Time passed, and the dangers lurking in the darkness were not noticed for the time being.

The relaxed and free summer vacation, like a refreshing breeze, quietly smoothed out the critical events of the last semester, and did not leave too many waves.

Everything seems to be peaceful, but no one knows how many undercurrents are surging under this calm.

Regardless, Hogwarts is about to start.

Diagon Alley is always quite buzzing on the eve of the start of school, as the vast majority of students need to come here to buy what they need for the new semester.

At this time, the bookstore was even more crowded and crowded. All because of the magical star writer named "Gilderoy Lockhart", of course.

"We can meet him in person!" Hermione exclaimed, "I mean, almost all of the books on the list are written by him!" ”

Although most of the crowd were middle-aged women, it was clear that Mr. Lockhart's charm was also very useful in the circle of little girls.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione slipped through the cracks.

There was already a long line inside the bookstore, which curved all the way down the street outside the door. They each grabbed a book for the book signings and snuck to the Weasleys and the Granger couples in line.

And just outside the entrance of the Blotted bookstore, there is a large banner with a line of words that is not only bright, but it even moves—Gilderoy Lockhart signs his autobiography "I Can Magic" from 12:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. this afternoon.

"Oh, you're here, great!" Mrs. Weasley said.

She was breathing heavily, stroking her hair, trying to make it even better, "We'll see him in a moment......"

As the team moved forward, they finally saw the protagonist of today's Blotted Bookstore.

He sat behind his desk, surrounded by photographs of various sizes, all of whose faces were blinking at the crowd and showing their teeth gleaning.

The real Lockhart wore a robe as blue as forget-me-nots—matching his blue eyes, and a pointed wizard's hat playfully crooked over his permed curls.

In front of him, there was also a short man with a camera, who was jumping and jumping, looking for various angles to take pictures. The flashes were almost connected, and puffs of purple smoke kept coming out of the camera.

"Get out of the way," the short man, apparently in his temper, yelled at Ron, who was blocking his angle, taking a few steps back to pick a better angle, "This was for the Daily Prophet." ”

"It's amazing." Ron said as he struggled to lift his foot in the crowd, rubbing the instep of the man's foot.

Lockhart clearly heard this. He looked up, first at Ron, but then at Harry. Suddenly, his eyes suddenly lit up, and he said happily, "Isn't this Harry Potter?" ”

The crowd moved out of the way, and in the midst of the whispers of the crowd, Lockhart rushed up and grabbed Harry's hand, pulling him to the front.

"Come on, come on, take some pictures of us," Lockhart showed his neat white teeth, "Gilderoy Lockhart and Harry Potter, this is going to make headlines!" ”

The audience erupted in applause, but Harry's face turned red from the scene.

When he finally let go of Harry's hand, Harry felt his fingers numb from him. He tried to slip back to the Weasleys, but Lockhart's arm was still on his shoulder, holding him firmly to his side.

"Ladies and gentlemen," Lockhart said aloud, waving his hand to silence everyone, "what an extraordinary moment! I'm going to take this wonderful occasion to announce a little thing that I haven't said for some time......"

Lockhart took the opportunity to tell him that he was going to Hogwarts to teach Defence Against the Dark Arts class.

Suddenly, the applause of the crowd became even more enthusiastic.

But in the crowd behind, two little wizards were crowding out of the crowd. Hermione, who happened to hear Mrs. Weasley's words, turned back and stumbled upon a glimpse.

"That's ...... Maca? Hermione was surprised, "Who's that girl he's pulling?" ”

She turned around and pulled Ron in front of her, but by the time she looked back, the man had disappeared into the sea of people.

"Maca? Where? Ron stood on tiptoe and looked at it, then wondered, "Are you mistaken?" There are so many people......"

Hermione poked her head out for a moment, then finally shook her head, "I don't know...... Is it possible? ”

In fact, Hermione actually saw it clearly. It's just that the maca she saw made her a little suspicious—she wondered if she was really wrong.

"No, Maca's eyes would have been softer, and they wouldn't have been so ......," Hermione muttered softly, "not so cold." ”

"And, who is the girl with long pale blonde hair next to her? Looks weirdly dressed. ”

She thought for a moment and shook her head again, "Maybe I'm really wrong, right?" ”

Hermione was pondering when she heard an annoying voice coming from behind.

"You must love that, Potter?" It was Draco Malfoy, with his usual mocking smile on his face.

"The famous Harry Potter!" "Even going into a bookstore would be front-page news," Malfoy said. ”

"Don't talk nonsense, he doesn't want that!" Ginny, who was standing next to Harry, said loudly.

It was the first time she had spoken in front of Harry, and she was usually shy and silent.

"Potter—you've got a girlfriend—" Malfoy said in a long voice.

Ginny's face turned red all at once.

Ron and Hermione in the back crowded in, each holding a stack of Lockhart's books, separating her from Malfoy.

Ginny is the Weasley baby, and if Malfoy dares to bully her, Ron naturally doesn't buy it. He and Malfoy despised each other, and you and I sarcastically mocked each other.

In a few moments, Ron was so excited that he rushed up and punched Malfoy twice in the face, and Harry and Hermione quickly grabbed the back of his clothes.

"Ron!" Mr. Weasley squeezed over with Fred and George, "What are you doing?" The people here are crazy, let's get out-"

"Oops—Arthur Weasley."

As Mr. Weasley tried to pull the kids out, a man emerged from the crowd behind Malfoy.

"Lucius." Mr. Weasley looked at him coldly and nodded slightly.

It was Lucius Malfoy, one hand on Draco's shoulder, and the sneer on both father and son's faces was exactly the same.

"I heard that my brother is very busy with official business!" Mr. Malfoy said, "So many plagiarisms...... I guess they pay you overtime, right? ”

He reached into Ginny's cauldron and pulled a tattered copy of the Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration from the middle of the new, shiny Lockhart book.

"Hmph, it doesn't seem to be. Oh my god - what's the good of being a scumbag among wizards if you can't even get a good pay? Mr. Weasley's face suddenly turned redder than Ron and Ginny.

"We have very different opinions about what the scum of wizards is, Malfoy!" He said indignantly.

"Of course!" Lucius raised his head and said disdainfully.

His pale eyes flickered, and his gaze fell on the Grangers, who were watching them with fear.

"Look at the friends you've made, Weasley...... I thought your family had fallen to the limit? ”

Mr. Weasley lunged at Mr. Malfoy, knocking him into a bookshelf, dozens of thick spell books falling on their heads, and even Ginny's cauldron was flying out with a clang.

Twin brothers Fred and George shouted "Beat him, Daddy!" from the side. Mrs. Weasley screamed, "Don't do that, Arthur, don't do that!" ”

The crowd retreated in panic, knocking down more bookshelves, causing the clerks to look bitter.

At this point, a loud voice drowned out all the voices.

"Disperse, gentlemen, disperse!"

It was Hagrid, who strode over with a book all over the floor, and pulled Mr. Weasley and Mr. Malfoy away in the blink of an eye.

Mr. Weasley's lips cracked, and Lucius had been smashed in one eye by a thick book, and Ginny's worn-out Transfiguration textbook was still clutched in his hand.

Ginny next to her had already picked up the cauldron, and Lucius saw this, and casually shoved the book into her cauldron, her eyes shining with a vicious light.

"Oh, little girl—hold your book! It's the best thing your dad can give you. He broke free of Hagrid's arm, waved to Draco, and rushed out of the store without looking back.

"You shouldn't pay attention to him, Arthur," Hagrid reached out to smooth Mr. Weasley's robes, but he was so strong that he almost lifted him up.

"This guy is terrible, their whole family is, everyone knows it—the Malfoys are not worth listening to! Their blood is bad, that's what happened. Let's go, let's get out. ”

The clerk on one side seemed to want to stop them from claiming compensation, but with Hagrid's physique, ordinary people really didn't dare to stop him casually. In a few moments, they went out of the store, leaving a group of clerks there with weeping faces and staring at each other.

They walked briskly out into the street, Hermione's parents, ordinary Muggles, who were trembling with fear, and Mrs. Weasley next to her furious.

"Good head for the kids! Fight in public? What would Gilderoy Lockhart think—"

"He's glad," said Fred, "didn't you hear when we came out?" He asked the guy from the Daily Prophet if he could include the fight in the report! He said it would be a sensation......"

And in the midst of the crowd not far from them, a young man was looking indifferently, a pair of deep black eyes staring at Ginny's crucible—a black-covered diary in the cauldron, to be exact.