Hogwarts: Harry Returns from Azeroth

Chapter 151 150. Lockhart's Thoughts

It may or may not be to Filch - after becoming a shaman last year, Filch's threat has skyrocketed.

Before it was the damn Filch and his damn cat, but now there's one more, his damn earth elemental.

The tiny earth element was flowing in every corner of the castle. Even the soil in the flower pots was no longer safe. It might inform Filch at any time. Then the castle administrator would take the cats and severely put those students who violated the school rules into detention.

Like a tiger with wings.

But such setbacks alone cannot stop Fred and George. They only make them more determined to overcome this difficulty. The more they face setbacks, the more courageous they become - their prank career will never stop.

"Hey, Harry," George waved as a greeting, and asked, "Where are you going?"

"Madam Malkin's Robe Shop," Ron replied, "Can you give me one? That firework."

"No, unless you say something nice," Fred said with a smile.

"Okay, my two dearest brothers, can you give me a firework?" Ron said at the speed of light without any hesitation.

Fred's eyes widened.

"...Your skin has become thicker much faster than I thought, Ron." George said with a complicated expression: "What changed you? Hogwarts?"

"It's Snape," Ron held out his hand, "Where's the thing?"

"Okay, okay, just think of it as a gift for your growth." Handing a firework to Ron, Fred shrugged and said, "And you, Ginny - here."

He handed an inconspicuous black cloth bag to Ginny. Ginny lifted it curiously and heard a crisp and pleasant sound of metal collision coming from it.

Although they had basically never heard of this kind of sound, the children immediately realized what was inside.

"Gallons?!" Ginny opened the bag and took a look, exclaiming, "So many!"

"A gift for you, our sister," George said with a smile, "Go buy a new robe that you like."

"Or you can buy two pieces - or buy something else you like." Fred added: "This way you don't have to ask mom for money. We want to share some of the burden with her, but unfortunately mom won't agree."

"Oh, put that smile off your face, Fred," Ron couldn't help but said, "Your mouth is about to burst from laughing."

"Of course," George laughed, "Dear little Ronnie, you have no idea how happy your mother was at that time."

"And how hard she cried." Fred followed up with, "Damn, if we had known Mom would get that excited, we should have given it to her in front of you."

"Really? And then look at me jealous?" Ron rolled his eyes and said angrily, "What about mine?"

"What's yours?" The twins were puzzled.

"Of course it's a gift!" Ron's eyes widened, "Even Ginny has one! Why don't I have one! This isn't fair!"

"Oh, Ron" Fred grabbed Ron's neck from the left.

"No, it should be our dearest little Ronnie." George held Ron's neck from the right.

"Hey! Let me go!" Ron struggled hard, but unfortunately, he was not strong enough to fight against his two brothers. "Save me! Harry! Save me!!"

Harry was telling Luna that everything she had seen so far was proof of the excellent relationship between Ron and his two brothers.

"Be quiet, little Ronnie." Fred covered Ron's mouth impatiently and said, "Listen to what you just said, Ron, you are a boy!"

"Be a man!" George added, "You should find a way to make money and support yourself like a man."

"Like us," Fred continued, "find a way to learn some useful knowledge, and then turn that knowledge into money - understand?"

He released Ron, and Ron stopped struggling.

"...I must have heard it wrong," Ron said to himself, "Fred and George are actually trying to persuade me to study...How could I have such a dream?"

"Obviously you heard me correctly, my brother."

After saying this, Fred pinched Ginny's face affectionately, and then left with George - there were still many things waiting for them to buy.

"Although I don't want to admit it, their performance is indeed good." Ron said in a daze as he watched the twins leave. "And the things they made also sold very well."

"Don't be discouraged, Ron," Neville comforted him, "You can also study hard."

"Me?" Ron laughed. "Forget it. I get a headache when I see books. Well, let's go to the robe shop quickly."

They chatted and laughed all the way to Madam Malkin's robe shop. When they passed a second-hand shop filled with tattered wands and various old scales and cauldrons, they noticed Percy putting an old book back on the pile of second-hand books with his eyebrows tightly furrowed.

"How do prefects gain power?" After saying hello, Luna curiously picked up the book that Percy had just put down and read.

"Well, I'm just a little curious." Facing Harry's gaze, Percy scratched his hair awkwardly, "I feel that the things in it are different from what I imagined... There are too many useless things."

"Hogwarts prefects and the careers they pursued after leaving school," Ron read aloud the description on the back cover of the book. "It sounds quite fascinating."

"Shut up, Ron," Percy said with a blushing face, a little embarrassed to face Harry's gaze.

"Minister of Magic, I understand," Ron nodded in understanding, "You've got it all planned out - come on!"

Hermione's eyes grew sharper.

Percy’s goal is also to become the Minister of Magic?
If you think about it carefully, this news doesn't seem so surprising. After all, even Hermione has to admit that Percy is indeed very outstanding and a strong rival.

After buying new robes for Luna and Ginny at Madam Malkin's robe shop, Harry took Luna to Ollivander's wand shop. Harry thought choosing a wand would be a very troublesome thing, after all, he spent a long time here last year before getting his own wand.

But today, Luna and Ginny took less than ten minutes combined.

While Ollivander was still muttering about how wands choose wizards instead of wizards choosing wands, Luna had already been looking fixedly in the direction above her head, which was a box to be precise.

Then she got a wand of her own, with a dogwood wand body and a thestral tail feather core. It didn't take Ginny too long, just trying five or six wands, and she got a wand made of yew wood and dragon heartstrings - this kind of wand is very powerful and has a stronger learning ability.

Just as Harry had judged before, Ginny, the girl who blushed when she saw him, was actually a tough and determined child.

I have to say that the wandology that Ollivander always talks about is quite interesting.

Luna was indeed a very well-behaved child. To be honest, Harry had no experience in raising children - the kind of experience in raising a junior with whom he was very close.

He even wanted to buy some toys for Luna, but Hermione covered his face and pulled him aside... and told him seriously not to treat a lady as a child, which was very rude.

Well, Harry thought Luna should like that toy very much, and when Hermione pulled him aside, she and Ginny were also laughing happily.

When the group arrived at Flourish and Blotts at the agreed time, Mr. Weasley and Mrs. Weasley were already waiting there - Mr. Weasley looked helpless, while Mrs. Weasley was extremely excited.

Well, it should be said that the witches present were extremely excited. Most of the people gathered here were about the same age as Mrs. Weasley, and the wizards present all looked like they were about to die - especially the wizard standing at the door, who was maintaining order with a tired look on his face, and his weak voice was enough to make people sleepy.

There was also a large banner hanging overhead that read: Gilderoy Lockhart's autobiography, The Magical Me, signed and sold.

"We're going to meet him!" Hermione said excitedly, wanting to squeeze forward. "He has enough adventures to write seven books, and that's not even all of him! I really want to know how he encountered so many terrible things!"

"Maybe he goes to the cemetery every night and encounters ghosts," Ron muttered, "or some other place that doesn't sound like a human place."

"Ron!" Hermione glared at him.

"I don't understand." Ron couldn't help but yelled, "Why would you worship a man whose teeth are bigger than his head? You might as well worship Harry! At least Harry invented a new kind of magic, which is much greater than getting rid of garden gnomes!"

"Well said, little Ronnie." Fred and George also arrived. They crowded over and said, "We also think Lockhart is far inferior to Harry."

"I - I don't worship him!" Hermione's face flushed all of a sudden. She glanced at Harry uneasily, as if she was afraid that Harry would misunderstand her, and said hastily, "I'm just curious! His adventures! All the novel things related to the wizarding world! I mean - those details are very real, aren't they?!"

Hermione's voice was a little too loud, so everyone in the bookstore looked over here, including the person who was surrounded in the center.

Originally sitting behind the table, he was surrounded by enlarged photos one after another, with him as the center. The face in the photos kept blinking at the crowd, flashing dazzling white teeth.

This is Lockhart, he is wearing a conspicuous blue robe and a pointed wizard hat on his head - it is not an illusion, this man is really shining brightly.

"If I'm not mistaken," Neville swallowed subconsciously, "that's your shining potion, Harry."

"He's standing up," Ron muttered. "Now's probably not the time to celebrate Harry's potion sales - damn, he's actually walking up!"

"Let's see who this is?" Lockhart walked over quickly and shouted, "Isn't this Harry Potter?!"

As he spoke, he held out his hand directly towards Harry - and then, with a flash of lightning, Lockhart jerked his hand away.

Harry's electric shock was so fast that only a few people around him could see clearly what he did.

"Don't touch me." Under Hermione's stunned gaze, Harry said rather coldly, "Do we know each other?"

"Ah, oh...it seems our Boy-Who-Lived is quite shy." As if nothing had happened just now, Lockhart turned around and walked towards his table. "But it's understandable. He is still young after all, and youth is always full of immaturity."

Harry was pretty sure he heard a kind of - gnashing of teeth in Lockhart's words.

Incomprehensible.

And where no one could see, the moment Lockhart turned around, his expression suddenly turned ugly.

That feeling was not Harry's illusion. Lockhart was filled with jealousy towards this boy who was now at the center of the news.

Well, Lockhart knew clearly that jealousy was just one of the first emotions that appeared in his heart, along with dissatisfaction and annoyance... But now, just by seeing Harry, Lockhart felt as if some gunpowder was exploding in his chest, tormenting him and making his teeth itch.

"One year! A whole year! Do you know how I spent this year? Harry Potter!!!" Lockhart roared silently in his heart and took a deep breath.

This hateful boy suddenly appeared a year ago, and then unreasonably snatched away all the public's attention.

Let’s start from the time this boy first appeared on the Daily Prophet before school started last year. From that day on, the Daily Prophet went crazy (authentic old London swear word), always focusing on Dumbledore or Harry Potter, changing from one angle to another!
The reporting can’t be stopped!!

And this kind of thing has become more and more excessive this summer, what with Potter getting his family's old house back, what with playing Quidditch at the age of twelve, and most importantly winning, and playing a key role in the entire game - are the people of the Ballycastle Bats a bunch of good-for-nothings! !
As for what happened in recent days, there is even the matter of suing the Ministry of Magic, and Potter won the lawsuit!
Lockhart knew how the people in the wizarding world viewed this boy now. They saw him as their incarnation! As their spokesperson! Potter's victory over the Ministry of Magic was equivalent to his victory over the Ministry of Magic! Potter was their hero - a bullshit bear! !
Damn it, Jesus Christ!

He took a deep breath. To be honest, after seeing the Potter boy in person, Lockhart always felt that he could not control his emotions stably.

As a half-blood wizard, Lockhart had a certain degree of understanding of both worlds, so he borrowed some methods from the Muggle world to hype himself in the wizarding world... The effect had been quite good until last year, as the old-fashioned people in the wizarding world simply could not understand the new methods of the Muggle world.

It's the same old story, and suddenly everything changed.

The front page of the Daily Prophet - Lockhart couldn't remember the last time he was on the front page of the Daily Prophet.

When I became an honorary member of the Anti-Dark Arts League? Or when I received the Order of Merlin?
It's been too long...it's been too long!!
Lockhart felt his blood pressure rising rapidly when he recalled how he woke up this morning and saw that the news of his book signing event in Diagon Alley was pushed to the very corner of the Daily Prophet, while the entire newspaper was filled with articles about the boy.

Especially the editor-in-chief of the Daily Prophet!

What's the meaning of 'I'm sorry, Lockhart, but people really want to see more about Harry right now'?
He didn't even return the Galleons he gave him! Instead, he made a promise without any sincerity that he would make him the headline later - it's too late!!!
It's all too late!!

It should have been so perfect - huh.

Even though his heart was so turbulent that he couldn't calm down at all, it had to be said that Lockhart seemed to be in control very well. There was nothing unusual in his pace or tone of voice, so even Harry didn't care.

"How wonderful?" Lockhart stood in front of his desk and picked up a book from it. When he turned around again, his face was covered with that bright smile again. "On the day when I was signing books, I happened to meet our Harry Potter - he is not an unknown person, right? Although he is indeed very green."

"I really liked his match against Ballycastle Bats. Almost as soon as I watched that match, I became his loyal fan," Lockhart said solemnly. "In fact, few people know that I am also quite good at Quidditch, and I am also very happy to teach Harry some practical skills so that he can go further on the field - and this is the point I am going to talk about next."

"Isn't it wonderful?" Lockhart repeated, waving his hand to signal silence to the crowd. "This is such an extraordinary moment. I want to take this wonderful occasion to announce a small thing. This thing has been kept secret for some time. "

He paused deliberately to keep the audience in suspense.

"Young Harry walked into Flourish and Blotts today just wanting to buy my autobiography - I was willing to give it to him for free on the spot." Lockhart's words caused applause. He continued: "But what he didn't know was that he would soon get something more valuable than my humble work "The Magical Me"!"

(End of this chapter)