On the window, a patch of mistletoe grows.

Naturally, Lady Padef will not forget this plant, which is a household name in England.

At this time, the mistletoe hanging above their heads slowly pulled out new shoots, and the stars opened their white stamens, as if beckoning to them, as if celebrating them.

There is a well-known saying in the UK: without mistletoe, there can be no happiness.

It is not only one of the raw materials for making elixirs, but also a common plant in divination classes.

Yes, mistletoe shoots are generally used for dream divination.

Of course, it is best known for its implication that as soon as a girl passes or stands where the mistletoe hangs, the man next to her can walk up and kiss her.

Well - someone has already done that.

"Owen." Hermione called in a subtle voice.

Deep down, she wished that time would pass more slowly, but reason told her that the relationship between herself and Owen seemed to be progressing a little too fast.

They're only in the fourth grade, shouldn't this kind of thing be gradual?

Even if they have become boyfriend and girlfriend, this sudden kiss is too intense, right? Hermione felt her face heat a little, even though she didn't know that she couldn't add any redder to her face at the moment.

"Lady Pardiff, seems to know you well?" Hermione hurriedly staggered her gaze with Owen and changed the subject.

"The shopkeepers of the whole street know me well." Owen didn't let go of her hand, he took a sip of the flower tea with his other hand, "When Hogsmeade Village was rebuilt, the overall design was provided by me. I've talked to every single one of them. ”

"You also design houses?" Hermione was a little surprised, he was really a treasure boy, how could anything.

"No, it won't." Owen smiled, "But in the future, I can try to do it myself in our house." ”

“.” Miss Granger glared at him shyly, "Then you-"

"I can't, but I can find someone!" He pointed out the window to the silver-clad streetscape, "That's a drawing from the Royal Institution of Designers, and the wizard added a little magic to it." ”

"Royal Society of Designers?" Hermione was slightly stunned.

"Rational use of resources!" He said, "That's the best outcome, and you should have the same mindset, because you're going to be the Minister of Magic." ”

As he spoke, he sent someone to contact the Royal Institute of Designers and asked the consulting company to give them a blueprint for the town on the grounds that Dituni was going to build a majestic Lord of the Rings main park in England.

Of course - in the process, he did inform the designer of some information about the wizarding world, after all, if you don't tell the other party about the parameters of the terrain or something, then how to design.

Hearing Owen's story, Hermione also nodded slightly, this is indeed very effective, after all, there are few wizards who can design houses, and most wizards' houses are like Burrows, strange shapes.

It's not that such a building is bad, in fact, for a young wizard who is new to the wizarding world, such a house is very charming and has a magical taste.

But if it's a city, if every house is like this, then how ugly the city must be.

Even Hogwarts Castle, which is a masterpiece of Gothic castles, is full of art, and each design is unique, far from being a casual patchwork of wizards who later came to it.

It can only be said that wizards are getting worse and worse than before.

"But the Secrecy Act." Hermione was still a little worried, after all, this is a law that has been obeyed for hundreds of years, how can the Federation sit back and watch you break the law wantonly.

And all violations of the Secrecy Act are felonies.

"Don't worry! The federation is all my grandfather's people. Ahem – I mean, I'm doing it all for the English wizards, for the sake of the lowest groups. Owen coughed lightly, and then pretended to be solemn and said, "We abide by what is beneficial to the public, and what is harmful to the public interest is waste paper." ”

"The law is only a norm established by the general public, supervised and enforced by violent institutions, and it should reflect the interests of the class in which it was formulated, and it cannot betray its class, just as the clouds cannot betray the sea, because most of the clouds are evaporated by the sea."

"Besides, Mr. Obo Benny ended up casting the Oblivion Charm on the two designers, and they don't remember anything, which is not illegal." Owen chuckled, exposing his pragmatic ideas to the fullest.

"But—" Vaguely, Hermione felt that something was wrong for Owen to do this.

Sometimes Owen's conviction of pragmatism can make things easier, but not everything is possible.

But she didn't rashly object, if she was a first- or second-year, she would definitely accuse Owen of this wanton tampering with other people's memories.

But now, she wondered if it was worthwhile, and of course - such behavior was still disgusting to her, but the wizarding world could not fully tolerate her ideas, and she would have to be silent for many more years.

"Wait—" Thought, her head cooling slightly.

Then Hermione suddenly realized that there seemed to be an astonishing fact in what Owen had just said, "You were involved in the construction of New Hogsmeade Village?" Does that mean that the whole village has a part of you? ”

"Yes!" Owen nodded, "I have two or three houses in addition to the one on the main road that was rented to George and Fred. ”

"Two or three?" Hermione's eyes widened, even though the new Hogsmeade village was built on the foundation of the old one, and its own area had increased several times over.

But the entire wizard village was not that big in the first place, and there were only about a hundred wizards gathered here, and the neighborhood was only three or four streets.

They are connected by a main road.

Owen still had a few houses, and suddenly, Miss Granger remembered something not very good, the British Empire! In the old capitalist countries, the means of enclosing land can be described as full of tricks, even if it is a deep-rooted pure-blood family like the Malfoy family, I am afraid that it is inferior to Owen in this regard.

Immediately, she asked with some urgency, "What about the original owner of the house?" Malfoy drove them away? She vaguely didn't mention Owen because she didn't want him to be involved.

Seeing this, Owen glanced at her with relief.

This is still the Miss Granger he likes, and she is not carried away by love, her independent soul is the most attractive part.

"First, New Hogsmeade is already bigger than before, and it's normal to vacate some houses, and second, because of the war, many residents died in the fighting, and most of the survivors chose to leave, and Malfoy gave them a sum of money to acquire those title deeds. Thirdly, there are some who are reluctant to leave, such as this teahouse, where Lady Padiff was given a new one ten times the size of the original after paying a small sum of gold Galleons. ”

"As for the compensation, it was Lucius who arranged it?" Miss Granger immediately got to the point, her distrust of the Malfoy family was deeply ingrained, and of course it came from the fact that the family had not done anything good in years.

You could even say that good things are basically insulated from the Malfoys.

Even at Owen's suggestion, the Wizarding Insurance Company was established for political purposes, and for Lucius Malfoy, using the insurance company to control the Ministry of Magic was what he really wanted.

As for profit, in the eyes of the Malfoy family, whose wealth has been squandered for the next century, it would be the best deal to trade the gold gallons for the position of the Ministry of Magic.

So, Malfoy wasn't in the service of ordinary wizards all along, referencing the poor people whose memories were permanently erased by Lockhart.

I haven't heard them anymore this year.

It's as if these people have disappeared.

In a way, Owen, as the promoter, is happy to see this, because it's part of the plan.

It's part of his big plan.

In another five years, after they graduate from Hogwarts.

Owen was about to set out to dismember the wizarding insurance company, which had now expanded its operations to Germany.

Once Miss Granger becomes Minister of Magic, he will begin to use the power of the Ministry of Magic to buy the company and turn it into a state-owned one, turning the company's business into a social welfare system that will be embedded in Miss Granger's new policy and enforced.

Owen was certain that her immense prestige in a short period of time would have secured her position as Minister of Magic from the start.

As for the title deeds that the Malfoy family bought on a large scale -

Owen smiled slightly and said, "I set the standard of compensation, but one thing is for sure, Malfoy will never comply.

The fluctuation of the market made the housing prices in Hogsmeade Village fall to the bottom after the war, and it is impossible to ask him to pay more money to compensate those mud legs in their eyes. As for the wizards who are already dead - he should have swallowed them all by himself without a complaint from his relatives. ”

“.” In an instant, Miss Granger's face became displeased.

Even the inner joy brought by the hazy feeling of dating disappeared without a trace.

"Angry?" He said.

Hermione didn't respond, just nodded vigorously.

"It's right to be angry, it at least means that you still have the most precious thing - conscience." Owen patted her palm, through the glass in front of her, and while sipping tea, he watched as everything outside was covered by the snow.

"The society of wizards is probably more than a hundred years old. Looking at this society through the eyes of modern society, of course, it is full of all kinds of oppression and injustice. ”

"The important thing is that you see it and that you make up your mind to change."

The Malfoy family has acquired many properties and land over the years, and there is Owen's promotion and instruction behind it, and his purpose is very simple.

Pig breeding.

When the time is right, he will kill the pig mercilessly.

Then use their meat as Miss Granger's future political capital, and then she will have less resistance to implementing reforms.

It's foolish to be a fool like Voldemort to start a war and try to push wizards to change.

At the end of the week, he was forced to resort to warfare, because when he joined, it was already the time period of Voldemort's second rise.

We need to understand that it is far easier to actually control the wizarding world than it is to control any Muggle nation!

It seems that the wizards are all possessed of magical magic and live in scattered places. It seems that with the wave of their wand, they can build a house anywhere with the Infinite Stretch Charm, and then live forever, but in fact, whether it is a wizard or a Muggle, as long as it is a human, then he cannot get rid of the instinct of a social creature, how many wizards will choose to live in the deep mountains and old forests for the rest of their lives?

Therefore, Owen only needs to control the absolute core areas of the wizarding world such as Diagon Alley and Hogwarts to perfectly control the British wizarding world.

The premise is that you can't be an enemy of the world's greatest white wizard, and he can't discover your true intentions.

Come to think of it—he seems to have chosen Miss Granger from the start.

Because only she can realize the unrealized ideal of her dream one.

Well—before he knew it, his expectations for Miss Granger had reached a point where he couldn't have gotten more.

Perhaps, what he often says, 'Hermione Granger is the real savior' is actually a portrayal of what he really thinks in his heart.

"My houses, do you want to try to run them." Suddenly, Owen made her an invitation that surprised Hermi.

"Business?"

"It's not on the main road, but it still has some geographical advantages, maybe you can use it to open some shops."

"Shop?" Hermione looked at him in confusion

"Like a newspaper, or radio."

After all, the most important building block of power is the media.

“.”

Hermione looked at Owen with some emotion, her big eyes full of happy microwaves.

She didn't think about it that much at all, she just thought it was because of Rita Skeeter's report that Owen had this idea.

She would never have guessed, in fact, Owen was distressed mainly because the room was empty and he couldn't make money!

Miss Granger didn't respond, after all, it was too difficult to start a newspaper or something, mainly because she had limited energy and couldn't spare time to run a newspaper.

Come to think of it, if she were to run a newspaper, it would have to go through her for every story.

That's tiring.

The two of them looked at each other in the teahouse, and Miss Granger's misguess heated up a little more between them.

Suddenly, when the two leaned together ambiguously and looked at the snow through the window. Unexpectedly, the Weasley twins and Harry, Ron, and Ginny passed by the window in the wind and snow, talking and laughing.

He was followed by the alchemist, Victor.

Hermione was startled, her hands shaking uncontrollably. But when she realized that people on the outside couldn't see inside, she was relieved.

"Where are they going?" She asked, with some trepidation.

"The Weasleys' alchemy workshop." Owen looked at Hermione with some amusement. The whole castle knew we were on a date, and there was something to be afraid of, but he explained anyway.

"Alchemy Workshop?" She pondered for a moment, then remembered that George and Fred had said that they were going to open a shop in Hogsmeade, "Aren't they going to open a joke shop?" ”

"People always grow!" Owen looked at the crowd that was drifting away, "When you can make a long-lasting alchemy magic item, who will continue to walk on the product of pranks and jokes." ”

"But the joke shop, they're still going to open. After all, researching alchemy props requires a huge amount of money. He paused, and then continued, "Those two guys are going to build the workshop at the back of the shop, with the front shopping and the back doing research, and as far as I know, they already have some results. ”

"What results?"

"You'll know after Christmas."

He said with a smile.

"Hmm!" Miss Granger nodded, then shyly, half-snuggled up to him.

The snow outside the window was getting bigger and bigger, and the snowflakes were thrown down from the sky like waste paper, and the wind was raging inside. Such a snowy scene will make people feel cold and windy just by looking at it.

And watching the snow is the easiest to fall asleep.

Because the flying snowflakes will gradually hypnotize the person staring at the snow, and gradually relax the nerves, it is also easy to make people sleepy.

And just as Miss Granger was drowsy from the ambiguous smell of the teahouse, suddenly the boy's slight movement beside her made her eyes open. Then a snow-white figure broke into her sight, it was a beautiful kitten! Its white fur is covered with snowflakes and it walks on the snow with light steps. The kitten moved briskly, leaving a series of small, plum-shaped footprints before disappearing into a nearby street corner.

"Shylock?" Owen whispered.

On a snowy day, this cat doesn't bake the fire in the bedroom, what is it doing here?

Is it time to go out and relax again?

For this little kitten who spends more than 20 days a month outside, and especially likes to wander in the Forbidden Forest, Owen has no problem. People can phantom and shapeshift, and he can't shut it up.

One can only pray that the remaining days of the month will pamper its owner, that is, himself.

Unfortunately, even this expectation is just a delusion.

In her free time, the cat either slept in the dormitory, or was caught by Hannah, unfortunately fell into the hands of a witch, and was forced to pretend to be a good baby for a day, and then disappeared the next day.

The main reason for this personality is that Owen hardly has to feed him, and when he is young, he is fine, but when he grows up, the cat seems to be able to distinguish what can and cannot eat in the forest.

Plus he's lazy in the first place.

That's how the cat was raised.

"I'm going to get her back." Owen got up and was about to catch the cat.

Hermione, who was in a daze, instinctively wanted to follow, but was stopped by him. "You can sleep for a while." He said.

"Don't guess, I know you stayed up late last night."

Yesterday was Saturday, and if Miss Granger didn't stay up late on Saturday, the sun would have to come out in the west.

"Do you know that staying up late is easy to lose your hair." He brushed the broken hair from her forehead with some pity.

In fact, Miss Granger never loses her hair, and her fluffy bun hasn't changed in years.

Having said that, Miss Granger pulled herself together and wanted to go with him.

Owen didn't refuse.

After taking a sip of hot tea, the two pushed open the door of the teahouse and walked in the wind and snow.

"Whew!" Outside the door, a cold wind instantly penetrated through the bare part of the clothes.

The two of them couldn't help but shudder.

Immediately, it was closer.

The snow on the road had reached the calf, which was a foot deep, and it was impossible to walk fast at all. But this is in line with someone's wishes, because not walking fast means that they can snuggle together for longer.

Following Shylock's trail and using magic, Owen made a pale golden plum footprint clearly appear in the snow.

After walking for about a few minutes, the two turned into a dark street corner.

In the wind and snow, Owen only felt a sudden chill in his arms, and then a familiar voice came into his ears.

"Meow?"

It was Shylock, the guy who naturally slipped into the pockets of the lining of his robes.

With its skinny stature, it doesn't even pop out of its pocket.

"This guy." Owen was startled, after all, this cat can apparition, and anyone who jumps out suddenly will be frightened.

He patted his chest as a warning.

Then, in the wind and snow, a very conspicuous thing came into his field of vision.

"What is this?"

He subconsciously looked at it twice, and suddenly, he and Hermione were stunned. A black robe? When they came in just now, they were only looking for Shylock, and they didn't notice anything wrong around them, but now they looked closely, and the black robe lay quietly in the corner like a deep pit.

Strange - Owen frowned secretly, a magical robe that would protect him from the wind and rain, who would leave it here? He thought as he stepped forward to pick it up, turning around and hanging it on the auditorium door to see if he could find its owner.

However, the moment he lifted his black robe, what was underneath surprised the two of them.

Hermione covered her mouth and tried to scream, but she didn't, for she was afraid that the sound might invite something terrible. Owen crouched down, pulled out his wand, and used the tip of the wand to pick out the rest of the black robe. Then, a withered, treacherous, terrifying, demon-like corpse appeared.

"Leprechaun?" Owen frowned.

The corpse of the goblin in front of him was covered with bright red blood clot fragments, as if someone had chopped it into dozens of pieces and then sewed it up with silk threads.

On top of that, there's the clothes on it, which are pretty standard Gringotts staff attire.

"Gringotts has an employee die here? It's weird. "Owen doesn't know much about goblins, but it's clear that someone has attacked.

That horrible wound didn't look like a natural death no matter how you looked at it.

And Hermione, beside him, her sleepy eyes instantly cleared.

His expression became serious.

Goblin!

It's goblins again!

This- she turned her head to look at Owen.

She hadn't told him about the goblin attack.

(End of chapter)