Their Relationship Fell Apart

Hearing McGonagall's question, Dumbledore looked up.

"Minerva, I don't like him either."

"Then you still..."

"Have you read Lockhart's books?" Dumbledore took a copy of "Wandering with Werewolf" from the bookshelf.

"I've read it, and the content is indeed excellent, especially the advanced magic he used, the ' Homorphus Charm.'"

The Homorphus Charm is a spell that can temporarily transform Werewolf back into human form. It was one of the few effective spells before the invention of Wolfsbane Potion.

"Yes, yes, exceptional magical talent," Dumbledore said calmly. "To be honest, I was quite surprised when I first saw the contents of this book."

Professor McGonagall raised an eyebrow. Would Dumbledore be surprised by something like this?

"Minerva, I'm truly surprised. Because I happen to know an old Armenian wizard who used the same magic to defeat the Wagga Wagga Werewolf."

"Perhaps... it's just a coincidence?" McGonagall asked uncertainly.

"That's what I think too. What if Lockhart did the same thing? How can I just falsely accuse an innocent and outstanding wizard?" Dumbledore nodded.

"So I found the old wizard, but he had lost many of his memories, especially the part about Werewolf."

Professor McGonagall stared wide-eyed, as if listening to an absurd story.

"From then on, I started paying attention to Lockhart, buying all sorts of his books and keeping track of his whereabouts."

"That's one of the advantages of getting older: you meet more wizards and hear more obscure stories." Dumbledore fingers slid over the row of bookshelves.

"In his book, I see more and more stories that I happen to know."

But none of the protagonists in those stories were Lockhart!

Professor McGonagall was utterly incredulous upon hearing Dumbledore's words. She exclaimed angrily, "Merlin! This is fraud! This is a crime! Lockhart should go to Azkaban!"

"But we have no evidence," Dumbledore said, distressed.

"So, you're letting him come to school?"

"Yes, I believe that once Lockhart is placed in a normal school life, his deception will be exposed," Dumbledore.

McGonagall was silent for a moment, then asked, "But what can our students learn from this vain, fame-seeking scoundrel?"

This takes up an entire year, and it's such an important course as Defence Against Dark Magic.

"A lot," Dumbledore said calmly. "Students can learn a lot from a bad teacher: what not to do, what not to be."

I believe that educating students on how to be good people is also a very important thing.

Professor McGonagall nodded thoughtfully.

Time flew by, and in the last week of summer vacation, William and his two friends left one home and returned to their other two homes in London.

Before leaving, William cast numerous protective spells around the courtyard.

There are many kinds of protective magic: Muggle-Repelling Charm, Salvio Hexia, Protego Totalum... but the most useful is the Fidelius Charm.

The Fidelius Charm is an extremely complex spell that uses magic to forever conceal someone's secret within the soul of a living person.

The secret is hidden in the heart of the chosen person— the Secret Keeper —and will never be discovered—unless, of course, the Secret Keeper reveals it voluntarily.

As long as the Secret Keeper doesn't reveal it, even if a thief puts their nose right up to the living room window, they won't see them.

William also cast the spell; he himself is the Secret Keeper, and currently only Hermione, Anne, Dumbledore, and Nicolas are allowed to enter the house.

After summer vacation, William and his two friends would only come back once a year, either for Christmas or on weekends, spending most of their time at school.

There is indeed a need for secrecy here to prevent outsiders from barging in.

Summer vacation ended quickly.

Roy drove William and Anne to the station, where they waited for a while at platform 9 before Hermione arrived.

The three of them boarded the train together.

They walked along the corridor, searching for empty carriages.

Anne glanced into one of the private rooms and said, "There's still room in there; it's just Luna here."

She opened the door, carrying the Bobocha, and went into the private room. William and Hermione followed her in.

"Hello, Luna," Anne said, "Are you alone here?"

Luna nodded, saying absentmindedly, "It seems so. Many students just glanced at it and left."

Luna tucked her wand behind her left ear, and she also wore a necklace made of corks from Butterbeer.

Furthermore, when she read "The Quibbler," she actually held the magazine upside down.

It's understandable that people are hesitant to come in.

Bobocha jumped down from Anne's arms, found the warmest spot, and lay down.

Luna looked at them through the upside-down magazine.

"After you left, the house disappeared." Luna tilted her head.

"That's because I made it disappear with magic." William quickly wrote an address on the parchment.

"Remember this well, you'll see the house when you go back."

Luna looked down at the paper, and after a moment, the parchment turned into a small bird, which circled above the carriage and burst into flames.

At that moment, a very beautiful girl with long, glossy black hair was standing at the door of the private room.

A boy was following behind her.

--Autumn and Cedric.

The two were arguing heatedly about something.

This is quite unusual.

Cedric usually doesn't interrupt when Qiu is speaking.

After the two entered, they did not sit together. Cho sat next to Hermione, while Cedric sat next to William.

They were arguing fiercely, separated by William and Hermione.

"I think Lockhart would be a good professor; you see what he writes in his books..."

"That's what he said himself!" Cedric shouted. "Lockhart is just a useless pretty boy."

Well, the term "useless pretty boy" is usually used by some Gryffindor boys when commenting on Cedric.

People who say things like that are usually ugly.

When William was in first grade, he heard someone say that about him and then got a scolding from them.

"But Dumbledore invited him to teach us..."

"While I respect the headmaster, his judgment is questionable. Look at the Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor he's found for us these past few years—they're far inferior to the ones William usually teaches us."

"What's wrong with them?" Hermione whispered in William's ear.

"The relationship broke down..."

Before they could finish speaking, the two of them fixed their gazes on William and Hermione.

Hermione and William immediately shut up, huddled together in the middle, trembling.

Luna suddenly burst into laughter, a series of wild laughs that startled the Bobocha by the window.

Bobocha bristled and jumped onto William, hissing.

Luna laughed so hard that the magazine in her hand fell and slid off her lap to the floor.

William glanced at the magazine on the ground, suddenly noticed something, and reached out to pick it up.

It turned out to be a very exaggerated Lockhart cartoon.

Lockhart was wearing a lady's robe, and standing beside him was a witch wearing the same robe, holding a quill and a piece of parchment.

The caption on the comic reads: Male or female? Lockhart and Rita Skeeter's big secret!