No Lockhart, and definitely not that ridiculous full set of Lockhart books.
With Lockhart's personality, there was no way he would not use his own books as textbooks. For money and fame, he would use every trick available.
So if those books were missing from next term's book list, that could only mean one thing.
The Defense Against the Dark Arts professor next term was not Lockhart.
Leonard's expression remained calm, because he knew panic was useless at a time like this. Besides, this sudden change was not necessarily a bad thing.
At the very least, he now knew who the suspicious person around him was.
For someone to directly squeeze out Lockhart, who should have become the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, and take that position instead, there was no way Dumbledore did not know about it.
Leonard thought it over in silence.
Combined with the strange things Dumbledore had said to him at the end of last term...
The next Defense Against the Dark Arts professor was probably someone who knew he possessed ancient magic.
So was it not someone from the Raven Organization?
With no further clues, Leonard had no real way to proceed. After all, he did not even know who the next Defense Against the Dark Arts professor was yet, so wild speculation was meaningless.
Still, at least he had a target now, didn't he? Maybe he could get some useful clues from that professor.
And compared to the flashy but useless Lockhart, a new professor might actually be able to teach something worthwhile.
"Now this is getting interesting. The only question is whether this professor can last a full year." Leonard put away the letter with clear interest.
The new term was about to begin.
Time to set off.
Destination: Diagon Alley.
...
This time, Leonard only brought Claudia with him to Diagon Alley. As for Londo... Leonard felt there was no need to bring him.
Londo himself had said he would not be of any use and only told Leonard to be careful on the way.
Leonard naturally agreed at once. As for what exactly he needed to be careful of... probably any bad luck that might run into him on the road.
Humans were very fragile in front of wizards. Even the simplest little magical prank could get a muggle killed.
But when it came to muggle weapons...
Everyone was equal.
Wizard, werewolf, vampire, whatever you were, in the face of enough firepower, all you became was a handful of ash.
Too bad Leonard did not have the right connections. Otherwise, he really wanted Midgard to arm her werewolves into a modern military force. That would be way more exciting than his plant army...
Then again, that was not quite right. No matter how strong werewolf wizards were, they were still carbon-based life-forms. But if it were those Whomping Willow tree people instead...
They could probably carry field guns and serve as artillery platforms.
Sadly, no matter how beautifully Leonard imagined it, modern equipment was not that easy to get. All he could do was think about it and swallow his envy.
Before long, Leonard arrived at Diagon Alley with Claudia. As usual, he rented a room first, then took Claudia to Ollivander's wand shop.
Claudia was about to begin learning magic.
Although she had once been a Unicorn, in Leonard's magical vision, the flow of magic inside her was almost exactly the same as that of an ordinary wizard.
That meant she truly had the talent to learn magic.
But Leonard had not gone to Ollivander's to buy Claudia a wand.
He had gone there to borrow some materials and tools.
Leonard planned to make a wand for Claudia himself.
His skill, however, was still not quite good enough. He had tried a few times before, but none of the results had satisfied him, so he intended to learn a bit more from Mr. Ollivander.
As usual, this was the busy season for Ollivander's wand shop. A large number of new students, well, really only a few dozen, came to buy their wands.
"Thank you very much, Mr. Ollivander."
When Leonard walked into the wand shop with Claudia, he happened to see a delicate-looking boy in first-year uniform, without a house crest yet, bowing to Mr. Ollivander with a camera in his arms.
Then the boy lifted the camera and started taking pictures everywhere. The flash kept going off around the shop, and Garrick Ollivander did not seem bothered at all, simply smiling as he watched the boy take photos.
But he soon noticed Leonard had arrived and said with a smile, "Long time no see, Leonard."
"It has been a while, Mr. Ollivander. How's business lately?" Leonard replied.
"Haha, my business is always the same. But without your help, wand repair is still quite a headache for me." Mr. Ollivander shook his head.
Only then did the boy with the camera notice that new customers had arrived, and he quickly lowered the camera.
After all, taking pictures of people without permission was a good way to make yourself disliked.
The boy looked at Leonard, but before his gaze could stay there for even half a second, it was drawn to Claudia beside him.
At that moment, Claudia was leaning close behind Leonard, looking up curiously at the wand boxes stacked all the way to the ceiling. Her eyes were full of wonder. She looked like a little deer in the forest that had suddenly run into a person, wary to the core, yet unable to hide that pitifully endearing air about her.
The little boy was stunned on the spot.
He held his camera blankly and forgot all about manners, instinctively wanting to take a picture.
Click!
The flash went off, but he captured nothing, because before he could press the shutter, Leonard had already reached out and blocked the lens with his hand.
Looking at the hand covering his camera, the little boy finally realized how rude he had been and quickly apologized.
"I... I'm sorry. I just couldn't help myself... You're a Hogwarts student too, right? My name is Colin Creevey. I'm a new Hogwarts student."
Oh.
So it was that Harry Potter fangirl, the one who loved taking pictures everywhere.
Leonard nodded expressionlessly, which counted as a greeting.
Seeing that, Colin smiled awkwardly and asked, "Um... can I take a picture of her? Just one."
Smack.
The hand that had been resting on the camera was now pressing down on Colin's head.
"No." Leonard looked down at him from above, staring at Colin with a fierce expression. "Don't even think about it. Otherwise, I'll twist your head right off."
Cold sweat broke out on Colin's face at once, and he stammered, "S s sorry."
"Forget it, Leonard. The child doesn't mean any harm. He's just too excited because it's his first time in Diagon Alley." Ollivander said with a smile. "Let him come over. He still hasn't bought his wand."
"My apologies, Mr. Ollivander. I frightened your customer." Leonard let go of Colin's head as soon as he heard that.
"Heh, you little rascal... go sit in the back for a while. Once I've picked out his wand, we can talk." Ollivander waved a hand and pointed toward the storeroom behind the shop.
"Sorry to trouble you." Leonard nodded, then walked into the storeroom under Colin's trembling gaze.