But he was wrong, and horribly wrong.

"Harry-Potter!"

When calling his name, Vernon even broke his voice: "Come down now, you are responsible for receiving the distinguished guests!"

In Harry's heart, he wondered who he was, and he actually needed him to receive him? He clambered down the ladder and slipped down the attic.

When he came to the living room, he found an exquisite gift box on the table in the center of the living room. In the box lay an ebony pipe with a gold edge on the mouthpiece.

But neither he nor Vernon's attention remained on the gadget for too long. They were more concerned with the letter on the lid of the box.

Gilderoy Lockhart - Have you heard of this man? ' Vernon asked Harry

Harry nodded immediately: "Of course."

"He's on your side—you know where I'm talking—famous?" Vernon asked again.

Harry recalled the scene where Lockhart was surrounded by a group of girls "asking questions", and answered him without hesitation: "Very famous."

"Rich?" There was a hint of greed in Dursley's expression.

Despite a wave of revulsion in Harry's heart, he told the truth.

"Yes, very rich."

None of the furnishings in Lockhart's office looked like a bargain, and the only place Harry had ever seen a richer collection than there was the headmaster's office.

"Great." Vernon Dursley was content, "he said he was going to buy a lot of construction rigs and hydraulic exploration rigs for his oil company, and here's my chance.

"The oil company?"

Harry thought he had heard it wrong, because he had been in the wizarding world for more than two years, and he had never heard of a wizard needing oil.

Vernon misunderstood Harry's meaning: "Yeah, you guys definitely can't produce such high-tech stuff, I can bid whatever you want... Boy, write quickly, "your way" to that Lomat In reply, he said that we welcome him at any time. "

Harry felt that he should have secretly reminded Lockhart in the letter anyway, in case he was really being tricked by his uncle.

Chapter 152 Have you misunderstood something?

After receiving the letter from Harry Owl, Lockhart couldn't help but glance at the date on the reply, and was relieved when he realized that there was no delay.

As a member of the former large civil servants, he is really uneasy about the British postal system.

In order to deliver the small pipe, Lockhart deliberately chose express mail that required a signature, and asked to deliver it before 9 am on Saturday morning, for which he added 3 pounds to the 17 pounds.

I hope the postman can do his best after paying such a high price.

Vernon Dursley was a man of great vanity, and he didn't get mad when wizards accused him of being inhuman, but he was quite mad at them calling him "Harry Potter's relative".

For this kind of person, he allows you to be hostile to him, but he can't stand you ignoring him, and he can't tolerate others treating yourself as another person's pendant.

So Lockhart's trip must be "visiting Mr. Dursley", "by the way" to help Harry Potter make up for get out of class, and warn him to be careful, because a notorious murderer is looking for him.

Of course, Lockhart wasn't actually worried at all that Harry would be killed by Sirius, but he had to bring it.

As Lockhart had guessed, Vernon Dursley, with the euphoria characteristic of a petty burgher, thought he had received him at home with grandeur.

In the project that Lockhart cooperated with Gringotts and the pure-blood wizards, the engineering project has actually been generally determined, and the drilling rig is only used as construction equipment, and the engineering design institute determines the performance parameters.

As for which brand of equipment to order, it is actually up to the technical staff of the owner, the design institute, the construction party, and the equipment manufacturer to jointly decide, and after giving a reference opinion, the final decision will be made by the owner who pays.

As the "business representative" and "technical director" recommended by the pureblood family and Gringotts, Lockhart actually only has the right to make a final decision. If the equipment of Dursley's company cannot meet the needs of the construction party and the design party technical indicators, and Lockhart can only say sorry.

So, Harry Potter's worries don't really exist.

But Dursley seemed to regard Lockhart as a "baby". Although he was polite and enthusiastic, he seemed to want Lockhart to sign an intended contract with him immediately. Look in the eyes.

Lockhart had to interrupt Dursley's gushing:

"...Sorry to interrupt, you have already emphasized to me for the third time that your company's "reliable", if it does have relevant qualifications, then it should have been registered with Aiming Company long ago. . "

Vernon Dursley could not help but blurt out a familiar term.

"Ai Ming (Amec-PLC) company? Do you also have a company called Ai Ming?"

Lockhart looked at him funny: "Of course not, I'm talking about Ai Ming - British Ai Ming (a world-renowned engineering and construction company, and the second largest oil and gas engineering group

Dursley gasped, "You actually entrusted the project to Ai Ming?"

"Yes, after all, there are not many companies with relevant overseas construction experience, especially those in the UK, which we can rest assured."

Lockhart was amused by Dursley's jaw-dropping expression, it seemed that this man really regarded himself as someone who didn't understand anything.

Dursley froze for a while before remembering that he should make amends.

"Uh, I mean, I thought you guys would be like... legends, a castle will rise up when you wave your hand..." He gestured in the air dancing.

"If that's the case, why are we buying rigs?" Lockhart asked rhetorically.

"Oh, yes, I'm confused, hahaha…"

To hide his embarrassment, Dursley laughed exaggeratedly, but without anyone reminding him, he could see how fake he was laughing.

Although I don't know why his uncle's arrogance disappeared after Lockhart said a company name, but Harry could instinctively sense that Lockhart took advantage of the confrontation just now.

It seemed that he was worrying in vain, and Harry breathed a sigh of relief.

Dursley is a little sad now: as the so-called customer bullies the store, there are design institutes and petroleum engineering groups at the level of Ai Ming's company, and it is almost impossible for him to sell the equipment at a premium. Some "doorways" that can be deducted - such as bearings, gears, seals and other spare parts, there is no way for them to be deceived.

But on the bright side, at least this level of customers will not maliciously default on payment, and their reputation is also guaranteed. If the amount is large enough, they can still make money.

"How many rigs are you going to buy?" he finally started asking for details.

"According to the preliminary plan given by the design institute, about 16 drilling rigs of various types may be needed, and two super-large oil drilling rigs are required. These two cannot be handed over to you, but you should have relevant information for the rest. Qualification is right."

While he was talking, he took out a list of equipment that the design institute gave him.

Dursley took it and took the glasses out of his jacket pocket.

Carefully examine the above parameters.

What Lockhart said was true. Professional oil drilling equipment could not be done with the qualifications of his company, but the rest could be fought for.

However, if there is no premium for these 14 drilling rigs, the final price is estimated to be only hundreds of thousands of pounds, and the commission he can get will not be too much, only tens of thousands of pounds, which may be enough to buy a privet A house like No. 4 on the road.

While that's not a small amount, it's a lot worse than Vernon's initial expectations.

If he wanted to move to West London and live a "high-middle-class" life there, or "Peppa Pig's life" as British Prime Minister Boris Johnson later called it, that wasn't enough.

The Peppa Pig family’s house in the West End of London, if put into 2021, will have a market value of about £4 million, and the price of real estate in London, England, has roughly doubled in price in the 30 years from 1990 to 2020.

In other words, the house that Dursley is eager to buy costs about 600,000 pounds, which is probably far more than he can afford.

In addition, those "senior middle-class families" spend more than 600 pounds a month on food and clothing, a total of more than 150,000 pounds for 6 years of private secondary school tuition, and 120,000 pounds a year to learn violin or piano. The dress is not cheap, and the cost of traveling abroad every year is not a small amount. Taken together, Dursley must not be able to afford it.

Therefore, to the British, what Johnson said about the "life of Peppa Pig's family" is probably like the life of Xia Donghai's family in "Family with Children" to the Chinese. It belongs to a standard middle-class dream. There are few people who can achieve their dreams.

Just when Dursley was a little discouraged, Lockhart added.

"This is only the first phase of the project, and when the oil is successfully extracted, it will be released in the futures market.

After hedging on the market, we will continue to build the second and third phases. At that time, in order to avoid trouble, we may directly use the same plan as the first phase... You know, we hate trouble, and we hate too much Deal with people here frequently. ' Dursley heard the words, and hope rekindled in his eyes.

"Of course you're going to make a fortune!" He stood up and shook hands with Lockhart. "We'll definitely supervise those slackers in the factory." Even if it means working overtime and whipping them with a whip , we will also let them produce the best quality products for you, if anyone dares to make trouble to the union, we will hang him! "

"Then you don't have to, just deliver on time."

Lockhart withdrew his hand, put it in his pocket, wiped it **** the handkerchief inside, and turned to Harry Potter.

"Then it's time for us to talk about our relationship... Sorry, Mr. Dursley, Mr. Potter needs a make-up class now..."

Chapter 153: Failure of Subjective Decisions

Hearing the word "make-up class", Harry immediately became agitated, and then quickly turned to Dudley Dursley, who was on the sidelines, hoping that he hadn't heard anything.

It was a pity that it was too late, his cousin suddenly seemed to have heard something strange, and his face became very wonderful.

"Make-up class?" Dudley shouted. "Listen, Mom, Harry has to make up class! I don't even need to make up!"

Also laughing at Vernon Dursley, and Harry's aunt Petunia

"Looks like it's right for us as elders not to ask Harry about his final exam grades, so as to avoid damage to the child's self-esteem," Vernon scoffed.

Harry closed his eyes in pain - and this time he really couldn't hold his head up.

Realizing that he had made a mistake, Lockhart hurriedly tried to remedy it.

"Mainly, Harry is more talented in Defence Against the Dark Arts, so it's important to strengthen some things that you won't easily learn in class..."

"We get it, Professor." Dudley grinned. "We would never laugh at him."

But Harry didn't want to say anything, because from the look on Dudley's face he felt like Dudley would keep talking about it until he was eighty.

Because he couldn't cast spells publicly in front of Muggles, Lockhart drove Harry to his house temporarily, and put Dobby in charge of hosting the savior.

Dobby gladly accepted the task, and Harry felt that his efforts were not in vain after seeing Dobby's decent pocket housekeeping suit.

Also in the basement, Lockhart, after Dobby brought snacks and drinks

Officially start making up lessons for Harry.

"You can eat some chocolate first and let the dopamine fermented by the sugar and caffeine." Lockhart reminded, "because this class is definitely not a happy experience for the person involved."

Harry nervously took two Belgian conch chocolates and ate them obediently.

Not to mention, it tastes good, it reminds Harry of his time at the Hogwarts Club, and they don't give themselves candy at his uncle's house.

"Okay, let's get down to business. The so-called Occlumency, to put it bluntly, is to let you use \" Legilimency\' to spy on your mind in the face of dark wizards, or use \"Evil Spirit Possession\' to try to control your mind. At times, you can find a way to resist the other party, or only show what you want the other party to know."

"Legilimus? Mind reading?" Harry asked sensitively.

"Strictly speaking, it is not. Legilimency can read people's \"memory\', "feeling\' and \" a momentary thought: but the stomach, \"values ​​and" thoughts\' are not. Can't... oh, I "see\' you're confused..."

Harry smiled awkwardly, he really didn't understand.

"It doesn't matter, different student types have to be taught in different ways, it's the teacher's responsibility, not the student... If this confuses you, you might as well rudely interpret it as 'mind-reading' well, slow down later Slow to understand. "Lockhart relieved ll

"That is to say, this class is to keep my memory from being pryed by the dark wizards," Harry concluded.

"You can say that." Lockhart nodded.

The biggest difficulty in teaching the savior Occlumency is actually not the specific technical details, but asking Harry to take the initiative to accept Occlumency and reduce his dislike of this course, and his own will is the most critical.

Harry in fifth grade couldn't learn this, probably more because the teacher was Snape. And after resonating with Voldemort's thoughts and emotions through the soul many times, and saving several people, Harry himself actually refused to close his brain, which made Snape's work more difficult.

As for Professor Snape's Occlumency, the biggest requirement is to avoid emotional infiltration and allow rational thinking to travel all over the brain, which is too difficult for Gryffindor.

On the other hand, Draco Malfoy, he learned Occlumency in an instant. It can be seen that the upbringing of the nobles made him understand this aspect instinctively.

But anyway, Snape had taught Harry the closed-brain theory, and it had prompted him to resist twice. And Harry didn't really learn to shut his mind until he was an adult, running around against Voldemort.

So, with Gryffindor, you can't take and teach Ravenclaw and Slytherin the same way.

When Lockhart himself was researching Occlumency, he found that he was quite handy with this, because he not only learned how to be indifferent between emotions and emotions, but even how to simulate "anger", "sadness" and "happy". All can be done easily, and it is no more difficult than giving a speech in public.

Maybe this is called Chengfu (two-faced faction).

After listening to Lockhart's words, Harry felt a little at a loss: "But, sir.oo I don't understand, this kind of snooping is..."

"Oh, I almost forgot, I should first demonstrate to you what the so-called snooping is all about... Are you ready?"

"Ready for what?" Harry was a little nervous.

"I'm going to enter your memory... Of course, dark wizards won't be so polite to you, and they have to announce one by one Legilimency before starting!"

Harry o Potter dazed back to 4 Privet Drive before dinner

Let's be honest, it's far from comfortable to be spied on, and Harry is no different.

With Lockhart's "help", he recalled a lot of things he didn't want to think about, such as being bullied by Dudley, being chased by dogs and climbing up a stool, and—

And the man's roar, the woman's pleading, and the fierce green light at the end

Harry, who was spied on for the first time, was almost defenseless, and Lockhart found that too.

Especially when showing him the memories of his parents when he was a child, Harry not only did not try to close his mind, but even expressed the idea of ​​wanting to watch it for a while, which made him completely unable to resist.