Hogwarts: Bloodline Legend

Thinking about the situation when she met Professor Lockhart before.

Hermione was truly very worried about exposing herself.

She was so tense that her fist clenched completely tight—Professor Snape's expression also slightly stiffened, after all, he was very aware of how Professor Lockhart always liked to do things that made him uncomfortable.

This bumbling writer's abilities might not be great, but his observation skills were certainly sharp. Throughout this semester, Snape had already been discovered by him several times.

Just as the atmosphere in the air seemed somewhat heavy.

"Professor Snape? Are you there? I heard from the students that they saw you return to the office?" Lockhart's voice accompanied by a cheerful knock sounded again.

Inside the office, the air seemed even more dense.

Hermione, wanting to pretend not to be there, suddenly appeared flustered.

There's no way to pretend not to be in the office now; if Professor Lockhart goes to find the little wizards who saw her return together, her impersonation of Snape might be discovered.

"Damn it."

Hermione was thrown into confusion.

She looked to Snape for help.

Snape was obviously concerned about this too; he believed that if he didn't respond to Professor Lockhart, then Lockhart would definitely do something like bring a group of little wizards over in the form of "uncovering lies"—it's happened before, Snape suspected Lockhart was doing it on purpose, but he hadn't been able to find evidence in the past.

"I'm here, but I'm very busy, do not disturb me."

He directly opened his mouth to coldly respond to the person outside the door.

Hermione let out a breath of relief.

And upon seeing a professor appear outside the door.

"Mmm mmm mmm~"

Ron, desperately seeking help, was gagged but still insisted on making "mmm" sounds, kicking his legs wildly, as if hoping Professor Lockhart would notice the abnormality inside the room.

Indeed.

If any little wizard were in such a situation, they might also want to try and appeal for help like Ron. You know, he and Neville had arrived in the morning, and now they've been trapped here for most of the day.

You can imagine how many terrifying futures they've thought of.

"Mmm mmm mmm~"

He frantically tried to utter a sound. Upon seeing Ron's behavior, Snape's gaze turned sharp, his magic wand silently shook—Ron immediately went limp like a puppet cut from its strings.

Snape had likely used a magic spell to render Ron unconscious.

Regarding this.

Neville certainly didn't know.

Neville witnessed the scene, his forehead instantly covered in beads of sweat, and he didn't know if Ron had been killed or not. In any case, the sense of danger suddenly enveloped the little chubby boy. When Snape's cold gaze swept over him, he instantly rolled his eyes and fell backward stiffly, even holding his breath.

Clearly, Neville was hoping to dodge Snape's magic spell by playing dead, acting obedient in hopes that Snape wouldn't jinx him. In critical moments, he did show some resourcefulness.

Sure enough.

Snape really didn't cast a spell on him, somewhat tacitly acknowledging Neville's compliant behavior—his intention wasn't to torment the little wizards but to prevent them from ruining his plans.

"I just wanted to ask you for advice on some issues regarding the brewing of magic potions. It won't take long." Outside the door, Lockhart continued speaking as if he hadn't noticed anything.

The tone was earnest.

"I-I'm very busy! I don't have time to be delayed, don't come bother me." Hermione hurriedly responded using Snape's deep voice, though her tone naturally trembled.

After a day's practice.

Hermione had already adapted to how Snape spoke.

"Just five minutes," Lockhart dragged out his tone, "You surely don't want me to tell the students that even Professor Snape can't solve my potion problems, right?"

"Right now, there are more than a dozen little wizards waiting in my office for us to do potion experiments together. If I go back and say that, they'll definitely think I'm deceiving them."

"If they come to you for confirmation, wouldn't it delay you even more?" This could be considered a form of threat, but Professor Lockhart indeed spoke in a tone as if considering Snape.

This kind of tone.

Was one of the reasons Snape detested Professor Lockhart the most. This damn narcissistic, petty-minded man, since arriving at Hogwarts, had consistently subjected Snape to various subtle threats.

Snape's face turned instantly ashen.

"Go open the door for him! Don't let him in." No one knew what kind of magic Snape used, his voice reached Hermione's ears, but didn't spread in the air.

Only Hermione could hear it.

"Uh?" Hermione actually didn't want to open the door; after all, facing students and facing a professor are two different matters—she had heard quite a few of Professor Lockhart's legendary stories since school started. He was one of the wizarding world's top wizards, many said he'd become as great as Dumbledore in the future.

Having a face-to-face confrontation with such a wizard, who knew if it would immediately explode, since Hermione had experienced Dumbledore's sharp perception.

"Alas."

A worried Hermione sighed, but had no choice; her back was already soaked in cold sweat, but she could only grit her teeth and head towards the door.

She could only hope Lockhart being relatively young wouldn't see through everything—secretly pumping herself up, the little witch slowly walked over.

"Stand to the right after opening the door." Snape's Transmission Spell rang in her ear again, obviously concerned about Hermione facing Professor Lockhart, "Don't let him see inside."