After Tver spent some time persuading and explaining things, Harry, Ron, and Hermione finally managed to accept that someone wanted to record their story.
To be honest, deep down, they were actually a little pleased about it. Ron especially.
Having a book written about someone usually happened in one of two ways. Either you were like Lockhart, writing your own stories into books. Of course, whether anyone read them depended on how handsome you were and how exciting the stories were.
Or you had to be like Dumbledore, famous throughout the wizarding world and in possession of countless enviable achievements. Naturally, then, countless well-known authors would want to write a book about you, or even a biography.
Rita Skeeter, for instance, was extremely good at this sort of thing. She simply waited until the person in question was dead before publishing, since defaming the deceased did not count as a crime.
So for three sixth-years who had not even graduated yet to receive this sort of treatment, even if it was the three of them together with Harry as the focus, already had Ron grinning from ear to ear.
Harry felt much the same. As for everything that had happened over the past few years, while there were a few tiny regrets and shortcomings, overall, he was quite satisfied with his own performance.
So when he saw Joanne seriously take out a fresh stack of manuscript paper and pick up a pen to begin taking notes, he had no doubts at all. In fact, he secretly decided that he must describe his Quidditch ability "fairly and objectively."
"But isn't your own story even more exciting, Professor?" Hermione said, looking a little troubled. "I think if there's anyone the wizarding world wants to know about most right now, it should be you."
If the wizarding world had a popularity ranking, the war against Voldemort would undoubtedly hold first place.
In this war, Dumbledore was the symbol of the Order of the Phoenix and absolute force. But many of his deeds were already familiar to everyone. Even newly enrolled Muggle-born young wizards could memorize his exploits within a week.
As Minister of Magic, Barty often appeared in the newspapers and needed to speak on behalf of the Ministry of Magic, so naturally people were not unfamiliar with him.
Only Tver was different.
Families with children studying at Hogwarts knew he was an excellent professor.
But that was exactly the problem.
A professor had somehow remained on the very front line against Voldemort from beginning to end, even facing that Dark Lord directly.
And not only had he suffered no injuries, he was more like an absolute commander, leading the Ministry of Magic and the Order of the Phoenix in working together until the Death Eaters were beaten into fleeing in panic.
Now, thanks to Rita Skeeter's relentless boasting, almost every wizard in the magic world regarded Tver as the banner of the fight against Voldemort, one even brighter than Dumbledore.
However, without Tver's permission, Rita did not dare publish his information.
As a result, the contrast between Tver's two identities, a Hogwarts professor and a leader against Voldemort, had made the magic world extremely curious about him.
Forget adults. Even new students at Hogwarts were asking curiously, "Where has the legendary Professor Fawley gone?"
Hearing Hermione's question, Joanne gave her a subtle look of approval.
In Hogsmeade, every time she asked the shopkeepers about Tver, their answers were always exactly the same: deeply evasive, and full of reverence.
She had been curious for a long time.
But one warning look from Tver was enough to suppress that curiosity.
"My story has already been told, right, Joanne?"
"What?! Oh, right…" Joanne paused, pursing her lips in frustration. Anyone with even a little emotional intelligence could tell something was off.
"Yes, I already understand Tver's story at Hogwarts. I asked you here because I want to analyze these events in greater detail from the students' perspective."
"You won't refuse, will you?"
"Of course not." Harry and Ron believed her with simple, trusting faces. Or rather, they were already impatient to begin.
Hermione's suspicious gaze lingered on the Professor's face, but all she could see was a gentle smile, so she had no choice but to bury her doubts.
But soon, Harry and Ron's account reached a difficult impasse.
"Why did you stop?" Joanne looked up in confusion. "After you discovered that the thing guarded by the Three-Headed Dog was the Philosopher's Stone, what happened next? You must have had someone you suspected, right? If I'm not wrong, it should have been Professor Snape?"
Compared to the outline, the trio's story had only gained one extra person, Tver, and it had not actually affected too many of the main plot points.
So naturally, she thought of Professor Snape, who had been suspected at every turn.
But Harry and Ron exchanged a glance, then shook their heads at Joanne with difficulty.
Then they mumbled quickly and quietly, "It was Proffley."
"What?"
"It was Professor Fawley," Hermione said for them, her face red.
"???"
Joanne's eyes widened in great surprise.
What shocked her even more was that from that moment on, the direction of the story began to drift further and further away from the outline Tver had given her.
In fact…
"The Philosopher's Stone is on you right now?!" she said, staring at Tver in disbelief.
But then she thought of how generous Tver had always been, and suddenly it seemed to make sense.
Looking at it that way, her little salary was nothing compared to a Philosopher's Stone that could turn stone into gold.
Tver did not answer. Instead, he put down the wrapper in his hand and glanced at the sky outside the window.
"I didn't expect it to be this late already. Since the story of your first year is finished, I'll send you back first so you don't miss dinner."
"What about the stories after that?" Ron asked, still not quite satisfied.
Tver thought for a moment. It would not be good to keep making them skip class, and Joanne also needed time to organize her thoughts.
"Once a week, then. Come here every weekend. That way, you should finish telling the story of your five eventful years right before the Christmas holiday."
His tone was somewhat complicated. If he had not heard it, he never would have known. Once he did, it startled him. So he had actually enjoyed the same treatment of being suspected as Snape.
When he returned to the house again, Joanne was not secretly eating his cake. Instead, she was very seriously comparing the trio's account with the story outline Tver had given her.
"Remove me from their story, and that becomes the outline I gave you."
Tver sat down. Since his employee was working so seriously, he naturally could not keep slacking off.
"But with you in their story, even if I only imagine it, I can tell that this version clearly contains much more brilliant scheming."
Joanne set down the manuscript and looked at Tver in confusion.
Comparing the two, she could easily see that in this series of stories, Tver's role was almost like that of God, manipulating the trio and even all of Hogwarts.
"Because Harry Potter doesn't need deep calculation, and it needs even less of those plots and schemes. This is a book for teenagers, and it has to be."
Actually, Tver could have changed his image a little. For example, two new professors could appear every year and divide up his role in the story.
But he did not dare take that gamble.
A story like that might be much more brain-teasing, but for children, it would go against their imagination of the magic world.
Joanne clicked her tongue in dissatisfaction, though this was not the first time she had encountered something like this. Besides, it was obvious that books for teenagers had a wider audience.
"Fiiine…" she drawled, venting her dissatisfaction. "Their story really does have far more detail. If I combine the two parts, I should be able to complete a full-length work."
Only then did Tver nod in satisfaction.
This was his weapon for "conquering" the world.