Archaeologists at Hogwarts

Chapter 186 Valentine's Day Dueling Lesson, Memory Hourglass
There was no need for Dumbledore to remind him, Toby knew there was something wrong with Lockhart.

One of the mysteries that remained with him, which Myrtle told Toby, was why Lockhart sneaked into the abandoned bathroom not long after school started, and just looked back and forth , does nothing extra.

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

Later, Toby also found out that Lockhart took the initiative to throw Tom Riddle's notebook into the bathroom, and he stubbornly refused Snape's performance in the duel class. If it weren't for Angela's interruption, the two might have really Will fight in full view.

Toby knew that Dumbledore had asked Snape to keep a close eye on Quirrell last term, and now it was on him to do the same.

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

This is absolutely unforgivable!
then!

"Professor Lockhart!"

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

"I missed the last dueling class, are you interested in holding it again? This time I can be your assistant."

Lockhart opened his mouth wide and looked at Toby. Even if he couldn't see the expression under the hood, he could tell that Toby was clearly harboring malicious intentions.

"No!" He flatly refused, showing an embarrassed smile, and even his shiny teeth dimmed a lot: "If you really want to take the dueling class, then I suggest you hold it with Professor Snape, I There is also Valentine's Day to be busy, and I really can't get away from it."

"Valentine's Day?" Toby said as if it was the first time he heard about it, and he waited for Lockhart to speak up: "That's it, the new round of dueling classes will be held on Valentine's Day, only Only the most powerful warrior can win the favor of the most beautiful princess. Maybe we can also add a lottery. The student who wins in the end will get a chance to confess in public. No matter whether the final result is successful or not, the other party cannot refuse, at least in Can't say no to Valentine's Day. What do you think, Professor Lockhart? It's sure to motivate the students."

"It doesn't sound feasible." Lockhart said hesitantly, "What if the object of confession is the professor? I will break the hearts of a lot of girls."

"It's okay, it's just a short period of time earlier." Toby said in a low voice.

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

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

"Is this not a threat?" Lockhart hurried to the door and asked, "I must have misheard, Professor Highmore?"

In any case, announcements of a new dueling class were soon appearing in the four house magazines.

The students talked about it.

"A dueling class held on Valentine's Day?" Percy Weasley asked in surprise, "Why does it have to be Valentine's Day?"

The Weasley twins sensed a hint of it.

"What happened to Valentine's Day?"

"Do you have something to do?"

"Stop kidding, Fred."

"Oh, it's my fault, George, how could anyone have a crush on a boy with a big head?"

"Shut up!" Percy exasperated.

Others were still discussing the professors who would be there. In addition to Professor Lockhart, there was even Professor Haimer.

"Um, are you going to go?" 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 Highmore didn't see us? Harry, you Do you really want Bludgers to turn into balls of fire?"

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

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

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

Get a chance to confess in public?Got a full day of dating?
Just thinking about her cheeks turned red.

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

"No!" Ginny subconsciously refused, and the weird Goldigan tea still impressed her deeply.

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

Luna stared straight at her.

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

"What do you understand?" Ginny looked over in a panic.

"Mom, Ginny seems to like Professor Highmore."

【Oh?Honey, why do you think so? 】

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

"That's not the case!" Ginny quickly grabbed the quill and wrote, "It's actually because the winner will have an undeniable chance to confess his love and have a whole day of dating—"

【Ginny, is that you?Wait a minute, dear.Don't you feel that something is wrong yet? 】

"Where?"

[The winner.In the last dueling class, was someone judged to be the ultimate winner? 】

Ginny and Luna exchanged a look.

Seems like something is wrong.
At breakfast on February [-]th, the auditorium took on a new look, with large, dazzling pink flowers covering all four walls, and many heart-shaped confetti that kept changing from light blue to Float down from the ceiling.

Harry made his way to the Gryffindor table, where Ron sat with a disgusted expression on his face, and Hermione seemed to be giggling the whole time.

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

Ron pointed at the teacher's table, obviously too disgusted to speak.Lockhart, in bright pink robes to match the ornaments, waved everyone to silence.

The teachers sitting opposite him all had serious faces.From where he sat, Harry could see a muscle bulge in Professor McGonagall's cheek.Snape looked as if someone had just poured him a big glass of Skeleton.

Only Professor Haimer behaved a little differently. He was eating breakfast quietly, but from the perspective of outsiders, this picture became a strange scene of food disappearing into the black mist under the hood, which looked weird And weird.

"Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!" cried Lockhart. "I have 46 people who have sent me cards so far, and I would like to thank them all! Yes, I took it upon myself to arrange this small event for you all." Small surprises - and more than that!"

Lockhart clapped his hands and strode in through the doors leading into the hall a dozen sullen-faced dwarfs.And they are different from ordinary dwarves, Lockhart made them all have golden wings and carry harps on their backs.

"My friendly little Cupid with a card!" said Lockhart beaming. "They're going to be wandering around the school today, delivering you Valentine's cards—!"

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

He couldn't hear the word "greeting card" because he hadn't received one, and even Al had received a lot of greeting cards, showing off to him early in the morning.

"Okay, kids."

The atmosphere in the auditorium suddenly changed, and even the dwarves stopped in their tracks.

Toby ignored the embarrassed Lockhart and continued: "Students who decide to participate in the dueling class finish their breakfast quickly, then stay and start this dueling class right away."

Many people noticed that Professor Highmore's mood was not very good. Only Ron saw Toby's brainwaves. He suddenly asked, "Hermione, did you write a greeting card to Professor Highmore?"

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

Harry asked on a whim, "What about Professor Lockhart? Have you written to Professor Lockhart?"

Hermione rummaged through her school schedule with sudden interest, but didn't answer.

After breakfast, the number of students staying 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 it is impossible to increase dueling skills just by fighting.

Cedric took the responsibility. He went to the teacher's desk and asked, "Professor, do you need me to gather them together? To make room."

"We need to gather them together." Toby said before Lockhart could speak, "Let them line up in two rows and follow me later."

Oh?
Cedric glanced at Lockhart. Judging from his expression, he didn't seem to have expected such an arrangement.

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

Anyone who looked at it could not help but think that Lockhart was obviously threatened by Professor Highmore.

But it didn't take long before they finally realized that they were also the group of people who were 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 rushed back by Al, who was behind them.

Didn't you say it was a duel class?
How did it become an archeology class?

Toby, who was walking in front of the tunnel, explained: "I believe that you have all learned how to duel in the last class, so, 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 don't want to participate in the duel class. This time, I will personally let you experience the essence of the archeology class—unexpectedly, even I will participate in it."

The fork in the tunnel that was originally used for teaching was gone, replaced by a huge monster shrouded in black mist.

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

Well, no matter what it was, when Professor Haimo took out the magic ball and Bai Sensen's scepter at the same time, the only thing left for them was to run away.

Even Lockhart could see something was wrong: "Maybe we should call Headmaster Dumbledore, don't you think?"

"No, there is no need to call the headmaster."

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

Who else remembers Valentine's Day?

The students leaned together, trembling. If Mr. Al hadn't stared at them unkindly, the group would have fled in all directions.

Toby raised the scepter and let the magic ball melt, covering the behemoth 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 circle, and the light filled the entire tunnel.

A series of indistinct words spewed out from the black mist under the hood, from which extended ribbons that were about to decay, wrapped around the scepter, and then dissipated into soot, making the black mist even denser.

Lockhart's eyelids twitched. He comforted the students and said, "Don't worry, Professor Highmore will take care of himself. He—why is he missing?!"

Toby disappeared suddenly, and his voice echoed in the tunnel: "I have finished my job, and I will leave the rest to you. I hope you can defeat the black mist under the leadership of Professor Lockhart." The monster in the game, the final winner will receive an exclusive gift for Valentine's Day, an opportunity to express his love that cannot be refused. Don't worry about the other party going back on his word, with my guarantee, no one dares to refuse."

After saying these words, the students found that not only Professor Highmore, but also Mr. Al was gone.

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

Students and professors stand on one side, while the other side is the "monster" shrouded in black mist.

Lockhart smiled awkwardly: "You're joking, aren't you?"

The disappearing Professor Haimer didn't answer, but said calmly: "Duel class, start."

Students, you look at me, I look at you, all fell into a dead silence.

Just then, the black mist began to dissipate.

Lockhart stood nervously in front of the students, he took out his wand tremblingly, his eyes wandered, and he looked around.

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

The students were all stunned. Ginny stood at the end of the crowd, and together with Luna stared blankly at the paw that was even bigger than Lockhart himself.

"What's that? A 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. .

"Disarm you!" screamed Lockhart.

The spell hit a skull, but it didn't do anything.

He backed away slowly, pretending to be nonchalant and said: "It seems that it's up to you to play, children, don't let me and Professor Haimer down, I'll make a move when you can't hold on—"

The terrified students saw him step aside, but the Fire Dragon had its sights set on Lockhart, turning the corner and rushing towards him again.

"Oh, bad." Lockhart watched the claws of the fire dragon in front of him getting bigger and bigger. He immediately raised his wand, but he was so slow for a while, the claws hit the wall and shrank into a ball , just passed out.

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

All of this is just an illusion, there is nothing under the black mist, it was specially shaped by Toby to deliberately target Lockhart, but he did not expect him to be so weak that he passed out at the very beginning.

Could he be pretending?

Toby couldn't help thinking in doubt, he gave Al a look.

Therefore, in the eyes of the students, the picture became a fire dragon raising its claws high. Once it fell, it would definitely turn Lockhart into a puddle of flesh.

Some people were calling Professor Haimo in a panic, and some people were constantly trying to break through the thick walls. No one thought about defeating the fire dragon. This was simply whimsical and impossible.

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

Toby also turned his head and saw that Ginny was holding a 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 cloud of black smoke and disappeared.

Toby showed his figure, stood in front of the stunned students, and asked Ginny, "What spell are you using?"

Ginny, who hadn't recovered yet, murmured softly, "It's the Spark Curse."

"Very good!" Toby suddenly said loudly: "The first principle of archaeology is that you never know what the enemy's weakness is, but you must try it bravely."

The surrounding walls disappeared, and he announced: "You can leave, this time the winner is Miss Ginny Weasley—by the way, do you have a confession partner in mind?"

The students looked at Ginny enviously, but she froze for a moment.

"I'm the winner?" she asked in surprise, her face turned red all of a sudden.

"Yeah," said Toby, "do you want to date Professor Lockhart? I don't think he'll say no."

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

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

Harry: "Huh?"

"Just do Ginny a favor." Ron whispered, "Didn't you see that she was blushing almost bleeding, and besides, she doesn't know many people, at least don't really date Lockhart .”

"Um, can this work?" Harry asked hesitantly.

Toby looked left at Harry and right at Ginny.

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

Soon, Toby, Al, and an unconscious Lockhart disappeared into this special classroom.But they didn't rush to the school hospital immediately, but sneaked into the abandoned bathroom on the same floor.

It happened that Myrtle was also there, she was sitting on the toilet in a daze, she floated over with an excited expression on her face, and asked, "I've seen him, are you planning to do bad things secretly again?"

"Yeah, make the bathroom lively again."

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

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

Toby manipulated Lockhart's palm to flip, causing the hourglass in his hand to follow suit.

"It's an hourglass of memory that allows us to see what he's been doing here, and it's invaluable, look."

With the flow of gravel, a transparent Lockhart suddenly appeared in the room.

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

The second scene is a picture of him coming here alone not long after the start of school.

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

Myrtle exclaimed in surprise, "Look! Isn't that you!"

That's right, it's Toby, or Toby when he was in school. He looks much younger than now, and his hair is not as long as it is now.

At the beginning, the transparent little Toby was pushed into the bathroom by several students of the same age, but after the door was closed, it changed completely. Little Toby pulled out his wand in the blink of an eye and knocked them down.Then he began to cast some weird spells at them with a blank face, ignoring the pleas of the students in front of him.

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

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

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

If he read it correctly, the self in the picture is about to graduate, and his methods are not as restrained as before, causing all the students who were planning to bully him to fall to the ground in pain, and no matter how much they scream, they refuse to stop .

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

Myrtle also turned her head, and she found a phantom at the door of the bathroom.

Xu Ying didn't know when he was pushed through a small gap, and a pair of flustered eyes saw this scene, and he saw the picture in the room clearly.

Myrtle said triumphantly, "I knew that you couldn't do anything without me. You didn't even notice someone peeping. You should have asked me to come with you."

"That's right." Toby didn't refute. He walked up to the phantom at the gate, and said condescendingly to the peeping eyes, "You're right, Myrtle, I should ask you for help."

"Otherwise, Lockhart, the third grader, wouldn't be able to secretly see this scene."

(End of this chapter)