Krum nodded. "I can speak Italian."

"That's great," said Lockhart, speaking to him in Italian, "then I'll just say it - \"ideas\' cannot be learned, only \"theories\' can be learned, Miss Granger's The ideas come from her own experiences and thinking, I just introduce to her as comprehensively as possible the theory I know, and then let her decide which to believe and which to practice..."

Krum interrupted him, looking a little eager: "But according to her, you helped her a lot with the establishment of the House Elf Rights Promotion Association."

"Huh? Is there any?"

Lockhart felt a little baffled, because he didn't remember that he had given Hermione any substantial help, and he didn't even make any donations except to pay the membership fee once, and he didn't know what Hermione had done.

"She's convincing the pure-blood family to allow house-elves to fall in love and reproduce freely, because \"their offspring will be qualified employees of the delivery company\'" Krum told him.

Lockhart whistled.

"Beautiful," he remarked, "she's become more pragmatic—she's trying to get the house-elves to enjoy their freedom first, and then convince them to change, and it's in the interests of all parties...but this It should be just the first step."

However, Lockhart immediately noticed something different.

"By the way, what about Miss Granger?" he asked.

Klum looked a little sad: "I invited her out for a walk, but she said that was too fast, so I thought I might need to get to know her more...I thought she was happy when I invited her...and Harryo Potter followed out too..."

Lockhart understood that Krum had mistaken his rival.

"She's really happy," Lockhart told him affirmatively. "No matter what anyone else thinks, you're the first to notice her as a 'woman', which means a lot to her. "

"Really?" Krum was a little surprised. "No one ever noticed her?" Lockhart shook his head repeatedly.

"No, she's very eye-catching, but others are often defined by a kind of nerd-like positioning of \"knowing everything\', \"active library\', and finding students\'. As for Harry and Ron, at least for now, they're all just seeing her as a buddy, and you're the first to admit her charm from a "feminine" perspective, which adds a lot to her self-confidence anyway. "

Krum nodded subconsciously, and his joy gradually revealed.

But then he realized that something was wrong.

"You really know her well," Krum said to Lockhart in a positive tone.

His expression was complicated, and his eyes seemed to be saying, "Chang Wei, you also said that you don't know martial arts"

But Lockhart really didn't think so much at this point. He didn't care so much about Krum's friendship as much about his influence in Europe.

After all, the impact a Quidditch star player can have on the justice and politics of a wizarding country is likely to be greater than Lockhart imagined.

For a crime like Ludo Bagman who misrepresented information to the Death Eaters, even if he is not convicted of a felony, he should at least be charged with negligence, and at worst, he should be denied entry into the public service.

But he effectively influenced the attitude of the jury and even Wizengamore, not to mention the public, by virtue of his influence when he was playing.

"Don't think about it, I'm just cultivating political successors at Hogwarts." Lockhart said lightly, makeup is also one of the rising political stars I plan to train, Mr. Weasley (Percy), Mr. Diggory , Mr. Potter is in my team. "

Krum seemed to accept this statement, so the atmosphere between the two suddenly improved a lot.

"I heard that you are very popular... I mean, your relationship with the opposite **** is very good... Can you teach me?"

Probably because of Lockhart's performance on the dance floor just now, Krum began to ask for advice humbly, but he really didn't look very smart, as if all his IQ was used in fighting, playing and bragging. .

Only then can you see that Krum is still just a big boy. Lockhart smiled, ready to answer Krum's question.

"No problem, it seems that you really lack training in this area, let's start with the three elements of love! Passion, intimacy, and commitment, let's talk about it first...\"

But at this moment, at the door of the ballroom, Moody's inexplicable voice suddenly broke the warm atmosphere of the scene.

\"Guidero! Come here, there is a situation!" he shouted.

Chapter 345 Voldemort's tentacles

Hearing Moody's shout, Lockhart's heart suddenly tightened.

Since Dumbledore was also in the castle, Lockhart relaxed a bit today, but it wouldn't be a trivial matter to make Moody so serious, unless he was jittery again today.

Although it is very unlikely that Little Crouch will bring Voldemort back to England now, without Peter Pettigrew to "feed" Voldemort, he should not be able to come out. But Lockhart wasn't sure how much of Voldemort's hidden power was still of no use) or what new plans Crouch had.

The result of eliminating some hidden dangers in advance is what the other party will do next, and Lockhart has no idea about it.

But even so, if Lockhart was to do it all over again, he would still choose to capture Pettigrew, even if it would affect the "future" he knew

After all, a traveler who is afraid that changing the future will lead to unknowable results is not a good traveler, or a writer who is afraid to change the history because he can't control the plot direction is not a good fan writer. If nothing changes, what do I want you to do? ?

He pleaded guilty to Krum, and then walked out of the ballroom under the strange gaze of the crowd.

After checking the code, Lockhart whispered to Moody.

\"What happened?"

"The wine at the dance is poisonous," Moody said with a sullen face. "I just checked the wine that came from the next three brooms, and found that the red currant liqueur was poisoned by someone.

"Redcurrant liqueur 0 poison," Lockhart repeated.

"Yeah, it's a highly poisonous compound prepared from Akembo tree venom and snake venom.

It is colorless and odorless, and it attacks immediately after drinking it. ' Moody repeated.

Although the poison was strong, Lockhart was not particularly concerned about it. Because the murderer put the potion into the wine, which was obviously left to Moody to discover, and the provocation was very obvious.

"You mean, isn't all alcohol poisoned?" Lockhart frowned.

Hearing him ask that, Moody knew Lockhart had understood the situation.

"Yes, butterbeer, aged whiskey, champagne, and cluck."

Lockhart was not proud of it, because he believed that even wizards could deduce this.

"That is to say, the person the murderer wants to kill is obviously someone who likes to drink red currant liqueur... Who?"

\"Connelly o Fudge." Moody's solved the mystery directly.

"Ha." Lockhart was amused. "Doesn't the murderer think you and Dumbledore won't notice the potion he gave? Or does he think the house-elves don't taste the food and drink first? Bring it up?"

"That's the question, what is that guy trying to do?" Moody looked in Hogsmeade's direction, "I'm afraid he's trying to smack me and lead me there."

Moody's suspicion is not without reason, because everyone knows that he has a magic eye, whether it is an invisibility cloak or an illusion, he can't escape his eyes, and even those who drink the potion may be seen by him. The flow is not right and the clues are found.

Lockhart agreed with Moody's judgment.

"Be careful and bring a few more people," he advised Moody.

Moody tapped the cane on his right hand hard: "You didn't understand what I meant, I was worried that the murderer wanted to lure me away, and then took the opportunity to sneak into the dance."

"Let him come, then," Lockhart sneered. "Remember to bring me that rug from your office."

"Alright."

It's not Moody's style to shrink back when he encounters an accident. Even if he knows that the poisoner has a conspiracy, he still has to go for it.

As for Hogwarts, Lockhart, who is holding the Marauder's map, is still weaker than Moody in perception, but when it comes to how to control the intruder as little as possible without the guests noticing, Lockhart is better than Moody's.

Not to mention Dumbledore is still here.

Moody called up the Aurors who were chatting and spanking outside the ball, and after whispering a few words with Dumbledore, he took them straight to Hogsmeade, it seems that he didn't investigate the bottom line. There will be no rest.

Before leaving, Moody used the Flying Spell to summon the Marauder's Map rug Lockhart had given him.

When Lockhart got it, he found that after two modifications by Lupin and Sirius, Moody had also made further modifications to the map, and now it can not only display terrain and names, but even use colors Marking the magic concentration and spell fluctuations of each area, the practicality has once again reached a new level.

For example, Lockhart now sees Harry and Ron from this map. They are hiding in the bushes at this time, and they also use a magic prop to reach Snape. It seems that they are eavesdropping Conversation between Snape and Karkaroff;

He even saw Rita Skeeter outside the castle from above. She was using Transfiguration to hide beside Hagrid and Madame Maxime, presumably preparing to make another big news.

After scanning the guests on the map, Lockhart suddenly noticed a person

The former sports director, Ludo Bagman, was following a Hogwarts

Ci's secret passage, heading towards the ballroom in the castle.

Lockhart was immediately startled: How big of a heart did this guy have to dare to come alone when he knew Dumbledore was here?

Since the gambling incident, Ludo Bagman was asked by Fudge to voluntarily resign, and he has disappeared from people's sight since then.

For the sake of his own future, Fudge of course put all the blame on Bagman's head, not only gambling, but even the murder of a foreign guest in the World Cup. Fudge claimed that it was because of Bagman's gambling. The director was caught in the murderer's plan.

Not only that, Fudge also took credit for solving the goblin crisis on himself. He deliberately emphasized to the Ministry of Magic that he had resolved the potential conflict with the goblins this time around.

It is not unreasonable to say that Bagman was in revenge for Fudge for "broken his good things", and thus resented and wanted revenge after he was down.

But Lockhart always felt that there was something wrong--I wanted to get revenge on Fudge, where can I get revenge? Why do you have to get revenge at Hogwarts?

As Hagrid said - "Gringotts is the safest place in the world - except for Hogwarts" Ludo Bagman would have to be crazy to want to come to Hogwarts revenge?

With this ability, Bagman might as well go directly to the Ministry of Magic, first pass through the many obstacles of the Aurors, and then forcefully kill Fudge in front of all the staff. It might be a bit difficult to do this, but it's also easier than doing it at Hogwarts.

Interesting, it seems that he should be arrested and asked to clarify.

Chapter 346 This is a temptation.

In order to confirm that Bagman was indeed coming towards Fudge, Lockhart deliberately became invisible, and then secretly hid at the entrance of the secret passage where Bagman sneaked in.

After a while, he saw the statue of the sycophant Gregory slowly move to the side, revealing the secret passage hidden behind, and then Mang Moss Diggory sneaked out of the secret passage. come out.

After confirming that there was no one around, "Mr. Diggory" tidied up his placket, sleeves, and back hem, and after confirming that there was no dirt on it, he slowly walked towards the ballroom.

He had a calm air, and when he saw some students, he would pretend to ask them where his son Cedric was, and complained loudly about why the boys' bathroom was so high. If Lockhart hadn't seen him emerge from the secret passage with his own eyes, he might have been fooled by this guy too.

Finally, "Mr. Diggory" came to the door of the ballroom. There, a wizard in a purple robe and a long ponytail was busy checking the attire of passing people, and if he thought anyone was suspicious, he would call that person off.

But probably because it was Christmas, and there were people checking the invitations at the gate of the castle, this Auror's inspections were often just a hassle, especially when he knew that person.

Seeing an Auror guarding the gate, "Mr. Diggory" did not retreat but advanced: "Hi, Eric, have you seen my son?"

"Amos?"

After seeing Mr. Diggory, the Auror at the gate subconsciously pointed out: "I just saw your son go with a black-haired girl..."

To be honest, this Auror didn't remember if Mr. Diggory came to the ball or not,

But since his son is here, it should be normal for him to be here.

5 Me, **** it! "Mr. Diggory slapped himself on the head, pretending to be annoyed, "I'm only half an hour late, if it weren't for that **** hippogriff... no, I've got to find him!" He never told me about it, not our Diggory family.

Seeing how realistic he is, if he hadn't seen his name on the map, I'm afraid Loja would have been deceived.

And the Auror was obviously deceived: "Forget it, Amos, it's better for us to take care of the children. Besides, it's Christmas today! Why don't you go in for a couple of drinks?"

"Digory" hesitated: "You mean, I'm waiting for him inside?"

"Yes, even if you want to scold, you should wait until they are happy." The Auror looked very reasonable. "Go in and rest for a while, and I will let you know when he returns, Amos."

"Mr. Diggory" didn't expect that he would get in so smoothly. After thanking him, he walked into the ball.

However, just as he rushed towards Fudge and reached for the wand in his sleeve, he was tipped over by a wand that suddenly appeared in the air.

Before the other guests noticed it, Lockhart and a few Aurors hurriedly pulled Diggory out under the name "He was drunk."

Several Aurors, who had been there for a long time, took over him immediately, and took him to the "temporary boss" of the Aurors—that is, Moody's office.

As for how they plan to fight against Bagman in the future, that's not something Lockhart can know.

- An hour later, Lockhart welcomed Moody back and worked with him to maintain the rest of the order.

"Okay, now we can be sure that this guy really came for Fudge," Lockhart told Moody's.

In the process of just now, Lockhart has been following behind Bagman, and he even secretly told the Auror at the door with a sound transmission spell to let him temporarily let this guy in.

And Ludo Bagman also showed Lockhart with practical actions that the purpose of his visit this time seems to be really simple - he made a special trip to find Fudge for revenge.

Lockhart felt very strange, Ludo Bagman was a gambler who was dazzled, but he was only dazzled, not without a brain, why would he do such a stupid thing? ?

With this doubt in mind, he returned to the dance pretending that nothing had happened.

At this time, Slytherin's elementary school girls had already found Madam Pomfrey and asked her to help heal Gemma's ankle. Lockhart was able to dance with her again.

And the girls at Hogwarts also came up boldly and began to invite Lockhart to dance, and these people even included Hermione, who had returned.

Lockhart couldn't remember how many people he had danced with that night, but in the end he felt a little sore in his legs.

It wasn't until the dance was over that Moody found him again.

He told the results of the interrogation of Roja Niu Al Auluo: "Bagman was under the Imperius Curse, he can't remember what happened, and the last scene in his mind is that he was in a small shop called "The Hanged Man's Tavern". In the tavern, he was very drunk, and a stranger approached him. "

Lockhart racked his brains and couldn't remember where the Hanged Tavern was until Moody reminded him.

"It's in a village called Little Hangleton, and it's very remote, with only a few downfalls.

The pure blood lives there. ' Moody added.

Lockhart first felt that the place called "Little Hangleton" was inexplicably familiar, but he couldn't remember where it was. He didn't remember what it was until "Falling Pureblood" came out.