Useless Tacit Understanding

Kyle's method was very effective.

After the thick stack of greeting cards was handed to the little people, they finally had a relatively normal morning.

Although some still managed to slip through the net and dart out from various nooks and crannies, Kyle managed to evade them all in time with his Disillusionment Charm.

As for class time... Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick both accepted Kyle's suggestion and used a spell to block the classroom door, preventing the dwarves from entering.

Moreover, I heard from people in other grades that there are two petrified dwarves in the Potions Classroom, placed on either side of the entrance to the underground classroom, like two tasteless statues.

At first, everyone thought there had been another attack and panicked, but they later learned that it was Snape's doing... to warn the remaining dwarves to stay away from him.

Inside the castle, as the two morning classes passed, the dwarves began to appear more and more frequently, clearly having completed their task.

When the last Charms class ended, three dwarves were already waiting for Kyle in the hallway.

It's similar on Cedric's side.

This forced them to eat lunch in the common room.

"Someone is definitely causing trouble!"

Cedric stuffed a piece of toast into his mouth, frowning. "There are so many people at Hogwarts, why are they always watching us? There's definitely something wrong here."

"Do I even need to think about it?" Kyle glanced at him and pointed towards the ceiling.

Cedric understood instantly, and gritted his teeth as he said, "Fred, George!"

No wonder he always felt the contents of those Kari looked familiar; now he understood completely—it was clearly the twins' style.

He had even felt guilty before, but he never expected that those two had already started their schemes. He guessed that the five little dwarfs he encountered near the Entrance Hall that morning were their doing.

Otherwise, how could it be such a coincidence that someone wrote him a greeting card as soon as he stepped out the door?

"Looks like we're on the same page," Kyle shrugged.

"Shall we continue writing this afternoon?" Cedric asked.

Kyle shook his head.

With three against two, their advantage wasn't significant, and Fred and George both enjoyed excitement, whether it was their own or someone else's, which already put them in an almost invincible position.

Furthermore, Hufflepuff has Defence Against the Dark Arts in the afternoons of their third year, Lockhart would never allow them to block the classroom door.

You can't exactly use the Disillusionment Charm and Invisibility Cloak in the classroom...

"Alright, let's let them off the hook for now."

Kyle thought about it and finally decided not to engage in this pointless contest with them, but to focus his firepower on Lockhart.

Moreover, they even paid out of their own pockets to become fervent admirers, earning a Knut for anyone who Lockhart.

One card for one Knut, twenty-nine cards for one knot.

The pay wasn't much, but the work was simple, and by the time classes started in the afternoon, all fifty spots were snapped up.

Lockhart was very happy, extremely happy.

He never imagined that after experiencing so much, he would have more and more admirers at Hogwarts... those more than a thousand greeting cards were proof of that.

Even if he doesn't even have time to attend classes, what does it matter?

If he could, he would want every day to be like this, every single day...

In the evening, Lockhart walked briskly toward the Great Hall. On the way, he saw a group of professors gathered in front of the underground classroom corridor, doing something he couldn't understand.

"It's so lively here, are you comparing the number of greeting cards you received?" He leaned closer and said proudly, "Why didn't anyone tell me... Oh, I bet you've heard too, I received over a thousand greeting cards..."

All the professors turned and glared at him.

Lockhart was startled and instinctively said, "Fine, if you think it's unfair to compete against me, I won't participate... Wait, why is there another dwarf here?"

He noticed a small, motionless man among the professors.

The problem is, they should have finished their mission and left the school thirty minutes ago.

"Ah...the problem solver has arrived," Snape said in a deep voice. "As you can see, another attack has occurred. Now, your moment to shine has finally come."

Lockhart stared at the petrified dwarf on the ground, his breathing becoming rapid.

The dwarf lay stiff in front of a suit of armor, just like the people who had been attacked earlier.

"No... this... how is this possible!" Lockhart stammered, "Don't joke around... Professor Snape, I could tell at a glance that he was petrified by Petrification Spell... like the one you left outside the underground classroom..."

"In fact," Snape glanced coldly at Lockhart, "I lifted their Petrification Spell three hours ago, or you could try it yourself; I think lifting the curse shouldn't be too difficult for you..."

"Of course... of course I can break the spell." Lockhart stepped forward with a stiff upper lip, waving his wand and Grawp incantations.

A muscle on Professor McGonagall's cheek bulged. She had lived for so many years and considered herself to have seen a lot of the world, but she had never heard such a strange incantation before... it was as if it had been made up on the spot.

She even doubted that if Lockhart were to repeat it again, he might not be able to do it exactly the same way.

Lockhart performed for almost a minute, and unsurprisingly, the petrified dwarf remained motionless.

"Oh, so the Voga tribe's arcane spells didn't work either?" Lockhart put away his wand. "I learned this from an old wizard during my travels; it can remove almost all curses."

"Oh?" Snape raised an eyebrow.

"I know what you're trying to say, Professor Snape," Lockhart sighed. "I've been fooled. That guy clearly hasn't seen much of the outside world."

"It's alright, the Mandrake are almost ripe, they'll recover soon."

Professor Sprout said, "But Gilderoy, didn't you say on the first day of school that you knew perfectly well who the successor was?"

"Then let's go find him; that's the most important thing."

"Yes...that's right...I know..." Lockhart started to panic.

If he knew who the successor was, he would have announced it widely by now. Why would he have waited until now?

But isn't Dumbledore the most powerful wizard? With such a long holiday, how come he still hasn't solved the Chamber of Secrets?

This is not what he expected!

Lockhart stammered and couldn't speak, and the other professors ignored him.

Professor Flitwick took the little man to the Hospital Wing.

The other professors also stood up and left one by one.

Nobody cared about Lockhart, as if he had never existed.

"Things are getting serious." Professor McGonagall looked at the bustling Great Hall in the distance. "We must find a way to resolve this before the students are harmed."

"But the problem is, who is it!" Snape said. "We've searched the whole castle, but we've found nothing."

"Let's wait a little longer, it'll be soon."

Professor Sprout whispered, "Wait another month... no, the Mandrake are getting more and more excited; they'll want to be repotted again in less than a month."

Those who were petrified must have seen something. Once they wake up, we'll know whether that monster was human or something else.

"You're right, Pomona," Professor McGonagall said somberly, "But a month is too long. None of us can guarantee what will happen during that time. In any case, I must speak to the students."