novelhk Chapter 254: Competition (1)
Chapter 254: Competition (1)
Rita Skeeter's hair was styled into elaborate, stiff, odd curls that looked odd against her large, jowly face.
She wore jeweled glasses and clutched an alligator handbag with her plump fingers, her nails two inches long and painted bright red.
"Very good. Next, let's continue interviewing the Savior..." Her eyes were fixed on Harry, "the youngest warrior, you know... to add some color to the article."
"Hmm—" said Harry.
"Great," Rita Skeeter said, and in the blink of an eye, her bright red claw-like fingers had grasped Harry's arm with astonishing strength. She dragged him out of the room and opened a nearby door.
"We can't stay there, it's too noisy," she said. "Let me see... ah, yes, it's quiet and comfortable here."
It was a small compartment for brooms, and Harry stared at her in confusion.
"Let's get started then," Rita Skeeter continued.
"No, Lamia, help me." Harry struggled to get out of the small room. He already knew that Rita Skeeter had bad intentions.
When Lamia heard Harry's cry, she kicked open the door and took Harry out of the room. Rita Skeeter happened to be holding a camera and took a picture of Lamia holding Harry's hand.
"Very good, the savior was taken away by his girlfriend." Rita Skeeter adjusted her glasses with an amused look on her face.
"Harry, I think we're going to be in trouble later on," Lamia said beside him after she took Harry out, both of them knowing what Rita Skeeter meant.
Sure enough, for the next two weeks, Harry felt a little spiritual support only at the thought of talking to Sirius face to face. This was the only bright spot on the dark horizon, and Lamia no longer left the house.
After Rita Skeeter's article was published, the whole school was filled with rumors about her and Harry, which Lamia hated to hear the most.
As for Harry, he didn't seem to hate these rumors. Instead, he was more bothered by something else.
As time went on, the shock he felt when he discovered he had become a school warrior had faded a little, but another fear began to seep into his heart: what would he be facing?
The first project was getting closer day by day, and Harry felt that it was like a terrible behemoth, lurking in front of him, blocking his way.
He had never felt so nervous and anxious as he did now. Not even before a Quidditch match, not even before the last Quidditch final against Slytherin, had he been so worried.
Harry found it impossible to imagine the future. He felt that his whole life was converging towards the first project and would end with the first project...
Lamia couldn't think of any way to relieve Harry's emotions as he told her, so she had to rely on herself to solve these problems.
Besides, even if Sirius was here, he would not be able to improve Harry's mood much, because he had to complete an unknown, dangerous and extremely difficult magical activity in front of hundreds of people.
Lamia also knew that in the current situation, seeing a friendly face would also make Harry feel much better.
So Lamia owled the letter Harry had written but hadn't yet sent.
But unfortunately, Harry never received a reply from Sirius.
……
When you are full of fear of something and hope that time can slow down, time will never satisfy your wish, but will speed up its progress.
It was a strange thing, the days leading up to that first project flew by in the blink of an eye, as if someone had set the clock twice as fast.
Wherever Lamia went, he was filled with an uncontrollable irritation, a feeling that followed him everywhere, just like the malicious comments about the article in the Daily Prophet.
On the Saturday before the first project began, the school allowed students in grades three and above to go to Hogsmeade for a visit. Hermione told Lamia that relaxing outside the castle would make her feel better and it would be best to temporarily forget those malicious comments. Lamia nodded in agreement.
"Harry, are you coming with us?" Hermione asked worriedly.
"What about Ron? Is he going?" Harry asked. "Don't you want to go with him?"
"Oh... well..." Hermione blushed slightly. "I thought we could meet him at the Three Broomsticks..."
"Then I'm not going," Harry said flatly.
"Oh, Harry, this is so stupid—"
"Okay, I'll go, but I don't want to meet Ron. I want to put on my Invisibility Cloak." Harry turned his back, put his hands on his hips, and looked angry.
"Oh, all right then..." Hermione huffed, "but I don't want to talk to you with that on because I can't tell if I'm looking at you or not."
So, Harry put on his Invisibility Cloak in his dormitory, went downstairs, and set off to Hogsmeade with Hermione and Lamia.
Harry felt remarkably at ease beneath the Invisibility Cloak, and as they entered the village he watched the other students pass by. Most of them wore Cedric Diggory badges on their chests, but there were no harsh comments or quotations from that foolish article.
"People keep looking at me now," said Hermione unhappily. "They think I'm talking to myself." They had just come out of Honeydukes, eating large chocolate bars with cream fillings.
"Don't move your lips too much."
"Well, please take off your Invisibility Cloak for a while. No one will bother you here."
"Oh, really?" said Harry. "Look behind you."
Rita Skeeter and her photographer friend had just emerged from the Three Broomsticks pub, talking quietly as they walked right past Hermione without even glancing at her.
Harry ducked against the wall of Honeydukes, fearing Rita Skeeter's alligator bag might touch him. "She's still in the village," he said after the two men had left. "I'm sure she'll be here to watch the first event."