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The Welcoming Feast concluded with an awkwardly unfunny joke from Dumbledore, and the young wizards dispersed in twos and threes. Until the very end, they couldn't figure out the purpose of Amosita's return to the school. It was foreseeable that the first week of term would see a grand and sweeping detective movement unfold throughout the school.
Amosita had left before the young wizards, for he hadn't forgotten that his return to Hogwarts wasn't a vacation. The moment all the students were gathered in the Great Hall, his mission officially began.
From then on, until he found the Chamber of Secrets, he would likely live a topsy-turvy life, sleeping by day and working by night. It would be a very demanding period.
In the Surveillance Room, Amosita sat in a chair, his eyes fixed on the screens gradually filling with students. His main focus was on those young wizards who were alone or acting strangely, observing if their behavior deviated from the norm. Of course, Professor Lockhart was also one of his subjects of interest.
The Chamber of Secrets opening now, of all times, precisely when Lockhart became the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, couldn't help but make him suspicious.
After dinner, led by their Prefects, most of the students returned to their respective common rooms. However, about a dozen young wizards slipped out unnoticed by everyone. More than half of them were Gryffindor students.
Harry and Ron went to the Hospital Wing. The Weasley brothers, seizing an opportunity when Filch wasn't looking, slipped into the passage leading to the underground Hufflepuff Common Room. They paused before an oil painting of fruit on the stone wall, fiddled with it, and then slipped inside.
Amosita also saw Penelope Clearwater enter the Ravenclaw Common Room, only to return a short while later. Around the same time, Percy Weasley also left the Gryffindor Common Room. It was safe to assume another passionate kiss would soon take place somewhere in the castle.
Aside from Professor McGonagall and Professor Lockhart returning to their offices to work overtime after the feast, the other professors were mostly in the Staff Quarters. Before entering his office, Headmaster Dumbledore turned around and playfully winked his brilliant blue eyes at the corridor ceiling thirty feet away, as if greeting someone.
Amosita pursed his lips and shifted his gaze from that screen.
Nothing unusual happened; everything was normal. And this outcome was not beyond Amosita's expectations. Unless he was exceptionally lucky, he couldn't expect any progress within ten days to half a month.
The finely carved fireplace blazed with vibrant flames. Amosita leaned back in his chair, cradling a cup of bitter hot tea, his eyes occasionally sweeping across the entire wall, his expression calm.
About half an hour later, the figures still moving on the surveillance screens transformed from people to ghosts. Amosita watched as Peeves, wearing a comical round hat, grinned mischievously as he burst into a long-abandoned second-floor lavatory. Soon after, water began gushing from the lavatory door into the corridor outside.
The long night had only just begun, and Amosita was already feeling bored. He went to his desk and retrieved a copy of his own ongoing compilation, Basic Spell Models and Structural Optimization, flipping through it idly, searching for inspiration.
Suddenly, the bottom-right surveillance screen showed activity. Professor Lockhart emerged, clad in a magenta robe and clutching a few books. His face was wreathed in smiles, and he exuded an air of elegance. Judging by his direction, he seemed to be heading straight for the Surveillance Room.
Their offices were both on the first floor. Less than two minutes later, Professor Lockhart appeared outside his office.
Tap-tap—
The instant the knock sounded, Amosita waved his wand. A massive black curtain billowed down, obscuring the wall, and the stool beneath him tap-danced its way back to the desk, righting itself before returning to normal.
"Professor Lockhart?" Amosita pulled open the door, revealing a perfectly calibrated expression of surprise. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"
Amosita ushered the inscrutable Lockhart into his office. He poured him a cup of tea, but Lockhart didn't seem inclined to drink it.
"—Actually, it's like this,"
Lockhart was about to state his purpose, but when he spotted Wandering with Werewolves on Amosita's bookshelf, the smile on his face became almost excessively radiant.
"It's my mistake, my mistake, Amosita. I should have realized it sooner, but I didn't," he winked at a slightly bewildered Amosita. "A cunning, fanatical admirer, isn't that right? What an unexpected approach!"
"I apologize, Professor Lockhart, perhaps I'm too slow-witted to grasp precisely what you're trying to convey."
"No need to hide it any longer, Amosita. You went to great lengths to get into Hogwarts just to get close to me, didn't you?"
Lockhart laughed merrily. "Professor McGonagall told me the Board of Governors sent an investigator to track down the Chamber of Secrets. I imagine you spent quite a fortune to pull that off!"
Amosita followed Lockhart's gaze to the bookshelf and blinked.
"If you're referring to Wandering with Werewolves, then yes, it's true. I had a minor unpleasantness with a pack of werewolves at the time, and to deepen my understanding of them, I sought out a few of the most famous books..."
"Aha, so you've finally exposed yourself, haven't you!"
Lockhart seemed to have finally caught Amosita red-handed.
"Just like Miss Granger in her second year, you know everything about me, don't you? Yes, yes, many people, when they speak of that book, are astonished by the calm courage I displayed when cornered by werewolves in a telephone booth. But you're different, Amosita. You want to learn how I buried the hatchet with the werewolves, don't you?"
An hour later, Lockhart left Amosita's office thoroughly satisfied. Standing at the doorway, he lowered his voice and said to Amosita,
"No need to worry about explaining yourself to the Board, Amosita. The Chamber of Secrets attacks won't happen again. As for why, you certainly know, don't you?" Lockhart winked at Amosita again. "Because I AM here!"
Amosita watched Professor Lockhart walk away. He closed his door and stood before his desk, staring at the gift Lockhart had given him—a complete set of signed, hardcover books.
"Hmph, what an amusing fellow!" Amosita suddenly chuckled.
On his first night back at Hogwarts, Amosita had discussed the suspicious individuals in the school with Professor Snape. When Gilderoy Lockhart was mentioned, the disdain and mockery in Snape's voice were palpable, yet he hadn't believed Lockhart would be problematic. Amosita had been quite perplexed at the time.
"However, for a celebrity author well-known throughout the wizarding world, he's at least a rather friendly wizard."
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