That's not to say Lupin isn't strong, in fact his spells are much more solid than Sirius, but he's simply too unaggressive by nature to put pressure on his opponents.

No wonder \"future\" will be killed by Dolokhov - Lockhart thought.

Antonin Dolohov is the guy who defeated the old Moody and easily seriously injured Hermione. In terms of fighting ability alone, he can be regarded as a Death Eater under Voldemort. If he had no brains, he might be better than Voldemort. Snape was stronger, so it wasn't all that surprising that he could kill Lupin. If Professor Flitwick hadn't finally defeated Dolohov before participating in the siege of Voldemort, or many Dolohovs would have made white magic Those in the camp pay more.

This is no way to go on like this. The Death Eaters weakened their humanity and strengthened their black magic abilities through Azkaban, while the white magicians made little progress in confrontation, and even went backwards. When the two sides clashed, they The disadvantage here is huge.

have to figure out a way

Chapter 340 Moody's Trouble

After hearing that Lupin was also back, Moody arrived on the last weekend before Christmas.

The three Defence Against the Dark Arts professors at Hogwarts had thus come together and were ready to discuss the imminent return of Voldemort.

But before that, Moody's had a game with Lockhart and Lupin, and in Moody's own words, it was "real"

In this duel, Lockhart fought extremely embarrassingly, because that guy Moody didn't talk about martial arts, and came after drinking the brain-refreshing agent and the Fuling agent in advance.

Because of Moody's relationship with the magic eye, magic such as invisibility and illusion are inherently useless to Moody, and as an old man who has experienced a war, his will is definitely not the result of "young people" like Lupin and Black. comparable.

Therefore, in the first few discussions, Lockhart did not use this magic at all, not even the fog, but mainly focused on strengthening his own spirit, increasing his insight, judgment and reaction speed. The purpose is to bully Moody's old age, and his reaction speed is no longer comparable to that of young people.

Also, while illusions, invisibility, and hypnosis spells are harder to use, the hysteresis and confusion spells still work, so Lockhart is not at a disadvantage.

But this time Moody came after taking the medicine. Confusion spell and blinding won't work, and the old man's reaction speed has suddenly become sharper than his own, and many opportunities to confirm the counterattack are gone. Exist, the whole tactic needs to be redone

In desperation, Lockhart used the hidden ultimate move 112 double magic again, and the last time he used it was when he was fighting Snape.

After the duel with Snape confirmed the reliability of this tactic, Lockhart added

After intensive research on this spellcasting technique, I successfully found a magic called "Spell Sequence" in the Book of Spells.

The only function of this magic is to stack up some small magics that the body has used so skillfully that it has developed muscle memory, and the number of stacks is usually three.

Lockhart thought about it carefully and felt that this magic was still useful.

Quantitative changes cause qualitative changes. For example, when using a stun spell, a person who is hit by a stun spell can be awakened by a companion using a revival spell. But if that person gets two stun spells, the resuscitation spell doesn't work anymore. Like Professor McGonagall who was hit by four stun spells led by Umbridge, there was no other way but to send St. Mungo's first aid.

Now Lockhart can unleash two types of six spells at a time if he wants to. A wizard who sees this trick for the first time will definitely not be able to handle it.

The three Confusion Charms and the three Stun Charms were used by Lockhart together. Although he could only hit this one shot in a short period of time, if it didn't work, he would have to be shot in the next magic window period. Forced to hide everywhere. But so far, he hadn't met anyone worthy of such a deal, so he didn't know what would happen if he did, and Moody was the first.

But Moody was clearly not the first to see this spellcasting technique, he recognized Lockhart's spell almost before his spell rain arrived.

But it doesn't matter whether he wins or loses, because even if he recognizes it, there is no way to deal with it.

After weighing the pros and cons, Moody blocked Lockhart's stun spell with a timely "armor shield", and the same thing hit him on the foot, but a metallic muffled sound told Lockhart, The stun spell didn't work.

Compared with the ineffectiveness of the Stunning Charm, the Confusion Charm showed great power, and Moody was overwhelmed by three Confusion Charms. After a while, Moody's body lost his balance, and he fell to the ground on his back.

If this were actual combat, Lockhart would have rushed up and pulled out his pocket pistol.

In the second year, make two shots to the head, and even if it doesn't work, you must use your fist to give him two punches to the chin or temple while he is free from the Confusion Curse.

But now it's time to learn from each other, so it's almost done.

He stepped forward to help Moody up, only to find that the other party couldn't break free of his Confusion Charm at all, not even one.

Could it be that the effect of sequential stacking is so good? Lockhart couldn't help thinking.

But after he lifted the spell for Moody, Moody told him that it wasn't like that at all.

Under the curious gazes of the students, Moody led Lockhart, Lupin and Black to his own office at Hogwarts.

After the renovation of this office by Moody and Lupin, the furnishings inside are not as luxurious as before, but the practicality has also increased a lot. There are large and small cabinets and various gadgets to resist black magic. It's all over the place, and Lockhart even noticed that the chandelier he had built had been turned into a trap by Moody's.

In front of the three, Moody took off the magic eye he had been wearing, and then gave them the bottom line.

"Originally, I wouldn't say this secret, but in order to avoid your future misunderstanding of me, I think it's better to say it in advance... about this magic eye.

The three looked at each other, and Lupin asked, "Dumbledore knows this

thing?

"Of course he knows, because he's the one who got this eye for me... towards the end of the First Wizarding War," Moody told them.

When he said this, both Lupin and Blake were somewhat impressed.

"Well, I've been meaning to ask you this." Lupin admitted honestly. I saw your face a few times and tried to persuade you to take that thing off. "

Lupin's words are not for nothing - the left and right faces of Alastor Moody

There are obvious differences. Although his left face looks old and scarred, it still looks like a human being, while the right half of his face with fake eyes is abnormally dry and hideous. Skin that appears abnormal due to necrosis of peripheral nerves.

Almost everyone is speculating that Moody paid a huge price for his evil eye, and now from Moody's attitude, this is not unfounded.

"This is called the "All-Seeing Eye", and it was obtained from the religious madmen of the Muggle, usually only from religious leaders who have magical powers but refuse to believe in the existence of magic. They see themselves Everything comes down to the gift of the gods they believe in. ' explained Moody's.

"So... it's not free to use this thing, is it," Lupin guessed.

Moody admits it: dykes, it will let you see everything around you, including the invisible and the unreal hallucinations. But at the same time, it also gradually disturbs your nerves, making a person more and more neurotic and hysterical…

So Lockhart, if you use Legilimency or Imperius on me right now, there's a good chance I won't be able to resist. When facing Death Eaters, I will fight to the end, but I don't want you to misunderstand my fighting abilities when fighting in the future. "

This is really bad news. After listening to Moody's words, all three understand a stark truth - that the most trustworthy person other than Dumbledore is likely to be less trustworthy.

Chapter 341 Report to the Prime Minister

While the Order of the Phoenix was discussing safety issues, 10 Downing Street also received a brief report that its owner had been waiting for.

The reason why this is just a simple report and not a formal white paper is because Mrs. Rimington said that the information is insufficient, so she can only use the existing information to make a basic assessment.

But even a basic assessment Mrs Rimington came to much more than the Prime Minister.

The Prime Minister was taken aback by the opening of her report - because she thought the wizarding world had great potential for war, but only "potential".

The implication is that she looks down on the war techniques of wizards, but she despises the war concepts and tactics of wizards very much.

"Wizards are good at war\'hardware\', not war\"software\'

Even just looking at the paper in front of him, the Prime Minister could imagine Mrs. Rimington's calculating shrewdness.

In addition to evaluating the wizarding world's economic size, demographics, and political power based on the clues they found, Mrs. Rimington's focus was on the military.

:oo It is true that wizards have magical techniques that we can't imagine, but from the security situation on their site, the warriors and the audience, their understanding of tactics is still in the Renaissance period, and there is no scientific system.

Judging from those security guards called "Aurors", they do not have standard weapons and spells, and the combat effectiveness of different individuals varies greatly. They do not yet have modern tactical thinking and generally lack basic education in mathematics, physics and chemistry.

Their society seems to me like that group of African natives and Middle Eastern people - they use the artillery, firearms, aircraft and all kinds of advanced weapons that we provide, but the tactics are still the same as those used when holding large knives and spears the same. "

After reading Mrs. Rimington's evaluation, Major felt a little unbelievable, because whether it was Fudge or Lockhart, they were absolutely looking down in front of them.

Such a group of arrogant people, their essence is primitive?

He couldn't wait to turn to the next page, wanting to know how the Muggle side technically suppressed those wizards.

While all we have at the moment is their opening ceremony, the two games, and the intel from their conversations, I can find a very basic fact - that all wizards, including the "great Dumbledore" Lido Principal\', they want to fight must be completed within the line of sight, which can be used by us.

And apart from the so-called magic power, from the perspective of body structure, wizards are exactly the same as ordinary people. They will be seriously injured if they are hit hard or fall from a height when riding a broom, so they are not immune. Physical damage. They will also be drowned in water, burned in fire, choked by smoke, and cold when touched by snow...

Therefore, if we want to eliminate wizards, we should try our best to use the advantages of over-the-horizon combat on the frontal battlefield. Even if we are forced to get involved in street fighting, we still need snipers, embedded explosives, remote control devices, precision guidance and Support from satellites and thermal imagers. Under the premise of determining the wizard's hidden location, whichever side is the first to strike has a huge advantage.

If I were a wizard and had the unfortunate conflict with ordinary people and caused a war, I would have destroyed the government's military chain of command and communication system in the first place, but I personally doubt that wizards can understand the operation of our organization. "

- After the eloquent comments, Mrs. Rimington did not forget to point out the advantages of wizards-that is, unimaginable destructive power, superb mobility, and unpredictable stealth.

"...But the sparse wizard population is always the key to restricting them. Proportionally speaking, the domestic tactically threatening wizard targets are likely to be less than one thousand people.

To sum up, for the wizards, the most suitable war strategy for them is \"asymmetric warfare\', that is, in the case of acknowledging that the total war cannot defeat us, using something that we cannot understand locally, cost us dearly.

Of course, if there is a conflict, we must be victorious. I can't imagine a scenario where a large and well-established system is defeated by the **** skills of a few.

After assessing the combat effectiveness of the wizards, Mrs. Rimington did not forget to point out the possibility of war at the end.

If wizards are rational and continue to remain secret most of the time as they are now, then I'm sure a war between us and wizards won't happen.

We can't afford the cost of casualties that must be paid in eliminating wizards, and we can't control that wizards won't hurt our civilians when they die, and unless wizards really do something outrageous, we have no excuse for war.

In the same way, the wizarding world can never avoid the political influence of wizards from ordinary families, and it is difficult for me to imagine that a rational realist like Lockhart will start a war that is only destined to lead to bloodshed. .

As long as the only thing that can be gained from war is destruction, unless there is a sizable group of wizards who value destruction, it is hard to imagine that they will act unwisely.

From this point of view, I support the transaction between you and the wizard, if

They were convinced that if they could not gain more from war than trade, then war would not happen. "

After reading this conclusion, Major finally felt relieved.

Although he didn't understand the military and couldn't assess the wizarding world, he knew what political interests were and what was a position.

At this moment, he suddenly felt that he could understand what the director named "Lockhart" did.

That's right, what that guy is trying to do is to try to control the channel of interest, bribe mainstream political forces for his own use, and shape a small political group loyal to himself. After all, the guy is from Oxford, and he should be familiar with this set.

According to Mrs. Rimington, the level of humanities and social sciences in the wizarding world should be far behind them, that is to say, Lockhart, who studied at Oxford, should be able to reduce the dimensionality of the group of wizards politically. Just hit.

To be honest, Major was a little envious.

Although he is now the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, he does not have much real power in his hands, and there are not many people who support him.

Especially after several bad years in power, although the people have expressed a certain understanding of the Prime Minister's performance because of the external environment, it is impossible to say good things about him.

It's just because the Conservative Party is still in power and everyone really doesn't want Mrs Thatcher to continue to govern, so Major's position is relatively stable.

Although Lockhart manages few people, at least once he gets things done, his status in the wizarding world will be unshakable, which is much better than Major's situation.

What did Caesar say?

"I'd rather be the boss here (in the small village) than be the boss in Rome

After understanding what Lockhart did, for some reason, the Prime Minister suddenly felt a lot more at ease.

As a mature politician, unknown risks are always the enemy. He doesn't believe that a person who he has never met will suddenly appear and then say that he wants to give you something for no reason. That's called a saint. The saint should go to heaven, and should not stay in the world as an ordinary person like the prime minister. He only believes that the essence of communication between people is the exchange of interests, and that it is a routine operation to take what is given first.

So, instead of believing that Lockhart was doing it for the well-being of the wizard, Major believed it was for his own ambitions.

But ask yourself, Major felt that if he were in Lockhart's position, looking at the incompetent, stupid, indecisive, vain man sitting in the minister's seat, he would also have the ambition to replace him.

——Or to say, "Even if he doesn't want to take the position, he still takes the responsibility of benefiting the wizarding world, and he has to take up this responsibility if the public wants it"?

Got it, got it all!

Putting the report aside, Major stretched happily.

If he still needs the wizard's help, he won't be as careful as before. Because he knew now that Lockhart also needed him.

On the surface, the Conservative Party does need a vote in the House of Commons, but from another angle, why don't the wizards need the administrative resources in the hands of the government? And where can they get these administrative resources without passing the House of Commons?

Chapter 342 Dynamic Balance

Christmas 1994 was a good respite for wizards and Muggles alike.

In the melodious Christmas ball music, the wizards who were invited to Hogwarts danced, and after a dance or two, they rubbed many souls behind the curtains, under the parasitic trees or in the bushes. spark.

Considering that the population boom of the wizarding world is related to the future students of Hogwarts, Dumbledore asked Moody and Snape to relax a little today and not meddle in their own business.

Anyway, the little wizards invited to participate in the dance are basically 14 years old. Although they are not old enough to play mobile games casually, they can at least legally do double or even multi-person indoor sports.

This year, Lockhart still received the most gifts. In addition to students in the student union and clubs, his colleagues and Hogwarts professors all sent gifts or Christmas cards, plus his foreign book fans The Christmas card sent, and the Christmas tree he put in the bedroom was half buried by various gifts.

Having a lot of relationships is a good thing: every year it's nerve-wracking just to prepare a return gift, and luckily the wizard population isn't large enough, otherwise Lockhart would have to hire someone to help him with fan replies.

Even the Prime Minister gave him a "big gift", but this gift made Lockhart somewhat emotional.

In the Christmas morning paper, Major announced a piece of "good news to all the people - CityLinks, a time-honored British express company, was acquired by a wealthy oil consortium in the country under the mediation and planning of the government. This consortium has submitted to the government. He promised that he would never lay off employees, and even recruit 1,500 new grass-roots employees from the society.

In line with the responsible attitude of Io to the country, during the negotiation process, the Prime Minister should

Please do not give in on the employment issue... Although the situation is difficult, we will still face it positively, and the progress of social well-being should not be stagnant because of the international situation..."

Although Lockhart can't remember when he promised to recruit 1,500 Muggle grassroots employees, the Prime Minister's Office has made such a statement, and the British nationals and the media must have responded to the matter. This is the case, then even if this is not the fault of their "Hogsmeade Consortium", the British people will have an opinion on this consortium.

Lockhart continued to read the newspaper and found that the government had indeed launched a propaganda caliber, strongly advocated the matter, and promoted CityLinks, a courier company on the verge of bankruptcy, into a symbolic British high-quality industry, as if The "Hogsmeade Consortium" took a huge advantage.

This makes it impossible to deny it directly.

The Prime Minister's trick Lockhart is very familiar with - the "sausage tactics", that is, to test the attitude of the wizards step by step, doing more than the last time, until the bottom line of the wizards is tested.

If it was Fudge's gang, it is estimated that they would have rushed to the door to question them at this time, or denied it in the newspapers?

Lockhart finds this interesting indeed - whatever the Prime Minister sees from the Big Five, his attitude towards the wizarding world now proves one thing - that he has treated wizards as one. It's a political force that needs to be taken seriously, and that's what Lockhart set out to do from the start.