Hermione, join me as Minister of Magic!

"I see." Harry didn't think too much about what this meant.

Chapter 150: Winning Over Colleagues

As an old civil servant for many years, Lockhart can be said to have guessed a lot about the psychology of his colleagues.

Just like those policemen who are eager to help their neighbors, although they don't necessarily do things to get thanks, getting thanks is always a pleasant thing.

So after receiving Harry's letter of thanks, the grievances of the staff of the Ministry of Magic for going out to the police in the middle of the night also dissipated a lot. There were even a few sympathetic aunts who said that the child lived with Muggles and could live so long It's not easy either.

The human touch lost in this world due to lack of communication has been regained by himself - some - Lockhart feels extremely good about himself.

It's a pity that the savior couldn't understand his painstaking efforts, and even cared more about his new semester's ball game and studies.

One morning in early August, the savior held a belt in his hand and looked at the "Monster Book of Monsters" in front of him sadly, not knowing what to do.

Because today he had an appointment to meet Hermione and Ron in Diagon Alley, he had to look good.

And his trousers were all Dudley's leftovers, so his waist was inevitably a bit fat, and he had to wear a belt to go out, but his belt was used to bind the monster book a few days ago.

After checking it for a long time, Harry thought that the book had become quiet after finding that it was motionless.However, just as he took off the belt, the book suddenly became beastly and began to bite around.

"What to do with this thing?" Harry asked Lockhart, confused.

"One book uses ten thousand bullets, and three books use thunderbolt explosion, freezing spell or witch bird. If you want to make more money, you can also throw a bottle of acromantula venom, but if you want

Get a few more bites. said Lockhart lightly.

"what?"

"Just kidding, just stroke along the spine of the book."

After packing up his things, Lockhart drove Harry to Colin Creevey's house, and picked up the kid who was about to enter the second grade this year.

After seeing his idol Harry Potter, Colin seemed very active, and kept asking questions, which made Harry a little annoyed.

Lockhart heard the conversation between the two, and he made a sound for Harry:

"Colin, this year you have to work harder and practice your photography skills. There is a book here. Take the time to read it and try to make all the people in your photos like the background you took."

While talking, Lockhart handed a "British Photographer's Photography Book" to the back seat.If seen by the Muggle traffic police, Lockhart will definitely be fined 200 pounds for his "dangerous behavior".

But this is actually irrelevant, because after accepting the spell cast by Arthur Weasley, the car "recorded" the map of the entire London, so there will be no problem no matter how you drive it.

"Thank you, but why?" Colin was indeed distracted.

"There will be a big move at Hogwarts next year. If you can take good photos at that time, I will help you sell them to foreign newspapers. As long as you sell them at a good price, it is estimated that your study and life in the next few years will be able to more generous."

"Really?" Colin was overjoyed.Lockhart swore: "Of course."

Wu Shi what activities? "Harry asked a little sensitively from the side.

"You can guess, anyway, Mr. Diggory, Mr. Davis, Miss Johnson, Mr. Pussy...these may all be selected for the event in the end.

Participant.

"There are four colleges, and they are all members of dueling clubs, and they are all fifth or sixth graders..." Harry immediately thought of the key point, "Do you want to hold an international dueling competition?"

"No, guess again, but it is indeed related to the competition."

Although Lockhart had promised in front of Barty Crouch a while ago that the Triwizard Tournament would never leak from his side, Lockhart put it behind him in a blink of an eye, and even Not to mention that he had no intention of keeping this secret at all.

Don't look at him as if he didn't say anything, but if Harry asked Hermione for advice, she would probably be able to guess right away from "abroad", "seniors", and "school competition".

To be honest, he wished that this event would be widely publicized earlier, let alone kept secret.

"Then I won't guess, it must have nothing to do with me anyway." Harry lost interest, "I can concentrate on playing Quidditch now."

"You really feel unfulfilling like this." Lockhart said half-truthfully.

In Diagon Alley, Harry finally met his friends who had been away for most of the summer vacation.Hermione and Ron were very happy after seeing Harry, and after seeing the person behind him, Ron's expression was very hungry, and Hermione opened his mouth even more

"Why is Professor Lockhart here?" she asked Harry in a low voice.

Although he was very embarrassed, Harry still told his two little friends about his summer vacation, even about blowing up his aunt.

Ron already knew about this from his father, so he wasn't surprised, but Hermione shook her head again and again, with a kind of "I won't look at you for a while, you

We just let the old lady do nothing" means in it

Hermione's eyes were filled with 'jealousy' when Harry spoke of him now living at the Lockharts'

"It's always like this!" She murmured softly, "When you should be punished, you are rewarded. Is this the treatment of the savior?"

Seeing that the Iron Triangle had gathered together again, Lockhart stopped looking at Harry, but let them go to withdraw money and buy things by themselves.

He was not at all worried that the Ministry of Magic would accuse him of not doing his duty, because he had already seen "acquaintances" in several positions in Diagon Alley, such as Auror Lux Williamson, Prout, and even the "second person" in Auror's office , Scrimgeour's right-hand man, Robards, was sitting in the soda shop, pretending to be reading a newspaper, while using clairvoyant spells to coldly scan the passing people.

It appears that the Ministry of Magic takes the personal safety of the Savior very seriously.

He sat down opposite Gawain Robards and greeted him skillfully.

"Hi Gawain! How are you doing?"

The wizard with the same name as Gawain, the knight of the round table, put down the newspaper in his hand in dissatisfaction, and said in a slightly annoyed tone, "Gidero, you should pretend that you don't know me!"

"Okay, no one will sit in front of this cold drink shop for hours at a time... You see, the ice cubes in your glass have melted." Lockhart laughed, "Don't worry, there is absolutely no way Black will show up here. "

"That's not necessarily the case, he killed half of the people in the street." Robards pouted, "You haven't participated in the last war, the audacity of the Death Eaters cannot be deduced by common sense, if he wants to ambush Savior, then Diagon Alley is definitely a good place, because all the little wizards will come here to buy things."

Lockhart subconsciously glanced at Ron - the little dog on his shoulder.

The mouse has lost several pieces of hair.

"I think that Black's goal may not be the savior." Lockhart said suddenly, "Potter is already 13 years old. If he wants to do it, he has had a lot of opportunities in the past 13 years. It doesn't make sense to decide to do it now. .”

Robards froze for a moment: "Maybe Black didn't know about it in the past, maybe Potter was too well protected in the past..."

But halfway through the conversation, he got stuck first.

Because some of it doesn't make sense: Sirius Black went after Voldemort to kill Peter Pettigrew, and then he was arrested by Auror obediently, which shows that he still has the power of action.

And Harry Potter has been in an undefended state almost all the time during the 9 and 3/4 years he was taken care of by Muggles (Robards didn't know that his neighbor, Mrs. Figg, was a pawn placed by Dumbledore), if Black really If you want to escape and wait for an opportunity to kill Harry Potter, it is actually very easy to succeed.

Thinking of this, Robards stopped talking.

Fortunately, Lockhart was not prepared to delve into this issue with him now.

"How's Rufus doing?" he changed the subject.

"Him? Well, I'm just very upset that you chose Barty Crouch. Be careful when you meet him again."

Lockhart immediately called out to Tianqu: "What does it have to do with me? My whereabouts are decided by Fudge... But let me say sorry to Rufus."

"I thought you came to talk to me just to talk about this, but now it doesn't seem to be... Well, let's make a long story short, I will have to check the code with my colleagues in a few minutes." Robards gave the order to evict the guest.

So long story short...how much contact do you have with wizards over there in Africa? asked Lockhart.

Robards raised his head vigilantly: "Why are you asking this?

"Nothing, I just want to ask you if you are interested in taking a stake in the oil business over there... Don't tell me you don't know about it."

Robards' face twitched: "How could it be possible that you don't know, you bastards spread it all over the place... What, it's our idea? We don't have much money."

Lockhart smiled.

"I know, but don't you still have people? It's okay to send out people." Lockhart gestured enthusiastically: "Nigeria is a very messy place, and Africa is full of "black" wizards, I remember them Almost all of them are Animagus, and they can cast spells without a staff...Although we can solve the Muggle government, we can't ignore the local wizards, right?If they turn into pythons and attack our construction site in the middle of the night, even if no one is killed, no workers will be willing to continue working, or their wages will be increased by four or five times. "

"You mean, you want us to provide security for you?" Robards understood something, "But strong dragons don't overpower bullies, you still have to talk to the locals."

"But I don't even know who to talk to."

Isn't Ur from the International Federation of Wizards?Just go talk to them this year.

"Paito, it was led by the French. The African wizards who went there were all from Algeria, not from Nigeria. Besides, why did we tell the French about making money? Do you think not enough people know about it? "

Robards shrugged his shoulders: "Okay, I'll help you find a solution. In fact, you should tell Kingsley Shacklebolt about this. He is a black man, and he is from a family of pure-blood wizards."

"Dude, you actually think I'm going to bypass you and go in private..."

"Come on, don't I know you?" Robards said helplessly, "As long as you can convince half the people in the office, my opinion doesn't really matter."

"How can that be done? It's a welfare. Those who see it have a share. Brothers do the most dangerous work, but after retirement they can't even afford a better villa. This is too much. Look at old Moody, he is now Both still live on the same street as Muggles. He's still single, and you're all families…"

Because the other party was also an experienced person, Lockhart didn't hide anything at all, and directly stated his intention for coming.

He tried to corrupt these determined colleagues with money, and for this he used a tried-and-tested weapon-"Think about your family" is like when persuading someone to drink, the best excuse is to wish the other party's parents health. Say no one can say no.

"What a tongue!" Robards didn't know whether it was approval or sarcasm, "I want to talk to my brothers about this matter, now please go to perform your duties immediately and show me the favor of Saint Potter."

Chapter 150 Nine

Although those Aurors didn't immediately agree to Lockhart's "shareholding" motion, they didn't immediately refuse either.

It's not that they don't believe the project will be profitable, it's that they haven't decided whether to step in Lockhart's car now.

It is generally believed that Lockhart is very ambitious and very popular among the common people.If there are no accidents, it will be very likely to receive Dumbledore's political legacy in the future and successfully become the Minister of Magic.

And the fact is the same, Lockhart's purpose has not been concealed from beginning to end, that is to become the Minister of Magic, and the news that he asked Dumbledore for political assistance is not a secret in the Ministry of Magic, so it can be seen that even if he does not become the Minister of Magic in the future The Minister will also become one of the powerful people in the Ministry of Magic, which is foreseeable.

But one pair, there must always be a but, this "future" should be 30 years later.

No matter which world, there is no precedent for a brat under the age of 30 to become the supreme head of the government, especially in a conservative place like the magic world, so if there is no accident, it is impossible for Lockhart to Became the Minister of Magic within ten years.

That's why Fudge didn't regard Lockhart as a "mortal enemy" and immediately targeted him to death. He just arranged him in the foreign affairs department to prevent him from getting in touch with real power too early.In his subconscious mind, Lockhart should also belong to his "next generation", not his competitors in the same period.

Seeing that Lockhart is so keen on "cultivating power", everyone is happy to see it.

Because as long as Lockhart continues to buy people's hearts, then he must spread the word

At the same time, everyone can eat this benefit first.As for what will happen in the future, we have to wait for the future to talk about it, and everyone understands this truth.

The next step is to see how big Lockhart can make the pie.

Lockhart also knew this, so he didn't act too eagerly. Anyway, he said everything, and no one can blame him for not coming to him in the future.

He stood up from the table, and greeted the several Aurors who were following him, before chasing in Harry's direction.

At that time, Harry and the three of them had bought all the books and medicinal materials they needed, stuffed them into their big suitcase, and were looking at the pet they wanted in the pet store.

Hermione wanted an owl, but somehow ended up choosing a big ginger cat.It is very likely that after the clerk said "that cat has a bad temper, no one has been willing to take it", Hermione felt some kind of empathy.

Ron reacted extremely violently to this, and even quarreled with Hermione because of this, saying that with that thing nearby, his mouse would be eaten or scared to death sooner or later.

The Iron Triangle did not split because of Voldemort, different values, or different styles, but it ended up falling apart because of a cat and a mouse, which Lockhart did not expect.

"Kids, don't fight... Oh, is this a half-breed cat?" Lockhart noticed the big cat in Hermione's hand.

"Yes, it's called Crookshanks." Hermione pinched the cat's paw, "Come, Crookshanks, say hello to Professor Lockhart."

The big cat stared at Lockhart for a while, probably finding that the man was not a threat, and then lazily lay down in Hermione's arms.

"I'm not a professor anymore, you don't have to be like Harry and keep saying "Professor" on your lips. " Lockhart said kindly.

Get used to it. Hermione stuck out her tongue, "Professor, is work going well?"

"It couldn't have been smoother... Ah, Ron should know, right." Lockhart winked at Ron.

Ron shrugged.

Indeed, compared with the other two, Ron knew a little more about Lockhart's current situation, and all of this was learned from his father's side.

For example, the problem of his father's extra money.

During the summer vacation, Arthur Weasley came home suddenly and told his wife that he had won the Galleon Prize in the "Daily Prophet" and received a bonus of 3000 Galleons.

Mrs. Weasley was overjoyed, and immediately started planning to use the money to visit Bill in Egypt, buy some clothes and furniture for the family, and open a swimming pool and a small Quidditch pitch in the back garden. There was no doubt at all. what my husband said.

Although Molly Weasley didn't ask, several of their children knew that although Mr. Weasley had indeed won the lottery, the bonus was not that much, and the money actually came from another source.Moreover, although the source of this money is not disgraceful, it is not as upright as Mr. Weasley said.

His money was actually "service fees"-a few "social activists" from the Ministry of Magic found Mr. Weasley and asked him to enchant a large number of oil equipment and Muggle trucks so that they could work by themselves.If possible, change the law again to add these things to the list of "magically craftable Muggle items".

Mr. Weasley wanted to reject them sternly, but these people gave too much, and since he was fined 50 Galleons by the Ministry of Magic for casting spells on cars, the Weasley family Money has always been very poor, and he doesn't have much room to struggle.

In the end, he couldn't hold back anymore, and asked the Ministry of Magic for a half-day leave, and followed suit.

Apparated several people to a hidden place in Nigeria.

And when he came back, his magic pocket was full of shiny South African gold coins, which were said to be freshly dug from South African gold mines, with a purity of 5 and four nines.

It's nice to finally get the money to support the family, but Arthur has a headache about how to tell his wife, because this is an illegal act after all, and he doesn't know what his wife will think about it.

But he didn't hide it from his children, and he couldn't hide it, especially the Weasley twins. They could all find out that Arthur was a little troublesome, let alone suddenly got a huge sum of money.

So under the tacit understanding of the family, the children decided to join hands to help their father hide it from their mother, and they all said that the money was "winning".

Molly, unaware of her husband and children's little tricks, is now busy planning how the money will be spent and enjoying the big purchases in Diagon Alley that she has felt since she eloped with Arthur. I haven't experienced it much.