"But, thanks to the great dedication of my new friend, this allowed my plan to be successfully realized," Tom said, and Lockhart stepped forward with a bow.
"You," Harry exclaimed, pointing at Lockhart. "Aren't you the school's Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor? Dumbledore truly misjudged you."
Aiden, hidden in the shadows, glanced at Dumbledore, who had already turned his back, feigning innocence.
"What does this have to do with me, child?" Lockhart said, his smile dazzling, a stark contrast to the glorious, upright image he projected on his posters. "I simply gave the diary to the person who needed it. Wasn't Ernie also enjoying it? Tom is a good teacher and helpful friend; he helped Ernie improve his strength, only at a small price."
"Who doesn't crave power and fame?" Lockhart continued, waving his hands, his expression somewhat manic. "Harry, you were born with everything. Everyone loves you. As for me, I could only struggle on the streets every day, barely maintaining food and clothing. From the day you appeared in the newspaper, I swore that I must achieve greater fame than you so that power and wealth would fall into my hands."
"You liar!" Harry shouted. "And you, Tom, who exactly are you!"
"Me?" Tom bent down to look at Harry, using his wand to lift Harry's hair, revealing the lightning-shaped scar. Then, Tom used his wand to write in the air, 'Tom M. Riddle'. With a wave of the wand, the letters rearranged themselves into a line of smaller characters. The glowing letters in the air clearly displayed 'I am Lord Voldemort.'
"You... you are the Heir of Slytherin," Harry's voice was barely a whisper. "You are Lord Voldemort."
"Of course," Tom said, a smug expression on his face. "You don't think I would still keep the surname of my filthy Muggle father, do you?"
"So I gave myself a new name, held a huge ceremony to gather consensus, completely erasing my unbearable past, which also made me the greatest wizard in the world."
"Albus Dumbledore is the greatest wizard in this world!" Harry retorted, angered by Tom's words, and stepped forward to confront him.
"Him?" Tom looked at Harry mockingly. "A pathetic old man who was driven away by me with a mere piece of memory?"
"No, he won't leave," Harry insisted. "Because we still have people who are loyal to him." Harry took another step forward, almost bumping into Tom.
"Alright, I'm no longer in the mood to chat with you. Kill him, Lockhart!" Tom ordered in exasperation.
"Gladly at your service, my lord!" Lockhart took out his wand, preparing to "restore" the unarmed Harry to his factory settings. "Obliviate!"
Lockhart released the Memory Charm towards Harry. Suddenly, a figure appeared behind Harry. A hand with a ring stretched out from beside Harry, and multiple hexagonal crystal barriers materialized in front of the two. The Memory Charm slammed heavily on the barrier and was directly bounced back, the spell flying back along the trajectory it came from.
"No!" Lockhart cried out as he was hit by his own Memory Charm and fell to the ground.
"Ron!" Harry exclaimed in surprise, clearly seeing the person behind him.
"Always," Ron replied with a smile to Harry.
"A guy who does more harm than good." Tom watched Lockhart's defeat, drew his wand, and prepared to enter the battle himself.
"Enough, let me meet you." Tom pointed Harry's wand at Ron. "Stupefy!"
A bolt of magic shot toward the two. A barrier appeared in front of Ron, blocking the incoming spell.
"We have to make a quick decision; using this kind of magic consumes too much," Ron said while protecting Harry.
"What should I do? My wand is in his hands," Harry asked.
"I'll create an opportunity for you; you go up and snatch the wand back," Ron offered as a battle plan.
"Okay." Harry nodded.
After discussing, the two separated and fled. Ron raised his hand, gathering an attack spell, a white beam of light wrapped in black magic. Tom saw this incoming beam of light, did not dare to resist it head-on, and chose to dodge. The beam of light collided with the ground, producing a violent explosion, raising huge clouds of dust. Lord Voldemort's vision was blocked by the smoke and dust, and for a moment he lost track of Harry and Ron's location.
Seeing this scene, Tom also understood the tactics of the two, so he waved his wand. "Obscuro!"
Large swaths of white mist began to emerge inside the Chamber of Secrets, and everyone lost sight for a moment. Ron and Harry did not dare to speak, afraid of revealing their location, so several people had to play a game of blind man's bluff in the smoke.
"Still too young," Aiden, who was hiding in a conscious blind spot, sighed.
"Not bad, by the way, you guys actually trained Mr. Weasley so well. Can you send Harry over for special training during the holidays this year?" Dumbledore asked.
"Isn't Harry going back to the Dursleys to maintain the protective magic on him?" Aiden asked in confusion.
"How do you also know... Forget it. Maintaining the magic doesn't require living there for a long time; the point is to make his home still recognize him," Dumbledore explained.
"You write a letter yourself to communicate with Aunt Molly. Anyway, as long as she agrees, I have plenty of time," Aiden said, spreading his hands.
In the fog, Ron's intuition, which had been specially trained for a whole summer, finally came into play. He decided to bet his few remaining physical strengths on the next spell. He stretched out his right hand and gathered magic in front of his left. "Zoltraak!"
The huge beam of light roared and pierced through the mist. Tom was directly in the path of the beam of light. Tom's pupils reflected the incoming beam of light. He only had time to raise his wand and cast the last spell. "Protego!"
The attack magic and the Shield Charm collided, and the explosion echoed in the Chamber of Secrets. Fortunately, Mr. Slytherin's selection of materials for the Chamber was meticulous enough, and it did not cause a huge collapse. The powerful attack magic dispelled the mist. The smoke and dust dissipated. Tom was gone. Only a straight track was left on the ground, which had been plowed out by Ron's attack magic.
"Cool!" Harry limped over.
Lockhart also woke up, giggling, "Hehehehe, who are you?"
Ron picked up a piece of rubble on the ground and gave Lockhart a Stupefy.
"Aiden didn't lie to me," Ron said, scratching his nose modestly, his ears red with embarrassment. "He said that if you encounter a situation where you lose sight, you can solve the problem by bombing it hard."
"Let's go, let's take Ginny back," Ron said, waving his hand and walking toward the end of the chamber.
Harry quickly followed Ron.
Walking to the end of the Chamber of Secrets again, Harry accelerated forward and helped Ginny up.
"Hey, that's my sister," Ron said, shaking his head. He could only turn to walk toward Ernie. "This guy spreads rumors about you in school every day, and I didn't expect us to have to save him," Ron muttered dissatisfiedly, reaching out to help Ernie up.
[Chapter Complete]
***
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