"Let go of your dirty hands, you dirty squib!"

"Professor Slughorn," Filch whimpered, the flesh on his chin quivering, and the goldfish's eyes gleamed with the madness that catches the mischief of a student, "I found this boy hiding upstairs. In the corridor, did you send him an invitation?"

Malfoy broke free from Filch's grasp, looking irritated.

"Okay, you didn't invite me," he said angrily, "I'm not invited, are you happy?"

"No, I'm not happy!" Filch said, completely inconsistent with the smug look on his face. "You're in trouble! Didn't the principal say you can't walk around at night without permission? Huh?"

"Mr. Filch, you misunderstood, I invited him here." Lockhart agreed to take care of Draco, feeling that he couldn't play dead, so he had to come forward. "Draco has always been my favorite student, Professor Slughorn, I remember you saying that everyone who was invited could invite another person to the party, and Hermione was invited by you. of……"

"Ah, of course, it is." Slughorn nodded quickly.

Filch immediately showed a disappointed expression, and left the room in despair after apologizing. Lockhart left Hermione behind and pulled Draco into a corner under the surprised eyes of Harry and the others.

"What are you doing here, Draco?" Lockhart asked in a low voice, "Headmaster Dumbledore didn't come to the party!"

"I just wanted to come!" Draco said aggrievedly, "Slughorn didn't invite me, that stupid old guy, he looks down on people!"

Snape walked over calmly: "What are you doing here, if you want to talk about those things, you must find a safe place first!" After that, he pulled Draco up and walked out.

Lockhart had no choice but to follow. Hermione seemed to want to follow, but Lockhart waved and stopped him. They came to the nearest empty classroom and closed the door.

"...No more mistakes, Draco, if you're fired—" Snape said angrily, "and you, Gilderoy, don't you know how to take good care of him, after all, it's you..."

"You can't control it!" Draco yelled angrily at Snape, "My mother said I was only allowed to trust Professor Lockhart!"

"You can also trust Professor Snape, Draco." Lockhart said helplessly, "We will all help you."

"It's getting more and more helpful now!" Draco said glumly. "Professor, why did you help the Ministry of Magic eliminate the Dementors? Now the Dark Lord has given me priority to assassinate you!"

"What?!" Lockhart was startled.

"That's right, Gilderoy, I also received the same instruction." Snape raised the corner of his mouth and looked at Lockhart, "Why, are you afraid?"

"Professor, which side are you on? Why does my mother say you can be trusted?"

"Because of an unbreakable oath," Snape said. "Your Professor Lockhart and your mother are friends, and he swore to help and protect you."

Draco lowered his head and pondered for a while, then said, "Professor Lockhart, thank you for your willingness to help, but now you are in trouble yourself, I think you should leave me alone and let me carry out my plan by myself. Well... as long as Dumbledore is dead, the Dark Lord will never blame me for not killing Professor Lockhart by the way."

Lockhart was also dancing around in his head now, and he had no idea, so he could only look at Snape for help.

"What's your plan?" Snape asked.

"You can't control it!"

"If you tell me, I can help you—"

Draco forcefully got rid of Snape's hand: "I said I'll do it alone, can you leave it alone!"

"I don't think you can do such a thing alone, Draco..."

"I have a helper, a very powerful helper!" Draco yelled.

"Then you can still tell me, I don't think I can't help anything..." Snape continued to persuade.

"I know what you're up to! You're different from Professor Lockhart, you're also a Death Eater, and you want to take my credit!"

Lockhart tried his best to sort out his thoughts: "Draco, all I can say is, don't go too far, I don't want to see any students accidentally injured, even if it can't be done, remember you can come to me, not only me It can help you get rid of the Dark Mark, and even fish out your father."

"I remember, Professor!" Draco became impatient, "I'll go first!"

————

After Draco left, Lockhart and Snape looked at each other helplessly, preparing to return to the party to continue their activities.

After Lockhart returned to the room at the party, Hermione immediately rushed up and hugged him: "Gidro, where have you been?"

"It's nothing, go and teach Malfoy a lesson."

"Why choose such a day!" Hermione complained resentfully. "It's better to lock him up..."

"Gidro, are you free, I want to talk to you." Scrimgeour couldn't hold it anymore, he wanted to know what Dumbledore was doing recently.

"Ah, of course." Lockhart nodded, turned around and whispered in Hermione's ear: "Dear, I have something to do now, you can go back first, you can sneak into my room at night."

"Well, then you can talk to Mr. Scrimgeour first." Hermione felt itchy in her chest and legs after receiving the hint, and quickly agreed to Lockhart's request and left.

Lockhart and Scrimgeour walked outside the party venue again and found a random corner.

"Guidero, what is the Order of the Phoenix doing recently?" Scrimgeour asked softly, "Is the Slytherin locket that Dumbledore spoke of a Horcrux?"

"That's right."

"This is the first Horcrux found by the Order of the Phoenix. Dumbledore said that he still hasn't figured out how many Horcruxes, is that true?" Scrimgeour bluntly asked all he wanted to know. , "How is the locket now?"

"Well, let's think about it, there is a diary, a ring, and the locket is the third..."

"Well, I thought you guys dropped a few Horcruxes without saying a word." Scrimgeour breathed a sigh of relief. It turned out that this was the third one. "How many Horcruxes in total?"

"No one knows how many Horcruxes there are in total... Dumbledore is trying to figure this out."

"Then we have to work hard. If we don't know the details of the opponent, we have no chance of winning this war. Who is in the hands of the locket now?"

"In Dumbledore's office, the soul above has been destroyed."

Scrimgeour's eyes widened: "So fast? How did you do it."

"Actually, we destroyed the Horcrux early the next morning after the dementor that day was over," Lockhart said with a little smugness, "using a one-time magic item. , it is useless to say it specifically, I guess there is no second one in the world for the time being."

Scrimgeour shook his head in frustration: "Gilderoy, the methods of the Order of the Phoenix amaze me again. I really don't know what to do with the Horcrux if it falls into the hands of the Ministry of Magic."

Lockhart unceremoniously corrected Scrimgeour: "If the Horcrux falls into the hands of the Ministry of Magic, I am afraid that the next day, the mysterious person will visit and take it back."

Scrimgeour rarely refuted, as if he was thinking about something.

"Rufus, how many Death Eater spies are there in the Ministry of Magic right now, have you never thought about how to clear them up?" Lockhart asked, "Do you just watch the Ministry of Magic run so precariously?"

"What good ideas do you have, you say." Scrimgeour responded with dissatisfaction, "Anyone is possible, and it is extremely difficult to distinguish, even a loyal ally may suddenly be controlled by the Imperius Curse, and even more so. Not to mention the loosely disciplined departments. After all, you can't expect every Ministry of Magic employee to undergo an Auror-like loyalty check and learn Occlumency."

Lockhart still had a fresh memory of the Auror Department's loyalty check, and he shuddered: "Let me just say it casually, those members of the big pure-blood families are very likely to have taken refuge with the mysterious man. Focus on this investigation.”

Scrimgeour snorted contemptuously: "You're thinking too simplistically, almost all the middle and high-level members of the Ministry of Magic are pure bloods like this, you can't investigate them one by one, you can only be vigilant and wait for the support of those Death Eaters. If the attackers reveal themselves - such as using the Imperius Curse on me or something ~lightnovelpub.net~ to take the initiative to check, how can it be considered a betrayal? I sympathize with the Death Eaters and support some of the Death Eaters' propositions, and even join the Food Eaters. As a dead apostle, there is a big legal loophole in it, and it is illegal if you don’t know how.”

"It's so complicated!" Lockhart felt a little dizzy thinking about it. "No wonder Dumbledore doesn't want to be Minister of Magic either!"

"Hehe, do you think it's so easy to be in a high position?" Scrimgeour sneered, "Okay, thank you for the information, do you have any questions."

What do I have to ask? Lockhart touched his chin, as if he really didn't: "Can someone else take the blame for planning to destroy the Dementors? I haven't done anything from the beginning to the end. Why do you want me to take this risk?"

"No, this is Dumbledore trying to trick you, I don't want it." Scrimgeour gave Lockhart a rare smile, "Even if you change people now, You-Know-Who will not let you go, be careful yourself. Bar."

"I'm going to apply for a Brave Loyalty Charm for my house..."

"Can't you just stay at Hogwarts, the Courageous Loyalty Charm may also be destroyed by spies inside the Ministry of Magic, it is not safe, and where does the Ministry of Magic get so much energy to install a genuine Courageous Loyalty Charm in each of your homes? Scrimgeour urged impatiently. "Do you have any questions?"

"No, but if you find out what the Death Eaters have done against me, please tell me." Lockhart added worriedly. "I'm getting ready early..."

"Don't worry, I don't want you to die."

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(Continue to publish the public chapter... Don't forget to vote after reading, don't bully the author~)

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