In Potions class, for some reason, Harry felt that Snape was even crueler to him.
"This class is about learning the antidote!" said Snape.
He looked around at the class, his cold black eyes flashing an unpleasant light, "You should prepare your own recipe now. I ask you to brew it carefully, and then we will choose someone to try it..."
Snape's eyes met Harry's, and Harry knew what was going to happen—Snape was going to poison him.
"Potter, huh, a warrior in the semi-finals..." He said coldly, "If I were you, I would force myself to study how to save my life during this short preparation time, such as learning more knowledge..."
"Why, you look unconvinced? Can you ensure that there won't be any poisoning during the game? Or... do our arrogant warriors think they can handle all the dangers?"
Harry watched Snape pick up the poison at hand, his heart pounding, and imagined that he would suddenly pick up the crucible and smash it on Snape's head when he was not paying attention -
Just then, there was a knock on the dungeon door, interrupting Harry's thoughts.
It's Harry's little fanboy, Colin Creevey.
Colin sidled into the Potions classroom, grinned at Harry, and headed for Snape's podium at the front of the room.
Harry thought Colin was extremely brave at this moment. If it were him, he probably wouldn't dare to jump onto the podium when Snape was giving a lecture...
"What's the matter?" Snape looked at Colin sideways and asked impatiently.
"Excuse me, sir. I need to take Harry Potter upstairs," Colin said with a proud smile on his face.
Snape's eyes dropped from his hooked nose and looked at Colin. A strong sense of oppression crushed him, and the smile slowly disappeared from Colin's eager face.
"Potter still has one hour of Potions class to go," Snape said coldly, "He can come upstairs after class."
Colin's face flushed.
"Sir... Sir, Mr. Bagman wants him to go," he said uncomfortably. "All the brave men are going, and I think they want their pictures taken..."
Harry shuddered as he watched Snape's expression grow even darker, hoping to stop Colin from saying those last words.
He bravely glanced at Ron out of the corner of his eye, hoping that Ron, who was always good at changing the subject, could smooth things over and perhaps save Colin from the podium before Snape got angry.
However, Ron had been arguing with Harry during this period and just stared at the ceiling.
"Very good, very good—" Snape snapped, "Potter, leave your things here. I want you to come back later and test your antidote."
"I'm sorry, sir... He has to take his stuff with him," Colin shrieked nervously, "All warriors need..."
Harry swallowed.
I have to admit that Colin, this little fanboy, is really brave. He actually dared to refute Snape in class.
"Very good!" Snape said grimly, "Potter... take your bag and get out of my sight immediately!"
It seems that Snape is still a little concerned about this game.
Harry thought to himself as he breathed a sigh of relief.
He threw his schoolbag over his shoulder, stood up, and walked towards the door without wanting to stop for a moment.
As he walked past the desks of the Slytherins, the words "POTT STINK" gleamed at him from all directions.
…
After escaping from the misery of Potions class, Harry had to face another scene that he didn't want to face at all.
Reporters were coming to take pictures of the Warriors and publish their images in the Daily Prophet.
Unlike other champions who won glory for the school, Harry felt that his identity as a champion was not something that could be seen in public and was obtained through irregular means. If he were to be exposed to the general public in the wizarding world, it would probably bring him further disgrace...
"Good luck!"
Arriving outside the photo-taking room, Colin gave Harry his blessing.
Harry knocked on the door and walked in.
This was a small classroom, most of the desks had been pushed to the back, leaving a large empty space in the middle. There were three desks facing each other in front of the blackboard, covered with a long piece of velvet.
Behind the velvet-covered desk there were five chairs, and in one of them sat Ludo Bagman, who was talking to a witch Harry had never seen before, who was wearing magenta robes.
Viktor Krum was standing in a corner with a sullen face as usual, not talking to anyone; Cedric, John and Fleur were chatting, and all three of them looked very happy.
At the front of the room, there was a pot-bellied man holding a large black camera that was emitting a little smoke, and he was watching Furong out of the corner of his eye.
When Harry entered the room, the conversation between the three warriors suddenly became quiet.
The atmosphere seemed a little awkward for a moment, but Cedric stood up and greeted Harry because of their old friendship, which made him feel less embarrassed.
Bagman saw Harry too, and he stood up quickly, leaping forward in a comical manner.
"Ah, here he is! The fifth champion!" he said cheerfully. "Come in, Harry, come in... There's nothing to worry about, just the wand-testing ceremony, and the other judges and our safety officer will be here soon."
"Wand detection? Safety officer?" Harry asked confusedly.
"We have to check whether your wands are fully functional and in good condition, because your wands will be your most important equipment in the future competitions," Bagman explained. "As for the safety officer, this is what Headmaster Dumbledore proposed. In addition to the referee, there will be a new safety officer who is capable of ensuring your safety."
"The Wand Master is upstairs with Dumbledore. And then we'll take a few pictures of you..."
He pointed to the witch in magenta robes next to him. "This is Rita Skeeter. She's writing a short article about the tournament for the Daily Prophet..."
"Perhaps it's not so trivial, Ludo." Rita Skeeter smiled oddly, staring straight at Harry.
Her hair was in a fine, stiff, weird curl that looked odd against her big-jawed face. A pair of jeweled glasses rested on her face, and her fat fingers, with two-inch-long nails painted red, clutched an alligator-skin handbag.
No matter how I look at it, this woman seems unreliable.
"Before we begin, could I have a word with Harry?" she asked Bagman, but her eyes were still fixed on Harry. "Youngest Champion, you know… to spice up the article."
"No problem!" Bagman said loudly. He really hoped that Harry, the youngest warrior, could be publicized. Then maybe more people would join his bet.
"Just... I wonder if Harry objects?"
"Hmm—" Harry snorted in self-abandonment.
"Great!" said Rita Skeeter, excitedly grabbing Harry's arm with her bright red claw-like fingers and trying to pull him into the other room.
At this moment, the door of the room where the warriors were suddenly opened again.
A head of silver hair that looked even brighter than Furong's hair came into everyone's sight.
Rita Skeeter's grip on Harry's hand unconsciously relaxed, and a light of excitement appeared in her eyes that was more than ever before.
"Ludo, which celebrity is here to promote the Final Four?" she asked without moving her eyes towards Bagman.
"Ah? You said Professor Dracula is a star?" Bagman shook his head with a bit of amusement. "He is the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor at Hogwarts. He is also the security officer for the upcoming tournament, responsible for ensuring the safety of the warriors."
"Wait, Ludo, you said... he is the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor who has been re-elected for the first time in decades at Hogwarts?!" Rita looked shocked, her eyes filled with a series of emotions including annoyance, regret, excitement, shock, etc.
"Yes, Professor Dracula has been the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor at Hogwarts for more than three years." Bagman didn't quite understand why Rita was acting so strangely, and scratched his head.
"You don't understand... This is big news!" Rita stamped her feet in anger. "This professor can occupy the first page of the newspaper just by relying on his face. He is much stronger than the previous Gilderoy Lockhart... Not to mention that he is also a powerful Defense Against the Dark Arts professor at Hogwarts."
"It's really strange. Why has such a person never appeared in the newspapers? Why didn't I discover this problem earlier?"
"I thought you should know..." Bagman said in confusion, "Professor Dracula had just taken office at Hogwarts when some students said that he was quite good-looking. As a reporter, you must have heard those news, right?"
"But I didn't expect that he would be so good-looking!" Rita replied eagerly, and immediately stopped Dracula who was looking at the room.
"Hello, Professor Dracula, I am Rita Skeeter, a reporter from the Daily Prophet."
She extended a claw-like hand with long red nails toward Dracula.
Harry, who was originally being dragged by Rita, stared in amazement as the reporter shook him off and approached Professor Dracula.
He stood alone in the middle of the room. It was not right for him to go back, nor was it right for him to stand there... Cedric waved at Harry and pulled him to the stool prepared for the warriors.
On the other side, Dracula lowered his head and looked at Rita's red claws, then looked at her weird curly hair and fancy glasses frames.
He curled his lips in disdain, looked away, walked around the reporter in front of him and came to Bagman.
"Mr. Bagman, I'm just a security guard. There shouldn't be any need for me to be interviewed, right?" Dracula asked with a frown.
If it was a reporter with a more pleasing image, Dracula might have accepted the interview. After all, being in the newspaper is a novel experience.
But this reporter named Rita Skeeter was so weird that Dracula didn't even want to look at her for fear of affecting his mood...
Bagman was a little embarrassed when he saw this.
He had heard that Professor Dracula was rather capricious, but he didn't expect that he was too lazy to even follow the most basic etiquette of greeting.
Looking at Rita's constant glances, Bagman sighed.
In order to repay Rita for helping him make big news when he was still a popular Quidditch player, he had no choice but to say:
"Professor Dracula, after all, this is the first time we have set up the position of security officer, and there is no precedent to refer to... From my personal point of view, there is nothing wrong with taking photos for publicity, which can better promote our safety!"
"Do you really think so?" Dracula raised his eyebrows and asked with a smile.
"Ahem..." Bagman shuddered, feeling as if Dracula could see through his thoughts. "Well... I definitely have this idea, it depends on whether Professor Dracula agrees..."
Rita looked at Bagman as if he were trash, but decided to take action herself.
"Professor Dracula, accepting my interview will definitely do you good and no harm." She said with a very sincere expression, "With your image, you only need to have some special skills to become a top figure in the magic world..."
"Moreover, you are also the first legendary figure to be re-elected as the professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts. You only need to promote yourself in newspapers a few more times and publish a few books. You will definitely be more famous than Lockhart at that time!"
"This makes money much faster than being a professor!"
Rita smiled confidently. She felt that no one could resist the temptation of becoming famous and making a lot of money at the same time.
After listening to the reporter's introduction, Dracula seemed very interested and slowly raised the corners of his mouth.
"Don't worry, I'm a top reporter. I've worked with many Quidditch stars, singers, and drama stars. I'm best at packaging images!" Rita thought Dracula had an idea, so she quickly said, striking while the iron was hot.
"Professor Dracula, I don't need any favors. I just want you to give me the right to conduct subsequent interviews and write biographies..."
"What makes you think I'm interested in money and fame?" Dracula suddenly interrupted Rita Skeeter.
"You're kidding. Who wouldn't be interested in money and fame?" Rita felt a little uneasy and forced a smile. "You worked so hard to take on such a dangerous professorship. Isn't it to earn money and fame?"
"I worked with Gilderoy Lockhart before. When he was at the peak of his fame, he thought about becoming the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor for a year, just to become more famous..."
"So that's what you all think?" Dracula laughed with interest, "Interesting."
Indeed, most wizards who serve as professors of Defense Against the Dark Arts have ulterior motives.
Back then, Quirrell wanted to help Voldemort steal the Philosopher's Stone, and later, Lockhart wanted to gild his resume... From this point of view, Dracula also has other purposes.
He came to Hogwarts to be a professor just for fun.
Now it seems that there will be a lot of fun during the championship.
…
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