Hermione, join me as Minister of Magic!

Snape knew exactly what he wanted to ask, but apart from Dumbledore, the information he got from the Death Eaters could not be told to anyone, and could only be rotted in his own stomach.

"Want to know? Unfortunately, almost all the Death Eaters outside of Azkaban have gone."

But to his disappointment, there was no surprise on Lockhart's face, instead he seemed a little excited.

"All gone? Great!" he said cheerfully.

Seeing him like this, Snape didn't know how to evaluate him.

"Great? Are you suffering from cognitive-emotional incoordination mania because of excessive disappointment? If that's the case, I still have a lot of tranquility potions." He sarcastically said

"No, no, this situation is indeed very good." Lockhart snapped his fingers,

"It's wonderful to think about it, don't you think? A motley crew of motley crews with different dreams, all united by authority and greed, when true evil thinks it can have complete control over them."

Snape knew he was right, but just couldn't look at him proudly.

"One of these mobs can give you a repelling spell that can send you from Scotland to New Zealand." He touched his wand intentionally or unintentionally, "If it wasn't for the lack of creativity in Little Barty, you wouldn't be here now The method is full of nonsense, and that guy has made a great contribution this time."

Do you want to scratch Barty? Lockhart disagreed, "That guy is ruthless enough, but after two contests, I found out that the guy is indeed from a professional background, with a clear style of doing things, and the use of spells is rigid and lacks creativity and also…"

"Sure enough." Snape said with a gloomy face, "I hope you can have enough confidence to say the same when facing them o... Let me tell you first, if you meet you on the battlefield, don't expect me to show mercy , I will exchange your head for more trust from the Dark Lord."

As if he didn't hear his threat, Lockhart continued to speak on his own: "oIf little Barty becomes Voldemort's left hand, then Voldemort's penetration of the bureaucracy will be significantly accelerated, and Ministry of Magic officials will have Quite a few were drawn to him. Hey, Severus, would you like to be the Dark Lord's right hand?"

Snape frowned: "What the hell are you thinking?"

"What else can I think of? Of course it is to hold back Voldemort, so that Dumbledore has enough time to mobilize the resistance and eliminate Voldemort.

Since Dumbledore gave you a mission, you should do it the best you can, shouldn't you?Seriously, there are some tricks I wouldn't dare use in the Ministry of Magic, but if it's the Death Eaters... anyway, if you can get a group out of the Death Eaters, then you'll be able to do a lot of things, we can't do everything All counting on Dumbledore. "

After Snape heard the words "Dumbledore can't be relied on for everything", he was quite moved.

Of course he knows that Lockhart has many tricks. In the past three years, he has learned about Lockhart's actions countless times from various sources. Even Dumbledore occasionally commented on him when talking about him in private. "This is a real politician"

To be honest, Snape is actually in a mess right now.

Naturally, he couldn't refuse the spy mission Dumbledore gave him, but he didn't know what else he could do besides passing on information.

Whether it's obeying Voldemort's orders or Dumbledore's orders, those are things he "passively" has to do, but what he wants is "active"

Thinking of this, he stopped pretending: "What should I do?"

Lockhart knew that he would agree, because Voldemort must have repeatedly emphasized the words "you must kill Harry Potter" during the meeting, and Snape is definitely the most panicked now." Even if his appearance Can't see it.

"Simple, since Barty Jr. is going to be Voldemort's left hand, we might as well count him as Voldemort's "Royal Counselor" first; , we might as well regard them as the "Jet Guards"; and you...you should take this opportunity to seize the executive power of the Death Eaters and become the "bureaucratic faction" of the Death Eater group"

"What's the benefit of doing this?" Snape didn't understand at all.

"Advantages? It's very simple. Where there are people, there are rivers and lakes." Lockhart explained: Although Barty was born in the Ministry of Magic, he himself dismissed that kind of thing. This is an opportunity.You can take the opportunity to single out those who have property, those who are forced to follow the crowd, and those who work hard to form your own faction among the Death Eaters, and imply to them that you have bargaining chips on both sides-of course, this does not need to be stated directly , he himself will understand.

Snape was a little disappointed after hearing this: "It doesn't sound like it's doing any good."

Lockhart gently refuted this kind of people who do not fully understand the power of the administrative system: "In fact, there are countless benefits... For example, if Voldemort is determined to launch a general attack on the Order of the Phoenix, let you mobilize enough By the way, prepare a large number of potions and food for restoring magic power..."

Without further ado, Snape understood what he meant.

Although the Death Eaters seem like a grassroots team, in fact, like all political organizations and groups, it also has its own executive, judicial and legislative powers.It's just that there is only one person in this group who is judicial and legislative, that is, Voldemort himself.

Voldemort did not follow his words, and his purpose was that all Death Eaters must serve him, even though the Death Eaters themselves had their own purposes.

As for executive power, Voldemort had neither the knowledge nor the energy to bring it all under control.Unless he wants to personally raise funds, weapons, medicines, food, or personally teach every Death Eater the black arts, or even such trivial matters as who and who lives.

Therefore, he must assign part of the administrative power to the loyal Death Eaters. Only in this way, the terrorist organization whose upper layer is a pyramid and the bottom layer is a network-like terrorist organization cannot operate smoothly, and what Lockhart wants Snape to seize is this part " administrative" powers.

With this right in hand, he can do many things.

For example, if Voldemort plans to have another Hogwarts battle in the future, then Lockhart will definitely instruct Snape to find a way to add some special "ingredients" to the food and potions of all Death Eaters, etc. Let it flare up when it's time to fight.

Anyway, Voldemort didn't suspect it here.

Chapter 390 Death Eaters Can Be Utilized

After Snape thought about it carefully, although he didn't give Lockhart an immediate answer, Lockhart could see that he had actually decided to do this.

Because this guy doesn't understand politics, Snape will definitely come to ask himself for advice in the future - that's enough.

After agreeing on the password and contact information, Snape continued to rush to the principal's office: Lockhart also walked out of the castle, ready to start his own layout.

The reason why Lockhart must find a way to infiltrate the Death Eaters group is that apart from the need to kill Voldemort, he also has a more important purpose—that is, to use the Death Eaters group to force the Ministry of Magic to carry out political reforms.

Sometimes it is so helpless—if Lockhart wants to reform the Ministry of Magic through normal channels, there is a high probability that he will encounter insurmountable resistance.For example, the interest groups behind the old Crouch and his gang, it is difficult for Lockhart not to take their opinions into consideration.

But Voldemort's group is different, he doesn't care if you belong to this group or that group, anyone who disobeys will be Avada.As for any ideal, of course there is no such thing.After graduating, Lord Voldemort would rather work in Borgin Bock to find Horcrux materials than participate in the Grindelwald Revolution, which shows that he didn't take his own slogan seriously at all.

Although this brutal method was inhumane, at least it was vigorous and resolute. Lockhart felt that Voldemort might be able to do a better job than Dumbledore in dealing with the old bureaucrats of the Ministry of Magic.

For example, after Voldemort came to power, he forced all wizard teenagers—whether they were wizards or Muggles—to receive magical education and PUA from pure blood & "mudbloods"

Hey, what is the purpose of Fudi Xiwen?

It is unpopular, but Lockhart does not intend to abolish this version of the "compulsory education" system in the wizarding world, of course he will not confiscate other people's wands.

Whether it is the "blue blood nobles" in the Muggle world who spend money to buy their children to attend prestigious Ivy League schools, or the purebloods in the wizarding world secretly instructing the Ministry of Magic to exaggerate the risks of admission to Muggle families, these are nothing more than attempts to monopolize educational resources.

On the contrary, Voldemort did not dare to look down on half-bloods because he was a half-blood, so he asked wizards of any blood to control them first, and by the way, provoke internal conflicts among wizards, so that Voldemort, the "net celebrity wizard" "Being able to stay in his "National Teacher" position more stably.

If Voldemort's policy can be used, although it cannot be said that a bad thing has turned into a good thing, at least it can be regarded as using the bricks of the east wall that have been bombed to make up for the west wall.

On the second day, when the students were discussing the wonderful scenes of yesterday's hegemony competition while they were in class, a big news broke out from Durmstrang.

The headmaster of Durmstrang, Igor Karkarov, who was worth [-] million in front of everyone, has disappeared!

The missing ones were, of course, Durmstrang's students, who found him missing when they informed the headmaster to go to breakfast.

—At first they didn't pay much attention to it. Even when no one was found in the principal's office, they only thought that Karkaroff went to drink at Hogwarts or nearby—this is a common occurrence in cold places like Northern Europe.

But it wasn't until noon that they couldn't see anyone, and Karkaroff's bedroom was also empty? They didn't realize something was wrong.

In order to cover up their ugliness, they did not choose to expose the matter immediately, but mobilized all the contacts and resources at the students' disposal, trying to find the whereabouts of their principal.

Karkaroff did not appear on the auditorium table until lunch, and Dumbledore did not

When they sent someone over, saying that they hoped that Karkaroff could come and talk to him in detail, the students finally couldn't bear it anymore and told about the disappearance of their school principal.

Hogwarts immediately notified the Ministry of Magic and asked them to send someone aboard to check the traces left by Karkaroff.

The Ministry of Magic sent four Aurors, and only Kingsley Shacklebolt knew the inside information.

They checked around and finally confirmed that Karkaroff was not kidnapped, because everything in the bedroom and office was in good order, and there were no signs of damage to many irrecoverable magic items in the ancient ship. It can be ruled out that he was kidnapped after a fight.

At the same time, they also found that many of Karkaroff's personal belongings were missing, including small valuables, personal travel suitcases and personal hygiene products, and even school liquid funds hidden in wooden barrels in the ship's wine room. .

Obviously, this is really running away with a bucket.

Needless to say, there was an uproar.

Several school leaders shook their heads unanimously after hearing this—no matter what kind of person Karkaroff is, or why he is, he is now the principal of a school, irresponsible The behavior of abandoning his own students and running away is really too out of line.

Needless to say, the students, the disappearance of Headmaster Durmstrang was a major event. When they watched the excitement of Durmstrang, in addition to gloating in their hearts, they also had a little doubt that followed:

Why did Durmstrang's principal run away?

In this regard, Lee Jordan really wanted to express his opinion.

"Obviously, because Durmstrang has fallen to the bottom of the competition: no pupil will want to go to a bottom school for years to come, their headmaster has a bleak prospect, so even the family ran away with the money." He proudly

Said triumphantly to his classmates.

This statement was glared at by Durmstrang students-they would rather accept the conclusion that their principal was murdered than hear why his principal ran away because it was too shameful.

As "good buddies", the Slytherin students naturally support these Durmstrang people, and many people try to comfort them and let them not take it too seriously.

It's just that some of the Slytherin students are not quite right today.

Many students noticed during the morning meal that there were a lot of owls on the Slytherin table today, and many Slytherin students had received letters from home.Due to the delay of owls, they can easily guess that these letters were sent overnight last night.

These students who received the letter became taciturn without exception. Except for Crabbe and Goyle who became more arrogant instead of being brainless, the rest of the Slytherins seemed more willing to let themselves be seen from the eyes of the other students. disappeared in.

As an insider, Ron Weasley stared at Malfoy at the Slytherin table, his teeth itching with hatred.

"I really don't understand, why does Hogwarts allow the children of those Death Eaters to enroll?" He complained, "Just let them be expelled, wouldn't it be fine?"

Judging by Harry's expression, although he didn't directly agree with Ron's words, the meaning was the same.

Last night, he and Dumbledore, led by Sirius, came to the dusty and musty smelling No. 12 Grimmauld Place.After a conversation with Sirius that seemed more like an interrogation than an inquiry, Dumbledore received an exquisite locket from the house-elf Kreacher.

And when they came back, they happened to meet Snape who came to report.Snape went to participate in the first re-loyalty ceremony of the Death Eaters, and according to him, the former Death Eaters except Karkaroff who did not dare to go because they were too scared, the rest

Everyone went without leaving.

When the Death Eaters were going to follow Voldemort to kill and set fire, they still had to watch the sons and daughters of these Death Eaters plotting something in front of them.

"Are you stupid?" Hermione looked at the two of them with pity, "It is because their parents are Death Eaters that they are placed under Hogwarts custody. A bunch of parents who only know black magic nest together, what will happen to them when they grow up."

Harry was taken aback: "It seems so."

Just like his cousin Dudley, under the doting of the Dursleys, he was really bad, but after going to boarding school for a few years, although his nature is still bad, at least he can be like a human being when he wants to be human. That's it.

"So Harry, you should make up your homework now." Hermione complained again, "Because you don't need to do homework to be a warrior, look how much you have fallen behind in your studies! Next year's exam..."

Harry decided to keep playing the fool and procrastinate as long as he could.

Chapter 390 Two: Information Dissemination Doesn't Only Rely on the Media

Karkaroff's escape as a trigger, many things have changed

Undoubtedly, the higher-ups of the Ministry of Magic and some purebloods of Slytherin knew the reason for Karkaroff's escape.But none of them said it, nor even intended to tell the general public.

Rita Skeeter originally wanted to make big news, but the investigation was stopped by the Ministry of Magic just after it started, and even some financial backers behind her told her not to "meddle her business", which made her The career had to collapse in the middle.

The Ministry of Magic issued a ban on newspapers, radio stations and other media, forbidding them to report inside information related to Karkaroff, and the 20 minutes in which the Hogwarts warrior disappeared inexplicably during the Tournament was naturally not allowed to be mentioned. There was an accident with the Portkey.

And as Lockhart's tamed An Zi, these information were naturally sent to Lockhart by Rita.

The reaction of the Ministry of Magic is not surprising, and Lockhart, as a person in the system, actually knows what happened better than Rita.

But Dumbledore gave him the task, saying that he hoped that he could convince the mainstream British wizarding world of the fact that Voldemort had returned before the end of the Five Powers Tournament.

This is necessary, but this task is not that simple. It took Dumbledore and them a whole year to force the Ministry of Magic to admit Voldemort's return in the original book.

In other words, the British wizarding world stayed at "declaring that nothing happened" for a whole year, and then jumped directly to the third stage "we might do something, but unfortunately nothing can be done."

During this period, Voldemort had already contacted evil magical creatures at home and abroad, formulated a comprehensive plan to seize power, and rescued his most loyal men from Azkaban.

came out

Even after Fudge stepped down and when Scrimgeour first took office, the Ministry of Magic was still in a period of chaotic policy adjustments. Voldemort also took advantage of this gap to assassinate potential members of the Order of the Phoenix such as Amelia Burns, further reducing the Take over the resistance of the Ministry of Magic by yourself.

In short, Fudge's lying behavior is really heinous. He delayed the best time for the magic world to contain Voldemort's rise, and successfully reduced the organization of the magic world, which Lockhart could not tolerate.

Dumbledore can be said to be helpless to Fudge's deafness and dumbness. Apart from responding to the Ministry of Magic's slander with an attitude of being upright and not afraid of being crooked, he did not do much. In a sense, this is also a Kind of lay flat, because he doesn't care.

But Lockhart didn't intend to be a gentleman, and he always solved problems with a villain than a villain.

On the first weekend after the Big Five Tournament, Lockhart was at the Wisereck Brothers Magic Shop in Diagon Alley.

"Good morning!" Lockhart said hello, and came to the counter with ease, "how is the business recently?"

The shopkeeper, who was adjusting a precision balance, raised his head and squinted his eyes, seeing the person coming through the light of the window.

"Good morning, Gildero." He put down the tiny screwdriver in his hand, "Business is good, as you can see, I'm preparing the balances requested by the Pharmacists' Association, and they asked for 120 in one go..."

"Why do you need so many scales?" Lockhart asked curiously, "Is their manpower enough to watch dozens of pots at the same time?"

"Granger said that the medicinal properties of different medicinal materials will affect each other, so they have to change the tray paper after weighing the medicines once, which is very troublesome. For the sake of efficiency, they

There are three balances for one pot.

U!

JJ

Lockhart whistled when he heard the words: "Good guy, it's different when you have money, big dog..."

"Yeah, you've made a lot of money too, right? I heard you made a lot of money from the Muggles." Weizeek asked casually.

"Not much." Lockhart was very humble. "Where's your brother?"

"He went abroad and went to Bolivia to talk about the import agency of ghost exorcism items. After the first competition, we received a lot of orders in this area, and we were almost overwhelmed, so we had to import..."

Hearing this, Lockhart showed a sad face.

"Really? So I have to go to Devis Bans to see, you may not be able to take it... Sorry to bother you today, I have something to do, let's go out for a drink together tonight...

After finishing speaking, he turned around as if preparing to leave.

^Wait! "Wizeac stopped him quickly, he was in such a hurry, and now our store is not only my brother and I, we have also hired new people, the wages are really not cheap, and we can buy many things from Ma The melons are imported and then transformed...Did you forget?"