bacchusnovels Chapter 501 The Fate of Hibiscus
Chapter 501 The Fate of Hibiscus
Chapter 501 The Fate of Hibiscus
For Furong, this was far from the worst thing; the worst thing was—
Professor Phillips's hand position!
With her completely naked, Sean gripped her wrist tightly with one hand, while his other hand unceremoniously grabbed her buttocks.
To stabilize her swaying body, he even had to dig his fingers deep into her buttocks.
This sudden change caught both of them off guard.
Hibiscus has completely crashed.
From childhood to adulthood, her body had never been seen by anyone, let alone touched in such an intimate way.
Her mind went blank; she couldn't think of anything except the hand that was moving across her hip.
The sensation was too real, too burning.
Sean seemed to realize something, quickly took a step back, and explained.
"I'm not trying to stop you—I mean—your sister has already been rescued by Selena."
"What?"
Furong instinctively widened her eyes and stared blankly at him.
"The second project was already over when we discovered you were missing," Sean explained further. "Before that, your sister was rescued by Selena and brought back to shore. She's unharmed, don't worry."
With Sean's explanation, all the pressure of the day was instantly released from my chest.
Gabrielle's face flashed through her mind—she was finally safe!
But when reason returned to her body, a wave of shame washed over her, and Furong realized what a stupid thing she had just done!
and-
The current situation is extremely awkward.
She was completely naked, standing in front of Sean.
However, on the other hand, Professor Phillips kept his eyes fixed on her face while he was talking to her, without glancing at other parts of her body or making any presumptuous moves.
This made Furong feel a little more at ease.
At the same time, Sean swam down, retrieved the robe, and handed it to Hibiscus.
The two swam toward the lake in the same way as before, but the atmosphere was more awkward than before.
Throughout this process, Hibiscus kept stealing glances at Sean.
Furong herself didn't know why, even though Professor Phillips had saved her and done her such a big favor, she couldn't feel a single bit of gratitude towards him. Instead, she was filled with resentment and anger.
What are you angry about?
Was he angry that he saw his own body?
Or was he angry—he was indifferent to his own body?
The thought struck her like a bolt of lightning, instantly turning her cheeks so red they seemed to bleed.
She suddenly looked up at the water in front of her, forcing herself to look away from Sean.
Why would I think about these things?
Perhaps it was because from childhood that other men always focused on her appearance and body, and the eyes of those suitors were always undisguised, as if they wanted to devour her whole.
Even her closest friends sometimes make flirtatious jokes with her, saying how incredibly beautiful she is.
However, Professor Phillips was different.
There was not a trace of desire in his eyes.
Am I not charming enough?
Even Furong herself was unaware that this inexplicable sense of frustration was slowly rising in her heart.
The air by the lake was heavy, and everyone's eyes were focused on the spot where Sean had disappeared.
The longer Sean remained submerged in the water, the more intense the anxiety became.
Bagman paced nervously, wiping the sweat from his brow every now and then; it seemed his heart was beating faster with each passing second.
Ms. Maxim remained silent, her gaze fixed on the lake.
At this moment, even the audience below the stage began to stir.
"Professor—will he be alright?" Harry couldn't help but ask.
Finally, his sixth sense was proven correct.
Before this, Harry had always felt that something was going to happen this semester.
perhaps-
Is now the time to act on our sense of crisis?
"Professor Phillips isn't going to get into trouble so easily," Hermione said firmly from the side.
I don't know how much time has passed.
Finally, suddenly, a splash of water rose on the lake.
Several people's hearts skipped a beat, and they unconsciously held their breath, their eyes fixed on the body of water.
A few seconds later, Sean finally emerged from the water, panting heavily.
Applause and cheers finally erupted, deafeningly loud.
The tense atmosphere by the lake dissipated instantly, and all anxiety and unease were released in that moment.
In the audience, excited people stood up, waving their arms and applauding enthusiastically to celebrate Sean's successful return.
Amidst the cheers, Hibiscus's figure slowly emerged.
She swam out of the lake, her face flushed, her clothes soaked and clinging tightly to her body.
However, just as she approached the shore, the applause suddenly stopped, the enthusiastic atmosphere in the air froze instantly, and everyone's eyes involuntarily turned to her.
Why is Furong's face so red?
Why is she still wearing Professor Phillips's clothes?
After a moment of deathly silence, the scene became unusually quiet, and everyone was momentarily unable to comprehend what was happening before their eyes.
"Click—"
—
Just then, Rita Skeeter, who was sitting in the audience, quickly pressed the shutter button with her camera.
Alright, we've got the front page story for tomorrow's Daily Prophet.
After the second project was completed, the most exciting thing was that everyone was eager to know what had happened at the bottom of the lake.
Of course, Furong wouldn't say—
However, Rita wouldn't give Hibiscus that chance.
The next day, the headline on the front page of the Daily Prophet was finally revealed—
The Hogwarts Champion's Challenge: Fleur Delacour's Mysterious Connection with Professor Phillips
As expected, this front-page news ignited the entire wizarding world.
The article is full of exaggeration and speculation: "In the second project, Fleur unexpectedly wore Professor Phillips's clothes, looking dazed, and there were even rumors from unnamed sources that she had some unknown relationship with Professor Phillips —"
The article describes the whole event in a captivating and suspenseful way.
Of course, this has something to do with Sean.
After all, he was the one who polished this story.
Rita may be adept at fabricating news, but writing such ambiguous novels required his own hands.
This is exactly the point of having a specialty.
This report became a boomerang for the previous one, and some busybodies even made a "compiled edition" as proof of Seremban's moral depravity.
This turn of events brought unprecedented trouble to Furong.
Compared to the previous "empty target search," this time, with Sean as a clear target, coupled with so many people "seeing is believing," the impact of the event far exceeded that of the last time.
this time.
Most of the gossip at Hogwarts revolved around the "special relationship" between her and Sean, with all sorts of rumors flying around, some even going back to before the Christmas Ball.
Despite Furong's best efforts to ignore these voices.
But derogatory nicknames such as "slut" still spread everywhere.
So, on this day, Fleur found Rita, who had come to Hogwarts specifically to interview the warriors.
"Why are you here?"
Seeing Rita standing in front of her, Rita smiled, feigning ignorance.
"What do you want to ask? Perhaps the truth about your 'brilliant' report?"
Despite anticipating that the exchange wouldn't go smoothly, Hibiscus was still annoyed by Rita's nonchalant attitude.
She silently counted a few seconds in her mind before slowly speaking, "Do you know what your writing has brought me?"
Rita's eyes lit up slightly. "Oh? It seems you've realized you've become a star." Her tone carried a hint of sarcasm, and even undisguised excitement.
"A celebrity?" Furong said resentfully. "If you mean the kind of celebrity that everyone talks about and labels as a 'slut,' then I'd rather not be that kind of 'celebrity.'"
Rita chuckled. "My writing is captivating, isn't it? Everyone loves these exciting stories, especially those about your intimate relationship with the professor. You know, this story earned me a lot of media attention." She then looked at Fleur suspiciously. "Perhaps you're trying to get payment for the article?"
"I----"
Hibiscus wanted to say something, but before she could finish, Rita waved her hand to interrupt her, then took out her wallet from her handbag and counted out some Galleons.
"Here, you don't need to look for more."
Furong did not look at the Galleon.
"You know perfectly well that it's not true," she said through gritted teeth. "What you fabricated has destroyed my reputation and caused me unimaginable distress. You have no right to twist my life so arbitrarily."
Rita said casually as she bent down to tidy up her camera.
"My dear, reputation? Your reputation in the magical world has long been a topic of discussion. As for the troubles you mentioned, it's just a minor episode in the media's gossip. Besides, the media exists to uncover the truth, doesn't it?"
"The truth?" Fleur couldn't help but laugh angrily at Rita's smugness. "The truth you made up yourself?"
Rita looked up and gave a smug smile.
"Do you think I care? What's most important to me? It's the appeal of the story, the content that brings more clicks to the Daily Prophet. Your troubles are irrelevant to me. You should thank me for giving you so much exposure, which has made everyone notice you."
Hearing these shameless words, Furong's face flushed red, and she almost slammed the door and left.
But thinking of everything that had happened these past few days, she could only swallow her humiliation and whisper, "I have the truth, a truth that will make your report more compelling."
Upon hearing this, Rita finally put down her camera and looked at her with interest: "What's the truth?"
Furong was silent for a moment, then took a deep breath: "Do you want to know why I wore that dress, and why my face was so red? It's because—it's made of mermaids."
She recounted the events of that day in detail, then looked at Rita with hopeful anticipation, hoping she could clear her and Professor Phillips's names. Professor Phillips's reputation had also been tarnished during this time.
However, Rita merely scoffed, "Your clothes were made by mermaids? What proof do you have?" She narrowed her eyes, scrutinizing Fleur up and down with a gaze that seemed to want to devour her whole, and slowly said, "You learned your story-telling skills from Professor Phillips, didn't you?"
[”
Hibiscus's chest heaved. Rita's words were like a sharp hook, gripping her emotions so tightly that she could no longer bear it.
"You're not allowed to talk about Professor Phillips like that!" She looked up abruptly, glaring at the woman in front of her.
"Oh?" Rita raised an eyebrow, lightly fiddling with the quill in her hand, her tone amused. "Then dare you swear on the name of the Delacour family that your feelings for Professor Phillips—are truly only those of a teacher and student?"
Furong's first reaction was to immediately and decisively say, "Of course."
But before she could speak, her thoughts were suddenly pulled back to the bottom of the lake—a dark, flowing stream, a blurred consciousness, a cold touch, and the figure that had entered her vision when she was on the verge of despair—
Her lips parted slightly, but no sound came out.
Five seconds later—
Furong suddenly turned around, pushed open the door, and rushed out in a daze.
The air in the corridor was icy cold, but she seemed numb, her steps unsteady, her vision blurred.
Just then, she crashed hard into something—no, someone.
"Ouch!" Qiu Zhang stumbled and almost fell to the ground.
Today was the day Qiu Zhang and Rita agreed to "submit the mission." At this moment, she was carefully walking towards Rita's room, not wanting to be discovered by anyone, but unexpectedly, she bumped into someone.
She steadied herself and was about to reprimand him, but after seeing Furong's expression, she immediately suppressed all her dissatisfaction.
Admittedly, Qiu Zhang also knew about what had recently happened to Fu Rong.
She believed in Fleur more than anyone else. After all, Professor Phillips only liked her, and if there was one more, it would be Professor Tonks, who had always maintained a strange relationship with the professor.
To be honest, Cho Chang had also considered Professor Tonks's existence.
only----
Sorry, we've gotten a bit off-topic.
For the reasons mentioned above, she simply couldn't believe that the always upright Sean would have any connection with Fleur.
The whole thing was very simple; it was just a simple relationship between a rescuer and a rescued person.
Moreover, Qiu Zhang had already experienced Rita's methods of distorting the truth, so he was even less likely to believe Rita's reports.
So, looking at Furong, whose face was pale and who seemed to have just escaped from a nightmare, she frowned and asked with concern, "Are you alright?"
Furong didn't answer, nor did she stop walking—
She walked forward mechanically, her steps unsteady, like a leaf swaying precariously in the wind.
Qiu Zhang subconsciously reached out, wanting to grab her, but as soon as his fingertips touched Fu Rong's sleeve, she jerked away as if startled awake, and disappeared into the end of the corridor with even faster steps.
Qiu Zhang stood there, staring blankly at her retreating figure, a vague unease creeping into his heart.
She hesitated for a moment, but finally pushed open Rita's door. A sense of foreboding suddenly crept into her heart; it was as if something had been horribly destroyed in Hibiscus just now.