Chapter 564: Wand Checking and Interviewing

After Potions class, Gabrielle went to the library to study with Ivan in the afternoon.

There they met Hermione, and to Ivan's surprise, Gabrielle and Hermione got along very well. They often discussed the content of homework together and exchanged information about Hogwarts and Beauxbatons. Or they would simply put Ivan aside and whisper something.

Ivan couldn't get a word out of the girls' chatter. Many times it seemed to him that they were talking about him, as they kept looking at him with a smile.

But it was undeniable that their relationship had progressed very fast, even faster than Ivan and Gabrielle's.

Later, Hermione took the initiative to take Gabrielle to the Gryffindor Common Room and introduce her to everyone.

Gabrielle's character was very good. She was well received by almost everyone, and blended into the Gryffindor House atmosphere.

The boys wanted to hear from her about her sister Fleur, learn about her hobbies and so on.

Ivan doubted that if those boys knew Fleur's character, they wouldn't like her as much as they do now.

When they accompanied Gabrielle back to the carriage in the evening, Ivan and Hermione met Fleur several times.

The content of the talk those times was very irritating, like listening to Fleur complain that Hogwarts was too cold and the food too greasy. In a word, she didn't quite fit in with Hogwarts life and didn't like it here.

This made Hermione's impression of her worse and worse, and later she even stopped approaching the Beauxbatons carriage.

Like Fleur, Ron could no longer stand Hogwarts life.

After becoming champion, his life underwent tremendous changes. From being an unknown, he suddenly became the center of everyone's attention, and every action was being watched.

This transformation was not something everyone could adapt to, especially since besides Gryffindor, Ron was not accepted by any other house.

Everyone was full of malice towards him now. Little things and mistakes that were not mentioned before could now be amplified to become a topic of discussion in school at any time and used as a reason to satirize Ron or to compare the ordinary Ron to the excellent Cedric from time to time. This feeling was not a very pleasant one.

Being champion was an opportunity for Ron, but also a challenge.

As things stood, Ron had performed poorly, and doubts were even beginning to arise about him within Gryffindor.

However, Ron himself didn't mind this, he felt good about himself.

He was in a much better position than Harry was when he became champion in the original plot. At least Ivan, Harry, Hermione and the Weasley family had his back. He wasn't dreaming of things like Voldemort, his scar didn't hurt, and he wasn't having trouble seeing Sirius.

However, on Friday morning, Ron and Harry got into a fight with Malfoy.

The reason was that Malfoy was inspired by Hermione's S.P.E.W. badges, he made badges to support Cedric Diggory over Ron, and all the Slytherin students wore them on their chests.

This fight was very intense. Due to numerical inferiority, Harry and Ron were seriously injured.

Finally, due to Snape's intervention, Gryffindor was docked a hundred points, and Harry and Ron were also punished with a week's detention.

Ron looked angry, ready to take revenge and teach Malfoy a lesson.

However, in Ivan's opinion, instead of having that pointless tangle with Malfoy, they were better off learning a few more spells.

"You two should be quiet, Malfoy did that intentionally to make you angry!" said Hermione at lunchtime.

Hermione had been discussing Hogwarts magic with Ivan in the morning. They were a little late and missed the fight.

"Intentionally causing us to get angry?!" said Harry indignantly. "That's just fine. Your purpose has been achieved!"

"I really want to learn that magic from Professor Moody and turn Malfoy into a big ferret!" said Ron.

He pulled out his wand and waved it like Moody, emitting a spark.

"Put your wand away, and don't forget you'll have to check it in the afternoon." Hermione looked at Ron in dissatisfaction.

Ron muttered a little and put his wand away.

Since wands were the most important tools for the champions in the tournament, they had to check that they were fully functional, complete and intact.

Professor McGonagall had just come to inform them that, according to the agreement of the Ministry of Magic and the school, Mr. Ollivander would inspect the champions' wands this afternoon.

At that time, the champions would also be interviewed by the media.

In fact, Ivan had already known about it for two days. He had received a letter from Professor Lupin.

In addition to the Daily Prophet, the Ministry of Magic had also invited The Magic of Hogwarts for this special interview.

At the moment, many people were accusing the Ministry of Magic of inaction due to the Quidditch World Cup bombings and the unfavorable vampire capture. The Ministry hoped to highlight the upcoming tournament and divert the public's attention.

Under Professor Lupin's editorship, Hogwarts Magic, founded by Ivan, was now the second largest newspaper in the British magical world, after the Daily Prophet, and its influence could not be ignored.

Naturally, this interview assignment fell to Ivan, Harry, Hermione and Colin.

Professor Lupin had intended to send someone to help, but Ivan declined. He thought they could do well.

This morning, Ivan was discussing this with Hermione, and they would both complete the report. They already had a general idea, and Harry and Colin would do the filming.

After lunch, Ivan and Colin, who had no class in the afternoon, went back to the dormitory for a while, and grabbed the camera and soon arrived at the second floor room.

Harry, Ron and Hermione had Defense Against the Dark Arts class, and it would be a while before they arrived.

When they entered, there were already a few people inside.

It was a fairly small classroom, and most of the desks had been pushed to the back of the room, leaving a large space in the center; three of them, however, had been placed end to end in front of the blackboard and covered with a long stretch of velvet.

Several chairs had been placed behind the velvet-covered desks, and Ivan saw that Fleur and Gabrielle were already seated there.

They were whispering in French and their long silver hair shone in the sunlight with a dazzling luster.

Cedric and Krum had not yet arrived. In front of the desks, Ludo Bagman was talking to a witch wearing a magenta robe.

"Ah, Ivan, there you are!" Seeing Ivan, Bagman quickly approached. "I am very glad that your newspaper and the Daily Prophet have accepted the Ministry of Magic's invitation to write about the tournament. This is Rita Skeeter, do you know her?"

Ivan shook his head - it turned out that woman was Rita Skeeter!

She wore her hair in elaborate, curls that were curiously stiff and contrasted oddly with her heavy-jawed face. She wore horn-rimmed glasses. The thick fingers that gripped her crocodile-skin handbag ended in five-centimeter fingernails, painted crimson, very oddly like the claws of some kind of animal.