Chapter 35: Condensation and interpretation
It's often said how high the requirements are to work in the Ministry of Magic, but even those aren't as high as the requirements for professorships at the major magical schools.
This is where the most exceptional talents of the wizarding world gather.
Everyone at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry is incredibly powerful.
Except for Lockhart, that little weakling who was almost like a Muggle.
Shivering.
But one always has to find their strengths.
Lockhart suddenly discovered that he had a bit of a knack for teaching.
Not just teaching children, but also teaching dark magical creatures.
Under his guidance, Little Goldie could now freely control his influence on the outside world. This level was equivalent to the Basilisk's gaze originally meaning instant death for anyone it looked at, being elevated to the point where it could control the lethality of its gaze.
And the Boggart from the same period could also begin to change its physical form according to its own will.
It should be known that this type of dark magical creature usually needs to sense the deepest fears in someone's heart, to have such a template, before it can transform.
The most surprising was the Wronged Fairy.
Compared to the previous two dark magical creatures, she had undoubtedly existed for a much longer time and had already reached a stable and mature stage. Under Lockhart's constant exploration and guidance, she was even able to develop some new abilities.
Or perhaps it should be called unlocking her potential.
—She began to control the power of the earth!
"Try it." Lockhart encouraged.
The Wronged Fairy looked at him hesitantly. Seeing the expectation on his face, she mustered her courage and floated to the front of the oak tree, carefully extending her translucent, pale little hand.
This oak tree had been destroyed by the 15-meter-long giant Quidditch goalpost that flew in through the window, and it had been in a messy state for the past few days, looking very unsightly.
Lockhart couldn't make it grow like a 'forest witch,' so he had to get an axe and saw to trim it a bit. Now it looked very discordant, all bare.
At this moment, as a pale little hand gently touched it.
Green shoots suddenly sprouted from the broken ends, quickly unfurling their leaves, constantly reaching upwards with their branches in the gentle breeze from the window.
"Yes, yes, that's it, perfect!"
Lockhart exclaimed, pulling out his wand from his pocket and quickly extracting a memory against his temple. "Here, guide it to grow thick branches according to my idea, and weave them into a small wooden house on top. You can live there from now on."
The Billywig hanging upside down on a nearby branch suddenly twitched its nose, quickly opening its eyes and looking intently at the memory floating from the tip of Lockhart's wand towards the Wronged Fairy.
Then its vision was blocked by a pair of fragmented golden eyes.
Little Goldie' gaze was full of warning.
The Billywig quickly shrunk its head back, curling up again and swinging upside down on the branch.
Baby is asleep, baby doesn't know anything, don't hurt baby anymore!!!
It had almost developed PTSD from Little Goldie during this period. As long as it showed any covetous emotions towards Lockhart, even before it could move, its mind would instantly be filled with fear, and its body would become so stiff that it couldn't move at all.
Once or twice was okay, but this happened repeatedly every day, making it scared.
Now, when it saw Lockhart, it instinctively dared not have any rebellious emotions, not even daring to think about it.
Sometimes Lockhart would cover its eyes to make it sleep. Even if it didn't want to sleep, it didn't dare to struggle and had to pretend to be asleep obediently.
What else could it do? Living among a bunch of dark magical creatures, this fantastic beast was really too difficult, too difficult.
The Billywig truly understood this time.
In this house, the best one to it was actually the wizard who fed it memories. The others weren't human at all!
Well, they weren't human indeed.
But it soon realized it was wrong.
After the Wronged Fairy touched the power of the earth, she began to feel a sense of closeness to it, this guardian summoned by the earth, and already knew to be more considerate of its feelings.
This was very surprising to Lockhart.
Apart from the treehouse he had envisioned, a branch suddenly extended under the eaves, hanging a small bird's nest-like swing, like a lantern for the treehouse.
It had actually built a nest for the Billywig too.
Not only that, but the Wronged Fairy also sprouted a large burl on the trunk of the apple tree. As the inside quickly blackened, decayed, and fell off, a small alcove-like house appeared there, the size of which was just right for Little Goldie to live in.
The sparse branches and leaves hanging above drooped down, like a delicate and unique curtain.
There was also such a curtain on the peach tree hollow, causing the Boggart inside to cry softly with emotion.
"Is this okay?"
The Wronged Fairy floated closer, her hands clasped behind her back somewhat shyly, looking up at Lockhart with a bit of apprehension.
"Awesome!"
Lockhart didn't skimp on praise. "Absolutely perfect!"
Having a certain degree of autonomy, unique creativity, and the possibility of unexpected surprises happening at any time—this was the most enjoyable part of raising dark magical creatures.
He waved his wand, adorning their respective little houses with purple flowers, instantly making the entire office fragrant.
"Knock knock knock~"
The door was knocked.
Several dark magical creatures hurriedly hid in their respective little houses, the pleasant time of getting along temporarily coming to an end.
Professor Snape was the visitor.
He had finally improved the "Mischievous Brain Elixir" potion. The dozen or so pages of content in the original book had been reduced to a thin sheet of paper in his hands.
Lockhart took it, looking at it with some curiosity, and couldn't help but exclaim, "Wow!"
The steps described on it had a clear line of operational thought, giving a refreshing feeling of extreme neatness. He could actually roughly understand the brewing ideas of this potion.
"This is simply amazing!"
He really couldn't help but exclaim in admiration.
The corner of Snape's mouth slightly curved up, then returned to a straight line, as he pointed with a calm expression to the list of materials recorded at the very beginning.
"Most of the materials listed here I have in my possession. For the few rarer ones, I also have dedicated supply channels. I've already written to them, and I believe they will arrive soon."
"Only these three are left. You'd better prepare them yourself. They concern the final effect of the potion."
Three potion ingredients were specially circled with a red pen.
They were: a bottle of dew, a section of grass root, and a container to hold the potion.
This looked simple, but each item actually had its own specific requirements.
Snape carefully explained to him, first taking out a flat, oval-shaped small glass bottle the size of a cigarette case. "Only one drop of dew can be collected each day. You need to walk from the noisiest place to the quietest place to collect it. It will take about a month to collect enough."
Lockhart took it with some doubt, wondering how to achieve this somewhat strange condition.
Snape directly gave the answer, "Collect it by walking from your office to the Forbidden Forest. The route will pass through the teaching building, the owlery, the greenhouses, the Black Lake, and the Quidditch pitch, which is enough to meet these conditions."
In his eyes, potions were always so unique. Explaining the meaning of this operation, he even spoke with a hint of poetry, "Life itself has no meaning; everything becomes real on the path we walk."
"Combined with the root of the Screaming Plant, this is my biggest modification to this potion. It will effectively prevent the possible self-loss after you use the potion."
Saying this, he took out a bag containing a pile of seeds.
Screaming Plant seeds were very common. They were the favorite 'little pets' of young wizards. Planted in flowerpots and watered, they would quickly sprout and grow, learning the surrounding sounds like parrots, hence their name.
Snape waited for Lockhart to take the seeds and pointed out, "These seeds are specially cultivated by me. They will grow the day after you plant them. By then, carry them with you every day and let them hear more people calling your name or title."
He thought for a moment and added, "It's best if you can collect the sound of others calling your name or title thousands of times, even tens of thousands of times. That will definitely be the most effective level."
Lockhart nodded. As a heartthrob, this wasn't difficult for him.
"The last one is the container for the finished 'Mischievous Brain Elixir' potion. You'd better make it yourself. This will make it easier for you to have a wonderful reaction with the potion."
Saying this, he took out a book and handed it over, flipping it open with a bookmark. "The best container style for brain matter is a Pensieve. Choose the simplest one from the content here and make one."
Lockhart raised an eyebrow, took the book, and quickly scanned it.
Recently, he had happened to be researching Pensieve manufacturing techniques, so he was incredibly familiar with this content.
The several styles described and listed in the book could almost be said to be simplified versions of simplified versions, and still the kind that lacked many important functions.
This was a bit outrageous. What was the use of making such a Pensieve?
Temporarily storing memories?
He re-inserted the bookmark, closed the book, and looked at the cover.
The book was titled—Cauldrons and Pensieves.
"This is a monograph focusing on the study of mind-related potions. Potions Master Erica Maxwell explored how to make the potions in the cauldron better fit the mind from the perspective of the techniques for using Pensieves summarized by predecessors. It is an extremely valuable work."
Snape introduced, "This book is my personal collection, not a school library book. I'll give it to you. I hope it will be helpful to you."
Lockhart was truly moved.
Senior Snape, this person, looks dry and stiff, but in truth, he is really warm when you get along with him.
This made him feel a bit embarrassed in return, and he hurriedly took out the manuscript he had recently compiled.
To be honest, he had spent a great deal of energy in the past few days on the knowledge point tutoring plan for those upper-year students in the N.E.W.T. Enhancement Class and hadn't had much time to polish Snape's manuscript.
This was really unavoidable.
He hadn't expected these upper-year students to have missed so much education in Defence Against the Dark Arts. The Dark Lord's curse on this subject had such a great impact, making it a complete mess.
"So much?"
Snape was stunned when he saw the manuscript he had taken out. The thick stack looked much thicker than the monograph Cauldrons and Pensieves he had given.
It should be known that his own manuscript was only just beginning.
How did Lockhart manage to supplement so much content?
The key was that he still looked somewhat dissatisfied.
"It can only be considered a first draft. This is still not good enough." Lockhart flipped through the稿紙 himself, indeed not very satisfied.
"This..."
"My understanding of the content of Potions is still very shallow. Some of the deductions may lead readers to incorrect guidance. You need to mark them out, and I will revise it a second time."
Snape took the thick manuscript somewhat dazedly, opening it to read with disbelief.
He first frowned.
The writing inside was too watery. He read several paragraphs before finding the first knowledge point, and it wasn't concise at all.
Then, as he read, he became engrossed.
As he read, his eyebrows suddenly danced with delight.
The engaging nature of writing was like this; it possessed a magical power that could create a magical world for the reader.
Walking into this world, the scenery was boundless.
Then, knowledge quietly blossomed in the world in a subtle and imperceptible way.
"The balance between interest and professionalism is the key to whether a work can become a bestseller." This time, it was Lockhart who was pointing out from the side. "Look here, in your original manuscript, you pointed out that using leaves that haven't been completely dried will cause an explosive accident. Such a dry sentence will not be noticed by anyone."
"I arranged for a young wizard to fail an experimental operation and have his face blown black. Hey, it suddenly becomes vivid, and some people will definitely remember it for a lifetime."
It was an interesting afternoon.
The two of them, one condensing a thick original manuscript into a page of essence, and the other elaborating a few thin pages of essence into a thick stack of paper, exchanging their thoughts.
As they chatted, they didn't know when they had sat down on their chairs, each looking at the wisdom they yearned for.
The Wronged Fairy looked over somewhat timidly and finally brought over two glasses of blood-like drinks.
Little Goldie followed suit, picking a few peaches from the tree and placing them on a crystal fruit plate on the table.
Time seemed to stand still here.
Only the crisp sounds of Little Goldie secretly taking a peach and eating it bite by bite could be heard as they didn't eat.
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