Hermione, join me as Minister of Magic!

When Lockhart was questioning, he also glanced at the pure-blood wizard who said this, only to find that the other party's dress robes were very old.

If there is no accident, his family should not be able to spend much money to invest in oil wells, no wonder they are so aggressive.

The wizard wanted to say something more, but was stopped by the light coughing of his companions.

Seeing that he stopped talking, Lockhart also pretended not to understand his subtext, but continued talking.

"...We chose Nigeria because that country is very chaotic and poor. There are tens of thousands of large and small oil refineries ranging from public to private." The government can't control the opening of factories and other activities, so we can negotiate with their government, buy two pieces of land, and then cast the Muggle expulsion spell..."

"I still want to buy?" Someone couldn't help asking, "Didn't you just say that the government can't control those who open factories without permission?"

This time there was no need for Lockhart to explain, Mr. Farley answered for him.

"Nott, use your brains! If we also mine privately, what is the difference between us and Muggle thieves?"

The person reprimanded was unconvinced: "When do we need to pursue this kind of moral superiority? Or against Muggles?"

"Fool." Farley replied coldly, "I mean to make money...Although I don't know what Muggle's "finance" is, I think I understand some principles of business. "

But he immediately saw from Nott's expression that he didn't understand what business was.

"If we steal Nigerian oil, then others will follow our example, and not only will there be conflicts, fires, but there will be price competition in the market, which will cost us a lot of money and money. energy.

Therefore, we might as well simply buy the legal management rights from their Muggle government through the African wizarding community, and get their support by paying taxes to the government, and use the government's force to annex the competitor's business little by little. It ended up being an exclusive business... that's how we did it hundreds of years ago, and we still do it now, is it hard? "

Lockhart was glad that among these people there were still one or two people who understood the truth. If there were no people who understood this truth, then he would have to reconsider the issue of cooperating with pure-blood families.

"I want to donate one thousand Galleons to the Hogwarts Alumni Association." Mr. Farley solemnly promised Lockhart, "Students should learn how to participate in politics when they are in school."

/口

Lockhart reached out to shake his hand as a thank you

— There are not many thousand galleons. If it is an investment, it may only be enough to buy a small oil pump, but if it is just a donation to the school's student organization, the money is a little bit more.

But this is also good, after the student union gets enough financial backing, they can be more lenient in controlling the funds of the club, and their power will be expanded a lot as a result.

Lockhart immediately reciprocated: "I hope Miss Farley can help supervise the operation of the society even after she graduates."

"There is no shirkable responsibility." Mr. Farley understood, "Gemma has said many times that you are her favorite professor."

Chapter 130 First Results

Money is touching, and in the face of the possibility of increasing family wealth, the pure-blood families didn't even bother to pay attention to the third-year finals of Slytherin.

It's a Slytherin civil war anyway, nothing to be concerned about.

In "Holy 28 Pure Blood", although Slytherin accounts for the majority, there are still Hufflepuff families like Abbott and Diggory, Gryffindor families like Weasley and Longbottom, and Ravenclaws like McMillan and Ollivander.

Even the Slytherins, because they had more pressing things to do now.

It would be frustrating for little Slytherins to know that their hard work is being ignored by their elders, but as long as they continue to grow, they will sooner or later understand the struggle for glory and power. difference between profit

The duel on the first day was not a good result for the little snakes of Slytherin. Although they successfully won the third-year championship in the end, this was expected before the match, but the first-year The defeat, and the success of Harry's leapfrog challenge, still made the Slytherins feel ashamed.

Lockhart didn't get to see Harry's leapfrog challenge, but I heard that after Harry discovered the benefits of using a broom, he simply stopped on the broom for the entire leapfrog challenge, and the result was a third-year Slytherin The pot of poisonous tentacles that had been prepared was not used at all, and he could only watch Harry shoot spells and throw fireworks down in the air.

Even though Slytherin protested afterwards that this could not be considered a duel at all, Gryffindor immediately retorted, saying that poisonous tentacles are also dangerous magical plants, but because the rules were not written, Slytherin took advantage of them.

"It's also because the rules are not written, you just didn't even take advantage of the loopholes.

said Wood sarcastically.

No matter how Slytherin protested, the broomstick was indeed a type of magic item according to the rules, and there was no reason why the broomstick could not be used to participate in a duel.

This is a brand new topic for young wizards - when the battlefield changes from two-dimensional to three-dimensional, many tactics that were originally on the ground need to be redesigned, even if the height of the secret room and auditorium is actually limited. .

It is said that after watching the duel, Mr. Fleet is ready to invite Harry to endorse his product, which is a new model of broom that he plans to launch next year - Twig 94

This model will mainly use "safety" and "spell resistance" as its selling points, add more hand guards and footrests, and work harder on the overall firmness, supplemented by a curse-proof varnish, and strive to be on the comet, A new market has been squeezed out between the three major companies of Guanglun and Sweeping.

The duel on the second day has not yet started, but this event has already borne a lot of fruit.

Dumbledore received a donation of about [-] Galleons. Although the money was nothing compared to his own net worth, considering that the operating expenses of Hogwarts were not high, the money was enough for Hogwarts. Gewartz does many things.

Of course, if, like the Ivy League universities in the United States, they would rather give the school football team coach an annual salary of 700 million U.S. dollars than an ordinary professor with an annual salary of 5 U.S. dollars, then no matter how much alumni donate, it will not be enough.

In addition to the donations received by the school, Lockhart himself has also gained a lot. After discussing for a long time, the pure-blood families decided to send a few people to Africa for inspection at the end of the year.

After the new industry was naturally monopolized by Muggle-born wizards, the old industry in the wizarding world gradually declined, and these families felt a sense of crisis about it.After all, the Gunters

The lessons learned from the past are still there, and they cannot allow their own family to sit back and eat.

Lockhart advised them to pack armor and camping gear, because it was a mess in Nigeria.

Some people often say sourly that some countries in the Middle East and South America can become rich, "Isn't it because of oil?"

But the example of Nigeria tells the world that even if some countries have rich natural resources and convenient transportation environment, as long as problems such as religion, military government and European and American interference in politics remain, they still cannot become rich.

There are constant robberies and conflicts. In addition to robbers, there are also pirates stationed in the Gulf of Guinea all year round, and these bandits are not robbing ordinary people who have no oil and water, but oil refineries under the control of the military government.

But there is a saying that goes well - "wealth and wealth are sought in danger".

What the Nigerian military government is most worried about is no longer a problem under the Muggle Expulsion Curse. Only project wizards who are a headache for Muggle capitalists have room to intervene, and high-quality projects like the Middle East and Malay Oil is not their turn at all.

And in 1993, Nigeria was about to usher in a coup, which was a great opportunity to reshuffle the cards, and it was this opportunity that Lockhart and Gringotts had been eyeing.

If this came to fruition, Lockhart's political patronage would likely be far greater than Dumbledore's little donation.

Just as Lockhart was content to watch the duel match the next night, the Malfoy family, which had been unusually quiet the day before, suddenly made a big move.

Lucius Malfoy publicly announced before the duel that he would donate [-] Galleons a year to establish a Snake Academy Alumni Association in Slytherin College.

"The association will have full authority in the hands of the prefects, and the finances can be distributed freely, so that the students in our school will not be in danger of losing their meals." Lucius said.

This kind of handwriting is really too big, so that it dwarfs other families who call themselves nobles, and has to donate all kinds of magic items instead to avoid horses.

Alford Hog's limelight.

Obviously, this is the reaction of the Malfoy family after being expelled from the trusteeship, and they want to use this opportunity to regain some power in Hogwarts.

Even Dumbledore couldn't object to this. As the headmaster, he couldn't refuse donations from alumni to the school, even if the donations were targeted.

This is the two sides of things. There are both advantages and disadvantages for the school to be in line with the society. The advantage is that both the school and the society can benefit from it. The disadvantage is that academics may no longer be pure, and society will try to intervene in school affairs.

But this was not unexpected by Dumbledore, he had already guessed that the Malfoy family was likely to do this before implementing this plan.

As rich people, when their money satisfies their extravagant life, the extra part actually means little to them.

When a person has thousands of cows, but he can only eat two or three cows a year, the only meaning for him is to use them to support other people, and exchange them for theirs. Serve.

Lockhart advised Dumbledore to relax.

"If you don't want the Ministry of Magic to intervene, then you have to involve the public in the running of the school's affairs, with checks and balances between academic education, socioeconomics and politics.

Dumbledore shook his head lightly: "I'm not really worried about it, I just don't know if the number of dark wizards following that person will increase or decrease after this continues."

Lockhart dismissed Dumbledore's concern.

"You may wish to recall who is supporting that guy----some people are coerced because they are afraid of him, the reason why Malfoy is like a wall is because he shows strength, and the iron heart follows His Death Eaters... aren't the ones who are powerful but lose their financial resources for lack of workarounds

Broken down? "

Like the Carol brothers and sisters of the Nott family, the Dolohov Lestrange couple Regulus Black, basically people who have no brains and are addicted to the past family glory will follow him, even if Regulus Si finally came to his senses, and he couldn't escape the fact that he had been an idiot.

But it’s also understandable. It’s always painful to admit the truth. When a person doubts himself, if someone suddenly tells them that the world should be ours, and weaves a set of words for it, you will also I think he speaks very well

That's why the core Death Eaters have the image of being less than shrewd and more than brutal in front of the world. It is rare to have people with brains like Barty Crouch Jr. and Snape, so of course Voldemort must reuse them.

If all the wizards had a family and business, a happy life, harmonious relationships, and money to eat, drink, whore and gamble, who would want to engage in terrorist activities with Voldemort?

Dumbledore nodded: "I think so too, but I'm not always right

"Relax, principal, we are on the right path." Luo said.

Hart said boldly

Chapter 130 The Second Sneaking Enemy

Just as the situation at Hogwarts was undercurrents, the secret room duel that was on the bright side finally came to an end.

Not surprisingly, the champion of the fourth grade group was Cedric Diggory.

Cedric's fighting style is much simpler than others, but his calmness is beyond the reach of others.

From the beginning to the end, Cedric used some small spells familiar to the students, such as Transfiguration, Cloud Mist, Snowball, Magic Missile, Repelling, Disarming, and Stunning, but the timing of his release And the calmness of seeing and dismantling moves made him invincible.

With his own father cheering on him, Cedric easily defeated his final opponent, George Weasley, in a scene that prevented Harry from even challenging him.

He then challenged the fifth-grade champion consecutively, and successfully defeated Slytherin's C. Warrington.

The Slytherins were relieved that Cedric hadn't challenged the sixth year, given how magical wizards had grown into adulthood, but it had been enough for his father to brag about for a few years.

But the seventh-grade student of the Tumor Institute, the Gobstone player Kevin Hopwood, who was purely playing for tickets, relied on his rich understanding of the opponent's tactics to win a round in the finals by trickery.If it wasn't for Slytherin's senior in the winner's bracket, the champion who is about to win would have just flown away like this.

The Slytherin house was afraid that their headmaster would get angry, but Snape didn't seem very angry, maybe it had something to do with his mother being the captain of Hogwarts Gobstones back then

In any case, Slytherin has won three year group championships, of which

It also includes the seventh grade with the highest gold content, and is still the biggest winner of the duel.

But this is not their biggest gain. The biggest gain is that Slytherin College got a lot of money, which can be used for future "arms race"

Even if Dumbledore wanted to be biased, he would have to add 300 points to Slytherin, while the Sa Academy with a leapfrog challenge added 150, the Lion Academy 250, and the Eagle Academy 100.

Students in several other colleges will be worried about this. If the Slytherins monopolize the dueling club's right to speak, then the resources of other colleges will definitely be squeezed because of this. In addition to Quidditch, the Snake Academy has It's definitely not a good thing to have a big point-earning project.

They told their elders about this and hoped that they would give more funding, but at this time the elders were more concerned about how many people the investment project in Africa could bring in and how much stable income it could bring them.

Lockhart has obviously come together with Dumbledore. Although they didn't say it clearly, those who can join the investment group must be people who are biased in terms of political stance, and they are mentally prepared for this. .

"Get what you can get first, and then think about the next step." Farley said to his companion.

When everything seemed to be going smoothly, an article was published in the "Wizard Politics" magazine, which reported the Hogwarts duel event before the "Daily Prophet".

"Students' vocation is to learn so that they can achieve something in the future. And the reason why parents send their children to Hogwarts is not to let them perform juggling in public like circus monkeys."

"Dumbledore spent his life preaching love and peace, but he incited confrontation and struggle in his own school."

"When the smell of copper enters the campus, can academics still be impartial?

"The field outside the Forbidden Forest has been isolated by hedges, the thousand-year-old secret room has been reopened, the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor teaches students black magic, the Potions professor allows students to poison You-inch's hands, the Charms professor teaches killing spells, magical creatures The professor released fire crabs in public...Hogwarts is building an unprecedented army?"

When Percy showed the editorial to Lockhart, Lockhart's first reaction was to take aim at the author.

Then he saw a familiar name in the author column——Rita Skeeter.

"As expected of her, the angle is still as tricky as ever." Lockhart praised casually.

But Percy was a little distressed. He came to Lockhart with this editorial, obviously not to hear Lockhart's praise of Ms. Skeeter.

"We can ignore the information in the newspapers and public opinion for the time being, but we need to find out which guest made the incident go public." Percy said with a frown.

"Guests? Why do you doubt them?" Lockhart asked back.

He didn't think it was revealed by the guests, even if there were people like Malfoy among them who were destined not to pee in the same pot as Dumbledore.

In addition to some people who have made up their minds to get involved in this matter, a considerable number of alumni are still waiting to see.

These people have no reason to openly oppose the school at this time.Even if you want to fight against them, you should wait until they don't get the right benefits and go outside before exposing them.

"It contains a lot of scenes on the duel field, as well as changes inside and outside the school. Although it is slightly exaggerated, if it is not someone who has been here and pays special attention, it is impossible to know so many details."

Percy's words were well-founded, but Lockhart knew something Percy didn't know now, so he didn't agree with him.

"If it's that, I'm afraid you're worrying too much. Maybe she saw it herself and chose to distort the facts."

Percy shook his head again and again: "It's impossible, Skeeter is not on the guest list we invited."

"Yeah." Lockhart stared at "Wizard Politics" with a thoughtful expression, "Maybe she came uninvited."

Percy was a little anxious, because Lockhart seemed to be implying that the selection of guests for the Student Union had not been done well.

"Even if she sneaks into the castle, it is impossible to enter the secret room. We have checked the identities of the guests who participated in the secret room concert and watched the duel one by one. We checked not only the invitations, but also..."

Lockhart smiled apologetically at him: "That's not what I meant, you're thinking too much. I've already guessed how Rita Skeeter sneaked into the secret room, and it has nothing to do with your work...I'm going to find out The principal borrowed the Pensieve to confirm that we had indeed seen her somewhere by accident, but we didn't pay attention."

The Pensieve is a good thing. It can perfectly reproduce the memories of a wizard, and it is also a real-time scene reproduction. This is very suitable for people who have forgotten some details unintentionally.