The Pacifist Necromancer of Hogwarts

Chapter 336 Daily Prophet

The next day, Sunday, Anthony visited Hagrid, who happened to be going to Diagon Alley to buy pumpkin seeds, big dog toothpaste, and a paste of dragon dung, sphinx urine, and raven feathers—Anthony was not sure whether he wanted to know how the last item would affect the flavor of pumpkin juice—so they went to the Leaky Cauldron together, chatted with Tom for a while, bought a few drinks and two sandwiches of different sizes, and Hagrid played cards with three or four strangers for a while, losing several glasses of sherry and mead.

They tried the fries from the fast food restaurant that Sirius had recommended, and wandered around Flourish and Blotts. Hagrid enthusiastically suggested that the bookstore stock more interesting books like Monster Books of Monsters instead of "the same old bricks", which made Daniel unhappy.

And so, by Monday, Anthony had forgotten all about the Society for Muggle Studies dinner or Rita Skeeter.

"Good morning." He sat down next to Professor Flitwick and pulled a plate of bacon that was a little further away towards him. Professor Flitwick looked up and smiled happily at him.

Professor Sprout sat on Professor Flitwick's other side, buttering his bread and tilting his head to read the Daily Prophet which lay beside his plate.

"There's going to be a Exploding Cards tournament in France. I hope they don't set the lawn on fire again," she said. "Oh! Did you see this, Filius? The Dark Arts Defense League has proposed that spells such as the Fangs and the Bludgeon be classified as 'Nearly Unforgivable Curses'... The standard is that the spell is only used to cause harm to others and has no other practical value..."

Professor Flitwick leaned forward curiously. "Any other spells?"

"I also saw the Limp Legs Charm," said Professor Sprout. "You go ahead and look." She had already buttered every corner of the bread, put down her knife, handed the newspaper to Professor Flitwick, and began to eat attentively.

Professor Flitwick took the newspaper and Anthony turned his head to read it with him.

"One witch in Devon protested against the proposal. 'This is complete nonsense,' she said indignantly. 'The 'fangs are sticks' is the most practical spell I have ever learned. I use it on myself every Halloween and at Muggle Halloween events. Everyone loves my teeth. I have also saved one of my Muggle relatives the expense of having false teeth made by using it. It has also helped my rabbit fight off five mice that broke into my house.'

"Amelia Bones, Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, said the proposal was still 'only a proposal'. A wizard working for the Magical Law Enforcement Reconnaissance Squad told the newspaper that the Reconnaissance Squad and the Auror Office generally considered the proposal to be quite ridiculous. 'If we really call these little spells that fourth and fifth year students can master almost unforgivable, the amount of work will be unimaginable.'

"Nevertheless, the emergence of such voices is still positive. We are pleased to realize that this just proves how safe an environment we are in. Under the efficient and enlightened management of the Ministry of Magic, we have rarely heard of anyone being harmed by the Unforgivable Curses in the past ten years. As a result, people will begin to pay attention to other magical injuries suffered by themselves and others..."

Professor Flitwick turned the paper to the next page: 29 Muggles claim to have seen a flock of tomatoes climbing over the fence and out of a neighbour's garden in the evening.

"Were there any other spells mentioned?" asked Professor Sprout.

"I hadn't noticed," said Professor Flitwick. "I was wondering if using incisors as clubs would work on rabbits... Oops!"

He suddenly exclaimed and looked at one of the pages intently. Anthony glanced and saw Lockhart striding towards the camera, with the words "... in your heart..." behind him. In the corner of the photo were several students frowning at the camera, and two or three people were whispering in the background.

Professor Sprout asked, "What's wrong?"

"Gilderoy," said Professor Flitwick briefly, scanning the report. "Rita again. Shocking... questionable... unthinkable... still her usual style. Why, when did she run into Miss Granger?"

"Miss Granger?"

Professor Flitwick made no reply to Professor Sprout's question, but continued reading, looking increasingly angry.

Just then, Anthony heard a burst of laughter from the Slytherin table. He looked over and saw a group of second-year students making faces and laughing at Harry, Ron and Hermione who had just entered the hall. The three of them looked confused and annoyed.

……

"What's going on?" Harry muttered, flopping down at the Gryffindor table. "I hope it's not because I'm finally getting expelled. That would explain Malfoy's happiness."

"They're crazy," said Ron flatly.

Hermione also said, "Ignore them."

"Hey, Granger!" a Slytherin called out, grinning. "I'd read today's paper carefully if I were you."

Ron said, "Sounds like you're upstaging Harry, Hermione. You might be getting expelled."

Hermione narrowed her eyes, as if she was about to get angry, but then she burst into laughter.

"Excuse me, can I see your newspaper?" she asked a classmate who was reading the Daily Prophet next to them. The other party was startled, choked on a big mouthful of oatmeal, coughed and waved at her with tears in his eyes, indicating that she should take the newspaper away quickly. Harry asked, "Didn't you order a newspaper?" He and Ron also leaned over to read it.

Hermione flipped through the newspapers loudly. "I've cancelled my subscription. Ever since they published that nonsense, malicious and slanderous article... Oh!"

Harry didn't even have to ask what she was sighing about. Lockhart's picture was printed on the right side of the newspaper, and it looked like he was about to walk out of the newspaper. Harry felt a surge of annoyance and immediately looked away to read the content of the report.

"After the last article about Professor Gilderoy Lockhart was published, countless readers sent me letters, eagerly asking me to continue to uncover the story of this famous adventurer's teaching at Hogwarts. Therefore, I recently stepped into the majestic castle of Hogwarts again, trying to find out whether this professor with a glamorous appearance really hides shocking secrets as people say.

"Gilderoy Lockhart's resume is as gorgeous as his clothes. When talking about the most famous adventurers and writers in the past decade, no one would bypass his name. The Dark Arts Defense League awarded him the title of honorary member two years ago, which undoubtedly made him more famous. His handsome appearance, charming smile and good self-promotion personality have made him an absolute celebrity in the wizarding world.

"However, one cannot help but wonder: Can an adventurer who is good at self-promotion, rather than a systematically trained expert in Defense Against the Dark Arts, really enable students to master the correct knowledge and skills to resist the Dark Arts? It is perhaps doubtful whether his teaching method can impart the wisdom of Defense Against the Dark Arts to students.

"A Slytherin student showed us a frustrating scene in Professor Lockhart's teaching. 'He never answered my questions and only asked me to find the answers in his best-selling books or autobiography,' he told us, 'Compared with the Defense Against the Dark Arts class, he seemed to like the clubs he founded more. I participated in his club activities twice, but sometimes he told us that he caught the ghoul with a tea strainer, and sometimes he used a teapot, which really confused me.'"

Harry looked up from his newspaper and smiled at Ron, knowing that Ron was thinking the same thing as he was.

Even though he was uncomfortable with the way Slytherin had just smirked at them, he still felt that he wouldn't mind adding one or two points for Slytherin in this report - if he could - but he had to do it behind the scenes, otherwise Hermione would definitely be very, very angry.

In fact, Hermione was now very angry.

"That's because the tea strainer was used to catch the last ghoul in the room, and the teapot is the story of his encounter with the ghoul in Cornwall two years later." She pointed at the sentence with the handle of her fork. "He didn't read the book carefully at all! The teapot just showed that ghouls are magical creatures that can be transformed, and the tea strainer proves that they can't be turned into liquids! Professor Lockhart made it very clear!"

Harry did not want to agree with her, so he read on.

"The club mentioned by this honest and enthusiastic student is called 'Lockhart Lock Your Heart Club'. When the author arrived at Hogwarts, Professor Lockhart was holding a club activity for the club. The usually simple and plain Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom was decorated as a stage full of ribbons and flowers, and Professor Lockhart stood in the middle among his club members. Why did he decorate the classroom, which should have been serious, so dazzlingly, and why did Hogwarts condone such behavior... All these questions made the author dare not think deeply.

"The club's members are all students of Hogwarts, and they can also be said to be admirers of Professor Lockhart. During the conversation between me and Professor Lockhart, they kept glaring at me and trying to interrupt our conversation.

"Miss Hermione Granger, a second-year Gryffindor student, is one of them..."

Ron said, "She mentioned you, Hermione!"

"I'm not blind, thank you," said Hermione, her eyes fixed on a line far below, scanning it quickly. "I saw it earlier."

"…It is reported that Professor Lockhart often calls Miss Granger his 'best student of the year', and Miss Granger is also one of Professor Lockhart's most loyal admirers and followers. In addition, she is one of the closest people around the 'boy who lived' Harry Potter. People may speculate that this girl is just an opportunist, fame-seeking person, but more facts show that Professor Lockhart's most valued students are far more than this.

"'I think she's always wanted to be in the spotlight,' one second-year student told me. 'From the moment she started, she's been talking big in all her classes, trying to impress the professors. I admit she's a bit smart, and her grades have always been pretty good, but she really likes to show off too much. I always thought she was hanging around Harry Potter because she wanted to use his fame to make herself known to more people.'

"When asked if he felt that Miss Granger had chosen to be Professor Lockhart's favourite pupil for the same reason, the lovely student answered the author in the affirmative without hesitation.

"'Yes, and I think she can't wait.' He said frankly, 'Compared to Harry Potter's difficult-to-replicate way of becoming famous, she certainly prefers Professor Lockhart's path to fame through adventure and writing. However, she used a more radical method.'

"After several requests, he finally agreed to speak in detail about the influence Professor Lockhart had on Miss Granger.

"We all know that before Professor Lockhart wrote his first book, he had already begun to promote the idea that wizards can live with various dark magical creatures without having to kill them all. This caused some waves in the wizarding world at the time and also attracted the first readers for Professor Lockhart's first book. This story seems to have inspired Miss Granger.

"'Granger has come up with a shocking idea. She wants house-elves to have the same rights as wizards,' the student recalled. 'She thinks we should condemn people who own elves until they give them clothes. She thinks these abandoned elves will be "freed"... She has been promoting this idea in the school, trying to get people to join a society she has set up for house-elves.'

"He couldn't help laughing when he said this. But after laughing, we can't help but think: Is it something we should be worried about that a second-year girl makes such ridiculous remarks just to become famous? Are the professors hired by Hogwarts encouraging students' desire for fame and fortune?
"As concerns grow among Hogwarts staff and parents, many are beginning to question the kind of education their children are receiving. The reputation of our beloved school is at stake and it is imperative that someone more serious, more honest, more reliable, and more reliable oversee our children's learning and ensure that the training they receive is appropriate and proper. It is in this context that we feel a sense of reassurance from the presence of Madam Dolores Umbridge, the castle's High Inquisitor.

"In conclusion, Professor Gilderoy Lockhart may be a charming and talented adventurer, but does he have the talent to become a professor and train the next generation of wizards? As events unfold, we can only hope that the Ministry of Magic can act quickly when necessary to ensure that our educational standards are not affected.

"Our reporter Rita Skeeter reports."

(End of this chapter)