Chapter 15: Ollivander's Shop
"Children, what's happened?"
Lockhart hesitated for a moment before stepping forward, asking the young wizards with a gentle smile, waiting to see who would give him an answer.
Malfoy Draco was also present, looking rather pleased with himself. When he saw Lockhart approaching, his expression shifted for a moment, and he pursed his lips, saying nothing.
During this time, Harry and Malfoy had been intermittently learning and practicing the responses and counter-charms to the Disarming Charm in Professor Lockhart's office.
The proud young Master Draco had slowly begun to develop some recognition and respect for this professor. Seeing Lockhart catch him doing something wrong, he actually started to avoid eye contact, not daring to speak.
"Professor, Draco Malfoy called Hermione a Mudblood!" an angry George Weasley shouted, pushing away the classmate who was trying to stop him from fighting.
"Yes, it was absolutely vicious!" Fred Weasley looked as if he wanted to tear Draco apart.
Racism, especially in the West and even in the wizarding world, a society fundamentally concerned with bloodlines, was a huge political incorrectness.
Lockhart shook his head at Draco. "That was absolutely wrong. Slytherin will be deducted 20 points for this. I will inform your Head of House, Professor Snape, about this, and he will punish you..."
Just as he was speaking, Ron yue'd again, and another slimy slug was vomited out, causing many people to exclaim in surprise.
Lockhart had to turn to Ron. "The Slug-Vomiting Charm? Who attacked him?"
"It was himself!" Draco seemed to have found an opportunity and shouted, "He wanted to cast a jinx on me, but he only hit himself."
Lockhart couldn't help but raise an eyebrow in surprise.
Of course, not because Ron's spell backfired. He had already recalled the original story and knew about this incident.
When school started, Ron, driving his dad's enchanted car, had crashed into the Whomping Willow, breaking his wand. In the original story, Lockhart had snatched Ron's wand to cast a Memory Charm, which was why it backfired. He knew that.
But he hadn't thought about this question before: Ron, before coming to Hogwarts, didn't know any spells. How could he successfully cast a jinx that wasn't taught at school at the beginning of his second year?
This was even more surprising than Draco Malfoy knowing the Serpensortia charm.
The Slug-Vomiting Charm was not a simple jinx. The huge slugs blocking the throat could, at best, prevent spells from being cast smoothly, and at worst, even lead to suffocation and death.
This was an extremely practical combat spell!
Ron was far from being as weak and foolish as he was often portrayed.
It seemed that he was also a very hardworking person who improved himself in private.
"Professor Lockhart, will he be alright?" Harry and Hermione were both very nervous.
"It's not a big problem. Under normal circumstances, many wizards can only wait until all the slugs are vomited out, which also helps to expel worms and clear toxins from the stomach." Lockhart observed Ron with an experienced look. "At his level, it will be over by noon, and it won't affect lunch."
"However, nothing is too difficult for me. He's lucky."
Lockhart looked at the young wizards around him, clapped his hands, and took the opportunity to teach. "I believe the upper-year students have learned the counter-charm for the Slug-Vomiting Charm, but I estimate that not many can cast it successfully. After all, it's not within the scope of the Ordinary Wizarding Level and Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests."
In fact, many adult wizards hadn't mastered it either. It was mostly dark wizards who would deliberately train this spell and its counter-charm, because this jinx was so useful and often encountered in battle.
Imagine the feeling of a Slug-Vomiting Charm cast by a powerful wizard, where the slugs are too large to vomit out and get stuck in the throat, ultimately leaving the victim clutching their own neck and slowly suffocating to death. That's how terrifying this jinx was.
"How do we solve it?"
"The answer is to eat some salt or soil from the ground. This targets the characteristics of slugs to interrupt the continuous effect of the magic."
Lockhart bent down and scraped up some soil from the ground. "Of course, this doesn't mean that the magic has failed in your body. It's just interrupted and won't cause any more effects. This is an emergency measure to give yourself a chance to cast the counter-charm to dispel it. And you must be vigilant against others casting Enlargement Charms or similar spells on the slugs still effective in your body."
After saying this, he directly stuffed the soil in his hand into Ron's mouth.
Ron, who was still dizzy from vomiting, suddenly felt a lump of soil stuffed into his mouth and hurriedly spat it all out.
After spitting out the soil, he was stunned for a moment with some confusion, touched his stomach, then his neck, blinked, and asked, "Am I alright?"
"Wow~" The surrounding young wizards exclaimed, and many clapped with admiration.
Everyone was cheering.
"Calm down, basic operation, no big deal." Lockhart gave a standard perfect smile and pressed his hands down, telling everyone not to be so excited, but he couldn't stop the young wizards' excitement and mad admiration at all.
Fanatic fan +1
Fanatic fan +1
Fanatic fan +1
...
Well, actually, Lockhart secretly wiped away a cold sweat. Encountering this unexpected situation was quite unlucky. Being seen passing by, he had no choice but to deal with it. Fortunately, he knew this crude method.
Otherwise, would he really have to take out his wand and cast a counter-charm on Ron?
He felt that knocking Ron unconscious with the stick in his hand might be more practical.
He had to leave quickly, not giving the young wizards a chance to react and ask for a demonstration of the counter-charm!
Lockhart's reaction was extremely keen. He seemed to encourage the young wizards with a few words, but in fact, he had already blocked any further questions and was about to leave.
Before leaving, his gaze swept over and happened to see Ron in the corner of the crowd, looking depressed at his wand wrapped in tape. Suddenly, his expression changed, and he called out to him, "You come with me."
"?" Ron一was stunned for a moment. "Where to?"
Of course, to buy a wand.
And to have this experienced young wizard show him how to use the Floo Network fireplace. Although Lockhart had the memories of the original self and other wizards, he himself had never used it.
This mode of transportation was not without risk.
It was said that mispronouncing the fireplace would take him to other places, which would be very bad.
By then, grabbing Ron wouldn't make anyone think he was afraid of this; they would only think he was concerned about the young wizard.
Hehe, plan successful!
Moreover...
Ollivander's wand shop sold wands to students for only 7 Galleons due to subsidies. For ordinary wizarding families, this might be a considerable expense (though not particularly large), but for a bestselling author like Lockhart, it was not even a fraction of his pocket money.
It was just a matter of convenience.
Now that he was a professor, these young wizards would all be his connections in the future. Investing a few Galleons in this matter was a small price to pay for a great return. It was incredibly worthwhile.
Ron didn't think so.
When Lockhart took him to Professor Sprout, who helped them use the Head of House's fireplace to get to Ollivander's wand shop in Diagon Alley, Ron finally woke up from his daze.
He looked up at the sign of Ollivander's wand shop, looking at this wand shop he had anticipated and fantasized about countless times, his eyes filled with suppressed longing.
He was awkward and embarrassed, trying his best to hide the small fear and inferiority that rose in his heart. He swallowed and tried to steady his voice, "Professor Lockhart, I forgot to bring money. I'll come buy one myself next time."
Trying not to grip his wand too tightly, making himself look relaxed, he swung his wand and said, "It's actually still very useful. That was just an accident."
But the wand didn't cooperate. The tape wrapped around it hadn't held it tightly, and the broken half drooped down.
Ron exclaimed and hurriedly forced the half that wasn't completely broken into the tape, lowering his head, not daring to look at Lockhart.
A warm hand gently ruffled his hair. He looked up in astonishment and saw a warm smile full of brilliance.
"This is a reward, Ron."
"Being able to stand up so bravely and wave your wand at the first moment when a friend is humiliated, you are a true Gryffindor and a brave warrior!"
Poor Ron had lived in the shadow of his excellent father, mother, five older brothers, oh, and even his sister, since he was a child. The mediocre him had never received affirmation.
This was simply the most wonderful thing Ron had ever heard in his life!
Never!
Never!
Never had anyone affirmed him so much, saying such words of praise.
"Re... really?" Ron's eyes were full of light.
"Of course!" Lockhart beckoned him into the shop. "How can a warrior not have a handy wand? Ron, I look forward to your future performance on the path of magic."
Such expectations were something Ron had never felt before. For a moment, he only felt a burning sensation in his heart.
And so, the two walked into the shop together. Mr. Ollivander, the shopkeeper, enthusiastically measured his height and arm, asking a lot of questions, making the buying experience absolutely perfect.
Ron only felt like he was floating. The scene before him seemed to overlap with countless fantasies, looking so unreal.
He took the wand Mr. Ollivander handed over. After the latter shook his head and took it back, Ron looked at him expectantly as he searched among the rows of shelves in the shop, his eyes fixed on the wand he was about to receive.
His own wand!
Not the old, slightly damaged wand that his brother Charlie had used, with the unicorn hair sticking out from the end!
'They can't expect me to perform as well as my brothers at school with a wand that doesn't suit me and is about to break!'—he would sometimes even secretly think this.
He was so excited that he didn't even notice that Professor Lockhart was also buying a wand.
Fourteen inches (35.56 cm), not a very straight shape, with a certain curve and a short, curly forked end. This was because "supple wands tend to favour those of elegant spell-casting styles."
The wood was applewood. Mr. Ollivander chattered on about it for a long time. "Applewood wand owners are generally well-loved and long-lived, and I have noticed that customers who match well with applewood wands often possess a high degree of personal charm. Many who wield applewood wands have a remarkable ability to befriend other magical beings, and this includes Dylan Marwood, the author of 'Merpeople: A Comprehensive Guide to Their Language and Lore.'"
The only issue was that applewood wands had a certain resistance to performing Dark Arts.
The core was unicorn hair. "Unicorn hair generally produces the most consistent magic, and is least subject to fluctuations and blockages. Wands with unicorn cores are usually the most difficult to turn to the Dark Arts."
The characteristics of this wand were almost the complete opposite of Lockhart's original wand.
A remarkable ability to befriend other magical beings, the most consistent rather than the most flexible spellcasting state, and the fact that both the wood and the core resisted the Dark Arts...
Mr. Ollivander looked at Lockhart's expression very subtly. "You seem to be so different from your past self."
Lockhart didn't offer any explanation, just looking at the wand in his hand with interest, feeling a power called "joy" suddenly arise within him, and smiling, "This is quite good, isn't it?"
"Yes," Mr. Ollivander said very certainty.
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