Hogwarts: Undercover Death Eater Replaces the Dark Lord

Lockhart seemed like a different person, not handsome at all.

"When I came back, I saw him packing his things and running to the main gate of the castle." Dumbledore shook his head regretfully and said, "What a pity! I had wanted to keep him until the end of this school year..."

"It looks like I'll have to find someone to substitute for me for the next two months!"

"You've known what kind of man Lockhart is?" Lycos asked.

Dumbledore glanced at Lycos and nodded slightly.

"Yes, I knew it from the beginning," he said softly. "In fact, it was when I stumbled upon a familiar story among Lockhart's bestsellers that I became suspicious..."

"That story was almost identical to the experience of an old friend of mine. However, when I went to find that old friend again, I found that he had no recollection of what had happened in the past."

Dumbledore sighed, "I realized then that Lockhart had tampered with my old friend's memories and claimed the experience as his own."

"Then I don't quite understand." Lycos frowned. "Even though you knew Lockhart's true identity, you still agreed to let him become the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor at Hogwarts?"

This was a question that Lycos had always been curious about when he read the original book, but he could never find a reasonable answer.

Dumbledore was silent for a moment.

Then he sighed helplessly, and the smile on his face gradually faded.

"Lex, you should also know... In recent years, it has been difficult to find a professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts." Dumbledore sighed, "I guess it was after I rejected Voldemort's application that Voldemort cursed the position..."

"From then on, no one could stay in that position for more than a school year."

"So you're going to allow a idiot to be our professor?" Cassandra raised her head for a rare moment, her eyes scanning Dumbledore's wrinkled face.

"You may have misunderstood, Miss Worley." Dumbledore shook his head slightly.

"Although I've known Lockhart's true face for a long time and I'm also aware that he's not as good as described in the books, I never thought that he could even forget the most basic magical knowledge..."

"In fact, Lockhart was a smart kid when he was in school. He had excellent academic performance and his magical skills were not too bad. He was a standard Ravenclaw."

"So this is what I think," Dumbledore paused before continuing, "Even if Lockhart's experience is false, he at least has excellent theoretical knowledge and can fabricate or investigate the ins and outs of how dark magic creatures were dealt with."

"But I didn't expect that after graduation, Lockhart would devote all his energy to the wrong path, obsessed with dressing up and publicity, and only polishing the spell of Oblivion, completely forgetting everything he learned..."

Speaking of this, Dumbledore also felt a little ridiculous.

"Even if Lockhart had just reviewed his past lessons, he wouldn't have been exposed so quickly in school."

He gave his final assessment: "Perhaps it was the praise from everyone around him that caused him to lose his clear understanding of himself, ultimately leading to his imprisonment in Azkaban."

Lycos nodded, feeling that he could understand Lockhart's deeds.

Lockhart may be like some young idols in the entertainment industry. He has no real talent, but he is popular just by buying traffic and dominating trending searches. Everyone around him praises him, making it impossible for him to clearly recognize who he is.

People who live in a world of lies will eventually end up in disaster, and only then will everyone see that they are actually a fool.

"Of course, I'm thinking about more than that."

Dumbledore suddenly laughed awkwardly again: "After all, Hogwarts hasn't had a satisfactory Defense Against the Dark Arts professor for a long time, and the parents have a lot of complaints..."

"Lockhart is well-known enough, having received the Order of Merlin, Third Class, and has a large fan base of middle-aged women. With a name like that, there's no way he'd encounter objections from parents."

"What's more, since this position has been cursed by Voldemort, a guy like Lockhart who has no skills will definitely pay the price..."

"And I also want to vent a little for that old friend whose memory was erased." He winked playfully at Lycos and the others.

Seeing Dumbledore's behavior, Lycos and Cassandra looked at each other in confusion.

It has to be said that apart from not expecting Lockhart to have no teaching ability at all, Dumbledore was able to kill two birds with one stone by recruiting Lockhart as the professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts.

"Since Lockhart is in Azkaban, what about Hagrid?" Lycos suddenly remembered the big guy who was captured by Fudge before and asked, "I remember Fudge wanted to put him in Azkaban."

"Don't worry." Dumbledore smiled. "The threat to Hogwarts only officially erupted after Hagrid was captured, which naturally cleared Hagrid of suspicion... Hagrid was released just as Lockhart was imprisoned in Azkaban."

As he spoke, he pointed at the black and white photo in the Daily Prophet.

"It's right at the gate. If you look at it a little more, you might be able to see Hagrid there."

Lycos nodded slightly.

"Then I have no other questions."

"Well, let me think about what else I haven't said..." Dumbledore tapped the bedside cabinet with his thin fingers, thinking.

"By the way," he suddenly raised his head and looked at Lycos and Cassandra, "I know you don't care about this empty reputation, but with your contributions, you two deserve an award for special contributions to the school."

"Well...and you both earned a hundred points for Slytherin."

The Special Contribution Award for the School is given to Hogwarts students who have made outstanding contributions to the school.

Tom Riddle has a golden medal with his name on it, which is placed very solemnly in the trophy display room on the fourth floor.

However, after this incident is over, I'm afraid the medal will be taken away by Dumbledore. After all, as the culprit who opened the Chamber of Secrets, Riddle's act of framing Hagrid to escape punishment is not worthy of this important award at all.

However, Lycos and Cassandra seemed to have no reaction to this honor.

Cassandra still stared at Lycos's profile motionlessly, and Lycos just said "hmm" symbolically, and was even thinking about what Voldemort would think if he knew about this award?

A Death Eater won an award for special contribution to the school for rebelling against Tom Riddle, and successfully removed Tom Riddle's special contribution award that year?

Just think about how angry Voldemort must have been.

Lycos shuddered, feeling that as an undercover Death Eater, he should keep a low profile. This special contribution award could be given to Cassandra alone...

Just as he was about to refuse, Dumbledore spoke first.

"As expected, neither of you has any interest in this kind of honor." He didn't seem surprised at all, and simply smiled knowingly. "How about this? This Special Contribution Award won't be announced for now. It will be officially placed in the trophy display room after Voldemort is defeated."

As he said this, he winked at Lycos.

Lycos: “…”

This special contribution award was just talk. The old headmaster was still very concerned about whether his undercover career would be stable... Maybe even if Lecos didn't want to continue being an undercover, Dumbledore would push him back.

"Besides," the old principal smiled and took two steps forward, holding onto his chair, "this incident wasn't completely without benefit to us—"

Dumbledore lowered his voice and told a complete plan.

Lycos was a little confused at first, but then his eyes lit up and he nodded with interest.

……

Not long after, there was a knock on the door outside the ward.

Lycos glanced at Dumbledore and saw him nod slightly, so he quickly adjusted himself back to lying on the bed, looking sick.

Cassandra also lowered her head with a smile, covering half of her face with her long hair to prevent the smile on her lips from being seen by the next person who would enter the ward.

"Please come in." Seeing that everything was ready, Lycos deliberately pretended to be weak and said hoarsely.

A man with long, light blond hair draped over his shoulders pushed open the door and walked in.

His face was very gloomy, with dark circles under his eyes, and he looked quite haggard.

A little wizard with the same hair color followed the man. He looked at Lycos timidly, hesitating for a long time but not daring to speak.

Next to the little wizard was a house-elf, hunched over and staring at the seam on the back of his master's robe, with a look of confusion on his face.

"Good evening, Lucius." Dumbledore said coldly.

"Good evening, Headmaster Dumbledore." Lucius's expression looked a little unnatural.

"I never thought you would have the nerve to return to Hogwarts." Dumbledore casually took off his glasses and wiped them, his words coming out cold, as if they had no warmth at all.

"I didn't want to come, but Draco insisted on dragging me over to visit his so-called friend." Lucius's face was even paler than usual. "Since I see he has nothing else to do, I'll leave first."

"Please wait a moment, Lucius." Dumbledore put his glasses back on and looked at Lucius through the half-moon lenses. "I want to ask if you recognize this thing -"

He took out a black diary with almost only the spine left and watched Lucius' reaction closely.

This was just given to the old principal by Lecos. It is part of the plan.

Before Lucius could react, Dobby saw the diary first and then behaved very strangely.

He hid behind Lucius and Draco, looking at Lycos meaningfully with his two big eyes, pointing at the diary and then at Lucius beside him, then hitting his head hard with his fist.

Dumbledore saw this and laughed happily.

"What an ingenious plan," he said calmly, staring into Lucius's eyes. "If it weren't for Mr. Hayden who stumbled upon this diary, perhaps the other little fellow would have been in trouble..."

"I'm very curious, how did such an extremely evil dark magic item appear in the cauldron of a little girl who hasn't even started school yet..."

Dumbledore spoke slowly, and Lucius's face became paler and paler, and his body, which was already weak from being imprisoned by goblins for a long time, kept shaking.

"Perhaps you can help me with this question, right, Lucius?"

……

Chapter 170 Save This for the Dark Lord

Lucius said nothing.

His face suddenly seemed to be covered with a mask, and he tried hard not to show any expression, for fear of being exposed.

"Just imagine what would happen then..." Dumbledore didn't seem to want to listen to Lucius's explanation and continued, "Although I know you think highly of yourself and don't think much of the Weasley family, it cannot be denied that they are still one of the most prestigious families of pure wizarding blood."

"What do you think would happen to the Weasleys and the Muggle Protection Law that Arthur upheld if people discovered that Arthur Weasley's own daughter was attacking and murdering Muggle-borns?"

"Fortunately, this diary was discovered and Riddle's memory was erased from it. Otherwise, who knows what the consequences would be..."

Lucius forced himself to speak.

"It's a blessing." He said it very unnaturally and stiffly.

"Don't you really want to know where this diary came from?" Dumbledore looked at Lucius with meaningful blue eyes.

"What does this have to do with me?" Lucius pulled the corners of his tight mouth.

"Because that's what I got from you, Mr. Malfoy." Lycos suddenly said, "I remember it was in Flourish and Blotts, you and Mr. Weasley had an argument, and then a fight..."

"So you picked up Ginny Weasley's textbooks and secretly hid the diary among them, correct?"

Lucius clenched his pale hands into fists, then unclenched them with all his strength, suppressing his anger.

"What evidence do you have?" he said hoarsely.

"Yes, we really have no way to provide evidence, and no one can provide evidence from that time." Dumbledore said with a smile, "Now that Riddle has disappeared from the book, we have lost an important witness."

"However...Lucius, we do have evidence that you abused your authority as a Hogwarts governor and allowed rebellious goblins to enter Hogwarts Castle."

He raised his head slightly, and a ray of light reflected from the half-moon lenses stung Lucius' eyes.