Snape, the Sunshine of Hogwarts.

Chapter 184 Lockhart's Forest Adventure
Even with the coordinates sent by Andrews and the map of Albania purchased from the Wizard's Tavern, Lockhart still faced a difficult task in finding his destination in such a vast forest as Logara.

In particular, he was a fake adventurer who actually had no experience in jungle adventures at all and was unprepared before even entering the forest.

Lockhart got lost on the very first day!
Although he was once a Ravenclaw graduate, after so many years of graduation, he had long since forgotten most of the magic he had learned, and used it more clumsily than the upperclassmen at Hogwarts.

Just like the sneak attack on Angelo, if he hadn't lowered his guard beforehand and suddenly attacked at the dinner table, even two Lockharts combined might not have been able to defeat him.

After getting lost in the woods without any preparation, Lockhart was completely bewildered and had no idea where he was.

However, he was still quite clever. He saw from the map that Andrews' location was next to the only main river in the forest, so after realizing he was lost, he immediately decided that he needed to find a river first.

Whether the river is a tributary or the main stream, as long as he follows the path, he will eventually find a way to determine his exact location.

However, he overestimated himself once again.

He searched until dark, but he hadn't even found half a river!
As night fell completely, Lockhart collapsed onto the grass, a squirrel leaping onto his head and then darting away.

Lockhart, who hadn't even prepared a tent and only brought some bread and water, was already starting to have second thoughts.

He was considering whether he should go back to the tavern for the night and then return to the forest to search the next day after everything was prepared.

But soon, due to his lack of confidence in his Apparition ability, he quickly dismissed the idea.

As a well-known author who lived a life of luxury, he mostly traveled by Floo Network after becoming famous, and he rarely used the Apparition spell since graduating from Hogwarts.

Even those few times when I couldn't wait to use it due to various reasons, there were two instances where it split apart.

Fortunately, the two times he was split apart, he only lost a leg or an arm, which allowed him to go back immediately and take the remaining organs to St. Mungo's to reconnect his body.

But that was just good luck. If the body splits into the head next time and there's no one around to watch over him, he'll lose his life!

He left Angelo's house because he was too excited and Apparated without thinking. After realizing what had happened, he felt a wave of fear, but at the same time, he was also grateful for his good luck.

Now, he was quite hesitant about letting Lockhart Apparate away from the forest again and then Apparate back the next day.

He hadn't been sitting on the grass for long when a gust of cold wind woke him up.

He gritted his teeth and stood up again.

If he can't find Andrews, his plan to release a new book in the second half of the year will be completely ruined, and his reputation will be damaged. Once he can't continue to produce works, people will definitely start to doubt his creative ability!
Therefore, he must find Andrews as soon as possible and must not give up at this time.

But while he had his own ideas, the question of how to find the right path still remained for Lockhart.

He pondered for a long time before finally recalling a spell in his mind.

It was a simple spell that would have been easy for him back in Ravenclaw, but now he didn't know if it would still work.

Lockhart held his wand horizontally in his palm and then recited the incantation for the Direction Charm.

“Give me directions.”

The wand spun rapidly in his palm, like a compass affected by a magnetic field, until it slowly came to a stop after twenty or thirty seconds, the tip pointing in one direction.

According to the principle of this spell, once successfully cast, the wand should point due north.

Lockhart was clearly unsure whether his spell had worked, so he decided to try anything, assuming that this was due north. He then pulled out a map, determined that the river was generally oriented towards the eastern part of the forest, and then pinpointed east, starting to walk forward.

So he endured the elements and slept in the open for two whole days, finally arriving at what seemed like a magical animal nature reserve established by the Albanian Ministry of Magic.

Here, he saw traces of magical creatures, no longer the ordinary kind.

This cheered Lockhart up, who had been feeling disheartened.

He immediately pulled out the map again, assuming that his initial direction was correct and that he had been heading east the whole time, and combined this with the location where he had come into contact with the magical creature nature reserve.

Lockhart quickly delineated a range on the map, confirming that his current location should be within that range.

According to the map, once he passes through the fire dragon nature reserve ahead, he will reach a valley where a giant tribe lives. By following the stream in the valley, he will eventually find the main branch of the river in the forest.

Having decided on the path forward, Lockhart felt even more motivated.

He found a big tree and spent another night under it, then continued eastward according to the location he had marked.

As he ventured deeper into the world, the number of magical creatures he encountered not only did not increase, but actually decreased.

But this did not alert Lockhart; he even felt that there was nothing wrong with him entering the Fire Dragon Nature Reserve alone.

Until he came to a small hill and a huge, deep pit.

The mountain was very short, only about one or two hundred meters high, and the vegetation on it was sparse. From a distance, it looked like a bare little hill.

The mountain itself wasn't particularly remarkable; what truly struck Lockhart as odd was the large pit beside it.

Only when he got really close to the pit did he realize that it was more like a dried-up lake.

But there wasn't a drop of water left in the lake, and the bottom of the lake seemed to have been eaten clean by many unknown huge creatures, leaving only the dried mud!
Lockhart marveled at the strange place. He walked around the dried-up lake and decided that if he ever wrote another story, he could include this lake and mountain in it, suggesting that it was actually the dark lair of a dark wizard.

Just as he reached a withered but enormous fir tree, intending to lean against it, eat some bread and drink some water before continuing westward, he vaguely spotted a rusty copper object in some withered grass beside the fir tree.

The object was hidden in the soil, with only a small portion, about the size of a fingernail, protruding. Lockhart wouldn't have noticed it if he hadn't turned around to pick up some souvenir. After hastily finishing his dry bread and water, he carefully approached the pile of withered grass, parted the grass, and dug through the soil, finally discovering it was a patina-covered circular handle!

Lockhart took out his wand and used a simple spell to clear the dirt around the handle, revealing a trapdoor hidden underneath!

This gave him a look of surprise, but it was quickly followed by doubt.

As a fake adventurer who stole all his adventure stories from others, Lockhart knew his own limitations perfectly well.

He knew perfectly well that he had no experience in adventures at all, and even from a magical point of view, aside from the Oblivion Charm, he was just a mediocre third-rate wizard. The trapdoor in front of him was obviously unusual, but if there was any danger inside, he would definitely not be able to walk out of it alive.

With that in mind, Lockhart ultimately decided not to open the trapdoor. He covered the door with the dirt again and restored it to its original state with dry grass.

He memorized the place and planned that when the opportunity arose, he could trick other fools into coming here to take risks. If there was danger, he would send others to their deaths; if there was a gain, he would launch a sneak attack himself.

Having confirmed this, Lockhart passed the dried-up lake and planned to continue eastward around the small hill in front of it.

Soon, he discovered that there were many animal carcasses on that barren mountain.

Not only ordinary animals, but also many magical animals!
Bandi Mang, deformed lizards, spiny lizards, tree monkey frogs, and even large numbers of dead pufferfish!
This sight startled Lockhart.

He dared not linger and quickened his pace. However, before he could take more than a few steps forward, a blinding red light struck him precisely!

Lockhart's eyes were filled with terror.

He had always been the one to ambush others, but he never expected to be ambushed by someone else in this deep mountain forest.

The petrification spell rendered Lockhart completely immobile; he could only stand frozen in place, watching helplessly as more than a dozen wizards dressed in Auror robes emerged from behind the tree.

A wizard cast another spell on him, a binding spell that summoned a rope to bind him tightly. At the same time, someone came closer and took his wand, and only then was the petrification spell on him lifted.

The leading Auror stared coldly at Lockhart.

"Tell me, what have you done to this place?"

His question, spoken in Albanian, left Lockhart completely bewildered.

"What are you talking about! I don't know anything! I don't know anything!!"

"Stop pretending! Ever since the fire dragon rampage, you're the only one who's come here. You must be involved in this anomaly!"

This time, the leading Auror spoke in English, his face was gloomy, and he looked to be in a bad mood.

Because it wasn't until the male wizard approached the hill that his men noticed him; before that, they hadn't realized that a wizard had entered the cordon they had set up in this area.

This infuriated him, both because of his subordinates' incompetence and because of his suspicion of the intruder.

The other Aurors clearly sensed their superior's emotions as well. They reluctantly took Lockhart's suitcase and began carefully searching its contents. One female Auror, however, kept staring at Lockhart's face, looking suspicious, as if she were wondering what it was about.

"You'd better tell me everything you know now! Otherwise, once I take you back to the ministry and get the truth serum, you won't have a choice anymore!"

Hearing this, Lockhart truly panicked!
"I really don't know anything! I am Gilderoy Lockhart! A famous British author! Do any of you recognize me? I am not some dark wizard! I came to this forest to find friends! To find friends!"

Meanwhile, the other Aurors also found some odds and ends in Lockhart's suitcase.

Every book he created was accompanied by a Third Class Order of Merlin from Wissengamo, a "Most Charming Smile" award from Wizarding Weekly, letters from various enthusiastic fans, and a plane ticket from France to Albania on a Muggle plane, among other things.

And through these things, the female Auror who already felt Lockhart looked familiar finally recognized him.

“Giddro Lockhart! Yes! Captain, that’s him! He’s my idol! I’ve read every single one of his books; he’s a famous British adventure writer!”

The female Auror became excited.

"You're here on an adventure, right? You wrote back to your fans saying you'd be releasing your new book in the second half of the year, and you're currently looking for inspiration?"

But she quickly turned around and noticed that her boss's face had become very stiff, so she wisely shut her mouth.

The Albanian Aurors did not absolve him of suspicion because of the contents of his suitcase or because the female Aurors recognized him.

Instead, they then conducted a thorough examination on him and made Lockhart drink a potion to test whether he was someone who had transformed using Polyjuice Potion.

Finally, after all the checks were completed without any problems, the leading Auror completely lowered his guard against Lockhart and apologized.

"This was a mistake on the part of my men; they should have stopped you before you entered this area."

His attitude wasn't good, and his words were mostly filled with resentment towards his colleagues.

After apologizing, he turned and left, cursing as he ordered his men to redeploy their forces around the area.

Only the female Auror approached Lockhart with shining eyes.

"Mr. Lockhart, could you sign my robe? I've bought every single one of your books! I'm a huge fan!"

Upon hearing this, Lockhart's face broke into a charming smile, and he pulled a quill pen from his pocket.

"Aha! Of course, that's no problem!"

(End of this chapter)