Hogwarts on the Tip of the Tongue

"Hogwarts on the tip of the tongue (

Rita Skeeter

Have never experienced entering the Ministry of Magic from the visitor channel.

In her impression, the only way for the Ministry of Magic to arrive was Floo Net and Phantom Migration.

Obviously, this is not a common import and export-Rita walked into the phone booth and found that the space inside was really as small as it looked outside, or even smaller... Tonks squeezed in from behind. He stood beside her and closed the door with his backhand.

The small old-fashioned telephone booth did not consider the problem of double use at the beginning of the design.

Rita was squeezed onto the phone device.

The phone hung slantingly from the wall, and it seemed that a vandal once tried to pull it off.

Tonks smiled apologetically, and across Rita, he reached out from behind her and picked up the microphone.

"I don't understand why we can't go to the Ministry of Magic in a more respectful way."

"Well, because there will be visitor records like this... This record is based on magic and it is difficult to delete by conventional means."

Tonks explained casually, holding the microphone above his head, looking at the dial.

"Let me see...6...", she dialed this number, "2...4...is another 4...and another 2..."

"The Ministry of Magic will still have a phone number?" Rita raised her eyebrows and asked in surprise.

"Oh no, this is a password, Muggle nine-square letters-M-A-G-I-C..."

Tonks shrugged and glanced at the somewhat confused Rita, "Not all wizards can use Phantom Migration proficiently, or have the opportunity to contact Floo fans... There are also quite a few dumb cannons, crappy wizards, and Mixed blood-I mean people with magical blood-and even non-human visitors. It is quite necessary to set up a special entrance for them. Anyway, it says on the file..."

After roughly explaining a few sentences, Tonks released his fingers on the dial.

As the dial whirred back to its original position, a woman's indifferent voice rang from the phone booth, but that voice did not come from the microphone held by Tonks. It was loud and clear, as if An invisible woman stood beside them.

"Welcome to the Ministry of Magic, please state your name and your affairs."

"Shhh..." Tonks raised his finger and motioned Rita not to speak for now.

Immediately afterwards, she cleared her throat and said forward skillfully and clearly, "Nifadora Tonks, Auror office, I am accompanying Rita Skeeter, a reporter from the Daily Prophet, to come today. Ministry of Magic, she has clues about magic crimes about an important public figure..."

"Understood," the woman said in a cold voice, "Guests, please pick up the badge and don't put it in front of your clothes."

Ding Lingling, wow!

Rita saw something slipping out of the metal chute under the phone.

She picked it up: it was a square silver badge with the words: Rita Skeeter, informant.

Rita pinned the badge to the front of the green jacket, and the indifferent woman's voice rang again.

"Guest of the Ministry of Magic, you need to be checked at the security checkpoint and register your wand. The security checkpoint is at the end of the main hall."

The floor of the phone booth suddenly trembled.

They slowly sank into the ground.

Rita frowned and watched the sidewalk outside the glass window of the phone booth rise higher and higher, and finally there was darkness above their heads.

She couldn't see anything, she could only hear the monotonous, piercing rubbing sound of the phone booth when it sank into the ground.

After about a minute, Rita felt much longer. A thin golden light hit her trendy high-heeled shoes, then the golden light gradually widened and expanded to her body, and finally hit her face directly. , She had to squint her eyes to avoid tears.

"The Ministry of Magic wishes you a pleasant day," the woman's voice said.

The door of the phone booth opened sharply, and Tonks walked out immediately, with Rita following behind, calming down a bit.

They were standing at the end of a long hall of magnificent splendor, and the floor was brightly polished dark wooden floor. The peacock blue ceiling is inlaid with glittering golden symbols, constantly moving and changing, like a huge high-altitude bulletin board.

The walls on all sides are inlaid with black and shiny dark wood panels, and many gilded fireplaces are embedded in the wood panels.

Every few seconds, with a soft pop, a wizard suddenly emerged from a fireplace on the left.

On the right, there are several people in line waiting to leave in front of each fireplace.

In the middle of the hall is a fountain.

A group of pure gold statues stood in the middle of a round water pool, larger than a real person.

The tallest among them is a noble wizard, holding his wand high and pointing straight at the sky. Surrounding him is a beautiful witch, a horseman, a fairy and a house elf. The horseman, the goblin, and the house elves all looked up at the two wizards with infinite admiration.

Wizard...oh no, the magical government idea of ​​wizard supremacy——

Rita Skeeter raised her brows.

In fact, in her past career as a journalist, she had only a handful of opportunities for interviews at the Ministry of Magic.

Streams of shining water jets sprayed from the tip of the wizard's wand, from the arrow of the horseman, from the tip of the goblin's hat, and from the two ears of the house elves. There were the sound of Ding Dongdingdong water, the popping and popping sounds of people with Apparition, and the messy footsteps of hundreds of wizards and wizards. With the lifeless expression peculiar to social animals on their faces, they strode towards the row of golden gates at the end of the hall.

This is the main hall located on the eighth floor of the Ministry of Magic-if a wizard dared to make trouble here, he would be subdued in no time.

Of course, the premise is...within the defensive power of the Ministry of Magic.

"This way," Tonks said.

They joined the crowd and squeezed forward among the staff of the Ministry of Magic. Rita looked around, some of them were holding piles of crumbling parchments in their arms, some were carrying tattered briefcases, and some were reading "Daily Prophet" as they walked.

Not surprisingly, the front page news they are reading this time tomorrow should be the content related to her.

Rita Skeeter thought with a heavy heart.

The only difference is whether her name appears in the text or in the author column.

"Here, Rita."

Tonks said that they left the crowd of Ministry staff walking towards the golden gate. At a table on the left, under a sign that says "Security Check", sits a wizard who wears a peacock blue robe and has a very shaved beard.

When they approached, he raised his head and put down the "Daily Prophet" in his hand.

"I brought a guest." Tonks said and pointed to Rita.

"Come here," the wizard said in a listless tone.

Rita approached him, and the wizard held up a long golden rod, which was as thin as the antenna of a car and very resilient.

He used it to scan Rita's front and back from top to bottom-for safety, Rita did not carry the Foundation badge, but when the metal rod swept through her handbag, it still sent out drops. The voice is not harsh but obviously not normal.

"Do you have any magic items in your bag?"

The wizard frowned, pressed his left hand to his waist, and looked at Rita warily.

"Oh, it should be this..."

Rita opened her crocodile leather handbag and drew a magic wand from it, as well as a long, dazzling green quill and a roll of parchment.

"This is my magic wand, and my sketch quill — as a reporter, this will make it easier for me to free my hands and have normal conversations with the interviewer. To be honest, this quill is almost as important as my magic wand , You should have read my article..."

"Rita Skeeter? Okay, can you prove it?"

The wizard's gaze slowly swept across the silver guest badge on Rita's chest and interrupted.

"I want to confirm that it is indeed a magic quill, and not other dangerous magic props—"

"Oh, of course. It's very simple"

Rita Skeeter nodded slowly, she looked more relaxed than before.

She spread the roll of parchment on the table, picked up the nib of the green quill pen and put it in her mouth, and sucked it tastefully for a while, then put the pen vertically on the parchment paper with the quill tube upright on the nib. , Trembling slightly, even if she let go of her hand, she didn't fall down.

"Then ~www.readwn.com~ a simple test... My name is Rita Skeeter, a reporter for the Daily Prophet."

The wizard lowered his head and stared at the quill.

As soon as Rita Skeeter's voice fell, the green quill began to write eloquently, and the nib slid dexterously across the parchment.

"The charming blonde Rita Skeeter, 38 years old, is the chief reporter of the Daily Prophet. Her rebellious quill has exposed many flashy names..."

"that's it--"

The wizard looked closely at Rita's quill and shrugged.

"Wand."

He muttered to Rita, put down the golden magic detector, and stretched out his hand.

Rita Skeeter handed over the wand.

The wizard threw it on a weird-looking brass machine that looked like a single-plate balance.

The machine began to vibrate slightly. A narrow piece of parchment was quickly spit out from a hole at the bottom, and Rita Skeeter’s wand value was recorded on it. This is almost a way to verify the identity of a wizard in the magical world—similar to the non-magical world. Personal passport.

And this round of procedures is one of the reasons why they must enter from the visitor entrance today.

If Rita Skeeter wants to back down, then the wand test is her last chance to back down.

"I'll keep this," the wizard said, poking the parchment paper on a small brass nail. "You take this back."

He handed the wand back to Rita Skeeter, who was still talking.

"Thank you, Eric."

Tonks, who had been waiting impatiently behind him, said quickly, pulling Rita back to the crowd of people walking towards the golden gate.

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Great!