Hermione, join me as Minister of Magic!

"What's the difference?"

"Yes, people in the industry, such as us, usually pay more attention to the market value and user value of products, and the people I invited are all from the investment circle. Apart from their connections, the most prominent thing about them is the ability to describe their vision .” Lockhart explained

What Lockhart said gave Crouch a headache:

"I understand connections, but that's basic

Based on value, so... what is the "ability to describe the vision"?

Major shareholders have doubts, of course Lockhart, as the managing director, must explain in detail

Mumu zE

"Simply put, it's the ability to fool people into taking orders. Their words represent a certain degree of credibility in the capital market."

Crouch laughed aloud: "I see, but this seems unnecessary. If I remember correctly, our stuff is a high-quality product in the Muggle market, right? A fool can see how much it is worth."

"But investors are actually not sensitive to the value itself, but only to the trend of price changes. This requires someone to help us." Lockhart reminded him

Crouch paused, and then figured out the key point.

"So that's the case, since this is the case, I will definitely speak for you." He promised

Sure enough, he was really fascinated with power again, Lockhart thought.

Chapter 230 Hogwarts is ready to go

The Hogwarts final exams were getting closer, and for Lockhart, his "final exams" were also getting closer.

As far as he is concerned, the results of his one-year work depend on the preparations for the Big Five Tournament.

If the foreigner was content to say something that pleased the Englishman and made Fudge feel flattered in the Daily Prophet, then he was certainly doing a good job, and not vice versa.

Therefore, almost everyone in the Ministry of Magic believes that the most important thing for Lockhart to do now is to find some "foreign famous people" in advance, let them say good things at that time, and at the same time buy a group of media as much as possible. These are the most urgent tasks to turn a top five tournament into a grand event.

However, Lockhart's behavior at this critical moment is puzzling—he actually wants to introduce a group of Muggles to try out the Hogsmeade that he built?What the hell is this going on?

"... On the one hand, it is to test the reliability of the facilities of the tournament, and on the other hand, it is to make some money during the empty window in July." Lockhart explained in this way.

"July? Why must it be July?"

Crouch answered the question for Lockhart: "The Quidditch World Cup will be held on August 8. We will spend three weeks preparing for it, and then we will have to promote it in conjunction with the Big Five Tournament. Six We have to prepare for the Hogwarts exams again in July, and only in July can we spare some staff to maintain the situation, and it is already May

"But...is it really good to introduce Muggles into Hogsmeade? Even if it can make a little money 0" The opposition tried to continue to make things difficult.

"It doesn't matter, in order to make money, you can't use magic in front of Muggles for a week."

"But there will always be some magic items that reveal their secrets, right?"

"We pre-exclude magic items with magic detectors, and... honestly, it doesn't matter if it's a little revealing. Muggle creatures, even if magic is under their noses, they will turn a blind eye, or use various Outrageous reasons to explain it."

"To make a lot of trouble just to make some money?"

"That's not a little money, Stebbins... Besides, why don't you ask the residents of Hogsmeade for their own opinion?" Crouch finally got impatient.

The so-called "Hogsmeade residents" are actually those pure-blood families who have an estate in Hogsmeade, which is well known.

Sure enough, Stebbins immediately shut up.

Because of the strong request of "rogue will", the Ministry of Magic adopted an attitude of turning a blind eye to this matter. Apart from repeatedly emphasizing that the "Secrecy Act" must not be violated, they did not make any restrictions. action.

After getting permission, Lockhart and Gemma inspected the Hogsmeade resort for the last time.

A lot has changed here compared to a year ago.

Not only have some leveling and renovations been carried out around the village, but new entertainment facilities have also been built on many open spaces, and even the lives of residents have been affected to varying degrees.

Of course, the biggest change is undoubtedly the towering giant pea tree in the glade

H

From the seeding in October last year to the planting in March this year, this pea seedling has only grown for two months, but its height has surpassed many thousand-year-old trees.

The spiraling vines are intertwined with each other, and finally reach the thickness that requires more than 20 people to hug each other to circle around.

"By July, it will be bigger than you can imagine," Professor Sprout said to Lockhart flatteredly.

Lockhart looked at this giant "Jack Pea", and immediately praised it.

"Thank you, Pomona, but I hope it will stop growing by the end of June. This size is almost enough. We still need time to transform it."

"No modification is needed." Professor Sprout vetoed it flatly. "I will let it grow 20 rooms by itself with pea pods, and even stairs can grow."

"Can this be done?" Lockhart was startled.

"Of course, this is the peculiarity of magic plants."

"Then it looks like we just need to magically convert the stairs into automatic 'elevators'. "Lockhart stroked the notebook hard - and saved a fortune.

"But do you really plan to let Muggles come and stay for a while? This... is it really possible?" Professor Sprout asked, pointing to "Jack Pea".

"Well... we can explain that it was designed by an architectural artist and we spent a lot of money to make it look real..."

"A Muggle would fall for this?"

Lockhart pretended to think about it: "I think so, Muggles will use all their knowledge to explain phenomena that confuse them."

"Well, whatever you want, to be honest, it's time for me to start preparing for the kids' final exams..."

Lockhart took out the previously agreed reward: "Thank you, Pomona, we will engrave the builder's name on the door of the Pea Hotel, so that everyone who has been here will know who built it."

Professor Sprout quickly took the heavy bag of gold coins, with a look of joy on his face

It is obvious.

"Actually, we Hufflepuffs don't usually pay much attention to honor..." She said goodbye to Lockhart while smiling.

Hehe, who are you kidding?Lockhart thought.

Although this old Hufflepuff professor is tolerant and easy-going, she may not be as open-minded as she seems on the surface when it comes to things like honor.

Since Professor Sprout said that there is no need to engrave the name, then Lockhart must engrave it, otherwise he will really offend her.

Hogsmeade has already made all the arrangements, and now it's just waiting for Hogwarts to have a summer vacation.

After relaxing, Lockhart began to pay attention to his stay at Hogwarts.

"heritage"

The student union at Hogwarts is running well. Many members of the student union will come to the second floor of the cinema to gather for drinks and chat on weekends, and Lockhart will come over to be a guest from time to time.

The competition in the Dueling Club this year was also more intense than last year. After the rules were gradually improved, Hogwarts students gradually adapted to the intensity of duels, and various dueling genres began to emerge.

Now they also know about the Big Five Tournament, and Durmstrang, who usually teaches students to use black magic to duel in class, is undoubtedly a big enemy in the eyes of Hogwarts, so the training is harder than last year many.

Faced with this situation, the professors did not stop it.

The Big Five Tournament is the face of the school. In a sense, it is also a touchstone for testing the work level of Hogwarts professors, so even if they don't say it, they secretly reduced a little homework in practice, so that Students can spend more time delving into dueling.

When Cedric came to visit Lockhart on the weekend, he gave Lockhart a copy of "The

Inquiry into the Theory of Magic Dueling" records in detail the dueling theory, dueling essentials and some special tips jointly summed up by the professor and the top students of the dueling club.

And their purpose of coming to Lockhart was to ask for sponsorship fees—they wanted to publish the booklet themselves, and then, in the name of the student union, promote it to all Hogwarts students for free.

"Unshirkable responsibility." Lockhart happily gave them a sum of money in his own name, Urs must work hard in the hegemony competition. "

The reason why he was so happy was because he saw the signature of the author of this manual—Professor Flitwick.

Even after graduating, drinking can't forget the old dean!

Chapter 230 The Prophecy Is Still Here

After Cedric left with the sponsorship he wanted, Lockhart carefully read the dueling manual he left behind, and found that Professor Flitwick's dueling theory had indeed gone a step further.

Because most of the spells can immediately incapacitate people after hitting them, so in terms of ordinary dueling skills, the fighting methods that Lockhart gave to the students are closer to the special police training manual on the Muggle side. Emphasis on concealment, movement, firepower and space,

But when it comes to wizard duels, although Lockhart's theory is still applicable, its scope of application, focus, and guidance are far inferior to Flitwick's theory.

As a duel champion, Flitwick invented a duel theory that is more practical and instructive—he summed up all duel actions into three types, namely "attack", "volley" and "difference"

Among them, attack is the basic means to end the battle, and it is also the first means. There are various spells that can be used to attack. Wizards who are good at attack either have extremely strong magic power, can use force to break tricks, or master thousands of attack routines , It is hard to guard against.

But no matter who it is, as long as the wizard attacks, then this attack must have its principle and path, even Dumbledore and Voldemort are the same, and this also gives the opponent wizard room to "intercept".

"So the first priority of a wizard duel is to never let your opponent know what spell you are going to use." These are Flitwick's original words.

If a wizard can understand all the spells of another wizard, then he can easily use the corresponding solution, or even counter-spell, to "intercept" and let the opponent suffer.And at the level of Voldemort and Dumbledore, they even

They will not use ordinary spells to attack, because they know that not only will they have no effect on their opponents, but they will also expose themselves.

It can get ugly when both sides start trying to "volley", but the real master has a way of avoiding that situation himself.

And this third basic method is "difference".

The so-called difference is to use all means to make the opponent use offensive or defensive spells, thus revealing a stiff time difference, and at this time, you can take advantage of this gap to fight back.

The most basic way to fight is of course dodge - if you can dodge the opponent's spell and counterattack while taking advantage of the opponent's stiffness, then it is undoubtedly a very harmonious thing.

In addition, there are tricks, provoking, hiding, etc., or using the opponent's negligence to spread the field, so as to force the opponent to show his flaws when he solves the field. It is also a good choice.

"Wizards who are good at all-out attack tend to restrain wizards who are good at attacking, and wizards who are good at attacking are good at restraining those who are good at volleying, and wizards who are good at volleying can often make offensive wizards helpless.

…To sum up, a duel is a complicated matter, and the comprehensive utilization of attack, volley and difference will determine the level of this wizard duel.What affects these three dueling actions is the wizard's magic power, knowledge level, equipment, magical creatures, and trained dueling instincts, etc. These are the basic skills of a wizard.

If you want to become a victorious general in the duel field, you must consciously improve these aspects at ordinary times. "

After the outline was finished, Flitwick's booklet began to introduce various offensive, volley, and difference techniques, such as the rhythm and rhythm of casting spells, the anticipation and anti-prediction of volleys, and the history of wizard duels. The famous trick and so on ... many of these things make Lockhart amazing.

The Duel Champion really deserved his reputation!

It seems that the Big Five Tournament really put a lot of pressure on the teachers and students of Hogwarts, even the dean. Gwartz was ashamed.

Seeing that Hogwarts was well prepared, Lockhart was relieved—because he really planned to add some new things to the traditional Triwizard Tournament.

Lockhart originally thought that he would not have any jobs before July, and that he could have a good time playing office games with his female subordinates, but things turned out to be contrary to his wishes, and the matter still came to him.

The person who came to look for him was Remus Lupine with a serious face.

"Harry found me." He reported his purpose bluntly. "He told me that after the final exam of Divination class, Professor Trelawney gave him a new prophecy."

Lockhart was shocked at first, then he remembered something and put his heart down again.

"Is there any problem with this? Professor Trelawney is making predictions every day. I don't want to speak ill of my former colleagues, Remus... But if her predictions are only one-tenth of the way true, the risk on the Muggle side Investors will give her up and treat her like a god," Lockhart sneered.

"The problem is different this time." Lupine seemed a little irritable, "Harry said, Trelawney's state was completely different this time, her voice was hoarse and drowsy when she made the prophecy, and she herself didn't even know what to do after she made the prophecy." Remember what you said."

"Did it ever occur to you that she was playing tricks?"

Lockhart pretended not to care, but alarm bells were ringing in his heart.

"It's unlikely, even Dumbledore said that she might be doing a real

prophecy. said Lupine.

Lockhart felt that after hearing the name "Dumbledore", he should show some respect both emotionally and rationally.

So he sat up a bit: "What is the prophecy?"

"Trelawney said that the Dark Lord's loyal servant will escape tonight and return to his master, and this servant will help his master come back to life."

Lockhart thought he heard it wrong: "What?"

He didn't expect that there have been so many variables, but in the end things are still back to the original point of II

"But... Pettigrew should still be locked in the Azkaban prison, and it is impossible to escape." Lockhart was puzzled.

But Lupine froze for a moment: "Do you think that's Pettigrew?"

Lockhart was also stunned: "Isn't it... oh, she really didn't mention who it was

If she said "loyal servant," then I don't think it's Pettigrew." Lupine frowned. "He's just a coward, and he's not loyal to Voldemort at all."

"That's true." Lockhart agreed, "but the prophecy can't be trusted either...Did Dumbledore tell anyone else?

"Dumbledore has already notified the Department of Mysteries to ask people from the Hall of Prophecy to seal up Trelawney's prophecy: Scrimgeour has been complaining, but he also agreed to strengthen the guard on Azkaban."

"That's good." Lockhart felt relieved, "Then what are you worried about? No matter who is mentioned in the prophecy, he must still be squatting in Azkaban. As long as you look there, then Nothing will happen."

"I hope so." Lupine frowned.

Chapter 230 The Sixth Toughest Person