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Chapter 55: You're in My Way...
Chapter 55: You're in My Way...
The world was reduced to just three hues: black, white, and gray.
Rita Skeeter's body was stiff as she struggled to look at Felix's fingers tapping on the table. They were pale and long, with healthy, light pink nails—the only color in her field of vision.
As his fingers tapped, dark gray ripples spread from his fingertips, passing through both of their bodies and silently expanding in all directions.
"You—" the woman croaked, her wand in her hand, but she couldn't lift it even a fraction of an inch.
"You see, I occasionally adopt this perspective to observe the world and magic. It's quite fascinating", Felix explained, his demeanor unchanged from the start.
But Rita Skeeter didn't see it that way.
"What you're doing... is illegal... Azkaban..." she managed to say, her lips moving with great difficulty, one word at a time.
"Rita, Rita, do you really think I would do anything harmful to you?" Felix said with a laugh. "I just asked if you truly understand me."
"It's clear that you don't."
"One of your colleagues advised you not to mess with me, didn't they? I bet it was a Slytherin."
Rita Skeeter's eyes were fixed on him.
Felix spoke calmly, "In my fifth year, I spent the holidays visiting a few stubborn Pureblood families. After that, they never spoke about me in public again."
"Do you know why?"
She widened her eyes.
"You think—I need someone's power to counter the threats from extreme Pureblood families? No, Rita", he said softly, "I just showed them a possibility."
As Felix's emotions fluctuated, the white and gray in the world quickly turned to a pitch-black darkness, a deep and oppressive kind.
Rita Skeeter's body began to tremble slightly.
"Yes, a possibility. If I were to become the Dark Lord..." He didn't finish his sentence.
The darkness quickly dissipated, and the world returned to stark black and white, like an old, faded photograph.
"Think about it. I'm actually quite reasonable. As long as you don't bother me, I have no time to deal with you. But unfortunately—"
"You're in my way..."
Ignoring her, Felix summoned the parchment on the table and read it casually.
The parchment, which had filled with a foot of content without him noticing, made him somewhat amused and exasperated. If Hogwarts' young wizards had this kind of creativity, they would be laughing in their sleep.
"Tsk tsk!"
"This part is over the top."
"Did I say that?"
"Maintaining a close relationship with Dumbledore? Me?" He shook his head.
The colors gradually returned to the room, another magical sight, like a child finding an old, faded photo in a storeroom and coloring it with crayons.
The world came to life once more.
Rita Skeeter realized she had regained her ability to move.
She glanced at her wand, then at Felix, who was still reading the parchment, her eyes darting back and forth.
But she quickly abandoned this foolish idea.
"Have you made up your mind, Rita? This might be your chance. Grab me, and the rest of the story is yours to write." Felix lifted his head, his light blue eyes fixed on her.
"You're joking, Felix, no, Professor Hep, Sir—" Rita Skeeter kept changing her address.
"Hmph."
He casually dropped the parchment in his hand, and it silently turned to ashes.
"About my purpose here..."
"I apologize! I'll stop all the false rumors!" she said quickly, a placating smile on her face.
"Thank you, Rita."
Felix stood up, smiling slightly and politely bowed. Then he pushed open the door and his figure merged into the night.
By now, it was pitch black outside. The north wind whipped up the snow, making his robes flutter loudly. Felix took a few steps into the wind and snow, and the next moment, he vanished.
A while later, Rita Skeeter cautiously opened the door, glanced around, and saw nothing outside. She quickly closed the door.
A torrent of vicious curses spewed from her mouth, using the most offensive words she knew to curse someone.
"Felix Hep!" she spat the name with venom.
"I will get my revenge! Revenge... on his secrets... yes, that's it, this damned... he doesn't know I'm an Animagus, maybe, no, too risky."
After cursing for a long time, Rita Skeeter's mouth was dry and her throat parched, so she finally stopped.
She approached the liquor cabinet, intending to grab a bottle to quench her thirst. But as soon as her fingers touched the handle, the ornate silver handle crumbled into fine sand in her hand.
Rita Skeeter froze in place.
She tentatively extended a thick finger and tapped a purple long-necked flask—her favorite. In the next moment, the flask disintegrated into fine sand, along with the liquor inside.
Her eyes widened in horror as her body stumbled backward into a chair. She then realized the chair had also crumbled into a pile of sand.
Rita Skeeter looked around, and her house—every single part of it—was turning to sand, including her ornate picture frames and crocodile-skin handbag.
Even the floor was not spared.
"Ah! Ah!"
She fled the house in terror, and as she watched, the entire building began to crumble. A swirling vortex of sand emerged from the base, slowly and relentlessly swallowing the house.
"This is a lesson", a voice abruptly echoed in Rita Skeeter's mind.
Her lips trembled, as if she wanted to say something, but this time, she quickly clamped her mouth shut.
At the edge of the Forbidden Forest.
Felix's figure suddenly appeared. He braved the wind and snow, making his way back to the castle. The December weather was bone-chilling, especially with the fierce wind and blizzard, each step a severe test.
As he caught sight of the castle's outline in the distance, a thought crossed his mind, and he shook his head, chiding himself for not learning his lesson.
Felix pushed open the dark brown door, shaking off the snow from his robes, and entered the warm castle.
He waved his wand, and the door behind him slammed shut, blocking out the wind, snow, and darkness.
(End of Chapter)
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