No One Wants to Be A Liar All the Time If They Can!

"Ssss~ Open!" Ivan rushed to the abandoned girls' bathroom and reopened the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets.

It took a long time for Ivan to fall through the dark, slippery pipes, and he didn't even have time to get rid of the clinging dust and grime on his clothes before he was able to make his way back into the Chamber.

The sound of rushing water slowly reached their ears. A huge serpentine statue stood on one side, and streams of water were gushing out of its mouth and into the pools on either side.

In the middle of the pool was a long passageway, and at the end of it, on a platform, a figure in dark purple robes and a golden-red cloak stood with his back to the statue of Slytherin…

When Lockhart heard footsteps behind him, he turned around and saw Ivan on the other side of the corridor. He looked flustered and waved his hands frantically. "Hars, what are you doing here?"

"Lor-ha-ter!" Ivan angrily waved his wand.

Sou~

A blinding red light crashed into Lockhart, only to be repelled by the protective cape. It crashed into a nearby Serpentine statue, creating a huge crater in its massive head. Gravel and dust fell from the sky…

Lockhart saw what had happened to the statue and swallowed hard, backing away.

Although the spell was blocked by the protective cloak, Lockhart did not feel safe, as he had seen Ivan's true strength.

"There's no need to pretend anymore. Give me the Horcrux!" Ivan didn't seem too concerned about the situation as he approached.

After a few days of experiments at school, Ivan had figured out how to use the Eye of the Bloodline Magical Basilisk, and a protective cloak would not be much of an obstacle.

"A Horcrux? What's that? What are you talking about?" Lockhart tried to defend himself, but when he saw Ivan raise his wand again, he quickly corrected himself.

"If you're talking about a black diary, I don't have it anymore!"

"You gave it to your admirers?" Ivan asked sarcastically, unsurprised.

"They trusted you so much, and you used them as a tool to feed Tom Riddle? How cruel of you…"

The moment Ivan saw the mission complete, he figured out everything he hadn't understood.

It was Lockhart who picked up Dobby's Horcrux after he lost it, and he was the only one who was able to gain the trust of so many young witches of different houses and grades.

"You can't blame me for that," Lockhart said innocently, throwing up his hands. "They volunteered for me… and they didn't die, did they? It's all thanks to them that I'm one step closer to becoming a Master of Magic."

"So? Did Tom cure you?" Yvonne was amused by Lockhart's reaction. She had never known him to be so stupid.

He thought Lockhart would have learned something from fooling so many powerful wizards and writing so many legendary stories.

He did not expect to believe the claims of an evil diary so easily.

However, to Ivan's surprise, Lockhart nodded and spoke proudly.

"Of course! He cured me, or I wouldn't be working with him."

"Dismember!" Lockhart waved his wand in a brilliant display of power, sending a magical beam of light crashing into a nearby stone pillar, creating a small crater in it.

"Did you see that? I just managed to cast a spell! Of course, I know there's still a long way to go before you're a Master of Magic, but I'm sure it will be different soon."

"Not only that, I can even speak snake now…" Lockhart's face was red with excitement as he tried to show Ivan how he had changed.

For Lockhart, who liked to show off, the sudden increase in his strength and the fact that he did not dare to tell anyone about it nearly suffocated him.

"Do you really understand who you're dealing with? It's the Dark Lord! Do you think he'd be so kind?" Ivan's heart went cold at Lockhart's words.

In his opinion, Lockhart had been so deeply affected by the Horcrux that it was possible that his soul had been corrupted by Tom Riddle, and that was why he could speak the language.

With that in mind, Ivan edged closer to Lockhart, the closer the basilisk eyes, the better.

He needed to preserve the six-hour enchantment and enough magic to deal with Tom Riddle, and did not want to waste too much energy on Lockhart.

"But I didn't have a choice!" Lockhart exclaimed, looking disappointed.

"Hales, I have twice begged you to help me, to tell me the secret to growing strong quickly, and I would have paid more Galleons for it, but you refused, did you not?"

"I told you I don't have any of those…" Yvonne replies, frowning.

"Don't try to fool me! I saw everything you and he wrote in that diary. There's a way, isn't there? In this Slytherin Chamber!"

Lockhart interrupted Ivan, his eyes turning red and his body shaking with emotion.

He gazed at Ivan with a look of envy and even jealousy as he murmured.

"You know what, Hals? I've always envied you!"

"You have almost everything I want! Whether it is strength or prestige, you are special wherever you go, mastering a profound spell in a few hours…"

"But I'm not like you. I'm so mediocre, I could never make it big without some special skill! Ever!" Lockhart was hysterical.

"Your Memory Charm is better than anyone else's. Isn't that your gift? You've just been using it in the wrong place!" Ivan felt a chill as he committed Lockhart's deranged appearance to memory.

"What good would that do?" Lockhart sneered.

"No matter how good the Memory Charm is, you'll only end up as the most ordinary employee in the Ministry's Department of Affairs, working every day to cast spells on silly Muggles to make them forget things they shouldn't remember!"

"I need flowers and applause, and more than that, I need everyone's attention and admiration. This is the life I'm meant to lead!" Lockhart's intoxicated expression turned ferocious.

"Hales! Nobody wants to be a liar forever if they can help it!"