Chapter 83 Gilderoy Lockhart

Gilderoy Lockhart was in a good mood.

Once again, he was voted Most Charming Smile by Witch Weekly and was featured on the cover of this popular magazine.

In order to celebrate this good news, or to use this incident to stir up a wave of enthusiasm, Lockhart decided to hold a tea party at Mrs. Padiff's Teahouse in Hogsmeade Village to talk face to face with his loyal fans.

Mrs. Puddy's Teahouse is located on a street corner in Hogsmeade.

The owner of the teahouse is Mrs. Puddifu, who has the same name as the teahouse. She hung all kinds of strange hanging decorations on the window outside the teahouse, most of which were very tender pink, just like the favorite color of little girls in their prime.

The teahouse was small and cramped, the steam from the tea made the place look steamy, and almost all the furnishings were decorated with tacky lace.

At this time, the students at Hogwarts were already on vacation, and few young wizards appeared in the Hogsmeade village. Therefore, most of the people in the teahouse came all the way to attend the tea party. They were housewives and older witches who had free time and energy.

At this time, the small shop was already filled with groups of witches. They looked expectantly at the small stage set aside in front of the teahouse.

"My dear family, how are you?"

As a loud voice sounded, a wizard dressed like a peacock came out from behind the curtain of the teahouse.

Gilderoy Lockhart looks handsome in appearance.

He has wavy blond hair, teeth so white they reflect the light, and his robes are extremely gorgeous, covered with complex and luxurious patterns, making him look like a peacock with its tail spread.

Lockhart walked onto the stage holding a golden microphone and greeted everyone in the teahouse enthusiastically.

Screams immediately erupted in Mrs. Puddifo's teahouse. The witches shouted Lockhart's name and desperately tried to move forward with their own small stools.

"Please be patient, everyone. I have deliberately left enough free time to interact closely with my fans!" Lockhart showed his signature smile, his smooth and flat teeth reflecting the light. "Don't worry, I will treat you well." Every fan is treated equally, and everyone can get my autograph, and..."

"A hug!"

The witches in the audience became even more excited, and one even fainted from excitement.

Lockhart seemed prepared for this situation and waved towards the inside of the teahouse counter. The owner of the teahouse who was waiting nearby, Mrs. Puddifu, who was fat and had a shiny black bun on the back of her hair, immediately held a cup of herbal tea and struggled to squeeze through the crowd towards the fainted witch.

This episode did not affect Lockhart's mood at all. He walked onto a small specially built stage and stood in a place surrounded by many candles.

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"First of all, although everyone must know me, I still need to introduce myself as a routine." He said with a smile.

"I, Gilderoy Lockhart, a third-class holder of the Order of Merlin and an honorary member of the League Against the Dark Arts, just a few days ago won the Witch Weekly's Most Charming Smile Award for the fifth time - of course, I I won’t talk about this award, I didn’t drive away the banshees in Wanlun City with my smile!”

The audience burst into warm applause, and the witches' hands turned red.

"Very good, I see that everyone has picked up the complete set of my works - then I will first check how well your family members understand these works of mine..."

"...First of all, in my book "Traveling with a Vampire", what food did the vampire become obsessed with after meeting me? Please raise your hand to answer."

Almost all the witches raised their hands. Even the witch who had just fainted with excitement regained some energy after drinking the herbal tea made by Mrs. Puddifu 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 pudgy figure, and a very gentle and kind appearance.

"What's your name?" he asked.

The witch seemed unable to believe that she had been chosen, and covered her face like a shy little girl.

"Molly, here comes Molly Weiss, Mr. Lockhart." She stood up and said excitedly, "The answer to the question just now is lettuce!"

"Excellent! 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 answer carefully." Writings.”

Mrs. Weasley took the pink rose with joy on her face. The other witches had envious looks in their eyes.

In the midst of 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 at the window of Mrs. Puddieffe's teahouse, and found that the originally closed window had been opened at some point.

A silver-haired figure sat on the windowsill. He stepped on the window frame with one foot, and drooped the other foot casually, holding an open book "Traveling with a Vampire" in his hand.

As soon as he opened his mouth, he attracted the attention of most of the witches present.

The witches looked at the handsome man who suddenly appeared curiously, secretly comparing him with Lockhart. They felt that after the comparison... Lockhart seemed not as handsome as before, right?

"Mrs. Puddifu, why is there a wizard here?" Looking at the sudden appearance, Lockhart was a little unhappy and asked Mrs. Pudifu with a straight face, "Didn't I say? You must hold my A full set of collector's edition books and a limited edition invitation are required to let people in. How is the security of your teahouse done?"

Seeing that this business was going to receive bad reviews, Mrs. Puddieff quickly squeezed through the crowd towards the window, preparing to drive away this uninvited guest.

At this moment, Mrs. Weasley, who had just received the pink rose, suddenly said "Ouch".

"You must be Professor Dracula, right?" She squeezed to the window first and greeted Dracula enthusiastically, "Silver hair, burgundy eyes, and ruthlessly handsome... You must be right!"

"You are..." Dracula looked at Mrs. Weasley's fiery red hair and thought of her last name. He suddenly felt a little strange... It couldn't be such a coincidence, it was Weasley again?

"I'm the mother of Percy, Fred, George and Ron!" Mrs. Weasley said happily. "The boys in my family talk about you all the time, especially Fred and George. What a brat, you're the best Defense Against the Dark Arts professor they've ever seen!"

"Have you forgotten, you asked my husband and me to send the crystal ball to Romania!"

"Ah, that's right! Thank you very much for your help!" Dracula was stunned for a moment, and then said in realization.

He almost forgot about it, but he finally remembered it after Mrs. Weasley mentioned it.

Speaking of which, if Wes hadn't asked the twins' parents to help deliver the crystal ball to Brown Castle, he wouldn't have received the message from there now, and he wouldn't have been free to interfere with Loha. A special tea party.

Mrs. Weasley expressed her gratitude to Dracula warmly and cheerfully, thanking him for taking care of her sons at school, and introduced him to Lockhart, the so-called defense against the dark arts expert. She felt that they The two must have a lot in common.

On the other side of Puddifu's Tea House, after Lockhart learned that Dracula was the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor at Hogwarts, he was not in a hurry to drive him away. Instead, he rolled his eyes and came up with the idea. A better plan.

He walked to the side of the stage and explained to the photographer responsible for taking pictures and the reporter recording the scene:

"Did you see that Hogwarts professor over there? I'll go over and take a photo with him in a while. The content in your newspaper can be written like this - Shocking! The Defense Against the Dark Arts professor at Hogwarts actually He is also a fan of the famous Defense Master, member of the Anti-Dark Arts Alliance, famous writer, and Gilderoy Lockhart!"

After saying these words, Lockhart still felt a little uneasy thinking about Dracula's handsome face, and repeatedly told the photographer:

"Remember, when we take a group photo later, be sure not to capture the professor's face! Put my 'most beautiful smile' in the center of the picture and find a small place in the corner for him."

The cameraman made an "ok" gesture.

Lockhart finally felt relieved, smiled what he thought was a very decent smile, and walked towards the window where Dracula was.

"Ah, Professor Dracula, I have long admired your name!" he said in an exaggerated tone.

At the same time, he gracefully extended a hand to Dracula, and then gave what he thought was a perfect smile to the camera.

However, Dracula frowned in disgust and had no intention of shaking hands with Lockhart.

He smelled a rich perfume on Lockhart that was as strong as Quirrell's, or even worse! The smell was too much for the vampire's sensitive sense of smell.

After the incident of stealing the Sorcerer's Stone ended, everyone knew about Quirrell.

He sprayed perfume on himself just to cover up the rotten smell caused by Voldemort's parasitism. He was not a weak-hearted, wretched man as students always thought.

However, the Lockhart in front of him was energetic and full of emotions, and it was obvious that he was not entangled in any black magic.

So when such a person sprays such a strong perfume on his body, it is difficult not to make people wonder if he has any other physical problems...

"Kacha".

The photographer took a precious image——

The famous writer Gilderoy Lockhart stretched out a hand and smiled awkwardly at the camera, while the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor next to him crossed his arms and looked out the window with a look of disgust.

"Ahem, I didn't ask you to take pictures like this!" Lockhart coughed dryly and shouted anxiously to the photographer on the other side, "This photo will be destroyed immediately, do you hear me?!"

After saying this, in order to avoid the subsequent embarrassment, he thought of another way.

Lockhart took the copy of "Traveling with the Vampire" that Dracula had just placed on the window sill, then took out an emerald peacock quill pen from his breast pocket and signed the title page of the book elegantly. Put down his name.

He plans to let the newspaper name it like this when the time comes -

"Look! Gilderoy Lockhart, the well-known author and Defense Against the Dark Arts expert, personally autographs the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor at Hogwarts!"

After signing his name, Lockhart handed the book back to Dracula with great satisfaction.

"Professor Dracula, I found that you were reading my work just now, and you were so fascinated! You must be a fan of mine too, right?" He said with a smile, "I am my biggest fan, what else? If you need other books signed, you can bring them out at any time, I will be happy to serve you!"

Dracula ignored him, but took the book and looked at the title page.

Lockhart's handwriting is quite good, and he has the style of a well-known writer.

So Dracula nodded with satisfaction, and then handed the book "Traveling with the Vampire" to Mrs. Weasley.

"Mrs. Weiss, could you please bring this book to your son Ron Weiss?" He said, "This is a book by his good friend Hermione Granger. I borrowed it some time ago. I looked at it and forgot to give it back to her.”

"No problem!" Mrs. Weasley agreed readily and put the book into the basket on her arm.

The vegetable basket contained not only this book, but also a set of Lockhart's collector's books, which made Lockhart feel heartbroken.

Of course, a fan's actions didn't matter to Lockhart. He quickly turned his attention to Dracula.

Lockhart had noticed that the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor didn't seem to want to pay attention to him.

But he was not discouraged. As a well-known person who has been famous for many years, he has experienced many battles in the cheeky world, and he soon found another way based on his past experience.

He walked straight to the podium and picked up the microphone.

"I hope the little episode just now didn't disturb everyone's interest." Lockhart showed a big smile and said to the witches in the audience.

"This is the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor from Hogwarts, Professor Dracula! He has been admiring me for a long time. After learning that I was holding a tea party here, he came to Hogsmeade to ask for my autograph. I I hope everyone can give him a little applause, okay?"

There was a round of applause from the audience.

During 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 sight.

"As everyone knows, I am a third-class holder of the Order of Merlin, an honorary member of the Anti-Dark Arts Alliance, and a well-known expert in defense against dark arts." Seeing the performance of the audience, Lockhart began his speech, hoping to bring the audience to the stage. All the attention is drawn to himself.

"Just a few days ago, I won the "Witch Weekly" Most Charming Smile Award for the fifth time. Oh, let's not mention this one. All my honors have nothing to do with my handsomeness. I don't rely on my smile. Protection against dark magic.”

"In fact, to be honest with you, I have always wanted to apply for the position of Defense Against the Dark Arts professor at Hogwarts. Because as far as I know, all the previous Defense Against the Dark Arts professors had accidents and were unable to continue as the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor in the second year. Professorship."

"I think if I were to serve as 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 moment, causing the witches to wipe their tears in emotion.

"This Professor Dracula must have read many of my works, so he withstood the experience of being a Defense Against the Dark Arts professor and persisted until the next year! And I will definitely not be stingy with my experience, even more I sincerely answer this professor’s confusion and contribute a lot to the future of this position!”

There was warm applause in Pudifu Tea House.

Dracula leaned against the wall, watching Lockhart's shameless performance with interest.

Can such a flamboyant, conceited, and extremely stupid man really survive so many adventures in his books? Dracula was not convinced, 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 crossed the crowd and appeared next to Lockhart.

"Since you are willing to sincerely answer my questions, please answer my question first -"

"That vampire you're traveling with...why is he eating lettuce?"

When Lockhart heard this question, the smile suddenly froze on his face.

"Ah...ah, this..." He stumbled and organized his words for a long time before he came up with an answer. "Yes, that evil vampire was impressed by my personality charm. After my persuasion, he changed his mind. I gave up my bad habit of sucking human blood and started eating lettuce instead!”

The further he talked, the more confident he became, and he even convinced himself in the end.

Dracula shook his head helplessly.

Not to mention answering doubts, I'm afraid this well-known writer has even forgotten what he wrote in his own book.

In "Traveling with a Vampire", the personality charm of the protagonist is rarely mentioned. Even if it is mentioned occasionally, it seems to be superfluous and deliberate. Besides, there's a big difference just based on the attitudes toward vampires in the books.

In that book, even though the protagonist and the vampire traveling on the same ship had some misunderstandings at first, by the middle and later stages of the book, the two had formed a deep friendship, and the protagonist even had a vague admiration for the vampire.

However, just now Lockhart called the vampire in the book "evil". This adjective is completely contrary to the purpose of the entire book.

"Mr. Lockhart, do you need to read your book again before answering my question?" Dracula was about to give Lockhart another chance.

"Of course not, my answer is the correct answer." Lockhart was completely unaware of the danger and said confidently, "Professor Dracula, believe me I am not wrong!"

"Okay." Dracula shrugged, "In that case, please come with me."

He lightly snapped his fingers, and the two people disappeared instantly.

…

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 abducted by a Hogwarts professor in public, and his whereabouts are unknown!

…

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