Dobby, too, came to see the status quo—that freedom is not cheap, and that it is free.

After that, all your choices are yours to take responsibility for.

In front of Lockhart, Dobby seemed a little embarrassed at first, but when Harry Potter assured him that Lockhart was definitely a good guy, Dobby's trust in Lockhart suddenly rose a lot.

Lockhart noticed that although Dobby claimed to be a free elf, the traces of being enslaved by the Malfoys were still on him, and he seemed extremely squeamish when talking about wages, like those young upstarts. Gudanzi is the same as when he asks Party A for money

Like players in English football clubs, they are paid weekly, even if not weekly.

"Let's take a look, I remember that the weekly salary of the clerk in Lihen Bookstore is 10 Galleons, and we also calculated according to this - the basic salary is 10 Galleons, but because I can't buy you unemployment insurance, pension insurance, Medical insurance, so it is calculated based on the salary plus 30%. As for transportation and communication expenses, because you will Apparate, I don’t need to pay for this money, so I should supply you, but I will cover you at the same time Food and lodging, this part is equivalent to reaching…

In this way, the weekly salary is 13 Galleons, one day off a week, and you are allowed to take half a month of paid annual leave every year, how about that? "

Chapter One Hundred and Twenty Lockhart's View on Mate Selection

For Lockhart's condition, Harry and Hermione nodded repeatedly, thinking it was very fair, and Ron was even a little envious, as if he wanted to go to Lockhart to work.

But Dobby was taken aback: "Uh...not so much, sir. One Galleon a week, one day off a month. Dobby prefers work to wages! Work makes me happy!"

...if the world was full of reverse bargaining employees like you, the capitalists would probably be ecstatic. Lockhart said heartily.

"Dobby!" Hermione was very surprised. "That's too little!"

"A lot! Dobby needs wages to buy clothes and socks, but other than that, Dobby doesn't need anything! Dobby can eat bugs!" Dobby took the initiative to lower his price.

"Eat bugs?" Lockhart gave a disgusted expression, "It's better not to, although I don't have a habit of cleanliness, but I don't allow too many bugs in my house... If you want to apply, then I have to follow my meal arrangement, carbohydrates, protein, fiber, vitamins must be taken into account... But I hope you don't eat pork in front of me when you eat pork. In order to keep in shape, I have been on a diet. "

"My God!" Dobby was moved to tears, "As expected, people are divided, you are so kind and generous! The great Harry Potter, his friends are just as great! More Than actually can eat pork."

Don't talk about Harry, even Lockhart was a little baffled this time: "Is pork precious?"

But Ron shrugged: "Wild boars and domestic pigs are very difficult to use magic to transform, so making pork is much more time-consuming and more expensive than making lamb... My mother

I don't really like making pork chops.

After listening to this sentence, Harry suddenly remembered the scene when Hagrid failed to turn his cousin Dudley into a pig, but only made him grow a pig tail.

Well, Hagrid, I know why now.

Because of Dobby's fierce resistance to wages, even fighting to the death, Lockhart was embarrassed to add clauses such as nondisclosure agreements and advance notice to leave. Lockhart gave his reasons for establishing these terms, and Dobby agreed, and the matter was settled.

In the presence of the trio, Lockhart and Dobby signed an employment contract in triplicate, formally

However, due to Dobby's strong insistence, his weekly salary was still set at one gold Galleon, but Lockhart added some bonus clauses on it - but if Dobby did well, his weekly income should be able to Reach 3-4 coins.

With Hermione and the others as "notaries", they also got a contract in their hands.

"It's unbelievable." Hermione felt a little uneasy, "I actually lowered my salary... Are house-elves as miserable as Dobby?"

Ron curled his lips: "You can be content, other house-elves can't even get a contract."

Hermione sighed: "Fortunately, only those ancient wizard families have them. There are not many elves. There are not many elves that we need to rescue in the future."

Ron showed an unbelievable expression: "Rescue? Let's not talk about that... But Hogwarts also has house-elves? And there are hundreds more."

"?" Hermione's eyes widened immediately.

"It's in the kitchen... don't you think that everything we eat every day is conjured up by magic?" Fred and George were often seen there when they swam to the kitchen at night. "

Hermione stopped suddenly.

"Are we actually enjoying it all the time?" she asked in disbelief. Harry and Ron looked at each other, and they could both see their sound fields in each other's eyes.

/W/Lb\'

Yes, we can have peace of mind.

Hermione looked at the contract in her hand and suddenly thought, "We should let all house-elves get such a labor contract. This can be used as a template."

Harry and Ron sighed and they knew that Hermione was on a whim again.

"It's impossible." Ron shrugged, "not to mention that none of us want to pay for it, and it's them...you can ask them when you have a chance, and they probably don't want to be free."

"Nonsense, of course they want freedom, you see Dobby." Hermione said without hesitation, "And aren't there good people like Professor Lockhart and Dumbledore among wizards?"

"The question is whether every house elf is as weird as Dobby, and not everyone is like Lockhart and Dumbledore... wealthy enough to not care about the elf's hiring fee, and not so much about what other people say to them. his opinion."

Ron shut up in time, so Xuan didn't reveal the word "weird" as well. Then again, all Ravenclaws are kind of weird, and they don't really care what other people think.

Hermione disagreed: "Let's wait and see. Even if you don't support it, Lockhart will support me."

Harry and Ron stuck their tongues out behind her, and the brothers had the same helpless expression.

Lockhart didn't know that the contract he drafted was being used as a template again.

But even if he knew, he would just laugh it off and not be proud of it.

Because it's not a glorious thing.

As a species free to Apparate at Hogwarts, Dobby soon got his first job - returning to Lockhart's house in London and cleaning it, while delivering a message to Lockhart's mother. , tell her that now her family has become a family with house-elves.

Although it's the paid kind.

Lockhart doesn't care what others think of him for "breaking the rules" and paying house-elves.

Anyway, under this capitalist employment relationship, the lower-level workers seem to be free, but in fact the upper-level workers’ ability to exploit and control the bottom is expanded rather than reduced.

Money is just a value symbol. Even if they scatter the money, the money will still flow back to them through various means, so it is not worth mentioning. What they really need to pay attention to is the control over the channels and the underlying ecology. With this, you can rely on others to earn back how much money you spend.

The employment relationship not only relieves the moral burden of the powerful, but also relieves them of their responsibilities to the lower-level - anyway, if they can't work, they will be fired, and what they pay is that it means very little to them. money.

It seems like a loss, but in fact it makes a lot of money. Lockhart can't wait for more of this kind of good thing.

It's just that not long after he sent Dobby home, Dobby returned to his office with Mrs. Lockhart's message.

"It's certainly a good thing to have a house elf take the initiative to defect to, but it's nothing in terms of your current achievements. On the contrary, I once said that I want you to find someone to take care of yourself. That's not what I meant, you should hurry up and find someone to take care of you. Marry a good girl, not a house-elf, and you're not too young. "The marriage urging from his mother immediately let Lockhart know that there are some things that can't be avoided, but he still doesn't want to find someone to go over because he is too arrogant.

Don't look at him like a sea king, he is polite to all ladies, but at the same time, he doesn't look down on any woman who can be deceived by his sweet words

Because they are so stupid.

Life is a painful process of self-transformation, you can have fun in time, sleep with a cup of milk tea tomorrow and wake up naturally, but for those who stay in place like this, Lockhart may on the surface appreciate each other's "free and easy" and "Little fortunate" attitude towards life, but from the bottom of my heart, I look down on each other.

As for there are other women, who are so strong in fame and fortune that they can smash their heads for vanity, but turn a blind eye to those who truly care about her, and would rather indulge in the flattery of others and the covetousness of their flesh. The brain man Lockhart has also seen a lot, and looked down on it even more.

It's not that the pursuit of material things is bad, but at least you have to be smart enough to know what's most important, right?

So in the end, Lockhart's pursuit of a life partner has only the most important two - not vain, not shallow.

Of course, in addition to this, the more beautiful this person, the better, and Lockhart is also somewhat confident in his current appearance.

But so far, he has never found such a woman. Maybe he can maintain a good relationship with many witches or even beyond friendship, but even if the physical distance between the two sides is negative, those women have never approached his heart.

You might say Lockhart is too narcissistic or too demanding, but he really doesn't want to take things lightly.

Wizards live much longer than Muggles, even if they get married at 30, they can live to a year or two

There are also many people who are 100 years old. Is he going to get along with a woman he despises day and night for the next 100 years?

It is precisely because of Lockhart's view of mate selection that he has not married until now, not even a true soul mate.

As for the marriage urging from his mother, Lockhart decided to use a work escape to prevaricate it.

\"I'm too busy. I have to prepare lessons, arrange for the duel club, and serve as one of the school representatives to receive the upcoming guests. Let's talk about this in the middle of the year."

He tried to use this kind of rhetoric to get away for the time being, but he also knew that he could escape, but he couldn't escape for a lifetime.

Even though he was still in the haze of the secret room a few days ago, on the morning of February 14, Lockhart still received a mountain of fan greetings and Valentine's Day cards, occasionally interspersed with a few small square boxes containing fur. Bear toys, rosettes, chocolates and all kinds of textiles woven with human hair.

Although it’s good to be an idol all the time, but one day he still has to form a real family. It is actually difficult for politicians without a “family” to gain a foothold in the political arena, because it is not close to the people, and it is not easy for voters to develop empathy.

He shook his head and decided to put the trouble behind him.

Chapter 121: A world where rational people suffer

In late March, the semi-finals of the Duelist Club were finally completed.

In order to avoid the ranking error caused by the disparity in strength, Lockhart used a double-elimination system. Although this will lead to a lot more games, considering the purpose of running a club, this is not a bad thing.

Slytherin became the biggest winner of the duel competition with the advantage of organization. He won the championship and runner-up in the third and fifth grades in 7 grades, and entered the finals in all five grades. The limelight can be described as unparalleled. .

Relatively speaking, the Lion House is a bit miserable. Although they also won the first runner-up in the second year with Harry Potter and Hermione Granger, only fourth year George Weasley and sixth year Oliver Wood into the final.

It seems that the lack of organization is indeed a big problem. After all, the improvised spontaneous anti-snake courtyard club is no match for the foresighted unity.

For this reason, Little Lion Yumen was reprimanded by the parents.

These lion parents are very reluctant to see their children lose to the young snakes. The competition between the two factions can be said to be ubiquitous.

"You lack unity and organization, and it's not enough to just try to do your best. Whether it's a lion or a Griffin, when you hunt, it's a group hunt," their parents warned.

However, the most surprising thing was not the Lion House, but the Eagle House. Among their seven grades, only Samuel Mason, a grade-one, entered the final grade, and the rest of the grades were wiped out.

You know, even Guanyuan has fourth-grader Cedric Diggory and seventh-grader Kevin Hopwood entering the finals, and this is still in

Kevin Hopwood was distracted to go to the British Gobstone Championship.

Although Professor Flitwick usually smiles when dealing with people, but after seeing this result, he still covered his face in pain.

When he was young, he was a duel champion anyway, but the performance of the students in his school in the duel couldn't help but make him feel shameless.

In fact, in the quarterfinals, the number of people selected by the Eagle Court can completely compete with the other quarters, at least not less than the Swollen Court, and even in the quarterfinals, it is not far behind the Lion Court, but it is in the end that you die? You need willpower and When he was brave, Takayin was defeated.

It seems that these little eagles did not give up all the determination to maintain the glory of the academy.

In the sixth-grade class, Flitwick pounded on the small blackboard, and rarely got angry.

"Rhythm! Rhythm! Where has the rhythm gone? I can understand your prudence, but why is your own rhythm out of whack after your enemies show resolve?"

In order to compete in the dueling club, he actually secretly taught some tricks to using magic power. From small spells, the spells are gradually enlarged, and when casting high-power spells, they will become more layered and paragraphic. Widen, the power becomes larger when using small spells.

What annoys him the most is that at the last moment of the duel, when the opponents in other courtyards start to exchange injuries with them and show their determination to win the victory regardless of everything, the little eagles will become jealous, worry about gains and losses, and then Some are timid, and the rhythm is messed up. In fact, as long as they continue to remain calm and cast spells at their own pace, the opponent will not have a chance at all.

The little eagles were speechless—after all, we are all human beings, not cold machines, and calmness is easy to say: but there are probably not many people who can remain calm in a critical moment.

Besides, it's just an academy club activity, and the prize is just a relatively rare magic. As long as you understand the principle, you can cast it yourself without hurting yourself.

Under this kind of psychology, Ravenclaws, who are known for their rationality, will naturally not compete for this championship.

As the dean, Flitwick knew this kind of psychology of the Ravenclaws all too well, but he couldn't solve it, because it belonged to Ravenclaw's "systematic contradiction".

He can't tell the students that you should also learn from the Lion House and the Snake House, and regard honor as your life, right? In that case, is Ravenclaw still Ravenclaw?

At lunch, Professor Flitwick approached Lockhart and told him about his distress.

"Look, we Ravenclaw are not lacking in courage - after all, you are also from our academy. But are we going to watch other academies beat us in this project in the coming days?"

Hearing the old dean ask this, Lockhart put down his fork.

"If you don't mind, I'll go back to the common room at night, and I have something to say," he said.

Flitwick was overjoyed: "You're going to convince them? That's really helpful.

"It's not a persuasion. I just help them analyze it. I don't know what the result will be." Lockhart smiled.

Although he didn't guarantee anything, Flitwick sensed his confidence in his tone.

So Flitwick simply ignored Lockhart's self-effacing words: "...you can come forward and tell them your journey from a Ravenclaw to an adventure master, so they might be braver."

On the contrary, I am going to solve the problem the Ravenclaw way. Lockhart Heart

Say.

Because Eagle Academy does not have a password, whether it is a professor or a student, as long as he can answer the question on the door knocker, he can enter, so Lockhart did not ask Flitwick about the password at all.

Originally, he wanted to sneak in with the students, but he could just answer the question asked by the door knocker, so he went straight over.

"Excuse me" which two words (wrds) can contain a thousand letters (letters)?"

Lockhart didn't hesitate: "Owl House (wlHuse, letter^ has the meaning of \"letter\'). "

The knocker opened the door and let Lockhart in.

So when the afternoon class ended and the Ravenclaws who had returned from club activities and the library returned to the lounge, they found Gilderoy Lockhart sitting in the middle of the lounge.

And when Professor Flitwick wanted to come and see the situation, Lockhart had already begun to preach to these little eagles the "obvious learning" in Muggle universities - game theory.

We all admit that extraordinary reason and sober judgment are the foundation of our Ravenclaw's foothold, but the problem is also here - that is, the enemy also knows very well that we are all rational people.

-Once let the other party know that we are rational enough, then we also lose some kind of deterrence at the same time, and the premise of the theory similar to \"pirate points gold coins\' is that all people are rational people - this does not exist. "

It can only be said that there are still many smart people in Yingyuan, and they immediately understood Lockhart's sound field.

"You mean, \'sanity\' will bring disaster to us too?" someone asked.

"In a sense yes."