Archaeologists at Hogwarts

Chapter 185 Lucius, Dobby, Lockhart

"If you agree that the accusation is unfounded, please raise your hands!"

"If you agree that the crime has been established, please raise your hands!"

"I declare that the accusation against Lucius Malfoy of concealing dark magic items is not valid, and the court is adjourned!"

Following Cornelius Fudge's final verdict, Lucius, who was sitting in the center of the courtroom, stood up from his chair and glanced gloomily at Amelia Bone, the director of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.

Si, then turned around and left the darkroom.

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

Lucius narrowed his eyes and nodded.

They arrived at the Minister of Magic's office together. As soon as the door closed, Lucius angrily accused: "This is different from what we agreed in advance. I thought Bones was yours!"

Fudge looked a little unnatural and said: "I know her performance just now was a bit bad, but I didn't expect that she would insist on asking the murderer. But I told you a long time ago, even if you plan to make up lies, you must at least look like

That’s what happened.”

"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 beginning to end - where was the Dark Lord's reward hidden?

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 not be willing to call Voldemort the Dark Lord under any circumstances. This was an honorific title that only a very small number of wizards would call him - 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. These were all deliberately concealed by Lucius, making it even harder to guess who the murderer is.

Seeing that Lucius didn't answer, Fudge said helplessly: "Anyway, at least the accusation has been resolved, right? This time's help took a lot of effort on my part, so I think we can continue to talk about the rest.

Donations are a problem, what do you think, Mr. Malfoy?"

No matter how dissatisfied Lucius was, he knew that he could not fool Fudge on this matter - it was related to consolidating the power in the hands of the minister.

But he did not answer directly, but asked intentionally or unintentionally: "I heard that Barnabas Guffey disappeared? Was he missing at Hogwarts?"

Fudge got a headache when he mentioned this matter: "Yes, this is indeed a difficult question. Why does it have to be Hogwarts? I thought about writing a letter to Dumbledore, but I have already

I am no longer the same person I was when I first took office. But directly sending Aurors to investigate is a bit too exaggerated. I don’t want Dumbledore to think that I am targeting him. Recently, I have been waiting for an unsolicited letter from Hogwarts.

, but no news has come out. Wait a minute——"

Fudge seemed to have come back to his senses and said: "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 live without him.

,I won’t——”

"No." Lucius interrupted: "I just think I can take over the position of editor-in-chief of the Daily Prophet. You should know that because this prosecution case cost me a lot of gold, I

It needs to be made up from elsewhere.”

"This shouldn't be difficult for you, Secretary Fudge."

It's really not difficult.

The Daily Prophet is like a non-staff department 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 British wizarding community, this newspaper will tend to introduce events to the public from the Ministry of Magic's point of view.

In some cases, the Ministry of Magic will also rely on the Daily Prophet for propaganda to tell the public that it is doing the right thing.

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

Although two people have disappeared, there are still many employees left here, but they all look very busy now.

"Column? Where are the articles in the consultation column?! It's not this one, it's about magic!"

"Damn it! Don't worry about the Sunday Prophet! There's no time to worry about this low-selling genre now. Do you want to be burdened by a second-rate magazine like The Quibbler?!"

""Evening News"? Find a way to merge it with "Daily News". We must provide readers with the latest news - I don't know how to do that. That's what "The Quibbler" does. Solve it yourself!"

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

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

Of course the staff knew who he was. Even if they had not known him before, they had already learned about the prosecution case through a series of reports in "The Quibbler."

"Now, tell me." Lucius said, "How have the sales been lately?"

"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,

It’s not as good as a free magazine——”

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

"What?!" This sentence caused everyone to exclaim.

"Do you plan to add content? Or add columns? Do you need us to contact famous writers? I believe Lockhart will not miss this opportunity."

"No need." Lucius said, "Let's do this first, and we'll talk about the rest after I get here."

Then he ignored the staff who were looking at each other and strode out of the office building.

However, in fact, there will never be a future at all.

Because the evidence was too conclusive, Lucius was severely bled this time. 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 was not the Daily Prophet at all, but the Quibbler.

The Daily Prophet has been established for too long and is too deeply tied to the Ministry of Magic. It is not an existence that can be easily shaken, and no one in the Ministry wants to see this situation.

But "The Quibbler" is different. It is starting to become more and more popular, and the chance of a complete acquisition is greater. As long as you acquire this magazine, you will not only get more gold, but also make the Malfoy family

Secretly gaining a certain right to speak. Perhaps one day, "The Quibbler" will be more influential than "The Daily Prophet."

That's why Lucius made such a decision that was not conducive to the Daily Prophet in front of the staff. He was completely thinking about himself and getting the Quibbler to have more readers as soon as possible.

The only problem is the boss of "The Quibbler" - Toby Highmore.

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

He is very difficult to deal with, and he will not agree to Lucius's acquisition conditions at all, no matter how much money is spent.

However, this does not require Lucius to worry at all, nor does he need to face the madman personally.

He was just following orders.

All you need to do is wait for the right time in secret.

——

Although there were differences over the handling of the Pharaoh's mask, this did not bring more conflicts between Toby and Dumbledore.

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

"Headmaster, 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? Do you want to teach him a lesson yourself? Just like you did before?"

"If you allow me, principal, don't look at me like that. There's just one thing I haven't mentioned to you yet. It was also that night that I found traces left by a mysterious person in the basement of Malfoy Manor.

, he might have gone to find Lucius."

"Okay, I know."

Dumbledore opened the newspaper and said that what he was holding in his hand was the latest issue of the "Daily Prophet", which he bought for twice the previous price.

Toby looked at him doubtfully: "Mysterious Man. I'm talking about Mysterious Man. Don't you care at all?"

Dumbledore said without raising his head: "Of course I am very concerned about this clue. But compared to outside the school, I am more worried that a new Voldemort will appear in Hogwarts - don't look at me with that look.

, Toby, I’m talking about you. Also, how long do you plan to keep Skeeter and Guffey locked up?”

Toby was confused and said: "If possible, of course the longer the better. The recent sales of "The Quibbler" have been fantastic, and even "Ancient Magic and Magic Circles" has entered the bestseller list for the first time.

Shan, even though he is still at the end of the team, at least he has a name."

Dumbledore nodded, and glanced at Toby: "Very well, when do you plan to leave, or would you like a glass of lemonade?"

The eyes under the hood became more and more weird - Dumbledore was really acting a little strange, and he could actually say the word "very good" when it came to imprisoning these two people.

This is incredible.

Toby couldn't help but ask: "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 crackle 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," Dumbledore said gently.

Dobby disappeared, and when he came back he had a glass of cold lemonade in his hand, placed 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 whose house elf Dobby belonged to - the Malfoy family.

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

Dumbledore finally closed the newspaper: "Speaking of which, this matter has something to do with you. Lucius paid a great price to get rid of the accusation, and one of them was to hand over the family's house elf. Dobby is now

Work for Hogwarts and get a weekly salary. Of course, I think Lucius is eager to get rid of him."

anxious?

This is really mind-blowing.

At what point would Lucius feel that a house-elf would become a hindrance?

Only when Malfoy Manor is occupied by guests it is not suitable to host.

Toby frowned and asked: "You mean, the mysterious man has returned to Malfoy Manor again? Is he willing to take such a risk? Is he not afraid that I will make another sneak attack?"

"Of course not." Dumbledore said: "Voldemort will not make such a stupid mistake. He will not return to Malfoy Manor. No one knows where he is hiding, not even Lucius.

. But we do need to know Voldemort’s next plan through him. Overall, our current situation is somewhat passive."

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

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

"Then did you find it?"

"Not yet." Dumbledore joked: "Not even as exciting as the upcoming Valentine's Day."

"Valentine's Day?" Toby was confused: "What's wrong with Valentine's Day?"

Dumbledore smiled and said: "Professor Lockhart has applied for some fresh plans. Although it is not as good as the teacher recognition ceremony held last year, it should make the atmosphere in the school more active again. Especially after the successive disappearances.

, and under the bad influence of the 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 even think about stopping me. As for the archeology class, that is what the students should bear, and sooner or later they will

When faced with this aspect, the world outside the school is not so reassuring."

"I'll just take this as a compliment." Dumbledore did not answer the "disappearance case" question, but continued: "Maybe there is another thing that interests you - Professor Lockhart applied for a lover.

One of the reasons for the festival was to take credit for himself. I heard that he was claiming everywhere that he had scared off the criminals in the secret room, so he took the initiative to take on the responsibility of boosting morale."

"Did I hear you correctly?" Toby looked around and said, "Are you speaking ill of people behind their backs? Or are you trying to sow discord between me and Lockhart?"

Dumbledore continued as if he hadn't heard: "As for Lockhart, part of the experiences he described in the book are 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 the same."

He wanted to recruit a superb master of the Forgetting Spell to solve the troubles that might arise in the future. Although I later recruited him, my original intention was to hope that the students would learn what kinds of things they should not do and what kind of people they should not be.

All in all, Lockhart is a liar at heart."

Toby stretched and said: "It doesn't sound surprising at all. I knew something was wrong with him, but he never had time to communicate properly. What are you going to ask me to do? Imprison Lockhart too.

In the secret room?"

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

"Lockhart has a problem."