Hogwarts Raven's Claw

Chapter 118 Confession
"In that case, Professor Lockhart, can you prove it?" Mike continued to stimulate Lockhart, "I heard that the Patronus Charm is an extremely complex and difficult spell. In ancient times, whether one can release a Patronus with a complete entity is one of the important criteria for becoming a high-ranking official of the Wizengamot and the Ministry of Magic. I think as a well-known and respected white wizard, you should be able to cast the Patronus Charm, right?"

Lockhart stammered for a long time and was unable to utter a word. The expression on his face became more and more ugly and he was about to explode.

Mike saw Lockhart's expression and knew that the time was almost right, so he decided to put in a little more effort.

"Professor Lockhart, you are also the recipient of the Order of Merlin, Class 3. I originally thought that you should be a powerful wizard." Mike said, "But why did I hear that the reason you won this medal is because you improved the Oblivion Charm, which greatly reduced the side effects of the Oblivion Charm?"

Lockhart's face turned pale when he heard this, and he was completely stunned. He didn't even notice that the juice in his hand accidentally dripped onto his body.

"You know everything! Did they tell you?" Lockhart said stupidly.

Mike didn't respond, but just gave Lockhart an unfathomable smile.

"How could they do this? They swore to me! They swore to keep a secret for me!" Lockhart screamed hysterically.

Lockhart's emotions were out of control at this time. Seeing this, Mike pulled Franklin aside and quickly retreated. He moved the wand in his hand slightly, and the armor protection spell covered the two of them.

"Calm down, Professor!" Mike shouted.

Lockhart had already picked up his wand at this time, but seeing Mike's vigilant look and the house-elves around him all gathered around with nervous looks, he silently put his wand away again.

"Tell me what you want! As long as you can keep a secret, I will satisfy you!" Lockhart gritted his teeth, "You damn vampires! Everyone wants to exploit me! Dumbledore is like this, and now you are the same!"

Seeing his reaction, Mike knew in his heart that the unlucky Lockhart was indeed caught by Dumbledore and was tricked into coming to Hogwarts. Seeing that Lockhart's reaction did not seem fake, Mike also ruled out Lockhart's suspicion. So he put on a bright smile again and said:
"Professor, you misunderstood. I am not threatening you..."

"Huh? So you are deliberately using this matter to humiliate me?" Lockhart interrupted Mike before he could finish. He had already tolerated Mike for a long time today.

Mike's smile froze on his face. He didn't expect that Lockhart, such a handsome and sincere man, would actually choke people.

"Then you should think of me as threatening you!" Mike's face darkened. "I can accept your interview, and you can also write that novel, but I must be the protagonist. Also, you must show me your manuscript. If there is anything that I am not satisfied with, you know the consequences."

Maybe it was because they had completely fallen out that he no longer cared about anything, but Lockhart's attitude became obviously arrogant. He leaned back and crossed his legs. Lockhart said, "I can promise you, but we must sign a contract to prevent you from using this matter to threaten me again! Use Gringotts' special contract magic!"

Mike had also heard of this kind of contract, which was often used in business contracts in the wizarding world and was extremely effective. In addition to being attacked by powerful magic, those who violated the contract would also be completely blacklisted by Gringotts as untrustworthy persons, and would definitely not be able to move forward in the wizarding world. However, Mike had a doubt in his mind and asked:

"Wait a minute, if you have that kind of thing, why are you still worried about 'them' leaking the secret?" Lockhart's face turned red again when he heard that, and he shouted angrily: "Are you playing dumb again, you damned brat? The contract is useless to wizards of Dumbledore's level! Okay, stop talking nonsense, come and sign the contract. And that black boy also has to sign a contract with me to make sure he doesn't spread what happened today!"

After confirming that Lockhart was not the heir, Mike had lost interest in him and just wanted to leave this place as soon as possible, so he decisively agreed.

Lockhart couldn't wait to take out two pieces of parchment from the bag of Traceless Extension Charm he carried with him, wrote the contract with his gorgeous peacock feather pen, handed one to Mike, and threw the other in front of Franklin.

Mike took a look at the contract, which described in great detail that Lockhart was a liar and a memory thief. It also stated Mike's obligation to keep this secret for Lockhart and the rights he should enjoy.

After carefully examining the entire parchment and finding no other patterns or other hidden clauses that might be written in the language of other races, Mike signed his name at the signature spot.

Compared with the contract given to Mike, the contract given to Franklin was much simpler. Franklin signed it early and wanted to secretly look at the contents of the contract in Mike's hand, but was stopped by Lockhart with a slap.

Franklin dodged the slap by stepping back, and turned back to glare at Lockhart. He was very dissatisfied with Lockhart's current attitude. Unexpectedly, Lockhart also became tough and glared back.

The two of them stared at each other for a long time, until Mike signed his name, Lockhart snatched it away, snorted coldly and left the kitchen.

Franklin looked at Lockhart's receding figure and said indignantly to Mike, who was packing up and preparing to leave, "He is too arrogant. Although I don't know what evidence you have against him, I think you shouldn't let him go just like that!"

Mike looked at Franklin in surprise. Seeing his indignant face still with childishness, he realized that he was still a 12-year-old boy. So he said to him earnestly:
"Franklin, we are not street thugs selling leaves. We are not going to kill people if they are a little disrespectful to us. Be more polite. They have suffered a great loss due to our coercion. Shouldn't we allow them to be a little arrogant?"

After saying that, Mike took the lead and left his seat, and Franklin hurriedly followed.

At this time, there were still many delicious dishes on the table that had not been touched, which made the house-elves very uneasy. They thought that they had not cooked well and the guests were not satisfied. One of the most extreme house-elves, probably learned it from the chicken, and had already put a knife on his belly, ready to commit suicide by cutting open his stomach.

For this reason, Mike had to stop and comfort these house-elves, explaining to them that they were not hungry and not that the food was bad, and promised to come again next time. Only then were the two of them able to escape.

Rogers had originally made an appointment with Mike to go for Quidditch training this afternoon, but too many troublesome things happened today and Mike was no longer in the mood to go for training.

Taking Franklin and walking quickly towards the Ravenclaw Tower, Mike missed his sofa chair very much.

(End of this chapter)