Chapter 120: Chapter 120: Do unto others as they do unto you (Edited)
At Hogwarts there are four Houses, and all classes, except for a few special ones, are taught in two houses together. A course such as Defense Against the Dark Arts was taught twice a week.
Therefore, by a simple calculation, a Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher would be giving eight lessons a week to first and second year wizards. The good news is that third and fourth years only have one lesson a week, fifth years go back to two lessons a week due to the pressure of the Ordinary Wizard Level Exams (T.I.M.O.), and sixth and seventh years are optional, with only one lesson per house, one lesson a week.
So, a Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher has to teach 18 classes a week - eighteen classes! What in God's name is going on? Tom was devastated when he saw the schedule, he had never paid much attention to the lives of the teachers, and when he took over the job at Lockhart, he found that the teachers seemed to be having a pretty hard time, especially the ones who took their classes seriously.
If you put those eighteen classes together in a week, Tom would have to take two classes in the morning and two in the afternoon, that's four days, and only half a day of classes on the fifth day.
Tom felt his blood pressure shoot up.
Suddenly he looked at the desk and an idea occurred to him. He immediately sat down on the edge of the desk, pulled out a pen and began to Enchant it: he hoped to give this pen an automatic dialing function.
As a skilled apprentice alchemist, and with a similar structure, the pen was easy for Tom to modify; it was just a simple program to recognize ABCDs and accumulate additional marks.
For the next week, Tom spent his days in class, and at night, in Lockhart's image, he was in the office preparing the teaching content for the new semester, modifying the quill and brewing the multijuice potion....
He got a lot done, but not the homework, because if his plan worked, he wouldn't have to do it himself this term.
It had been a quiet, uneventful week, and Snape had been silent about the theft, only subtracting points from Gryffindor much more frequently.
"Potter, you've made your potion too dilute, five points off for Gryffindor!"
"Potter, your potion is too thick, five points off for Gryffindor!"
"Potter, your tablemate Ron's potion was too thick, and you didn't warn him, minus for..."
"Potter, I can't believe you're talking in class..."
Snape had dumped almost all of his deductions on Gryffindor house, which in turn made Potions class much better for Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff: because Snape needed to spend his precious deductions on Gryffindor.
Because of Snape's sudden outburst, Gryffindor was firmly at the bottom of the four-house table in the first week of classes.
...
The spacious office was decorated with several mirrors and a fluffy rabbit.
"Hiss!" A huge, brightly colored snake appeared in the office, its flashlight-yellow eyes riveted on the rabbit's, which made a terrified expression before collapsing to the floor, stiff as a board.
As horrible as it looked, the rabbit didn't die when it looked directly into the eyes of the snake Tom had become.
"Indeed, the eye ability of the etched basilisk is weaker than the original.". Tom sighed, the ability of his Boggart's Soul Ring was to engrave magical creatures and then adopt their form, inheriting some of their abilities.
In general, the rarer the ability, the weaker it became; the immortal bird's Nirvana, the phoenix, was reduced to accelerated recovery, the basilisk's Killing Gaze was reduced in a layer of lethality and has become permanent petrification.
Tom pulled out another rabbit and let him see the basilisk's eyes in the mirror. This time, the rabbit only stiffened for a while before regaining its ability to move. If the basilisk's eyes had been reflected in the mirror once, there would have been no petrification at all and it can only cause panic.
Tom remained calm, it was to be expected and there was nothing to regret. After studying his newly acquired powers, he sat down at the table, pulled out a piece of parchment and began to write. It was already Sunday, and he was preparing his lesson for the coming Monday.
During the week, Tom had also been researching the teaching aids available to the professors at Hogwarts, and had found some great things, like the magical photocopier he was looking at.
It was a combination Muggle printer and photocopier, and helped Hogwarts professors print their work. But it was only used by the professors at the end of the year. As such, Tom had asked Filch for it; it was in storage anyway, So why not give it to me, Lockhart, for safekeeping? And he transferred a few dozen pounds of parchment from the school's storage room.
It may seem like a lot, but since Hogwarts parchment is generally thicker, a single piece of paper has a mass of about ten grams, and a pound is only fifty papers, so an exam for seven years would take seven pounds, and Tom would probably run out of paper in a month.
Tom stuffed the paper into the opening at the top of the magic printer and said to the printer, "Make three hundred copies."
"Okay." The printer accepted the assignment and quickly went to work. He swallowed a sheet of parchment and turned it into a piece of test paper.
While the printer made copies, Tom took out a small bottle, filled with a bubbling, syrupy, thick multijuice passion, to which he added his hair.
The decoction made a loud noise, like boiling water, and after a second the noise ceased, almost like a chemical reaction.
Tom opened the suitcase and stepped inside. Lockhart was sitting on it, eyes dazed, hair dry and disheveled, chin deflated and features haggard.
He looked up at Tom, his eyes downcast.
"Mr. Lockhart, please take some." Tom handed over the vial of multijuice potion.
Lockhart winced, "Wait, I'm not drinking, I..."
Tom squeezed his cheek and poured the multijuice potion into his mouth. After pouring the multijuice potion, Lockhart collapsed to the floor, convulsing like a boiled prawn. He felt his skin melting, bubbling rapidly, and he lay prostrate on the floor, gasping and moaning loudly. His skeleton was shrinking rapidly and his hair turned black.
The pain came and went as quickly as it came, and when the transformation was complete, everything stopped. Lockhart lay on the cold floor, his robe drenched with cold sweat.
But the next moment he saw something that made his heart and lungs stop: his other self standing in front of him, looking down at him with a smile.
"You're much nicer to look at now." Tom took Lockhart's form and approached Lockhart, who had taken Tom's form, and their identities had switched.
"You, you!" Lockhart was too shocked to speak.
Tom grabbed him by the collar and pulled him up, "You should have been prepared for this day the moment you took someone's memory and claimed their honor. Your identity, it's useful to me, so I'll take it."
"Tom, ahhhh~" Lockhart let out a roar like a beast, but the next moment it was as if he was caught in the throat, and the roar was stifled in his throat: he saw something that made his hair stand on end.
As he looked into Tom's eye, Lockhart felt his heart stop beating, his blood run cold in his veins, as if he had seen a natural enemy, as if a rat had been touched by a cat.
His memory began to surge.
Lockhart's mind went back to his childhood, his mother was a witch, but none of his sisters had magical talent, so when he showed potential as a wizard, his mother had no qualms about favoring him among all his siblings, and for a while he thought he was a genius, unique, until he entered school and entered Ravenclaw....
Lockhart had thought he would be the subject of discussion and attention, for he had always considered himself a genius with great magical powers, but the truth had disappointed him: there were more talented, gifted and hard-working children at Hogwarts than he was, and no one had been impressed by him. He was indeed talented and smarter than most of his peers, but he just wanted to be the best.
Everyone, of course, has to learn to accept their own mediocrity, and Lockhart clearly hadn't learned that.
In the first transfiguration class, Lockhart's matches didn't change at all, but he had the ingenuity to find a brooch instead, something for which he would have received much praise and admiration if Professor McGonagall hadn't seen it.
Memories of him clowning around again and again surfaced: standing at his desk, proudly announcing to his classmates that he would be traveling the world after graduation; that he would be taking home the Quidditch World Cup; that he would be the youngest Minister of Magic....
What a wonderful day at school, Lockhart couldn't help but think.
"These memories, I don't need them." A cold voice rang in his ears, and Lockhart turned his head to see the cold snake pupil, devoid of human emotion.
He was horrified to find such an eye in a corner of his memory: the eye that had been in the chandelier when his mother had given him the best chicken drumstick; the snake pupil that had been on Professor McGonagall's forehead during her transfiguration class, the eye that had been somewhere in the crowd, staring at him emotionlessly every time he bragged...
Lockhart broke down and shouted.
"I told you I'm not interested in those memories of yours." The cold voice rang in his ears again, "Change it!".
Lockhart's mental defenses instantly shattered, his memories flipped uncontrollably, a mass of memories that had lain dormant in the back of his mind were rescued, then tossed aside as if they were trash, and so on ...
Chapter 121: Chapter 121: Beginning of classes: Lesson 1 (Edited)
Tom could no longer see out of his right eye, and a trickle of blood ran from the corner of his eye. He had just overused his new ability and overtaxed his eyes. Forcibly examining a person's memory all at once was a very exhausting thing to do, even if he's just a shitty wizard Lockhart.
But when he saw the [Obliviate spell level 0 (0/100-0%)] on the magic bar, it was worth it: many magic stones were saved. The price/performance ratio of drawing Lockhart is too low. It was about the Obliviate spell, and Tom felt that Lockhart, a "five-star" character, could add nothing to Tom's talents: spells, potions, divination, transfiguration, what could he add? None, just a five-star ability.
Isn't it a waste to spend thousands of magic stones to extract such a spell?
Luckily, Tom was able to squeeze this spell from his mind. Tom sat back in his chair and rested for a while, his eyes gradually relieved, and although there were still some flashes of images in front of his eyes from time to time, he was in a much better state than before.
He dressed Lockhart, who was paralyzed on the floor of the suitcase, made him pose nicely, then turned into a basilisk and petrified him, then dragged him aside and waited in silence.
Hours passed, and even after the expiration date of the multijugos potion had completely passed, Lockhart remained completely unchanged, still wearing Tom's face. I must say that Tom's face, combined with Tom's elaborate pose, had a strange martyred beauty, almost like a realistic painting, a change of temperament that must have been brought about by the unicorn form.
Tom knew his suspicions were valid.
A character petrified by a basilisk would have his metabolism stagnant, and the effects of the multijugos potion would remain until his petrified state was lifted.
Tom smiled happily: with the last obstacle in his way removed, he would be able to get a lot done this term. As for the end of term, Tom looked at Lockhart's face in the mirror and his eyes turned dangerous: it was time to lay it all bare.....
...
On Monday, it was already the second week of school, the third to be exact, except that September 1 was Wednesday and the first week was only half a class, so it wasn't exactly a full week.
There was a lot of talk around the school today, and the topic was clear: Hogwarts' famous Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Lockhart, was about to start his first lesson of the term. This first lesson has been delayed for more than a week, and it finally begins!
Monday, first class in the morning, Ravenclaw and Gryffindor (2nd year), in the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom on the third floor of the castle.
One by one, the young wizards entered the classroom as they spoke.
"Neville, come here! " Ron called to Neville, inviting him to join Harry in the corner of the classroom.
"I have a feeling Professor Lockhart isn't very reliable." Harry sat further away from the lectern, straining to keep his presence to a minimum. "And trustworthy or not, he makes me uncomfortable in Flourish and Blotts Bookshop."
"It just, for some reason, makes me slightly bored at the mention of it, I don't know where it comes from." Ron scratched his head and placed his new wand on the table.
"My grandmother didn't like it much either." Neville sat down across from Harry and the others, "But to be fair, her experiences are pretty legendary."
Neville had arrived late, but had no trouble finding a seat. Almost all the girls from both Houses sat in the front row today, leaving the back half of the classroom fairly full of empty seats, so if you wanted to sit in the back, there was no need to worry about getting a seat.
Those who were negative about Lockhart were in the minority, and most were looking forward to the professor. Hermione and the girls in the front row, for example, had all their textbooks neatly arranged on their desks, stacked in a pile like a high school student's desk.
"Why isn't Professor Lockhart here yet? I didn't see him at the staff table at breakfast today." said Mandy Brocklehurst to the housemates around her.
"I don't know, maybe he's getting ready for class today?" several others were also confused.
Hermione, alone at her table, with a slightly sad face, said quietly to her friends, "Have any of you seen Tom? I haven't seen him at breakfast today."
Her roommates teased her and then said they hadn't seen him, and someone else asked Tom's roommates and was surprised to see that no one had seen him today.
"Maybe he remembered something this morning and went to the library?" said Sue Li, somewhat unsure, "Maybe he was in the library reading and lost track of time... oh no, would he have missed Professor Lockhart's first class then?"
"That's a real shame..."
"Granger, why don't you get him an autograph from Professor Lockhart?"
"Boys aren't like us, Tom wouldn't like an autograph..."
"Bang!" The classroom door burst open and Tom was outside as was Lockhart.
Tom was a little late, but not too late; wasn't it common sense for the professor to be five minutes late and leave five minutes early?
Today he had dyed his blond hair, which he hated, black, and was dressed in a nice black robe.
Standing in front of the door, Tom's aura was so strong that the classroom was silent for a moment.
He walked down the hallway between the desks, the hem of his black robe billowing behind him, and every time Tom passed a window, he would wave his hand and the window would slam shut. With the sound of the windows closing, Tom walked to the podium, then quickly turned around and looked at the little magicians below the stage.
At that moment, the entire room could hear a pin drop on the floor, and everyone held their breath. The thought that Professor Lockhart was a bit like Snape crossed most people's minds.
"I'm Gilderoy Lockhart, your Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher for this year." Tom deliberately added more emphasis to the year, and before the young wizards could get agitated, he continued, "First lesson of the day is, a pop quiz. Everyone, put away your books."
The whole class was in an uproar, everyone was shocked: how could there be a test on the first day of school?!
This was something the young wizards had never seen before. And if you're going to have an exam, at least tell them in advance.
"Quiet!" said Tom, shushing everyone, "This exam will count towards the final grade."
Boom! The classroom was a like a frying pan of oil being poured over. Even Hermione felt a little dizzy: was this part of the final exam? She hadn't even studied properly! Y...
Tom waved his wand and dozens of papers flew through the air until they landed on the little wizards' desks.
The little witches reluctantly had to put away their textbooks and pull out their quills.
"All questions are multiple choice, please write your answers in brackets, no marks will be awarded if you write outside the brackets, 4 points for each multiple choice question, 25 multiple choice questions total, 4 points for a correct answer, 2 points for an incorrect answer, multiple possible answers, half marks for incomplete answers, no marks for no answer..."
Tom's voice interrupted, "Miss Granger, what can I do for you? "
"Professor, Tom is not here today." Hermione held up her hand, her voice shaking with nerves, "I don't know..."
"I see, I'll talk to Professor Flitwick." Tom waved for Hermione to sit down.
"Fifty minutes to exam, no talking amongst yourselves. Very well, if you have no questions, let's begin the exam!"
As soon as the words were out of her mouth, all the students lowered their heads, even if they didn't want to, and looked at their papers intently.
Naturally, Harry received his paper and looked at the first question.
1. The incorrect choice for the following statements about Grindylow is: (__________)
A. Grindylow was a famous dark wizard of the first half of the 20th century, who was eventually defeated by Dumbledore.
B. Grindylow was very aggressive, attacking both wizards and Muggles.
C. Grindylow likes to eat fish and will not attack anyone who falls into the water.
D. Grindylows live in lakes all over Britain and Ireland.
Harry scratched his head, all four choices seemed to be correct, and it seemed to be written on Dumbledore's chocolate frog that the most well-known contribution was the defeat of the Dark Wizard Grinn in 1945.... Grinn who? is it Grindylow?
Confused, Harry glanced slightly to his left and right, and realized that many of the young wizards around him were already doodling. He shook his head and moved on to the next question.
2. In July of this year, Damocles invented a potion to keep werewolves sane during the full moon, and has written about werewolves in detail in my book "Walks with Werewolves". The following statement about werewolves is correct: (__________)
R. There is no difference between a werewolf and a wolf.
B. Werewolves cannot choose whether or not to transform, and they will forget who they are when they do.
C. Werewolves can remember everything they have experienced throughout the transformation process after they have returned to human form.
D. The Ministry of Magic has rated werewolves with four stars.
Harry: Muggle. He could be a muggle.
Harry was horrified to find that he could barely answer any of the questions. Harry's mind was in chaos, especially when he realized that the young wizards around him, like Ron and Neville, seemed very sure of themselves.
It was true, for them living in the magical world, these questions should be common sense questions.
During the exam, Tom didn't stand idly by, pacing the classroom, arms crossed, looking around. He stood behind Ron for a long time and finally left with a sigh, scaring Ron into going back over every question, and finding many careless mistakes.
"Well, ten minutes left on the exam! " Tom said loudly, looking at the hourglass.
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