章 61: Chapter 61: Warnings and Intuition
"Was there a Harass Fly in your head earlier?" asked Draco, pretending to listen to Lockhart's speech with a serious expression. "Miss Luna, I think we should respect the hero who destroyed the basilisk for us. He is now giving a speech on the podium. This is basic courtesy."
Draco turned around and saw the owner of the voice was Luna, a Ravenclaw student known for her eccentric behavior. Despite her ethereal and uncertain voice, Draco had to admit it was pleasant to listen to and could make people unconsciously lower their guard.
It seemed that no one noticed Luna standing on top of a Slythrin. "Hmm ..." Luna looked at Lockhart, who was talking nonstop on the stage, then at Draco. She pursed her lips and said, "I think he is the one being harassed by the gadfly."
Draco didn't know how to react to Luna's amazing intuition. "Luna! What are you doing here?" asked a senior female student with long, curly brown hair and delicate facial features. This was Penelope Cleavat, the Ravenclaw prefect known for her intelligent and elegant temperament.
Penelope pulled Luna away and apologized to Draco. "I am sorry that Luna disturbed you. I will bring her to where she should be. I hope you can forgive her mistake."
Penelope felt a sense of responsibility and obligation to care for her junior. "He doesn't have a bug in his head. He is a good person," Luna said angrily, feeling that if she talked to Draco a little more, she might be able to get more useful information from her intuition. Penelope could only shake her head, looking at Luna with pity in her eyes.
To be honest, Penelope didn't understand why Luna was placed in Ravenclaw, a house known for its wisdom and intelligence. Luna didn't seem to have any connection to those qualities. Even though she was used to Luna's strange behavior, Penelope still couldn't allow her junior sister to stand so close to such a dangerous person, even if he was young.
"He's not even as good as his two younger brothers," Penelope said, her face turning red as she thought of something. A woman in love would always unconsciously associate everything with her partner.
"Why is your face red?" Luna asked.
"Is that so?" Penelope touched her face with her hand, then quickly put it down again. She spoke to Luna with a serious face, "Don't try to change the topic. Stay away from that person. God knows what kind of strange creature he will create next time. If you leave a deep impression on him, you might be the first one to suffer."
"But if what you said is true, then it's too late," Luna said, fiddling with her radish earrings.
"What does this mean?" Penelope asked, feeling a sense of dread.
"When school started this year, I sat with him on the train. He also taught me a lot of interesting games," Luna said casually.
"What?" Penelope felt like she needed to change her approach, as this little girl in front of her seemed capable of anything.
"In short, stay away from him in the future. Otherwise, even if I'm the head of Ravenclaw, I will still deduct points from my house," Penelope tried to calm herself down, but the bomb Luna had just dropped had temporarily robbed her of her ability to think, leading her to retaliate.
"The head has no right to deduct points," Luna said, staring at Penelope. She always seemed to hit the nail on the head.
Penelope was left speechless by Luna's comment. But at that moment, a burst of fierce applause ended the awkward atmosphere between the two of them.
Not far away, Lockhart's unique and charismatic voice rang out, "I will always remember this experience at Hogwarts. The experience of becoming a teacher will be the highlight of my life. It will be an inexhaustible wealth that I will be able to use in my life."
"It's finally over," Draco sighed in relief.
Originally, Draco hated these long, smelly, and unnutritious meetings, and in his opinion, Lockhart's speech was not infectious at all. Of course, he was the only one who wasn't interested and scoffed at it. The other students were listening with great interest, their eyes focused on the stage, afraid to miss the slightest detail.
Just as Draco was about to stand up and pretend to clap his hands to "send off" the fake hero, the few paragraphs that could serve as the conclusion of the speech began to extend again. "I know that everyone wants to know more about the details of my time as a teacher at Hogwarts and the process of my battle with the basilisk. After all, today's time is limited, so I have written my experience in my latest book!"
After speaking, Lockhart pulled out a brand new book from his pocket as if by magic. Draco, sitting below the podium, could vaguely see the cover of Lockhart giving a lecture on the podium. Lockhart then flashed a perfect smile at the camera. It seemed that he had even used some special magic to make the cover glow faintly, making it very eye-catching.
Lockhart cleared his throat and continued, "The title of the book is 'Lockhart: My Days as a Teacher at Hogwarts'. Actually, this book hasn't been published yet, but I know that everyone must be very eager to read it, so as the author, I used a little privilege to get a few samples in advance for everyone. Now, everyone who gets the book will not only know more details and secrets in advance, but you will also get my autograph on the title page of the book."
"I'm really regretting saving you now, idiot professor," Draco thought to himself as he sat back in his seat, silently cursing and enduring the sales pitch that would continue for who knew how long.
"First of all, Miss Hermione should be the first reader of my book. Because she successfully attracted the attention of the basilisk during the battle, I had the opportunity to successfully cast the spell," Lockhart said, pulling Hermione up to the front of the stage and accepting the gaze of everyone.
Hermione felt uncomfortable all over. The last time she received commendation, she had at least had a few peers to accompany her.
But now, she was all alone. And this time, she felt that her heart was in a mess. The headmaster had hinted at her earlier words, and her own feelings, as well as her unexplained dislike for Lockhart, made her feel awkward on stage. But she could only smile at everyone and Lockhart, showing her happy side.
Then, she heard a faint cough on the stage. She was very sure that Lockhart should have heard it too, because he suddenly trembled. Hermione stole a few glances from the corner of her eye and saw that Lockhart's eyes were now looking at Professor Dumbledore.
Dumbledore still maintained a smiling expression, as if nothing had happened. "There is an ancient Eastern proverb, 'All good things must come to an end'," Lockhart changed the topic again and began to truly bid farewell. There was a hint of awe in his gratitude, which was probably Lockhart's current state of mind towards Dumbledore. A cough was enough for him to understand that Dumbledore, who had all the dirt on him, was not as simple as he looked. Dumbledore always had a smile on his face.
Lockhart realized that he should stop while he was ahead.
ockhart realized that he had gotten a little carried away. "Students who didn't get my autographed book don't have to be disappointed. You will soon see it placed in the most conspicuous position in Lihen Bookstore. Now, I think I should return this position to Professor Dumbledore and let him draw a successful conclusion to this semester."
"Ahem." Dumbledore coughed a few times and continued the conversation. Draco thought that Dumbledore would just say a few polite words and that would be it. But reality proved him wrong. Professor Dumbledore collected the various howling letters but didn't destroy them, waiting for the opportunity to use them all at once. Draco finally understood why the Weasley brothers had compromised before.
Then, the auditorium seemed to have been thrown into a deep water bomb. The howls of various animals were unbearable. Those who didn't know would think that the animals in the Muggle zoo had escaped. Dumbledore's explanation was: "I hope that these howling letters won't be used in the future. Just treat today as a farewell performance." Draco could only roll his eyes at this old man with a "childish heart".
Soon, after enduring this round of ear-piercing torture, the ceremony finally ended. The students boarded the Hogwarts express and returned to their homes to spend a happy or exciting holiday.
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