Harry Potter: Westeros's Plant Life

Lockhart's voice finally trailed off, becoming hoarse from his confession.

Adrian observed him, his eyes showing neither surprise nor particular emotion. After a moment, he brought his hands together in a slow clap that echoed mockingly off the walls.

"Truly illuminating," Adrian said, his voice carrying the flat, unimpressed tone. "So, this is the real Gilderoy Lockhart."

The deadpan response struck Lockhart. His face flushed with indignation and hurt pride, the mask of superiority he had maintained throughout his confession finally cracked completely.

In an instant, his wand was pointed at Adrian's chest. A flash of cruelty flickered in his eyes.

"Do you honestly believe you're still in a position to mock me?" Lockhart's voice took on a dangerous edge. His eyebrows arched with satisfaction as he savored what he believed to be his moment of ultimate triumph.

"Don't mistake your situation, Professor Westeros. You're balanced on the very edge of life and oblivion. I'll have you know my Memory Charm is faster than any defensive spell you might attempt—make even the slightest movement, and you'll bid farewell to every precious memory you've ever had."

Adrian's responded casually with a shrug of his shoulders. "Very well,"

"Excellent," Lockhart hummed with satisfaction, his confidence swelling at Adrian's apparent surrender.

However, while Adrian remained motionless as promised, the Devil's Snare that had been lying dormant within his body suddenly erupted into action.

Thick vines burst forth from Adrian's body like serpents striking from ambush.

Just as the vines were about to wrap around Lockhart's throat and limbs, Adrian's world exploded.

A sharp pain lanced through his temples like hot needles being driven into his skull. His vision blurred, and he could feel something invasive trying to force its way into his mind.

Lockhart had struck without warning, without incantation, without even the slightest gesture.

This was no ordinary Memory Charm, Adrian realized through the haze of pain. It wasn't even conventional Legilimency. This was something far more brutal and primitive, it was a savage form of mental attack that sought to tear memories directly from his mind.

'Could this be what Lockhart meant by his true talent?' Adrian thought as he struggled against the invasive presence clawing at his thoughts.

The Devil's Snare, sensing its master's distress through their connection, wavered in its attack. Lockhart, despite his own surprise at Adrian's defensive capabilities, managed to exploit this momentary weakness, twisting away from the grasping vines.

Adrian stood frozen in place, his eyes becoming vacant and unfocused, staring blindly into the middle distance.

"It's over, Professor Westeros," Lockhart said with feigned regret, though his eyes glittered with genuine satisfaction. "You really shouldn't have come searching for me tonight. That curiosity of yours has proven to be a fatal mistake."

Confidence radiated from every bit of his body as Lockhart savored his apparent victory. He knew from his experience that once his Memory Charm took affect, even the most powerful wizard became helpless as a newborn.

Even that fragment of the legendary Dark Lord hadn't been able to resist his abilities.

Moreover, his magical power had increased greatly in recent weeks, fed by the memories and knowledge he had stolen from Voldemort's soul fragment. He had cast this spell with every ounce of his enhanced abilities, holding nothing back.

Soon, Adrian's memories would begin flowing into his own mind, adding to his ever-growing collection of stolen experiences and knowledge.

But now how should he conceal tonight's events?

The disappearance of a fellow professor would inevitably attract unwanted attention, and murder—even justified murder—didn't align with the heroic image he had spent years crafting for public.

But... all of this became just Lockhart's wishful thinking.

The Devil's Snare vines that had been hanging motionless in the air suddenly resumed their attack. They moved faster than lightning, wrapping around Lockhart's body with crushing force and efficiently stripping his wand from his grasp before he could even grasp what was happening.

"What—?" Lockhart's eyes widened as he stared down at his vine-bound body in complete disbelief. "This is impossible! You should already be—"

His words died in his throat as Adrian straightened up, the blank expression fading from his eyes. He rubbed his temples gingerly, wincing slightly at the lingering ache that pulsed behind his skull.

Lockhart's Memory Charm had indeed been formidable—even though Adrian had ultimately defended against it successfully, the psychic assault had left him feeling dizzy and disoriented, as if he had just awakened from a particularly vivid and disturbing dream.

As for his successful defense, the explanation was simple...

[No need to thank me, sir,] came a familiar voice in his mind.

Hearing the Tree of Wisdom's mental communication, Adrian's lips curved into a slight smile.

Of course. As Adrian's connected entity, anyone seeking to invade his mind would first need to overcome the Tree of Wisdom's psychic defenses.

The Tree of Wisdom's mental protection was incredibly sophisticated and nearly impenetrable—in all his years of magical study and dangerous encounters, Adrian had never met a wizard capable of breaching those defenses.

It seemed that Lockhart was no exception to this.

But even if he had somehow managed to overcome the Tree's protection, the Devil's Snare would have responded to the threat by snapping Lockhart's neck instantly. While Adrian maintained conscious control over the magical plant, it also had its own basic intelligence and could identify threats to its master independently.

No matter how the scenario played out, Lockhart had never possessed any realistic chance of victory.

Adrian slowly walked to Lockhart, who was tied up by the Devil's Snare, and looked at him coldly. "Anything else you want to say, Professor Lockhart?"

Lockhart probably understood that his situation was dire today.

He lowered his head and pleaded with Adrian in a low voice. "Let me go, Professor Westeros. I can give you many benefits—fame, money, anything I have. You know what I've accomplished and my secrets. you can use that knowledge to threaten me, just don't tell anyone about it."

Observing this pathetic transformation from the earlier arrogant braggart to this weeping, desperate face, Adrian couldn't suppress a shake of his head in disgust.

The supremely confident Lockhart who had boasted of besting the Dark Lord himself had completely vanished, leaving behind only this pitiful looking man pleading for mercy.

However, just as Adrian allowed his attention to wander momentarily in pondering of Lockhart's fall, he felt that horribly familiar invasive sensation once again.

Lockhart was making one final, desperate attempt at victory!

Despite his apparently hopeless situation, he clearly hadn't abandoned all hope of somehow reversing his fortunes.

What truly shocked Adrian was the realization that Lockhart's Memory Charm could be performed completely wandlessly and silently, requiring neither verbal incantations nor gestures of any kind.

The current version of Lockhart had evolved far beyond the bumbling fraud in the original story.

If anyone other than Adrian had been standing in this chamber tonight, Lockhart would likely have succeeded.

"Still refusing to accept defeat, Professor Lockhart?" Adrian asked with a half-smile that contained no warmth whatsoever. At his silent command, the Devil's Snare vines began coiling more tightly around Lockhart's throat. "I would strongly advise against having any other desperate schemes."

This time, Lockhart finally despaired completely.

He forced out a twisted smile. "I surrender. What... do you plan to do with me?"

Adrian didn't answer immediately, but the vines around Lockhart's neck tightened more and more.

Finally, Lockhart's face began to turn purple, and he struggled to squeeze out a few words from his constricted throat. "You... you won't actually... kill me... will you?"

The vines loosened slightly, allowing air to flow back into his lungs. Lockhart gasped gratefully, his chest heaving as he greedily sucked in breath after breath.

Adrian gazed down at this wretched figure with contempt. Of course, he had no intention of actually killing Lockhart.

"Alright, Lockhart," Adrian suddenly adopted a gentle tone, though his eyes remained cold. "Don't be nervous. I won't do anything to you. Just answer some of my questions, okay? As for how to deal with you, I don't think that's for me to decide."

Immediately, Lockhart breathed a sigh of relief, his tense body instantly going limp.

"Of course, of course!" he nodded frantically, his voice hoarse but eager to please. "Ask me anything you wish to know. I'll provide complete and honest answers to every question."

Adrian had the Devil's Snare weave into a chair and sat down elegantly.

"First question," He began leisurely. "What exactly did you do to the Dark Lord's soul fragment?"

Lockhart's eyes darted about uneasily, his Adam's apple bobbing.

Finally, he answered. "I... I extracted all of its memories. Every single one."

"Even though it was merely a fragmented piece of a soul?" Adrian's eyebrow arched with genuine curiosity and perhaps a impressed surprise.

Lockhart nodded reluctantly, unable to meet Adrian's sharp gaze.

Adrian released a long sigh.

He was somewhat impressed by the scope of Lockhart's peculiar talent. Even a natural-born Legilimens would struggle to read the memories contained within a destroyed soul fragment.

Yet Lockhart had not only managed to access those memories but had somehow stolen them entirely, adding them to his own mind.

This meant he might now possess some or all of Voldemort's memories from his teenage years.

This was somewhat terrifying.

"The petrification incidents that terrorized Hogwarts this year," Adrian continued his questioning, "those were all orchestrated by you, weren't they?"

Lockhart nodded in mute admission.

"What about Halloween specifically?" Adrian's voice took on a sharper edge. "Why did you choose to petrify Ray at that time? And why did you subsequently petrify yourself during the second incident?"

"Because..." Lockhart swallowed hard, his throat working visibly as he struggled to find the right words. "Halloween was... it was supposed to be just an accident. A random victim. And the second time, when I petrified myself... I simply wanted to deflect suspicion away from my involvement."

Adrian nodded thoughtfully.

However, he had a suspicion that Ray's petrification hadn't been quite as random as Lockhart claimed. Adrian suspected the incident had been influenced by some of Lockhart's personal emotions and grudges—after all, during that period, Lockhart had showed obvious resentment toward both Adrian and Ray.

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