Chapter 49 Ron's Goal
The thought of wasting his money on Lockhart made
Basil, who had only recently escaped poverty by selling unicorn tail hair and Baboon tuber pus, extremely upset.
He suddenly remembered that he had a goal for this school year: to expose the truth about Lockhart!
Ron, for the same reason, made up his mind.
But his goal was different from Basil's.
"I've decided! I'm going to make sure Professor Quirrell gets through this school year smoothly!"
"I'm going to make him the longest-serving Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher in his career!"
Hermione, who still had a slight desire for Lockhart to take the position, poured cold water on his enthusiasm: "You decided? Even Dumbledore couldn't decide, how can you decide?"
Then, she saw Ron look at Basil with hopeful eyes.
Basil spread his hands. "I can't help you either. Here's a suggestion. I've heard a rumor. Although everything Lockhart writes in his books happens in the real world, and matches his travel itinerary, every time he leaves, a wizard with partial amnesia and a dazed expression appears in the new location."
"You mean, the stories in Lockhart's books are all based on other people?" Harry was shocked.
Hermione was the same. Unlike in the original story, she didn't react hysterically to the questions about Lockhart.
Perhaps it was because she hadn't read Lockhart's books, and besides, it was Basil who told her.
Ron rubbed his hands excitedly. "If that's true, haha! I'll investigate this thoroughly!"
"How will you investigate? Are you at school?" Hermione asked curiously.
Because she noticed that neither Harry nor Basil seemed surprised by Ron's words.
It seemed as if Ron could really investigate this information while at school.
Faced with this, Ron simply smiled mysteriously. "Lockhart has more fans than you think."
At the same time, he muttered to himself, "My mother is one of them. Some of them even know what underwear Lockhart wore to bed last night. Once we know the direction, all that's left is to investigate."
"What exactly happened?" Seeing that Ron was unwilling to say more, Hermione turned her attention to Basil.
"Have you ever heard of the six degrees of separation theory?" Basil feigned profundity.
Because Riddle, far away in the secret chamber beneath Loch Ness, was sending a message.
He was looking for a theory that Hermione considered authoritative enough to fool her.
"You've heard of Harvard University, right?"
"Yes, yes. It's one of the top schools." Hermione's ears immediately perked up.
"This theory was proposed decades ago by Stanley Milgram, a famous psychologist at Harvard University. Simply put, it means that you are no more than six people away from any other stranger. In other words, you can get to know any stranger through a maximum of six people."
Basil stated the theory directly.
Because as long as the speaker was authoritative enough, Hermione could always convince herself to accept a theory that sounded like a fantasy.
And Hermione accepted it smoothly and began to think about it seriously.
"And the distance between Ron and Lockhart is clearly not as many as six. Lockhart is a distinguished graduate of Ravenclaw. And there are so few wizards in England. Ron might even know some of his fans!"
Basil nodded.
At the same time, he mentally replied to Riddle,
"You can begin on your end."
In a luxurious room, the ceiling and walls inlaid with emeralds, the gems connected by flowing mercury, with a huge pool of mercury and a statue of a snake.
Riddle replied, "My lord, please check. This room is the most valuable part of Safe House Number 7."
"The flowing mercury and emeralds form a magic circle, connecting the entire safe house's magnetic field to Loch Ness. This makes the safe house blend in seamlessly, making it difficult to detect any magical traces."
"It also serves as the power source for the magical traps within the safe house."
"The mercury pool also absorbs the essence of water. Verified wizards who enter it can have their physical injuries and mental fatigue healed and dispelled."
"So," Basil's face darkened, "there's no cash here."
"Right," Riddle nodded, "Does Voldemort need Galleons to buy things?"
"What about the horse-like water monster?"
"It hasn't appeared yet."
October was quickly drawing to a close,
just before Halloween.
Today was Thursday.
Basil woke up early to the cloyingly sweet smell of pumpkin.
Keep in mind, this was in the tower.
Even now, he couldn't understand why there were so many pumpkin elements on the Hogwarts menu.
Pumpkin soup, pumpkin pie, pumpkin ice cream, pumpkin juice...
Even now, he still couldn't accept it.
He'd risked everything to face Voldemort, only to end up with a house-elf completely under his control and a house.
And even that house was only valid until his fourth year.
If Voldemort were to resurrect by then...
In Charms class that day, Professor Flitwick announced that today's lesson was the Levitation Charm.
This excited the other students.
Ever since they saw Professor Flitwick make Neville's toad, Rafer, fly around the classroom, they'd been eagerly hoping to try that skill.
But Basil didn't.
Levitation was something he already knew.
Now, his primary goal was to master the Killing Charm.
He had considered learning the Killing Curse by observing Boggart's monkey-like version of Voldemort, or even by directly experiencing a younger version of Voldemort casting it.
However, Riddle cautioned him that in the initial stages, it was best to rely entirely on himself ,
making the entire framework of the spell his own.
It's like laying a foundation.
A foundation laid entirely by oneself is flat and even.
A foundation built under the influence of others will have a slight tilt.
This tilt becomes particularly noticeable when the spell progresses to its deepest levels.
Therefore, to this day, he hasn't truly mastered the Killing Curse.
He can only emit a barely killable green light.
But this is only because of his high magical power.
If it were an ordinary wizard with magical power between 3 and 5,
this green light would at most cause a nosebleed.
Therefore, he didn't choose to create spell cards using this level of Killing Curse.
Riddle said it's a matter of mindset.
It's not that killing someone will teach you the Killing Curse.
Rather, you need genuine killing intent, a complete and unwavering killing intent, to truly master the spell.
This is why it's classified as an unforgivable curse.
Without exception, those who successfully use this spell are truly wicked.
Basil had even questioned this, "Doesn't a killing curse driven by hatred and a sense of justice count? I remember during the First Wizarding War, Aurors were allowed to use killing curses."
At the time, Riddle shook his head, "This spell can corrupt a person's soul. Its horror isn't in its initial use, but in the shift in values and mindset after a successful kill, and the resulting high-quality, powerful magic. A righteous soul using it will only experience mental chaos. Mad-Eye's madness was probably influenced by this spell."
Although there's no holiday, I'll still release another chapter from my drafts.
I originally planned to use this as a foundation for consistent updates and occasional small bursts after the book's release.
But since it's been published, and several people voted for me yesterday...
Read 20+ advanced chapters ahead on Patreon!
patreon.com/Horizons685
(End of Chapter)