The slacker professor at Hogwarts

Based on Lockhart's understanding of Alecto, she would likely be fighting desperately to unleash a killing curse on her, the enemy so close at hand.

He was already prepared to dodge.

But no, Alecto bit his lip and stared at him blankly for a moment, his figure flickering as he began to collapse into a thick plume of smoke covered with traces of straw.

Should we escape?

Why would this be the reaction?

Clearly, even her older brother Amycus, who grew up with her, didn't really understand his sister that well.

Lockhart relied on these memories, but not on them; he had his own judgment. He reacted quickly, waving his wand and casting a spell different from what he had just planned—the Oblivion Charm.

It wasn't the kind of highly sophisticated memory extraction he usually used.

It is the most standard forgetting spell.

The method used was learned by Lockhart himself through connections from an old Auror's magic notebook; Aurors are very good at doing this kind of thing.

It would make Alexios instantly forget everything about his brother, his master Voldemort, and his motives for attacking him and Dumbledore.

Black magic...

Lockhart understood this all too well; it required immense malice to sustain it.

But if dark wizards don't even know why they're attacking when they're waving their wands, how much malice can they possibly have?

Of course, Lockhart knew that Voldemort could easily solve this problem and restore Alecto's memories.

Alternatively, it could be that other powerful wizards were present.

So this is also a test, a test to see if the enemy they are facing is only Alector alone, or if there are other powerful wizards present.

"Ahhhhhh~~~~"

Alecto screamed in agony, then exploded into a plume of smoke and vanished without a trace.

They escaped!

Lockhart immediately made a judgment: the Oblivion Spell he had just cast had also succeeded; this was his second judgment.

Hehe ~

He stood on the meteorite that was about to fall to the ground and raised his hand. The winged demon flew down and carried him back into the sky.

Come on~

Lockhart licked his lips, looking around excitedly, awaiting Alecto's third attack.

He knew that this crazy woman had an extraordinary tenacity and would relentlessly pursue him until she killed him; that was her style of doing things.

In one instance, she recalled an operation where, despite knowing that pursuing a cornered enemy might lead to an ambush, she still recklessly went to kill them. Her brother, Amicus, tried to stop her, which caused a long-standing conflict.

That's really strange.

He waited a long time, until Dumbledore came close, but Alecto still did not appear.

Was Voldemort present?

Was she being instructed to stop her from continuing her actions?

This crazy woman who fanatically worships the strong will probably choose to obey orders.

He couldn't help but have this thought, and his brows furrowed slightly.

That can't be right. Old Dumbledore is here. Voldemort must have already made his escape. You know, Voldemort is currently at his weakest in his ghostly state.

But in any case, this battle has finally come to an end.

Dumbledore was like a cheat code, burning everything in his path with flames, completely disregarding the mechanism of the resurrection of the undead or the adventure steps prescribed by the magical item in this fairy tale, burning his way to his destination.

Lockhart stood by and used a conch shell to guide him.

"The jewels of Caribou are guarded by a terrible demon..." he said, listening to the guidance conveyed by the conch shell. "We need to find the key left behind by old man Yuriel, the withered leaves that sighed in the frosty land, and the letter of repentance from the human Anka who was possessed by the demon, in order to defeat the demon and open its lair..."

Dumbledore simply asked, "Where is the devil?"

Lockhart put down the conch shell, shrugged somewhat helplessly, and pointed to the low, dim sun in the distance. "Just keep walking in the direction of the sunset, and you'll see it."

Then he witnessed firsthand what true dominance in a straight push was all about.

Old Deng is simply too awesome.

Before the so-called powerful demon could even finish reciting its lines, Dumbledore used magic to shred it, extract the key, and open the door to step out of the fairytale scene.

Tsk~

There's absolutely no sense of immersion.

You don't even want to go through the procedures!

Lockhart was somewhat disappointed, wondering if he would ever have the chance to experience this fascinating magical item again.

Then he saw this fairy tale book.

He and Dumbledore walked out the door, feeling their bodies growing larger with each step. Once they were completely free from the influence of some kind of magic, they turned around and saw a thick fairy tale book lying open on the ground.

They returned to the main hall of the Carlo family's ancestral home.

It didn't look as dilapidated as I'd seen before, but it wasn't much better; the air was thick with the smell of decay.

One of the walls in the hall was even torn open with a huge gap, and sunlight streamed in through the crack.

Dumbledore raised the Elder Wand and tapped it. A mist of light appeared, and a witch sat on the floor holding a book, muttering to herself. It was none other than Alecto Caro.

She opened the book and placed it on the floor. She walked a distance away, then turned back towards the book, her body rapidly shrinking until she was completely inside its pages.

After a while, she was thrown out, lying on the ground convulsing. She struggled to get up, took out a healing potion and drank it. Gasping for breath, she angrily cursed Lockhart loudly with vicious words in the hall.

Then she went inside again.

After a while, a cloud of smoke flew out of the book, transformed into Alecto, who fell to the ground, lying there twitching with vacant eyes.

Then, for some unknown reason, she looked at the books in horror, screamed, and cast a spell that tore through the wall and rushed out.

"Alector Caro..." Dumbledore sighed, looking at the figure in the image with a touch of melancholy. "Back then, they were outstanding students in Slytherin. The brother became a prefect, and the sister became the head of the girls' council. I personally mentored them."

Speaking of which...

How many Death Eaters were once Dumbledore's students?

Such a topic is obviously somewhat cruel to an old man like Dumbledore who has dedicated his life to education.

Lockhart shrugged, merely glancing warily at his surroundings. "You think Voldemort would be here?"

Dumbledore shook his head. "He came, but he left long ago."

He swayed his wand gently, clearly having cast countless spells without Lockhart noticing.

"At least I know that he is too weak to do anything right now." Dumbledore narrowed his eyes. "Extremely weak."

Lockhart understood.

He searched through his memories of online novels he had read in his previous life, and learned that Voldemort had possessed Professor Quirrell and caused trouble in the first year, and then had been hiding until the Triwizard Tournament in Harry Potter's fourth year before being resurrected and returning.

In the original story, Richie Roberts did nothing particularly impactful in the three years following his failed attempt to steal the Philosopher's Stone.

Lockhart had no desire to face Voldemort three years later, and was too lazy to adhere to the original story, letting things unfold naturally.

"Dumbledore, I must confess to you, I actually know Voldemort's secret!"

He finally made up his mind. Now that he had already stood on the opposite side of Voldemort and had already waded into this mess, he had to find a way to completely deal with Voldemort.

"Voldemort now has six Horcruxes!"

A glint flashed in Dumbledore's half-moon spectacles, his expression suddenly turning extremely serious as he stared intently at him. "You will be held accountable for what you've said!"

"certainly!"

Lockhart looked at him solemnly, "The Gaunt family heirloom ring, it is actually the Resurrection Stone, one of the three Deathly Hallows, Slytherin's locket, Hufflepuff's cup, Ravenclaw's tiara, his own student diary, and..."

Before he could finish speaking, a large amount of black smoke suddenly billowed from his body. The smoke rose and transformed into a huge wizard figure, looking down at the two of them.

"Gidero Lockhart!" the shadowy figure roared angrily, suddenly transforming into a giant venomous snake that opened its jaws to bite him.

"Tom!" Dumbledore's expression changed, and he waved his Elder Wand to stop the dark figure.

Even with his immense power, wielding the Elder Wand, one of the three Deathly Hallows, he was still powerless against the shadowy figure.

This is……

Voldemort's curse on the professorship of Defense Against the Dark Arts!

Voldemort is actually using this power!

Lockhart felt a bone-chilling cold wash over him, as if he were losing blood and his body was freezing to the bone, causing him to tremble uncontrollably.

Help me! Old Deng! Help me!

Just as he was helpless against the curse during his long tenure as headmaster, Dumbledore's spells had no effect this time, no matter how he tried.

He is not as omnipotent as people have made him out to be.

The old man could no longer maintain his composure as a magic master; he was filled with panic and helplessness, looking at Lockhart with sorrow and despair. "Child, are you alright...?"

His voice was so hoarse that he was almost losing his voice.

I……

a little……

All……

not good!

Lockhart felt that the dozen or so voices in his mind suddenly became extremely noisy. Memories from his past life and this life were mixed together and surging wildly in his mind, with some sharp voices echoing incessantly.

That was something Professor Trelawney said during her prophecy—

"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!!!"

A bone-chilling cold swept over everything. Lockhart felt the eerie snake shadow rapidly draining his flesh and blood, his body gradually turning pale and transparent.

That was the image of someone clinging to this world, unwilling to face death—ultimately becoming a ghost!

He looked at the despairing Dumbledore before him, then suddenly gave him a radiant smile, even though his face was so pale it began to glow. "Isn't it sometimes like this? We must bravely face death in order to gain hope of survival?"

Dumbledore sighed, closed his eyes sadly. He had witnessed too much death in his life, too many brilliant people had lost their lives before his eyes. How regrettable, how cruel. He could only lament, "It has always been like this."

Credence Dumbledore...

James Porter...

Lily Evans...

Too much is too much.

However, before he could even sigh appropriately, Lockhart's voice rang in his ears again.

"Dumbledore, don't be in such a hurry to mourn. I think I can still be saved. You have to help me."

"???"