The slacker professor at Hogwarts

Chapter 385 The Black Mark

To the dismay of Harry, Ron, and the others, Peter Pettigrew, whom they had been targeting, simply vanished from everyone's sight and disappeared without a trace.

Just as Professor Lockhart analyzed, what happened to Peter Pettigrew was that he would only "come back to life" if he escaped to a place he felt safe.

Where Professor Lockhart was, Peter Pettigrew felt absolutely no sense of security.

The Aurors, of course, didn't bother to search for the other party's whereabouts; they had more important things to do with the Purifiers members who had violated the rules by using the wizard werewolf experience potion.

The three young wizards could only leave with Lockhart and the other two female professors (Audrey and Cindy).

What are your thoughts?

Walking through the streets of the Muggle industrial district at night, Professor Lockhart suddenly asked with great interest.

The clueless Ron and the disgruntled Harry exchanged a glance, both feeling a sense of dread about being suddenly called on in class. They didn't have any valuable ideas at the moment.

Fortunately, they have Hermione.

Hermione is incredibly proactive, especially when facing her idol, Professor Lockhart; she's always eager to showcase her excellence.

"We should take these Death Eaters seriously; they are the Dark Lord's minions."

Harry and Ron wanted to retort – "Hey, tell us something we don't know."

Professor Lockhart, however, asked with great interest, "How so?"

Hermione seemed to have been thinking about these things just now, and she spoke rapidly, "We can see that several magic masters and their subordinates or followers all have their own characteristics."

"Dumbledore is the headmaster of Hogwarts and the chief wizard of the International Confederation of Wizards, so members of the Order of the Phoenix are generally involved in the affairs of magic schools and official institutions."

"You are a pioneer on the path of magic. The members of the dueling club you lead mostly admire adventure and usually take the initiative to step into newer fields, appearing all over the world and in various unofficial industries."

"Voldemort, on the other hand, is an extremely self-centered and selfish person. He only cares about himself. Therefore, the Death Eaters seem more like an extension of him than Death Eaters themselves."

"So we shouldn't be focusing on where Voldemort is. He may seem to be obediently teaching at Beauxbatons School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, but his minions, following his will, are constantly extending outwards."

Hermione mentioned this with some pride, "In the past, the Death Eaters ran rampant. Their only rivals were the Order of the Phoenix, who were of equal strength to them. They didn't take any other organizations, whether Aurors or any other organization, seriously."

"But now we've emerged, and the Duel Club has provided us with an unprecedented platform for growth, and we've truly grown."

"Voldemort had to take this seriously. He began to face his current situation and began to turn these obedient subordinates into extensions of his own arm."

"The Dark Mark spell provides the best means of command across space."

"And he will use his own achievements in dark magic and potion-making to target these Death Eaters."

"Therefore, we shouldn't treat these Death Eaters as Death Eaters!"

"Instead, we should treat every Death Eater—those Death Eaters remotely controlled by Voldemort and empowered by dark magic and potions—as Voldemort himself!"

"Isn't Peter Pettigrew's escape from everyone's sight this time just a repetition of Voldemort's countless escapes from Dumbledore's sight before?"

"We should think of Voldemort as an octopus hiding in a dark cave, and these Death Eaters as its tentacles."

"From now on!"

"There are no Death Eaters!"

"Only the Dark Lord, and his outstretched claws!"

"With this—"

Hermione's eyes shone brightly. "Every time we deal with a Death Eater, every action we take is a battle against Voldemort, the great villain. There are countless opportunities for fairytale adventures within this!"

excellent!

Lockhart looked at Hermione with amazement; this was a field he himself had never considered.

Is Old Fu's story an extension of the Death Eaters?

That sounds like a lot of sense!

"Fantastic!" Lockhart praised without reservation. "Hermione, you're starting to show extraordinary qualities, and I believe you'll soon be able to stand on your own."

Hermione shook her head smugly, looking very happy.

She said, "Professor, we will not give up the search for Peter Pettigrew. This is an adventure that has already begun, and Harry and Ron will not abandon Peter Pettigrew to deal with the other Death Eaters."

"Do you have any ideas on Peter Pettigrew's escape spell?"

This is also what Harry and Ron are concerned about, and they are also unsure where to begin.

"If you knew how your professor dealt with Voldemort's Horcruxes, you would know that Horcruxes are actually a very problematic spell."

Cintina suddenly spoke up, saying, "Creating more versions of myself in more worlds is like sticking your tail out of the cave—you'll get caught."

For example~

She waved her hand, and a pink bubble floated from behind her to in front of her. Inside, a panicked mouse was frantically scratching at the bubble and looking at everyone in terror.

"The potion Peter Pettigrew used created so many versions of himself that we could easily capture one of them, even without a soul."

"You caught one of them?" Hermione exclaimed.

Cintina smiled slightly. "It's simple, isn't it? Those are just rats. We can catch them easily."

Ron and Harry exchanged a glance, and Ron ultimately stepped forward to take the bubble floating in front of him.

"This is the key," Cintina said. "There are countless ways in the magical world to find Peter Pettigrew through this mouse, and I know you'll find a way."

Ron looked down at the mouse in his palm. It looked so familiar, exactly like his pet Spotty, who had been with him day and night. It was just as old, just as missing a finger, and just as dry and balding.

He never imagined that one day he would catch a spotted cat again, in this way.

"We'll find a way!" Ron said.

As they were talking, the three of them were shocked to find that the three professors had disappeared. They could only vaguely sense a silver light quietly surging in a certain dimension.

In Audrey Flamel's laboratory cellar, silver light surges and collapses, as Lockhart and his two companions escape from the fairytale adventure created by the "machine," a participant in the mysterious fairytale.

"How interesting!"

Finally free from maintaining a cool, aloof professorial image in front of her students, Audrey was ecstatic. "This is the correct way to use this machine!"

She said excitedly, "Gidero, I suddenly have an idea to improve this machine; maybe it can become a companion summoner."

Lockhart immediately understood what she meant, "A magical item used by a young wizard to summon others during a fairytale adventure?"

"Yes!" Audrey patted the computer screen. "But it only applies to wizards who practice your fairy tale philosophy. But that's enough, isn't it? The little wizards are scattered, searching for possible fairy tale adventures. When they encounter one, they invite others to participate, or others take the initiative to participate."

Lockhart's expression turned strange. This thing sounded familiar. "A dungeon group-building tool?"

However, he could offer some help on this matter.

"I have a magic notebook here, containing my thoughts on Dumbledore's alchemical tool, the Deluminator, as well as the magical concepts behind Voldemort's Dark Mark, and some insights I've gained regarding 'relationship magic' and the 'Sea of ​​Spirituality.'"

"That's wonderful!" Audrey said happily. "I originally planned to improve it using the skills of the 'Flying Network' and the 'Portable Key,' but with more directions for exploration, it can be completed much faster."

Cintina seemed quite interested in this as well. "Perhaps I can offer some assistance. I have some thoughts on the magical power of the Earth's Summoning Guardians."

And so Lockhart and Cintina became involved in Audrey's research on magical artifacts.

Okay, mainly I'll help out with the tasks and discuss some theoretical aspects.

As the saying goes, laymen watch the show.

Lockhart is currently just watching the show.

He always learns something when he participates in something he's not good at.

On two previous occasions, he participated in Snape's compilation of "Potions Class of Severus," laying an extremely solid foundation in potions science.

Later, in order to help Dumbledore write books on Transfiguration and to extract some content to influence Voldemort, he also began to enter the mysterious halls of Transfiguration.

And now, the wonders of modern occultism are slowly unfolding before him.

Unlike the original owner's memories of learning divination, astronomy, and arithmetic at Hogwarts, Audrey's tales of mysticism are more direct and to the point.

She retrieved a magical book from the bookshelf, titled "The Theory of Images," whose author was none other than Professor Trelawney's ancestor, the ancient Greek prophet Cassandra Trelawney.

"This is the most basic content of mysticism. This book, compiled by the ancient Greek prophet Cassandra, can be said to be the introductory book for almost everyone who wants to get into the field of mysticism."

Lockhart took the book with great curiosity. The thick book looked like a newly printed copy; it didn't have the anti-theft systems typical of ancient books, such as magic that would grow claws or curse the reader.

"I've never heard of this at Hogwarts?"

Audrey tucked her hair behind her ear and smiled slightly. "Maybe it's because it's too boring?"

"The study of symbolism is the foundation of all mysticism, but it is also the most tedious part."

She seemed somewhat worried that Lockhart might give up exploring this interesting field, and explained the core of symbolic philosophy: "In all the branches of occultism we are now exploring, we often find that many things are symbolized by some kind of image."

"The most thorough application of this method is tea divination, where people use the pattern of leftover tea leaves turned upside down for simple divination."

"A skull signifies impending danger, a black dog signifies misfortune, and an eagle signifies a deadly enemy."

"In another branch of science, astronomy, we observe the patterns formed by stars, which are what we often call constellations, and assign mystical results to these patterns, using their states for divination."

"This is generally used for divination that favors the collective and those who lead the times, whether great or dangerous."

"For example, the light of the stars in Leo changed in a complex way when Grindelwald started the war. Of course, we also know that Muggles were also waging a terrible war at that time."

Audrey introduced many interesting branches of occultism, such as the discipline of "cloud revelation," which involves divination and prophecy through observing clouds in the sky.

These sound far-fetched.

Lockhart didn't quite understand and asked, "This doesn't make sense. If a group of people stand in the same spot and observe the same cloud, they might think its shape resembles different things. Wouldn't that lead to many different interpretations?"

Audrey nodded. "Yes, that's exactly it!"

"???" Lockhart blinked.

"This means that everyone's destiny is different, so the images representing the meaning of things they see are different. Even if they experience the same thing next, everyone's experience and feelings will be different."

interesting.

Lockhart had some understanding of the situation.

"In other words, many trajectories of fate have their own rhythmic meaning, displaying different images in different dimensions, and we connect another image through observing the image of one thing, using this rhythmic meaning?"

"For example, when I observe clouds, they feel like venomous snakes that prey on their prey; their rhythm signifies malice and great danger directed at me," is this referring to Voldemort?

"And the approach of the clouds, their sudden dissipation and transformation, no longer resembling a venomous snake, means that Voldemort intended to approach but left because of other matters?"

Audrey looked at Lockhart in amazement. "Yes, I didn't expect you to grasp this level from just a simple introduction!"

This is precisely the principle that the "Treatise on Meaning and Form" aims to explain.

The symbol of meaning is form. Countless forms have the same meaning, so one form can be used to indicate another form.

A deeper level of mysticism is that many things in the world are indescribable, only to be understood intuitively and not explained in words. People can only grasp this feeling and search for its form.

This is also the direction in which materials are chosen for many occult rituals.

For example, death is difficult to describe even when wizards delve into its essence, but it can be represented by the pupa of the hawk moth and used in Animagus rituals.

In fact, Lockhart's previous life also had many such cultural traditions, such as the belief that a moth flying into the house meant that a deceased relative had returned to visit. Moths and butterflies have similar symbolic meanings.

The most wonderful story is that of Zhuangzi dreaming of being a butterfly.

Lockhart quickly became engrossed in this wondrous book, whose contents were not as simple as Audrey's description suggested; much of the content seemed mysterious and enigmatic.

In the eyes of the prophet Cassandra, all appearances in the world are formed by the pull of intention, even the most basic things like eating and sleeping are all caused by some kind of mysterious force of intention.

So even though everyone seems to be eating and sleeping, there are vast differences between people.

Cintina approached curiously, peering down at the book from behind Lockhart. After a few glances, she seemed taken aback, then read aloud from the contents, "—So, by abandoning eating and sleeping, humans essentially detach themselves from these things," thus breaking free from the connection between themselves and fate, and seeking a path to transcendence—"

She said with a somewhat strange expression, "We dark magic creatures don't need to eat or sleep, does that mean we're transcendent?"

Lockhart thought for a moment, then chuckled, "That might be true."

Cintina pondered the question. "It sounds a bit like the way you taught us to live the wizarding life, but in reverse."

like----

It really is!

Lockhart realized what was happening and murmured, "Wizards approaching dark magical creatures, dark magical creatures approaching wizards—"

He suddenly felt a sense of enlightenment, flipped back to the first page and started reading again, and immediately had a different understanding.

"This content is quite difficult to understand." Cintina glanced at it a few more times, and said somewhat dizzily, "You're amazing, you can actually understand it and even enjoy it."

Lockhart laughed heartily, "I have a foundation: everything comes into being due to causes and conditions; when conditions come together, things arise; when conditions disperse, things perish," a similar saying. Of course, it's not a completely identical theory; it also contains many real-world examples of profound truths.

In fact, "The Theory of Ideas" leans more towards the Western philosophical viewpoint he had in his previous life, believing that there is a definition of "hammer" and that none of the "hammers" in the real world are the most perfect hammer.

When hammering nails, a claw hammer can be a regular hammer, a cell phone can be a regular hammer, and a stone can also be a regular hammer.

This is a way of thinking that involves deconstruction and abstraction.

However, from the perspective of Eastern philosophy, one will have a different feeling.

In Lockhart's view, neither of them could perfectly match the wizard's concept of imagery, and this difference brought him the most wonderful sense of mystery.

The most interesting thing is————

Through this unique mystical perspective of symbolism, he grasped with remarkable insight the key to Voldemort's transformation into a ghost!

That's the Black Mark!

The will and wisdom embodied in Voldemort and his extended minions.

Just as Hermione said, all the Death Eaters now are essentially Voldemort. They must be treated as Voldemort.

"We need to get Voldemort to use the Dark Mark more often —"

As he pondered this, it suddenly dawned on him that Old Voldemort was indeed using the Dark Mark extensively!

It's hard to say that it wasn't fate that caused everything to collapse rapidly into his hands.

It came about by a combination of circumstances!

When conditions come together, things will arise!

When the connection is broken, everything ends!

Only the Dark Mark can be used to anchor Voldemort's potion-making wisdom, allowing him to exist in the world as a facet of himself.

Magic can be so bizarre and wondrous at times.

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