Not to mention that there are imb things like Veritaserum in the wizarding world, even Lucius's own actions are not impeccable. He started contacting people early to remove Dumbledore. No one can hide this.

Next, Dumbledore only needs to invite a few respected seniors to come over and conduct a search of the Malfoy family's manor and villa. As long as they find anything related to black magic, they can use it as a name, right The Malfoys retaliate.

If Dumbledore did it directly, then the Snake Wizard could naturally accuse him of breaking the rules.

Because before and after the fall of Voldemort, those who were once "rebellious" had some things that were not so clean in their hands. If they wanted to pursue it, none of them could run away.

Lose.

When the war just ended that year, the wizarding world was in ruins, and the Ministry of Magic desperately needed the financial resources and connections of the Snake Sect wizards to restore the economy, so they made a compromise. And the surrender of the Snake Sect wizard is not without conditions - that is, the Ministry of Magic is prohibited from continuing to pursue the matter.

If Dumbledore chooses to repeat the old story at this time, of course the wizards of the Snake faction will resist to the end, because this involves their political life.

But if Dumbledore retaliates for the fact that he was almost dismissed as the headmaster of Hogwarts, I am afraid that most of the Snake faction can only pretend not to see it and suffer from this dumb loss, because Dumbledore's revenge is very reasonable.

Dumbledore set a bottom line for this retaliation, that is, the Malfoys must be expelled from the Hogwarts school board.

Among the 12 school directors, the four houses account for three each, but if Malfoy is expelled, there will be two remaining Slytherins, and the reaction should not be too great.

As for how painful the Ministry of Magic's hand to Hogwarts can be, it depends on everyone's joint efforts.

Snape's position in this matter was embarrassing - as the head of Slytherin, he was born to belong to the Snake faction, so he couldn't help Dumbledore to suppress his own people.

But as far as his selfishness is concerned, if Hogwarts can be more independent, as the head of the house, he will naturally have more power in his hands.

It's even unpleasant to say that it is precisely because the Snake faction can no longer put pressure on Hogwarts through the identity of the school director, they need to rely on Snape more, and the resources devoted to Snape will be more.

As he thought so, he couldn't help pinching his pocket that had been cast with the Traceless Expansion Spell.

There, the basilisk's heart, liver, and gallbladder lie there, waiting for a potions master to transform them into another form of existence.

Something as complicated as politics has nothing to do with my potions class professor.

Chapter 111 I allow you to be greedy

Compared with other newspapers, the "Daily Prophet" is still more powerful.

Before other media got the news, the news of the discovery of the Slytherin Chamber of Secrets and the killing of the monster in the Chamber of Secrets had already appeared on the fourth page of the Daily Prophet, and this was only the second day after the Chamber of Secrets incident. .

It's just that the page of this news is only the size of three cookies, and because of the "incomplete details", the newspaper just explained it briefly, without going into details.

Not only that, the "Daily Prophet" also published a large page on the front page of the Gringotts curse breaker's discovery of two earth-moving wooden ships inside the pyramid of Khufu in Egypt.

It appears that the Ministry of Magic did not want the Chamber of Secrets to attract attention, for obvious reasons. It's a pity, it's a pity, some things are out of your hands. Lockhart thought.

Although the students at Hogwarts heard about the discovery of the Chamber of Secrets, they didn't know much about it. Even the students of Gryffindor only knew a little bit, thanks to Ron the big mouth.

It's a pity that Ron has inherited the basic qualities of Gryffindor perfectly. Each version of the story told by him is slightly different, and from the perspective of the wonderful content, it is getting more and more outrageous, and the number of basilisks has gradually increased. The trend has changed from the original one to the later nine.

If there are nine basilisks, not only mice, lizards and owls, even if the students at Hogwarts are fed all the basilisks, it is estimated that they will not be full.

But Ron's nonsense also has the advantage that no student can figure out what's going on under the back room, so no one believes the more "real" versions.

The students had expected the Daily Prophet to tell them the truth, but

There is less information on the paper than they know, which undoubtedly disappoints them

Therefore, when Lockhart held the duel club event the next day, almost all the students who could come came.

Of course, their excuse was to "prepare for a knockout".

After the Chamber of Secrets incident, the long-suspended Quidditch game should have resumed, but it was already the end of February, and the middle game had been missed, and the students who had stopped training had to play as much as they could. Question mark, after much deliberation, the professors decided that this year's Quidditch Cup would simply not be held.

After losing the fun of Quidditch, students can only choose to duel if they want to vent their excess energy, so the upcoming Duel Club Knockout Tournament has become a hot topic among the students, and it is not wrong for them to use this as an excuse.

It's just that Lockhart knew that they were drunk, not drinking, and that the Harry trio would also participate in the event.

So he pushed the boat along the way, and simply turned the afternoon tea party into a summary report of the three Saviors' trip to the secret room.

However, the caliber of this "summary report" was negotiated by Dumbledore, Lockhart and the trio that morning.

Although 90% of the caliber and the truth are the same, the key is the 10%. This 10% is enough for outsiders to completely understand the mystery in the middle.

In Harry's own telling, the story seems to have become another version:

——Professor Lockhart guessed from the case where Mrs. Norris was attacked that the attacker was likely to have moved through a pipe, and it was most likely a snake, and then he told the clues to the children of the dueling club, Eyeliners were placed on the portraits of all the pipes inside the castle. As long as anyone passed by, the portraits would be notified to Lockhart.

But the murderer was more cunning than they thought, because it wasn't human at all

, but a black magic item left behind by "that person".

Until Lockhart was attacked on Christmas Day, Harry and the others were preparing for a night tour when they heard the sound of the killer bringing the basilisk into the bathroom.

Later, they told Lockhart the clue and found the entrance together, but they didn't know how to open it.

The last few people worked together to discuss, using the portrait to set up an ambush at the door of the bathroom, trying to wait for the heir of Slytherin to open the secret room before arresting it, so that everyone could get the stolen goods.

In the end, the murderer finally couldn't hold back his desire to kill and attacked Ginny. Several people who had been prepared for a long time immediately followed quietly and entered the secret room together.

Next, several people entered the secret room together, and three students assisted Lockhart to defeat the black magic items left by Voldemort and the basilisk hidden in the secret room for a thousand years. This part of the content is not made up at all.

According to this statement, more than 80% of the credit for defeating the monster in the secret room belongs to Lockhart. The three students only got clues by chance, and they assisted Lockhart in defeating the basilisk.

Lockhart once again greedy for his own, but this time it was Dumbledore and Harry and other parties willingly.

Ron was bribed by Lockhart with "member money" for selling snakeskin, and Harry didn't want others to know that he was Parseltongue. Lockhart took the responsibility for himself or helped him.

As for Hermione...

"Professor Lockhart should have done the most credit," she said to Harry and Ron.

In addition to these little wizards, Dumbledore also wanted Lockhart to "take up the responsibility".

After all, he had confessed to Harry and the others when they were on the same caliber. Harry and the others must not reveal to anyone that he had a piece of Voldemort's soul in him from now on.

If Harry and the others were telling the truth and telling the public they guessed the way the basilisk moved because Harry heard someone talking, it would be a no-brainer.

Therefore, Lockhart must be "ashamed" for the credit for discovering the basilisk clue, otherwise Harry's matter will be exposed.

He also wanted Harry to learn Occlumency, if possible.

"Although you should have left your job during the summer vacation, I hope you can go to Dursley's house and teach Harry how to close his brain... Even if he can't learn it, I hope he can leave a good foundation." Dumbledore deliberately exhorted.

Lockhart agreed.

"It's not just Harry, Mr. Colin Creevey in the first year, I'm afraid I have to go to tutoring too." He sighed, "He has been in the hospital for half a year because he was petrified. It is estimated that the exam at the end of the semester is It's going to crash for sure."

"It's best if you are willing to take on this responsibility, but the first-year course is not difficult." Even if you don't study hard, you should be able to deal with it for about a month before the exam... Isn't it, Harry, Ron ? "

The two nodded without thinking, but then realized they had been fooled.

"Learning at the end of the term...because I usually practice Quidditch at 11..." He explained awkwardly.

But then Old Bee and Lockhart laughed in unison and told Harry that he

teased again

Chapter 112 is ready to end

After listening to Harry's statement, the students of the dueling club applauded.

Compared with the incomplete news in the Daily Prophet and the increasingly outrageous Gryffindor-style rumors, the first-hand information from this person who has experienced it is obviously more trustworthy.

"It's really good luck," Cedric said. "Fortunately, it was Professor Lockhart who came to teach when the Chamber of Secrets was opened. If it was someone else...I can't even imagine what the result would be."

Others nodded in agreement, which made Lockhart feel proud.

"It's no use flattering." Lockhart joked cheerfully with the little wizards, "You still need to deal with the next duel yourself. I won't give you a small stove just because you flattered."

The little wizards laughed—no need for Lockhart to start a small stove, and the dueling skills they communicated by themselves were enough to keep them in the top eight in the grade.

Near the end of the semester, the situation in the Duel Club standings has almost become clear.

Among the fourth and sixth graders, the more stable ones rarely miss club activities, but the frequency of their own duels has become less and less frequent, and their dueling styles have become somewhat unpredictable.

Lockhart could see at a glance that they were obviously preparing for a big move and wanted to leave it to their opponents in the knockout round.

Those whose points rankings are not so stable will suffer slightly. In order to stabilize the top eight rankings, they have to use their real skills to compete with others, and they have played a lot of good games.

Most of the people who can participate in Lockhart club activities are in the top five of the grade. What they are most concerned about now is whether the "condensed real name" promised by Lockhart can be realized.

"I ordered three bottles of Flux from Mr. Granger, Mr. Slughorn, and Professor Snape. Professor Snape's bottle, I believe you have heard, will be ready in half a month. A bottle of Fuling is enough for a dozen people to drink, and each of them takes a small sip. If you are confident enough, you can start thinking about the content of your real name now, T” Lockhart promises.

Students react differently - some appear eager, others

It is very calm, while the fourth grade students are a little disillusioned.

\"What?" Lockhart noticed this keenly.

The fourth graders showed a helpless expression and looked at Cedric Diggory.

No way, if there is no accident, the champion of their level will definitely be Cedric.

The strength shown by Cedric is a bit exaggerated. Not only did he learn all the magics on the magic list Lockhart gave him before Easter, but he even mastered the silent spell in advance, and his skills and reactions were far superior to his peers. Not to mention, transfiguration, herbal medicine, and potions are still very good grades. He is simply a person without dead ends.

Especially the little wizards from magical families, who grew up with the nagging voices of their parents, "Look at the Diggory children".

For this kind of "other people's children", even if they once had the idea of ​​confrontation, they were defeated by Cedric in various competitions for a long time.

It can be said that such a person was chosen as a warrior of Hogwarts, and even Lockhart secretly felt that if such a child was allowed to grow up, he was likely to achieve a higher level than the three saviors. Achievement.

Worse still, Cedric was never proud.

"A duel is not weightlifting, nor is it more powerful than magic. Any negligence or instant decision-making mistakes may lead to an irreversible defeat. With so many excellent classmates, I don't have full confidence to win." Derek said.

Although he was being humble, after hearing what he said, the students in the same class were even more desperate.

Well, even the possibility of underestimating the enemy no longer exists, so how can we fight.

Relatively speaking, the competition between the second and third graders is much more intense, because they don't know much magic, and very few can learn stun spells, plus everyone has a distinct personality, and the style of dueling is on the contrary. Showing a posture of blooming flowers.

Compared with the students of the same grade, Harry and the others, the biggest advantage is not how many spells they have mastered, but that they have all seen big scenes.

They have gone deep into the Forbidden Forest and faced three-headed dogs and basilisks directly, so naturally they will no longer be afraid of those "little things"; and Harry, who has defeated Voldemort twice, naturally does not think that people of the same age are so good Difficult to deal with, and this confidence makes them more calm than other peers.

As Lockhart once said repeatedly in class, in a duel, calm and composure are often more important than the number of spells he has mastered.

If nothing else, the champions of all grades should be gathering this weekend.

The little wizards who came to the party were content to get the full event description from Harry himself. Immediately after the announcement was made, they couldn't wait to go out, looking like they were going to show off their first-hand news to others.

However, Lockhart left a few people, ready to talk to them about the expanded student union.

"Mr Percy Weasley in Gryffindor, Penelope in Ravenclaw

Miss Rivat, Mr Cedric Diggory of Hufflepuff, and Slater

Mr. Perry King o Derek of Lin, the four of you stay here, I'll discuss it with you

-something.

Hearing the names of several people Lockhart left behind, the other students were a little curious.

Because the level of dueling of these four people is not the best, among these people present, they can only be regarded as mediocre, and when it comes to Quidditch, only the latter two are still good at it.

However, Lockhart was very satisfied with the candidates he stayed: one person in each of the four colleges, prefects and ordinary students, male and female, white and black, and political correctness could not be more correct.

After the rest of the people left, he said his plan.

"...For some unfortunate reasons, this year's Quidditch Cup has been cancelled, and the school has lost a regular source of money. It's a pity."

Hearing his opening remarks, both Cedric and Slytherin's Derek showed expressions of regret - they were both members of the Quidditch team.

The Quidditch competition held once a year by the four academies is a Hogwarts tradition. In Master Rowling's description, although there are only a few hundred students at Hogwarts, in Harry's third grade Quidditch. In the final of the Cup, there were 200 people in the stands supporting Slytherin, and this only accounted for a quarter of the audience.

This also means that the audience at the scene is not only the students of Hogwarts, but also some people outside the school to watch the battle, most likely Hogsmeade and some graduated adults.

There's no reason these people shouldn't charge them for tickets, right?

Chapter 113: Life is like a play: it's all about acting

Because of the relationship between the secret room, Hogwarts has lost four games of ticket revenue this year, and the finals, which account for the majority of revenue, are gone, which is worse for Hogwarts, which is not very well-off.

So Lockhart was going to come up with a plan—that was to use the back room, hold a graduate homecoming reception, and get the money back.

Although Professor McGonagall wasn't too keen on this, Dumbledore had other plans.

Because Lockhart told him that profitable off-campus programs like this one are hard to come by, and if it is a Muggle university, they will not give up this opportunity to ask for donations, such as Oxford, Cambridge and London Economics. .

The reason why these universities can maintain a certain degree of economic independence from the government is because they rely on tuition fees from international students, donations from graduate alumni and such off-campus profit-making projects.

If Hogwarts can gradually gain financial autonomy through this, then Hogwarts will be much less controlled by the Ministry of Magic than it is now.

This sentence really moved Dumbledore. After he was almost ousted by Malfoy's conspiracy just now, he was most worried that the Ministry of Magic would interfere in Hogwarts affairs, thereby hindering his plan to destroy Voldemort.