#817 - Self-destruction

"Not good!" A small wizard rushed in from the door, shouting to everyone, "Someone else has been attacked, right in the corridor next to the central courtyard!"

"Has someone been injured again?" Hermione asked quickly.

"Yes!" The small wizard was sweating profusely. "Another student has been petrified. Everyone, hurry up and help!"

"That's perfect!" Upon hearing this, Anduin pushed Lockhart forward. "Given the accident that just happened, the monster in the Chamber of Secrets might not have left yet. It's a good opportunity for Professor Lockhart to go and take care of it!"

"Good idea!" Ron chimed in from the side. "Professor Lockhart, we'll leave that monster to you. It's just a magical creature with a danger level of XXXXX. With you on the case, I'm sure you can eliminate this hidden threat."

"Ah? XXXXX-level monster?"

Lockhart tensed up at Ron's words, instinctively wanting to shrink back, but Anduin kept urging him from the side, and the surrounding small wizards were staring at him intently.

Lockhart couldn't tell whether their gazes were teasing or expectant, but he, who liked to show off and save face, couldn't find a reason to refuse.

But to really face that dangerous monster, wasn't that the same as forcing him to his death?

"Uh… no problem."

Lockhart still couldn't shake his habit of talking tough, but he quickly had a flash of inspiration and pointed to his body.

"But please allow me to change my clothes first. You see, my clothes have just been soaked with water, which is not conducive to me casting powerful spells."

"So please go to the scene first, everyone. I'll prepare myself and come over later."

With that, Lockhart turned around and tried to escape, but he soon found that his shoulder had been firmly grabbed by Anduin.

"Just wet clothes, no need for such trouble." Anduin grinned, snapped his fingers, and Lockhart's clothes were dry again.

"Let's go, don't keep everyone waiting. Hogwarts is counting on you, this legendary adventurer, to save the day. After killing that monster, won't you be able to add another chapter to your own book?"

Without waiting for Lockhart's reaction, Anduin escorted him out, and the other small wizards followed suit.

Before long, the group arrived at the scene. They saw a lower-grade wizard from Ravenclaw, lying stiffly on the ground, surrounded by several students from different houses, who had apparently discovered the attacked wizard.

"Another petrified victim." Hermione, who had already arrived, stepped forward to examine the victim.

"Professor Lockhart, it's up to you now!" Anduin ignored the victim and the onlookers, and simply pushed Lockhart forward.

"This… this…" Lockhart was pushed to the front by Anduin and the others, and he was so nervous that he couldn't speak fluently.

What am I supposed to do next? Track the monster? How could I possibly do that? I need to find a way to muddle through…

After hesitating for a moment, Lockhart pointed in a random direction. "According to my senses, that monster ran that way!"

The crowd looked at each other in confusion, unsure whether to believe him or not.

Lockhart was secretly pleased. I'm so quick-witted. I'll just take them for a walk over there, and then make up an excuse that the monster has escaped. I'm so clever.

As for Anduin, he was slightly stunned by the direction Lockhart pointed in. He could tell that the other party was just guessing randomly.

But the key is, there really is a basilisk in the direction Lockhart pointed!

He had actually noticed that the basilisk hadn't gone far when he first arrived. He didn't expect Lockhart to be so lucky.

No, he should say that the other party is really unlucky. Since you're courting death, I won't stop you.

"I see!" Anduin put on a look of sudden realization, then looked at Lockhart sincerely. "Then, I'll have to trouble Professor Lockhart to help everyone completely eliminate this scourge!"

"Don't worry! Leave it to me!" Lockhart seemed to have regained his confidence, patted his chest, and strode towards that direction.

The direction he pointed to was a dim corridor leading to the school's greenhouses. At the end of the corridor was a short bell tower, and the door next to it led to a courtyard with several greenhouses.

Lockhart tiptoed to the depths of the corridor, while the others, including Anduin, kept a distance of about thirty meters from him, following far behind.

Even though this direction was just a random guess, Lockhart couldn't help but feel a little nervous with so many people staring at him.

In addition, the cold and dark environment around him made him shiver as he explored forward.

"It's okay, there's definitely nothing here. I'll just poke my head into the greenhouse later, and then say I didn't find anything, and that should be enough to fool them…" Lockhart seemed to realize that he was a little tense, and quickly comforted himself.

But just as he refocused his attention, he suddenly heard a series of 'rustling' sounds, as if something was rubbing against the ground.

Lockhart was so frightened by the sound that his hair stood on end. He glanced around nervously, but there was nothing unusual.

"Maybe I'm just too nervous and hallucinating." Lockhart swallowed, but still couldn't help but quicken his pace.

When he arrived at the corridor door leading to the greenhouse, Lockhart quickly poked his head out. He had already decided that no matter what was outside, he would say that everything was normal, and that should be enough to fool them.

But as soon as he poked his head out, he saw a very thick tail exposed in the courtyard full of greenhouses, with the other end hidden behind a greenhouse wall.

Seeing this scene, Lockhart felt his hair stand on end, a chill ran from the soles of his feet to the top of his head, and his mind went blank.

"Ah!!!!"

When he came back to his senses, Lockhart immediately screamed in fear, and the owner of the tail seemed to be startled by the scream, and suddenly slid around to turn around.

"Help! There's… there's… there's a monster!"

Realizing this, Lockhart didn't dare to pretend any longer, turned around and ran crying towards the crowd in the corridor.

When he arrived in front of everyone, he was already weak in the limbs from fear, so scared that he couldn't even stand, and collapsed directly in front of the crowd.

Seeing Lockhart's不堪表现, the hundred or so students present frowned. How could he be qualified to be a professor at Hogwarts with such little courage?

At the same time, Hermione approached him and asked eagerly, "Did you see the monster? What does it look like? What kind of magical creature is it? How big is it?"

Faced with Hermione's series of questions, Lockhart couldn't even speak fluently. "I… I don't know! Anyway, it's so… so big and scary, please… please don't embarrass me, let me leave!"

"Lockhart!" Anduin ignored his cries and grabbed him. "That won't do. As a Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, it's your duty to deal with dark magic creatures. Besides, haven't you encountered many dangerous creatures while traveling around the world? Why are you backing down now?"

Faced with Anduin's coercion, Lockhart, who was half-dead with fright, couldn't care about anything else and directly self-destructed in place, "That's all a lie! Those heroic deeds were all things I heard from others and then put on myself. How could I have seen any dark creatures!"

Wow!

Hearing Lockhart's words, the small wizards on the scene immediately exploded. They even forgot about the threat of the monster. They originally thought that Lockhart was just unworthy of his name, but who would have thought that he was a complete liar.

"What? Your experiences are all lies?"

"Merlin's beard, I once regarded you as an idol, but it turns out you're a liar!"

"How is that possible? You plagiarized other people's experiences, why didn't anyone stand up to question you?"

"I… I…"

Lockhart realized that he had blurted out the truth in his anxiety, and seeing Anduin's intention, it seemed that he would not let him go.

But now he was most afraid of the monster hiding in the greenhouse courtyard, so Lockhart simply broke the jar and said, "It's me! The only thing I'm good at is using the Memory Charm to make the people who actually did these things forget their achievements."

"I've told you everything, please don't let me face that monster!" After saying this, Lockhart collapsed as if he had been emptied, and he had completely lost consciousness.

After hearing Lockhart's confession, everyone had an indignant expression. Many people even clamored to give him a Memory Charm, so that he could taste the feeling of forgetting everything himself.

A group of witches, led by Hermione, looked at Lockhart with disgust, as if admiring him was a shame in itself.

"Silence!"

Anduin calculated that Hogwarts should have dealt with the basilisk, and shouted loudly, "Lockhart's affairs will be properly handled by me, Headmaster Dumbledore, and the Ministry of Magic. This is none of your business. Has everyone forgotten why we came here?"

Reminded by Anduin, everyone realized that they were here to explore the Chamber of Secrets monster.

Moreover, the reason why everyone was so relaxed at this time was mainly because of Anduin's presence. Because of him, everyone even forgot that danger still existed.

"Hermione! Harry! Ron! Neville!" Anduin called out a few names, and nodded his chin towards the corridor door in the distance. "You go and investigate."

"Yes!" The four small wizards responded in unison, then drew their wands and lined up to touch them.

After arriving at the door, the four people tacitly divided into two teams and leaned against the stone door on both sides. Harry carefully poked his head out for visual observation, while the other three were fully alert.

However, after Harry scanned around roughly, he shook his head at the other three, apparently not finding the monster Lockhart encountered.

Then the four people carefully searched the entire greenhouse courtyard, but found no trace of the so-called monster except for some traces on the ground.

"Report Professor!" The four people who came back to report reported, "No trace of the monster was found, it should have left."

"Oh? Are you sure it left and doesn't exist? Is it possible that Lockhart was talking nonsense?" Anduin asked pretentiously. Of course he knew that the basilisk had left, and he also knew that Hogg must have helped with this.

"A large area of crushing marks can be seen on the ground of the courtyard, which should have been left by the monster! This monster does exist!" Hermione tilted her head and thought for a few seconds, then affirmed.

After Hermione said this, the hundred or so wizards around Anduin swallowed nervously.

Although there were victims before, they still had a bit of luck in their hearts, thinking that this might be a wizard's prank.

But now, first there were victims, then Lockhart's panic self-destruction, and then Hermione's report. Obviously the facts were already in front of them, and they had to take it seriously.

"Very good!" Anduin nodded in satisfaction, then turned back to look at everyone. "Now, I issue a formal order."

"In view of the adverse effects of the monster in the Chamber of Secrets on Hogwarts, I, on behalf of the school, issue a reward to all students. All students who find traces of the monster and lock its location will win 50 points for their house. If they can capture it, they will get another 100 points. If they can discover the location and secrets of the Chamber of Secrets, they can get another 100 points!"

"Reward?"

"50 points for finding traces? That's too easy to earn!"

"Wow, if all the rewards can be completed, wouldn't that add 250 points to the house? Then this year's House Cup will be stable?"

As soon as Anduin finished speaking, it immediately caused a discussion among the crowd.

The Gryffindor members who had just lost points brightened their eyes, especially Hermione.

You must know that this is a full 250 points. Since Anduin joined, the score difference between the four Hogwarts houses has been very small, but due to the urinary nature of the Lion House, it is still the last one this year.

Adding the 100 points that were just deducted, it was simply adding insult to injury for them, and now there is a chance to pull back the points, and even take the opportunity to overtake, how can this not excite everyone.

For a time, everyone forgot that what everyone was thinking about was the Chamber of Secrets monster that had made them panic.

Everyone even began to rub their hands, preparing to slay the so-called monster.

Snape, who was watching from a distance, was stunned. He didn't expect Anduin's routine to be so deep, directly turning the basilisk that everyone feared into a fragrant bun in the eyes of the students.

"Then it's up to everyone's performance next!" Anduin picked up the unconscious Lockhart at his feet. "I have to deal with this guy first. In addition, you may need everyone as witnesses in the future to prove that Lockhart confessed his crimes to us."