The slacker professor at Hogwarts

During his teenage years at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Voldemort created his first Horcrux—the Magical Diary.

This Horcrux is probably the most unique of all the Horcruxes he has ever made.

Because the diary will find a way to come back to life on its own!

Other Horcruxes do not have this kind of autonomy.

Of course, it's also possible that Voldemort later realized the uncertainty that doing so would bring, and tried his best to avoid similar operations in the future.

This exceptionally talented individual clearly possessed an extremely profound understanding of memory, personality, and even the soul at a very young age.

Lockhart's breathing quickened as he looked at the contents of the book.

Humans are all path-dependent.

He knew all too well what a precious opportunity this was—Voldemort's Horcrux magic diary was right in front of him!

Previously, these items were likely kept by the Malfoy family. However, because Arthur Weasley planned to search the Malfoy Manor thoroughly, Lucius had to retrieve these valuable items. In retaliation, he stuffed Voldemort's magical diary directly into Ron's sister Ginny Weasley's pile of books.

Lockhart had far too many ways to easily get his hands on the diary from Ginny.

then……

Whether you treat the diary as a complete life or as an alternative meditation basin, you can easily gain the wisdom of a master with a single forgetting spell.

It contains all the profound knowledge he needs about memory and the soul!

"This looks absolutely tempting!"

Lockhart stroked the book, constantly suppressing the excitement in his heart.

You must remain calm!

He told himself not to rush!

The Dark Lord's Horcruxes are not so easy to obtain.

Don't end up like little Urquhart, touching things you weren't qualified to touch and becoming a laughingstock in the end.

He was quite certain that Voldemort's ghost, no matter where it was hiding, would be keeping its eyes fixed on Hogwarts, where Dumbledore was, where Harry Potter, who was prophesied to kill him, was, and where his Horcruxes were.

The best time to act is definitely not now.

He should have hidden in the shadows of Dumbledore and Harry Potter, and then suddenly and quietly made his move.

Ideally, you should appear as a seemingly insignificant background figure when Harry Potter is making a big splash!

He would strike with the clearest purpose, the cleanest and most efficient methods, and the fastest speed, and once he succeeded, he would immediately leave Hogwarts, hide his identity, and go to other parts of the world, only to reappear a few years later when Voldemort died.

Therefore, the best time to make a move is actually in the final stage of this school year!

When his one-year teaching term came to an end, Dumbledore had no reason to keep him. He had done everything he should as a professor and could leave without any burden.

His eyes gleamed as he began to plan his next move.

……

On the morning of the second day, Lockhart was awakened by a clear, melodious song.

I groggily opened my eyes from the tree trunk and saw a hardworking figure cleaning and tidying up the office.

The figure had more than a dozen gaping maws filled with fangs split open, all humming a song.

One person sang with the spirit of an entire choir.

"Ah, you're awake!" The vengeful fairy floated up to me, her gaping maw now completely closed, making her look like an ordinary witch ghost.

Lockhart grinned, revealing a bright smile. "Good morning."

He stretched and jumped down from the tree trunk, only to be surprised to see a crucible boiling in the middle of the office.

"I made you breakfast, I don't know if you'll like it." The wronged fairy's voice was a little shy.

Lockhart looked at the crucible with a strange expression. The blood inside was boiling and churning, and there were visible snakes the size of a thumb, spiders the size of a king crab, and scorpions that were black and blue.

Regardless of the image and legend of the fairy who died unjustly, this thing is a dark magic creature, and it has a hard time truly understanding human preferences and biases.

But Lockhart sniffed and could vaguely smell an enticing aroma.

"Looks good!"

He gave a thumbs up.

"Hehe~" The translucent body of the wronged fairy turned from pale white to pink.

Dealing with dark magic creatures is a complicated matter, and Lockhart is willing to try everything.

He glanced back, broke off two thin twigs from a tree to use as chopsticks, picked up a spider leg, and saw that its outer shell had been cooked until crispy. It cracked open as soon as he picked it up, revealing the chewy meat inside, which smelled delicious.

In fact, lobsters in the sea and spiders and scorpions on land are all arthropods. As long as we set aside subjective prejudices, there is not much difference between them to humans.

Yes, the taste is somewhat different.

This was a very special breakfast.

The little golden retriever was also invited by the wronged fairy to eat some food. As the saying goes, "He who eats another's food is bound to do his bidding," and after enjoying the meal, the little golden retriever's attitude towards the wronged fairy visibly improved.

As is customary, Lockhart, having eaten his fill, headed to the library once again.

I hope to find solutions to memory problems in other books.

He refused to believe that in the vast and long history of the wizarding world, Voldemort alone could be the only one who could provide a solution for him.

But Hogwarts has just so many books.

Lockhart hesitated for a long time before finally taking out the bottle of Felix Felicis, which was one-third full.

He had used it twice before, once for a magical experiment and once for an adventure at Urquhart Castle, and now he had one more dose left.

Does Felix Felicis really bring good luck?

He was actually starting to have some doubts.

But he had no better choice. Once he made his decision, he had no more doubts and opened the lid to pour it into his mouth.

I had just finished drinking and was about to clean up the bottle when I saw a pair of huge eyes staring straight at me from behind the long table in front of the window.

She was a witch who seemed somewhat eccentric, extremely thin, wearing large glasses that resembled the bottom of a wine bottle, and adorned with colorful chains and beads around her neck.

Sybil Trelawney, Professor of Divination.

Seeing Lockhart looking at her, she grinned somewhat nervously, then buried herself back in her book, hurriedly grabbing an oversized coffee cup from the table and taking a big gulp.

Perhaps she choked, she coughed violently, and a strong smell of alcohol hit her face.

It's obvious that the so-called coffee cup actually contains alcohol.

Lockhart thought for a moment, then took out a tissue from his pocket and handed it over.

"Oh, thank you~" Professor Trelawney didn't wipe her mouth, but quickly grabbed a piece of paper to wipe the books, glancing around furtively like a thief. "Don't let Mrs. Pince know I brought wine in! She'll kill me!"

Lockhart shrugged, but before he could say anything, Professor Trelawney looked up and stared intently at him. "You shouldn't have drunk Felix Felicis!"

"!!!" Lockhart blinked, looked down at the empty medicine bottle, and wanted to complain, "You just watched me drink it all, and then you told me not to drink it?"

"The Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher is in a position cursed by the mysterious man!" Her tone was urgent and sharp. "If you're too greedy with your luck, you'll only lose your life!"

Lockhart was silent for a moment, then sighed, "I have no choice, there are just too many books here..."

Professor Trelawney suddenly interrupted him with a large movement.

She propped herself up with her hands like chopsticks, tilted her head and stared straight at him, her voice strange, like she was talking in her sleep.

"You can't escape!"

"This is the price you must pay for all your greed!"

"Do you want to break free from your fate of ultimately sinking into the mire?"

"You want to be a key character in Potter's 'The Birth of an Epic Hero' fairy tale?"

"Are you going to continue down the path of magic?"

"The mysterious man's curse has begun to take effect!"

"It's got its eye on you!"

"You will die! You will die!!!"

Lockhart's habitual, standard smile vanished. He looked at her with a pursed mouth, his eyes flickering. "And what can I do?"

Professor Trelawney's cheeks twitched, making her look even more bizarre, as she muttered, "Stay away from magic! Go back to where you belong!"

Turn back into a Muggle?

Then I'd rather choose death!

Lockhart shook his head firmly, wanting to hear what she had to say, but then he saw her slump into her seat with a thud, sprawling out on the chair and snoring.

No one can ignore Professor Trelawney's prophecy.

At least time travelers wouldn't.

She successfully predicted the deaths of Voldemort and Dumbledore, Voldemort's resurrection, and many other things.

"Thank you for reminding me."

Lockhart silently gazed at her sleeping face, then smiled brightly. "But everyone dies, don't they?"

"I take on this challenge!"

Handsome!

I secretly gave myself a thumbs up.

Lockhart hummed a song as he continued walking deeper into the bookshelves.

Whether drinking Felix Felicis will bring him misfortune or not, he has already drunk it, so he cannot waste it.

He soon reaped the rewards.

As Lockhart walked, he had another sudden inspiration and stopped, staring intently at a large, damp book on the bookshelf that looked somewhat moldy.

The book is called "Powerful Potion".

He didn't immediately go to get the books; his brow furrowed slightly.

Potions Studies?

After a long silence, he finally grabbed the book and pulled it out.

This book looks like it was pulled out of the water; when you open it, all the pages are covered in water stains.

I flipped through it casually, and it was full of illustrations that made me very uncomfortable: a person seemed to have been turned inside out, several people were turning into other people with extremely painful expressions, and a person was melting like a candle that had been burning for a long time...

All of them are potions that are strictly prohibited by the Ministry of Magic; they are evil and terrifying.

In fact, Lockhart has a lot of memories about this book. It is a book that is widely circulated among the people. Many dark wizards even regard it as the "Potion Bible", although what they receive is often incomplete.

Oh, by the way, in the original book, Hermione made the compound soup according to the recipe in this book.

The compound decoction, also known as the "transformation potion," allows a person to disguise themselves as someone else.

In the original story, Barty Crouch Jr. used it to transform into Mad-Eye Moody, and the powerful disguise was so effective that even powerful wizards like Dumbledore and Potions Masters like Snape couldn't tell the difference.

Lockhart quickly found what he needed.

It has a very interesting name—"Naughty Brain Fluid".

The illustration depicts a witch with many arms sprouting from her head.

Lockhart didn't look at it much, got a borrowing certificate from Mrs. Pince, and took it back to his office.

Professor Trelawney's predictions always give people a bad feeling.

Choosing to embrace life's challenges doesn't mean being reckless.

Playing it safe is the normal choice.

On the way back, the castle was filled with shadowy figures, as if danger lurked everywhere. Only when he was by the side of the two powerful dark magic creatures could he feel safe.

But it seemed he was just scaring himself; nothing happened until he pushed open the office door.

But at that moment, he keenly noticed a shadow outside the window that was rapidly growing larger.

boom!

A tremendous crashing sound echoed throughout the office.

It was a massive, golden Quidditch hoop, a full 15 meters long, that pierced the office window like a javelin, shattered the oak trunk, and sank directly into the office wall with tremendous force.

Lockhart could clearly see a section of broken pipe peeking out from the shattered wall.

That is……

The basilisk usually crawls through the castle's sewer pipes. In the original books, Harry Potter first heard the basilisk's Parseltongue in Lockhart's office.

The crack, emanating a chilling aura, resembled the wicked smile of a devil.

He wasn't sure if it was just his imagination, but he seemed to see some snake scale-like light and shadow flashing quickly through the pipe.

"There's a monster!"

"There's a monster!"

From inside the hollow of the peach tree beside the fireplace, Boggart screamed in terror, "How horrible!"

coming!

The curse has truly come!

Lockhart stood at the door, his body trembling slightly. He didn't know why, but he was really excited and shaking.

He inexplicably felt a unique kind of excitement.

A voice seemed to shout from within, drowning out the dozen or so chaotic voices in my mind, yelling loudly—"Lockhart! Your fairytale magical life has begun! Welcome it! Embark on your journey!"

"Oh~~~"

Lockhart groaned somewhat nervously, stretching out his hands in a welcoming gesture, his eyes glazed over. "Come on, I've been waiting for this!"

I've already experienced a boring and mundane life.

I've already experienced death.

I only crave passion!