From Hogwarts to Strixhaven.

Chapter 177 The Voice in the Armor
Hogwarts has many secrets, but it can also be said that there are no secrets.

Before breakfast the next day, the whole school knew that Harry had attacked Filch because he wanted to punish Harry by making him clean the chamber pot.

Harry sat at the Gryffindor table with a sad face. Yesterday, Professor McGonagall and Professor Snape jointly decided on the content of his detention.

Yes, Harry was going to get detention for a little bit of mud.

Originally, Snape wanted him to go to the school hospital to clean chamber pots, which was not allowed to use magic, but Professor McGonagall thought that he should not continue to be in the same space with Filch, so she arranged for him to help reply to the letter from Professor Lockhart of Defense Against the Dark Arts.

It was hard for Harry to decide which was more devastating.

Harry felt his stomach twist at the thought of having to face Lockhart's eight gleaming teeth every night for the next week.

"Well done! Harry!" Fred and George sat down next to him. The last conflict with the Slytherin Quidditch team did not cause the brothers to deduct points from Gryffindor.

But Harry knew that they were still very cautious at this time. They didn't even play their favorite dungbombs. They were avoiding Filch, Mrs. Norris and Peeves all day long, for fear of being deducted a point or two.

But Gryffindor's nature of thirsting for adventure has not disappeared. George hugged Harry's shoulders affectionately and said with a silly smile: "You did what we wanted to do but dared not do. Fred and I are so happy to see that Gryffindor has a successor!"

"It really wasn't me..."

"Hmmmm~" Before Harry could finish his words, Fred raised his index finger and shook it, "Do we know who it is, or what it is?"

"'Ominous'? Right?" The two brothers held Harry in the middle, looked around the hall, and lowered their voices and said, "There are no outsiders here. Tell us how you did it?"

Harry was a little annoyed. Why were people always unwilling to believe him? But thinking about the big black dog that always appeared and disappeared strangely, if Harry hadn't seen it with his own eyes, he probably wouldn't believe it either.

Thinking of this, Harry couldn't help but feel a little discouraged: "I told you, it really wasn't me... I even saved Filch's life!"

Fred and George looked at each other and saw that Harry was not in high spirits, so they wisely changed the subject. "Hagrid has brought some new little fellows. Perhaps you would like to go and have a look. I dare say that big fellow is the most interesting fellow in the castle, except for Peeves!"

"Thank you..." Harry saw the brothers' good intentions and thanked them in a low voice. At the same time, he thought that maybe he should go find Hagrid. After all, he was an expert on magical creatures and might know what that big black dog was.

However, all this would have to happen until next weekend, as he had to go to the Defense Against the Dark Arts office for detention first.

That night, Harry dragged his heavy legs into Lockhart's office, and then sadly discovered that the speed of time might be different there.

It was only four hours, but Harry felt as if he had spent four centuries listening to Lockhart's nagging.

The next day he found Hermione and wanted to work hard to learn the cleaning spell.

"Poor you, mate." Ron looked at him sympathetically. "Lockhart has messed up your brain. To be honest, I've never heard you say that before - I need to study hard."

"Shut up! Ron." Hermione said arrogantly, "Harry learned a lesson from this, right? If he could clean himself up before returning to the castle, there wouldn't be a series of events afterwards. In short, learning will never let you down!"

She turned her head and glanced at Ron, still talking: "Smart people can learn from the lessons of others, what about you, Ron."

"Oh, okay." Ron opened the book and said something that made Hermione desperate in front of his satisfied eyes, "Let me see your Transfiguration paper. Professor McGonagall wants it to be two feet long!"

Harry glanced up as well. Ron had already written a little, his handwriting was sloppy and rough, and the letters were large, while Hermione's essay was much more formal, with small, dense letters, showing her know-it-all qualities.

Harry dared to say that Hermione had almost given up on Ron, and he couldn't follow the example of this half-hearted brother.

So he opened the "Elementary Transfiguration" timetable, determined to work hard to be a good student and never fall into the predicament of getting into trouble because of a little mud again.

Although Harry was very determined, some things were ultimately beyond human control.

After staring at the words in the book for only three to five minutes, Harry felt his eyelids heavy, his thoughts were confused, and he didn't even recognize the words in the textbook.

He wanted to give up, but he felt it was a bit shameful to ask his good friend Hermione at this time. After thinking for a long time, the first thing he said was: "Ron, have you finished writing?"

Ron seemed to have been expecting him to ask this question, and then he put Hermione's paper between them and started working in silence.

Hermione had also noticed the commotion here, and after glaring at Harry sadly, she picked up the book in front of her and used the not-particularly-thick book to block her sight, just to avoid seeing it and being annoyed.

Harry felt embarrassed, thinking that Hermione was just reviewing her lessons again, but when he took a closer look, he realized that what Hermione was holding in her hands was not a textbook that was currently being used.

The gold-plated letters on the spine of the book showed that it was Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. Harry had never heard of this name before, so he thought, maybe it was a collection of fairy tales from the wizarding world?

"I didn't expect you would read this kind of extracurricular books. I thought you only read big books like "Hogwarts, A History" to pass the time!" Harry only felt that Hermione also had a playful side, and for a moment he felt that the distance between her and him was not so far anymore.

Hermione didn't put down the book, but answered Harry's question anyway, her voice full of disappointment: "This is not an extracurricular book, it's a textbook for next school year."

Ron was also surprised when he heard this: "Ah? I haven't heard of this course? Even if you prepare for it, you've prepared too far ahead, haven't you?"

Hermione slammed the book on the table fiercely and growled, "We will be in the third grade next year and we have to choose at least two elective courses!"

"That's next year..." Ron had to shrink his head due to Hermione's prestige, but he was still arguing, "It's a pity that Halloween hasn't even come yet... Besides, we may not necessarily choose this course..."

"Did you know that Hogwarts has built a new 'Facility for Breeding and Raising Magical Creatures'?" It seemed that Hermione was going to have a good talk with the two of them. "Although the Care of Magical Creatures course is still an elective for third-year students this year, the school board and the Ministry of Magic have invested in building such a large facility, and it's not just for viewing. I think it won't be long before Care of Magical Creatures will become a compulsory course at Hogwarts. Reading more books now will definitely be beneficial for the future!"

What Hermione said made sense.

Since Hogwarts has already built a building on the huge land approved by the Ministry of Magic, it is impossible to leave it there empty. Not to mention that when this building was still on the drawing board, Ivy, the instigator, had already set his sights on the teachers and students of Hogwarts.

Now that the "base" has been completed, there is no way the Hogwarts Board of Directors would let go of so many laborers for no reason. Of course, they have to find ways to elevate the elective course Care of Magical Creatures to the status of a compulsory course.

Hermione was precocious despite her young age, and her political level was much better than that of other boys of the same age. No wonder she could become the Minister of Magic despite being a Muggle-born in the original book.

Although Harry and Ron, who have always been playful, wanted to refute Hermione's point of view, they really had no room to comment on the big topic of "learning", not to mention that they were now "borrowing" other people's Transfiguration papers, so they looked at each other and stopped talking.

After finishing today's homework, Harry was about to face another hell.

He said goodbye to his good friend sadly and set off on his journey slowly.

The Defense Against the Dark Arts professor's office was the same one Ivy had used before, but before leaving Hogwarts for the summer vacation, Ivy had packed up all his personal belongings and stuffed them into the Grimoire of Destruction, leaving Lockhart with only an empty room.

But perhaps this is just what this ostentatious Third Class Order of Merlin likes to do.

He hung his own photos all over the room, and every Lockhart in the frame liked to show off his eight shiny teeth. After spending four hours there yesterday, Harry was almost allergic to Lockhart's smile.

Not to mention that every time Harry finished a letter, he would slip in a signed photo of Lockhart.

I really don't know how his fans can still like Lockhart's smile.

Harry felt sick just by looking at it.

Standing outside Lockhart's office, Harry hesitated for a moment and didn't knock on the door. The free air outside really made him reluctant to leave.

There was no one in the corridor, not even the little witches who usually gathered outside Lockhart's office. Perhaps after a month of school, Hermione was the only one who still had hope for him.

With Professor Victor as their role model, most students had already grown tired of Lockhart's role-playing games. Harry was particularly annoyed by this, because every time he was dragged into class by Lockhart, he had to play abnormal creatures such as werewolves, vampires, and snowmen.

"This is awful," said Harry to a shining suit of armour, the only one in the corridor, and he could not help feeling a twinge of sympathy.

"You're the only one here, right?" Harry couldn't help feeling sorry for the armor when he thought about being forced to be neighbors with Lockhart. Then he thought about going into Lockhart's office soon, and suddenly felt that the armor's situation was not too bad. At least it didn't have to be bombarded by Lockhart's smile.

"It's really terrible." A melancholy female voice suddenly sounded, scaring Harry.

"You're trapped too, aren't you?" the melancholy female voice continued.

Harry looked around in the corridor, but didn't see anyone. He suspected that some ghost was playing a trick on him, but he was not sure, so he had to ask in a low voice: "Who is talking?"

"Who else could it be?" A harsh male voice answered the question, "Of course it's your conscience! Aren't all the bad situations your own fault?"

Definitely Peeves!

Harry was about to get angry when he heard a steady voice say, "Don't listen to him, kid. We're right in front of you."

But there was only a suit of armor in front of Harry.

Harry didn't expect that the armor could actually talk, but he was now in a magical castle, so it was no big deal that the armor could talk. It was said that some people had seen armor fighting each other!
"You are trapped too?" Harry remembered what the first female voice that spoke to him said. It seemed that they were also quite resentful about standing outside Lockhart's door.

"Yeah, it's small, narrow, and wet." The voice that answered Harry turned into the melancholy female voice from before, "I really miss those days of lying on the lawn and basking in the sun."

Harry looked down at the water stains at the foot of his armor. This place was not far from the girls' bathroom. He had heard from Hermione that there lived a crying ghost in there that often made water everywhere.

"It happened again yesterday?" The harsh male voice spoke again, "Isn't it because of you that we are trapped here?"

"He smells so good... I didn't expect it to be like this..." The melancholy female voice seemed to be complaining for herself.

But Harry thought she was right. Lockhart was indeed a man of all appearances but little substance.

"Enough, quarreling is of no benefit to our situation!" The last steady male voice stopped the quarrel of his companions, "Leave here, kid. It's not the world that can trap you, but yourself. Your situation is different from ours."

"Oh..." Harry thought that this was a good point. Although it couldn't change his situation of going to Lockhart's office to be punished, he still felt a lot better, so he thanked him sincerely, "Thank you... uh, have a nice day?"

"Get out of here, you little brat!" The harsh voice sounded very angry, "Do you really need me to beg you? If I can still move, I will definitely eat you up in one bite!"

"I'm sorry, kid." A steady voice sighed, "That guy is always like that. We won't stay here for long..."

Harry couldn't help but take a step back, then stepped forward and looked at the hole under the armor mask, trying to see where the sound came from.

"What on earth do you want? I'm going to take you—"

The door to Lockhart's office opened and the sounds from within the armor stopped abruptly.

"Look who this little rascal is? Come in, Harry!"

As soon as Harry turned his head, he saw Lockhart's eight shining white teeth. He sighed and walked into his office resignedly.

(End of this chapter)