Hermione, join me as Minister of Magic!

Ron was even more puzzled: "Now that the Sphinx is taken away, what about the game?"

As soon as the words fell, a staff member of the Ministry of Magic hurried onto the stage and answered Ron's questions.

"The monsters we brought need to be fed...In the next game, the warriors can directly roll the dice and go to the competition site without guessing..."

There was a burst of dissatisfaction from the audience.

Guessing riddles is actually quite interesting, they want to see it.

But the Ministry of Magic can't say anything now—because they don't know what happened, but Kingsley Shaker suddenly appeared and asked the Aurors to control the Sphinx, because "it changed Portkey"

Although I didn't understand what happened, the game had to continue, so people from the Sports Department and the International Department stayed at the scene to maintain order, while the people from the Auror Office subdued the Sphinx in an instant, and then He brought it to the temporarily vacated interrogation room.

In the interrogation room, the sphinx has long been tied up with thick chains.

And an African wizard is holding a spear, and it is at the position of its heart.

"Say, why did you do that?" asked Scrimgeour sharply.

The Ministry of Magic is not idle. Before the game, they checked all the people or creatures who might come into contact with the Portkey, and the game was held as scheduled after confirming that they had not been hit by the Imperius Curse.

But now the fact undoubtedly gave them a big slap in the face—in the middle of the game, Sphinx actually made his own claim and used his magic power to change the destination of the Portkey.

Although it was controlled, the sphinx was still wagging its tail leisurely.

"Why? I think this is an obvious fact, not a riddle." It said in a relaxed tone, as if it was not worried that people from the Ministry of Magic would kill it

"Bastard!" Scrimgeour growled in a low voice, "Be more honest! Who ordered you? When? For what purpose?"

Newell, I don't need to answer any of these questions, but I think there is something wrong with your mind. "

A rare sneer appeared on the face of the Sphinx, which was quite different from its usual gentle image.

"Guess the riddle, if you get the answer right, we will jump into the sea, if you get the wrong answer, we will eat people—this is such a natural rule, we are born for this, and we die for this..." At this point, its tone also changed. He became gloomy, "But we shouldn't endure such a shame! Like a clown in a circus, you are at your disposal to have fun, and use our carefully thought-out puzzles as a dispensable banquet decoration."

Seeing the British wizard looking at him, the representative sent by the African Union next to him had to explain something for his own people.

"But we've given you food!" he shouted at the Sphinx.

"No, you don't." Sphinx vetoed flatly, "Our food is naturally

There's only one kind of thing from beginning to end -- and that's humans as stupid as you! "

Having said that, some things can be said to be self-evident.

Sphinxes have a long history of dissatisfaction with wizards' restraints on them, and are easily bribed by people with malicious intentions, so it's not surprising that they did this kind of thing.

But the question is, who ordered them to do this?

Fortunately, Lockhart was more vigilant. After realizing that Harry and the others had teleported to a strange place, he immediately activated a reverse door key that was placed on Harry's body at an unknown time. Otherwise, it would have been difficult to say.

After rescuing Harry, Lockhart and Moody used the exchanged Portkey to teleport there, saying that they wanted to "meet for a while" with the mastermind behind the scenes, and cut Harry's arm before leaving. I asked him for a hair and a little blood, and I don't know how he plans to "meet for a while" with the man behind the scenes

But one thing is certain - the Ministry of Magic has once again been publicly humiliated

Scrimgeour couldn't wait for Lockhart and the others to come back to ask them the truth, because he had already lost enough face today.

"That is to say, someone found you and bought you...who?" He pressed his wand against the Sphinx's heart.

"It's the messenger of the cobra. He said that he respects the customs of our species and will give us the right to release our nature after his master takes power."

The Sphinx didn't hide anything from him either, maybe because it felt that its mission had been successful anyway, so it wouldn't hurt to talk about what the Ministry of Magic would know sooner or later, and it could also vent its grievances by the way.

Besides, it doesn't like the taste of Veritaserum, and it doesn't like the feeling of being read by Legilimency.

After hearing what it said, Scrimgeour was even more puzzled.

Cobra's... messenger? He hesitated, "Who is that?"

"He is much better than you guys." Sphinx obviously showed a look of recollection when he mentioned this, "That man came with a huge poisonous snake and hundreds of cobras, and told us made an offer we couldn't refuse... Seriously, although I don't miss the taste of human flesh after all these long years, my girls don't...I'm a good husband."

Scrimgeour was furious when he heard this: "Damn it, don't guess riddles with me! What I'm asking is—who is that person?"

Chapter 370 The Unwanted Answer

Scrimgeour's eagerness to find out the reason behind the black hand is not entirely for his own face, his "future" may be more important.

Anyway, that's the way it is in the wizarding world. A place with a small population is definitely dominated by acquaintance society. Even if you can't continue to go up, at least you won't be fired if there are no major problems.

But if the face is gone, it is really gone, because everyone knows each other, and because of the small number of people, there are not many levels between the leader and the grassroots.Once he is branded as "incompetent" by his acquaintances, no matter what kind of public office he wants to hold in the future, when people think of him, they probably don't think he can do anything

When Lockhart and Moody approached him discreetly, reminding him that "someone" was going to mess with the Big Five, Scrimgeour was on the verge of death.

He and Fudge are political enemies. Although Fudge, as the Minister of Magic, bears the greatest responsibility for the riots at the World Cup, Scrimgeour can't stay out of it. In a sense, he is more responsible than Fudge.

He didn't want anything more to happen.

After getting the worst out of the Sphinx, Scrimgeour went into a stupor—his brain shut down.

He instinctively wanted to accuse the Sphinx of lying, but his few senses told him that no creature in this world would cover up a small lie with a ridiculously big lie.

But he didn't know what to do.

In a hurry, he called Kingsley Shacklebolt and asked him about the whereabouts of Moody and Lockhart: "Where is Moody? Haven't they returned yet?"

"Not yet," Kingsley told him, "but it doesn't matter, they said it might take an hour to come back."

"One hour...this..."

Scrimgeour took out his pocket watch and looked at it, then slumped down at the desk and sat down with his head in his hands, his calves were still trembling, and he looked very helpless.

After a long time, Scrimgeour remembered what he should do now instead of waiting foolishly.

"Shacklebolt, call Robards over here, we're going to... hold a meeting! Yes, have a meeting! We're facing a very serious... dilemma, and we have to discuss it!" Kingsley fully understood Scrimgeour's disorientation in the eyes.

A thought suddenly popped up in his heart: "Such a person can actually be his boss? Why don't you come by yourself?"

"I'll call him right away," Kingsley agreed.

He left the small temporary interrogation room and walked towards the fire on the second floor of the cinema.

In the venue, Harry and Cedric sat back to their seats with tired faces, while Hermione and Ron had already rushed forward.

"What happened just now, Harry? Why did you seem to be hurt just now?" Hermione asked him anxiously.

Harry looked around and found that there were still too many people, so he didn't tell what happened to him.

"It's okay, it's just a little blood, and it's cured right away...I hurt myself."

In case Hermione didn't worry, Harry added another sentence.

"Healed?" Hermione screamed. "Healing magic is the thing you're worst at... Show me!"

Harry had no choice but to stretch out his right hand: "Cedric is still here."

After carefully looking at Harry's arm and confirming that there were no permanent scars, Hermione felt a little relieved.

But then she noticed something new: "Huh? What's the matter, Harry? This wand in your hand isn't yours! Where's your wand? It's like, like..."

Seeing that he couldn't hide it, Harry had to interrupt her first.

"Go back! Let's talk when we go back!" He hastily winked.

Hermione stared at the familiar wand, her lips squirmed several times, but in the end she couldn't say anything, only her clenched fists told others how upset she was.

Meanwhile, on the other side, Gilderoy Lockhart is in the biggest predicament of his life.

Although he had already made enough mental preparations, he still underestimated the negative impact of changing the wand on him, even if he drank compound soup and turned into Harry

It was even worse—unfamiliar with Harry's body movements, Lockhart's movements were restricted, and he seemed a little clumsy in the face of Barty Crouch Jr. pressing every step of the way.

It's too big, it's still too big!Lockhart lost his mind.

Because he was thinking about the Imperius Curse and Compound Potion from the beginning to the end, he completely ignored that little Crouch could actually infiltrate the game scene through the "Muggle method" of direct bribery.

Fortunately, the trigger portkey he had arranged ahead of time did its job-it teleported Harry and Cedric back to the Shrieking Shack in time.

This is the advantage of being prepared—even though he doesn't know how the other party plans to take Harry away from Hogwarts, he knows that the other party will definitely attack Harry, so he only needs to make corresponding arrangements.

Lockhart and Moody arrived at the Shrieking Shack through the phoenix left by Dumbledore in time, and there arranged the plan of changing the joist and post that had been planned long ago-he himself drank Polyjuice Potion and became Ha Lee's appearance, while Moody is invisible and waiting to support him.

This arrangement seemed foolproof to Lockhart at the time, and he even wondered if he needed to put some water in order to leave Harry's blood in what Barty Jr. thought was "reasonable".

But now it seemed that he was really worried, because Crouch Jr. was much stronger than he looked, and the most difficult thing to deal with was his Cruciatus Curse.

Just as Lockhart has made great use of the magic related to the Oblivion Curse, the magic that Barty Crouch Jr. is best at is also those related spells that torture people and can negatively stimulate the opponent's senses.

When Lockhart and Moody teleported there using the Portkey left by Harry, before they could confirm where it was, a delighted and slightly perverted voice sounded from nearby.

"Drill the heart and gouge out the bone!"

- A green thunderbolt rushed towards Lockhart's back from far to near.

But when Lockhart replaced Harry with Polyjuice Potion, he reacted extremely quickly. He dodged the spell, and then rolled sideways on the spot, pointing his wand in the direction of the sound just now.

Of course, the reason why he was able to react so quickly may also have something to do with the Felicia and enhancer he drank in advance.

The lion fights the rabbit with all its strength, if Lockhart still doesn't prepare after knowing that his enemy is a Death Eater, then he is really sorry for his IQ if he is alive

Chapter 370 The Seventh Cat Plays "Mouse"

After avoiding the spell, "Harry Potter" immediately began to look around, and asked the Philosopher's Triple Company: "Who are you? Where is this place? What are you doing? Digory, where is Digory?"

He looked panic-stricken, fully showing the behavior of a teenager who was suddenly attacked.

The strange voice sounded again: "Is this here? This is the grave my Lord chose for your dirty blood, Harry Potter."

As the voice fell, a sallow, emaciated man emerged from nowhere.

He was holding a magic wand that shone with faint green light, with a morbid grin on his face, and he was still licking his lips when he looked at "Harry". Look-a-like the guys from Gringotts that Lockhart met

This person is of course Barty Crouch Jr. Unlike the portraits in the most wanted by the Ministry of Magic, today's little Crouch looks desolate and haggard, with protruding bones and dense stubble. It is hard to believe that this is a wanted man The young man in Lingzhong looked quite handsome.

It seems that during this time with Voldemort, Crouch Jr. did not live well.And because he was going to feed Voldemort instead of Wormtail: this guy obviously had to consume more than just mental energy.

—The Cruciatus Curse failed to hit Harry, not only did Little Crouch feel no regrets, but he became even more excited.

"It's a little mouse that can run very well," Little Crouch said with a smirk, "I hope you can struggle for a while longer, although you will eventually be swallowed by snakes, but doing warm-up exercises in advance may make you look stronger." Delicious."

Lockhart completely ignored Crouch's words. He looked around while the other party was complacent, and found that Voldemort was really not a creative person. The place of rebirth was still in the cemetery, but he didn't know why Which cemetery is it?

And Little Crouch's skills are obviously stronger than Wormtail's. Just after his words fell, many bumps suddenly appeared on the ground of the cemetery, and small snakes of different lengths and patterns came out from the graves of the cemetery. drilled out.

Not only that, after the snakes came out, pale white arms also emerged from the ground.

It may be because the holes drilled by these snakes make the soil of these tombs more loose, and the speed of these new things drilling out is not much slower than that of these snakes. The owner of these arms crawled out of the tomb slowly and heavily, and Cooperating with the group of hissing snakes, Lockhart was surrounded.

If he hadn't watched too many zombie movies, even if Lockhart saw this kind of scene for the first time, he would definitely feel his scalp tingling for the current scene.

Voldemort innovatively used such things as "mang moon corpses" among wizards in the first war. Lockhart knew about this, and he also studied it specially.

Dumbledore said that Voldemort believed that "corpses, darkness and blood" were terrible, so the cave was full of things like infernal corpses.

And as a man determined to pull out the "seeds" in the minds of all Death Eaters and make "hooks", Lockhart of course tried to figure out why Voldemort was so afraid of dead bodies.

As a result, he checked and found that in 1932, the first so-called zombie film "White Zombie" had already been produced in the United States, and it should be when Voldemort was 6 years old.

Set in Haiti, the film describes a sorcerer who uses voodoo to wake up a large group of zombies and let them operate machines in a sugar factory day and night.

By the way, all people who landed on the island will be turned into new zombies.

Of course, from Lockhart's point of view, this is an attempt by the Americans to vilify Haiti's sugar industry with "zombies" after the sugar industry in the southern plantations was taken away by the Haitians.

Just like after the new century, after the tomato markets in the south-central and southwestern United States and the east coast were taken away by Xinjiang cotton and Xinjiang tomatoes, the United States tried its best to concoct a "forced labor".

After careful investigation, Lockhart found that this film was actually played in London, and because the Americans wanted to vilify Haiti to the maximum, the ticket price of the film was not high, and even drew a lot of pictures for it. poster.

If young Tom Riddle saw the poster of this movie when he was wandering around in London, or tried to evade the fare to watch this movie, and let this movie cause indelible damage to his young heart , which is not incomprehensible.

And when Voldemort returned more than ten years after graduation, and recruited Death Eaters, ready to start the first wizarding war that lasted 11 years, the true originator of the zombie film-"Night of the Living Dead" in 1968 Start playing.

Lockhart believes that it was this film that inspired Voldemort. He already had the resurrection stone in his hand. He could refer to the magic in it and invent the spell to create the corpse, so as to use it to scare other wizards. .

Of course, Lockhart had absolutely no fear of it.

— On the one hand, because it is daytime now, the dead body is not as scary as at night.On the other hand, it is because, as someone said, "all the tools of terror stem from insufficient firepower." When Lockhart thought he could easily bring down a large number of infernal corpses, this thing was only for him. It's ridiculous.It's the same even if they improve the magic of this infernal corpse so that it is no longer afraid of light.

But in order to continue to paralyze little Barty, Lockhart felt that he should pretend to be afraid

He took a few steps back quickly, raised the magic wand with the phoenix tail feather in his hand, and made a staggering look.

Sure enough, Little Crouch didn't have the slightest doubt, but was even more complacent.

It can be seen that he has been planning for this for a long time.

He's also not eager to attack "Harry," but rather like cat and mouse: wanting to have a good time before eating.