noveltune Chapter 152 Lifeline
Chapter 152 Lifeline
Chapter 152 Lifeline
The other lion cubs reacted differently.
Several younger students' faces lit up as they excitedly exchanged glances, but they were quickly silenced by the older students beside them with looks—the Slytherins were staring intently at them.
Most Gryffindors wore a complex expression: they saw the top spot on the House leaderboard, yet couldn't immediately forget the hundred points deducted from their House Cup.
Ultimately, a restrained silence, a mixture of approval and lingering discontent, replaced any potential cheers.
Seamus, Neville, and a few other students of the same grade sitting near Harry nodded quickly and almost imperceptibly to him when their eyes met, then looked away.
The Ravenclaw students, on the other hand, whispered among themselves, discussing the layout of the mechanisms and the timing of their deployment.
The Hufflepuffs seemed relatively calm, mostly casting admiring or curious glances their way.
Meanwhile, the atmosphere in Slytherin clearly turned cold.
Draco Malfoy's face was grim. He crossed his arms and sneered in a voice that was neither too loud nor too soft, just loud enough for those nearby to hear: "Hmph, it's just that nobody wanted to be rolling around in there like him. He got lucky."
His henchmen laughed in agreement.
Most of the other Slytherin students also looked disdainful or glared resentfully at the number after Harry's name.
There were no cheers, no applause.
But that intangible recognition based on college honor, along with Slytherin's obvious sour grapes mentality, creates a peculiar sense of reality.
This carries more weight than empty flattery.
Ron squeezed next to him and bumped his shoulder hard, his face beaming with undisguised smugness: "Number one! Harry, you're number one! They're furious!" He smirked in the direction of Slytherin.
Hermione leaned in, speaking rapidly: "Was the new trap you encountered based on a magical web binding? How did you deal with it? Did you back down? Or did you try to break the curse?"
Harry smiled and answered his friends' questions. The slight regret of not being able to surpass himself still lingered in his heart, but it had been covered by a more tangible sense of comfort.
He could clearly feel the icy hostility in the atmosphere melting away. The older students who had previously glared at him and deliberately bumped into him in the corridor because of the incident with Liu were now looking at him with a cautious assessment and a hint of uncertainty.
This silent and complex recognition from the collective, like a faint but real warm current, began to dispel the long-standing chill.
It is a clear sign, the beginning of a possible improvement.
His life seems to be genuinely and gradually getting better.
Meanwhile, as Harry's life improved, Gilderoy Lockhart's life was slowly sliding into an abyss.
Lockhart destroyed most of the image he had painstakingly built over a decade in just one class period, and a month later, all the students at Hogwarts knew he was a joke.
At first, it was a cold, subtle panic, like the rain of a Scottish winter, silently seeping into every fiber of his magnificent robes. Then, this panic quickly fermented and swelled, turning into a burning shame and fear that seared his very core.
Lockhart locked himself in his office. The flickering, smiling gazes of "himself" on the walls no longer felt like admiration, but rather a silent mockery.
For the first time, he realized with such clarity that he was not the invincible, composed, and elegant hero in the book—he was merely a man hanging on the edge of a cliff by countless lies he had meticulously woven, and those ropes were making a sickening snapping sound.
Those "adventures" he had once been so proud of and boasted about now struck him like a recurring curse.
Every loophole, every "victory" he escaped by relying on forgetting spells and luck rather than real skill, was vividly replayed in his mind.
He dug himself a bottomless pit and covered the edges with a glittering gold cover. Now he lies at the bottom of this pit, hearing the laughter of the entire Hogwarts from above.
No, this absolutely cannot go on!
Panic gripped his throat like a cold hand.
If these students are allowed to spread their embarrassing stories like this, the news will spread like wildfire, impossible to catch.
At that time, he will lose not only his teaching position at Hogwarts, but everything—honor, wealth, the letters of admiration, and the entire life he has painstakingly built over a decade—in an instant.
He has to do something, immediately, right now!
He needed a brilliant idea, a grand spectacle enough to cover up all the failures, to divert everyone's attention and reignite the foolish and blind worship in their eyes.
His fingers tapped nervously on the table, his eyes scanning the pile of self-recommendation letters frantically, his brain working at an unprecedented speed, trying to find a perfect lie that could extricate him from this crisis he had created.
Suddenly, a face popped into his mind: Lockhart thought of Professor Lynch, who had been making waves at Hogwarts lately.
He first met Professor Lynch at a book signing event held at the Stone Tower Merchant Guild. The reason he noticed him was because Lynch was with the famous Harry Potter group.
He remembered seeing from afar that the staff of the Stone Tower Chamber of Commerce treated Lin Qi with great respect.
Moreover, it's not the kind of respect you show to important figures, but the kind of respect you show to your own boss.
He must be a big shot in the Shita Chamber of Commerce.
Lockhart came to this conclusion.
Then he recalled the news he had heard about Lynch at Hogwarts recently—things like the most powerful wizard besides Dumbledore…
A brilliant idea, like a match struck in a dim corridor, instantly illuminated his mind, which was shrouded in panic.
correct!
Jim Lynch!
Isn't this new professor, who is said to be unfathomably powerful and has a mysterious and wealthy background, the perfect tool to divert attention and reshape his own image?
I have a close working relationship with the Stone Tower Merchant Guild, which would be a good opportunity to get involved with him. If I could cooperate with him at Hogwarts to do something together...
Even if it's just a group photo, I can guarantee that it will appear in the Daily Prophet!
The title is "Hogwarts' Twin Stars: A Clash of Titans Between Lockhart and Lynch"
The students quickly forgot the minor unpleasantness in class and were instead amazed that Gilderoy Lockhart could always be compared to the most outstanding figures.
The thought made him so excited he almost trembled.
He practically jumped to his feet, rushed to the largest gold-framed photo wall, and urgently said to the image of himself still sporting his standard smile, "Yes, that's it! Old friend, we still have a chance! Our biggest chance!"