The Silent Witch of Hogwarts

Chapter 71: Things That Shouldn't Be Seen

What the heck is this?!

Seeing Lockhart bathed in a sea of ​​love letters, Loila cowered in a corner, unable to move.

"Ah...is this the blessing from someone who loves me?"

Amidst everyone's shocked expressions, Lockhart picked up one of the letters and began to read.

"Handsome, dashing, and debonair Lockhart, I love your sunny smile, your flowing blond hair, and your brilliant mind..."

Mr. Lockhart...was he...that good...when he was at Hogwarts?

Loila felt that her thoughts were already fragmented, like a string about to snap.

I can't believe I received... so many love letters...

Loila guessed this was something she would never see in her lifetime, and she subconsciously felt a little envious.

But seeing Mr. Lockhart loudly reciting his love letter, Loira quickly shook her head, indicating that she should forget it... This was simply... some kind of torture!

"Mr. Lockhart!" Suddenly, a slightly serious voice interrupted Lockhart's loud recitation. Loira looked up slightly and saw Professor McGonagall with a serious expression.

Ah...that's great...Professor McGonagall...

Seeing her now, Loila felt an unusual sense of warmth.

"Mr. Lockhart, what's going on here?" Professor McGonagall walked up to Lockhart, her eyes wide, and said, "Did someone send these to you?"

"Ah, good morning, Professor McGonagall." Lockhart smiled, a hint of amusement in his eyes. "Of course... you should know that as your student..."

"How... dazzling I am, Gerald Lockhart."

"..." Loila felt McGonagall's lips twitch slightly. The old professor, who looked no different from how he did now, slightly raised his hand and picked up a love letter from the table.

Seeing her action, Lockhart subconsciously raised an eyebrow.

"Mr. Lockhart," McGonagall paused, holding up the letter in her hand, and said, "the words on this seem somewhat familiar."

"Ah...is that so?" Loila noticed Mr. Lockhart slowly jump down from the table, then said somewhat awkwardly, "Of course, after all, they should all be your students, right?"

"Is that so?" Professor McGonagall's voice was almost identical to Professor Snape's at that moment.

She casually picked up another letter, glanced at it, and then said expressionlessly, "Mr. Lockhart, I don't think we should use them, do we?"

"Instead, we should use him."

"Hmm?" Loila carefully climbed up to the two of them and looked up slightly at the letter that Professor McGonagall was holding.

Indeed... the handwriting in these letters looks so similar... could they have been written by the same person?

Loila pursed her lips and looked at Gilrod Lockhart, who seemed strangely familiar.

Isn't this Mr. Lockhart's own signature?

The book on "Magic Arrays" in Loila's hand has Mr. Lockhart's autograph... wait, if Mr. Lockhart wrote this handwriting...

Doesn't that mean...? Loila subconsciously looked up at Lockhart.

I noticed that his face was no longer as calm as it had been just moments before; instead, it looked somewhat... awkward and uneasy.

This was the first time Loila had seen Mr. Lockhart like this, and it seemed... Professor McGonagall was right?

No way... Mr. Lockhart? You actually wrote yourself a love letter on Valentine's Day... That's a bit...

what……

Loila was overwhelmed with a mix of emotions, including embarrassment, awkwardness, shame, and even a touch of pity.

I've never even written a letter to myself before...

Loila stared at Mr. Lockhart with her mouth agape in astonishment, sobbing. She felt as if she had lost the ability to speak.

However, at this moment, the silver mist began to quietly dissipate, and after it completely disappeared, Loila's gaze slowly returned to her office.

"Um?"

Dumbledore was no longer in front of her... only Mr. Lockhart, wearing a headband...

what?

Why is Mr. Lockhart in my office?

Oh, he must have come to give me memories... But! Why did he just put on the headband without even saying hello?

And where did Dumbledore go?

And why did I just see those memories... So those were Mr. Lockhart's memories!

Loila stared at the blond man with the headband sitting there, her mind filled with questions.

The level of doubt is no less than if one had just woken up and discovered they had been in a coma for fifty years.

"Ah!" Mr. Lockhart seemed to have come to his senses as well. He jerked violently and removed his headband.

"Mr... Mr. Lockhart?" Loira looked at him, momentarily at a loss for words. Should she ask him why he was there, or offer some words of comfort...?

Ah, I don't think I want others to know about this... So should I just pretend I don't know?

"What did you see?!" Lockhart excitedly stood up and rushed to Loila the next second after seeing her. His sudden approach startled Loila so much that she fell backward into her chair.

"Lo...Lo...I didn't see anything!" Looking at the tall figure in front of her, Loila quickly shook her head, raising her hands to protect her chest, and said, "I only saw...ah...nothing!"

"You..." Mr. Lockhart was far angrier than Loyla had imagined; his face flushed red, and his blond hair flew up.

"You...you definitely saw it...you saw it." He muttered to himself, as if to himself, "You saw those things..."

He looked at Loila, who was trembling all over, and subconsciously clenched his wand... but... he seemed to remember something and shrank back.

He remained silent for a few seconds, seemingly trying to calm down.

Loila kept her head down, not daring to look at him at all. Mr. Lockhart was angry... and very angry! But... but wasn't that the headband he put on himself?

But Mr. Lockhart is angry... How scary! So... so frightening!

Loila gripped the wand tucked into her sleeve; it was the only thing that gave her a sense of security.

"Hoo..." Lockhart seemed to have calmed down and let out a long breath. He lowered his voice slightly and said, "How...how can you keep this from the Ministry of Magic?"

Ministry of Magic...?

Loila's trembling body suddenly stopped. She raised her head, her eyes behind the mask filled with confusion.

"Why...why tell...them...about this?"

It was just an embarrassing incident from my student days... Why tell the Ministry of Magic?

"Such a thing?" Lockhart paused, his lips twitching as if he wanted to say something, but he seemed to find it difficult to speak.

"I...I won't tell anyone!" Loila quickly said, "I...I didn't see anything...I definitely didn't look at you..."

"Your conversation with......"

"What was I talking to?" Lockhart asked anxiously upon hearing Loira's words, "I... what was I talking to?"

"Nothing! Absolutely... absolutely nothing!" Loila shook her head frantically, and Professor McGonagall had now become the person she was talking about.

Lockhart's expression was uncertain. He stared intently at Loila's white mask, and then... then a long, long silence followed, a silence so long that Loila felt she was suffocating.

He said slowly, "Professor Hamilton... I can trade anything for what you just saw...."

"any."

"No...no need to exaggerate like that! It's just some..." Looking at Lockhart's serious expression, Loira could only shake her head for a moment: "No...I..."

"I won't tell... anyone else..."

“…………”

Lockhart pursed his lips, and he shook his arm slightly as if he wanted to do something, but then stopped for some reason.

Finally, he tossed his robe and left.

"Bang!"

The office door slammed shut, and as Loyla watched Lockhart's departing figure, she suddenly realized something.

Wait a minute! Didn't you promise to give me my memories of attending classes?! That's not the kind of memory I want... that kind of memory!

........................

"Ah, Professor Lockhart, have you finished your conversation with Professor Hamilton?"

In the corridors of Hogwarts, Dumbledore watched Lockhart hurry by with great interest.

"Ah... haha... Professor Dumbledore." Lockhart chuckled somewhat absentmindedly, then strode quickly toward his office.

"Wait, Professor Lockhart," Dumbledore called out, stopping him. "You should remember what happened at the Dueling Club this afternoon, right?"

"Ah...this is...of course." Lockhart stopped, looking at Dumbledore with a slightly pale face.

"I'll go too," Dumbledore nodded slightly. "After all, Professor Flitwick will be a teaching assistant today, right?"

"Ah... well... I welcome you." Lockhart awkwardly shook his arm as if trying to make a proper gesture, but in the end he just waved it haphazardly in the air and hurriedly left.

"..." As he watched him leave, Dumbledore's smile grew even wider.

"Ah... I'm going to have an extra glass of mead today."