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Zicomo looked at Lockhart's heavy dark circles.

He had a similar style to him back in college, where he would play games all night and then go straight to class the next morning when he had a class scheduled for the first period.

He was a little worried that Lockhart might fall asleep on the spot before Snape could even cast the spell.

"Don't worry, boss, I'm full of energy right now, it feels like I'm young again!"

Lockhart patted his chest confidently and assured him.

Zicomo took a closer look and realized that the guy did seem to have gotten younger; he hadn't noticed it last night in the dim light in his office.

It must be the effect of that "Vitality" rune.

The "+1" vitality enhanced his physique, restoring Lockhart's physical condition to that of his youth.

Now, I estimate that if he stayed up for three consecutive nights, he could still run a 3000-meter race.

Zicomo couldn't help but sigh, "It's so good to be young."

Unlike him... Oh, he seems to be only thirteen years old, never mind.

…………

The entire Hogwarts was bustling with activity early in the morning. The last time this happened was two months ago when the school announced the search for the Chamber of Secrets.

At that time, a group of young wizards swept through the entire Hogwarts. If it weren't for the prohibition against damaging school property, they probably would have even torn down the walls.

The reason for this was Lockhart's plan to duel Professor Snape again at the Duel Club.

All the boys were laughing at Lockhart's overestimation of his abilities, while his ardent female fans felt that their idol had decided to stop holding back and start taking things seriously.

Inside the Duel Club classroom, Snape and Lockhart stood on opposite sides of a court resembling a tennis court.

This was the classroom Snape had chosen to attend since the first lesson.

It must be said that the dueling ring Snape chose was indeed more spacious than the one Lockhart chose.

Snape was standing opposite Lockhart, wondering what Lockhart was up to.

But looking at Lockhart's panda eyes, he had reason to worry that Lockhart might be trying to scam him.

After exchanging greetings as is customary, the duel began.

The next instant, Snape saw a red light rushing towards him, followed by Lockhart's chanting of a spell.

"Except your weapons!"

Snape's wand slipped from his hand, and he fell backward, landing squarely on his backside.

Snape lay on the ground, somewhat bewildered. He had just been knocked down by a peacock.

He then realized that this was not the time to be idling; he had to get back on his feet.

"The wand is flying!"

With a skillful wandless spell, the wand returned to his hand.

What followed was a magical duel between the two.

The battle scene before them stunned the group of young wizards watching from below the stage.

The girls were amazed by the power of their idols.

As for the guys, besides disbelief, all they could probably think was, "Holy crap! Awesome!"

Lockhart gradually found himself at a disadvantage in the fierce exchange of spells.

After all, he had stayed up all night, experimenting with the various spells he had mastered and familiarizing himself with the runes on his body.

All of these require magic power.

Therefore, Lockhart's condition is actually only about 60-70% of his normal level.

However, Lockhart remained calm. He seized an opening in Snape's defenses and used his only attack-type rune.

A bolt of lightning shot out from the tip of the staff. Both the fact that the "skill rune" required no incantation and the speed of the lightning left Snape with no time to react.

Snape was instantly paralyzed.

Yes, I was physically electrocuted.

As the lightning faded, Snape's hair became an afro.

This caused all the young wizards to burst into laughter, especially the Gryffindor students, who laughed particularly heartily.

Upon regaining consciousness, Snape tossed out the words, "Professor Lockhart will teach you from now on," and then quickly turned and left the classroom.

The young wizards applauded Lockhart, except for some of the Slytherin students who wore sour faces.

After class, Hermione pulled Zicomo aside and asked:

"When did Lockhart become so skilled? Didn't he used to be unable to even use a simple levitation spell properly?"

"The reason Lockhart is so useless is because he had some health problems before. What if someone could help him cure his health problems?"

Zicomo raised an eyebrow at Hermione, the meaning of which was self-evident.

"Did you do this? But why?"

Hermione couldn't understand why her cousin, who had previously looked down on Lockhart, would now be helping him solve his problems.

"Of course, it's for a little witch who wants to become Minister of Magic. You know Lockhart is a master at manipulating public opinion, and with his help, this campaign for you will be even more successful."

Hermione was surprised by this reason, and the little witch felt a surge of emotion.

Her cousin seemed to be helping her all along, and she seemed to have nothing to give back.

Thinking of this, she couldn't help but hug Zicomo tightly.

Zicomo didn't know what the little witch had suddenly thought of, but he still hugged her back and ruffled her hair.

Lani, who had just come out of the "Zen Garden", saw this scene.

Lani: "...Perhaps I came at the wrong time."

Zicomo instinctively replied, "No, you've come at just the right time."

Zicomo regretted saying that as soon as he did. You know, with his mouth, he just unconsciously makes jokes. Now, he has no choice but to take the provocation to the extreme.

Zicomo reached out a hand and pulled Lani into his arms as well.

Lani was completely dumbfounded; she hadn't expected Zicomo to do something like this.

Hermione was stunned. How did someone suddenly appear next to her and try to take her seat?

After embracing for a while, Zicomo's ex-wife said, "The weather is nice today, let's go fishing."

The fact that nothing happened seemed to say that as long as I'm not embarrassed, it's others who are embarrassed.

Then the young wizards along the way saw Zicomo leading one person on each side as they walked out of the castle.

…………

In addition to Christmas, Hogwarts also has an Easter holiday.

Moreover, this holiday lasts for two weeks.

Zicomo didn't understand before either, since Christmas and Easter seem to be holidays related to the church, right?

These wizards don't believe in this; on the contrary, they're mortal enemies of the church.

Why celebrate this kind of holiday?

Later, he asked Snape, who didn't answer directly but instead asked him a question in return.

"Which school doesn't have holidays?"

Then he realized that he had asked another pointless question.

To Zicomo's surprise, Draco came to his door on the eve of his holiday.

"I've discussed with my father about making me stronger. He also wants to invite you to my home."

Zicomo thought to himself that Lucius didn't really want to invite him to the Malfoys' house; he clearly didn't trust Zicomo's methods and wanted to do things right under his nose.

"Okay, I'll visit in a couple of days."

Zicomo agreed; after all, as a father, he cared about his son, and it wasn't a big deal.

After receiving the invitation from Draco, Zicomo, along with Lani and Hermione, boarded the train home.

Back home, Zicomo had to spend some time explaining the existence of Rataen and Laya to the Grangers.

His brother-in-law was not one to sit still, and he showed up as soon as Zicomo returned home.

Needless to say, Laya spends almost all of her time on Zicomo's shoulder.

And so the Granger family welcomed two new family members.

The next morning, Zicomo was preparing to go to Malfoy's house for their appointment.

As a result, Snape was the first to come knocking on their door.

"Lia is going into labor!"

Zicomo: ? ? ?

Why are you telling me this? Do you think I can deliver your baby?