novel bin Chapter 110 Rita Skeeter
Chapter 110 Rita Skeeter
"Take a picture! It's time for a picture! Dumbledore! All the headmasters must pose for a picture with their champions!"
“Uh… okay, Ludo.”
"Dumbledore said helplessly."
The photo shoot took a long time. Because Ms. Maxim was so tall, the photographer had to arrange the positions countless times before finally finding a suitable way to fit everyone in the frame. And when everything was finally over, Harry wanted to sneak away with the headmasters, but another obstacle blocked his way once again.
"Oh warriors! My charismatic trio! Don't rush off!"
Rita Skeeter said in a flamboyant manner:
"You all have more important things to do! The readers of the Daily Prophet's column—'True Self'—are eager to hear your stories! Hahaha... Hmm, who should go first this time? If you ask me, let's start with the youngest!"
Before Harry could even say "no," Rita Skeeter grabbed his arm and led him to the broom room, leaving Krum and Fleur staring at each other in the room.
......
The walls in the broom room were narrow, which made Harry even more uncomfortable sharing the room with Rita Skeeter.
"How's it here, honey? It's not as noisy as outside, quiet and comfortable, perfect for an interview."
As Rita Skeeter spoke, she picked up a bucket, turned it upside down, and sat on it. Harry watched as Rita wobbled around in the bucket and couldn't help but pray that she would fall off.
"You don't mind if I use a shorthand quill pen, do you?"
"I don't mind..."
“Great! Let me test it first... Ahem, my name is Rita Skeeter, and I’m a reporter for The Daily Prophet.”
As Rita Skeeter finished speaking, the quill pen began to scribble furiously—Rita Skeeter, the alluring blonde and starlet of the Daily Prophet, 43, had repeatedly exposed many superficial claims...
Is there something wrong with this pen?
Harry, having clearly seen the writing on the parchment, asked bluntly.
"Oh, don't worry about it!"
Rita Skeeter laughed and tore off the first parchment, crumpling it into a ball.
she says:
"That was just an experiment, let's get down to business... So, Harry, what exactly made you decide to sign up for the Triwizard Tournament?"
A striking and ugly scar, like a memorial left by that tragic past, is etched on Harry Potter's handsome and charming face. His eyes reveal a maturity and determination far beyond his years, but is this enough for him to face the perilous Triwizard Tournament at the age of 12?
Harry was somewhat drawn to the shorthand quill, and looking at the exaggerated writing on the parchment, he found it difficult to concentrate.
“Ah…I think I…I did it for honor, yes, for the honor of Hogwarts and Gryffindor.”
Whether Harry Potter, who remained completely silent about the 1000 Galleons prize, truly cared about honor remains unknown, but his opponents—the champions from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang—were already adults. Perhaps, past traumas ignited a burning desire to participate in this competition; only the pursuit of excitement could spark any interest in his numb existence...
Noticing Harry staring at the quill pen, Rita quickly turned aside to block the contents of the parchment, winking at him.
"Oh, never mind the pen, Harry. Shouldn't you make eye contact with the reporter during an interview?"
"But your pen..."
"Many brave warriors have lost their lives in the past, some even without a trace. With so many dangerous factors at hand, don't you care about that?"
Harry, somewhat exasperated by Rita Skeeter's interruption, turned his gaze back to her and replied:
"I heard that the Ministry of Magic has made the competition events safer."
"Oh, I understand. After all, you've faced death before, so you can disregard life and death. Can you tell me about the impact that incident had on you? Have you ever thought about how your parents would evaluate your participation in the competition if they were still alive?"
"..."
Harry was annoyed. In all his life, this was the first time he had felt such disgust for anyone other than Voldemort.
"Both my parents are wizards who graduated from Hogwarts, and they both went to Gryffindor. If they were still alive, even if they wouldn't be proud of me, they would still cheer me on in the competition."
"Pfft... Stop kidding."
Rita Skeeter interrupted with an incredulous look:
"To put it nicely, your attitude is that you want others to pay attention to you; to put it bluntly, you're asking for trouble."
"Funnunculus." (Hot and spicy)
"what!"
Rita Skeeter, caught off guard by Har's Silent Wand Charm, screamed and fell to the ground. She covered her face, as if trying to stop the ugly boils from sprouting one after another from her foundation-covered skin, but the large pustules seemed to be bubbling up like boiling water, refusing to stop.
Clang!
The bucket and broom were kicked over by Rita Skeeter, who was rolling around on the ground. Looking at the unscrupulous reporter groaning in front of him, Harry quickly mimicked her earlier tone and asked:
"Oh my god, what are you doing now? You're not staging this interview to embellish it, are you?"
Rita Skeeter, driven nearly mad by the swollen bumps all over her face, didn't hear what Harry was saying at all. She just kept yelling things like "Help me" and "It hurts so much."
Suddenly, the door to the broom room was opened by Fleur and Krum, who had heard a strange loud noise.
Through the dazzling light, Harry first made eye contact with the other two warriors, then explained quite naturally:
"I don't know what she did, but she suddenly screamed and collapsed to the ground halfway through the interview."
Fleur and Krum exchanged a glance, unsure what to say. After about ten seconds, she asked Harry with a complicated expression:
"Um... do you know where your school's infirmary is? Maybe we should take her there."
"It's over in the clock courtyard. Just go up the stairs. I can take you there."
"us?"
Krum, who had been silent until now, finally spoke. His English had a very strong Eastern European accent, making him sound like a Soviet villain from an American slapstick movie.
Harry casually confiscated Rita's shorthand quill and parchment, and nodded to Krum, saying:
"Yes, that's right. Hogwarts' school nurse, Madam Pomfrey, is very skilled. If nothing unexpected happens, she can be cured in just a few minutes. You can then be interviewed by her directly in the infirmary."
"Has she already finished interviewing you?"
"More or less."
"Ferula." (The splint is tightly fastened)
"Mobilicorpus" (Zombie Drift)
Faced with Fleur's skeptical questioning, Harry didn't explain anything further. He shrugged, used magic to immobilize Rita, and walked out of the broom room.
......
Harry knew nothing about how Madam Pomfrey had cured Rita Skeeter. After dropping her off, he left without looking back.
Three days later, an article about the Triwizard Tournament appeared in the Daily Prophet. To Harry's surprise, even without a draft or a shorthand quill, Rita Skeeter was still capable of writing a "high-quality" news report.
High standard, but not authentic.
Rather than a report on the Triwizard Tournament for the wizarding world, the article should be renamed "Harry Potter's Private Life Revealed." Rita squeezed the names of Beauxbatons and Durmstrang into the last paragraph with only a few strokes, and the rest was all embellished descriptions of Harry Potter's personal life.
-
Harry Potter, male, age 12. A suspected participant in the Triwizard Tournament.
When I first met him, I saw the ghostly memories lingering in his eyes.
-
Not determined enough! Not brave enough! This makes me wonder if Harry Potter really became the most famous Hogwarts Warrior among the three great magic schools through his own abilities?
-
“I think it was my parents who motivated me to compete. Sometimes, especially at night, I would even think about whether I could reunite with them sooner.”
"If their spirits in heaven could see everything I've done for them, they would be proud of me, wouldn't they? After all, this competition hasn't been held for over a hundred years, and just being able to participate as a warrior is already quite an achievement."
"Of course, I know that my opponents are much older than me and they possess magic that I would never even dare to dream of. But I firmly believe that the process of participating is more important than the result. That's why I don't like to talk about the honors of Hogwarts or Gryffindor; they have nothing to do with my participation in the Triwizard Tournament."
Rita Skeeter's interview responses go beyond absurd; she deliberately contradicted Harry's own words and portrayed him as a madman constantly seeking thrills to prove he was alive. And that's not all.
To make the report seem more authentic, Rita Skeeter also interviewed other people at the school for their opinions:
"Harry, who had spent half his life in loneliness, finally found his first love at Hogwarts. According to his close friend Colin Creevey, Harry was inseparable from a witch named Hermione Granger."
"Miss Granger is stunningly beautiful and was born into a Muggle family."
"Like Harry Potter, both of them had a habit of showcasing themselves in the classroom."
-
It is said that one mouthful of spreading rumors is one mouthful, and it is impossible to refute them.
After this article was published, Harry's reputation at Hogwarts naturally changed considerably. Aside from the Gryffindor lion cubs, students in the other three houses began to believe in the Daily Prophet to varying degrees.
"What do you mean by 'process is more important than result'? If he goes into the competition with this attitude, he might as well become a Hogwarts champion!"
"I always said there was something fishy about his title of Warrior. If you ask me, it was just a favoritism by Dumbledore that predetermined it for him!"
"If you want to reunite with your parents, don't take up your entry into such an important competition!"
Hermione Granger? Stunningly beautiful? Her?
"Hiss... Why do you talk so much?"
Harry, who had been listening to people talking about Hermione, finally couldn't take it anymore and pulled out his wand. But before he could turn around and see that it was Pansy Parkinson gossiping, Hermione grabbed her arm first.
Ignore them.
Her voice was steady yet dignified.
"Just pretend they don't exist, and that way no one will suspect us or keep an eye on us every day."
Harry was far calmer than his counterpart in the original story. He put away his wand and looked back at Hermione's upturned face, saying:
"I'm absolutely going to shut them all up in the first project."
"Okay, okay~ I know you have this ability, but... ouch..."
"what happened?"