Chapter 363 Wand Testing, Don't Want to Be in the Newspaper
"Twelve inches, yew wood and Dragon heartstring," Ollivander said with emotion, then waved his wand, and a flame shot out, transforming into brilliant fireworks in mid-air.
"Hmm… it seems to have fallen from a great height."
"There was one time, but that was truly an accident," Aaron said awkwardly. When he made his first journey to another world last year, he was forced into a free fall, and he couldn't control such an irresistible force.
"Is that so?" Ollivander frowned slightly, his silver eyes fixed on Aaron. "Perhaps I shouldn't ask, but your wand seems to have endured a lot of wear and tear."
"Uh… that was also an accident, and it's not convenient to tell you about it."
Ollivander smiled playfully, wisely not asking further. He simply returned the wand to him. "The wand is fine, a bit weathered, but in good condition.
What about the other wand? I remember also giving you a wand made of vine wood and Unicorn hair?"
"Ah, this…" Aaron felt a bit awkward. He had left that wand with his Thought-Form. He couldn't possibly ask him to go back to the Divine Sound Hall to retrieve it now!
"Cough, cough!" Adrian coughed once. "This wand being fine is enough. He can only carry one wand during the competition."
"Alright!" Ollivander nodded lightly, then looked at Fleur. "Miss Delacour, it's your turn."
Fleur paused, then gracefully walked to the front and handed over her wand.
"Nine and a half inches, maple wood, inside… Oh my goodness!"
"There's a Veela hair in it, from my grandmother," Fleurexplained.
"Indeed, Veela hair.
Although I myself have never used Veela hair; it's too sensitive and temperamental.
But everyone has their preferences, and it clearly suits you."
Ollivander ran his thumb over the wand, and after confirming there was no damage, he softly chanted, "Orchids Bloom."
A flower bloomed at the tip of the wand. He satisfactorily handed the wand back, "Very good, in excellent condition."
Next was Cedric Diggory. His wand was purchased from Ollivander's Wand Shop.
Made of ash wood, with a Unicorn tail hair core, twelve and a quarter inches long.
"In excellent condition, definitely regularly cared for." Ollivander did not stint on his praise; he greatly admired this Wizard who treated his wand well.
"I just polished it last night," Cedric said with a grin.
Ollivander conjured a string of silvery-white smoke rings with the wand, and after a simple performance test, he returned the wand to Cedric.
"Mr. Krum, it's your turn."
Viktor, still poker-faced, sullenly placed his wand before Ollivander.
"Hornbeam, Dragon heartstring, ten and a quarter inches.
This is a Gregorovitch product. Although his style is quite different from mine… it's clear you use it very smoothly, and it suits you well."
Krum nodded, not denying it.
"Birds Flock."
A flock of small birds flew from the tip of the wand, out through the window.
"Very good." Ollivander returned the wand to Krum. "Finally, there's one more, Mr. Potter."
Harry stood up, brushing past Krum, and nervously handed over his wand.
Ollivander spent more time examining this wand than the previous four combined, because it was special; the Phoenixfeather in its core came from the same Phoenix as Lord Voldemort's wand, making them of the same origin.
He shot a stream of wine from the wand, and after confirming its performance was fine, he returned it to Harry, declaring it to be in very good condition.
"Alright, now you can go back to class," Dumbledore said with a smile. "Of course, going straight to eat is also fine, as class will be over soon anyway."
"Dumbledore, don't forget the photo," Skeeter reminded him.
"Right, a group photo of the judges and champions!" Bagman said excitedly. "What do you think, Rita?"
"I don't want to be in the newspaper," Adrian said disdainfully, then pulled Ollivander away.
"This judge… has a truly unique personality." Rita Skeeterwatched Adrian's retreating figure, a glint in her eyes. "I personally think that Miss Klein's age and breathtaking beauty would definitely make the newspaper a huge hit."
"You'd best put away your unrealistic ideas," Aaron said half-jokingly. "The Wizarding Council and the International Confederation of Wizards both have to give Klein some face.
If any inappropriate news appears in The Daily Prophet, that newspaper company will probably not be far from bankruptcy."
"Don't scare people, Mr. Gaius."
Aaron shrugged. "If you don't believe me, you can try."
Upon hearing this, Rita Skeeter pursed her lips unwillingly.
She had criticized many people in her newspaper, including Dumbledore and Fudge, she hadn't spared them.
Because she knew their personalities, abilities, and status, they wouldn't take a small reporter like her seriously, at most just cursing her under their breath and grumbling a bit.
But there were some people she dared not write about. If Aaron was telling the truth, Adrian could make her unemployed in minutes. She couldn't afford to offend such a person.
"It's not impossible to take a photo without one judge," Rita Skeeter said somewhat unnaturally, then had the photographer get into position.
Because the room was relatively small, and there was a Giant among the judges, the photographer spent more than twenty minutes to fit the five champions and five judges into the frame.
The moment the photographer pressed the shutter, Aaron decisively shifted his body backward a bit.
He stood next to Maxime, using her three-meter-tall body and a portion of her shadow to block most of himself, revealing only a small part of his profile, which made him not too conspicuous in that photo.
However, Krum also seemed to have made the same decision, which greatly surprised him.
Are you kidding me? You're a big star, yet you're hiding even more thoroughly than I am.
The most conspicuous was Harry Potter. The C position was originally arranged for Fleur by the photographer, but Rita Skeeter insisted on pulling him to the most prominent spot.
After the group photo, Rita Skeeter insisted on taking individual photos of the champions.
After the judges left, she looked at the five champions with a smile on her face. "Little-known hot news! Who wants to take the first photo?"
"Um, I have something else to do…"
"Wait, Mr. Gaius, the Wizarding world needs to know who the five champions are."
"Leaving my name is enough. If not, I'll just have to refuse the Wizarding world this one time." Aaron rolled his eyes speechlessly, then slammed the door and left.
Rita Skeeter looked at the remaining four with some helplessness. "It seems this champion is rather shy, but it's alright, many people are shy before I interview them."
"Um…" Harry weakly raised his hand. "Adrian Klein is his cousin."
Rita Skeeter: …Alright! Another one I can't afford to offend… After dinner, Aaron rushed back to his dormitory without delay.
"System, purchase Nether Crystal."
"Purchase successful."
One hundred magic points were cleared, and an irregular crystal glowing with a faint golden light was held in Aaron's hand.
"This is much more valuable than Mithril," Aaron said, wincing slightly, then took Abe into the Divine Sound Hall.
The Thought-Form, looking at the Nether Crystal which was only the size of an egg, couldn't help but click his tongue. "This is too little! I thought it would be the size of a basketball!"
"This can only indirectly prove that it's more precious.
For the same volume, its value is more than ten times that of Mithril."
"After all, it's a natural medium for conducting magic!" The Thought-Form carefully took the Nether Crystal and had two Shadow Ninjas even more carefully cut off one-tenth of it.
"Supplemented with Thunderbird tail feathers, only three bullets can be made."
"I understand, once they're used up, they're gone. I'll be frugal with them," Aaron said, waving his hand. At this moment, he seemed to have thought of something. "The magical creature feathers I acquired from Hagrid…"
"A batch has already been made, although the power is relatively weaker," the Thought-Form said proudly, then took a box from the storage shelf. When opened, it contained various colors of thumb-sized spherical projectiles.
"Only this much?"
"You think twenty rounds are too few? When it really comes to the competition, you definitely won't use that many."
"That's true, but isn't this efficiency a bit low?"
"Enchanting is also physical labor!" The Thought-Form rolled his eyes speechlessly. He was already busy enough normally; making a few bullets a day was his limit. Any more and he'd truly become a donkey at a mill.
Aaron also couldn't continue to complain about himself. After instructing the Thought-Form to use the Nether Crystal carefully, he left the Divine Sound Hall… A few days later, Rita Skeeter published an article in The Daily Prophet, with Harry Potter's photo occupying a large amount of space.
When Aaron read this newspaper in the library, his mouth twitched uncontrollably.
Rita Skeeter wrote many unrealistic and very disgusting things in the newspaper, portraying Harry as a fragile child who sought comfort in various ways… "What did it say?" Hermione suddenly walked over, with Harry by her side.
"Nothing," Aaron quickly stuffed the newspaper into Abe's pocket.
"I saw Harry's photo," Hermione raised an eyebrow. "The front page of The Daily Prophet."
"What?" Harry was greatly alarmed and immediately looked at Aaron. "Give me the newspaper."
"Personal advice, better to die late than early."
"Give it to me."
Aaron sighed and took out the newspaper.
He looked at the two seriously. "Be mentally prepared, and also, this is a library, no loud noises."
"Loud noises," Hermione said with a sarcastic laugh. "You probably haven't even noticed, ever since Krum came, wherever he goes, it becomes chaotic, and the library is no exception."
"That's the celebrity effect."
Harry took the newspaper, his green eyes constantly moving left and right, quickly scanning it.
Half a minute later, he angrily slapped the table and cursed loudly: "Nonsense, gibberish, fabrication, absolutely no moral bottom line whatsoever."
"Cough, cough!" At this moment, Madam Pince coughed once and shot a sharp glance, and Harry immediately quieted down, sitting opposite Aaron, dejected and angry.