Chapter 123: Only Taking His Money, Not His Life (Patreon)

Vader transformed a book into his own likeness, placed it on the bed, and tucked it neatly beneath the covers. At the same time, he cast an illusion to create the appearance that he was sound asleep.

Even after doing all that, he still felt a little uneasy. What if Draco and the others insisted on dragging him into a discussion? His disguise would be exposed immediately.

After thinking for a moment, he took a small bottle of Sleeping Draught from the drawer.

“Sorry, you three. You’ll have to take the blame.”

“Hertie! What blame? I’m obviously just helping you improve your sleep quality.”

Vader uncorked the bottle. The Sleeping Draught flew out on its own, transforming into countless tiny droplets that quickly dispersed throughout the dormitory and evaporated into the air.

That way, once Draco and the others came in, they would be overcome by a powerful wave of drowsiness and would only want to crawl into bed and sleep. They certainly wouldn’t stop to wonder whether the person lying in Vader’s bed was actually a fake.

Vader held his breath and took out a Galleon for divination.

It landed heads-up.

There was nothing wrong with his arrangements.

“Foolproof.”

Vader cast Disillusionment on himself, then quietly slipped out of the dormitory. He passed through the somewhat crowded common room and silently left the castle dungeons.

However, he did not head toward the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets. Instead, he made his way toward Gilderoy Lockhart’s office.

There was still a considerable fortune waiting to be collected. If he missed this opportunity, there might not be another one.

The position of Hogwarts’ Defence Against the Dark Arts professor was cursed, yet the school year was almost over and Lockhart was still perfectly fine.

How could Vader possibly allow that?

Whatever happened to Lockhart today could simply be blamed on the Heir of Slytherin.

Besides, he considered himself a fairly kind person.

He only wanted the man’s money. He had no intention of taking his life.

However, halfway there, Vader suddenly saw Harry and Ron rushing out, apparently heading toward Lockhart’s office as well.

“Tsk! Isn’t this convenient?”

Vader almost clapped in delight. He immediately quickened his pace and followed them.

“Lockhart is getting ready to enter the Chamber of Secrets. We can tell him where the Chamber is. There’s a Basilisk inside, and anyone who looks directly into its eyes will die,” Harry said as they ran.

“I hope Ginny isn’t dead. I hope Tom Riddle wasn’t lying to us. Lockhart is the wizard at Hogwarts who’s second only to Dumbledore,” Ron muttered repeatedly.

The two boys didn’t bother knocking. They burst straight into Lockhart’s office.

“Professor, there’s something you need to know—”

They stopped dead in their tracks.

Lockhart appeared to be packing his belongings. Clothes of various colors, books, photographs, and other personal possessions had all been stuffed into two large trunks.

Whatever this looked like, it certainly wasn’t someone preparing to enter the Chamber of Secrets.

It looked much more like—

“You’re leaving?” Harry asked in disbelief.

Ron’s expression hardened as well.

“Er! Yes. An emergency. I have to go. I must leave.”

“What about my sister?”

“That is truly unfortunate. No one could possibly be more devastated than I am.”

Lockhart turned around, deliberately avoiding their gazes as he continued packing.

“You’re the Defence Against the Dark Arts professor. You can’t leave.”

“Well, how should I put it? When I accepted this position, the terms of employment never said that I had to…”

Lockhart spoke vaguely.

“I never expected…”

“You’re trying to run away.”

Harry instantly understood what he was planning.

“But your books say you’re incredible—”

“Books can lie.”

Lockhart frowned impatiently.

“Think about it, boy. If I wanted my books to sell, I had to make people believe that I was the one who did all those things.

“The wizard who helped a village escape the threat of werewolves was actually an ugly old wizard. Can you imagine how terrible it would look to put his photograph on the cover?

“And the witch who drove away the Banshee? Her hairy chin would make anyone sick…”

“You’re a fraud,” Harry said angrily. “You took credit for everything other wizards did.”

“Is there anything you can actually do?” Ron asked.

“Oh, yes. You just reminded me. Memory Charms are my specialty.”

Lockhart had calmed down by now. Since everything had already been exposed, he simply decided to stop pretending.

“If I didn’t cast the spell, those wizards would expose me, and my books wouldn’t sell.”

“Now…”

“I have no choice but to cast a spell on you two.”

Lockhart reached for his wand, but the moment he turned around, two wands were already pointed directly at him. He had no chance to do anything.

“Don’t even think about it.”

Harry pointed his wand at Lockhart’s wand.

Lockhart could only reluctantly place his wand on the desk.

“Just so we’re clear, I have no idea where the Chamber of Secrets is,” Lockhart said nervously.

“You’re lucky. We happen to know where it is.”

“We also know what’s inside.”

With their wands trained on Lockhart, the two boys forced him out of his office and toward the bathroom of Moaning Myrtle on the second floor.

Vader revealed himself, his expression rather complicated.

So where exactly had Gilderoy Lockhart gotten the confidence to believe he could hold onto the cursed position of Defence Against the Dark Arts professor?

Two second-year wizards had taken him down with ease.

He had single-handedly lowered the reputation of Hogwarts professors.

Vader silently complained to himself for a couple of moments before turning his attention to the several trunks in the room.

He should be able to make quite a haul this time.

If he was lucky, he might even be able to gather enough money ahead of time to purchase the potion formula and ingredients required for Sequence 5.

With excitement building in his heart, Vader removed the necklace around his neck and used its pendulum to determine the direction of Lockhart’s valuables.

A few minutes later, more than a hundred Galleons and a dozen or so Sickles were laid out on the table.

“Cheapskate. I’m richer than you are.”

Vader grumbled as he looked over the loot.

But when he saw another item, the corners of his mouth involuntarily curled upward.

It was a golden key.

It corresponded to Lockhart’s vault at Gringotts.

And if nothing unexpected had happened, most of the famous author’s fortune should be stored inside that vault.

“I’ll have to go to Gringotts and open that vault again during the summer.”

Vader was in an excellent mood. He put away all the gold coins, silver coins, and the Gringotts key, then flicked out a paper figure to destroy the remaining traces.

Only after everything was finished did he cast Disillusionment on himself again and head toward the abandoned bathroom on the second floor—the one that had been deserted for fifty years.

Hiss!

When he arrived, he happened to see Harry speaking Parseltongue to one of the faucets.

Click! Click! Click!

The pillar-like fixture made from several connected faucets split apart in the middle, separating into an upper and lower section.

The sink slid forward along the dividing line, revealing a pitch-black entrance hidden between them.

Lockhart cautiously poked his head over the edge and immediately felt his heart race.

Whoosh!

“Excellent, Harry.”

“Well done. In that case, there’s no reason for me to stay here.”

Lockhart turned around and tried to run, but Harry and Ron, who had been prepared for this, shoved him back.

“You go in first,” Harry said.

“Children, what’s the point of this?”

Lockhart’s face had gone deathly pale, and he spoke nervously.

“You can go ahead and scout the way,” Ron said.

“Er… yes, but I think—”

Before Lockhart could finish, Ron prodded him in the back with his wand and pushed him down into the passage.