276 Chapter 276: Snape's Halloween Candy (Edited)

"Me? I'm fine."

Lockhart's annoyance was quick to come and quick to go, and he gave a rather silly grin, slapped his forehead, and said, "I see, you're worried about my ability to adapt history, aren't you?"

Then, without waiting for Professor McGonagall to respond, he patted his chest and said, "You can be sure of that! No one knows more about adaptation than I do. All my works are adapted from other wizards."

Lockhart's words instantly caused an uproar in the audience, but he didn't seem to be embarrassed at all, instead, he held his head high with pride, as if he was very proud of this affair.

"Do you know what you're saying, Professor Lockhart?!"

Professor McGonagall snapped sternly.

She, who had learned the truth from Dumbledore long ago, could no longer care what was going on with Lockhart at this point, seeing that he himself had exposed the deception on his own initiative, immediately prompted her to ask, "Are you saying that the stories in your book are all lies?".

"Not exactly a lie, actually."

Lockhart shrugged, oblivious to the strange looks around him, or rather, he simply didn't notice the strangeness in those looks, while still enjoying the sensation of being watched.

Then, happily, he patiently explained to everyone, "I simply replaced the protagonist of the story with myself and then added some artistic processing."

"But it's a hoax!" Professor McGonagall said.

"Oh, my dear Professor McGonagall," frowned Lockhart, shaking his head and sighing, "Use your common sense to think about it. If people don't believe I did all those things, book sales will be low. Readers won't want to read about an ugly old American wizard, even if he freed a town from the scourge of werewolves. Put his picture on the cover, and it would be ugly! He has no taste in clothes. And the witch who banished the Banshee, she had a hairy chin! Just think, how could so many people enjoy these wonderful, fun stories if it weren't for me?" said Lockhart, not embarrassed, but proud, and Professor McGonagall looked at him silently, letting him reveal all about himself.

The Great Dining Hall fell silent, all stunned at Lockhart's shamelessness.

"So... You take credit for everything other people do?"

Professor McGonagall folded her hands and asked with a grimace.

"Minerva, Minerva, it's not as easy as you say, I have a lot of work to do" Lockhart shook his head and sighed, and began to recount his "difficulties", "I have to follow these people and find them".

"I have to track these people down and ask them how they did what they did. Then I have to cast a dememorizer spell on them, so they will forget everything."

Speaking of this, Lockhart vigorously puffed out his chest and said triumphantly, "If there's one thing I can be proud of, it's my Obliviate Charm."

Even Fish could see that it was no longer a moment of pretentious pride, but a moment of true pride in his Obliviate Charm.

"You know, Minerva, I've had to work hard too. It's not just book signings and photo shoots.... If you want to be famous, you have to be prepared to work long and hard."

Professor McGonagall frowned at the "I've worked hard, why are you laughing at me?" look, she was already too disgusted by the shamelessness of his statement.

But before she could pull out her wand and put Lockhart down, he pulled out his.

"I'm sincerely sorry, Minerva, I have to cast an Obliviate Charm on you. I can't let you spread my secrets. Otherwise, I won't be able to sell my book..."

Lockhart's mind was clearly still a little confused, enjoying the attention as he thought he was talking to Professor McGonagall alone.

Professor McGonagall looked at him with a grimace, she certainly wasn't worried about the other party's wand, not to mention the fact that there were so many students and teachers around, even if no one else was there, Professor McGonagall wasn't afraid of Lockhart's threat, she was simply upset with the man.

On the other hand, Professor Flitwick was shaking with rage, ashamed that something like that had come out of Ravenclaw, and the little man jumped on the professor's desk, pulling out his wand as well.

Only someone moved faster than he....

"Nya!"

(╬`Д′)=○#(￣#)3￣)

With a roar of anger, Fish turned into a dark shadow and, in the blink of an eye, lunged from the Gryffindor table to Lockhart's side, and before Lockhart could react, Fish's fist landed on Lockhart's face.

The familiar pain that struck Lockhart's cheek instantly snapped his mind out of its confusion, but before Lockhart could realize what had just happened, the pain had taken his consciousness and he felt his eyes go black and knew no more.

"Boom!"

With a loud thud, Lockhart once again slammed into the wall and slid to the floor.

"Ha...!"

(●`Д′●)

Fish landed softly on the staff table after sending Lockhart flying, arms resting on the desk, back arched high, ears pinned back into wings and his tail fur bristling, emitting a menacing sound towards the unconscious Lockhart.

Professor McGonagall was stunned, then advanced with a smile on her face and hugged Fish who was at the table.

"There, he's passed out."

Professor McGonagall kissed Fish's little cheek, happily comforting the furious kitten.

Meanwhile, the students downstairs exploded.

"Professor! Is it true what Lockhart just said?"

"He's a real liar!"

"Oh my goodness, I thought he was just uneducated, but I didn't expect him to steal other people's achievements!"

"Are everyone at the Ministry of Magic idiots? And they gave him the Order of Merlin!"

The students were furious, they were already unhappy with Professor Lockhart, and now that they knew he was a fraud, they were in an uproar.

In the midst of all this uproar, Dumbledore stepped forward.

"Sonorus."

He used an amplification spell on himself, then spoke, "Silence!"

Once the students had calmed down, Dumbledore continued, "About Professor Lockhart, he was clearly not in the right state, so what he said may not be true."

Even though he knew what was going on with Lockhart, Dumbledore still had to dissemble, otherwise the troubled headmasters of the school would know that he had knowingly recruited him into the school as a fraud, and even if he was headmaster, he would get into some trouble.

"The school will have someone check the situation as soon as possible, and if it is as he says, I will have to fire Mr. Gilderoy Lockhart."

Dumbledore's promise hardly reassured the students.

But there were those in the teaching community who did not want to delay any longer.

"Excuse me, Headmaster, if I may say a few words."

Professor Snape stood up, a sneer tugging at the corner of his mouth.

"Of course, Severus."

Dumbledore made a "please" gesture, in fact, after seeing Lockhart's state just now, he already had some suspicions in his mind, but what he couldn't understand was....

He couldn't understand how Snape had drugged Lockhart.

And, why at this time?

"What Mr. Lockhart just said, I believe to be true."

Snape stepped up and gave the reason for what Lockhart had said, then explained to the crowd, "He came with Potter and followed Fish to my house for candy during Halloween, and I only had Fish's share..."

He looked blankly at Lockhart, who was still slumped at the foot of the wall, and the corner of his mouth curved slightly.

"I guess I accidentally mixed the drug I was working on when I was filling the candy."

Although Snape said he had accidentally mixed it up, everyone knew he had definitely done it on purpose.

"My new drug is meant to combine the effects of Veritaserum, Potion of Persistent, Potion of Confusion, Potion of Insanity, and the Potion of Hate... and judging by what Mr. Lockhart just did, it's working quite well..."

He said it was a new potion, but at the time Snape had just mixed a bit of all the previous potions into it, and he didn't even know what effect it would have, but it was obviously a surprise that made Mr. Lockhart expose himself.

The only pity is...

He looked at Harry and pursed his lips with some regret.

A shiver ran down Harry's back as he caught the look Snape was giving him.

He wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and patted his chest gratefully....

Good thing he had been smart enough to throw away the Halloween candy Snape had given him.

The list of potion names Snape had just given, none of them sounded like any good!