In the past month, in addition to "reviewing" the spells that Lockhart had learned before and preparing for lessons, what Lockhart did most was to have a good relationship with his parents and two sisters.

As a half-blood wizard, Lockhart's advantage is that he can take both sides. He will not give up this advantage easily. Taking the path of pure magic will only make him subject to the family of pure-blood wizards, even if he becomes Minister of Magic. Just be treated as a puppet.

Just like Nobby Ritchie (1962-1968), the first Muggle minister in wizarding history, who is said to have been murdered by the Malfoy family with a plague.

In the same way, Muggle-born wizards will be regarded by Lockhart as their base.

After they graduate and enter the wizarding society, they will naturally hope to obtain a position commensurate with their abilities and wealth in the wizarding world, and they will become their most intimate interest spokespersons.

"Good day, Mr. Mason!"

Lockhart stuck his head out the window and greeted the Masons waiting by the roadside.

"Hello, Professor Lockhart."

Mrs. Mason responded with a smile and looked very good.

Unlike the excited children and his wife, Mr. Mason was suspicious, and he hesitated when Lockhart invited them into the car.

Seeing his hesitation, Lockhart didn't care either.

"The other eleven children and their parents are in the car. You are the last family. On the way to Diagon Alley, you can chat for a while, and I will talk when we get there.

On the way to introduce you to the basic situation of Hogwarts. "He says.

The confusion on Mason's face deepened: "You mean, all in the car?"

He looked around subconsciously, wanting to know where there was a second car.

"It's all in this car," Lockhart corrected. "Sure, you can drive yourself if you want, but I'm not sure your car can keep up. Well, ladies first, Mrs Mason, please. you…"

Before she finished speaking, Mrs. Mason got into the back door of the car with the help of her son, and Sam also got in.

Mr. Mason stared at his pot-bellied belly, feeling that the back seat of the Lotus might not fit him.

But soon there was a surprise cry from the car: "Dad! Come in quickly, it's super spacious inside!"

Mr. Mason had to bow his head and step into the car.

Then he was shocked by what looked like a classroom in the car: 12 noisy little wizards were sitting together, discussing the wizarding school and the lessons to be learned, and the women were In exchange for beauty products presented by Lockhart and himself.

Although there are a lot more people, everyone has their own seat, and there is still room to spare.

Soon Mr Mason was asking the same question that many Muggle men had asked before.

"How much does this car cost? Where can I buy it?" he asked Lockhart.

Lockhart said without hesitation: "It will not be sold to non-magic people for the time being, unless the Magic Road and Traffic Management Department changes the law... But when your son is 17 years old, it should not be difficult to buy one."

"That's fast." Mr. Mason didn't take it seriously at all, "but I hope

It looks like a Bentley.

Lockhart laughed silently: "Arthur Weiss of Muggle Substance Abuse

Lai is working on ways to change the relevant laws, and you should be able to do so. "

A rich person is a rich person. The first thought when seeing a good thing is how to keep it for himself. Instead, money is just a symbol, as much as you want.

Very good, he likes this kind of spirit.

Sure enough, Mr. Mason's eyes brightened: "You mean, we can also use money to influence... I mean, lobby the professionals who make relevant laws?"

"Wizards are people too," Lockhart said meaningfully.

Mr. Mason understood.

Seeing that he seemed to understand something, Lockhart stopped mentioning the matter, and he still understood the reason why it was too much.

So he cleared his throat and cast an amplifying spell: "Ladies and gentlemen! I'm honored to be the guide to show you the way to Hogwarts.

Although I can take you to Diagon Alley in a more direct way, considering that in the next few years, young gentlemen and ladies may have to come and buy what they need, we will still go the traditional route this time. - Enter the Leaky Cauldron at One Diagon Alley from Charing Cross and enter Diagon Alley through its back door. "

"Charling Cross Street?" Someone objected. "I often go there for deliveries, but I've never seen a crappy bar."

"It's the Leaky Cauldron. You'll see it, I promise," Lockhart said, "and you'll be surprised how many times you've been here without noticing it once... Sit down, everyone, I want Lock the door and start the car."

The man asking the question seemed skeptical, but the car under his **** was more convincing than anything, so he wisely chose not to comment.

Around Charles Cross Street, Lockhart dropped off passengers, then

The car turned into a corner.

Taking advantage of the fact that there was no one left or right, he hurriedly used the Shrinking Charm to make the car smaller, stuffed it into his pocket, and then reunited with the freshmen.

But just as he parked, the new wizarding wizards had found a place

"The Leaky Cauldron... here, Dad, right here!"

"What are you talking about, Enoch? Isn't this a record store?"

"It's right here! Take a good look, in the middle of the record store and the bookstore! It's tattered, it's very conspicuous, isn't it?"

Io I think you must be too tired, boy, these two stores are obviously next to each other. "

"No! Apparently there's an old alcoholic in there who's pointing at us and laughing," Enoch argued.

Lockhart hurriedly took a few steps: "Please be quiet! Don't attract the attention of others. I forgot to cast a counter-curse on you just now. I'm really sorry!"

He reached into the side pockets of his jacket and clenched his wand.

"Implication lifted!" he whispered.

The Muggle parents were stunned to find that a filthy and dirty tavern was suddenly "squeezed" out of the middle of the two stores, and through the window they could still see the graceful figures in the tavern, the cups and cups staggered. The chatter of the conversation was also faintly audible.

Judging by the dust on the signboard, it's clearly not the first day this bar has been located here. How could I have not noticed this before?

"The name of the bartender here is Tom, and he's a good man, much better than another Tom. The way into Diagon Alley is behind, please come with me," said Lockhart.

Chapter Ten Professor Severus Snape

The sudden influx of a large group of Muggles immediately attracted the attention of the wizards in the bar.

丿亠",

They are also experienced, and they know that the Muggles who come here are likely to be new Hogwarts families, but they are still curious.

Yes, not only are Muggles curious about wizards, wizards are also curious about Muggles.

The freshmen looked a little restrained under the gaze of the wizards around them, and the parents were not much better, no one liked being watched like this.

"It's so impolite." A woman said in a low voice.

The owner of the bar, Tom, noticed them as they stood outside the store, and asked the waiter to open the back door of the bar early. Seeing Lockhart coming in, he immediately pointed to a corner of the store.

"He's waiting for you there, Big Star."

Lockhart knew who he was referring to, but he greeted Boss Tom very kindly before looking at the slowly standing man in the corner.

The man was wearing a black wizard's robe, his expression was serious, his long hair hung down like kelp and covered most of his face, and the whole person was enveloped in a layer of aura that could make the air freeze, with writing all over his body. Full of "Don't approach strangers"

Lockhart walked over quickly: "Hello, Severus, I kept you waiting.

"I don't think our relationship is good enough to be called by Christian name...and Lockhart, you're five minutes late," Severus Snape said coldly.

Obviously, he didn't like Lockhart.

And it's not just because Lockhart stole his coveted Defence Against the Dark Arts teaching

Granted a post, and its own character is indeed not very compatible with Lockhart's "flower peacock".

Lockhart didn't take it seriously, and the smile on his face still didn't cut in half: "I offended, Professor Snape. It rained yesterday, and the weeds grew a lot. One of the students insisted on fulfilling the contract. , come over after mowing the lawn for the neighbor, so I took a little time to help him."

"Understandable, but I thought the flexibility of your brain would be enough to make up for this time, but now it doesn't seem to be." Snape still had no good voice.

"Okay, the delay is enough, let's go quickly, the next time for my Yu is four hours later."

"But I want you to say hello to the parents of these new students first," Lockhart insisted. "That's a minimum of courtesy."

Snape was about to turn around, but stopped after hearing this.

Lockhart could see clearly, and Snape's lips twitched as if he wanted to say something, but in the end, nothing came out.

Then he gave Lockhart a stern look, and then walked up to the group of new parents with his head held high.

"My parents of new students are Severus Snape, the head of Hogwarts Slytherin House, and also the professor of potions at Hogwarts. oo don't have to salute me, Because your children are not destined to get into Slytherin, you can ask the person who brought you there why.

But no matter which house they're assigned to, even Hufflepuff: I hope they take Potions with more care, because I usually don't show any sympathy when it comes to deductions and exams . "

After all, he nodded hastily, as a salute.

The parents hurriedly returned the salute, but Snape turned around before they could do it.

Lockhart knew that Snape was not a rude person, but as the head of the Slytherin House in the "Pure Blood Wizarding Land", he couldn't be too affectionate with Muggles, otherwise those pure blood wizards would have an opinion on him.

But it is precisely because of this that he was sent by Dumbledore. Although pure-blood wizards dare not openly harm these Muggles, it is not impossible to make fun of them a little bit, and Snape can save a lot of trouble here.

He hurriedly stepped forward to smooth things out: "As he said, this is my colleague, Professor Snape, who has always been very strict in educating students, perhaps second only to Gryffindor's dean, Professor McGonagall... Please Follow us, everyone, we're going to go shopping."

The freshmen were stunned by Snape's aura just now, and it wasn't until Lockhart came over that they remembered what they were here for, and hurriedly followed.

In the back alley of the bar, Snape took out his wand and stopped in front of a wall.

"Come here and look good! I only do it once. If you can't remember it, you can only ask others next time!"

The little wizards hurried up and tried to see more clearly.

"There's a trash can here, it won't move, then count three pieces up from here, then two pieces across, and click on it."

As his words fell, Snape's wand also clicked on the brick of the wall.

After being tapped by the wand, the brick seemed to have been suddenly pulled out from the inside, revealing a gap. Then the bricks on both sides of the gap began to roll along the wall on both sides.

"Easy, right? I bet even a watery troll can remember it after seeing it once."

Ignoring the wide-eyed wizards and parents behind him, Snape continued

Go forward.

"Come with me if you remember, first go to Gringotts to exchange coins, and then buy textbooks, robes and wands. As for their potion materials and garbage, I will check it myself this year, so as not to have inferior copper garbage to charge up. Burned just because a scabies potion was added with porcupine quills before it was removed from the fire."

Everyone was still looking at each other, obviously not understanding what Snape was talking about.

At this time, only Lockhart can come forward: "As I said at the beginning, Professor Snape is more... unsmiling, but his skills in potions can also be ranked in the top three in the wizarding world. Well, let's Follow along!"

Everyone quickly followed Lockhart and Snape to the legendary Gringotts Bank.

Walking on the road, several new students who met in the car had secretly muttered from behind:

"Did you hear that? Mason? He said the potions professor was Dean I of Slytherin."

■

"And said that Headmaster Gryffindor was stricter."

"I remember it was mentioned in The Magical Me that Hogwarts has four houses, and in addition to them there are Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff."

"I'd love to be in Ravenclaw, sounds like an elite house... Hufflepuff is fine if that doesn't work, I don't want to be in that professor's house

"Speaking of which, how is the division? The professor chooses. Should we let Dad do it in advance?"

"You mean bribery? I don't recommend rushing into action when you haven't figured out the professor's character. It's very risky."

Lockhart didn't know that his introduction just now influenced the choice of a large group of young wizards, but he knew that he must consciously maintain the honor of Hogwarts in front of outsiders.

Yao, and showed "consistency" with other professors, so even if he didn't agree with Snape's cold attitude, he wouldn't say it in front of outsiders.

Whether he likes it or not, after he borrows the power of Hogwarts to enter the Ministry of Magic, he will be labeled as a "Hogwarts family". If so, what good does it do him to have a bad relationship with the Hogwarts professor?

Chapter 11: On the Attraction of the Wizarding World to Muggles

Although in previous years Gringotts Bank only allowed the parents of Muggle students to exchange 200 Galleons, this year's situation is more special, because of the relationship between Lockhart and Ragno, Gringotts suddenly also has the right to sterling. demand.

"Within 200 Galleons, it is calculated at the exchange rate of 5 pounds 1 Galleon, the part between 200 and 500 is based on the exchange rate of 6:1, and the part between 500 and 1500 is 7 pounds per Galleon, temporarily not accepting more than 1500 Galleons exchange," Griphook the goblin introduced to the Muggle parents.

Snape was obviously a little strange when he heard this, but he still chose not to comment after raising his eyebrows.

After the Goblin Rebellion, the wizards handed over control of the Gringotts Bank to the Goblins in exchange for not allowing the Goblins to have their wands. As long as the bank still provides services to the Wizards, the Wizards cannot interfere in the Goblin's business.

So as long as they didn't prevent freshmen from enrolling, no matter how the exchange rate was adjusted, it was up to the fairies, and Snape didn't care.

On the way to Gringotts Bank, because of curiosity, the parents of these students also looked at the price signs in the roadside window shop, and also had a preliminary understanding of the purchasing power of the wizarding currency.

"I'll exchange 10,000 pounds, and I'll give you the extra as a tip," said Mrs. Mason richly.