Gilderoy Lockhart was in a good mood.
He was once again voted the Most Charming Smile Award by Witch Weekly and was featured on the cover of this magazine with a wide audience.
To celebrate this good news, or to take advantage of this incident to generate some hype, Lockhart decided to hold a tea party at Madam Puddifoot's Tea Shop in Hogsmeade Village to talk face to face with his loyal fans.
Madam Puddifoot's Tea Shop is located on a street corner in Hogsmeade.
The owner of the teahouse is Mrs. Puddifoot, who has the same name as the teahouse. She has hung all kinds of strange ornaments on the window outside the teahouse, most of which are very soft pink, just like the favorite color of young girls in their teens.
The teahouse was small and cramped, made misty by the steam from the tea, and nearly every detail was decorated with tacky lace.
At this time, the students of Hogwarts were on vacation, and few young wizards appeared in Hogsmeade Village. Therefore, most people in the teahouse came here specially to attend the tea party. They were all housewives and older witches who had free time and energy.
At this time, the shop was already filled with groups of witches, who were looking expectantly at a small stage specially set aside in front of the teahouse.
"My dear family, how are you?"
As a loud voice sounded, a wizard dressed like a colorful peacock walked out from behind the curtain of the teahouse.
Gilderoy Lockhart looks handsome.
He had wavy blonde hair, teeth so white that they reflected light, and an extremely gorgeous robe covered with intricate and luxurious patterns. He looked like a peacock spreading its tail.
Lockhart walked onto the stage holding a golden microphone and greeted everyone in the teahouse enthusiastically.
Screams immediately broke out in Madam Puddifoot's tea shop. The witches shouted Lockhart's name and tried desperately to move forward with their small stools.
"Everyone, please be patient. I have left enough free time for close interaction with fans!" Lockhart showed his signature smile, his smooth and even teeth reflecting the light. "Don't worry, I will treat every fan equally. Everyone can get my autograph, and..."
"A hug!"
The witches in the audience became even more excited, and one of them even fainted from excitement.
Lockhart seemed to have been prepared for this situation. He waved his hand towards the counter of the teahouse. The owner of the teahouse, Mrs. Puddifoot, who was waiting nearby and had a cup of cold tea, squeezed through the crowd towards the fainted witch.
This little episode did not affect Lockhart's interest at all. He walked onto a small stage specially built and stood surrounded by many candles.
"First of all, although everyone must know me, I still need to give the routine introduction of myself," he said with a smile.
"I, Gilderoy Lockhart, am the holder of the Third Class Order of Merlin and an honorary member of the Anti-Dark Magic League. Just a few days ago, I won the Most Charming Smile Award from Witch Weekly for the fifth time. Of course, I won't mention this award too much, because I didn't drive away the witches in Wanlun City with my smile!"
There was warm applause from the audience, and the witches' hands were almost red from clapping.
"Very good. I see that everyone has taken my complete set of works. Then I will first examine the extent to which you understand these works..."
"… First, in my book, Traveling with a Vampire, what food did the vampire become addicted to after I met him? Please raise your hands."
Almost all the witches raised their hands. Even the witch who had fainted from excitement just now regained some energy after drinking the herbal tea prepared by Madam Puddifoot, and raised her right hand high.
"Okay, it's you, beautiful lady." Lockhart chose a middle-aged witch with fiery red hair, a short and plump figure, and a gentle and kind appearance.
"What is your name?" he asked.
The witch seemed unable to believe that she was chosen and covered her face like a shy little schoolgirl.
"Molly, Molly Weiss, Mr. Lockhart," she said, standing up, excitedly, "The answer to that question is lettuce!"
"Very good! Perfect answer!" Lockhart smiled and took out a bright pink rose from his pocket and handed it to Mrs. Weasley. "This is your gift. Thank you very much for reading my work carefully."
Mrs. Weisley took the pink rose with a happy look on her face, while the other witches looked envious.
Amidst the noise, a pleasant voice suddenly sounded from the window, breaking the chaos.
"So... why did the vampire eat lettuce?"
Lockhart was stunned for a moment, then looked towards the window of Madam Puddifoot's tea shop and discovered that the window, which had been tightly closed, had been opened at some point.
A silver-haired figure sat on the windowsill, one foot on the window frame, the other foot hanging down casually, holding an open copy of "Sailing with Vampires" in his hand.
As soon as he opened his mouth, he attracted the attention of most of the witches present.
The witches looked curiously at this handsome man who suddenly appeared, secretly comparing him with Lockhart, and felt that after the comparison... Lockhart didn't seem as handsome as before, right
"Mrs. Puddifoot, how come there is a wizard here?" Lockhart was a little unhappy when he saw the figure that suddenly appeared. He asked Mrs. Puddifoot with a stern face, "Didn't I tell you that you must bring my complete set of rare edition books and a limited invitation letter before you can let people in? How do you do the security work in your teahouse?"
Seeing that this business was going to receive a bad review, Mrs. Puddifoot quickly squeezed through the crowd towards the window, preparing to drive away the uninvited guest.
At this moment, Mrs. Weisley, who had just received the pink rose, suddenly exclaimed "Ouch".
"You must be Professor Dracula, right?" She was the first to squeeze to the window and greeted Dracula enthusiastically, "Silver hair, burgundy eyes, so handsome... It must be you!"
"You are..." Dracula looked at Mrs. Wesley's fiery red hair and thought of her last name. He suddenly felt a little strange... Could it be such a coincidence, another Wesley
"I'm the mother of Percy, Fred, George and Ron!" Mrs. Weasley said happily, "My boys always talk about you to me, especially Fred and George, they say you are the best Defense Against the Dark Arts professor they have ever seen!"
"Have you forgotten that you asked my husband and me to send the crystal ball to Romania?"
"Oh, that's right! Thank you very much for your help!" Dracula was stunned for a moment, then said with sudden realization.
He had almost forgotten about it until Mrs. Weasley mentioned it.
In this way, if Weiss had not asked the twins' parents to help deliver the crystal ball to Brown Castle, he would not have received the information from there now, and would not have had the time to interfere in Lockhart's tea party.
Mrs. Weasley expressed her gratitude to Dracula very warmly and cheerfully, thanking him for taking care of her sons at school, and introduced him to Lockhart, the so-called expert in Defense Against the Dark Arts, thinking that the two of them must have a lot of common topics.
On the other side of Puddifoot's Tea Shop, after learning that Dracula was the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor at Hogwarts, Lockhart was not in a hurry to drive him away. Instead, he rolled his eyes and came up with a better plan.
He walked to the side of the stage and said to the photographers who were taking pictures and the reporters who were recording the scene:
"See that Hogwarts professor over there? I'll go over and take a picture with him later. You can write this in your newspapers - shocking! Hogwarts' Defense Against the Dark Arts professor is also a famous defense master, a member of the Anti-Dark Arts League, a famous writer, and a fan of Gilderoy Lockhart!"
After saying these words, Lockhart thought of Dracula's handsome face and still felt a little uneasy. He repeatedly told the photographer:
"Remember, when we take the group photo later, you must not capture the professor's face! Put my 'most beautiful smile' in the center of the picture, and find a small spot for him in the corner."
The cameraman made an "OK" gesture.
Lockhart finally felt relieved, put on a smile that he thought was very appropriate, and walked towards the window where Dracula was.
"Ah, Professor Dracula, I've long heard of you!" he said in an exaggerated tone.
At the same time, he extended a hand to Dracula in a very graceful manner, and then gave what he thought was a perfect smile to the camera.
However, Dracula frowned in disdain and had no intention of shaking hands with Lockhart.
He smelled a strong perfume on Lockhart that was no less than Quirrell's, and even stronger! This smell was unacceptable to the vampire's sensitive sense of smell.
After the incident of stealing the Philosopher's Stone, everyone knew about Quirrell's affairs.
He sprayed perfume on himself just to cover up the rotten smell caused by Voldemort's parasite. He was not the kidney-weak, wretched man that the students always thought he was.
However, the Lockhart in front of him was in good spirits and full of emotions, and it was obvious that he had not been entangled by any dark magic.
So when a person like this sprays such a strong perfume on his body, it is hard not to wonder if he has any other physiological problems...
With a sound of "kacha".
The photographer captured a precious image—
The famous writer Gilderoy Lockhart stretched out a hand and smiled awkwardly at the camera, while the professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts next to him crossed his arms and looked out the window with disgust.
"Ahem, you are not allowed to take photos like this!" Lockhart coughed dryly and shouted anxiously to the photographer on the other side, "This photo must be destroyed immediately, do you hear me?!"
After saying this, in order to avoid the subsequent embarrassment, he thought of another way.
Lockhart snatched up the book "Sailing with Vampires" which Dracula had just placed on the windowsill, then took out an emerald peacock feather pen from his breast pocket and signed his name on the title page of the book in a dashing manner.
He planned to name the newspaper like this:
"Look! Famous author and Defense Against the Dark Arts expert Gilderoy Lockhart personally signed this for the Hogwarts Defense Against the Dark Arts professor!"
After signing his name, Lockhart handed the book back to Dracula with a smug look on his face.
"Professor Dracula, I noticed that you were so engrossed in reading my works just now! You must be my fan, right?" He said with a smile, "I am a fan of mine. If you have any other books that need to be signed, you can always bring them out. I am happy to serve you!"
Dracula ignored him, took the book and looked at the title page.
Lockhart's handwriting is quite good, and it has the style of a famous writer.
Dracula nodded with satisfaction and handed the book "Traveling with Vampires" to Mrs. Wesley.
"Mrs. Weisley, could you please bring this book to your son Ron Weisley?" he said, "This is a book by his good friend Hermione Granger. I borrowed it some time ago and forgot to return it to her."
"No problem!" Mrs. Weisley agreed readily and put the books into the basket slung over her arm.
There was not only this book in the basket, but also a whole set of Lockhart's collectible books, which made Lockhart feel depressed.
Of course, the actions of one fan were of little importance to Lockhart, who quickly turned his attention back to Dracula.
Lockhart had discovered that the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor didn't seem to be paying any attention to him.
But he was not discouraged. As a well-known person who had been famous for many years, he was experienced in the world of shamelessness. He soon found other ways based on his past experience.
He walked straight to the podium and picked up the microphone.
"I hope the little episode just now did not disturb your interest." Lockhart said to the witches in the audience with a big smile.
"This is Professor Dracula, the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor from Hogwarts! He has admired me for a long time, and after learning that I was holding a tea party here, he came all the way to Hogsmeade to ask for my autograph. I hope everyone can give him a round of applause, okay?"
There was applause from the audience.
Amid the applause, the middle-aged witches looked back and forth at the faces of Dracula and Lockhart, admiring the two handsome wizards with relish. They felt that they had never seen such a pleasing scene.
"As everyone knows, I am the holder of the Third Class Order of Merlin, an honorary member of the Anti-Dark Arts League, and a well-known expert in Defense against the Dark Arts." Seeing the performance of the audience, Lockhart began his speech, hoping to attract the audience's attention to himself.
"Just a few days ago, I won the Most Charming Smile Award from Witch Weekly for the fifth time. Ah, let's not talk about this one for now. All my honors have nothing to do with my handsomeness. I don't rely on smiling to resist the dark magic."
"In fact, to be honest, I have always wanted to apply for the position of Defense Against the Dark Arts professor at Hogwarts. As far as I know, all previous Defense Against the Dark Arts professors have had accidents and are unable to continue to serve as professors in the second year."
"I think if I were to become a professor, I would definitely break this rule and save more colleagues in this position!"
An expression of compassion appeared on Lockhart's face at the right time, which moved the witches to wipe their tears.
"This Professor Dracula must have read many of my works, which is why he was able to endure the training of the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor position and hold on until the next year! And I will definitely not be stingy with my experience, and will more sincerely answer the professor's confusion and contribute a powerful force to the future of this position!"
There was warm applause in Puddifu Tea House.
Dracula leaned against the wall, watching Lockhart's shameless performance with interest.
Could such a boastful, conceited, and extremely stupid man really survive all the adventures in his book? Dracula didn't quite believe it, so he became interested in how Lockhart fabricated these detailed and complete experiences.
He took a step forward, and before anyone else noticed, he had passed through the crowded crowd and appeared next to Lockhart.
"Since you are willing to sincerely answer my confusion, please answer my question first—"
"Why did that vampire you were traveling with on your ship... eat lettuce?"
When Lockhart heard this question, his smile instantly froze on his face.
"Ah...ah, this..." He stumbled for a long time before coming up with an answer. "Yes, that evil vampire was convinced by my personality charm. After my persuasion, he changed his bad habit of sucking human blood and ate lettuce instead!"
The more he spoke, the more confident he became, until he even convinced himself in the end.
Dracula shook his head helplessly.
Not to mention answering the question, I'm afraid this famous writer has even forgotten most of what he wrote in his book.
In "Traveling with Vampires", there is little mention of the protagonist's personality charm, and even if it is occasionally mentioned, it seems superfluous and deliberate. Moreover, the attitude towards vampires in the book alone can show a big difference.
In that book, even though the protagonist and the vampire traveling on the same ship had some misunderstandings at the beginning, by the middle and late stages of the book, the two had already formed a deep friendship, and the protagonist even had a vague admiration for the vampire.
However, Lockhart had just called the vampire in the book "evil", an adjective that completely contradicted the theme of the entire book.
"Mr. Lockhart, do you need to read your book again before answering my questions?" Dracula was ready to give Lockhart another chance.
"Of course not. My answer is the correct one." Lockhart was totally unaware of the danger and said confidently, "Professor Dracula, I'm not wrong!"
"Okay." Dracula shrugged. "In that case, please come with me."
He snapped his fingers lightly, and the two people disappeared from the spot in an instant.
…
That night, the bold headline on the front page of the Daily Prophet attracted the attention of wizards from all walks of life -
The wizards were silent, the witches were in tears, and the famous writer was kidnapped in public by a Hogwarts professor and his whereabouts are unknown!
…
…