The slacker professor at Hogwarts

Chapter 376 On a Warm Morning

Many people who lived through the Grindelwald era would say that his greatest characteristic was his ability to manipulate people.

But the most fundamental truth is that this prophet knew far too much.

He was not only as knowledgeable and experienced as Dumbledore, but also had a far greater understanding of Muggle society and the dark magic realm than Dumbledore.

More importantly, Grindelwald has an excellent understanding of human nature.

It is not only adept at capturing the most terrifying desires and fears deep in people's hearts, but also at capturing the evolution of people's hearts in different environments, circumstances, and eras.

His persuasive words to Dumbledore struck at the heart of the matter: the purity of the wizarding community, the continuation of wizarding culture, and the anticipated war that would cause great division within the wizarding community.

On the other hand, his story to Lockhart was completely different.

Because he knew that Lockhart didn't care at all about what he had told Dumbledore, and would only be happy to participate even if it happened.

"The lives of wizards and Muggles need clear boundaries!"

"Of course, people can live together, and of course, they should be allowed to communicate to a certain extent, but it needs boundaries."

"Because it's mysterious!"

"This shouldn't have been a problem. For thousands of years, wizards have instinctively created and maintained the mystery of this group, until you came along."

He gazed intently at Lockhart. "You bred the Hakimi cat, a creature of dark magic, hoping to introduce it to the Muggle world, allowing more Muggles to engage in magical life, wizarding life, and even fairytale adventures, thereby nurturing magical power."

Lohat nodded. "At first, magical historians thought that the emergence of Muggle wizards was because their ancestors had an accident and mated with a wizard Squib or even a wizard, so that their descendants secretly had some magical blood."

"But we've all discovered that as the wizarding world has become increasingly stable during Dumbledore's time, with more and more Muggle wizards appearing, this explanation has become increasingly difficult to account for."

"It's difficult for us to trace the origins of this, and I'm too lazy to spend a huge amount of energy and my whole life trying to figure it out."

"But I discovered that there are Muggle wizard families, and those Muggle family members are starting to have a lot of contact with wizard families, magical items and food, young wizards' pets and owls, and there are already a lot of possibilities for magical power."

"You should remember the elevator that healed the Longbottoms, members of the Order of the Phoenix; it was a dark magic creature born in the Muggle world."

"I conducted numerous experiments in fairy tale books, ultimately confirming the possibility of fairy tale theory in this regard, and thus came up with the Hakimi Cat solution."

Grindelwald nodded. "Albus and I have some expectations for this, but we're also taking a wait-and-see approach."

In other words, they knew they couldn't stop Lockhart from doing it.

This is the basic respect that should be shown to a newly emerging master of magic who is trying to influence the world, without touching on fundamental principles.

"I'd like to share my insights on fairy tale theory with you."

Grindelwald rarely mentioned this topic; his approach to magical knowledge leaned more towards the old-school wizarding principle of "keeping secrets from everyone," and he rarely took the initiative to spread knowledge.

There are cases to prove this, such as Tom's gradual descent into Voldemort after coming into contact with Horcrux magic.

School libraries generally maintain this status quo: ordinary wizards read general knowledge books, while forbidden books are not open to the public; those who are able must find their own ways to read them.

Lockhart was full of curiosity; he was eager to know what different views this magician had on fairy tale theory.

"I don't know if you've ever thought about something very intriguing—magical strength," Grindelwald asked.

Lohat nodded. "Magic is life, and life is magic. The magic that you unleash is your life."

He clearly has a complete understanding: "We all know that magic is driven by emotions, and emotions are always differentiated. Some sudden bursts of malice are actually difficult to drive the Killing Curse to kill, and some superficial happiness and joy cannot make the Patronus materialize."

"Life requires experience and reflection. Those reflections, those emotions filled with stories and complex feelings, will unleash a completely different kind of power."

The reason why Harry Potter could easily materialize a Patronus based on the happiness and joy he felt for his parents was not simply because of the happiness and joy of his family, but because his parents died, and the terrible childhood he experienced due to their death made him cherish and deeply moved by the brief and beautiful moments he had once had in life.

This made Harry approach this relationship in a different way.

Otherwise, most wizards with happy and fulfilling families could easily condense a guardian spirit into a physical form, but reality is clearly not like that.

This is the meaning of fairy tale adventure: to transform a mundane and ordinary life into an atmosphere of adventure, so that as life changes, the magic in one's hands naturally becomes different.

The more complex and profound the emotions accumulated in life, the more complex and profound magic naturally becomes.

Of course, it needs to be positive and vibrant.

Severus Snape is a very clear example of what not to do.

Therefore, adventure should be the romance of fairy tales, as it will guide us in the right direction.

"What a perfect explanation!" Even though Grindelwald had been pondering Lockhart's fairy tale theory for a long time, he was still deeply impressed when he heard Lockhart's explanation again.

No wizard has ever described the relationship between magic and wizards so accurately.

He was certain that in the future records of magical history, Lockhart's holy name would probably be greater and more eternal than his and Albus's.

Let me share my perspective.

Grindelwald put down his cola, realizing it wasn't really for him, while Albus, on the other hand, was enjoying the sweetness and slurping it down.

"In my view, magical power is also linked to something else: magic resistance. Your theory is certainly sound, but it only focuses on wizards and lacks analysis of the broader participants in the magical world, making it difficult to explain 'magic resistance.'"

Lockhart was taken aback. After thinking about it, he realized that magic resistance was indeed something that was really difficult to explain using fairy tale theories.

"In my eyes, magic has three dimensions!"

"Extraordinary, mysterious, legendary."

Grindelwald explained the differences between the three: "I think you should understand the mystery the easiest. Sirius Black's explanation of the mysticism is very thorough, Miss Audrey Flamel also spread the concepts of modern mysticism to you, not to mention the various short stories about ancient witches and sorcerers that have been passed down to the present day."

Yes, Lockhart knows these things.

"legend!"

"It is legend; it exists beyond mystery, within the community, and within each definition."

"If there has to be a carrier, I think it's civilization. Of course, it could also be time and history. It depends on which angle you analyze it from."

Grindelwald leaned back on the sofa and began to speak eloquently, "Dragons are legends, giants are legends, werewolves are legends, unicorns are legends—"

"The most dangerous dark wizard in history is a legend, the most powerful wizard of our time is a legend, and the life of Severus Snape is a legend —"

"The so-called magic masters are just legends."

He leaned out and pulled a book from a crooked rattan bookshelf embedded in the wall. It was "Gidrolock Hart's Guide to the Path of Magical Mastery - and Hermione Granger's Practice".

"This is a sample copy that Elian Greengrass sent me before it goes into circulation." (The old saint, editor of The Wizarding Weekly)

"The author, Granger, recounts the amazing path to becoming a master of magic under her mentor, Professor Gilderoy Lockhart."

"But I don't think this is the way of a magic master."

"They will become powerful because of this guidance, but they will never reach the path of a magic master by relying on this."

""

Grindelwald smiled and placed the book on the desk, and Dumbledore picked it up with some curiosity and began to read it.

Old Deng has been too busy lately and has no energy or time to pay attention to these new books.

Lockhart seemed thoughtful. "Because of legend?"

Grindelwald nodded. "Yes, the magic master is just a legend. It is not a defined level of magic or a depth and breadth of a certain magical field, but rather the few figures at the very top of the entire wizarding community and the entire magical world."

"Only by touching the power of legend can these people truly become magic masters."

"Then, legend after legend appeared: ever-growing magical power, magical strength far exceeding that of others, and increasingly powerful magical resistance—"

"Of course~"

"This does not contradict your fairy tale theory in some ways—a legendary life creates legendary magic."

"I'm just saying that people like Severus and Sirius, who want to become magic masters, can never do so by relying solely on the path of magic."

"They need to move forward from a life perspective."

"But their inner drive makes it difficult for them to reach that level of life, which means they are destined to never become magic masters."

"Or you could say that these two are not qualified to be the leaders of the wizarding community, whether they are good guys or bad guys, they are not good enough."

"This lack of qualification diminishes its legendary status."

Lockhart pondered the reasoning behind it and seemed to have some understanding of the theory Grindelwald had described.

"Now that we've covered the definition, let's talk about its usage."

"The two most obvious examples in the Wizarding World are werewolves and the theory of pure-blood."

"They are constantly elevated, deepened, and strengthened within the realm of legend —"

"Therefore, none of the Malfoy family descendants with Dumbledore's blood should expect to be accompanied by a phoenix," and none of the Black family descendants with Slytherin's blood should expect to have Parsley's voice."

"Because the Malfoy family has no legend of Dumbledore's bloodline, and the Black family has no legend of Slytherin's bloodline."

"Of course~" Grindelwald chuckled coldly, "Pure-blood intramarriage is the most foolish thing. At best, it can only prevent the circle from expanding and causing insufficient resources to be distributed. It is meaningless for the inheritance of bloodline power."

"No matter how many times the Gaunt family intermarries with Muggles, even if they marry Muggles for generations, as long as the legend that the Gaunt are direct descendants of Slytherin persists, they will always have Parsleyan."

Lockhart listened with amazement to what he had heard, as the magical world was analyzed from a unique perspective that he had never considered before.

"There is another common way to use legends."

"That is, to pit legend against legend."

"For example, great heroes should be exceptions," so many heroes "will break free from the original framework of legend and ascend to another legend."

"To give a very simple example."

"Everyone knows that if you are infected with wolfsbane, your offspring will still be infected. Wolfsbane is transmitted through saliva, blood, and from mother to child."

Grindelwald chuckled, "I don't need to look for real-life examples to know that a werewolf who becomes a hero will inevitably break free from this framework, for example, by defeating wolfsbane, or by his descendants escaping the scourge of wolfsbane."

"Of course, the legend of the werewolf's offspring still exists, so you'll find that the so-called descendant who 'escaped the scourge of wolf venom' still exhibits the magic resistance expected of a werewolf."

Lockhart gasped and looked at Dumbledore. "You agree with this view?"

Old Deng seemed helpless. "When I was relatively ignorant, this guy who was obsessed with legends came to me and spread this set of ideas to me early on. As a result, I also became obsessed with legendary things to some extent, such as the three holy artifacts of death."

Grindelwald chuckled. "Let's talk about something everyone cares about. Tom was also deeply influenced by this philosophy, even if he hadn't necessarily heard of the theory, he did it anyway. We can see that when he made Horcruxes to hold souls, he specifically chose legendary objects."

This reminded Deng.

He suddenly realized, "Tom must have been hiding his original body using the same logic!"

Grindelwald nodded. "I think so too."

Lockhart didn't care about any of that. The biggest difference between him and the two old men was that he had enough energy, time, and fun to play with Voldemort.

If you really don't want to see Voldemort, then kill him every time you see him, until Voldemort is completely powerless to resurrect.

He was more interested in these mystical things and urged Grindelwald to continue sharing, "There's one more, the extraordinary. What is the extraordinary?"

"Young people need to be more patient," Grindelwald quipped, but continued his story.

"Mystery and legend can be said to be the framework and order of the entire wizarding world and even the magical world, while those that break out of some of the framework of order, I call extraordinary."

97

"Breaking out of the framework of order—" Lockhart was full of curiosity about this statement.

"For example, the unique magical state displayed by young wizards after a magical uprising. At this time, they have not yet experienced mainstream wizarding magic education and are not within the framework of the mysterious and legendary order, so they appear to be more powerful than when they were in magic school."

Grindelwald explained, "I've seen some recordings of the Duel Club's sharing sessions, and I think you'll remember this information."

"Before Harry Potter enrolled, he could easily fly to the rooftop, but after entering Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, he had a wand and received an education, yet he became clumsy at even making a feather fly."

"I see!" Lockhart knew this and immediately extrapolated, "So the Obscurus is also a transcendental power, right?"

Grindelwald paused for a moment, then nodded. "Yes!"

This is why he wasn't very fond of spreading knowledge. Just like Gilderoy said, "Magic is life, and life is magic." Many of his magical ideas easily reveal his life experiences.

Wasn't he chasing after the extraordinary and legendary throughout his life?

The three Deathly Hallows, the power of the Obscurials, the torchbearer of the Mist—

Let's get down to business.

Grindelwald once again chose to veer off-topic, steering the conversation toward other people, preferably those who could immediately capture everyone's attention.

Unsurprisingly, it was Tom.

"Flight is not actually a complicated form of magic. Any wizard whose magic is surging and who has not received any magical education can possess this power."

"The silent ones can also fly —"

"And the fact that Tom invented the art of flying while he was in school speaks volumes about his characteristics."

"Extraordinary, mysterious, and legendary—they are all attempting to break through in these three aspects."

"I suspect that the reason he chose the theory of bloodline as his main means was to carefully observe the forces outside the framework of order that Albus and I had built for the changes in society."

Dumbledore was clearly drawn to the topic as well, reflecting on the issue and agreeing wholeheartedly, "It's a pity that we deliberately overlooked the power of these pure-blood families back then."

Grindelwald chuckled coldly. "That's normal. Back then, both sides were fighting for wizards, and these guys weren't even involved!"

Some individuals from the pure-blood family got involved.

However, the power of the pure-blood families did not get involved.

They didn't participate, yet they're thinking of dividing up the spoils of victory? Ha, how could Dumbledore possibly agree to that? It's already a sign of Dumbledore's mercy that he didn't take the opportunity to eliminate them.

"Breaking free from the framework of order —"

Lockhart pondered this, clearly realizing that it seemed to be an extremely profound topic, rather than a simple matter of magic.

He thought for a moment, then drew his wand and waved it out the window. "The manuscript, fly over!"

Soon, a thick stack of manuscripts flew out of the window of the study on the 8th floor of Lockhart Building, steadily speeding in this direction, and finally gently landing on the small round table between the three people.

"This is the Potions monograph that Tom promised to write for me, you all know that, and now he's finished it."

Lockhart's expression was somewhat strange. "What he's really thinking is that he's trying to use this book to get your approval for him teaching Potions in Beauxbatons."

"I'm now realizing, isn't this yet another action that goes beyond the established order, outside the framework of the new era of change centered on the three-way power struggle and the New Era Basin?"

According to Grindelwald, such behavior would obviously also give rise to extraordinary power.

Grindelwald and Dumbledore exchanged a glance and then picked up the manuscripts to read them.

"As you know, I'm currently promoting four books: two of mine and two of my students'. His book will naturally have to be postponed, otherwise, the Black Demon King's name might steal the spotlight from ours."

"I also invited Severus to participate in reviewing the manuscript, and some of the more dangerous parts had to be cut."

Old G frowned in thought, "Professor Potions in Beauxbatons—"

Lohatt nodded. "He said this is all he has left to do, and he has to rely on it to maintain his influence."

.

Grindelwald simply scoffed at this statement.

He wasn't particularly skilled in potions, so he flipped through the manuscript and put it down. He looked at Lockhart with some confusion, "I've always been curious about your attitude towards Tom. Of course, I know you've said that he's a splash of color in your fairytale adventures, although I've always found that statement rather strange—"

He had to consider some of Lockhart's attitudes.

Just as Lockhart described Dumbledore—we must maintain respect for the most powerful wizard of our time.

Lockhart himself also needs the respect of others.

"What do you think about Tom teaching Potions at your school?" Grindelwald asked.

Lockhart shrugged. "Of course you're welcome, and stay tuned."

Grindelwald expressed his incomprehension, saying, "I think you should know how dangerous he is. Even Albus felt he couldn't control him and was determined not to let Tom enter Hogwarts."

This brings us to what Lockhart was thinking about this morning.

Passionate, romantic, and fun.

He asked with a somewhat strange expression, "Do you know Professor Binns?"

Grindelwald shook his head, clearly not paying any attention to this nobody, or even a nobody in his eyes.

"He is the professor of the History of Magic at Hogwarts," Dumbledore said from the side. He had been focused on Tom's manuscript, but the familiar name drew his attention back to him.

Dumbledore wasn't entirely sure why Lockhart was bringing up this person at this time.

"Yes, he was a very unique professor, a unique ghost."

Lockhart explained, "He is said to have been a learned and quick-thinking historian of magic during his lifetime, and was very popular with students."

"On a warm morning, as always, he rose from the armchair by the fireplace and walked toward the classroom with the beautiful vision of imparting knowledge and teaching."

"However, every student was stunned, for the professor had quietly died, and before their eyes he had become a ghost."

Lockhart smiled as he recounted these interesting legends of Hogwarts: "Many of the things that seem like ghosts in the school are not ghosts in the conventional sense. Peeves is more like a mischievous creature of dark magic, while Professor Binns is more like a burrowed spirit from an old house in the wilderness."

"He was almost impossible to communicate with, repeating the same work day after day, unlike typical ghosts who could travel, enjoy what they considered gourmet food, party, join clubs, or form bands."

"Actually, you can also make some differences from their appearance."

"The ghosts at Hogwarts are all translucent, but their color is more of a pearly white pale, with a silvery sheen."

"Professor Binns' ghostly body was grayish in color, like the figure in a faded black and white photograph."

"Wow, cool." Grindelwald said dismissively, using the expected exclamation, then impatiently reminded him, "Let's get back to Tom, okay?"

Lockhart shrugged and muttered, "What a romantic thing, what a boring guy."

"Okay, okay, stop glaring at me."

He said with a hint of helplessness, "Tom, um, Tom, right? He's been cornered now, you've forced him into a corner with no way out. The only option for this poor guy is to teach Potions in Beauxbatons."

"This is his only chance to participate in the 'new era' trend centered on the three-way battle and the New Era Basin."

Grindelwald chuckled coldly. "He could choose not to do it, and simply leave this stage. Nobody's begging him!"

"Yes, yes," Lockhart sighed. "What can he do? He's ambitious. This is the only way he can get involved indirectly and find a way to participate in the Triwizard Tournament through the students."

"He had to pour all his emotions, all his wisdom, and all his passion into it."

Lockhart became more and more emotional and sorrowful as he spoke.

He even gestured with his hands, and began to describe a certain future in an extremely mournful aria, "He thus completely immersed himself in magic teaching, cultivating one excellent potion master after another."

"Until one warm morning—"

"Birds sang outside the window, and the fragrance of flowers mingled with the breeze as the curtains swayed. He stood up from the armchair by the fireplace and walked toward the classroom."

"With a passion for teaching and imparting knowledge."

"However, every student was stunned, for the professor had quietly died and had become a ghost before their eyes."

Bang~!

A series of chaotic sounds rang out, and Dumbledore and Grindelwald suddenly stood up, looking at Lockhart with extremely strange and terrified eyes.

"The school is my home!" Grindelwald said in a chilling tone, referring to the magic he had previously dismissed.

"A Horcrux!" Dumbledore thought of something else, his voice becoming sharp and distorted. "The soul in Tom's diary Horcrux, isn't it?"

Lockhart simply continued his story with a sigh, "There's nothing we can do. He was so passionate about teaching Potions, so genuinely considered Beauxbatons his home, and Beauxbatons couldn't do without him. He—"

"I long to leave an indelible mark on this world!"

"Ah~~~"

Lockhart remarked, "What a warm morning!"

"!!!"

"!!!"

Dumbledore and his friends were stunned.