Chapter 123: Are You Calling Me?
"I apologize for the disturbance, Professor Lockhart."
The person knocking was none other than Crabbe, Vincent Crabbe.
This was truly peculiar. This somewhat simple-minded large fellow usually followed Young Master Malfoy around, or went off to forage with Goyle. It was rare to see him doing something on his own.
"It's alright, come in."
Lockhart pulled the door open, looked back, and Rita was already gone.
Currently, the Little Goldie was curiously looking out the window. Seeing him look over, it pointed to where Rita had been sitting, then to the window outside.
This made Lockhart somewhat exasperated—Rita was clearly trying to save face, using this mysterious disappearance to show that she wasn't without means to escape his terrifying threat.
But she shouldn't have done such a thing in Lockhart's office. His companions, who guarded their home, thought Rita was up to no good. The Boggart had already started chasing her, joined by the Fwooper.
Emmm...
Hopefully, Rita wouldn't be too scared.
The Fwooper was quite noticeable. Although it usually curled into a small ball, when it spread its broad, butterfly-like wings—a brilliant azure on the front and fluorescent green on the back—it was larger than the biggest owl.
When it flew, let alone a small beetle, even the young wizards moving about the school could clearly see its eye-catching silhouette.
But Lockhart's Fwooper was not like ordinary Fwoopers.
Lockhart knew how to be a professor; guiding a Fwooper to better use its abilities was simply too easy.
In fact, it was mainly because it was perfectly suited to his specialization.
The venom in the Fwooper's spiny egg sacs had powerful Obliviation Charm effects. Even when heavily diluted in the water vapor of clouds, it was enough to affect the living beings of an entire city.
Lockhart initially instructed it on how to release the venom in such a dilute form that ordinary wizards could barely perceive it, thereby erasing the memories of anyone who witnessed it.
This wasn't his unique technique. His former self had obtained a magical notebook from a very powerful historical Auror through a certain Ministry of Magic official. It contained methods for such precise micro-control of the Obliviation Charm.
That Auror called this technique: Muggle-Proof Wizardry.
Using this technique, he could walk freely on Muggle streets, yet no one would remember having seen him.
The Fwooper had clearly mastered it well. Sometimes, it would secretly sneak into the school's owlery to steal owl food, and no one ever noticed.
More recently, as Lockhart began researching Weather Charms, it benefited the most. The Obliviation venom it released had even completely lost all magical fluctuations.
Hmm, there was still a little bit, at least it was quite obvious in Lockhart's eyes.
He strictly forbade the Fwooper from doing that in his office, always feeling that the Fwooper's method of releasing venom from its egg sacs was increasingly resembling farting.
And so, the Fwooper, farting—ahem, expertly releasing venom with micro-control—followed Rita as she flew towards the Forbidden Forest.
Along the way, it even encountered Professor Kettleburn from Care of Magical Creatures class without being detected.
Rita didn't linger in the school castle complex. She flew straight into the tunnel beneath the Whomping Willow, then continued flying through the tunnel without stopping until she reached the Shrieking Shack in Hogsmeade Village. Hearing the distant bustling sounds of traffic outside, she finally transformed back into human form and collapsed onto the ground.
She looked at the world outside the crack in the door with such excitement, laughing hysterically. "I'm not dead! Hahahaha, I'm not dead!"
"Gilderoy! You can't catch me!"
"No one can catch me!"
"Hahahaha—"
She wanted to rush into the village outside the door, to stand among the crowd, for that would give her a sense of security. She wanted to shout and scream in the crowd, venting her inner fear.
But she couldn't.
She was almost entirely limp, collapsed there, panting heavily as if she had barely escaped with her life. As she panted, she started laughing, a deranged, distorted laugh.
Laughing, she began to cough, and coughing, she started to sob.
She had never felt so wronged!
So wronged!
As a Ravenclaw known for her intelligence, she possessed exceptionally brilliant magical talent and the wisdom to conceal her talents early on. This information asymmetry meant she had almost never suffered after graduating and venturing into society.
Never!
Never!
Yet, just now, in Lockhart's office, she had never felt so much like a tiny insect trembling under the gaze of a demon.
Weak, terrified, constantly fearing being crushed.
"Gilderoy Lockhart!"
She almost spoke Lockhart's name one syllable at a time, her eyes filled with the malice and resentment that rebounded after her fear, a twisted, intense hatred in her heart that made her desperately want to tear Lockhart apart!
You just wait, you bastard!
Do you think I have no way to deal with you?
You—
"Are you calling me?"
A gentle, radiant voice suddenly came from behind her, a voice so familiar that it made her hair stand on end instinctively!
Rita froze completely, her fingers, lightly resting on the Shrieking Shack's dilapidated wooden door, suddenly tightened their grip. She felt as if she would collapse if she let go of the support.
She swallowed, even starting to deceive herself, screaming inwardly.
It's a hallucination, it's a hallucination, it's a hallucination!!!
It must be!
But her eyes couldn't deceive her. She could clearly see a shadow covering her, cast upon the wooden door, its edges blurred like a monstrous creature with bared fangs.
"Rita, are you calling me?"
The voice asked again.
Rita finally had to face reality. She even began to fear that ignoring Lockhart might anger him, which would be extremely impolite.
She felt the frame of her glasses on her face was a bit crooked, but she didn't dare to make any extra movement to adjust them. Instead, her neck stiffly turned slowly to look behind her.
She saw a pair of exquisite shoes.
This was a small habit of hers: people liked to use the style and quality of clothing to form a first impression and label someone. She was particularly adept at observing details like shoes to infer the status of the shoes' owner.
They were the shoes Lockhart was wearing today!
She was absolutely certain.
This couldn't help but make her heart tighten. All fantasies vanished, leaving her to helplessly face reality.
Her eyes widened to their extreme, her eyeballs seeming about to pop out. Slowly, accompanied by the pounding of her heart like a drum, she looked up inch by inch.
The crooked glasses frame distorted her vision.
She finally looked up and saw Lockhart's radiant smile. Such a smile was so dazzling. Her sensitive nature had long noticed Lockhart's transformation, from the most perfect charming smile slowly evolving into this radiant smile, carrying an indescribable warmth and composure, yet also a lightness that was somewhat free and soaring.
"Gi—G-Gilderoy!"
She gasped, looking at his gaze as he looked down at her. She felt as if he had stretched out a hand and squeezed her heart, almost suffocating her.
"Are you calling me?" Lockhart simply asked.
This question, however, seemed like the final heavy hammer, completely shattering her mental defenses. Her head tilted, and she completely fainted.
"!!!"
'Lockhart' looked at her with a strange expression. He suddenly caught a strange smell with his nose and quickly retreated a few steps, distancing himself from this scandalous woman.
Honestly, the Boggart initially intended to transform into a "Hanging Lord" to bring Rita Skeeter back. After all, its little brain didn't understand why Rita would escape the office in such a manner.
However, such an unannounced departure was clearly not part of Lockhart's plan, so it thought bringing her back might help Lockhart.
But it quickly changed its mind.
Following the instinct of its inner magic, it quickly manifested the most terrifying image in the witch's mind.
It was simply too good at doing this.
And then, just like its past experiences of frightening many wizards, people successfully scared themselves into fainting through its mirror.
In fact, it had indeed scared one wizard to death. Although it didn't quite understand why that male wizard was scared to death upon seeing his wife's figure, it truly could scare people to death.
So, Rita wasn't scared enough; otherwise, she should have died of fright. She merely fainted.
But now, what should be done?
In the past, it wouldn't have had such worries. Scaring people to wet themselves was too common for it; it wasn't a living being.
In its eyes, whether urine was expelled or contained within the body, the creature in front of it was all the same.
But not anymore.
Having spent a long time with its master, Lockhart, it had surprisingly begun to develop a bit of "humanity," or rather, to develop biological characteristics.
It now found this scene a bit disgusting.
The Boggart turned its head to the Fwooper. "How about you take her back?"
The Fwooper absolutely refused. It was even startled by the Boggart's current appearance, fearing that it was the real Lockhart giving it such an order. It quickly flapped its wings and flew headfirst into the tunnel leading from the Shrieking Shack to Hogwarts. Run!
Faithless fellow!
The Boggart looked at the witch before it with some distress. Fortunately, the weeds growing in the corner of the Shrieking Shack's wall rustled, transmitting a message from Lockhart: Come back quickly, leave her.
Great!
The Boggart quickly twisted and transformed, instantly switching into the Fwooper's appearance, and flew into the tunnel.
This was an ability it had trained under Lockhart's help.
It could "record" fears it had experienced in the past and "load" them to transform, rather than needing Lockhart to adjust his mental state each time to help it find the corresponding fear image.
It had even begun to truly try to see itself as a mirror, reflecting the beauty in human minds.
This was clearly a step further into evil.
After all, if Harry Potter were to see a Boggart transform into his mother, Lily Potter, he would absolutely go insane.
Anyway, no matter what, his companions were growing along with Lockhart.
They were continuously developing their own potential, even beginning to evolve towards a more biological nature.
.....
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