"A win-win? How so?" Kaster glanced at Cornelius Fudge, then turned to look at Lockhart.

"In fact, I believe that you, who are on the front lines fighting dark magic, have more say than Minister Fudge, who sits in an office."

The British and French magical worlds are right next to each other. Due to some historical reasons, one of the greatest pleasures of government officials on both sides is to watch the gossip happening "next door." Lockhart, though not a top-tier figure, has recently been a hot "gossip" topic.

Especially after he demonstrated his "Dark Lord-level" strength tonight, the British Ministry of Magic, which had previously accused Lockhart, instantly became a clown.

Therefore, as a friendly French wizard, he didn't mind giving Fudge and others a little dig at this time.

"Gentlemen, perhaps we should consider the suggestion of the Turkish Ministry of Magic and immediately gather our forces to counterattack. Although we don't know what they're up to, since the Dark Lord and his followers don't want us to quickly return to the Ministry of Magic, our primary goal is clear - we must not let their plan succeed! As for Armenia, I and a small number of Aurors should be able to easily control the situation."

"Easily... control the situation?" Bones subconsciously retorted, then immediately came to her senses.

The current Gilderoy Lockhart is not the "fraudulent writer" that the British Ministry of Magic thought he was a few hours ago.

Admittedly, Lockhart did lie in his works and public statements. But unlike what people imagined, his depictions of fighting dark magic in his books were actually far below his true strength... While people were still questioning the authenticity of his story about fighting werewolves single-handedly in his book, no one could have imagined that the real Lockhart had single-handedly defeated most of the werewolves in Europe, which was much more outrageous than the novel's plot.

If the various Ministries of Magic hadn't chosen to jump the gun ahead of time tonight, perhaps they still wouldn't know Lockhart's true strength.

Although no one knew why he was hiding his strength and silently fighting dark magic behind the scenes, no one would question this young wizard's ability to control the overall situation based on Lockhart's astonishing performance just now - from today on, there is one more wizard standing at the top of the magical world.

"Werewolves? Of course, I believe your strength can easily handle them-"

The Italian Minister of Magic nodded, glanced around the messy woodland, and continued with a frown.

"But the problem now is that the Floo Network has temporarily collapsed, and no one knows how they did it. Armenia is easier to deal with; we can forcibly break in with Apparition. The dark wizards entrenched in the Armenian Ministry of Magic are not difficult to deal with. But Italy, Britain, Turkey... and so many other countries, if we want to gather our forces to counterattack, first we need to find a safe and stable way to move a large group of people over long distances."

"What about Portkeys?" Amelia Bones pushed up her monocle, trying to offer a suggestion.

"If we had enough time, that wouldn't be a problem, but that's clearly not possible now."

Kaster of the French Ministry of Magic shook his head. Before being promoted to Minister of the French Ministry of Magic, he served as the Director of the French Magical Transportation Department. He immediately rejected this idea. "Making this many Portkeys with this many people, this many times, is not that simple. If you don't want accidents to happen during the transfer, I suggest you don't trust temporary Portkeys... Of course, unless it's Mr. Lockhart..."

As he spoke, he subconsciously turned to look at the young "Dark Lord-level" wizard who was hard to believe.

Apart from a very few "unbalanced" dark wizards, the magical attainments of most "Dark Lord-level" wizards are not to be underestimated, even outside of combat.

"Oh, don't look at me like that. Portkeys are not my specialty - I'm better at memory charms and writing."

Lockhart shrugged. Before the Ministry of Magic officials surrounding him could ask, he changed the subject and continued with a smile.

"But I do have a way to answer your question. Since wizards' magic is temporarily unusable, perhaps we can consider asking the goblins of Gringotts? If I remember correctly, they travel and trade all over the world, and they don't do it through the Floo Network. I heard that the newly enthroned Goblin Queen is very willing to cooperate with wizards. I think she should be able to help us."

"Goblins?" Atif asked with obvious suspicion. The other Ministry of Magic officials around him had the same attitude.

"That's right." Lockhart nodded frankly. "Hogwarts and the British Ministry of Magic are engaged in multi-faceted cooperation with goblins. Perhaps they are still cunning, greedy, and shrewd, but they are never ambiguous in business. They now know how to cooperate with wizards. As long as we give them some insignificant promises and money-making opportunities, they will be the Ministry of Magic's safest allies. Right? Minister Fudge."

Lockhart turned to look at the middle-aged wizard, his smile pure and unchanged. He knew very well how to deal with Ministry of Magic officials.

"I can vouch for that." Cornelius Fudge nodded, echoing Lockhart's statement.

"Since that Goblin Queen appeared, the goblins of Gringotts are obviously easier to communicate with than before - you also know that the right to mint coins at Gringotts has now been transferred to wizards. It turns out that, in some cases, goblins are indeed more trustworthy than some wizards... well."

"For example, our current tax audits and accounting are outsourced to goblins, and the results are quite good."

He didn't mention the agreement between the British Ministry of Magic and the goblins because the Gringotts specialist told him that the British Ministry of Magic had special terms.

This was mainly based on the construction of "Hawkins." The British Ministry of Magic was clearly in a position of greater advantage than other magical governments in terms of financial expenditure, goblin audit specialists, and the Magical Tax Office, so he had to hide it appropriately to prevent the goblins from defecting to someone else.

"From what I've observed, they don't seem to care about the amount of property; they enjoy the process of counting money more-"

Lockhart interjected appropriately, adding, "Minister Fudge is much more experienced than I am in dealing with Gringotts. If you personally negotiate, I believe Gringotts Wizarding Bank will not refuse a surefire profit-making deal. Those dark wizards would never imagine that we could bypass the Floo Network and return to the vicinity of the Ministry of Magic without anyone knowing."

"Don't forget that a few months ago, the Dark Lord and Peter Pettigrew almost bankrupted Gringotts..."

Gilderoy Lockhart mysteriously raised a finger, his smile becoming even brighter, his white teeth gleaming.

"Goblins are quite vengeful."

…………

"Thinking about it carefully, goblins seem like a good choice?"

"Gringotts Wizarding Bank? That's right, they never rely on wizards to transport Galleons-"

"Hmm, is the goblins' magic really reliable?"

Amidst the discussions, several core Ministry of Magic senior officials seemed a little hesitant.

After all, in the eyes of most wizards, it would be somewhat shameful for the magical government to seek "magical assistance" from the Gringotts goblins, even with the British Ministry of Magic acting as an intermediary - but there was clearly no time for them to hesitate too long, since they had all been robbed of their homes.

After a moment of discussion, Cornelius Fudge and others quickly reached a consensus.

"You're right. In the face of this crisis, we should abandon outdated ideas. Mr. Lockhart, we will leave one or two Aurors here to assist you in maintaining the situation, and- ("Take a census of the werewolf arrests," Lockhart added with a smile.) -of course."

The senior officials of the various Ministries of Magic raised their eyebrows knowingly. Cooperating with such smart people was indeed pleasant.

At least for now, Gilderoy Lockhart had a much higher emotional intelligence than those stubborn, rigid old guys from the previous era.

"By the way, Mr. Lockhart, do you know the name of that Goblin Queen of Gringotts?"

Amidst the somewhat subtle expressions of the Ministers of Magic, Cornelius Fudge cleared his throat and explained calmly.

"I have too many things to do here. The Goblin Liaison Office is mainly responsible for contacting them. I remember her name was something like Ka... honestly, it's difficult for wizards to distinguish the names of goblins, because their names are too similar, like Dada, Griphook, Kaba... even the Queen is..."

"Bronunia, Bronunia Zaicek."

Before Cornelius Fudge could finish speaking, Amelia Bones said with a strange expression.

"Uh, that Goblin Queen gave herself a human name..."

"Let's leave as soon as possible, Minister - still according to the original plan, gathering the main force to raid the Armenian Ministry of Magic first."

"While regaining the Ministry of Magic, let's see if we can catch those dark wizards and try to restore the Floo Network. If it's finally confirmed that the fireplaces cannot be repaired temporarily, then we can only go to Gringotts together and persuade the goblins to temporarily lend us a path and provide support... is that right?"

"Cough- that's right, that's how it is."

Cornelius Fudge's face was a little flushed, and he waved his hand roughly.

"Mr. Lockhart, in short, we'll leave this to you. We're going to give those damned dark wizards a lesson!"

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Hooray!