Harry Potter and the Great Old Ones

Chapter 370: Driving the tiger and swallowing the wolf
"Hmm," Alastomodi didn't directly answer Gilderoy's question. Instead, he stiffened his expression and used his magic eye to sizing Gilderoy up and down—

“You sound like you know a lot, Gilderoy Lockhart,” Moody said. “This whole thing sounds like you orchestrated it yourself.”

“My job used to be to think like a dark wizard, Professor Moody.”

"Gidrolohart" said with a smile.

Batistuta Moody Jr.: ? ? ?

Why do these lines sound so familiar?
“That won’t solve anything, Alastor,” Dumbledore interrupted helplessly. “The real question is, what is the conspiracy behind this?”

“No!” Cornelius Fudge asserted at this moment, “There was no conspiracy! What happened to Batty Crouch was an unfortunate and terrible accident.”

“This is no accident!” Dumbledore growled impatiently. “Cornelly, you must understand this.”

"This is an accident!" Cornelius Fudge said firmly. "This is the story that will be in the Daily Prophet tomorrow! I will never cancel the Triwizard Tournament! I will never be seen as a coward! The wizarding world needs a strong leadership team to draw strength from, Dumbledore!"

“A true leader is wise and decisive, and does not care what others think, much less draw strength from their opinions of him,” Dumbledore retorted.

"What are you saying?" Cornelius Fudge approached Dumbledore's desk like a lit bomb. "What did you just say?"

"Excuse me, gentlemen," Professor Moody suddenly interrupted, then waved his wand toward the door, and the door to the headmaster's office slowly opened.

“I think our conversation is no longer private,” Moody said.

Harry stood blankly outside the door, seemingly raising his hand as if to knock on the headmaster's office door.

“Oh, Harry!” Cornelius Fudge instantly put on a kind, grandfatherly smile and opened his arms to Harry. “It’s so nice to see you again.”

“I can come later,” Harry said nervously.

“There’s no need for that.” Dumbledore stood up from behind his desk. “We’re almost done talking, and the Minister is about to leave.”

As he spoke, Dumbledore smiled and patted Cornelius Fudge on the shoulder.

It seemed as if their argument had never happened at all.

This made Tiera secretly marvel.

It has to be said that he truly lives up to his reputation as a cunning old fox who dared to challenge Grindelwald. His Sichuan opera face-changing skills are masterful.

“Harry, how have you been lately?” Fudge walked over with a smile and shook hands with Harry. “I heard that your three projects are going quite well.”

“It’s fine.” Harry wasn’t telling the truth. “Thank you for the compliment.”

“Professor, I want to talk to you,” Harry said hurriedly as Dumbledore approached. Dumbledore gave him a sharp look. “Wait here for me. I’ll be right back.”

"Oh, by the way, Harry, you can have some licorice while you wait for me," Dumbledore said, picking up a piece of candy from the bowl on the center table of his office and peeling it as he spoke.

"But I have to warn you, they're a bit aggressive."

After Dumbledore finished speaking, everyone in the office silently walked away from Harry and closed the door.

About a minute later, Harry heard Moody's wooden prosthetic leg fading away in the downstairs hallway.

Harry, feeling both bored and curious, began to look around Dumbledore's office.
After seeing Fudge off, Gilderoy Lockhart was about to leave, but—"Mr. Lockhart, would you be willing to stay at Hogwarts for a while?" Dumbledore asked, "as Hogwarts' security advisor, to look after the young wizards for me."

Dumbledore's idea was simple: there was already an unknown Death Eater spy within Hogwarts, and a huge conspiracy was brewing. Dumbledore himself had no clue what to do, and it was obvious that Tyrell was also up to her own agenda. So why not bring another force into the mix, using one force to devour another? With the two forces clashing, Dumbledore might be able to get a glimpse of the bigger picture, expose the Death Eater hiding in Hogwarts, and even wipe out both evil forces in one fell swoop.

"hehe."

Gilderoy Lockhart chuckled. "Sorry, I refuse."

After saying that, she stepped out of the Hogwarts school gates, "But I will come to watch my son's third competition."

Then "Gidrolohart" vanished in a flash.

That old geezer is wicked; he wants to use me as a pawn.

Tierra's purpose in disguising herself as "Jidro Lockhart" was to expose the ulterior motives of the dutiful son, Barty Moody, and to betray him on the spot, thus disgusting Connelly Fudge.

It seems that because "Giddy Lockhart" had been too friendly before, Connelly Fudge had a misconception:
"Gidrolockhart" is my subordinate, and can be used by me.

Cornelius Fudge's summoning of "Giddy Lockhart" to Hogwarts reveals the beginnings of this kind of thinking in Fudge.

So today, Gilderoy Lockhart tricked him so that when Cornelius needs Gilderoy Lockhart's help in the future, it will be done through a transaction, rather than an order.

Tierra believed that the time would soon come when Connelly Fudge would need her help—

For example, when a noseless monster is resurrected, and Cornelius Fudge needs to do his best to smear Dumbledore.

Tiera captured Ritaskita not just for fun and to conduct experiments, but more so to eliminate a rival.

Although Rita Skitta's character is questionable, the credibility she has built up over the years with the backing of The Daily Prophet is still considerable.

After Tiera captures Ritaskita, Cornelius Fudge will most likely switch to writing for "Gidro Lockhart".

Tiera didn't care how much compensation Connelly Fudge offered; what she cared about was the credibility and influence Connelly Fudge personally bestowed upon her.

If Cornelius Fudge dares to commission Gilderoy Lockhart to write articles smearing Dumbledore, Tierra is confident that within a year of fifth grade, he can completely transfer all the discourse power and credibility held by the Daily Prophet to The Quibbler.

This is why Tiera was in such a hurry to complete all the calculations and preparations for the ascension ceremony this semester—

Because he will need to spend a lot of time and energy next semester, using the credibility and influence he has gained to spread his message widely.

Despite all that has happened this semester, Tierra is prepared to stick to the original plan.

Although he could embark on the path to godhood at any time, his anchors were not very firm, and he had been tricked by Merlin, that reckless fool, and had not taken the "Trinity" path to godhood. Tiera wanted to spend more time stabilizing his anchors and adding more bonds to increase his chances of returning to the mortal world from the divine dimension.

This is similar to the critical hit rate enhancement of Onmyoji's Soul Set. Even if you have a 99% critical hit rate, as long as it's not 100%, there's still a 1% chance of encountering a situation where you don't get a critical hit.

Starting today, I wish all the students taking the college entrance exam the best of luck, success, and admission to their ideal universities.

I'll go to bed early tonight and finish the exams all at once. It'll be Wednesday, and then the climax of the story will officially begin.

By the way, please vote with monthly tickets and recommendations!
Thank you
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(End of this chapter)