HP: The Root of Everything - The Magician

Harry stared intently at the soot on the head statue, extremely nervous, because he heard the clatter of bottles and jars coming from inside.

Teach Carr heard it clearly, but he was too busy treating Hermione to deal with it, so he had to leave it to Harry.

But this time the situation is clearly different from the original story. Tom Riddle is no longer a false mental image in Harry Potter's mind, but a person who has Lockhart's body.

This was something that twelve-year-old Harry couldn't possibly handle, Teach knew this all too well, so he threw out all the weapons—pistols, explosives, grenades, etc.—to Harry and asked, "Do you know how to use these things?"

"Not really, but I've seen war movies on my aunt's TV."

"Alright, put everything away, then take out a grenade, pull the pin, and throw it into the hole inside the head statue immediately."

Harry did as he was told and threw the grenade.

Tom Riddle heard everything Teach and Harry were saying. When the grenade was thrown at him, he immediately stood up and used his armor shield. However, the shield was blown to smithereens. If Tom hadn't put a layer of armor charm on Lockhart's body, he would have been riddled with shrapnel from the grenade.

The grenade's explosion was incredibly powerful; the shockwave knocked Harry off his feet, landing him on the damp ground. [Was it really that powerful? Is everything on TV just a lie?]

Of course, a normal hand grenade couldn't be that powerful. That's because Teach Carr engraved bomb formations on the grenades. With these two explosive materials combined, the power of a single hand grenade was no less than that of a tank shell.

Tom Riddle was also stunned by the grenade. He immediately climbed down from the head statue and rushed towards Harry Potter.

While Teach was drawing a network of veins on Hermione's face, most of her attention was on Harry.

Harry was still stunned and bewildered by Tom's charge when Teach yelled, "Idiot, use my flashbang!"

Under Teach's direction, Harry found the flashbang among the firearms and quickly opened and threw it.

"Quick, close your eyes."

Teach's warning came a beat too late; Harry's not-quite-closed eyes were blinded by the intense light, and he collapsed to the ground screaming in agony, clutching his eyes.

The flashbangs also benefit from Teach's training array, making the flashes not just momentary, but a prolonged burst of light.

The flashbang turned the entire damp Serpent Hall into a blindingly bright daytime.

Tom Riddle also fell to the ground with Harry. Lockhart's open eyes were burned by the bright light, and his vision was severely damaged, causing Tom to also lose his sight.

The healing potions had all been used up while repairing Lockhart's body, and Tom, now blind in the bright light, raised his wand at Harry Potter.

With Teach Carr busy healing Hermione, Tom must deal with Harry Potter, the "tool," first.

Tom's wand was already pointed at Harry, and Teach shouted loudly, "Quick, roll on the ground to get out of the way!"

Harry did as instructed.

Then Teach said, "Take the pistol I gave you and aim it at 1 o'clock and 10 minutes ahead of you and fire."

Harry, with his eyes closed, couldn't see. Upon hearing Teach's location, he fired without hesitation. The next second, the sound of Harry's hands breaking was heard.

This isn't a pistol, it's practically a cannon.

The Beretta pistol, marked with a chakra inscription, was incredibly powerful, with an even greater recoil. Harry Potter's small hands were broken by the recoil.

When the bright light faded, all that remained were Harry's cries of pain as his hands were broken.

Tichy Carr turned his head and saw that Lockhart's body was pierced by a bullet. There was a 15-centimeter-wide circular hole in his left abdomen, and half of the flesh was cut off. Only the other side of his abdomen was kept from collapsing and breaking off.

Three seconds later, the body fell to the ground as Tom Riddell stared in disbelief at the power of the pistol.

Despite suffering a fatal abdominal wound, Lockhart's bodily functions did not die immediately. Tom manipulated his dying, mutilated body to crawl laboriously toward the nearby 'human transmutation circle,' speaking Parseltongue along the way to summon the Basilisk.

It will take some time for the basilisk to appear, and Harry Potter is not in any immediate danger.

Tom Riddle climbed onto the transmutation circle, and then, to Teach Carl's disgust and nausea, reached out and pulled out Lockhart's internal organs.

Intestines, liver, spleen, lungs...

Tom Riddle placed Lockhart's organs one by one onto the array plate of the human body training array, and then, the heart.

When the heart was removed and placed in the center of the transmutation circle, Tom Riddle's human transmutation finally began.

In the mental imagery, Tom is performing the final step in preparing for his impending rebirth: consuming Lockhart's soul and consciousness.

A person can only have one soul.

Amid Lockhart's desperate pleas for mercy, Tom wrapped Lockhart's soul in dark magic and swallowed it whole.

Lockhart's body was broken down, melted, and then began to reassemble within the Human Transformation Array.

Once the reconstruction was complete and the body reflected Tom Riddle's true features and face, Hermione's Life Analysis Divination Array began to activate.

The life force extracted from Lockhart's body will be injected into Tom's newborn body.

Ultimately, using Lockhart as the material, the transmutation of a living human was completed.

As Tom Riddle's soul merged with this body, he was reborn and slowly opened his eyes, beginning to experience this new body.

Raise both hands, clench your fists, and feel the force.

Lift your feet and step onto the cold ground, feeling the solid ground beneath your feet.

I bit my arm open with my teeth, blood flowed out, and I felt the pain and body temperature.

When it was all true, Tom Riddle covered his face and forehead, trembling with excitement, then burst into wild, triumphant laughter: "~Hahahahahahaha..."

"Ah~~, is this what a living, breathing body is like? For so many years, for so many years I haven't felt this sense of being alive. Everything is so real, completely unlike the ethereal and illusory state of a soul."

"Although this body was created using Lockhart, that idiot in his forties, it inevitably lacks vitality and life force, but it is a truly living body, and I can feel it."

"I'm really reborn, I'm really reborn~ Hahahaha..." Tom's emotions plummeted after a moment of euphoria.

He became humiliated, angry, hateful, and filled with murderous intent.

All that could be heard was his deep, menacing mutter: "Voldemort..."

"You separated me from your soul and imprisoned me in a tattered notebook for over fifty years."

"For over fifty years, day and night, I have never seen the light of day. I have endured the fear brought by solitude, and the loneliness of having no one inside."

"While I endured this torment, you roamed freely outside, reaping the spoils of your dark reign."

"Fine, you're very good. You just wait..."

“I will kill you, I will destroy you, I will imprison you forever, and make you experience the same pain I have suffered for all eternity.”