Hermione, join me as Minister of Magic!

"Well, fortunately, Dad made extra money, otherwise my pocket money might not be enough."

Hermione looked at the cat in her arms, and asked again deliberately.

"Professor Lockhart, are pets allowed in the cinema?"

"Yes, but you have to make sure it doesn't disturb others by making noise. I'm afraid the half-breed cat and raccoon can't do this, but the mouse should be able to... Ron, you can bring Scabbers in." Lockhart replied.

Ron shook his head regretfully: "It's a pity I didn't bring Scabbers here, Hermione's... the cat would bite it when it saw it, and it was too scared to come out, so I left it in the dormitory."

Outside the window sill, Blake's ears fell down in disappointment: Peter, that guy escaped again, damn bastard, good luck!

The cat in Hermione's arms seemed to have sensed something, it struggled twice, and jumped out of Hermione's arms.

"What's the matter, Crookshanks?" Hermione asked strangely.

Crookshanks pointed in the direction of the window, sniffed vigorously, and then his eyes suddenly became extremely sharp.

Chanting???"

Under the surprised eyes of everyone, Crookshanks suddenly jumped out of the window.

Blake was lying outside the window, when he suddenly saw a mass of ginger-yellow things jumping out, he was also taken aback.

But when he saw the mass clearly, a string of memories in his mind seemed to be plucked suddenly.

Crookshanks didn't care that much, as soon as he saw Black, he rushed up angrily, scratching and biting the big black dog.

Lockhart, Hermione, and Ron came out after hearing the sound, just in time to see the scene of Crookshanks chasing and scratching a black dog.

"Look! As I said, it's a crazy cat! It bites everyone!" Ron yelled at Hermione. Is there anything you dare not bite? "

Hermione's face flushed instantly.

She peeked over to Lockhart, hoping he didn't catch what Ron said.

Fortunately, Lockhart seemed to be wondering why the cat and dog started fighting as soon as they met, and didn't pay attention to Hermione's side, so she was relieved.

"Crookshanks, stop!" Hermione yelled.

Chapter 180 Conjecture on the origin of Crookshanks

Up to now, everything was expected by Lockhart, even mentioning Scabbers intentionally or unintentionally, he did it all by himself.

But he was really a little strange, why Crookshanks would rush to bite when he saw Black's Animagus form, because it is clearly recorded in the original book that the relationship between them is not bad.

...Wait, are you on good terms?

Why did a cat and racist choose to believe in Black just after meeting him, and was willing to help him catch Ron's mouse?

Did they know each other before?

If he remembers correctly, Crookshanks has been in the pet store for many years and has never been bought by anyone. Whenever someone looks at it, he will throw a temper tantrum and scare people away until Hermione takes it down. .

Why does Crookshanks not lie to others, but only to Hermione?

No, what if instead of Hermione, Crookshanks recognized someone else there?

Been in the pet store for years...

Thinking of this, he asked Hermione beside him.

"Has this cat been clinging to you since you bought it?"

Hermione shook her head in confusion: "No, Harry is his favorite clinger, and he sleeps on Harry's lap in the common room."

Ron also corroborated her statement: "Yes, sometimes we wake up in the morning and see this cat sleeping on Harry's quilt, and he can't breathe.

—I think he must have been hungry in the night and wanted to eat Scabbers. "

After hearing this, Lockhart turned his attention to the cat and the dog who were fighting again.

Of course, Crookshanks is definitely not an Animagus, it is a half-breed cat and raccoon, that's for sure.

The mixed-breed cat Lizi has a good memory, is particularly clever, and can sense danger to a certain extent, so many wizarding families like to keep one at home.

When James Potter and Lily Evans got married, they also raised a mixed-breed cat, but the cat's whereabouts disappeared after Voldemort's attack.

Could it be…

If this is the case, then this matter becomes very interesting, and it is only normal for Crookshanks to be clingy to Harry.

If I remember correctly, the great prophet Rowling often describes the scene where Crookshanks clings to Harry in the book—you know, she never likes to make meaningless descriptions, such as the mention in Philosopher's Stone that "knocked over the strange Luo", "the pool of water" and "mirror" mentioned in the secret room are not random details, but are paving the way for the final answer.

As a writer who likes to dig holes in the book, Lockhart has reason to suspect that this is what Rowling is hinting at, but in the end he failed to use this plan.

Looking back on the court, I saw that although Black was very embarrassed by Crookshanks, he never fought back.And after noticing that he had attracted the attention of others, the big black dog jumped into the bushes and disappeared after barking a few times.

Crookshanks didn't budge, and he followed into the bushes without hesitation, and from the way he looked, it seemed that he would not let the dog rest until he was scratched to death.

"Crookshanks!"

cried Hermione worriedly, and looked like she wanted to run after her.

Lockhart caught her in time: "It's okay, the pets are fighting and fighting among themselves.

Already, they'll come back by themselves when it's meal time, and that dog isn't dangerous, I promise. "

Hermione was a little embarrassed: "Sorry, professor, I will take care of I-1 when I go back.

dagger.

"I've said it all, I'm no longer a teacher, so don't call me a professor." Lockhart said helplessly, "Let's go, let's have something to eat first, go shopping after you have rested, and watch a movie together at night. The quality of the film will definitely surprise you.

As if to confirm what Lockhart said, after a while, after Lockhart entertained the two of them with snacks, the big black dog and the big yellow cat walked back to the Screaming Shack together.

Although the hair of the big black dog was a little lingering and there were a few bloodstains from scratching its paws on its body, at least they had calmed down.

Although Crookshanks still looked a little vigilant, and the distance between Sirius and Sirius was kept at two or three steps away, the hostility in his eyes when he looked at the big black dog had lost, and he didn't know that Sirius how it is done.

"Looks like they're done... Dobby, help me pour them some pet food, tuna flavored ones, and rub some medicine on the briquettes," Lockhart called.

"Okay, master." Dobby followed his order immediately.

He certainly enjoyed entertaining Harry Potter's friends, but Dobby still regretted that Harry himself wasn't there - he couldn't show off his new 12-flavor fruit syrup pie.

Seeing her cat come back, Hermione stood up quickly.

"Really... Crookshanks, you still like to run around, why didn't I see it before."

She held it up in front of her eyes, and then looked at it carefully for a while, until she didn't find any wounds on it, and she was relieved.

The big yellow cat behaved very well-behaved, even though Hermione searched its whole body without making a sound, its honest appearance made it hard to believe that it was the one that bared its teeth and claws just now.

Ron looked at it with disgust: "I repeat, I still suggest you throw it away."

"Ron!"

Due to Lockhart's presence, Hermione was not easy to get angry, but Ron's EQ was indeed extremely low, and she almost couldn't help it.

In order to smooth things over, Lockhart changed the subject and talked with the two about school life.

The two of them were distracted, and they started talking about life in the new semester, the new Defense professor, the little things with Harry, and how unhappy he couldn't come to Hogsmeade etc.

The big black dog listened very carefully, because this was a rare way to understand his godson.It turned out that he also joined the Quidditch team, and he was still a Seeker... Unfortunately, James is a Chaser, and he rarely plays as a Seeker.

For Black, meeting Crookshanks, the cat and raccoon, was a complete accident, although he had to spend a lot of time to convince him that he was indeed innocent, and it was Peter who betrayed the Potters. But Crookshanks remains skeptical.

"You can go back and look at that mouse to see if it's missing a toe," Sirius told it in the unique way of communication between animals.

If all goes well, when it finds out that the mouse is indeed Peter, I believe it will agree to help itself, after all, this cat is so smart.

Hermione and Ron were still visiting Hogsmeade, so they only talked for less than an hour before saying goodbye.

Lockhart asked them to go to Honeydukes to post his own name, I believe the owner is willing

He offered to give them some new snacks to try, and Ron happily agreed.

Finally, Hermione seemed to remember something again.

She shyly took out a badge from her bag with the word SPEW engraved on it, and handed it to Lockhart with Ron's helpless expression on his face.

"I wonder if you would like to join our association?" Hermione said expectantly, "In order to care about the rights and interests of house elves..."

Lockhart laughed out loud, with a sort of "sure enough" in his smile.

"It seems that since I asked you to think last time, you have indeed thought about it. If this is the final answer you handed over, although I can't give you 100 points, at least 60 points are available... Okay, I decided to join This association, and I want to donate 5 galleons in my own name for the association's dues." He took the "vomit" badge from Hermione's hand.

Hermione was overjoyed: "So, you agree with my approach?"

Lockhart immediately poured cold water on her: "No, in fact, I don't agree with your way of handling it, but it's always good to try more when you are young. After you operate it for a period of time and find problems from it, If you come to ask me again, I will definitely talk endlessly.”

Hermione looked a little disappointed: "Why not now?"

"Because detours always have to be taken." Lockhart said to her patiently, "If you can promote reforms together by yourself, it means that you at least know how to balance, compromise and fight, which will bring great benefits to you. You have grown a lot, and what you gain from this growth will be far greater than the issues you promote.”

To put it bluntly, Lockhart actually doesn't care about the rights of the house-elves, but he is very concerned about the growth of one of his many future successors, because this is his core purpose.

And public policy, legal principles, social psychology... It is not easy to learn these things.

If you have nothing to do as a secretary, then you are very wrong.

Chapter 180 Three "The Wizard of Oz" is a fable 0

Hermione still didn't understand what Lockhart said, but she was very happy with the "expectation" in his words.

It goes to show that Lockhart does take her "upbringing" to heart and doesn't take her promotion of house-elf rights as a joke like everyone else.

As for what Lockhart meant, Hermione also understood what he meant. It was nothing more than saying that he was not optimistic about her "career".

But this instead aroused her competitiveness. She wanted to finish this thing beautifully, and then take "victory" to prove to Lockhart that she was completely different from other brainless girls. He's good looking only to look forward to.

Lockhart didn't pay much attention to this kind of petty thinking. Anyway, he only regarded this kind of relationship as "growing pains" at the moment; it's too easy for a young man to confuse all kinds of strange feelings.

Next, Hermione and Ron went to visit Hogsmeade, which they had been in love with for a long time, and it was considered to have fulfilled a wish they had had for more than two years.

Lockhart felt that Hogsmeade is really not much to visit now, with fifty or sixty houses and twenty or so shops, it is not as prosperous as a large supermarket in London.

But things are afraid of comparison. Compared with other villages in the wizarding world, Hogsmeade is already considered good. At least there is no problem in giving third-year little wizards a sense of freshness for about half a year.

After Ron walked out of the Shrieking Shack, he went straight to the Honeydukes Candy Store, wanting to get the "deals" that Lockhart said

"There are so many people there, we can easily find two classmates and get half-price movie tickets." Ron said proudly to Hermione.

As a result, at the gate of Honeydukes, they met Wei Wei who was also in a hurry.

sly twins

Ron's eyes lit up—these are just two people.

As a result, before he could speak, Fred rushed forward first.

"Thank God, there are just two of us... Would you like to go to the movies? Remember to state my name when you buy the ticket, and I can get a half-price ticket."

Ron and Hermione were stunned. At this moment, they felt as if they were traffickers who were sold by the hostages they had kidnapped.

Because the little wizards had to go back to Hogwarts before dinner, they could only stay and watch the afternoon show.

But it was enough for Lockhart—the temporary extra seats in the open-air cinema were all filled.

This kind of viral marketing introduced from person to person is really effective. Although some students from wizarding families don’t know what the movie is, they still bought tickets under the encouragement of their Muggle classmates, and brought the tickets they bought from Honeydukes and The Three Broomsticks. Snacks and drinks, sitting in the open air.

In addition, Lockhart also saw Ambrosio Froome, the boss of Honeydukes, which surprised him a lot, because he felt that the boss should be busy with business at this time and didn't have time to watch movies. right.

When Lockhart asked him, he shrugged at Lockhart with a wry smile.

"They bought out my stock... just had to close the store."

"Is the business so good?" Lockhart was a little surprised.

"That's right." The boss glanced at the students with relief, "After all, it's the baby boomer generation... I still underestimated the number of third graders this year."

"Then you have to be careful, the number of second graders is one-third more than this year's third graders, and I also heard from Lupine that the number of first graders this year is simply

amazing.I suspect that if there is an increase in the number of this year's first years every year, maybe by the time they graduate, Hogwarts will be able to return to the grandeur of having a thousand students," Lockhart told him.

The joy on Froome's face couldn't be concealed: "That's really great!

Lockhart believed that he was sincere. Whether it was for the development of the wizarding world or for Honeydukes to make more money, Froome definitely hoped that the wizarding population would increase.

Besides, these little wizards are really good at spending money.

Only those who make their own money know how valuable money is, and these students who are still in school are obviously not among them.

Because their source of income is their parents, they can ask for more when they have no money. To some extent, this can be regarded as an "inexhaustible" existence.

Although the little wizards are not rich, they dare to spend all their pocket money, so their spending power is higher than that of the villagers.