"...So it is." Dumbledore finally understood Lockhart's position. It seems that in his heart, Lockhart has been classified as a person with "extremely flexible bottom lines and unscrupulous means to achieve goals".

In any case, if Lockhart can get out of the Ministry of Magic, then Old Deng is equivalent to having another one of his own in the Ministry of Magic, which is not a bad thing.

Chapter 63 Halloween Night

Although the atmosphere of the conversation was generally harmonious, one thing Lockhart noticed was that Dumbledore never mentioned anything about the Horcrux to him from beginning to end.

Not to mention the Horcrux, even Dumbledore said very little about the golden cup, as if he seemed to be collecting it, so he let Lockhart go to great lengths to deceive the golden cup.

Obviously, Dumbledore didn't trust himself yet.

Lockhart tacitly did not mention this matter, anyway, action is better than everything, and it is superfluous to say words of loyalty at such a time.

And Dumbledore thought so too:

"You just mentioned the trade in black magic items, which reminds me of one thing - as far as I know: a lot of black magic items and illegal goods are sold in Knockturn Alley: and there has been a large-scale black market there. , which worries me about how easy it is for the little wizard who goes to Diagon Alley to shop every year to wander there inadvertently.

If there is indeed a wizard who can make a difference there, I think I can write a letter of recommendation for him, and put him on the \"International Federation of Magic J: You know.oo I'm the president of the Federation, and I haven't recommended young talents to join the association for many years."

\"Yeah, Knockturn Alley should have been taken care of!"

Although Lockhart had never paid attention to it before, as soon as Old Deng said it, he immediately agreed, as if he had always hated the existence of Knockturn Alley and wished to get rid of it.

"Although Knockturn Alley has a long history, that's not the reason it's an extrajudicial place.

The various illicit and black market transactions that were born in the middle have made it notorious, which not only ruined the reputation of glorious Britain, but also had a negative impact on normal trade and the revenue of the Ministry of Magic. We must solve this problem as soon as possible. "He says.

Dumbledore was in a trance - because he suddenly realized that his understanding of politicians was still a little naive, just like Buffett, who had only experienced a meltdown in the U.S. stock market in the past few decades, suddenly realized that he was still a young man.

"Great, if more people paid attention to this matter, I believe it should have been resolved long ago... Gilderoy, would you like another piece of York ham?"

"Thank you, I'm full."

October at Hogwarts ended in such a quiet way that almost no one in the school knew what earth-shattering events had happened in this seemingly ordinary October.

Hermione noticed that Professor Lockhart now went to greet Dumbledore at breakfast every morning before taking his own seat for breakfast.

Although she didn't understand why this was, there was obviously some way of doing it, and judging from Dumbledore's attitude, this kind of "pleasure" behavior should never be rejected.

She told her two friends about it, but unfortunately they didn't care.

"Okay, Hermione, think about how we're going to spend Easter." Ron advised her, "Don't stare at other people's private lives all day long, they may not like it.

Although Hermione was reluctant, Ron was right, and she also felt a little jittery.

Harry didn't even have the heart to care about those. His top priority now was to train Quidditch and prepare to give Slytherin a good look. In addition, he occasionally went to the duel club with Ron to keep his points at in a forward position.

Although Harry still focuses most of his energy on Quidditch, he wants to maintain

Duel ranking is still not difficult.

Although the event has only just started, people with dueling talents in each grade have already shown their brilliance and have begun to firmly occupy the forefront of the standings.

The little wizards who returned from the Lockhart club party are the best among them, and every time they attend the party, they can deepen their understanding of the duel.

They will exchange their understanding of spells with each other, and then review the wonderful duels in the past together. They have also exchanged opinions on the solutions to common spells. The duel will naturally bring down a lot of others.

Harry had already discovered that if both parties were standing on both sides of the field and chanting spells in a proper manner: then he couldn't actually win against Hermione, because Hermione mastered far more spells than he did. Even Ron struggled to win because the opponent's prediction was stronger than his own.

If he wants to win, Harry must take the initiative to move forward and use his own skills and quick reactions to put pressure on the opponent, so that Ron's anticipation ability is useless, so that he can use his magic and cast spells Kuai's advantage, and long-range bombardment with Ron is courting death.

Although Hermione has a very high winning rate, she also has a problem, that is, as long as the duel opponent puts pressure on her, she will make a forced error and become flustered and helpless. Very poor pressure capability. Had he not taken advantage of this, Harry would have only had a 0 win rate.

Although Harry's current win rate is good, he finds that because of his lack of duels, he can barely keep the top eight in the grade standings.

"That won't work," he said to his two companions with a sullen face, "I still have class, homework, Quidditch training, and I don't have much time for duels.

You have to make trade-offs. Ron advised him, "Think about which is more important to you.

Harry thought for a while, and finally made a painful choice.

"After the match with Slytherin, I will slowly reduce the time to duel. Quidditch is more important. Oliver has wanted to win the Quidditch Cup for many years."

The other two understood his troubles very well.

"Let's do it like this... The magic that condenses the real name, we will teach you slowly after we learn it. Lockhart likes you and Hermione so much, and he will not leave you behind." Ron said

After that, he sighed again: "I have to do my best."

Just as Harry was starting to seriously consider whether he needed to put water in a duel to keep Ron in the top four of his grade, he didn't realize that he would soon not have to worry about whether to play or practice dueling. distressed.

When Halloween came, Harry looked at the rich menu, listened to the rumor that "Dumbledore invited a band of skeletons", and some wanted to pigeon off Nick's death anniversary party.

"As soon as you say it, the horse is hard to follow." Hermione categorically rejected his small plan, "You must do what you promised."

With such a principled companion, Harry didn't know whether he was lucky or unlucky, in short, he was destined to get along with a bunch of ghosts this Halloween.

Knowing the quality of the food at the death anniversary party, no one alive was willing to attend the party except for Harry. In the end, all the rest gathered in the auditorium, waiting for the opening of the Halloween party.

Lockhart did not sit on the teacher's chair, but sat on the side of the academy with the Ravenclaws, because he found that the food on the table of the little wizards seemed to be more important.

—t~ULl.-

I'll sit at the kid's table!

The eagles welcome this, of course, and Lockhart is also their senior.

So sitting together is not awkward at all.

Lockhart also noticed that several of the Weasleys didn't show up in the auditorium, just as if the others didn't care.

"Percy! This way!" Lockhart greeted the third child of the Weasleys

Among the Gryffindors who dressed up as a bunch of ghosts, Percy, who still kept a school robe at the festival, looked very different, so Lockhart saw him at a glance

Percy, though sitting on Gryffindor's side, leaned in after seeing Lockhart greet him.

"Good evening, Professor Lockhart, just in time, I have a question I want to ask you."

"Go ahead." Lockhart was in a good mood now.

"I have finished reading the book you gave me last time, but there are some things in it that I still don't quite understand... Excuse me, what kind of existence is the so-called "Party Whip"? "

\"Party whip? You actually started to notice it?" Lockhart was a little surprised

"Yes... I'm very surprised, because the so-called "Party Whip" is just a small parliamentarian, why does he have so much energy to be in charge of a party's discipline? Why should others listen to him? "

"You're asking for an idea!" Lockhart knew it all, "This involves the bicameral system of Great Britain, which is fundamentally different from the American Congress. The party whip no longer only plays a supervisory role, but controls the operation. The real power of the agenda, so the prime minister usually chooses henchmen..."

Because the place is quite noisy, they speak loudly.

Others were a little concerned about what Lockhart and Percy would say, but when they heard that they were talking about politics, they suddenly lost interest and turned to enjoy the beauty in front of them.

Food.

With food, monsters and music, who would want to talk about politics?

P.So, the results are a bit beyond imagination, I can only add another chapter, there is no way, I will do what I say.

Chapter 64 The Beginning of the Attack

Unlike other classmates who were obsessed with dueling, only Percy came to Lockhart to talk about politics, and such students were rare in Laven Fluor Academy, not to mention the famously deviant Grant School.

In the past, if Percy wanted to study political science, he had to find these things by himself, but now it is different - he has a life mentor

And Lockhart is also focusing on cultivating him, in the hope that there will be more help in the Ministry of Magic in the future.

In the end, Percy's questions were answered in detail. Satisfied, he took the pumpkin juice, substituted the drink for the wine, and toasted Lockhart before the two began to chat.

"By the way, Percy... Where are your brothers and sisters? Why can't you see them? What a great dinner tonight!" Lockhart asked.

"They?" Percy said with a distressed look, "Fred and George went to Hogsmeade to buy fireworks, and they stole a salamander from the Magical Creatures class, saying they wanted to learn from salamanders. The structure of the fire-breathing improved fireworks, making a \'Weasley firework box\'... I hope you can help to keep an eye on them, and spit them out of trouble.

And Ron, he and Harry went to Nick's death party, and I really hope they'll be back in time for dinner. Ginny said that she had been having nightmares for the past few days, so she didn't want to see ghosts and ghosts on Halloween, so she stayed in the dormitory. "

"I see." Lockhart said in his heart, "It's really not easy for you to take care of so many younger siblings."

"Isn't it?" Percy seemed to have finally found a channel to vent his grievances: "There is no peace of mind! I never knew what it means to obey the collective and make trouble all day long..."

Seeing that Percy was going to complain until midnight, Lockhart quickly waved to the other side: "Miss Cloveratt, Percy is here!"

It turned out that Percy's girlfriend Penello was wearing a pumpkin head hat looking at the long table in Gryffindor, as if looking for someone, and Lockhart stopped her.

Sure enough, Percy's complaints didn't go on.

"It's Halloween today, so let's talk about some things." Lockhart patted Percy, "Go play, there are not many times in the year when you can safely play."

Percy thought it was right, so he parted ways with Lockhart, and then got tired of hanging out with his girlfriend.

Lockhart toasted Dumbledore and sat down to eat alone.

Dumbledore did invite a band of skeletons, and it was real skeletons playing, and they were playing classical music. This kind of scene is not easy to find outside.

Lockhart is curious about how these hundreds of years old skeletons strengthen their bones. If their secrets for maintaining bones can also be used on living people, Nick Lemay probably won't have to have to spend every year because of excessive osteoporosis. Drink strong bone medicine.

All in all, it was a pleasant night, and because all the teachers and students in the school were sitting together, Lockhart didn't have to patrol around, he was very relieved.

It's interesting to say that Voldemort is "very concerned" about Harry's studies. Every year he waits for him to finish his studies that year before starting to be a monster. Now the semester has just started, even if he is doing something, he will not do it. too big.

Lockhart was about the last to leave the auditorium. Because many little witches in disguise stopped him after the party, came to him to ask for candy, and claimed that they would use a piece of clothing on the professor instead of the candy.”

How could Lockhart get what they wanted—the best time for Honey Duke candy sales was before Easter every year, how could he not order in advance.

After consuming almost six or seven pounds of candy, Lockhart finally managed to escape,

Rob out of the auditorium in front of the principal.

"It's an enviable relationship of the opposite sex," Dumbledore said behind him. "If you change the election system for the Minister of Magic to one vote for all wizards, you've got at least half the votes of the wizarding world."

Lockhart said in his heart that you envied a ghost of the opposite sex. If I hadn't known about the great relationship between you and Grindelwald who fell in love with each other and killed each other, I might have taken it seriously...

Person $, /, /,

Lockhart suddenly turned pale when he thought of this, then stopped his steps and decided to go behind the headmaster.

Dumbledore misunderstood Lockhart's meaning. He wanted to persuade him a few words, telling him to be at ease as his spokesperson in the political arena. He took Lockhart's performance as "submission"

But before he could speak, there were students in front of them hurriedly running towards them.

"Something happened, Headmaster... and Professor Lockhart. Someone attacked Filch's cat and left a line of writing on the wall." The student said to the Headmaster in a hurried tone.

Lockhart can be sure that at the moment when he heard the incident, Dumbledore Ruth's expression was definitely more relieved than surprised. After all, it is better to be attacked by a cat than by a student.

"Where?" Dumbledore asked back at the same speed.

"The third floor, over the aisle."

Dumbledore glanced back at Lockhart, who nodded at him.

\"I think this should be my duty, Headmaster, let me have a look." Dumbledore had no objection: "Let's go together."

They hurried to the third floor aisle, and met McGonagall and St.

Professor Prout and several others followed the scene around the incident.

And Snape's movements were even quicker. Before Dumbledore arrived, he was already there, staring at Harry "maliciously".

The students who were watching the scene saw the professors coming, and consciously gave them a way, and exposed the Harry Potter trio and the castle administrator Mr. Filch who surrounded the middle.

Filch was originally holding Harry Potter's shirt, shouting something, but when he saw Dumbledore coming, he let go of him, and turned to cry with snot and tears.

And Dumbledore didn't seem surprised that the Iron Triangle would appear here. He ignored Filch's cry and Harry's eyes for help, but went straight to the three of them to check the scene, while Lockhart ignored the cry of Filch and Harry's look for help. Te also followed him.

I saw Filch's cat, Mrs. Norris, all stiff and bristling, hanging under the torch holder, while a line of shining magic was written on the wall between the two windows a foot above the ground.

\"The secret room has been opened to an enemy of the heir, beware."

Dumbledore stretched out his hand to take the cat down, but suddenly found that the hem of his robe was dragged into the water one by one, and it was swimming on the ground for some reason, and there was a large pool of water left there.

Dumbledore hesitated for a moment, then resumed his actions, took off the unusually stiff cat from the torch stand, and held it up in front of him to take a closer look.

Lockhart looked down at the pool of water, then looked up again, and finally performed a "clean up" on the writing on the wall, only to withdraw his wand after finding no result.

"Come with me, Filch, and Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley, Miss Granger, you come with me too... Gilderoy, I remember your office is next to me, borrow it, you don't Would you mind?" Dumbledore said.

"I'd love to," Lockhart replied.

Chapter 65: Professor McGonagall, the Well-Intentioned Doing Bad Deed

Harry, Ron, and Hermione followed Dumbledore to Lockhart's office, full of unease.