When Monday came around again, Hogwarts' Defense Against the Dark Arts professor unexpectedly took a two-day leave and even refused to let students visit him.
Professor Lockhart's fans gathered outside his office, worriedly asking about his situation, and brought various medicines and homemade sweets.
Hermione was among them and, also turned away by the professor, shared the latest news with everyone—
"Professor Lockhart injured himself while researching the Werewolf Curse."
The girl frowned, worriedly saying, "It's so amazing! I mean—how many people care about minority groups like he does, sacrificing their health for their happiness?"
She borrowed several books on Potions, hoping to find a way to help the professor recover sooner.
Harry's mouth moved silently, as if he wanted to say something, but he held back.
Harry had already decided that Lockhart was just a fraud, but Hermione had a different opinion.
Michael raised an eyebrow at Vid.
In private, he incredulously said, "Lockhart didn't report to Dumbledore?"
"I guess—he doesn't want people to know he's not even a match for a second-year student?" Vid remarked casually.
Michael nodded and added, "It was smart of you to take that last photo. Someone who cares so much about their image like Professor Lockhart definitely wouldn't want that photo appearing in the newspaper, right?"
Although that's what he said, Michael was actually somewhat nervous about offending the professor.
When Lockhart recovered and appeared again, Michael was always quietly observing, with his heart in his mouth during classes, worried about being targeted.
Even if that scene happened, Vid would definitely invite the professor again to "demonstrate magic," but turning the professor into such a mess in full view of the public would surely cause trouble.
Surprisingly, Lockhart didn't seem to plan on taking revenge. Instead, he always avoided direct eye contact with the two, though sometimes he appeared to have something left unsaid.
Michael remained highly vigilant.
This was, after all, someone who would secretly use the Forgetfulness Spell on students, and even if his spellcasting skills weren't great, he was still very dangerous.
"Why did Dumbledore hire him as a professor?"
Michael couldn't help but complain to Vid, "We're basically self-studying Defense Against the Dark Arts; such a professor is worse than having none!"
"You won't have to endure much longer," Vid said, "He'll be leaving the school soon, and he might even end up in Azkaban."
Michael's eyes lit up, "What did you do?"
"What could I do while at school?"
Vid said speechlessly, "It's Sirius... Do you remember when Lockhart accidentally removed the bones from Harry's arm? Sirius was furious at the time and hasn't let it go!"
This was something Lupin had told Vid a few days ago.
The joint operation to capture Dark Wizards indeed had little effect, and Sirius was also feeling gloomy because of the Regulus issue.
To cheer up his friend, Lupin brought up past events. Mentioning Lockhart, Sirius indeed burned with anger—
"Someone who can mess up even a simple Healing Spell, there's definitely something fishy about such a famous person! Once I get the goods on him, I'll let him have a taste of Azkaban too!"
Sirius hurriedly went to investigate Lockhart, and Lupin temporarily withdrew from the joint operation to accompany Sirius in the investigation.
"Won't it delay the main task?" Michael couldn't help but ask.
"It won't," Vid shook his head, "There hasn't been any useful leads for over ten days; Lupin said most of the elite gathered from various countries have already dispersed, and those still participating are mainly rookies and slackers."
Of course, there were also those politicians looking to boost their political achievements.
Almost every day when opening the "Prophet Daily," you could see one or two familiar faces standing with officials from foreign Ministries of Magic, giving readers a formulaic smile.
Vid even began to sympathize with Dumbledore—having to deal with such people every day must make time feel endless.
Compared to the increasingly bloated and sluggish "joint operation" over there, the investigation by the dog and wolf duo was exceptionally smooth.
Most of the clues were in Lockhart's own books, and Dumbledore seemed to inadvertently provide some useful information. Vid also allocated Lupin a large amount of "investigation funds."
"I beat up Lockhart."
He said to Lupin:
"For certain reasons, Lockhart has to endure it for now, but he will definitely seek revenge later. I don't want to retaliate after suffering losses, so it's best to have him leave the school before he comes up with any nasty ideas."
Lupin agreed with his "strike first" approach and subtly criticized his bad conduct in attacking the professor.
Regardless, they quickly gathered enough evidence to prove that Lockhart hadn't fought dangerous creatures like werewolves, yetis, banshees, or ghouls as he boasted in his books.
He had only stolen stories from elderly heroes and erased their memories with powerful Forgetfulness Spells.
Lockhart was completely unaware of the covert tide, and he had his pet dolphin help keep watch for several days. Finally, he found an opportunity to corner Vid, who was alone coming out of the library.
"Professor?"
Vid said politely, looking up at him.
Meeting those eyes, Lockhart immediately felt a full-body ache, and a tingling at the scalp, as if he had returned to the moment when he saw the other perform a silent, wandless spell.
Such a powerful spell, cast out of thin air...
This scene Lockhart had only seen himself perform in dreams.
His heart trembled slightly, and the words that were about to come out became a bit more humble—
"Mr. Gray, I... uh... I think I should apologize... for my previous rash behavior..."
Lockhart stammered, "I originally thought you wouldn't mind a photo together... Of course, I should have asked your permission first... I, I'm very sorry..."
He probably rarely apologized to others, and before he finished speaking, his face had turned completely red.
Vid sighed.
"Alright, I accept your apology. Do you have anything else, Professor?"
Hearing him speak so politely made Lockhart want to escape.
That day, Vid was also calling him "Professor, Professor" while slamming him into the wall like a ball, over and over again.
But just as his toes moved a little, Lockhart remembered his purpose and forced himself to stand still, hesitantly saying:
"About that... the photo you took that day..."
"It was just a joke, I thought you wouldn't mind a photo..."
Vid's words sounded annoyingly familiar.
"Of course—"
The boy slowly said, "If you have objections, I can give it back to you."
Lockhart saw hope, his voice slightly raised: "Really? I mean—do you need anything in exchange? Golden Galleons? Or I could arrange a major role for you in my next book..."
"Thanks, no need. Just continue to ignore me."
Vid pulled out an envelope he had prepared in advance and handed it to Lockhart.
The blond professor seemed unable to believe it could be this simple, he opened the envelope and took a look, his whole body relaxed.
"Great, I thought you wanted to extort me or something... ahem..."
Lockhart coughed dryly, almost choking on his own saliva.
"Professor Lockhart."
Behind the blond professor came a sinister voice, he jumped in fright, turned around and saw Mr. Filch standing in the shadows, saying with a droop:
"There are some girls looking for you everywhere..."
Filch still spoke with that lifeless tone, but Lockhart was quite happy.
"Is that so? Thank you for passing on the message, Mr. Filch. Ah... being a celebrity means becoming as busy as I am..."
He seemed to complain with annoyance, holding the envelope, he hurriedly said goodbye and left. Even after walking for a long time, his back still felt chilly.
"Weird students, weird caretaker... After so many years, Hogwarts is still so unlikable, they simply can't understand my greatness..."
Lockhart muttered, rubbing the goosebumps on his arm.
Feeling the envelope in his chest pocket, he suddenly felt much more at ease, believing he had endured humiliation to resolve a major personal crisis.
"Ah... I've been too low-key lately, life has become boring... I need applause, I need attention, I need the adoring gaze of little girls... wait, isn't Valentine's Day coming up soon?"
Some brilliant "good ideas" suddenly popped into Lockhart's mind, his steps became light and cheerful.
...
In the corridor, Vid looked at Filch in front of him.
Filch spent his days matching wits with Gryffindors and Peeves, having very little interaction with Ravenclaw.
But every day, students could see him standing somewhere like a vulture, glaring at everyone with dangerous and hateful eyes.
He seemed to equally dislike all students and was hated in turn by the students.
But at this moment, Filch had unusually cleaned himself up a bit, seemed a bit uneasy, and was tightly clutching a worn-out lizard skin bag.
"Were you deliberately helping me just now, Mr. Filch?" Vid asked.
"Ah, yes!" Filch fiddled with his cane and said, "Professor Lockhart has seemed to be asking about your whereabouts these days... I just saw him cornering you, so I came... um... to help..."
Showing goodwill seemed to be quite embarrassing for him, Filch almost closed his eyes as he finished speaking.
"Thank you for your help," Vid said understandingly.
"It's, it's nothing."
Filch quickly glanced at Vid, relaxed a bit due to his kind attitude, and said:
"I heard some students say... they say you invented some kind of crab that can help with cleaning... I went to Diagon Alley, but they weren't for sale... I mean, if possible, could you... sell me a few? Of course, if there's only one... one would be fine too..."
He raised the lizard skin bag in his hand slightly, and a sound of metal clashing came from inside.
The old man looked at Vid with a hopeful gaze.