Chapter 265: What, You Have an Opinion?
On the path of magic, Lockhart's journey has not been smooth. For example, when it came to absorbing memories, after he digested the memories of the Forest Witch, he never tried to "become someone else, experience another person's life and adventures, and unlock another person's magic."
At that time, he began to understand that he should awaken his own magic and experience his own life. This led to his first powerful spell, Thunderstorm and Wildfire, which established his reputation as a "Magic Master."
After that, he took this "fairy tale" experience a step further by incorporating "social connection" into his considerations. This led him into the domain of time, and ultimately, from memories to a magical bloodline. Then he absorbed his first magical bloodline, Parseltongue, and from then on, he had the confidence to stand against Voldemort.
This also led him to re-examine his own "social connection," and he began to take a different path from Dumbledore, further developing the Dueling Club and launching various projects.
Magic blossoms from the fairy tales of life, and life becomes wonderful through the fairy tales of magic. This is his 2.0 version of the fairy tale theory, which now includes the consideration of "social connection." This involves the exploration of various magical knowledge domains, such as the breeding of Dark magical creatures, bloodline magic, and weather magic.
Today, Lockhart is once again attempting to digest another person's memories, but his methods are completely different from the past.
It's important to understand a very clear concept: time, in essence, does not exist. And memory, the main anchor of time, is not a true representation of the world. Everyone has different memories of the same thing, the same person, or the same event.
They are all corrupted by one's own will and turn into a version of oneself. The path Lockhart once took was to experience the will of others, which is how he gained the "Forest's Darling" characteristic from the Forest Witch. But that wasn't him.
He wasn't raised by a mother wolf. He didn't live naked like a savage in the jungle. He didn't befriend leopards, trolls, or golden pythons. He also wasn't obsessed with the material world outside. That sense of belonging and the internal struggle to escape it didn't belong to him.
He had his own will a very special will. He was a Transmigrator who was also a wizard with a fanatical love for magic and a passion for adventure and new experiences. When he digested Corban Yaxley's memories, he had to use his own will to deconstruct them and turn them into his own.
This was a profoundly mystical process. He moved against the river of time, constantly turning the pages of a past that wasn't his, and experiencing it as himself. In this process, even the long serpent could not offer any assistance. Everything had to rely on his own will.
Lockhart could feel the river of time trembling violently when he cast the spell. Even though Corban Yaxley's memories were an almost insignificant fraction of what made up the human river of time, they still shook its very existence.
Time is not unchangeable. Every time a wizard successfully casts a Memory Charm, they are shaking and changing time.
Rufus Scrimgeour was furious. Because in the joint operation organized by the "Auror Liaison Office of the various Ministries of Magic" and the "International Auror Department" of the International Confederation of Wizards, he was not in command!
This was unforgivable! For countless years, the British Ministry of Magic had always led all international collaborations! For countless years, the British Ministry of Magic's opinion was to be respected by all parties!
Now, he no longer felt that respect. Adela Mueller, the Head of the Auror Office of the German Ministry of Magic, was trying to seize the power that should have been his. And so many people were willing to side with this witch and go against him! It was only then that Scrimgeour truly understood how great the impact of releasing Gellert Grindelwald was.
Adela Mueller was a young witch. She seemed to have no connection to Grindelwald, but her parents, her parents' siblings, her grandparents, and in fact, everyone in her family were all the most loyal of Grindelwald's followers! Her entire family were followers! There were many people like her. For example, the French Minister for Magic had also been a follower!
You can imagine how sick Scrimgeour felt when he was at loggerheads with Adela Mueller and the Head of the French Auror Office stood up and firmly supported her.
What made him even more disgusted was that he, Rufus Scrimgeour, could not get Dumbledore's support. This century's greatest wizard would never help him fight for power. But Adela Mueller and the others could get the clear support of Grindelwald, even though Grindelwald seemed to have already retired from the international stage.
Not only that, what infuriated Scrimgeour the most was that the American wizarding community, whom he considered no better than savages, and their crude Aurors, had secretly built up a considerable amount of influence and had become a third power.
As a result, what Scrimgeour had thought would be his sole command of the search operation became a delicate balance between the three major powers. The final leader was the Head of the "Auror Liaison Office of the various Ministries of Magic" of the International Confederation of Wizards, Mr. Urquhart (Professor McGonagall's nephew).
The Urquhart family was one of the Sacred Twenty-Eight pure-blood families, and their roots were naturally in the jurisdiction of the British Ministry of Magic. But today, the Urquhart family's influence was global, so he was no less powerful than Scrimgeour, who was also from one of the Twenty-Eight. And once the power was in Mr. Urquhart's hands, he was not about to give it back to Scrimgeour.
In any case, the Auror teams, which had gathered the forces of all the Ministries of Magic, quickly began the search. Voldemort's minions, the Muggle forces that had participated in Voldemort's actions, and the dregs of the wizarding community who had played a disgraceful role in the war all of them were to be thoroughly purged.
It was during this opportunity that the special power of the "Auror Liaison Office of the various Ministries of Magic" (hereinafter referred to as "Auror International") began to show its worth. Because this office was mainly responsible for providing support to the Auror offices of various countries, it had only a small number of combat members.
Most were experts in various fields. Seers, Diviners, and Curse-Breakers these experts began to exert great power when they joined the Auror teams' search efforts. The efficiency was more than just a little bit better. A large number of people involved in the case were arrested and imprisoned, awaiting trial by the International Wizengamot. This was destined to be a major reshuffling, especially in the jurisdiction of the American wizarding community.
The only problem was that there had been no news of Corban Yaxley, who was considered the Dark Lord's most loyal subordinate.
"We have a result!"
Just as everyone was about to give up, good news arrived. The attempt to use the blood of a certain Yaxley family member for a Divination had made progress. The Diviner had successfully divined the location of Corban Yaxley. He was in California! Near the current temporary office of the International Confederation of Wizards! A case of hiding in plain sight.
A group of Aurors rushed toward California. After emerging from a Floo Network fireplace, they quickly flew on their broomsticks to the back of an alley in a Muggle community. The wizards landed on the surrounding rooftops, streets, and trees, surrounding the safe house that had been compromised when the door was opened and Corban's memories were extracted.
"Merlin's beard!" The first wizard to land exclaimed, finally understanding why they had received the Divination. Floating above the three-story house was a huge red cloak. Several wizards recognized this Dark magical creature the Sack-Cloak. This creature had an extremely powerful ability to sense hidden things.
But at this moment, a scorching, powerful light was emanating from the safe house's windows and door. The light was so powerful that it was enough to lift the Sack-Cloak, announcing its presence to the entire world.
In this operation, the three Auror factions, under Mr. Urquhart's conscious and unconscious guidance, had a healthy competition. Facing the most important target, Corban Yaxley, everyone wanted to be the one to capture him first. The Aurors at the front of the group charged toward the house without hesitation, despite its bizarre appearance.
And then... the Aurors froze. They remained in a charging stance, with their teeth clenched and their bodies poised to cast a spell. In front of the house, they turned into statues that couldn't move, scaring the people behind them to get out of the way.
"Giggle..."
The little golden retriever proudly put its paws on its hips and puffed out its chest, letting out a strange, muffled laugh. Then it turned its head to look at the Boggart next to it. Usually, Gilderoy would use the Boggart to speak. But it seemed that the difficulty of this memory-digesting spell was too high, so Lockhart couldn't spare the energy to do so.
What now? The little golden retriever was a bit lost. It raised a third hand to scratch its monkey head, fidgeting, and finally had to look at the Avenger's Fairy.
As time went by and as the "social connection" accumulated, and as they participated in one major magical event after another, Lockhart's little companions were beginning to develop some "humanity." The little golden retriever finally acknowledged the Avenger's Fairy's status among them. When a problem arose, it no longer went head-to-head with her, allowing the smartest and most human-like of them to lead the action.
The Avenger's Fairy nodded at it and gently floated up. As she floated, bloodstains began to appear around her, and a fire blazed behind her. A huge cross emerged behind her, a sight that made people's hearts chill. They felt as if they would suddenly appear on the cross and be burned by the flames if they looked at it for too long.
"This place is forbidden!" she shouted at the restless Aurors. "This is Gilderoy Lockhart's safe house. Please leave immediately!"
"Who are you?!!!" one Auror shouted, his face defiant. "Do you know we are "
He was cut off by a panicked Mr. Urquhart, who put his hand over the Auror's mouth and pulled him aside, cursing in a low voice. "Didn't you hear? She is Mr. Lockhart's person!" As for this witch floating in the air, Mr. Urquhart knew who she was all too well. This was the Avenger's Fairy, a terrifying Dark magical creature that very few people had heard of these days! He knew about her because this Avenger's Fairy of Mr. Lockhart's was taken from his family's castle!
When the Avenger's Fairy looked at him, he couldn't help but shiver in fear. No one knew better than him how terrifying this creature was. His family, the dignified Urquhart family, had almost abandoned their ancestral home that had been passed down for generations because of this Dark magical creature.
"Hello!" Mr. Urquhart hesitated for a moment, but then he strode forward, asking a bit awkwardly, "Excuse me, Mr. Lockhart is "
Before he could finish, a terrifying aura suddenly erupted from the safe house. A powerful magical force swept over them. In an instant, the minds of all the wizards who were in contact with it began to run through the "highlights" of their lives from their first words as a child to their adulthood and to the present. Scenes from their lives flashed through their minds: painful, happy, repressed, joyful, full of ambition, and languidly negative.
As the memories unfolded, emotions were stirred up, ultimately turning into magical energy that resonated with this terrifying and bizarre force.
This was the power of time magic. It was so powerful that it left people with no thought of resisting. Fortunately, this was just for a moment. After this magical ripple, everything calmed down. The light emanating from the house in front of them completely disappeared.
Under everyone's gaze, it quickly shrank. The houses and streets on both sides wriggled like living things, moved closer, and the house completely disappeared from everyone's sight. The entire street was now perfectly aligned, as if the house had never existed. Even the huge red cloak floating vaguely in the sky disappeared in an instant.
"This..." Mr. Urquhart felt a bit awkward. He looked at Scrimgeour, Adela Mueller, and the head of the American Aurors, hoping for some advice.
Then the house suddenly reappeared in everyone's sight, pushing the houses on both sides away and stretching the ground in front of it.
Tap, tap, tap.
Two figures walked out, one after the other. The one in front was Gilderoy Lockhart, and the one behind him, who was bowing respectfully, was none other than Corban Yaxley!
This wasn't the first time Corban had followed Lockhart like this. In a certain period of his youth, he had gone to an island where he met the "Banshee," Lady Mary's mother. At that time, he had gone to seek out the Dark Lord to pledge his loyalty. At that time, the so-called Dark Lord was, in fact, Lockhart!
"Corban!" "Yaxley! He really is here!" "Why is he following Mr. Lockhart???"
The people around him were buzzing with whispers. Mr. Urquhart looked left and right, and finally, he had no choice but to bite the bullet and go forward. "Mr. Lockhart, hello. Long time no see."
Lockhart looked at Mr. Urquhart with a smile. He seemed to be in a very good mood. "Hello to you too. And you are here for..."
Mr. Urquhart quickly explained, "The International Confederation of Wizards, along with the Ministries of Magic from various countries, is here to arrest the Dark Lord's minions. Our people divined that Corban Yaxley was here, so we came. But you are..."
"Oh," Lockhart nodded, acting nonchalant. "Then you have it wrong. Corban Yaxley is a spy I placed with Voldemort. He's not a minion of the Dark Lord. He's a hero who has made many sacrifices!"
"Huh?" Mr. Urquhart was confused. This scene felt so familiar.
Back in the day, the Aurors from various Ministries of Magic had also come together to arrest the Dark Lord's minions. And then Dumbledore had stepped forward and said that Snape was his spy, a hero who had sacrificed a lot.
"This " "What?" Lockhart's eyes narrowed, and he scrutinized him. "Do you have an opinion?" "Do you have an opinion on me placing a spy to infiltrate and deal with the Dark Lord Voldemort?" "Or do you have an opinion on me as a person?" "It's okay. You can say it."
Mr. Urquhart was on the verge of tears. Of course, he had an opinion, but he didn't dare to say a single word. He had to look at the heads of the three Auror factions behind him. And then he was disappointed. Scrimgeour was just staring at the cracks in the bricks at his feet, as if he were observing an ant that might crawl onto his shoe at any moment.
Adela Mueller, who had always looked defiant and cocky with the arrogance of a young person who had just found success, was now silent. As she looked toward Lockhart, a special, almost fanatical look of adoration appeared in her eyes, like a fan meeting her idol. Merlin's beard, Mr. Urquhart thought, it was a sickening sight.
And the American wizarding community's head Auror, a burly, hot-headed man with a shaved head and a beard, who usually looked like a Spanish bull who was about to charge at anyone, was now concerned with the neatness of his fingernails, as if contemplating what color nail polish to put on later.
"No "
What could Mr. Urquhart say? He tried his best to show the most amiable smile he could and said, "No opinion!"
Yes, they couldn't even take Corban Yaxley back to be judged by the International Wizengamot. There was no "if he's a spy, we'll clear his name and let him go" clause. There was simply no opportunity to take him back for trial. They didn't even have to arrest him.
Back then, Severus Snape, Voldemort's number one henchman and the Death Eater who had taught him how to fly, had received the same treatment.
What does it mean to be a Magic Master? This is what it means! All power is concentrated in one person. When a strong person decides to do something, no one dares to say a word. They must stand there with respectful smiles, give a thumbs-up, and say, "Master, you are right! Master, you are brilliant! Master, you are amazing!"
Amazing!