Adrian had always known Lockhart's nature—he would spare no effort for anything that could get him attention.
He had witnessed this countless tis during school.
Of course, the results were never satisfactory.
Obviously, appearing in the newspaper alongside Harry was a publicity opportunity for him.
Sure enough, after greeting Adrian, Lockhart turned his attention back to Harry, gripping his shoulder tightly.
Then Lockhart brought Harry before countless caras.
"Everyone, today is truly a special day!" Lockhart flashed a charming smile and said loudly: "Because I'm not only announcing the release of my new book 'Magical ,' but I also have even more exciting news to share!"
Harry desperately wanted to escape, but Lockhart's grip was strong, and he couldn't move for the mont.
As for Adrian—he stood quietly to the side with an expression of soone waiting to watch a good show.
Lockhart paused dramatically, making Harry pause as well.
Finally, he announced: "Starting this September, I will serve as Hogwarts' Defense Against the Dark Arts professor!"
The crowd erupted in deafening discussion.
Lockhart smiled smugly and pulled Harry closer: "And this young gentleman just personally told how much he's looking forward to my classes!"
Harry opened his mouth to protest but was drowned out by Lockhart's louder voice: "To celebrate this good news, I'm giving him a complete set of my signed works!"
Imdiately after, Harry felt a complete set of Lockhart's books appear in his hands—the deluxe signed editions, no less.
In fact, though he was reluctant to admit it, he had read most of these books.
To handle these heavy books, Harry had to secretly pull out his wand and use a Levitation Charm.
When Harry finally broke through the siege of flashlights and fans to reach the bookstore entrance, he found Adrian leaning against the wall.
"How did that feel," Adrian said with a smile, "eting Lockhart?"
Harry sighed heavily. "More exhausting than dealing with a dragon."
Honestly, his impression of Lockhart had been sowhat shattered.
Of course, it wasn't completely destroyed.
After all, from the books he wrote, you could tell that Lockhart was definitely soone who liked to praise himself and show off.
Of course, the content in those books was still comndable.
So, although Lockhart's behavior today left him sowhat bewildered, it didn't stray too far from his expectations.
"You'll get used to it," Adrian patted Harry's shoulder. "Lockhart is far more troubleso than you imagine."
Just then—
"Bang—crash—stop!"
Suddenly, chaotic sounds ca from inside the store, sounding very ssy.
Harry and Adrian exchanged glances and walked into the store.
The bookstore was in complete disarray.
Books that had been neatly arranged were scattered across the floor, several bookshelves leaned at odd angles, and quills and ink were spilled everywhere.
The crowd had retreated to both sides in panic, spontaneously clearing a space.
In the center of the chaos, Arthur Weasley and Lucius Malfoy were wrestling like two street thugs.
Mrs. Weasley was shrieking nearby while Fred and George waved their fists, cheering for their father.
Well, these two had ended up fighting after all, just like in the original story.
Regarding this battle, Adrian naturally sided with Mr. Weasley.
He shook his head and quietly moved his finger.
A transparent spell flew toward Lucius's feet.
Lucius suddenly slipped, his entire body falling backward, his back hitting a fallen bookshelf hard with a dull thud.
Arthur seized the opportunity, rolled over and straddled Lucius, raised his fist high, and delivered several solid punches to his face.
"Hiss—"
Harry couldn't help but cover his face at the sight.
That must have hurt...
"Stop! Everyone stop!"
Hagrid's booming bell-like voice suddenly rumbled.
His massive body squeezed through the crowd, lifting both n from the ground like picking up chickens, placing them on opposite sides.
Lucius's face was swollen on both sides, with blood seeping from the corner of his mouth—clearly Arthur's handiwork.
anwhile, Arthur was virtually unhard except for his crooked tie.
He was breathing heavily, his face showing victorious joy as Molly dragged him backward by the arm.
Molly scolded him while dragging: "I can't believe it—look at the example you're setting for the children—fighting in public... the children must be heartbroken!"
However, the Weasley children didn't think so.
George and Fred excitedly waved their fists.
"Way to go, Dad!"
"Dad, you didn't sha us!"
However, after receiving two punches of love from Molly, the twins wisely shut up.
Lucius struggled to stand upright and viciously shoved the tattered textbook in his hand to the trembling Ginny nearby, saying: "Take it, girl. This is all your father can give you."
Then he left with Draco without looking back.
anwhile, Adrian quickly walked to Ginny's side and comforted her: "Don't be afraid, Ginny."
Ginny had obviously never seen such a scene. She looked up with teary eyes and couldn't help but grab Adrian's sleeve.
"I'm fine," she sobbed. "Dad won."
"Mr. Weasley was indeed impressive," Adrian nodded in response.
Then he naturally turned his attention to the book in Ginny's hands—it was a second-hand Transfiguration textbook.
"May I look at that textbook?" Adrian said gently.
"Of course, Professor."
Ginny didn't know why Adrian wanted to see her textbook, but she handed it over anyway.
"Let see this book... ah, this is your brother Percy's textbook. He had excellent grades—you can learn a lot from his notes..."
Adrian casually flipped through the pages while carefully checking each page's layers.
Sure enough, between the pages, he found a black-covered diary.
Needless to say, this was definitely Voldemort's Horcrux.
"Ginny!" Mrs. Weasley's voice ca from nearby: "We should go."
While Ginny turned around, Adrian smoothly extracted the notebook hidden within and slipped it into his sleeve.
The second Horcrux—secured!
Afterward, Adrian returned the second-hand textbook to Ginny and encouraged her: "Don't waste those notes your brother made—they'll be very helpful to you."
Ginny nodded timidly.
Later, everyone left the bookstore, while Adrian remained inside, feeling he should help the poor, helpless shop assistant.
The assistant looked like he wanted to stop Hagrid, but he wasn't even as tall as Hagrid's waist, so he could only let Hagrid's group leave.
Under the assistant's grateful gaze, Adrian helped him with several Repairing Charms.
The fallen bookshelves stood upright again, and scattered books automatically returned to their places.
________________
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