Chapter 53: Rita Skeeter
Meanwhile, Felix is fully dressed and standing in front of the fireplace of his office. He sprinkled a handful of floo powder, said clearly and loudly "Diagon Alley", his entire body disappeared from Hogwarts.
Diagon Alley.
Felix came out of the public fireplace, shaking the dust off his body, and fished out a slip of paper from his pocket - it is an address.
The next moment, Felix directly Apparated to that location.
On the outskirts of London, in front of a single detached house, a tall figure appeared abruptly.
Felix looked at the door number, walked up on the steps in the snow to the door, and tapped on the door with his wand.
A moment later, a refined woman opened the door, her gaze peering through a pair of eyeglasses studded with jewels, and is examining the stranger in front of her with a critical look on her face.
Felix gently introduced himself, "Felix Hap, currently serving as Professor of Ancient Runes at Hogwarts - you mentioned me in the paper, Ms. Skeeter."
"You're Felix Hap?" Rita Skeeter's eyes lit up and in the blink of an eye, her bright red nail-painted fingers grabbed Felix's arm and dragged him into the room, "Come in!"
The living room had a neatly arranged table and chairs, and the air is filled with the scent of enchanted fragrances. On both walls, on one side is a huge floor-to-ceiling wine cabinet, and on the other side are square shelves with various books, trophies, and newspapers. On a hanger behind the door stood a crocodile skin handbag.
" It's an honour that I received ... Mr Hap, I'm very interested in you, I've wanted to interview you for a long time." Rita Skeeter sat across him, her hair styled in delicate, stiff, oddly large curls that looked particularly awkward with her big jawed face.
"Ms. Skeeter ..."
Felix is quickly interrupted by the woman, who is imposing and fiercely, waving her wand and a shorthand quill and a roll of parchment flying out of her crocodile skin handbag.
" So Mr Felix, you won't object if I use a shorthand quill to take notes, will you? This will free up my hands to talk to you normally ..."
Without waiting for his reply, the parchment had automatically spread out, and the shorthand quill landed vertically on it, the tip quivering gently.
"Well, let's start the conversation here ... just from the point you came here today. I'm guessing ..." she suddenly smiled out, showing three gold teeth, "you were commissioned by someone, right?"
The long, green shorthand quill danced quickly, pouring down a fluid string of words.
With a heart full of thoughts, this late-night visitor showed strong displeasure in the face of the editor's questions, but not against the editor, but against the hidden shadow who is behind the whole affair ...
Felix laughed softly, he looked at the wall clock, it's just seven o'clock.
He did not reply, but instead surveyed with interest around the furnishings of the living room, the floor-to-ceiling wine cooler that occupied a third of the wall, filled with large and small, exquisitely shaped flasks, and a few scattered ornaments.
Rita Skeeter raised her heavily drawn eyebrow.
"Are you wary by any chance, Mr Felix? It's all right, our readers like people with rebellious personalities, and they'll protect you."
"Rebellious personality?" Felix repeated.
"Yes, like the type of people who defy power and rebel against authority ... If you're threatened, don't worry, speak up, and we'll give you a sense of justice in return."
The shorthand quill kept recording, but Felix had no interest in reading it, and he stood up and went to the shelf at the opposite end of the wine cabinet where the honour prize were kept.
The top of the shelf is stacked with personal accolades belonging to Rita Skeeter, including certificates for articles in newspapers, bestsellers and their sales figures that she had published over the years, a myriad of this sort of stuff ...
For example, he saw "Armando Dippet: Master or Moron?"book. He sighed, "If half of what's in this book is true, it's not a bad toilet read ..."
Rita Skeeter's eyebrows wrinkled, her fingers clenched her wand so tightly that her two-inch-long bright red nails pierced into her skin.
She quickly stood up and approached Felix, looking at him without looking away, "Mr Felix, I know who you are, one of my colleagues advised me not to play with you ... ridiculous statement, he has only graduated a few years ago, by virtue of his family background he has entered the news industry. " She said as if pointing out.
"If you ask me, our readers have a right to know the truth, like -"
"The truth?" Felix interrupted her.
"That's right, the truth!" She emphasized deliberately, "Let's talk about your experiences, your childhood and so on, I think it will help you to have a clear perspective of yourself."
"I don't think that's necessary anymore, I know exactly what kind of person I am."
However, Rita Skeeter didn't give up, the parchment and quill on the table flew to her, "Mr Felix, you came from a muggle orphanage and entered Slytherin when you enrolled, you must have been bullied quite a bit, right? Are you interested in talking about it, I think there will be quite a few readers who are very interested in this."
"Rita, ah Rita, do you really know me?"
"Of course!" Her gaze was firmly pinned on him as if she were looking at a precious treasure, "Mr Felix, you are well known in the wizarding community, there are many labels on you: a Slytherin from a Muggle orphanage, received many death threats during school, defeated one of the 28 purebloods Clan Shafiq and a group of dark wizards under the shelter of Dumbledore, became a Muggle specialist after graduation, and is now back to Hogwarts as a ..."
Rita Skeeter said while letting the quill take quick notes, looking at Felix's non-committal attitude, she said seductively, "Your experience is legendary, if you agree, I would like to write a biography of you, it would imply endless amounts of golden-Galleons and great fame!"
"However, the label of Muggle specialist seems too civilized, our readers like a tough wizard with a strong character, and preferably with a relationship to a celebrity ... Let me think, how shall we deal with it?"
Felix got amused, he pointed to the book in front of him, "Like this type of biography?"
"Art requires a certain amount of imagination." She said slyly.
Felix became somewhat impatient and decided to solve the immediate problem as soon as possible, so he returned to his seat.
This act caused Rita Skeeter to mistake it as his tacit acceptance, so she sat her butt down on the couch and said with an urgent and overbearing gesture, "Let's start with your relationship with Dumbledore."
"Ms Skeeter, I need you to stop your inaccurate reporting, I noticed that you mentioned me in the Daily Prophet and were about to make up a big story-"
"I'm not making it up, it's a different perspective at best ..."
Felix nodded, "Let me tell you what a different perspective is." He tapped his fingers on the table.
"Ta-da," the fingertips collided with the table with a crisp clink.
"What are you talking about-" Rita Skeeter choked suddenly as she found the world in her eyes changing all at once.
The colours were rapidly disappearing, the delicate purple long-necked glass bottle, the crimson robe on her body, the golden trophy in the cabinet, the black and brown crocodile handbag, the pale yellow parchment, the green sketch quill ...
The colour of everything, is fading.
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