Chapter 61 Professor Lockhart's Parseltongue Class
"Beautiful memories have always been the best tool against the influence of dark magic. They not only affect the power of the magic in our hands, but also subtly transform our mindset."
In the office, Professor Lockhart's warm voice continued, "But sometimes we find that we don't have any memories worth calling beautiful. Life is always mundane, and life is filled with too many bad things."
"What to do?"
"When we realize this, we must correct our mindset and actively seek joy in life. We must also change our behavior, to create and pursue more beautiful, joyful, and wonderful experiences."
He looked at Ginny meaningfully, mentioning in a profound tone, "Remember, this is also the secret to us not becoming dark wizards, and the secret to us resisting the influence of dark magic."
"Alright~"
Lockhart lightly snapped his fingers. "Let's end today's experiment here."
Ginny and Luna simultaneously breathed a sigh of relief. They had finally broken free from that terrible feeling of their hearts being filled with fear. They looked at each other, then at Professor Lockhart behind the desk.
"You both did very well."
The professor praised them, took out two rows of chocolates with his signature printed on them from the shelf behind him, and handed them over, smilingly instructing, "Remember the feeling of exploring wonderful memories just now. You can try some experiments after you go back, find a way to immerse yourselves in that feeling, and cast the magic you are usually familiar with."
"You will discover some wonderful changes."
His smile was very bright, warmly dispelling the negative impact that had just stimulated their minds.
Waiting for the two little witches to finish their chocolates and return to their normal state, he began to extend an invitation to them. "I hope you will join my 'Duelling Club'..."
But the two little witches didn't seem very interested, just looking at his bright smile, not knowing how to refuse.
This was not difficult for Lockhart.
He smiled at Luna. "My relationship with Xenophilius is good. If he knew that I, as a professor at Hogwarts, didn't take good care of his daughter, he would blame me."
"Of course, I also hope that your abilities can be better utilized. You must know that there is probably no other wizard in the world who knows better than I how to guide you to find those interesting 'magical creatures'." (ps: referring to Dirigible Plums and the like.)
Xenophilius Lovegood, Luna's father, lost his wife to a magical experiment when Luna was nine years old. As a single father, he worked hard to raise Luna.
He was the editor of The Quibbler, and naturally had some interactions with famous writers like Lockhart.
Of course, there was another layer to their relationship. Xenophilius was also a member of Rowena Ravenclaw's alumni association, but he usually didn't quite align with people like Lockhart who were keen on fame and fortune, so they rarely had real conversations.
Luna hesitated this time, finally nodding and softly saying, "Mmm."
As for Ginny Weasley.
She had been feeling very bad during this period, often not knowing why she suddenly woke up in some part of the school, sometimes even covered in blood, and instinctively afraid of too much contact with the school professors.
Tom Riddle's secret influence was also part of this.
However, Lockhart knew exactly how to deal with it.
Just as he said, beauty and joy were the best ways to resist the influence of dark magic.
For Ginny, there was nothing happier than being able to be with Harry Potter!
"Oh, Ginny, your twin brothers George and Fred, and Ron are all in my Duelling Club, and so are Harry Potter and his friends. Come over with confidence, everyone will take care of you."
As for her other brother Percy, he wasn't in the Duelling Club; he was a member of the N.E.W.T. enhancement class.
Harry!
Learning together with Harry!
Ginny's eyes lit up, no longer caring about anything else, suppressing the excitement that was about to make her shout, and vigorously nodding. "It's my honor, Professor Lockhart!"
"Very good!"
Lockhart looked at them with a smile. "Believe me, you will find how interesting it will be to learn with me!"
...
After Ginny returned, she told 'Mr. Diary' about joining the 'Duelling Club'. He was her best confidant with whom she could talk about anything.
Her good friend Tom Riddle, besides secretly cursing the extra trouble, didn't think there was any problem.
When he was studying at Hogwarts, there was also a professor who liked to recruit excellent young wizards to participate in his club, a professor who gave him a lot of guidance on Horcrux magic.
Professor Horace Slughorn, from a Sacred Twenty-Eight pure-blood family, then Head of Slytherin House, founded the 'Slug Club'.
This club was full of talented people, from Ministry of Magic officials to newspaper editors-in-chief, from the owner of Honeydukes Sweetshop to the current Divination Professor Sybill Trelawney, building a powerful network of connections.
Among them were also wizards who participated in the First Wizarding War: Voldemort, Lily Evans who killed Voldemort, Lucius Malfoy, Regulus Black (Sirius's younger brother)...
Her good friend Tom hypocritically encouraged Ginny to participate in such a professor-created club, also intending to take the opportunity to observe what outstanding new generations there were at Hogwarts so that he could recruit them as his subordinates after his resurrection.
But he never expected that Ginny's first experience in the 'Duelling Club' would be an argument.
Yes, an argument, the kind that almost led to a fight.
When Ginny and her best friend Luna came to the professor's office after class for their first activity, they saw Malfoy and his group humiliating Harry Potter as soon as they entered.
They seemed to be talking about how Harry had fainted the last time they faced a Dementor...
Oh!
Merlin's purple butterfly hair tie!
Harry had fainted!
Ginny looked at Harry with great concern, but saw Harry clenching his fists helplessly, breathing heavily, and glaring at Malfoy. The people beside him didn't seem to be of any help. Her brothers Ron, George, and Fred, as well as Hermione, looked very angry, but seemed to be silenced.
She suddenly felt a surge of anger.
Originally intending to behave like a lady, she rushed forward directly.
Draco Malfoy was still somewhat okay, only saying some sarcastic words, but his two little followers, Goyle and Crabbe, and Malfoy's echo, Pansy, were too mean!
Too mean!
Brave Ginny, fearless of everything!
Then her brothers and other friends quickly followed, and the office became very lively for a while.
Such a noisy scene only stopped when Professor Lockhart arrived at the office carrying a cage containing a colorful long snake.
The long snake was an Ice Snake unique to the Irish region.
Professor Lockhart said that Muggles couldn't see this kind of magical creature at all, yet it was solemnly included in Muggle textbooks and popular science books, and a tradition was even fabricated.
It was said that when winter came, ice snakes would freeze into icicles. Local elderly people would find ice snakes and use them as canes, making walking safe and fast. Residents collected many ice snakes, strung them together with thin ropes, and hung them in front of doors and windows to block the wind. However, every time winter passed and spring arrived, those "canes," "door curtains," and "window curtains" would secretly slither away.
Of course, these were not the main points.
The main point was the content of today's class—one hundred common words for snake-like creatures.
Professor Lockhart understood balance. In the previous few classes, demonstrating dark magic creatures like Dementors to the young wizards made Harry Potter look very bad. This class was clearly a good opportunity for Harry to shine.
According to his consistent style, first teach the gifted, then let the gifted teach other wizards, and the class would be easy—Harry didn't even need him to teach.
Of course, Harry actually couldn't distinguish when he was speaking human language and when he was speaking Parseltongue.
At this time, a talented contestant that no one had imagined appeared—Ron Weasley.
He could accurately imitate Harry's Parseltongue, confirm the meaning of the Parseltongue sentence with Harry, and have everyone learn and record it.
Then the interesting part came.
The young wizards hadn't expected that there would be another expert!
Ginny Weasley!
She actually learned it very easily, the speed at which she learned it was as if she was also a Parselmouth!
Her brothers were all surprised by this.
Ginny was extremely proud.
She was actually used to this situation of receiving everyone's surprised gazes, but Harry Potter was also looking at her with joy!
Harry even had a feeling that he wasn't an oddity, that there was actually someone else in this world who also had a talent for this.
Oh~~
We are the same kind, Harry!
Ginny's face flushed with excitement.
This feeling was too wonderful.
Professor Lockhart was right, learning with him was really a very interesting and very fun thing!
Her good friend Tom Riddle didn't feel good at all.
Because he seemed to have discovered that whether it was Harry Potter or Ginny Weasley, they seemed to be using his abilities!
His!
Someone feed me peanuts!
Feed me peanuts!!!!
[author]
I want to take a moment to express my gratitude to those who support me on this journey. Your contribution make a real difference!
As a patron, you unlock:
Exclusive Access: Get advanced 50+ chapters ahead of everyone else.
👉 Join now: patreon.com/Chaos_God
[/author]