"It's so exciting! I never dreamed that there would be such a plot." Fred and George muttered. They took a detour and hid in the bushes, peeking at the movements here through the gaps.

Dumbledore held Fudge's hand: "Don't worry, Fudge, you will be fine."

"You promise? Dumbledore?" Half of his face turned dark.

"I promise you, Fudge."

Fudge's expression became calm and he fell asleep.

Dumbledore retracted his glowing fingers and turned to look at Kingsley: "We need to send him to the school hospital."

"But, Minister Fudge said..."

"The basilisk's poison needs to be solved as soon as possible." Dumbledore said.

The man named Kingsley quickly compromised, "Everything is up to you."

Dumbledore turned to Flitwick and McGonagall and said: "Filius, Minerva, you stay here, maintain order, and get rid of the basilisk." The two professors nodded.

Hagrid volunteered to pick up Fudge, and strode towards the school hospital with Dumbledore and Kingsley.

Lucius took advantage of the chaos to leave, and he found his son Draco Malfoy.

"What is the truth about the Chamber of Secrets?" Lucius asked him.

"It was Potter and the others who did it! Dad, Potter is a Parseltongue, and that's why he discovered the Chamber of Secrets!" Draco said with an unhappy face.

"Parseltongue!" Lucius was really surprised, and he thought that the diary he threw to the Weasley's little daughter was discovered.

"Have you found out who opened the Chamber of Secrets?" Lucius asked vaguely.

"No, not yet." Draco looked at his father fearfully and stammered. He did not say that he had been briefly controlled by a dark magic item.

"Really?" Lucius did not notice this little movement, and his expression became unfathomable.

...

Rita Skeeter wanted to follow and take pictures of the Minister of Magic's miserable state, but she looked at Lockhart at the scene, and after weighing the pros and cons, she quickly determined the real target.

The same industry is an enemy, and he must be dealt with!

"Click!"

"Click!"

"Click!"

"Click!"

Lockhart was at a loss and covered his face: "Hey, stop it! Stop it!"

However, Rita Skeeter took more photos. Her desire to create was simply overwhelming, but unfortunately, she did not bring an automatic quill and parchment because of her concerns.

She secretly glanced at Felix, who was watching all this silently.

This made Rita Skeeter feel relieved. It seemed that 'this person' did not care about others. Next time I have the opportunity to come to Hogwarts, I must be well prepared.

"Oh my God, Professor McGonagall must be very angry." Hermione said, hiding behind a huge pillar in the courtyard. Harry and Ron looked at their Transfiguration professor, her face was about to be distorted.

The situation has developed to the point where Lockhart rushed over to snatch the camera from Skeeter, but it seems that Lockhart is no match for her in terms of physical strength alone. Skeeter's two-inch long nails scratched more than a dozen scars on his face.

"My handsome face!" Lockhart was going crazy.

Professor McGonagall had to step forward to separate the two, her lips trembling with anger, "Professor Lockhart, please leave here immediately! As for you..." She looked at Rita Skeeter with disgust. "

Oh, don't worry about me, Professor McGonagall." Rita Skeeter said shamelessly, "I'm just strolling around. I haven't been back to school for many years. I really miss it."

"Whatever you want." McGonagall couldn't take care of her for the time being. She and Professor Flitwick cooperated to drag the basilisk away.

Felix looked around. Lockhart was like an angry bull. He didn't want to get involved. He turned and walked towards the direction of the school hospital.

After a while, Lockhart calmed down completely. He suddenly realized that he was facing an unprecedented crisis. He tidied his messy hair and said to Rita Skeeter, "Skeeter, we need to talk, one on one."

The woman looked at him arrogantly. She took the biggest gain of this time-the magic camera, and handed it to her two assistants, "Watch it, stay away."

The two assistants left. At this moment, there were only Lockhart and Skeeter in the open space.

Secretly, the twins and the trio held their breaths on each side.

Rita Skeeter glanced at Lockhart with disdain. She grinned with a triumphant attitude: "What do you want to talk to me about? I don't think this is necessary-"

"The famous best-selling author!"

Lockhart's handsome face became distorted, but he looked around and whispered: "We don't have to go to this extent. I can give you gold Galleons as compensation, as long as you don't say a word about this."

Rita Skeeter glanced at him.

"Two thousand Galleons!" Lockhart said painfully.

No response.

"Four thousand!"

"Ten thousand gold Galleons! You greedy woman!"

Rita Skeeter showed a stiff smile, but she still didn't let go. She leaned closer and said, "Lockhart, you can go back and think about it first. Think about one question, how much is the reputation of a great writer worth."

"--And," she fiddled with her nails, "think about how to clear the charge of attacking the Minister of Magic first."

"It was just an accident!" Lockhart looked at her with gritted teeth, but the woman had already left with satisfaction.

He held the wand in his hand and wanted to do something several times, but finally gave up. He returned to his office dejectedly.

The lively courtyard returned to peace again.

The twins looked at each other and left quietly in tacit understanding. Behind a pillar, Harry and the other two looked at each other.

"Dirty money transactions!" Hermione was indignant.

Ron shrugged: "This is normal. When my father went to check Malfoy Manor, he had already received the news in advance. What do you think it was because of?"

Harry looked at the direction where Lockhart left and couldn't help asking: "Do you think Lockhart will be imprisoned?"

Ron said without hesitation: "It's hard to say, but if I were Fudge, I mean, as the Minister of Magic, I can't afford to lose that man."

"Don't you think it's a coincidence?"

"What?"

"Everything that happened today was an accident, wasn't it? You know, the basilisk has been solved. He could have been safe and sound for a whole year, and then wrote a book like "My Year at Hogwarts" and made a lot of gold Galleons."

"You mean, the Dark Lord's curse?" Ron reacted.

Hermione blinked and said with great interest, "It's a very interesting idea, Harry. Maybe the true nature of the curse is to amplify the probability of various accidents. We can check it out."

Ron said with a bitter face, "Hermione, don't you think you are too busy recently? I help you calculate, go to class, do homework, teach magic on weekends, mark papers, learn special transfiguration, and now you have to study curses..."

Hermione snorted, and she asked back, "Don't you think it's a very fulfilling thing to solve puzzles one by one?"

...

On the other side, Rita Skeeter, who was originally leisurely enjoying the scenery, suddenly turned back after turning around the courtyard.

Her eyes kept searching, Lockhart's speed was too fast, and she had lost his shadow. But she soon found a turning point -

"Hey, you three! Little wizards, stop."