Cedric wanted to go to the other side of the village, so he separated from them after descending the White Stoat Hill, while the others continued on their way.

In the cool moonlight they walked through the village of St. Catchpole, chatting as they followed the wet path towards the Burrow.

"You said you saw Gilderoy Lockhart?" Harry looked at Kyle and asked in surprise.

"I only took a quick glance, so I don't know if I was seeing things," Kyle said, "but the man's teeth were indeed very white and shiny, and he also had golden hair, very similar to Lockhart."

"You must have seen it wrong," said Ron. "Lockhart is still at St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries. How could he possibly go to the Quidditch World Cup?"

"No." At this time, Mr. Weasley, who was walking in front, suddenly said: "If I remember correctly, he recovered a week ago... when Fudge visited St. Mungo's.

"And when he comes back, the ministry will have a large sum of money."

"Donated by Lockhart?" Ron asked doubtfully.

"It's not really a donation to the Ministry of Magic," said Mr. Weasley. "I just heard someone mention it in a casual conversation. It seems that Lockhart realized his mistake and decided to use all the property of Gringotts to compensate those whose experiences he had stolen and help them restore their memories.

“In addition, he also transferred all the sales rights and profits of all books to the Ministry of Magic to help wizards with damaged memories who needed treatment.

The two people who were in the same ward with him were the first beneficiaries.”

"All the property... plus the proceeds from all the books?" Ron asked in surprise. "None of his books are cheap. How much would that cost? Would Lockhart be willing to part with it?"

"I don't know the details."

Mr. Weasley said, "But that's what it should be. His books are available again anyway, but with the names of the people who actually did the things they did."

"So Lockhart is all right now?" asked Harry.

"Need I say that?" Ron curled his lips. "Think about it. When he was a professor last year, everyone in Hogwarts bought seven of his books. That's tens of thousands of Galleons. Add to that the Galleons I saved before... those Galleons will definitely pile up into a mountain.

In front of so many gold galleons, I think everyone will forgive him..."

"But this is wrong!" Hermione frowned. "He should be punished."

"No, I think this is the biggest punishment." Ron said.

Losing tens of thousands of Galleons all at once... Just thinking about it made Ron feel a pang of pain.

Anyway, in his opinion, there is no punishment more terrible than this.

Mr. Weasley remained silent, too.

In fact, his original idea about Lockhart was the same as Hermione's, but when he thought that the Longbottoms would benefit from it, his thoughts wavered.

This was probably a coincidence. After Lockhart was sent to St. Mungo's, he was placed in the ward where the Longbottoms were, so they naturally became the first beneficiaries.

Kyle nodded beside him.

Perhaps Lockhart didn't want to stay in St. Mungo's forever, nor did he want to go to Azkaban, so he simply chose to buy peace with money.

However, judging from the fact that he was still able to go to watch the Quidditch World Cup, it seemed that this former Defense Against the Dark Arts professor might have held back and not handed over all his money.

His books are very popular. As long as the amount of gold donated is shocking enough and can satisfy everyone, no one will care even if he secretly hides a little bit.

The few of them chatted along the way and soon passed through the village of St. Catchpole. They walked to the end of the path and turned a corner, and the Burrow suddenly appeared.

There was a shout from down the path.

"Oh, thank God, thank God!"

Mrs. Weasley had evidently been expecting them, for she came running up in her slippers, pale and nervous, with a rolled-up copy of the Daily Prophet clutched in her hand.

She stepped forward and gave Mr. Weasley a hug, the newspaper falling limply from her hands to the floor.

Kyle picked him up casually.

[Horror at the Quidditch World Cup]

The title was very attractive, and it was accompanied by a large photo showing a panicked crowd and a messy camp.

"So fast?" Kyle said in disbelief. "It's just over now, and it's already been reported?"

"The owl arrived half an hour ago," said Mrs. Weasley. "I was wondering why the newspaper was delivered at this time... I didn't expect such a big thing to happen. Merlin... The Dark Mark..."

Kyle opened the newspaper.

Several heads behind him also came over, and everyone wanted to see what the newspaper said.

This newspaper is much thinner than normal ones. It was obviously made in a hurry to take advantage of the popularity. The content on it is all related to the Quidditch World Cup.

"The Ministry of Magic is panicking...law and order are lax...Dark wizards are at large...gross negligence...shame..."

Ginny read the article above and shouted angrily: "Didn't the person who wrote this article see that even someone like Dad who is on vacation rushed to the front?"

"She won't see it...even if she does she won't write it down." Charlie pointed to a name in the newspaper, "Look who this is, Rita Skeeter. The articles he wrote are almost all fabricated."

"This woman is specifically against the Ministry of Magic," Percy said angrily, "and she must have known that almost everyone in the Ministry had gone to the Quidditch World Cup camp, so she sent out this newspaper overnight."

Harry tilted his head up...towards the name Rita Skeeter.

He remembered that the report about him driving to school at high speed last year was also written by this woman.

"Well, never mind that. I'm glad you're all right." Mrs. Weasley led them towards the house.

Arriving in the small, crowded kitchen, she made everyone a cup of hot cocoa, though Mr. Weasley insisted on switching to aged Firewhisky.

Ten minutes later, Mrs. Weasley brought in another large plate of sandwiches, which was the fastest thing that could be made.

But at this time, no one was in the mood to care about what to eat.

After enduring for so long, with the fire dragon and the riot, everyone's spirits have been tense. Now that we are suddenly relaxed and back to a familiar and safe place, we can't help feeling a little lethargic and just want to lie in bed and have a good sleep.

Mrs. Weasley seemed to understand this, so she asked no questions and waited until everyone had finished eating before she sent them upstairs, leaving Mr. Weasley alone.

Kyle returned to his home.

The lights were on in the room, but no one was inside.

On the table was a plate with a few slices of steaming fried eggs and bread, and next to it was a copy of the Daily Prophet, exactly the same as the one he had just seen.

I think Chris and Diana must have rushed back to the Ministry of Magic overnight after receiving the news.

It is conceivable that the Ministry of Magic will be very busy in the next few days because of Rita Skeeter's report.

But what Kyle couldn't understand was that Chris and Diana, one was from the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures and the other was from the Department of Mysteries, what did this riot have to do with them, and why did they return to the Ministry of Magic overnight.

It couldn't be possible that Veela and Leprechauns were involved in the riot.

…

(End of this chapter)