Hogwarts: Dumbledore reigned over the wizarding world

Chapter 134 Lockhart's End
The familiar, ugly handwriting made Harry laugh out loud, but as he touched the words, the boy, who had been lonely for more than half a month and had begun to miss Hogwarts and his friends, suddenly felt a warm feeling in his heart.

He gently unseals the envelope as if it were a fragile treasure, pours out the thick stack of papers inside, and carefully unfolds them to read.

The story begins with Ron's complaint:
[It was so good to receive your letter, Harry. You've saved me from hell! I used writing to you as an excuse to finally escape the clutches of Ginny, Mama, Vaughn, and Hermione. Merlin, you'd never imagine a day like this—I actually find going out to play a painful experience!]

"Hermione?"

Harry paused for a moment before remembering that Ron had mentioned before the holidays that Vaughn had invited the Grangers to visit the Burrow during the summer.

"Oh, they've already gone?"

Muttering a hint of envy to himself, Harry continued reading Ron's letter. Although it began with a few complaints, Harry could tell that Ron was still quite happy.

[...We warmly welcomed Hermione and her parents at the Burrow. Mr. Granger was a very gentle and refined man, completely different from my father, but when it came to football, he would immediately become excited and crazy. You know, when I asked him if it would be boring for 20 people to chase a ball on the lawn, his eyes widened as if he wanted to eat me alive...]

Mrs. Granger is a lot like my mother; both are enthusiastic about strange, bizarre topics that make you question your own sanity, and they also love shopping… Fred says all middle-aged women are like that, and I can’t even imagine it. Will Hermione and Ginny become like that someday?

The last sentence here was circled heavily in red ink, and then someone wrote next to it:

[Ronald, you're dead meat—Harry, keep this letter safe for us, and give it to Ginny and me when school starts. I hope you don't even think about sacrificing yourself to save Ron!]

Harry burst out laughing. He recognized the red lettering as Hermione's handwriting. The characters were sharp and forceful, and Harry could almost picture Hermione gritting her teeth as she wrote those words.

There might be Ginny standing nearby, equally gritting her teeth.

Sunlight streamed in through the window behind the two girls, while outside, the wind howled and the reeds swayed in the breeze. Fred and George sped across the fields on their brooms.

I can only imagine with envy that Harry faithfully carried out Hermione's "orders" to fold the letter and keep it safe.

The evidence will be presented to the girls after summer vacation ends.

Anyway, it's Ron's fault, it has nothing to do with Harry Potter!
Seeing Hermione's handwriting, Harry glanced at the thick stack of letters and instinctively began searching through them.

To his surprise, there were indeed letters written by Hermione among them, making up more than half of them.

Unlike Ron's dry writing, Hermione described her days at the Burrow in detail, starting from the first day the Weasleys warmly welcomed them, and even included photographs:
[...Mrs. Weasley treated us to her modified "Vaughn Hotpot," a wonderful, unimaginable dish, like a pot of melted jasmine broth, thickly coating every ingredient, sweet and sour with a slight spiciness that stimulated the taste buds. It was said that Vaughn learned it from a Muggle magazine, but I had never heard of it before, and Vaughn himself didn't seem to like it, which was strange...]

The next day, Mrs. Weasley warmly invited us to participate in a unique activity of wizarding families—driving away goblins!

[It's said that Mrs. Weasley hadn't cleaned the garden for a month to preserve the project, waiting for our arrival. My parents and I were very touched.]

[A very interesting activity. In the early morning mist, we rode brooms and flying carpets (it is said that the Ministry of Magic had long banned these things, but Mr. Weasley obviously did not abide by the rules). Old Errol flapped his wings and drove those potato-like goblins out of the dense bushes. We only needed to scoop them up with a gentle touch, swing them around in the air a few times, and throw them far away...]

A photograph was attached to the bottom of the letter.

Inside were Hermione and a red-haired little girl sitting on a flying carpet. They swung their arms vigorously, shaking the things they held high in their hands almost out of focus, before throwing them far into the wilderness.

Under the blue sky and white clouds, they smiled brightly, and even just looking at the photos, Harry couldn't help but smile as well.

[...We went to Knockturn Alley, which was full of strange wizards. Mom and Dad were scared, but Vaughn said not to worry. In fact, Vaughn was very influential there, and people respected him, supposedly because of his status as a Potions Master.]

The accompanying photograph, taken in a dark alley, shows Mr. and Mrs. Granger, cloaked and hooded, looking around nervously as they face the camera.

Beside them, Vaughn, also cloaked, was talking to a witch with a face full of pimples, occasionally turning back to comfort Mr. and Mrs. Granger.

On July 6th, Vaughn took my parents and me to visit a very famous person, you absolutely can't imagine—well, I'll tell you anyway, Newt Scamander! My goodness, Harry, this is the most famous wizard I've ever met besides the Headmaster. His book, *Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them*, is practically the *Encyclopædia Britannica* of the wizarding world…

Hermione's old habits have kicked in again.

She used three whole sheets of parchment to try to explain to Harry Newt Scamander's achievements.

But those words will only make poor students sleepy.

Harry had to quickly skim through it and turn to the page with the accompanying photo:
The photo was taken on a vast grassland. Hermione excitedly hugs Vaughn's arm, while on Vaughn's other side, a thin, shy-looking old man holds a unicorn in one arm and says something to Vaughn with a smile.

Harry wasn't sure if it was just his imagination, but he felt that Vaughn's expression was a bit strange, and he kept staring at the unicorn whose mouth was moving...

On the other side of the photo, Mr. and Mrs. Granger are grinning foolishly, surrounded by a group of strange, fluffy-looking creatures.

There were also several beautiful birds that appeared and disappeared around them.

As Harry continued to turn the pages, scene after scene he had never seen before gradually appeared before his eyes through Hermione's descriptions and photographs.

Hogsmeade, a wizarding town very close to Hogwarts, which he had listened to for a whole year but had never visited because he was too young to go there.

There's also Godric's Hollow, England's largest all-wizard town. Harry had heard Dumbledore mention it; the Potters' ancestral home was there, but perhaps out of concern for his feelings, Hermione didn't say a word about it.

At the end of the letter, a photograph showed a narrow passageway with many fireplaces on either side, leading to a vast fountain plaza where a huge magic statue leaned against a building.

The photo shows no sky; everything is dark and gloomy, as if it were underground.

Hermione's description in the letter also confirmed Harry's first impression.

On July 13th, we arrived at the Ministry of Magic, located in the basement of Whitehall, London… Normally, Muggles aren't allowed in the Ministry, but Vaughn brought us anyway. I was nervous for a long time, but it turned out no one cared… The atmosphere here was incredibly lax. Mr. Weasley told me that the Ministry requires its members to use fireplaces while at work, but very few people follow this rule.

As the photograph shows, none of the fireplaces were lit from the time we arrived... Yes, even Mr. Weasley usually Apparates directly to his office...

"Alright, the Ministry of Magic's problems aren't my concern right now. This will be our last stop. Vaughn brought us here because he happened to have some business to attend to."

Over the course of more than ten days, I visited the places where wizards actually live in this world. My understanding of the magical world was no longer limited to textbook descriptions, but rather I saw it with my own eyes and experienced it firsthand. This was a very meaningful experience.

[Harry, it's a shame you can't come with me... If Hedwig hadn't been slacking off, I should have been getting ready to go home by the time you received this letter. Ron mentioned he'd visit you, and I might go sometime too. As for the exact time—guess?]

As Hermione turned to playfulness at the end of the letter, Harry laughed like a fool. Even after reading through all the letters and photos again, when he finally collapsed onto the bed with a large stack of papers in his arms, a smile still lingered on his lips.

so good!
While feeling envious, he was also grateful for Hermione's thoughtfulness. The combination of words and photos made him feel as if he had followed in their footsteps and taken a tour of the magical world in England!
After lying quietly on the small bed for a while, the boy, whose thoughts had been stirred, suddenly looked forward to the arrival of his friends.

Although Hermione was being secretive and unwilling to say, Harry knew that they would most likely meet on the same day—

7 month 31 day.

His birthday!

"I've received the letter. I wonder if Hermione has come home yet? Has she already started preparing my birthday present?"

Harry thought expectantly.

……

But in reality, Hermione hadn't left yet.

According to the plan she made when writing to Harry, she was indeed going to go home on July 15th.

Until last night, she suddenly saw in the newspaper why Vaughn was going to the Ministry of Magic on the 13th.

[Breaking News! Sir Vaughan Weasley, a Second Class recipient of the Order of Merlin and a member of the Wizengamot, will convene the Wizengamot on July 15th to reconsider the Third Class eligibility of renowned bestselling author Gilderoy Lockhart.]

Gilderoy Lockhart.

Hermione was familiar with the name; she had heard Vaughn mention it before the holidays, and that was the first time she had ever seen Vaughn so disgusted with someone.

Hermione later even made a point of looking into it.

Behind that name is a string of titles that immediately inspire awe and respect.

An internationally renowned bestselling author, a recipient of the Order of Merlin, a third-class medalist, an honorary member of the Anti-Dark Magic League... plus more than a dozen books that have consistently ranked high on the bestseller lists, bearing titles such as "With Vampires," "With Werewolves," and "With Trolls," all featuring dangerous and fantastical creatures.

If it weren't for the preconceived notion that "Vaughn had expressed his disgust," Hermione felt she might have admired such a person as well.

Faced with someone who possesses so many titles and seems to hold an extremely high position, Vaughn is preparing to summon Wizengamo to strip him of the Order of Merlin, Class 3!
Hermione is very worried about this!
So she postponed her plans to go home, intending to wait for the results—even though Vaughn told her that he had enough evidence to bring down the other side without any difficulty.

“But he’s a grown wizard, Vaughn, what if you push him too far…”

"Don't worry, he's a fraud. Besides his Oblivion Spell, he can't even beat a student!"

“A fraud?” Hermione’s eyes widened. “You mean, everything in his books is fake?”

Vaughn scoffed: "The story is true, but he's not the main character!"

In fact, Vaughn was not originally interested in Gilderoy Lockhart. Before he enrolled, Molly had already started to admire Lockhart, and Vaughn never said anything about it.

Even if he didn't specifically recall it, this name would hardly appear in his memory list, because that guy was a complete waste and had no value whatsoever!
It wasn't until Vaughn received the Order of Merlin, Second Class, that he suddenly started to dislike that guy.

The reason is that the other party also has a Merlin Order medal.

Even though the medals were of different ranks and the powers they granted were vastly different, Vaughn still felt very uncomfortable about having the same medal as such a piece of trash!

If you're unhappy with him, then take him down!

With Vaughn's current strength, he could easily kill Lockhart without anyone noticing. However, that wouldn't change the fact that a conman possessed the Merlin Medal. To make things clearer for himself, Vaughn had no choice but to go through the trouble of completely ruining the conman's reputation!
On the afternoon of July 15, Vaughn brought Hermione to the Ministry of Magic again. Today, he was wearing a purple robe, and he looked solemn and dignified.

As the head of the Wizengamor administration, Amelia Bornes received him. This witch, also dressed in purple robes, almost made Hermione mistake her for Professor McGonagall at first glance.

No, she seemed more stern than Professor McGonagall.

"Hello, Miss Granger, welcome to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement!" Amelia said this greeting without any change in expression, showing no joy whatsoever.

Hermione almost thought she was a criminal being interrogated.

She blinked and replied dryly, "Hello, Ms. Burns (Amelia is unmarried). I've heard Susan talk about you; she admires you a lot."

Upon hearing her niece's name, Amelia's lips twitched slightly, her expression softening somewhat. She instructed Hermione, "Vaughn has requested that you sit in. In principle, Wisengamour does not exclude ordinary wizards from attending as observers, but I also hope you understand that Wisengamour meetings are very serious occasions, and observers have no right to speak. Therefore, I hope Miss Granger will keep this in mind and remain silent throughout... Can you do that?"

"Uh... okay!"

"very good!"

Amelia nodded and stopped talking to her. As she led the two to the second floor, she asked Vaughn, "How are your preparations going?"

Vaughn glanced at her and asked, "What's wrong?"

The matter of reconsidering the Lockhart Class 3 medal was discussed by Vaughn and Amelia several months ago, and Amelia also collected the evidence based on the information provided by Vaughn.

Normally, there shouldn't be any surprises during this review, and Amelia shouldn't be asking such questions anymore.

Amelia did not answer, and with her usual stern face, led the two through the corridors of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.

Once they reached the corner and were alone, she lowered her voice and said, "I just received news that Fudge will also be attending..."

"...What's he doing here again?"

“It’s obvious he’s here to cause trouble,” Amelia said calmly. “For months, he hasn’t been able to find any fault with the WAC, and some minor issues have been blocked by Barty Crouch. Our dear minister has probably been holding his breath for a while and is looking to cause you trouble.”

Vaughn chuckled. "So, he wants to stand up for Lockhart? He should know we have the evidence, right?"

“Of course, but Vaughn, as Minister of Magic, has the power to act arbitrarily!”

Soon, Vaughn witnessed firsthand just how capricious the Minister of Magic could be. The topic of this meeting was to reconsider Gilderoy Lockhart's eligibility for the Order of Merlin, Class 3, but it also included the possibility of prosecuting Gilderoy Lockhart for maliciously using the Oblivion Charm to attack other wizards and for illegally profiting from their work.

Therefore, the meeting was held in the courtroom, rather than the large conference hall where the previous WAC inquiry was held.

As the final place for the execution of laws in the entire English magical world, the courtroom is decorated entirely in dark tones, with the floors, walls, tiered seating, and so on all made of black marble.

Even the chairs are black!
The only seat in the center for interrogation was a high table made of natural wood, where Vaughn first met Gilderoy Lockhart.

The handsome wizard with his big wavy perm and bright, fashionable robes, who had won the Wizarding Weekly's Most Charming Smile Award five times, had long since lost that "charming" smile.

Lockhart was pale, and large beads of sweat kept sliding down his forehead, so much so that he had to keep wiping them with a handkerchief.

He also saw Vaughn.

He also saw the coldness in Vaughn's eyes as he looked down at him!

He tried to widen his eyes, seemingly wanting to express some anger, grievance, or sadness, but under Vaughn's gaze, it only turned into greater panic.

Others might not understand, but having once capitalized on the popularity of Vaughn and WAC and thoroughly researched both, he knew very well how terrifying a 12-year-old dared to go against Fudge, and how powerful the energy behind him was.

Lockhart couldn't understand what he had done wrong to deserve such a blow from such a powerful figure.

If possible, he really wanted to say to Vaughn:

Sir, could you please just ignore me?
But it was clear that no one in the room cared about his thoughts or his anxiety, including Mr. Fudge, who had decided to come to the meeting at the last minute to "support" him.

Connelly Fudge arrived just as the meeting was about to begin. After some time away, the minister had become much slimmer, and his once ruddy face had thinned, revealing glimpses of his youthful charm.

But those warm smiles from the past are nowhere to be seen anymore.

After exchanging a glance with Fudge and seeing his stern face, Vaughn sighed inwardly with a hint of regret. He then approached the minister and greeted him with a smile: "Minister Fudge, you don't look too well. You're getting on in years, you should rest more and not worry about everything."

With faint dark circles under his eyes, Fudge tried to puff out his belly: "No need for Mr. Weasley to worry, I've been eating and drinking well lately, and I can still work hard for another 20 years!"

On the other side, Hermione, who had been nervously clenching her fists ever since hearing the news from Amelia, felt her heart pounding as she watched Vaughn and Fudge clash.

In the girl's mind, the Minister of Magic still held a high position, and she was afraid that Vaughn would suffer a loss.

To her surprise, the people around her seemed to see nothing at all. No one paid any attention to the two who were secretly plotting against each other, including Amelia, who didn't even glance in that direction.

Time passed slowly, and after a moment, the courtroom doors slammed shut. Amelia tapped on the table:

"Except for a few members who are absent, everyone is present. I hereby declare that the deliberations shall now begin!"

"...Fellow members of Wizengamo, please look at the book I am holding, 'Wandering with Werewolves' by Mr. Gilderoy Lockhart. In this book, Mr. Lockhart very creatively 'invented' a spell called the Human Transformation Spell."

"According to Mr. Lockhart in his book, he used this spell to turn a werewolf who had gone mad on a full moon back into a human..."

On stage, Vaughn, waving his wand, peeled away, magnified, and floated the words from the book's pages into the air, his eyes fixed intently on Lockhart, who was sweating profusely below:

"Mr. Lockhart, do you admit that you have edited this passage?"

Okay, okay, okay...

Lockhart's teeth chattered; under the watchful eyes of a group of purple-robed wizards, he dared not lie.

“…Yes, I did write that…” Lockhart replied, then quickly added, “But that was fiction, made up for the sake of the plot—”

Vaughn ignored him and instead waved his wand again, peeling the words from the title page of the book in his hand—

[This book is based on my own real experiences — Gilderoy Lockhart]

Lockhart was speechless upon seeing the text, while the dozens of Wizengamo present whispered among themselves.

Vaughn proclaimed, “Gentlemen, the facts are clear: the ‘Transformation Curse’ does not exist. Gilderoy Lockhart is an undeniable fraudster. He fabricated a set of so-called true experiences to package himself, using lies to deceive readers into buying his works. In one book sale, Mr. Lockhart even suggested that the Aurors buy his books as teaching materials for their anti-dark magic campaign!”

"He's not only a fraud, he's also utterly depraved!"

Hearing Vaughn relentlessly criticizing him, and with increasingly harsh words, Lockhart, though terrified he was about to wet himself, still struggled to shout:

"You're slandering me! Yes, I admit that the book 'Wandering with Werewolves' has undergone some rather excessive alterations..."

As a bestselling author who frequently deals with the media, Lockhart is quite shrewd and decisive.

Seeing Vaughn use the "human-changing spell" as a weapon, Lockhart, knowing he was powerless to refute it, immediately sacrificed the book "Wandering with Werewolves" to preserve the interests of the other books: "...but only that one. As for the other works, I can guarantee that the experiences are completely true, without a trace of fabrication!"

He even cunningly said, "I am willing to make a magical oath in front of all of you."

Lockhart is not afraid of making vows because the experiences in other works are indeed real, even though he is not the protagonist...

However, the oath doesn't care who the protagonist of the experience is; as long as it's real, it can pass the test.

To Lockhart's surprise, Vaughn did not ask him to swear a magical oath as he had hoped. Instead, he looked at him coldly and said, "I believe those experiences are completely true. You don't need to swear, because there are witnesses who can testify to it!"

After saying that, Vaughn looked at Amelia: "Ms. Borns, and all members, please allow me to call a witness."

Amelia glanced around and, seeing no one object, nodded and said, "Granted!"

"..."

Lockhart collapsed.

When he saw a slow-moving, pale-skinned old wizard who didn't look human at all walk out of the side door of the courtroom and sit in the witness stand.

He knew he was finished!

He remembered the old wizard, a lonely old man who lived on the Isle of Man and was drunk all day long.

Several years ago, when he was at a loss in his career, he overheard a drunken old man boasting about his experience traveling with vampires in a pub on the Isle of Man.

The story is quite fascinating: a rare English vampire and a wizard, for various reasons, travel together on a ship through Europe.

They went from being enemies to fighting together against the dangers of their journey. In the end, they became friends through their hardships. The wizard saved the vampire, and the vampire promised the wizard that he would never drink human blood again and would live on lettuce instead.

Lockhart loved that story; he loved it to the core!

So he spent his last bit of money on a lot of wine, got the old wizard drunk, extracted all the details of the story from him, and finally cast a forgetting spell...

From that day on, Gilderoy Lockhart's name began to rise in the literary world!

It was a memorable day, so Lockhart could never forget the old wizard's face, but he never imagined that he would see him again one day.

Just as he optimistically believed that his secret would never be exposed.

But now, it's all over!

If Vaughn Weasley can find that old wizard, he can definitely find all the victims he has cast the Oblivion Curse on over the past few years.

Lockhart's mind began to become muddled and confused.

He watched in fear and bewilderment as, as he had expected, one by one, the male and female witches who had been under his forgetting spell appeared in the witness stand, recounting their experiences and displaying evidence.

Looking at the purple-robed figures around him, their gazes toward him grew increasingly disgusted and cold.

He slumped in his seat, facing a barrage of witness testimonies and physical evidence, unsure how to even begin to defend himself.

"...Thank you for your testimony, Ms. Williams. You may now return to the waiting room and wait for a while. Wissengamo will give you a satisfactory answer."

After seeing off the last witness, Vaughn turned back, his gaze sweeping over the men in purple robes, and declared in a loud voice: "Gentlemen, the evidence presented so far proves that Gilderoy Lockhart is utterly unworthy of the Order of Merlin, Third Class. His actions are a stain on the medal and a betrayal of the entire Order of Merlin. Therefore, I hereby propose that Gilderoy Lockhart be stripped of the Order of Merlin, Third Class, and expelled from the Order, never to be employed again!"

The men in purple robes whispered among themselves.

Lockhart was pale.

Fudge, on the other hand, watched coldly from the sidelines.

The proposal was quickly approved, and Amelia, having received the unanimous approval of the Wizengamo members, struck the gavel and announced:
"Upon review, Wizengamor agrees with Vaughn Weasley's proposal to strip Gilderoy Lockhart of his Order of Merlin membership, reclaim his medal, and strip him of his political rights as a wizard!"

As soon as she finished speaking, she stretched out her hand, and a huge scroll fell from the dome, slowly unfurling in mid-air.

All the members of the Order of Merlin present drew their wands and pointed them at the huge scroll that was floating.

"Seconded!"

The resounding roar vibrated Lockhart's eardrums and even pierced his heart. He watched in despair as his name was erased from the scroll.

The Merlin Medal, which had always hung on his chest and was his greatest source of pride, floated up on its own and disintegrated into a shower of shimmering fragments.

Lockhart's lips trembled; he knew he had fallen from heaven.

Being expelled from the Order of Merlin would be a stain on his life, and he would have no place in England again.

But Vaughn clearly felt that wasn't enough.

Seeing the scroll complete its ritual and fly back into the courtroom dome, Vaughn stood up once more and said, "Next, we need to consider Gilderoy Lockhart's crimes. The previous evidence has already proven that Lockhart's crimes are undeniable. For his own selfish gain, he used the Oblivion Charm to cruelly attack multiple wizards. He..."

"and many more!"

A voice interrupted Vaughn's impassioned speech.

Lockhart, who had been in despair, suddenly had a glimmer of light in his eyes and looked in the direction of the sound.

It's Cornelius Fudge!

The entire courtroom was silent. Everyone looked at the Minister. To be honest, no one was surprised. The Wizengamots, who had experienced the WAC's founding earlier this year, were well aware of the conflict between Minister Fudge, Vaughn, and Dumbledore.

Vaughn looked at Fudge calmly and asked, "Minister Fudge, do you have any questions?"

Facing the gazes of the crowd, Fudge stood up, his protruding belly making his robes look incredibly smooth and exuding an air of nobility. He smiled slightly and said, "Mr. Weasley, I would like to ask, were the witnesses you summoned previously all attacked by the Oblivion Curse?"

"Yes."

"Then, may I ask who cured them? As far as I know, the Forgetfulness Curse can permanently erase memories. Could you please tell me which master of memory magic intervened and saved those poor people?"

Vaughn looked at Fudge, paused for a moment, and then said, "It's me!"

"Oh--"

rustling...

As Fudge drew out his words with a long, revelation-like tone, all the Wizengamo in the courtroom looked at Vaughn in surprise and whispered among themselves.

(End of this chapter)