Hermione, join me as Minister of Magic!

After the "conflict with the dementors", the residents of Hogsmeade will naturally believe that Lockhart is on their side emotionally, but at the same time, because there is no real conflict, the relationship between him and the Ministry of Magic It didn't break the face either—the essence of double-dealing was considered to be thoroughly played by Lockhart.

As for the explosion... Black was sure: the dementors would just be indifferent to it, because they wouldn't care, unless Lockhart destroyed the roof and exposed them to the nasty sun.

Anyway, it is human beings who destroy their own things, so what does it have to do with them?

So the big black dog was only stunned for a moment, then lay down on the ground again, and started

Started to catch up on sleep.

It's not good to disturb his recuperation because of such boring things. He has to quickly adjust his body and adjust it to the best condition, because Hogwarts is about to start school.

Lockhart was alone for a while after finishing this matter, because he had accidentally learned some news during the negotiation just now, and these news might help him solve a problem that has been bothering him for a long time.

That's how Umbridge got the dementors to do her bidding.

For starters, Dementors don't have sight - something Lockhart already knew.

It is precisely because their senses rely entirely on the sense of smell and the perception of biological emotions and physical states that Barty Crouch was able to complete the deadlock between his wife and son under their noses.

And Lockhart took advantage of this - after just "sniffing" Lockhart twice, the dementors lost interest in him.

Because Lockhart's emotions are too stable, too dull.

Usually, whenever a dementor sucks happiness out of a person, all that's left is negativity.

And Lockhart has neither the joy they loathe nor the despair they love.In terms of food, he is a piece of paraffin wax with no taste at all.

Although they also have no language, but fortunately Lockhart can communicate with them mentally, so there is no obstacle to communication.

And so, while negotiating with them, Lockhart wreaked havoc in the station, and in front of the eyes of the dementors.

There were as many as 30 dementors present, but none of them made any comments on Lockhart's sabotage, as if he was just eating melon seeds, and two dementors even watched with interest. Lockhart's behavior seemed curious

But that doesn't mean the group of dementors will be easy to talk to - in Lockhart

When he asked them to avoid inhabited places as much as possible, he was rejected by the leader of the dementor squad.

"The wizard...orders...work...must...reward." The dementor acted very tough, "Catch the prisoner...enjoy the pain..."

Lockhart thought that it was true—there was no superior-subordinate relationship between the dementors and the Ministry of Magic. From the perspective of the dementors, they were just trading with wizards for food.

What's worse is that during the hundreds of years of running Azkaban, the wizards have invisibly raised the appetite of these dementors.

When they were originally on the island of Azkaban, except for the occasional Muggle that accidentally fell into the water, they had no chance to enjoy delicious despair, pain, and human souls.

But things began to change when the Ministry of Magic, which was in deep financial crisis, decided to use the "off-the-shelf" Azkaban as a wizarding prison in the early 18th century.

The wizards got free guards and a frightening prison, but the dementors also got plenty of "food", which virtually made the dementors yearn for the "outside world"

Especially after more than 100 years of stability, the Ministry of Magic has forgotten the horror of Extis, and began to think that dementors are a kind of "very obedient" creatures, and dementors have gained more support. free.

There is no other reason, but these dementors are so easy to use, the price is cheap, and the quantity is plentiful, so you will want to use it.

So the Ministry of Magic began to use "free" creatures like dementors as guards, perform various official duties, and even act as executioners, letting them kiss some heinous people deeply and suck their souls away.

At this point, the nature of the whole thing changed completely—the dementors began to believe that the Ministry of Magic could not function properly without them, and that they were also one of the main culprits in restricting them from enjoying delicious food.Allowing them to "enjoy deliciousness" is no longer a kind of charity, but a kind of "deliciousness (Ministry of Magic officials)" preventing themselves from getting more "deliciousness"

The wizards of the Ministry of Magic must have never heard this saying, that is, "the most expensive is the free one", Lockhart said with emotion.

During the negotiation process, he tried to use various tactics such as orders, rules, and transactions to try to make the dementors obey his orders, but they all failed in the end.They have already regarded the promise of the Ministry of Magic as the "bottom line" for human wizards, and this bottom line - once confirmed, absolutely cannot be changed.

In desperation, Lockhart had to use the last resort - "appeal to authority" to threaten the dementors, and even mentioned Umbridge, wanting to borrow Umbridge's authority over the dementors to deal with the problem.

But what he didn't expect was that the dementors were very excited when Umbridge was mentioned.

"Umbridge...a charismatic leader," said the dementors with a choked voice.

Lockhart tried his best but couldn't figure out how the words "Umbridge" and "charm" were connected, but this did not prevent him from making further conjectures about the nature of dementors.

In university classes, a professor specializing in leadership management once told them that in nature, there are usually several patterns in the selection of leaders by wild animals with groups, and studying them can provide a deeper understanding of human politics.

The first is the "violent style", that is, the leader ascends to power through violence, and the leader of the ethnic group must be the one who can fight the most.And this kind of leader usually appears in races with natural enemies and harsh living environments, such as lions and wild horses.

The second type is "experiential", that is, the leader is the most knowledgeable person in the group.

that.This is the case for elephants, for example. Usually the oldest female elephant will become the leader, because elephants usually have no natural enemies. Their biggest enemy is hunger. They need to migrate constantly to find food to eat. The most experienced female elephant can Use memory and smell to find places with more food.

The third type is the "reproductive style", that is, the one who has the reproductive power of the group will become the leader, such as bees, such as hyenas, who are the queens with the best fertility in the group.

The last type is the "charismatic social style", that is, the most charismatic and infectious individual in the group acts as the leader.For example, certain groups of chimpanzees have no shortage of food: there is also a fish called "sticky fish".

Sticklebacks usually choose the most colorful and beautiful one in the group as the leader.In some cases, chimpanzees will "elect" a "social orangutan" who usually grooms everyone and finds food as the leader.

As for humans... these four different types of leaders have all appeared in the long river of history.For example, the violent military leaders, the reproductive matriarchal society period, the most experienced and capable great leaders, and the "charismatic social type" elected by the people by playing clowns to entertain everyone like Chuan Jianguo and Johnson

Umbridge obviously has no violent threat to the dementors, and it is unlikely to rely on experience to find much food for the dementors, and it is even less likely to help the dementors multiply, so the rest is only "charismatic" T

Sure enough, the dementor confirmed Lockhart's conjecture.

If Umbridge is seen as the "charismatic leader" of the Dementors, many problems can be solved.

The essence of dementors is a symbol of negative emotions - this was admitted by Master Rowling himself.Because she never actually saw a dementor, she wrote about her feelings about facing a dementor in terms of her own feelings during her depression.

Using the Patronus Charm requires a person's happy emotions, while Slytherin's locket will stimulate people's negative emotions and terrible imagination, and the two are inherently incompatible.

But the fact that Umbridge was able to use the Patronus Charm while wearing a locket only meant one thing—that she could find satisfaction and joy in negative emotions.

Humans usually call this kind of person a pervert, but Dementors seem to particularly like such a person, because she enjoys the happiness brought by negative emotions all the time, which coincides with the values ​​​​of Dementors.

To be honest, such "talents" are actually quite rare. Even if you look for them deliberately, you will hardly find such a wonderful talent among 1 people.Based on the population base of the wizarding world, I am afraid that there is only such a person in the whole of the UK.

As far as Lockhart knows, Umbridge returned to the Ministry of Magic after more than a month of "leave", and was demoted from the position of deputy minister of the Ministry of Magic, transferred to the Prohibition of Misuse of Magic Office, and Secretary Fudge's nephew, Rufus Fudge, worked together.

If this can be used well, maybe... Lockhart has another sneaky idea

Chapter 170 IV Attack on the Train

While it's always nice to have new neighbors, the Dementors are apparently not one of them, and the villagers of Hogsmeade take them very seriously.

And what this kind of resentment brings is that almost no one is willing to go to the lake to fetch water.

If the villagers want to go to the lake to get water, they must first cross the railway and pass through the road in the middle of the small forest before they can reach the lake smoothly.

But because the dementors like to come out at night, they hide in the waiting room of the station during the day to avoid the sun in the sky, and residents who want to cross the railway will inevitably pass by the station.

Think with your toes, the dementors will never let go of this delicacy delivered to your door

In this case, the water project that Lockhart presided over really came in handy.

He dug a fountain opposite the Owl Post Office and next to Honeydukes, and brought the water from the lake into the center of the village so that the villagers could fetch water from the fountain every day.

Regarding the selection of fountain sculptures, he originally wanted to find a ready-made mold directly from the Muggles, but after searching around, he found that most of the Muggle sculptures were related to Christian religious themes, and the wizarding world could not get them. to the point inside.

But if you follow the Weasley Brothers and install a statue of a child vomiting in the store, it would be too disgusting.In the same way, the bronze statue of a child peeing in Brussels is also unacceptable. He believes that as a person with elegant art appreciation ability, he must not engage in those perverted things.

This fountain sculpture was paid for by Lockhart himself. The purpose of his donation of the sculpture was to cultivate the sentiments of wizards. How could he be careless?

So he finally chose Canova's "Three Graces" as the statue of the fountain, and the water of the fountain flows slowly from the hidden parts of the three goddesses, and finally flows into the fountain pool.

— that's art, and even wizards can appreciate the fun in it, Lockhart thought with satisfaction.

Even if the residents of Hogsmeade don't have enough taste in art appreciation, as long as they don't want to hang out with dementors, then they can only come to drink the tap water of the fountain.

But when Lockhart walked by the fountain and admired the art all morning, he found that few people came to fetch water.

"Don't wait, fool!" Aberforth Dumbledore reminded Lockhart tauntingly when he came to fetch water, "They've all installed running water pipes at home, and Dewes and Mr. Bance's Business, 20 Galleons a pipeline, no deception."

Lockhart was stunned for a moment, and then he was furious: "Those two guys, they actually used public equipment for private use! What if we need clean water to fight the fire and the water pressure of the fountain is not enough?"

You must know that the ancient Greeks and Romans chose to install fountains in settlements not only for the sake of beauty and water for residents, but also for the responsibility of emergency water in case of house fires.

"In the case of a fire, of course we need to hire a volunteer fire brigade who can spray water jets. Anyway, the village is not big, and it will be there in the blink of an eye." Aberforth said naturally.

Lockhart was momentarily at a loss for words.

"Then why did you fetch the water yourself?" he asked back.

Aberforth raised the bucket he brought with a spell: "Because I am the Pig's Head Bar, any change in the interior furnishings will cause dissatisfaction among my customers."

Lockhart was frustrated at not being able to show his future voters his love for the arts

After learning from the pain, he decided to use another way to influence the literary and artistic fashion of the wizarding world, at least trying to make it a tradition before the Triwizard Tournament was held.And it will also become Lockhart's second "political achievement" after the water diversion project

Of course, this matter still needs to be done through his brother-in-law.

It's just that he had just sent his owl away when two people came outside.

"Lockhart!" shouted someone outside the door, "the Hogwarts train is coming!

"I see." Lockhart responded casually before he realized what had happened, "Why? They have so many new students this year, aren't there enough small wooden boats?

"Don't worry about the small wooden boat! The dementor has already boarded the car regardless of our obstruction!" The man shouted angrily.

"Get in the car?"

After a shock, Lockhart remembered what had happened.

Oops, it seems that it is necessary to appease the teachers and students of Hogwarts in the future

Even if this decision is made by other departments of the Ministry of Magic from beginning to end, the common people will not care about your set, they will only know that the "Ministry of Magic" failed to control the dementors.

"Oops... the freshmen at Hogwarts don't even know magic yet! It's probably difficult for the third graders. I remember the Patronus Charm was only taught in the sixth grade." Lockhart said "to himself".

The big black dog, who was twiddling the tip of its tail in boredom, suddenly sat up after Lockhart's "reminder".

Because the station is not inside Hogwarts, nor is it far from the Shrieking Shack, so

Lockhart chose to Apparate directly.

When he arrived at the scene, he found that the situation had been calmed down.

A stream of white mist rising from the depths of the carriage dispersed all the dementors surrounding the train, and judging from the trajectory of the white mist, someone should be casting spells along the interior of the carriage.

The dementors dodged the Hogwarts Express just like ordinary people dodge poison gas, and fled back to the station with a sharp howling sound.

Without saying a word, Lockhart entered the station after activating Occlumency.

"I don't recall the Ministry of Magic granting you access to trains!" he yelled at the dementor inside.

The little leader of the dementors quickly responded: "Search... all... who enter Hogwarts..."

It's clear7 they're deliberately misinterpreting Ministry orders.

The Ministry of Magic ordered them to search all people or vehicles that entered Hogwarts. This order was understood by the dementors as they had the right to "eat" all people who wanted to enter Hogwarts.

Lockhart found that, as with all dying and Fellar official organizations, there was a disconnect between the wizarding elite at the top of the Ministry and the lower ranks.

They think they are in control of everything, and their power can make all creatures obey the control, but in fact, whether it is for the real power holders—that is, those pure-blood families—or for the grassroots, they have lost their ability to restrain.

Dementors dare to obey others, pure-blood families can influence politics, and even Arthur Weasley is free to leave loopholes in the law that are beneficial to him.The grassroots level of law enforcement borrows the authority of the Ministry of Magic to pretend to be powerful, but it can't do anything about areas such as Knockturn Alley that really need to be controlled. The huge Ministry of Magic has turned into a show.

This kind of government organization, Lockhart has only seen in those disorderly African and Southeast Asian countries before, and even those countries in Africa are better than the Ministry of Magic, at least those dictators still have one in their hands that can suppress all dissatisfied domestic army.

Such a Ministry of Magic may only be slightly better than the Indian government.

The dementors used the orders issued by the Ministry of Magic headquarters to suppress themselves. Lockhart really has no good way to do this, because according to his position, he should first appease these dementors who are "loyal" to the Ministry of Magic , followed by an explanation to the teachers and students of Hogwarts.

It's a bad feeling to have no power in your hands, Lockhart thought.

Chapter 170

Although he knew what he had to do, Lockhart was in no mood to appease the dementor right now.To be honest, he'd be lucky if he couldn't resist beating up these dementors.

But the dementors are not relentless. They think that they have been "despicably attacked" by a wizard during their official duties, so Lockhart should punish the wizard who cast the Patronus Charm.

But they forgot one thing - besides them, Lockhart was the only one in the station at this time.

In front of outsiders, Lockhart may still pretend to be polite to the dementors in order to maintain the dignity of the Ministry of Magic, but he will not be polite to the dementors when the door is closed and there are only "his own people".

"Say it again!" He unabashedly exuded evil thoughts towards the dementors, "I am the only one who can represent the Ministry of Magic here, you have to listen to me!"

The dementors looked confused—they couldn't understand what Lockhart had come up with.

They won't be angry, and they don't hate the negative energy emanating from Lockhart's body at this time, but as artificial life, they always have to test each other's status before they can confirm each other's status, rather than just letting Lockhart talk .

"You... are no more qualified than us," said the little dementor leader.

This was the longest sentence that Lockhart had heard from the dementors since they came into contact with each other.

Kerr sure? "