Rita Skeeter hastily called out to the trio of probing young wizards, "Do you know where Professor Lockhart's office is, I need to see him." She flashed them a stiff smile, but her mind had already flown far away.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione looked at her a little dazed, why this woman is back again?
Hermione didn't answer, just looked angrily at Rita Skeeter. But when Ron saw her gaze turn to Harry, he quickly spoke up and said, "It's in the basement next to classroom number 2."
Satisfied, Rita Skeeter left, walking away with a slight oddity in her mind; that girl wasn't exactly looking at her in a friendly way.
But what the hell! It's not like she's a celebrity anyway, or she could totally write her up in an article herself!
"Ron!" Hermione looked puffed up.
"Listen to me, don't let Harry get involved with that woman, she'll turn Harry's ancestors inside out," Ron explained.
The little witch somewhat relieved, Harry then realized that he seemed to have just taken a trip through the Whirlpool and is still safe and sound.
...
In a shadowy underground corridor, the figure of Rita Skeeter disappeared for a few seconds, then out of the darkness flew a beetle, which flapped its wings and flew expertly next to classroom #2 in the basement.
The beetle hovered in midair for a few seconds, staring anthropomorphically at the " Defense Against Dark Arts Class - Gilderoy Lockhart" sign, and silently slipped through the doorway.
Lockhart walking in his office in circles, his expression is a little angry. Even a row of portraits hanging on the wall also became sad-looking as well.
The beetle landed on the edge of one of the portraits and looked down at him from a high position.
"Damn it#%..."
Lockhart lost his usual poise and kept rubbing his hands through his hair, his golden curls becoming more and more dishevelled.
"Maybe I can do something about this like I used to, I'm very good at this, good enough ..."
Lockhart muttered to himself to an equivocal portrait of himself, which gave him a thumbs up and showed a mouth full of white teeth.
"But what to do about the charge of attacking the Minister of Magic? God, that's ridiculous, it was just an accident, an accident! I'm not going to let someone just falsely accuse me, even if he is the Minister of Magic!"
"I'm not to be messed with either, I have a huge readership, and they'll all support me."
Lockhart thought carefully for some time that he should not be put into Azkaban, which made him feel a little better.
"But if my readers find out that I'm lying to them ..." he couldn't help but shiver.
Everything seemed to go back to the beginning, how to solve the problem of Rita Skeeter, the woman himself.
Lockhart became annoyed all over again, and he felt that he should not have been greedy for new book sales and promised Dumbledore to be a professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts class.
"Old fool!"
After a while, Lockhart sat down in his chair and took out a piece of parchment to write something quickly.
The beetle spread its wings and quietly approached from the other side. It landed near a pile of published books, crawled over a clean white velvet handkerchief, and hid behind a delicate, thin mug.
The position is just right to read the text that Lockhart has written.
"Ms. Rita Skeeter, it is with a sense of calm ..." Not many words were written before Lockhart suddenly crumpled the parchment into a ball and slammed it hard.
The ball of paper knocked over the thin mug on the table, revealing the beetle hiding behind it.
For a second or two, Lockhart locked eyes with the beetle's small eyes and a great sense of absurdity welled up in his heart - the lines on its body were identical to that woman Rita Skeeter's jewelled glasses!
"What's with this disgusting thing in my room?"
As he watched, the beetle quickly skittered away.
But Lockhart didn't think much of it, as he picked up a stack of student assignments in his hand and slapped it down hard.
"Slap!"
But the beetle did not even bother but ran more quickly, it climbed to the edge of the table, took off with its wings, and quickly away from Lockhart.
"Hey, I don't believe it!" Lockhart chased the obnoxious beetle and hit it.
After dodging several times, the beetle was slapped to the ground by Lockhart, and he stomped on it with one foot -
Finally, settled, his depressed mood relieved a lot.
Wait, this kind of feeling ... on your feet
Lockhart soon found something wrong, the bottom of his feet began to burst out a dazzling light, his feet involuntarily propped up, pushed away, a woman's head appeared, and soon her limbs also stretched out.
His jaw dropped as the beetle beneath his feet turned into a woman, an abominable woman named Rita Skeeter!
"Rita Skeeter! You, you...you... you!" Lockhart gasped in shock, his foot still on her shoulder. He backed away with a horrified look on his face and crashed solidly against the table.
Rita Skeeter slumped to the floor, an embarrassed expression running across her face; this thing had developed to this point is something she had never expected.
What kind of luck it's that this straw man, Lockhart, had a one-in-a-million chance of running into her!
Over the years, she has peeked into countless hidden secrets, and now she actually has to fall into the hands of a stupid person?
Does he have some kind of discrimination against beetles?
On the other hand, Lockhart's expression is dubious, his hand fondled behind him, and his wand is on the table ...
He stalled for time: "Rita Skeeter! I didn't think you turned out to be an Animagus, for God's sake! I can't believe you're an illegal Animagus and sneaking into my room to snoop around ..." He reeled back and grabbed the wand!
With the wand in his hand, he had the victory in hand.
But by the time he turned back around, Rita Skeeter had already rushed up with her teeth bared.
"Dang!"
Skeeter's fat body slammed into Lockhart, causing him to let out a cry of pain. The two wrestled together, and the portrait of Lockhart on the wall screamed in unison.
" Scram!" Lockhart struggled desperately.
"Huff, puff, puff!"
Rita Skeeter got the upper hand with her size. She pinned down Lockhart with one hand and pulled her wand from her coat pocket with the other hand, the tip of her wand pressed hard against the side of his head as she frantically chanted the incantation.
"Obliviate!"
A moment later, Lockhart's expression became blank.
When he came back to his senses, Lockhart felt his mind was slightly disorganized, "Well, what was I thinking about? Oh right, it's about that woman Rita Skeeter, I have to write to her, I have to agree to her request, otherwise my career, my reputation will be all ruined."
"Merlin ah, one trouble after another, I should not have come to Hogwarts!"
Lockhart stood up, the office has become neat and tidy again, only the portrait on the wall in the character is sickly, obviously because only little spirit left.
...
On the other hand, Felix chased Dumbledore and a few others to the school clinic, Dumbledore once again summoned Phoenix Fawkes, the little dot glanced at his master angrily and reluctantly treated Fudge with tears.
"Finally, there are no after-effects, if the Minister of Magic was attacked at Hogwarts and word got out ...," Madam Pomfrey aside poured out a bottle of black medicinal juice and fed it to fudge, whose cheeks became rosy.
"Knowing what I know about the minister, he won't say anything." Kingsley said, "But that Rita Skeeter woman, she's a hidden problem!"
"Don't worry, I'll communicate with her," Felix said calmly, he studied Fudge's face, quietly pulling down a handful of his hair.
Not that he wanted to do something, but it's too good timing, the opportunity is too rare.
In case you have a chance to use it in the future.