"Well, fortunately, Dad made extra money, otherwise my pocket money might not be enough."

Hermione looked at the cat in her arms and asked again.

"Professor Lockhart, are pets allowed in the cinema?"

"Yes, but you have to make sure that it doesn't make noises to disturb others. I'm afraid the half-breed cat raccoon can't do this, but the mouse should be able to... Ron, you can bring Scabbers in." Lockhart replied.

Ron shook his head regretfully: "It's a pity I didn't bring Scabbers here, Hermione's animal... The cat was about to bite when it saw it, and it was too scared to come out, so I left it in the dormitory."

Outside the window sill, Blake's ears tugged down in disappointment: Peter's guy escaped again, **** bastard, good luck!

The cat in Hermione's arms seemed to have sensed something, it struggled twice and jumped out of Hermione's arms.

"What's the matter, Crookshanks?" Hermione asked curiously.

Crookshanks pointed in the direction of the window, sniffed hard, and then his eyes suddenly became extremely sharp.

chant?"

In the eyes of everyone surprised, Crookshanks suddenly jumped out of the window.

Black was lying outside the window when he suddenly saw a mass of ginger-colored things jumping out, and he was also taken aback.

But when he saw the mass clearly, a certain memory string in his mind seemed to be suddenly plucked.

Crookshanks didn't care so much. When it first saw Black, it rushed up angrily, scratching and biting the **** dog.

Lockhart, Hermione and Ron heard the sound, just in time to see the scene of Crookshanks chasing a black dog and scratching.

"Look! I said it, it's a mad cat! It bites everyone!" Ron yelled at Hermione, "Look, it even bites your beloved 'Locke' dog, so it's still Is there anything you can't bite? "

Hermione's face flushed instantly.

She peeked over to Lockhart, hoping that he hadn't heard what Ron said.

Fortunately, Lockhart seemed to be wondering why the cat and dog started fighting as soon as they met, and didn't pay attention to Hermione's side, so she was relieved.

"Crookshanks, stop!" Hermione shouted.

Chapter 182: The Origin of Crookshanks Conjecture

Up to now, everything has been in Lockhart's expectation, even including the mention of Banban intentionally or unintentionally, he did it all.

But he was really curious why Crookshanks rushed to bite when he saw Black's Animagus form, because it was clearly recorded in the original book that they had a good relationship.

…Wait, the relationship is okay?

Why did a cat raccoon choose to believe him just after meeting Black, and was willing to help him catch Ron's mouse?

Did they know each other before?

If he remembered correctly, Crookshanks had been in the pet store for many years and never let anyone buy it, and whenever anyone saw it, it would get angry and scared people away until Hermione took it down. .

Why is Crookshanks so rude to others, but only to Hermione?

No, what if instead of Hermione, Crookshanks recognized someone else there?

Been in a pet store for years...

Thinking of this, he asked Hermione who was beside him.

"Has this cat been clinging to you since you bought it?"

Hermione shook her head in confusion: "No, it likes to stick to Harry the most, and it sleeps on Harry's lap in the common room."

Ron also corroborated her statement: "Yes, sometimes we wake up in the morning and see this cat sleeping on Harry's quilt, weighing him down.

—I think it must be hungry at night and wants to eat Scabbers. "

After hearing this, Lockhart once again turned his attention to the cat and the dog who were fighting.

Of course, Crookshanks is definitely not an Animagus, it's a half-breed raccoon, that's for sure.

The mixed-race cat raccoon has a good memory, is particularly intelligent, and can sense danger to some extent, so many wizarding families like to keep one at home.

And when James Potter and Lily Evans got married, they also had a mixed-breed raccoon, but the raccoon's whereabouts were unknown after Voldemort's attack.

Could it be…

If that's the case, then it's going to be interesting, and it's perfectly normal for Crookshanks to stick to Harry.

If I remember correctly, the great prophet Rowling often describes the scene of Crookshanks clinging to Harry in the book. You must know that she has never liked to make unnecessary descriptions. Luo", the mention of "that pool of water" and "mirror" in the secret room are not random details, but to pave the way for the final answer.

As a writer who likes to dig holes in books, Lockhart has reason to suspect that this is what Rowling is implying, but in the end he failed to use this plan.

Looking back on the field, I saw that although Black was very embarrassed by Crookshanks, he never fought back. And after noticing that he had attracted the attention of others, the **** dog jumped into the bushes and disappeared after barking a few times.

Crookshanks was relentless, and he followed into the bushes without hesitation, and looking at his posture, it seemed that he would not give up until he scratched the dog to death.

"Crookshanes!"

Hermione shouted worriedly, and looked like she wanted to catch up.

Lockhart grabbed her in time: "It's alright, the pets are fighting with each other.

Well, they'll be back by themselves when it's time for dinner, and the dog isn't dangerous, I promise. "

Hermione was a little embarrassed: "Sorry, Professor, I will take good care of I-1 when I go back.

dagger.

"I've already said that, I'm no longer teaching, so don't call me a professor." Lockhart felt helpless, "Let's go, let's have something to eat first, go shopping after you rest, and watch a movie together at night. The quality of the film will definitely surprise you.

As if to confirm Lockhart's words, after a while, after Lockhart entertained the two of them and had a snack, the **** dog and the big yellow cat walked back to the screaming shack together.

Although the **** dog's hair is a bit tongue-tied and there are a few bloodstains scratched from its claws, at least they have stopped.

Although Crookshanks still looked a little alert, and the distance from Sirius was kept two or three steps away, but it had lost the hostility in the eyes of the **** dog, and did not know that Sirius how to do it.

"Looks like they're done... Dobby, help me get them some pet food, tuna-flavored, and rub some medicine on the briquettes," Lockhart called.

"Okay, master." Dobby complied with his order immediately.

He was undoubtedly delighted to entertain Harry Potter's friends, but Dobby still regrets Harry's absence—he couldn't show his new 12 flavors of fruit syrup tarts.

Seeing her cat come back, Hermione hurriedly stood up.

"Really... Crookshanks, you still like to run around, I didn't see it before."

She held it up in front of her eyes, then looked at it carefully for a while, and was relieved when she didn't find any wounds on it.

The big yellow cat behaved very well, and even though Hermione checked its whole body, it didn't say a word, and its honest appearance made it hard to believe that it was the one who was showing his teeth and claws just now.

Ron looked at it with disgust: "I repeat, I still recommend that you throw it away."

"Ron!"

Because of Lockhart's presence, Hermione was not easy to attack, but Ron's emotional intelligence was indeed extremely low, and she almost couldn't help it.

In order to smooth things out, Lockhart changed the subject and talked to the two about school life.

The duo got distracted, and they started talking about life in the new term, the new Defense professor, what it was like to be with Harry, and how unhappy he was about not being able to come to Hogsmeade and many more.

The **** dog listened carefully, because it was a rare way to get to know his godson. It turned out that he also joined the Quidditch team and was still a Seeker... It's a pity that James is a Chaser and rarely makes a cameo appearance as a Seeker.

For Blake, the encounter with Crookshanks, the cat raccoon, was a total accident, although he made it believe that he was indeed innocent after a lot of speech. It was Peter who betrayed the Potters. But Crookshanks remains skeptical.

"You can go back and look at that mouse and see if it's missing a toe," Sirius told it in the way that animals communicate.

If all goes well, when it finds out that the rat is indeed Peter, I believe it will agree to help itself, after all, this cat is so smart.

Hermione and Ron were also visiting Hogsmeade, so they said goodbye after chatting for less than an hour or so.

Lockhart asked them to go to Honey Duke to report their name, I believe the owner would love to

Wanting to give them a new snack to try, Ron happily agreed.

Finally, Hermione seemed to remember something.

She twisted and pulled out a badge from her bag with the words S.P.E.W engraved on it, and handed it to Lockhart with a helpless expression on Ron's face.

"I wonder if you'd like to join our association?" Hermione said expectantly, "In order to pay attention to the rights of house-elves..."

Lockhart laughed, and there was an "as expected" in his smile.

"It seems that since the last time I asked you to think, you have really thought. If this is the final answer you handed in, although I can't give you 100 points, at least 60 points are there... Well, I decided to join This association, and I will donate 5 Galleons in my own name for the association's dues." He took the "vomit" badge from Hermione's hand.

Hermione was overjoyed: "So, you agree with me?"

Lockhart immediately poured cold water on her: "No, in fact, I don't agree with your way of handling it, but it's always good to try more while you're young, after you've run it for a while and found problems, If you come to me again, I will have nothing to say."

Hermione looked a little disappointed: "Why not now?"

"Because detours always have to be taken." Lockhart said to her patiently, "If you can push for reform together with your own strength, it means that you have at least learned how to balance, compromise and fight, which will bring You've grown a lot, and you'll get more out of that growth than the issues you're promoting."

To put it bluntly, Lockhart doesn't really care about the rights of house-elves, but he is very concerned about the growth of one of his many successors in the future, because this is his core purpose.

And public policy, legal principles, social psychology... It's not easy to learn these things. If you think that "being an official" is to issue orders, and the secretary does something

, nothing to do secretary, then you may be very wrong.

Chapter 183 "The Wizard of Oz" is a fable 0

Hermione still felt ignorant about what Lockhart said, but she was very happy with the "expectation" in his words.

It goes to show that Lockhart does take her "growing up" to heart and doesn't take her promotion of house elf rights as a joke like everyone else does.

As for the meaning of Lockhart's words, Hermione understood, nothing more than to say that he was not optimistic about her "career".

But this aroused her competitive spirit. She wanted to do it beautifully, and then take "victory" to prove to Lockhart that she is completely different from other brainless girls, and she is not because He looks handsome and looks forward to.

Lockhart didn't particularly care about this kind of thought, anyway, he only regarded this kind of feeling as a "growing pain"; it was too easy for a young man to confuse all kinds of strange feelings.

Next, Hermione and Ron went to visit Hogsmeade, which they have been in love with for a long time, which can be regarded as the fulfillment of a wish for more than two years.

Lockhart felt that there was really nothing to do in Hogsmeade now, with fifty or sixty houses and twenty shops, not as prosperous as a large supermarket in London.

But things are afraid of comparison. Compared with other villages in the wizarding world, Hogsmeade is already quite good. At least it is not a problem for the third-year little wizard to have a sense of freshness for about half a year.

After Ron walked out of the screaming shack, he went straight to the Honeydukes Candy Store to get the "offers" that Lockhart said.

"There are so many people there, we can easily find two classmates and get half-price movie tickets." Ron said to Hermione proudly.

As a result, at the door of Duke Honey, they met Wei who was also in a hurry.

sly twins

Ron's eyes lit up - isn't it just two people?

As a result, before he could speak, Fred rushed up first.

"Thank goodness, just two people... Would you like to go to the movies? Remember to report my name when you buy a ticket, and I can get a half-price ticket."

Ron and Hermione suddenly froze, and at this moment they felt as if they were traffickers who were sold by their own hostages.

Because the little wizards were going back to Hogwarts before dinner at night, they could only stay to watch the afternoon show.

But it was enough for Lockhart—the extra seats at the open-air cinema were all filled.

Human-to-human introduction of this kind of viral marketing really works well. Some students from wizarding families bought tickets at the instigation of Muggle classmates even though they didn't know what the movie was about, and bought tickets from Honey Duke and Three Broomsticks with them. Snacks and drinks, sitting in the open field.

In addition, Lockhart also saw Ambrosio Froome, the owner of the Honey Duke, at the scene, which surprised him, because he felt that the boss should be busy with business at this time and did not have time to watch movies. right.

When Lockhart asked him, he smiled wryly and shrugged at Lockhart.

"They ran out of my stock...and had to close the store."

"Is business so good?" Lockhart was a little surprised.

"Yeah." The boss glanced at the students with relief. "After all, it's the baby boomer generation... I still underestimated the number of third graders this year."

"Then you have to be careful, the number of second graders is one third more than this year's third graders, and I also heard Lupin say this year's number of first graders.

amazing. I suspect that if there is an increase in the number of first-year students each class, maybe by the time they graduate, Hogwarts will be back where it was with a thousand students," Lockhart told him.

The joy on Froome's face couldn't be concealed: "That's great!

Lockhart believes that he is sincere. Whether it is for the development of the wizarding world or for Honey Duke to make more money, Froome definitely expects the wizarding population to grow.

Besides, these little wizards can really spend too much money.

Those who make their own money know how valuable money is, and these students who are still in school are obviously not among them.

Because their source of income is their parents, they can ask for more if they have no money. To a certain extent, this can be regarded as an "inexhaustible" existence.

Although the little wizards are not rich, they dare to spend all their pocket money, so their spending power is higher than that of the villagers.