Chapter 256: Lockhart Is a Ravenclaw
That evening, Dylan had the entire afternoon free from classes. He spent it in the Room of Requirement.
The Christmas holiday was over and the new term had begun. He had a lot to do, but most importantly, he was deep in his research. He was trying to figure out how to extract the piece of Voldemort's soul from the Ravenclaw diadem without destroying it.
It was an incredibly complex task. Even though Dylan had already secured a Horcrux and studied its structure inside and out, the more he learned, the clearer it became. Separating the soul from the Horcrux without destroying the vessel was nearly impossible.
Under normal circumstances, a soul resides in a body, and a simple Killing Curse could sever the connection. But Voldemort's Horcruxes were different. It was as if the soul was still the soul, but the body had been transformed from flesh and blood into a vessel of Dark Magic.
Pulling the soul out of this vessel without destroying it was not only an incredibly delicate procedure but also required an even deeper understanding of the soul itself.
Dylan had been researching this nonstop. He paused his work and stroked his chin, then, in a flash, he slipped into his personal pocket dimension.
Dylan stood by the wooden cabin. At the same time, the figure of Rowena Ravenclaw appeared in the air. Since she had entered Dylan's world and left her portrait, she not only seemed to have a real body but also possessed powerful magical abilities.
Her ability to appear and disappear in an instant was one such skill. This made her seem to exist on a boundary between reality and illusion. Sometimes Dylan felt like she was a living person, while other times, she felt like a ghost.
"Dylan, are you still trying to figure out how to extract the soul fragment from my diadem?"
Dylan nodded, not denying it.
Rowena smiled. "You know, there is a much simpler way."
Dylan looked at her. "You mean, by destroying it?"
Rowena nodded. "Isn't that the easiest method?"
"But that might also destroy the soul fragment inside. Besides, it's your diadem," Dylan said.
"I don't care about that. I'm already long dead. It's just a diadem; it can't bring me back to life," she said. "On the contrary, I never imagined my diadem would be twisted into something so wicked by Dark Magic. I'd rather see it utterly destroyed than desecrated like this."
Rowena's tone was serious; it seemed she still harbored a lot of resentment toward Voldemort for what he had done to her diadem. And who could blame her? It was her most treasured possession, and some no-nosed man had turned it into a container for his own soul. Who would be happy about that?
Besides, Rowena was a bit of a neat freak. Although Dylan had temporarily returned the diadem to her, since she found out about its dark history, Dylan hadn't seen her wear it once.
"Even so, I still don't plan to destroy it," Dylan said with a smile.
Rowena simply nodded. Since Dylan didn't intend to destroy her diadem by force and planned to capture the soul fragment, she had no reason to make the decision for him.
"By the way, can I go into the cabin now?" Rowena asked, her gaze falling on the small wooden house. Even though she could move freely in this space, she still remembered the warnings Dylan had given her.
Dylan nodded. "Of course, you can."
Rowena's eyes lit up. "Come on." Dylan turned and walked toward the cabin. Rowena followed.
Dylan pushed open the door. Gilderoy Lockhart stood there, looking dazed and confused.
"Head outside for a bit, go for a walk," Dylan said, waving his hand at him. Lockhart immediately walked out of the cabin.
Rowena glanced at Lockhart. She had seen him a few times and knew how Dylan had captured him. Here was a man who couldn't cast a single useful spell but had become a legend in the wizarding world using only one Memory Charm. And the most shocking part was that he was a Ravenclaw!
Rowena herself had been quite emotional when she found out. But in the end, she had only said one thing to Dylan: "Even a terrible teacher can still teach students something—like what not to do and what not to learn."
Dylan had been stunned when he heard this. Was this what they called "great minds think alike"? Dumbledore had said something similar, and now Rowena was repeating it, word for word, like a broken record. If Dylan hadn't been absolutely sure that his portrait's version of Rowena Ravenclaw had never met Dumbledore, he would have started to believe in some kind of conspiracy.
Watching the vacant-eyed Lockhart leave, Rowena shook her head. "He's a pitiful man."
Dylan raised an eyebrow, turning back to her. "He's not pitiful at all."
"Oh? How so?" Rowena asked, raising a graceful eyebrow.
Dylan knew that Rowena spent most of her time alone in his dimension. Besides managing the space, she could only read or play with his pets. Even a great mind could get lonely without anyone to talk to. Dylan was always busy, and even when he came here, most of his time was dedicated to his work. But before he began his experiments, he didn't mind chatting and sharing some gossip with Rowena.
He chuckled. "Lockhart was his mother's golden boy. He was born into a half-blood wizarding family and had two Squib sisters who were completely invisible compared to him. He grew up believing he was destined for greatness. When he came to Hogwarts at age eleven, he thought he'd be surrounded by fans, but as you can see, he's just an average wizard. He's slightly better than most in magic, but he's utterly unremarkable compared to a real talent."
"When he realized his natural abilities wouldn't earn him the adoration he craved, he found a different path and became... an 'influencer.'"
"'Destined for greatness'... an 'influencer'?" Rowena blinked.
"Yes. In other words, Lockhart's mother spoiled him into believing he was a magical giant, a Merlin-like figure. You can think of an 'influencer' as a famous celebrity who attracts a lot of attention."
Rowena nodded. "I see. He sounds quite... unhinged."
Dylan laughed. "Exactly. He's a nutjob. Now he's even lost his own memories."
"And then what happened?" Rowena asked.
"Then?" Dylan shrugged. "He started using boasting and theatrics to get attention. If I remember correctly, he claimed he could create a Philosopher's Stone, lead the English Quidditch team to victory, and even become the youngest Minister for Magic. In the end, all he had were the 800 Valentine's Day cards he sent himself."
"After graduation, Lockhart began traveling the world, writing books about his 'heroic deeds.' Every time he returned to England, he'd have a new book detailing his adventures."
"Books? About adventures?" Rowena was intrigued. "That sounds rather interesting."
Dylan smirked. "While the contents were pure nonsense, it didn't stop the public from eating it up. Lockhart became famous almost overnight. I think you might have seen some of his books yourself."
Rowena paused, then her eyes widened in recognition. Dylan's portable bookshelf had some quite eye-catching titles, such as Break Up With a Banshee and Travels with Trolls. She had glanced at a couple of them and found them to be entertaining, but she had never guessed they were written by Lockhart.
"What, you didn't know?" This time, it was Dylan's turn to be surprised.
Rowena pursed her lips. "I thought the person on the cover was just an illustration. Now that you mention it, I suppose that was his name." She smiled. She had met conceited people before, like Salazar, who was incredibly arrogant about his heritage, bloodline, and talent. But someone with no real abilities who was this conceited? That was a first.
"Ah," Dylan chuckled, a twitch at the corner of his mouth. "Have you read Magical Me? He wrote that one, too."
"I haven't. I didn't care for the title," Rowena said, shaking her head.
"Fair enough." Dylan shrugged. "Lockhart built himself into an unstoppable hero—he'd claim to have captured Dark Wizards, tamed dragons, and defeated trolls."
"It sounds like he claimed to have single-handedly dealt with all the Dark Forces in the world," Rowena said.
"Well, to a wizard of your caliber, those probably aren't heroic deeds," Dylan said with a laugh.
"The funniest part is what I told you before—the way he stole credit for others' actions. He never got caught. And his fans all over the wizarding world..." Dylan glanced out the window at Lockhart, who was now feeding meat to the basilisk.
"...They would get into huge fights for him. They even formed three fan clubs: the 'Mummy Group,' the 'Teenage Girl Group,' and the 'True Love Group.'"
"'Mummy Group'?"
"Exactly as it sounds. They were witches who were mothers and just loved him. They thought he was both talented and handsome," Dylan explained. "I have a friend whose mother was a big fan of Lockhart. After the last incident, when Lockhart went missing and his true nature was exposed, she was so heartbroken for a while." Mrs. Weasley had even sent him a letter through Ron, asking if it was true that Lockhart was as terrible as everyone said. Dylan didn't want to break the heart of a fangirl, so he gave her the same vague explanation that Ron had.
"What about the 'Teenage Girl Group'? Did he have a lot of young admirers?"
"Of course. A lot of the girls in school adored him. That innocent admiration is a perfect example of a teenage crush."
"And the 'True Love Group'?"
"That's for the unmarried witches who hoped to one day marry Lockhart."
"I must say, it's impressive that he managed to fool so many wizards."
Dylan nodded. "To get away with it for so long, you have to have something going for you."
"But in the end, he still fell into your hands," Rowena said with a laugh.
Dylan pursed his lips. "I just got lucky. He got involved with Hogwarts business and became the Defence Against the Dark Arts professor. No matter how clever he was, it wouldn't have ended well for him."
"Defence Against the Dark Arts professor? It sounds like that position is cursed," Rowena said, looking around the cabin. They had arrived at a table in the center of the room. She looked at her surroundings curiously. It was a small cabin on the outside, but inside, it was a different world, much larger and filled with all kinds of strange things.
"The position really is cursed. The person who cursed it was the one I was telling you about earlier—Sna... I mean, Voldemort."
Rowena raised an eyebrow but said nothing. She let the slip-up go.
Dylan looked down at a diary on the table.
"The same aura. A scent of evil," Rowena said, looking at it, too.
Dylan reached out and gently ran his hand over the diary's cover. It trembled almost imperceptibly.
"This is..."
Dylan smiled. "This diary isn't a former owner's relic, so I don't need to worry about how to extract the soul fragment without damaging the container. Besides, the soul in this Horcrux was already able to escape on its own at the time. I just need a little finesse to force it out."
Rowena looked at the slightly trembling diary on the table with growing interest. "I see some traces of Dark Magic on it. It seems you have a deep understanding of Dark Arts as well."
Dylan simply smiled, but said nothing.
Rowena had already suspected that Dylan used Dark Magic. It didn't surprise her. She believed that as long as Dark Magic was approached rationally, with an awareness of its dangers, and wasn't used to harm others or for personal power, there was nothing wrong with it. If one simply rejected it, they would never understand the fundamentals of magic.
(End of Chapter)
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