Hermione, join me as Minister of Magic!

"Don't rush to answer immediately." Lockhart interrupted them, "This time the Ministry of Magic is planning to adopt the "officially designated sole partner" system for some tournament consumables, that is to say, only those who participate in the tournament construction We only allow sponsors and companies in the competition to sell items to contestants and foreign tourists, and enjoy preferential treatment in advertising. "

Although the Ministry of Magic is still at a loss as to how to organize such events, since Lockhart has joined the job, his plan is the Ministry's plan. If anyone dares to question it, let him go to Barty Crouch Bar.

"Official...partner?" The two asked hesitantly, "Can you specify the product

■

"Of course." Lockhart showed confidence, "Even the right to report on the game is in our hands. No matter which media, as long as they want to take pictures, they must take pictures of the sponsor's logo. And before the game, the commentator Members will also read the sponsor's name and commercial lines - think about it, this is a live broadcast to the world.

Although this "world" may only have 30 to 50 people, Lockhart added in his mind.

It can be seen that De Weiss and Bans are both moved.

"Let's think about it, shall we?" they asked. "We're in our teens, and it's too much to relearn Muggles..."

"Of course, but I hope to get an answer within a week, after all, the schedule is tight."

Lockhart did not immediately force the other party to make a decision, he believed that the other party would weigh it clearly.

If they didn't do it, then Lockhart would have to go to the Weizeac brothers, who were much more accepting of Muggle things than the residents of Hogsmeade.

But Lockhart can't do this right away, because he wants to prevent the Weizeac brothers from monopolizing, no matter how good their relationship with him is, and the magic equipment and equipment of the Triwizard Tournament must not only find one sponsor .

—Once the Wieseac brothers think that they can only find them, even if they don't open their mouths and try their best to lower the price this time, they will inevitably fall into a disadvantage in future negotiations in other aspects. This is not a good thing.

The way of power is balance, Lockhart thought.

Building an elevated aqueduct is just the beginning. Lockhart will use this method to tell the residents of Hogsmeade that he is going to make a major renovation of Hogsmeade village. Those who want to make money and want to try a new way Those who have things come quickly.

Only by allowing a group of people to taste the sweetness first, can Lockhart persuade the British wizarding community to reform, and allow wizards to take the last bus before the Muggle Internet age comes.

Otherwise, after the advent of chiral microstructure materials, aerospace technology, biological cell technology, and invincible big data analysis, wizards really can only shrink in the corner of the Muggle world.

Chapter 160 Seven

Back at the Shrieking Shack, Lockhart glanced inside, but couldn't find anyone around.

Just when he felt a little strange, there was a sound from behind the house, as if something was splashing in the water.

When he went over to look, he found that there was indeed something bouncing in the water—Sirius Black was splashing the water, and kept avoiding a metal ring in Dobby's hand.

"What are you doing?" Lockhart couldn't help asking.

Dobby immediately apologized when he saw Lockhart: "I'm sorry, master! Dobby was afraid that it might bite, so he wanted to put a collar on it and put a rope on it by the way..."

Lockhart almost went crazy with laughter: "It seems that you feed too little wine, not enough.

The question mark on Dobby's head: "But when it was thrown into the barrel just now, it was obviously motionless, and Dobby thought it would be very good."

Sirius Black had black hair—of course he wouldn't refuse a bath, but putting a collar on him was more than he could bear, so of course he would.

But then again, Dobby almost got it just now.

At that time, Blake had just eaten a leftover meal of haggis, mashed potatoes and butter, and had been given two gulps of beer. Dobby put it in the hot water bucket to take a bath again, which made him too comfortable and lost his vigilance.

Cooked food, hot bath, and the service of house elves, Blake feels as if he has returned to his school days, and he is still the carefree young master, making troubles and doing reckless things with his friends all day long.

But when the cold metal ring was around his neck, he felt something was wrong and began to struggle hard.

His plan was to find an opportunity to sneak into Hogwarts while Lockhart and Dobby were out and he was "watching the house", but he didn't expect that the house elf was going to make his own way and put a collar on himself.

Damn it, the house-elf dared to make up his own mind!Blake thought angrily.

Fortunately, Lockhart came back in time to rescue him.

Newell's in a hurry, Dobby, and the jackals aren't quick to obey. "Lockhart said to Dobby, "And if you do this, it will be very hostile to you in the future..."

Sirius Black immediately bared his teeth when he heard the words, and yelled at Dobby, as if to confirm what Lockhart said.

Lockhart suddenly became playful. He wondered if he said "wild dogs have the habit of eating shit" and threw a pile of shit in front of it, would Black bear the burden of humiliation and throw the pile of shit eat it.

But after thinking about it, he still tried his best to hold back this tempting thought. Although it is fun to tease people, it is not good to be seen by others.

What he can be sure of is that Blake will definitely make some small moves while he is away, so he might as well let him do it, so as to add some fun to his boring political career this year.

The matter of putting a collar on Sirius was left alone, and the residents of Hogsmeade village were used to the fact that Lockhart had an extra watchdog in his office, even if the dog was quite ugly. Auspicious black.

Anyway, Sirius has always behaved very well in front of outsiders, and basically doesn't yell at others, so everyone doesn't bother to care about it.

After two nights of trysts with Rosmerta, the two partners, De Weiss and Bance, finally made up their minds.They came to Lockhart's office and expressed their willingness to

Willing to take over the renovation of Hogsmeade's water piping system

As a specific worker, Bans said he had something to say:

"I looked at the operation manual on the Muggle side. It's not as difficult as I imagined. We just need to connect the pipes and bury them with a tunneling spell... The water tower can be erected by the lake, and then the water can be pumped by a wind machine. Bring it up. The Muggles recommended a rotating turbine fan to us, but that was too expensive and we couldn't figure out how it works, so we're going to use an old-fashioned fan with canvas wings."

"Then, can you understand the principle of this old-fashioned fan?" Lockhart interrupted suddenly.

Mr. Bans seemed to be stunned by the question, and he hesitated for a while before answering him.

"When, of course, it was the wind blowing on the sloping airfoil, which produced that .oo talc..."

"Torque." Mr. Davis hastily covered it for him.

"Yeah, torque, then pull the piston with the belt and suck the water up." Bans hastened to say the rest of what he knew.

Lockhart suspected that if he asked him to calculate the moment arm, speed and water-lifting efficiency of the fan, Mr. Bance would kill himself immediately.

I don't know why Hogwarts never taught mathematics, not even arithmetic, but directly took an unknown number and accounted for - and this class only needed simple addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.

That's right, the practical part of the magic class requires precise movements and full of emotions, just like a Muggle dance class, while reciting spells requires clear articulate words and full of emotions, which is nothing like foreign language poetry recitation class different.

After careful calculation, Hogwarts provides students with proper stylistic and artistic education, but no science education at all. No wonder Hermione once said when reasoning about Snape's potion that "wizards are not good at logic." Thinking", liberal arts students and art students really

It is a kind of people who are insulated from science.

Of course, this may also be due to the fact that Master Rowling, the prophet, is not good at mathematics.

Lockhart couldn't help deserting—could it be that the reason for the lagging development of the wizarding world was the lack of scientific thinking?If that's the case, will I make up this lesson for the wizarding world in the future?

Although because of a certain work, many people like to use the "science side" and "magic side" to declare that science and magic are incompatible, but in fact the essence of "science" is a research method of negation and negation, which can be falsified , rather than a specific "technology" as long as magic can be perceived, then it can be studied using scientific methods.

Mr. Davis' cough brought Lockhart's consciousness back to reality, and he remembered that there were still two guests waiting for his reply.

"No problem... As I said, no matter how much you spend on this project, I will give you 200 Galleons, and the rest will be your profit." Lockhart promised.

The faces of the two immediately showed joy.

Although Lockhart knew the cost of the raw materials they bought, he didn't know that De Weiss and Bans had decided to imitate the fans in the hands of Muggles, and they could make many parts of this water diversion project by themselves.

Except for the "polyethylene pipe" of unknown material and the thing called "ball bearing" that they don't know how to do, everything else can be done by themselves, which allows them to reduce the cost to less than 50 Galleons.

"And the 'designated partner' thing?" Davis pressed.

Lockhart made an extremely generous look: "Of course! As long as you can produce a high-quality tap water system, then of course you are a qualified "supplier" for the competition. Next, you only need to bid with Weizeac can be upgraded to"

Sponsor'..."

"Wait" Mr. Davis opened his mouth wide, "Didn't you say that there is a designated sole partner?" "

Lockhart pretended to be surprised: "Is there? Oh, yes, I said that the Ministry of Magic is indeed planning to implement the "sole designated partner system", but that requires sponsorship fees! And a little sponsorship fee can only make You become "sponsors", and you can only get an exclusive contract after paying a lot of sponsorship fees, such as overwhelming the quotations of the Wieseeck brothers."

"Then what are we?" Bans couldn't help it.

Eight qualified suppliers' Ah! Lockhart shrugged, "You can show people all over the world the excellent quality of your products, and tourists who have used this water system will also promote your reliability—we will also allow you to post your trademarks, and Under the name of "Ministry of Magic Certified Qualified Supplier", publicize to the outside world

The two store owners were at a loss: "Is that so? We thought that as long as we participated in the construction project..."

"You've also made money from this construction project, haven't you?" Lockhart instead looked at them with a strange look, "Don't tell me, you took this project for free, or you bought raw materials plus labor The fee has already exceeded 200 Galleons."

"Not really, but..."

Mr. Bans had to be more honest. He opened his mouth to express his thoughts, but was forced back by De Weiss eyes.

De Weiss took a deep breath: "Okay, Mr. Lockhart, may I ask how much sponsorship fee we have to pay to get the title of "sponsor"? "What about Sole Designated Partner'? And what good are we getting these titles?"

Lockhart secretly smiled inwardly.

What he's using with these two is a basic technique called "gambler's psychology." Put down your chips.

But once they put their chips in, the desire for "profit" and unwillingness to "lose" will make them sink deeper and deeper, until they can't recover if they want to stop.

Now De Weiss and Bans have learned a Muggle technology, spent a lot of time and energy, and also reached a high-profit engineering contract with Lockhart, which undoubtedly increased their time. cost.

Lockhart could assure them that they would never stop now, because it would only make them look like fools.

"In addition to having all the rights of a "qualified supplier", the sponsor will also have the resources to occupy the publicity channels of the game-such as arranging billboards around the game venue and having the narrator mention your store's advertisements in his speech, For this, you have to pay at least 300 Galleons as a franchise fee.

As for the "only designated partner", it is even more powerful... The Minister of Magic will introduce and sell your products to the VIPs who come to watch the game when receiving foreign guests, and your products will be displayed in the "Commodity Fair" in the middle of the game Put it on display at position C.

As an important point, any other trademarks and advertisements of similar products will be refused to appear during the competition—if some advertisements are accidentally photographed by reporters, we will order them to change the photos.How about it, interesting enough? "

"It's really interesting... It's just that we don't know yet. What's the name of your damn game? Also, how many tourists and media coverage does it attract?" De Weiss asked this question through gritted teeth.

"Sorry, according to the rules of the Ministry of Magic, it will be kept secret for the time being, De Weiss, unless you are willing to sign a non-disclosure agreement first." Lockhart said to him.

"Merlin's beard!" De Weiss didn't know whether to laugh or cry, "Even this must be kept a secret? You want to hold an unprecedented competition, but you didn't even do any publicity before the competition?"

"Thank you Paracelsus! I thought so too. You said what I wanted to say, but unfortunately I dare not complain publicly." Lockhart said with a playful smile.

"Listen, if someone else dared to talk to me like that, I would have left long ago! If it weren't for the club you ran last year..."

"Don't worry, the scale of the competition to be held next year is definitely more than ten times that.

"But you won't..."

"Confidentiality agreement..."

- The big black dog lying on the ground next to them listened to the heated debate of these people, and wagged its tail in boredom.

It turns out that his name is Lockhart... This kid is pretty bad!

Chapter 160 Eighth Hogsmeade Comprehensive Upgrade Plan

In the end, Dewes and Mr. Bans walked away in anger, leaving Lockhart alone who was still smiling.

Although the two left angrily, they finally agreed to participate in the bidding meeting, and said that "the 200 Galleons will be counted as the sponsor's advance payment."

In other words, Lockhart earned a water line for Hogsmeade without spending a penny.

Although he knew that it was impossible for these two people to spend 200 Galleons to build such a pipeline, this did not prevent Lockhart from taking this number as his "political achievement" and writing it in the fundraising log of the Triwizard Tournament.

"Devis-Bans Magic Supply Store, donate... a water line worth 200 Galleons... ready to bid for the designated partner of household equipment and magic equipment... As a first round, this result is not bad, isn't it, Dobby ?”

"Yes, wise master."

Without thinking, Dobby followed with a sycophant he'd been practicing for a long time at the Malfoys' house.

The big dog lying on the ground rolled his eyes quite humanely after hearing the words.

Lockhart's behavior, including manipulating people, reminded Sirius of his parents, a proper behavior pattern of members of the Snake Sect.

Of course Lockhart noticed the fact that Dewes no longer called him "Gidero" but called him "Lockhart" by his surname, which meant a kind of psychological alienation.

But so what?Are those who want to work afraid of offending others?Only crappy politicians try to please everyone.

Lockhart can be tolerant and easygoing in some ways, but that doesn't mean he fights

Even if he changed his work style to "easy-going", it was like when he faced the students at Hogwarts.

The so-called easy-going people must not be respected, because they seem to be tolerant, but in fact they have no principles and positions, so others usually don't consider their feelings when thinking about problems, because "he can do whatever he wants"

Such people are often vague about their reasonable needs and reality; or because of some kind of moral constraints, they feel ashamed of the true views in their hearts and feel that they owe others; or simply because they are timid and want to avoid conflicts with others .

But in fact, the more a person wants to avoid conflict, the greater the price he has to pay in the end.Only by expressing oneself bravely on the basis of respecting facts, not being afraid of negotiations and conflicts, and telling others why they deserve to be respected, can this person truly grow.

Lockhart could observe that when he went to the Three Broomsticks again, the people around him no longer looked at him as they did in the past, treating him like a rare and exotic beast, but with a hint of curiosity.This was accompanied by whispers every time he passed a few tables.

The village of Hogsmeade is not big. Even if it is "the only village inhabited by pure wizards in England", its resident population will not exceed [-], and there are not as many students as Hogwarts.

In this kind of small village, there are usually no so-called secrets. Even a pig in a certain household can spread to all families within half a day, let alone a project.

So even though Dewes and Bans both signed non-disclosure agreements, everyone still learned about it through various means—that is, they got a contract from the Ministry of Magic, the content of which was for Hogsmeade for remodeling.

"What do you think?" Rosmerta asked Lockhart curiously, "It's not far to go to the lake to fetch water. I brew so much wine every day, but I only need two hours of water.

ten barrels. "

"But once it's a holiday, your wine storage will be bought up by little wizards." Lockhart said, stroking her hair, "Besides, I bet your village will be overwhelmed if there are two hundred more people. , At that time, no one can fetch water for you.

"It's impossible to have so many people." Rosmerta seemed a little disapproving, "There are less than 400 teachers and students in Hogwarts, the first and second graders are not eligible to come, and the seniors are busy with their studies, and most of them They're all tired."

"But if there's an influx of 1000 people, you won't even have a place to live here." Lockhart stared out the window, "You'd better expand the house, Rosmer Tower, and build a... er... How about a fifth floor? "

Although it is said that the wizarding world can build houses without visual structures to a certain extent, such as Diagon Alley Gringotts and The Burrow, this does not mean that all wizards are qualified to do so.