Hermione, join me as Minister of Magic!

The content of this comic strip is very absurd. 5 The protagonist is a crazy French Muggle, wearing a beret and a striped shirt. He is a painting teacher by profession and likes to talk nonsense in class and punish students physically.

This kind of work is obviously not helpful to understand the Muggle world, and wizards who grew up watching this thing will only have a deeper prejudice against Muggles.

But movies are different, because it is subtle and silent. When watching a story, everyone will naturally accept the relevant background in their minds. This is undoubtedly the correct and just way.

Of course, justice is not cheap. Although Lockhart invested more than 70 galleons in the project, Lockhart still didn't spend a single Nat's budget on it.

Because he intends to get the money back from the ticket price.

The entrance fee is the price he got after careful calculation - 2 Sickles per day on weekdays, 3 Sickles for three days on weekends to watch movies, and 17 Sickles in a week: that is, one Galleon.

This is an absolutely affordable price for the wizarding world where the weekly income is generally more than 10 Galleons and the family economy is highly dependent on self-sufficiency. A movie ticket is only worth 2 bottles of butter beer, which is Hogwarts. Students can afford it too.

If each show can maintain around 30-50 viewers, then Lockhart can rely on this project to earn 40 Galleons a week, and he can pay back within two weeks. Even at the end of the month, the Ministry of Magic The approved 300 Galleons could not be used up.

As for what will happen next, Lockhart is not sure.

Of course, he hoped that the movie could become popular in the wizarding world, so that when the project made money, he could use the money to buy new projectors and film, and make it an industry.

He even wants to register a film and television company with the Muggles, in the name of building a new "village mobile theater", in Hogsmeade, Godric's Hollow, St. Catchpole Village, Dingworth Village , Wiltshire and other major wizarding settlements, and this open-air cinema will be the start of it all.

Maybe many years later, movie lovers in the wizarding world will come here to commemorate it.

However, Lockhart was not the only one who saw business opportunities.

Ambrosio Froome, Honeydukes' boss, came to Lockhart's office alone after the film screening.

He had noticed during the movie just now that many wizards would ask Rosmerta to pour wine when the movie ended, while they sat where they were and continued to watch the movie.

From this, he thought of one thing—that is, when those little wizards came to Hogsmeade on the weekend, would they also buy some snacks while watching movies?

Since everyone was acquainted, he approached Lockhart directly, wanting to ask him what Muggle cinemas would sell.

"Good question, Amber." Lockhart was overjoyed, "Because the movie theater is a public environment, the food you sell must not have a pungent smell, and you must not make noise to disturb others watching the movie, and at the same time, it must not be too easy dirty hands.

"So ice mice, burp candies, and explosive bonbons are definitely not for sale, are they?"

"Probably, fat flies, pepper urchins, jelly slugs and sour poppers are also best avoided," Lockhart added.

Ambrosio was a little worried when he heard that, because what he said just now covered almost half of the goods in his store.

"Then what else can I sell? Bibi multi-flavored beans, coconut sorbet?"

"Great idea! Both of these things are good. In addition, the Muggle side also sells cola, juice, popcorn, dried meat, seaweed, plums, mints... Of course, there are also grilled sausages and potato chips, but I always Suspicious of people who bought this stuff at the cinema

Ambrosio nodded: "It seems that I have to develop two new snacks."

The words of the Honeydukes boss gave Lockhart an idea---considering that Hogwarts

Ci's students will come on weekends. It seems that the weekend movies will be mainly action movies, romance movies, fantasy movies and cartoons.

It's a pity that I only bought a dozen rolls of old film, and there are no cartoons at all

Fortunately, Disney has already given birth to the classic Mickey Mouse in this period, and TV animation has released the common memory of four generations early - "Tom and Jerry", and the legendary movie "Star Wars", as long as Loha I am very willing to look for it, and I can always find it.

However, it was too late to buy it at this time. For the weekend of the next day, Lockhart had to dig out a volume of "The Wizard of Oz" from those old movies and use it first.

However, although the story of the little girl, the tin man, the scarecrow and the lion is a magical drama in the eyes of Muggles, it may be a documentary in the eyes of wizards!

Early on Saturday morning, in order to fulfill the agreement, Remus Lupine came to Hogsmeade early in the morning, preparing to discuss future work issues with Lockhart in detail.

Lockhart was very enthusiastic. He not only asked Dobby to bring some snacks, but also invited him to have lunch with him. He even specially asked Dobby to fry the steak for Lupin until it was tender, and it would be medium rare. Can.

"It really doesn't have to be like this..." Lupine felt that his kindness was really hard to resist.

Because of the indifference of the world, Lupine is also very sensitive to the kindness of others. If he is a little friendly to him, he will feel flattered.

Lockhart simply didn't mention his hospitality, and instead asked about work: "How is the teaching in the new semester? Is the student file I left in the office useful?"

"It's very easy to use." Lu Ping quickly thanked, "The syllabus and content have been determined, and the characteristics of the students have been mastered, and the difficulty is still moderate. If you follow the steps step by step, you will never make mistakes."

"That's good." Lockhart was very happy. "After you get used to this job, please help me take care of the club."

"No problem, but..." Lupine hesitated.

"how?"

"Is it necessary to move the furniture in the office and dormitory?" Lupine asked anxiously. "I asked the principal, and he said that you left them. To be honest, they are a little too luxurious..."

"No, no, that's the property I left to the school. The Defense Against the Dark Arts class is the most dangerous position in the school. It should be enjoyed more often... And the cabinet is made of Peruvian holy wood, which is necessary to prevent ghosts. The chandelier candles are mixed with insect repellant, and the sofa is filled with the fluff shed by baby ptarmigans when they moult, which can be used as material for polymorphs in an emergency.”

"That's too extravagant." Lupine sighed.

No way, because I'm not good at transfiguration, if I don't use that thing as a material

, I can't even use Polymorph, haha..." Lockhart laughed at himself.

Lupine shook his head again and again: "It's too extravagant...I'll bring you these furniture some other day."

"Absolutely not." Lockhart resolutely refused, "Reporters will come to Hogsmeade for interviews after a while, do you want them to see that Ministry of Magic officials live in luxury and can hold two large-scale events with only the cost of furniture? You can stay here, anyway, things will be left to the next professor of defense."

Lupine thought he was right, and he seemed a little self-indulgent: "That would be disrespectful."

Next, Lockhart and Lupine discussed work in Nigeria.

The equipment for drilling has been completed, and Aiming has also decided to start construction at the end of October.Because the development of oil fields in Nigeria already has a standard process, so Ai Ming himself did not express his opinion on the next project, but they were mainly worried about two points:

The first is the issue of security. Aiming believes that it is difficult for workers to guarantee safety in an environment like Nigeria, but when Lockhart said that they would hire a professional security company to protect their camp, they decided to believe him for the time being.

The second point is the problem of construction. The oil and gas burial map that Gringotts handed over to Aiming Company is too detailed, including the depth and location of the oil burial, as well as the water content of the oil and the rocks in the geological formation. Structure and pressure and so on are all inclusive.

Aiming is very skeptical about how they obtained these data, because as far as Aiming knows, no exploration well has been drilled in the local area, and this kind of data usually requires drilling dozens of oil wells to get.

Naturally, Lockhart couldn't tell them that this is the old profession of goblins, there is a standard magic process, and they can only use things like "Shenjin Technology", "Infrasonic Sonar", and "Seismic Wave" to prevaricate the past, and said that they can Written in the contract, if Aiming Company finds that the data is inconsistent with the actual situation, Sniff Drilling Company is willing to bear all responsibilities

Although this matter was prevaricated, Ai Ming Company has developed a strong interest in the "new technology" of Nixiu Drilling Company, and is doing everything possible to inquire about the company's background through investment manager William.

Fortunately, William has always been known in the industry for keeping his mouth shut. He resolutely and politely cut off the outstretched tentacles, but at the same time warned Lockhart that he might not be able to hide it for a long time.

It is conceivable that if a "responsible person" comes by then, he will also have to accept all-pervasive inquiries from big capitalists.

"That means, in addition to security work, I have to find a way to deal with those Muggles, right?" Lupine understood what Lockhart meant.

"Yes, in another month, Dumbledore will go to France to attend the International Conference of Wizards. At that time, he will discuss this matter with Babajid Akinbad, and ask some people from Africa to be in charge of dealing with Akinbad. Ming, those black people are very superstitious about the wizards in the tribe... o You can be responsible for dealing with Muggle spies together, and you must not let them discover our secrets, we can only count on this to make money."

Lupine smiled heartily: "I will do my best

Chapter 180 The Strange Cat

After lunch, although Lockhart invited Lupine to stay and watch a movie together, Lupine declined Lockhart's offer on the grounds that he needed to prepare lessons and correct homework.

/dj

It seems that he is really not used to accepting other people's kindness.

Before leaving, Lupine glanced at the Shrieking Shack, with a look of nostalgia in his expression—he spent the night of the full moon here with his three friends, but he did not expect to be transformed now It's the office of the Ministry of Magic.

Looking at the dog house in the courtyard, Lupine's heart moved.

"Do you have a dog? Judging by the size of the dog house, it should be big, right?"

"Yeah." Lockhart pretended to be indifferent and said, "I don't know what it ate to grow so big, I have to feed it every day, but I have to feed it a lot of things, its mouth is still He's very naughty, he refuses to eat anything that is slightly rotten, and he even learned to pretend to be cute yesterday, just to grab a piece of cheese pork chop from my plate..."

Lupine lowered his head and glanced into the dog house: "It doesn't seem to be there."

"Who knows where it went to run wild again... Seeing that it can catch mice and bring back a rabbit from time to time, I just let it go."

Lupine originally wanted to find out if there was any dog ​​hair left beside the dog house, but he only dared to pretend to be casual and asked, "How long have you kept this dog?"

"It's been a while." Lockhart deliberately covered the matter with vague words, "The house-elf has always been taking care of it. Apart from being a bit greedy, it's pretty strict." Stone

"That's it..." Lupine seemed relieved.

Even if you beat Lupine to death, he can't imagine Sirius rolling around and looking for someone

Asking for pork chops and catching mice, after all, Sirius was so cynical and arrogant in school that he looked down on almost everyone except James.

"Oh, by the way, there is one more thing. Harry Potter couldn't come to Hogsmeade on weekends because he couldn't find anyone to sign. The headmaster asked me to tell you, don't sign for him, we don't want him to go around Run around." Lupine remembered another business.

"Because of Black?" Lockhart asked knowingly.

"Not only because of Black, but also because of the dementors. The influence of the dementors on Potter is too great. When you taught him Occlumency, he regained some of his baby memories... You know, That memory is not wonderful, I still have to find a way to teach him the Patronus Charm..."

"Looks like he's running out of time for Quidditch training." Lockhart said regretfully.

After explaining the business, Lupine bid farewell to Lockhart and walked towards the castle with a rather relaxed mood.

And it was long after Lupine had gone that Black's dog's head emerged from the bushes behind the house.

In order to avoid this best friend from his school days, he had gone out of his way.He had listened to all the conversations between Lockhart and Lupine just now, and it seemed that his schoolmate had not had a very happy life before.

In addition, Blake also learned part of the situation of his godson.

Poor kid, even the right to come to Hogsmeade has been deprived... If this kid is as smart as James, then he should have discovered a lot of secret passages in Hogwarts.

And Quidditch... the kid had joined the Quidditch team, and James had written to say that he'd been running around on a toy broomstick as a baby, and he'd inherited his father's talents.

It's a pity that he couldn't come to Hogsmeade to let himself have a good look, is it right?

It's really that much like James.

Tsk, I don't want to attract dementors either!Who knew the Ministry of Magic could be so insane!

The big black dog seemed a little irritable, and this was also noticed by Dobby.

"Calball, you are here! Come out quickly, another! J is messing around, and Dobby is here to help you clean up after getting all dusty." Dobby shouted.

Blackburn wanted to get out immediately, and let Dobby clean up the ash on his body, but he looked at the door, but suddenly retracted into the bushes and disappeared

It turned out that two Hogwarts students had appeared outside the fence of the Shrieking Shack.

"That's it, Hermione. This is a famous haunted house. It's dilapidated. I really didn't expect anyone to live here... Oh!"

Ron Weasley raised his head and looked at the screaming shack at the entrance of the village.

Contrary to what his brothers had told him, the Shrieking Shack had taken on a different look after Lockhart had taken care of it.

The wooden boards that nailed the door had already been removed by Lockhart, and the dilapidated wooden boards were also painted with varnish. Although the repaired roof and windows were not luxurious, they were more than enough for office use.The dog house at the entrance and the morning glory growing in the fence make this shed look full of life.

Hermione didn't have any inherent impression of the Shrieking Shack. Anyway, after she heard that Lockhart lived here, she insisted on coming and taking a look, and then, as Ron said, go to Honeydukes.

Sirius Black recognized Ron the first time he saw him - it was the boy!The boy with that mouse!

Although he only read the newspaper for 3 minutes, Blake remembered every detail on it clearly, and in order to avoid making mistakes, he deliberately found it from the pile of discarded newspapers in Hogsmeade after he escaped from prison. Get out that paper and get all dressed up for it

The smell of ink has been complained by Dobby for a long time.

Although he had already imagined the scene of revenge a thousand times or ten thousand times, he never thought that happiness would come so suddenly.

Yes, just hide and wait for the mouse to come out and rush forward, give it a bite on the throat, and it's all over.

Blake lowered his body, crept forward from the bushes, and dawdled under the window sill of the Shrieking Shack, eavesdropping on the conversation between Lockhart and the two students.

I'm so glad you've come to see me, Ron, Hermione...ah, and Crookshanks|Hello, little one!Dobby, I'll just pour the tea, and hurry up to Honeydukes to buy some candy! "

"...Don't worry so much, we'll go there later." Hermione said politely.

"Yeah, that Malfoy guy has been showing off for a whole year, and we're going to visit there this time, and I've saved pocket money for a summer vacation." Ron also echoed.

"One yard counts for one yard. After eating a little from me, you can buy it after you know which sweets are delicious. Besides, Honeydukes has prepared some new products for tonight's movie. These new products will only be available to me for the time being." , you can’t buy it.”

"Movie?" Hermione and Ron said in unison.

It's just that Hermione was surprised with a hint of excitement, but Ron looked very confused.

"Yeah, I found some old movies, and I'm going to open the eyes of these wizards. Tonight's movie is "The Wizard of Oz". Hermione should have seen it, but Ron can go and watch it."

"I only saw it once when I was a kid." Hermione said immediately, "I wouldn't mind watching it again in a wizarding village, it would be completely different."

Ron still looked confused, as if he didn't know what happened between Lockhart and Hermione.

Say something.

"You could think of it as a puppet show," Lockhart said, "only the scenes are bigger and more coherent."

—Speaking of puppet shows, Ron seemed to understand.

"How much is the ticket?" he asked.

"Three Sickles, but if you can bring two more classmates over to watch it together, I'll give you half the price. Children under the age of 0 are not allowed, because they can enter for free." Lockhart told him.

Hearing the price, Ron instinctively hesitated, as if wondering if he should pay the price of a bottle of Butterbeer to see a puppet show.

But Hermione immediately encouraged him: "Trust me, Ron, it's a good movie."