Chapter 579: Lockhart's Past

Outside the greenhouse.

Snow covered a lawn.

"Yes, Professor."

Sean replied.

"In just over a month, how incredible—oh, may I see it, child."

Professor Sprout moved her patched hat up a bit, as if afraid it would block her view.

Soon, when Professor Sprout walked in the snow, a cat that was pitch black all over stood on her shoulder.

The professor was very happy; she hadn't expected at all...

"I have no way of knowing how surprised Minerva will be."

She muttered to herself, watching the black cat leap and turn back into a young wizard wearing black robes.

Professor Sprout seemed to have not seen such an interesting thing for a long time; she rarely put away her hoe and ended the day's work early.

And in a few minutes, it would be Hogwarts' dinner time.

Sean had nothing to pack up; he just checked his small greenhouse again, closed the fence gate, and left behind a camera that was set up—it would record the condition of the plants every half day.

However, when he took a bag of potion materials and met up with Jia Siting and the others, Hermione was already filled with righteous indignation:

"Damn fraud, we must expose him!"

Jia Siting and the others, who had also finished listening to Senior Bruce's account, nodded in agreement.

Just a moment ago, Senior Bruce, who had been tied up by Leon, told them in detail about Lockhart's deeds:

"Interesting. First of all, I must declare that we also tried to send him to Azkaban. But we failed later...

He has good connections with various newspapers, and plus we are just students, no one is willing to listen to the facts we know.

People always believe what they are willing to believe, and even that witch who was saved firmly believes that the person who helped her was Lockhart.

Oh, off-topic... just now talking about his deeds, of course, the deeds are true, but the protagonists were all replaced.

Memory Charm. We guess it's this—by constantly practicing this cunning spell, he likely succeeded in tampering with the memories of a dozen brave and accomplished wizards, using their heroic deeds to make himself famous..."

Bruce's words were well-founded; his rigorous logic and bold yet precise assumptions formed a sharp contrast with his wriggling posture on the ground.

Hermione closed her eyes, feeling as if she were listening to a wise wizard reshaping the truth; she opened her eyes, and it turned into the wriggling Bruce.

"I'll give you some more interesting findings of mine, although they may not be useful, as long as it can make Lockhart uncomfortable, that's enough.

Professor Sprout told us:

Lockhart is not without talent. On the contrary, the professors think his intelligence and ability are above average, and he could achieve something as long as he works hard.

Even if he couldn't achieve those grand ambitions he boasted about to his classmates—

Lockhart tells anyone willing to listen that he will successfully make a Sorcerer's Stone before graduation, and plans to lead the England Quidditch team to win the World Cup, and then strive to become the youngest Minister for Magic in Britain.

Later, you should be able to guess, he was naturally not very popular.

But this guy Lockhart still achieved his primary goal through repeated attention-grabbing behaviors—making the whole school know him.

This guy used magic to carve his signature in 20-foot-long letters on the Quidditch pitch, and was therefore given a week's detention.

He also managed to create a giant glowing projection, imitating the Dark Mark to project his own face into the sky.

One year he sent himself eight hundred Valentine's Day cards, and as a result, the Great Hall was piled high with owls that day, and he had to give up eating breakfast because there were too many feathers and feces in the porridge.

Stimulo! (Stinging Hex!)"

As Senior Bruce was talking, after Leon also fell into deep thought, he unexpectedly sneak-attacked Leon.

He had no intention of untying his own restraints at all; instead, seeing Leon as disheveled as he was, he became cheerful.

At this moment, Hermione fully understood... what it meant to be reliable yet unreliable.

"We have to contact the newspaper."

After walking out of the greenhouse, Hermione said with a frown,

"The evidence from the Hufflepuff seniors is completely sufficient—I don't know what the Ministry of Magic is doing to let this fraud go unpunished, when it's clearly so easy to collect evidence!"

"Most newspapers won't report it."

Jia Siting's voice was a bit low.

"There will be those willing."

Hermione pondered.

At this time, Harry had already rushed off to Quidditch training, Luo En followed him, and Neville had returned to the greenhouse to get busy.

Only the three of them were left in the snow.

"The Quibbler?"

Hermione helplessly took this newspaper seriously, and upon hearing her words, Jia Siting smiled gently:

"Hermione, my mother told me that a wise person is not always powerful themselves; sometimes, they are better at 'rational utilization'."

Watching a few young wizards about to expose Lockhart and send him to Azkaban, Sean probably knew how strong the curse on the Defense Against the Dark Arts class was.

And after returning to the Great Hall, Sean would have to face another difficulty.

He had to go out during Christmas, but his detention with Professor Sineipu hadn't ended yet...

If nothing went wrong, Uncle Ma Kusi was still waiting for him at the Marcus Maige Sect villa...

This Christmas, it was highly likely to be more unexpected than Sean imagined.

So he looked at the high table; Professor Sprout was talking warmly with Professor Marcus Maige, Professor Marcus Maige was responding with a smile without missing a word, while Professor Sineipu was gloomy-faced, as usual, having nothing to say.

Christmas was coming.

The Great Hall was decorated magnificently. Not only were there a dozen Christmas trees covered in silver frost, and thick garlands made of mistletoe and holly crisscrossing the ceiling, but there was also enchanted snow, warm and dry, drifting down gently from the ceiling.

The house-elves were rushing to make Christmas pudding, and the wizards were all looking forward to the holiday, looking excited all day long.

This weekend.

Senior students could naturally go to Hogsmeade.

Another year, they gathered together, happily talking loudly about what to do first in Hogsmeade Village, while the younger wizards could only listen.

"Isn't there still a banquet,"

In the Great Hall, Luo En said, pretending not to care,

"You know, the Christmas banquet."

"Yeah,"

Harry was actually very disappointed, but still echoed,

"That's great."

The Christmas banquet was not bad, but if they could attend the banquet after playing in Hogsmeade for a day like the senior students, that would be even more wonderful.

Finally, Harry and Luo En still pricked up their ears to listen to them talk, until they caught a keyword from their mouths:

"Wait a minute, what is Green Bookstore?!"

Harry whispered.

Five chapters tomorrow. ===== CHAPTER 580 =====