Chapter 208: Just Do It For Me!
The research between Lockhart and his favorite student, Tom, was not going smoothly.
Tom, as a wizard fanatically pursuing his own sense of "I," instinctively recoiled from the horrible idea of the Polyjuice Potion.
"Professor, have you ever considered this: if a woman drinks Polyjuice Potion to become someone else, is the child she gives birth to her own? Or the child of the person she transformed into?"
That...
Lockhart blinked, pondering this truly explosive question. In the end, he had to admit that he didn't know everything.
"I've looked up some records. The family history of the Lestrange family once recorded this incident."
The Lestrange family, one of the Sacred Twenty-Eight pure-blood families. The last two male heirs and the wife of one of them, Bellatrix, were all Death Eaters and were currently imprisoned in Azkaban.
Tom's expression became one of extreme disgust as he spoke, his handsome young face scrunching up. "A wife with no moral compass, in order to satisfy her husband, used copious amounts of Polyjuice Potion to transform into other women to fulfill their disgusting bedroom fantasies."
"The final result was that a Lestrange husband and a Gaunt wife gave birth to a child of the Shacklebolt family."
PS: The Shacklebolt family is well-known for their dark skin.
"The incident caused a huge scandal in those days, making everyone fear that their hair or skin might be picked up and used at any time, only to find they had inexplicably become a blood relative to a child they'd never met."
"You know, the connection between blood relatives is extraordinary, especially if someone casts a blessing, a curse, or a fate-related spell on the child. It can easily affect the wizard who doesn't even know they have a descendant."
"Some effects are fatal, and others can influence a person's personality, decisions, inclinations—everything—without them ever realizing it..."
Lockhart was astonished as he listened.
"A single strand of hair completely turns a person into someone else. Even if the soul is their own, and the mind is their own, the body and all the memories, instincts, and blood it holds, are all changed!"
Tom gestured towards the notes on werewolves that the professor had been discussing on the blackboard. "Lycanthropy, I believe, is like that strand of hair. The forced transformation that occurs during a full moon is, in essence, the same principle."
"Your Resurrection Charm!" Lockhart suddenly realized.
"What?" Tom looked bewildered.
"You're planning to use the Basilisk to resurrect yourself, right? So for the Basilisk, is your soul fragment that single strand of hair? You possess the Basilisk's body and then transform into your own appearance?" Lockhart's hands gestured excitedly.
Tom was silent. He had clearly never made the connection between the two things. Finally, he shook his head with a touch of disappointment. "I'm not sure. But the Basilisk inherited from Slytherin seems to have lost all its vitality after so many long years."
He looked up at the Basilisk coiled around the statue of Slytherin, looking like a broken mop, and sighed. "I don't know why it has become this way, but even if I use it to resurrect, it won't last long."
Lockhart patted the pockets of his wizarding robes, telling the little golden retriever and the Boggart hiding inside to be quiet and stop snickering. It wouldn't be good if Tom noticed.
"Do you want to try it?" he asked sincerely. "I recently learned a 'Mind-Form Manifestation Charm.' Maybe it could help you. Perhaps it could help you last a little longer."
Tom hesitated, but his expectation was hard to hide. He asked, a little anxiously, "Is that possible?"
"How will you know the result if you don't try? Theory is just theory; let's see what happens," Lockhart said excitedly, pulling his wand from his pocket. He hissed to summon the Basilisk to come down from the statue.
He had briefly become Voldemort during his time-travel adventure and had acquired the ability of Parseltongue from that experience. Now, the Parseltongue he spoke could command the Basilisk quite well.
In fact, even if he couldn't speak Parseltongue, this Basilisk, which had been agitated again and again by him and his companions, had already become docile. There was no hint of the King of Serpents' power. Upon hearing the sound, it instinctively shuddered but ultimately didn't dare to disobey, pitifully crawling to the floor.
Tom detested this Basilisk.
He was a person who only defined things in two ways: useful to him, or useless to him. Right now, this Basilisk was useless rubbish, the kind that he wouldn't feel bad about if it died. Therefore, Tom was a little reluctant. He considered himself to be the best, and the things he used should also be the best.
For example, when making a Horcrux, using a grain of sand or an inconspicuous brick would certainly be a better way to conceal his vulnerable spot, but he refused. He insisted on using only the best objects for his Horcruxes.
"What if it was just for one day?" Lockhart wheedled. "Tom, how long has it been since you ate a hot meal? How long has it been since you had a good night's sleep as a human? Doesn't your soul get tired?"
Tom shook his head. "Professor, existing as a soul is a very special experience. I don't feel much desire for human things like food, drink, and sleep—"
He was cut off mid-sentence as he noticed the professor's wand flicker.
Obliviate!
A silent spell!
Tom swayed for a moment, looking confusedly at the crawling Basilisk, a look of hesitation on his face.
"Voldemort is looking for you everywhere. Maybe you need a body to make sure you have some way to resist him if he finds you." Professor Lockhart's voice came from nearby.
Tom's eyes widened in shock. He turned his head to look at Lockhart in disbelief. "You know I'm Voldemort?"
Oh—
My bad!
Let's try that again!
Obliviate!
"You've been trying to find a way to be resurrected all this time, and you're not even willing to attempt this—"
Obliviate!
"Maybe this is an opportunity. To become human and live at Hogwarts—"
Obliviate!
After trying more than ten times.
"Just do it for me!" Lockhart was too lazy to find another reason to convince Tom. He waved his wand out of habit, muttering a perfunctory line as he prepared to wave it again.
"Alright!" Tom nodded in agreement.
Oblivi— Wait a minute!
Lockhart was taken aback. "Are you sure?"
Tom took a deep breath, as if suppressing his emotions. "I know, Professor. You've always been exploring the magical fields of Dark creature defense and breeding. You don't need my help with anything. When you said to do it for you, you really meant you want to help me..."
The slightly choked voice he was forcing down made his tone sound strange. "I've decided to try!"
Hmm...
Lockhart actually wanted to say, Is it possible, Tom, that in my eyes you're just a Dark creature in a special state? And your resurrection is, in essence, a process of a Dark creature transforming into a human?
"Don't talk like that," Lockhart said, a little bashfully, rubbing the foolish boy's head. "If you succeed in resurrecting, the professor will be very happy, too."
And so, the experiment began.
According to Tom's original plan, he would control a wizard (Ginny), siphon their human life force, and then use the flesh and blood of the Basilisk, his servant, to complete his resurrection.
But this experiment was much simpler. Tom only needed to possess the Basilisk's body.
This was extremely easy for him, a Dark wizard who spoke Parseltongue. Soon, a series of glowing halos emerged from the diary Horcrux, swirling around his translucent form and then floating in unison towards the Basilisk.
The Basilisk initially resisted and struggled, but it was quickly ordered in Parseltongue by Tom not to fight back, helplessly waiting for its body to be taken.
While waiting, Lockhart looked curiously at the diary Horcrux beside them, finding that it looked no different from an ordinary book.
A large amount of text had surfaced on it, some from Lockhart, some from Ginny, and surprisingly, some from Lucius Malfoy.
Aha, Lucius doesn't seem to be as well-behaved as he pretends to be.
Lockhart, intrigued, flipped through Lucius's memories within the book, where he could clearly see how the man had been extremely careful in his attempts to communicate with Tom Riddle, but ultimately had gained no benefit.
Tom: "Lucius, find a way to get the diary into the hands of a member of the Weasley family!"
Lucius: "—Why the Weasleys?"
Tom: "Their magical bloodline helps maintain spiritual vitality. You wouldn't understand. It's only by being around a Weasley that I can have more possibilities."
This...
Lockhart blinked, a shocking realization hitting him. Lucius's true purpose for slipping the diary into Ginny's textbook was probably not to get it into the halls of Hogwarts, where Dumbledore was!
"Helps maintain spiritual vitality?"
What kind of magical bloodline gift was that?
Lockhart frantically searched through his mental archive of information, trying to find anything related to it.
Peter Pettigrew, who lived with the Weasleys for more than a decade? Arthur's flying car? The ghoul in the attic, a Dark creature?
Woah, it seems he's stumbled upon something interesting!
As he was still browsing, a hiss came from the side. "Professor, I'm ready."
Lockhart turned around and was nearly startled out of his wits. The already ugly Basilisk now had a bizarre face suddenly emerging from its forehead, like a large tumor had grown on its head.
The little golden retriever scrambled from Lockhart's pocket onto his shoulder, watching the Basilisk warily, ready to defend against the monster at any moment.
The Boggart slipped down his pant leg, transforming into a few inconspicuous strands of hair that fell to the ground. It then began to climb and spread through the cracks between the bricks. Unnoticed by anyone, the hair filled all the gaps, forming a hair-like net woven into the "mold" of the stone floor.
This was a common Dark creature known as "Mind's Knots," also called "Threads of Woe."
And then there was the Sack, the red magical cloak, which floated in mid-air, quietly covering everything around them in a way the Basilisk couldn't see.
If the creature dared to attack Lockhart, they would certainly strike back immediately!
......................
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