Chapter 471: The Dedicated Rita Skeeter
Chapter 471: The Dedicated Rita Skeeter
As the group returned to White Fox Mountain, the bustling noise instantly faded away, leaving only the crisp sound of insects chirping.
Cedric was heading to the other side of the village, so he parted ways with them after descending the mountain, while the rest continued forward.
In the cold moonlight, they walked through Saint Kachipor Village, chatting and following the damp path towards the humble abode.
"You said you saw Gilderoy Lockhart?" Harry asked Kyle in surprise.
"I just caught a glimpse, and I'm not sure if I saw correctly," Kyle said. "But that person's teeth were indeed white and bright, and he had golden hair, just like Lockhart."
"You must have mistaken him for someone else," Ron said. "Lockhart is still at St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries. How could he possibly be at the Quidditch World Cup?"
"Not so," Mr. Weasley suddenly said from the front, "If I remember correctly, he had already recovered a week ago... when Fudge visited St. Mungo's."
"And after he returned, the Ministry received a large sum of money."
"Did Lockhart donate it?" Ron asked in confusion.
"It's not exactly a donation to the Ministry," Mr. Weasley explained. "I overheard someone mentioning it casually. Apparently, Lockhart realized his mistakes and decided to give up all his Gringotts assets to compensate those whose experiences he had stolen, and to help them regain their memories.
"Furthermore, he also transferred all the sales rights and profits of his books to the Ministry, to assist wizards with memory damage who require treatment."
"And the two people in the same ward as him were the first beneficiaries."
"All his assets... plus all the proceeds from his books?" Ron exclaimed in surprise. "His books aren't cheap, how much money is that? Is Lockhart willing to give it all away?"
"I'm not entirely sure about the details."
Mr. Weasley said, "But this is what I heard. Anyway, his books can be resold now, but with the names inside changed to the actual people who did those things."
"So, is Lockhart free now?" Harry asked.
"Is there even a need to say it?" Ron scoffed. "Think about it, when he was a professor last year, everyone at Hogwarts bought seven of his books each. That's already several thousand Galleons, plus what he had saved up before... Those Galleons could pile up into a mountain.
With so many Galleons at stake, I think everyone would be willing to forgive him..."
"But that's not right!" Hermione frowned. "He should be punished."
"No, I think this is the greatest punishment," Ron said.
The thought of losing several thousand Galleons in an instant made Ron cringe.
In his opinion, there could be no more terrifying punishment than this.
Mr. Weasley remained silent.
In fact, his initial thoughts about Lockhart were the same as Hermione's, but when he considered that the Longbottom couple would benefit from this, his opinion wavered.
It was a coincidence that after Lockhart was sent to St. Mungo's, he was placed in the same ward as the Longbottoms, making them the first beneficiaries.
Kyle nodded beside him.
Perhaps Lockhart didn't want to stay in St. Mungo's forever, nor did he want to go to Azkaban, so he chose to buy his way out.
However, from the fact that he could still attend the Quidditch World Cup, it seemed that the former Defense Against the Dark Arts professor had held back some money for himself.
His books were very popular, and as long as the donated gold was impressive enough to satisfy everyone, no one would care if he secretly kept a little for himself.
As they chatted along the way, they soon passed through Saint Kachipor Village. When they reached the end of the path, the humble abode suddenly came into view.
……
Chapter end
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