could be considered the definitive collection of all practical spells discovered by wizards from the dawn of the magical world to the end of the 20th century, holding a position of supreme authority.
It had been in publication for over 200 years.
The latest edition was compiled by the magical textbook author Miranda Goshawk and had been translated into 72 languages, including Gobbledegook and Mermish, a testament to its importance in the wizarding world.
The Charms textbooks for first to seventh years at Hogwarts—*The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 1 through 7—were all abridged portions of the *Book of Spells*, edited down as many of the spells within were deemed unsuitable for younger witches and wizards to learn.
Even more interestingly, Lockhart discovered that besides the spells compiled by Miranda Goshawk, the margins of the *Book of Spells* contained many practical new spells discovered only in recent years.
Upon closer inspection, these new spells were handwritten, many in rather immature handwriting.
Some even had their inventor’s name written beneath, clearly the work of top students from Hogwarts over the years—they had likely done this in hopes of achieving fame.
After all, wizards capable of inventing a new spell from scratch, like the young Severus Snape, were exceedingly rare.
Even the Ministry’s Department of Experimental Spells received fewer than thirty applications for new spell testing in a year.
In short, this book was immensely valuable.
Upon discovering this, Lockhart naturally intended to make full use of it.
He scanned through the spells one by one, not skipping even those handwritten by students, noting down any suitable for his own magical system.
Even if he couldn’t use them immediately, he memorized the incantations and key techniques for later practice.
His actions were noted by the young witch beside him, who was doing her homework while sneaking glances at him for the past two years:
Indeed, successful people have their reasons.
Utilizing every possible moment for study is the true path to success.
When Hermione was leaving the library, Lockhart politely bid her farewell.
“If there are any Restricted Section books you wish to borrow, come find me.
I know all too well the feeling of wanting to read a book but being unable to.”
Hermione was overjoyed—not just for the prospect of accessible books, but more importantly, she now had a reason to visit Lockhart in his office.
“Professor, will you be coming to the library often from now on?” she asked.
“Of course,” Lockhart replied matter-of-factly.
“Why would I pass up such a good opportunity?”
Hearing this affirmation, Hermione secretly clenched her fist.
—Starting today, I’m living in the library!
Seeing Hermione finally leave, Lockhart could at last continue reading the book he had borrowed.
As it was the first day, despite a busy schedule, Lockhart didn’t yet have student essays to grade.
Furthermore, the curfew for students didn’t apply to him as a professor, so he had plenty of time in the evening for his own affairs.
During his year teaching at Hogwarts, he had one essential task—to go to the Room of Requirement, retrieve Ravenclaw’s diadem hidden there by Voldemort, and find a way to destroy the fragment of Voldemort’s soul within.
This was of great significance, as it was the “proof of allegiance” Lockhart would deliver to Dumbledore’s faction.
Siding with the pure-blood families was undoubtedly foolish.
Those now-seemingly dignified fallen nobles were soon to lose their power.
After the Battle of Hogwarts, Death Eaters who followed Voldemort either died or faced reckoning.
Even those not sentenced to life in Azkaban saw their families severely weakened; even Draco Malfoy expressed “remorse.”
If it weren’t for Narcissa Malfoy’s lie that “(Harry) is dead,” Lockhart thought, the Malfoy family might have been finished for good.
As the saying goes, a wise man does not stand beneath a crumbling wall.
Only a foolish politician would stake their future on a sinking ship.
To gain support, Lockhart would undoubtedly choose the members of the Order of the Phoenix.
The Order of the Phoenix was wonderful.
Everyone’s motives were so pure, united solely for the purpose of defeating Voldemort.
Apart from Kingsley Shacklebolt, the others generally had little interest in power.
As long as they were given honors befitting their status, all the political gains from Voldemort’s defeat would fall to him.
But gaining the Order’s trust wasn’t easy.
Only by genuinely destroying one of Voldemort’s Horcruxes could he make them believe he was a true “comrade” on their side, thus earning the right to claim a share of the post-war spoils.
The problem was, as a true Ravenclaw, Lockhart absolutely could not use the fang of Slytherin’s basilisk to deal with the soul in the diadem.
On one hand, it was temporarily unobtainable; on the other, it wouldn’t sound good to explain.
The Sword of Gryffindor “absorbs only that which makes it stronger,” so it needed to have absorbed basilisk venom to gain the power to destroy Horcruxes; borrowing it now would be useless.
Using Fiendfyre or the Killing Curse to destroy the diadem was an even worse idea.
Although Voldemort hadn’t placed many protective spells on it, Ravenclaw’s diadem itself had several self-repairing and damage-prevention charms.
Breaking through them was beyond Lockhart’s current ability.
Moreover, its significance to Ravenclaw House was far too great.
If Lockhart destroyed it with Fiendfyre and word got out, even if Professor Flitwick didn’t fight him to the death, other Ravenclaws would surely accuse him of having no sense of honor.
Similarly, if he chose to hand the Horcrux over to Dumbledore, the benefits he’d reap would be too meager—because he couldn’t explain how he knew about Horcruxes.
He could only tell Dumbledore he had found Ravenclaw’s diadem and that it seemed to carry some evil Dark Magic.
Doing so would strip the act of surrendering the diadem of its meaning as a “proof of allegiance.”
It would only earn him the honor of “discoverer,” not grant him entry into the Order’s inner circle.
Therefore, he had to find a way to destroy it himself.
The only comfort was that destroying a Horcrux didn’t necessarily require basilisk venom or Fiendfyre.
As Hermione found in Magick Moste Evile, “any object of sufficient destructive power to damage the Horcrux beyond magical repair” would suffice.
He didn’t want a record of borrowing Magick Moste Evile from the librarian, so he could only leaf through the *Book of Spells*, trying to find spells he could use.
After searching, he actually found several spells that might eliminate Voldemort’s soul fragment without damaging the diadem.
However, their danger likely rivaled that of Fiendfyre.
For example, a medieval spell called “Summon the Headsman.” It could, in a fundamental sense, erase a soul—whether from a living or dead body—but the price was the caster had to sacrifice their own soul as well.
As a standard egoist, Lockhart felt that even Voldemort’s one-seventh soul fragment was far less valuable than one hour of his own life, let alone his entire soul.
So he naturally wouldn’t do such a “foolish thing.”
There was also the ‘Banshee’s Wail,’ which mimicked a banshee’s scream.
It could, through a special sonic effect similar to weathering, gradually erase all nearby souls, especially those without physical protection, which would dissipate particularly quickly under the wail.
But the problem lay here too.
Even if Lockhart could take the diadem to Antarctica to unleash the Banshee’s Wail, as the caster, he would also be affected by it.
This soul-affecting sound couldn’t be blocked by earmuffs, and he instinctively rejected this course of action.
Additionally, there were spells like “Disintegration,” which could break down any inanimate object, and “Shattering Gear,” which could permanently shatter all objects with physical form.
Lockhart believed they could indeed destroy the Horcrux but would also cause irreversible damage to the diadem, so they were also out of consideration.
After reading about these spells in the *Book of Spells*, Lockhart could only sigh in agreement that the Standard Book of Spells textbooks were right to omit them.
Maybe he should follow convention and find a way to get a Dementor to give Voldemort’s soul fragment a Kiss?