Chapter 190: I, Lockhart, am no weaker than a child (Edited)

Lockhart woke up in a daze, feeling pain all over his body.

Especially the back of his head and his most precious beautiful face, the pain made him shiver all over.

"Ahhhh! I'm in so much pain."

As soon as he came to his senses, Lockhart cried out in panic, covering his still swollen cheek in a slurred voice.

"Bah!"

He yelled twice before spitting out some of the teeth Fish had broken.

Staring at the blood-stained and still shiny teeth he had spit out, Lockhart was stunned.

Like the smile he had practiced a thousand times in the mirror, Lockhart had taken great care of his teeth, using only the best products.

"Gilderoy, are you all right?"

?ω?

Fish nudged Lockhart lightly and comforted him, "Don't worry, Fish has used the [Rejuvenation] spell on you, and your wound will heal in a while nya."

Lockhart looked at Fish in amazement for a moment, before slowly recovering from the shock of having lost his teeth.

He looked down and saw that he was enveloped in a green glow that looked familiar - Fish had used it on Boxing Willow the other day in front of him, and then had said it was some sort of plant repair spell.

"Professor Gilderoy, are you all right?"

Fish shouted again with concern, causing Lockhart to shudder in fear.

"He's fine! I'm fine!"

Lockhart wiggled his butt back in panic, but unfortunately there was a wall behind him and no way to distance himself from Fish.

And in Lockhart's eyes, Fish, who was looking at him with concern, was like a beast that could eat people.

"I think I have to go to Madam Pomfrey..."

Although he could feel his wounds recovering quickly, Lockhart wanted to get away from Fish said quickly in a somewhat fleeting voice, "You can study by yourselves for the rest of the class!"

After he finished speaking, he quickly got up from the floor and fled the classroom in embarrassment.

When Lockhart left, the class erupted with excitement as the students looked at each other for a moment.

"I said it a long time ago, Lockhart is a liar!" said Ron loudly, shooting a smug look at Hermione.

"Childish."

Hermione curved her lips disdainfully, not bothering to argue with him.

And the others whispered and talked about their views on Lockhart as well.

Of course, no one, whoever they were, thought Lockhart was a talented teacher at this point.

"Is the situation in Defense Against the Dark Arts that bad already?"

Hermione, who wanted to learn well, sighed, "I can't believe the school can't hire a reliable teacher."

"Actually, I thought it was a very good idea to have another teacher fill in for us for a while before." Parvati said.

Her words were quickly echoed by the other students.

"But it's not a permanent solution," Neville said, somewhat mysteriously, "I've heard that the Defense Against the Dark Arts class changes teachers quite often due to the curse of the one who shall not be named, and no wizard has held the position for more than a year."

"I've heard that rumor too!"

Ron, who also came from a pureblood family, had also heard his brothers mention it, only he had always thought it was George and Fred's joke, but now it seemed like... it might be true....

"Anyway, I wish the school would replace Lockhart, I can't stand his pretense..." Seamus was no less disgusted with Lockhart than Ron: "Although the stories he tells are quite interesting."

As they all argued heatedly, Fish sat back in his seat with his hands on his cheeks, scowling and looking sullen.

(??ˇ?ˇ??)

The opponent he had been longing for, turned out to be so weak....

This was a great disappointment to Fish.

Although he had cast the [Rejuvenation] spell on Lockhart, it was a fact that he was injured, and would probably be lectured by Minerva afterwards....

This made Fish feel very distressed.

And Fish had heard what Seamus had said, that Lockhart would probably be replaced, so he would have no one to tell stories to.

This made Fish very sad.

So...

The kitten was not happy.

Lavender Brown was the first to notice the difference in Fish, and immediately left Hermione and Parvati, who were arguing together, and ran to Fish's side, asking, "Fish, what's wrong?"

At Lavender's urging, everyone noticed the grumpy kitten and stopped their bickering to gather around him.

"Fish got in trouble again nya?"

?ω?

The kitten asked with a guilty expression, ears drooping, "Are Gilderoy going to get kicked out?"

"Uh... this..."

The crowd looked at each other, unsure how to comfort Fish.

"That's what he deserves!" Hermione suddenly shouted, "Fish exposed the truth that Lockhart misled the public, so he didn't cause trouble!"

"Yes, yes, yes!" everyone agreed, reassuring Fish and criticizing Lockhart at the same time.

As a result, Fish was even more unhappy.

"But Fish loves to hear your stories..."

"..."

The criticisms immediately disappeared and the classroom fell silent again.

It had to be said that they actually liked the stories Lockhart told, but that wasn't at odds with hating him as a person.

"Well, maybe...the school won't necessarily fire Lockhart," Ron asserted against his better judgment, "after all, it's not so easy to find another Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher these days. "

"Really nya?" (●?ω?●)

Fish's ears perked up again.

"Yes, yes."

"That's right."

The other students nodded, they were going to suggest to the school to replace Lockhart as soon as possible, but now... keeping quiet was the biggest concession they could make.

But they thought that, after what had happened, Lockhart himself might not be able to stay.

Apparently, they had underestimated Lockhart's desire to save face.

"I just got careless!"

Lockhart, the protagonist of the students' argument, was saying to Dumbledore in a cracked voice.

He was on his way to the infirmary to treat the wound on his face, when he found Dumbledore wandering around the school, and in the midst of his completely false story, his wounds had been healed by a rejuvenation spell...except for the broken teeth.

So that gave Lockhart more time to make excuses for his injuries.

"In fact, at that point, I had already reacted, but I was afraid of hurting Fish, so I held back from hitting back!"

"I see," Dumbledore's blue eyes twinkled with amusement as he added next to Lockhart, "Indeed, in times of crisis, it is difficult to keep a subconscious blow at bay."

"Exactly!"

Lockhart hadn't thought such an excuse would convince Dumbledore, he was just giving himself a head start, but now this was....

An unexpected surprise?

He hadn't expected Dumbledore to approve of his story and perfect the excuse for him.

So, excited, he made up, "I've faced those evil wizards and dark creatures before, and instinctively use spells so deadly that I had to choose to suppress my desire to attack in those circumstances, and so I missed the opportunity to dodge!"

Lockhart said, almost believing it himself, as if it were the truth.

What could Dumbledore do? He could only nod his head and fill in the gaps from time to time.

He hadn't had the best intentions when he had invited Lockhart to the school, but he had been exposed so quickly...he hadn't had time to find a new teacher.

So now Dumbledore had to play along with Lockhart, pretending to deceive him.

"Gilderoy, you'd better go to Madam Pomfrey to get your teeth fixed."

Dumbledore couldn't take it any longer seeing that the more Lockhart talked, the more excited he got, and he interrupted Lockhart and passed the troublemaker to Madam Pomfrey.

"You're right!"

At the mention of his precious tooth, Lockhart had no time to brag, quickly excused himself from Dumbledore, then covered his mouth with his hand and ran toward the infirmary with his head down.

"Phew... he's finally gone..."

Dumbledore heaved a long sigh of relief and then shook his head helplessly.

It would be better to hire a more normal teacher in the future.

But... it was difficult!

The ever resourceful Dumbledore was having a hard time.