Professor Lockhart, Flying Freely

Chapter 92 Professor Lockhart, Flying Freely

That afternoon, Gilderoy Lockhart made his Hogwarts debut.

Since gaining fame, Lockhart has received numerous honors and titles, and his heroic deeds have made him a highly sought-after figure.

The road to fame is inevitably accompanied by doubts, and Lockhart has also encountered many doubts. Some people questioned whether he was just a novelist, and others questioned whether his heroic deeds were true.

Ultimately, these doubts arose because Lockhart had never demonstrated convincing abilities, and people could only learn about his magic through his writings.

As Gilderoy Lockhart's fame grew, these doubts gradually faded away and were never heard again; Lockhart was drowned out by the screams and cheers of the witches.

Anyone who dares to voice their doubts will at best receive a barrage of insults, and at worst, well, who knows? Crazy people are capable of anything.

On the afternoon of September 2nd, the weather remained gloomy and overcast, with no sign of clearing up.

Second-year students entered the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, while Harry was escorted in by Lockhart, who acted like an elder—an annoying elder.

Originally, this was just an ordinary Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson, and the students were only in their second year. However, due to Lockhart's fame and his behavior, the lesson attracted almost everyone's attention.

The students wanted to see Professor Lockhart's true abilities and whether his heroic deeds were true or as remarkable as he described in his books.

Belvina, on the other hand, was eager to see what would happen. She wanted to see if the vain Lockhart had truly changed, and thus determine whether Dumbledore had suddenly become senile.

If Gilderoy Lockhart is still the same guy who only talks the talk, Belvina will start causing trouble. She won't directly make things difficult for him, but she can encourage the students to stand up and have them explain the pros and cons to Dumbledore.

The Defense Against the Dark Arts spell, eagerly anticipated by the entire school, began, and Gilderoy Lockhart, as expected, botched everything.

Professor Lockhart first conducted a "quiz," partly to satisfy his incurable vanity and partly to test which students were infatuated with him.

Next, Professor Lockhart brought out a cage of Cornish elves. These were small, bluish-gray creatures, very mischievous, with great strength despite their small size.

In the 17th century, the witch Dephna Fermagi was kidnapped by these elves in Cornwall, which caused her to develop a psychological aversion to them, and she even asked the Ministry of Magic to exterminate all elves.

However, the Cornish elves are not very dangerous; their magic classification is only three stars, making them quite easy to deal with.

Admittedly, Professor Lockhart's choice was very correct. The Cornish elves would cause trouble for the students, but the trouble would not be too great, would not threaten the students' safety, and would be easy to deal with.

As a debut, this choice can be considered very prudent.

Even with such a prudent choice, Gilderoy Lockhart still messed things up, proving to be utterly useless.

The Cornish elves became destructive wreaks, wreaking havoc in the classroom. The Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom was a mess: shattered windows, spilled ink, torn books and parchment.

And then there's poor Neville Longbottom. Poor Neville got his ear grabbed by a Cornish elf—the elves' favorite thing to do—and was hung from a chandelier, swinging back and forth in the air.

As for the brave and fearless Professor Lockhart, the heroic Gilderoy Lockhart, he had long since run away, irresponsibly leaving the second-year students to a bunch of Cornish elves.

When the Defense Against the Dark Arts class ended, the classroom was like a tornado had swept through. Professor Lockhart retreated to his office, leaving Harry, Ron, and Hermione to clean up the mess.

News of Professor Lockhart's disastrous performance quickly spread throughout the school, and opinions about him were extremely polarized.

Some people believe that Lockhart is overrated, lacks any real skills, and is just a greasy conman, not even as good as the villain Quirrell from the previous school year.

Even if Quirinas Quilleau is at his worst, he wouldn't make his classroom look like a disaster site.

Furthermore, Snape taught the courses for the second half of the semester. Although Snape was bad-tempered, petty, and biased, his Defense Against the Dark Arts course was flawless!

The saddest people among all the teachers and students were the students who had just entered the fifth (seventh) grade. Upon hearing the devastating news, they sighed repeatedly, feeling that they were unlucky to have encountered Gilderoy Lockhart at such a critical time.

Of course, not everyone despised Professor Lockhart; there were still people in the university who firmly stood by his side.

That's the handsome and charming Gilderoy Lockhart! Just think of all the amazing things he's done. Is there anyone in the world more qualified to be the Defense Against the Dark Arts?

To this, Belvina silently raised her hand: "There's one person who can do it, and that person is Severus Snape. A former Death Eater teaching current students Defense Against the Dark Arts—just thinking about it is incredibly exciting."

Most importantly, given that the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor couldn't even last a school year, it might be time to say goodbye to Snape.

Over the next few days, students who were captivated by Lockhart's good looks and those who admired his talent formed an alliance. They vigorously publicized Lockhart's heroic deeds and his indelible contributions to eliminating the forces of darkness.

No matter how hard the fandom works to boost rankings, the idol has to perform well, but Gilderoy Lockhart is extremely disappointing.

Since the Cornish elf disaster, the Defense Against the Dark Arts class has been transformed into a reading corner, and every lesson, regardless of the students' grade level, is an appreciation of Lockhart's works.

Lockhart is better suited to teaching literature or drama than Defense Against the Dark Arts; being a wizard is a waste of his talents.

Despite the classroom turning into a disaster, Gilderoy Lockhart did not curb his nature; instead, he became even more outrageous, and his active figure could be seen everywhere except in the Defense Against the Dark Arts class.

One afternoon, for some unknown reason, Professor Lockhart, for reasons unknown, went to the fifth floor of the castle and entered the Muggle Studies classroom.

Belvina sat by the window as always, waiting for class to start.

Lockhart kept chiming in on her, offering all sorts of advice, almost to the point of personally teaching Belvina how to attend class.

Gilderoy Lockhart, a Ravenclaw graduate, is a half-blood wizard. His mother is a witch, and his father and two sisters are Muggles.

This family structure meant that Lockhart understood Muggles better than many wizards. In Lockhart's view, with his understanding of Muggles, guiding pure-blood wizards would be no problem at all; it was a risk-free and sure-fire way to make money.

As more and more students entered the classroom, Lockhart was noticed by everyone who walked in; his flamboyant attire made him hard to miss.

The students weren't surprised to see Lockhart in the Muggle Studies classroom; it wasn't the first time they'd seen this, and they no longer subconsciously thought they'd wandered into the wrong classroom.

Being ignored by Belvina and then by the students made Gilderoy Lockhart feel very uncomfortable. He couldn't find a sense of presence in the classroom, and his vanity was not satisfied.

Class was about to start, and Belvina stood up and asked him to leave, saying, "Professor Lockhart, please leave now."

If you really don't want to leave, then shut your mouth.

"Professor Black, I'm communicating with you, guiding you, and helping you become better," Lockhart said confidently. "Don't you want to become better, as good as me? Of course, catching up with me is a very difficult thing."

Lockhart, brimming with confidence, continued, "I saw your previous lecture—bicycles, a good idea. But why didn't you ask for my opinion before that lesson? I'm the man who can ride a bicycle across the Dover Strait."

The Strait of Dover, a strait between England and France, connects the English Channel and the North Sea. In French, it is called the Strait of Calais, and its width is between 30 and 40 kilometers.

"You really should ask me. People should be humble; humility leads to progress." Lockhart flashed his signature smile again. "I happen to be a humble person, which is why I've achieved so much, isn't it?"

"Shut up and leave while I can still be rational," Belvina said. "Otherwise, I can't guarantee you'll leave this classroom unscathed."

Now that he was in a difficult situation, after Belvina's threats, Lockhart couldn't leave so slinking away, even if he wanted to. The students were all watching!

Just because of a young witch's casual threat, the famous Gilderoy Lockhart backed down and left. How will he ever be able to face people again if word gets out!

"Belvina Black, I have to say something to criticize you." Lockhart's eyes lit up with an idea. "I originally wanted to help you improve and become better, but you've rejected the opportunity to become better. It's so disappointing!"

Lockhart wanted to say a few polite words and then gracefully withdraw, so as to both make his presence felt and save face.

But then, Belvina suddenly lowered her voice and whispered in a tone only the two of them could hear: "Since you know my last name, you should also know what my family does, right? If you've forgotten, I can kindly remind you that my brother's name is Sirius. The Sirius Black you know."

Upon hearing this, Lockhart's expression changed drastically. His once handsome face suddenly became haggard. He was frightened by Sirius Black's name, and Belvina's sinister tone made him break out in a cold sweat.

After making a low, menacing threat, Belvina's voice returned to normal as she continued, "Goodbye, dear Professor Lockhart."

As she spoke, Belvina suddenly shoved Lockhart.

Suddenly, Gilderoy Lockhart took to the air, his body curled into the shape of a frozen Arctic shrimp, flying over rows of tables and chairs, his emerald green robe drawing a graceful arc.

Peng!

Gilderoy Lockhart's body passed precisely through the classroom door and crashed into the corridor wall.

Pfft!

Gilderoy Lockhart's body slid down the rough stone wall and landed hard on his backside.

Boom!

The door to the Muggle Studies classroom slammed shut, startling Gilderoy Lockhart, who was already grimacing.