Harry Potter and the Burnt Badger

"And here, magic will not take effect. Not only does the spell have no effect, it will also attract monsters, including during the day. No one knows where they come from, but as long as you wave your wand and say Once you cast the spell, they will quickly rush in front of you and pounce on you."

"One time...oh...I really didn't expect Lockhart to be that kind of person..."

Hermione's voice became increasingly painful, and after mentioning Lockhart, this pain was suddenly mixed with an inexplicable anger.

Moon knew that rather than being comforted, Hermione probably needed to share more at the moment. She also needed to tell all the experiences of this long dream life so that she could have a channel to vent.So he didn't answer, but sat quietly and listened.

In this way, Hermione began to talk about the entanglement between her and Lockhart bit by bit.

In fact, when he was just pulled into the dream, Gilderoy Lockhart still maintained the same graceful appearance as when he was in the outside world. He would even comfort Hermione from time to time, saying that he was used to solve the problem. The magic of the curse might take effect at some point, and by then they can leave this dreamland.

However, when night fell in the dream and those giant spider monsters began to climb along the outer wall of the house, Lockhart was completely panicked.This guy was obviously frightened. He was restless at first, and then, not long after, he got up and rushed to the door, shouting that he wanted to escape from the house. It wouldn't be long before those spider monsters would rush in and kill them. Take them all away.

As a result, as soon as he opened the door, he looked into the eyes of a huge spider monster.

Lockhart was so frightened that he froze on the spot, and Hermione screamed suddenly - not only because of seeing the monster, but also because after discovering Lockhart and Hermione, the spider monster suddenly suddenly violently He crawled through the door and bit Lockhart with his sharp feet.

Lockhart turned around and ran away. Naturally, Hermione also quickly opened her legs and ran towards the upstairs. The spider monster was chasing after them, looking like it was determined to eat them both. .

At this moment, Lockhart did something that Hermione could not imagine at all:

Just as he was about to reach the second floor, Lockhart suddenly turned around and pushed Hermione down the stairs.

She was just a 12-year-old girl, and she had no defense. How could she stand firm under Lockhart's push?Therefore, with just one push, Hermione fell down the stairs, taking the spider monster with her and tumbling down the stairs.

"I swear, I definitely heard the scream of that spider at that moment. It was hoarse and scary." Hermione rubbed her arms. Even though so long had passed, she still felt the same when she mentioned this matter. Goosebumps arose one floor after another. "I was really frightened, but maybe it was just because I was too scared, so as soon as I fell down the stairs, I struggled to get up and ran elsewhere."

Fortunately, this dream scene was based on the home Hermione remembered, so she was very familiar with the structure of the house.And it was precisely because of her familiarity with the terrain that she was able to successfully escape the pursuit of the spider monster and hide in the kitchen on the first floor.

Even more fortunately, although the spider monster is scary in size, it is still a spider after all. It does not know how to unscrew the spherical handle of the kitchen door, so it can only knock on the kitchen door crazily with its pointed feet from outside.

In fact, if it was just a spider monster, she wouldn't be in such pain, but just now, her Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, whom she has always admired, even those negative news among the little wizards at Hogwarts Gilderoy Lockhart, who still believed in the rumor even though it was spreading, actually pushed her into the monster's mouth with his own hands?

Confusion about unknown scenes, fear of spider monsters, and the collapse of trust in Gilderoy Lockhart - three negative emotions easily broke through Hermione's strength, and Hermione just cowered in the kitchen. In the cupboard, I cried heartbreakingly and prayed that I could get out of here as soon as possible, until I didn't know when I gradually fell asleep.

When she woke up again, someone was turning the kitchen door lock.

Hermione was startled and quickly took out her wand from her robe pocket and pointed it at the door. The next moment, Gilderoy Lockhart pushed the door open and walked in with that familiar smile on his face - -Unfortunately, at this moment, Hermione looked like that smile was simply ugly.

Of course, Lockhart was full of explanations for his previous actions.He kept saying that he was just too panicked and didn't hold Hermione's collar firmly. He actually just wanted to pull Hermione upstairs.However, Hermione knew very well that when he pushed her down, instead of showing any panic in Lockhart's eyes, there was a kind of joy in surviving the disaster.

Therefore, she naturally did not believe Lockhart's lies at all, and instead held her wand tighter.

When Lockhart saw this, he also drew his wand.

"What an unpleasant girl. Why can't you just believe me and just put down your wand and walk out?" When he said this, Lockhart pointed his wand firmly at Hermione's forehead. "Believe me." , I didn’t plan to use such a terrifying method to deal with you, but you forced me to do this. Since you are stubborn, I have no choice but to erase all your memories. In this way, at least when we are rescued in the future, I can also tell everyone how much effort I have put in for you here, just to take you out of this absurd and terrifying place."

"Or, when the monsters arrive, I can let them eat you first to gain a rare chance of survival for myself."

It turns out that villains die from talking too much.

Although Lockhart's misfortune actually had nothing to do with his talking too much, when he waved his wand first and cast a forgetting spell on Hermione who was shocked by the huge amount of information and didn't know what to do, , the wand did not give any feedback.

His ever-victorious Oblivion Curse seemed to suddenly fail at this moment.

And just as Lockhart looked at his wand with a blank expression, there was a sudden loud noise from the door of the house, and a giant spider monster that was much bigger than the spider monster during the day ran very fast. He headed here, blocking Hermione and Lockhart in the kitchen.

Hermione finally reacted. She closed the cupboard door and quickly climbed up inside the connected cupboard, hoping to avoid Lockhart and the spider monster.

A few seconds later, the cupboard door she had just closed was pulled open from the outside - it must have been Lockhart, but then, Hermione heard a scream close at hand, The sound should also come from Lockhart.

"Then, I don't know what happened outside." Hermione unconsciously pressed her knees with her fingers, as if to relieve the pressure in her heart in this way. "I huddled in the cupboard, and when I moved I didn't dare to move or even make a sound. It wasn't until after a while, maybe ten minutes or even longer, that I heard no sound from outside. Then I dared to open the cupboard at the same position I was at. Seam, secretly looking outside."

"But the kitchen outside is completely empty. Lockhart is gone, and the huge spider monster has also disappeared." Hermione whispered, "I took the opportunity to crawl out, and I didn't dare to look anywhere else, so I quickly I quietly sneaked back to this room upstairs, which is...'my room', then locked the door and hid here, and I have been hiding here until now."

She forced a smile towards Moon with difficulty, "Fortunately, I don't have to eat or go to the toilet, right?"

Moon nodded sympathetically, but Hermione had already lowered her head. "Anyway, it took several days before I heard Lockhart's voice again in the house. He was everywhere in the house. He was looking for me until he found out that the room was locked, and then he started coming over every few days, banging on the door, shouting, and cursing me, as if he was crazy. I even wondered...if he was possessed by a monster. Already..."

"Moon, what did you say-" Hermione raised her head again, but she suddenly stopped mid-sentence.At the same time, Moon also felt something was wrong. He looked at his body. Sure enough, his whole body seemed to have turned into a broken light bulb, flickering brightly and dimly.Moreover, the pushing feeling that had subsided for a while came back again, and even became stronger.

Apparently, it seemed that Professor Dumbledore was trying to wake him from Hermione's dream.

"See you outside, Hermione—"

As soon as he had time to leave such a sentence, Moon felt the world spinning again.When he opened his eyes again and saw everything around him clearly, he was already back in the hospital of Hogwarts.

The first thing that appeared in front of him was the concerned eyes of Professor Dumbledore and Madam Pomfrey.

"Professor, Madam Pomfrey." Moon sat up and suddenly found that he had been carried to a hospital bed at some point.

"Welcome back, Moon." Professor Dumbledore smiled and looked at Madam Pomfrey standing next to him. "Actually, you should have been awakened a few minutes earlier, but unfortunately, I had to spend Give Madam Pomfrey a few minutes to explain why you suddenly fell to the ground and why I did not stop you from trying to break the curse on Miss Granger."

Madam Pomfrey completely ignored the helpless smile on Professor Dumbledore's face, and still said with a straight face, "Headmaster, this is my responsibility, not to mention this is the school doctor's office."

After saying this, Madam Pomfrey stepped forward, first squeezed Moon's arm, and then poked Moon's forehead, "Fox, are you okay?"

"I'm fine, madam, don't worry." Moon exchanged glances with Professor Dumbledore, and said quickly and understandingly: "Thank you for your concern."

"Okay." Madam Pomfrey finally let go of Moon, and turned back to look at Professor Dumbledore, the serious expression on her face quietly melting away. "It seems that your method is indeed effective. Headmaster, Miss Granger and Professor Lockhart can finally be rescued, you are indeed the greatest white wizard of our time."

Hearing this, the old man suddenly smiled and said, "Oh, Poppy, you are almost making me blush. Ah, I think, why don't I wake up these two people on the hospital bed quickly?"

"Wait a minute -" Moon suddenly interrupted Professor Dumbledore's spellcasting, and at the same time said to Madam Pomfrey: "Sorry, Madam Pomfrey, I have something very important..."

"I suddenly remembered that the potion used by Miss Granger and Professor Lockhart to regulate their bodies should be ready soon." Madam Pomfrey said quickly: "After the two of them are awakened, Headmaster, please Don't let them leave the hospital immediately, after all, they have been lying in the hospital bed for half a month."

"Don't worry, Poppy, I will remember it." Professor Dumbledore bowed and responded to Madam Pomfrey's words.

Until Madam Pomfrey walked away from the hospital bed with brisk steps, Professor Dumbledore immediately cut off the surrounding sounds again, and then looked at Moon curiously, "It seems that after being dragged into Miss Granger's dream, you seemed ...Have you experienced something extraordinary?"

Moon didn't hesitate. After all, there were two people waiting to come out, so he immediately told Professor Dumbledore all the things he learned in the dream, especially what happened between Hermione and Lockhart.

After all, this is no small matter. Telling the old man all this in advance can also make him feel confident.

After listening to Moon's story as concisely as possible, Professor Dumbledore's expression suddenly became very solemn.He quietly looked at Hermione and Lockhart on the hospital bed, and began to unconsciously tap the railings of the hospital bed with his fingers.It wasn't until a while later that he slowly exhaled and said softly: "Fortunately, you told me this in advance, Moon. I think... I probably know how to deal with it."

Moon responded, took two steps back to the side, and watched Professor Dumbledore pull out his wand and start casting a spell on Hermione.

As the long and complicated spell was recited softly from the old man's mouth, streaks of light yellow mist suddenly flowed from the tip of the elder wand, and as if there was life, quietly flowed to Hermione's head. Body.

Then, after the mist and Hermione's body came into contact with each other, the light yellow mist suddenly turned into a slender and smooth ribbon, covering Hermione's face in layers.

The next moment, Hermione suddenly began to pant violently, and a burst of scarlet turbid breath suddenly surged out of her mouth, all soaking into the light yellow ribbon, and even dyed the entire ribbon with the same fishy smell. Red.

After being stained with various colors, the ribbon turned into fly ash inch by inch - until all the ribbons disappeared, Hermione's eyes quietly opened.

"Mu..." Her voice was a little hoarse, sounding even worse than in a dream. "Moon? Professor Dumbledore? I...I'm back?"

Hermione asked blankly as if she couldn't believe it. After Moon and Professor Dumbledore nodded together, she immediately struggled to sit up from the bed, looking around and reaching for her body. She groped around everywhere, as if to confirm that this was indeed her body.

"Am I really back?!"

The girl wanted to get up from the bed, but Professor Dumbledore raised his hand to stop her. "Don't worry, Miss Granger, this is indeed the real Hogwarts. What happened to you?" The curse has been dispelled. However, you have actually been lying on the hospital bed for half a month, and your body is still very weak. It is best not to rush to the ground to move around."

Under the old man's gentle soothing, Hermione calmed down a little. She nodded, stopped moving, and then quickly asked: "What about Lockhart? Is he going to be saved too -"

Chapter 55 Lockhart’s Lies and Headaches

"No, Professor Dumbledore, you must not revive Lockhart!" Hermione said anxiously: "He is far from being as great as what is written in his book! He is simply a despicable person with a human face and an animal heart. You villain! If you don’t believe me, you can ask Moon what Lockhart did to me there. Moon saw it all! I swear! Even in court, in front of lawyers and judges, I am willing to testify! "

In desperation, Hermione even said some words commonly used by Muggles. Professor Dumbledore had no choice but to raise his hand and press it softly. While comforting Hermione, he said softly: "Okay, okay, Miss Granger." , I know that Mr. Fox has already told me about the things you encountered in the dream - and I am willing to believe you, really. But I think, I am afraid we must rescue Lockhart. "

"No, he is a liar!" Hermione felt that she had not expressed her words clearly. "He wanted to use the Forgetting Curse to erase my memory! I am sure that all the contents he wrote in the book, those The heroic and desirable encounters were definitely obtained by him using the Forgetting Curse to 'take advantage of' him!"

Seeing that Hermione began to become more and more agitated, Professor Dumbledore raised his voice slightly and continued: "I understand that you have experienced some painful experiences, Miss Granger. And, I am even very I agree with your inference, and I don’t think that all Lockhart’s experiences written in the book were his personal experiences. But, please think about it carefully——”

"Whether it's to make him pay for the harm he caused you in the dream, or to make him repent and admit his mistakes to those wizards who took away their experiences, memories and lives from him, and receive the due treatment. Punishment, I think, these are more important. And if he is allowed to lie on this hospital bed and stay in that dream, then we will not be able to do all of this, right? "

After hearing this, Hermione finally calmed down a little, and she began to realize that she actually failed to understand Professor Dumbledore's intention.So, she quickly found out: "If this is the case, then I am willing to go to the Ministry of Magic to testify. At least I can prove that he is a despicable and shameless person, even if I have to drink veritaserum or something! What you said That’s right! Lockhart must be punished as he deserves!”

The old man turned back and glanced at Moon beside him. Some thoughts seemed to have passed through his mind. He moved his gaze back to the face of the indignant Hermione, and then showed a meaningful smile, "Miss Granger, I'm sorry. , I think, based on what Moon said about your experiences in the dream, even if your memory is extracted as physical evidence, there is still no way to prove that Lockhart has taken away other people's memories in real life."

Hermione thought over Professor Dumbledore's words in her mind, and she had to admit that Professor Dumbledore was right.

To be able to present himself as a great hero and hero for such a long time, Lockhart is obviously a person who is good at weaving lies.And all she can prove is that "Lockhart will forget the curse" and "Lockhart is a shameless person".

That's not really hard evidence compared to what Lockhart may well have done, isn't it?

Hermione suddenly realized the meaning of the old man's words - obviously, if she really wanted Lockhart to be punished, she had to think of some way...

"I understand, Professor Dumbledore." The girl said excitedly: "I will try to come up with something -"

"Oh?" Professor Dumbledore pursed his lips and said with a smile: "What do you understand? Miss Granger? You know - I didn't try to make you understand anything. Ah, I think, time is running out. It's early, we'd better not delay it any longer, it's time to wake up our 'Professor Lockhart'. However, in view of what you experienced in the dream, Miss Granger, maybe you are willing to let Moon help you. I want you to go to the hospital bed a little further away first, so as to avoid any further conflicts between you and Professor Lockhart?"

This time, Hermione did not complain or try to persuade the old man not to wake Lockhart, but nodded happily.

As for Moon, although he was very curious about Professor Dumbledore's behavior just now, now was obviously not a good time to ask.And Professor Dumbledore was right. If he planned to wake up Lockhart and temporarily appease this guy so that he could not think about escaping from Hogwarts, he and Hermione would be better off avoiding him first.

"It's okay, you don't have to get out of bed -" Seeing Hermione trying to turn over, Moon quickly stopped her, took out his wand and cast a moving spell on Hermione's bed.

If Madam Pomfrey saw that he and Professor Dumbledore were letting Hermione get off the ground and walk around on her own even after being warned, he and Professor Dumbledore would probably not be able to have a good rest tonight.

After Moon slowly retreated from Hermione's hospital bed, Professor Dumbledore pointed his wand at Lockhart with a complex expression, and softly recited the long spell again.

After a while, Lockhart's eyelids opened slightly.

Then he squirmed backwards from his bed, as if the person standing before him was not Albus Dumbledore but some horrible noseless villain.

Not only that, while Lockhart backed away, he turned his head sharply and looked to both sides, as if he was trying to find something.

Professor Dumbledore naturally wouldn't think that this guy was trying to find a stick to knock him out. There was no doubt that Lockhart was trying to find Moon and Hermione.

So, the principal pretended to be curious, "Professor Lockhart, what are you looking for? Well, I have to admit, I didn't expect you to be so... uh, frightened? According to your previous description. Miss Granger said it when she was undoing the curse, I thought you knew very well that Miss Granger was casting a dream-weaver curse, and you were familiar with what you were about to encounter."

"Ah? What, uh, ah..." Lockhart blinked quickly and quickly forced himself to calm down - he didn't find the damn Moon Fawkes, nor the stupid Hermione Grant. Jay, but that's not necessarily good news, and it's even more likely to be bad news.

In all likelihood, those two little brats had been rescued, just like that damn Moon Fox had said.

but……

Judging from the behavior of the old guy Albus Dumbledore, why did he think that those two little brats were probably lying somewhere else?

Years of lying experience made Lockhart immediately make up his mind. He forced himself to put on a beautiful smile and said loudly: "Ah, yes, Professor Dumbledore, of course I know that is, uh, Dreamweaver. The only reason I'm so panicked right now is because, well, well, I was trying to kill a big monster just now - by the way, where is Granger? Why didn't I see her?"

He deliberately did not mention Moon, hoping to test Dumbledore's reaction.

"Ah, Mr. Fox and Miss Granger have been revived by me first, but Miss Granger's condition is very poor, so I asked Mr. Fox to take her to find Madam Pomfrey first. I guess they are still alive. It will take a while to come back." Professor Dumbledore shrugged lightly, "It's really pitiful, isn't it."

Hearing this, Lockhart felt reassured.It seemed that although the two little brats were rescued, they did not have time to tell Dumbledore what happened there.

This is simply great news.

Several countermeasures quickly emerged in Lockhart's mind, and in order to give those two little brats some real punishment, he almost without hesitation chose the most severe one.

"Pity? Ha, Professor Dumbledore, although I hate to say this, but I am completely disappointed with the students of Hogwarts." Lockhart said half-sighing, half-angry: "To be honest, in I've had enough before, these little guys actually attacked me in class together with those Cornish elves. You know, I have always liked these children very much and feel that they are the future of the wizarding world, so I treat them Completely unprepared—"

"The result? That's how they repaid me! If it weren't for my profound magic and quick mind, oh, my God, you know how much the Cornish elves like to hurt others, right? If I hadn't handled it well that day, I still don’t know what kind of torture I’m going to get into!”

Even with Professor Dumbledore's extensive knowledge, he never expected that Lockhart could actually say such words without blushing or heartbeat——

Cornish elf?Just a bunch of Cornish elves?

Professor Dumbledore had no doubt that, let alone the four deans, even if he locked Professor Bablin in a room with a group of third- and fourth-year wizards and a group of Cornish elves, and let those group The little wizard launched a sneak attack, and it was difficult for Professor Bablin to be hung upside down by those Cornish elves.

What you said is even more outrageous than Severus Snape suddenly praising Neville Longbottom as a smart and cute little clever guy.

However, what Professor Dumbledore didn't expect even more was that an even bigger lie was yet to come.

"And this time! Ha! Ha! My eyes have really been opened!"

The words 'outrage' were performed so vividly by Lockhart that even Hermione just now felt ashamed and resigned.

"Can you believe it? Professor Dumbledore, in that weird house created by the Dreamweaver Curse, oh, my God! Hermione Granger actually tried to sneak attack me again and use me as a You're the one who pushed me into the monster's mouth in exchange for a chance for her to escape!"

Lockhart burst into tears as he spoke, feeling heartbroken, angry, and inexplicably sad. The tears from the corners of his eyes flowed down one by one as if they were free, and gently crossed his handsome and perfect jawline.

It makes the listeners sad and the listeners in tears.

And Professor Dumbledore... he's kind of dying.

Don't say it, don't say it. If he hadn't known that Lockhart was a liar, if Lockhart hadn't been hung upside down by a group of Cornish elves before, if he hadn't let Moon in A trip to a dream, if Moon hadn't told him everything, or if Hermione Granger hadn't just said every word sincerely.

If all these things did not exist, Professor Dumbledore felt that he might have really believed in this guy's evil.

This acting is so good...it would be a shame not to do "Fountain of Good Luck".

Regrettably, even though I could hardly hold back this calm expression of sympathy and regret, in order to expose Lockhart's scam with irrefutable evidence in a fair and just way (rather than through any coercive means), I gave him a fresh look by the way. The optimistic trio had a chance to practice, but Professor Dumbledore had to force himself to cooperate and perform to the best of his ability.

So he had no choice but to say angrily: "What? There is such a thing?"

"I can't believe it either..." Lockhart sadly wiped away the two new tears that flowed from the corner of his eyes with his hand. "If this thing didn't really happen to me, oh, Merlin... who would? Do you believe that a group of cute children can do such horrific things?"

Before Professor Dumbledore could speak again, Lockhart said again, "You don't have to persuade me! Huh, I originally thought I would be at Hogwarts - at least a little bit welcomed, but now it seems , these little wizards don't seem to like me as much as I expected. I may... really not be suitable to be a professor here. Professor Dumbledore, Headmaster, please allow me to resign and leave Hogwarts, don't worry , these things are in the past, and I will not pursue them, whether it is the little wizards who collaborated with the Cornish elves to harm me, or Hermione Granger, I will not pursue them."

Like the melancholic and handsome protagonist in a Muggle movie, Lockhart said sadly and lostly: "After all, they are still young. I hope they can become more useful, more accomplished, and kinder people in the future."