The Pacifist Necromancer of Hogwarts

Chapter 315 Three Letters and an Article

Few people at Hogwarts cared much about the report. As Lockhart had said, his name appeared so often in the papers, with either enthusiastic publicity or speculative rumors, that those who cared little about him passed over it like a croaking toad advertisement.

However, for Lockhart's supporters, it was hard for them to accept that the Daily Prophet, the most influential newspaper in the wizarding world, had published such an article full of doubts and malicious scrutiny. Mrs. Weasley wrote to Anthony, using nearly ten inches of parchment to complain about the nonsense of the Daily Prophet.

"It's getting less and less believable every day," Mrs. Weasley wrote. "First Albus, now Gilderoy Lockhart. To be honest, Albus can be a little eccentric at times, but he's an absolutely great man; not to mention Professor Lockhart... Arthur tried to comfort me, but I could see he didn't take it seriously at all... He's been thinking about the car all the time..."

The lower right corner of the letter was a little greasy. Mrs. Weasley probably wrote the letter in the kitchen. Anthony could imagine the scene: Mrs. Weasley was in the kitchen directing the spatula and egg beater, the radio was playing music, she wiped the flour off her hands on her apron, poured some owl food for old Errol, opened the newspaper, and then saw the article that made her angry. Mr. Weasley, who was studying Ford in the backyard, heard her complaints, poked his head in from the window to ask her what happened, and then reluctantly comforted her.

"We know what kind of man he is. Those who believe such rumours are beyond belief," Mrs. Weasley concluded. "I know he wouldn't care, but please give me your support. I look forward to his new book."

The wraith stalked over and looked at Mrs. Weasley's letter. Anthony waved it away from the quill in the pen holder.

The next piece of parchment came from Mr. Weasley, who told Anthony that he had finally figured out what a "motor" was. In addition, he had converted the original fuel tank of the Ford car into a box that could store chilled drinks and ice cream.

Mr. Weasley wrote enthusiastically: "Muggles call this a fridge. What a funny word! Fred and George couldn't explain how they did it. Last weekend, I tried to get a fridge dictionary (Anthony thought he meant 'instruction manual') at the mall, but the Muggles wouldn't give it to me. I used a little magic," there were some corrections here, "and of course, no laws were broken..."

At the end of the letter, he also remembered Rita's article: "Molly is worried about the report, but she is unwilling to stop subscribing to the Daily Prophet because she still wants to see the discount section. We have recently been considering buying Ron a new wand or a pet for him... We don't think he will want a second mouse, but he doesn't like cats very much. We went to the Muggle pet shop, but there were no owls. Does Hogwarts allow pets including parrots?"

Anthony made a mental note to ask Professor McGonagall what pets were allowed at Hogwarts, but considering he had a chicken with him, a parrot shouldn't be a big problem.

But he allowed himself a brief moment to imagine Ron's red hair with a green parrot in it, and suspected that Ron might not like the arrangement very 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. Weasley and Mr. Weasley, Mr. Linde also sent him letters.

He had been on an adventure with the Flamels and had just left a lake inhabited by four or five kelp-like creatures, all of which Flamel had, according to his account, been thrown back into the water by his fishing rod, complaining that one of them had eaten his bait.

Lind found a strange aquatic plant in the lake, and Perenelle told him it was called "gillweed". She also said that the French gillweed can turn a person completely into a fish, and eating only half of it will turn him into a mermaid. Nico said Perenelle was talking nonsense, and suggested that Lind should try it, and asked him to bite his hook after he turned into a fish. Lind didn't dare to try it at all, so he had to enclose a little sample in 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 herbology textbook that Professor Sprout had given him, and spent a long time looking at the picture of the gillyweed before deciding to go out and ask a professional for advice.

Professor Sprout was not in any of the greenhouses, so Anthony took a walk around the lake, enjoying the breeze. Before he knew it, daffodils and violets were blooming everywhere. Although the clouds blocked out the sun, the lake still had a shimmering light.

The students also came out of the castle, sitting under the trees in groups of three or four, or lying on the lawn, flipping through books, chatting, exchanging Chocolate Frog cards, playing Wizard Chess or Gobstones. Strangely, Anthony noticed that many people greeted him while looking at him with some strange but harmless eyes, as if his nose had 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 college 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 area of ​​the library to avoid being caught by Umbridge.

Unable to anticipate what had happened to make the students suddenly look at him like that, Anthony gave up and continued walking along the lakeside.

Small boats were tied to the dock to welcome the newborns, rocking 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, no doubt Harry, Ron and Hermione. He had no intention of disturbing them, but he vaguely heard his own 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."

"That's for sure," said Hagrid in a deep voice, as he untied the rope.

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

"Goodness, Hermione, it's not that I don't like Lockhart - you know I didn't burst into tears because he gave me a set of textbooks!" said Harry angrily.

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

"Well... that might just be a figure of speech..." Hermione said hesitantly, but she quickly regained her composure and her tone became light again, "Anyway, he did send a whole set of adventure series, didn't he? At least Ginny is very happy."

Ron mumbled something that sounded like a mixture of "Mom" and "Why?"

Hagrid lifted another boat onto the shore and said without looking up, "That man is a liar. If any of his words were true, this barrel of tar could be turned into wine."

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

"I've heard of him since he was a student," Hagrid said. "Look, Dumbledore must have had his own ideas when he hired him as a professor, but I can tell you that Lockhart has never been an outstanding student." He paused, raised his head and said proudly, "I'd say he's not half as good as our Hermione." Anthony saw Hermione blush. Her anger disappeared and she smiled sweetly at Hagrid.

"Thank you, Hagrid," she said softly, "but Professor Lockhart is a remarkable man... I mean, you can't assume that Professor Anthony doesn't admire him..."

“I heard my name called,” Anthony said.

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

Hagrid straightened up and called out cheerfully, "Henry!"

Anthony asked, "What happened?"

"Nothing, Professor Anthony," said Harry quickly.

"It's Witch Weekly," said Hagrid. "I hear you're a big reader of Professor Lockhart, Henry. Why didn't you tell me? I could give you... er, what's the name of the one that talks about the nymph?"

"'Breaking with the Female Ghost'," Hermione answered quickly.

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

"Yes, that's it," said Hagrid. "I can give you one, Henry." And there was a gleam in his black beetle eyes that Anthony knew well, the look of eagerness he got when Hagrid wanted to tell a joke between brandy and mead.

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

Harry and Ron both laughed. Hermione looked affronted and glared at them.

"Ha, just like I said!" Hagrid said happily to the three students in front of him, "The person who can make Henry crave an autograph hasn't been born yet - he's 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," said Hagrid. "Lockhart has shared another passage from his new book. It looks like you and Harry have become his avid followers."

Anthony said in surprise, "Really?"

"Look for yourself," said Hagrid. "There it is."

Anthony then noticed a magazine on the tar barrel, among the canvas, hemp rope, bow lights and outdated newspapers. He picked it up and saw a witch with green lipstick on the cover, blinking and half her face covered by an absurdly large green wizard's hat.

He flipped open the magazine and found what they were referring to, underneath a color photograph of Lockhart - Gilderoy Lockhart's Autobiography Revealed: Return 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 magical creatures.

He mentioned that he saw Harry Potter attending the book signing for "I Am Magic" at Flourish and Blotts - "with a stack of Lockhart Adventures in his arms" - 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 for him.

Except, of course, for the sullen Professor Severus Snape, who was jealous because he refused to believe that Lockhart was more popular and better at Defence Against the Dark Arts than he was - but, of course, Lockhart didn't take it to heart. He forgave Snape generously, and hinted in the text 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 for fear of disturbing him. Lockhart claimed that he had seen Anthony passing by the door, and he realized that Anthony even deliberately lightened his steps, 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 regard myself as his elder brother..."

As he scanned the article, the three Gryffindor second years remained oddly quiet. Hagrid finished checking another boat, glanced at him, and asked, "What do you think of it?"

Anthony was silent for a moment. In response to Rita Skeeter's article, Lockhart had spent four full pages describing how popular he was at Hogwarts.

Ron said, "Well, it's fake, isn't it?"

Anthony dropped the magazine and couldn't help laughing.

(End of this chapter)