A certain Hogwarts professor of runes.

"Crack!"

Lockhart, bewildered, covered his face and cried out, "Hey, stop! Stop it now!"

However, Rita Skeeter was even more enthusiastic about shooting; her creative desires were now bursting. Unfortunately, due to some concerns, she did not bring her automatic quill and parchment.

She stole a glance at Felix, who silently watched everything.

This put Rita Skeeter at ease; it seemed 'this person' didn't care about others. Next time she had the chance to come to Hogwarts, she would definitely be well-prepared.

“Good heavens, Professor McGonagall must be furious,” Hermione said, hiding behind a huge pillar. Harry and Ron looked at their Transfiguration professor, whose face was contorted in rage.

The situation had escalated to the point where Lockhart rushed over and tried to snatch the camera from Skeeter, but it seemed that Lockhart was no match for her in terms of physical strength alone. Skeeter's two-inch-long fingernails left more than a dozen scratches on his face.

"My handsome face!" Lockhart was furious.

Professor McGonagall had to step in and separate the two, her lips trembling with anger. "Professor Lockhart, please leave here immediately! As for you..." She looked at Rita Skeeter with disgust.

“Oh, don’t worry about me, Professor McGonagall,” Rita Skeeter said shamelessly. “I’m just wandering around. It’s been so many years since I’ve been back to the school. I really miss it.”

"Suit yourself." McGonagall couldn't worry about her for the time being. She and Professor Flitwick worked together to drag the basilisk away.

Felix glanced around; Lockhart looked like an enraged bull, and he didn't want to get involved. He turned and walked towards the school hospital.

After a while, Lockhart calmed down completely. He suddenly realized that he was facing an unprecedented crisis. He straightened his messy hair and said to Rita Skeeter, "Skeeter, we need to talk, one-on-one."

The woman gave him a haughty look, then handed her two assistants her biggest prize—the magic camera—saying, "Keep an eye on it, and stay away from it."

With the two assistants gone, Lockhart and Skeeter were now the only two people in the open space.

Secretly, the twins and the trio each held their breath, each on their own side.

Rita Skeeter glanced at Lockhart dismissively, grinning triumphantly. "What do you want to talk to me about? I don't think it's necessary—"

"A renowned bestselling author!"

Lockhart's handsome face contorted, but he glanced around and said in a low voice, "We don't need to get to this point. I can give you Galleons as compensation, as long as you don't mention this matter."

Rita Skeeter glanced at him.

"Two thousand Galleons!" Lockhart said painfully.

no respond.

"four thousand!"

"Ten thousand Galleons! You greedy woman!"

Rita Skeeter gave a stiff smile, but she still didn't budge. She leaned closer and said, "Lockhart, you can go back and think about it first. Figure out one thing: how much is the reputation of a great writer really worth?"

"—And," she said, fiddling with her nails, "we should first think about how to clear our names of attacking the Minister of Magic."

“That was just an accident!” Lockhart glared at her through gritted teeth, but the woman had already left satisfied.

He gripped his wand, wanting to do something several times, but ultimately gave up. He returned to his office dejectedly.

The bustling courtyard has returned to its tranquility.

The twins exchanged a glance and quietly slipped away. Behind a pillar, Harry, Harry, and their two companions stared at each other in bewilderment.

"Dirty money dealing!" Hermione exclaimed indignantly.

Ron shrugged. "That's normal. My father got wind of it before he went to investigate Malfoy Manor. What do you think is the reason?"

Harry looked in the direction Lockhart had left and couldn't help but ask, "Do you think Lockhart will be put in jail?"

Ron replied without hesitation, "I can't say for sure, but if I were Fudge, I mean, as Minister for Magic, I couldn't afford to lose face like that."

Don't you think it's a coincidence?

"what?"

"Everything that happened today was an accident, wasn't it? You know, the basilisk has already been dealt with. He could have lived a whole year without any trouble, then written a book like 'My Year at Hogwarts' and made a fortune of Galleons."

"You mean, the Dark Lord's curse?" Ron realized.

Hermione blinked, and said with great interest, "That's quite an interesting idea, Harry. Maybe the curse is just amplifying the probability of all sorts of accidents. We can look into it."

Ron grimaced. "Hermione, don't you think you've been too busy lately? Let me count for you: classes, homework, weekend rune lessons, grading tests, learning special transfiguration, and now you're even researching curses..."

Hermione snorted and retorted, "Don't you think it's a very satisfying thing to solve puzzles?"

……

On the other side, Rita Skeeter, who was leisurely enjoying the scenery, suddenly turned back the way she came after passing through the courtyard.

Her eyes searched frantically, but Lockhart was too fast; she had already lost sight of him. But she soon saw a glimmer of hope—

"Hey, you three! Little wizards, stop for a second."

Chapter 87 All is Oblivion

Rita Skeeter hurriedly called to the three peeking wizards, "Do you know where Professor Lockhart's office is? I need to see him." She gave them a stiff smile, but her mind was already elsewhere.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione stared at her in disbelief. Why was this woman back again?

Hermione didn't answer, only glaring angrily at Rita Skeeter. But when Ron saw her gaze shift to Harry, he quickly said, "Next to Classroom 2 in the Underground."

Rita Skeeter left satisfied, but as she walked, a strange feeling lingered in her mind; the girl's gaze hadn't been friendly.

But who cares! She's not a celebrity anyway, otherwise I could easily include her in my article!

“Ron!” Hermione exclaimed, sounding sullen.

“Listen to me, don’t let Harry get involved with that woman. She’ll dig up Harry’s ancestors for eighteen generations,” Ron explained.

The little witch seemed somewhat relieved, and Harry then realized that he seemed to have just escaped a whirlpool unscathed.

……

In a dark underground corridor, Rita Skeeter disappeared for a few seconds, and then a beetle flew out of the darkness, flapping its wings and skillfully flying to the side of Classroom 2 in the underground corridor.

The beetle hovered in mid-air for a few seconds, staring at the sign that read "Defense Against the Dark Arts - Gilderoy Lockhart" in an anthropomorphic manner, before silently slipping through the crack in the door.

Lockhart was pacing back and forth in his office, looking exasperated. Even the row of portraits hanging on the wall seemed to be frowning.

The beetle landed on the edge of a portrait, looking down at him.

"Damn it... "

Lockhart lost his usual composure, constantly rubbing his hair with both hands, making his golden curls even more disheveled.

"Maybe I can do something, like I used to, something I'm very good at, good enough at..."

Lockhart was talking to himself while looking at a life-size portrait of himself. In the portrait, Lockhart was giving him a thumbs up and showing off his white teeth.

"But what about the charge of attacking the Minister of Magic? Good heavens, this is absurd! It was just an accident, an accident! I won't let anyone frame me like this, even if he is the Minister of Magic!"

"I'm not someone to be trifled with either. I have a huge readership, and they will all support me."

Lockhart thought about it carefully for a while and concluded that he probably wouldn't be imprisoned in Azkaban, which made him feel a little better.

“But what if my readers found out I was lying to them…” He couldn’t help but shudder.

Everything seemed to have returned to the beginning, and he was still wondering how to deal with Rita Skeeter's troubles.

Lockhart became agitated again, feeling he shouldn't have agreed to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts for the sake of new book sales.

"You old liar!"

After a while, Lockhart sat down in a chair, took out a piece of parchment, and quickly wrote something.

The beetle spread its wings and crept closer from the other side. It landed near a stack of published books, crawled over a white velvet handkerchief, and hid behind a delicate sippy cup.

This position allows you to clearly see Lohart's text.

“Ms. Rita Skeeter, I write this with a calm heart…” After writing only a few words, Lockhart suddenly crumpled the parchment into a ball and threw it out hard.

The crumpled paper knocked over the narrow cup on the table, revealing a beetle hiding behind it.

For a second or two, Lockhart and the beetle's small eyes met, and a huge sense of absurdity welled up in Lockhart's mind—the patterns on its body were exactly the same as those on Rita Skeeter's jeweled glasses!

"How could such a disgusting thing be in my room?"

Under his watchful eye, the beetle quickly made its escape.

Lockhart didn't think much of it; he casually picked up a stack of student assignments and slammed them down.

"Snapped!"

But the beetle was completely unharmed; in fact, it ran even more happily, climbing to the edge of the table, flapping its wings, and taking flight, quickly moving away from Lockhart.

"Hey, I don't believe it!" Lockhart chased after the annoying beetle and beat it.

After dodging several times, Lockhart swatted the beetle to the ground and stomped on it.

The problem was finally solved, and his depressed mood improved considerably.

Wait, this feeling underfoot...

Lockhart quickly realized something was wrong. Dazzling light began to burst from the soles of his feet, and his feet were involuntarily lifted and pushed apart. A woman's head appeared, and soon her limbs also extended out.

He stared in disbelief as the beetle beneath his feet transformed into a woman, a despicable woman named Rita Skeeter!

“Rita Skeeter! You, you, you!” Lockhart was stunned; his foot was still on her shoulder. He stumbled backward in terror, crashing hard into the table.

Rita Skeeter lay on the ground, an embarrassed expression on her face. She never expected things to turn out this way.

Lockhart, that good-for-nothing, managed to run into such a rare opportunity—what incredible luck!

After years of spying on countless secrets, how could I possibly fall into the hands of a fool?

Does he have some kind of prejudice against beetles?!

Meanwhile, Lockhart's expression was suspicious, his hand rubbing behind him, where his wand lay on the table...

He stalled for time: "Rita Skeeter! I never expected you to be an Animagus, my God! You're an illegal Animagus, sneaking into my room to spy on me..." He turned around and grabbed his wand!

With the wand in hand, he was confident of victory.

But by the time he turned around, Rita Skeeter was already charging at him, baring her teeth.

"Boom!"

Skeeter's obese body slammed into Lockhart, causing him to cry out in pain. The two wrestled, and the portrait of Lockhart on the wall screamed in unison.

"Get away!" Lockhart struggled desperately.