I'm the King of Curry at Hogwarts

Chapter 263's report was flawed.

This blunder came completely out of the blue. The judges were alright, especially Dumbledore, who wasn't affected by the bright light at all. But the contestants were a different story; they were all so shocked that snot and tears streamed down their faces, making them look quite pathetic.

Fortunately, the strong light from the leaves will not harm its owner, Catherine.

After a full ten minutes, Mr. Ollivander, with red eyes, finally let Harry come forward.

After receiving Harry's wand, Ollivander's swollen eyes lit up with excitement, as if he were seeing a long-lost friend.

"Yes, yes, I remember it very clearly. I have a very strong impression of your wand, Mr. Potter."

Harry also remembered it vividly, as if it had all happened yesterday.

It was summer of 1991, on his eleventh birthday, when Hagrid led him into Mr. Ollivander's wand shop. Harry remembered trying almost every wand before finally settling on this one—eleven inches long, made of holly, with a phoenix tail feather inside. He vividly recalled the look of astonishment on Mr. Ollivander's face when he saw how perfectly the wand suited him.

While Ollivander kept praising how wonderful, wonderful, wonderful, Harry asked why. Ollivander's answer was that the phoenix feather in Harry's wand and the feather in Voldemort's wand were plucked from the same bird.

Harry kept this secret to himself, never mentioning it to Ron, his closest friend, or Dumbledore, his most trusted headmaster.

Harry's heart skipped a beat as he recalled this.

Oh no, will Mr. Ollivander reveal this secret?

Barbie Q is out... If Mr. Ollivander were to tell anyone, Rita Skeeter might cause quite a stir...

Fortunately, Mr. Ollivander wasn't a blabbermouth, which put Harry at ease.

Mr. Ollivander examined Harry's wand for much longer than the others. Finally, he made the wand spray a stream of wine from its tip, then handed it back to Harry, loudly announcing that it was in excellent condition.

Harry finally felt relieved. He glanced at Mr. Ollivander with a hint of gratitude, leaving Mr. Ollivander somewhat bewildered.

Hey kid, why are you looking at me like that? It was the wand that chose you, not me...

He seems to have completely forgotten that Voldemort's wand and Harry's wand are "brothers".

"Alright, that concludes the wand testing. Thank you all for your cooperation," Dumbledore said, standing up from the referee's table. "I imagine you've all grown tired after standing here for so long. So... you should all go back and rest. Perhaps it would be more convenient to go down for dinner, since we'll be eating soon anyway."

Catherine stood up to leave, but Mr. Ludo Bagman, the referee sitting not far away, suddenly jumped up and cleared his throat.

"Take a picture, hey, Dumbledore, let's take a picture!" Bagman shouted excitedly. "After all, this is a grand event that only comes around once every few years, so let's have our referees and warriors take a close-up photo together, that would be more memorable—what do you think, Rita?"

At this point, Mr. Bagman turned to look at Ms. Rita Skeeter, seemingly seeking an ally to support his words.

Rita Skeeter glanced at Louise first, and seeing that Louise didn't object and even nodded at her subtly, she said, "Hmm... okay, let's take a group photo first." As she spoke, her gaze fell on Harry again, "Maybe we'll take a few individual photos later."

The photo shoot took a long time, after all, the combination of these people was really too bizarre - the tall and big Mrs. Maxim would block everyone else no matter where she stood, and the room was too small for the photographer to stand far enough to get her completely in the shot. In the end, she had to sit down at Louis's suggestion, and everyone else stood around her.

Karkaroff kept twirling his goatee with his fingers, trying to curl it into a curl. Krum's behavior was out of character for a Quidditch superstar; one would expect him to be used to being photographed, but instead, he was hiding furtively behind everyone else.

Why are you blushing like that? Seeing this burly man with a blush on his face, Louis really wanted to throw him into the bathroom, the women's bathroom, no less.

The photographer seemed particularly eager to get Fleur in the front, but Rita Skeeter kept coming up and pulling Harry to a more prominent position, as if Harry were her illegitimate son.

Marilyn Chabanor stood rather reservedly next to Cedric, and she seemed to be getting along well with him, as if she wanted to improve their relationship. Vasily Petrenko also tried to shrink himself closer to Cedric, presumably also intending to improve his relationship with him.

It seems Cedric is quite approachable.

Catherine stood casually behind Mrs. Maxim, which was Mrs. Maxim's arrangement—she liked and admired Catherine very much, and if Dumbledore hadn't been sitting next to her, she probably would have asked Catherine if she had any intention of transferring schools.

However, this was ultimately impossible, since Catherine couldn't possibly abandon Louis and go to Beauxbatons alone.

So the final photo arrangement was: Mrs. Maxime sat in the middle, and since the Headmaster of Beauxbatons was also seated, it was clear that no one should be treated unfairly. So the photographer brought over two more chairs, and Dumbledore, the Headmaster, and Karkaroff sat next to her; Catherine stood in the center, behind Mrs. Maxime; on her side were Marilyn, Cedric, and Harry, who stood behind Headmaster Dumbledore.

On Catherine's other side were a bewildered Fleur, a reluctant Vasily, and Viktor.

It seems that Hibiscus probably doesn't understand how Marilyn managed to squeeze her out of her position.

The photographer worked very hard, taking several photos from various angles before finally stopping.

Then, Ms. Rita Skeeter insisted on taking individual photos of each of the warriors, and it took them a long time to finally end this long photo shoot in every sense of the word.

Rita was very shrewd; she suggested that the warriors could bring their best friends for a group photo, and she also took several more photos of Louis and Catherine as souvenirs.

Harry watched with a hint of resentment as Cho Chang, whose eyes were fixed on Cedric, posed for a photo with him.

Fortunately, Ginny arrived in time and pulled Ron and Hermione together to take many photos with Harry.

Rita looked at Ginny and Hermione with shining eyes, having already mentally prepared countless drafts, seemingly pondering how Harry, the savior and Hogwarts hero, would be two-timing.

Love triangles are the most eye-catching topic in the world, regardless of the country or group, and wizards are no exception.

……

Time flies, and before we knew it, it was time for the start of the first match.

Louis had seen Harry only a few times in the Great Hall lately, and he knew that Harry wasn't having a good time—not bad, but rather complicated—thanks to Rita Skeeter's reporting. Skeeter's article about the Triwizard Tournament had been published, and it was less a report on the tournament itself and more an embellished description of Harry's life.

The front page of the newspaper was dominated by a picture of Harry, and the entire article was about Harry. The names of the other heroes were relegated to the last line, and even Fleur's name was misspelled.

Hufflepuff, who had already made up, naturally didn't say much, but Harry still felt a little guilty. He even went to Cedric to apologize, but to his surprise, Cedric was very cheerful and generous, patting him on the shoulder and saying it was nothing, it wasn't his fault.

When Louis watched Harry talk to him about Cedric like that, he had a strange feeling, like seeing Cristiano Ronaldo mention Kaká...

But Harry's troubles didn't stem from the hostility of others, but from the bias in Rita Skeeter's reporting.

His face burned whenever he thought of what Ms. Skeeter had said to him in the broom compartment.

"You wouldn't want your parents to be ashamed because of you, would you, Potter?"

Harry can still recall the intense gaze Mrs. Skeeter gave him, a gaze that could burn a hole in someone.

Not to mention Ms. Skeeter's article in the Daily Prophet, Harry felt like he was socially dead.

"I believe it is my parents who gave me strength. I know that if they could see me now, they would be very proud of me."

"...Yes, sometimes at night I still cry for them, and I don't feel ashamed to admit it."

"I know nothing can hurt me during the game, because they are protecting me from the shadows..."

That's not all; Rita Skeeter not only turned her stammering into a series of nauseatingly long ramblings, but she also asked other people for their opinions of her.

"Harry finally found his first love at Hogwarts, Ginny Weasley, the youngest daughter of the Weasleys," said Colin Crevey, who claims to be a close friend of Harry.

"Harry and a girl named Hermione Granger are inseparable. Miss Granger is stunningly beautiful, born into a Muggle family, and like Harry, she's one of the top students in school," said a Gryffindor student who wished to remain anonymous. "Perhaps it's a mutual appreciation between geniuses that makes them so close. Goodness, I even think they'd be a better match..."

Since this article appeared, Harry has been subjected to all sorts of strange looks. There are "mommy fans," mainly older female students, such as Angelina. They feel sorry for the poor boy who "cries in bed at night thinking of his mother" created by Ms. Skeeter. They often fuss over Harry and look at him with a heart-wrenching expression, their heartache evident on their faces.

Another group is characterized by their sarcastic and sarcastic remarks. For example, when they were in Potions class together, Harry accidentally teared up from the smell, which Draco happened to see.

"Oh, Pott, what's wrong?" Draco asked with great concern, pulling a handkerchief from his pocket and handing it to Harry. "Use this to wipe your tears, poor child. You must be missing your mother..."

For a fleeting moment, Harry really wanted to use Exterminate on Draco, the kind of Exterminate that eliminates the owner of the weapon.

Others were sarcastic remarks about his "excellent grades," yes, also happening in Potions class, only this time it was Snape who was mocking him.

"A bright student...tsk..." Snape looked at Harry with utter disdain, as if he were trash. "I don't know when you became a bright student, Pott. I just hope that Ms. Skeeter's standard isn't Longbottom."

Neville, whose name was mentioned, flinched and spilled water on Seamus's leg.

Snape was already used to this. He didn't even insult Neville, but said calmly, "Gryffindor loses five points. Hopefully, next time they won't be sprinkling some highly toxic potion on Mr. Finnigan's leg."

Of course, Harry wasn't the only one in this predicament; Hermione also ran into trouble.

"Her? Stunningly beautiful?" Slytherin's Pansy Parkinson scoffed at Hermione. "What criteria did she use to judge her? Oh, well, among the beavers, Miss Granger certainly is stunningly beautiful..."

Immediately, a burst of laughter erupted from her group of girls.

It goes without saying that everyone in Slytherin knows Hermione's nickname—the Beaver… all thanks to Catherine three years ago.

Hermione mimicked Catherine's manner, giving them a very queenly and disdainful look before striding forward with her chin held high, as if she hadn't heard a thing.

This worked quite well, and the girls in Slytherin suddenly felt a bit bored.

The ones suffering the most right now are Ginny and Ron.

It hurts, it hurts so much. My boyfriend/girlfriend has been paired up with someone else. It's like swallowing butter and beer and my heart is aching.

Ron sat somewhat depressed in the Great Hall, drinking butterbeer alone. Even though he trusted his good brother Harry completely and didn't believe Hermione would betray him, he couldn't stop thinking about what was written in the Daily Prophet.

He had no one to talk to yet. He thought of going to Louis, but the maid told him that Louis was not available at the moment. So he could only sit in the auditorium, order a butterbeer and slowly drink it to drown his sorrows.

Although there wasn't much alcohol involved.

"Ronald!" He heard someone calling his name. It was a familiar voice. He turned around and felt someone kiss him.

It's Hermione.

(End of this chapter)