Rita's Report

Rita may not be a very good person, but her creative speed is frighteningly fast.

Even though they had only met on Saturday, William saw a long article about Rita in the Daily Prophet on Monday morning.

It's truly a tentacle monster!

As for why the Daily Prophet agreed to report this kind of news... in Rita's words:

"The Daily Prophet's purpose is to promote itself. As long as it makes money and the news is sensational, the content... doesn't matter."

So at breakfast, all the young wizards were unusually quiet, each holding a glass of milk and carefully Daily Prophet.

The newspaper's headline featured a photo of Lockhart falling at the Duelling Club, with a line of large red text printed on it:

Does Lockhart even have a human heart?!

This report was filed by Rita Skeeter, a special correspondent for this newspaper.

Albus Dumbledore Headmaster of Hogwarts and Wizardry, is known for hiring controversial instructors.

Last summer, he hired Lockhart, a third-class Order of Merlin recipient, as his Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor.

Lockhart had barely accepted the invitation when he immediately demanded that the school replace all the Ministry of Magic's designated textbooks with his own.

As is well known, Lockhart's books are many times more expensive than textbooks on the market.

"My family is so poor we're barely making ends meet, and I have a bunch of younger siblings who are crying for food."

A little witch named Elena Kaslana lamented, "To save money, I've been eating tree bark all summer..."

(This reporter would like to appeal to everyone to pay more attention to the plight of impoverished young wizards and prevent them from eating indiscriminately... If you would like to sponsor Little Kaslana, you can send me Galleon, and I will forward it to you.)

Lockhart's method of exploiting parents has undoubtedly been criticized by many.

In a series of classes that many described as "terrifying," Lockhart also required students to role-play Werewolf and vampires to satisfy his peculiar and unspeakable fetish!

Lockhart also has violent tendencies.

"I was attacked during Quidditch match, and he ripped my thigh bone out," said a student Draco Malfoy.

"Otherwise, I would definitely have led Slytherin to victory... My good friend Potter told me privately that Ravenclaw's victory wasn't honorable!"

However, Lockhart not only did not restrain himself, he also went even further.

He repeatedly claimed. "No one knows more about Dark Magic than me"; "No one knows more about the Hogwarts Headmaster than me"; "I know more about the position of Minister for Magic than anyone else"...

However, considering that United Kingdom wizards are already used to Minister Fudge's big mouth, Lockhart's boasts above don't pose any real threat. After all, what kind of politicians and intellectuals wouldn't boast?

However, an investigation by reporters, conducted with a skeptical attitude, revealed that Lockhart's claimed heroic deeds were all boastful and plagiarized, which is highly problematic...

"Good morning, everyone." Lockhart, wearing a red robe, walked up to the main stage.

"What's wrong?" Lockhart touched his face and realized that everyone's eyes were on him.

"The newspaper..." the ever-kind Professor Flitwick couldn't help but remind him.

"Oh, is it Hagrid's verdict? Did he mention me?" Lockhart asked excitedly.

"You're in the headlines, aren't you?" Professor Snape grinned.

Lockhart picked up Professor Flitwick's newspaper, and as he finished reading it with a dazed look, the article from the Daily Prophet trembled in his hands.

"Slander! This is all slander! Utter slander!" Lockhart angrily tore the newspaper to shreds. "I'm going to send that woman Skeeter a wizard's letter!"

Lockhart, as if possessed, snatched the newspapers from the professors.

"Of course." Snape handed the newspaper to Lockhart, his dark eyes gleaming.

"Give them all to Professor Lockhart; he needs to collect newspaper clippings..."

The Great Hall echoed with the laughter of the Slytherin, and Snape's thin lips twitched into a malicious smile.

"If I find out who leaked these interesting things to that wretched woman Skeeter... I'm willing to offer up my entire medicine storage room so he can pick and choose whatever he wants."

William looked up and his gaze met Hermione's at the Gryffindor dining table.

That's good news... William plans to have the professor fulfill his promise at the end of this semester.

Soon, a flock of owls flew in, and a barrage of letters rained down on Lockhart.

"It must be a letter of comfort from one of my readers!" Lockhart picked up a letter and quickly opened it to read.

"Ouch!" Lockhart had just opened an envelope when a yellowish-green liquid sprayed onto his hands, emitting a pungent gasoline smell, and large yellow blisters immediately appeared on his hands.

Lockhart cried out in pain, tears welling up in his eyes.

He picked up a napkin to wipe the pus from his hands, but his fingers were covered with thick, painful sores, making them look like he was wearing a pair of bumpy, thick gloves.

It turns out this was a curse letter sent by a reader.

"I want to go home... I want to resign... I'll never be Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor again!"

Lockhart ran towards the Hospital Wing, sobbing.

William shrugged. "It's a bit late to say that now... Is the position of Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor something you can just take or leave as you please?"

Even if everyone agreed, Robert and Professor Quirrell, who are dead, Tywin, who is imprisoned in Azkaban... they can't agree!

Lockhart is sick, very sick.

It was a mental illness, though, because wizards from all over the country were writing letters cursing him.

The Defence Against Dark Magic course suddenly lost a professor and became unattended.

Since William arrived at Hogwarts, regardless of the quality of instruction in the Dark Magic class, it has been virtually unattended every school year.

Given this situation... the United Kingdom Wizarding World has no future!

This had no impact on William and his group.

William has always taken on the role of a private tutor, teaching several of his close friends.

With William's current level of magic, teaching Cedric and the others is more than enough.

At the very least, we can't let their standards drop.

By the end of March, nobody cared about Lockhart's situation anymore.

Because Dumbledore left Hogwarts.

Of course, this also means that William and his team have basically determined the location of the Chamber of Secrets.

As agreed, Dumbledore was immediately and temporarily relieved of his duties by the School Governor, which was contacted by Malfoy.

Dumbledore was gone, and fear spread rapidly in an unprecedented way. Every face in the school looked apprehensive, and every laugh that rang out in the corridors sounded jarring, eerie, and was quickly suppressed.

During this time, William had been waiting for Fawkes, that old phoenix, but it never showed up.

The diary seems to have fallen into complete silence.

(Please vote for this post, everyone!)