Hogwarts Raven's Claw

Chapter 196 Mike's Salary Demand

Mike returned to the dormitory, changed into a plain robe, and left the lounge again. He could put the matter of contacting Abbott aside for the time being. Anyway, the nightmare seed had been planted in Dolphin, and he could be monitored in real time, so there was no need to worry about him doing anything unexpected.

After quickly leaving the tower and walking through the maze-like corridors, Mike finally arrived at the door of the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor's office on the second floor.

Mike obviously had no respect for Lockhart. He pushed the door open and walked in without even knocking.

The layout of Lockhart's office was similar to the last time Mike came. The air was filled with a greasy smell. When Mike pushed the door open, Lockhart was kissing a letter. He was obviously startled when he suddenly saw Mike come in. He hurriedly put the letter down and wiped his mouth with his sleeve.

"Um, Mike, it's been a long time." Lockhart said with an awkward smile, "I'm replying to my fans. Well, you know, some fans want some small gifts, and my kiss is the best gift for them."

Faced with Lockhart's somewhat perverted behavior, Mike felt really disgusted.

Without responding to Lockhart, Mike looked at Lockhart from beginning to end, and suddenly discovered that there was a cup of liquid on Lockhart's table that was still emitting a faint red light.

Mike looked into the cupboard next to him and found an opened bottle of wine with a year written on it in white paint: 1820.

"Professor Lockhart, it looks like your quality of life has improved recently. You're drinking such good wine." Mike said as he walked with his hands behind his back, "You must have made a fortune recently."

"It's okay, it's okay. This bottle of 1820 Starlight Red Wine tastes really good. Although it's a little expensive, it's worth it. Why don't you try it?" A bright smile broke out on Lockhart's face, and he was about to stand up to pour wine for Mike.

Mike, on his part, was unmoved. To be honest, he had no idea whether the bottle of wine was expensive or not. What he just said was just nonsense. If you asked him to comment on the wine in the Muggle world, he could still tell you, but as for the wine in the wizarding world, he really knew nothing about it.

"Come on, Lockhart, I'm not yet of age."

"Yes, yes! Look at my memory!" Lockhart patted his head and said, "Mike, you performed so well that I forgot your age."

"Okay, let's stop talking nonsense. I already know that you used the match between me and Cedric to set up a solitary confinement." Mike's face suddenly turned serious, and he walked to Lockhart's desk and shouted, "I am very angry, Lockhart, what do you say we should do about this?"

"What...what should I do?"

"Don't play dumb at this point!" Mike slammed his fist on the desk. The loud noise made Lockhart, who was sitting in the chair, tremble violently. "I don't care how much money you make, I want half!"

After saying that, Mike picked up the glass of red wine on Lockhart's table and poured the wine, which was still glowing red, onto the letter that Lockhart had just kissed.

At this moment, Mike was surprised to find that the letter was signed by Hermione Granger.

Mike frowned when he saw the name for the first time. He didn't think there was anything wrong with Hermione's admiration for Lockhart. After all, she was just a teenage girl and it was normal for her to be idolized.

But now Lockhart is still using this kind of hickey letter, which is really disgusting.

'It seems that I need to intervene appropriately.'

Thinking of this, Mike cleaned the wine glass, then poured half a glass of wine again and put it to his nose to smell it.

Instantly, a strong aroma of wine wafted into Mike's nose, causing him to nod with satisfaction.

Just by the smell, Mike could tell that this bottle of wine must be worth a lot of money.

Lockhart, who was sitting nearby, finally spoke after quietly watching what Mike did.

"You want half, but that's impossible. This solitary confinement was proposed by Ludo Bagman, and most of the generous Dukes were recruited by him, so I only got 2% myself."

"Oh? Then what's your 20%?"

Faced with Mike's aggressive questioning, beads of sweat appeared on Lockhart's forehead.

To be honest, he really wanted to report a smaller number to fool Mike, but seeing that Mike was like this, he would probably go back to find Ludo Bagman, and then his lie would be exposed.

Before the duel competition, Lockhart might not care about such trivial matters, and might even fight back directly, but now it is different. As the referee of the duel competition, he knows very well how terrifying Mike's strength is. He is simply a monster. Lockhart swears that he has never seen anyone who can possess such terrifying strength in the second grade. I am afraid that only Voldemort and Dumbledore back then can be compared with him.

And I heard that Mike is very close to the eldest son of the Hunter family. If I offend him, I will definitely be in trouble.

Thinking of this, Lockhart reached out and smoothed his sweat-soaked bangs, and said in a hoarse voice: "Excluding the cost, I got a total of 1500 gold galleons. I have already spent 500, and there are 1000 left..."

Mike raised his glass and took a sip, as if he hadn't heard what Lockhart said.

Suddenly, an indescribable unknown aroma combined with the unique sweetness of red wine rushed up to Mike's throat, making Mike close his eyes and remain silent for a long time.

It was not until Lockhart, who was waiting beside him, became a little anxious that Mike opened his eyes, stretched out his left hand, and said two words lightly: "Give it to me."

Lockhart was startled by Mike's sudden outstretched hand. He shrank back suddenly, while still shielding his body with his hands, with an extremely terrified expression on his face.

He thought Mike was going to hit him.

Only after hearing Mike's words did Lockhart slowly put down his hand, still holding a glimmer of hope in his heart, and asked, "How much?"

Hearing this, Mike's eyes suddenly became fierce. He glared at Lockhart and squeezed out two words again: "All!"

Lockhart's face suddenly turned pale. He hesitated for a long time before finally taking out a small notebook from the drawer. He opened a page, held the feather pen and tremblingly wrote a string of numbers and his signature on it. Finally, he tore it off and handed it to Mike.

There was no way. Lockhart knew very well that even if there were restrictions in the contract, it would be too easy for Mike to kill him with his current connections.

"This is a check from Gringotts," Lockhart said with a sad face, "with this check you can go to Gringotts and withdraw 1500 gold Galleons."

Lockhart's heart was bleeding. These 1500 gold galleons almost emptied his vault, and now he was a pauper again.

Mike took the check and saw that it clearly stated 1500 gold galleons in black magic ink, and Lockhart's signature was clearly written on the check. Mike suddenly remembered that when he first met Lockhart, Lockhart had boasted that his signature was designed by a master. Today, he saw that it was indeed pleasing to the eye.

After flicking the check lightly and hearing its crisp sound, Mike finally showed a bright smile on his face.

Picking up the glass and drinking the red wine in it, Mike gave Lockhart a thumbs up.

"The red wine is good." Mike stood up and walked towards the exit. When he was about to leave the office, he suddenly turned back and said, "By the way, if I find out that you did something disgusting like that to Hermione's letter again, you know the consequences."

"boom!"

Mike slammed the door shut, and with a loud bang, Lockhart, slumped in his office chair, was the only one left in the Defense Against the Dark Arts office.

----------------

Mike happily swung the check back to the Ravenclaw common room. He found that the check felt very good to the touch. The feel and sound of swinging it were excellent. He didn't know what material it was made of.

All his money is now kept in the Traceless Extension Bag. Due to the large amount of money, the Traceless Extension Bag under his bed is now piled up with gold Galleons. It seems that after the holiday, it will be time to go to Gringotts to open an account.

Looking at the number on the check again, Mike felt happy.

He originally only wanted Lockhart to use the remaining 1000 gold Galleons, but he didn't expect Lockhart to give him an additional 500 gold Galleons. It seems that writing novels is quite profitable.

Fortunately, Lockhart didn't hear this, otherwise no matter how powerful Mike was, he would have to fight with Mike. That was the hard-earned money he earned by typing.

Before I knew it, the eagle-head door knocker appeared before my eyes.

Mike answered the door-opening question in seconds and quickly entered the lounge.

The moment Mike returned to the Ravenclaw common room, he discovered that it was already crowded with people. Everyone was laughing, and from time to time there would be cheers from the crowd.

"Mike! Where have you been? We've been looking for you for a long time!" Franklin said, holding Alfu's head and holding a roasted chicken leg in his hand, "Come on, come on, I saved your favorite Welsh rabbit for you. If you don't come, it will get cold."

After that, Franklin pulled Mike to the sofa chair next to the fireplace where Mike often sat. Penelope had already sat down next to the sofa chair and was eating some snacks.

Mike was a little surprised by this. You know, the lounge was very crowded and many people had no place to sit, so how could this sofa chair be empty?

After asking Franklin, Mike found out that the reason why the lounge was so lively today was because Hogwarts won the Quidditch League championship this year and everyone was celebrating.

This sofa chair was a seat that everyone spontaneously reserved for Mike. This would have been absolutely impossible before. The Ravenclaw eagles were all very proud of it.

But after Mike won the duel competition, almost everyone was convinced.

Sinking comfortably in the sofa chair, Mike cut off a piece of Welsh rabbit and threw it into his mouth to chew.

Seeing Alfu above Franklin's head looking at him eagerly, Mike smiled knowingly, cut another piece and put it into Alfu's already wide-open mouth, followed by a very devilish laugh.

"You seem to be in a good mood."

Penelope also came over at this moment, snuggled in Mike's arms and said lightly.

"Yes, I just made some extra money from Lockhart." Mike didn't hide anything and said bluntly, "There's another funny thing, did you know? Lockhart likes to leave kisses on the letters he replies to fans. Can you imagine that scene? Lockhart puts lipstick on his lips, and then kisses the letters and sends them to fans. Hahahaha."

Penelope imagined the scene that Mike described, and immediately hugged Mike's neck and laughed uncontrollably, but suddenly, the expression on her face became serious.

"You've been drinking!?"

"Uh, just a little bit, really, just a sip. You can smell it all, you are really amazing."

Penelope was obviously not satisfied with Mike's answer. She loosened her arms around Mike's neck and continued, "Who told me last time that underage drinking can cause damage to the nervous system?"

"Okay, let's not talk about this anymore." Mike changed the subject and said, "Let's talk about today's game. Did Roger and his team win beautifully?"

Faced with Mike's lame change of subject, Penelope obviously wanted to say something, but Franklin suddenly jumped out to answer Mike's question.

"In fact, they lost badly today." Franklin said, "Harry caught the Golden Snitch just half an hour into the game, otherwise we wouldn't have come back so early."

“Hahahahahaha!”

Franklin had just finished speaking when Alfu above his head burst into laughter, as if he was mocking the incompetence of Roger and the others.

When Roger and others who were not far away heard the conversation here, the smiles on their faces froze, and their original happiness instantly disappeared.

"How could we lose? Didn't we win the league?" Mike asked in confusion, "Then today's celebration... Oh! I understand!"

Mike figured it out halfway through the question. The Hogwarts Quidditch League adopted a points system. This must be because he had led Roger and his friends to play games crazily and accumulated a large number of points. Therefore, even though Roger and his friends performed poorly later, they still won the championship.

Seeing that Mike had figured out the reason, Franklin stopped explaining and nodded at Mike before joining the revelry crowd again with Ah Fu on his head, taking advantage of the senior students crazily.

After Franklin suddenly changed the subject, Penelope no longer intended to pursue the matter of Mike drinking. She continued to snuggle up to Mike and talked about some interesting things that happened to her recently.

The fire in the fireplace twisted wildly, emitting endless light and heat, echoing the revelry of the people in the lounge.

(End of this chapter)