Neither the Hogwarts Professors nor the students had ever expected Lockhart to celebrate Valentine's Day so ostentatiously at school.
Although many stir-crazy, lovesick young Wizards and Witches—or young Wizards and young Wizards—would secretly go on dates that day.
But in a school mostly full of underage Wizards, holding such an open and unashamed Valentine's Day event truly did not seem like something a normal-brained creature would come up with.
One could only say that if Lockhart didn't have ten years of cerebral thrombosis, he absolutely wouldn't have come up with such an absurd idea.
On February 14th, when the Professors and young Wizards entered the Great Hall for breakfast, they were immediately stunned by the sight before them.
The walls of the Great Hall were covered with large expanses of pink flowers, and the light blue ceiling was continuously showering heart-shaped confetti.
Lockhart wore an exceptionally bright pink robe, his smile flamboyant and proud, his set of big white teeth very conspicuous.
Meanwhile, the other Professors at the dining tables were all wearing expressions of agony.
Especially Professor McGonagall; perhaps she was recalling Lockhart's outrageous antics during his school days, which made her facial expression particularly tense—at least, it was the first time Karl had seen Cat Mom in such a state.
But thinking about it, it was actually normal. One should know that Lockhart had once mailed himself eight hundred greeting cards, causing a large amount of owl droppings and feathers to fall into the porridge, directly forcing breakfast to be canceled.
Pfft! That scene was just too beautiful!
Karl shook his head, then pushed away the porridge in front of him; he suddenly had no appetite.
Seeing that the Great Hall was almost full, Lockhart stood up, "Everyone, look at me! I have an announcement to make!"
"Ladies and gentlemen! Happy Valentine's Day! This is a little surprise I've prepared for everyone! And…" Lockhart gestured towards the entrance of the Great Hall, his voice very excited, "I've also arranged for little Cupids who can deliver cards for you all!"
Under everyone's dumbfounded gaze, twelve gloomy-faced dwarves walked in, with golden wings and harps on their backs.
What kind of Cupids were these?
"All day today, they will diligently deliver cards for everyone! I want to reveal here that, so far, dozens of people have sent me cards. Thank you all!"
Hearing this, Karl winked at Nina, "There's a good show to watch today."
"What good show?"
Nina was a little curious; he looked somewhat gleeful.
"You'll find out this afternoon."
Karl's grin had become harder to suppress than an AK; just thinking about Harry's predicament today, he couldn't help but want to laugh out loud.
One can only say that the difference between people is even greater than the difference between humans and Trolls.
Although they were siblings, Percy's love letter to Penelope scored 0, while Ginny's love letter to Harry scored P, D, and T combined. 0 was just the upper limit of the score, not Percy's upper limit. P, D, T had already exceeded the lower limit of the score, but it was still not Ginny's lower limit.
It's truly hard to imagine Ginny writing a sentence expressing affection like, "His eyes are as green as a freshly pickled toad."
Karl: ~\(≥≤)/
It's a good thing Snape didn't know about this, otherwise, he would probably go berserk.
After all, in his opinion, Harry's only good quality was his eyes, inherited from Lily.
Freshly pickled toad?
Sectumsempra warning!
"Karl Ourolo! Please accept my sincere and intense admiration for you!"
"This feeling came so fast, so suddenly! Just like you riding a wild boar charging towards a swarm of Acromantulas!"
"The monstrous flames you unleashed that day ignited not only the Acromantulas! But also my pounding heart!"
"Ah—Karl Ourolo! You are my Flame Lord! Wild Boar Rider!"
In the Great Hall during dinner, in front of all the Professors and young Wizards, twelve dwarves played their harps and recited the above message in unison and loudly, in a declamatory tone.
Professor McGonagall: Pfft! Hahahaha! Which young Witch is this? To have such courage!
Dumbledore: Wow! This is very interesting! Lockhart really brought a surprise!
Grindelwald: Beautiful! I'll memorize this whole thing! You little rascal! Let's see how you'll dare to be arrogant in front of me from now on! Hehehehe!
Lockhart: This—this should be a good thing, right? He shouldn't punch me, should he?
Karl: (Yuan Yuan)
Good and evil will eventually be repaid, the way of heaven is a good cycle; if you don't believe it, look up, whom has heaven spared?
It turns out that retribution does exist.
This afternoon, Karl had even taken Nina to watch Harry's embarrassment.
But by evening, he himself had become the entertainment. Was this boomerang a bit too fast?
Looking at Nina, who was laughing uncontrollably beside him, Karl rolled his eyes in annoyance.
"Can you stop laughing?"
"Hahahaha! I can't help it!"
Karl:
You little girl have no heart!
Just as he was about to use some words to make Nina realize the seriousness of the problem, the dwarves started again.
"Ah! Karl Ourolo—"
"Shut up! Get lost quickly! Otherwise, I will beat you to death! Very cruelly!"
"Uh…."
The dwarves looked at the fiery phantom in Karl's eyes, trembling with fear.
Although the money Lockhart gave them made them dutiful, their lives were still more important.
The cowardly dwarves showed fawning, ingratiating smiles, "Alright! As you wish!"
However, just as Karl thought they would leave, he found the dwarves looking towards his side.
"Nina Goldstein! Please accept my sincere and intense admiration for you!"
Nina: ( _ ○ )
Karl: (ten°A°)
Holy crap! Daring to deliver a love letter to Nina right in front of him? You have a revive card, don't you?
You don't need to go to such lengths to die!
"Bang, bang, bang—"
After twelve thuds, all the dwarves were knocked unconscious by Karl, lying haphazardly on the ground, sound asleep.
"Come on, come on! Who wrote this? Come out! I promise I won't beat you to death!"
Looking at Karl, who was rolling up his sleeves, ready for some friendly interaction, the young Wizards, who had been originally beaming with gossip and watching the show, quickly lowered their heads.
Wow! Today's dinner is really good!
The steak tastes like beef, the potatoes taste like potatoes, this is just too delicious!
They dared not look up, lest Karl misunderstand and they'd be finished.
Merlin's pants! Which warrior wrote a love letter to Nina? You might as well write to Headmaster Dumbledore! At least you wouldn't be beaten to death!
At the Professors' table, Lockhart was already sweating profusely, his legs trembling, almost ready to leave.
He was sure Karl wouldn't just punch him, but would beat him to death with random punches!
Snape chuckled softly, "Professor Lockhart, why is your face so pale?"
"Headmaster Dumbledore! Professor McGonagall! Help! This has nothing to do with me! Even if I bear some responsibility, it's not a capital offense!"
While Lockhart was frantically begging for help and Karl was raging, at the Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Gryffindor tables, Judy, Cho, Cedric, the Weasley Brothers, and others exchanged smiles, their achievements hidden.
A few days later, Professor Lockhart of the Defense Against the Dark Arts Class was mysteriously hospitalized again.
Both the Professors and the young Wizards expressed silence and mourning over this.
"Albus, what do you need me for?"
A cheerful Karl walked into the Headmasters Office and saw Snape there as well.
"Regarding Harry being hit and injured by a Bludger again in the Quidditch match, and the incident at the beginning of the term where he couldn't pass through the station's dividing wall."
Dumbledore winked at Karl; it was this boy who had asked Severus to investigate back then, and unexpectedly, results had indeed been found now.
"Ah? Oh! You found the reason?"
Snape nodded with a grim face, "A House-elf."
"Whose?"
"The House of Malfoy."
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