#837 - Lockhart

“Shut up!”

Upon hearing Lockhart utter the word 'Horcrux,' Bella's expression suddenly tightened, and she hurriedly shouted to stop Lockhart from continuing. (ba shu 69 xin)

Clearly, Bella was the only one among the Death Eaters who knew that Voldemort possessed Horcruxes, which was quite normal, considering one Horcrux was stored in her vault.

To Voldemort, the matter of Horcruxes was of utmost importance and absolutely could not be easily leaked.

However, seeing Bella's reaction, the surrounding Death Eaters immediately realized that Lockhart's words must be very true, otherwise Bella's reaction would not have been so intense.

“Lockhart! Keep talking!”

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Realizing that Lockhart might know real secrets, the surrounding Death Eaters' reactions became polarized.

Some, absolutely loyal to Voldemort, reacted by not wanting Lockhart to continue, not wanting him to reveal too many of the Dark Lord's secrets, including Bella and the Lestrange family.

But more people were eager to know more.

Of course, their loyalty to Voldemort might not be in question, but the reason they joined the Death Eaters in the first place was because these guys were inherently insane villains.

They had no sense of morality in their hearts, and they submitted to Voldemort mainly because of fear and admiration for the strong, not because of ideals.

Lockhart was someone who enjoyed being the center of attention. Perhaps because there were enough spectators, after hearing the clamor outside the cell, he became much calmer.

So he shouted confidently, “That's right, it's a Horcrux!”

“Because the Dark Lord's soul is entrusted to an undying Horcrux, I dare to guarantee that the Dark Lord is still alive!”

The Death Eaters in the surrounding cells nodded secretly upon hearing this. Most of them did not know much about Horcruxes. All they knew was that Horcruxes were a type of dark magical creation.

But they could more or less hear the certainty in Lockhart's words, and Bella's失态behavior also calmed everyone down a lot.

But Bella was still a little flustered. After all, this was Voldemort's most core secret, but it was being said in public, which would be extremely dangerous for the Dark Lord.

Thinking of this, Bella couldn't help but feel a lot of resentment towards Lockhart, and was also amazed at why he knew Voldemort's big secret.

She really wanted to question him on the spot, but was afraid of leaking more inside information to the other Death Eaters.

Although they were all Voldemort's former loyal subordinates, their degree of loyalty varied. Even she couldn't fully trust them, let alone the fact that there were still many prisoners imprisoned on this level for other offenses.

But before Bella could struggle for long, Lockhart actually started explaining to everyone on his own.

“The so-called Horcrux is a special magical item made by splitting the soul. The Dark Lord made Horcruxes for himself. Of course, no one knows exactly how many there are.”

“So it's true that the Dark Lord committed suicide on the trial site, but it's also true that he is still alive. After all, this method of suicide will only allow the Dark Lord's soul to return to the Horcrux. This is also his unique way to escape.”

“How could you know so much about this?” A Death Eater was convinced after hearing Lockhart's explanation, but still had doubts in his heart.

“Because I have seen one of the Dark Lord's Horcruxes!” Lockhart suddenly said something shocking, and everyone, including Bella, was taken aback.

“I know you are loyal to the Dark Lord, and may even resent me for revealing the Dark Lord's secret, but the reality is… the Dark Lord's Horcruxes are no longer a secret outside!”

Lockhart seemed to enjoy everyone's surprised expressions, and his state was getting better and better.

“What?”

If they were just a little surprised just now, then Lockhart's words obviously shocked everyone.

“What exactly is going on, tell us quickly!”

“That's right! What is the master's situation now?”

Several Death Eaters asked Lockhart eagerly, and even Bella showed a look of fear. Her only hope in life was Voldemort. If even the Horcruxes couldn't protect him, then she might really lose hope of living.

“Alas… this matter is actually related to that Anduin Wilson, and it is also the reason why I was imprisoned here.” Lockhart knew that the next step was the most important part of the fabrication, so his attention became even more focused.

“A year ago, after the Dark Lord chose to commit suicide to escape, he was resurrected on a Horcrux and coincidentally entered Hogwarts.”

“And at that time, I, as a world-renowned adventurer, was also invited by Dumbledore to enter Hogwarts to become the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor for that school year.”

Lockhart struck a pose of earnestness, coupled with his previous unfathomable appearance, which made everyone have a trace of awe for him, so at this time everyone was honestly listening quietly.

“You may not know…” Lockhart smiled bitterly, “Although I am not a Death Eater, I have always admired the Dark Lord's deeds back then. It's a pity that I had just graduated at that time, and before I had time to join the Death Eaters, the Dark Lord disappeared from the wizarding world.”

“And in Hogwarts, I unintentionally discovered the traces of the Dark Lord's Horcrux!” Lockhart put on a high-ranking appearance, “As an adventurer who travels outside all year round, I am very sensitive to treasure hunting, so not long after school started, I followed the clues to find the Dark Lord.”

When the Death Eaters heard that Lockhart had actually been in contact with Voldemort, they immediately became excited, especially Bella and the others at the core. They couldn't help but excitedly ask questions one after another.

“What is the master's situation now? When is he going to counterattack the wizarding world?”

“The Dark Lord sneaked into Hogwarts, he must have turned the place upside down, right? Was Dumbledore killed by the master?”

Seeing that these Death Eaters still maintained the same blind confidence in Voldemort as they did more than ten years ago, Lockhart couldn't help but curl his lips, but in order to gain the trust of everyone, he still reluctantly agreed.

“Due to the previous suicide, the Dark Lord's condition was not as good as imagined, but after my careful maintenance, he has recovered a lot.”

“It's a pity that the Dark Lord was still in a soul state at that time, and his strength was too far from his full strength, so when he was discovered by Anduin Wilson, he couldn't resist!”

“Hmm?” Bella was startled when she heard this, “You mean, the master who was reborn in the Horcrux was still discovered? By that so-called Anduin?”

“That's right…” Lockhart nodded, “That Anduin is a wizard on Dumbledore's side, and his own strength is very strong, even I can fight him to a five-five split.”

“Not to mention that he is also an alchemy master, and he has a lot of combat equipment in his hands, so after being accidentally discovered by him, I was defeated by this bastard, and at the same time, the Dark Lord fell into his hands again!”

Although this passage sounds simple, Lockhart showed all kinds of narration skills when describing it.

The feelings between him and Voldemort, the resistance of the two after being discovered by Anduin, the psychological descriptions of each other, and the final battle details, etc., all sounded like the real thing in his mouth.

It can only be said that Lockhart is worthy of being a novelist. Putting aside everything else, in terms of storytelling ability, no one can match him.

So those Death Eaters were stunned by Lockhart. Where had they heard such a real story? The richness of the details in it was simply outrageous. Even what Voldemort said and how Lockhart was loyal to protect the master produced real pictures in their minds.

“Ah?”

At the same time, when Bella and a group of Death Eaters heard that Voldemort was resurrected on the Horcrux, they thought that the Dark Lord would be able to take this opportunity to make a comeback. Who would have thought that the ending of the story would take a turn for the worse and be caught again.

“The master even let people catch the Horcrux, doesn't that mean…” A Death Eater couldn't help but exclaim. He didn't know how many Horcruxes Voldemort had, so in his mind, taking one might mean that the Dark Lord was going to be finished.

“The master is far-sighted, how could something so easily happen?” Bella glared at the other person with a ferocious look. She obviously knew more than the others, so she said firmly, “The master has countless Horcruxes, even if one or two are destroyed, it won't have much impact.”

“That's good…” The most loyal Death Eaters breathed a sigh of relief, and then looked at Lockhart curiously, “Keep talking! What happened to the master later?”

After the previous conversation, everyone basically confirmed that this Lockhart was half of their own, after all, the other party had taken care of Voldemort in the Horcrux state for so long.

“Later?” Lockhart looked bitter, “Before being captured, the Dark Lord told me to endure humiliation and find a way to escape and then go find him, and then he committed suicide again…”

“Master!” After hearing Lockhart's narration, Bella was so angry that she was smoking, and even more endless baleful aura arose in her heart, “That damn Anduin, I must cut him into pieces and torture him into an idiot with the Cruciatus Curse!”

Apart from Bella, the rest of the Death Eaters also cursed angrily. Of course, they usually like to quarrel when they have nothing to do in Azkaban, and no one knows how much of it is really cursing for Voldemort.

“So… you lost contact with the master in the end?” A few minutes later, Bella's husband Rodolphus recovered his calm and asked Lockhart.

“Hmm…”

Lockhart was still thinking about how to continue to interject, after all, Anduin's lines that he had to say were not finished yet, so seeing someone take the initiative to ask, he quickly continued.

“Since the Dark Lord's consciousness completely disappeared from the Horcrux after encountering Anduin's surprise attack, I was also caught by that guy.”

“And that bastard, after discovering that he couldn't keep the Dark Lord, was so angry that he wanted to search my memory, trying to find the information that the Dark Lord had given me.”

“But how could I be someone who is so easily Legilimized?” Speaking of this, Lockhart raised his chest with special confidence, “In the end, I was imprisoned by Anduin and Dumbledore for nearly a month, and after discovering that they couldn't get any useful information from me, they randomly put a crime on me and imprisoned me in Azkaban.”

“No wonder…” The Death Eaters, including Rodolphus, nodded in realization.

They were very clear about the situation in Azkaban, knowing that most of the prisoners on this level were Death Eaters who were sentenced to life imprisonment, or villains who had committed super serious crimes.

And since the end of the wizarding war, it has been a long time since wizards have been placed on this level, so before, when they saw Lockhart being imprisoned next to them, everyone was very curious.

After all, this Lockhart looked suave, and when asked about his profession, he was an adventurer and writer, and the crime was even more disgusting to them, which was fraud. Even if they used their butts, they knew that he would not be imprisoned here for no reason.

It was not until today that they finally understood that the crime committed by Lockhart was no less than theirs, and he had been in close contact with Voldemort for so long. Many Death Eaters might not have had this honor back then.

“Before dying… no, before disappearing, did the master tell you anything else? Also, did he mention us?” Bella asked in a gentle tone.

After a brief conversation, Bella no longer had the initial hostility towards Lockhart, and even at this time, in her eyes, the other party was no different from her own people.

It's really someone who sends pillows when you're sleepy! Lockhart was secretly happy in his heart. He found that these Death Eaters, apart from being full of evil, were actually like idiots. They were simply easier to deceive than those readers. Now they even took the initiative to ask him what he was going to say.

“Before disappearing… the Dark Lord did leave me a separate message!” Lockhart suddenly put on a face and looked at everyone with a serious expression.

“He specifically instructed that if I really couldn't avoid it, was caught by Anduin and Dumbledore, and was finally imprisoned in Azkaban, I would find a way to rescue his once loyal servants!”

“Rescue us?” The Death Eaters were in an uproar when they heard this. Everyone did not expect that the last words left by Voldemort would still be related to them.

Immediately, several Death Eaters who were loyal to Voldemort showed expressions mixed with excitement and gratitude. In their hearts, being able to be missed by Voldemort was an extremely glorious thing in itself.

“But… with just you, how could you rescue us?” Compared to the others, Rodolphus was obviously much calmer. He was very clear about how strict the guards of Azkaban were.

Not to mention the 'Anti-Apparition Magic' that enveloped the entire prison, just the Dementors were enough to stop them all. Otherwise, the wizards guarding Azkaban would not only be those few people. The real guards here are still those Dementors who feed on positive emotions and even souls.

“Of course, I can't do it just by myself.” Lockhart smiled triumphantly, “But the Dark Lord gave me a good way before he left…”