Chapter 92: Chapter 92: Awkward Harry (Edited)
While Lockhart's book signing was in full swing, Harry and the Weasleys headed to Diagon Alley.
Harry's visit to Diagon Alley went awry when he used the Flu Dust and mispronounced Diagon Alley as Knockturn Alley, which led him to Borgin and Burkes' magic store in Knockturn Alley by mistake. There is no similarity in pronunciation between Diagon Alley and Knockturn Alley, and Harry would not have made the mistake had he not choked on a large mouthful of ash from the fireplace.
Borgin and Burkes' store is nominally an antique store, but because of the nature of its owners and the character of the antique trade, the store often handles some very criminal business. But as the owner, Mr. Borgin, is a great amateur, he has always been on the verge of the law, but has never fallen foul of it. Even the Ministry of Magic raided the store some time ago and he got away unscathed.
It was to one of these shady stores that Harry came.
Here he also saw the Malfoy father and son, who had come to talk business: Lucius Malfoy had sold his estate to Mr. Borgin to avoid the inconvenience of a Ministry raid some time ago, but the two men had been unable to agree on a price.
Eventually, Harry managed to slip away and rejoin the Weasleys with Hagrid's help: the Weasleys were frantic because Potter had suddenly disappeared.
The twins were each carrying an oversized backpack, immediately crowded around Harry to make sure he was okay and to ask him about Knockturn Alley... and were simply beaten by Mrs. Weasley with her purse.
Now that Harry was safe and sound, it was time to get on with the shopping. First they went to Gringotts, where they got money and then split up. Fred and George were gone in a jiffy with their school bags, and they didn't even ask Mrs. Weasley for the money. Mrs. Weasley went with Ginny to buy robes and Percy went to pick out a new pen.
As for Ron, he had to hang out with Harry; his request for a new wand had been denied. Ron's teenage years were miserable indeed. He grew up in the shadow of his brilliant older brothers, and was forced to use his old stuff. What was worse, on the other hand, was that Ginny, the younger sister, was able to use the stuff first hand.
But he was comforted by the strawberry and peanut butter ice cream Harry had bought, and the two of them ate what tasted to Tom like heretical ice cream as they admired the Quidditch Quality Stuff through the window.
They were browsing in the magical joke store when they saw Fred and George, who were talking furtively with their good friend Lee Jordan, and after a while Fred handed Lee Jordan a package that, judging by its size, must have been a set from the entire Lockhart collection.
Fred and the boys were soon selling them, and many of the Hogwarts boys were a bit annoyed with Lockhart, after all, they had to shell out thirty-five Galleons for some reason. It made sense for Fred to sell the books at low prices.
Fourteen sets of books sold out in less than ten minutes. There were also a number of little half-bloods and Muggle-born witches who were alerted to the need to borrow a friend's reprint to make copies outside. That day, the print shop near the Leaky Cauldron Bar in London was bursting at the seams.
Even the Ministry of Magic was alerted. But the employees found that the little wizards had not broken the laws of the International Statute of Magical Secrecy: the first copies they picked up were copies from a Muggle publisher, and the employee thought they were new fantasy novels by some author, the Muggle imagination is much more exaggerated than Lockhart.
According to Ministry of Magic statistics, at least 300 copies of the entire Lockhart collection were made in a single day.
What the Ministry of Magic didn't know is that a clerk had quietly kept a copy. In the near future, an English-born novelist with the pen name Gilderoy Lockhart suddenly became popular.
His seven-part series "The Adventures of Lockhart" became popular throughout the UK due to the rigorous structure of the worldview, delicate and realistic brushstrokes and unbridled imagination. But the true identity of the man was unknown.
Only later was it discovered that the author of the books was an ordinary printing press worker who wrote the seven books in a cafe after work every day. Before long, the employee became a household name in children's literature, and a movie giant even remade Lockhart's adventures for the screen.
The actors he hired were only good-looking, but his own acting was so poor, and the screenwriter was so indifferent to the making of the film, that word of mouth for the final product plummeted. Then he came up with the Lockhart-themed game, which was also poorly received, and then tried to continue with "The Adventures of Lockhart 8 - The Return of the King", but it too fell into endless interruptions due to the avalanche of bad reviews....
Since it did not violate the laws of the International Statute of Magical Secrecy, the Ministry of Magic did not care, and many employees were happy to look the other way, since no one wants to pay half a month's salary to buy textbooks for their children. As for Lockhart, he was concentrating on book signings today. Besides, he couldn't be bothered to look into such matters.
Ron and Harry walked into Flourish and Blotts bookstore, they had to buy a copy of Standard Spells, Level 2, and Harry and Ron slipped through the small gap left in the door, where they saw Mrs. Weasley in line, breathing heavily and patting her hair.
But to their surprise, they saw Tom keeping the queue in order, and Hermione on the box.
"Tom? what are you doing here? and Hermione?" asked Ron, surprised.
"Summer job, earning some extra money. Harry, Ron, how was your vacation?" Tom said.
"It was horrible at first, a house elf named Dobby..." Hatty said.
"Harry Potter!" Lockhart jumped up from his chair, he had just caught a key word so sharply that he looked up, his eyes swept over Ron and Tom before fixing firmly on Harry's face.
He immediately tore away the fence and hurried over to Harry: there was a reason Lockhart had scheduled the signing for today, he had heard from his admirer, Mrs. Weasley, that Harry Potter was staying at her house and that they would be going to Diagon Alley on Wednesday. Why wouldn't the young wizard come to Diagon Alley to buy his textbooks at Flourish and Blotts Bookshop?
So Lockhart booked a book signing on the same day, in an attempt to catch the famous Potter, the savior, to get the two of them on the front page of the newspapers.
Lockhart grabbed Harry by the arm and pulled him toward the front of the stage, where Lockhart's fans applauded spontaneously, especially Mrs. Weasley, and Harry felt a combination of embarrassment and social phobia. He had felt a similar sensation when he and Mrs. Weasley had been withdrawing money together at Gringotts.
Chapter 93: Chapter 93: A curse? What curse? (Edited)
Lockhart never worried about other people's feelings, he instructed his photographer to frantically take pictures and plumes of smoke rose from the camera, "fixing" Lockhart and Harry in the photos.
"We'll be on the front page, come on, smile a little more natural." Lockhart flashed his gleaming teeth and gave Harry tips on how to smile: He had won five Wizard's Weekly awards for the most charming smile, an honor Lockhart likes to talk about.
But even after taking pictures, Lockhart wouldn't let Harry go.
"Ladies and gentlemen, look at me, I have an announcement to make!" Lockhart waved his hand to silence the crowd, and first handed Harry a copy of his autobiography and his complete works, and then made the big announcement that he would become the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor at Hogwarts.
Lockhart wanted to entice Harry to continue using the savior's popularity. In his mind, he had given Harry a book worth a lot of money and a chance to make headlines, and Harry should be happy with it. But he was wrong, Harry didn't need a few dozen galleons, and he was embarrassed by what Lockhart had done.
Just as Lockhart was at the top of his game, a somewhat dissonant voice shattered his illusions, "Mr. Lockhart, what about the curse left by the Dark Lord?"
"A curse? What curse?" Lockhart looked a little confused.
"The curse left by You-Know-Who!" Tom's acting skills were at their peak at this point: "It is said that You-Know-Who wanted to return to Hogwarts to teach as a Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, but the great Lord Dumbledore caught wind of his plan and turned him down. Enraged, You-Know-Who put a curse on the position, so that no one could teach for more than a year!"
A hush fell over the bookstore after this statement, most of the middle-aged women in the room had lived through that era, and Tom was right: since a certain point, the Hogwarts Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher had indeed changed every year.
It had only been spoken about in private, but this was the first time it had been said in public.
"Many of those professors have met with misfortune, even death, like Professor Quirrell last year!" Tom said.
The fans on stage turned away from the conversation and talked about it.
"Professor Quirrell? I think I remember him teaching a Muggle Studies class before ..."
"That was a long time ago, then Mr. Dumbledore asked him to switch to being a Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, but he died!"
"I heard he was possessed by You-Know-Who..."
"No, the Ministry said he died from poaching unicorns."
In short, although there was a wide variety of opinions on how Quirrell died, one thing was clear: Professor Quirrell, who had been alive and well up until then, died less than a year after taking over as Professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts.
And then the conversation stopped, as people searched their memories for what had happened to previous Defense Against the Dark Arts teachers, and were surprised to discover that it seemed to be a really high-risk profession, as many retired, were maimed, and even died... One teacher was even killed by a wild boar!
Listening to the chatter from the audience, Lockhart nearly lost his composure, but his professionalism allowed him to keep a smile on his face, he took a deep breath and laughed.
"Why are you laughing, sir?" asked one fan cautiously.
"It's actually a coincidence, because as planned, I'm only going to teach for a year! It's a big world out there and I want to move on, so, if I may say so, the curse is valid for me" Lockhart said.
The fans in the audience nodded in agreement, feeling it made sense.
"Don't worry, folks," Tom interjected just as Lockhart was almost muddled, "It is well known that Mr. Lockhart is an adventurer well versed in lifting curses, as mentioned in "Recess with the banshee", no one in England, or the world, knows more about lifting a curse than Mr. Lockhart."
As he spoke, Tom danced with his hands as if he were playing an accordion, as if he were a Lockhart fan.
"Ah, this..." Lockhart just wanted to be on stage, but the fans were already divided into two groups. One group argued that the curse was left by You-Know-Who, and that even Dumbledore couldn't lift it, and that you anti-Lockhart fans were making things difficult for him by asking Mr. Lockhart to lift it.
The other faction thought, "My God, you anti-Lockhart people don't believe in Mr. Lockhart!".
The two factions soon clashed and the situation was out of control for a while.
In the end, Lockhart had to shout, making everyone look at him, "I, Lockhart, recipient of the Third Degree of the Order of Merlin, honorary member of the Defense Against the Dark Arts League, five-time winner of the Most Charming Smile by Witch's Heart magazine, I will do my best to break the curse with Professor Dumbledore!"
The fans present on stage applauded, some even burst into tears, and at that moment Lockhart's eyes also filled with tears. Finally, tears of emotion fell from the corners of his eyes, and many fans burst into tears as well, bringing the atmosphere to a fever pitch.
Lockhart was contrite at this point: I should never have accepted Dumbledore's invitation in the first place. If I hadn't, I wouldn't have become the cursed professor, and I wouldn't have been held by so many people to solve this deadly curse...
At that moment, I just wanted to say to that boy: I thank you for that, Tommie, er, Jimmy? Timmy?
Lockhart couldn't even remember his name.
He wondered if he had to find an excuse to give up Dumbledore. And if so, what was the best excuse?
But the next day he was out of options, as the Daily Prophet headlined his book signing at Flourish and Blotts Bookshop and highlighted the cursed professor's position at Hogwarts, taking stock of the professors who had suffered for it, and announcing his appointment as professor...
That wasn't the worst of it, because the next day, Dumbledore made an unprecedented statement in the newspaper, a statement that could not be avoided, as there would be one more professor per year! Then Dumbledore said that there was no such curse at Hogwarts, and that the history of the previous teachers was pure coincidence. He was looking forward to working with Mr. Lockhart to prove it.
Lockhart felt like his world had collapsed.
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