great-warnovel Chapter 120 The Bone-Extracting Curse
Chapter 120 The Bone-Extracting Curse
Chapter 120 The Bone-Extracting Curse
As Hermione had predicted, the day after Halloween, all the children who had attended the ghost party fell ill.
Madam Pomfrey complained a lot about Dumbledore, but as Hermione had said before, catching a cold was nothing in the magical world. Each person drank a bottle of potion and recovered in less than two hours.
But what's absurd is that Hermione, the only child who didn't attend the death anniversary party and didn't have to drink potions, ended up in the school hospital with a severe cold after everyone else had recovered.
"It's the magical flu," Narcissa said in a muffled voice as she handed the medicine to her, wearing a mask.
"In the magical world, if many children catch a cold at the same time, a strange magical germ will form, causing other healthy children to also become ill."
"How can they have such a strange illness? They just caught a cold, they don't even have any germs!" Hermione complained, drinking the bitter medicine.
"That's magic," Narcissa shrugged.
"It is widely believed that this is a kind of psychological meme germ among children, in which children subconsciously hope to have peers who can experience the same things as them."
"Blame Dumbledore!" Madam Pomfrey said irritably.
"He probably thinks the school hospital isn't busy enough and wants to give this old man more to do!" she said, patting the pillow as she made the bed, as if it were Dumbledore's head.
"Or perhaps they feel Pomona has too many herbs piling up and needs to use some up?"
"In short, this old guy's brain has probably really been eaten away by ghosts!" the school doctor wrote in his diagnosis.
Hermione felt much better after drinking the potion, but her request to do her homework or read was still ruthlessly rejected. Madam Pomfrey also forbade her to return to her dormitory and she had to stay in the medical wing for half a day of observation.
Today happens to be a new round of Quidditch matches. Hermione couldn't be there in person, so she had to let him score and watch the game from the sidelines, absorbing the emotions of the crowd.
She could faintly hear the shouts and cheers of the audience outside the window, but there was nothing she could do. She could only close her eyes and simulate the spell and casting actions in her mind.
After an unknown amount of time, the cheers outside the window stopped, as if the match had ended. The only sound in the room could be Narcissa quietly tidying up the bed and equipment.
Suddenly, with the sound of footsteps, the door to the school hospital was pushed open, and Lockhart helped Draco in.
"Oh Merlin, what's wrong!" Narcissa rushed over to greet her.
"Draco fell off his broom while trying to catch the Golden Snitch and broke his hand," Lockhart said, sounding somewhat embarrassed, especially since it happened in front of the child's mother.
Mrs. Pomfrey walked over and lifted Draco's sleeve, revealing a rubbery arm hanging limply, seemingly completely numb.
"How did it get like this? You let the students handle it themselves?" Mrs. Pomfrey frowned, while Narcissa hurriedly ran to the medicine cabinet and frantically searched for medicine.
"Uh, it was an accident—" Lockhart blushed; it was the first time he had ever made such a serious mistake.
"I was going to demonstrate to the students how to perform battlefield first aid, but—" he couldn't finish his sentence.
"Gidero, you're a very mature wizard, how could you make such a basic mistake?" Lady Pomfrey said strangely.
"I've read your description of the bone-setting incantation in your book; it's quite professional. I even recommended it to Narcissa."
"Bone-Giving Spirit." Narcissa walked over and fed Draco the medicine she had found.
Lockhart blushed deeply and kept apologizing to Narcissa, but Mrs. Malfoy was quite angry about the children and didn't want to talk to him.
"I caught the Golden Snitch! Slytherin beat Ravenclaw!" Draco, on the contrary, was in high spirits. His eyes were bright, and he seemed to still be recovering from the match, not feeling any pain. He excitedly told his mother while drinking his medicine.
Narcissa softened her tone and said softly, "You don't need to work so hard, Draco. Everyone knows how excellent you are."
"That's not enough. I also need to beat Harry; he's my biggest rival." Draco narrowed his eyes. He knew he was inferior to Harry in Quidditch, even though he tried his best. Harry always managed to spot the Golden Snitch before him.
They are also more adept at flying.
In the House Cup, Slytherin's points have consistently lagged behind Gryffindor's. With Hermione in academics, Harry in combat, and Ron and Neville helping them, is Slytherin destined to dominate Hogwarts for another six years? The other three houses do not want to accept this outcome.
Narcissa finally accepted Lockhart's apology. She turned to him and said in a slightly stiff tone, "I hope this is the last time, Professor. I know you are learned and powerful, but everyone makes mistakes. I hope that next time you encounter a situation like this, you can hand it over to us directly."
Lockhart lowered his head in shame: "Maybe I've been under too much pressure lately. It was originally a very simple spell."
He did look somewhat haggard: "I intended to give Draco emergency treatment first, but halfway through the incantation, I suddenly saw my two dead sisters standing in the crowd. I thought someone had released the Boggarts, and instinctively misread the incantation."
Hermione was puzzled; this was a very serious mistake. In a life-or-death situation, it could have directly led to his death.
"Don't put too much pressure on yourself, Gilderoy, you've done very well," Madame Pomfrey comforted him.
"The students all like you very much. You can hear praise for you everywhere in the corridor. I have even heard girls calling your name from their hospital beds more than once at night. You don't need to put so much pressure on yourself."
"Oh, that sounds even worse."
Lockhart sighed. "Well, I just don't want to let Dumbledore down. I want to do better."
"And perhaps it's because I'm back in school that I keep thinking about my two older sisters. They had such high hopes for this place, but they never got to come to school."
Hermione remembered that Harry and the others had also mentioned that the professor had been absent-minded lately, and Lockhart kept bringing up his two sisters.
It seems he died before entering school, and now his two older sisters have become his inner demons. Not only can Boggart detect them, but they also frequently affect him during battles and spellcasting.
"Perhaps it's not a good choice for him to come back to teaching; the environment here is too likely to bring out his weaknesses," she thought.
"Take two sleeping pills with you before you leave; they might help you," Mrs. Pomfrey said, expertly prescribing the medication for the professor as well.
However, Hermione felt that for someone with a knot in their heart, potions could only treat the symptoms, not the root cause; they had to get over it themselves.