Archaeologists at Hogwarts

Chapter 185 Lucius, Dobby, Lockhart
"If you agree that the accusation is not established, please raise your hand!"

"If you agree with the establishment of the crime, please raise your hand!"

"I declare that the accusation against Lucius Malfoy of hiding dark magic items is not established, and the court is over!"

With Cornelius Fudge's final verdict, Lucius, who was sitting in the middle of the courtroom, stood up from his chair, and he glanced gloomyly at the Director of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement——Amelia Born Si, then turned around and left the darkroom.

Cornelius Fudge caught up with him and said, "Mr. Malfoy, do you want to talk?"

Lucius narrowed his eyes and nodded.

They came to the office of the Minister of Magic together. As soon as the door closed, Lucius angrily accused: "This is different from what we said in advance. I thought Burns belonged to you!"

Fudge said with a somewhat unnatural expression: "I know her performance just now was a bit bad, I didn't expect her to hold on to the murderer's problem, but I told you a long time ago, even if you plan to make up a lie, at least you have to be like That's what it is."

"That's not a lie!" Lucius said angrily, "The murderer does exist!"

"But who is it?" Fudge asked.

How should Lucius answer this? The murderer only asked him one question from the beginning to the end—where did he hide the Dark Lord's reward?
Judging from the opponent's strength and lawless style, he has a doubtful candidate - Toby Highmore.

But he knew very well that Toby Highmore would never be willing to call Voldemort the Dark Lord anyway. It was an honorific title, and only a very small number of wizards would call him that - such as Death Eaters.

In addition, the identity of the murderer also involves Voldemort hiding in the secret room of the manor, as well as the mysterious diary, which were deliberately concealed by Lucius, and it is even more impossible to guess who the murderer is.

Seeing that Lucius didn't answer, Fudge said helplessly: "Anyway, at least the accusation is settled, isn't it? It took me a lot of effort to help this time, so I think we can continue to talk about the rest Donation question, what do you think, Mr Malfoy?"

No matter how dissatisfied Lucius was, he knew that he couldn't fool Fudge about this kind of thing-it was about consolidating the power in the minister's hands.

But he didn't answer the question directly, but asked intentionally or unintentionally: "I heard that Barnabas Guffy is missing? The place where he disappeared is Hogwarts?"

As soon as this matter was mentioned, Fudge became a headache: "Yeah, this is indeed a difficult question. Why does it have to be Hogwarts? I would like to write to Dumbledore, but I have already I’m no longer the same person I was when I first took office. But it’s a bit exaggerated to directly send Aurors to investigate. I don’t want Dumbledore to think that I’m targeting him. Recently, I’ve been waiting for an unsolicited letter from Hogwarts , but nothing has come out. Wait a minute—”

Fudge said as if he had come to his senses: "You don't want me to blatantly target Dumbledore, do you? Listen, I know you don't like Dumbledore's style, but Hogwarts really can't do without him , I wouldn't—”

"No." Lucius interrupted: "I just think I can take over as the editor-in-chief of the "Daily Prophet". It needs to be supplemented elsewhere."

"That shouldn't be too difficult for you, Minister Fudge."

It's really not difficult.

The Daily Prophet is like a side branch of the Ministry of Magic.

Although it has not been stated clearly, in fact, because this newspaper can have a great influence on public opinion in the wizarding world in the UK, this newspaper will tend to introduce events to the public from the perspective of the Ministry of Magic.

In some cases, the Ministry of Magic has also relied on the Daily Prophet to inform the public that it is doing the right thing.

So, after a bunch of overt and covert transactions, Lucius appeared at the main office of the Daily Prophet in Diagon Alley.

Although two people have disappeared, there are still many staff left here, but they all seem to be very busy now.

"Column? Where is the article in the advice column?! Not this one, it's about magic!"

"Damn it! Forget about the Sunday Prophet! There's no time for such a low-selling genre now, do you want to be crushed by a second-rate magazine like The Quibbler?!"

"The Evening Post? Find a way to combine it with the Daily News, and have to keep readers up-to-date - I don't know what to do, that's what the Quibbler does, go figure it out yourself!"

"Ahem." Lucius coughed loudly twice, which attracted the attention of the staff.

"I'm your new editor-in-chief." He said casually, grabbed a newspaper, glanced at it, and then threw it back on the pile of papers.

Of course the staff knew who he was.Even if they didn't know each other before, they already knew about the prosecution case in a series of reports of "The Quibbler".

"Now, tell me," Lucius said. "How's the sales going?"

"It's not optimistic." A staff member said solemnly: "If this continues, "The Quibbler" will completely squeeze us out! The other party's charges are lower than ours, but the content is much richer than ours, no matter how thick the newspaper is. Not as good as a free magazine—”

"Very good." Lucius raised his palm and interrupted: "Now, according to my instructions, double the price of the original newspaper."

"What?!" This sentence caused a crowd to exclaim.

"Are you planning to add content? Or do you want to add columns? Do you need us to contact those famous writers? I believe Lockhart will not miss this opportunity."

"No need." Lucius said, "Do this first, and I'll talk about the rest when I come later."

Then he no longer cared about the staff who were looking at each other, and strode out of the office building.

In reality, however, there will be no future at all.

Due to the fact that the evidence was too conclusive, Lucius was bled out this time, and he really needed more gold to make up for the shortfall in the treasury, so as to ensure that the status of the Malfoy family would no longer be fall.

But his real target wasn't the Daily Prophet at all, it was The Quibbler.

The "Daily Prophet" has been established for too long, and its ties to the Ministry of Magic are too deep. It is not an existence that can be easily shaken, and no one in the Ministry is willing to see this situation.

Not so with The Quibbler, which is starting to gain popularity and the chances of a full takeover are a bit better.As long as the magazine is purchased, not only can more gold be obtained, but the Malfoy family can also gain a certain right to speak in secret.Maybe one day, the Quibbler will outshine the Daily Prophet.

That's why Lucius made such a decision unfavorable to the "Daily Prophet" in front of the staff. He was completely thinking about himself, so that "The Quibbler" could have more readers as soon as possible.

The only problem left is Toby Highmore, the boss of The Quibbler.

After Fudge sent someone to investigate Xenophilius' situation, Lucius already knew that Toby Highmore was the new owner of the magazine.

He is very difficult to solve, and he will never agree to Lucius's acquisition conditions, no matter how much money he spends.

However, there is no need for Lucius to worry about this at all, and there is no need for him to face that lunatic himself.

He was just following orders.

Just wait for the right time in the dark.
-
Although there was a disagreement over the handling of the pharaoh's mask, it didn't bring any more conflict between Toby and Dumbledore.

On the contrary, not long after that, the two gathered again in the principal's office.

"Principal, I heard that Lucius was released by the Ministry of Magic without any punishment, and became the editor-in-chief of the Daily Prophet."

"So what are you going to do, want to give him another lesson yourself? Like you did before?"

"If you allow it, well, Headmaster, don't look at me like that. There's just one thing I haven't mentioned to you. It was also that night that I found traces left by the mysterious man in the basement of Malfoy Manor , he might go to Lucius."

"Okay, I know."

Dumbledore turned over a page of the newspaper and said that what he was holding in his hand was the latest issue of the "Daily Prophet", which was bought at twice the previous price.

Toby looked at him suspiciously: "Mysterious man. I'm talking about mysterious man, don't you care at all?"

Dumbledore said without raising his head: "Of course I am concerned about this clue. But I am more worried that a new Voldemort will appear in Hogwarts than outside the school-don't look at me like that , Toby, I'm talking about you. Also, how long are you going to keep Skeeter and Guffy?"

Toby said in a daze: "If possible, of course, the longer the better. Recently, the sales volume of "The Quibbler" is amazing. Even "Ancient Magic and Magic Circle" entered the bestseller list for the first time. Even though it is still at the end of the team, at least it has a name."

Dumbledore nodded, and he glanced at Toby: "Very well, when are you going to leave, or do you want a glass of lemonade?"

The look in the eyes under the hood became more and more strange-Dumbledore was really acting strange, and he could say the word "very good" on the issue of imprisoning these two people.

This is incredible.

Toby couldn't help asking: "Is it related to the diary and the crown? I can only think of these two reasons."

Dumbledore snapped his fingers and said, "Let's talk about lemonade."

With a loud crack like a whip, a house elf suddenly appeared in the room, he bowed deeply, and asked in an emotional tone: "Dear sir, what can Dobby do?" help you?"

"A glass of lemonade," said Dumbledore gently.

Dobby disappeared, and when he came back again, he had already held a glass of cold lemonade in his hand, put it on the table, and looked at Dumbledore expectantly, as if he wanted some other work.

"That's enough."

So Dobby disappeared.

Toby blinked, of course he knew who Dobby's house-elf was - the Malfoy family.

"How did you do it?" He asked curiously.

Dumbledore finally closed the newspaper: "Speaking of which, this matter is still related to you. Lucius paid a great price to get rid of the charges, one of which was the house elf who handed over the family. Dobby is now Working for Hogwarts and getting paid a week. Of course, I think Lucius is dying to get rid of him."

anxious?
This is really mind-boggling.

At what point would Lucius feel that the house-elves were getting in the way?
Only if Malfoy Manor had unfit guests.

Toby frowned and asked, "You mean, the mysterious man has returned to Malfoy Manor? He is willing to take such a risk? Isn't he afraid that I will sneak attack again?"

"Of course not," said Dumbledore. "Voldemort would not have made such a stupid mistake. He would not have returned to Malfoy Manor and no one would know where he was hiding, not even Lucius." Yes. But we do need him to know Voldemort's next plan. Generally speaking, we are in a somewhat passive position now."

Toby said sarcastically: "You don't look passive, you still have time to read the newspaper."

Dumbledore didn't care about Toby's tone: "After all, the price of the newspaper has doubled, and I'm just trying to find the value of doubling it."

"Then did you find it?"

"Not yet." Dumbledore joked, "It's not even as exciting as the upcoming Valentine's Day."

"Valentine's Day?" Toby was confused: "What about Valentine's Day?"

Dumbledore smiled and said: "Professor Lockhart has applied for some fresh projects. Although it is not as good as the teacher commendation meeting held last year, it should make the atmosphere in the school active again. Especially after the successive disappearances , and under the ill influence of archeology class."

Toby curled his lips and said: "I really don't understand your plan now, especially when it comes to the disappearance. You don't want to stop me at all. As for the archeology class, that's what the students should bear. Sooner or later they will The world outside the school is not so reassuring when it comes to dealing with that.”

"I'll take this as a compliment." Dumbledore did not answer the "disappearance case", but continued: "Perhaps there will be another thing that interests you——Professor Lockhart's application for a lover One of the reasons for the festival is that he intends to claim credit for himself, I heard that he preached everywhere that he scared off the criminals in the secret room, so he took the initiative to take the responsibility of boosting morale."

"Did I hear you right?" Toby looked around and said, "Are you speaking ill of people behind their backs? Or are you trying to provoke the relationship between me and Lockhart?"

Dumbledore continued as if he didn't hear it: "About Lockhart, part of the experience he described in the book is very similar to the wizards I know. I have reason to think that he stole that part of the content, and it seems to be a A superb oblivion spell master, in order to solve the troubles that may arise in the future. Although I hired him later, my initial plan was to hope that students would learn what not to do and what kind of person they should not be. All in all, Lockhart is a liar at heart."

Toby stretched his waist and said: "It doesn't sound surprising at all. I knew he was acting wrong, but he just didn't have time to communicate properly. What are you going to ask me to do? Put Lockhart in prison too. Is it in the Chamber of Secrets?"

"No." Dumbledore said calmly, "I need you to keep an eye on him, Toby."

"Lockhart has a problem."

(End of this chapter)