Snape knew exactly what he wanted to ask, but apart from Dumbledore, the information he got from the Death Eaters couldn't be told to anyone, and he could only rot in his stomach.

"Want to know? Sadly, almost all the Death Eaters outside Azkaban are gone."

But to his disappointment, Lockhart didn't show any surprise on his face, instead he seemed to be in high spirits.

"All gone? Great!" he said cheerfully.

Seeing him like this, Snape didn't know how to evaluate it.

"Awesome? Are you suffering from cognitive-emotional incoordination mania due to excessive disappointment? If so, I have a lot of tranquility potions over there," he quipped.

"No no no, this situation is indeed very good." Lockhart snapped his fingers,

"It's wonderful to think about it, don't you think? A rabble of miscellaneous and eccentric people, because of the combination of authority and greed, and the real evil thinks it has complete control over them."

Snape knew he was right, but he just couldn't see him smug.

"Such a mob can give you a repelling spell that can take you from Scotland to New Zealand." He touched his wand intentionally or unintentionally, "If it wasn't for the lack of creativity of that little Barty guy, you wouldn't be right now. The method is a big deal, and that guy has made a great contribution this time."

Do you paddle Barty? Lockhart disagreed. "That guy is ruthless enough, but after two fights, I found out that he is a professional, and his style of doing things is obvious, and he uses magic spells to be rigid and lack creativity, and has a sense of rhythm." also…"

"Sure enough." Snape said with a gloomy face, "I hope you can have enough confidence to say the same when facing them o... Let's say it first, if you meet you on the battlefield, don't expect me to be merciful. , I will trade your head for more trust from the Dark Lord."

As if he didn't hear his threat, Lockhart continued to speak to himself: "o If Barty Jr. becomes Voldemort's left hand, then Voldemort's infiltration of the bureaucracy will be significantly accelerated, and the officials of the Ministry of Magic will have Quite a part of him. Hey, Severus, do you want to be the right hand of the Dark Lord?"

Snape frowned. "What the **** are you doing?"

"What else can I think of? Of course it's to hold back Voldemort, so that Dumbledore has enough time to organize resistance and destroy Voldemort.

Since Dumbledore gave you the task, you should make the best of it, shouldn't you? Seriously, there are some tricks I wouldn't dare to use at the Ministry of Magic, but if it's the Death Eaters... Anyway, if you can pull a group out of the Death Eaters, then you'll be able to do a lot of things, we can't do everything All count on Dumbledore. "

Snape was quite moved when he heard the words "Don't count on Dumbledore in everything".

Of course he knew that Lockhart had a lot of ghost ideas. In the past three years, he had learned about Lockhart's actions from various sources countless times. Even Dumbledore occasionally commented on him in private. "This is a real politician"

To be honest, Snape is actually very confused right now.

Of course he couldn't refuse the espionage mission that Dumbledore gave him, but he didn't know what else he could do other than pass on information.

Whether it's obeying Voldemort's orders or obeying Dumbledore's orders, those are things he does "passively", but what he wants is "active"

Thinking of this, he stopped pretending: "What should I do?"

Lockhart knew that he would agree, because Voldemort must have repeatedly emphasized the words "must kill Harry Potter" during the meeting, and now Snape is definitely the most panicked." Even if his appearance Can't see it.

"Simple, since Barty Jr. wants to be Voldemort's left hand, then we might as well count him as Voldemort's \"Royal Counselor\'; while the Lestranges, Dolohov and the Dark Lord's die-hard warriors Dou faction, we might as well regard it as \"Prince Guard\'; and you...you should take this opportunity to seize the executive power of the Death Eaters and become the \"bureaucratic faction\'" in the Death Eater group

"What good does it do?" Snape didn't understand at all.

"Benefits? It's very simple. Wherever there are people, there are rivers and lakes." Lockhart explained: Although Zabaty was born in the Ministry of Magic, he himself was dismissive of that set. This is an opportunity. You can take the opportunity to pick out the Death Eaters who have property, who are forced to conform, and who work hard, form your own faction, and imply that you have leverage on both sides - of course, this does not need to be stated directly. , he will understand.

Snape was a little disappointed: "It doesn't sound like it's doing any good."

Lockhart gave a mild refutation to this kind of person who did not understand the power of the administrative system: "In fact, the benefits are too numerous to count... For example, if Voldemort is determined to launch a general attack on the Order of the Phoenix, let you mobilize enough By the way, prepare a large number of potions and food to restore magic power..."

Without further ado, Snape already understood what he meant.

Although the Death Eaters looked like a grass-roots team, in fact, like all political organizations and groups, they also had their own executive, judicial, and legislative powers. It's just that there is only one person in this group who is judicial and legislative, and that is Voldemort himself.

Voldemort said that he followed the law, and his purpose was that all Death Eaters must serve him, even if the Death Eaters themselves had their own purposes.

As for executive power, Voldemort had neither the knowledge nor the energy to keep it all under control. Unless he wanted to personally raise funds, weapons, medicine, food, or personally teach every Death Eater black magic, or even such trivial matters as who lived where.

Therefore, he must give a part of the executive power to the loyal Death Eaters. Only in this way, a terrorist organization with a pyramid on the top and a network on the bottom cannot operate smoothly, and Lockhart wants Snape to seize this part." administrative" powers.

With this power in hand, he can do many things.

For example, if Voldemort is going to have another Hogwarts battle in the future, then Lockhart will definitely instruct Snape to let him find a way to mix some special "ingredients" into the food and potions of all the Death Eaters, etc. Let it happen when the war starts.

Voldemort couldn't suspect it here anyway.

Chapter 391 Death Eaters can also be used

After Snape thought about it carefully, although he didn't give Lockhart a verdict right away, Lockhart could see that he had actually decided to do it.

Since this guy doesn't understand politics, Snape will definitely come to him in the future - that's enough.

After agreeing on the password and contact information, Snape continued to rush to the headmaster's room: and Lockhart also walked out of the castle, ready to start his own layout.

The reason why Lockhart had to find a way to infiltrate the Death Eater group, in addition to the need to kill Voldemort, he also had a more important purpose - that is to use the Death Eater group to force the Ministry of Magic to carry out political reform.

Sometimes it is so helpless - if Lockhart wants to reform the Ministry of Magic through normal means, there is a high probability that he will encounter insurmountable resistance. For example, the interest groups behind the old Crouch's gang, it is difficult for Lockhart to ignore their opinions.

And Voldemort's group is different. He doesn't care if you belong to this group or that group. Those who don't obey will all eat big melons. As for the ideal, of course there is no such thing. After graduating, Lord Voldemort would rather work in Borgin or Bock to find Horcrux materials than participate in the Grindelwald Revolution, which shows that they don't take their slogans seriously at all.

Although this rude method is inhuman, it is at least resolute, and Lockhart thinks that Voldemort may be better than Dumbledore in dealing with the old bureaucrats of the Ministry of Magic.

For example, after Voldemort came to power, he forced all wizarding teenagers - whether they were wizards or Muggles - to receive a unified magical education and PUA from pure blood & "mudblood"

Huo Ran said that the text on the floor is pure and fruitful

It's unpopular, but Lockhart doesn't plan to cancel this version of the "compulsory education" system in the magic world. Of course, he won't confiscate other people's wands.

Whether it's the "blue blood aristocrats" of the Muggle world who pay for their children to attend prestigious Ivy League schools, or the purebloods of the wizarding world who secretly instruct the Ministry of Magic to exaggerate the risks of admission to Muggle families, these are all attempts to monopolize educational resources.

On the contrary, it was Voldemort who did not dare to look down on mixed blood because he was a half-blood, so he asked wizards of any blood to control them first, and by the way incited internal conflicts between wizards, so that Voldemort, the "Internet celebrity wizard" "Being able to stay in the position of \"National Teacher" belonging to him more stably.

If Voldemort's policy can be used, although it can't be said to be a bad thing and a good thing, at least it can be regarded as a repair of the west wall with the bricks of the east wall that have been bombed.

The next day, just as the students were in class while discussing the exciting scenes of yesterday's competition, a big news broke out from Durmstrang.

Durmstrang's principal, Igor Karkaroff, who was dragged in front of people for 258,000 to 80,000 yuan, has actually disappeared!

It was naturally Durmstrang's students who discovered the disappearance, and they found him missing when they notified the principal to go to breakfast.

- At first, they didn't care too much, even if there was no one in the headmaster's office, they only thought that Karkaroff was going to Hogwarts or nearby to drink - this is a common occurrence in the bitter cold places of northern Europe.

But they didn't see anyone until noon, and found Karkaroff's bedroom empty? They didn't realize something was wrong.

In order to cover up their ugliness, they did not choose to stab the matter immediately, but mobilized all the contacts and resources of the students to try to find the whereabouts of their principal.

Karkaroff did not appear until the lunch hall table, and Dumbledore also

When they sent someone over and said that they hoped Karkaroff would come and talk to them in detail, the students finally couldn't hold back and told the disappearance of their school principal.

Hogwarts immediately notified the Ministry of Magic and asked them to send someone on board to examine the traces left by Karkaroff.

Of the four Aurors sent by the Ministry of Magic, only Kingsley Shacklebolt was informed.

They checked around and finally confirmed that Karkaroff was not kidnapped, because everything in the bedroom and office was in good order, and there were no signs of damage to many irrecoverable magical items in the ancient ship. It can be ruled out that they were kidnapped after a fight.

At the same time, they also found that many of Karkaroff's personal belongings were missing, including small valuables, personal travel suitcases, personal hygiene items, and even school liquidity hidden in wooden barrels in the ship's liquor room. .

Clearly, this was a real bucket run.

Needless to say, there was an uproar.

After hearing this, the leaders of several schools shook their heads in unison - no matter what Karkaroff was or what his reasons were, he is now the headmaster of a school and is irresponsible. The behavior of abandoning his students and running away is really too rude.

The students naturally needless to say that the disappearance of Principal Durmstrang is a major event. When they watched Durmstrang lively, in addition to the happy accident of schadenfreude, they also had some doubts that followed:

Why did Durmstrang's principal run away?

In this regard, Li O Jordan would like to express his opinion.

"Obviously, because Durmstrang has fallen to the bottom of the race: no student will want to go to a bottom-of-the-bottom school in the next few years, and their principal has a bleak future, so even home Run away with the money.\" He triumphed

Said eloquently to his classmates.

This statement was met with glares from Durmstrang's students - they would rather accept the conclusion that their principal was murdered than hear the reason why their principal ran away, because it would be too embarrassing.

As "good buddies", the Slytherin students naturally support these people from Durmstrang, and many people try to comfort them and let them not care too much about it.

It's just that some of the Slytherin students are not quite right today

Many students noticed when they were eating in the morning that there were a lot of owls on the Slytherin long table today, and many Slytherin students received letters from home. Because of the owl's delay, they could easily guess that the letters were sent overnight last night.

These students who received the letter became silent without exception. Except for Crabbe and Goyle, who became more arrogant, the rest of the Slytherins seemed to prefer to let themselves out of the eyes of the other students. disappeared in.

As an insider, Ron Weasley stared at Malfoy at the Slytherin long table, his teeth itch with hatred.

"I really don't understand, why would Hogwarts admit the children of those Death Eaters?" he complained. "Wouldn't it be good if they were just kicked out?"

Looking at Harry's expression, although he didn't directly agree with Ron's words, the meaning was the same.

Last night, he and Dumbledore, led by Sirius, came to the dusty and musty 12 Grimmauld Place. After a conversation with Sirius that seemed more like an interrogation than an inquiry, Dumbledore received a delicate locket from Kreacher, the house-elf.

And when they came back, they happened to meet Snape who came to report. Snape went to the Death Eaters' first re-allegiance ceremony, and according to him, the former Death Eaters except Karkaroff did not dare to go because they were too afraid.

Everyone went without a single one.

When the Death Eaters were about to follow Voldemort to kill and set fire, they had to watch the children of the Death Eaters scheming in front of them, thinking about what they were thinking...

"Are you stupid?" Hermione looked at the two of them with pity, "Because their parents are Death Eaters, they have to be put under the watch of Hogwarts, who knows that these little **** are with each other every day. A group of parents who only know black magic huddle together, what will they become when they grow up."

Harry was taken aback: "It seems so."

Just like his cousin Dudley, under the doting of the Dursleys, he was terribly bad, but after going to boarding school for a few years, although his nature is still bad, at least he can be like a person when he wants to be a human being. so.

"So Harry, you should make up your homework now." Hermione complained again, "Because you don't have to do homework to be a warrior, look at how much you have missed in your schoolwork! Next year's exam..."

Harry decided to keep playing stupid and procrastinate as long as he could.

Chapter 392 Information dissemination can not only rely on the media

Karkaroff's escape as a fuse, many things have changed

There is no doubt that the higher-ups at the Ministry of Magic and some purebloods in Slytherin knew why Karkaroff had escaped. But neither of them said it, nor did they even plan to tell the general public.

Rita Skeeter originally wanted to make big news, but the Ministry of Magic called off the investigation just after it started, and even some of the sponsors behind her told her not to "mind your own business", which made her The business had to fall apart.

The Ministry of Magic issued a ban on newspapers, radio and other media, prohibiting them from reporting inside information about Karkaroff, and the 20 minutes when the Hogwarts Warriors disappeared inexplicably in the Hegemony Tournament was naturally not allowed to be mentioned. The door key came out of nowhere.

As Lockhart's tame son, these information were naturally transferred to Lockhart by Rita.

The response from the Ministry of Magic was not surprising, and Lockhart, as someone in the system, actually knew better than Rita what was going on.

But Dumbledore gave him the task, saying that he hoped that he could convince the mainstream British wizarding community of the fact that Voldemort had returned before the end of the Five Great Tournament.

This is very necessary, but this task is not so simple. You can see that it took a whole year for Dumbledore and the others to force the Ministry of Magic to admit that Voldemort had returned.

That is to say, the British wizarding community stayed on "declaring that nothing happened" for a whole year, and then jumped directly to the third stage "we may do something, but unfortunately nothing can be done."

During this period, Voldemort had already contacted evil magical creatures at home and abroad, formulated a comprehensive plan to seize power, and rescued his most loyal men from Azkaban.

came out

Even after Fudge stepped down and Scrimgeour took office, the Ministry of Magic was still in a chaotic period of policy adjustment, and Voldemort took advantage of this gap to assassinate potential Order members such as Amelia Burns, further reducing the Take over the resistance of the Ministry of Magic yourself.

In short, Fudge's lying behavior is a heinous crime. He delayed the best time for the wizarding world to contain Voldemort's rise, and successfully reduced the organization of the wizarding community, which Lockhart could not tolerate.

Dumbledore was helpless to Fudge's deafness. Apart from responding to the Ministry of Magic's slander with the attitude that he was not afraid of a crooked shadow, he did not do much. Kind of lie flat, because he doesn't care.

However, Lockhart did not intend to be a gentleman. He always solved problems in a more villainous way when dealing with villains.

On the first weekend after the Big Five, Lockhart was at the Wizeac Brothers Magic Shop in Diagon Alley.

"Good morning!" Lockhart greeted him as he approached the counter with ease. "How's business going recently?"

The shopkeeper, who was adjusting a precision balance, raised his head, squinted his eyes, and saw the person coming through the light of the window.

"Good morning, Gilderoy." He put down the miniature screwdriver in his hand. "The business is not bad, you can see it, I am preparing the scales that the Apothecary Association wants, and they want 120..."

"Why do you need so many scales?" Lockhart asked curiously. "They have enough people to look at dozens of pots at the same time, right?"

"Granger said that the medicinal properties of different medicinal materials will affect each other, so they have to change the tray paper after weighing a medicine, which is very troublesome. For the sake of efficiency, they

There are three scales for one pot.

U!

JJ

Lockhart whistled when he heard the words: "Good guy, it's different when you have money, big dog..."

"Yeah, you made a lot of money too? I heard you made a fortune in Muggles." Wizeek asked casually.

"Not much." Lockhart was humble. "Where's your brother?"

"He went abroad and went to Bolivia to talk about the import agent of ghost exorcism items. After the first game, we received a lot of orders in this area, and we were about to be too busy, so we could only import..."

Hearing this, Lockhart showed a sad face.

"Really? So I have to go and see Deves-Bance, you may not be able to catch up... Excuse me today, I have something to do, let's go out for a drink tonight...

After saying that, he turned around and looked ready to leave.

^Wait! "Wizeeke stopped him quickly, nephew U was so anxious, and now we have more than two people in our shop, my brother and I, we have also hired new people, the wages are really not cheap, and we can get a lot of things from hemp. After the melon is imported, it will be remodeled... Have you forgotten?"