Hermione, join me as Minister of Magic!

"Have you ever thought about teaching at Hogwarts? One year is enough." He reminded, "After Alastor Moody left Hogwarts in May this year, Hogwarts The post of Professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts will be vacant for another year, and Hogwarts is undoubtedly the safest place under Dumbledore's protection."

Slughorn was a little moved: "I will seriously consider it, Gilderoy."

"When will I get an answer... oh no, I should ask the headmaster to hire you himself"

Heart'

The old slug immediately understood: "Yes, after all, I have been retired for many years. If I re-employ, I'm afraid I still need some time to prepare lessons."

Talking to smart people is a pleasure. Although the old slug and Gemma Farley are egoists, Lockhart does not dislike people who can distinguish between interests and know how to exchange obligations for power.

After talking about the business, the atmosphere in the room suddenly improved a lot, and Slughorn finally began to covertly express that he hoped that Lockhart could come to the house where he is currently living to have a talk on the weekend. During a tea party, he would introduce a few people to him.

This can be regarded as officially sharing his contacts with Lockhart.

Lockhart smiled and agreed. Although not all the people in the Slug Club are high-ranking government officials, they all play a "fulcrum" role in the wizarding society, which is very suitable for Lockhart to control public opinion. .

"I'll be there this weekend." Lockhart promised, "It just so happens that I have something to ask you."

He's planning to befriend Slughorn.

Slughorn upholds the "meritism" of superiority and the "pragmatism" of catching mice is a good cat. Lockhart is very clear that this is an improvement for wizards and even human history. .

But he is also very clear about its problem-that is, people who achieve excellent results do not rely entirely on ability, and may rely more on luck.After all, there are many capable people, but few successful ones.

And even if they have real abilities at a real price, people who obtain resources by virtue of "excellent performance" are often not representative in social life, so it is a bit outrageous to let him be in the top position indiscriminately.

Just to give an example-the teacher always likes to let the students with the best grades in the class serve as class cadres. This is the most direct "meritism"

Exam scores are good, and success is less dependent on luck, but this is not the case in society, where luck often accounts for more factors in success than strength.

But even so, are people who do well in the exam really suitable to be class leaders who need management and organizational skills?Also, people who have become class cadres have their own needs. Can they really represent the interests of all students?

The same is true in society. It is not known whether people who have achieved excellent results by virtue of their connections, family resources, and luck have the ability, but even if they have the ability, they cannot represent the interests of everyone in the society, and even most Human interests cannot be represented.Not to mention anything else, even the class cadres of primary school students would embezzle public funds when buying materials for class meetings and class celebrations, and secretly buy themselves two popsicles.This is the drawback of "meritism".

It's a pity that human beings still can't get rid of meritism, because if even "meritism" cannot be used as a criterion for power distribution, then other doctrines will be even more immoral, or in other words, less operable.

For a meritocracy like Slughorn, Lockhart was determined to bring him to justice.

Control it under your own hands, instead of giving such people the opportunity to manipulate the political arena.

Slughorn returned satisfied, and Lockhart finally got what he wanted.

After careful calculation, Lockhart realized that the social resources at hand were not too small.

He now has part of Dumbledore's network resources, the political legacy left by the old Crouch, the shipping channel rights of two gold-absorbing industries, the favor of the Hogwarts Student Union, and the experience of cooperating with large companies. There is also a good relationship cultivated through dealing with the media for a long time, and now Slughorn is willing to send the club to him. This influence has reached a terrifying level.

To be honest, if he had similar resources in his previous life, he might have the guts to directly fire his boss, and then compete for the position of prime minister.

With all this in place, Lockhart thought to himself that he only needed "one more big victory" to be the Minister of Magic, which would not be difficult.

Chapter 390 Nine Rumors Abound

After participating in the "Slug Club" once and successfully becoming one of Slughorn's "most admired students", Lockhart suddenly found that his career of spreading rumors has become much smoother.

He inquired carefully about the channel through which Slughorn learned of Voldemort's return, and found that he got the information two days later than the Farleys, which belonged to the third channel of transmission.

Knowing this is important, because Lockhart wants to understand the relationship between wizards and the channels of information transmission.

The first to get news of Voldemort's return was naturally Voldemort himself.The second is the Death Eaters who were summoned by Voldemort immediately, and the Order of the Phoenix who got the news indirectly. These can be counted as the first to get the news.

And the people who got the news in the second time were those who had a deep connection with the Death Eaters' pure-blood interests, such as Mr. Farley's family, and those senior officials of the Ministry of Magic who got the information through the Order of the Phoenix.

It was the third time that Slughorn learned of Voldemort's return, which meant that in the eyes of the Death Eaters, the old slug was simply an insignificant person, and he ranked very low in the relationship.It is estimated that Slughorn was able to learn the news not through the initiative of the Death Eaters, but through other channels.

Sure enough, under questioning, Slughorn admitted that when he was attending a Slytherin alumni meeting, he discovered that someone was whispering to him, so he used a little trick to find out In the end what happened.

Lockhart didn't want to delve into how a master of potions got the information, but he could confirm one thing through this incident—that is, the Death Eaters have no plans to extend their tentacles to the wizarding society and set up a competent organization

Otherwise, even if the Death Eaters couldn't win over a potion master like Slughorn, they would find a way to control him in advance.

It seems Voldemort is very confident in controlling the Ministry of Magic.

Because he has never experienced a wand flashback accident, the current Voldemort may not want to engage in prophecy balls, but the penetration of the Ministry of Magic will definitely not be less.

Lockhart felt that if he was Voldemort, he would not rush to rescue his men from Azkaban until he confirmed that the Ministry of Magic could not respond to him, because that would mean forcing the Ministry of Magic to admit what happened thing.

In the original book, the Ministry of Magic fought Dumbledore for more than half a year, and when the Ministry of Magic was struggling from top to bottom, Voldemort chose to rob the prison, because at that time Fudge had reached the stage where he had to insist on making mistakes.

What the enemy is afraid of is what we are determined to do, so now Lockhart's top priority is to make Voldemort think he has been exposed, and then he has to rob the prison early before his strength has returned to its peak.

So without further ado, he gave all the seniors who came to the Slug Club a set of gadgets that can prevent black magic, including smoke bombs, anti-curse cloaks and so on.

Of course, the order from Diagon Alley would not arrive so soon, and what Lockhart sent was the things he had accumulated in the past.

The person who received the item was naturally baffled. Although it is a good thing to get a gift, the gift itself is not something that can be used frequently.

However, they didn't think much about it at this time, because Lockhart's identity was there, they only thought it was due to Lockhart's professional relationship, and they liked to give people defense against the dark arts items.

Until they start hearing some buzz from the market.

Just as the duel entertainment of the Five Powers Tournament started, the rumors spread by Mundungus and the others finally began to spread among the wizards.

Big things happened in Game [-] of the Big Five Tournament!

Someone has kidnapped Durmstrang's principal!

The Ministry of Magic has urgently summoned Aurors to protect the Ministry of Magic!

Ministry of Magic officials have privately ordered a large number of equipment for defense against the dark arts!

The Ministry of Magic's Department of Mysteries has discovered a new wizarding virus that turns people into wild boars and forgets they're wizards!

A cult has revived the five-legged monster blood curse, and wants to turn all wizards into five-legged monsters!

Dumbledore is dead!He hasn't been in the public eye for months

Promises like these appeared one after another, causing a sense of panic in the wizarding world.

At first, the Ministry of Magic didn't pay much attention to these rumors, because these rumors were too outrageous, and they didn't think anyone would believe them.

And just as Lockhart predicted, it was precisely because there were too many differences between these rumors and the truth that the Ministry of Magic did not suspect that the Order of the Phoenix was messing around.They just mentioned it publicly in the newspapers, saying that these are just rumors, but they are not true.

But the Ministry of Magic, who has not studied information communication, obviously doesn't know. When they haven't figured out the channel of rumor transmission and cut it off, they should try not to mention these things

So soon almost half of the magic world knew about these rumors, even if they didn't believe them, at least they already knew the content of these "nonsense".

The Ministry of Magic's press office thought that the matter had been resolved, but the subsequent development of the matter was completely beyond their expectations.

First of all, after these rumors were thoroughly spread, some people began to openly question the truth of the matter.

Although the content of these rumors is very sensational, logically speaking, it is not completely impossible. At least the accident in the middle of the competition and the news of Karkaroff's sudden escape are undoubtedly true.

The first concern of doubters is what the Ministry of Magic is covering up. If these gossips that Liu spread to the market are indeed rumors, then why has the Ministry of Magic never announced the truth of the matter, but instead blocked them.

Also, why does the Ministry of Magic keep saying that these are all rumors, but the officials of the Ministry of Magic are secretly purchasing equipment for defense against black magic, and some pure-blood family members even go abroad suddenly?

"Witch Weekly" even launched a special interview column for housewives. Almost all housewives, including Mrs. Weasley, complained that the prices of necessities in the market are getting more and more expensive.

Originally, as long as the husband had a basic income, the housewife could easily afford the meat, cheese, and wool needed for the family’s life. Even if the life was tight, it would never be too much not go down.

But the recent price increase is more than one or two items, but the price of almost all daily necessities has become more expensive.

For this reason, "Witch Weekly" raised a question to the Ministry of Magic on behalf of the majority of witches-is there someone hoarding the necessities of life for wizards?

Fudge read the housewives' questions with a frown, and then called the director of the minister's logistics department.

Yes, it is the logistics department, because there is no department related to economic issues in the Ministry of Magic at all.

"..."Witch Weekly" said that prices have risen sharply recently, is that true?" Fudge asked.

The director of the logistics department was stunned for a moment, then he thought desperately in his mind for a long time, and finally

It was only later that I remembered that my wife seemed to have complained recently that the price of Floo powder had increased by 1 Sickle to 3 Sickles per scoop.

"Well...the price of floo powder has indeed increased." He replied honestly.

"What about the others?"

"do not know."

Fudge is a little dissatisfied. As the Minister of Magic, I can be ignorant of the grassroots and divorced from the masses, but how can you hard-working cadres know nothing about it?

■

"Where's the food?" he asked.

The director of the logistics office had no choice but to spread his hands: "I really don't know, because we are in London!"

It was only then that Fudge remembered that these officials from the Ministry of Magic might not know enough about wizarding villages.

Due to the small population of wizards and their distribution all over the UK, the hundreds of staff of the Ministry of Magic and their family members already account for nearly one-tenth of the wizard population in the UK. Most of these people live in London, and some of them live in London. It's in the country.

In a big city like London, it is neither possible nor necessary for wizards to grow their own vegetables. Except for magic items, they have to go to Diagon Alley to buy their daily necessities from the Muggle market. If the price of food in the store does not increase, they will hardly feel the price changes in the wizarding world.

But other wizards are different—some of them are in Hogsmeade, some are in Godric's Hollow, and some live in mixed villages like St. Catchpole Village. They are more sensitive to prices.

It can be considered that Fudge should have this difficulty.

-------------Chapter Dividing Line---------------

The disconnect between wizards living in London and those in the countryside is perhaps another big problem in the wizarding world.

■■■

EAS

Barty Crouch lives in London, he can obey the Muggle dress code

Make no mistake, the entrance to the Ministry of Magic is the telephone station, and later the Muggle public toilet

Therefore, there are two official vehicles in the Ministry that can be used to pick up important tasks, and there are also two official vehicles for riding

Taxi bus, a highly muggleized form of public transport

But wizards living in the country are relatively slow to these things, even the Weasley family is the same. Mrs. Weasley doesn't even know the internal structure of the car, and Ron is completely ignorant of the knight bus as a mode of transportation...

This only shows that the urbanization of Muggles also has a great impact on wizards, even if they don't realize it.

When the oil trade and pharmacy business created inflation problems, the Ministry of Magic officials who lived in the city were very slow to respond.Either they didn't realize the problem, or they thought it was no big deal, and they could get food from the Muggle cities anyway, and it was cheaper.

Although the wizard's farm has the climatic conditions and land fertility that Muggles dream of, and the food rich in magic can be increased with the increase spell, it stands to reason that the cost should not be higher than that of Muggles.However, what wizard farms have to face are also problems that Muggle farms such as goblins, piggies, Flobber caterpillars, and magical germs will not encounter. Therefore, the labor cost is still high, and the price is reflected in the price except for grain. Apart from being relatively cheap, the prices of the rest of the food are high.

Because of his ignorance of the living conditions of the common people, Fudge made a small mistake—he thought that the influx of foreign gold would not affect the prices of wizard agricultural products, but he ignored the labor from the oil and pharmaceutical industries Famine also heavily affects the agricultural population among wizards.

The reason is not difficult to understand. Just like the migrant workers who come to work in the city, they work hard to grow food. They can only earn a few thousand yuan a year, but they can earn three to four thousand yuan a month working in the city. They will naturally choose industries that make more money. .Among the various costs of wizard farming, the human cost is the cheapest.

Fudge knew that he had made a mistake, and felt that he should take care of the rising prices, or at least pretend to do so, otherwise the public's dissatisfaction would all be poured on him.

"Has a lot of people been hoarding food and Defense Against the Dark Arts items lately?" Fudge asked again.

The director of the logistics department seemed very confused: "Yes, some people did buy some black magic defense equipment and potions because of rumors, but food... I really haven't heard of it."

Because the director of the logistics department does not belong to the core political circle, the news of Voldemort's "possible" return is still only known within the circle of senior officials such as Fudge and Scrimgeour, and even several directors are not aware of it, so he It's understandable to be confused by the situation.

"I'll figure out a way about the food." Fudge didn't think about it, "But you have to investigate the matter of the Defense Against the Dark Arts equipment, and take control actions when appropriate. This is no joke."

"Oh?" The head of the logistics department was a little surprised, "Do you want to take care of it? If someone is willing to buy it, then let them buy it. It can just help us clear the inventory

"Our inventory?" Fudge's face changed. "You mean, our Auror equipment?"

The director of the logistics department didn't know why he had such a big reaction, but he answered Fudge honestly.

"Yes, we have already sold some of them, and we are looking for an opportunity to sell the rest

Fudge almost woke up

He immediately yelled at the director of the logistics department, spraying all the saliva on the other's face: "No! Who allowed you to do this?!"

The director of the logistics department was even more confused: "Uh, minister...we have always been

Did you do that? "

"All this time?"

"Yes, a lot of equipment in our Auror office is about to expire. For example, the potions and invisibility cloaks in reserve are still valid for at most 2 years. Why don't you sell them now to free up funds and wait for the price of the equipment to drop?" Once it comes down, we can replace it with a new one without spending a penny..."

Fudge really jumped up this time: "This is nonsense! What if our

What should Luo do in an emergency? "

"No." The director of the logistics department seemed very confident, "We will keep a small batch of equipment and medicine, which is enough to maintain the duty for about half a year. After the price drops..."

"What if it doesn't fall?" Fudge's face was a little ugly.