Hermione, Be the Minister of Magic with Me! - Chapter 148

She had never been sure what she wanted, even when she saw the house-elves and decided to help them, she still wasn’t sure what she wanted.

It wasn’t until she read the book that Lockhart recommended her to read that she realized that the so-called “social activist” was a false proposition.

Just as “philanthropy” is not a profession, neither is “social activist”. Unless you are the kind of “activist” who specializes in taking money to do things for others, you must first have money yourself before you can become a “social activist”.

Different from the enthusiasm at the beginning, after a period of study and training, she gradually discovered more things and thought more.

And she recorded all these thoughts and thoughts, and the questions in her ears were written in a letter and handed to Lockhart.

Lockhart did not let her down, even if he was busy with work, he would take time out to reply.

He didn’t like to give Hermione his point of view directly, but told her where to get an elaboration of the relevant issue, and put several points in her

In front of her, let her think for herself. Only when her thinking fell into a dead end, he would enlighten him.

Lockhart has made up his mind that if Hermione does have this talent, then let her develop it by herself. In terms of her own moral level, she is really not suitable to be a teacher.

However, regarding Gemma Farley’s training, Lockhart expressed his views to her without hesitation. Not only is he losing his point of view, but he is also using various words and means to subtly influence the other party’s thinking.

He may not have realized the difference between the two attitudes himself, but after he found out, some things were not easy to say.

Because there were more and more people around Harry, which disturbed Hermione’s thinking, so on the first weekend after the arrival of October, Hermione chose to go to Hogsmeade alone, and she was going to tell Loja Ask for something.

It just so happened that Lockhart was very busy at this time, and not only was he very free, but the entire Department of International Magical Affairs and Cooperation was very free.

Because the authority of the Ministry of Magic is unclear, in theory, as long as Lockhart wants, many jobs can be related to him.

But in other words, as long as Lockhart doesn’t want to have anything to do with those things, they can be lazy and kick the ball to other departments.

For example, for the work of receiving foreign dignitaries, Lockhart gave it to Minister Fudge himself, and the other party was very happy.

The security work is naturally also in charge of the Magic Law Enforcement Department, and Lockhart does not need to be a headache for the time being.

As for the preparation and management of the game itself, there is also a more responsible sports director. If Lockhart continues to intervene, not only will he not be thankful, he may even be complained that he manages too much.

Therefore, it is better to say that the Department of International Affairs and Cooperation is not so much in the 5th class.”

Most of the time is fishing. Their only job is to go to the newly opened foreign trade market in Hogsmeade, to do research with those foreign tourists, and ask them what kind of goods they want, and this kind of work 2 hours a day is enough,

So almost everyone in the Department of Affairs believed that Lockhart was looking for an excuse to give them a holiday. As the new boss, Lockhart’s actions are undoubtedly very pleasing to his subordinates.

But what they didn’t know was that Lockhart couldn’t do it at all.

In traditional diplomatic work, in addition to foreign economic and trade Lockhart has been seized, such as cultural exchanges, military assignments, expatriate business, international education, scientific and technological cooperation, foreign publicity, etc., the current Department of International Affairs is the same. can not do this.

It’s not that they say they can’t do these things, but it’s really unnecessary to do these things in a mere hundreds of thousands of people, and there are only a dozen of them.

Instead of spending a lot of effort to come up with some kind of foreign representative, it is better to let everyone rest and have more contact with foreigners in Hogsmeade, maybe you will come across something new.

Z

Lockhart himself sat on the roof of the “Jack and Pea” hotel with his subordinates, drinking tea to communicate with his superiors and subordinates, and condescendingly observed the situation of tourists entering and leaving the market.

Lockhart attaches great importance to this “Import and Export Commodities Fair”. The first batch of Muggle industrial goods, processed by the Wazeeck brothers and Devis-Bans, had already been delivered to Hogsmeade after the first event of the Tournament.

Everything from motorcycles to binoculars to Muggle-forged metal pots has been enchanted by these magical gadget makers and put on the market for trial sales.

Many foreign tourists who come to Hogsmeade are very interested in this, but the number of sales is not very large. It can be seen that everyone still has some doubts about Muggle products.

And after the market was running for a week, the largest order was only from the Czech Bohemia Pharmacists Association. They wanted to order 50 graphite t Ganbao developed by the Extraordinary Pharmacists Association.

The graphite powder obtained from Muggles has good thermal conductivity, and the material is homogeneous and stable: it can stably carburize the medicine when heated. The wizard himself cannot produce such a high purity graphite material, so the Extraordinary Apothecary simply committed Being lazy, I bought a lot of graphite ±W directly from the Muggle steel factory, and after taking it back, I modified it myself.

Unexpectedly, their potion did not sell much, but Hoi, the potion producer, was the first to be recognized by his European counterparts.

Although these industrial machinery products did not sell too much, but such as various new seasonings invented by Muggles, deep-sea fish, various puffed snacks, and some leather polishes, rubber, cosmetics, perfumes and the like The sales exceeded Lockhart’s expectations.

And all these things have one characteristic, that is, they are cheap.

It was only then that Lockhart realized that the wizards probably didn’t want to try those Muggle mechanical products, just because they didn’t have the money.

In addition to these Muggle industrial products, the “Golden Hand” organization, the five pure-blood families that supported Lockhart’s reform, also sent a large number of items, mainly magical medicinal materials and biological materials produced in the UK. Help this market fill the scene, and these things are still selling well.

In addition, there are many vendors who spontaneously come to sell souvenirs and snacks in this market, and these people are too lazy for Lockhart.

In short, in this import commodity market, Lockhart finally discovered a fact-that is, not only the commoner wizards in the UK are generally a bit poor, but the wizards abroad are also not very rich, even if they have money to watch the game the same.

It seems to have to negotiate with the French.

Chapter three hundred and twelve watching from a distance

Taking advantage of the weekends, Lockhart held an alumni meeting in Hogsmeade in the time before the start of the second project.

There are many people invited by Lockhart, including not only several deans, but also many professors and outstanding students in various courses.

The reason why the deans are willing to come is because the name of Lockhart’s alumni association is to “find a good job for the students in advance”, and they have invited many wizards who have made a name for themselves in the society. If the students can If you have a good relationship with them, you will be able to find a job and join the society immediately after graduation.

Although the Ministry of Magic has no employment rate requirements for Hogwarts because there is only one wizarding school in the UK, as professors, they can’t help but care about whether their students can be successfully employed, so they can’t refuse Lockhart special invitation

Besides, professors have always had more job recommendation resources, the better, right?

■

Hermione Granger was of course also invited, because almost every professor recommended her to the wizarding enterprise, saying she was the best student they had taught in the last ten years.

As a result, she became a fourth-year student and received 7 consecutive ffees, many of which came from top jobs such as the Department of Mysterious Affairs of the Ministry of Magic, Gringotts Actuary, and Magic Item Spellcaster.

Especially Mr. Granger of the Extraordinary Apothecary Association, after knowing that Hermione had the same surname as himself, he almost firmly concluded that the two families had the same ancestor four generations ago, and recognized her on the spot as a distant cousin. Niece, trying to launch a “family” offensive.

If it’s a new year, I will definitely not have a new year.

Graduates are fighting hard, but this year is a little different.

Because most of last year’s graduates, except those who entered the Ministry of Magic, were recruited by the potions-related industries headed by the Extraordinary Apothecary Association, resulting in a labor shortage.

If they don’t start early and put the talents they want under their banners, they will soon have no targets to squeeze… I mean, there will be no new blood injected.

Seeing that she was so popular, Hermione had to constantly explain to these people that she was only in the fourth grade and had three years to think about Yunyun under the envious eyes of the senior students, and temporarily declined their invitation.

Only she knows what she wants.

What she wants is not to study knowledge in the ivory tower, nor to gain fame or wealth through her talent.

What she wants is for everyone and every creature she sees to live well.

From this perspective, she is indeed a Gryffindor, and she is the kind of person who will never give up her ideals easily.

In the original book, the reason Lockhart, the glossy liar, was able to lie to her for so long was not because Lockhart hadn’t been exposed.

On the contrary, Lockhart revealed too much stuffing, not to mention Hermione, even Harry and Ron discovered something wrong early, but she has been defending Lockhart.

This is not only because Hermione has a tendency to “believe in printed words”, but more importantly, Hermione is unwilling to pierce the “idol template” in her heart from her personal feelings.

When she read Lockhart’s books, lacking a clear purpose, she naturally took “Lockhart’s ideal” as her own.

Lockhart boasted in the book that his ambition was to destroy evil, and Hermione believed it.

. Lockhart said in the book that his most desired birthday gift is that all people who can and can’t get along with magic, and Hermione also takes it as a model.

When the girl needed an idol and a goal the most, Lockhart happened to appear in front of her, and quickly became her ideal symbolic pronoun. She is not so much upholding Lockhart as she is upholding her ideals. Even if this idol finally collapses, she retains an illusion for it.

But the interesting point now is that not only has this idol not collapsed, but also has some other colors, and even the connotation has become deeper and richer. Because that idol not only showed Hermione the “ambition” she wrote about in the book, but even revealed to her how she was going to do it.

Although in Hermione’s mouth she still has to “think about it for a few more years”, in fact, she has already thought about what she will do in the future.

Every time she watched Lockhart talk to professors, senior classmates, and VIPs: there was an urge in her heart—she wanted to stand beside that person.

She also doesn’t know when she realized this idea:

Perhaps after encountering a problem, thinking about what Lockhart would do if he were here;

Perhaps while walking around Hogsmeade listening to the villagers talk about the Lockhart New Deal;

Or in the dueling club, watching the goblins use their wands to make a fool of themselves, but I recalled the time when I held my wand in the blue ring of fire and stood in front of hundreds of wizards alone.

It can be said that a Gryffindor, a rationalist, a young girl, the most perfect idol she could imagine in her mind, was placed in front of her eyes, which could not help but make her like a moth in the night, I want to jump when I see the light.

But now there is someone next to that person to accompany…

Gemma dressed up for today’s alumni association.

When Lockhart chatted with various guests, she had been holding his arm beside him, and even helped to receive the female guests brought by the other party, just like a hostess.

And her appearance also made Hermione feel a little inferior.

In the values ​​of Western or European and American student culture, children who study hard and have little social interaction are not “the upper class in the student class (SchLHierarchy, such children are usually regarded as “nerd (Nerd, and “Nerdy” is also a very unpopular trait.

Just like Ross in Friends, he has such good conditions, but “how a nerd matches a courtesan” is the unanimous evaluation of him by the outside world, and the person who is not worthy is actually him.

Compared to Gemma, who was dressed in a lady’s dress, her hair, jewelry, and nails were well-dressed, Hermione swept her messy hair and her front teeth, which hadn’t been straightened yet, so she was unavoidable.

So Hermione didn’t go up to say hello to Lockhart after hesitating again and again.

Keeping the current distance should be enough… she said to herself.

Chapter 313 Look good, the cake is painted like this

Lockhart didn’t notice Hermione’s thoughts, because he was really busy at this time, and there were people in front of him and behind him.

He was originally worried that the trade market and alumni recruitment fairs he held would not be attended by many people, but he did not expect that many wizards were very interested in this and supported him with practical actions, allowing him to stand in front of the student union. Big face.

Of course, this is mainly because he has spent all his energy on the hegemony competition for a while, and doesn’t have much time to care about the wizarding market.

The two major deals Lockhart has done so far, namely oil and pharmaceuticals, although the total trade volume is huge, it is true that it has benefited not many people.

Not to mention oil, only pure blood will benefit. In the potion-related industries, only the traditional herbal growers and farms can rapidly increase production and meet the output of the Apothecary Association.

As a result of the huge influx of money into these industries, the prices of items related to these industries have skyrocketed, and even the price of gardeners’ scissors has doubled, Lockhart has learned from Professor Sprout.

Just as in the Muggle world, inflation will always only make some people rich first, so in today’s wizarding world, the people who can get rich first are those who did business with Lockhart.

In this case, Lockhart has become a kind of real estate market similar to the period of the flood, and everyone knows that if you want to make money, you have to invest in this project.

Although Lockhart himself does not look down on the trade volume of this market that has just opened for a week, many wizards or “retail practitioners” who do a little business on their own do, and still do.

Therefore, there are so many people who come to support, so it’s logical. Even if everyone agrees

They don’t think how much money can be made in this import and export trade market, but they also want to take the opportunity to get close to Lockhart, so as to know where the next big money-making project is.

And just as they expected, Lockhart didn’t hide his secrets at all, even if he didn’t know that he had hidden the position of a lucky cat among wizards.

“It’s not that I don’t want to tell everyone, in fact, there are many ways to make money without exposing magic.” Lockhart talked to them eloquently, “We still have a lot of jobs compared to Muggles. It’s just that there are some industries where we can make money, but it really doesn’t make much sense to do it.”

Hearing that Lockhart is still picky, some impatient people can’t help it: “Let’s talk about it first, and then we can consider whether we can do it or not.”

When Lockhart heard him say this, he knew that these wizards had indeed fallen into the frenzy of wealth, and he did not sell any more.

“Well… Muggle economists divide all lucrative industries into three, namely agriculture, animal husbandry and forestry, industry and services.

But if we classify it according to the system of our wizards, we do not need to divide it so finely, because all industries are services to us, so-called agriculture is for us to serve our belly, and industry is Serve our needs for items.

Our land can outpace Muggles in yield, and we can do housework faster than Muggles. If we set up an agricultural company or open a housekeeping company, we can make more money than Muggles immediately. , but oo this is really a waste of our “opportunity cost’, I hope you can understand.”

“What is ‘opportunity cost’?” The person who asked the question seemed a little confused.

“Simply, the biggest opportunity we lost.

For example, if a wizard takes 10 orders to clean the big house on the phone in the morning – a tool that Muggles use to communicate – and uses the spell ‘clean up’ in the afternoon to make them finished, then he will get a hundred

Galleon’s income, and three or four Muggles were busy packing and unpacking all afternoon, maybe they could only complete two or three orders.

I know that a hundred Galleons sounds like a lot, and many wizards now earn less than half of that in a month, and all he pays is the “clean up’ spell that a second grader can learn.

But have you ever thought that if he goes to the hospital to serve Muggles, he can get at least five thousand Galleons per week just by virtue of the gut-digging spell, healing spell and bone-bone elixir.

This is not the end. If they are serving Muggle football, basketball, baseball and other sports stars, and doing healing operations for calf fractures, knee meniscus, waist, and arm ligaments, maybe he can recover with one operation. To tens of thousands of Galleons for surgery – not an exaggeration, believe me, those sports stars are willing to exchange half their net worth for their own health.

So, compared with the tens of thousands of Galleons he received from an operation, he spent one afternoon doing 100 Galleons of housekeeping services, did he make a profit or was it a loss? “

The example given by Lockhart is easy to understand, and everyone can understand what he means without thinking about it.

“Of course it’s a loss, he could have made more.” Someone replied immediately.

“Yes.” Lockhart spread his hands, “so we can earn the most if we want to.”

Everyone nodded, indicating that they understood what Lockhart meant.

“So, which industries do you think are more worthy of our money? Aside from medical services and mining assistance?” they asked.

Lockhart is clearly well thought out: “Industrial services, specifically the machining of special-shaped parts – that’s something we can all earn, at least until Muggles make 3D printing cost-effective and profitable. Huge profit.

There is also the repair and maintenance of high-end machinery and equipment, we can also try to take over, but the premise is that we must learn. .

But if we want to solve a lot of the employment problem of our wizards, then I personally recommend the logistics industry. “

“logistics?”