Lockhart's Adventure, I Have Mandrake

Harry took a few deep breaths and gripped the quill in his pocket.

"Knock knock--"

Harry raised his hand and knocked on Lockhart's office door.

"Oh, is that Harry? Come in."

As Harry pushed open the door, Harry saw Lockhart sitting at his desk as usual, signing books or letters with his fancy Peacock Quill.

Lockhart flashed his signature smile and waved to Harry.

"Today should be your last punishment assignment, right? We've had a great time together over the past month. If you enjoy the experience of being a celebrity early on, you can come here anytime to help me reply to my readers and fans!"

Harry felt nauseous at Lockhart's words. If he hadn't caused such a big mess at the beginning of the school year, he wouldn't have been punished for so long. And most of his tasks involved signing replies for Lockhart. He was sick of seeing the name Gilderoy Lockhart!

Harry forced a smile that looked shy but was actually awkward, and sat down opposite Lockhart.

Harry relaxed slightly as he took out the quill from his pocket. It was a quill he'd gotten from Lucien, its function simple: to do tedious, repetitive copying, perfect for boring tasks like signing Lockhart's name.

Harry only needed to pretend to hold the quill, and the pile of books in front of him would conveniently block Lockhart's view; the rest was up to the quill.

Suddenly, Harry noticed an hourglass on the pile of books, something that hadn't been there before.

Seeing that Harry had discovered the hourglass, Lockhart explained with a smile:

"You know, I have so many fans who love and admire me. When I have to read so many letters, I sometimes lose track of time. After all, I can't let my fans' enthusiasm get cold, can I?"

"This hourglass will be perfect for reminding myself to keep track of time."

Lockhart then turned the hourglass upside down, letting the sand begin to flow.

Harry gave a muffled "hmm," listening to the faint sounds coming from the hourglass, and looked down at the cheesy, even morbid, fan letters written to Lockhart.

"Harry, fame is like a fickle friend..."

"Celebrities should act like celebrities..."

Lockhart's rambling and the sound of flowing sand echoed in Harry's ears at the same time.

Suddenly, a wave of drowsiness washed over Harry.

"Clang--"

Harry's forehead slammed directly onto the table.

Lockhart's eyes lit up with joy as he saw Harry fall asleep.

He reached out and gently tapped the hourglass, and the sand inside immediately stopped flowing.

Lockhart took the old diary from the drawer, stuffed it into his pocket, glanced back at Harry who had fallen into a deep sleep, and hurriedly left the office.

He's going to the Chamber of Secrets now to release the Basilisk!

Following Tom's advice in his diary, Lockhart found himself an alibi.

That's Harry, who comes to his place every now and then.

The so-called hourglass is one of Lockhart's magical artifacts. Sometimes he would not only "borrow" the experiences of other wizards, but also take away the key evidence or gains from those experiences, since the original owners had no memory of them, keeping them would be a waste.

The hourglass's effect is simple: just hearing the sound of flowing sand, combined with the words of the hourglass's owner, can induce a deep sleep.

Lockhart had calculated that it wouldn't take long for him to go to the Chamber of Secrets to release the Basilisk and then return to wake Harry. He could then keep Harry there for a while, and with the help of the paused hourglass, he could easily fool him, since Harry was just a child.

As Lockhart made his way to the location of the Chamber of Secrets, he paid no attention to the little bats that were secretly following him. It was normal to have bats around at this time of year, since Halloween was almost here.

Arriving at the washroom where the Weeping Moaning Myrtle was, it was empty.

Following Tom's instructions, Lockhart first sprinkled some potion to confuse ghosts' senses, so as to avoid being seen by Moaning Myrtle.

He took out his diary from his pocket and held it close to a water tap.

A few seconds later, the dark entrance to the Chamber of Secrets appeared before Lockhart's eyes.

Thinking of the fame that was within easy reach, Lockhart swallowed hard and jumped into the entrance.

Immediately afterwards, a bat hidden in the darkness appeared, Transfiguration naturally and smoothly into a moth in mid-air before disappearing into the entrance of the Chamber of Secrets.

Following the route that appeared in the diary, Lockhart quickly arrived at a large door with reliefs and once again held the diary close to the door.

The familiar procedure was followed by the door being flung open with a loud bang.

Accompanied by a chilling scraping sound, a huge, dazzling green snake slowly crawled out, its fifty-foot-long body sending cold sweat down Lockhart's back.

Lockhart quickly lowered his head, not daring to look into the Basilisk's eyes.

Holding the diary above his head, Lockhart waited anxiously, feeling time moving unusually slowly.

But actually, the green Basilisk swam away very quickly, disappearing into a pipe.

Lockhart gasped for breath, wiped the sweat from his brow, and then left the Chamber of Secrets.

After a few minutes, the entire Chamber of Secrets fell into dead silence.

A moth drifted down and in the blink of an eye transformed into a boy with dark green eyes.

Lucien summoned the Liuguang, and the moment the little Qilin appeared, it seemed to dispel the surrounding coldness and darkness.

"Master, this place is so 'dirty'!"

Upon hearing this, Lucien patted the little Qilin's neck.

"It's alright, this place will be purified in a while."

"I'll leave this space marked so I can come directly here later."

Once the Liuguang had set the mark, Lucien had it teleport him away.

On the other side.

Defense Against the Dark Arts Office.

"Harry, why are you asleep? Have you been studying too hard lately?"

Harry woke up groggily when he heard someone calling his name.

"Oh, did I fall asleep?"

Harry quickly sat up, adjusted his glasses, and saw that the hourglass in front of him had only moved a little.

"I just looked down for a moment and saw you lying there. Sigh, young people need to take care of their health. Even if you become famous in the future, you'll still need to be in good shape..."

Listening to Lockhart's rambling, Harry felt genuinely embarrassed, as dozing off in front of the professor was rather awkward.

Suddenly, a chilling, cold, and malevolent voice crept into Harry's ears:

"Let me... tear you apart... and kill you..."

"It wasn't me!"

Harry stood in the aisle, pointing to a torch stand as he explained, on which hung a stiff gray cat with wide, unblinking yellow eyes like light bulbs.

Harry felt both unlucky and wronged. He had finally finished his punishment and was about to go back to his dormitory to rest.

And then, in the hallway, I heard that cold, sinister whisper again, exactly the same one I'd heard in Lockhart's office earlier!

The constant repetition of bloodshed, killing, and devouring terrified Harry, who feared that some unknown monster might be trying to harm people in the castle. As he followed along, he suddenly stumbled upon Mrs. Norris, who was hanging up. Filch's cat looked dead, her body stiff and frightening.

But what's even more chilling are the red writings on the wall:

"The Chamber of Secrets has been opened. Beware of those who oppose the heir..."

"You're next, you Mudblood!"

That red liquid, which smelled fishy, looked exactly like it was smeared with blood!

Filch stood in front of his cat, covering his face and howling. Mrs Norris was his only companion. As a Squib who didn't belong in this wizarding school, only an ordinary house cat could listen to him.

More and more people gathered, drawn by Filch's weeping. Harry wanted to explain quickly, but he didn't know how. That cold, eerie whisper seemed to be heard only by himself. When he asked Lockhart in the office, he said no.

"Why, why did you do this to my cat? Why did you do this to me!?"

Just as Filch was about to break down, Dumbledore arrived with a group of professors.

The glaring bloodstains on the wall and the motionless cat made Dumbledore's eyes gleam.

Upon seeing Dumbledore, Filch said excitedly:

"Headmaster, it's me... someone... my cat has been killed... it's... it's Harry Potter..."

Dumbledore had been observing Mrs Norris's condition, his blue eyes behind his half-moon spectacles gleaming slightly. He then raised a hand to stop Filch's incoherent ramblings.

"Argus, Mrs. Norris is not dead."

Filch still found it hard to believe what Dumbledore saying:

"But... but it's stopped breathing and its heart isn't beating anymore, and it's so... so stiff. It was so... so lively and agile..."

Filch started crying again as he spoke, which made the young wizards watching look at each other in bewilderment. Filch was usually fierce and seemed to have a deep grudge against everyone. Why was he crying like this because of a cat?

"Yes, yes, Harry Potter, you said you didn't do it, but... but you were there, didn't you see it...?"

Filch was interrupted before he could finish his anxious words.

"Oh, Harry was helping me reply to fan messages and only just finished for a short while. I think he was just unlucky to see this upsetting scene."

As Lockhart spoke, he pulled Harry to his side, not flashing his signature smile, but instead displaying an air of righteous indignation, as if he were vouching for Harry with his own reputation.

After saying this, Lockhart fell silent, and did not, as he usually did, jump out to claim that he knew what curse Mrs. Norris had been cursed with and how to break it.

Harry felt a little pain as Lockhart gripped his arm; Lockhart was holding on too tightly.

Lockhart's sudden remark disappointed Snape, who had initially intended to find fault, and he turned back to examine the strangely behaving cat.

Lucien, who was standing in the crowd, watched this scene with cold eyes.

His acting was alright, but it could be more natural. He could just make things up like he usually does, and then bring up his adventures. That would be better and more in line with people's impressions.

It seemed like he was helping Harry testify, but in reality, he wanted Harry to also provide an alibi for him.

Young Tom's suggestion to Lockhart was alright.

That hourglass was quite interesting; was it hypnotic?

In that short time, Dumbledore had already identified it.

"Mrs. Norris is petrified."

Upon hearing this, Filch seemed even more provoked:

"Yes, who is that? Which little wizard wrote these words in blood? Does he hate Muggle-born wizard? Does he hate Squib? Why, why..."

Seeing this, Dumbledore sighed and comforted him:

"It's alright, we can cure it."

"Don't doubt the student; this is a very rare form of Dark Magic, and it's impossible for the student to have mastered a curse of this level."

Dumbledore then looked at Professor Sprout.

"I know of a potion that can lift this petrification curse. All we need to do is wait for the Mandrake in the school to mature; Professor Sprout has already planted quite a lot."

Now that the tension had eased, Lockhart seemed to remember his persona. In order to act perfectly normal, just like Tom had instructed in the diary, he quickly replied:

"I can prepare it. Oh, I've refined that kind of medicine no less than a hundred times, even while dreaming—"

Snape, who had been annoyed with Lockhart since the beginning, was even more furious to see that this guy had not only taken his position Professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts, but also dared to brazenly claim that he wanted to surpass the legitimate Potions Professor!

Snape stared at Lockhart with an unfriendly gaze:

"I am the Potions Professor."

After being rebuffed by Snape, Lockhart awkwardly shut his mouth and fell silent again, disappearing from the scene once more.

"Um, if you need Mandrake, I have some here."

Dumbledore, who was about to announce the disbandment, saw a hand raised in the crowd, and then he saw Lucien's face, which was both unexpected and not so unexpected.

Lucien just planted some Mandrake, which seems pretty normal...

"That's great, Lucien, you've made a contribution to the school."

While praising Dumbledore brought Lucien to his side. He had to maintain a calm demeanor, but given that such a serious incident as the curse had occurred at the school, Dumbledore certainly wanted to resolve it as soon as possible.

"Professor, would you like to check if this Mandrake meets the standards?"

Lucien asked Professor Sprout, while pulling a large glass jar from his pocket. The jar was filled with a purplish-green liquid, which was Mandrake.

Looking at the huge jar, Sprout's eyelids twitched slightly, wondering just how much Mandrake this kid had planted?

No wonder Lucien handled Mandrake so skillfully in class...

"Open the jar and begin inspection, "Sprout whispered.

"Lucien, you need to be careful with all that Mandrake you're raising. You know how it is with adult individuals..."

Lucien nodded to indicate that he understood.

"Don't worry, I've recently acquired some potions and gadgets that will come in handy, and I'm being very careful with these plants."

Of course, my initial curiosity stemmed from the fact that mature Mandrake could roar so powerfully that it could even kill someone.

After all, Chinese Biting Cabbage, Mandrake, and Venomous Tentacula are the signature plants of the plant-based strategy.

Unfortunately, without special cultivation or magical assistance, these magical plants are mostly used as auxiliary tools in actual combat.

Professor Sprout quickly completed the confirmation.

"This Mandrake is of excellent quality, top-grade, and absolutely meets the requirements for making medicine."