Chapter 7: Dark Magical Creatures
Pushing open the door to the office-cum-professor's quarters, they both saw an owl perched on the windowsill, next to a large crate.
This was possibly the largest owl Hermione had ever seen, bigger even than a golden eagle.
The owl glanced at them and continued to eat the elaborate treats laid out on a plate on the windowsill, specially for these postal carriers.
Lockhart walked over and lifted the crate, noticing a letter attached to it. The envelope read: Congratulations to Gilderoy Lockhart on becoming the Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
The sender was the Hellebore Ravenclaw Alumni Association.
"The Ravenclaw Alumni Association?" Hermione was curious, craning her neck to look. Seeing Professor Lockhart about to open the letter, she tactfully turned her head away.
"It's a club organized by Ravenclaw graduates. I asked the alumni association to help me find some dark magical creatures as teaching materials for my classes." Lockhart only recalled this detail from his memory upon seeing the package.
He unfolded the letter, his eyebrows rising slightly as he saw a familiar name—Alastor Moody.
Mad-Eye Moody.
A retired Auror, said to have been responsible for half the current inmates of Azkaban prison.
The contents of this crate had all been arranged by him.
Moody was a Gryffindor, but his wife was a Ravenclaw, one of the founders and the first president of the "Hellebore Ravenclaw Alumni Association."
Despite his gruff and paranoid personality, Moody was said to be extremely gentle with his wife, often accompanying her to help out at the Hellebore Ravenclaw Alumni Association, working tirelessly for decades.
Now that his wife had passed away, Moody still remained involved in the club she had dedicated most of her life to. Everyone knew it was out of his love for her.
Lockhart opened the crate. Occupying two-thirds of the space was a large birdcage containing a group of indigo-colored pixies.
—Cornish Pixies.
His expression turned strange.
Knowing the original story, he was well aware of the chaos these pixies would cause and the significant damage they would inflict on his reputation.
Yet, it turned out that Mad-Eye Moody had helped him prepare them.
Lockhart, whose past experiences could almost certainly categorize him as a dark wizard, and Moody, the fiercely righteous old Auror?
What an interesting connection.
Lockhart thought for a moment, then sat down at his desk, took out a gilded quill and a piece of fine parchment, and began to write a reply to Moody.
First, of course, he thanked the other for helping to prepare these things.
But the main point was to inquire about the general scope of the Ordinary Wizarding Level (O.W.L.) exams in the fifth year and the Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests (N.E.W.T.) in the seventh year for the school's young wizards.
These two important exams were the responsibility of the Ministry of Magic's Wizarding Examinations Authority, and perhaps Moody could help him find out the details.
Out of a sense of responsibility and an understanding of his own abilities, Lockhart felt that the greatest thing he could do for the young wizards of Hogwarts was not to hinder their future.
He could do something about consolidating their knowledge and providing targeted practice based on the exam content, helping them achieve better results.
"I can actually do quite a lot, can't I?"
At least in one respect, apart from those big shots, there probably weren't many wizards in this world more knowledgeable than him.
Whether it was the original Lockhart's knowledge of the wizarding world or his own as a transmigrator regarding the Muggle world.
After writing the reply, Lockhart continued to sort through the crate.
There weren't many things inside, just three items.
Besides a large cage of Cornish Pixies, the second item was an old-fashioned red cosmetic box. It looked very old, with peeling paint revealing the wooden structure underneath.
Knock, knock, knock.
Someone was knocking on the lid of the cosmetic box, asking cautiously, "Is anyone out there? Can you help me? I'm locked inside."
Hermione, who had been curiously observing nearby, immediately widened her eyes, covering her mouth to prevent herself from gasping.
"It's a Boggart." Lockhart flipped the box over and saw the label on it.
"I've read about this monster in books. The book says it can transform into whatever someone fears most," Hermione involuntarily lowered her voice, as if afraid of letting the monster inside discover her, "But I didn't know it could talk."
Lockhart casually placed the box aside, explaining to the curious little girl, "Boggarts could be said to be the most common monsters in the wizarding world. Some Boggarts that like to live in wizarding households will imitate human speech or wander around the house in tattered robes in the middle of the night. If you're brave enough, you can even chat with it to relieve the loneliness of the late hours."
Hermione leaned back, "I wouldn't want to chat with it! How could anyone be so bored as to talk to a monster!"
Someone was.
And right in front of her.
The original Lockhart had once chatted with a Boggart all night, not because he found it interesting, but because this big boy who had left his Muggle family to venture into the wizarding world alone, despite having friends everywhere, was actually very lonely deep down.
All the unspoken words in his heart, he would only say to monsters, and only dared to say to monsters.
Because people were much scarier than monsters.
Hermione wouldn't think so, especially when Lockhart took out the last item from the crate—a small jar with bizarre colorful patterns like a child's drawing—her whole body broke out in goosebumps like a cat with its fur standing on end.
An unspeakable fear crept out of her heart bit by bit, blocking her throat, reaching all the way up to her Adam's apple.
She wanted to scream in terror, but she found that she couldn't make a sound even when she opened her mouth.
She wanted to flee desperately, but her legs felt like wood and wouldn't obey her commands at all.
"Oops, the lid wasn't closed tightly!" Lockhart's voice seemed to come from a very far distance, the pitch fragmented and drawn out.
She seemed to hear the sound of the professor running around in a panic, perhaps to find his wand, because she hadn't seen him holding one before.
Hurry, please, hurry.
Hermione was about to cry.
She could feel a small, furry hand grabbing her trouser leg and climbing up bit by bit, then another hand, and then another.
She didn't know what kind of monster this was. Her heart was almost completely filled with terror. She wanted to resist, but this state of being stunned and unable to move, a primal fear response to extreme threats, left her completely paralyzed.
She couldn't even tremble.
The monster moved quickly, feeling around in her trouser pocket and wizard robe pocket, grabbing onto the robe and climbing all the way up, which made her eyes widen to their extreme, filled with terror.
Finally, she saw a pair of pitch-black eyes.
The eyes blinked. Looking closely, she could see many dark golden patterns inside the black pupils, looking like a pair of beautiful gems.
Oh no, she didn't know why she had such an illusion—it seemed like this monster was also looking at her eyes in the same way.
Then, two small, furry hands reached out and cupped her head, and then another small, furry hand reached up to her cheek, up to her eye socket, and gently pressed down.
Pop~
She seemed to hear the sound of a cork being pulled from a wine bottle.
Then her vision became very strange. The eyeball on the left side, still in its socket, maintained its original field of view, while the eyeball on the right side swayed left and right with the movement of the small hand.
!!!!
Her eyeball had been plucked out by this monster!
No!
Hermione wanted to scream, but she couldn't do anything.
Just as she was about to completely break down, a warm, large hand suddenly reached out in front of her, the palm spread flat, with a pile of cat's-eye buttons on it. They looked like they had just been forcefully torn off clothing, with some threads still attached to one of them.
"Hey~" Lockhart's voice came, "Maybe you'd prefer this. Cat's-eyes are much prettier than eyeballs, aren't they?"
"Goo-jee~" The monster's voice was soft and interested.
The hand gestured, "Here, take them, don't be shy. But you have to give her eye back, okay?"
The monster seemed to hesitate for a moment, then finally nodded, pinching the eyeball and putting it back into Hermione's eye socket.
Her vision returned to normal!
She didn't know how long had passed. The fear that had filled her heart dissipated bit by bit. Hermione trembled and suddenly looked around. She could see Professor Lockhart pinching the back of the neck of a small, golden, furry monkey and stuffing it into the jar.
The little monkey wasn't big, curled up smaller than a football, and had three small hands.
If she hadn't just experienced that terrifying attack, perhaps she would have exclaimed how cute it was with shining eyes.
But she didn't want to get close to this monster at all now.
Clack~
Finally, the monster was completely stuffed in, and Professor Lockhart forcefully tightened the lid.
The fear completely dissipated from her heart. Hermione gasped for breath, panting heavily.
"I'm sorry, I didn't notice just now that the lid wasn't closed tightly."
Lockhart apologized, ran to the wardrobe to rummage, and took out a row of chocolates, unwrapped them, and handed them to her, "Eat some of this. It will help you."
"What is this?" Hermione nibbled on the chocolate, asking timidly in a low voice.
"A Three-Handed Monkey, not a very common dark magical creature. It can fill a human's heart with fear, making them unable to move, which makes it easier for it to find the gems it likes. If there are no gems on the person, it will pluck out their eyes as a collection."
Lockhart carefully placed the small jar on a nearby shelf, explaining, "St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries has specialized dark creature biologists who keep these monsters in order to extract patients' eyeballs or other organs to soak in healing potions. Of course, knowledgeable dark wizards also use them to help create some evil dark magic artifacts."
Hermione swallowed hard, suddenly gaining a new understanding of the magnificent and dazzling magical world. Besides wonderful magic, it was also full of countless terrifying and bizarre things.
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