Hogwarts woke on Monday morning still basking in the afterglow of the holiday.
Today was a day off specially approved by the headmaster, yet the Great Hall was noisier than on an ordinary school day, and far earlier too.
At breakfast, flocks of owls streamed into the Great Hall, but not all of them dropped copies of the Daily Prophet.
A large number of parcels thudded onto the long tables. When opened, every single one contained Gilderoy Lockhart's autobiography—Magical Me—its cover glittering gold and displaying his standard eight-tooth smile.
On the front page, Rita Skeeter celebrated in flamboyant typefaces: "A True Hero and Scholar Arrives at Hogwarts!" Between the lines, she did not forget to "objectively" compare him with "a former professor who had unfortunately been 'recuperating' after an in-school assignment due to insufficient ability," implying that this was the kind of "reliable" strength the school truly needed.
It left the students with complicated feelings.
On one hand, that was Gilderoy Lockhart!
A living legend! Receiving one of his signed books was exciting.
But on the other hand, this overwhelming publicity campaign, which seemed ready to bury Lin Du at once, made many students rather unhappy.
Especially when they thought of Professor Lin Du's harsh but genuinely effective training, the newspaper's breezy disparagement left a bad taste in their mouths.
What made their eyelids twitch even more was the castle's new decor—
Overnight, many corridors had been draped in gaudy pink curtains trimmed with lace. Magical portraits of Lockhart smiling and waving from different angles hung prominently everywhere, and an overly sweet perfume scent even lingered in the air.
"Merlin's smelly socks," Ron said, staring at a pink ribbon floating overhead, covered in golden cursive "G.L." signatures. His face twisted. "That taste... even trolls would shake their heads at it."