February 28 fell on a Wednesday, but to celebrate the conclusion of the first three events, Hogwarts declared a day off.
More importantly, after postponing it for more than half a year, Dumbledore had finally reached an agreement with several newspapers. They were allowed to enter the school for interviews—but only today.
During the Triwizard Tournament, only one British newspaper—the Daily Prophet—had conducted exclusive interviews with the four champions.
But the much larger Four-School Friendship Tournament had attracted reporters from numerous publications eager to cover it.
However, Dumbledore had rejected all interview requests beforehand so that the contestants could focus on the competition. Today, he simply arranged a press conference so several newspapers could interview the players at once.
Four British publications alone had arrived:
Daily Prophet
Witch Weekly
Wizarding Fashion Guide
The Quibbler
In addition, three newspapers had traveled from the regions of the other participating schools:
New York Specter
African Wizarding News
Rainforest Today
Early that morning, Sean's door was knocked on repeatedly by Cassius from the dormitory across the hall.
Sean glanced at the clock on the wall. It wasn't even eight yet.
Curled up in its little nest, Jerry stretched lazily and extended a paw. After living at Hogwarts for more than half a year, Jerry had grown quite a bit.
Most of the time it lounged lazily in Sean's room, or Sean carried it to the common room where Chris would happily play with it.
"Sean, wake up!" Cassius shouted.
Sean wrapped himself in a thick robe and opened the door with sleepy eyes.
"Isn't today a holiday? Why are you up so early?"
Cassius grinned and waved at Jerry.
"Hey Jerry, good morning."
Then he dragged Sean inside the room.
"Merlin's beard, look at your hair!"
"What's wrong with my hair? Natural curls aren't allowed?" Sean replied casually.
"I don't even know what to say. You're killing me here," Cassius said in frustration. "There's a player interview today. Aren't you going to make yourself look presentable?"
"It's just an interview," Sean shrugged. "Not a blind date. A wizard robe should be enough. What else do I need to do?"
Sean already knew that the Daily Prophet reporter attending was Rita Skeeter.
Just thinking about that sensationalist journalist—who loved twisting facts and inventing stories—made him reluctant to participate in the interview at all.
Under Cassius's strict supervision, Sean finally tidied himself up. The two of them walked confidently to the common room, where Chris was already sitting on the sofa, seemingly waiting for them.
Cassius proudly pointed at Sean like a proud artist presenting his masterpiece.
"Well, Chris? After my careful guidance, doesn't Sean look especially handsome today?"
Chris looked Sean up and down.
An old robe.
Somewhat combed brown curls.
A stiff, unnatural smile on his face.
"You should probably stop smiling," she sighed.
Sean immediately dropped the fake grin and shoved Cassius.
"I told you not to make me smile! You insisted!"
"I didn't say fake smile," Cassius protested. "You just can't smile naturally!"
When Sean arrived at the Great Hall, he discovered that the other team members—and contestants from the other three schools—were dressed as if they were attending a formal banquet.
The boys wore neat suits, while the girls had elegant dresses.
"Sean… you're just wearing the school robe?" Zach asked quietly.
"I don't own a suit," Sean replied helplessly. "A robe is still more formal than a hoodie."
Poverty had limited his ability to make a handsome entrance.
If they won the championship and received the prize money, the first thing he would do was buy several sets of new clothes.
Soon, reporters began entering the Great Hall one after another.
Sean quickly spotted a woman with blonde curls, garish gemstone glasses, bright red lipstick, and matching red nail polish.
"That's Rita Skeeter," Sean thought immediately.
Aside from the Daily Prophet's reporters, Sean didn't recognize most of the others.
However, one particular reporter caught his attention—a man with long white hair, accompanied by a little girl with pale blonde hair, about eight or nine years old.
There were twenty-four contestants present.
Although the reporters had come to interview players, newspaper space was limited. It was impossible for every contestant to receive equal coverage. Some would likely be mentioned only briefly.
Rita Skeeter, especially, was interested only in sensational headlines.
Among the contestants, her targets were obvious:
Claven the Daywalker
Omar the Half-Giant
And Sean Grylls, the "Son of Betrayal," the genius considered Hogwarts' secret weapon.
However, Claven and Omar were naturally giving interviews to reporters from their home newspapers first.
So Rita turned her attention to Sean.
A sudden chill ran down Sean's spine.
"Sean Grylls," Rita said as she stepped closer and closer to him.
"One of the Boys Who Lived… the Son of Betrayal… Hogwarts' secret weapon."
"You'll be quite the topic of conversation among witches and wizards tomorrow."
Sean hurriedly stepped backward. The heavy perfume surrounding Rita nearly made him sneeze.
"Sean Grylls," she continued, pulling out a Quick-Quotes Quill and notebook from her crocodile-skin handbag.
"Tell me, how has life at Hogwarts been for you?"
"It's been good," Sean replied briefly.
Immediately, the quill scribbled furiously:
"Twelve-year-old Sean Grylls shows clear resentment toward life at Hogwarts."
Sean glanced at the notebook. Seeing that long sentence appear instantly, he knew Rita had already begun her usual routine—fabricating exaggerated stories to attract attention.
He knew that no matter what he said, Rita wouldn't record it faithfully. Her articles were written almost entirely from her own imagination.
After enduring ten minutes of Rita's questioning, she finally moved on to her next target.
Sean rubbed his arm.
Earlier, Rita had insisted on taking a photo with him. When Sean refused, she had grabbed his arm and dragged him over anyway.
The strength in her grip made Sean suspect she might secretly have troll blood.
The reporters from the other British newspapers were well aware of Rita's reputation.
Just moments ago, she had even cut in line, stealing an interview with Theo that Witch Weekly had been about to conduct.
The Witch Weekly reporter glared at her in disgust and reluctantly switched to interviewing Zach instead.
Sean stood to the side, wiping sweat from his forehead.
At that moment, the white-haired man and the pale-haired little girl approached him.
"I'm exhausted already," Sean thought bitterly.
"Hello," the man said politely.
"I'm Xenophilius Lovegood, editor of The Quibbler."
Sean blinked in surprise.
"So The Quibbler really came today… and that means this adorable girl beside him must be Luna!"
"Judging by her age… Luna should be nine this year."
Sean was genuinely surprised by the coincidence of meeting the Lovegood father and daughter here.
But Luna looked rather downcast.
"Mr. Lovegood," Sean asked, pretending not to know, "and this young lady is…?"
"She's my daughter, Luna," Lovegood replied.
"Something happened at home recently, so I had to bring her with me and look after her."
His expression looked slightly unnatural.
Memories about Luna's family flashed through Sean's mind.
Combining what he knew from the original story with the current situation, he arrived at a troubling conclusion.
"Luna's mother died when she was nine," Sean thought.
"She was killed in a magical experiment when a spell went wrong and exploded."
"It seems that has already happened."
"That must be why Lovegood brought Luna with him to Hogwarts instead of leaving her alone at home."
Thinking of this, Sean felt a pang of sympathy as he looked at Luna's gloomy expression.
When being interviewed by Lovegood, Sean cooperated fully and answered every question sincerely—
a complete contrast to how he had treated Rita Skeeter.
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