Hermione, Be the Minister of Magic with Me! - Chapter 185

“How could I forget?” Lockhart turned back again, “that’s why I came to you for the first time.”

Why don’t you ask first and then talk about it? ‘ suggested the shopkeeper. “

Lockhart stopped posing, and took out a long list from the inner pocket of his robe, with hundreds of lines densely written on it.

Wizeacre took out his glasses from the counter and put them on, ready to see what Lockhart asked for.

“Let me see, Dragonhide Protective Cloak, Enchanted Alchemy Robe, Quick Pop

Wand sheaths, smoke bombs, flashbangs, decoy bombs, curse-proof broomsticks, helmet-style wizard hats, panoramic binoculars, gas masks… so many things, and 50 of each. God, are you going to start a war? Hahaha…”

Vezeek told a joke he thought was funny, and without waiting for Lockhart’s reaction, he laughed out of his own accord.

But Lockhart didn’t laugh: “So…can it be done? I have to pay in two months.

Vezeek’s laughter stopped abruptly.

He was a little surprised now: “Are you serious?”

“Sure.” Lockhart said, pointing at the list.

“But…” Vizeec felt that he couldn’t understand, “Why do you want so much?”

Lockhart showed a funny expression: “Obviously, I’m not the only one who uses it!”

“Of course I know that this is not a person’s, but I mean you also understand very well, a lot of things need to use dragon skin or even black dragon skin, you can’t get it in a short period of time – what are you doing with so many protective equipment? ?” Wizeek questioned

If it wasn’t for Lockhart who came with this list, I’m afraid he would have written a small note secretly while stabilizing the other party, and asked the owl to bring it to the Auror’s office.

Hearing him ask this, Lockhart looked awkward.

“This… has nothing to do with you. Ah, Auror, it’s the Auror’s office…” Seeing his words flickering, Wizeec became more suspicious: “But you are from the International Division!”

“Ugh…” Lockhart scratched his hair looking distressed. “There’s always something new. Anyway, this kind of thing is always kept ready for anything, right?”

Hearing what he said, Vizeel lowered his head and glanced at the list 5 again, but he still couldn’t hold back.

“Be prepared? What exactly do you mean?” His cheeks and eyes were wrinkled together: “So many things… and cloaks, robes, etc., you should go to the Taifan clothing store to buy them, bait bombs and smoke bombs you need Go to the Bounce Magic Joke Shop, and the magic map… shouldn’t this one go to Whizhard?”

“I will go, but this list is proposed by everyone, so everything is recorded on a piece of paper, you only need to see the part you can do, and I will place the order immediately.”

After hearing the order, Wezeek decided to put aside his curiosity and focus on business.

“Place an order…I can do most of the items on this list, but because the volume is too large, and the two-month construction period is too tight, you have to pay a deposit.” He said tentatively.

Unexpectedly, Lockhart agreed very happily.

“No problem! I can pay the deposit now.” He took out his Gringotts key.

Hearing that he promised so happily, Wizeec simply sighed: “The deposit is 30%… It’s not that I doubt your credit, but that I really need so much to buy raw materials, my brother took it away. Half of the spare funds in the store, I have to keep another money for the payment, so…”

Lockhart interrupted: “How much?”

This eager statement made Wizeec’s suspicions deepen.

“Wait a minute, let me do the math…” He took out a Napier calculator and began to count the money.

Seeing the speed of his calculations, Lockhart was a little impatient.

“Do you know the Indian number 0 with a calculator. I have a calculator here

JJ

The corners of Vizeek’s mouth twitched – do you want to be so impatient? Can’t even wait two more minutes?

“I can use a calculator, after all I’ve dealt with Muggles quite a few times.” He took the calculator in Lockhart’s hand.

After a few minutes of calculation, Wezeek finally selected about 20 items on the list and calculated the price.

“—1910 Galleons in total, 30% is…that is…”

“Don’t forget, here, I’ll give you eight hundred… I only have one requirement, that is, to deliver the goods as soon as possible, with good quality and quantity, okay?” Lockhart repeated his appeal.

Looking at the heavy bag that Lockhart handed over, Wizeec felt that he had no reason to refuse.

Have a drink. He finally agreed, “I will let the new recruits concentrate on buying your materials first… For the other things that are more difficult to deal with, I will go to Bo Jin O Bo Ke. “

“Great, old customers should have this kind of convenience. Well, I wish you a prosperous business, and I have to go to the Taifan clothing store and the trick store…”

Lockhart walked out of the Vezeac store contentedly with the contract in hand, leaving the owner alone in front of the counter suspiciously.

Chapter 393 Small people can also do big things

Lockhart did what he said. He spent a whole morning and a noon to carry out an unprecedented sweep in Diagon Alley. He even visited Knockturn Alley, which has recently become more and more dilapidated.

Although the shopkeepers were very happy to have such a Kaizi, after calming down, they, like Wizeec, felt strange.

Why did Lockhart suddenly buy such a large batch of emergency goods?

Not only are these things simple and clear, they are for fighting and defending against black magic, but they are also so large that they will never be misunderstood—not being used by one person.

Of course, so far, they haven’t thought about it too much. For example, what if Lockhart is preparing equipment for the Big Five Tournament?

But the guesswork: It was broken during the evening when everyone went to the Leaky Cauldron to relax.

There are roughly three types of bars in the UK, one is a club, one is purely for drinking and chatting, and the other is a very British-style Pub (Public_Huse).

Compared with the other two, the biggest difference between Pub is that its business place is first a habitable house, and secondly a place to provide drinks. Many of these bars are the ancestral home of the owner and have been passed down to a certain generation. Then suddenly decided to use the bar to sell alcohol, so it became a bar.

The interior decorations of such bars usually have both business functions and common things in the life of ordinary residents. Almost every old object has its own story, which has a very high historical and cultural research value, and is very valuable in historical and cultural research. called “

BarJJ’s coquettish stuff is completely different.

And the Leaky Cauldron is undoubtedly such a “Pub” – it was built in the early 16th century, has a long history, and as No. 1 Diagon Alley and the usual gateway to Diagon Alley, it has a special place among wizards. The interior furnishings and every brick and tile have a special story, and the Aibo family where Hannah Aybow, who later took over, was one of the “Holy 28 Pure Bloods”.

There is no doubt that such a bar is and must be the most frequent gathering place for wizards, and it is also the best way to spread all kinds of gossip and commercial information. Although the source of information and its authenticity are worth worrying about, it is more grounded. Qi, the spread is also better.

Today, the owner Tom poured wine for the guests as always, and kept wiping his never-ending glass by the way, but the topics discussed by the guests gradually began to make him feel a little different.

—In the beginning, these topics are no different from usual: either it is the recruitment information such as the high-paying job of the Warcraft farm, the extraordinary pharmacist is recruiting apprentices, or there is an industry complaining about the recent sudden labor shortage, or it is the recent How could a certain warrior perform so badly in the five major tournament that is being held? “I can do it” style remarks.

But as the owners of Diagon Alley gradually joined the battlefield, the topic quickly turned to Gilderoy Lockhart’s inexplicable list.

There is no other reason, because the list is really too big.

Gilderoy Lockhart is also a real celebrity in Diagon Alley, not only because he has held autographs here almost every year since 10 years ago, but also because of his continuous big moves in the past two years. .

Unlike those idol signings that only witches would pay attention to, things like the Pharmacist Association recruiting apprentices with high salaries, and the sniffing company recruiting expatriate employees with high salaries are what the general public really cares about, and it is these things that make Loha Special has become a frequently discussed topic in taverns

topic person.

Whenever he tinkers with a new thing or a new industry, someone will always make a lot of money from it. Although the pure bloods and Grangers who have invested in the sniffing drilling company will follow the tradition of not revealing their wealth, it is not. Everyone tries to keep the same low profile when they get a huge sum of money, so the specifics about getting rich are still circulating from places like the Leaky Cauldron.

When these lucrative news was combined with the mainstream consciousness of mocking Muggles, the speed of the spread was even more like wings – what a stupid Muggle to spend 4 Galleons to buy a bottle of living hair, what a Barrels of stinky oil that have no use other than burning can sell for a dozen Galleons, and the Muggle queen can’t be cured of a cold… No matter what these “humiliating” jokes are put on It’s never too late to say, especially when it’s also making wizards a lot of money

So when Lockhart is in Diagon Alley, it’s not incomprehensible that his every move is being watched closely. On the one hand, I am a little curious about this “big adventurer” who has turned into a politician. On the other hand, everyone wants to know where the next way to make money is.

And today’s news is also about making money – Lockhart suddenly ran to Diagon Alley today and placed orders with a total value of nearly 10,000 Galleons from about seven or eight stores.

These items are not expensive. Except for some items that require dragon skins that may need to be specially ordered, other items are conventional items, and some items are even closer to the

theatrical production

□koukou

However, it is precisely because the price is not expensive, so such a large list is particularly eye-catching.

It’s like it’s normal for a rich man to spend 3 million for a full Manchu-Han feast, but it’s weird to spend 3 million for 30,000 Peking ducks to eat. That’s not how you spend money, right?

Since all the people who come here to drink are the owners of Diagon Alley, their conversation is very

Kuaishou has attracted the attention of those around him, especially those who have always wanted to make a fortune.

The reason why they were willing to put so much effort into Lockhart’s large order was simply because they wanted to know if he would order again, or order something else.

If so, then this is an industry that is worth their continued investment, but if it’s just a one-shot deal, then they’ll be done with something temporary to deal with.

– The group of people who usually have nothing to do and can only flip some gadgets finally found an opportunity to join the topic. They eagerly wanted to find out some news, so that they could open a big one and play with him for half a year.

Among these people, Mundungs-Freich’s voice was exceptionally loud.

“Poison Horned Explosive Liquid? I have it here! I also have the seeds of the poison tentacles! I can think of a way to get Chimera’s eggshells too… Quantity? As many as you want! Me and the people in the black markets in France, Spain and Greece are all very familiar…”

For the sake of his wide-ranging approach, the shopkeepers frowned and allowed him to sit with them, and then continued to discuss.

After being invited to sit down, Mundungs ​​was not in a hurry to speak. In addition to answering questions from the shopkeepers, he occasionally took a sip of brandy. This kind of performance made everyone think that he was quite measured.

It wasn’t until everyone was discussing whether Lockhart’s order was for the next project in the Big Five Tournament that he interjected for the first time.

“This is definitely not the case. The goods for the game have already been wrapped up by the people at Hogsmeade, and they only received a new order last week.”

Hearing what he said, the shopkeepers in Diagon Alley all looked at him.

“Are you sure?” one of them asked.

The person who asked the question was the owner of the shop of bouncing and frolicking magic jokes – the firework master Dr. Filippo.

Gang Ocai Lockhart ordered a large number of magic fireworks from him that can be ignited in water, and also specifically stated that the fireworks should be durable enough and bright enough, and the temperature and vividness should not be too concerned.

Although Felipa didn’t know that Lockhart bought this to let the members of the Order of the Phoenix deal with the Inferi, he could still feel that what Lockhart wanted was not ordinary.

“I’m sure.” Mundungus said with a smile, “To tell you the truth, I am supplying many prohibited trade items and B-level trade items in Hogsmeade, and because of the high price, they I always order as much as I need, even if they can hide it from anyone, they can’t hide it from me, the Ministry of Magic is secretly buying things for other reasons, hey.”

L/?■■

As he spoke, he took another gulp of brandy, and then lit the empty bottom of the glass, both intentionally and unintentionally.

The shopkeepers glanced at each other and nodded.

Snakes have snake dens, and rats have rat roads. Although they do not think highly of a small person like Mundungus, they still recognize his source of information.

They are all shop owners. In order to reduce costs, everyone always needs to find some less bright purchase channels to solve the problem of supply. What Mundungus said is reasonable and reasonable, so they all believe it.

“Tom, give this friend of ours another brandy!” Vezeek yelled across the bar.

Tom, who was wiping the glass, stopped immediately, and without saying a word, took out a bottle of brandy from the cabinet, used the Flying Spell to refill the glass of Mundungus, and then handed it to Wezeec.

Vezeek shoved the cup in front of Mundungus, and couldn’t wait to start asking questions.

“So, what happened over there recently?”

Mundunguston smiled when he got a full glass of wine: “Of course, the Ministry of Magic can’t suddenly want to waste money, right?”

“So…”

Mundungus glanced left and right, then suddenly lowered his voice:

“Ha, to tell you the truth, I heard it from the little brothers I know… There was a sensational event in the third game of the Big Five Tournament, otherwise those gentlemen from the Ministry of Magic would not want to suddenly Come and buy armor…they died horribly!”

After all, he took another gulp of wine into his mouth.

The attention of the shopkeepers was immediately drawn by him.

Houda said. ‘ they urged.

Chapter 394 Establishment of Information Sources

It didn’t take long for Mundungus to attract the attention of half of the tavern people.

“I have a brother, he works in the sports department, and I have a very strong relationship with him.??” He used this sentence as the beginning of his “speech”.

Of course he was here for a purpose – Lockhart gave him a sum of money, in addition to letting him approach the shopkeepers in Diagon Alley under the guise of doing business, he also taught him a trick to confuse people.

Some people always think that the core of manipulating public opinion is to have as much propaganda power as possible, but in fact it is not the same at all.

The key to controlling the public opinion environment is not whether there are more or less people in the propaganda, but whether you can produce enough effective information through as many channels as possible within the public opinion window period, and let them cover the public.

Under a topic with tens of millions of clicks, in fact, there are often only three or five sailors who control it, far from the number of “armies” people imagine.

Likewise, although Fudge thought that by controlling the newspaper media, he thought that he could control the public opinion environment, but he did not understand that the propaganda channel is not the whole of the propaganda, and the newspaper is not the whole of the propaganda channel. In an acquaintance society with a population of about 10,000 people, word of mouth is sometimes more powerful than formal media channels.

And what Mundungus is doing now is the first step — creating a source of information.

He created a fake “sports department official”, and then spread a real conspiracy-theory-style rumor —

“Karkaroff, the headmaster of Durmstrang, you know? He’s a dark wizard, he used to be a Death Eater, you can check it out…”

The people listening in unanimously nodded – everyone about Karkaroff

He had heard of it to some extent, even young people who didn’t know his past, when they introduced the background of the principals of several schools in the Big Five Tournament, they had also read this content.

“It’s good to hear it, do you remember when the Warriors at Hogwarts were missing for dozens of minutes at the Tournament last week? … Tell you, it was Karkaroff who fiddled with the key to the game and tried to murder us. Warriors of Hogwarts!” he said solemnly.

“”My God! “The observer sighed, “I didn’t expect him to do such a thing.”

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