Chapter 96: This is really too cool (Edited)

"Harry, let's both go through, there's only a minute left." said Ron nervously, looking at Harry.

"I think I saw Lockhart..." the look in Harry's eyes froze, he thought he saw a figure that gave him a headache. But he didn't have time to think about it, because the train was about to leave.

So he and Ron catapulted together, pushing the trolley firmly toward the wall, and behind them a sad-faced blond man in a blue suit looked at his watch and also launched himself toward the wall.

They reached the wall, and - "Bam!" The carts of the two hit the wall hard and bounced. Their suitcases went flying, hit the floor, and Harry fell backwards, colliding with the man behind him.

"Ow!" For a moment, all of Platform 9 was in an uproar.

The commotion attracted station staff, but Harry was able to get away with it. But the main problem wasn't dealing with the staff, they found they couldn't get through the platform wall. But now, even if they could, they couldn't move. There were a dozen Muggles watching them, at least 90% of them because of Hedwig.

Hedwig had been screaming in rage since the box had been knocked over, and with such an angry bird, it would stand out wherever they went. If they had disappeared in an instant, there would have been a great furor and a serious violation of the International Statute of Magical Secrecy.

But then Harry and Ron saw a familiar figure run past them and crash into the wall.

"It really is Professor Lockhart..." Ron's face fell, but suddenly something occurred to him, "No, he should be able to fix this!"

The man in the blue suit was indeed Lockhart. He had planned to take the train to Hogwarts, and interact with the fans on board, but the rumor he had heard earlier at Flourish and Blotts Bookshop had scared him too much. He was still hesitating: should he quit or not?

This feeling made him wander outside the station. In the end, he decided to go to Hogwarts. Even if everything went wrong, there was still Professor Dumbledore at Hogwarts, so he would let him sort it out.

In the end, reality hit him over the head: the walls of the platform indicated that the path was impassable.

Lockhart froze completely, of course he had heard what Ron had said, but he didn't know what to do, he was in a panic: he didn't understand what was going on. He hadn't been down this corridor since he graduated, and hadn't he heard that the entrance to Platform 9 had changed?

But then he saw all the curious people, and suddenly he had an idea, and he approached Harry and Ron, telling them to get out of here.

"Let's get out of here, there are too many muggles for us to go in, it's a piece of cake for me to fix this wall malfunction, but I can't do that, it would be a violation of the International Statute of Magical Secrecy Act." said Lockhart sternly to the two of them.

Harry would not listen to Lockhart, he looked at the time and despaired to see that it was after eleven and the train had departed.

"Let's go back to the car..." Harry said.

"Yes, the car, we can fly to Hogwarts in the car" Ron's eyes lit up at the word car.

Harry instinctively thought it was the worst option and was about to say no, but then Lockhart interjected, "Fly? Fly to Hogwarts in a car? Merlin upstairs, that's too cool."

"Guys, don't worry, we're going to set sail and fly straight to Hogwarts!"

Ron, encouraged by Lockhart's support, immediately pushed his car out of the station. Although he had a mediocre opinion of Lockhart, at that moment he was a halo of light and an icon to him.

Lockhart was still prattling on, "This is really front page material...ah no, I mean, in a real emergency, a young magician can use magic, it's in Section 19 of the Restrictions." In Lockhart's opinion, this was all out of place, who had done such a feat since the founding of Hogwarts?

If he could drive a car in front of all the teachers and students at the school, fall out of the sky and park in front of them, he would definitely become the center of attention!

So his attention was immediately focused on goading the two young wizards not to back down. He blurted out legislation, not caring that he had just used the International Statute of Magical Secrecy Act as an excuse. But it worked, and Lockhart managed to impress Harry enough to go along with Ron's idea.

They walked quickly through the crowd of onlookers to Mr. Arthur's Ford, Ron opened the trunk and shoved the briefcase inside, but his next move shattered Lockhart's illusions.

Without hesitation, Ron took the driver's seat.

"I've really learned to drive." Lockhart cleared his throat: according to his plan, if he couldn't become a driver, he'd be next to useless.

But there was no way Ron was going to trust a stranger with his life, and although Lockhart had been bluffing, he trusted himself more, so he simply ignored him.

This was a great disappointment to Lockhart.

Consequently, as he tangled with Ron, Harry saw an opportunity to sit next to him; as a friend, he felt it would be cruel to let Ron sit with Lockhart all the way. And for all Harry knew, it would be dangerous to drive by letting someone talk to a distracted driver, wouldn't it?

So he and Ron took the two front seats, leaving Lockhart in the back with Hedwig.

Ron had the sense not to take off, but to press a silver button on the dashboard and they became invisible, or transparent, along with the vehicle.

"Oh, nice illusion spell, I've done it before..." Lockhart said.

"Blast off!" Ron pressed the accelerator and they pulled away from the ground. However, apparently the invisibility button wasn't working very well, and the car appeared several times in the air.

This was a slight relief to Lockhart: if they had remained invisible the whole time, it would have been a plot point for the next book. Lockhart hadn't considered the International Statute of Magical Secrecy, as he thought it was more important to excel at this: he could have worked with Ministry of Magic employees to erase the witnesses' memories! He's very good at that.

Soon they were in the clouds, the transparent car giving them an unobstructed view of the clouds around them, giving them an oppressive feeling from all directions. In the clouds, even Lockhart kept his mouth shut. Of course, he kept everything he saw, and was determined to write about it in his new book.

He looked at Harry and Ron, and his eyes became more and more dangerous: "You also have to change the memories of these two... After all, it would be better if I, Gilderoy Lockhart, drove the car!"