Hogwarts Raven's Claw

Chapter 216 Lockhart's Special Hobby
That afternoon, Mike contacted a special construction team to come here to discuss the construction of the factory.

This construction team was actually the same one that had built the amphitheater for the dueling tournament. Mike had asked Lockhart for their contact information long before the holiday.

This construction team called Geno Construction is made up of wizards and house-elves. Their fees are higher than those of ordinary Muggle construction teams, but they are truly worth the money.

Because their construction speed is quite magical, the quality of the things they build is also very good, and they also have a warranty! If the building is damaged to a certain extent within a certain period of time, they will come to repair it for free.

The most important thing is that they can also add spells to the buildings according to the customer's requirements.

There are all kinds of spells to choose from, including the most common Muggle-repelling spell and concealment spell, as well as the rare counter-magic mechanism and traceless extension spell. Even the person in charge of this construction team told Mike very obscurely that they can also add the strongest protective spell to the house, the Fidelius Charm!

I believe that friends who have read the original book carefully know what the Fidelius Charm is. It is the spell that Harry's parents cast on their house to protect Harry.

This is an extremely complex magic that can hide a secret forever in the soul of a living person. The living person chosen to hide this secret is called a secret keeper.

When the secret hidden by the Fidelius spell is the location of a house, you will not be able to find the house even if it is right in front of you unless the secret keeper reveals it on his own initiative.

This effect seems to be similar to that of the Concealment Charm, but the effect of the Fidelius Charm is much stronger than the Concealment Charm.

You have to know that even Voldemort was able to find Harry only because the Secret Keeper leaked the secret.

After learning that the construction team was able to cast the Fidelius Spell, Mike chose to let them build his factory without hesitation.

Although his factory did not need to be protected by such advanced magic as the Fidelius Charm, the fact that they were able to set up the Fidelius Charm was enough to prove the strength of this construction team.

After referring to the terrain and environment of the site, the construction team came up with three construction plans.

The first type is a fully wooden shed-roofed factory building.

This type of factory building is extremely poor in terms of both livability and sturdiness, but it is cheap.

Since there are dense jungles all around, most of the materials for building the factory can be sourced locally. Geno Construction quoted a price of 1000 gold galleons for this construction plan.

The second type is slightly better and is made of brick.

The third option is the best, a mixture of brick, stone and wood, a super-large factory building plus collective employee dormitories. The plan also includes a protective magic package and a fine decoration package, which include large versions of several commonly used protective magic spells such as the Muggle-Repelling Charm.

However, the third option is also the most expensive, costing up to 10000 gold galleons.

Mike decided on the third most expensive option without blinking an eye.

This is not because Mike is too rich, but because the construction payment can be paid in installments and the interest is pitifully low.

After the contract was signed on the spot, the person in charge who came to negotiate was very happy. In fact, the business situation of their construction team was not optimistic. First of all, the market of the British wizarding world was too small. Secondly, the wealthy old aristocrats generally owned their own ancestral homes, while ordinary wizards would choose to build their own houses or buy ready-made Muggle houses.

Based on this situation, their main customers are actually the newly rich upstarts, the type who can make a living for three years without opening a business for three years.

How could Mike and Lockhart not be happy when they had contributed two orders in less than a year?

After saying goodbye to Mike and others, the person in charge immediately used the door key to return to the company to arrange work. When Mike and the Weasley brothers were about to leave half an hour later, they found that many black spots had appeared in the distant sky. Upon closer inspection, they found that the person in charge had come to the scene again with a group of construction workers.

So, under the watchful eyes of Mike and others, the person in charge directed the wizards in blue uniforms to take out various building materials from the bags of Traceless Stretching Spells they carried with them, and then quickly built a fireplace.

Immediately afterwards, a team of wizards began to level the ground, and more wizards continued to walk out of the fireplace, carrying building materials back and forth.

The three Weasley brothers were stunned, because ordinary fireplaces cannot be used for teleportation. If you want to teleport into them, you must connect to the Floo Network. And the application of the Floo Network is extremely slow. Now the construction team has built a fireplace and can teleport immediately, which makes them very surprised.

Mike was not surprised at all. A wizard construction team like theirs must have its own complete logistics system if they had been in business for so long, and the inexpensive and high-quality Floo Network was of course the best choice.

As for why they don't need to apply for a permit to build new fireplaces, that must be a classic case of power and money.

The construction team was very efficient. In just one hour, they dug out a rectangular foundation 10 meters deep on the land burned by the Weasley brothers. This surprised Mike a little. You know, this amount of work might not be completed in half a month in the Muggle world.

It was the first time for the three Weasley brothers and Arthur to see such a large construction site, so they watched with great interest.

But Mike was not interested in this, so he asked Shuke to take him back to his home.

Mike was not idle after returning home. He had to go to Lockhart again.

Lockhart still has a novel about him. Since he wants to promote the Dolphin Magic Drink which will be on sale soon, he has to do it all at once. Not only can he rely on the influence of the Daily Prophet, but Lockhart must also mobilize his crazy fans to buy it.

However, when Mike used the fireplace to teleport directly to Lockhart's house, he unexpectedly discovered that Lockhart did not allow him to teleport.

The bad thing about Floo Network fireplace teleportation is that, except for fireplaces in public places like the Leaky Cauldron, you need the other person's consent if you want to teleport to a private fireplace.

So Mike had no choice but to go to Lockhart's house in person angrily.

……

It was already evening when Mike arrived at Lockhart's house according to the address Lockhart had given him.

Mike looked at the brightly lit large villa and the faint music and feminine laughter coming from the villa, and the veins on his fists slowly emerged.

Although Lockhart's house was big, it did not have many defensive facilities. Mike didn't even use his wand and kicked open the door.

When Mike followed the sound to a huge room on the second floor, the scene that appeared in front of him made even this veteran sigh that Lockhart really knows how to play. On the ceiling of the room, the magic lamp that was supposed to emit soft white light was now flashing colorful lights, and right below the magic lamp were dozens of men and women dancing to the music of the automatic musical instrument suspended in the air.

A large number of empty wine bottles and clothes were scattered on the floor of the room, and the air was filled with an unpleasant smell of alcohol and deodorant.

All of this is very similar to a bar or discos in the Muggle world, the only difference is the people who are dancing.

Or rather, dancing creatures.

In the center of the room, a number of scantily clad female magical creatures of various shapes and forms were twisting together with several wizards.

The largest of them was a female centaur, who was carrying a thin wizard with his ribs exposed, dancing to the music and making shameless noises. The wizard on its back was holding his hands below the neck, as if he was holding on to the saddle.

In addition, Mike also found a veela with silver hair like Fleur on the dance floor. Its silver hair sparkled brightly under the flashing colorful light of the magic lamp, and the two wizards were so fascinated that they almost drooled.

Strangely, there was no sign of Lockhart in the room. Mike walked in the dim room looking for Lockhart, and finally found him at the bar in a corner.

Lockhart was holding a goblet of red wine and talking to someone.

Due to the perspective, Mike did not see who was sitting opposite Lockhart, but based on Lockhart's constant touching of the other person, he could infer that it should be a woman.

However, when Mike went around to the side, he discovered that the person flirting with Lockhart was actually a female fairy with short stature, pointed ears, big head and gray skin!
Looking at the heavily made-up face of the female fairy and Lockhart's obsessed expression, Mike couldn't help but open his mouth in shock.

It turns out Lockhart's taste is so unique!

Goblins' night vision is much stronger than humans', so when Mike walked around to a place not far from Lockhart's side, the female goblin sitting opposite him had already discovered Mike. After the female goblin asked him, Lockhart suddenly turned his head and looked at Mike, and the expression on his face suddenly became extremely ugly.

"Mike! Why are you here?!"

Mike felt a little embarrassed when faced with Lockhart's question.

After all, he hadn't come here with any ill intentions, but he happened to see Lockhart doing something special.

"I have something to talk to you about, but the access to your fireplace doesn't seem to be open to me, so I came directly to your door."

"Dear Mr. Mac! You should know this, right? When you are the only one who refuses your application for Floo Network transmission, it means that he does not welcome you now." Lockhart slammed the table and roared, "Can't you send me a letter first so that I can prepare a little?"

The noise Lockhart made was so loud that it even drowned out the noisy music nearby, thus attracting the attention of the "knight" nearby.

Apparently Lockhart noticed this as well, so before Mike could reply he pulled him into a bright room next door.

Mike looked at the room which was decorated in pink and had various 'heavy toys' hanging on the walls. He tried his best not to laugh out loud, but the corners of his mouth couldn't help but twitch.

"Laugh if you want to! A well-known best-selling author, a handsome man with countless female fans, and a winner of the third-level Merlin badge! He actually likes to be with goblins in private! How funny! Right!" Lockhart's face darkened, and he walked around the room, gesticulating and saying, "If this gets out, I will become the laughing stock of the entire wizarding world, and it's all your fault, Mike!"

Mike almost couldn't help laughing when he heard the first half of the conversation, but after hearing the second half, especially when Lockhart started pointing his finger at him, the expression on his face suddenly darkened.

"Don't point that finger of yours at me. If it happens again, I guarantee you won't be able to use it again!" Mike knocked Lockhart's hand away and said gloomily, "Please understand the current situation! I am the one who has the upper hand!"

Lockhart gasped and shook his hand which was hurt by Mike's beating. He wanted to talk back, but after seeing Mike's cold eyes, his body immediately stiffened, and finally he collapsed on the huge bed with a pale face.

"Tell me what you want from me." Lockhart said desperately.

"It's nothing, actually. It's just that novel of yours. You should have finished it by now, right?"

"Yes, what do you want to do?"

Mike walked to the bedside, looked down at Lockhart and said, "Revise it for me and add more advertisements about Dolphin Magic Drink. You know what advertising is, right? If you don't, forget it. Anyway, you just need to praise Dolphin Magic Drink to death. Then, wait for me to notify you when to send the book. You can only send it when I tell you to, understand?"

After Mike finished speaking, the expression on Lockhart's face suddenly became dull, and he lay on the bed, staring at Mike blankly.

Suddenly, Lockhart sat up abruptly and said in a voice that rose an octave: "Is that what you want?"

"Yes."

"Then why did you come here in person?" Lockhart looked straight at Mike, "Wouldn't it be enough to just write me a letter?"

"I just asked you if you can do it!"

Seeing the increasingly distorted expression on Mike's face, Lockhart quickly reacted and nodded in agreement.

Seeing that Lockhart was so obedient, Mike didn't say anything more. It was getting late and he needed to hurry home to have dinner with Professor Flitwick and the others.

So under Lockhart's guidance, Mike deliberately bypassed the room that looked like a bar or disco and came to a room on the side with a fireplace.

"Okay, I'm leaving." Mike grabbed a handful of Floo powder from the jar beside the fireplace and walked into the fireplace. "You can continue to look for your goblin girlfriend, but you must promise to finish the manuscript for me before the day after tomorrow. Do you understand?"

"Yes! I understand." Lockhart replied to Mike weakly, and then his expression became awkward. He lowered his head and hesitated for a long time before slowly saying, "Um...this matter today...you won't tell anyone, right?"

Lockhart lowered his head and waited for a long time without any response from Mike. He looked up and found that the fireplace in front of him was empty. Mike had already teleported away.

(End of this chapter)