Hermione, join me as Minister of Magic!

Lockhart looked around and found that, as expected, the little wizards basically carried snacks and drinks in their hands, and some even held toys bought from Zuko's joke shop.

Very good, brainwashing... Ahem, education should start with babies.

Like "The Sound of Music," "The Wizard of Oz" got the buzz it deserved.

After all, it is an award-winning work, and the story is naturally not mentioned, and it is also a work that has proved its strength at the box office.

Its plot is also not complicated. A kind and brave little girl was blown to the magic country by a tornado, and met three partners on the way home: finally defeated the evil witch and returned home successfully.

But apart from the story itself, the wizarding and muggle point of view of the film

Movies are totally different.

For example, Muggles think that the magical "Dwarf Kingdom", "Flying Ruby Slippers" and "Evil Witch" are very normal things for wizards, so the "fantasy" element is undoubtedly reduced a lot.

For wizards, "The Wizard of Oz" is more like a fable.

Whether it is the lion who is looking for courage, the scarecrow who is looking for a brain, or the tin woodman who is looking for a heart, they all have their own images. If you add the kind Dorothy, then these four characters coincide with Huo Gwartz's four colleges.

Gryffindor who is looking for courage, Ravenclaw who is looking for wisdom, Slytherin who is ambitious, and Hufflepuff who is tough and honest are similar to Lion, Scarecrow, Tin Woodman and Dorothy.

So by mistake, the students from wizarding families understood the theme of this movie as "the four colleges go hand in hand to fulfill their dreams", which was an unexpected gain for Lockhart.

Especially when Dorothy finally found out that the so-called "wizard with boundless magic power" was just a Muggle who fooled everyone by relying on tornadoes and various "high-tech" gadgets that he carried with him, the children who were watching the movie The wizards all exclaimed.

In the end, technology is indeed indistinguishable from magic - which is very much in line with the ideas Lockhart wants to instill.

Although the effect is not obvious at present, and some things still need to be realized by the young wizards, but the age of 11-17 is indeed an important period for the formation of a person's worldview and values, even if they are not preached, continue to develop in this way subtly If the influence continues, I believe that there will be more or less influence in the future.

So Lockhart has been observing the reactions of the little wizards, and found that except for the fact that the evil witch who ruled the kingdom was defeated in a funny way, which is a bit dissatisfied, the rest are pretty good, and the little wizards basically accepted the film. settings in .

The film was undeniably a success - it was very popular with the students, and they all said that they have had another regular project at Hogsmeade ever since.

In addition to these potential gains, Lockhart also has some material gains.

In just one afternoon session, Lockhart earned 10 Galleons for the Ministry of Magic's second project. According to this speed estimate, the time he originally expected to recover the cost was too conservative. He didn't have to wait too long It is possible to "collect" new and old film reels.

More importantly, the income of Honey Duke, Three Broomsticks and Zuko will not be less than him: the consumption power brought by the movie is enough to benefit the whole village.

"A lot of senior students didn't come today. I guess it's because they are tired of coming here, thinking that there will be nothing new here...Talk to them, and then let them regret going!" Lockhart told Today The students who came to watch the movie shouted

Although Lockhart no longer coached, the popularity he had accumulated before was still there, so his words immediately caused a burst of booing from the young wizards in the audience.

"No problem, Professor! Let them regret it!" Fred and George shouted ll

This sentence from Lockhart undoubtedly inspired a group of makeup dealers, "Eddie from Ravenclaw came to Lockhart alone after the movie and asked if he could sell him some Uggang tickets."

"I've inquired about it, and the villagers usually only need 2 Sickles to watch it for one night, but we need 3... If you trust me, you can give me some of the tickets to sell. I sell 2 Sickles for a night." Zhang, so there will be more people coming on weekends, what do you think?"

"How much commission do you want?" Lockhart asked.

"half.

Lockhart rejected him without hesitation: "Don't think about it, with such a large space, I have extended the time to pay back several times."

Eddie, who was exposed, showed no embarrassment at all. It is a universal rule that you can't lose your face if you want money.

"Then it's half a Sickle, or 10 Nats are fine. I'm still in charge of publicity and development of the downline. I really can't do less than this amount!" He pleaded with a playful smile on his face.

What does Ferr want this business for? "Lockhart was puzzled, "The school is so small that there are hundreds of people. For 10 Nats, even if you can sell 200 tickets a week, you will only earn 5 Galleons, and several people will share it. It's not as good as your profits from selling binoculars... I saw that this year's Hogwarts students' teaching materials list includes your fair's binoculars. "

Eddie looked serious: "How many things we can sell is just the second thing. The professor's point is that we must let the students only come to us to buy things, so no matter what they want, we must have it."

Good guy, this even took aim at pricing power, Lockhart immediately looked sideways at it.

Chapter 180 Four Clues

When Hermione and Ron went to Hogsmeade, Harry Potter, who was left alone in the castle, was a little upset.

Originally, according to regulations, Hogwarts students could only go to Hogsmeade during the holidays.But for some reason, Dumbledore suddenly announced that everyone is free to go every weekend in the future.

The students were naturally happy, but Harry was even more melancholy.

Originally, he thought that the whole day today could be used to train Quidditch, so even if he couldn't go to Hogsmeade, it wouldn't be a big deal, but he didn't expect Oliver Wood to suddenly become very enlightened. After the holiday, let the team members go to Hogsmeade to relax.

If I have eight hours to chop wood, I'll spend two of those hours sharpening my axe' - that's my family motto. said Wood to Harry.

"Grind what?" Harry asked dryly.

"I mean, it's also important to go to the store and buy some safety goggles, or have the broom professionally groomed and maintained, and I suggest you get some Honeydukes fly toffee and chocolate balls to eat before your flight Two, the air at high altitude is not so chilly, I see you are shivering every time you get off the broom...

"Thank you, Wood."

Harry stopped Wood's chatter and didn't tell him that he couldn't go to Hogsmeade.

He couldn't tell everyone he couldn't make it to Hogsmeade, could he?Otherwise, Malfoy would die laughing.

Can't practice Quidditch, and Harry really doesn't want to do homework today, so

He went to the Dueling Club, wanting to vent his anger at not being able to go to Hogsmeade in a duel.

It's a pity that most of the students in the same grade went to Hogsmeade, and all the seniors who were tired of going to the Dueling Club were left behind, and Harry, the kid in the lower grades, didn't bother to bully, so he could only challenge by leapfrogging.

However, after this challenge, he realized that there were too many senior students left behind.

Cedric Diggory saw Harry early on and greeted him.

"Hey, Harry! I remember you weren't sixteen yet? Why are you here too? Aren't you going to Hogsmeade?" he asked.

Harry felt a little baffled: "When did the Dueling Club start to limit the age?"

When Cedric heard him ask this, he knew that Harry had just come here by chance.

"It's nothing... I thought you had heard about that too, so you came here to prepare."

Harry was a little sensitive: "What preparation?"

Cedric was vague: "A tournament, I can't say what it is, but those of us who have family members in the Ministry of Magic should have heard of it, so everyone wants to come here in advance to find out the status, in case you are selected... "

"A competition? A duel competition?"

"...Well, no, but it's about the same, but I heard that you have to be 17 years old to participate, so everyone who turned 16 this year is here, look..."

Harry looked around, and found that most of the people left were senior students, and most of them were Slytherins, and most of the rest came from wizard families in the Dueling Club.

good luck! "Harry blessed Cedric with high EQ.

Anyway, it is impossible for him to let himself grow to be 17 years old before next year. Since he can't participate, he might as well bless those who are close to him-as long as it is not Slytherin who wins.

"Thank you." Cedric also answered him politely.

After forcing himself to duel with the seniors a few times, Harry returned to the Gryffindor common room with two wins and four losses, even more depressed.

And the return of Ron and Hermione made his bad mood worse-they talked to Harry about Hogsmeade, which made Harry feel itchy.

What Honeydukes candy store, what Devis-Bance who specializes in broom maintenance, the elegant wizard clothing store that sells strange clothes, and Zoko joke shop...

This feeling is like "while others are sitting, you are standing. When others are eating, you are watching",

"...Even Fred and George said that Hogsmeade this year was very different from previous years, with the village just getting running water and movies, it looked as if... something big was going to happen. "Hermione recalled.

"Maybe it's because the school will hold a competition next year!" Harry replied listlessly.

"What game?" Hermione was curious.

"I don't know, it might have something to do with the duel." Harry sighed, "Digory said that you can only participate in it when you are 17 years old."

"Then unless we drink aging medicine from today, we will definitely not be able to catch up." Ron thought thoughtfully, "Wait... Now that I'm talking about it, it suddenly occurred to me that Dad had mentioned this incident by accident, but I I thought he was talking about the Quidditch World Cup."

"The Quidditch World Cup?" Harry heard a new term, "Is there a World Cup here too?"

"Yeah." Ron put the Hogsmeade matter behind him in a blink of an eye, "It's just that the results of the British team are not very good, especially England. Losing to Transylvania by 10:390 is too miserable."

"It's too miserable." Harry agreed, "I really didn't expect the gap to be so big."

"It's normal." Hermione shrugged, "England has mostly big cities, so there are very few wizards living there, and it's very difficult for them to gather a team.

"What about Scotland? There should be a lot of wizards here, right?" Harry asked again.

"Scotland lost to Luxembourg in an upset last month, and they were runners-up in the last World Cup!" Ron said with an expression on his face that the end of the world was coming, "Don't remind me of this, Harry, you didn't see that everyone was very happy. Didn't you talk about it tacitly?"

Harry quickly apologized: "Oh, I'm sorry...it seems we can only count on Wales, isn't it?"

"It doesn't matter, you just don't know...Wales are indeed very promising. They are facing Uganda. They will play next month. Merlin bless me. I suspect that group of Africans don't even know what Quidditch is..."

"Ron!"

Hermione was writing something, but she corrected Ron immediately after hearing Ron's nonsense: "I read from the Quidditch trace that the only wizarding school in Africa—Wagadu is in Uganda, and they have been there since 10 years ago. The youth training has started. If there are no accidents, the Uganda team should usher in the first batch of players of the right age this year. I hope the Welsh team will not be careless."

"So what, Wales can't lose." Ron looked confident, "Besides, there's the Irish team."

"What. Ireland? Isn't Ireland split off? They also belong to the devil

Ministry of Law? "Harry was a little surprised.

"Don't use the nationality of Muggles to say that we wizards, Harry." Ron laughed. "We wizards are much more united than Muggles."

"Wish I could go see the game too," Harry said hopefully.

Ron thought for a while: "...Who said no? I'll ask my dad to find a way to get two more tickets for the final."

"Really?" Harry was overjoyed, "How much is a ticket? I'll buy it!"

"No, he has a way to get internal tickets. Besides, Dad has earned a lot of extra money this year, and he is worried about how to tell Mom. He will only be relieved if he buys two more tickets."

"Two? I'll go too?" Hermione raised her head from the state of scribbling.

"of course."

Ron had been extraordinarily generous, and there weren't many times like this in the past.

Harry laughed when he heard it, and he guessed where Mr. Weasley was earning extra money

He was about to stand up from the table, only to find that his legs sank again.

"Crookshanks... when did it lie on my lap again?" Harry was puzzled.

"Probably when you were doing your homework for astronomy class." Ron looked disgusted, "I'll get rid of the cat's fur before going upstairs, and Scabbers will be surprised by its smell...Hermione, your homework Isn't it finished?"

Hermione was still writing quickly: "I'm writing the constitution of SPEW, and I plan to release 20 house elves within this year."

Harry and Ron shrugged in unison.

Chapter 180 Five Old Wand

After the weekend, Lockhart took an inventory of the movie theater's income in the past few days, and found that half of his plan to pay back his capital had been completed.

In other words, if it was the end of the month, not only would the 300 Galleons allocated to him by the Ministry of Magic not be used up, but there might even be some more.

This is not a good thing—if you let your superiors know that your "department" actually has extra money, then you will only get less money when you issue the budget next time, and you will be stretched when you really need the money.

It’s fine if saving money can speed up your promotion path, but since ancient times, I have never heard of officials who succeeded in reducing the administrative costs of departments, so there are no civil servants who save money for the country in this world, everyone It’s all about spending as much as the budget has, and even complaining to the top every year that they are poor.

Obviously saving money for the country is a "credit", but why should one's own department be punished for it?It's not fair!

Therefore, Lockhart must find a way to use up the money before the end of the month, and it is best to owe a little money, so that the Ministry of Magic can worry about it.

But spending money is also a science. It is not an easy task to spend cleanly and "cleanly" while leaving room for the future.

Fortunately, Lockhart is familiar with this.

Generally speaking, if an administrative department wants to withhold the budget, or to create a "small treasury", there are actually many means, but they are also divided into those who are afraid of investigation, and those who are investigated have problems but will not hurt their muscles and bones. Yes, there are several types that are not afraid of checking at all.

Among them, the ones that are afraid of investigation are of course the storage of public funds in private treasury, the use of asset rental to obtain income, and false expenditures. This is not only a matter of fines, but also of liability.

The possibility of people being imprisoned is quite high.

Although Lockhart feels that wizards are still immature in this area, he still doesn't intend to challenge this bottom line, especially when Fudge and his gang are still eyeing him. Ruined his own future.

But there are still some means, such as operating income from the establishment of movie theaters to collect tickets, some off-book assets such as securities and cryptocurrencies, and pending payments to third-party companies. Even if they are found out, it doesn’t matter, fines It was nothing more than a fine of three glasses of wine, a disciplinary punishment that was not recorded in the file, and then confiscated.

As for some other things, such as "surplus", "emergency funds", and fines obtained by various units through administrative means, the superiors would not want to investigate even if they knew about it, because everyone is doing it.So these things are like "fire consumption", and they have become extra income for civil servants in the central government of various countries.

Otherwise, where did the minister of the U.S. European Command get a mistress in his wallet, and where did the garrisons get money for them to use their business cards to spend 600 sums of money to strip clubs.

Another example is the several times when the U.S. government shut down. If it weren’t for the “small treasury” kept by various means in various departments to maintain the operation, the functions of the entire system may have collapsed long ago.As for Japan, it relied on the "Kasumigaseki Buried Gold" to spend the unbearable two or three years, and successfully survived until the time when Anbei couldn't enter the third stage. The "small treasury" privately kept by the department can be called It is indispensable.

Civil servants all over the world belong to the same family. Lockhart is naturally well-versed in such a small means, and he is also very happy to have the opportunity to save a small treasury for his department. As for what the money will be used for in the future , he hasn't figured this out yet

Anyway, it will not be used for personal enjoyment, because the money is not more than one percent of Lockhart's current net worth.

In any case, if you want to set up a small treasury, of course you must first establish a project.Lockhart didn't say anything, and without anyone's urging, he took the initiative to