Hermione, join me as Minister of Magic!

This is a good thing for Lockhart. If the person presiding over this matter is not Lockhart but other wizards, then Lockhart guarantees that they will be tricked by the Prime Minister because they are completely untrained.

Of course, in return, Lockhart would not sit back and watch the prime minister infringe upon the interests of wizards casually, and he was going to pose a problem to the prime minister.

He wants to take advantage of the New Year: as a shareholder representative, he will attend the meeting of shareholders of the express company

The General Assembly, then announced that the directors of the company had unanimously decided to recruit workers and clerical staff in a series of areas until the 1500 people were assembled.

It's just that these areas "just happen" to be in the main constituencies of the Labor Party, and he will find people through the union to hire workers - for the benefit of the people, right?

I believe that the esteemed Prime Minister will take the initiative to talk to Lockhart after he gets the news.

Since it's a game, let's all come and have fun.As the saying goes, if you don't fight, you don't know each other. It is pure fantasy to expect politicians to understand what it means to "get it when you see it." Everyone still has to fight without breaking through the "dynamics" achieved after a fist-to-hand political struggle. Balance" is the most reassuring.

But don't worry, it's better to wait until the New Year, when Sirius should go to work.Before making trouble, let the prime minister have a comfortable Christmas.

Lockhart read the newspaper several times, even the most boring sentimental column patiently, before he had to shout to the cabin behind him.

"Gemma? Is there anything I can do for you?"

Soon, a head popped out of the window on the second floor of the villa.

"Wait a minute, I'm working on the lashes."

Lockhart looked at his pocket watch and found that there was less than half an hour left before the opening of the dance. Counting the time spent walking, they might be late even if they set off immediately.

"You don't need to dress up to be beautiful." Lockhart said against his will, "We are not the protagonists at this Christmas ball. Are you trying to cover up the warriors' limelight?"

Gemma said in her heart that of course she must overshadow the warriors, otherwise that Fleur Delacour would inevitably play the trick of "beautiful crown of beauty".

According to what Gemma learned from the school girls, Fleur's girls at Beauxbaton School

The popularity among the students is very poor, mainly because she will "unintentionally" snatch the boyfriends of several people as long as she appears in public.

Conscience of heaven and earth, although Beauxbaton is different from the movie, it is a coeducational school, but because the headmaster is female (giant) and prefers girls, the number of girls enrolled in Beauxbaton is indeed much more than that of boys .Fair-looking wizards are a scarce resource in Beauxbatons, and all of them have been snatched away by Furong. Where else can they pick up men?Hook up Muggles?No kidding.

Although Gemma has more confidence in Lockhart's concentration, at the same time, she feels that it is better to take her destiny into her own hands than to trust in the man's concentration.

So she has been pouring all kinds of bottles and cans since two o'clock in the afternoon. From choosing hairstyle, modifying skin, applying smear, and finally drinking potion, it took a full three and a half hours to finish.

As for the clothes, there was nothing to choose, she had already ordered them from Fengya Wizard Store half a month ago.

It wasn't until 10 minutes before the ball started that Gemma calmly walked out of the newly renovated Farley Villa.

Gemma looked radiant after careful grooming, and as far as Lockhart observed, she should have used some magic to make herself more eye-catching.

"We've been waiting, let's go," she said to Lockhart.

Lockhart really wanted to say politely "I didn't wait long", but it would seem even more false to say it now, so he didn't say it.

"We're running late, how about I ask Dobby to take us into the castle?" Lockhart tried to suggest.

Gemma shook her head again and again: "How can that be done? The house elf brought him into the castle. I still can't afford to lose that person."

"Then what to do?" Lockhart was a little worried, "The Cloud Wing Curse will mess up your ceremony.

clothes.

JJ

Do not worry.

While talking, Gemma rubbed the ruby ​​ring on her left index finger, and then, under Lockhart's surprised eyes, took out a small pumpkin from the gemstone and threw it on the ground.

"Hey, maybe Lockhart seems to have guessed something.

Gemma nodded, then cast an expansion spell on it.

As a result, the pumpkin swelled rapidly and turned into a carriage, and the pumpkin seedling turned into a wheel hub and bracket of the carriage, and even turned into a guiding light.

"That's right, it's exactly what you think." Gemma was obviously very proud, "One time use, the effect can last for six hours, it's six o'clock now, we have to get back before midnight

Lockhart subconsciously looked down at Gemma's feet, only to find that they were not a pair of crystal slippers, but shoes made of the fur of an unknown animal.

"Why not a glass slipper? Or a crystal slipper?" he asked.

Of course Gemma knew what he was asking: "It was originally squirrel fur (French vi). In the era, squirrel skin was used as currency, but not many people knew about glass."

"Okay, let's go then, it looks like we should be there in 10 minutes."

Lockhart tried to be a gentleman and opened the car door for the other party, but the door didn't budge.

Gemma smiled and stretched out her wand, pointed at the car door, and the car door swung open.

"I'm afraid you'll have to change your last name to Farley to open it." She pointed.

Chapter 340 Prom (X)? Curse (V7)!

As Mr. Weasley had said in the World Cup camp, wizards were creatures that couldn't help but want to show off whenever they got the chance to get together.

So when Lockhart came outside Hogwarts Castle, he found that the two of them were not the most high-profile group.There were people in carriages, flying carpets and even elephants, which opened Lockhart's eyes.

Because the Furnish wizarding dress chain sponsored ball gowns for warriors, Lockhart saw that Ron was not wearing the lace-trimmed ball gown that the Weasley family had inherited, but a dark green gown.

Lockhart guessed that the dress was originally Harry's, but because of the sponsor's request, Harry couldn't wear the dress that Mrs. Weasley had chosen for him, so it ended up being cheaper for Ron.

It's a pity that these small changes did not allow the duo of the saviors to find a satisfactory dance partner. After pursuing more than a dozen girls but failed, Ron finally chose Hermione to pursue, but it backfired, and Hermione was irritated by him. And more firmly accepted Krum's invitation.

And Harry was similar, and this time it was even worse—because of the good relationship with Cedric, he was even more afraid to pursue Qiu Zhang, even though his godfather repeatedly encouraged him to poach corners.

"Please, James was the Lily who was snatched from the snot-nosed man!" Sirius accidentally revealed a big inside story to Harry, "What are you afraid of, come on!"

"What? Io"

At this, Harry's eyeballs almost burst out of their sockets, shattering his own glasses.

Sirius lost no time in exaggerating his father's "great achievements" to Harry.

performance", but the effect is also counterproductive.

So in the end, Harry and Ron still chose the Patil sisters as their dancing partners.

In good conscience, Lockhart doesn't think the Patil sisters are not upright enough. Even from the aesthetic point of view of Asians and Africans, the Indian sisters are still pretty. Judging from Dean Thomas' evaluation of them This can be seen in .

But they obviously don't fit Harry and Ron's aesthetics, which may be related to their cranial appearance not being "Aryan" enough.

Although the surname Patil belongs to a high caste, it stands to reason that the Aryans should be of more ancestry than the indigenous population, but the Patil family is different.

The ancestors of her family should have belonged to the "Shudra (farmer)" caste, and they belonged to the bottom of the caste hierarchy.

But later, the ancestors of the Patil family bought and annexed other people's land through various means, and successfully became big landlords, so they bought the relationship and changed the family name into Patil, the Kshatriya (warrior class) surname. Only lower than the Brahmins (priestly class).

And what attracted Lockhart's attention to this pair of sisters was that they were obviously twins, but Padma Patil was put into Ravenclaw, and Parvati was sorted into Gryffindor, which made Lockhart couldn't help but doubt the Sorting Hat's criteria for sorting people.

Because the values ​​and thinking patterns of the two sisters are almost identical, and they do not lack courage and a sense of justice (speaking up for Neville, participating in the battle between DA and Hogwarts), but from the perspective of superstitious divination and love of gossip, how come Neither looked like a Ravenclaw.

But none of that mattered, and Lockhart wasn't counting on them to make it anyway.

If he remembers correctly, whether it's Harry, Ron and the Patil sisters, or Neville and Luna, Cedric and Cho, Hermione and Krum, and even Fu

Supporting roles such as Rong, Dean, and Seamus, there is no pair of dance partners who can go to the end and become each other's life partners at this ball.

There are even more extreme ones—Fred Weasley, who became Angelina Johnson's dance partner, died in the Battle of Hogwarts in the end, and this woman was entrusted to his twin brother George o Weasley.

Therefore, this ball is not so much a place for people to fall in love, as it is a very vicious curse.

Lockhart stared at the group of young boys and girls in front of him, feeling the impermanence of life and fate, and mourned for these children who came to the dance today for a full half minute.

I hope you don't take this relationship too seriously, and may Merlin bless you.

But at the same time, Lockhart also overlooked one thing, a very important thing

It's easy for people to only see others, but not themselves, right?

Although Lockhart is not a good ballroom dancer, today's dance is not difficult for him

Wizards rarely introduced anything from Muggles after signing the Secrecy Act, so most of their ballroom dancing forms remained at the end of the 17th century.

However, the court dance at the end of the 17th century just came out of the rigid "salute movements", and added some arm movements, and the rotation has just begun to become a little vivid. So the difficulty is not particularly difficult overall. .

Lockhart's ballroom dancing skills are not good, but compared with wizards, he can still be regarded as a hand 7, especially when he is wearing a hunting suit modified dress.

Wearing a hunting suit to a ball belongs to the fashion that only appeared on the Muggle side at the end of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th century. Dumas wrote in "The Three Musketeers" that the King of France insisted on wearing a hunting suit at a ball held for him by the citizens , but when it becomes popular

Probably have to wait until the 20th century.

Compared with the bloated and sloppy robe dress, the advantage of dancing in a hunting suit is obvious-this makes Lockhart's dance steps more agile, and it is also more convex than the robe.

For Lockhart, it was his dance partner, Gemma, who limited his performance—she seemed to have to think before taking a step, and her movements were also very stiff, not at all like a person who often went to dances.

Lockhart had to slow himself down, and cover her with his movements when he could.Even so, Gemma twisted at last.

When the first song was over and everyone went to rest, Lockhart asked her in a low voice: "You rarely dance?"

"It should be said... almost no skipping." Gemma looked a little embarrassed, "Hogwarts hasn't held a dance for a long time."

"What about your pure blood party?"

"There are only a few that can afford indoor dances. As for the poor, they can't even afford a dress. After doing it a few times, they meet the same people every time, so they get tired of it. I don't want to go A Muggle ball, so..."

Gemma explained in a low voice, because she also felt a little ashamed.

"When everyone has money, we can hold more balls in the future." Lockhart said bluntly, "It won't take long."

Even if you can't often hold that kind of high-end dance, you can always hold some "open-air dances" in the square at the entrance of the village, and you don't need to bring your own cement, which is great.

Lockhart decided to do this after he became the Minister of Magic. Anyway, the biggest financial problem of the Ministry of Magic at that time should be how to spend money. Saying it also helps Lockhart cement his position.

At least Fengya Wizard Dress Shop will definitely agree.

Chapter 340 Private Chat

Because Gemma sprained her foot, she had to sit on the edge of the dance floor early.

But this does not mean that she has nothing to do, she can continue to "receive" the juniors of the Hogwarts Student Union and continue to support the power.

Only in this way, she couldn't take care of Lockhart.

Only the first song in the dance party is mandatory to dance with the dance partner, and they are free to find someone afterwards.

Lockhart watched as Harry and Ron ran away after a dance, and it seemed that this kind of occasion was indeed not suitable for them.

But Lockhart is an internationally renowned person, so even if he wants to rest, there are still quite a few people who ask him to dance, and many people still come to socialize with him with business matters, Gemma is not easy to deal with it. He looked too dead.

So after Gemma took a break from cooking, Lockhart was released like this.

There are usually two ways to dispel the suspicion of a dance partner, one is that he does not accept anyone's invitation to dance, and the other is that he accepts anyone's invitation to dance.

And Lockhart chose the latter one by one. Lockhart almost always refused to invite ladies to dance.Even female students from several other schools, as long as they show that they are fans of Lockhart's books, he doesn't mind dancing with them.

This is a good opportunity to expand foreign contacts or get acquainted with each other. The image of Lockhart at the ball will be the important first impression these people have of him, and he can easily carry out diplomatic work in the future. a lot of.

It's just that he underestimated the number of his fans abroad, and also underestimated the attractiveness of a rich single young man.There are many witches who stuff small notes into their hands by dancing, and many of them invite him to find a private room for a heart-to-heart talk.

Out of loyalty to his current girlfriend, Lockhart could only regretfully decline.After all, too many politicians are ruined in the political arena because of the relationship between men and women, so he has to be vigilant

Fortunately, the people who came to see him were not all wild bees and butterflies, for example, a witch from Australia, who was asking Lockhart through dancing, what they could do if her family also planned to expand the Muggle business.After all, Australia's mining industry is already very developed, and the minerals are in a state where they can't be fully developed rather than mines can't be found. They don't need wizards so much.

The implication is that if they can't find work, her family probably won't support political reform in Britain.

For Lockhart, as long as she is not greedy for her body, then everything is fine - he suggested that her family can start a pest control company, specializing in breeding mink, and helping Muggle farms to deal with the overrun rabbits there and kangaroos.

The Australian witch left satisfied, but immediately someone came to invite Lockhart, almost one after another. After a few laps, even with Lockhart's physical strength, he had to find a place to rest temporarily.

Before he could rest for 2 minutes, he found a person sitting next to him

He thought it was another fan from somewhere, but when he looked up, he realized that the person who came was actually a well-known international star - Viktor Krum.

It's strange, so he didn't go to make out with Hermione under Xie Jisheng?Although he didn't know what he was here for, it didn't stop Lockhart from flattering him.

"Hello, Krum, congratulations on getting the number 9'. In fact, we didn't expect Hydra to be tamed at all. Your performance surprised us." He made a look of admiration .

"Thank you." Krum was also very polite, "I have heard of your reputation, if

Lei Guaner

After finishing the courtesies, Krum slowly revealed his reason for coming. Apart from tactfully expressing that he wanted to "ask for advice" from Lockhart, what he most wanted to know was the girlfriend he just made ( presumptuous).

Zhuang also said that she learned all her thoughts from you. Krum said to Lockhart in half-baked English.

Lockhart was in a bit of trouble.

Although he can speak a little of the daily language of the Slavic family, it is beyond his ability to use Bulgarian to explain complex and obscure theories and concepts. Nordic languages ​​are also not Lockhart's forte. item.

"Do you speak German? Or Italian?" he asked.