Hermione, join me as Minister of Magic!

In addition, there are some expenses incurred: 150 pounds for gasoline, 50 Galleons for gifts, and free labor costs. Please reimburse them at that time.

Honor your Jiedro Loha ^^ Temple"

When he was done, he called his owl.

"Huihui, come here! Send this letter to Hogwarts, remember to avoid the poles and wires, and don't let your guard down when you see the little girl, you are so fat, be careful to be eaten as a Scottish round-faced fat chicken Drop!" Lockhart urged.

Hui Hui hummed twice dissatisfied, probably saying that she is not that stupid yet.

It's not stupid, but it likes to show off and show off just like its owner. Every time it catches a mouse, it will proudly stop on the branch and sing a song before eating it.

Rumor has it that pets become more and more like their owners, and it must be clarified here-this is not a rumor.

Stuffing the letter into the leather pouch on Hui Hui's leg, Lockhart casually stuffed it with a piece of mutton, and then sent the big, oily and smooth Ulin Gou away.

Tomorrow, I'm going to meet with Ragnol, and yesterday Lockhart finally received a call from his sister, saying that it was his brother-in-law who thought "we can talk"

Lockhart needs to be prepared.

Kelleher's husband, William, is a trader in the bank's securities department. Although he is not a wealthy man, he has won the trust of some stable customers by relying on his conservative style and prudent operation, and he has successfully mixed with him. eat.

In his impression, his brother-in-law seems to be a guy who likes to talk a lot. Although he does know some strange things, he should be in a different world from himself in general.So when he heard that Lockhart was going to take him to meet a "big client", he was very surprised.

In the bustling Three Broomsticks, William looked very uncomfortable.

The drinkers passing by around him were wearing all kinds of wizard robes, and he didn't need to look much to know the fact that "he is a different person here".

But who would have expected that he would come to such a strange place after sitting in that ridiculously spacious car for less than 10 minutes.

"When will Mr. Ragnol Goblin come?" He couldn't remember how many times he had asked this question.

"Ten o'clock in the morning." Lockhart was very patient. "Don't worry, goblins are very punctual... Besides, Ragnol is not a goblin, he is a goblin."

"...what does 'is a goblin' mean?"

"Literally. Of course, you can't say that to your boss when you go back, you have to say it's a "mystery client: can it be done?" "

William swallowed: "It shouldn't be a problem. Although they care about the business, they never care about where the money comes from."

While talking, the time came to ten o'clock.

There was a bang from the empty seat in front of Lockhart and William, and an ugly face suddenly appeared in front of the two of them as if emerging from a hidden tube in the air.

William was so taken aback that he almost sat on the ground.

The goblin was indifferent to William's reaction. After he fell from the air to the ground, he just swept the dust off himself before standing in front of the two.

"Ah, you must be Mr. Lockhart! Griphook told me that you are our big client. I hung your photo on the big door, so I recognized it as soon as I recognized it."

To calm William down, Lockhart took his hand and calmed him down.

Then he also stretched out his right hand to the goblin, wanting to shake hands with him.

"Hello, I think you are Mr. Raguenot."

But Ragnor "rubbed" Lockhart's hand impatiently, and immediately

Started the topic.

"Time is Galleon, so save unnecessary etiquette. Anyway, we don't have much respect for each other... I heard from Rosmerta that you want to talk to me about gold business, right? You also brought a hemp Melon over here?"

"As long as we all respect gold, then we are all friends of gold, and we are naturally friends." Lockhart winked at his brother-in-law, implying that he will follow his plan.

"I love to hear that. Then, what method will you use to get me to exchange these worthless, purely deceptive Muggle flower paper heads with more yellow and lovely gold Galleons?" La Geno complained while talking: "If it weren't for the contract with the Wizarding Council, I wouldn't want those Muggle parents to exchange this thing for our gold."

Lockhart glanced at his brother-in-law and nodded to him.

William managed to recover from the shock of seeing the alien creature.

Seeing Lockhart reminding himself, in line with his professionalism, he calmed down and began to answer his client's questions hard.

"Mr. Raguenot, since the recent Falklands War has consumed a huge amount of foreign exchange reserves of Great Britain, it is difficult for the pound to maintain its currency value. We judge that its currency value will fall by more than 20% in the second half of this year..."

"Don't tell me that! I don't care!" Raguenor yelled, "I don't believe in your Muggle currency anymore. The damn Americans said that the paper they printed was linked to gold, but they could tear up the original agreement. It didn't even take 30 years, and I lost money—big gold!"

"The collapse of Bretton Woods was actually not without warning... er, well, it's inappropriate to say this now." Seeing Lockhart's non-stop winking, William finally realized that it was inappropriate to say this, "I have a way to make You can exchange huge amounts of gold with only banknotes, and this has something to do with the depreciation of the pound just mentioned."

"Tell me about it." Ragueno was noncommittal.

"I wonder if you've ever heard, what is 'binary options trading'?" William asked.

Chapter 8 Huge gaps in the economy

As William talked about the methods he was going to adopt, Ragnoau also gradually turned from disdain at the beginning to shock.

"I like the idea!" he exclaimed. "You Muggles don't seem to be entirely stupid!"

The muscles on William's face trembled: "Thank you for your compliment."

"Do it with confidence, Gringotts has a lot of waste paper on hand, a full 370 million pounds and 90 US dollars! I think this is enough to turn the finances of your Muggle world upside down. I would like to Take half of it out and borrow... Hey, what are you laughing at?

■

Seeing that both Lockhart and William couldn't help laughing, Raguenot was a little annoyed, he felt that he was underestimated.

He was indeed underestimated-a mere cash of less than 1000 million U.S. dollars was said by this goblin to be a huge sum of decisive importance, and it was the capital of the entire bank.

But yes, although Gringotts Bank has been in operation for hundreds of years, considering the size of the wizarding world's economy, this figure should be said to exceed Lockhart's expectations. At least the little money exchanged by wizarding parents must be not enough.

""Yeah, turned upside down. "Lockhart suppressed a smile and said, "I heard that the American speculator Soros has prepared a total of 150 billion US dollars this time in order to snipe the pound. The money from Gringotts will definitely play the role of the mainstay. "

Ragueno stared straight at the two people in front of him, and after realizing that they were not joking, he sat down resentfully.

He's not that tall though, so sitting down doesn't look much different than standing up.

"Our life is gold, not those papers." Raguenor said rather unhappily, "I'm worried that the large-scale loss of gold will attract the attention of you Muggles.

"Probably not." William told him, "The British Royal Mint and the United States Mint both have related businesses. At peak times, they sell gold coins worth tens of millions of dollars every day. If you are on the safe side, your money will cost three It can be converted into gold in a few days and put into your vault."

Raguenot declined to comment further because it would make him look stupid.

Although the process was a bit tortuous, the business was negotiated smoothly.

Gringotts Bank entrusts William to be a trader for the binary options trading between British pound and gold, and U.S. dollar and gold. After the expiration, William will pay Gringotts Bank a guaranteed gold number with a commission of 0.5%, and the extra guaranteed number Partial commission is 3%.

The reason why Ragueno was so happy was because he really looked down on banknotes, or in other words he looked down on anything other than gold and silver, so he was not afraid of losing money.

Another reason is that Lockhart himself also exchanged all his Galleons and handed them over to his brother-in-law for trading in order to make him a big fortune, which also strengthened Ragnol's confidence.

Then Lockhart was the host, asked Rosmerta to bring old whiskey, filled it up for himself and his brother-in-law, and ordered a glass of honey cider for Raguenau, and everyone drank a glass to wish the investment a success, and then We left amicably.

On the car back to London, Lockhart lay in the driver's seat and let the car drive to its destination by itself.

"You are well-informed. Even I don't know the figures prepared by Soros, but our national reserves may really not be able to afford the 150 billion U.S. dollars." William said to Lockhart.

"Wizards also have their own gossip." Lockhart said vaguely, "Anyway, I'll leave it to you this time."

"It's my duty to use people's money to do things for others," William said.

If all goes well, he estimates that he will get a commission of at least 10,000+ pounds, which is enough for him to get a good house for his wife and children, and to fulfill his promise to her-go to Vienna to attend a concert.

Lockhart shook his head: "These are relatively few. I plan to release the news after this transaction is completed to attract those pure-blood wizard families to invest, and their gold reserves are considerable. As long as this shot is fired, there will be more in the future." have to earn."

William glanced at this brother-in-law who was becoming more and more unfamiliar, and nodded slightly

If Lockhart just wants to make money for himself, then investing directly will do.And he had gone to great lengths to help Gringotts, apparently with other motives.

William sees it, but he doesn't talk about it - a favorite of his other clients

his place.

That afternoon, while the sun was at its best, Lockhart brought a gift to visit an old man in the wizarding world——Giselda Marchban.

Although Dumbledore is a great person, he is not the oldest in the magic world when it comes to qualifications, not to mention the several hundred-year-old Nicole Flamel, even this Mrs. In 1899, Dumbledore was awarded the ultimate wizard qualification certificate-this is calculated to be 140 years old.

And her job today is the same as it was 100 years ago-that is, she is in charge of the ordinary wizarding exam for fifth graders at Hogwarts, and the ultimate wizarding exam for seventh graders.

The reason why Lockhart went to her was also very simple, he was to set the scope of the exam.

For the education of Hogwarts 4th and 6th graders, Lockhart has almost

Much planning is done.But no matter how whimsical he is for the 5th and 7th grade courses, they must focus on review and exam-oriented education.

Considering the unreliable teaching of Hogwarts Defense Against the Dark Arts class in the past few years, the 5th and 7th graders of Hogwarts may have been studying by themselves for a long time.

No matter how wonderful Lockhart thinks his courses are, if the students he teaches fail the exams, even if no one tells him, he will lose face.

——For politicians, face is very important.

The old man seemed very happy to see someone come to see him, and even the wrinkles on his face seemed smoother.But when she heard the purpose of Lockhart's visit, she showed a look of disapproval.

Because the qualifications were old enough, Professor Marchban seemed unceremonious in criticizing Lockhart.

"Are you teaching them to be opportunistic? Jidero, I remember that you were like this back then. You liked to play tricks in everything, but in the end you couldn't even use a disappearing spell... I don't even know how you did those deeds in your book Arrived."

Lockhart carefully accompanied the smiling face, and tried his best to justify his behavior: "It's not opportunistic, it's just to let them understand which are the key points and which ones will be useful in the future."

"I'm no prophet." Mrs. Marchban yawned.

Seeing her relying on the old to sell the old, Lockhart has nothing to do with it. If it weren't for his current external image, he would not be able to say anything even if he was kicked out.

Professor Marchban is not only senior in the magic world, but also has a wide range of connections and a high status. Not to mention being friends with Mrs. Longbottom, even the 28 pure-blooded Malfoys have to pay three points of respect to her. There is nothing disrespectful in person. I dare not say anything.

It's hard to say that such a person is willing to scold you to save face.

Just because he couldn't say anything serious, Lockhart could only continue to persuade

Go on.

Io I hope these kids will not only have to deal with some gadgets like Grindig in the future, but have the courage to face the dark magic... I know, you must have heard the one about You-Know-Who and Harry Potter prophecy. "

Marchban glanced at Lockhart, then readily admitted: yes. "

While that prophecy about Harry Potter and Voldemort is unknown to many, it is no secret among certain "high" wizards.

Hanjin said, besides the Dispelling Curse and the Iron Armor Curse, I hope to know which other spells are the most common when facing dark wizards. said Lockhart respectfully.

"Huh? You must have experience with this yourself."

"But I didn't live through the first war, Grandma Marchbane. I was in sixth year and couldn't do anything but shiver in the Ravenclaw tower."

"What a stubborn little guy... well, if you want..." Marchban said, calling a book over with the Flying Charm.Lockhart saw it clearly—it wasn't an exam syllabus, but a book called Practical Defensive Magic and Its Restraint against the Dark Arts.

"This page, this page, and this page..." Maqiban opened the book, quickly spelled out more than a dozen pages, and marked them, ".

Lockhart, who was about to take notes, was taken aback: "No exam?"

Embankment, all the rest are the key points. Mrs. Marchban showed a sly expression, "Gidero, come on!" "

"You... oh." Lockhart didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

He's only now really finding a little bit of back-to-school feeling.

"Yes, I

P.So calculated according to the exchange rate, the purchasing power of gold in the wizarding world is extremely poor, which shows that wizards and goblins hold gold reserves that do not match their economic strength.

Chapter 9 The first experience of the teacher leading the team

Dumbledore's reply arrived shortly after.

—On the one hand, he expressed proper surprise that Lockhart had persuaded all Muggle families, but at the same time claimed that he had long believed that Lockhart could do it, and his expectations of Lockhart were once again overstated, fully Shows just how much emotional intelligence a wise wizard can have

As for bringing the parents of the students into Diagon Alley, Dumbledore believed that if a large number of Muggles suddenly entered Diagon Alley collectively, it would definitely cause "unnecessary trouble"

Although he believed that Lockhart was competent enough, he decided to send a teacher to assist Lockhart to "tour guide" for the parents, considering who might cause trouble.

And that person was Professor Severus Snape—Dumbledore believed that members of the pure-blood family would give the head of Slytherin House a face.

It seems that Dumbledore knew exactly who the "troublemaker" would be

As for the reimbursement, Dumbledore didn't mention it at all, presumably taking it as Lockhart's joke, even though it wasn't.

Considering that he would still be paid for the next few months, Lockhart gave most of his gold to his brother-in-law, leaving only three or four hundred Galleons.

The money is not much, and it is not much.Let's say less, enough for the Weasley family to live a simple life for half a year.If you want to say more, buy a little luxury or take a trip and you will be gone.

But the money that should be spent still has to be spent, he has to let others see his generosity, and generosity

Generosity is always the only way to make friends.If the principal does not reimburse the gift fee, he can only pay for it out of his own pocket.

Soon, the time for the appointment with the Muggle wizard arrived.