Lockhart was covered in bandages, but still maintained his signature smile.
However, what was originally a charming smile now looked somewhat comical, and combined with the bandages, he looked exactly like a mummy.
"Class, welcome to Defense Against the Dark Arts Class!" Lockhart began in his exaggerated tone.
"I am your Professor, Gilderoy Lockhart, recipient of the Order of Merlin, Third Class, Honorary Member of the Dark Arts Defense League, and five-time winner of Witch Weekly's Most Charming Smile Award—though I don't often mention that, as I don't rely on my smile to drive away banshees."
The students below exchanged glances.
Charlie pouted, thinking, "You might as well write that award on your forehead."
"Of course, I imagine you've all previewed my works." Lockhart proudly surveyed the room.
"Voyages with Vampires, Holidays with Hags, Travels with Trolls, and so on."
Justin muttered, "I haven't read a single one."
"Well then, to test your understanding of my works, let's have a little quiz!"
Lockhart had the students in the front row distribute the test papers to everyone.
"Why isn't he using magic?" Ernie was a bit surprised; wasn't such a trivial matter something a Professor could do with a wave of his hand?
Charlie took the test paper, looked down, and was completely stunned.
Question 1: What is Gilderoy Lockhart's favorite color?
Question 2: What is Gilderoy Lockhart's birthday?
Question 3: What does Gilderoy Lockhart consider his greatest achievement?
Charlie blinked, then blinked again.
What kind of quiz was this?
Was this Defense Against the Dark Arts Class or a Lockhart fan meeting?
If anyone could answer these questions, I'd eat the test paper.
Charlie was about to toss the paper aside when he suddenly heard the rustling sound of writing next to him.
He turned his head and saw Draco writing furiously.
Charlie was even more bewildered.
When did you, Young Master Malfoy, become a Lockhart fan?
This wasn't logical!
Whenever Harry showed off a little, Draco would sniff it out and immediately launch an attack on Harry.
And Lockhart was quite an authority when it came to showing off, yet Draco was his fan?
Something was wrong, very wrong.
In less than ten minutes, Draco had finished all the questions.
He noticed Charlie's surprised gaze, smiled apologetically, and then secretly handed his test paper to Charlie.
Was this for Charlie to copy?
But even if he copied these questions, he would feel ashamed.
Then, he saw the name "Charlie White" written at the top of the test paper.
It turned out this test paper was written by Draco for Charlie.
Well, that's fine then; it's practically spoon-fed. What do you say to that?
Charlie handed his blank paper to Draco, who took it and continued to write furiously.
Ernie and Justin watched, dumbfounded.
"Charlie, what's wrong with Draco?" Ernie asked in a low voice.
"Didn't he used to be at odds with you?"
Charlie frowned:
"What are you talking about! What is this, Draco is my dearest friend, my brother."
Justin rolled his eyes: "You have no shame."
"Are you going to copy or not?"
"Hehe, thank you, godfather."
Half an hour later, Lockhart told everyone to hand in their papers.
Charlie handed in the test paper filled with answers.
Then he returned to his seat and sat down.
"Draco."
"You're actually a fan of Lockhart?"
Draco quickly shook his head.
"I'm not his fan," he said with utter disdain.
"What's there to admire about that flashy, insubstantial fellow?"
Charlie raised an eyebrow: "Then why did you know how to do those questions? Did you really read his books?"
Draco leaned closer to Charlie and whispered:
"Lockhart handed out this set of papers when he taught this morning, and students with high scores got extra points."
"The Slytherin seniors compiled all the answers so we could come here and rack up points."
As Draco spoke, he pulled a piece of paper from his pocket, densely covered with answers.
Charlie took the note and glanced at it; it contained the standard answers to all the questions.
It could only be said that they were worthy of Slytherin; they could come up with any trick for points.
However, this trick really worked on Lockhart. Soon, Lockhart finished reviewing all the papers, and a look of great surprise appeared on his face.
"Oh, this is absolutely marvelous!" Lockhart excitedly waved the papers.
"Almost all of Slytherin got full marks!"
"Charlie, Ernie, Justin, and Hannah, you all got full marks too!"
"You all know my secret desires are to eliminate evil in the world and make my series of hair care products bestsellers."
Lockhart announced triumphantly:
"Slytherin gets fifty points! Hufflepuff gets thirty points!"
"Alright, I have a profound understanding of your abilities. Now it's time for the official lesson."
Lockhart put away the test papers and laboriously dragged a large cage covered with a cloth from under the podium.
Lockhart looked at everyone mysteriously:
"Class, today I will show you the most terrifying thing in the magical world!"
Charlie was highly skeptical of this claim.
What terrifying thing could be put in such a small cage? Even Norbert at that size could only be flown like a kite.
"Are you ready?" Lockhart gripped a corner of the cloth.
"I'm going to uncover it."
He suddenly pulled off the cloth.
"Ta-da! Cornish Pixies!"
Inside the cage were a group of blue House-elves, about twenty or so, each only the size of a palm.
They had pointy ears and wings, and were chattering noisily in the cage.
Malfoy let out a scoff: "That's it?"
The other Slytherin students also started laughing.
These creatures certainly couldn't be called terrifying.
Lockhart shook his head, somewhat annoyed.
"It seems you all are quite confident in dealing with them."
"Well then, let's begin the practical exercise!"
With that, he directly opened the cage.
The House-elves instantly flew out, darting all over the classroom.
They let out shrill screams and began to wreak havoc.
Some grabbed ink bottles and splashed ink into the air, black ink falling like rain.
Some tore at students' quills and parchment, fragments flying everywhere.
Others directly rushed at students, opening their tiny mouths as if to bite.
"Ah!"
"Get out of the way!"
"They're going to bite me!"
The students scrambled in panic, and the classroom descended into chaos.
Lockhart stood on the podium, somewhat flustered.
The situation seemed to have exceeded his expectations.
"Ahem, everyone, don't panic!"
"Catch them, they're just a bunch of House-elves."
Before he could finish speaking, a House-elf flew towards him, grabbed his hair, and began to pull.
"Ah! Let go of my hair!" Lockhart shrieked.
At this moment, a House-elf flew towards Charlie with its mouth open, trying to bite his face.
Charlie frowned and simply slapped it.
"Whack!"
The House-elf was slapped away, hit the wall, slid down, and saw stars.
The surrounding chaos made Charlie very annoyed.
The students' screams, the House-elves' chattering, and Lockhart's exclamations.
Charlie stood up and took out his wand.
He didn't intend to target each House-elf individually; that would be too much trouble.
Charlie raised his wand and waved it gently.
The wand traced a complex path in the air, its tip glowing with red light.
"Trip Jinx!"
As the spell was cast, countless red light points spread indiscriminately from Charlie as the center.
Dense red light burst like fireworks, illuminating the entire classroom.
Charlie's face was lit by the red light, his eyes hidden beneath the shadows of his hair, like a monarch, awe-inspiring without anger.
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