My Hogwarts has a serious problem.

Chapter 204, Section 201: The Vanishing Lockhart

Lynn hadn't been in the wizarding world for very long, but he discovered a common problem among wizards, at least among European wizards.

Just like the legendary dragons, they like to hide things that are shiny and golden.

Especially among pure-blood families, with the exception of the Weasleys, almost every family has a vault in Gringotts.

That's right, it's about opening a vault and depositing money there, which is different from depositing money in a bank.

Bank deposits earn you interest, but a vault is like a bank safe deposit box; not only do you not earn interest, you also have to pay Gringotts a large sum of money.

Just as in ancient China, large sums of gold were buried underground with their owners in their tombs, in the magical world, large amounts of Galleons do not circulate in the market but are stored in vaults.

This habit is very bad, and old John was a severe case of hoarding gold.

"You bought...you bought twelve pure-blood families?" Old John asked, somewhat stammering.

Lynn explained her plan to him step by step.

"Of course we can't just throw money in their faces and say they're under our control from now on. The reason they can become Hogwarts' board members must be because they have their own businesses. Otherwise, the school's annual expenses are a huge sum of money, and they simply can't afford to keep living off their savings. They also have their own family businesses to support these expenses."

"With industries involved in the market, controlling them becomes quite simple. I've looked at the share deeds in Vault 63; we basically hold shares in companies across every sector of the magical world?"

Old John reported to Lynn.

"Yes, apart from companies like Floo Powder that are regulated by the Ministry of Magic, we are involved in almost every industry that the magical world is involved in right now. Among them, we have absolute control over industries such as flying brooms, potions, materials related to magical creatures, and magic books."

"Then we should identify the pillar industries of these companies, throw money at them, cut off their market share, and acquire their companies when they can no longer sustain themselves."

But remember to take it slow and don't let them find anything wrong. First, paint a rosy picture for them. The reason for acquiring their company is that you want to establish an all-encompassing enterprise in the magical world. This enterprise has a very bright future, and wizards cannot live without it. This enterprise can even completely control the economy of the magical world.

You need to promise them a way out, such as allowing them to hold a certain number of shares in the company, without participating in management, but receiving dividends every year. To show your sincerity, you can have a lot of dividend shares in this company, and you also need to actually invest money in it, and invest more than they do.

Like boiling a frog in lukewarm water, the strategy is to gradually bankrupt the company over a year, causing them to lose all their money. By the time they realize something is wrong, they'll be penniless. Or perhaps, they'll still have a little bit of their ancestral savings left for their funerals.

Yelena felt a chill run down her spine as she listened to Lynn's wicked scheme.

Is this really something a thirteen or fourteen-year-old child could do?

Old John hadn't thought of any of this; he was already considering Lynn's plan and calculating its feasibility.

"Young master, this is possible, but..." Old John said reluctantly, "if we have to invest more than them, we'll end up losing a lot of money."

Lynn raised an eyebrow.

"How much did you lose?"

The assets of the twelve families are not so easy to calculate, but old John can make a rough estimate.

"At least half of the money in the vault is going to be lost."

Lynn stroked his chin: "The loss wasn't that much, only a little over three million."

Yelena: "..."

"It's already a huge loss, young master," Old John said with a bitter face. "Lengard owns nearly half of the company's shares in the magical world, and it took almost five generations to accumulate these six million Galleons."

"Why save money?" Lynn waved his hand. "Money doesn't generate more money. Saving it is useless except for paying storage fees and causing it to depreciate. However..."

He lowered his head, appearing deep in thought.

"It wouldn't be good to just let it go to waste like this. So let's set up two companies. You'll be in charge of one, mainly to acquire those twelve family businesses and integrate them into one large company. Your team will run the second one, copying the business model of the first one. The two companies will compete, and the second company will squeeze out the market and assets of the first one. You'll be in charge of the management of both companies. It's so easy to bring down the first one without being discovered. It's like transferring money from one hand to the other. In the end, the second company will bleed the first one dry and grow stronger until it goes bankrupt. In this way, we won't lose money, and we might even make a profit."

Yelena: "."

Old John: "."

What grudge could they possibly have?

This is what Yelena is thinking at this moment.

Why bother going to a magic academy with this kind of background? Inheriting the Lungard family fortune and ruling the wizarding world through business is much better than studying at Hogwarts, isn't it?

This is what old John is thinking at this moment.

Lynn's plan would be absolutely illegal in the Muggle world, but in the wizarding world, their laws are far from perfect. Even Arthur Weasley knew to leave backdoors for himself when writing laws, and the loopholes in magical laws are countless.

So even if the twelve families eventually discover this, they can't get the Ministry of Magic to arbitrate.

"If that's the case, then we won't have to completely tear each other apart in the end." Lynn leaned back leisurely on the sofa, crossed his legs, and took a sip of the now lukewarm black tea.

"After all, we're not bad people. Our ultimate goal isn't to swindle them out of their money. As long as they're sensible enough to sell us the Hogwarts board of directors, we can take a stake in their second, blood-sucking company."

Old John doesn't care about the fate of those twelve families; right now, he's just helping Lynn refine his plan.

"That certainly seems feasible, but can that all-encompassing company you mentioned really make money while avoiding losses?"

"So what if we don't make money?" Lynn said nonchalantly. "At worst, we can just break it down into several smaller companies and merge them into our wholly-owned company. In the end, we'll still make a profit. Don't forget, we've already taken the capital from those twelve families. And we've also achieved our most fundamental goal: the power of the Hogwarts Board of Governors will fall into our hands."

"Brilliant! Young Master's methods are truly brilliant!" After Lynn's explanation, Old John sincerely praised him.

"Of course, the implementation of the specific plan will still be handled by you and your team. I can only give you a general direction and goals at most."

Lynn looked at Old John seriously: "Remember, our fundamental goal is to obtain a seat on the Hogwarts Board of Governors. Making money or not making money is secondary. Even if we end up losing more than three million Galleons, it doesn't matter. As long as we achieve our fundamental goal, we'll still make a profit."

"I understand." Old John had fully embraced the role of butler.

Of course, settling things with the Hogwarts Board of Governors is only the first step. Even if Lynn is nominally the only member of the Board of Governors at Hogwarts, it's all just empty talk if the Ministry of Magic is willing to issue an educational order.

However, in the West, the most difficult people to deal with have always been capitalists, not politicians. As long as the money is enough, those so-called politicians are just a bunch of opportunists. This is true for both Muggles and wizarding worlds.

Yelena and Lynn stayed with Old John for a long time. At noon, the old butler showed off his culinary skills to Lynn. In the afternoon, they finalized the details of their plan to acquire Hogwarts before finally getting up to say goodbye as evening approached.

Before Lynn returned to England, Yelena and he took a walk together in the small village in Switzerland.

"Why do you want to buy Hogwarts so badly?" Yelena asked, puzzled.

"I've told you before, it's very simple, it's just because I like Hogwarts." Lynn wasn't lying to Yelena, he was telling the truth. "Also, here's a piece of advice: if you want Lan Kingdom to become strong, then education is the foundation of everything."

"Currently, Lan Country does not have its own magic school. If young wizards in our country want to go to school, they can only go to the Beauxbatons School of Magic in France."

Lynn shrugged and said, "Indeed, building a magic academy is no easy feat; it simply cannot be accomplished without a certain foundation."

At this point in the conversation, both of them suddenly fell silent.

They walked another hundred meters or so before Lynn broke the silence between them.

"Alright, that's enough for today. I should head back now."

Yelena pursed her lips as she looked at him.

"Even if you go to Hogwarts in the future, remember to keep in touch with me."

Lynn raised an eyebrow and looked at her: "Why?"

Yelena walked up to him and, taking advantage of her height, ruffled Lynn's hair with both hands.

"Because I'm your sister Yelena! Sister! Ah!"

She emphasized the word "sister" heavily, but Lynn didn't pay attention to the hidden meaning in her words and instead broke free from her clutches.

"Hey! That's going too far!"

"Isn't it natural for an older sister to touch her younger brother's head?"

Lynn didn't go straight home; he planned to finish all the tasks Dumbledore had given him that day.

So before the sun had completely set, Kira led Lynn to a house in Devonshire.

Gilderoy Lockhart, a star wizard in the British magical world, is the dream lover of everyone from 11-year-old girls to 80-year-old grandmothers. But Lynn knows very well that the real Lockhart is actually a fraud who is proficient in the Oblivion Charm.

None of his adventures were actually his own; they were based on other people's accounts. He used a forgetting spell to alter the memories of those people and then stole those adventures, claiming they were his own stories.

Now this conman wants to add the identity of a Hogwarts professor to his resume, and also use that to make another fortune. However, after that, Dumbledore lost contact with him, and no one knew what had happened to the guy, so he sent Lynn to Lockhart's house to check on him.

In contrast to Lockhart's flamboyant personality, his residence is quite low-key, which is actually quite reasonable. If his residence were exposed, some crazy fans might block his door every day and do who knows what.

Lynn stood in front of the house and rang the doorbell, but there was no response from inside.

He hesitated for a moment, looking at the closed door, but finally decided to call Kira over.

"Use the unlocking spell to open the door."

Lynn hadn't forgotten that the trail still lingered around him. While he could use magic with impunity in the Soviet Union, he would have to be more careful once he returned to England. (Note)

Kira executed Lynn's command perfectly, extending its long fingers and casting a lock-picking spell on the Lockhart's door.

Lynn pushed open the door and went inside. The house was messy, but not the kind of mess that looked like it had been burgled or had a fight. It was just normal mess. The homeowner had very slovenly living habits. Lynn even found a pair of unwashed men's underwear on the sofa.

He didn't linger around Lockhart's house. After confirming that Lockhart wasn't home and there were no signs that he had been dragged from his house, he left.

Without any clues, Lockhart seemed to have vanished into thin air.

However, this was not a matter for Lynn to worry about. He was just here to help Dumbledore take a look around, and he did not say that he would help him find the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor.

Kira and Lynn were not at Lynn's house this evening.

Hermione is teaching Umaru basic life skills here.

Why does lightning appear in the sky?

"Because there are thunder gods and lightning goddesses in the sky!"

Hermione looked at her blankly: "What's that?"

Little Umaru swung her legs in front of the desk and said in a serious tone, "It's a myth that Lynn told me. There's not only the Thunder God and Lightning Goddess, but also the Wind Goddess and Rain Master. If someone lies, they will release thunder and lightning to punish the lying child."

"Then your brother Lynn will definitely be the first to be struck by lightning," Hermione said expressionlessly.

Umaru asked, puzzled, "Why?"

"Because he's the biggest liar in the world." Hermione said through gritted teeth, as if some unpleasant memory had been triggered. "We're not talking about myths today, but common sense. So do you know how lightning is actually generated?"

"I don't know," Umaru replied firmly.

"Lightning is produced by the collision and friction of clouds in the sky. The reason why we see lightning before we hear thunder is because light travels faster than sound."

Hermione was speaking earnestly, but Umaru had no interest in listening. Today, the two powerful figures who usually weighed heavily on her were not home, so she rarely had a moment to be unrestrained.

"Shall we do something fun, Hermione?"

Hermione tapped her little head with the book.

"Learning is an interesting thing."

Umaru said slyly, "How about we go see what treasure Lynn is hiding in her room?"

Hermione was stunned for a moment, and she pinched the hem of her clothes.

"This isn't a good idea."

"If you don't want to go, I'll go alone, okay?"

Umaru jumped off the chair and happily skipped upstairs.

Hermione's face showed struggle. She hesitated for three seconds before finally speaking to herself.

"I'm going to stop her."

She also left the living room.

"That's right, I'm going to stop her. How can I go into Lynn's room without his permission?"

(Note) The second difficulty: You are not yet an adult, which means you still have tracing marks on your body.

"I don't--"

"Traces, traces!" Mad-Eye said impatiently. "The spell that detects magical activities by wizards under the age of seventeen. The Ministry of Magic uses it to find out if minors are using magic! If you, or anyone around you, cast a spell to get you out of here, Sinkness will know, and the Death Eaters will know too."

This is from the original Deathly Hallows story, which explicitly states that the threads are on the young wizard's body, not his wand.

Also, tomorrow is Lunar New Year's Eve. If I can find the time, I will try my best to update. If I can't, I will send a leave request before 10 pm and make up for it after the New Year.

Okay, that's all for today.

(End of this chapter)