The slacker professor at Hogwarts

The Carlo siblings placed the blood-stained swaddling clothes on the chair, respectfully stepped back, knelt on the ground, and spoke words of repentance for fleeing at the end of the First Wizarding War, hoping to be punished by their master.

A strange voice came from inside the swaddling clothes, "Get up, I need you now."

"This is it!" Lockhart exclaimed, pointing to a painting on the wall in the background of the scene.

However, as he opened his mouth to speak, the smoke from his mouth stopped, and the entire scene vanished.

Clearly, this spell wasn't very effective.

Dumbledore had previously created alchemical artifacts with similar effects for Gellert Grindelwald to use, but now he was merely mimicking the original effect with spells, which naturally had many limitations.

"There's something wrong with that painting!"

Lockhart looked at Dumbledore with some urgency, signaling him to try again.

Dumbledore nodded and waved his wand again.

This time, Lockhart didn't rush to exhale smoke. Instead, he waved his wand and stepped forward, pressing the tip of the wand directly against Amicus's forehead. He then closed his eyes and began to delve into the deepest part of his memory.

After a while, he suddenly opened his eyes, turned his head and exhaled a long string of smoke.

The images flashing through the smoke were all of Amycus's memories of the painting, from his infancy to adulthood.

Along the river of time, everyone can clearly see in these listed images that Amykus is gradually growing into middle age.

We also witnessed the changes in the Carlo family's ancestral home over the past few decades, from its bustling prosperity to its current desolate state.

This is almost the norm for many pure-blood families. In order to ensure the continuation of those magical powers in the family bloodline (such as the Parseltongue talent of the Gaunt family and the phoenix companionship of the Dumbledore family), they have always only intermarried within the family. Newborns often include geniuses who are jealous of the heavens and are prone to dying young, as well as mentally deficient idiots who are difficult to raise and whose population is getting smaller and smaller.

Sometimes, bad luck can strike when a branch of a family or a generation of a direct descendant is completely brain-dead, leading to the decline and even extinction of the family line.

Maintaining pure-blood honor is becoming increasingly difficult, which cannot be blamed on Muggles; the problem is that the pure-blood wizard population is dwindling.

The Weasley family's large population, with almost all of them being geniuses, is extremely rare in the wizarding world. Even so, the Weasleys, who are still a standard pure-blood family, are actively embracing Muggles and half-bloods, not wanting their family to be completely wiped out like some other pure-blood families.

Of course, that's not the focus right now.

Dumbledore and the others all focused their attention on these images.

Just then, a cloud of black smoke flew out of Lockhart's wizard robe pocket, crashed to the ground and burst open, transforming into a strange humanoid wizard wearing tattered wizard robes, with a completely black face hidden under the hood.

It was Boggart, gesturing to the images, and a voice came from inside the hood: "This painting was Amykus's mother's favorite. Amykus and his sister dirtied it when they were children, which saddened his mother."

"My father sent it for restoration, but my mother never got to see the painting returned by the restoration shop before she fell ill and passed away, which became her last regret."

"Amycus never dared to face that painting again for the rest of his life."

"You see, starting from this scene, the memory of this painting begins to become blurry, and the content inside is no longer clear."

"Generally speaking, when we enter a memory, we can see the surrounding environment of the time when the memory scene takes place, but in fact, there will be missing content in this surrounding environment. This is because the memory owner strongly resists recording this content deep in their heart."

"You can consider this situation as a modification of your instinctual self's memories."

"But look, the memory of the Carol siblings bringing Voldemort back to the ancestral home suddenly becomes clear again in this painting."

"Therefore I will conclude..."

"This memory must have been altered, and by another wizard who had no interest in the painting."

bang~

Boggart once again turned into a wisp of black smoke and flew back into Lockhart's pocket.

Lockhart waited for them to carefully observe the abrupt parts of the story, then turned back and began waving his wand to stuff the memories of Amycus that were floating in the sky back into his body.

While Dumbledore and the other two were carefully examining the memory images, he quietly extracted another part of Amicus's memories.

All of his memories are of his sister Alecto and of his master Voldemort.

Since it's inevitable to stand on the opposite side of these two people, then do everything you can to increase your chances of defeating them.

He always believed in the principle of "know yourself and know your enemy, and you will win every battle."

Especially for her younger sister Alectus, the person who knows her best is undoubtedly her older brother Amycus, with whom she has always lived.

What are their behavioral habits, what are the characteristics of their combat instincts, what magic they are best at and most accustomed to using, and what are their instinctive reactions to situations, etc.

This memory couldn't be more useful.

As for Amicus completely losing his memories of his sister and Voldemort, well, he couldn't care less.

Soon, Dumbledore waved his wand to dispel the smoke and frowned in deep thought.

Snape stood to the side, seemingly wanting to say something but holding back, his fist clenched tightly in his sleeve.

Professor McGonagall rubbed her hands together vigorously, glanced at everyone, and finally shook her head at Dumbledore, "This is a trap!"

Even though they knew it was a trap, it was the only trace they knew of Voldemort's presence.

Perhaps by exploring, we might find some important clues.

As it turns out, the power of magic is not limited to the realm of "magical duels." If the battlefield were confined to the arena, even ten Voldemors wouldn't be enough for Dumbledore to kill.

But this is the real world. Voldemort knew far too many profound and mysterious magics, and even someone as powerful as Dumbledore would have a hard time finding his true hiding place.

This person can stop a child from crying. Even after being declared dead, most people in the world dare not call him by his name, but only say that he is a mysterious person (you know who).

His mysterious power is not just limited to combat prowess.

When you know for sure that the other party has set a trap, do you really still want to take the risk?

McGonagall was cautious and rejected the suggestion—don't get lost in people's endless flattery of you being the "greatest wizard in the world." Are you really so powerful that no one can kill you? Don't be silly, everyone dies.

Snape, on the other hand, looked resentful, his eyes filled with bitterness and struggle.

Lockhart didn't say anything; he stood in the corner, gently stroking his wand behind his back.

His wand was glowing faintly, with streaks of silver light rising from its tip and dissipating into the air.

This is his sorting out of Amicus's memories. He initially leaves aside the memories about black magic and focuses on Amicus's memories of his sister and master.

Lockhart was unwilling to let these memories continue to affect him, so after organizing them into data, he extracted and discarded the corresponding parts.

People need to progress. He can't just stay at the level of the original body's mastery of the Forgetfulness Curse. That would be useless in avoiding the predicament of becoming an idiot. He needs to move forward and continue to explore deeper levels.

Tom Riddle's techniques on Ginny provided him with a great deal of inspiration, and Professor Kettleburn's explanation of the wand's key points completely opened up a new world for him in memory processing.

"I have to go and see."

Dumbledore ultimately made his decision.

He met McGonagall's gaze with such unwavering determination, wanting her to know that the decision he had carefully considered would not be changed.

Then he shook his head at Snape's expectant gaze.

Snape's gaze darkened. He knew he had a greater purpose, and to rush in now would mean to stand firmly and completely against Voldemort, which would only prevent him from playing a greater role as a spy in the future.

"Let me go with you!"

Lockhart suddenly made a suggestion.

Seeing that everyone was looking over, he flashed a standard, perfect smile, just as he had previously summarized Lockhart's characteristics: "extraordinary confidence," "extraordinary insight," and "a confident smile that fears no difficulty."

"I disagree!" Professor McGonagall objected, frowning at the young man who hadn't experienced the brutality of the past wars. "You have no idea how terrible he was!"

Lockhart smiled slightly and gestured to Amicus in the chair. "What's meant to happen will happen, won't it?"

"Sometimes avoiding danger only invites more danger, so I choose to face it head-on."

afraid?

Of course he was afraid.

But rather than dying from a sudden outbreak of Voldemort's curse, or having Amicus's sister Alexios unexpectedly appear out of nowhere, it would be better to take this opportunity to go and investigate with Dumbledore, the strongest fighter in the world.

He may not be able to offer much help in terms of combat ability, and in fact, Dumbledore doesn't need his help.

But in other respects, his knowledge of Amycus, his sister Alecto, and even the Caro family's ancestral home could be of great help to Dumbledore at this moment.

No one understands it better than him.

In comparison, he was actually more helpful to Dumbledore than Professor McGonagall and Professor Snape.

His role in this adventure was to support Lao Deng.

This is about self-preservation, not a pointless adventure.

His words quickly convinced Dumbledore.

Before setting off, Dumbledore returned to the headmaster's office to make some preparations.

Unlike Lockhart, who was used to carrying all his belongings with him, Dumbledore kept many important things in the headmaster's office.

So that after his death, these precious things would become the school's assets.

Lockhart watched Dumbledore busily searching for things, hesitated for a moment, and then said solemnly, "Professor Dumbledore, I must be frank with you about something."

Dumbledore stopped what he was doing, turned around and smiled slightly. "There are some things that, if we don't say them, we can pretend we don't know, don't you think?"

"Oh, no, that's not what I meant." Lockhart was a little embarrassed, knowing what Old Deng was referring to.

He carefully chose his words, "I was injured during a capture and disposal of a dark magic creature, which caused me to experience some difficulties in casting certain spells, such as Apparition."

Old Deng, I'm going to help you, so you'll have to keep an eye on me.

Dumbledore was taken aback. He looked him up and down for a moment, thought for a moment, picked up a small teapot from the table, tapped it with his wand, and said, "I've made this into a Portkey. If necessary, you can use it to travel back to the school."

Lockhart's eyes lit up, and he quickly took it and carefully placed it in the inside pocket of his wizard's robe. This was a lifesaver!

A door key is a magical item that can quickly transport a person from one location to another.

Because of its extremely stable effect, it is far superior to Apparition when traveling across continents.

The Ministry of Magic has very strict control over door keys. Every door key must be applied for and registered with the Ministry of Magic, and after use, it must be handed over to the Ministry of Magic for destruction.

But Dumbledore didn't care about the rule. He dared to do it directly in front of the Ministry of Magic, and no one dared to say a word.

Lockhart prefers to call the door key a "return scroll," and it's a reusable item.

set off!

Embark on a journey through a fairytale, explore the evil cave, search for the Great Demon King's whereabouts, and slay his evil minions!