Chapter 446 Halloween Eve (Happy Holidays! Fat Chickens!)
Time passed slowly bit by bit like this.
Just as Dumbledore expected, Elena's daily schedule was finally full. She may be considered the busiest person in the entire school, even harder than most professors.
In addition to completing various courses every day, she also needs to take into account the normal operation of the weekly "New Quibbler", the adjustment of the Hogwarts [Potato Money Market], small cooking classes in various colleges, and two meals a week.
A night of Quidditch practice...
Therefore, when October slipped from people's fingertips inadvertently, and Dumbledore suddenly realized that Elena had actually spent a real month safely at Hogwarts, the old man's first reaction was to feel unbelievable.
.
For Elena, this castle has gradually become like home.
This was a different feeling from the orphanage at Loch Lomond. She didn't have to think about too many far-reaching things. She just had to cook happily and master a little bit of magical knowledge, which was already very interesting.
As for further and grander things, Dumbledore and Grindelwald will control and execute them.
With the round-faced fat chicken running around, the tentacles of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, or more accurately the "Sandaime Dark Lord", have spread to all areas of Europe, and an invisible network is spreading in the non-magical world.
of the European continent.
The emergence of Grindelwald completed the most critical link in Elena's plan. The decades-long first-generation wizard war not only caused huge trauma to the entire European wizarding world, but also left deep-rooted
, an indelible mark.
And every former saint is every node that makes up the network - without any orders, just simply restoring contact, informing them that a drastic change is coming, and hoping that they can prepare for it in advance.
Quietly, a magical transmission line capable of transporting large-scale materials and personnel has begun to be constructed, although most people do not know the purpose of this magical transportation line that runs through the entire European continent.
According to the current estimate of Hogwarts' potato production capacity, by the time around Christmas, they will be able to stockpile enough food reserves to last most of the Russian people through the winter - and this will also be the key factor for Hogwarts in the future.
The most powerful currency in plunder.
Negotiations between the Ministry of Magic and Gringotts appear to have reached an impasse.
The goblins in London's Diagon Alley do not intend to use the power of wizards to defeat the threats from across the ocean. They want to grab both of the goodwill shown by the Ministry of Magic and the title deed to Hogwarts Castle.
Because in their assessment, the Soviet Union's whirlpool is actually a particularly bad investment quagmire. Those Muggles and goblins from Wall Street are likely to exhaust their energy first before harvesting - in order to snipe those American "traitors"
”, the goblins of Gringotts in Europe even began to support the ruble, trying to use their abundant capital to bring down the other party.
Cornelius Fudge was not a fool, at least he never thought of himself that way.
After inadvertently inquiring into the confidence and movements of the Gringotts goblins, the senior officials of the Ministry of Magic quickly held a secret meeting, quickly adjusted their original plan, and repurchased Hogwarts in the name of the Ministry of Magic, which was once again put on the agenda.
schedule.
Although they do not have excellent financial channels like the goblins, as a government agency that can directly connect to the British Prime Minister, exchanging and purchasing rubles in the official name is actually not as complicated as imagined.
Of course, all of this was done without the knowledge of Albus Dumbledore and the Hogwarts School Board.
Apart from the undercurrent surging in the magical world, the only not-so-good news this month may be the collective breach of contracts by many magazines and publications - dozens of mainstream publications, including the Daily Prophet, have found various
As an excuse, I am no longer willing to bundle gifts with "The New Quibbler", even if it is a paid advertisement.
Gu Fei, the editor-in-chief of the Daily Prophet, even came to Hogwarts in person. While expressing his respect for Dumbledore, he also frankly stated his own difficulties. His tone was so humble and humble that Dumbledore was so disappointed.
They were all a little puzzled.
As a newspaper, Barnabas Guffey must first ensure that it can survive in the increasingly fierce competition.
There is no doubt that the content and format of "The New Quibbler" are more than an era ahead of all publications. In less than half a month, Gu Fei can feel the skyrocketing reputation of "The New Quibbler."
Now, with the exception of a handful of extremely autistic recluses, almost all wizards in the UK are talking about this publication, which is full of topics and exciting content. Its overseas market share has even surpassed that of the Daily Prophet
》——Foreign wizards do not pay attention to the news that happens in the UK, but the love for food and animals is a common attribute of all humans.
Faced with the sudden appearance of this dragon crossing the river, the first moment most newspapers, magazines and newspapers reacted was to find a way to join forces to kill it, or to hollow out its core foundation and make it their own.
.
However, according to Guffey, the editor-in-chief of "The Quibbler", in the weeks before the publication suddenly became popular, some tabloid wizards or reporters with ulterior motives tried to sneak into Mr. Lovegood's home and use some "wizards"
way” in seeking cooperation.
However, more than a month has passed, and there have been no disturbances in the operation of "The New Quibbler." On the contrary, many wizards who had secretly made harsh words to find trouble have never appeared in his "grapevine" since then.
among.
Where have all the troublemakers gone?
What kind of magical power does the mysterious Editor-in-Chief Lovegood have?
What is the layout behind this publication, and what role does Hogwarts and the Ministry of Magic play in it?
Barnabas Guffey didn't dare to think about it, let alone ask. He didn't hope that one day he would be like Rita Skeeter, a special correspondent for the Daily Prophet, and disappear suddenly and silently.
In everyone's sight.
In this way, it is absolutely impossible to join forces to boycott, and it is even more impossible to do something secretly.
According to the originally signed agreement, obediently paying a large sum of compensation and taking the initiative to bear the consequences of breach of contract is the most perfect result in the opinion of the Daily Prophet.
At least Barnabas Guffey believed that Hogwarts, with Dumbledore in charge, was still a reasonable place.
And the Daily Prophet is not alone in making the same decision.
In this way, in Dumbledore's inexplicable mood, after more than a month of publicity expenses, the deposits in the Hogwarts underground vault not only did not decrease, but instead increased a lot of "liquidated damages".
Considering that there is currently no financial pressure at all, Elena simply fully opened the subscription channel for "The New Quibbler", but temporarily set the price of each copy at a nearly free price of 1 copper knut.
Even so, the huge demographic dividend from the wizarding world still makes the coins in the Hogwarts underground vault continue to grow as if they are reproducing themselves - after all, whether it is materials, printing costs, or labor, most of them are
It comes from the output of our own people, and even the raw materials for paper are now uniformly grown in the Hogwarts Botanical Garden.
In order to solve the "mail channel" gap caused by the withdrawal of mainstream newspapers such as "The Daily Prophet" from cooperation, Hogwarts had to invest additional money to purchase a large number of fat, round-faced chickens. Some of them were bred in the school tower, and more were bred in Los Angeles.
Next to Mr. Fugood's cabin.
Of course, Dumbledore did not let Elena intervene in these specific matters.
Albus Dumbledore still remembers the phrase "Hogwarts Chicken Farm" he accidentally heard from the children in the orphanage at the dinner table by Loch Lomond a few months ago.
He was worried that once the little one like Elena came into contact with those poor owls, they would become the next batch of big herrings from the Black Lake of Hogwarts - with the students' preference for fish cooking
The number of wild fish in the lake has decreased rapidly. Last week, Hogwarts took the initiative to release fish fry into the Black Lake and issued a temporary fishing ban.
What makes Dumbledore more reassured is that since October, Elena has been acting particularly calm.
On the other hand, a moderate flu suddenly broke out in Hogwarts this month. Perhaps it was because of running around the lake and the Forbidden Forest for a long time. Several girls who were close to Elena,
They have always been a little sick.
Even Elena sneezed several times for a few days, and her whole person was slightly more depressed than before.
These days, except for some complaints about Professor Sprout forbidding her from going to [Helga's Dungeon] alone, there hasn't been much out of the ordinary in terms of behavior. She either stays in the library every night with Hermione and others.
Organize manuscripts, or cook delicious food in various common rooms.
What makes the professors even more happy is that after a month of rest, Professor Binns finally recovered.
As the dedicated ghost professor returned to the [History of Magic] class, Mr. Otto, who was temporarily taking over as a substitute teacher, naturally happily quit his job and became a "retired veteran" again, occasionally helping Mr. Filch on inspection tours.
Get to the castle.
………
In such peaceful daily life, time finally came to the last day of October.
At the same time, it is also one of the most popular and popular festivals of the year in the Western world, Halloween.
Compared with Christmas, this festival originated from the Druids and ancient Rome, to a certain extent, can be regarded as the most important day in the magic world - it is said that on this day, witches and ghosts are
The absolute protagonist.
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(PS: Halloween is on November 1st, and Halloween is on October 31st, which is similar to the relationship between Christmas Eve and Christmas. People’s main celebrations take place before nightfall on this day, not the next day.)