the three young wizards who had just entered the second grade. This seemed a bit abnormal.

"Mostly because these little wizards got into a fight in Diagon Alley a few days ago."

That's right, as a time-traveler who has some impressions of Harry Potter's stories, Bourne naturally would not believe anything the Professor Lockhart said to put his face in front of him.

He was just curious about whether Lockhart's fate would change with the existence of his own variable, whether it was good or bad.

When he noticed that Bourne was looking at him as if he were a guinea pig, and his mind was as sensitive as Lockhart's, it was hard not to feel something was wrong.

It's quite disturbing.

Although he didn't want to admit it, Lockhart, as an adult, did have a little fear of such a little wizard in front of him.

And this is embarrassing.

Fortunately, his embarrassment was quickly diluted by the surprise that suddenly came to his heart, because at this moment, Harry Potter appeared in his sight.

Harry Potter looked very anxious. He even ignored Professor Lockhart, who was standing next to him, and directly said to Bourne: "Finally I found you, Neville's Leif is here again." problem occurs!"

Another double click...

Why do you say that?
Because since last year, Neville has always had some accidents with this pet.

First, it always liked to disappear for no apparent reason. Then, after eating one biting cabbage, it was besieged by many biting cabbages. Later, it was used by two unscrupulous little wizards to experiment with beggars' version of obsession. The efficacy of the medicine...

"It's really not a worry."

Bourne thought to himself.

"It's nothing like the pets I raised - as long as the food is enough, Ruth will never break up the house; and Ryan usually finds things for himself to do, and even takes in his younger brother; as for the little Khan, then Even more powerful, it even has a broomstick.

The difference between pets is really..."

Huh?
After thinking about it, Bourne suddenly realized a question: Where did my three little ancestors go?

Then he remembered that because he was either taking lessons with Grandpa Horace or making potions during the second half of the summer vacation, his three pets were all taken care of by Momo, the house elf.

And since today was the first day of school and time was tight in the morning, he forgot to ask Momo to pack Ruth, Ryan and Little Khan with her.

This is so embarrassing that it’s all about yourself. Embarrassing’s mother opens the door for Embarrassing. It’s so embarrassing.

"Why are you still dazed? Come with me quickly." Harry was impatient. Seeing that Bourne was slightly dazed, he grabbed his arm.

"Yes, yes, yes! We have to hurry up and go see Leif."

Bourne follows the path of good deeds.

He would never tell anyone that he had forgotten his pet at home.

The two little wizards moved like the wind, leaving as quickly as they could, turning around and running towards the carriage where Neville was.

Professor Lockhart, who was to take up the Defense Against the Dark Arts class at Hogwarts this year, stood blankly on the spot, his mouth slightly agape in surprise.

I couldn't help but feel angry.

Did I accidentally cast a disguise spell on myself, and the two little wizards turned a blind eye to me? Really, those two pairs of your eyes were blinded in vain.

Of course, anger is anger. In addition to the memory charm, Lockhart also has psychological adjustment abilities that ordinary people do not have.

In order to achieve his own goals, face is not something that is too difficult for him to give up.

Therefore, after looking at the two "useful people" he wanted to get to know as they walked away from each other, Lockhart immediately followed them.
-
After trotting all the way to his box, Harry opened the door of the box and said, "Bourne is here, let him see Leif's situation!"

There are three people sitting in this box. Hermione, Ron, and Neville who looked like he was about to cry.

Leif was lying on the small table in the middle of the box, motionless, closing his eyes tightly no matter how Neville called him.

This is very unlike its style.

You know, although Leif is a toad, he is also a toad in the magical world after all.

Usually, it is rarely as lazy as an amphibian, but rather has the personality of a cat or dog.

What this guy likes to do the most is to go on a "travel" at any time - a traveling frog is a species - until its little owner Neville breaks out in a sweat trying to find it, and then It will appear again in an unexpected way.

In particular, after the two evil-hearted little wizards Nott and Zabini tried medicine on it last year, Leif the Toad was an unexpected blessing in disguise, gaining some magic power and becoming more and more like a real magical animal.

Bourne still remembered that Professor Scamander also became somewhat interested in Leif's changes at that time, and took the time to observe the little guy for a while.

Later, the man who was undoubtedly the world's strongest expert in the field of magical animals made several judgments about Leif.

The first is that its lifespan will be much longer, and like magical animals, it will have a much longer life than its ordinary animal relatives.

The second is that its appearance will change in the future. In order to adapt to the magic power, its body will inevitably undergo some evolution.

It might not have been obvious at the time, but now seeing Leif's appearance after a summer vacation, Byrne had to admit that Professor Scamander's eyes were really accurate at seeing magical animals.

At this time, Leif was almost bigger than the largest golden-backed toad, and Byrne visually estimated that it might even be larger than a basketball.

In addition to changes in body shape, Leif's appearance has also undergone some changes.

For example, the warts on its back have become much smoother, more like a frog than a toad, and seem to form some runic-like patterns.

In addition, Leif's limbs also showed some abnormalities, as if he was wearing a set of snow boots, and the webbing between his toes and toes spread out like four wings.

According to Neville, during this summer vacation at his home, Leif even learned how to fly from the ground to a tree and then land safely. However, these two kinds of alienation of Lifou do not seem to explain why it suddenly turned into a wilted appearance, so Byrne couldn't help but think of Professor Scamander's third assertion——

"...Magical animals have different feeding habits, stress responses, and the instinct to seek benefits and avoid harm based on their own position in the food chain. There are records in the history of wizards that magical animals that appeared due to man-made reasons are changing. In the process, everyone will go through this process of re-establishing their nature.”

But when he told his guess, all the little wizards in the box seemed to understand. Even Hermione, the little witch in Gryffindor who loves reading and is known as the "know-it-all" is also like this.

She frowned and asked Neville: "Neville, did you feed Leif anything that he usually doesn't eat today?"

Upon hearing this, the chubby little wizard shook his head vigorously.

"how come?
Although Lyft's taste in food has certainly changed, he now prefers cat food and small dried fish to the grubs and crickets that the toad prefers.

But I've already discovered this.

What it ate today was the canned cat food I bought for it at the pet store in Diagon Alley, which was no different from what it had during the summer vacation. "

Bourne was very willing to believe what Neville said. Although his memory is not very good, the child is still very concerned about taking care of Leif. At the very least, Leif had never gone hungry while following him, unlike a certain rat that Ron had raised.

You know, when Peter Pettigrew was captured and brought to justice, in order to eliminate the impact of this incident or to continue "fishing" in the future, Dumbledore prepared another pet mouse for Ron overnight.

What's amazing is that even after a summer vacation, Ron still hasn't realized that this spot is not that spot!

It’s outrageous to have such a pet.

Of course, Bourne only knew a little bit.

He was not sure whether Principal Dumbledore had tampered with the mouse given to Ron? For example, cast a powerful confusion spell on it.

"Cough, cough, cough..."

Just when several young wizards were at a loss what to do about Leif's situation, there was a slight cough outside the box.

The person who made this sound was none other than the uninvited Professor Gilderoy Lockhart.

"Hello, Professor Lockhart, nice to meet you!" Seeing her idol, the little witch Hermione stood up excitedly and said hello.

"Ruzi can be taught!"

Lockhart immediately thought of something.

This is right!

This is how a young wizard should behave when he meets a famous wizard, an author, an Order of Merlin recipient, and a Defense Against the Dark Arts professor at Hogwarts.

If it weren't for the fact that he hadn't arrived at Hogwarts yet, and Hermione's vision, Lockhart would have given this little witch a few points.

"Good day, this beautiful lady..."

Lockhart knows how to "carry a sedan chair" very well, so he is very kind to the little witch Hermione.

Of course, he also did not forget to "rain and dew equally", that is, he focused on making good friends with Harry and Bourne.

As for Neville and Ron, that's almost meaningless. After all, as mentioned before, this guy is a very purposeful person.

"...and all you gentlemen."

Lockhart showed his signature white smile, with a look of wisdom on his face.

He said: "I just accidentally overheard your conversation. It seems that you are worried about the physical condition of that lovely big toad?
As an expert with many years of travel experience and dealing with all kinds of magical animals, I have some opinions on its situation.

You were just worried that it had eaten something wrong, but have you ever thought about whether its motionlessness was seeking advantages and avoiding disadvantages?
Let me give you an example, have you ever seen a assassin?
As soon as this magical animal senses the presence of a marten, whether it is near its burrow or not, it will immediately huddle up.

I once helped some farmers drive away a group of gangsters entrenched in the vegetable garden. Those poor Muggles thought the prickly man was a hedgehog, and no matter what they tried, they couldn't get rid of it.

But as soon as I got out, I would go to the vegetable garden from time to time and imitate the cry of the mink, and those little guys who liked to scratch people moved away within a few days..."

When talking about his "great achievements", Lockhart has the attitude of the Thames bursting, as if he will not stop until the London Bridge collapses.

Some people still like him like this.

Hermione not only listened with great interest, but there seemed to be little stars in the little witch's eyes.

But Harry, Ron, and Neville were confused and confused for a moment.

"What is he saying?"

Harry quietly turned to look at Ron and mouthed a question to his good brother.

Ron shrugged his shoulders slightly, feeling a little dissatisfied with what Lockhart said about the pricks and martens. Or to be more precise, he wasn't very interested in this guy.

First of all, although Lockhart is a well-known star wizard, he is not the star of Charlie Cannon. Ron has no fan of this guy at all.

Secondly, although his mother, Mrs. Weasley, is a fan of Gilderoy Lockhart and highly admires this man's abilities, it is precisely because of this that the men in the Weasley family have no favorable impressions of this man - not Principal Dumbledore, what is there to be so arrogant about?
In the end, Lockhart described helping Muggle farmers drive out the Thorns as a great adventure, which made it even more difficult for Ron to understand.

Does such a small thing need to be so abstract?
Their family has a vegetable garden, and several Weasley children have cleaned up magical "pests" in the vegetable garden.

In fact, whether it was goblins, martens, or thorns, Ron felt that they could all be cleaned up with a "kick". It's just because there are spikes on the body of the thorn, so it's better to wear a pair of thicker hard-toed shoes when kicking, or simply use the Quidditch batter's stick to handle it safer.

As for Neville, an honest boy, he was indeed listening carefully to what Lockhart said. But although those words were not very informative, they were very informative. The child was drawn into them as he listened. The more he listened carefully, the more his mind became confused.

On the contrary, it was Bourne who gained the most. Lockhart's words indeed gave him some new inspiration.

Even though this guy talks so much about Hogwarts Express, and even mixes in too much personal information to put money on his face, Lockhart is, after all, a successful best-selling author and a qualified novelist——

His words are logical and self-consistent.

In other words, maybe the example he gave is indeed not good, but the guess he made is actually quite logical, and may even be correct.

"Yes!"

Bourne hit his palm with his fist, and it made a crisp sound like a gavel, startling Lockhart who was talking endlessly.

"Neville, the reason why Leif was [playing dead] there was probably because after he got in the car, he sensed the presence of some natural enemy in the car!
It's possible that a classmate brought a new pet, and that pet happened to be the magical animal that Leif was afraid of. We have to find it first, and then we can arrange it and Leif. "

Byrne not only proposed a hypothesis, but also gave a solution to the problem. It is because his style of doing things has always been like this, so when the little wizards who meet him have problems, they all like to come to him for help and advice, which is worry-free and reliable.

"Then let's go look for it!"

With the direction, Neville immediately stopped feeling dizzy. He immediately showed his Gryffindor characteristics and was about to take action.

Harry and Ron also expressed their willingness to help. After all, we all live in the same dormitory, and we need manpower now, which is not the time to be polite.

"Ahem, cough," Lockhart once again used tactics to interrupt, attracting the attention of several young wizards: "Bourne is right, that's what I just wanted to say. But you don't actually have to run away. Circle all the carriages. We are wizards, and this kind of trivial matter can actually be solved with a little magic spell."

As he spoke, he took out his wand.

"Let the professor show you his skills..."

(End of this chapter)