Hermione, join me as Minister of Magic!

So in the end it was settled, and Lockhart was given carte blanche to run it.

Of course, Lockhart would not let go of such a great opportunity to expand his team. He retained several people who were most concerned with politics among the four colleges, and prepared to set up this "Ministry of Magic Inaugural Preschool" justifiably.

He opened with a shock bomb:

"Mr. Weasley, the headmaster appreciates your outstanding performance this year.

For being extremely responsible during this difficult time at Hogwarts, if nothing else, I hope you will be able to afford more work next year. "

Percy was taken aback for a moment, then overjoyed.

Dumbledore's implication is that his next year's student president did not run away.

He immediately looked at his girlfriend beside him, and found that Penello was also beaming with joy.She was probably the only one who was truly happy about Percy's "promotion".

Although it is said that both the prefect and the student chairperson should represent the interests of the students, the prefects of each college are selected by the dean of the college, and they are handed over to the principal after the selection, and the student chairperson must be the principal in the end. Decide.

Under this mechanism, the prefects and the student chairperson say they represent the interests of the students, but in fact they can only obey the principal and the dean. Whether they have the support of the students is only one of the factors the dean uses to measure his use value, and it is not even a factor. The most important factor.

They want you because you can "manage" students for them.

This is the same as "independent directors" who receive the salaries paid by major shareholders and company executives. They say they represent the interests of small and medium shareholders, but in fact they are just people who work for the company's real power.

But Lockhart took advantage of this cunningly - he, not Dumbledore, told Percy the news, which meant that he himself had played a role in the matter, and Percy's gratitude Man becomes him.

Dumbledore should have seen through his thoughts, but people no longer care about such trivial matters.

"Starting from next year, the authority of the student union will be expanded. I hope you can help me, so that no one else will leave the tea..."

The four people who were left behind exchanged glances, and all found the excitement in each other's eyes.

Of all the students, they were the most politically oriented, and both

Have a desire.Seeing an opportunity to gain a higher status, they will not give up

After getting first-hand information, the "truth" of the monster in the Chamber of Secrets spread at the speed of light, and Dumbledore and Lockhart's counterattack plan officially kicked off.

The first one to stand out was of course "Witch Weekly". Because of their "persistence in difficult times", after the Chamber of Secrets incident, they became the only magazine with the right to interview Lockhart.

Different from Harry's straightforward description, when Lockhart was interviewed by "Witch Weekly", he specially created a more perfect and more sensational story for their audience, that is, the female monarch sheep.

After all, witches are also women, and the way of thinking is still emotionally oriented, so Lockhart adopts a narrative method from a subjective perspective, and pays great attention to describing personal feelings in order to guide readers' emotions.

In his narrative, the first object of his suspicion was Rubeus Hagrid, but after careful investigation, Lockhart found that he was actually a kind-hearted and kind-hearted man. A little white rabbit will not hurt.

Not to mention the principal, the atmosphere among colleagues is also very harmonious. If there is a Garden of Eden in this world, it must be Hogwarts, and the guy who destroys this peace is absolutely unforgivable.

As for the monster in the chamber of secrets and the mysterious black magic item, Lockhart described their ferocity in full detail, especially when he was attacked at Christmas, and he even exaggerated it to the fullest, making himself the "only one" Survived the monster attack in the chamber of secrets" was highlighted.

Finally, he also "inadvertently" mentioned the attacks on him in those newspapers and the impact of those attacks on him.

"When there is no way to enter the secret room, I can only choose to lead the snake out of the hole and use

The fact that I found the clue lured the insidious assailant to attack me.

After learning what those people said about me, I was so exhausted physically and mentally that I didn't sleep almost the whole night-and this is something that Wan Lun's female ghost failed to do.I really can't figure out what I did wrong, or who I hindered...

It can only be said that I am not strong enough, I can defeat a thousand or 1 dark creatures, but I can't deal with the unpredictable people's hearts.

Fortunately, there is still your support, those warm words and the same warm people saved me.When I look up into the dark night, I can tell myself that I am not alone and that there is no need to be sentimental.What I have is not only the cold darkness, but also thousands of twinkling stars. "

It can only be said that Lockhart is indeed born to eat this bowl of rice. Regardless of whether these words can move readers, anyway, the female reporter who came to interview him shed tears on the spot, embraced him emotionally, and vowed to say "" Make those people pay the price"

Lockhart knew that even without her words, "Witch Weekly" would not miss this opportunity to fight back, because the number of wizard readers is really too small.

Chapter 110 The Cold War Between the Media

The shareholders of The Witch Weekly were not enthusiastic about helping Lockhart restore his reputation, but they wanted to take this opportunity to snatch the "biggest circulation weekly" from the Sunday Prophet.

This is very important to them, because the wizarding media market is really too small, even the "Daily Prophet" with the largest circulation is actually the same thing.

There are only about 1 wizards in Britain, which is a few thousand family units. Even if each unit subscribes to the "Daily Prophet", according to the subscription price of 1 Nat 20 copy, the daily sales income of the newspaper office less than [-] galleons

This amount of money is obviously not enough for a newspaper to survive, because not to mention printing and sales costs, even reporters and editors cannot support them.So it is very difficult for the wizarding media to survive.

Because there are fewer people, the content they can report is far less abundant than the Muggle world, and the content is also highly homogeneous.In this case, a wizarding family only needs one or two subscriptions, which is basically enough.

In other words, for every reader one newspaper gets, the other newspaper loses one, almost entirely a zero-sum market.

The "Daily Prophet" is not bad, because they have the largest circulation, so the advertising revenue is not bad, and with the appropriation from the Ministry of Magic, the newspaper can live very well.

But like "Witch Weekly", it takes more thought to sell itself.Its biggest rival is not a daily such as the Daily Prophet, but the Sunday Prophet, which is also a weekly.

Weekly and daily journals are generally quite different, with journals requiring to keep track of recent happenings

The news can only report the event itself, without digging too deeply into the reasons behind an event. The core competitiveness is the timeliness and accuracy of news.

But the weekly magazine is more like a summary of the major events that happened in a week, because the things published are not news, so the opinions and analysis of reporters and editors must be included in the publication.

If a weekly magazine’s views are not novel enough, its style is not unique, its analysis is not deep enough, and its event discovery is difficult, then this weekly magazine is doomed to have no future.

As long as the publicity is in place, the monster attack in the chamber of secrets at Hogwarts will definitely become a hot topic among the public. At the same time, the Daily Prophet newspaper does not dare to report on this matter in depth. Is there any better opportunity than this?

Sure enough, when the "Witch Weekly" was published in early March, there was an uproar in the wizarding world.

There are quite a few wizards who want to know the complete story of the secret room incident because they are worried about their children, or because they miss their school days, or because they are simply curious.

But the "Daily Prophet"'s three-pancake-sized page obviously couldn't meet their needs. In this case, "The Witch Weekly" became their only source for understanding this matter.

The interview about Lockhart is naturally published in full, because it not only introduces in detail the cause and effect of the monster attack in the chamber of secrets, but also uses various sensational methods to accuse certain "irresponsible rumormongers" and " Unpredictable villain

Although no one said it clearly, anyone with a discerning eye knew that this was criticizing the "Daily Prophet" and the Ministry of Magic behind the "Daily".

The editor-in-chief of "Weekly" is very accurate. Although the article is full of accusations from beginning to end, there is not a single word that can be used as evidence for their "defamation of the Ministry of Magic". At least on the surface, it attacks Just the Daily Prophet

...this is the arrogance of the big newspapers, they have always been clueless about the opinions of their readers

depending on.No matter how nonsense and deceitful they are, there is not even an apology afterwards.People who have been insulted to their feelings and IQ have nothing to do with them, and no matter who makes their source of income not rely on the publication itself. "

If the dirty water of "Witch Weekly" is to be poured into reality, then regardless of whether the "Daily Prophet" is ignoring readers or not, people who "have been insulted to their feelings and IQ" will definitely not just boycott the "Daily".

Just like banks, credibility is the basic prerequisite for the survival of the media, and entertainment capabilities are an important addition. If it is already serious to be labeled as "looking down on readers", then "fraudulent deceit" will directly endanger the foundation of this media. Home Daily will of course fight back.

In addition to satirizing "The Witch Weekly" for "a publication whose content is [-]% gossip and gossip, how dare you talk to people about its credibility", they also talked about "the boss of the media"

"The original intention of our newspaper is to let the people care about the things they really should care about," said their editor-in-chief Barnabas Guffy.

But their response to this matter is so far. It is really difficult to get the "Daily Prophet" to apologize and admit their mistakes.Although the "Daily" editorial department received a snowflake of protest letters and shouting letters.

Then their approach was more conventional-they reported a series of more explosive news, trying to drown out the secret room incident.

In many cases, public opinion is led by the media.After all, ""people's words are awesome", the media only needs to keep reporting breaking news to effectively guide public opinion.

— A piece of news can be replaced by another newer one, a scandal can be covered up by another bigger scandal.

Many people are at the center of the verbal criticism because of this, but no one cares about what it is like, and no one cares about the real victims.What was hot news one week ago, people forget about it the next week.

It may be true to say that the "Daily Prophet" looks down on readers, but which media has ever looked down on readers?

It is precisely because of this that the "Daily Prophet" did not try to calm public opinion at all, but tried to discuss with the perpetrators so that they would stop making trouble.

They knew very well that as long as Dumbledore and Lockhart stopped fighting, the matter would be settled soon.

Bass Barna Goofy is a little annoyed now, because he was instructed by the Ministry of Magic to post the Rita Skeeter article, but now he is the one who is under pressure, and the Ministry of Magic has not expressed it at all. This is really too cool.

He was so anxious to put the matter to rest that he had to compromise with Dumbledore on some matters.

"It's almost there." Lockhart said to Dumbledore, "We can't keep stalemate with the "Daily Prophet". They are all smart people, and they can see the attitude of the Ministry of Magic."

Dumbledore nodded.

Fudge is now in the stage of making mistakes. He knows that this is just one of Dumbledore's revenge methods, so he chose to be deaf to this wave of public opinion offensive.

He knew that if Dumbledore went too far, or took too long to retaliate, then he would not get any real benefits.So he had to write to Dumbledore, symbolically relented, and then offered to make peace.

So a week later there was an ad in the Daily Prophet -- Hogg

Watts' Chamber of Secrets has been repaired. Dumbledore is going to invite the Skeleton Orchestra to hold a grand concert in the Chamber of Secrets. If Hogwarts graduates want to attend, please make a reservation in advance.

Chapter 110 Five Role Changes

Ten days later, the two student chairmen handed over the counted appointment list to Lockhart.

.. 177 people, which means that more than half of the wizarding people have come, right?Miss Farley? said Lockhart, looking at the list.

He asked her because he found that nearly half of the people on the list were wizards who had graduated from Slytherin, and the head girl was also from Slytherin house.

Gemma Falion, the chairwoman of the female students, raised her head: "Yes, including my parents."

Hearing what she said, Lockhart looked down, and sure enough, he found the names of Fahe II and his wife on it.

"Very well, the work of receiving alumni this time will be heavy, and the two of you will have to shoulder a lot of work... Don't blame me for delaying your preparation for the NEWTs exam?"

"Not at all." The two said in unison.

As people who are about to graduate, they are most concerned about their future prospects, and their test scores are just a stepping stone on their future career path.

They have already learned that the authority of the student union is about to be expanded. It is of course a good thing to be able to expand the authority in hand, but what makes them regret is that it is already the second half of the seventh grade. Even if the expansion is successful, they can only enjoy a few. monthly benefits

Now that they have the opportunity to receive so many dignitaries from the wizarding world at one time, this is far more important to them than the exam.Even if NEWTs fail all subjects, they will choose to seize the corresponding contacts first.

Lockhart saw this - as long as the benefit was still hanging around, no matter what request he made now, the two student presidents would find a way to get it done.

Here.

For example, the expansion structure requested by Lockhart, these two people have already helped him figure it out, saving him a lot of trouble.

After the expansion, the student union is still divided according to the college. The Disciplinary Committee was handed over to Hufflepuff, who is very principled, the self-education was left to Ravenclaw, and Gryffindor took the Propaganda Department. , and Slytherin took the finance department away.

As for the most important organization department and external relations department, the four colleges compete for positions based on their own abilities.Which college is more capable of reorganizing itself and bringing more benefits to the student union will have a greater say.

Although it seems fair, Slytherin is undoubtedly the biggest winner. It is a breeze for them who have mastered the finances to infiltrate other departments.

But there is no way around this, because before the arrival of the story year, Slytherin has won the Academy Cup for many years. Although Gryffindor won it back once last year, Slytherin has more right to speak in general. a little more.

Lockhart decided to respect the autonomy of these students. He did not express any objection to the expanded list submitted by the two chairmen, but simply expressed his approval.

— On the one hand, it’s because he doesn’t want to get into trouble with the students, and on the other hand, it’s also because in this list, except for the prefects, the group of weekend party members in his office are basically in it, such as Cedric, Hermione, Roger , Eddie, and Justin Finlayry and Samuel Mason and the others.

Originally, he wanted to bring Harry in, but the old bee disagreed, because he said he didn't want the savior to be stained with secular colors too early.

After hearing this, Lockhart really wanted to show him Mark Twain's "The Man Who Corrupted Hadleyburg", but in the end he didn't.

Sure enough, the savior must be pure, so let me handle these dirty things

do it.

After reading the expanded personnel list and reception plan, Lockhart expressed his permission

To put it bluntly, this graduates' return to school event is actually a donation party. A concert plus dinner reception actually doesn't cost much. Even if the tickets are charged, there is not much money.

Although in essence this kind of behavior is no different from begging for food, begging has to be done implicitly these days.Forced donations for no reason will not only make people disgusted, but also make outsiders have a petty impression of Hogwarts, which is very harmful to Hogwarts' forced character

But invitations in the name of "visiting the secret room", "holding a concert" and "watching a duel match" will reduce the smell of money on this matter a lot, even if everyone still knows it.

Lockhart circled a few people on the list, and asked the two student council presidents to take care of them

"Mr. Malfoy, the richest in "28 Pure Bloods", Mr. Smith, the heir of Hufflepuff, Mr. Granger from the Association of Extraordinary Apothecaries, Mrs. Timms from the eel farm... I hope these people will be accompanied all the way , okay? "

The two student chairmen both showed understanding expressions—these people were rich and powerful, and Professor Lockhart obviously planned to take advantage of them.

While schools should treat all graduates equally, some are more equal

Although it is a bit of a price to say so, there is no way to do it. Who made Hogwarts short of money.

Although the two student presidents saw it, they had no intention of objecting.

Just as Lockhart wanted to keep his "class" at Hogwarts, so did the Head of Students.

Although the student chairman is the principal's mouthpiece, he is also an "official" after all.

After they graduate, whether they go to work in the Ministry of Magic or other companies, they still have to start pretending to be grandchildren, no different from other students.But if you can take this opportunity to cultivate your own team, it will be another concept.

They would not tell Dumbledore about these small thoughts, nor would they openly support Professor Lockhart's actions, but that was what they thought in their hearts.

Although Dumbledore is great, bright, and righteous enough, some things are born based on human nature. Everyone has selfishness, and it is anti-human to blindly pay attention to political correctness.

For Gemma Farley, although she still worships Lockhart emotionally as she did at the beginning of the semester, the worship at that time was more out of a girl's romantic fantasy, an angel in a halo, a ray of light Ten thousand zhang but indifferent, it can be seen from a distance without the possibility of contact.