I'm the King of Curry at Hogwarts

Chapter 144 Let's see who the real evil genius is.

The three little ones had a great appetite. Louis watched as they ate like their lives depended on it. He didn't know if it was a side effect of the compound decoction, but their gluttonous eating left everyone stunned for a long time.

Percy and his two companions were wondering, "Who's going on an adventure in the mirror world today, us or you? Why does it seem like you have a smaller appetite than us?"

Ron, that glutton, could eat as much as ever. The kid was using both hands, holding a fork and showing off his spaghetti in one hand while clutching a huge hamburger in the other, looking like a starving ghost reincarnated.

After finally waiting for the three of them to finish eating, it was almost six o'clock. Everyone sat on the sofa to digest their food, offering them advice in fits and starts.

Most of them were bad ideas, so Louis didn't suggest they take them... But the most important thing now is to ease the tension in the three little ones' hearts. When chatting, it's fine to be casual.

Hermione had her own plan for how to get information out of Lockhart later.

Some people always say Hermione should go to Ravenclaw. In fact, while Hermione is indeed very smart, her rebellious spirit and unyielding temperament are just like a stubborn lion.

So, through Hermione's unintentional dodges, the conversation unexpectedly turned to the adventures in the Mirror World.

Despite her young age, Hermione is quite skilled at planning. Louise figured that if this little girl were in later generations, she would be at least on par with Xia Yike or Miss.

Amidst the surprised and admiring gazes of the three upperclassmen, Hermione shared many tips and tricks about the Mirror World—such as how to take on a mimicry mimicry, the weaknesses of the Lothric Knights, and how to deal with Bordeaux's charge; Hermione had her own set of tips for each.

She wasn't just spouting nonsense. The three older students, after comparing their own adventures in the mirror world with hers, discovered that her strategy was surprisingly accurate, especially her method for soloing the treasure chest monster, which was absolutely the optimal solution.

Penelope even wholeheartedly admitted that Hermione might have been sorted into the wrong house by the Sorting Hat, and that with her intelligence, she should have gone to Ravenclaw.

This angered the other four Gryffindors, and under their combined pressure, Penelope had to abandon her own opinion.

"Alright, it's about time." Seeing the clock hands pointing to eight, Louis quickly said, "It's time to go to detention, students."

The three little ones stood up, and this time they weren't so resistant—especially Hermione, who liked the lemon scent of Penelope's Polyjuice Potion.

The other two weren't so lucky, but they were still better off than Crabbe and Goyle. Percy's Polyjuice Potion tasted like sunflower, while Jack's Polyjuice Potion tasted somewhat like coffee.

After being reshaped like clay, the three little ones became three big ones.

"Oh, right, Jack," Harry said, only now remembering his encounter with Hagrid earlier that day. "I ran into Hagrid this afternoon. He said your parents miss you very much. They've both been sent to Azkaban by the Ministry of Magic and can't come back to see you for a while. You haven't responded to the letters they wrote to you, so they asked Hagrid to come and apologize to you..."

"Hmm." Brother Jie nodded without saying anything, which seemed rather perfunctory.

Harry didn't know what else to say, so he just shrugged and followed the other two out of Lewis's office, down the third-floor corridor towards Lockhart's office.

Standing at Lockhart's door, Harry and Ron pushed and shoved each other, neither wanting to be the first to knock. Hermione, unable to bear it any longer, reached out and separated the two, then lightly knocked three times on the door herself.

The door opened immediately, and Lockhart's expression was initially somewhat gloomy, but then he looked at the three classmates in front of him with a big smile.

"Ah, our Helen and her two little warriors have arrived!" Lockhart said with a beaming smile. "Come in, my three friends, come in."

The three of them entered Lockhart's office and looked around. Countless framed photographs of Lockhart hung on the walls, brightly lit by numerous candles. Some even bore his autograph. A large stack of photographs lay on his desk.

"I'm sorry, I'm replying to my fans' letters." Lockhart rested his index finger on his chin, his eyes gleaming as he pondered, and quickly came up with a new idea: "Of course, today... your task is to write envelopes for my fans' letters."

Judging from Lockhart's tone, it was as if he had given them an enormous benefit.

Lockhart picked up a letter, held it in his hand in front of him, and flicked it lightly with his other finger: "The first one is for Ms. Gladys, God bless her—oh, one of my ardent admirers."

Ron glanced somewhat awkwardly at the Lockhart photo frames around him—you can imagine, hundreds of animated photos, all of Lockhart staring straight at them, how incredibly disheartening that must feel…

Not only Ron, but even Hermione felt goosebumps on her arms as she frantically waltzed.

The three of them had no choice but to follow Lockhart as he wrote back. Lockhart's office was completely different from Louis's—in Louis's office, two hours passed as quickly as a minute or two; in Lockhart's office, Ron felt as if a century had passed, but when he looked at the clock next to him, the hands were clearly pointing to 8:10.

Defense Against the Dark Arts is a subject of relativity.

The three of them wrote on the envelopes while Lockhart talked on and on, only occasionally responding with "oh," "um," or "yes" to avoid appearing too impolite.

Of course, most of the answers were Harry.

Finally, Hermione couldn't hold back any longer and asked first, "Professor, you are very knowledgeable. Do you know the true identity of the 'Slytherin Heir' who attacked others at school?"

"The heir to Slytherin..." A fleeting unease crossed Lockhart's eyes, but he quickly concealed it, chuckling as he said, "Ah, how could the great Professor Lockhart not know such a secret? Listen carefully—this is an ancient and mysterious secret..."

"How mysterious?" Ron was immediately intrigued.

"It's very mysterious." Lockhart winked at Ron and said with a smile, "Of course, I only have a vague understanding of this matter myself. After all, I'm just an adventurer and a bestselling novelist, not a professor of magical history. You should ask Professor Binns about this."

"Even you don't know?" Hermione feigned disbelief.

Lockhart gave a greasy laugh, looked at Hermione, shook his head and said, "Penello, Penelope, even Headmaster Dumbledore wouldn't dare say he's omniscient and omnipotent. I know I'm no match for Dumbledore, and of course I can't possibly know everything in the world. As I just said... I'm just an adventurer and a bestselling novelist."

"So, do you have any guesses?" Hermione started to steer the conversation: "I've always felt that Louis, your rival, is the one who should be the Slytherin successor."

"Oh, don't say that," Lockhart interrupted Hermione. "Penelope, Lewis is a respectable opponent—he's not a pure-blood wizard, how could he possibly be a Slytherin descendant?"

Hermione looked on with a puzzled expression. "Professor, you and Louis are supposed to be mortal enemies. Shouldn't you seize the opportunity to throw dirty water on him?"

She turned her gaze to Harry, intending to get him to say something more.

But Harry, rubbing his aching hands, was writing Veronica Smythelie's address; he felt this was the thousandth envelope he'd written that night.

Time is almost up... please hurry up... he thought painfully, I really don't want to write any more envelopes...

While praying to Merlin, he suddenly felt Hermione step on his foot.

Looking up again, I saw Hermione's fierce expression.

The implication was clearly, "Why are you being so honest? You actually wrote it down! Hurry up and ask some questions."

Harry then realized what was happening and stammered, "Then...then Professor, what about Malfoy? You mean the Malfoy in the second year? I think he could very well be Slytherin's successor..."

"Malfoy? Oh no, impossible." Lockhart repeatedly denied, sticking his quill back into the inkwell and saying seriously, "The Malfoy family is unlikely to be involved. I'd rather believe that the Slytherin successor is Harry Potter than that he could be Malfoy."

Hearing his name, Harry's heart skipped a beat, and he quickly asked, "Then, you think it's that Harry Potter?"

"I didn't say that," Lockhart said with a smile, picking up his quill again. "Instead of sitting here making pointless guesses, you'd be better off writing a few more replies to my fans."

Hermione immediately chimed in, "Actually, I don't think Potter is very likely to be Slytherin's successor. After all, Slytherin is so hostile to Muggle-born wizards—don't forget, Granger, Potter's friend, is a Muggle."

Upon hearing Hermione's name, Lockhart immediately perked up: "Miss Granger, I remember her. She's the only one who remembered my dream on the pre-school test that was to sweep away evil from the world and to promote my own brand of shampoo."

A look of reminiscence and regret flashed in his eyes, as if he was saddened to have missed out on such a devoted female student.

"So what do you think of Miss Granger, or rather, what is your attitude towards your Muggle-born classmates?" Hermione finally revealed her trump card for this trip.

She believed that, logically speaking, if Lockhart was truly controlled by the Slytherin heir, or if he himself was the heir, then he would definitely not show any kindness towards his Muggle-born classmates.

"Miss Granger is the most intelligent little witch I've ever met for her age, without a doubt," Lockhart replied with a light laugh, adding with a chuckle amidst the surprised looks of the three of them, "I think our wizarding world is really too outdated, and it really should have more Muggle-born wizards to enrich it, so that more people can read my works, right?"

Hermione hadn't expected this answer. She paused for a moment, then smiled and replied, "That's true. A writer like the professor would certainly want as many people as possible to read your works."

"That's every writer's wish, not just mine," Lockhart said with a smile, until the door opened and Tifa walked in.

Tifa saw the three of them, her brow furrowing almost imperceptibly, and asked with a hint of condescension, "Who are these three?"

"Oh... those three got into a fight in class today," Lockhart replied rather humbly. "You were absent today, so you probably don't know. That's why I had them come to my place for time-out."

"Fighting in class, what a restless youth," Tifa chuckled, glancing at the three children before her, a slight smile playing on her lips. "Let me guess, it's because of this Krivat, isn't it?"

The two boys nodded nervously; Tifa was putting immense pressure on them.

"You two... well, I really can't believe Percy Weasley, the model student, would do something like this." Tifa smiled gently, taking two candies from her pocket and handing them to the two boys. "Have some candy, you must be tired after writing all night. It's all Gilderoy's fault for dragging you guys into doing this." She then gave Lockhart a reproachful glare: "You're not allowed to have your classmates write letters for you under the guise of detention anymore, that's not good behavior, Gilderoy."

"I understand," Lockhart replied somewhat sheepishly.

"Okay, can you tell me what you were talking about just now? It sounded like you were having a good time." Tifa smiled easily and happily, her warm smile making the three little ones feel like they were basking in a spring breeze.

For a moment, Louis didn't seem so appealing to them anymore; the kind and gentle Tifa was the real favorite, wasn't she?

"We were just discussing who should be Slytherin's successor," Ron blurted out. "Professor Lockhart rejected all the candidates we mentioned."

Tifa paused for a moment, her brows furrowing almost imperceptibly.

Then her brow relaxed, and she smiled warmly again, speaking softly to Ron, "Making wild guesses isn't a good habit, especially since we don't have enough evidence, do we?"

"The teaching assistant is right." Ron chuckled foolishly, looking like the silly son of a wealthy landowner. Only Hermione remained true to herself, not fooled by Tifa's appearance.

She also made sure to help Louis gather some additional intelligence.

"Well... Professor, there's something else about the duel before Christmas. I heard that Professor Mountbatten has given the second-year students a lot of extra training, and many people call him the 'evil genius' of the teaching world..."

From an unseen angle, Tifa's eyes flashed with a hint of bloodlust. She raised her head, her expression returning to its usual nonchalant smile, and said to the three of them, "Let them see, let them see who the real evil genius is."

(End of this chapter)