Chapter 315 Three Letters and an Article

Within Hogwarts, almost no one cared about the report. As Lockhart said, his name appeared in newspapers so often, accompanied by enthusiastic publicity or fanciful rumors, that those who didn't care much about him would ignore the advertisements like a croaking toad. Skip his name.

However, for Lockhart's supporters, it is difficult for them to accept that the Daily Prophet - as the most influential newspaper in the wizarding world - published such an article full of doubt and malicious scrutiny. Mrs. Weasley wrote to Anthony specifically, spending nearly ten inches of parchment complaining about the nonsense in the Daily Prophet.

“The things up there are becoming less believable every day,” Mrs. Weasley wrote. “First Albus, and now Gilderoy Lockhart. To be honest, Albus is a bit weird sometimes, but He was absolutely a great man; not to mention Professor Lockhart... Arthur tried to comfort me, but I could tell he didn't take it seriously... all he could think about lately was that car... …”

The lower right corner of the letter paper is a little greasy. Mrs. Weasley probably wrote the letter in the kitchen. Anthony could picture the scene: Mrs. Weasley in the kitchen, directing the spatulas and whisks, music playing on the radio, wiping the flour on her apron and pouring flour for old Errol Some owl food, opened the newspaper, and saw the article that made her angry. Mr. Weasley, who was studying the Ford in the backyard, heard her complaining and stuck his head through the window to ask her what happened, and then managed to comfort her a few times.

"We know what kind of person he is. Those who believe such rumors are simply unreasonable." Mrs. Weasley said at the end of the letter, "Of course I know he won't care about this, but anyway, please convey it to me. Support. I’m eagerly looking forward to his new book.”

The Wraith Chicken walked over with arrogance, looking at Mrs. Weasley's letter. Anthony waved his hand to stop it from attacking the quill in the pen holder.

The next piece of parchment came from Mr. Weasley, who told Anthony that he finally figured out what a "motor" was, and that he had changed the Ford's original fuel tank into one that could store cold drinks and ice cream. box.

Mr. Weasley wrote enthusiastically: "Muggles call this a refrigerator. What a funny word! Neither Fred nor George could explain how they did it. Last weekend, I wanted to go to the mall and ask for it. A refrigerator dictionary (Anthony thought he meant 'instructions'), but the Muggles refused to give it to me. I used a little magic," there were some signs of erasure, "of course, no laws were broken... "

At the end of the letter, he also remembered Rita's article: "Molly is worried about that report, but she is unwilling to stop ordering the Daily Prophet because she still wants to read the discount section. We recently Thinking about getting Ron a wand, or buying him a pet... we don't think he'd want a second mouse, but he doesn't really like cats either. We went to a Muggle pet shop, but inside. No owls. Are parrots among the pets allowed at Hogwarts?"

Anthony made a mental note to ask Professor McGonagall what kind of pets were allowed in Hogwarts. Considering he had a chicken with him, the parrot shouldn't be much of a problem.

But he allowed himself a moment to imagine a green parrot in Ron's red hair, and had a sneaking suspicion that Ron might not like the arrangement that much. He forced himself not to mentally replace the image of Ron with Lockhart—or the voice of the parrot with Lockhart.

…

In addition to Mrs. and Mr. Weasley, Mr. Lynde also sent him letters.

He had already embarked on an adventurous journey with the Flamel couple, and had just safely left a lake inhabited by four or five horse-shaped water monsters. According to his account, Nico Flamel swung his rod back into the water and complained when one of them ate his bait.

Lind found a strange aquatic plant in the lake, and Perenal told him it was called "gillyweed." She also said that the French gillyweed can turn a person completely into a fish, and those who only eat half of it will turn into a mermaid. Nico said that Perenal was talking nonsense, suggested that Linde should try it, and asked him to bite his hook after turning into a fish. Lind didn't dare to try it at all, so he had to attach a few samples to the letter and asked Anthony to tell him what it was.

Anthony picked up the envelope again and looked inside, only to find a squashed mass in the corner. He poured it out, found the herbal medicine textbook given to him by Professor Sprout, looked at the picture of gillyweed for a long time, and finally decided to go out and ask professionals for advice.

Professor Sprout was not in any of the greenhouses, so Anthony took a walk around the Black Lake, enjoying the breeze. Before I knew it, daffodils and purple kohlrabi were blooming everywhere. Although the clouds completely blocked the sun, the black lake was still filled with sparkling waves.

The students also came out of the castle, sitting in twos and threes under the trees or lying on the lawn, flipping through books and chatting, exchanging chocolate frog cards, and playing wizard chess or Gobstone. Strangely, Anthony noticed that many people were greeting him and looking at him with some strange but non-malicious eyes, as if his nose suddenly turned blue.

He thought about it carefully. In recent times, he had neither expressed his disappointment with students' grades after the test - he really had nothing to be dissatisfied with - nor had he suddenly deducted a large number of house points.

Because he didn't want to bother Professor McGonagall, who was already busy enough, he even followed her instructions and reduced the frequency of appearing in the castle corridors and the restricted book area of ​​the library, so as not to be caught by Umbridge.

Unable to think of anything that would suddenly make the students look at him like this, Anthony gave up and continued to walk along the lakeside.

The boats that welcomed the new students were tied to the dock, swaying gently with the waves. Hagrid was moving them to the shore one by one, turning them upside down and tarring them.

Anthony saw three familiar little figures beside Hagrid, undoubtedly Harry, Ron and Hermione. He didn't intend to disturb them, but he vaguely heard his name in the wind, and out of curiosity, he quietly walked closer.

"I guess Anthony hasn't seen it yet," said Ron, "but Mum will tell him. She'll be so happy."

Hagrid untied the rope and said in a muffled voice: "Definitely not."

Hermione said: "Oh, you can't just because you don't like..."

"Oh my God, Hermione, it's not because I don't like Lockhart - you know I didn't cry because he gave me a set of textbooks!" Harry said angrily.

Ron said: "Come on, Hermione, you were there!"

"Well... that might just be a rhetoric..." Hermione said hesitantly, but she quickly became firm and her tone became light again, "Anyway, he did give a whole set of adventure series, didn't he? At least Ginny was happy."

Ron made a series of vague mutters, which sounded like a mixture of "Mom" and "Why".

Hagrid lifted another boat to the shore and said without looking up, "That man is a liar. If there is any truth in what he said, this barrel of tar can also be turned into wine."

Hermione sounded shocked and annoyed: "Hagrid, he is our professor!"

"I have heard his name since he was a student." Hagrid said, "Listen, Dumbledore must have his own ideas when hiring him as a professor, but I can tell you that Lockhart has never been a good student." He paused, raised his head and said proudly, "I would say that he is not half as good as our Hermione."

Anthony saw Hermione blush. Her anger disappeared out of thin air, and she smiled sweetly at Hagrid.

"Thank you, Hagrid." She said softly, "But Professor Lockhart is a great man... I mean, you can't assume that Professor Anthony must not admire him..."

Anthony said, "I heard my name."

Hermione shut her mouth suddenly and looked up at him. Harry and Ron turned around.

Hagrid stood up and greeted happily, "Henry!"

Anthony asked, "What happened?"

"Nothing, Professor Anthony." Harry said quickly.

"It's "Witch Weekly." Hagrid said, "I heard that you are a loyal reader of Professor Lockhart, Henry. Why didn't you tell me? I can give you... uh, what's the name of the book that mentions the water fairy?"

"Breaking Up with the Ghost." Hermione answered quickly.

She saw Harry and Ron's reaction, raised her head slightly, and said defensively, "This book is very well written! It's not just about the water fairy, it also tells how Professor Lockhart found the ghost's lair, and how he used the ghost's screams and the echo of the cave..."

"Yes, that's it." Hagrid said, "I can give you a copy, Henry." His black beetle-like eyes flashed with a kind of light that Anthony was familiar with. Whenever Hagrid wanted to tell a joke between brandy and mead, he would show this kind of excited look.

Anthony smiled and said, "Thank you. When I decide to be a supporter of Professor Lockhart, I will let you know in advance."

Harry and Ron both laughed. Hermione looked a little offended and stared at them.

"Haha, just like I said!" Hagrid said happily to the three students in front of him, "The person who can make Henry eager for an autograph photo has not been born yet - he is not even a fan of any team!" He patted Anthony on the back and almost made him fall into the Black Lake.

Anthony quickly sat down on the railing of the dock: "So can I know what's going on?"

"Oh, of course." Hagrid said, "Lockhart shared another passage from his new book, and it seems that you and Harry have become his fanatical followers."

Anthony said in surprise: "Really?"

"See for yourself." Hagrid said, "It's right there."

Anthony then discovered that there was a magazine on the tar barrel, piled between the canvas, hemp rope, bow lights and outdated newspapers. He picked up the magazine. On the cover was a witch with green lipstick, blinking her eyes, and covering half of her face with an absurdly large green wizard hat.

He flipped open the magazine and found what they mentioned under a color photo of Lockhart - "Gilderoy Lockhart's Autobiography Revealed: Returning to Hogwarts".

Lockhart used his exaggerated but quite vivid writing style to describe how he received Dumbledore's invitation, what kind of psychological activities he went through, and finally decided to accept the teaching position at Hogwarts to help his alma mater and teach young children how to deal with dark magic creatures.

He mentioned that he saw Harry Potter at the book signing event for "I Am Magic" at Flourish and Blotts - "holding a stack of Lockhart Adventures" - and generously gave his little fan a complete set of signed copies.

Then he wrote about how he was warmly welcomed by his colleagues after entering Hogwarts. Almost everyone wanted to talk to him and told him how suitable this position was for him, and all the former professors expressed their recognition and expectations of him.

Of course, except for the gloomy Professor Severus Snape, who was jealous because he refused to believe that Lockhart was more popular and better at Defense Against the Dark Arts than him - but, of course, Lockhart didn't take it to heart. He forgave Snape generously, and hinted in the article that he later made Snape his "good friend"... or admirer with his warm smile and strong strength.

Anthony, like a loyal defender, defended Lockhart loudly when Snape first made things difficult for him, but whenever Lockhart spoke to him, he was always speechless due to nervousness and excitement. Although their offices were in the same corridor, Anthony never knocked on Lockhart's door, fearing to disturb him. Lockhart claimed that he had seen Anthony passing by his door, and he realized that Anthony even deliberately stepped lightly, and he couldn't help but be moved by this quiet admiration.

"He is a shy, lovely young man who is happy to ask me for advice on research and life. In fact, he is about the same age as me, but my past experiences always make me feel much older than him, and I often think of myself as his brother..."

As he scanned the article at a glance, the three Gryffindor second years remained strangely quiet. Hagrid finished checking another boat, looked at him, and asked, "What do you think of the writing?"

Anthony didn't speak for a while. In response to Rita Skeeter's article, Lockhart spent a full four pages talking about how popular he was at Hogwarts.

Ron said, "Well, it's really fake, right?"

Anthony threw away the magazine and couldn't help laughing.