A Certain Magical Hogwarts

Chapter 298 Rita's Report (Third Update)

Rita may not be a very good person, but her creative speed is frighteningly fast.

Even though they had only met on Saturday, William saw a long article about Rita in the Daily Prophet on Monday morning.

It's truly a tentacle monster!

As for why the Daily Prophet agreed to report this kind of news... in Rita's words:

"The Daily Prophet's purpose is to promote itself. As long as it can make money and the news is sensational, the content itself... doesn't matter."

So at breakfast, all the young wizards were unusually quiet, holding a glass of milk and carefully reading the Daily Prophet.

The newspaper's headline featured a photo of Lockhart falling at the dueling club, with a line of large red text printed on the photo:

Does Lockhart still have any humanity?!

This report was filed by Rita Skeeter, a special correspondent for this newspaper.

Albus Dumbledore, the eccentric headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, has always been known for hiring controversial faculty.

Last summer, he hired Lockhart, a third-class Merlin Medal recipient, as a Defense Against the Dark Arts professor.

Lockhart had just accepted the invitation when he immediately demanded that the school replace all the Ministry of Magic's designated textbooks with his own.

As is well known, Lockhart's books are many times more expensive than textbooks on the market.

"My family is so poor that we can barely afford to eat, and we have a bunch of younger brothers and sisters who are crying for food."

A little witch named Elena Kaslana lamented, "To save money, I've been eating tree bark all summer..."

(This reporter would like to appeal to everyone to pay more attention to the plight of impoverished young wizards and prevent them from eating indiscriminately... If you would like to sponsor little Kaslana, you can send me Galon, and I will forward it to you.)

Lockhart's method of exploiting parents has undoubtedly been criticized by many.

In a series of classes that many described as "terrifying," Lockhart also required students to role-play werewolves and vampires to satisfy his peculiar and unspeakable fetish!

Lockhart also has violent tendencies.

"I was attacked during a Quidditch match, and he ripped my thigh bone out," said a student named Draco Malfoy.

"Otherwise, I would definitely have led Slytherin to victory... My good friend Potter told me privately that Ravenclaw's victory wasn't honorable!"

However, Lockhart not only did not restrain himself, he became even more outrageous.

He repeatedly claimed: "No one knows more about dark magic than me"; "No one knows more about the Headmaster of Hogwarts than me"; "I know more about the position of Minister for Magic than anyone else"...

However, considering that British wizards are already used to Minister Fudge's big mouth, Lockhart's boasts above don't pose any real threat. What kind of politicians and writers would they be if they didn't brag?

However, the reporter's skeptical investigation revealed that Lockhart's claims of heroic deeds were all fabrications and plagiarism, which is highly problematic...

"Good morning, everyone." Lockhart, wearing a red robe, walked up to the main table.

"What's wrong?" Lockhart touched his face and realized that everyone's eyes were on him.

"The newspaper..." Professor Flitwick, ever the nice guy, couldn't help but remind him.

"Oh, is it Hagrid's verdict? Did he mention me?" Lockhart asked excitedly.

"I mentioned it, you're the headline news," Professor Snape grinned.

Lockhart picked up Professor Flitwick's newspaper, and as he finished reading it with a dazed look, the article from the Daily Prophet trembled in his hand.

"Slander! This is all slander! Utter slander!" Lockhart angrily tore the newspaper to shreds. "I'm going to send that woman Skeeter a wizard's letter!"

Lockhart, as if possessed, snatched the newspapers from the professors.

"Of course." Snape handed the newspaper to Lockhart as well, his dark eyes gleaming.

"Give them all to Professor Lockhart; he needs to collect newspaper clippings..."

The Great Hall echoed with the laughter of the Slytherins, and Snape's thin lips twitched into a malicious smile.

"If I find out who leaked these interesting things to that wretched woman Skeeter... I'm willing to offer up my medicine storage room so he can pick whatever he wants."

William looked up and his gaze met Hermione's at the Gryffindor dining table.

That's good news... William plans to have the professor fulfill his promise at the end of this semester.

Soon, a flock of owls flew in, and a barrage of letters rained down on Lockhart.

"It must be a letter of comfort from one of my readers!" Lockhart picked up a letter and quickly opened it to read.

"Ouch!" Lockhart had just opened an envelope when a yellowish-green liquid sprayed onto his hands, emitting a pungent gasoline smell, and large yellow blisters immediately appeared on his hands.

Lockhart cried out in pain, tears welling up in his eyes.

He picked up a napkin to wipe the pus from his hands, but his fingers were covered with thick, painful sores, making them look like he was wearing a pair of bumpy, thick gloves.

It turns out this was a curse letter sent by a reader.

"I want to go home... I want to resign... I'll never be a Defense Against the Dark Arts professor again!"

Lockhart ran towards the school hospital, sobbing.

William shrugged. "It's a bit late to say that now... The position of Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor isn't something you can just take or leave as you please."

Even if everyone agreed, Robert and Professor Quirrell, who are dead, and Tywin Lannister, who is imprisoned in Azkaban... they can't agree!

……

……

Lockhart is sick, very sick.

It was a mental illness, though, because wizards from all over the country were writing letters to curse him.

The Defense Against the Dark Arts course suddenly lost a professor and became unattended.

Since William arrived at Hogwarts, regardless of the quality of instruction in the Dark Arts class, it has been virtually unattended every school year.

Given this situation... the British magical community has no future!

It didn't affect William and his group much.

William has always taken on the role of a private tutor, teaching several of his close friends.

With William's current level of magic, he is more than capable of teaching Cedric and the others.

At the very least, we can't let their standards drop.

By the end of March, nobody cared about Lockhart's problem anymore.

Because Dumbledore left Hogwarts.

Of course, this also means that William and his team have basically determined the location of the secret room.

As agreed, Dumbledore was immediately and temporarily relieved of his duties by the school board, which was contacted by Malfoy.

Dumbledore was gone, and fear spread rapidly in an unprecedented way. Every face in the school looked apprehensive, and every laugh that rang out in the corridors sounded jarring, eerie, and was quickly suppressed.

During this time, William had been waiting for Fox, that old phoenix, but it never showed up.

The diary seems to have fallen into complete silence.

……

……

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(End of this chapter)