Chapter 86: Is it a Curse?

"It's just so exciting! Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think this kind of drama would happen." Fred and George muttered, they took a little detour to hide in the grass, peering through the cracks at the side of the commotion. Dumbledore held Fudge's hand: "Don't worry, Fudge, you'll be fine."

" Do you guarantee? Dumbledore?" Half of his face turned black.

"I promise you, Fudge."

Fudge's expression became placid and he fell asleep.

Dumbledore withdrew his glowing fingers and turned to look at Kingsley: "We need to get him to the school clinic."

"But, Minister Fudge, he said ..."

"The Basilisk's venom needs to be resolved as soon as possible," Dumbledore said.

The man named Kingsley quickly compromised, "Everything is at your disposal."

Dumbledore turned to Flitwick and McGonagall and said, "Flitwick, Minerva, you stay here, maintain order, and get rid of that Basilisk." The two professors nodded their heads.

Hagrid volunteered to pick up Fudge and stride in the direction of the school clinic with Dumbledore and Kingsley.

Lucius took advantage of the chaos to leave, and he found his son, Draco Malfoy.

"What is the truth behind the Chamber of Secrets?" Lucius questioned him.

"Potter and the gang did it! Dad, Potter is a parseltongue, that's why he found the Chamber of Secrets!" Draco said with an irritated look on his face.

"A Parseltongue!" Lucius truly felt surprised, he thought that it was the diary he had thrown at the Weasley's youngest daughter that had been discovered. Sᴇaʀᴄh thᴇ NøvᴇlFirᴇ(.)nᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of nøvels early and in the highest quality.

"Did you find out who opened the Chamber of Secrets?" Lucius asked vaguely.

"No, not yet." Draco stammered as he gave his father a wary look. He didn't spill the beans on the fact that he had briefly been controlled by a dark magic item.

"Is that so?" Lucius didn't notice this little gesture, and his expression turned condescending.

...

Rita Skeeter wanted to follow up and film the Minister of Magic's misery, but then she looked at the Lockhart, and after some weighing, she quickly settled upon her real target.

Fellow peers are enemies, she must screw him!

"Click!"

"Click!"

"Click!"

"Ka-chow!"

Lockhart, overwhelmed, blocked his face, "Hey, stop it! Stop it now!"

Rita Skeeter, however, shooting more vigorously, her desire is now simply bursting with creativity, but unfortunately, because of some scruples, she did not bring automatic quill and parchment.

She stole a glance at Felix, who watched all this in silence.

This lets Rita Skeeter put her heart down, it seems that 'this one' does not care about others. The next time she had the chance to come to Hogwarts, she must be well-prepared.

"Oh my, Professor McGonagall must be furious." Hermione, who is hiding behind a huge pillar, said as Harry and Ron looked over at their Transfiguration class professor, whose face is about to twist into distortion.

The situation had developed into something where Lockhart rushed forward to grab the camera with Skeeter, but it seemed that on physical strength alone, Lockhart is no match for her, and Skeeter's two-inch-long nails made a dozen cuts on his face.

"My handsome face!" Lockhart went mad.

Professor McGonagall had to step forward to separate the two, her lips quivering with anger, "Professor Lockhart, please leave at once! As for you ..." she looked at Rita Skeeter with disgust.

"Oh, you needn't mind me, Professor McGonagall." Rita Skeeter said cheekily, "I'll just wander around, it's been years since I've been back to school and I really miss it."

"Suit yourself." McGonagall couldn't care less about her at the moment as she and Professor Flitwick worked together to drag the Basilisk away.

Felix looked around; Lockhart looked like an angry bull, and he didn't want to get involved. He turned around and walked in the direction of the school clinic.

After a while, Lockhart completely calmed down, he suddenly realized he is facing an unprecedented crisis, he straightened his messy hair and said to Rita Skeeter, "Skeeter, we need to talk, man-to-man."

The woman gave him a condescending look as she took the magic camera, her biggest catch this time, and handed it to her two assistants, "Keep an eye on it, and stay away."

The two assistants left, and at this moment, the empty space remained with only two of them, Lockhart and Skeeter, on the bright side.

In the dark, the twins and the trio were on one side each, holding their breath.

Rita Skeeter glanced disdainfully at Lockhart, she grinned, a victorious posture: "What do you want to talk to me? I guess there is no more need for that-"

"The famous bestselling author!"

Lockhart's handsome face became contorted, but he looked around and whispered, "We don't have to get to this point, and I can give you Golden Galleons as compensation, as long as you don't say a word about this."

Rita Skeeter glanced at him.

"Two thousand galleons!" Lockhart said groggily.

There is no response.

"Four thousand!"

"Ten thousand Golden Galleons! You greedy woman!"

Rita Skeeter gave a stiff smile, but she still didn't relent as she leaned closer and said, "Lockhart, you can go back and think about it for a while, figure out what a great writer's reputation is really worth."

"-and," she fiddled with her nails, "first think about how to clear your name for attacking the Minister of Magic."

"That was just an accident!" Lockhart gritted his teeth and looked at her, but the woman had left satisfied.

He gripped the wand in his hand and tried to do something several times, but finally gave up. He returned to his office in dismay.

The lively yard, once again restored calm.

The twins looked at each other and quietly left in silence. Behind a pillar, the trio looked at each other.

"Dirty money deal!" Hermione got righteously indignant.

Ron shrugged: "It's normal, when my father went to check Malfoy Manor, Malfoy got informed in advance. Why do you think it' because?"

Harry looked in the direction that Lockhart left and couldn't help but ask: "Do you guys think that Lockhart will be put in jail?"

Ron said without thinking, "It's hard to say, but if I am fudge, I mean, as Minister of Magic, I couldn't afford to be disgraced like that."

"Don't you think it's too coincidence?"

"What?"

"Everything that happened today was an accident, wasn't it? You know the Basilisk was already taken care of, and he could have muddled through the whole year unscathed, then written a book like My Year at Hogwarts and earned a large amount of Golden Galleons."

"You mean, the Dark Lord's Curse?" Ron responded.

Hermione blinked as she said with great interest, "Quite an interesting thought, Harry, perhaps the true nature of the curse is to amplify the probability of various accidents. We could look into that."

Ron grimaced, "Hermione, don't you think you've been too busy lately? For you, let me do the maths, classes, homework, weekend runes guidance, grading papers, learning special transfiguration techniques, and now you have to study the curse ..."

Hermione grunted as she asked rhetorically, "Don't you think that solving one puzzle after another is a great accomplishment?"

...

On the other hand, Rita Skeeter, who had been looking at the landscape slowly, suddenly turned back the way she came after turning around the yard.

Her eyes kept searching, and Lockhart is so fast that she had lost sight of him. But she soon spotted the trio

"Hey, you three! Little wizards, stop."