The content of this comic book is very absurd. The main character is a crazy French Muggle, wearing a beret and a striped shirt. He is a painting teacher by profession, and likes to babble and physically punish students in class.

This kind of work is obviously not helpful for understanding the Muggle world, and wizards who grew up watching this thing will only have a deeper prejudice against Muggles.

But the movie is different, because it is subtle and silent. When watching the story, everyone naturally accepts the relevant background in their minds. This is undoubtedly the correct and just way.

Of course, justice is not cheap. Although Lockhart invested more than 70 Galleons in the early stage of this project, Lockhart still did not spend a single Nat's budget on it.

Because he intends to get the money back from the ticket money.

This ticket fee is the price he got after careful calculation - 2 xicos per day on weekdays, 3 xicos for watching movies on weekends for three days, and 17 xicos in one week: that is, one Galleon.

This is an absolutely affordable price for the wizarding world, whose weekly income is generally more than 10 Galleons and the family economy is highly dependent on self-sufficiency. A movie ticket is only worth 2 bottles of Butterbeer, which is Hogwarts. Students can also afford it.

If it can maintain around 30-50 viewers per show, then Lockhart can rely on this project to get 40 Galleons per week, and it can be paid back within two weeks, even if it comes to the end of the month, the Ministry of Magic The 300 Galleons approved are not used up.

As for what will happen next, Lockhart is not sure.

He certainly hoped that the movie would take the wizarding world by storm, so that when the project made money, he could use the money to buy new projectors and film and make it an industry.

He even wants to register a film and television company on the Muggle side, under the name of building a new "country mobile cinema", in Hogsmeade, Godric's Hollow, St. Catchpole Village, Dingworth Village , Wiltshire and other major wizarding settlements, and this open-air cinema will be the start of it all.

Perhaps in many years, there will be movie lovers in the wizarding world who will come here to erect a monument to commemorate it.

However, it is not just Lockhart who sees a business opportunity.

Honey Duke's boss, Ambrosio Froome, came to Lockhart's office alone after the movie screening.

He noticed during the movie just now that many wizards would ask Rosemerta to pour over the wine when the movie came to an end, while they themselves sat there and continued watching the movie.

From this, he thought - that when the little wizards come to Hogsmeade on the weekend, will they also buy some snacks while watching the movie?

Because everyone was an acquaintance, he went straight to Lockhart and wanted to ask him what the Muggle cinema would sell.

"Good question, Amber." Lockhart was simply overjoyed, "Because the movie theater is a public environment, the food you sell must not have a pungent smell, and you can't make noise to interfere with others watching the movie, and at the same time, it can't be too easy. Dirty hands.

"So ice mice, burp candies, and exploding candies are absolutely not for sale, are they?"

"Probably, it's best not to have gluten flies, pepper urchins, jelly slugs, and sour pops," Lockhart added.

Ambrosio was a little worried, because what he just said was almost half of the goods in his store.

"Then what else can I sell? Bibi Duo Beans, Coconut Sorbet?"

"Good idea! Both of these things are good, besides, the Muggle side also sells Coke, juice, popcorn, jerky, seaweed, plum, mints... of course there are also sausages and potato chips, but I always I suspect the person who bought this thing at the movie theater is mentally ill

Ambrosio nodded: "It seems that I have to develop two new snacks."

The Honey Duke boss's words give Lockhart an inspiration - considering Hogwarts

Ci's students will come on weekends. It seems that the weekend field of movies will be dominated by action films, romance films, fantasy films and cartoons.

It's a pity, I only bought a dozen rolls of old film, and there are no cartoons at all.

Fortunately, Disney has already given birth to the classic Mickey Mouse during this period, and TV animation also released the common memory of four generations early - "Tom and Jerry", and the legendary movie "Star Wars", as long as Lockhart If you are willing to look for it, you can always find it.

But it was too late to buy it at this time. For the weekend of the next day, Lockhart had to pull out a volume of "The Wizard of Oz" from those old films and use it first.

However, although the story of the little girl, the tin man, the scarecrow and the lion may seem like a fantasy to Muggles, it may be a documentary to wizards!

Early in the morning on Saturday, Remus Lupin came to Hogsmeade early in the morning in order to fulfill the agreement, preparing to discuss future work issues with Lockhart in detail.

Lockhart was very enthusiastic. He not only asked Dobby to bring snacks, but also invited him to have lunch with him. He even specifically asked Dobby to fry the steak for Lupin to be tender and medium rare. Can.

\"It really doesn't have to be like this..." Lupin felt that it was really a little warm.

It is precisely because he has suffered from the cold eyes of the world, Lupin is also very sensitive to the kindness of others, and he will feel flattered if he is a little friendly to him.

Lockhart didn't mention his hospitality at all, and instead asked about his job: "How is teaching in the new semester? Will the student files I leave in the office work?"

"It's very easy to use." Lu Ping quickly thanked, "The syllabus and content have been determined, and the characteristics of the students have been mastered, and the difficulty is still moderate. You can't go wrong if you follow the steps."

"That's good." Lockhart was very happy. "When you get used to this job, please help me take care of the club."

\"No problem, but..." Lupin hesitated.

"how?"

"Is it necessary to move the furniture in the office and dormitory?" Lupin asked anxiously. "I asked the principal, and he said that they were all left by you. To be honest, it's a bit too luxurious..."

"No, no, that's the property I left to the school. The Defense Against the Dark Arts class is the most dangerous position in the school. It's a good thing to enjoy it more often... and that cabinet is made of Peruvian holy wood, which is a must-have for preventing ghosts. The chandelier candles are laced with insect repellent, and the middle of the sofa is stuffed with fluff from baby ptarmigan molting, which can be used as a transfiguration material in an emergency.”

"That's too extravagant," Lupin said with emotion.

No way, because I'm not good at Transfiguration, if I don't use that thing as material

, I can't even use Transfiguration, haha..." Lockhart laughed at himself.

Lupin shook his head again and again: "It's too extravagant... I'll bring you these furniture another day."

"Absolutely not." Lockhart firmly refused, "After a while, reporters will come to Hogsmeade to interview, do you want them to see that the officials of the Ministry of Magic live luxurious lives, and they can hold two large-scale competitions with only the cost of furniture? You can stay here, it will be left to the next Defense Professor anyway."

Lupin thought that he was right, and he seemed a little self-indulgent: "That would be disrespectful."

Next, Lockhart and Lupin discussed working in Nigeria.

The equipment for drilling has been completed, and Aiming has also decided to start the project at the end of October. Because there is already a standard procedure for developing oil fields in Nigeria, Ai Ming himself did not express his opinion on the next project, but they were mainly worried about two points:

The first is the security issue. Aiming believes that it is difficult for workers to ensure safety in an environment like Nigeria, but when Lockhart said that he would hire a professional security company to protect their camp, they decided to believe his statement for the time being.

The second point is the construction problem. The oil and gas burial map that Gringotts handed over to Ai Ming is too detailed, including the depth and location of the oil burial, as well as the water content of the oil and the rocks in the geological layer. Structure and pressure, etc. are all-encompassing.

Ai Ming is very skeptical about how they got these data, because according to Ai Ming's knowledge, no exploration well has been drilled in the local area, and this kind of data is usually obtained by drilling dozens of oil wells.

Naturally, Lockhart couldn't tell them that this was the old work of fairies, and that there was a standard magic process, and they could only use "Zhijin technology", "infrasonic sonar", "seismic waves" and other things to get past it, and said that it could be done. Written in the contract, if Ai Ming Company finds that the data does not match the actual situation, Sniff Drilling Company is willing to take all responsibility.

Although this matter has been prevaricate in the past, Ai Ming Company has developed a strong interest in the "new technology" of Sniffing and Drilling Company, and has tried every means to inquire about the background of this company through investment manager William.

Fortunately, William has always been known for being tight-lipped in the industry. He cut off the other party's tentacles resolutely and politely, but at the same time warned Lockhart that he might not be able to hide it for long.

It is conceivable that if there is a "person in charge" at that time, he will also have to accept the pervasive inquiries from big capitalists.

"That means, besides security, I have to figure out how to deal with those Muggles, right?" Lupin understood what Lockhart meant.

"Yes, in another month, Dumbledore will go to France to attend the International Conference of Wizards and Wizards. At that time, he will talk to Babajid Akinbad about this, and let some people from Africa be responsible for communicating with Akinbad. Ming's bullshit, those black people are very superstitious about the wizards in the tribe...o you can be responsible for dealing with Muggle spying together, we must not let them discover our secrets, we can count on this to make money."

Lupin smiled brightly: "I will do my best

Chapter 181 Strange Cat

After lunch, although Lockhart invited Lupin to stay and watch a movie together, Lupin declined Lockhart's beauty on the grounds that he still needed to prepare lessons and correct homework.

/dj

It seems that he is really not used to accepting the kindness of others.

Before leaving, Lupin glanced at the Screaming Shack with a nostalgic look on his face—he spent the night of the full moon here, together with his three friends, he didn't expect it to be transformed now. The office of the Ministry of Magic.

Looking at the dog house in the courtyard, Lupin's heart moved.

"You have a dog? Judging from the size of this dog house, it should be very big, right?"

"Yeah." Lockhart said, pretending not to care, "I don't know what it has eaten to grow so big, I have to feed it every day, but I have to feed it a lot, and its mouth is still I'm very stingy, I won't eat anything that's a little rotten, and yesterday I actually learned to pretend to be cute and cute, just to grab a cheese pork chop from my plate..."

Lupin lowered his head and glanced into the dog house: "It doesn't seem to be there."

"Who knows where it will go wild again... For the sake of it catching mice, and occasionally picking up a rabbit, I'll let it go."

Lupin originally wanted to find out if there was any dog ​​hair left by the dog house, but he dared to pretend to be casual and ask, "How long have you kept this dog?"

"It's been a while." Lockhart deliberately covered the matter with vague words. "It's always been the house-elves who take care of it. Except for being a little greedy, it's still strict."

"That's it..." Lupin seemed relieved.

Even if you kill Lupin, he can't imagine Sirius rolling around and looking for someone

To look like pork chops and catching mice, after all, when Sirius was in school, he was so cynical and arrogant that he almost looked down on everyone except James.

"Oh, by the way, one more thing. Harry Potter can't come to Hogsmeade on the weekend because he can't find anyone to sign. The headmaster told me to tell you, don't sign him, we don't want him to go around. Run around." Lupin remembered something serious.

\"Because of Blake?" Lockhart asked knowingly.

\"Not only because of Black, but also the Dementors. The Dementors had such a huge impact on Potter that when you taught him Occlumency, you let him regain some of the memories of when he was a baby... You know , that memory is not wonderful, I have to find a way to teach him the Patronus Charm..."

"Looks like he's running out of time to train Quidditch," Lockhart said regretfully.

After explaining the business, Lupin said goodbye to Lockhart and walked towards the castle with a rather relaxed mood.

And long after Lupin left, Black emerged from the bushes behind the house with his dog's head.

In order to avoid his close friend from school, he was also deliberate. He listened to all the conversations between Lockhart and Lupin just now, and it seemed that his schoolmate was not doing very well before.

In addition, Black also learned part of the situation of his godson.

Poor kid, even the right to come to Hogsmeade has been deprived... If this kid is as smart as James, he should have discovered a lot of Hogwarts secret passages.

And Quidditch... The kid did join the Quidditch team, and James wrote that he was rambling on a toy broom when he was a baby, and he really inherited his dad's talent.

It's a pity that he can't come to Hogsmeade and let himself have a good look, is it?

Really like James.

Tsk, I don't want to attract Dementors either! Who knew the Ministry of Magic could be so insane!

The **** dog looked a little irritable, and this was also noticed by Dobby.

"Briquettes, you're here! Come here quickly, and another! J has drilled all over the place, and after getting all ashes, Dobby will come to help you clean it." Dobby shouted.

Blackburn wanted to get out immediately and let Dobby help him clean the ashes, but after looking at the door, he suddenly retracted into the bushes and disappeared.

It turned out that two Hogwarts students had appeared outside the fence of the Screaming Shack.

"That's it, Hermione, this is the well-known haunted house. It's shabby. I can't believe anyone would live here... oh!"

Ron Weasley raised his head and looked at the screaming shack at the entrance of the village.

Completely different from what his brothers had told him, the Shrieking Shack had been transformed into a different look after Lockhart's maintenance.

The boards that nailed the door have long been removed by Lockhart, and the worn boards have been painted with varnish. Although the repaired roof and windows are not luxurious, they are more than enough for office use. The dog house at the door and the morning glory growing in the fence make this shed look full of life.

Hermione had no inherent impression of the Screaming Shack. She insisted on visiting after hearing that Lockhart lived here, and then, as Ron said, went to Honeyduke.

Sirius Black recognized Ron the first time he saw him - he was the boy! The boy with that rat!

Although he only read the newspaper for three minutes, Blake remembered every detail on it clearly, and in order to avoid his own mistakes, he deliberately found it from the discarded newspapers in Hogsmeade after his escape. Out of that newspaper, made a mess of it

The smell of ink has been complained by Dobby for a long time.

Although he had already imagined the scene of revenge once and ten thousand times, he never thought that happiness would come so suddenly.

That's right, just hide, wait for the rat to get out, rush forward, bite its throat, and it's all over.

Blake lowered his body, crept forward from the bushes, dawdled all the way to the window sill of the Shrieking Shack, and overheard Lockhart's conversation with the two students intently.

So glad you came to see me, Ron, Hermione... ah, and Crookshanks | Hello, little one! Dobby, it's fine for me to pour the tea, you can go to Honey Duke to buy candy! "

"...don't bother so much, we'll go there later." Hermione said politely.

"Yeah, that Malfoy guy has been showing off for a whole year, and this time we're going to visit there too. I saved up pocket money for a summer vacation." Ron also agreed.

"One yard is one yard. After eating a little here, you can buy it after you know which candies are delicious. Besides, Honey Duke has prepared some new products for tonight's movie, and these new products will only be available to me for the time being. , you can't buy it."

"Movie?" Hermione and Ron said in unison.

It's just that Hermione was surprised with a hint of excitement, while Ron was very confused.

"Yeah, I found some old movies, and I'm going to open the eyes of these wizards. Tonight's movie is "The Wizard of Oz". Hermione should have seen it, but Ron can go and watch it."

\"I only watched it once when I was a kid." Hermione said immediately, \"I don't mind watching it again in the wizarding village, it will feel completely different."

Ron was still confused, as if he didn't know where Lockhart and Hermione were.

Say something.

"You can think of it as a puppet show," Lockhart said, "it's just bigger and more coherent."

—Speaking of puppetry, Ron seemed to understand.

"How much are the tickets?" he asked.

"Three xikes, but if you can bring two more classmates to watch together, I'll give you half price, not for children under the age of 0, because they can enter for free." Lockhart told him.

Hearing the price, Ron hesitated instinctively, as if unsure whether he should pay the price of a bottle of Butterbeer to see a puppet show.

But Hermione stirred him up immediately: "Trust me, Ron, that's a good movie