Chapter 24: Gold Medal Winner

Bill's hand had started reaching towards his waist.
The Weasley family wasn't known for having good tempers.
But Roman realized they could avoid this conflict, so he put the opened potion bottle back in.
"It seems like your colleague is in trouble," he said.
He pointed towards a lady near the pond who was about to drown herself.
If it wasn't for the fact that she was holding a camera in one hand and a notebook in the other, people would have mistaken her for a flower enthusiast.
"Damn it."
Rita hurriedly ran towards the water pool and grabbed the woman before she could step into it.
After struggling to escape from the clutches of Rita Skeeter, the two of them rushed into the conference hall without looking back.
After a very simple identity verification, two small round tags labeled with identity were handed out to them.
Perhaps due to the different construction years, the style here is out of place compared to other places, full of modern feelings.
The impact of muggles on wizards is probably greater than wizards imagine.
After four consecutive expansions, even Dumbledore would have a hard time finding a familiar scene.
"The conference will last for a whole week."
Roman hurriedly signed his name on one parchment after another, while Bill looked through the schedule of the conference.
"And the competition should be tomorrow—" Bill glanced at his watch to confirm the date, "yes, tomorrow at 3 p.m."
"So even wizards have to do those stupid opening ceremonies?" Roman felt his back tingle; he hadn't participated in anything this long-winded in ages.
He could also understand Dumbledore's absence.
An elderly person over 100 years old doesn't have time to waste with them.
If it weren't for the talisman that can protect the soul, he would probably have already died and continued to research soul tools and resurrection potions.
“只是个简单的介绍，大概是为了方便各国报道。”
比尔不知道罗曼憋着干什么，只以为他是受不了这繁琐的流程。
"Complicated positioning spell-
Photographer with a stubble muttered as he passed by them, raising his old-fashioned camera and rapidly pressing the shutter button."
“他在拍什么？”比尔疑惑地看着摄影师的背影。
这人的镜头前并没有什么画面可言。
罗曼顺着比尔的目光看去，只看到几张长桌。
A domestic elf appeared out of nowhere, embedded the vase containing the large lotus flower in the shallow bowl on the table, and then disappeared again.
Moving forward, there were vases and planters placed along the wall, along with empty walls.
"The blue lotus in the magical world has different effects from what muggles perceive, mostly having spiritual and hallucinogenic properties."
"This is also why we should try to avoid the pond in the courtyard."
Roman stepped forward and held up a small crystal bottle that looked like a salt sniffer in front of the person who was frantically taking pictures.
He stared straight at the camera, completely ignoring Roman who was just a few steps away.
But his nose protested against it -
"Ah-choo!"
A series of sneezes sounded, and Roman had already retreated to the side, protecting the bottle.
Tears and snot flowed down his beard non-stop.
The man held a camera in one hand and fumbled inside his robe with the other.
"Thank you - cough cough."
To Roman's surprise, he pulled out a printed handkerchief and wiped his face with it, quite like Hagrid's style.
"I seem to have fallen into the trap of that old woman. She must be trying to steal my spread."
Upon hearing this, Roman turned around and walked towards Bill:
"It seems that you will not be easily giving out flowers in the future."
"Wait, you are Roman Haler." The man with tears still in his eyes recognized Roman. "Please wait, would you be willing to accept-"
"No need, no need. I don't want to contribute to 'Prophet Evening News' anymore." Roman walked without turning his head.
"First of all, I am writing for 'Sunday Prophet'."
The man hurriedly walked up and crumpled the handkerchief into his robe. "Secondly, there's no need for you to treat me as an enemy. I'm on the same boat as Editor-in-Chief Barnabas Goethe," he said.
"Barnabas Goethe?"
Roman naturally knew that Slaghorn had such a favorite disciple.
"Gilderoy Lockhart - Prophet Daily columnist." Lockhart slung his camera diagonally over his shoulder and extended a hand to Roman.
"I thought you were a photographer," Roman extended his hand and shook it out of courtesy.
"It's just a personal hobby of mine. I like using my own photos for illustrations."
Odepic proudly tinkered with his camera.
"Antiques can still be useful."
"Since you are from the faction of Oldfei editors, you should keep your distance from me."
Roman reminded the other to pay attention to their own future.
"No no no, child. I've read books written by Lohart, there won't be a shortage of stories around you."
Odipic slapped his thigh and pulled out his shorthand notebook, which was faster than a shorthand feather pen.
Roman was awkwardly thinking about how to explain, as Lowell's book relied mainly on hearsay and fabrication.
"For example, what did you just use?" Odipik didn't care about Roman's expression at all, "How did you notice that I was hit?"
As long as you are not blind, you can tell that there is a problem with you.
Don't you see everyone around here staring at this place?
"The ashes of the paper straw mixed with a little private formula."
Roman stared at the automatic flying pen, and he was somewhat distrustful of this type of shorthand.
"I don't think the Prophet Daily will publish anything about me."
"Besides, there must be a task for all of you to come here."
"That can wait--"
Oudipek just finished speaking and a group of people rushed in from outside the hall.
The person on the outer edge was holding a camera and jumping around.
Languages from various countries mixed together, but occasionally you could hear words like "gold medalist".
"Are you in a hurry now?" Roman joked with Oddpick.
He laughed awkwardly and grabbed his camera, rushing over.
"Vagado's two excellent graduates," Bill shrugged. "They are quite inspirational brothers."
"Motivation?" Roman looked at the brochure in Bill's hand.
"Established a Poisonous Beast Breeding Farm and discovered a new use of Poisonous Horns in alchemy."
Roman looked at the simple wizard robes on the brochure, "They fused Poisonous Horn powder into wizard robes? That will indeed enhance the robes' resistance and elasticity, but the cost is too high."
"No, they don't," Bill looked at Roman strangely, "Is this idea really feasible?"
"That doesn't matter."
Roman took the back page from Bill's hand, and on it was written:
“The brand new use of exploding liquid, a true protective robe.”
“Can this design resist spells?”
Roman quickly flipped through the instructions, and the simple schematic had no familiar defense or transformation circuits.
"I can't see any trace of defense mechanism."
"This is the job of an alchemist," Bill shrugged, "but I wouldn't dare to wear a robe filled with explosive liquids."
Roman didn't point out what was inside his wizard robe, and the explosive power would be even greater.
Because the safety factor is completely different.
Le Me can let you sleep with a bomb pillow, but with this robe, the effect might be sleeping inside a bomb
Roman frowned, and this simple explanation could not provide insights into its essential structure.
However, wizards are not primitive war gods who can just make things explode.
Some awkward remarks interrupted Roman's thinking.
He turned his head and found the crowd had quieted down at some point.
Rita Skeeter was triumphantly taking notes with her quill.
"Anyway, we should thank Mr. Albus Dumbledore. Without him, we wouldn't be where we are today."
Continuing this quietness, a sharp voice came from the stage:
"You stupid thing, hurry up."
Everyone turned their heads and found a wizard who was responsible for the venue decoration, scolding a domesticated fairy.
发现自己打断了众人的巫师很不好意思地道歉，可人们并不在意。
他们都尴尬地看着主席台上的家养小精灵。
那小精灵正将一块标注着巴巴吉德·阿金巴德的名牌向旁边移动，取而代之的，是印着阿不思·邓布利多的名牌。