It had to be said that Dumbledore could be rather infuriating sometimes.
How could he possibly have forgotten something as important as the wand inspection?
He had clearly saved it for last on purpose!
Not wanting to arrive late and make everyone wait for her, Eda hurried out of the tower and rushed toward the classroom where the wand inspection was being held.
When Eda entered the room, she saw only Fleur and Krum.
Harry was nowhere to be seen.
The classroom wasn't very large.
Most of the desks had been pushed to the back, leaving a wide open space in the center.
In front of the blackboard stood three desks placed side by side and covered with velvet.
Ludo Bagman was chatting with an elderly man.
The old man was none other than the famous wandmaker, Ollivander.
Fleur Delacour's wand was examined first.
It measured nine and a half inches, was wonderfully supple, made of maple, and contained a Veela hair as its core.
According to Fleur, the hair had come from her grandmother.
Next came Viktor Krum.
With slumped shoulders and his feet turned outward as he walked, he stood listlessly before Ollivander.
For some reason, every time Eda saw Krum, he always looked like this.
His nickname might as well have been "Mr. Gloomy."
Krum's wand had been made by another equally renowned wandmaker, Gregorovitch.
It measured ten and a quarter inches, was made of hornbeam, and contained a dragon heartstring core.
Then it was Eda's turn.
Harry was still nowhere to be found.
Her wand measured ten and three-quarter inches, was flexible, made of yew, a wood surrounded by countless ominous legends, and contained a phoenix tail feather that Ollivander had somehow plucked from some phoenix.
"Miss Twist, you and your wand are truly a perfect match," Ollivander said. "Whenever I see your name in the newspapers, I feel I've found a truly remarkable owner for that wand."
Back in the summer of 1989, Ollivander had demonstrated exactly what true professionalism and masterful salesmanship looked like.
The old man had almost convinced Eda that she was the chosen one, a once-in-a-generation talent.
Then, in the summer of 1991, Ollivander had demonstrated his professionalism once again.
It turned out Eda wasn't the only once-in-a-generation chosen one.
Ron apparently was too.
Although she didn't believe a word of the old man's sales pitch, Eda still replied politely,
"Thank you, Mr. Ollivander. Your superb craftsmanship has helped me out of many difficult situations."
Mutual flattery.
Everyone was happy.
Eda was happy.
Ollivander was happy.
But not everyone was.
Harry certainly wasn't, because Rita Skeeter had just interviewed him.
Dressed in a bright magenta robe, Rita Skeeter returned to the classroom first, with a thoroughly miserable Harry following behind her.
Harry's face was longer than a donkey's.
Standing before Ollivander, Harry presented his wand as well.
Unlike the carefully maintained wands of the other champions, Harry's was covered with greasy fingerprints and looked rather dirty.
While Ollivander inspected the wands, Rita Skeeter wasn't idle either.
She interviewed Fleur and Krum one after another.
Finally, with her bright red claws, she dragged Eda into the small broom cupboard beside the classroom.
Inside the cramped broom cupboard, Eda could clearly hear Rita Skeeter breathing.
Had this been where she interviewed Harry and Krum just now?
Why did the image of a creepy older woman interviewing young boys feel so disturbingly vivid?
"Oh, my dear, I hear my colleagues mention you all the time," Rita Skeeter said dramatically. "I've always wanted to interview you. I've always wanted to know why an orphan from an orphanage caught Dumbledore's attention, and how you ended up connected to a French family."
The moment she heard those words, Eda's brows knit tightly together.
That question was unbelievably tactless.
Rita Skeeter, apparently oblivious to Eda's displeasure, continued speaking.
"Don't worry. I'm a disciplined professional journalist. I'm nothing like those shameless colleagues of mine."
Floating in midair, a long, brilliantly green quill was furiously writing by itself across a sheet of parchment.
It read:
"The moment I mentioned her past, the fragile young girl burst into tears. As she recalled her tragic childhood, she opened her heart to the kind-hearted Rita Skeeter..."
Looking at the constantly scribbling Quick-Quotes Quill and the words appearing on the parchment, Eda asked, "You call that disciplined? Professional?"
"Don't mind it. Let's just talk. It's only a Quick-Quotes Quill," Rita Skeeter said. "Now then, first question. Do you hate the parents who abandoned you?"
Before Eda could even answer, the magical quill had already written several more lines.
This time it read:
"Hearing the unfamiliar word 'parents,' the beautiful young girl immediately became fragile. Her shoulders trembled uncontrollably. Countless nights were spent weeping as she longed for her heartless parents, despite the fact that they had cruelly abandoned her the moment she was born..."
"Don't be nervous. Just speak your mind," Rita Skeeter said.
Whether she was genuinely oblivious or simply pretending not to notice, Eda's nose was practically twisting with anger, yet Rita was still encouraging her to "speak her mind."
Eda finally understood why Harry, Krum, and Fleur had all worn such awful expressions after their interviews.
Rita Skeeter was truly nauseating.
"What happened?" Rita Skeeter cried out.
The Quick-Quotes Quill, which had been scribbling furiously, and the parchment beneath it suddenly burst into flames, floating in midair like two balls of fire.
"Although I've never met my parents," Eda suddenly said, "I do know that people who lie and make up stories about others go to hell after they die, where they'll have to swallow a thousand needles."
"Rita Skeeter, would you like to try swallowing a thousand needles in hell, or were you simply never taught any manners by your parents?"
"You..." Rita Skeeter furiously pointed at Eda, clearly about to unleash a torrent of abuse.
But Eda had no intention of giving her the chance.
She stood up and said, "Excuse me. My grandmother doesn't allow me to associate with ill-mannered people."
With that, Eda kicked open the broom cupboard door and strode out.
When she returned to the classroom, she found that Dumbledore, Madame Maxime, Karkaroff, and Barty Crouch had all arrived.
Together with Ludo Bagman, the five of them were the judges for this year's Triwizard Tournament.
Barty Crouch once again emphasized that the first task would take place on November 24, and that the champions would be allowed only one piece of equipment:
Their own wands.
After that came the photographs.
First was a group photo of the four champions.
Fortunately, Viktor Krum was the only one who looked older than his age, and all four champions had different hair colors.
Otherwise, the picture would have looked far too much like a family portrait.
Once the champions' group photo was finished, Ludo Bagman invited the judges to join in as well.
The photographer was worked to exhaustion because no matter where Madame Maxime stood, she blocked someone else.
The classroom was also far too small.
Even with the photographer pressed flat against the wall, he still couldn't fit Madame Maxime into the frame.
In the end, Madame Maxime had to sit down while everyone else stood around her.
After the group photo was finished, Rita Skeeter returned.
She had already composed herself, giving no sign of the embarrassment she had suffered earlier.
Everyone was about to head downstairs to the Great Hall for dinner when Rita Skeeter stopped them.
She wanted individual portraits of each champion for her exclusive feature.
Apparently, the parchment Eda had burned wasn't Rita's only draft.
The woman had backups.
Harry, Fleur, and Krum reluctantly stopped to wait for their solo photographs.
Eda, however, completely ignored Rita Skeeter.
She treated her words as though they were nothing but air and walked away without a second glance, leaving the other three champions staring at one another.
During dinner in the Great Hall, Eda complained to the twins about Rita Skeeter.
She had only ever heard stories about the woman before.
Now she had finally seen for herself just how disgusting that tabloid reporter really was.
The twins also advised her not to waste her energy on someone like Rita.
She wasn't worth it.
Rita Skeeter had been publishing false stories and sensationalizing everything for years.
She was nothing more than a complete clown.
Just like Lockhart.
In truth, Eda didn't take Rita Skeeter to heart.
Ignoring someone like that was enough.
But a few days later, Rita Skeeter's article about the Triwizard Tournament was published.
Eda hadn't expected that, besides Umbridge, there was someone else in the wizarding world who was like a toad.
They might not bite you.
But they were more than capable of making your skin crawl.
...
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