Hogwarts: My name is the Unforgivable Curse...

Chapter 147 The End, Double Kill!

On the sixth day of the Christmas holiday, the bizarre and unpredictable petrification incidents that had gripped everyone's hearts suddenly ceased without warning. Throughout the entire day, even though a small number of students were still walking in the corridors, not a single person was petrified.

After the news spread, some of the bolder students, or those who believed the killer was a basilisk and carried warning devices, dared to leave the lounge and walk around outside—however, on the seventh day of the holiday, no one was petrified.

Gradually, a glimmer of life returned to Hogwarts Castle. At least during mealtimes, many students were eating at the long tables in the Great Hall again, and there were finally some people in the library. The once empty corridors were once again filled with the sounds of laughter and conversation…

Of course, only a minority of students dared to venture outside. Most students were still haunted by the trauma and dared not leave their college's lounge for extended periods. Aside from meals and trips to the library to find reference materials for assignments, they tried to stay home as much as possible. In addition, the number of students staying on campus for Christmas was already small, so the castle was generally quite deserted.

On the eighth day of the Christmas holiday, Tom Riddle, the "Diary," met Ken, the "Golden Cup," in the empty classroom as promised—he was still using a phantom body formed from his spirit, and did not reveal the identity of the student he was currently controlling.

However, nothing noteworthy happened during those three days. The two merely exchanged details about how to lure Dumbledore back before parting ways again. Before leaving, Ken reminded Tom not to let the Basilisk remain too quiet, lest something amiss be noticed. He advised them to continue trying to attack the Muggle-born students—partly for the grand plan to eliminate Mudbloods, and partly to maintain the status quo.

……

How can we bring Dumbledore back...?

Tom Riddle, cloaked in invisibility, manipulated his body while commanding the Basilisk in Parseltongue to follow him around. Nowadays, most Muggle-borns had a warning device, making attacks very difficult. He was just taking the Basilisk out for a stroll, letting those damned warning devices go off a couple of times to create some panic and let the school know that the attack was not over.

"Simply killing a student to enrage Dumbledore? No, that's too risky. We need to keep Dumbledore calm and secure so we can take the Chalice from him..."

"Trying to create an opening, temporarily losing power, so that Dumbledore can return as headmaster? That's one option, but it would be a huge blow to my reputation. Those purebloods might resist me... That won't do. I still need their strength to find Ravenclaw's crown."

"The Golden Cup has truly presented me with a huge challenge..."

He sighed inwardly, but forced a smile: "But I'm not bad either; at least my intelligence impressed him. That coma incident must have left him bewildered too..."

While pondering his options, he silently walked down the corridor, looking for a target to attack, or at least to activate an alarm and cause some panic—however, he hadn't encountered a single person for almost five minutes, and the person he had met five minutes ago was a mixed-race individual.

"Damn it."

Frustrated by both his emotional and practical setbacks, he felt a bit down and wanted to turn around and go back to the lounge: "I'll come out again around mealtime; it definitely won't be as deserted then..."

"Petrify them all! Remove your weapons! Immediately imprison them! Let them collapse unconscious!!"

Without warning, a series of chanting sounds suddenly rang out beside him. The four spells struck his body almost simultaneously, instantly rendering the student he was controlling incapable of moving and causing him to become mentally disoriented.

A figure suddenly appeared beside him out of thin air, ripped off his invisibility cloak, flipped open his wizard's robe, and pulled out a black diary from a hidden compartment as if he had known where it was from the beginning. Then, with lightning speed, he stuffed it into a pitch-black box, slammed the lid shut, and wrapped it with five large layers of duct tape!

In those few seconds, Tom only had time to break free from his daze, glance at the attacker, and then his body was completely locked inside a sturdy box, losing all sense of the outside world.

And the last face he saw...

"Ken—!!!"

Click.

The venomous howl abruptly ceased as the lid of the box was closed.

"Finally, it's over..."

Avada slumped to the ground, glancing with some surprise at the student he had knocked down, before casually looking towards the corner of the corridor.

"Professor, I've got this guy!" he shouted.

"Really? That's great!"

A figure came running excitedly from around the corner, an uncontrollable smile on his face, which also revealed eight large white teeth—

Gilderoy Lockhart.

"Thank goodness you were here to keep me in check, Professor."

Avada wiped his brow, his smile utterly genuine: "Otherwise, I wouldn't have had the courage to ambush this guy."

"You've done a great job."

Lockhart pulled him up from the ground and gently patted his shoulder: "And with me here, of course I won't let you get into danger—since you were willing to share your plans with me from the beginning, how could I betray your trust?"

"To have a professor attacked, thereby drawing out the attacker...you've got some skills!"

"I will definitely write about this in my next book—a book that will surpass all my previous works!" He was so excited that his face was flushed and his breathing became rapid.

"Okay, Ken, could you please lift that student up and take her to the hospital? I think she's innocent and needs immediate treatment..."

"Of course, Professor."

Avada smiled and nodded, then turned around and used a levitation charm to lift the student's body, turning his back to Lockhart...

"Forget everything, and all is emptiness!!"

A white light flashed through the air like lightning, and Avada, having heard the incantation behind him, had no time to react. He could only desperately dodge to the side, preventing the powerful Oblivion Curse from hitting his torso—but the incantation still struck his right hand holding the wand hard, knocking the wand away.

He flinched, hurriedly catching the falling student, then turned to Lockhart with disbelief, his expression shifting: "Professor?"

"Why?!"

Why?

Seeing the bewildered look on the student's face after losing his wand, Lockhart smiled smugly: "Of course, it's for your story, my dear Ken."

"A story? What story...?"

"Of course, it's this brilliant scheme, this story that deserves to be recorded in my book, so that the world can praise the great Lockhart!"

He burst into laughter: "Kid, think about it carefully. Who would believe that a second-year, Muggle-born brat could solve the school's crisis and save Hogwarts? Look at you, pale-faced, disheveled, like a bullied crybaby, and with absolutely no sense of style... How could you possibly think you're more deserving of this wonderful story than the great Lockhart?"

"What?"

Avada asked incredulously, "Are all your stories false? Were they all stolen from others, like today?!"

"No, no, no, how can you call it stealing?"

Lockhart waved his hand dismissively, replying, "If people didn't think I did all those things, the book wouldn't sell well. Readers wouldn't want to read about the deeds of an ugly old American wizard, even if he saved a village from werewolves. How awful would his picture look on the cover? And that witch who banished the Wolverine—she had a hairy chin!"

"But I'm not doing nothing; I have a lot of work to do. I need to track down these people and find out how they managed to do those things. Then I need to cast a forgetting spell on them so they'll forget everything. If I have anything to be proud of, it's my forgetting spell..."

"You know, Ken, I also have to put in a lot of hard work. That's how it is if you want to be famous..."

"Alright, child."

His wand pointed at Avada again: "Now that I've satisfied your curiosity, you should repay me by keeping my secret, shouldn't you?"

"Forget everything—"

"Except for your weapons! Petrify them all! Imprison them immediately!!"

Suddenly, three spells burst forth in the air around Lockhart, instantly rendering him unable to resist!

Baron Shafiq removed his invisibility cloak, revealing a device that appeared to be a recording device slung over his shoulder. Holding a wand in one hand, his smile gradually turned to despair as he looked at Lockhart…

"I recorded everything you just said, Professor?" he said with a faint smile, turning to look at his side.

Beside him, another person emerged from the invisibility cloak—

Another Avada Kendavia.

(End of this chapter)