Chapter 918： explosive news

Chapter 918 Explosion News

On the streets of Hogsmeade, students wandering around can be seen everywhere, especially the third-year students who have just been allowed to visit Hogsmeade. Every place here is very novel to them.

After a brief discussion, Albert and the others decided to go to Zuko's Joke Store first, as a way to find out information and see if there were any new products in Zuko's store.

The unchanging Zoko joke shop cannot be their opponent in the future.

"This summer, you can start advertising in the "Daily Prophet". Next semester is a good time to promote and sell joke props. Don't miss it."

When Albert came out of the Honeydukes candy store, he casually said to Fred and George, "Skipping class candy should not appear in the advertisement openly. After all, students need to use them to skip class. If you let the professors know, skip class candy It won't work."

"I guarantee its skipping use will not appear on the product instructions." George said sincerely.

"Or in the advertisement," Fred added.

"That's a good idea. You just need to give everyone a little hint, and they will know the real purpose of those candies." Lee Jordan laughed nervously, "As soon as the class starts, some students start to vomit, Nosebleed, I don’t think even the professor can figure out the real reason for a while.”

"There are also wizard cards. I plan to release the Hogwarts four college series first." Albert threw an explosive stuffed candy into his mouth, and said as he walked, "There may be portrait problems in it, and, we'd better put The combination of games and learning can make our products more popular. At least, while playing games, you can also learn some useful knowledge. As long as you convince the parents and let the children like it, the wizard card There will be no shortage of sales.”

"It sounds difficult, and how are you going to convince Snape?" Lee Jordan expressed doubts about this. They didn't think Albert could convince Snape, it was too difficult, that guy was like a rock, and Hard and smelly.

"The other professors should be fine. As for Snape, if he doesn't want to, we can replace him with the previous head of Slytherin." Albert had already thought of a solution, "By the way, you go to The plan last time is very good, I am helping you revise it, it should be completed next month, and then we can start trying to sell wizard cards."

"You still know the previous head of Slytherin?"

"Of course I do. The last time I went to the Magic School Potions Championship, Professor Horace Slughorn led the team. It is said that he also formed the Slug Club before."

"The Slug Club, what a disgusting name."

All three of them had expressions of disgust on their faces.

"Professor Slughorn is a hedonistic, vain, and somewhat snobbish guy, but he is not bad in his bones. When he was teaching in school, he knew many famous wizards and had a lot of contacts." Albert briefly commented on Slughorn. Raghorn: "It's actually very easy to deal with him. You just need to remember to give him a bottle of aged mead every Christmas. On his birthday, a pineapple candied fruit and a birthday card are enough. He is my friend. One of the nicest types of old friends I know."

"I think he doesn't know as many celebrities as you do."

"He must know more people than I do."

Albert knows a lot of people, but not many people really keep in touch, otherwise how could he be busy.

"Which type of people do you think is more difficult to deal with?" George asked curiously.

"Exchanging knowledge, sometimes writing a letter is more difficult than writing a paper for a magazine." Albert did not lie, he talked with them less often about papers recently, and more often he drew people he knew to form Create a small circle, and then bring the problem to the circle to discuss together.

Albert and the others crossed the road and walked into the small bar opposite.

The Three Broomsticks were still crowded as usual. After Albert entered, a gust of heat rushed towards his face. His eyes quickly swept across the bar, and he walked towards the nearest empty table with Fred, George and Lee Jordan.

After they sat down, they exchanged glances with each other, and finally they were so bored that they used finger guessing to decide who would go to Ms. Rosmerta to buy butterbeer.

"Okay, you win!"

Lee Jordan looked at the open palms of the other people and at his clenched fists, shrugged helplessly and stood up.

Albert took out two Sickles from his pocket and said, "I want warm."

"So do we."

Smiling, Fred and George took out their Sicos and placed them in front of Lee Jordan.

"Really."

Lee Jordan took Sickle to the counter to buy beer, and quickly got four cups of butterbeer heated with warm water. When he distributed the butterbeer to everyone, he raised his finger in a certain direction and said in a low voice: "Look at that Here, look, what I found."

The three of them looked in the direction of Lee Jordan's finger, and found that Ludo Bagman was sitting with a group of goblins talking in a dark corner of the bar.

"Bagman's luck doesn't seem to be very good, is he being entangled by a goblin again?"

Fred clinked glasses with George with a smile, with unconcealable schadenfreude in his tone, "Do you think we should go over and add fire to Bagman, I believe he will definitely have a headache."

"If you go there, Bagman will definitely find an excuse to run away." Albert prefers to watch Bagman and the goblin gesticulating over there, but unfortunately the monitoring technology is still not good, otherwise they can drink beer here and listen Listening to their words, I was very happy.

"Do you want to use this thing?" Fred and George took out the flesh-colored retractable ears from their pockets.

"If you want to eavesdrop, use another method, you are too blatant."

"What do you think they're talking about?" Lee Jordan asked, staring at the excited goblins, taking a swig of butterbeer.

"The goblins are collecting debts." Fred and George said happily.

"Bagman will definitely not pay back the money, and he probably has no money." Albert speculated, "If I were Bagman, I would probably play another game with the goblin. Just write it off, if you lose, it doesn't matter if you owe another one, anyway, if you have too much debt, you don't have to worry about it."

"It makes sense, if I were Bagman, I would pressure you to win the Triwizard Tournament." Fred patted Albert on the shoulder and said, "After all, the other warriors are no match for you, and the result is already obvious .”

"The goblins are not stupid, and they will definitely not agree." George added.

"So, they're arguing now." Lee Jordan looked at the aggressive goblin with his arms crossed with interest, quietly took out a detection ball from his pocket, rolled towards Bagman's position, and prepared to In the name of picking up the ball to eavesdrop on them.

After all, eavesdropping is easy to spot aboveboard, so it's best to find an excuse for yourself.

"That guy loves the gossip, and if you hadn't asked him to get involved with The Wizard's Cards, I doubt Lee Jordan would've been a reporter for the Daily Prophet after graduation, or a reporter for The Wizard's Weekly, like Rita S. Kit likes to ask for gossip like that." Fred said to Albert, looking at Lee Jordan's back.

"We have already thought up the column name for him, and it is called the little secret that makes your heart beat." George added with a smile.

"Let's continue to study the follow-up arrangement of the joke shop!" Albert felt that these two guys were too idle, and was going to find something for them to do. He reached out and took out his notebook from the deformed lizard leather bag.

"I've always been curious about when you started getting this notebook." George asked with raised eyebrows as he flipped through the old notes.

"Originally, I planned to sell black magic defense props in the last two years, and took the opportunity to make a fortune. Later, with your joining, the whole money-making plan was expanded."

"It's been a long time since I saw you playing with the protective bracelet. What version is it now?" Fred asked curiously. They knew that Albert had this money-making plan for a long time, and they had been nagging for several years, but they didn't expect that the time was quietly approaching.

"Version 3.2 is almost at the limit now, there is no way to continue to improve, and the effect is not very ideal, it is longer than the previous protective bracelet, and now it can last for about two years. In fact, I am not sure, but it will definitely work. last longer."

"If the next semester is really turbulent as you said, then you will really get rich."

The two of them did not forget Albert's prophecy about turmoil in the magic world, "Perhaps, we should hoard some defense against the dark arts items first, and then sell them in one go."

"It's not the time yet, but you can accumulate some reputation first, and then you can make a lot of money by providing defense packages to the Ministry of Magic. I have to say that most of the employees of the Ministry of Magic are really good at defense against the dark arts. "

"Probably can get five hundred orders." George muttered, "It should be able to get nearly ten million galleons."

"If you wear a dragon suit, it will definitely be more popular." Fred suggested. "The protective effect of that thing must be very good."

"Do you think it's possible? That kind of clothes are too ostentatious." Albert didn't think the dragon suit would work. Many black wizards especially like to use Avada Kedavra.

"The dragon skin is a good thing. Except for Avada Kedavra, it can basically block or weaken most magic effects. When I really make a lot of Galleons, I will definitely get myself a dragon leather jacket first." George said to Albert said, "Safe and handsome. Of course, if you can enhance the defensive effect of the dragon leather jacket, it will definitely make them a top-level defense against the dark arts."

"This is a good proposal. It can be made into a high-end fire dragon vest and worn on the body." Albert thinks this is a good business opportunity, "With this thing, as long as you don't get hit by the Unforgivable Curse, it won't be too big. The problem with that is that the purse strings can get hurt."

"Believe me, there will never be a shortage of rich people in the magic world, especially Aurors. If dark wizards are really rampant, they would like to ask you to customize a whole set of super-defensive fire dragon suits, and those high-ranking officials must also be afraid of death. Pay more attention to your own safety." Fred looked very excited, he felt that the field of defense against the dark arts had a lot of money.

"At that time, we can still divide into grades." George opened his mind and said, "We can sell ordinary protective equipment and specially customized high-end protective equipment. After all, most wizards can't afford high-end products. Well, it turns out that you I have thought of it a long time ago, saying that you are going to hand over ordinary protective equipment to us for manufacturing, is it really reliable to do so?"

"Your Iron Armor Curse can be used proficiently. It is enough to make general protective equipment. Although the use time may be shorter, it should also be able to prevent general evil spells, and there must be a difference between advanced and ordinary, otherwise how can you use it? Getting the rich guys to take the bait? It’s like a broomstick and a Firebolt.”

"As expected of you, are you planning to directly monopolize the market?"

"Monopoly, no, what we want is a brand." Albert shrugged, "Even if someone competes with us in the future, they will not be able to steal us."

"What's the matter with the magical witch series above?" Fred took the notes from George and flipped through them, and found that Albert had prepared a lot of money-making plans.

"When did you manufacture so many beauty products?" George asked curiously, leaning his head.

"These are not all my research results." Albert explained: "If other people do this part, they should be divided separately."

"Your girlfriend?" George asked.

"Isobel is also one of the researchers of beauty potions, remember those two foreign girls at the last Quidditch World Cup?" Albert reminded.

"Remember, very beautiful girl." George teased, "At that time, we thought you had found two other girlfriends."

"They are Isobel's friends. We met last time at the Potions Tournament of the Magic School. Later, we developed beauty potions together. I'm a little bit of help, sometimes helping the girls." Albert shrugged. "They opened a beauty shop in the United States and were welcomed by countless girls."

"What beauty potion?" Lee Jordan has returned after picking up the detection ball.

"What the girls like." George shook the note in his hand and asked, "What are they talking about?"

"As we guessed, Bagman wanted to pay off his debts through betting. The goblins disagreed with Bagman choosing Albert's final victory as a bet, so they quarreled." Lee Jordan said with a smile Albert said: "It seems that Bagman has great confidence in you."

While a few people were chatting, Rita Skeeter followed her potbellied photographer into the Three Broomsticks. As soon as she went to the bar to buy a drink, she stared at Bagman who was entangled by the goblins, holding A cup of mead ran to talk to Bagman and tried to interview him, but the conversation between the two sides was not pleasant. Bagman talked nonsense and quickly left with the group of goblins.

"Bagman doesn't seem to want to talk to us, what is he doing, why is there a large group of goblins behind him? And taking goblins around Hogsmeade... It's just nonsense... I bet something is wrong. " Rita Skeeter looked at Bagman's leaving back with great interest, and said to the colleagues beside her, "...If we can dig something out, Ludo Bagman, the director of the Department of Magical Sports, will definitely It's going to be discredited...this is exciting...follow up with Fu Zuo and let's see what secret Bagman is trying to hide."

Fred, George, and Lee Jordan looked at each other, planning to take this opportunity to tell Rita Skeeter about Bagman.

Just as they were about to stand up, they heard a sharp voice from the bar.

"Are you trying to ruin someone's life again?"

Many people turned their heads and looked over when they heard the voice. Rita Skeeter also stopped. After seeing who was talking, she was not in a hurry to follow Bagman, and followed Harry with a smile on her face. Say hello, "Great Harry, I didn't expect to see you here..."

"Why did you treat Hagrid like that?" Harry asked angrily.

"Our readers have the right to know the truth." Rita Skeeter still had a smile on her face, she didn't see any embarrassment at all, "I just fulfilled my responsibility."

"Who cares about him..."

What Harry was about to say was interrupted by Hermione.

"The truth, are you sure?" Hermione looked at Rita Skeeter coldly, and the corners of her mouth curled up contemptuously, "As long as you can get the story and enough Galleons, you don't care about anything, no matter who it is." Don't let it go, is the truth as important as Galleons? Obviously not, I know you care more about the sales of newspapers and how many Galleons you can get, so this time you plan to treat Ludo Bagman—"

"You silly little girl, don't talk nonsense about things you don't understand." Rita Skeeter said coldly.

"Annoyed by what I said?" Hermione sneered without fear of Rita Skeeter's gaze.

"Oh my **** Skeeter, don't you ever do something serious?"

Sirius appeared out of nowhere, reached out and pressed Harry and Hermione's shoulders, and smiled at the angry Rita Skeeter.

"You actually have time to argue with a little girl here, no wonder the "Daily Prophet" recently reported more and more rubbish." Sirius said with a heartbroken expression, "I used to like to read the "Daily Prophet" , at least to get some useful news, but now there's nothing in the newspapers but a bunch of rubbish, or that the Daily Prophet is trying to use the **** to help the Ministry of Magic cover up the truth."

"Cover up the truth?" Rita Skeeter looked at Sirius with a smile, "Oh, are you going to share with me some big secret that I don't know? To be honest, I'm very interested in your so-called truth."

"Do you know the news that Pettigrew Peter is alive again? That guy also used the Imperius Curse to control and murdered Barty Crouch, Director of the International Magic Exchange and Cooperation Department." Sirius said with a smile.

"We have already reported this matter, you seem to have been in Azkaban for a long time, and your memory is declining a bit." Rita Skeeter laughed sharply, "I suggest you buy a memory ball, Maybe it will save you from being so forgetful."

"Then why didn't you report how Peter Pettigrew came back to life?" Sirius was not angry, and asked back with a smile, "You didn't investigate such an important matter? You still don't want to report it."

"You said it as if you knew it very clearly." Rita Skeeter said coldly.

"Of course, I got first-hand information." Sirius smiled, "Peter Pettigrew's mother died in Azkaban instead of Peter, so the body of Peter buried by the dementors is actually Mrs. Peter who drank the compound potion. "

The entire small bar suddenly became silent. Everyone was shocked by the news. They never thought that Mrs. Peter would be willing to do this for her son.

"Do you have any evidence?"

Rita Skeeter suddenly had a bad feeling.

"Mrs. Peter used half of Peter's family property to make a deal with the Minister of Magic in exchange for the opportunity to visit her son in Azkaban. As a result, within two days, Peter died in Azkaban, and Mrs. Peter died soon after. And Peter's house was engulfed in flames." Sirius smiled more kindly, "This matter can be found out, even the Minister of Magic can't hide it, and I'm sure the Daily Prophet knows about it." It seems that you don't want everyone to know the truth, is it because Fudge won't let it go, or is it that the Daily Prophet paid hush money and shut up on this matter?"

Suddenly whispers started in the bar.

"Someone swore earlier that it was her duty to let readers know the truth." Hermione sneered sharply.

Rita Skeeter looked at Hermione's disheveled hair indifferently and fiercely, obviously with malicious intentions.

Without giving Rita Skeeter a chance to speak, Sirius continued, "Poor Mrs. Peter, who sacrificed everything for her son and got this result. Look at what Peter did when he escaped from Azkaban." What a good thing."

"Do you know why Peter Pettigrew used the Imperius Curse to control Crouch? You didn't even report what Peter Pettigrew did at Crouch's house. Could it be that the Daily Prophet has now become the mouthpiece of the Ministry of Magic? Yet?"

Sirius was in a particularly happy mood, and he planned to break a big news here.

Rita Skeeter was about to leave with a dark face, but Sirius used magic to hold her in place.

"Don't leave in a hurry, everyone needs the truth, not the innocuous truths in your mouth." Sirius said, playing with his wand, "You are really incompetent, since the "Daily Prophet" knows nothing, as a reporter You should stay here and listen to what I have to say, go back and write an article about the information I provided. Readers have the right to know the truth, otherwise what is the use of you? Do you want everyone to be fools? Or do you think Are you all idiots?"

Sirius' words were very sharp, which directly made Rita Skeeter, who was fixed in place, begin to doubt life.

"Dumbledore is the party involved in this matter."

Sirius smiled and told the audience in the bar, "That night, he and Bagman went to Barty Crouch to discuss the safety of the second project of the Triwizard Tournament. I think everyone knows this, but you I don't know what happened to Dumbledore at Barty's house."

So everyone swallowed their saliva, waiting for Sirius to solve the truth of the mystery.

"A very ugly baby, who can't even handle life, but who can pick up a wand, is the one that drags Dumbledore for a few minutes." Sirius raised the corners of his mouth happily, and threw a bombshell, "That The baby is Voldemort."

When the word Voldemort came out of Sirius' mouth, there was a sound of gasping and knocking things in the Three Broomsticks bar.

Mrs. Rosmerta trembled even more, and the entire jug fell to the ground without her even noticing it.

"I know you don't want to believe the truth, but this is the truth. No matter what, the truth is there. No matter how twisted it is, it can't be changed by covering it up." Sirius looked at everyone's expressions and felt happier. "We don't know Voldemort Alive, or dead, but he was there, and he didn't know what horrible way to turn into a baby. Of course, you can rest assured that the baby is dead, but Voldemort ran away under Dumbledore's nose , according to Dumbledore's recollection, Voldemort at that time was very similar to a ghost, but it was not a ghost, and spells could not harm it."

"Mr. Sirius, is the devil who can't even mention his name really still alive?" A wizard couldn't help asking.

"I don't know, we have consulted a lot of experts, but they don't know what the situation is, but I think he should still be alive." Sirius said calmly, "It's just that, living in that form, his situation is very bad, Very weak, very weak, and a famous expert told us that as long as Voldemort continues to wander in this way for a hundred years, his soul will decay, he will lose consciousness completely, and by then there may be no more threats."

"This is really good news."

"No, this is not really good news." Sirius laughed at himself, "According to the latest news we got, Voldemort held Dumbledore in fact because he wanted Peter Pettigrew to escape, because as long as Peter escapes, Voldemort will There is a way to turn yourself into a baby again, of course, the Ministry of Magic actually knew about this, so Fudge asked the Aurors to hunt down Peter Pettigrew with all their strength to prevent him from resurrecting Voldemort again."

As he spoke, Sirius found out a wanted list of Peter Pettigrew from nowhere, and joked with a smile, "Believe me, this is definitely the most expensive wanted criminal in history."

Peter Pettigrew's bounty is a full 30,000 Galleons, which is far higher than Sirius' original wanted bounty.

Everyone looked at Peter Pettigrew's wanted list and fell silent.

Peter Pettigrew’s wanted list of 30,000 Galleons has always been criticized by people, and everyone didn’t understand why, but it was indeed surprisingly higher than the bounty, which attracted a large number of bounty hunters.

"The "Daily Prophet" really doesn't know anything? They just don't want to say it, maybe they are afraid of causing panic, but I think they are gradually becoming the mouthpiece of the Ministry of Magic." Sirius looked at Rita Sky with a half-smile Te continued, "Don't worry, the whole thing is not over yet, and I will tell you some news that the Ministry of Magic and the "Daily Prophet" are unwilling to tell you."

Everyone's hearts fell to the bottom all of a sudden, and their eyes were fixed on Sirius Black, worried that some bad news would come out of the other party's mouth again.

"Remember the Dark Mark on the World Cup, it was actually made by Barty Crouch. Well, you heard me right, Barty Crouch Sr.'s son is still alive. We have passed Barty Crouch on this matter. The house-elf at home confirmed this, remember when the Daily Prophet reported 'Barty's house-elf was found on the spot', old Barty gave the house-elf clothes and fired the poor house-elf Elf."

"I see. No wonder Winky walked so weirdly back then. It would make sense if she was being dragged. No wonder Harry's wand was in her hand." Hermione suddenly realized.

"Now do you know what happened to the Dark Mark?"

"After the World Cup, Peter brought Voldemort to visit Old Barty, so that unlucky guy was controlled by the Imperius Curse. As for Little Barty, he has been released and is carrying out an evil plan. We suspect that he is Trying to restore Voldemort to his original power."

"Is this true?"

"It should be true. We once wanted to find Barty Crouch Jr. through a certain prophet who lived in England. In those few years, the environment in the British wizarding world will become worse and worse, and he has already planned to move."

"Of course, divination is difficult to say, but we will soon see some omens." Sirius shrugged.

"Barty Crouch Jr. alive?"

"Yes, I don't think the news revealed by Barty Crouch's house elf is false." Sirius shrugged, "As for how Barty Crouch Jr. escaped from Azkaban Prison He came back to life, his situation is actually similar to Peter. And old Barty paid the price of his life for this mistake, which is actually the reason why Peter took the risk to silence him. The truth of the power, because Barty Sr. would tell it all if he lived, and he knew too much to be silenced."

Sirius waved his wand, unlocked the magic on Rita Skeeter, and said calmly, "Look, isn't the news I revealed more valuable than your pile of **** news?"

Rita Skeeter walked away without saying a word.

"I know you may think this is crazy, but whether you like it or not, this is the truth," Sirius laughed at himself, looking at the back of Rita Skeeter, "If the "Daily Prophet" becomes The tongue of the Ministry of Magic, and deliberately concealing this part of the report, you can subscribe to this issue of "Defense Guide", I will explain the whole thing from beginning to end, especially when everyone needs the truth, "Defense Guide" "Always bring you the truth, instead of keeping you in the dark."

"So you're promoting your own magazine?" Someone couldn't help mocking.

"Do you think it is necessary to promote a magazine that is about to be blocked?" Sirius was not angry, but asked instead, "Sometimes, people don't like the truth, because the truth is too cruel."

Sirius ignored the others, smiled and said a few words to Harry, then walked towards Albert.

"Great speech, I found that your eloquence is surprisingly good." Albert said with a smile, "Still looking for Peter Pettigrew?"

"That guy has a reward of 30,000 Galleons, I think this is a good opportunity." Sirius did not hide his malice, "We can split the reward in half, how about it, this is a good deal, myself Do it."

"It's not bad, but this is not the place to talk about it." Albert stood up after drinking the butter beer and said, "Change the place, the chances are slim now, I suspect they have left the UK."

"What are Fred, George, and Lee Jordan going to do with Rita Skeeter?" Hermione walked to Albert's table with a butter beer and asked.

"They plan to tell Rita Skeeter about Ludo Bagman." Albert shrugged, "They plan to use that woman's hand to retaliate against Ludo Bagman's gambling with fake Galleons." Gold, and swallowed their principal, but I don’t think it’s very effective. The Ministry of Magic should know some shit. In the end, at most, it would ruin Bagman’s reputation and lose his job. However, I think Bagman It is estimated that he is about to run away."

"Bagman owes Galleon a lot?" Hermione couldn't help asking.

"Many, not only goblins, but also wizards owe a lot of debt. We also set up a debt collection group to get back the principal of the bet and give Bagman a chance to pay back the money slowly." Sirius shook He shook his head and said, "But Bagman seems unwilling to pay back the money, so you don't have to sympathize with him."

(end of this chapter)