Hogwarts’s idiot professor

Chapter 101: Time to Go, The Adventure's Over

Hermione was in a hurry.

In that instant, countless pieces of information from Professor Lockhart's classes flashed through her mind.

There was Professor Lockhart asking George Weasley how to deal with the Killing Curse from a dark wizard, and Professor Lockhart's more detailed breakdown of George's dozen or so answers, as well as others' responses, and her own answer at the time.

But all of it was quickly interrupted by a chill that seemed to spread from the depths of her soul.

This chill rapidly penetrated her body, intensely stimulating every one of her cells.

It was so cold it made her shiver uncontrollably.

It was the werewolf!

The werewolf's ghost passed directly through her body and then lunged at Tom. The moment it left her body, it rapidly regained its vibrant color, becoming vivid.

"Roar~~~"

The werewolf instantly pounced on Tom, its sharp claws viciously digging into Tom's face, clamping his mouth shut, completely interrupting his spell. It tugged at his head, exposing his pale, elongated neck.

"Mmph (No)~~"

Tom let out a shrill muffled groan, staring in horror at the werewolf's incredibly real body. Wasn't it dead? Hadn't it been hit by his own Killing Curse?

Why did its life seem so wild, so aggressive, so ardent, so...

...vivid?

Then Tom saw an even more terrifying scene.

As the werewolf opened its fanged maw, he noticed a familiar green flowing light shimmering on its teeth.

The Killing Curse!

It was the Killing Curse!

Tom even keenly detected that this Killing Curse's light also had his method of generating powerful magical force by using death.

How dare you!

How dare you use my own invention against me!

No!

Tom roared in fury, but his mouth was viciously clamped shut, unable to make another sound.

Then, he watched helplessly as the werewolf bit down on him.

In just an instant, he felt a bone-chilling coldness as life drained away, followed by the sensation of all his thoughts, desires, and wishes exploding like bubbles, unleashing immense magical power before utterly perishing—it was so hot and ardent.

It was so strange!

Tom realized he wasn't dead!

Even though the werewolf was using the Killing Curse, a spell that could kill a person instantly.

Even though its sharp fangs had already severed his windpipe, and blood splattered out with the pressure from the werewolf's massive body compressing his abdomen, he still wasn't dead.

Oh~~~

He finally understood.

It turned out—he wasn't Tom Riddle; he was just a memory of Tom Riddle.

Memories, of course, couldn't die. Memories could only remain active in thoughts, Horcruxes, or Pensieves.

This was clearly not some fairy tale world; this was merely a collective thought-world.

But the pain of being bitten was real!

But the sensation of death from being repeatedly hit by the Killing Curse was real!

He hurt so much!

Heart-wrenching pain!

At this moment, Hermione, who had been standing nearby, finally reacted. Her brilliant mind worked swiftly, instantly coming up with a perfect solution to deal with the dark wizard and the werewolf before her.

She quickly pulled out the potion bottle her grandma had given her, opened the cap, quickly poured it out, and waved her wand, casting a Transfiguration Charm to adhere it to Tom's body.

Grandma had said that this potion could suppress the beast's nature and turn Mr. Beast back into a human, so it was clearly effective on werewolves too.

Also, the struggling red cloak in her hand—Tom had just said it would turn a werewolf back into a human.

But how to put it on the werewolf?

Hermione gripped her wand and took a deep breath, whispering to herself, "I should trust magic, I should trust magic, it will create miracles!"

Saying that, she gently waved her wand. "Wingardium Leviosa!"

The red cloak floated up, unfurling in mid-air under her wand's command, and draped itself over the werewolf's back.

She succeeded!

She had never been able to do any of this before, whether it was the Transfiguration Charm to adhere the potion to Tom's body, or the Levitation Charm to put the cloak on the werewolf. It was so marvelous, filled with a fluidity she had never been able to achieve before!

Magic was no longer a standard formula!

It had begun to be filled with changes!

How interesting!

But Hermione quickly lost her smile. She watched with anticipation, waiting, but Tom stopped moving. The werewolf gnawed until its thick grey fur was stained with blood, yet there was still no movement.

Grandma's potion had failed!

The red cloak had failed too!

What to do?

She bit her lip tightly, so unwilling to give up, but finally decided to run outside.

As she ran, she suddenly realized something again. No, that red cloak was definitely a very important item. Perhaps she was using it incorrectly.

Turning back would definitely be dangerous.

But she had to take the risk.

She tried her best to make her footsteps silent, stealthily returning to the shattered opening, hiding at the edge, pointing her wand inside, and then cautiously peering in.

In an instant, her eyes widened.

What did she see?!!!

The red cloak was now on the ground, wiggling and secretly crawling outside.

Apart from a pool of blood, there was no trace of Tom's existence.

But that wasn't the main point. The main point was that the terrifying, blood-soaked werewolf was rapidly shrinking. Could this werewolf control its own transformation?

The books didn't say that!

No, that's not right!

Hermione realized: the full moon night must have ended. Although they were in the deepest cellar of the castle and couldn't see outside, the time estimation should be about right.

A good opportunity!

The werewolf's magical resistance was too strong; ordinary spells were useless. But once it changed back into a wizard, she wasn't without a chance, and she had the advantage of surprise.

"Incarcera—"

She quietly chanted the spell, then abruptly clapped her hand over her mouth, daring not to make a sound, watching the scene before her in disbelief.

That werewolf! That werewolf!

It was Professor Lockhart!

She turned around and pressed herself against the wall, her heart pounding violently, her mind a confused mess, not knowing what to do.

Then, she suddenly felt a warm breath approaching, startling her into a shiver. She cautiously opened her eyes and found that Professor Lockhart had appeared before her at some point.

"Hermione," Professor Lockhart's voice seemed complex. He habitually stroked his wand, contemplating, "We always try to avoid doing bad things, but sometimes fate likes to play cruel jokes on us, forcing us to do them."

"I can't let news of me being a werewolf spread around; it would cause me a lot of trouble. You understand, right?"

Hermione nervously nodded rapidly, watching in terror as Lockhart raised his wand and pointed it at her.

"I'm sorry, Hermione. I hope you can completely forget about this."

Completely forget?

Hermione couldn't help but recall her favorite childhood book, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, which stated that only dead people could keep secrets!

No!

No!

Hermione heard Professor Lockhart begin to chant and quickly shouted, "I'll keep it a secret! Please!"

Is that so?

Lockhart looked at the wand in Hermione's hand.

Hermione froze for a moment, then reacted, quickly throwing her wand aside. Frightened, she grabbed her wizard's robes, pressed herself against the wall, turned her head away, and tightly closed her eyes, fearfully saying, "Really, I swear, I didn't see anything, I didn't hear anything, please, please!"

Her voice choked, and tears faintly welled in her eyes. "Professor Lockhart, I admire you so much. I sleep with your signed book every night. I—I—please, let me go!"

The little witch pressed herself against the wall, unmoving and trembling, but without the rebellious will she had shown just moments ago against Tom.

She could feel the professor's presence so close, so real.

She sobbed uncontrollably.

Lockhart looked down at her in silence for a while, then finally sighed. "Alright, it's not a big deal anyway. Forget it."

Hermione immediately let out a sigh of relief, collapsing weakly to the ground, feeling as if she had just walked back from the brink of death.

"Don't tell Harry and Ron, okay?"

"Ron can't tell what's important, and Harry likes to label people once he knows something. I wouldn't want them to think of me as a bad person or a monster because of this," Lockhart said, sounding somewhat helpless.

"I won't!" Hermione said very sincerely.

"Good." Lockhart smiled and ruffled the little witch's head. He picked up her wand from the ground and handed it to her, helping her up. He then turned and stepped on the red cloak that was stealthily trying to crawl away on the ground.

He grabbed the cloak and looked back at Hermione. "If I told you now that this is the monster in the forest trying to devour everything, would you still believe me?"

"Of course!" Hermione instantly recalled Professor Lockhart's detailed lesson on the characteristics of cloak-type dark magical creatures and the function of the Patronus Charm, from before they embarked on this adventure.

It was only then that she realized, oh right, weren't they here to deal with the dark magical creature that had hidden the Flobberworms for decades?

These types of dark magical creatures often consumed wizards by wrapping them up and digesting them, using dark magical power to disintegrate the wizard's mental strength and thus devouring them completely. And now, relying on Lockhart's "mind-communication technique," they had come to this fairy tale world. It was likely that many of their experiences were attempts by this monster to devour and digest them.

"Sometimes we must immerse ourselves in the fairy tale mindset to feel the wonder of magic."

"But sometimes we also need to step out of the fairy tale atmosphere to feel the reality of the present."

"Because only with enough reality can a fairy tale become truly wondrous, and only through reality can we truly feel the meaning of our own existence, rather than being just a character playing a role in a fairy tale, becoming someone else."

Lockhart spoke these words to her meaningfully, then waved his hand. A rapidly fluctuating emerald green light opened up a completely different scene before them. "Let's go. The fairy tale adventure is over."

"Welcome, to reality."

Reality was often more brutal.

When Hermione followed Lockhart back to the real world, she found that many of her friends had already returned before them, excitedly discussing.

Around them—

Bodies lay everywhere!

....

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