HPDBC Chapter 294, Section 293: Lockhart's Admiration?
Chapter 294, Section 293: Lockhart's Admiration?
Chapter 294, Section 293: Lockhart's Admiration?
Thinking back to when I met Professor Lockhart before.
Hermione was genuinely worried about being exposed.
She was so nervous that her fists clenched so tightly that Snape's expression also tightened slightly, after all, he knew all too well that Professor Lockhart always liked to do things that made him uncomfortable.
This incompetent writer may not be very capable, but his observational skills are indeed extremely sharp. During this semester, Snape has had several secrets discovered by him.
Just as the atmosphere in the air became slightly heavy.
"Professor Snape? Are you there? I heard from the students that they saw you go back to your office." Lockhart's voice rang out again, accompanied by a light knock.
The air in the office seemed to freeze even more.
Hermione, who was trying to pretend she wasn't there, suddenly became flustered.
Now she can't pretend she's not in the office anymore. If Professor Lockhart goes to find the young wizards who saw her return, her impersonation of Snape might be discovered.
"Damn it."
Hermione panicked.
She looked at Snape for help.
Snape was clearly concerned about this as well. He believed that if he did not respond to Professor Lockhart, Professor Lockhart would definitely do something like "exposing the lie" by bringing a group of junior wizards over—it had happened before, and he suspected that Lockhart was doing it on purpose, but he had not been able to find any evidence in the previous attempts.
"I'm here, but I'm busy, so please don't bother me."
He spoke directly and coldly to the person outside the door.
Hermione breathed a sigh of relief.
A professor was seen appearing outside the door.
"Waaaaah~"
Ron desperately cried for help, his mouth gagged, yet he still made "woof woof" sounds and kicked his legs wildly, as if he desperately hoped that Professor Lockhart would notice the anomaly in the room.
indeed.
Any other young wizard who came here would probably have wanted to call for help, just like Ron. Keep in mind, he and Neville arrived in the morning and have been stuck here for most of the day.
I can't even begin to imagine how many terrible futures I could think of.
"Waaaaah~"
He frantically tried to speak. Seeing Ron's behavior, Snape's eyes sharpened, and his wand trembled silently—Ron immediately went limp like a puppet with its strings cut.
This was achieved by directly using a spell to knock Ron unconscious.
In this regard.
Of course, Navei didn't know.
Neville witnessed this scene, and beads of sweat instantly appeared on his forehead. He didn't know if Ron had been killed, but a sense of crisis instantly enveloped the chubby boy. When Snape's cold gaze swept over him, he immediately rolled his eyes, fell straight back, and even held his breath.
Neville clearly hoped to escape Snape's curse by playing dead and behaving well, thinking, "You won't do anything to me, will you?" It must be said that he still had some wit in a critical moment.
This is not.
Snape didn't actually cast a spell on him, which could be considered an acceptance of Neville's surrender—his intention wasn't to torment the young wizard but to prevent him from ruining his plans.
"I just wanted to ask you some questions about potion brewing. It won't take long," Lockhart said from outside the door, seemingly oblivious to everything.
The tone was sincere.
"I...I'm very busy! I don't have time to bother you, don't bother me." Hermione hurriedly replied in Snape's deep voice, but her voice trembled unnaturally.
After a day of practice.
Hermione was already quite used to Snape's way of speaking.
"It'll only take five minutes of your time," Lockhart drawled. "You wouldn't want me to tell my students that even Professor Snape couldn't solve my potions problem, would you?"
"There are over a dozen young wizards waiting for me in my office to do potion experiments together. If I go back and say that, they'll definitely think I'm deceiving them."
"If they come to you to verify this, wouldn't that delay you even more?" How could this not be a threat? But Professor Lockhart did say it in a tone that was for Snape's sake.
That tone.
This is one of the reasons why Snape disliked Professor Lockhart the most. This damned narcissist and petty man had been a constant source of subtle threats to Snape ever since he arrived at Hogwarts.
Snape's face instantly turned ashen.
"Open the door for him! Don't let him in." Snape used some kind of magic, his voice reached Hermione's ears, but didn't travel through the air.
Only Hermione can hear it.
"Huh?" Hermione didn't really want to open the door. After all, facing a student and facing a professor were two different things—she had heard a lot of legendary stories about Professor Lockhart since the start of the semester. He was one of the top wizards in the wizarding world, and many people said that he would become a great wizard no less than Dumbledore in the future.
Having a face-to-face conversation with such a wizard, who knows if it will immediately cause a disaster? You know, Hermione has already experienced how sharp Dumbledore's eyesight is.
"Why."
Hermione sighed with a heavy heart, but there was nothing she could do. She felt her back was soaked with cold sweat, but she could only grit her teeth and walk toward the door.
She could only hope that Lockhart was still relatively young and wouldn't be like Dumbledore, who seemed to see through everything—the little witch, secretly encouraging herself, slowly walked over.
"After you open the door, stand on the right side," Snape's telepathic spell rang in her ear. He was clearly worried about Hermione's stomach facing Professor Lockhart. "Don't let him see inside."
Upon hearing this...
Hermione took a deep breath, nodded to Snape the Hanged Man, and then mentally prepared herself before carefully opening the door.
of course.
She was even more cautious than Snape had suggested, opening the door just wide enough to completely block the view inside the office, revealing less than half of her face in the gap between the door and the door.
From this angle, his gloomy face appeared even more somber. Outside, Lockhart wore a long purple robe and sported his signature bright smile.
The man was also holding a book titled "The Complete Guide to Advanced Potion Making".
It was as if he was genuinely interested in potions.
"Good evening, Professor Snape," Professor Lockhart said, his brilliant blond hair gleaming in the torchlight of the corridor, revealing a set of dazzlingly white teeth.
"The weather is really nice today, isn't it? I just saw a wonderful mandrake over at the greenhouse." He looked so relaxed, chatting casually.
"Don't... bring up such useless things." Hermione resisted the urge to roll her eyes, trying to maintain Snape's indifferent tone: "I... am busy."
She didn't stutter.
However, the sound was drawn out a bit too long.
He wanted to hide the panic in his heart.
Fortunately, Lockhart did not suspect anything.
"Ah! You still managed to find time to respond to me even when you're so busy. This is a testament to our friendship. Perhaps I should call you dear Severus!" He opened his arms warmly.
"Hey, don't be so serious."
This is an attempt to squeeze into the office.
however.
Hermione braced herself against the door with her feet, giving Lockhart a stiff nod as she gripped the doorframe tightly with her fingers, preventing Professor Lockhart from squeezing through the door and embracing her.
In this regard.
Professor Lockhart was somewhat disappointed, but he continued to ramble on to himself: "These students are really hard to teach these days. Yesterday, Potter actually asked me which is more afraid of garlic, vampires or werewolves. Hahaha! I heard the weather is going to get worse in the next few days. Although it's a bit chilly, I think that's a good opportunity to motivate the students."
"Don't you think so?"
Lockhart was speaking as if he were exchanging ideas with a colleague on how to motivate the young wizards.
"Um."
Hermione nodded in response.
"They've been too lax lately. Yesterday, half of the homework I assigned was about 'how to fight werewolves,' but we were talking about dealing with ghouls."
"Sigh, these young people nowadays are really giving me a headache. These students are so difficult to teach. I think it's related to their lack of worldly experience. When will schools be able to restore the tradition of teachers taking students on field trips? Although students might encounter dangers if they do that, they will definitely be much better off when they grow up."
This is another casual conversation with Snape about the system.
"What exactly is it?" Hermione spat out through gritted teeth, her gaze falling on the potions book in Professor Lockhart's hands. "What potions problem do you have?"
Hermione really wanted to get rid of Lockhart as soon as possible.
Lockhart finally dropped his chatty expression and earnestly turned the pages of his book: "I'm researching a potion recipe called 'Nightshade Elixir,' which is said to enhance memory recovery, but I can't seem to find the right proportions. I've heard you're quite skilled in this area; could you help me take a look?"
Hermione froze the moment she saw that page—it was a fragment of an extremely obscure ancient potions book, tucked inside a textbook; she had never seen or heard of this recipe before!
Ancient potions!
She tried to remain calm, lowering her head as if to study something, but her mind was completely blank.
Just as she was about to break down, a deep voice suddenly rang in her ears.
"Tell him that the ingredients he needs are 0.3 grams of agave powder, 5 drops of moonshine, and a pinch of silver powder. The proportions must be strictly controlled, otherwise it will cause an explosion."
It's Snape's voice!
Thank you for your timely guidance!
Hermione's forehead finally stopped sweating!
Hermione felt relieved and immediately answered as instructed.
and.
Following Snape's subsequent reminders, he pointed out a few more details to the other party.
"You need to slowly add 0.3 grams of agave powder, then add five drops of moonshine water, and finally sprinkle in a small amount of silver powder. Note that the order cannot be reversed."
This is definitely proof that Snape had a wide range of interests.
Hermione, following Snape's instructions, recounted all the details in an indifferent tone, while also marveling inwardly at Snape's erudition.
He is indeed a true master of potions.
Even ancient potions couldn't stump him—Hermione's understanding of Snape reached a new level. Putting aside his personality, Snape was indeed exceptionally talented.
"Wow, you remember that so clearly? That's amazing! Professor Snape truly lives up to his reputation!" Lockhart looked at Hermione in surprise, as if he were expressing his heartfelt admiration.
Hermione forced a smile.
"Thanks."
This was her subconscious reaction after being praised.
Normally, Snape wouldn't answer others like that; he would just slam the door shut with a stern look. Fortunately, Hermione's reaction didn't seem to arouse Professor Lockhart's suspicion.
"If there's nothing else, I'll go and get busy."
Hermione realized her mistake and prepared to close the door.
Do less, do less.
however.
Professor Lockhart's questioning seemed far from over.
"Oh! Wait a minute, this is a personal matter and has nothing to do with the young wizards," Lockhart suddenly lowered his voice. "Actually, I'm researching a very special potion."
He leaned closer mysteriously, his face almost touching Hermione's through the crack in the door. Hermione quickly moved her head back, and saw Professor Lockhart cautiously speaking through the crack in the door.
"Do you know how to use the tears of a Moonfox and the hair of a Veela as ingredients for a more potent aphrodisiac?" This not only touched on Hermione's blind spot.
Hermione even considered calling the police.
however.
Just as Hermione's mind was racing, trying to guess what Professor Lockhart was planning to do with the potent love potion, Snape's voice, like a spider's web, crept into her ears once more.
[Tell him that the tears of the Moonfox need to be boiled in a golden cauldron and mixed with moonlight water, then left to stand for three hours—as for the Veela's hair, I'll take care of it for him if he can get his hands on it.]
have to say.
Snape was still as versatile as ever when it came to potions—Hermione was touched by Snape's kindness, but he thought Snape himself was also envious of Veela's hair.
After a moment of random thought, Hermione immediately replied without missing a single word, "The tears of the Moonfox need to be boiled in a golden cauldron and first mixed with moonlight water and left to stand for three hours."
"If you can get your hands on some Veela hair, I think I'll take care of it for you when I have time. Of course, there will be some damage," Hermione said, and Snape didn't scold her.
Obviously.
Hermione guessed Snape's little scheme.
"Okay, okay, no problem, Professor Snape, you're fantastic!" Lockhart's eyes suddenly lit up dramatically. "That's brilliant! What if we added the Magic-Smelling Herb?"
[Idiot! That would make you fall in love with someone of the same sex!]
Snape's telepathic communication nearly pierced Hermione's eardrums.
"It will make you... fall in love with the same sex."
Hermione blurted it out.
"Oh my god!"
Lockhart clutched his chest.
"That sounds even better."
His words left Hermione speechless for a moment. Just as Hermione opened her mouth, unsure how to respond, Professor Lockhart suddenly reached through the crack in the door, grabbed Hermione's hand, and shook it forcefully.
"I must invite you to try my lemon cake sometime! It's a wonderful recipe that even Dumbledore raved about." With that, he turned and left, disappearing briskly down the corridor. When that dazzling blond hair finally vanished around the corner, Hermione practically slammed the door shut, her back slamming against the door as she gasped for breath.
My heart was pounding like a drum.
After finally coming to her senses, she realized that there was an inconspicuous little note in her hand when Professor Lockhart had held her hand.
"Falling in love with someone of the same sex?"
Hermione's eyes widened in surprise.
"This isn't a love letter, is it!"
"Lockhart likes Snape!"
She sometimes has bold ideas, but they're more predictable than Ron's.
(End of this chapter)