HP: The Root of Everything - The Magician

Those who achieve great things are invariably blessed with good fortune.

No one could have imagined that the Horcrux would regain its owner in the short span of an hourglass.

Even Tom Riddell himself didn't expect it to happen so suddenly.

......

Gilderoy Lockhart patrolled cautiously through Hogwarts Castle at night.

He knew his own abilities. Although he successfully graduated from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, the reason he was able to graduate was that he used the 'Forget Charm,' which he had mastered better than anyone else, to steal the knowledge from the minds of some of his classmates.

Clohart's talent is very limited. Even with stolen knowledge, without someone to teach him step by step, it would be difficult for him to transform the stolen knowledge into magical power.

After graduation, he did not go to work for the magic company that his professor had recommended to him, for fear of exposing his lack of knowledge, so he became a writer instead.

No one willingly settles for mediocrity, especially someone like Lockhart who craves fame and recognition. However, his talent didn't translate into the ability to achieve his ambitions for fame, so his magical novels weren't signed by any newspaper.

Ambitiousness can drive people mad. In dire financial straits, Lockhart picked up his wand and went astray. In order to gain fame and money through writing, he used Oblivion Charms on other wizards.

Lockhart's Oblivion Charm is excellent, even exceptionally so...

He combined the Legilimency Spell with the Forgetfulness Spell, achieving an unprecedented combination of the two spells. While casting the Forgetfulness Spell on a wizard, he could read the other person's memories, and after reading the memories, he could also make the victim forget that Lockhart had ever appeared in front of him.

But, liars will eventually be exposed.

Lockhart, a man who lacks ability yet is hopelessly addicted to money and fame, worries every day about being exposed. No one knows the unease and fear hidden behind his glamorous public persona.

But a thief is a thief for life, and Lockhart's Oblivion Curse is unstoppable; he can't stop it even if he wants to.

If he stops, his current fame and luxurious life will disappear, his theft will be exposed, he will be condemned by wizards throughout the magical world, and he will be imprisoned in Azkaban forever.

One day, while gathering material in a dark bar in Knockturn Alley, he randomly stole the adventure memories of a dark wizard.

This memory gave Lockhart a tremendous shock.

It wasn't because this dark wizard was a Death Eater who had escaped justice, but because... a notebook appeared in the dark wizard's memory, a blank notebook with a black leather cover.

Lockhart learned from his memories that the notebook was a Horcrux, a Horcrux that sealed Voldemort's soul memories and knowledge from before he became the Dark Lord.

In that instant, a crazy idea popped into Lockhart's mind...

[I obtained Him, I obtained that Horcrux notebook, and then I let the spirit of Voldemort in his youth teach me the power of magic.]

I've had enough... I'm living in constant fear of being exposed every day, and I've had enough of this...

I want power; I want the power to grant me permanent fame and fortune.

Thus, Lockhart, through his in-depth exploration of the dark wizard's memories, learned that the Horcrux notebook was still gathering dust in the Malfoy family's warehouse.

The Malfoys are one of the twenty-eight holy pure-blood families, so Lockhart wouldn't even dare to think about theft.

So Lockhart could only wait, wait for an opportunity to arise for him.

Lucius Malfoy, the current head of the Malfoy family, knows that the notebook is a Horcrux.

After Voldemort's 'extremely, extremely, extremely' misfortune of being killed by the magic of 'love', Lucius, as a Death Eater, will definitely try his best to sever ties with Voldemort for the safety of his family. Therefore... he'll find a place to dispose of the Horcrux notebook later.

From then on, Lockhart kept a close eye on Lucius's movements, but several years later the notebook was still in Malfoy's warehouse.

Lockhart lost patience after years of waiting, so he set his sights on Lucius's son, Draco Malfoy.

Upon learning that Draco was studying at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Lockhart immediately submitted an application to Hogwarts to become a professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts, as this position becomes vacant every year.

Lockhart, fearing rejection from Dumbledore, wrote cryptically in the letter, 'If you disagree, Dumbledore, I will write an article that slanders Hogwarts and ruins your house's reputation.'

This defamatory threat hit Albus Dumbledore right where it hurt, so he had no choice but to agree.

Anyway, he couldn't find anyone to be the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor yet, so having someone volunteer saved Dumbledore the trouble of swallowing his pride and groveling for the position: "[It's just a one-year Defense Against the Dark Arts course. I'll find a good professor next semester to fill in the gaps in the students' knowledge.]"

Lockhart received a reply of approval and then began preparing his teaching materials.

It was at this moment that Lockhart met Lucius at Flourish and Blotts, and also saw... Lucius had mixed the Horcrux notebook he had been dreaming of into the books of a young witch who was about to enroll at Hogwarts.

If it weren't for the fact that they were in public, he would have liked to snatch the notebook away immediately.

Later at Hogwarts, Lockhart wanted to use his professorship to get the Horcrux notebook from Ginny Weasley, but the very next day news broke of the Basilisk harming people, which frightened the Muggle-born wizard so much that he locked himself in his room and dared not move.

This led him to refrain from asking Ginny for his notebook during the rest of the winter semester for his own safety.

......

The night patrol ended, and the next day arrived.

That day, Lockhart had a separate Defense Against the Dark Arts class for first-year Gryffindor students.

In class, Lockhart read the knowledge from the magic book verbatim, without releasing the Cornish elves to teach for the sake of fame or prestige.

Looking back on that second-year defense class, he felt utterly humiliated in front of Harry Potter and other students.

In class, after Lockhart finished explaining the knowledge, he asked the young wizards to preview and think about the key points he had just taught, and then he sat on the podium and stared intently at Ginny Weasley.

Lockhart scanned the books on Ginny's desk, trying to find the Horcrux notebook. After finding nothing, he forced himself to remain patient and said, "No rush, I can't rush. I've waited for those years, one more class won't make a difference."

With the start of this spring semester, there hadn't been any incidents of Basilisks harming people for a long time, which made Lockhart's greedy activities, which he had been holding back all winter, come to a head.

When the class ended, Lockhart immediately stood up, using his position as professor to keep Ginny Weasley behind, and then directly reached out to ask for the Horcrux notebook.

To Lockhart's surprise, Ginny looked at him with puzzled eyes and said she didn't know anything about notebooks.

Lockhart didn't believe it, so he took out his wand and used his memory-reading spell on Ginny, but to his surprise, there really were no memories of the Horcrux notebook in her memory.

Just as Lockhart was about to delve deeper into the matter out of disbelief, the mental nurturing array drawn by Teach Carr on Ginny's palm activated, sending Lockhart flying and causing him to briefly lose consciousness.

Due to the combined effect of the Oblivion Curse, Ginny no longer has the memory of Lockhart demanding the notebook from her or being cursed.

When she came to her senses, she only saw Professor Lockhart lying unconscious on the ground.

Unaware of the reason, the kind-hearted Ginny witch summoned the magical doctors from St. Mungo's Hospital at Hogwarts for Lockhart.