"Sean Bulstrode, what exactly are you trying to do? Kill, kill a professor, and you'll be sent to Azkaban!"
In his terror, Lockhart's voice became sharp and cracked, especially when he said the word "Azkaban"—his voice broke so completely it sounded almost like he was hitting a high note, showing just how terrified he was.
"Kill you? No, Professor Lockhart, you misunderstand. I won't kill you, nor do I want to kill you. I brought you here for another matter entirely."
With a slight upward gesture of one hand, black smoke coiled around Lockhart's body and lifted him up.
Seeing Sean's actions, Lockhart seemed to think of something, and an embarrassed, awkward smile appeared on his face. He looked at Sean and said tentatively, "Could it be... could it be that you actually admire me greatly, and because you can't have me, you..."
At these words, Sean's expression froze. With a wave of his hand, the black smoke formed into a fist and struck Lockhart hard in the stomach, forcing the rest of his sentence back down his throat.
At this moment, Sean looked at him and said, "Professor Lockhart, I brought you here solely to duel with you. Now please draw your wand."
"Duel?"
Lockhart looked at Sean with disbelief, as if looking at a madman. He couldn't understand why Sean wanted to duel with him again after having beaten him so badly in previous duels. Did this person have some kind of sadistic hobby?
"You, you've already defeated me many times. I'm indeed no match for you."
"Enough talk! When I tell you to duel, you duel!"
As his words fell, Sean immediately took his stance. Seeing Sean's posture, Lockhart found himself in a difficult position and had no choice but to draw his wand. However, just as he drew his wand and prepared to fight, Sean suddenly waved his wand, shooting out a red light that hit Lockhart squarely in the chest, sending him flying and crashing heavily to the ground.
"Ugh, cough cough cough... You, you're satisfied now, right? I dueled, so we're good now, right?"
At this moment, Sean opened his panel and looked at the notification. He clicked his tongue and said to Lockhart, "Professor Lockhart, please stand up. Let's go again."
Looking at Sean in disbelief, Lockhart said with a bewildered expression, "What did you say? Again? Are you insane?"
Without time for explanations, Sean directly waved his wand, sending a wisp of black smoke across Lockhart's face, giving him a hard slap that left him dazed. He heard Sean say emotionlessly, "Professor Lockhart, please stand up. One more time."
Not daring to delay, Lockhart immediately stood up. He waved his wand, and a failed Disarming Charm shot from his wand tip like a misfiring lighter—a weak red light that burst and dissipated into nothing.
Seeing that Lockhart had made his move, Sean no longer hesitated and pointed his wand again.
"Expelliarmus!"
Lockhart flew backward, his body crashing to the ground again. He groaned and lay there with a pained expression.
Sean looked at his panel again and found he had drawn an LV0 low-level spell this time. He pursed his lips and said coldly and ruthlessly to Lockhart again, "Professor Lockhart, again!"
"..."
"Expelliarmus!"
"Tch... Again!"
"Mobiliarbus!"
"Tch, one more time!"
"..."
"Tch..."
"..."
"Tch..."
"..."
"Tch..."
After an unknown number of repetitions, Lockhart sat on the ground with his face covered in bruises, having lost all his previous composure.
Sean looked helplessly at his panel, deeply doubting his own luck. He even suspected whether Lockhart actually had the Memory Charm skill at all—otherwise, after dueling so many times, he shouldn't have failed to draw it even once. When he had dueled with Harry before, it was a one-shot success that gave him a double bonus!
Even if luck was something that fluctuated, this kind of fluctuation was more volatile than the stock market—it was simply too ridiculous.
"Professor Lockhart, please continue."
"No, no, I won't do it anymore. If I continue dueling with you, you'll eventually kill me from exhaustion. Please spare me—I'm just a professor who came to Hogwarts to teach. I cannot and should not be treated this way."
Lockhart crawled and rolled toward the exit of the Room of Requirement. As he passed by Sean, a wisp of black smoke once again entangled around Lockhart's body, dragging him back toward the interior of the Room of Requirement.
Struggling and begging for mercy, Lockhart resisted violently, but it didn't delay him being dragged back by the black smoke at all.
Just as Lockhart was being dragged past Sean, a sharp glint suddenly flashed in his eyes. The wand Lockhart held in his hand suddenly aimed at Sean, and a silver light flickered at the wand's tip.
"Obliviate..."
"I've been guarding against you! Expelliarmus!"
With the dual enhancement of Swift Casting and Nimble Casting, Sean struck first despite moving second. The red light once again defeated Lockhart, sending him flying and crashing hard into the wall behind him. His wand fell at Sean's feet.
Looking at Lockhart, who had failed in his sneak attack and was on the verge of collapse, Sean opened his panel again and routinely checked it. With this check, Sean's eyes suddenly lit up.
[Duel Won!]
[Conditions Met: Victory Against Magical Opponent.]
[System Commencing Random Ability Extraction from Defeated Target: Gilderoy Lockhart.]
[Extracting...]
Sean felt a peculiar tingling sensation behind his temples, as if countless memories were being carefully catalogued and filed away in his mind. The knowledge felt both foreign and intimately familiar at the same time.
[Extraction Complete!]
[New Ability Acquired: Memory Charm LV5 MAX]
He got it!
He got Lockhart's Memory Charm!
And it was indeed a maxed-out Memory Charm!
He had no idea how Lockhart, who was completely useless in every other aspect, had managed to practice the Memory Charm to such a high level!
Thinking of this, Sean suddenly paused.
That's right—given Lockhart's talent and abilities, why was he able to practice the Memory Charm, a considerably high-difficulty spell, to the maximum level? This didn't make sense.
If Lockhart was just hiding his strength and his other magic was decent, with only the Memory Charm being his strongest, that would still be understandable. But in the battle just now, Sean had seen Lockhart's abilities clearly—they were truly terrible to the extreme. So why was his Memory Charm so powerful?
If this were in a work of fiction, this might be a plot twist—even if somewhat unreasonable, it wouldn't matter much.
But this was reality, and such an anomaly must have deeper reasons. Perhaps besides the Memory Charm, Lockhart retained some other secret as well.
With this thought, Sean walked to Lockhart, who was so exhausted he could barely lift his hands, raised his wand, and aimed it at Lockhart, who no longer wanted to resist.
"Legilimens!"