Lockhart was absolutely furious and no longer cared about his teacher-student relationship with Tom.
He took his quill pen, dipped it haphazardly in ink, and vented his emotions page after page in his Diary.
"Ha! Release the Basilisk? What a stupid idea!"
"It failed! Someone saw it!"
"I've been so worried these past few days that I can't sleep at all, I'm almost constantly worried that Dumbledore will come after me!"
"I'm not even in the mood for Valentine's Day! It's all because of your stupid idea!"
Lockhart poured his furious curses into his writing, drawing out the last syllable of each word to make it look incredibly angry.
The pages of the Diary trembled, the two pages rubbing together with a rustling sound, as if someone was grinding their teeth in barely suppressed anger.
Line after line of hasty, hurried handwriting appeared on the Diary.
[Is it my fault? You blame me?]
[I told you not to attack Pure-blood wizard! You insisted on punishing Malfoy, who opposed you in the friendly match!]
[And the result? They couldn't even find his own men, so they could only attack his two lackeys!]
You're crazy!
Tom Riddle in the Diary probably had enough of Lockhart long ago, and now he's stopped pretending and started arguing with Lockhart.
You hopeless idiot!
Of all the people at Hogwarts, how come you were the one who got the Diary?
Tom truly couldn't understand it, and he was genuinely in pain.
Ever since Lockhart wrote the first line, Tom had been enduring the disgust and fawning over him.
You also have to pretend to be his fan, fawn over him to the extreme, listen to him tell those stupid and terrible stories, and even join him in cursing you!
Tom felt increasingly wronged the more he thought about it.
If it weren't for his own purposes, he would have killed Lockhart long ago!
Why!
Why did it have to be him who got the Diary?!
Lockhart was so angry that his wrist trembled, and the quill of his quill quivered incessantly.
"Madman?"
"Oh, Tom, Tom, you shouldn't talk like that!"
Enraged, Lockhart continued writing in his Diary: "I am the internationally renowned great wizard! I am the king of the world!"
"Even Voldemort, even he, never denied my power!"
Even when he ruled the Wizarding World, he dared not mention my name! Because he knew that if I made a move, he would die!
Lost in his unfounded fantasies, Lockhart grew increasingly excited as he wrote, seemingly believing he had truly become a great wizard, the king of the world.
Tom was utterly speechless.
Tired, let's destroy it.
The torment Lockhart inflicted on him far exceeded the sum of all the pain he had in his existing memories.
This left him unsure whether Lockhart had gone mad or he himself had.
Lockhart may not be insane, but it's highly unlikely that Lockhart isn't insane.
But it doesn't matter. Even if Lockhart dies, it's fine. As long as the Diary is still at school, I'll find the next pawn sooner or later.
The Diary fell silent.
Lockhart, however, became increasingly deranged.
He jumped up from his chair, climbed onto his table, kicked away the clutter with his feet, and swung his robe back and forth, making it whistle in the wind.
"I am the great wizard! I am the king of the world!"
"Everyone who embarrassed me must pay the price! The price in blood!"
"I'm going to kill them! I'm going to kill them!"
Lockhart, the desktop cleaning master, kicked everything on the table to the floor, stood on the table with his hands on his hips, and laughed heartily.
Fortunately, his last shred of sanity told him that Dumbledore was still at school.
Lockhart, the great wizard, the king of the world, the man Voldemort dared not mention Lockhart, stood on the table and muttered to himself.
"Dumbledore is about to attend a wizarding conference... This is an opportunity."
"A few hours... that should be enough..."
Gryffindor girls' dormitory.
"Hermione, can I copy your homework?" Lavender leaned close to Hermione and slipped her a small dessert as a bribe.
"No problem."
Hermione readily agreed, and with a beaming smile, handed Lavender her homework, which she had already finished.
"Um?!"
Parvati, standing to the side, widened his eyes. "Why are you being so agreeable today?"
Previously, when Lavender asked Hermione for her homework, she had to coax and plead for a long time before Hermione would give it to her.
It was this easy today?!
Something's wrong, something's very wrong!
Lavender and Parvati exchanged a glance, then turned to look at Hermione, who was smiling, both feeling something was off.
Parvati quietly moved over to Hermione's side and sniffed her.
"What does it taste like?" Lavender asked.
"Hmm... a sweet cream Cake covered in frosting." Parvati laughed, "Let alone eating it, just smelling it makes me feel sick and sick."
Hermione rolled her eyes at Parvati, then said somewhat shyly, "What nonsense are you talking about!"
"I'm not making this up," Parvati said earnestly.
"You have a sweet, cloying smell about you, what good thing happened?"
"What else could it be but good news?" Before Hermione could answer, Lavender suddenly chimed in with a grin, "Have you forgotten that Valentine's Day was just two days ago?"
"Oh~"
Parvati drew out her words, looked at Hermione meaningfully, and whispered, "You and Prewett, are you...?"
No! Really, no!
"I... I have something to do, I have to go!"
Remembering her little thoughts on Valentine's Day, Hermione's face flushed red like ink spots, even staining her earlobes.
Watching Hermione flee in disarray, Lavender and Parvati shook their heads repeatedly.
How can things be alright after all this?
"This must be the magic of Valentine's Day," they both thought to themselves simultaneously.
Valentine's Day magic refers to the sudden increase in closeness between male and female students after Valentine's Day.
What happened there is self-evident.
Lavender excitedly and exaggeratedly guessed, "I bet Hermione's about to give away her first kiss!"
"Really?" Parvati was somewhat skeptical.
"I noticed that although they seem close, they don't act very intimately; there's hardly any physical contact between them."
"No way..." Lavender slumped dejectedly at his desk. "Didn't they do anything?"
"So innocent?"
"It's not impossible..." Parvati said thoughtfully.
Lavender roused himself and abruptly lifted his head from the table. "Guessing won't help. We'll have to interrogate her properly when she gets back!"
After escaping from the dormitory, Hermione finally breathed a sigh of relief and felt much lighter.
Lavender and Parvati are too perceptive; they can guess what I've said even though I haven't said anything, Hermione thought helplessly.
You can't really blame them.
If Hermione were to look in a mirror now, she would see the ever-present smile on her face.
That smile was like cotton candy floating in the air; when the wind blew, you could taste its sweetness.
For two days after Valentine's Day, Hermione had that smile on her face the whole time, making it hard not to notice something was amiss.
Ever since the first boy she saw before Valentine's Day was Silan, Hermione felt incredibly lucky, as if she had drunk Felix Felicis.
I finished my homework incredibly fast, learned many Spells, and got a lot of extra points in class...
Sure enough, she saw Silan as soon as she turned the corner of the stairs.
She was overjoyed and was about to go up and say hello when she discovered that Professor McGonagall was also there.
Silan and Professor McGonagall seemed to be talking about something.
Hermione felt a little disappointed, so she stood in the corner and waited for them to finish talking before going up.
"Professor Dumbledore has gone to a meeting and will be back in a few hours." Professor McGonagall held a note in her hand, presumably left for her by Dumbledore.
He said if you have something to do, he'll handle it first.
As Professor McGonagall spoke, her gaze couldn't help but drift towards Silan's back.
It looks like someone's peeking around there.