The following few days passed calmly around campus, but secretly there were undercurrents -
Rita Skeeter's firepower is all focused on Lockhart, and after many years, the two were once again sparring across the newspaper.
They are both writers of great repute, each with their own huge readership, and as a result, the news about them is the hottest of the moment.
And in the newspaper margins of the word block, began to appear sporadically on Dumbledore's inability to respond to the attack on the Chamber of Secrets question, Felix smelled the smell of conspiracy.
Thinking about the conversation between Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall in the chamber, he almost realized what is going on.
Nothing more than some pureblood family launched a public opinion campaign, trying to use it to bring down Dumbledore. But everything could have been a futile effort, the Basilisk has died, only not disclosed.
Dumbledore wanted to fish, once and for all to solve the problem, then so be it, Felix is not interested.
In the last class before the holidays, he took the parchment given by Professor McGonagall and explained some precautions as written.
"Don't cast spells outside of school, and don't take teaching aids home, you know what I mean."
The young wizards at the back laughed.
At noon, when Felix walked into the Great Hall, he unexpectedly saw Lockhart standing in the doorway. He is just about to pretend he didn't notice when Lockhart tugged on his hand.
"Professor Lockhart?" He had to stop in his tracks.
Lockhart said to him with a troubled look, "Professor Hap, we need to talk."
The two men walked into the shadowy corner in front of the foyer.
"Professor Hap, for the sake of us being colleagues, you have to help me, that Skeeter woman is driving me crazy!"
Felix asked, somewhat curiously, "What's going on?"
"That woman is making wild rumours in the newspaper, trying desperately to discredit me. She went so far as to slander me, saying that my adventures were all fake, for God's sake! What a ridiculous statement!"
Felix looked at him with a bizarre expression.
"Yeah, you think it's outrageous as well, right? You can't doubt me just because I have an outstanding appearance, and of course, I can't exorcize the female ghost by smiling!" He cleared his throat in annoyance.
"Professor Lockhart," Felix interrupted, "please state your reason directly."
"Oh, ah ... well, it's like this--" his tone became stammering, "I think that this quarrel between me and that woman, there's no need to occupy public resources. Perhaps in private we can communicate ... negotiate a settlement ..."
"But what does that have to do with me?"
"Come on, Professor Hap I know who that woman is, she won't let you off lightly, and in her mind, you're a perfect news material!" Lockhart said with a shrewd face, "If you ask me, you've said hello to her through some big shot ..."
Felix said to himself, "You're a real talent, you can even make a connection like this."
He excused himself and said, "I'm not familiar with her, but I happened to hear from Headmaster Dumbledore mentioned that around the holidays, the school will announce a big news, when some journalists will be invited to attend, perhaps she will also be here."
"Really?" Lockhart's eyes lit up, "I need to talk to Dumbledore ... Thank you very much, Professor Hap, if you need anything in the future, just come to me, I heard that you have studied ancient magic, and it so happens that I know something about it."
"Let's talk about it," Felix said with disinterest.
Lockhart did not pay attention to his attitude, he cheerfully proposed to leave, it looks like he is going to go directly to Dumbledore.
"By the way, Professor Lockhart, I heard that your wand ..." He wanted to find out if Dumbledore had cleaned the smell off it by the way when he handed it over.
He is very curious about it.
"Gee, you know about it to don't you, horrible behaviour, if you ask me, three weeks of detention is light for him ... that reckless Weasley."
At the other end, Ron returned to the common room in a huff.
"You shouldn't stop me, Harry--" said Ron, who had just had another fight with Percy.
Harry didn't feel good inside; they had originally solved the Basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets, but at Dumbledore's request, they had to hold back for a few days and postpone the announcement of this honour until the new school term started.
Which makes, his situation not much better, and even, Ron is suffering from a ban on his back.
But Harry still advised Ron that, "Think positive, if everything goes well, after Christmas, we can let Malfoy get the punishment he deserves, and then all the troubles will be solved together!"
His words made Ron's heart feel better, "That's right, I wish Christmas would come sooner."
Then he said with a raised eyebrow, "Harry, that is a special contribution award, no one in my family has ever won, not even Bill! When I get the trophy, I'm going to smash it in Percy's face."
On the other side of the table, Hermione had been writing and drawing on parchment, not participating in their discussion.
"Hermione, what are you doing?"
Hermione looked up from her parchment and she sighed, "I'm planning a makeover for the beaded pouch, ew, it's just too hard."
Harry asked her with interest, "Is it that little bag that releases the Devil's snare?"
"Yes, the Basilisk did some damage to it in the chamber, and I requested permission from Professor Hap to do the restoration work independently. But it is much more trouble than I thought, even though I watched Professor make it from start to finish ..."
Harry couldn't resist asking more questions, the little witch excitedly gave the two of them the basic concepts of ancient runes, which made Harry and Ron dizzy, and the two of them tacitly diverted the topic.
In the evening, Felix took out the diary and once again wrote and scribbled in it.
"Hagrid was taken away, and I don't know if I did the right thing." Felix wrote, which of course is a snub, he also cleaned up the prepared Christmas gifts this afternoon, including Hagrid's.
A string of letters emerged from the diary, " You've done the right thing, and believe me, the attacks will stop, and you're the biggest contributor."
Felix said "unmoved", "I won't take your word to heart, I'll always be on my guard!"
"Of course, if the attack happens again, you can absolutely hand me over." The diary stated.
Felix penned, "I'm curious, how were you made? You know, you simply had an ordinary book as a medium, but it carried a memory over half a century!"
The diary is not repulsed by this question, on the contrary, he welcomes it very much. Talk, open your heart to me ...
A fluent string of words danced across the page, "That involves very deep mystery in magic, and if you're interested, I'll tell you everything I know."
Thus, one person and one diary began to communicate in a harmonious and friendly atmosphere.
At first, they discussed the relatively superficial scope, but after Felix pointed out his mistakes several times, the diary had to come up with more profound content, but he also rather cunning, a lot of key points are brushed off as "he did not inject this part of information back then".
That night, Felix gained some tips on storing memories on regular items and some knowledge of bloodline research.
At the end of the exchange, the journal strongly recommended him a "relaxation technique", which he swore had a magical effect ...
Felix locked the diary away, but he couldn't help but think, "I believe in you, you bastard."
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