Hogwarts doesn't need a savior

"I see..." Lynn pondered for a long time, still showing a helpless expression, "But I don't have the authority to investigate him. I'm sorry, maybe you can ask Professor McGonagall for help. After all, the headmaster is not in school recently, and she is in charge of everything. Maybe she will be willing to help you investigate this conjecture."

"But Professor, we... Professor?! What is this?!" Hermione wanted to fight for it, but suddenly saw the red envelope on Lynn's desk and was shocked.

It has already begun to swell.

"This is Snape's howling letter. He has reason to be unhappy with me." Lynn said, "Perhaps you can go back first."

As he spoke, the edge of the howling letter began to crack.

"Let's go now!" Ron quickly stood up, holding his two friends in each hand and ran.

Just as they closed the door, Snape's roar squeezed out from the gap in the door.

Harry was sure that even when faced with his objections in class, Snape had not been as angry as he was now.

"It seems that Senior Travers's case is very troublesome. Professor Snape has been alarmed." Hermione sighed, "It is impossible for Professor McGonagall to investigate a professor for no reason. Now we can't find any help."

"Is it the seventh-year Slytherin prefect?" Harry asked with lingering fear. "What happened to him?"

"I don't know either. Doris has asked the professor many times but to no avail. Maybe it's a private matter." Hermione shook her head.

Ron seemed to be thoughtful: "I know him. He and Percy should have gone to the Ministry of Magic together. Uncle Eric applied for an internship for them. Maybe something went wrong at that time." He thought of his brother who was smiling all the time recently, and goose bumps broke out all over his body.

"Is this so... Never mind, let's not talk about this for now. What about Lockhart's case? We can't let the professors know about Ginny's affairs, but if we do that it will be very difficult to find evidence of Tom Riddle's crime." Harry scratched his head, his face full of confusion.

"I have an idea." After a long silence, Hermione suddenly had an idea. "We can prove that Lockhart has done something improper, and then follow the clues and let the professors investigate him. Maybe we can find his flaws."

"Improper behavior? Like?" Ron asked.

"For example, food." Hermione said seriously, "According to Gamp's basic law of transfiguration, food cannot be conjured out of thin air. If Lockhart really kept a basilisk, he would have to find food for it, unless it was always sleeping. But according to the information I have investigated, after a basilisk wakes up from its sleep, it will not continue to sleep for at least a long time, and it is in urgent need of nutrition."

"That is to say, as long as we find evidence that he has been taking a lot of food, we can catch him." Harry said excitedly, but soon he became worried, "But I haven't seen him take too much food in the cafeteria?"

"The cafeteria is too conspicuous. Maybe he has other channels." Ron thought of his twin brother. "For example, he can go directly to the kitchen to ask the house-elves for food, or buy it off-campus. Professors can leave school as long as they register!"

"That's right, so we split up." Hermione nodded. "I'll go to the kitchen to find out what's going on. Harry, you and Ron have to find a way to get the registration book."

As she spoke, she pulled out a very complicated class schedule and displayed it in front of the two of them.

"This is... all the courses for seven grades?!" Harry was stunned.

Ron was also surprised: "Why do you need so many schedules?"

Hermione said as a matter of course, "I have to ask professors questions according to the timetable, especially Professor Eric. Not only does he have to mark homework and prepare lessons, but he also has to proofread manuscripts and record experiments, so he has to manage his time."

Thinking about their own spare time and then thinking about Hermione, Harry and Ron felt a huge gap as if there was a species difference.

The top students and the poor students seem to be in two completely different worlds.

While the two were immersed in great shock, Hermione had already taken out her quill and drew a few circles on the schedule. She said firmly, "I think these are the most likely times for action. Most professors have classes, but he doesn't. We need to find him during these times, or figure out his movements."

Faced with Hermione's unquestionable opinion, Harry and Ron could only nod their heads repeatedly.

-----------------

In the following days, the trio sometimes acted separately and sometimes got together to conduct a series of investigations based on previous clues.

In the Hogwarts kitchen, Hermione got a record of the school teachers and students picking up meals. It recorded the information of all the teachers and students who came to the Hogwarts kitchen to pick up meals since the Christmas holidays, but Lockhart's name was not on it.

On the other hand, Harry and Ron's investigation yielded results.

Not only did they sneak into the reception room and get the entry and exit record on the desk, but they also got new information from Hagrid.

Lockhart had been lurking around his cabin for a long time, and no one knew what he was doing.

Starting from Christmas, he would go into the Forbidden Forest every day, rain or shine, even on the days with the heaviest snow. And he almost always went there at night, and he was seen several times when he got up in the middle of the night.

This made the three of them smell a conspiracy, as if they had seen Quirrell last year.

"He hid the basilisk outside the castle! That's why there haven't been any attacks for so long!" Ron clenched his fists as soon as he came out of Hagrid's hut and said firmly, "I'm going to catch him this time!"

Meanwhile, in Lynn's office.

"What?! Are you kidding me?" Percy found it unbelievable when he heard what Lynn specifically told him. Even his voice trembled slightly.

"I would never joke about this, Percy." Lynn said seriously, "Answer me, Percy, can I trust you 100%? Just as I trust myself, I trust you without reservation."

"I... of course! You can always trust me!" Percy's face flushed with excitement. "I will definitely get things done and I will never tell anyone a word!"

Chapter 105 Footprints

It turns out that it was almost inevitable that Harry, Ron and Hermione would get together.

Although they have very different personalities, when it comes to major issues, the three of them are always surprisingly in step with each other.

It can be said that it is just like a newborn calf that is not afraid of a tiger, and is full of the courage and recklessness of a little lion.

After noticing Lockhart's strange movements, they quietly lurked at the door of Lockhart's office the next night.

That was around eight o'clock.

The tightly closed door suddenly opened, and a foul smell poured out from the house, but was blocked inside as the door closed.

Lockhart came out wearing a dark robe and with a grim face.

In just a few days, he seemed to have lost some weight and looked very haggard, but his steps were very fast and he turned onto the stairs in a blink of an eye.

At the other corner of the corridor, a trio wearing invisibility cloaks hurriedly caught up. When they passed the office door, the three of them frowned at the same time, feeling dizzy from the foul smell.

"What on earth did Lockhart hide in the room?!" Ron felt sick to his stomach and almost couldn't hold back his voice as he gritted his teeth and said, "This smells just like the dinner Nick had!"

Harry also felt his stomach churning, his face pale, he forced himself to cover his mouth, walked quickly past the door, and whispered: "His office will have a chance to investigate sooner or later, now we have to catch up with him first! Hermione, what's wrong with you?"

"Nothing..." Hermione shook her head, "I just remembered that Professor Eric's club meeting is also tonight, and I have already asked for leave in advance."

"You're one of his favorite students, so you can ask him for extra lessons in the future." Ron said nonchalantly, "Uncle Eric is really partial... Shh! Be careful!"

Before they could finish their words, they saw Lockhart stopped at the top of the stairs.

The gloomy fellow looked around, looking for something, and soon he started walking towards the castle gate.

The trio had no time to discuss and could only follow hurriedly.

As he passed through the castle hall, the familiar voice once again echoed in Harry's ears.

[I’m so hungry…eat…eat…kill people…tear them apart! ]

The hoarse and murderous voice made Harry freeze in place for a moment. He grabbed Ron and Hermione in one hand.

"I heard the sound of the basilisk again. It's nearby." Looking at his companions who looked surprised, he took a deep breath and said with certainty.

"So is it in the castle, or has it gone out with Lockhart? What should we do?" Ron looked at Lockhart's receding back, then at Harry who was determined, and was in a dilemma for a moment.

At the critical moment, it was Hermione who made a prompt decision. She pushed the two people who were still struggling away and said in a low voice: "You two follow me, I'm going to find the professor now!"

She pulled out a small firework shell and threw it to Ron.

"If you encounter danger, shoot it up into the sky immediately and run away! You will definitely see it in school!"

As she spoke, she turned around and ran towards the stairs.

"Let's go, Ron!"

Harry did not hesitate and ran towards Lockhart without saying a word.

Seeing this, Ron could only grit his teeth and follow Harry into the snow outside the castle.

Under the cover of night, the staggering figure gradually moved away.

-----------------

Walking in the snow, Lockhart felt his vitality slowly slipping away, like a cracked fuel tank, which could not be stopped.

Now he is in pain and full of regret.

He only wanted to stay in this cursed professorship for a year and write a best-seller, but he never imagined that just because of his momentary jealousy and greed, bad luck would quietly cling to him and become lingering.

Thinking of the scene more than a month ago, he still feels great fear, as if he was walking on the gates of hell.

......

......

That was the night when Lynn and Dumbledore went to Finland to strangle the remaining soul of Voldemort.

When he accidentally saw the strange notebook at the office door, he was half suspicious and half relieved.

He was grateful for his good fortune - to have found a strange soul who taught him magic and generously used his magic power to guide him.

But he was also a little afraid - although he was a fool, he was knowledgeable and knew that there was no free lunch in the world.

With the idea of ​​taking advantage and being on guard at the same time, he was full of expectations for the future after his injuries healed.

But that night, he experienced the most painful time of his life.

First, in the dead of night, an inhuman scream pulled him out of his sweet dream of punching Eric and kicking Rita Skeeter.

When he opened his eyes, he saw the handsome soul who had once given him great help was struggling fiercely.

The soul that had almost solidified into a solid entity trembled violently, as if it was about to be torn apart.

Terrifying magical power emerged from its body, which was countless times stronger than any time he had ever seen before. It frightened him so much that he broke out in a cold sweat, and also made him see the deep darkness hidden beneath the gentleness and understanding.

He subconsciously wanted to escape, but before he could take action, an invisible shackle bound him tightly, and he couldn't even move his eyes. He could only watch the other person rolling, roaring, and even roaring on the carpet.

I don't know how long it took, but just as if the torture was over, the soul of Tom Riddle stood up from the ground. His illusory soul body became more condensed, his aura was several times stronger than before, and his face was full of a cruel smile.

"Gilderoy Lockhart, you just wanted to run out and tell on me, didn't you?"

He walked up to Lockhart and patted his stiff cheek. It was clearly just a soul, but it seemed to have a physical body, giving him a distinct sense of touch and pain. However, it was extremely cold, without any human warmth at all. Instead, it seemed like a wandering soul in the castle.

He could only look at the other person helplessly and pleadingly, but no mercy was shown to him.

"You desire fame, wealth and power. The great Lord Voldemort can give you everything you want." The handsome young man laughed wildly, "But as a price, you must also give up everything you have and become my servant."

Dark magic shot out from his fingertips and penetrated directly into Lockhart's brow.

A wizard who is proficient in memory magic is vulnerable in front of a master who plays with souls, even if he only has the strength of a sixteen-year-old.

From that moment on, his body no longer belonged to him alone.

When he woke up from his coma, the strange diary had disappeared and never appeared again. Only a voice sounded in his mind from time to time, instructing him to take action.

The life force leaking out like a bottomless pit made him dare not resist. He could only obey this horrible devil and follow his instructions. He went deep into the forbidden forest every day for more than a month, using the souls and flesh and blood of the eight-eyed giant spider as nourishment to fill the emptiness of his life.

But it is just a drop in the bucket.

Until today, he heard the last command from that evil voice.

[Kill the wizard following you, and you will be free and live]

......

......

Walking in the snow with one foot deep and one foot shallow, Lockhart knew the two little wizards following him very well.

This is Tom's gift to his servants.

At the cost of his life and soul, he mastered the magical power.

Now, he had to fight for his life, no matter who the two little ghosts behind him were.

A fierce murderous intent flashed across his iron-blue face, just like when he hurt the owners of those legendary stories time and time again.

It’s just that in the past he deprived those people of their memories, and this time he is going to take two young lives.

He slowly walked into the forbidden forest and came to the "Spider Hunting Ground" where he had conducted countless hunts.

-----------------

Slytherin common room.

Andrew sat on a sofa with a dull look on his face, staring at the hexagram-patterned badge on his palm with a struggling look on his face.

He still cannot attend today's rally.

He knew very well that the professor cared about him, and he also knew that his current condition was very bad, but he couldn't control his emotions.

He didn't blame anyone, he just felt annoyed and frustrated with his own behavior, as if the energy was being drained from his spine.

In the silence, he heard light footsteps.

When he looked up, he saw several little wizards walking past him without looking away.