After agreeing to Lockhart's request, Ivan did not leave immediately, but instead asked Lockhart to teach him the Memory Charm.
This term's experience taught Ivan the importance of this spell.
If he had been capable of the Memory Charm, Hermione would not have found out about him sneaking into the Gryffindor girls' room.
It also allowed him to deal with the day's events more easily, such as erasing the memories of the two Ravenclaw boys and cleaning up the writing on the wall before anyone else arrived.
"You're going to learn the Memory Charm? Why? Are you going to erase someone's memory?" Lockhart asked curiously.
"Just in case." Without explanation, Ivan gave him a look. "Why are you asking so many questions? I'm not going to use it on you…"
"I didn't say that. It's just that it's not that easy to learn…" Lockhart smiled sheepishly and began explaining the incantation, gestures, and how to use the Memory Charm.
Lockhart may have been mediocre in other areas of magic, but he was a true master of the Memory Charm, and there was probably no one in the wizarding world who could do it better than him.
After all, Lockhart had devoted all his ingenuity to this charm for decades.
It was a rare opportunity for him to show off his true skills, and Lockhart was very much into it. He even mentioned some of the tricks he had learned.
Of course, this was partly because the young wizard in front of him had something on him.
Under Lockhart's guidance, Ivan's knowledge of Memory Charms improved exponentially.
After consuming a certain amount of GPA, Ivan could hear the sound of his proficiency rising in his head at regular intervals.
Soon, Ivan saw the Memory Charm appear in the system's magic column.
"It's all in the air!" Ivan swung his wand, and a milky spell of light hit the wall.
As there was no target, Ivan was unsure how useful it would be.
"You learned it? That was fast!" Lockhart was amazed. As a Master of Memory Charms, he could see that Ivan had mastered the spell.
It must be noted that Memory Charms were quite difficult to learn. When he first started learning the Memory Charm, he thought it would be very fast.
"Something like that," said Ivan, nodding casually.
"Your gift is truly astonishing," Lockhart said, sounding both impressed and a little jealous.
"There's no need to envy me," Ivan said, shaking his head. "I'm afraid no one in the wizarding world has a better understanding of Memory Charms than you."
"Naturally, or I wouldn't be so famous," Lockhart said triumphantly.
This was the only thing he was proud of, as not just anyone could use the Memory Charm to erase the memories of so many powerful wizards without giving themselves away.
Ivan didn't bother to correct Lockhart's beliefs. Everyone had a way of living.
After learning the Memory Charm, Ivan opened the door and prepared to leave.
Suddenly Ivan remembered something and turned to ask tentatively.
"By the way, Professor Lockhart, what do you think about the attack today?"
Lockhart was stunned for a moment before replying regretfully, "That was a very nice Ravenclaw. I even gave the girl an autograph before. Luckily she's all right…"
…
After exiting Lockhart's office, Yvonne followed the crowd back to the Gryffindor lounge.
There was no shortage of speculation as to who had attacked the Ravenclaw girl.
This went on until noon of the next day, when the Muggle-borns became alarmed when Hermione asked Professor Binns about the Chamber of Secrets.
They believed that the one who opened the Chamber of Secrets must have thought that Muggle-born witches and wizards did not deserve to learn magic, and thus tried to kill the Ravenclaw girl.
The words on the wall were a warning to everyone that anyone who tried to stop them from cleaning the school would be killed.
The worst was Harry, who was listed as the prime suspect for the attack due to his exposure of Parseltongue.
Because the Chamber of Secrets was rumoured to have been created by Salazar Slytherin, the founder of Hogwarts was best known for his Parseltongue!
"Goddammit, how could they suspect you? You were with us all day yesterday!" Ron exclaimed angrily in the corridor outside the classroom.
Harry was also frustrated. He had done nothing, and yet somehow he was being accused of being the attacker.
"Do you think it has something to do with Lord Voldemort's possession?" Harry asked, suddenly thinking of Ivan's stolen diary.
"Perhaps…" Ivan said casually, then turned to Hermione and asked, "Hermione, is the injured Ravenclaw awake?"
The most direct way to find out who had taken the Horcrux was to question the injured girl from yesterday, who would most likely know something.
"Not yet. According to Madame Pomfrey, in addition to her injuries, she seems to have been hit with a powerful Dark Magic, and her life force is severely damaged," Hermione said sadly.
Ivan frowned as he realised that the situation was worse than he had thought.
It seems that Tom Riddle is not only trying to frame him, but is also secretly trying to regain his powers.
This discovery also gave Ivan a clue.
Having spent so much time with Tom, Ivan knew a great deal about the power of Horcruxes.
Unless the girl had one hundred percent confidence in the Horcrux and was willing to open up part of her soul to it, Tom would never have been able to absorb so much life force from a minor wizard in such a short time.
This meant that the Ravenclaw girl had most likely been in possession of a Horcrux for a very long time in order to establish such a level of trust.
Now that the poor kid was no longer useful to him, Tom heartlessly abandoned him, throwing him away as a discarded pawn and giving him trouble.
"Impressive, Tom. You're really getting good at this." Ivan was having a headache. He had been using information to his advantage to tease Tom every day, and now he had almost been tricked by him.
In contrast to Ginny in the real world, Ivan understands that Tom has regained some of his strength, but not enough to revive the Ravenclaw girl, who is still alive…
However, that might not be the case when Tom absorbed a few more lives!