Chapter 143: Serious Nonsense

"It doesn't matter. You can call me Mr. Portrait or Salazar Slytherin."

To Lockhart's question, the portrait answered directly. After speaking, he asked, "What should I call you?"

"Gilderoy Lockhart, Professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts," Lockhart replied simply and continued, "Then I'll call you Mr. Salazar."

"What state are you in now? A pure portrait or a remnant soul?"

As he spoke, Lockhart, in order to prevent Salazar from avoiding the answer, added, "I sense the presence of a soul from the portrait."

Hearing this, the portrait of Salazar was a little surprised and then said with emotion, "It seems that after so many years of development, the level of the Hogwarts professors has not declined but has even become stronger. Since you are a professor at Hogwarts, I can answer your questions. But in exchange, you must also answer mine."

"Okay, no problem," Lockhart agreed decisively.

After agreeing, Lockhart continued his questioning, "Tell me, how did you manage to have an immortal soul for thousands of years?"

"I knew you would be curious about this," Salazar's portrait smiled. "Do you know about Horcruxes?"

"I don't," Lockhart shook his head, showing genuine curiosity. "Is it a magic item? Is it related to the soul?"

"Can you tell me about Hogwarts and the wizarding world now?" the portrait asked directly without replying.

"Since the promotion of the new magic system, the wizarding world has been very peaceful and developed rapidly," Lockhart said seriously. "Hogwarts has become a holy place in the eyes of many wizards because of the new magic system."

"Really?" the portrait asked with interest, "What is the new magic system?"

"Mr. Salazar, you haven't answered my question yet. What is a Horcrux? Also, what abilities do you have in your current state?" Lockhart insisted.

"Horcrux!" Salazar seemed to be feeling a little emotional and briefly explained, "It is a kind of dark magic used to protect the immortality of the soul."

"As for my abilities, I don't have much. The most I can do is answer some questions."

"Oh, I understand," Lockhart nodded and introduced briefly, "The new magic system is based on meditation and can lower the threshold of magic learning."

After hearing this, Salazar's portrait frowned slightly and sighed softly, knowing that if he didn't provide more details, Lockhart would not either.

"Do you have any more questions?" Salazar's portrait asked, seeing Lockhart hesitate.

"Yes," Lockhart nodded, pointing at the dark green light curtain at the door. "I want to know, what does this do? And how do I get out of here?"

"Are these two questions?" Slytherin said with a smile. "But I can answer them both. This is an Oblivion Spell barrier I set up. It has no attack or defense function. It's just that after leaving here, my information will no longer appear in your mind. You will only remember a stone statue of Salazar Slytherin answering your questions."

Hearing this, Lockhart was thoughtful. No wonder he felt a familiar sense from the light screen. It turns out to be something similar to an Obliviate Spell. No wonder Tom said there was a stone statue in the secret room. After all, he would know everything just by looking at it.

Lockhart continued to hear Salazar's portrait reply, "It's very simple to get out. After passing this Oblivion Spell barrier, go to the door and say the words you used to enter in Parseltongue, and the door will open."

Hearing the Slytherin portrait's answer, Lockhart nodded in understanding. Seeing this portrait, he asked two questions directly, "Tell me, are you pureblood or mixed blood? Also, what is the new magic system?"

"I am a pureblood," Lockhart replied. "However, I grew up in the Muggle world, so I have always used the name Gilderoy Lockhart. My real name should be Gilderoy Malfoy," Lockhart added, pulling a pureblood family name out of thin air.

"As for the new magic system, after 20 years of development, there are too many details to list at the moment. When we have time, we will talk in detail."

With that said, Lockhart ignored the portrait and turned around, leading the basilisk towards the dark green light curtain. He was not foolish; he had been lying just now, and what he said was half-true and half-false. He could do it, but maybe Slytherin couldn't.

With his thoughts turning, Lockhart waved his wand lightly to test the dark green light curtain formed by the Obliviate Spell in front of him.

Buzz!

A detection spell appeared from the wand and shot towards the dark green light curtain. The magic spell passed directly through the light curtain, which only trembled slightly without any feedback.

Lockhart frowned slightly when he saw this.

The Salazar Slytherin portrait in the back was not annoyed by Lockhart's testing. The introduction just now was indeed true. This dark green light curtain composed of the Obliviate Spell could indeed change people's memories. But one thing was not elaborated on: he could explore all the memories of those who passed through it. After all, it's normal to modify the memory after exploring it.

After casting several detection spells, Lockhart found no feedback. Then, with a flick of his wand, the scorching fireball that was floating above flew directly towards the dark green light curtain.

Boom!

The fireball passed directly through the dark green light curtain and flew towards the dark corridor. The fire briefly dispelled the darkness, then hit the wall of the corridor with a banging sound.

The Salazar portrait behind looked at Lockhart's various tentative behaviors and said slowly, "Lockhart, I can call you that. Don't worry, I guarantee in the name of Salazar Slytherin that the light curtain formed by the Obliviate Spell will never cause any harm to you."

After hearing this, Lockhart nodded slowly to express his understanding. Then, Lockhart waved his wand and cast a few more spells, but found that they had no effect. He patted the basilisk next to him and motioned for it to go through and give it a try. The basilisk crawled over very obediently. Seeing this, he called the basilisk to crawl back.

When the basilisk returned to him, the corner of Lockhart's mouth curled up in a cold arc. After some investigation, he found that only his memory seemed to be affected. As for memory spells, especially the Obliviate Spell, he was quite familiar with this field.

Then, Lockhart turned around and walked directly to the portrait of Slytherin, bowed slightly, with a polite smile on his face, and said, "Mr. Salazar Slytherin, I'll take my leave now. Later, I'll come over and discuss the new magic system with you when I have time."

After hearing this, the Salazar Slytherin portrait nodded briskly, as if he had no objection to Lockhart's sudden farewell. Then, the Salazar Slytherin's smile in the portrait froze. In his eyes, Lockhart waved his wand, outlining a sparkling circular portal. Then, he took a step forward, taking the basilisk with him, and disappeared from his sight.

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