The professors at Hogwarts also said goodbye politely, since Lockhart was the type to get along very well as a colleague.

Chapter 140 Domestication

After a night in Hogsmeade, Lockhart Apparated back to his London residence the next day.

Although Dobby doesn't have the kind of stupid loyalty of other house-elves because of his freedom, he still does a good job. At least his house can be said to be clean and spotless. look.

For this, Lockhart generously rewarded Dobby ten Galleons, and encouraged him a few words in his ecstatic gratitude to let him do it well.

Then he returned to his study, closed the curtains, and began to check his gains for a while.

The biggest gain is naturally the golden crown of Ravenclaw. As a member of Ravenclaw, he deserves this.

Thanks to Voldemort's negligence, there was no protective magic on this Horcrux at the beginning. Perhaps he felt that his soul was so wise, and after the wisdom of the golden crown, he would definitely be able to solve the problem by himself.

I have to say that this piece of soul bewitching Lockhart is indeed much more powerful than the diary. He recognized the situation almost instantly, and even "I am willing to be your loyal servant and help you reach the peak of power". Everything was said.

Lockhart then placed a Daydream Charm on the golden crown, shutting the soul's mouth and letting the dementors **** it out.

The leader of the dementors happily accepted the gift, and said that after Lockhart's spell, the soul seemed to have become more delicious.

Without Voldemort's soul, this Ravenclaw treasure was left intact to Lockhart.

He wanted to give the Horcrux to Dumbledore right away, but he suddenly remembered

, he couldn't explain how he knew about this thing, so he had to give up.

Forget it, wait another two years, and he will be fine after two years, just say that he accidentally discovered it while performing official duties, anyway, this thing will not be left alone.

Besides, he also wanted to try the effect of this golden crown.

Compared with the original book that was destroyed by fiery fire, this crown with a long history and great value deserves better treatment. Just because wearing it can increase people's wisdom, Lockhart also feels that it should not be used. easily destroyed.

However, the test of the golden crown had to be released first, and he had to quickly deal with the second "big gain" of his trip.

And this "big gain" is Rita Skeeter.

Since locking her up with a candy box, Lockhart has not only drilled a few small holes in the box for her to breathe, but at most he has thrown a little candy, boiled potatoes, etc. into it every now and then to ensure that she will not starve to death. Just do it.

He was not in a hurry to negotiate with her right away, but to shut her up for a month first, in order to cool off her spirits.

Lockhart has studied a bit of psychology, knows about Pavlov's dog training experiment, and also knows that humans and dogs, like dogs, can be "domesticated".

Even the most irrational "love" is true, and lovers can also be domesticated.

As long as you take advantage of her desire to "get" and give him/her some positive feedback when he/she does what you want, after a long time, your lover will be domesticated by you into what you want Instead of yelling, giving negative feedback in a quarrel, pushing him/her further and further away.

Don't forget the Stockholm effect - it exists because the victim instinctively feels that being raped is a "shameful" and "indecent" thing, so it's hard to face reality.

At this time, as long as the abuser gives a little positive feedback and treats him/her well, he/she will deceive himself and say "it's because of love", and love is of course noble, romantic, and irrational behavior, so after deceiving themselves in this way, they will feel better in their hearts.

Of course, it will be difficult for other people to understand this kind of psychology, and when they kindly want to persuade him/her to get rid of this relationship, he/she will be furious and scold the persuasion person. their dreams of self-deception.

Thinking about the patients with Madonna disease in northern Europe, can they understand their behavior?

Therefore, the so-called Stockholm effect is not something that is difficult to understand, it is nothing more than a bunch of psychologically fragile guys deceiving themselves.

"Domestication" Rita Skeeter is of great significance to Lockhart, because as a politician, as long as he wants to be in power, he must have his own media, his own voice channels and his own queen reporter.

And this queen reporter can't be a simple interest relationship, a politician must have the ability to \"control" him/her.

Anyone who has watched "House of Cards" should know how much those qualified politicians value the media. They can use public opinion to attack their political enemies. How filthy.

Relatively speaking, the Ministry of Magic's attack on Lockhart was almost innocuous, and Fudge easily gave up his advantage just because he saw Lockhart showing weakness and surrender to him.

If it were the politicians Lockhart had met in a previous life, when they saw the enemy waver, they would have swarmed and beaten the underdogs.

After sending Dobby out to buy things, Lockhetra closed the curtains and came to the basement of the house with the candy box.

After entering the basement, Lockhart locked the door with a backhand, lit a candle, and followed

Only later did the emerald green beetle be released from the candy box.

After being released, the big beetle couldn't wait to transform into a woman with red-rimmed glasses, a bright green coat, and curly blond hair.

"Good morning, Miss Skeeter, it's a nice day, isn't it?

Rita Skeeter was half-kneeling on the ground at this time. After hearing Lockhart's words, she couldn't help but raised her head.

The dark, narrow basement resembled the airtight environment in a candy box, and the flickering candlelight as a light source was almost the same as the hole drilled in the box, which immediately made her feel as if she was still locked up. In the candy box, it still didn't come out.

"Good morning? Is it morning? Where is this place? You bastard! It's illegal detention and I'm going to sue you!"

Rita Skeeter, who was released, roared immediately. The life of nearly a month was not a good memory for her, and it was already a strong willpower for her not to go crazy.

"Accusing? Please, I just stumbled upon a playful beetle on the windowsill and caught it. If that counts as a crime, I think everyone should pay for the ants they accidentally trampled to death and The flying insects swallowed in their sleep have been slapped with a thousand cuts."

Lockhart was not ambiguous either, and with a single sentence he deftly dismissed Skeeter's accusation.

He was also warning her by saying this, telling her that if she wanted to get out of the way: what way she would use to get away with it, and it made sense - he just caught a beetle and played with it.

Rita Skeeter was discouraged by Lockhart's understatement.

Because she knew Lockhart was right, she had no way to charge him, and she would definitely be arrested for illegally registering Animagus.

It's not a joke, casually casting polymorphism, especially casting polymorphism on the human body, in the view of the Ministry of Magic, its seriousness is far more serious than violating the "Secret Law", or cultivating dangerous creatures, second only to the use of unforgivable The curse directly kills.

For all polymorphism is not permanent unless it is a permanent transformation imposed by a person of high magic power in compliance with the laws of matter transformation.

Suppose a wizard turned wood into a glass of water, and someone accidentally drank the water. And after the magic disappears, the person who drank the wood will definitely die on the spot, because every fiber of the wood will penetrate into his body cells, and he will die horribly.

Unless it is an advanced Transfiguration class or Aurors use Transfiguration to fight, under normal circumstances the Ministry of Magic only allows wizards to use Transfiguration to transform on a solid level, and it is strictly forbidden to turn inedible objects into food, and not to Toxic or indigestible substances are turned into gases or liquids to prevent inhalation, ingestion, or inhalation when the deformed liquid evaporates. Once such an accident occurs, even a wizard with profound magical power may not escape death if he is caught off guard.

If dead things are already so immutable, it is even more difficult to transform people, because they have to figure out all the corresponding parts between the two before and after the transformation, from beginning to end, in case they are accidentally lost during transformation.

Generally speaking, if it weren't for a wizard of the level of Professor McGonagall, it would be a gamble to deform the human body privately.

Don't look at Harry's father's success, McGonagall and Rita Skeeter have also succeeded, but consider that there have only been seven legal Animagus in a century, and the free-form Druid is even more so. With none left, you know how hard it will be. You can't just remember these successful people. Master Rowling didn't write about how many people died because of their transformation failures.

So Professor McGonagall had sternly warned the little wizards in Harry's first Transfiguration class, saying that "Transfiguration is the most dangerous subject." Professor McGonagall was not trying to scare these children. , she has always had one thing to say.

Like Rita Skeeter, who undergoes body transformation without supervision and registration, once caught by the Ministry of Magic, she will be punished far more than violating the Statute of Secrecy, and I'm afraid not. Will be much lighter than the penalty for using Cruciatus.

"What do you want?" she asked hoarsely.

P.So originally had more words, but a large part was deleted in the middle... Let's see Chapter 141 Obedience is the first step in domestication

By now, Rita Skeeter has come to understand that since Lockhart didn't send herself to the Ministry of Magic right away, it must be because she still has value to use, and she is safe until she loses the value of use. .

Even if she couldn't figure it out for a while, after thinking about it for more than a month, she should figure it out.

"Come on, what do you want? Do you want me to write two articles in honor of Dumbledore? Or for you to join the Ministry of Magic?"

Rita Skeeter wanted to question Lockhart with a kind of aggressive words, but after she said it, she realized that her tone was too weak, as if she was pleading with the other party.

There is no way, the willpower of people has always been a false proposition. Unless you have an extremely fanatical belief, no matter how strong the willpower is, it will not be able to withstand the confinement and starvation in the small black house.

"That doesn't matter. I don't need you if I want to build momentum or sing praises, unless my brain is broken."

In the candlelight, Lockhart's expression seemed a little strange and unpredictable: "On the contrary, I want you to attack me harder in the newspaper, use as bad words as you can, if you lack the material, I can even I'll give you some."

"What?" Rita Skeeter thought she had heard it wrong.

Lockhart sighed and used one of Snape's favorite sarcasms: "It looks like you've been a beetle for so long that even your brain volume needs to be measured in microliters? I can't even do my old job. It seems that I'd better change to another person."

"No...I mean what the **** are you trying to do."

Rita Skeeter was a little wary, because it was the first time she had heard of such a strange request.

But Lockhart lowered his face: "You don't need to know my purpose, Miss Skeeter, what you should think about is your choice."

"choose?"

"Yes, or no," Lockhart pressed her.

"Ha! Choice?" Rita Skeeter shouted exaggeratedly, her voice sounding harsh in the basement, "What choice do I have? Except for being blackmailed by you and being forced to obey for the rest of my life, Do I have any other options?

Not only did she shout hoarsely, but she also looked a little hysterical. It was obvious that she had been thinking about her situation throughout the month and had come to a lot of bad conclusions.

However, Lockhart didn't intend to make her "indifferent", because it was really not worth it.

If Hermione did the same in the original book, Rita Skeeter would not be able to get enough exciting news because of her order to ban rumors and incitement, and would end up destitute until Dumbledore died. There was a big deal there - writing a biography of Dumbledore.

The book "The Life and Lies of Dumbledore" can be said to have exerted Rita Skeeter's housekeeping skills. In addition to confounding the public and confounding right and wrong, it also carried out many "facts" from multiple angles. , a deep alternative interpretation.

For example, Dumbledore plagiarized other people's academic achievements, such as Dumbledore's tragic and rebellious childhood, such as Dumbledore's obsession with black magic, and his love and killing with Grindelwald...

Even more frightening is that many of these facts are actually true, and obviously not the information that a junior reporter of Rita Skeeter's level can get.

Apparently, these were taken from various sources by Voldemort and the Death Eaters, and they were aggregated to Rita Skeeter.

If this book were to be made the "official edition", Dumbledore's posthumous reputation would be wiped clean, which Voldemort wanted.

Although Lockhart tried hard to prevent the book from being published in the future, he did not lower his opinion of Rita Skeeter, and was slightly critical of Hermione's approach in the original book because he did not I don't think Hermione will solve the problem by blackmailing Rita Skeeter with such a thing.

Just like cats eat fish, dogs eat meat, and Ultraman fights little monsters, unscrupulous reporters want to make up news because their professions need them, or the market needs them for their professions.

Politicians want to discredit their political opponents, so they need unscrupulous journalists to spread rumors and incite. And the people want to watch celebrity gossip, or see the collapse of some high-profile celebrities, so they also need reporters who specialize in this line of work.

In the final analysis, this kind of reporter is just a microphone for market demand.

You can attack their personal morality, but as a profession, the "curse" and "prostitute" who specialize in this line are the products of market demand.

If you want to eliminate this evil, you cannot simply expect social and moral progress, but to eliminate this market environment.

It's like after the online live broadcast platform came out, many "girls" changed their careers to do live broadcasts.

Because they have a lot of income, the price to be done has also risen, and the old driver will even call the police in anger because he can't find a girl whose appearance is above the pass line in the clubhouse, or the girl of the same level is asking too much.

This is of course a very nonsense thing, but on the bright side, at least the webcast is flat

The appearance of the platform and the increasingly realistic silicone dolls have reduced the number of clubs

Buying and selling, this is at least a little bit of progress for good social customs, and this is called "eliminating the environment and soil of bad customs"

In the same way, if you want to kill reporters like Rita Skeeter, you can't expect them to "discover their conscience" or prevent the general public from wanting to gossip about celebrities and politicians to attack political opponents.

You have to let everyone have the opportunity to use their skills and become stars, so that everyone will know that all stars are ordinary people, so they don't care about star gossip; you have to make politicians promotion depends on political achievements rather than shows, so that they will not think hard To pull the pants of a political enemy.

But before he can change the rules, Lockhart has to make sure he can get the job.

"Do you need me to be more clear? I want you to continue to attack me in the newspaper, and to do whatever it takes, no matter how many people scold you, you can't stop. If the attack is not strong enough, I will I'm asking for your trouble," Lockhart continued.

Seeing Rita Skeeter's disbelief in her eyes, Lockhart slowly bent down and pinched her chin.

r, if someone contacts you because of your attack on me, remember to inform me, if they want to give you \"hard work\', you will accept it, and I will give you another one... little darling , You won't refuse such a good thing, will you?"

Because she was too shocked, Rita Skeeter even forgot to resist.

\"But...why?" she asked.

"I don't think I need to explain to you what I'm going to do, stupid woman." Lockhart pushed her back rudely, "you just have to remember that you will do exactly what I tell you to do in the future. , do more, ask less."

Rita Skeeter was pushed to the ground by him, dizzy again.

Because she can only eat candy and biscuits for the past month, her current physical condition is not very good, her mind is completely confused, and because she has been

In the fear of being coerced, it was too late to think.

"I-I'll do it! As you wish, okay? You asked for it yourself." She finally succumbed.

Seeing her softened, Lockhart smiled with satisfaction.

"Very good! It seems that you finally understand your situation. This is a good start, right? From today, you will report to me once a week. If you dare not come, you will be in your life for the rest of your life. Don't use it anymore, see what I mean?

■

Although she was unwilling, Rita could only admit it.

"Yes." Her voice was imperceptibly low.

Seeing that Rita had already expressed his obedience, Lockhart knew that he should give her some sweetness at this time, so that she would have a reason to deceive himself.

"Don't make this look to me, if you are smart enough, you should know my political ambitions, and you are on a bright road. When you are old enough to walk, lie in bed, and think back When you start today, you thank yourself for today," Lockhart said.

Chapter 142: Someone whose hope has failed

After confirming that Rita Skeeter was indeed honest, Lockhart released her from the basement.

In the dining room, Lockhart had a hearty lunch.

Although he was a little surprised when a guest appeared at home, Dobby didn't ask any more questions and made food for two.