Lockhart did not expect that his boss would be so resolute.

Just two days after he told himself that he wanted to retire in Hogsmeade, Crouch remodeled his country house behind the Hogs Head pub at the speed of light.

Although he hasn't moved in yet, Winky, the house elf of the Crouch family, has come here many times to remodel the house and grow some vegetables and fruits outside.

Lockhart found that Dobby, the house elf in his house, seemed to have a little feeling about this house elf named Winky, but because Winky kept saying, "Without the permission of the master, we should not be private. Falling in love", so I haven't been able to get on the right track.

But Lockhart thought that if Dobby hadn't given her the socks, they might still be good friends.

"Oh, if only she was a free house-elf too," Dobby said regretfully to Lockhart, "I'm just going to help her more often now, and grow some vegetables while she's away. "

Lockhart was noncommittal.

He now has a bad feeling that his boss is likely to secretly send his son over in the near future to avoid visits from colleagues in London.

Because this house-elf named Twinkle can never stay away from "her young master" Bai Jiu and this can be seen from the fact that she travels to and from the country house many times, but each time she stays for less than 20 minutes.

Crouch has complained many times that he has a stupid witch named Bertha Jorkins: her favorite thing is to meddle in her own business, and she likes to look around every time she goes to a colleague's house.

In addition to this stupid witch, because of Crouch's high position, there are a lot of people who come to his house to talk about things every day. If this continues, his son is likely to be exposed.

Relatively speaking, Hogsmeade is much safer, because not many people know him here, and because there are tourists and construction workers here, the villagers will not be surprised to see a stranger occasionally. , Crouch would choose here is also reasonable.

If that's the case, shouldn't you take action? Lockhart was in trouble.

Forget it, this year, I will focus on arranging for Black's side first, and I will continue to build Hogsmeade myself. It's the same thing if I wait until the World Cup starts. Lockhart relieved himself.

Because of the unreliability of using Apparition in international travel, even for a person like Dumbledore, it took him a full half a month to return from his trip to France.

Seeing the principal again in his office, Lockhart immediately greeted him enthusiastically.

"I can see from your expression that you must have come back with a full reward this time." Lockhart graciously helped Dumbledore take off his robe, "To be honest, I've been worried that Black will cause trouble during your absence. I didn't expect him to be so honest."

"I left Fox at Hogwarts, and told Minerva that she could summon him in a crisis. It should be fine." Dumbledore looked calm.

"The phoenix stayed, so how did you get to France?" Lockhart asked, "Is it a broom? Or a flying carpet?"

Although there is also an express train to Europe on the 7% platform of King's Cross Station, as far as Lockhart knows, it can only go to some European wizarding villages. Dumbledore had to use other means of transportation if he wanted to get to Paris.

But Lockhart couldn't imagine Dumbledore riding a broom in his mind anyway.

"Broom? Why should I ride a broom?" Dumbledore also seemed a little puzzled

"But you didn't bring Fox... Did you take the flying carpet?" Lockhart was puzzled.

Only then did Dumbledore understand what Lockhart was talking about.

"No... Gilderoy, I found out for the first time today that you also have habitual thinking." Dumbledore showed a smile of an old child, "You are so focused on thinking about certain possibilities that you miss the conventional method."

"The normal way?"

"Yeah, I actually went there by plane, London Heathrow Airport, British Airways, Boeing 747." Dumbledore revealed the mystery.

Lockhart was really choked: "What, the plane? I thought..."

"That's great, it seems that even the best wizards of the '60s still made some ridiculous little mistakes from time to time." Dumbledore seemed very relaxed, \"But I would like to compare how I Paris, you should care more about the promises I have in Paris."

"certainly."

Lockhart brought Dumbledore tea and sat across from him.

"While I would love to play the \'one good news and one bad news\' game, unfortunately, all I bring is good news. Dumbledore took a sip of tea. "It's just that it might be a little troublesome for you." "

"What's the trouble?"

Lockhart was first relieved after hearing "It's all good news", but then he was hooked by Dumbledore's sale.

"The first is the African Wizarding Society. They allow you to invest in Nigeria in principle, and are willing to provide you with security services, but they also have a requirement."

"any request?"

"He asked us to persuade the British Muggle chiefs to put pressure on a country in Africa - the Gambia," Dumbledore said.

"Chief?" Lockhart was simply inexplicable, "Gambia they did it again

What weird thing? "

He never imagined that the small country that had accomplished the ultimate task of "challenging the five permanent members of the United Nations" by itself would actually act as a demon and even make it into the wizarding world.

Dumbledore answered his question: "Because the President of the Gambia, Jammeh, recently announced that he would launch a nationwide witch hunt."

Lockhart:  …

\"President Jammeh's aunt died of a mysterious disease, and he believed it was the curse of a witch in The Gambia, so he rounded up a thousand women across the country and forced them to admit they were witches."

Lockhart: yah

\"More importantly, there are actually two witches among the more than 1,000 women, and they are also related to a professor at the Waggardu School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, so... I don't know if you can do it. ' asked Dumbledore.

Lockhart suddenly felt that there must be something wrong with this world: "They are witches, how could witches be caught?"

At the end of the 0th century, there is still a president of a modern country who believes in witches, and just like the magic sticks in the Middle Ages, he carried out a campaign of hunting and persecuting witches—this is really magical.

"Because they are not good at learning, and few of the spells they have learned can be used to fight and escape, and their children are also here, so they can't escape, so..." Dumbledore made a regretful expression.

"I understand, it's a trivial matter." Lockhart shook his head helplessly: "Sponsor two NGs to lobby MPs, and then ask him to publicly condemn Gambia's inhumane behavior and publish it in newspapers... It's not difficult. "

Well written, Babajid told me that as long as we can do this, he will protect the safety of our British investments in Africa. "

"What a reassuring promise." Lockhart shrugged, slightly sarcastically.

After saying that, he doesn't believe that an organization that can't even protect his own witch can protect the oil, "Then what about the second thing?"

"The second thing is French... About this, I want to ask you first, what is a heap by\'?"

The confusion on Dumbledore's face was palpable.

P.So the most powerful country on earth, the Gambia, really launched a witch hunt in 1994, 2333

The two hundred and thirteenth chapter is also prepared for a rainy day

The word "uranium" is no surprise to Lockhart when he hears it from any Muggle mouth, but Lockhart is surprised when it comes from a wizard, even the most famous one in Britain.

"I don't know if you've heard of..." Nuclear Power Plant (NuclemjPI 喖t)

7?" Lockhart asked.

Dumbledore shook his head: Yes, but I've heard of "Nuclei Nuclei"

\', which Gellert used when he rendered the Muggle threat theory. "

"That's easy to explain," Lockhart told him. "\"Uranium" is the raw material that Muggles use to make atomic bombs, and it is also the fuel that provides nuclear power generation. "

This time it was Dumbledore's surprise: "So, the French wizard is trying to

Involved in this deal? "

Lockhart said nothing, waiting for Dumbledore to explain himself.

"The French wizarding community wants us to lend them the Gulf of Nigeria, and I asked Yousef Karma, who said it was used to transport Niger's 'uranium' ore. Dumbledore looked solemn. "The French wizard has mastered nuclear power?" "

"This is impossible." Lockhart categorically rejected, "It is impossible for wizards all over the world to concentrate their research and achieve something in a few decades. I prefer that they have reached some kind of agreement with the French government, only responsible for Doing ore... ah, I said how the price of electricity in France is so cheap."

"What does this have to do with electricity?" Dumbledore was curious.

"Nuclear energy can be used to generate electricity, and the power ceiling is particularly high," Lockhart explained briefly. "France is the most developed country in Europe's nuclear power industry, and can earn billions of francs every year just from exporting electricity to Europe. , they have a great demand for cheap tin raw materials.”

He didn't believe that Dumbledore didn't know "electricity", after all, Hogwarts also had an electromagnetic shielding spell.

Sure enough, Dumbledore understood: "And Niger has a lot of "uranium" ore. "

"Yes, but Niger has no access to the sea, and its southern neighbor Nigeria has. I guess if they want to transport hundreds or even thousands of tons of uranium ore, they also need to ship by sea... How are they going to get these ore?" Lockhart asked.

Dumbledore shook his head: "I don't know, I didn't ask, they just told me that they would support our investment in Nigeria if we were willing to lend them the port for transporting oil. "

"Sure enough, it's good news. For things like this, the more allies the better." Lockhart agreed.

The reason why he aimed at oil was because the British regarded it as the foundation of the North Sea Brent oil settlement system; while the wizards on the French side aimed at uranium, because in the French nuclear power export system Fighting for a place for wizards is also a matter of local conditions.

It seems that there are also capable people in France, and it is not only me who know that the wizarding world will only go to a dead end, so everyone is desperately trying to find a way.

"Very good, then there's one last little thing...Wagado, a magic school in Uganda, Africa, is also participating in the Triwizard Tournament, which is said to be to reflect the friendship and cooperation of the international magic circle... Oh, it's already a competition for the top four. The game is over... Because Babajid's face is not easy to refute, I have already agreed, so I ask the Ministry of Magic to arrange it too."

After dropping this sentence, Dumbledore returned to the school with ease, leaving Gilderoy Lockhart in confusion.

What the heck is this a little thing?

The three schools participating in the competition have become four, which means that Hogwarts and the Ministry of Magic need one-third more work, and the preparation budget will also be a lot more.

Is this a small thing?

Lockhart wanted to refuse, but he knew that neither the Ministry of Magic nor the sponsors who had paid the money would refuse the "add me" request.

Because Fudge wanted to use two events to announce to the world the prosperity of Britain and his own achievements, the more schools the better.

And sponsors can only be happy about it - because the more entries, the more impact the event has, and the more value for money they spend on advertising.

It's just that, it's only himself and the Ministry of Magic who are in trouble.

The number of fire dragons to be rented has increased, the "program" of the Goblet of Fire has to be reset, and the land for guests has to be increased... Just thinking about it makes people head.

When Lockhart returned to the house with a head full of inappropriateness, he happened to meet Sirius, who was also lost and listless.

This guy was really hit so hard that his godson now treats him like a hater, kills him as soon as he meets him, and treats Peter Pettigrew as a hero.

Even if he is willing to be imprisoned in Azkaban for so many years, he can't let them confuse right and wrong like this, right?

At this moment, he suddenly had the urge to change back to his original form and explain the truth of all this to these children.

But he felt that if he really did, he would probably be bombed to death by the Hogwarts professor and the residents of Hogsmeade.

Perhaps so far, this is the first time that Blake has a strong desire to restore his reputation, and although his main purpose is still revenge, this revenge is mixed with other desires.

Or, a strong desire to live a normal life.

If Peter Pettigrew could be caught in front of everyone and brought back into shape,

Then pour in Veritaserum and you're good to go. he thought unrealistically.

But before that, he still had to give the gift to his godson.

The next day, when Lockhart went to London to discuss the preparations for the Final Four, Sirius seized the opportunity, and when Dobby fell asleep at night, he used his wand to Apparate to Diagon Alley.

Although Diagon Alley is not open at night, considering the requirements of some large households, Gringotts has reserved a green channel for some distinguished users so that they can withdraw money more secretly anytime, anywhere.

Gringotts kept all clients' information secret, and after a wrangling, the Ministry of Magic agreed not to monitor the goblins' fires, which Black was confident about.

Blake entered the Gringotts VIP room from the secret passage reserved for VIPs by Gringotts with ease, then sat down on the sofa and started yelling.

When the goblin who heard the sound came to the VIP room, Sirius carelessly called the exclusive customer service goblin of his family vault and asked him to provide services for him

The goblins at Gringotts were surprised to see Black appearing, but he did have the keys to the Black house's vault in his hand, so even if they knew that Black was a wanted criminal, they had to do it.

After all, according to the rules of the bank, they only recognize people and keys, other than that, whether it is the laws of the Ministry of Magic or anything else, the goblins are not here.

At Black's request, the goblins took five thousand gold Galleons from the Black's vault and put them into a small package with a shrinking spell.

Taking the small package, Blake quietly returned to Hogsmeade, and then wrote a letter, together with the package, to the address of the Badmore family in Bavaria, Germany.

Although he didn't know how much a Firebolt cost, he was a rich man back then.

It's not like he didn't buy Swiftlet and Off-String Arrow when he was younger. Even if the price of the Firebolt broke the sky, it wouldn't exceed 2,000 gold Galleons. He bought it for 5,000 directly, believing that the other party would definitely send it to Harry regardless of anything. .

Besides, Blake thought it was normal that the Germans hadn't heard of their reputation. After all, he is only "famous" in the UK, and may not have the same reputation in Germany.

Between countries, these internal affairs have always been swept away by themselves, and they are not allowed to take care of the frost on others' roofs, just as everyone has basically never heard of the names of the most wanted criminals in the United States.

In order to avoid exposure, he asked the Bardmore family to send Firebolts directly to Hogwarts, and stated on it "Gift from those who care about you, to make up for missed birthdays in the past 13 years"

It's not that he didn't know that such an anonymous gift would be suspected and that he was at risk of exposure, but he had no other way.

If you really fail in revenge and die, then this is the last thing you can do.

Chapter 214 Get the super-running Harry

For the famous Harry Potter, the month before Christmas can be described as going from **** to heaven, from heaven to purgatory, from purgatory to heaven on earth, and finally being pressed back again. hell.

Losing a Quidditch match to Hufflepuff was frustrating, but the Dementor broke into something no one expected, and Cedric won with dignity, so Harry had nowhere to go.

To this end, he deliberately violated the school rules, and then used the Invisibility Cloak and Marauder's Map to visit Hogsmeade, wanting to have some snacks, watch a movie, and relax.

But after overhearing how Blake betrayed his parents, Harry was furious, and the unknown fire accumulated from the previous Quidditch match was also released.

And the object of his venting is the duel arena.