Durmstrang.
One of the three major magic schools in Europe, although it is not as good as Hogwarts, it is still very famous and has a long history.
There are many famous figures who came out of it. The most famous one who came out in the last century is the Dark Lord Grindelwald, who is as famous as Dumbledore.
And Headmaster Igor Karkaroff, if Lockhart remembered correctly, should have been a Death Eater.
However, he later betrayed Voldemort and relied on the merits of exposing the death eater to survive.
Lockhart and Karkaroff have never met, let alone familiar with each other.
Igor wanted him to go to Durmstrang, which had to make Lockhart think deeply.
Lockhart was certain that this had something to do with the pureblood family.
But what puzzled him was that Rita Skeeter didn't seem to inform him about this.
Could it be that Lucius and the others did not fully trust Rita Skeeter.
Thoughts swirling, Lockhart fell into thought.
However, he still had to go to this invitation. This was an opportunity to expand the influence of meditation and rune graphics in Europe.
Night, Malfoy Manor, banquet hall.
In the hall, people were coming and going. Many wizards from pure-blood families were holding wine glasses and constantly walking among the crowd to socialize.
At this moment, Lucius Malfoy was looking at the bustling banquet hall with a wine glass in his hand, a smile on his face.
Since the death of his former master Voldemort, although the Malfoy family has escaped, there has been a clear decline.
There are very few such lively banquets.
For them, the number of guests at the banquet directly indicates the influence of the pure-blood family.
And now, using the meditation method as an opportunity, he seemed to see a picture that made the Malfoy family strong again.
Among them, Rita Skeeter is indispensable.
Looking at Rita Skeeter walking around, Lucius thought to himself.
Then, Lucius held the wine glass and walked towards Rita.
"Ms. Skeeter, how have your new job been? Do you need help from the Malfoy family?" Lucius raised his glass and asked Rita to win her over.
Rita quickly raised her wine glass and clinked it lightly, and said: "Lord Lucius, the work is going well. With everyone's support, the people below are very cooperative with my work."
"That's good, Ms. Skeeter, if you need anything, just ask. The Malfoy family will never treat their friend badly." Lucius nodded and said in a deep voice.
Hearing this, Rita hesitated a little, as if she was hesitant to speak.
After seeing this, Lucius smiled and said directly: "Rita, can I call you that? Don't worry, if you have anything to say, just say it."
He is not afraid of Rita making any demands now, but he is afraid that she will not make any demands.
It is a good thing to have desires, so that he can win over others and seize their weaknesses.
"Lord Lucius, it's actually not a big deal." Rita Skeeter hesitated and said, "It's just that I discovered a factor that may affect our plan. It's the editor-in-chief, Cotton. He has his own views on what the newspaper publishes. When we publish our news in the future, it is very likely that there will be some obstacles from him."
After hearing this, Lucius also began to think. He also knew Cotton fairly well. In his opinion, this man was very good at dealing with the mud.
If you act shrewdly and slickly, no one will be offended.
As for what was reported last time, although the other party did as they were told, they still got into trouble.
Worried about offending their pure-blood family, and worried about offending Dumbledore.
It's hard to say that this time the other party will not be at odds with each other again.
And Rita saw Lucius's thinking look and quickly added: "Actually, it's not necessarily true. This is just my personal thought. As long as we make it clear in advance, I believe Editor-in-Chief Cotton will still be very willing to cooperate with us."
After Lucius heard this, he smiled and said, "Don't worry, Rita, I understand what you said."
Then, as if he thought of something, Lucius reached out and took out an emerald green jade pendant from the space extension bag. At the same time, he said, "Rita, our plan cannot be separated from you. You should also pay more attention to your own safety. This is a magic jade pendant with good defensive capabilities collected by our family. Accept this magic item. If you are in danger, you can use it."
Looking at the exquisite jade pendant in front of me and hearing Lucius's introduction.
Rita smiled and said gratefully: "Thank you, Lord Lucius. Don't worry, our plan will be a success."
After hearing this, Lucius showed a reserved smile on his face and said, "Rita, do your best. Trust me, the Daily Prophet is just your starting point."
Then he said as if it was a hint: "Our Malfoy family also has a lot of influence in the Ministry of Magic."
Upon hearing this, Rita immediately showed a flattering smile and Lucius praised her repeatedly.
at this time
Suddenly, a squib servant came next to him, stood in Lucius's ear and said a few words, then turned and left.
Lucius had a look of surprise on his face, but it turned into joy.
This made Rita curious.
After the servant left, Rita asked tentatively: "Lord Lucius, what's the matter? Do you need my help?"
"No, its good thing, this is a good thing." Lucius looked at Rita and said with a smile, "Our opportunity has come. we just received some good news. Lockhart is leaving for Durmstrang. This is much better than our original plan. Rita, the rest is up to you."
Hearing this, Rita showed a smile and said meaningfully.
"Don't worry, Lord Lucius, I will definitely execute the plan."
Hogwarts, Headmaster's Office on the eighth floor.
Dumbledore sat at the table, looked at Professor McGonagall opposite, rubbed his temples in distress and said, "Minerva, did Lockhart really say that?"
"Yes, he will take a week's leave." McGonagall said helplessly: "Lockhart said that he received an invitation from Durmstrang to give a lecture on Rune. He thought the opportunity was great and didn't want to give it up."
Hearing this, Dumbledore didn't know what to say and could only remain silent for a while.
Lockhart is now going to Durmstrang. If the pure-blood family will take advantage of this moment to cause trouble.
When the pressure comes, He need to lend a hand.
He still wanted to look for traces of Tom again, and now the mess was quite big.
If Tom can't be solve in time, the trouble will only be greater later.
Why do I feel more and more that this Lockhart is more trouble than he look?
While Dumbledore was thinking.
Hogwarts, in the Gryffindor common room.
Beside Ron's bed, Peter Pettigrew as Scabbers, looking at the sleeping Ron and Harry Potter opposite him.
He sniffed carefully, as if to check whether the two of them were really asleep.
Then he lay down on the floor and crawled out the door.
He was hungry, so he took advantage of everyone's sleep to find more food.
Although his Animagus is very magical and can simulate all aspects of mice.
But he is a wizard after all.
Although his food intake was greatly reduced under the influence of Animagus.
But the need for food is still far greater than that of an ordinary mouse.
He usually needs to eat more food in time while everyone is asleep, otherwise he will easily starve.
When the mouse transformed looks outside for food.
suddenly
A strange fragrance came from a distance.
Peter Pettigrew instantly looked sideways, with a look of longing rising in his little eyes.
Then Peter Pettigrew left in the opposite direction.
It's definitely delicious with such a fragrance, it's definitely good stuff, no doubt about it.
He didn't want to take any risky action unless absolutely necessary.
Just as Peter was crawling towards a place where food was stored, suddenly
"Why!
"Peter, you are really a coward. Ten years spend as a cowardly mouse. But I have to admire you in this regard."
There seemed to be a familiar voice in his ears. Just as Peter Pettigrew reacted, he found a huge figure standing in front of him.
He raised his head as if to see who it was.
As a result, all he saw was a huge black wooden stick pointing at his head.
With a flash of red light, his consciousness went completely black.
Defense Against the Dark Arts Office.
Lockhart sat at the table and looked at the metal cage placed on the table. To be precise, it was the rat in the cage.
This mouse has gray hair on its entire surface and is somewhat plump.
He fell to the ground as if sleeping.
Gu! Gu!
Sunny, who was on the side, looked at the mouse in front of him, and then chirp at Lockhart curiously.
As if asking the keeper, what is this mouse? Is it your new pet?
When Lockhart heard this, a smile appeared on his face.
After thinking for a while, he called the little snake softly.
he saw a small snake as thin as a finger emerge from the cuff and slither on the table.
Immediately afterwards, the snake body began to expand and enlarge.
hiss! hiss!
At the same time, it kept spitting out and making a hissing sound.
Sunny on the side insisted, as if he was frightened, and jumped back quickly.
Then he flapped his wings, flashed with blue light, and teleported into Lockhart's arms, as if asking for protection.
He was really afraid of this basilisk.
Lockhart smiled as he sensed his bird's mood, patted Sunny's head, and stroked the feathers on his body comfortingly.
Putting aside everything else, Sunny feels pretty good.
Finally, he looked at Peter Pettigrew, who was still pretending to sleep.
As if talking to himself, he said: "Is this mouse going to die? If it dies, I can just feed the little snake with it."
At the same time, the little snake seemed a little excited and opened its big mouth
squeak! squeak!
The moment the words fell, Scabbers woke up instantly, his little head kept hitting the ground, and screamed at Lockhart, as if begging for mercy.
Seeing this, Lockhart waved his hand gently, and the little snake seemed to understand something and closed its big mouth.
However, the huge head of the basilisk was still lying on the edge of the cage, its eyes fixed on the mouse, and the snake kept hissing.
This frightened Peter Pettigrew so much that he trembled all over.
Then
A strange smell came.
In an instant, Lockhart's face darkened, and the rat was so frightened that it peed.
The most troublesome thing is that this is his desk.
With a wave of his hand, the cage instantly fell to the ground, and the wisp of yellow liquid on the table disappeared.
Uh-huh! Uh-huh!
The next moment, a large amount of water continued to wash the table, as if it was removing something dirty.
Despite this, Lockhart secretly made up his mind to change his desk as soon as the matter was over.
Peter Pettigrew, the mouse who fell on the ground, seemed to see some hope.
He quickly climbed to the edge of the cage and struggled to squeeze out.
squeak! squeak! a
But after trying his best, he found that he couldn't squeeze in at all, and he was even a little stuck.
At this moment, suddenly.
Peter Pettigrew seemed to sense something, his body stiffened, and he turned his head to look.
A huge snake head appeared next to it. The snake's mouth was slightly open.
Whoosh!
In an instant, Peter Pettigrew retracted and crawled to the center of the cage.
While Peter Pettigrew was terrified, the entire cage began to enlarge.
Soon, a cage the size of a person was erected in the office.
"Peter Pettigrew, if you don't show your true self, don't blame me for feeding you to the little snakes. It's natural for snakes to eat mice, right?"
After Peter Pettigrew heard this, he lowered his head and looked bitterly at the dense metal railings - there was no way a mouse could escape.
Lying on the ground with his hands, his body slowly enlarged.
Soon, a plump figure lay in the middle of the cage.
Sunny on the side looked at this scene curiously.
It's really amazing that such a little mouse turned into a human.
"Professor Lockhart, please listen to my explanation. I hid here to protect Harry."
"Stop talking, Peter, I don't have time to listen to your nonsense."
Lockhart looked at Peter Pettigrew who kept explaining and interrupted directly: "I know better than you what exactly happened."
"You surrendered to Voldemort, and that idiot Sirius believed in you, As a result, after you betray them, you killed Lily Potter and the others, and also killed your master Voldemort."
Peter Pettigrew looked a little panicked after hearing what Lockhart said.
He opened his mouth, but didn't know what to say.
That's just the way it is.
Otherwise, why would he be pretending to be a mouse for more than ten years?
Dumbledore, Sirius and others, if they knew he was still alive, they would never let him go.
The same goes for the dark wizards on the Dark Lord's side.
In their eyes, if Peter had not given wrong information, the Dark Lord would definitely be able to rule the entire wizarding world.
Looking at Peter's performance, Lockhart said seductively.
"Peter, I'll give you a chance to live. Do you want it?"
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