tail tone

One afternoon, Alberta was doing her homework in the library, and then someone came to her and said that Mr. Badman had invited her.

Alberta nodded, packed up her things, and followed the man to the entrance hall.

Walking to the right room, the Hufflepuff who came to tell her the news said goodbye to her.After Alberta thanked her, she raised her hand and knocked on the door, and walked in.

This room is not too big, and most of the desks have been moved to the back, leaving a space in the middle.And Durmstrang, Beauxbaton's Champion, and Hufflepuff's Digory were already there, sitting behind velvet-covered tables.Mr. Badman sat there too, talking to a witch in a purple robe.On the side, a wizard holding a camera emitting black smoke was fiddling with his big black camera while looking at Delacour of Beauxbatons out of the corner of his eye.

Alberta walked there without changing her footsteps, chose one of the two empty chairs, and sat down.

Before Alberta sat down for long, Harry also came in.

Badman stood up as if he had seen something, and walked towards Harry: "Hey, look who this is? Harry, come in. There is nothing to be afraid of, it's just a process of checking the wand."

"Check the wand?" Harry was a little nervous, and leaned in Alberta's direction.

Badman greeted Alberta as if he just saw Alberta now: "Oh, this is Miss Mayne, right? I'm sorry, sorry, I just saw you here now." His tone was not apologetic at all, and he finished speaking After these words, he turned his head and explained to Harry, "We have to check your wands and make sure your wands are in order. They are important tools for you to complete the task, aren't they? However, the experts are still upstairs now, and Dumbledore together. So, before that, we have to take a photo." He pointed to the witch beside him, and introduced, "This is Rita Skeeter, editor for the Daily Prophet. Write a little report on the Triwizard Tournament."

"That's not a small report, Ludo." The witch said.

It was a strange-looking witch, her hair was carefully combed into stiff curls, she wore a pair of jeweled glasses, her jaw was very large, her nails were painted with dark red nail polish, and they were two inches long. , that fat hand clutched her crocodile bag.All of this, in Alberta's view, is a poor woman who is eager to catch up with the footsteps of fashion but can't catch up.

"Before we start, I thought, can I chat with Harry for a while? The youngest contestant, you know... can add some color." Skeeter asked Badman, but his eyes were fixed on Harry profit.

"No." Before Badman spoke, Alberta refused, and Harry gave him a grateful look in time.

Skeeter turned his attention to Alberta, her eyes lit up, she seemed to remember Alberta's identity, and wanted to interview her, but Alberta didn't give her a chance at all, she said: " I think Miss Skeeter must cherish her current job, right? If you lose this job, maybe... no one will hire you, right?"

Skeeter was taken aback, and then, the scarlet hand grabbed Alberta's arm, trying to drag her out: "Honey, I think we should have a good chat."

But Skeeter failed to drag Alberta, Alberta just gently stroked the grasped arm, and Skeeter let go of his hand painfully.The black-haired witch looked at the woman in front of her expressionlessly, and her tone was very cold: "I'm afraid Miss Skeeter doesn't know, the Malfoy family seems to want to reduce the number of "Daily Prophet" on purpose, there are always some people with It is not cost-effective for them to do something that violates the regulations, or do nothing at all. The Malfoy family is not willing to suffer. I think Miss Skeeter must know this, right? "

When Skeeter was told this, his body flinched a little, but he still insisted: "This is a procedure, and it must be done."

"Really?" Alberta drew a long voice and looked at her with half-closed eyes.

"Yes." Skeeter insisted, but didn't reach out to pull her again.

Alberta suddenly looked up and said, "I'm afraid it won't be as you wished, is it, Professor Dumbledore?"

Harry followed Alberta's words and saw Dumbledore and Ollivander, whom he had bought a wand, walking towards them.

Skeeter immediately walked towards Dumbledore and stretched out her thick hand: "How are you, Dumbledore? I believe you have read the report I wrote this summer about the International Wizarding Association meeting."

Dumbledore shook her hand, and replied: "It's disgustingly good, I especially like it when you write me as a pedantic vagrant."

Skeeter didn't seem embarrassed at all, and continued talking to Dumbledore.And Harry was already stunned, he slowly moved to Alberta's side, and asked her in a low voice, "Did that woman...really...didn't notice?"

"Maybe? Maybe, but pretend you don't."

"That's too..." Harry really didn't know what to say, but soon he remembered what he was going to ask, "Hey, thank you just now, Alberta. But, how do you know that? "

"That's nothing. Draco complained to me about this before, and I just gave him the measure of layoffs."

Alberta answered calmly, but Harry knew that Skeeter would be terrified for a while.But Harry didn't think it was a big deal. Although he had been in the wizarding world for several years now, you must know that he lived in the Muggle world for the first 11 years, and he often heard about layoffs and the like.At his uncle's house, he often heard that so-and-so was laid off, and so-and-so got a raise, which was a very common method and measure.He didn't know until he arrived in the magic world that it turned out that layoffs were not popular in the magic world. Usually, with this job, he could continue to do it unless he resigned or was promoted.

Dumbledore dismissed Skeeter with some words, and then began to speak: "Let me introduce, this is Mr. Ollivander. He will check your wands to make sure they are in good condition before starting the game."

At this time, Harry had already sat beside Alberta, listening to Dumbledore speak.He looked at Ollivander. He hadn't seen him for several years, and Ollivander seemed to be no different from then.

The first person to examine the wand was Delacour.Then came Digory and Krum.

When it was Alberta's turn, she stepped forward, moved a little, and the wand hidden in the invisibility wand case appeared in her hand.

Ollivander's eyes lit up, and he murmured, "Oh, the invisibility wand cover, a good habit."

He took the wand, slid his fingers along with it, and waved it in mid-air a few times as if at random, sending out green and silver sparks. "Oh, nine and a quarter inches, Hazel, oh, and dragon nerves. I can't believe it, it's in such good shape!" Ollivander looked excited, pulling love Alberta's impulse to talk.But he remembered why he came, and reluctantly returned the wand to her.

Then there was Harry, and Ollivander spent a long time checking his wand, and it wasn't until a gush of wine erupted from it that he handed it back to Harry, saying it was in great working order.

Alberta thought it was over like this, but unexpectedly, the wizard with the camera jumped up, and Badman also shouted: "Take a picture, Dumbledore, take a picture! The referees and the warriors take a picture, your intention How about it, Rita?"

Skeeter thought for a while, then glanced at Harry again, and said, "Okay, let's take group photos first. Then we'll take some solo photos!"

But in the end, Skeeter’s idea didn’t come true. When she opened her mouth to say that she was single, Alberta had already dragged Harry away, and the others had already been irritated by the long group photo before. They also left one after another.

On the way back, Harry asked Alberta, "Is it all right if you do this?"

Alberta shrugged, and said, "What could be the matter? I think Skeeter came in only once today. Look at Professor Dumbledore, isn't he very kind to Skeeter? No matter who, being treated like that Can you not be angry if you write indiscriminately? I am afraid that it will be impossible for Skeeter to enter Hogwarts in the future."

"Then... what if she scribbled something after going back today?" Harry was still not at ease.

Alberta smiled suddenly, and said: "Do you think that the layoffs I mentioned before were casual? Although the Malfoy family is not the largest shareholder of the "Daily Prophet", they still have a certain share. The layoffs matter , It is beneficial to their shareholders, how could they not take it? Besides, I have told them this suggestion for a while, and according to the time, layoffs are also a recent event.”

"You also said that this is only a recent event. If Skeeter writes something tonight and then publishes it in the "Daily Prophet" tomorrow, it will not be very good!"

"Don't worry." Alberta touched Harry's hair and said, "I got the news from Draco yesterday, saying that the list of layoffs has been selected, and it will be announced today and tomorrow. And This Skeeter happens to be on that list. You said, even if she wrote the report tonight, will there be her article in the newspaper tomorrow?"

"It must be gone! She has been laid off, how could there be articles?" Harry suddenly became happy, showing a smile.

The "Daily Prophet" brought by the owl the next day did not contain the report written by Skeeter, but there was a photo of them together, and some basic introductions, and nothing else.

Along with the Daily Prophet came a letter from Sirius.This made Harry feel a lot better all of a sudden.

After reading the letter, he happily said to Hermione: "Sirius said he will come to see me in two days!"

"Oh, that's great news!" Hermione was very happy for him, and gave him another piece of pumpkin pie.

Harry happily ate the piece of pumpkin pie, but felt a little sorry for Ron, who had been fighting with him.

Although both Hermione and Alberta had told him it was just Ron's jealousy, Harry was still heartbroken.He regarded Ron as a good buddy, and would tell Ron anything.The two were imprisoned by Snape, and Harry wanted to take this opportunity to reconcile, but Ron kept ignoring him.

Harry preferred to confide in Alberta than to Hermione.This is not only because Alberta, like him, was involved in this indiscriminate disaster, but more importantly, Alberta is very calm and can often point out the key points sharply.

"Oh, Alberta, I'm really worried. Tell me, what will be the first project?" Harry said listlessly, lying on the table, "I don't think I can pass at all."

Alberta was pulled out of the library by Harry, and she was sitting in the empty classroom opposite Harry. "At the moment I don't know what the first project will be, but I think we will soon."

"Huh? How do you know?"

"Of course the professor told me." Alberta raised her eyebrows and said, "Cheating is common in the Triwizard Tournament. Generally speaking, each event will be held one to two days before the start Whispered to the Warriors by the professor for a week to get them ready."

"This is against the rules! This is cheating!" Harry was surprised that such an international competition would have such a situation.

"This is the unspoken rule of the Triwizard Tournament. What's more, even if you know the event, you have to find a way to pass it. During the competition, you are the only one participating."

Alberta's words made Harry feel better.Then he cheerfully told Alberta something else: "Sirius said he would come to see me tomorrow!"

Alberta froze for a moment, then smiled, and said, "Congratulations then. It's not easy to meet him at Hogwarts."

Harry nodded, and told her about the days he spent with Sirius during the summer vacation.

It was only then that Alberta found out that after Sirius took back the Black family's house, he had been dealing with family affairs. Although Draco's mother helped him, he had to do most of the things by himself.Harry had only spent two weeks at Sirius' house, but he was very impressed.

"Alberta, you don't know, Sirius's mother really..." Harry frowned, not knowing how to describe the old woman, "...I don't know how to describe it, but really Pretty nasty. And that house-elf named Kreacher..."

Harry babbled a lot, and told Alberta everything.When talking about the house elf, Alberta didn't care at first, it's really nothing if such a house elf appeared in the Slytherin family for generations.But when she heard Harry say that the house-elf wouldn't let Harry or even Black into a room, she was surprised.

"You mean, neither you nor Blake are allowed in that room?"

"Yes, for this, Sirius got very angry."

"Blake ordered, but won't let him?"

Harry thought for a while, and said, "That's not an order, is it? Sirius just asked Kreacher to get out of the way."

"But the house-elf didn't listen to Black, did he?"

"Well, that's right." Being asked by Alberta, Harry became a little uneasy, "Alberta, so it should be all right?"

But Alberta shook her head and said, "No, on the contrary, there may be something big going on here."

Startled, Harry quickly asked, "Is Sirius all right?"

"Who owned that room before?" Alberta didn't answer Harry's question, but asked him another question.

"Looks like... he's Sirius' younger brother."

"Brother?" Just thinking about it, Alberta remembered who it was, "Reculus Black. It turned out to be him."

Harry became even more nervous: "What's wrong?"

Alberta didn't say anything anymore, she just said: "Tomorrow, when Black comes, you can call me. I think Professor Dumbledore will let you meet in his principal's office. I just have an important tell them about it.”

"What's important, can't you tell me?" Harry muttered, but he also knew that Alberta would say that, which only meant that the matter was very important, so he agreed to call her tomorrow the behavior of.

The author has something to say: I finished coding this chapter yesterday, but...the internet was disconnected at that time...so I will post it today...There is another chapter in the afternoon...