Ancient Wizards Return to Hogwarts...

Chapter 146 Celebrity Killer Rita Skeeter

When people took notice of Lockhart's book, the entire British magical community was in an uproar.

Professor Lockhart actually knows the curse left behind by Slytherin!

This is so cool—wait a minute!

The wizards quickly realized something was amiss: Mr. Greengrass stated that the Slytherin manuscript had only been found in his storeroom in the last few days. The story of Professor Clohart using the Restoration Charm to deal with the werewolf, however, occurred more than a decade earlier.

These two don't match up!

Could it be that one of them is lying?

That would be incredibly exciting news.

Realizing this, the Daily Prophet immediately sent a reporter to Hogwarts. Even if they couldn't find evidence that Lockhart was lying, wouldn't it be great to dig deeper into his story with the werewolves? There was so much to talk about, such as where he learned the Restoration Charm, and the differences between his spell and the one published by Mr. Henry, etc.

The reason why reporters were sent to "interview" Lockhart instead of Henry Greengrass was that interviewing Lockhart could lead to a promotion and a raise for the editor-in-chief of the daily newspaper, while interviewing Mr. Henry was less certain.

Soon, Rita Skeeter, a special correspondent for the Daily Prophet, arrived at Hogwarts with her photography assistant.

Rita Skeeter is a highly controversial figure in the British wizarding world. Her work is often sensational, sometimes even completely untrue. In other words, she's a master of journalism. She wields these skills with unparalleled finesse: quoting out of context, manipulating public opinion, and reading between the lines.

Those important figures she targets rarely escape unscathed. Now, the editors of the Daily Prophet have sent her to interview Lockhart; it's hard to say what their intentions are.

Interestingly, despite being in a hospital room, unable to even get out of bed, and only able to move one hand, Lockhart was fully aware of the situation outside.

He spent most of his day replying to readers' letters, sometimes writing for seven or eight hours a day, and the rest of his time reading newspaper headlines and dealing with his young fans at school.

People outside the ward might not even have his level of social interaction.

So the moment Rita Skeeter pushed open the door to the hospital room, he understood why she had come.

This was exactly what Lockhart wanted: he was just looking for an opportunity to ride the wave of the "Restore Human Form Charm" hype!

The interview began in a cheerful atmosphere. However, Rita soon frowned: Lockhart was tight-lipped and refused to reveal where he learned the Restoration Charm. Instead, he kept talking incessantly about his adventures. In just half an hour, he practically recounted the outline of the book "Wandering with the Werewolf" to her.

After he finished speaking

Unable to contain herself any longer, Rita Skeeter decided to cut to the chase, asking, "So, Professor Lockhart, you must be very skilled at the Restore to Humanoid Charm?"

Lockhart was willing to answer this question, so he nodded, indicating that he was very skilled at the Restoration Charm.

Rita smiled smugly: That's exactly what I was waiting for.

Her intuition told her that Lockhart was hiding some secret. For example, he might not even have the Revert to Human form charm! His adventure stories were either hearsay or outright fabrications!

"That's wonderful! I'm sure the Ministry of Magic will be very grateful for your efforts!"

Lockhart felt a sudden unease, but Rita Skeeter had already decided to end the interview and even took a picture of him lying in his hospital bed before leaving.

This photograph completely washed away Lockhart's unease; he was filled with shock and anger: how dare they suddenly take such a disheveled picture of him!

Clita had already left the ward and disappeared. Lockhart could only slump onto the hospital bed, accepting his fate—the Daily Prophet's Most Charming Smile Award was about to slip away.

What he didn't know was that Rita's reporting hurt him far more than that...

After leaving the ward, Rita, still feeling unsatisfied, decided to interview a few more students. She wandered aimlessly down the corridor, when suddenly her eyes lit up: she had spotted an interesting person.

Daphne Greengrass, Henry Greengrass's daughter, was sure to get some juicy gossip about Lockhart from her, so she quickly chased after her.

Rice was about to go to the Great Hall for lunch with Daphne when a gaudy blonde witch blocked their way.

"Excuse me, would it be convenient for me to conduct an interview?"

Rice was about to refuse, but he heard the rest of Rita's sentence.

"...It's about Professor Lockhart."

Rice agreed, and he, Daphne, Rita, and her photographer went into the castle courtyard.

"Young man, what kind of person is Professor Lockhart in your eyes? Is he somewhat—oh, no offense, but does his ability match his reputation?"

Rice keenly sensed the hidden implication behind Rita's words, so he happily told Rita everything about Lockhart's performance in his first Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson, without holding back a single detail. He even thoughtfully repeated Lockhart's remarks about the Restore to Human Form Charm on the Hogwarts Express.

Rita's eyes lit up at the bombshell that Rice dropped, and her auto-writing quill danced into a blur.

After finishing the interview with Rice, Rita left satisfied, without even having lunch—she needed to hurry back to the editorial office to finish the article and try to publish the interview the next morning.

……

The next morning, Lockhart received his daily copy of the Daily Prophet on time. The first thing he did was look at the front page, and then Lockhart's vision went black: sure enough, that old woman Rita Skeeter had used an unflattering photo of herself lying in a hospital bed!

When he saw the headline a second time, his eyes widened in disbelief, not just disbelief. The headline, in bold, bold black letters, read: "Giddro Lockhart: Great Adventurer or Clown's Fooling?"

Gilderoy Lockhart claims to be an expert in the Restoration Charm. It is widely known that the Restoration Charm is a magical spell invented by Salazar Slytherin, only recently coming to light, but Mr. Lockhart claims to have used it to heal a werewolf more than a decade ago.

According to reliable sources, Mr. Lockhart's spells differ significantly from those in the Slytherin manuscripts—when the author inquired about the reason, Mr. Lockhart changed the subject.

[In the first Defense Against the Dark Arts class...]

The reason Lockhart was admitted to the university hospital was...

As Lockhart read the sharp words and saw the vivid image of the conman, he felt dizzy and eventually fainted.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

Update delivered. The second update will be a little later, so please check it in the morning.

(End of this chapter)