"I see." Harry didn't think much about what it represented.

Chapter one hundred and fifty-eight to win over colleagues

As a long-standing civil servant, Lockhart can be said to have guessed a lot about the psychology of his colleagues.

Just like those police officers who are eager to help their neighbors, it's always a good thing to be thankful, although it doesn't have to be done to get thanks.

Therefore, after receiving Harry's thank you letter, the grievances of the Ministry of Magic staff who went to the police in the middle of the night were also dissipated a lot, and even a few sympathetic aunts said that the child lived with Muggles and could live so big It's not easy either.

The humanity that the world had lost due to lack of communication had been regained by himself—something—Lockhart felt extremely good about himself.

It's a pity that the savior couldn't understand his painstaking efforts, and even cared more about his new semester's ball game and his studies.

One morning in early August, the Savior was clutching a leather belt in his hand, looking at the book of "Yokai's Monster Book" in front of him with a sullen face, wondering what to do.

Because he had an appointment to meet Hermione and Ron in Diagon Alley today, he had to dress up a bit.

And his trousers were all Dudley's leftovers, so his waist was inevitably a little fat. He had to wear a belt to go out, but his belt was used to tie the monster book a few days ago.

Harry looked at it for a long time, and when he found that the book was motionless, he thought that the book had been honest. However, he had just taken off the belt when the book suddenly burst into a wild beast and began to bite around.

"What to do with this thing?" Harry asked Lockhart in confusion.

"One book is shot with ten thousand bullets, and three books are shot with thunderbolt, Frozen Charm or Evil Bird. If you want to make more money, you can also throw a bottle of the venom of the eight-eyed spider, but you want

Got a few more bites. ' said Lockhart lightly.

"what?"

"Just kidding, just swipe along the spine of the book."

After packing up, Lockhart drove Harry to Colin Creevey's house again, and picked up the kid who was about to enter second grade this year.

After meeting his idol Harry Potter, Colin seemed very active, and he was always chatting and asking questions, which made Harry a little annoyed.

Lockhart heard the conversation between the two and made a sound for Harry:

"Colin, this year, you have to work harder and practice your photography skills. There is a book here, you should take the time to read it, and try to make all the people in your photos like the background you took."

As Lockhart spoke, he handed a copy of "A British Photographer's Photography Book" to the back seat. If seen by Muggle traffic police, Lockhart would have been fined £200 for his "dangerous act".

But it doesn't really matter, because after accepting Arthur Weasley's spell, the car "written down" a map of the whole of London, so there will be no problem driving it.

\"Thank you, but why?" Colin was really distracted.

"There will be a big move at Hogwarts next year. If you can take good photos, I will help you sell them to foreign newspapers. As long as you sell them at a good price, it is estimated that you will be able to study and live in the next few years. more comfortable."

\"Really?" Colin happily looked out. Lockhart swore: \"Of course."

What are the activities of Wu Shi? \" Harry asked sensitively from the side.

"You can guess, anyway, Mr. Diggory, Mr. Davis, Miss Johnson, Mr. Purse... these are all likely to be selected for the event in the end.

participants.

"There are all four academies, and they are all members of the dueling club, all fifth or sixth graders..." Harry immediately thought of the key, "Does it have to hold an international dueling competition?"

"No, you can guess, but it is indeed related to the competition."

Although Lockhart had promised Barty Crouch a while ago that the Triwizard Tournament would never reveal a little bit of wind from his side, Lockhart put it behind him in a blink of an eye. Don't say he didn't want to keep this secret at all.

Don't look at him as if he didn't say anything, but if Harry asked Hermione for advice, she would probably be able to guess from "foreign", "senior" and "school games" in no time.

To tell the truth, he was eager to launch a large-scale publicity for this event sooner, let alone keep it secret.

"Then I won't guess, it must have nothing to do with me anyway." Harry lost interest, "I can concentrate on playing Quidditch."

"You're so unfulfilling," Lockhart said half-truthfully.

In Diagon Alley, Harry finally met his friends who had been away for most of the summer. Hermione and Ron were very happy when they saw Harry, and when they saw the man behind him, Ron's expression was horrified and Hermione's mouth was open

"Why is Professor Lockhart here?" she whispered to Harry.

Although very embarrassed, Harry told his two friends about his summer vacation, even blowing up his aunt.

Ron had already known about this from his father, so he wasn't surprised, but Hermione shook her head repeatedly, with a kind of "I won't look at you for a while, you

Let's just give the old lady something to ignore\" means in it

Hermione has 'jealousness' written in her eyes as Harry talks about how he now lives at Lockhart's

"It's always like this!" she whispered, "You were rewarded when you should have been punished. Is this the treatment of the savior?"

Seeing that the Iron Triangle had reunited, Lockhart stopped looking at Harry and let them go to withdraw money and buy things on their own.

He was not at all worried that the Ministry of Magic would accuse him of incompetence, since he had seen "acquaintances" such as Auror Lux Williamson, Prout, and even the "second man" in the Auror office in several places in Diagon Alley. , Scrimgeour's right-hand man Robards was sitting in the cold drink shop, while pretending to read the newspaper, while using the see-through spell to scan the passing people coldly.

It appears that the Ministry of Magic takes the personal safety of the Savior very seriously0

He sat down opposite Gawain Robards and greeted him skillfully.

\"Hi, Gawain! How have you been recently?"

The wizard with the same name as the Knight of the Round Table Gawain put down the newspaper in his hand dissatisfied, and his tone was still a little annoyed: "Gidero, you should pretend you don't know me!"

"Okay, no one's going to sit in front of this cold drink shop for hours at a time... You see all the ice in your glass has melted." Lockhart scoffed, "Don't worry, there's absolutely no way Blake is here. "

"That's not necessarily the case, he killed half a block of people." Robards curled his lips, "You haven't participated in the last war, the boldness of the Death Eaters can't be inferred by common sense. If he wants to ambush Savior, then Diagon Alley is definitely a good place, because all the little wizards come here to buy things."

Lockhart glanced subconsciously over Ron's side - the little bird on his shoulder.

The mouse's hair was already bald.

"I don't think Black's goal is necessarily the savior," Lockhart said suddenly, "Potter is 13 years old, and if he wants to do it, he has had a chance in the past 13 years, and it makes no sense to decide to do it now. ."

Robards froze for a moment: "Maybe Black didn't know it in the past, maybe Potter was too well protected in the past..."

But in the middle of the sentence, he himself got stuck first.

Because some of this doesn't make sense: Sirius Black went after Voldemort to kill Peter Pettigrew after the fall of Voldemort, and then obediently was arrested by the Aurors, which shows that there is still some action.

And Harry Potter was almost always unguarded during the 9 3/4 years of Muggle care (Robards didn't know that Mrs Figg was a **** placed by Dumbledore), if Black really If you want to escape and wait for an opportunity to kill Harry Potter, it is actually very easy to do it.

Thinking of this, Robards stopped talking.

Fortunately, Lockhart was not prepared to delve into this issue with him now.

\"How's Rufus doing?" He changed the subject.

"He? Well, just very unhappy that you chose Barty Crouch. Be careful when you meet him again."

Lockhart immediately called out to the sky: "What does it have to do with me? My whereabouts are decided by Fudge... But please say sorry to Rufus with me."

"I thought you came to talk to me just to say this, but now it doesn't seem... well, let's make a long story short, in a few minutes I will have a password with my colleagues." Robards ordered the expulsion.

Long story short...how many connections do you have with wizards over there in Africa? ' Lockhart asked.

Robards raised his head alertly: "Why are you asking this?

"Nothing, I just want to ask if you are interested in taking a stake in the oil business over there... Don't tell me you don't know about it."

Robards' face twitched: "How could you not know, you **** spread it all over the place... Why, we got our idea? We don't have much money."

Lockhart laughed.

"I know, but don't you still have people? It's okay to go out." Lockhart gestured enthusiastically: "Nigeria is a very chaotic place, and Africa is full of \"black\' wizards, I Remember that almost all of them are Animagus, and they can cast spells without a staff... Although we can solve the Muggle government, we can't ignore the local wizards, right? If they turn into pythons and attack our construction site in the middle of the night, even if no one is killed, I am afraid that no workers will be willing to continue working, or their wages will be quadrupled or five times higher. "

"You mean, you want us to do security for you?" Robards understood something, "but Qianglong doesn't press the ground, you still have to talk to the locals."

\"But I don't even know who to talk to."

Isn't Ur from the International Confederation of Wizards? Just talk to them this year.

\"Paito, it was led by the French, and the African wizards who went there were all from Algeria, not Nigeria. Besides, why do we tell the French about making money? Do you think there are not enough people who know about it? ?"

Robards shrugged: "Okay, I'll help you think of a way. In fact, you should tell Kingsley Shacklebolt that he's a black man and a family of pure-blood wizards."

\"Dude, you actually think I'll bypass you and go by myself in private..."

"Stop doing this, I don't know you yet?" Robards was helpless. "As long as you can persuade half of the people in the office, my opinion doesn't really matter."

"How can that be, it's a welfare, and those who see it have a share. Brothers do the most dangerous jobs, but after retirement they can't even afford a better villa, this is too much, look at old Moody, he is now Still living on the same street with Muggles. He's still single, and you're both families..."

Because the other party is also an experienced person, Lockhart didn't hide it at all, and directly stated his intention.

He tried to corrupt these determined colleagues with money, and for this he used a tried-and-true weapon - "thinking about your family", just like when you persuade the other party to drink, the best excuse is to wish the other party's parents health, usually come Say no one can refuse.

"What a tongue!" Robards didn't know whether it was praise or sarcasm. "I want to talk to my brothers about this. Now please go and perform your duties immediately and show me the Saint Potter."

The one hundred and fifty-ninth chapter who tasted the sweetness

Although those Aurors did not immediately agree to Lockhart's "shareholding" motion, they did not immediately refuse.

It's not that they don't believe the project will be profitable, it's that they haven't figured out if they want to get on the Lockhart car right now.

It is generally believed that Lockhart is a kid with great ambitions and a high popularity among the common people. If there is no accident, he will receive Dumbledore's political legacy in the future and successfully become Minister of Magic.

And the fact is also true, Lockhart's purpose has not been concealed from beginning to end, that is to become Minister of Magic, and the news that he has sought political assistance from Dumbledore is not a secret within the Ministry of Magic, it can be seen that even if he does not become the future The Minister, would also be one of the most powerful figures in the Ministry of Magic, which is to be expected.

But one pair, there must always be a but, this "future" should be thirty years later.

No matter which world, there is no precedent for a hair-headed kid under 30 years old to become the top head of the government, especially in a conservative place like the magic world, so if there is no accident, Lockhart cannot be in the He was Minister of Magic within ten years.

That's why Fudge didn't regard Lockhart as a "mortal enemy" and immediately targeted him to the death. He just arranged him to the foreign affairs department to prevent him from coming into contact with real power prematurely. In his subconscious mind, Lockhart should also belong to his "next generation", not his competitors of the same period.

Seeing that Lockhart is so keen on "cultivating power", everyone is happy to see it.

Because as long as Lockhart continues to buy people's hearts, then he must spread good

At this point, everyone can eat this benefit first. As for what will happen in the future, we will have to wait until the future. Everyone still understands the truth.

The next step is to see how big Lockhart can make the pie.

Lockhart also knew this, so he didn't act too eager, anyway, he said everything, no one can blame him for not coming to him in the future.

He stood up from the table and greeted a few Aurors who were following him before chasing Harry in their direction.

At that time, Harry and the other three had already bought all the books and herbs they needed, stuffed them into their big suitcases, and were looking at the pets they wanted at the pet store.

Hermione originally wanted an owl, but in the end she didn't know what to do, and chose a big **** cat. It's very likely that after the clerk said "that cat is so bad-tempered, no one wants to ask for it", Hermione felt some kind of empathy in her heart.

Ron reacted extremely violently to this, and even quarreled with Hermione for this, saying that with that thing nearby, his mouse would be eaten or scared to death sooner or later.

The Iron Triangle was not divided because of Voldemort, not because of different values, not because of different styles, but it almost fell apart because of a cat and a mouse, which Lockhart did not expect.

"Children, don't fight... oh, this is a mixed-breed raccoon?" Lockhart noticed the big cat in Hermione's hands.

"Yes, it's called Crookshanks." Hermione pinched the cat's paws. "Come here, Crookshanks, and say hello to Professor Lockhart."

The big cat stared at Lockhart for a while, probably after finding that the man was not a threat, he lay down lazily in Hermione's arms.

"I'm no longer a professor, you don't have to imitate Harry and keep talking about "Professor". ' said Lockhart kindly.

Call it a habit. "Hermione stuck out her tongue, "Professor, is the work going well?"

"It couldn't be better... Ah, Ron should know, right." Lockhart winked at Ron.

Ron shrugged.

Indeed, Ron knew more about Lockhart's situation than the other two, and it was from his father's side.

For example, his father's extra money problem.

During the summer vacation, Arthur Weasley suddenly went home and told his wife that he had won the Galleon Award in the Daily Prophet and received a bonus of 3,000 Galleons.

Mrs. Weasley was overjoyed and immediately began planning to use the money to visit Bill in Egypt. By the way, she would buy some clothes and furniture for her family, and open a swimming pool and a small Quidditch pitch in the back garden. There was no doubt at all. what my husband said.

Although Molly Weasley did not ask, several of their children knew that although Mr. Weasley did win the lottery, the bonus was not that much, and the money actually came from another source. And the source of the money, although not disgraceful, is not as dignified as Mr. Weasley said.

His money was actually "labor fees" - Mr. Weasley was approached by a few Ministry of Magic "social activists" who asked him to cast spells on a slew of oil equipment and Muggle trucks so they could work by themselves. If possible, amend the law to add these things to the list of "magically craftable Muggle items".

Mr. Weasley wanted to refuse them righteously, but the gang gave too much, and since being fined 50 Galleons by the Ministry of Magic for casting spells on cars, the Weasleys' He has always been very poor, and he has not much room to struggle.

In the end, he couldn't hold back any longer, and he asked the Ministry of Magic for a half-day leave.

Apparated with a few people to a hidden place in Nigeria.

And when he came back, his magic pocket was full of shiny South African gold coins. It was said to be the 5 purity of the South African gold mines, and it reached four nines.

It's nice to finally get the money to support the family, but Arthur has a headache how to tell his wife, because this is illegal after all, and he doesn't know how his wife will think about it.

But he didn't hide it from his children, and he couldn't hide it, especially the Weasley twins. They could find out if Arthur had a little trouble, let alone suddenly get a huge sum of money.

So under the tacit understanding of the family, several children decided to join forces to help their father hide from their mother, and unanimously claimed that the money was "winning".

Molly, unaware of the little things her husband and children have done, is now busy planning how the money will be spent and enjoying the big shopping at Diagon Alley, a feeling she's been feeling since she eloped with Arthur. Haven't experienced it.