Harry Potter and the Burnt Badger

Only Quaid and Hesper showed greater interest, especially Hesper, who had read Lockhart's works.But their interest was limited to seeing with their own eyes what Lockhart looked like. After all, when it came to celebrities, the two of them had been in contact with each other since they were young.

As for Moon...

At this moment, he just wanted to take the whole family and run away quickly.

If others don't understand Lockhart's style, how can he not know it?

If Lockhart knew that their table was here, even within a few minutes, Lockhart would immediately run over to them and chat with them for a while - and he might even deliberately provoke a few of them by the way. The guy with the camera left a few "precious photos".

Sure enough, the next moment, after learning from other people's conversations that "Harry Potter" and "Moon Fawkes" were also here, Gilderoy Lockhart immediately lined up the crowd and looked directly at Hook rushed over.

At the same time, he did not forget to ask the person following him to raise his camera.

Moon didn't even need to use Legilimency to guess that the man with the camera was probably the one Lockhart had brought to take photos of him negotiating the autograph session.

"Ha! Look who I met here!" Lockhart's face was full of surprise, as if he didn't learn about the existence of Moon and others from the mouths of the crowd, but discovered the people at this table by chance. "The famous Harry Potter! That's right! And Moon Fox, who has become famous this year - I have to say, in terms of fame, you are even close to catching up with me."

With just such a sentence, Hesper's brows suddenly raised, and the goodwill towards Lockhart that he had accumulated in his heart disappeared in an instant.Harry was even more embarrassed by him and wanted to cover his face with a plate.

Harry was actually not sure whether Moon would care about this kind of "overt praise and covert criticism", but to be honest, even if Moon didn't care, Harry would still feel uncomfortable because of Lockhart's ridiculously low emotional intelligence. Comfortable.

Ann and Golov glanced at Lockhart and said nothing, but Edgar chuckled.

"You are right. Maybe I should consider learning more from you, compiling my experiences into a volume, publishing a few books, and making a name for myself." Moon responded to Lockhart with a smile. , as if he was not affected at all. "Speaking of this, I have always admired the 'restoration spell' that you mentioned in your book, which can allow werewolves to transform into humans again. I wonder if you can demonstrate it for me. Woolen cloth?"

There were fiery looks all around, but the beautiful smile on Gilderoy Lockhart's face suddenly froze for a moment.Fortunately, it was not the first time or two for him to deal with this kind of situation, so the stiffness was fleeting and was not noticed by anyone.He still maintained an impeccable smile and confidence, and said very smoothly: "Aha, I didn't expect that Moon Fox was also a loyal reader of mine. He even remembers such details clearly. However, Fox, I think now Not a good opportunity to demonstrate this kind of spell, right? Besides, there are no werewolves here. Let me tell you, it’s better——"

"That's better than this." Moon raised his hand and said first: "The Ministry of Magic is currently soliciting for inventions of various spells and potions that can help werewolves, or rather not recently, this has been going on for several months. Why don't you go directly to the Ministry of Magic and make your "Return to Humanoid Charm" public? I think with your admirable kindness and your usual willingness to help others and help the weak, you will definitely be willing to use this power Let’s share the mantra that will benefit the present generation and benefit the future generations.”

He blinked and looked at Lockhart with a hint of admiration, as if he was really Lockhart's loyal reader as Lockhart said - the other people at the same table They were all stunned. Even Hesper didn't know that his brother Moon had actually read Lockhart's book.

Discussions began to come from the surroundings. Some people patted their foreheads in approval of Moon's words, while others muttered in low voices that Lockhart should indeed do this.

This time Lockhart really couldn't stand it anymore.

Being kind-hearted, willing to help others, and helping the weak can serve the present and benefit the future...

When Moon Fox defaulted to being his loyal reader, Lockhart was actually very proud.But now, he found that he was almost overwhelmed by this loyal reader.

So he could only laugh twice, trying to maintain his expression, and said quickly: "Ha, ah, that's a very good suggestion. But, Fox, I'm already famous enough, I think I should put this The opportunity to make a name for yourself is given to someone else – for example!”

Lockhart suddenly thought of a good way to protect himself, which could just divert his attention and allow him to slip away naturally.

"To be honest, just yesterday, I just received a letter from the principal of Hogwarts, Professor Dumbledore, and was invited to Hogwarts to be the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor for the new year. And I , that’s right, the charming Gilderoy Lockhart, Order of Merlin Third Class, honorary member of the Defense League against the Dark Arts, and five-time winner of Wizard Weekly’s Most Charming Smile Award, I agreed to this invitation!”

"So, think about it, Fawkes, and of course, Harry Potter. Like I just said, of course I'll be teaching this spell to you in next semester's classes, and then! The best one in your middle school People, you can go to the Ministry of Magic to share this spell and get your new honor. How about that. This is why I didn’t go to the Ministry of Magic to share this spell. Opportunities are always reserved for young people like you, ha. !”

Golov took a sip of the white wine in the glass and turned the head of the stunned Edgar next to him.An was beside him and comforted Quaid and Hesper in a low voice. Sirius forgot to spit out the shrimp shells after hearing this. Only Harry looked at Gilderoy Lockhart in confusion, unable to tell what this weird guy was. What is said is true or false.

From the bottom of his heart, he was more inclined to believe that this was a fake, because no matter how he heard it, he thought it was a bit outrageous.But... this person is his Defense Against the Dark Arts professor next semester?

Young Harry felt that he really couldn't tell the difference.

Moon sighed quietly in his heart. On the one hand, he was a little speechless at the reactions of the people around him - there were actually people out there praising Gilderoy Lockhart for being selfless and supporting his younger generation?

No wonder an idiot like Lockhart has been able to fool around for so long.

On the other hand, of course he was also thinking that the matter regarding the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor had finally come to this point.

Originally, Professor Greengrass had no problems until the end last semester, and he thought Professor Greengrass would still teach him next semester.Good guy, now he finally knows why Professor Dumbledore said on the last night that he would take care of the duel club.

Just leave it here waiting for me, right?

It's just off the charts.

Thinking of this, he didn't bother to pay attention to Lockhart anymore. He just maintained his false enthusiasm, and after a few casual words, he let Gilderoy Lockhart sneak out of the Conch Restaurant openly again.

If he really wanted to, of course he could just say a few more words and expose Gilderoy Lockhart on the spot.But the fact is that Professor Greengrass obviously had his own reasons for giving up teaching.Professor Dumbledore has already found Gilderoy Lockhart. Now that Moon has exposed Lockhart, it means that Professor Dumbledore will have to continue to look for him in the next two months. candidate.

And if you can't find it, I'm afraid you will have to ask people from the Order of the Phoenix to go up like in the original work.

Rather than doing this, it would be better to let Lockhart take the blame.Anyway, when it comes to teaching, Sirius and Remus are there to take care of the Defense Against the Dark Arts class. He can also publish more content related to the Defense Against the Dark Arts class in the school newspaper to help the little wizards make up for their mistakes and not let everyone down. Leave the course behind.

Thinking about it this way, let Gilderoy Lockhart be the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor...

It seems to be quite good.

There's no guarantee that Professor Dumbledore didn't think so.

It's just that Sirius will inevitably be disgusted for a semester.

Moon turned his gaze to Sirius's face and found that, sure enough, Sirius's expression looked as if he had eaten something, and he felt as if his worldview had been severely impacted.

"I have to be his teaching assistant next semester?" After a while, Sirius finally spit out the shrimp shells in his mouth. "Are you kidding me? Is Dumbledore old and confused?"

Edgar nodded in agreement.

"Wouldn't it be nice to let him take the blame?" Moon poked the huge crab roe that his mother put on his plate with a fork. "It would be a pity for a person like him to be tortured to any extent."

Sirius had figured it out and nodded suddenly: "That makes sense - but it's still quite outrageous."

"Wait..." Harry's eyes widened, as if he had discovered a new world. "Are you saying that there is really a curse on the position of the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor? Is what everyone guessed at the end of last semester true?"

Everyone at the table looked at Moon and Sirius curiously. Moon chewed the crab roe and said with a smile: "Not sure, but at least I have fulfilled it in the past few years. I have to give it to Dumbledore when I go back." The professor wrote a letter asking him why Professor Greengrass left his job. In short, it is better to believe that it is true than to believe that it is not true. Anyway, we can find a way to ensure the quality of the Defense Against the Dark Arts course, so let Lockhart come over and do it. A year doesn’t hurt.”

"You're not his assistant coach anyway, right." Sirius made a face full of teasing at Moon, "You're pretty good at planning."

"Then how about I expose him and you become a full professor?"

Sirius shuddered unexpectedly and was about to refuse when Harry figured out another huge information point in Moon's words, "Huh? Why is it not a pity that Gilderoy Lockhart is tortured to any extent?"

Looking at Harry, who looked confused and clearly understood everything, but seemed not to understand anything clearly, everyone at the table burst into laughter.

There was no way, Harry was very perceptive, but he was the only one on the table who didn't know that Moon was a natural Legilimency.

"??? What are you laughing at?" Harry opened his mouth slightly. "So, Gilderoy Lockhart is a liar? Is that so? No, how do you know?"

Under Dumbledore's instructions, Sirius could not tell anyone about Munn's identity as a natural Legilimency yet, so he had no choice but to look at Munn - it was better for Munn himself to answer this question. .

"Of course you can see it." Moon lived up to expectations and gave a reasonable explanation. "Look at Lockhart's behavior just now. Do you think he is a person who does not seek fame and wealth? If he can really restore the werewolf to its original form. His spells have long gone to the Ministry of Magic to claim credit, how could they be left to others? Don't forget, his Order of Merlin is only Level [-], and he is not like Professor Dumbledore, who cannot be promoted. "

Harry suddenly understood and continued to cook in agreement.Sirius secretly gave Moon a thumbs up. If he hadn't already known about Moon's talent, he would have believed that Moon had judged it from this point.

In any case, Lockhart has left, and has successfully diverted most of the attention of the customers in the restaurant to "Gilderoy Lockhart is about to become the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor at Hogwarts." In fact, it saved Moon and Harry from a lot of interruptions.

In this way, everyone stayed at the Huolu Restaurant for a while. It was not until it was almost time for Dana and Olanda to get hungry that Golov paid the bill and left the place chatting and laughing with everyone. .

"By the way, Mrs. Weasley invited Sirius and I to visit the Burrow later. Do you want to come together?" When they were about to leave, Harry suddenly remembered something and hurriedly started before Sirius could apparate him. After a while,

"Okay." Moon responded, "I'll see you at the Burrow in a few days."

"See you at the Burrow~"

Chapter 3 The sound of rain in the middle of the night

"Hey, Moon, Harry, oh, and the handsome assistant Black." Fred poked his head out from behind the fence with a playful smile.

"Hello Mrs. Fox, of course, of course, Hesper and Quaid, Moon Fox's brother and sister, I also wish you a good day." George also appeared behind him

"You are welcome to come to the Burrow as a guest, but there will definitely be no room at home today. Fortunately, you are willing to come over during the summer vacation instead of Christmas."

The guests who came to the Burrow looked at the two people who came out to greet them. It was not until Mrs. Weasley stepped forward and grabbed the ears of the two people and pulled them behind her that they finally breathed a sigh of relief. .

"Welcome, welcome." Mrs. Weasley had a strong aroma of food on her body. There was no doubt that she had already started to prepare lunch in advance. "Percy! Ron! Ginny! Come downstairs quickly! Mu!" En and Harry are here! Ha, the place at home is small, you go in first and find a place to sit, and we will move the table out later and have lunch in the yard."

While everyone was following Mrs. Weasley's steps towards the courtyard, they saw Ron and Ginny running down the stairs through the windows and stopping at the second floor window.Ginny stared at Harry blankly, and then quickly hid behind Ron when Harry looked over.Ron, who was standing in front, shouted: "Percy is in the room again! Mom, you'd better come by yourself - Hi! Harry! Moon! Hesper! Oh, I won't do it one by one." Say hello."

He waved his hands vigorously and continued to run down quickly.Ginny, who had not yet reacted, looked at Harry.Her face quickly turned red like a teapot that had been roasted in a fire for a long time.

Then she ran upstairs screaming.

Fred and George, who had escaped from Mrs. Weasley's "claws", came over coquettishly, "Ginny has been talking about you these days, Harry."

"Yes, I bet she's thinking about getting your autograph."

"Indeed, the one who survived the catastrophe—ouch! Mom!"

It turned out that Mrs. Weasley's ears were very good, and she was able to hear the deliberately muffled words of the playful brothers.

After entering the house, Ron took Harry and Quaid to the side and chatted quietly. Ann went to the kitchen to help Mrs. Weasley prepare lunch. Hesper listened quietly to Sirius and Fred. George's amusement made him burst into laughter from time to time.After a while, Percy also came down. He said hello to everyone and explained that he had been replying to people's letters.

Fred grinned and whispered that Percy had been writing almost every day since he came back from vacation.George also gave his speculation - in his opinion, Percy was most likely trying to please Professor McGonagall for next year's prefect.

Percy scolded the two of them dissatisfiedly, saying that he must be the prefect next year. He didn't need to do anything to "please Professor McGonagall", or the prefect badge would be sent home in a few days.

In response, Fred and George responded with sarcasm in unison: "Yes, you will definitely be the 'Perfect Boy' next year, and you will become the 'Big-Headed Boy' in another two years." [Note 1]

If Mrs. Weasley hadn't scolded Fred and George immediately, the three of them would have been arguing about this for a long time.

When lunch was almost ready, an exhausted Mr. Weasley finally returned to the Burrow.As soon as he entered the room, he hugged and kissed Mrs. Weasley, and then nodded quickly to the guests, "Ha, I'm really sorry. The department has some things to do temporarily. I started working overtime last night and have been working until Now, there are too many files to rush.”

As he spoke, he winked at Moon.

The reason why there are so many files is because of Moon.He received Moon's letter three days ago, and went to see Scrimgeour two days ago. As soon as the approval came last night, he immediately started preparing the search application for the next two months.

Although most of these applications will be returned within a week after submission, the remaining few will be approved on the second day of submission-enough for him to detect a large number of unqualified things. .

The lunch staff finally arrived. Mrs. Weasley, with the help of Ann, finished the last two dishes. Sirius, Moon and Percy helped move all the tables, chairs and benches that needed to be used. Outside, Fred and George became cutlery bearers.Ron, on the other hand, had a rare opportunity to benefit from Harry and was able to watch his three brothers working and have a lot of silly fun.

At the dinner table, Mr. Weasley told two jokes that were not very funny, but everyone still laughed.Then, before the atmosphere became awkward, Harry took the lead in discussing Gilderoy Lockhart - because he had seen a copy of "Gilderoy Lockhart Teaches How to Get Rid of Household Pests" on the bookshelf in the living room. , and the Lockhart’s face under the title of the book was still smiling brightly at Harry:

"Have you seen the newspapers from the past two days? Gilderoy Lockhart is going to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts next semester." He blinked his emerald green eyes, "But he is a liar."

Mrs. Weasley paused immediately as she put half of the spoon into her mouth. When she heard the first half of the sentence, she was obviously very excited.But as soon as the second half of Harry's words came out, Mrs. Weasley became confused, "Oh, Harry, don't be stupid, did you hear some rumors from somewhere? That's Gilderoy Lockhart. Recipient of the Order of Merlin."

Harry, who had only read that book, didn't know that Mrs. Weasley was a big fan of Lockhart. He wanted to explain, but Ron who was sitting next to him tugged his sleeve and said, "Hey, my mother is Lockhart fan."

Harry was confused now. To be honest, he wanted to explain a few more words so that the deceived Mrs. Weasley could understand the true identity of Gilderoy Lockhart.But now it was dinner time for everyone to gather, and he wasn't sure whether continuing to argue was a good choice.

So he looked at Sirius for help, and only after seeing Sirius's encouraging eyes did he continue: "But Moon feels the same way, and he really behaves like a -"

Moon poked a large piece of pie with a fork and put it into Harry's bowl. At the same time, he glanced at Mr. Weasley, allowing his voice to temporarily overwhelm Harry: "Mr. Weasley, the werewolf's Things, are there any new developments in the Ministry of Magic? I haven’t paid much attention to this matter recently."

Mr. Weasley understood and immediately said loudly: "Ha, well, the hunt for illegal werewolves is going very smoothly. In fact, many of them are just worried that the new decree of the Ministry of Magic is a deceptive cover, waiting for some werewolves to come forward on their own initiative. After I told them my story, they signed the contract very happily."

Harry reluctantly continued to eat the pie, and Ann quickly pulled Mrs. Weasley to chat about cooking.Sirius shrugged and used pumpkin juice to swallow back the words he was about to cheer Harry on.

After the little incident about Lockhart, the whole lunch went smoothly without any further trouble.

After the meal, Mr. Weasley went back upstairs to catch up on his sleep, and Ann and Mrs. Weasley chatted about home affairs.Ron and Harry played wizard chess. Sirius pulled the others into two groups, each responsible for giving advice to Harry and Ron. Except for Percy and Ginny, they all went back to the room. One of them didn't know who he was. She was writing a letter or something, and as for the other one, if she stayed with Harry again, she was afraid she would cook herself.

It was not until the evening that Ann took Moon, Quaid and Hesper to leave the Burrow first. Sirius and Harry stayed here for another dinner, and finally said goodbye to the Weasley family late at night.

"Sirius, why didn't Moon let me finish my sentence?" As soon as he returned to No. 12 Grimmauld Place, Harry immediately asked impatiently, "Isn't he very sure that Lockhart is a liar?"

Sirius lazily leaned on the sofa, glanced at the old Kreacher who was walking slowly in the corridor, and said casually: "I guess he didn't want you to make the atmosphere too bad at the dinner table."

Harry was even more stunned when he received this answer - he had thought about this himself.

So he quickly asked again, "Then why did you encourage me to say it again?"

"Because I think there's nothing wrong with saying it. Anyway, Gilderoy Lockhart will be exposed sooner or later." Sirius waved his wand and took the book on the coffee table next to him. "Don't think so much." , Harry, in your grade you should do whatever you want to do, be bold, and don’t be timid."

Harry nodded thoughtfully, pondering the difference between Moon's and Sirius's opinions, and slowly returned to the room.

On the other side, Hesper also asked Moon similar questions.

"Because it's not necessary." Moon leaned back in his chair and turned over a page of the book in his hand. "Having an endless argument about this kind of thing at the dinner table will make a party noisy, and in the end it will probably make everyone angry. Blushing. It's not a matter of principle. If you are deceived, you will be deceived. Lockhart's true face will be exposed sooner or later. When the time comes, fans like Mrs. Weasley will understand everything when they see the evidence. Why bother to choose At such a time when everyone is destined to have their own opinions."

Hesper thought for a while and seemed to understand, "So, revealing the truth is right in itself, but you have to consider the method, when and where, right?"

"Yes, that's it." Moon said approvingly: "It's not just about revealing the truth, in fact, it's like this about almost everything. The same sentence, on different occasions, in different places, using different speaking techniques If you say it, the result obtained and the scene it leads to are likely to be completely different, even if the two people are still talking to each other."

"I understand." Hesper stood up with the hem of his skirt raised, and then curiously came to Munn's side and took a look at the book in Munn's hand.

"Holiday with a Dominatrix... Huh? Isn't this a Lockhart book?"

"Well, it's for coaxing children." Moon turned another page of the book.

Hesper, who had just understood a truth, fell into confusion again in the blink of an eye.

The breeze of July was still blowing continuously, and in the second half of the night, a rare light rain finally fell, bringing some moisture to the ground.

Not only Shafiq Manor in Peterborough, but also Malfoy Manor in Wiltshire has also experienced the baptism of rain.

It was late at night, and most of the lights in Malfoy Manor had been extinguished. Only the one in Lucius Malfoy's study was still dimly lit. It was hazy and vague to see through the drizzle-- If it wasn't that Muggles couldn't touch this place, and there was no way to draw everything here, this scene would look really artistic.

Of course, it is Malfoy Manor itself that has the artistic conception, and the owner of the manor, Lucius Malfoy, does not have any matching mood at the moment, but is extremely irritable.

If he could, he really wanted to smash his study into pieces right now.

At this moment, he is sitting in front of his desk. On the left side of the desk is a dragon-shaped gold-inlaid table lamp that looks expensive at first glance. On the right side of the desk is a bottle of Pomerol produced in 1989. Top-quality French dry red, and in the middle of the two, there is an ordinary and old notebook that looks completely incompatible with the two.

It was a diary.

The diary of Tom Riddle.