Chapter 91: News and Apology Letters, the Upright Mr. Diggory!

Ron's wish came true.

After receiving Ron's pleading look, Harry and Hermione looked at Dudley.

Dudley didn't force himself. It was impossible to read with an empty stomach, and obviously they hadn't reached the state of being so absorbed in reading that they forgot about food.

He put down his book to reserve the seat and went to the Great Hall with his friends.

Unexpectedly, not long after they entered the Great Hall, a large number of owl messengers flew in unison. They rushed in from the specially - reserved windows around the hall's ceiling and headed straight for Harry and Dudley.

Then, they vied with each other to drop letters one by one.

Harry was a bit stunned. He had to put away his wand that was about to tap the plate to summon food and started reading the letters on an empty stomach.

Dudley also helped to look through the names on the envelopes. He found that most of the letters were from wizards he didn't know. While feeling confused, he found today's copy of the newspapers among the pile of letters.

On the front page of the newspaper, a front - page illustration was particularly eye - catching.

It was a magical animated photo taken by a wizard in a corner during Harry's fan meeting at The Leaky Cauldron a month ago.

The protagonist of the picture was, of course, Harry, smiling shyly while dealing with his fans. But Dudley and Hagrid also appeared in it. However, Dudley was just in a corner of the picture among the crowd and was far less noticeable than Harry.

The editors of the newspapers were very "considerate." Since Dudley was also one of the protagonists of this front - page report, they specifically circled Dudley, who was forcing a smile, with a prominent big black circle.

Just in case the readers couldn't tell him apart.

"Thank you so much!"

Dudley was quite speechless. He shifted his gaze and read the specific content of the report.

As expected, it reported at length Harry's sincere speech in the Great Hall last night, as well as the fact that Dudley and Harry had jointly developed the Calm Mind Spell, a counter - spell for dark spells, and had received the Order of Merlin, First Class, personally awarded by Dumbledore.

This completely put an end to the absurd rumor that "the Savior is a fraud" which had been circulating in the wizarding world for most of the first half of the previous month.

This elevated Harry's fame to a new level and made the wizards in the wizarding world thoroughly remember the name of Dudley Dursley.

After all, Hogwarts had never had an eleven - year - old teaching assistant, and the wizarding world had never had such young recipients of the Order of Merlin, First Class as Dudley and Harry.

The report also mentioned that at the end, for the sake of not disturbing the normal teaching rhythm and not affecting the students' studies, Principal Dumbledore declined the request of the newspapers reporters to interview and take pictures of Dudley and Harry at Hogwarts.

The illustrations for this report were provided by the enthusiastic Harry Potter fan, Mr. Dedalus Diggory.

There was no doubt that it was Dumbledore who had promoted this report behind the scenes. The old man might have been brewing this as a surprise for several days.

Harry's wonderful speech last night had added a lot to Dumbledore's publicity plan.

Dudley figured out the logic behind it and put it out of his mind. He took another look at the familiar name at the end of the news text.

This not very smart Mr. Diggory is really an excellent fan.

But he remembered clearly that Diggory didn't have a magic camera on him!

Dudley's technique of taking things was either superb or at least outstanding. Among a hundred pickpockets, it would be difficult to find one with his level of skill.

When he stole the wand from Diggory, he didn't feel anything like a camera on him.

How strange! Could it be that Diggory bought these photos from other wizards at a high price and provided them to the [the newspapers] just to put his name on them?

"Cousin! Most of these letters are apology letters. They're from wizards who spread rumors and are now expressing their apologies to me.

There are also letters expressing blessings and admiration for you and me. They hope that you and I can teach the Calm Mind Spell to the students at Hogwarts and spread it in the wizarding world to curb the arrogance of the Dark Wizards."

Harry said after flipping through eight or nine letters. Ron and Hermione also helped Harry sort through some of the letters.

"Is there a letter from Mr. Diggory?" Dudley suddenly asked curiously.

"Do you mean Dedalus Diggory? I saw that name just now," Hermione immediately answered Dudley's question and rummaged through the stack of letters she'd sorted. "Here it is! I found it."

After seeing Dudley nod to confirm, Hermione quickly handed over Diggory's letter.

Dudley took the letter, opened it, and after a while, he exclaimed:

"Mr. Diggory is actually an honest man! He's so stupid it's cute, so foolish it's astonishing. I even feel a bit sorry for him."

Dudley handed the letter to Harry, who was looking curious.

It turned out that Mr. Diggory really didn't bring a magic camera to the fan meeting.

But later, he heard that someone in the bar had secretly taken photos. So he used his connections to contact the wizard who took the photos and bought the photos and the right to the photo credit at a high price as a collection.

Later, when Dumbledore announced that Voldemort was not dead, unfavorable rumors about Harry began to spread in the wizarding world.

At first, Diggory didn't believe the rumors at all and even argued with other wizards. But as more and more people spread the rumors, he couldn't help but have a bit of doubt in his heart. However, he never spread the rumors with the other wizards.

In the letter, Diggory thought that Merlin must have known in advance that he would be unfaithful in his beliefs and waver in his thoughts, so Merlin took away his wand that he had used for many years.

Now that Harry had been cleared of the false accusations, he was extremely happy. He specially provided the photos to the [the newspapers] for free and wrote a letter asking for Harry's forgiveness.

He also mentioned that he had bought a new wand at Ollivander's shop. The process of choosing a new wand was much simpler now, and he found the new wand very easy to use. He told Harry and Dudley not to worry about him and that he was fine with the new wand.

He believed that Merlin had forgiven him.

After Harry finished reading the letter, a look of embarrassment appeared on his face.

He knew that his cousin had sensed danger in advance and stolen Mr. Diggory's wand as a precaution, and later they really used that wand to fight against Voldemort who was possessing Quirrell.

Later, he and his cousin had also practiced magic with Mr. Diggory's wand for some time.

Although there was a reason for this incident, he still felt a bit embarrassed when he thought about it now.

"Cousin, what about Mr. Diggory's wand..." Harry began.

"Don't worry! I've got it covered! Have Hedwig make a trip this weekend!"

Dudley immediately grasped what his cousin meant and replied right away.

Things have changed. Now, Diggory's wand is of little use to him and Harry. It'll just collect dust in the Personal Space.

He decided to employ his alchemy and wand-making skills to modify and enhance Diggory's wand as compensation.

Then he'd write a letter to explain the situation and send Hedwig with the wand and the reply letter to Diggory.

"By the way! Ron, haven't you had a chance to get a new wand yet?"

Well, since you're going to do one thing, you might as well go the whole hog. Since he was going to modify wands, Dudley immediately thought of the shabby and frayed wand in Ron's hand, which was originally his elder brother's.

"Yeah, I haven't had the chance. I'm planning to ask my mom to take me to Diagon Alley to buy a new wand and a new pet during the Christmas holiday."

Ron replied, looking a bit puzzled.

He and Hermione didn't quite understand what Dudley and Harry were talking about. They only knew it was about wands. Since Dudley asked about his wand, he could only answer truthfully, still feeling confused.

"Wait a couple of days. After this week's spell - casting classes and Defense Against the Dark Arts classes, hand me your wand. I'll modify and fix it for you. I guarantee it'll be better than a brand - new one!"