Archaeologists at Hogwarts

Chapter 186 Valentine’s Day Duel Lesson, Memory Hourglass

There was no need for Dumbledore to remind Toby that there was something wrong with Lockhart.

There has always been a mystery about him, which Myrtle told Toby - that is why Lockhart sneaked into the abandoned bathroom not long after the term started, and then just looked around.

, nothing extra was done.

This move seemed extremely unusual because the entrance to the secret room was in the abandoned bathroom.

Later, Toby also learned that Lockhart took the initiative to throw Tom Riddle's notebook into the bathroom, and that he strongly refused Snape in the dueling class. If not for Angela's interruption, the two people might have actually

They will fight in full view of the public.

Toby knew that Dumbledore had asked Snape to keep an eye on Quirrell secretly last semester, and now a similar responsibility fell on him.

The difference is that Toby is not the kind of person who follows the rules, and he has just learned that Lockhart topped the bestseller list as a liar.

Unforgivable!

This is absolutely unforgivable!

then!

"Professor Lockhart!"

Toby pushed open the door of the Defense Against the Dark Arts office furiously, startling Lockhart in the room and the Lockharts in the portrait.

"I was absent from the last duel class. Are you interested in holding it again? This time I can be your assistant."

Lockhart looked at Toby with his mouth wide open. Even if he couldn't see the expression under his hood, he could tell that Toby was obviously up to no good.

"No!" He refused flatly, showing an awkward smile, and even his shiny teeth were dimmed a lot: "If you really want to take a dueling class, then I suggest you organize it with Professor Snape. I

There are also things to do about Valentine’s Day, so I really can’t get away from it.”

"Valentine's Day?" Toby said as if hearing this for the first time. He was waiting for Lockhart to take the initiative to speak: "It's decided that the new round of dueling lessons will be held on Valentine's Day. Only

Only the strongest warrior can win the favor of the most beautiful princess. Maybe we can also add a bonus. The student who wins in the end will get a chance to express his love in public. No matter whether the final result is successful or not, the other party cannot refuse, at least not until now.

Can't refuse on Valentine's Day. What do you think, Professor Lockhart? This will definitely arouse the enthusiasm of the students."

"It doesn't sound feasible." Lockhart said hesitantly: "What if the person being confessed to is a professor? I will break the hearts of a lot of girls."

"It doesn't matter, it's just a short time ahead of schedule." Toby whispered.

"What?" Lockhart didn't hear clearly: "What did you say?"

"Nothing!" Toby said carelessly: "That's it. I will arrange the time and place. You must not be absent, Professor Lockhart."

"Isn't this a threat?" Lockhart hurried to the door and asked, "Maybe I heard wrong, Professor Hemmer?"

No matter what, the announcement of the new dueling class soon appeared in the college magazines of the four colleges.

The students discussed this a lot.

"Dueling lessons held on Valentine's Day?" Percy Weasley asked in surprise: "Why does it have to be Valentine's Day?"

The Weasley twins noticed a hint.

"What happened to Valentine's Day?"

"You have something to do?"

"Stop joking, Fred."

"Oh, it's my fault, George, how could anyone like the big-headed boy?"

"Shut up!" Percy was angry.

Others are still discussing the professors who will be present. In addition to Professor Lockhart, there is also Professor Heimer.

"Uh, are you going?" Harry asked.

"Can you not go?" Ron asked pitifully.

"Of course not!" Hermione concluded the matter: "Don't forget, we still have to participate in special training. Have you ever thought about what would happen if Professor Hemmer didn't see us? Harry, you

Do you really want the Bludgers to turn into balls of fire?"

Then she turned to look at Ron: "Have you ever thought about what to do if Professor Heimer cancels the magic circle of armor and skull wooden sword one day? Will you stay in the school hospital for several months?

"

"Oh, stop talking." Ron said painfully: "I'm going, can't I just go?"

Ginny, who was standing behind the students, quietly left, her heart pounding.

A chance to confess your love in public? And a whole day of dating?

Just thinking about it made her cheeks turn red.

This made Luna, who met together, stare at her with confusion: "What's wrong with you? Do you want to drink Gordig root tea?"

"No!" Ginny subconsciously refused. The weird Gordig root tea still left a deep impression on her memory.

She sat on the floor of the prize display room, her face still red: "Did you see the announcement of the dueling class?"

Luna stared at her.

"I understand." She said directly, taking out Pandora's notebook and writing something on it.

"What do you know?" Ginny looked over in panic.

"Mom, Ginny seems to like Professor Hemmer."

【Oh? My dear, why do you think so? 】

"Because Ginny didn't behave so strangely in the last dueling class."

"That's not the case!" Ginny quickly took the quill and wrote: "Actually, it's because the winner will have an undeniable opportunity to confess his love and have a whole day of dating time——"

[Ginny, is that you? Wait a minute, dear. Don’t you think something is wrong yet? 】

"Where?"

[Winner. In the last duel class, was there someone who was judged to be the final winner? 】

Ginny and Luna exchanged a look.

There seems to be something wrong.

During breakfast on February 14th, the auditorium was completely new. The four walls were covered with big dazzling pink flowers, and there were many heart-shaped confetti that kept falling from the light blue.

Falling from the ceiling.

Harry walked towards the Gryffindor table, where Ron was sitting with a look of disgust on his face, and Hermione seemed to be giggling all the time.

"What's going on?" Harry asked them, sitting down and brushing confetti off his bacon. "Are we going to have dueling lessons in this environment?"

Ron pointed to the teachers' table, obviously too disgusted to speak. Lockhart, wearing a bright pink robe that matched the decorations, waved his hand to silence everyone.

The teachers sitting opposite him all had serious faces. From where he sat, Harry could see that a muscle on Professor McGonagall's cheek bulged out. Snape looked as if someone had just given him a drink.

A large cup of bone spirit.

Only Professor Heimer behaved a little differently. He was eating breakfast quietly. However, from an outsider's perspective, the scene turned into a strange scene of food disappearing into the black mist under the hood, which looked weird.

And weird.

"Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!" Lockhart said loudly. "So far, forty-six people have sent me greeting cards. I would like to express my gratitude to them! Yes, I took it upon myself to arrange this for everyone.

A little surprise – and that’s not all!”

Lockhart clapped his hands and strode into twelve dwarves with gloomy faces through the doors leading to the foyer. And they were different from ordinary dwarves. Lockhart had them all wear golden wings and carry their backs on their backs.

Playing the harp.

"My friendly little cupids with cards!" Lockhart said beamingly, "They're going to be wandering around the school today delivering you Valentine's Day cards -!"

At this time, Toby suddenly stood up and interrupted him.

He couldn't hear the word "greeting card" because he didn't receive any of them. Even Al received a lot of greeting cards and showed them off to him early in the morning.

"Okay, kids."

The atmosphere in the auditorium suddenly changed, and even the dwarfs stopped.

Toby ignored Lockhart's embarrassment and continued: "The students who decided to participate in the dueling class should finish their breakfast quickly, then stay and start this dueling class immediately."

Many people noticed that Professor Heimer was not in a good mood. Only Ron caught Toby's brain waves and suddenly asked: "Hermione, have you written a greeting card to Professor Heimer?"

"I originally wanted to write it," Hermione said, "but then I didn't dare to do it for fear of making it self-defeating, so I turned it into a greeting card addressed to Mr. Al."

Harry asked out of curiosity: "What about Professor Lockhart? Have you written to Professor Lockhart?"

Hermione was suddenly very interested in rummaging around in her schoolbag for her class schedule, but didn't answer.

After breakfast was over, the number of students left was not as many as expected, at least not as many as last time.

It seems that they have all learned a lesson and feel that there is no way to increase their dueling skills by fighting alone.

Cedric took the initiative to take the responsibility. He walked to the teacher's desk and asked: "Professor, do you need me to call them together? So that the space can be freed up."

"We have to gather them together." Toby said before Lockhart could speak: "Let them line up in two lines and follow me for a while."

oh?

Cedric glanced at Lockhart. Judging from his expression, he seemed not to have expected such an arrangement.

After the students stood still, Toby stood up and said, "It's time to go, Professor Lockhart."

Anyone looking at it would inevitably think that Lockhart was obviously threatened by Professor Highmore.

But it didn't take long for them to finally realize that they were among the people who had been deceived.

Because their final destination turned out to be a special classroom for ancient magic classes, many people wanted to sneak away along the way, but they were all blocked by Al and rushed back.

Didn't you agree that it would be a dueling class?

How did it become an archeology class?

Toby, who was walking in front of the tunnel, explained: "I believe you have all learned how to duel in the last class. In this case, of course we have to come up with some new tricks this time. Only in this way will it help the progress of the class.

"

"And you are much happier than the students who are unwilling to participate in the duel class. This time, I will personally let you see the essence of the archeology class - it is unpredictable, even I will participate in it."

The fork in the tunnel that was originally used for teaching classes disappeared, and was replaced by a huge thing shrouded in black mist.

No matter how they looked at it, the trio felt that this thing looked familiar—either the body of the basilisk or the shed skin of the basilisk.

Well, no matter what it was, when Professor Heimer took out the magic ball and Bai Sensen's scepter at the same time, their only remaining thought was to run away.

Even Lockhart saw something was wrong: "Maybe we should call Principal Dumbledore here, what do you think?"

"No, there's no need to call the principal."

The students heard Professor Heimer's smiling voice: "It's Valentine's Day, what's the point of calling the principal here? He will only disturb our interest."

No one remembers Valentine's Day anymore.

The students were leaning together, shivering. If Mr. Al hadn't stared at them with evil eyes, this group of people would have fled in all directions.

Toby raised his scepter and let the magic ball melt, shrouding the giant thing under the black mist.

"Remember this scene." He finally said: "Remember the great miracle created by the magic circle and ritual magic. This is a magic that can only be felt in person in ancient magic."

Almost at the same time, the melted magic ball formed a huge magic array, and the light filled the entire tunnel.

A series of indistinct bytes were spit out from the black mist under the hood, and ribbons that were about to decay stretched out from them, wrapped around the scepter, and then dissipated into soot, making the black mist become even denser.

Lockhart's eyelids twitched, and he comforted the students and said: "Don't worry, Professor Heimer will be careful. He - why is he missing?!"

Toby suddenly disappeared, his voice echoing in the tunnel: "I have completed my part, and the rest is left to you. I hope you can defeat the Black Mist under the leadership of Professor Lockhart

Among the monsters, the final winner will receive an exclusive gift for Valentine's Day, an opportunity that cannot be refused. There is no need to worry that the other party will regret it, because with my guarantee, no one dares to refuse."

After saying these words, the students discovered that not only Professor Heimer, but also Mr. Al was missing.

A wall was erected at the front and back of the tunnel, enclosing them in the middle.

The students and professors were standing on one side, and on the other side was the "monster" shrouded in black mist.

Lockhart smiled awkwardly: "You are joking, right?"

The disappeared Professor Heimer did not answer, but said calmly: "Duel class begins."

Students, you looked at me and I looked at you, and they all fell into a dead silence.

Just then, the black fog began to dissipate.

Lockhart stood nervously in front of the students. He took out his wand tremblingly and looked around with wandering eyes.

At this moment, a pitch-black claw suddenly stretched out from the black mist and hit the ground, making a loud rumbling sound.

The students were all stunned. Ginny stood at the back of the crowd, staring blankly at the claw that was even bigger than Lockhart himself.

"What is that? A fire dragon?"

A fire dragon with three heads suddenly broke through the black mist. It didn't have wings, but its limbs were much stronger. It ran straight towards Lockhart, its three mouths opened at the same time, releasing thick heat.

.

"Expelliarmus!" Lockhart screamed.

The spell hit a head and had no effect at all.

He slowly backed away and said as if nothing had happened: "It seems it's your turn. Children, don't let me and Professor Hemmer down. I'll take action when you can't hold on any longer -"

The panicked students saw him and stepped aside, but the fire dragon took Lockhart's sights and turned the corner and rushed towards him again.

"Oh, no good." Lockhart watched helplessly as the claws of the fire dragon in front of him became bigger and bigger. He immediately raised his wand, but he was delayed for a short while and was hit by the claws against the wall, shrinking into a ball.

, and just passed out.

Amidst the screams, Toby, who was invisible in the corner, silently watched this scene. He saw Al holding a small shovel at the position of the fire dragon's paws, moving with the movement of the fire dragon's fingers, and constantly playing with Lockhart's claws.

body.

All this was just an illusion. There was nothing under the black mist. It was specially created by Toby to deliberately target Lockhart, but he didn't expect that he was so weak that he fell into a coma at the beginning.

Could he be faking it?

Toby couldn't help but think doubtfully, and he glanced at Al.

Therefore, in the sight of the students, the scene turned into a fire dragon raising its claws high. Once it falls, it will definitely turn Lockhart into a puddle of flesh.

Some people were calling Professor Heimer in a panic, while others were constantly trying to break through the thick wall. No one thought about defeating the fire dragon. This was simply fanciful and impossible.

At this moment, a spell suddenly appeared and hit the fire dragon, attracting its attention.

Toby also turned his head and saw Ginny holding up her wand with a pale face, becoming the first student who dared to attack the fire dragon.

Toby suddenly changed his mind.

Under his control, the fire dragon suddenly dispersed into a ball of black smoke and disappeared.

Toby appeared, stood in front of the stunned students, and asked Ginny: "What spell did you use?"

Ginny, who had not yet recovered, murmured in a low voice: "It's the Spark Charm."

"Very good!" Toby suddenly said loudly: "The first rule of archeology is that you never know what the enemy's weakness is, but you must have the courage to try."

The surrounding wall disappeared and he announced: "You can leave now. The winner this time is Miss Ginny Weasley - by the way, do you have someone in mind to confess to?"

The students looked at Ginny with envy, but she was stunned for a moment.

"Am I the winner?" she asked in surprise, her face suddenly turning red.

"Yes." Toby said: "Do you want to date Professor Lockhart? I don't think he will refuse."

"No, no no!" Ginny subconsciously refused: "I——"

At this time, Ron suddenly sent an assist: "How is Harry?"

Harry: "Huh?"

"Just think of it as doing Ginny a favor." Ron whispered: "Didn't you see that her face was so red that she was almost bleeding? Besides, she doesn't know many people, at least not really dating Lockhart.

.”

"Um, is this okay?" Harry said hesitantly.

Toby looked left at Harry and right at Ginny.

"Very good, then it's settled." He let Lockhart's body float up and hurriedly ordered: "Mr. Diggory, take the students away in an orderly manner. I will send Lockhart to school first.

It’s the hospital.”

Soon, Toby, Al, and the unconscious Lockhart disappeared into this special classroom. However, they did not rush to the school hospital immediately, but secretly came to the abandoned bathroom on the same floor.

Myrtle happened to be there too. She was sitting on the toilet in a daze. She floated over with an excited face and asked: "I have seen him, are you planning to do bad things secretly again?"

"Yeah, let's make the bathroom lively again."

Toby said as he placed Lockhart in a compartment. Al promptly took out a small hourglass from his pocket and stuffed it into Lockhart's palm.

Myrtle, who was helping to watch the door, asked with interest: "What is this?"

Toby controlled Lockhart's palm to turn over, causing the hourglass in his hand to turn over as well.

"It is a memory hourglass that allows us to see what he has done here. It is very precious. Let's take a look."

As the gravel fell, a transparent Lockhart suddenly appeared in the room.

The first scene is the scene where he secretly throws the diary into the cubicle.

The second scene shows him walking around here alone not long after school started.

In the third act, the protagonist suddenly changed into a bunch of people.

Myrtle shouted in surprise: "Look! That's not you!"

Yes, it's Toby, it's still Toby when he was in school. He looks much younger than he is now, and his hair isn't as long as it is now.

At first, the transparent little Toby was pushed into the bathroom by several students of the same age, but after the door was closed, his appearance completely changed. Little Toby pulled out the wand in the blink of an eye and knocked down several people. Then

He began to cast some strange spells at them expressionlessly, ignoring the begging for mercy of the students in front of him.

The group of people in the picture are all wearing Slytherin uniforms.

"How come I haven't seen this before?" Myrtle asked.

"Maybe you are still staying in the sewer." Toby said in a nostalgic tone: "It was such a wonderful time, but it's a pity that I can never go back."

If he read it correctly, the self in the picture was about to graduate, and the methods he used were not as restrained as before. The classmates who were originally planning to bully him all fell to the ground in pain, no matter how they screamed, they refused to stop.

.

"Wait a minute." Toby suddenly turned around and said, "I know what the problem is."

Myrtle also turned around, and she found a shadow also appeared at the bathroom door.

Xuying didn't know when he was pushed open a small gap. A pair of panicked eyes saw this scene and saw the scene in the room clearly.

Myrtle said proudly: "I knew you couldn't do anything without me. You didn't even notice someone peeking. You should have asked me to come with you."

"Yes." Toby did not refute. He walked up to the shadow of the door and said condescendingly to the peeping eyes: "You are right, Myrtle, I should ask you for help."

"Otherwise, the third-year Lockhart wouldn't be allowed to secretly see this scene."