The Hogwarts Emerald

Chapter 396 Magic Wand Detection

It’s said that Dumbledore is a bit irritating sometimes. How could he forget about the wand test? He just mentioned it last on purpose!
In order to avoid arriving too late and making everyone wait for her, Ada had to leave the tower in a hurry and rush to the wand testing classroom.

When Ada walked into the room she only saw Fleur and Krum and had no idea where Harry had gone.

The classroom was not large, and most of the desks were pushed to the back of the classroom, leaving a large open space in the middle. There were three desks lined up in front of the blackboard, covered with velvet. Ludo Bagman was chatting with an old man, who was Ollivander, a professional wand maker.

The first thing to be examined was Fleur Delacour's wand, nine and a half inches long, very flexible, made of maple wood, with a core of a Veela hair, which Fleur said came from her grandmother.

Next was Viktor Krum, who stood in front of Ollivander with his shoulders drooped and his feet turned outward, looking listless. I don't know why, but every time I see Krum, he looks like this. Is his nickname really "Unhappy"?

Krum's wand came from another equally famous wand-maker, Gregorovitch. The wand was ten and a quarter inches long, made of hornbeam, and its core was the tendon cord of a dragon's heart.

Next came Ada, but Harry still didn't know where she was hiding. The wand was ten and three-quarters inches long, resilient, made of yew, which had all sorts of terrible rumors about it, and the wand core was pulled from the tail of some phoenix by Ollivander.

"Miss Drizzt, you and your wand complement each other very well." Ollivander said, "Every time I see your name in the newspaper, I feel that I have found a very good owner for my wand."

In the summer of 1989, Ollivander showed Ada what professionalism was and what a genius in sales was. The old man made Ada feel that she was the "child of destiny", a one-in-a-million candidate.

In the summer of 1991, Ollivander once again showed Ada what professionalism was. It turned out that not only Ada was the "destined child", but also Ron was one in a million.

Although she didn't believe the old man's nonsense, Ada still said politely: "Thank you, Mr. Ollivander, your superb skills have helped me get out of a lot of trouble."

Business is mutually beneficial, and everyone is happy. Ada is happy, Ollivander is happy, but there will always be someone who is unhappy, and Harry is very unhappy because Rita Skeeter has just interviewed him.

Rita Skeeter, dressed in a magenta robe, returned to the classroom first, followed by a very unhappy Harry, whose face was longer than a donkey's.

In front of Ollivander, Harry also took out his wand. Unlike the carefully maintained wands of others, Harry's wand was covered with big handprints and looked dirty.

Mr. Ollivander was testing the wands, and Rita Skeeter was not idle either. She pulled Fleur and Krum to interview them one after another, and finally used her bright red claws to pull Ada to the small broom closet next to the classroom.

In the small broom compartment, Ada could clearly hear Rita Skeeter's breathing. Was she interviewing Harry and Krum in this place? Why was the image of the weird aunt and the little boy so strong?
"Oh, dear, I always hear my colleagues talking about you." Rita Skeeter said exaggeratedly, "I have always wanted to interview you. I have always wanted to know why an orphan from an orphanage is valued by Dumbledore and why he is related to a French family."

Ada's eyebrows knitted together immediately after hearing this. This was too low level. Rita Skeeter obviously didn't notice Ada's dissatisfaction and said to herself: "Don't worry, I am a self-disciplined professional writer. I won't be like my shameful colleagues."

In midair, a long, dazzling green feather pen was writing frantically on a piece of parchment. It read:

"When I mentioned her life story, the fragile girl burst into tears. Recalling her tragic past, she opened her heart to the kind-hearted Rita Skeeter..."

Looking at the writing quill and the words on the parchment, Ada asked, "Do you call this self-discipline or professionalism?"

"Never mind it, let's talk about our own things, it's just a shorthand quill." Rita Skeeter said, "Then the first question is, do you hate your parents who abandoned you?"

Before Ada answered the question, the automatic feather pen had already written several lines. This time it said: "Hearing the unfamiliar word 'parents', the beautiful girl immediately became weak and her shoulders trembled constantly. The girl could not help crying on countless nights, missing her cruel parents, even though she was ruthlessly abandoned by her parents when she was just born..." "Don't be nervous, speak freely." Rita Skeeter said, not knowing if she was really stupid or pretending not to see. Ada was so angry that her nose was about to be crooked, but she was still letting Ada speak freely!

Ada finally understood why Harry, Krum and Fleur all had such bad expressions after the interview. This Rita Skeeter was really disgusting.

"What's going on?" Rita Skeeter exclaimed. The automatic quill and parchment that were writing frantically suddenly caught fire, like two balls of flame floating in the air.

"Although I have never seen my parents, I know that people who tell lies and make up stories about others will go to hell after they die and swallow a thousand needles." Ida suddenly said, "Rita Skeeter, do you want to try swallowing a thousand needles in hell, or do you have no parental education?"

"You..." Rita Skeeter pointed at Ada angrily, as if she wanted to scold Ada.

But how could Ada give the other party this opportunity? Ada stood up and said, "Excuse me, my grandmother doesn't allow me to play with uneducated people." Then, Ada kicked open the door of the broom room and strode out.

After returning to the classroom, Ada found that Dumbledore, Madam Maxime, Karkaroff, and Barty Crouch also appeared in the classroom. The four of them, together with Ludo Buckman, were the referees and judges of this Triwizard Tournament.

Barty Crouch reiterated that the first task was to be carried out on November 24th, and the warriors were only equipped with their own wands. Then it was time to take a photo, a group photo of the four warriors.

Fortunately, among the four warriors, only Viktor Krum looks old, and the four have different hair colors, otherwise this photo would look too much like a family portrait.

After the warriors took their group photo, Ludo Bachmann asked the referees to get involved, which made the photographer very busy because Ms. Maxime would block others no matter where she stood.

The classroom was so small that even if the photographer pressed himself against the wall, he still couldn't fit Ms. Maxime in the camera. In the end, Ms. Maxime had to sit down while everyone else stood around her.

After taking the group photo, Rita Skeeter also came back. She adjusted herself so as not to let everyone in the classroom see her ugly appearance.

Just as everyone was about to disperse and go to the auditorium downstairs to eat, Rita Skeeter stopped everyone. She wanted to take a few individual photos of the warriors for her exclusive report.

It seems that the parchment burned by Ada was not her only manuscript, and the woman had a backup.

Harry, Fleur and Krum stopped helplessly, waiting for their individual photos to be taken. Ada ignored Rita Skeeter and ignored her words. Ada left directly, leaving the other three contestants looking at each other in bewilderment.

While having dinner in the auditorium, Ada complained to the twins about Rita Skeeter. She had only heard about her before, but today she finally had her eyes opened and saw such a disgusting journalist.

The twins also advised her not to bother with such people. It was not worth it. Rita Skeeter's false reports and sensationalism were not a one-day thing. This woman was a complete clown, just like Lockhart.

In fact, Ada didn't take Rita Skeeter seriously, and just ignored such people. But a few days later, Rita Skeeter's report on the Triwizard Tournament was published.

Ada didn't expect that, apart from Umbridge, there were other toads in the wizarding world who didn't bite, but were annoying enough.

(End of this chapter)