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Once again, they traveled through the Floo Network.
Dudley and the others arrived in Diagon Alley through the fireplace in the Longbottom manor.
Although it was possible to buy things elsewhere, Diagon Alley was still, by far, the place with the widest selection of school supplies for Hogwarts.
Since buying school supplies was a simple errand, Augusta did not come with them.
Most of what was needed for second year was the same as last year.
Anything they already had did not need to be bought again.
Only the books had to be replaced.
They had already finished the first-year ones.
Flourish and Blotts had always carried the most complete selection of books outside of one-of-a-kind volumes. As long as it was not restricted material, you could find almost anything there.
But that day, the bookshop was especially crowded.
A huge crowd was packed outside, and a massive banner hung above.
Gilderoy Lockhart
Signing Copies of His Autobiography
Magical Me
Today, 12:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.
"Lockhart?"
Neville repeated the name under his breath, then turned to Dudley with a dry look.
"D, I've got a really bad feeling about this."
Dudley nodded, confirming his suspicion.
"I think your bad feeling is right. Looks like he's going to be our Defense Against the Dark Arts professor."
And as if those words had just confirmed everything, an incredibly excited male voice rang out from inside Flourish and Blotts the very next instant.
"Ladies and gentlemen, I am absolutely delighted and proud to announce that this September, I shall become the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry!"
Neville: ...damn.
Hermione: 'Good thing I already have a Plan B.'
Thinking that, Hermione quietly glanced at two other titles on her book list: The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection and Practical Defensive Magic.
"Look! It's Potter! Harry Potter!"
No one knew who had shouted it in the middle of the crowd, but the three of them soon saw a man dressed like some gaudy peacock, wrapping an arm around poor Harry while posing for pictures.
Under the repeated flashes of the cameras, Harry had a stiff expression on his face and looked clearly unhappy.
Lately, Harry felt like every time he left Dudley's side, his luck took a nosedive.
He had been doing perfectly fine at the Burrow.
The house might not have been big or luxurious, but it was cozy, and Mrs. Weasley's cooking was excellent, second only to Dudley's.
Then, out of nowhere, some weird thing he couldn't even identify had shown up, babbling nonsense about punishing him and stopping him from going back to Hogwarts. When he refused, it vanished.
After that, a whole series of strange accidents started happening at the Burrow.
And by pure coincidence, he just happened to be around every single time.
After enduring all that, the agreed day to buy books had finally arrived.
And then he ran straight into a book signing.
And got dragged over to take pictures.
Harry didn't like fame.
Even if he really was famous in the wizarding world.
"Hey, what do you think you're doing? Give that back!"
A shout full of irritation caught Harry's attention.
Then he saw Dudley.
At that moment, Dudley was holding a large black camera while a short man tried to snatch it from his hands.
Unfortunately for him, even when he jumped, he could not reach Dudley's shoulder.
"That's for the Daily Prophet, you know? The Daily Prophet!"
After failing several times, the short man shot Dudley a furious glare.
"So what?" Dudley replied.
Just because the man had brought up the Daily Prophet did not make Dudley back down in the slightest. If anything, it only made him even less willing to budge.
"I think that even if you're from the Daily Prophet, you should still ask for people's permission before taking pictures of them. Harry doesn't like you taking photos of him."
The Prophet publishing house that had refused to publish Dudley's novel before belonged to the same group as the Daily Prophet.
A trashy third-rate paper with no eye for talent whatsoever.
"You're not even Mr. Potter. How would you know?"
The man shouted as he tried to shove Dudley aside.
Instead, he ended up falling flat on his backside.
"Big D!"
Harry shouted excitedly.
Then, all of a sudden, he remembered Lockhart was still standing beside him.
This was going to be their new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. Mrs. Weasley had said he was very powerful, so if he could avoid getting on his bad side, that would be for the best...
But to Harry's surprise, Lockhart was not angry at all.
If anything, he looked even more excited.
"Well, well, look who I've found!"
The moment he saw Dudley, Lockhart's eyes lit up.
"The author of Dragonlance Chronicles... Professor Jerry."
He let go of Harry, then began making his way toward Dudley with those exaggerated yet somehow natural gestures of his as he introduced him out loud.
"The man who, by a narrow margin, surpassed my new book, Magical Me, and took the title of most popular novel this time."
Lockhart's shamelessly self-important words immediately irritated Hermione.
She was a fiercely loyal supporter of Dudley's novels.
A narrow margin?
That had been a total massacre in every possible way.
Dudley was not surprised that Lockhart recognized him.
After all, the man had been the bestselling novelist in the wizarding world for years. If he did not have a good network of connections, Dudley would have been the one surprised.
And besides, at the end-of-year feast in first year, Dudley had received a Third-Class Order of Merlin in front of the entire Hogwarts student body and faculty.
The medal might not have been worth much, but very few people received one these days.
Last year, he had been the only one.
"What an extraordinary day. In this cramped little bookshop... to run into two famous names one after another."
Lockhart stopped in front of Dudley. At first, he seemed to want to pat him on the shoulder like a senior greeting a junior, but then quickly realized Dudley was half a head taller than he was.
'My shop is cramped, is it? How lovely.'
The owner of Flourish and Blotts, though fuming inside, kept a polite smile plastered on his face.
"Come, let's take a picture together," Lockhart offered on his own initiative.
"Mr. Lockhart, I think not."
Dudley's refusal was immediate and firm.
Of course he knew exactly what Lockhart wanted.
If he managed to pose with both Dudley and Harry at the same time, tomorrow's headlines would definitely be something like:
Good News! Professor Jerry and Harry Potter Both Appear for Lockhart's New Book!
Or else...
Shocking! The True Relationship Between the Mysterious Professor Jerry and Lockhart Is...
Dudley did not like being used.
And besides, the main stage for him right now was Hogwarts.
A commotion suddenly started spreading through the crowd.
"There's a fight over there!"
Inside Flourish and Blotts, two grown wizards were rolling around on the floor throwing punches. Beside them, a pair of twins were yelling something, apparently cheering them on.
"Get him, Dad!"
"Hit his nose! Hit his nose!"
It was the Weasley family clashing with the Malfoys.
"You're not going to say anything, Draco?"
Ron walked over to Malfoy and jerked his chin toward the two fathers currently trading blows.
After the wizard chess match, Ron and Malfoy's relationship had shifted in a subtle way.
Though, most of the time, they still bickered constantly.
Malfoy fell silent for a moment, then gave a slight shake of his head.
"This is embarrassing. He looks like a child who lost an argument."
'Father, when you told me to watch... you didn't mean I was supposed to watch you brawling with someone, did you?'
'What's worse is, you're almost losing...'
'How embarrassing.'
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