Hogwarts on the tip of the tongue

France, Strasbourg, on the Rhine.

The water surface under the night sky reflected the star-like lights on the shore.

As in most French cities, most shops close hours ago.

The romantic French never let work and private time conflict, but this does not mean that Strasbourg has fallen asleep. In fact, the nightlife of this "city by the river" has just begun, and there are no bars in the city. With one exception, they were all packed with people enjoying life.

Not far from Kleber Square, there is a bar decorated in a Bavarian style, with a black crucible painted on the sign outside the door.

Underneath the crucible are three rows of light gold cursive letters with the store name written in English, French, and German respectively.

[The Leaky Cauldron (037)—the first branch in Strasbourg]

Different from the old store on Charing Cross Street, this chain franchise store jointly funded by Destiny Group and Gringotts is at the forefront of the times, whether it is decoration style, lighting, or even relief decoration. Passionate art: Colorful magic lights alternate with the starry sky on the ceiling. The goblin bartender and two wizard bartenders greet guests at the bar, and several foremans shuttle among the crowd to inspect the bar.

A silver acorn made of ice mist hangs in the center of the dance floor, shining like a gem in the colorful lights.

The Leaky Cauldron branch in Strasbourg has been open for less than half a week, and it has quickly become the most popular wizarding tavern in Strasbourg and even within a hundred miles. If it were not for the differences between Paris, Orleans and Lyon, There are also branches, and the number of people here will increase several times.

Ike Dubois didn't often go to taverns to enjoy life before, not because he didn't like it, but mainly because he was poor.

However, some time ago, he found an easy part-time job through the introduction of a friend.

As the "quibbler" camp took the lead in launching a war for "traffic" in various newspapers and magazines, starting from the UK, the original secret competition between mainstream and non-mainstream magazines gradually turned into an all-out war, and at the forefront of news publications , the information collection of exclusive news and all kinds of hot news has gradually evolved from passive interviews to a new news supply and demand market of "informants breaking news" and "paid news".

Most of the established publications and magazines began to imitate the previous marketing strategy of "The Quibbler" and began to compete for informants in their respective positions.

And Ike Dubois's new job is to be an exclusive informant. At least in the French magic world, he is temporarily considered the first among the "golden paparazzi". The editor-in-chief of almost every magazine now knows that there is such a person. A top whistleblower with a keen sense of smell and a greed for money.

Many wizards tried to surpass Ike Dubois, but the direction of most of their efforts was obviously somewhat biased.

Ike Dubois is not a "paparazzi" active on the front line. He is actually more like an "information broker": he will not wait for breaking news in sewers or garbage dumps like some wizards, because he has better quality information. Reliable sources…

pat-

The golden galleon fell gently on the wooden bar, and followed Ike Dubois's fingers to move in front of the goblin bartender.

"Rod, it's still the old rule, a fire cocktail doesn't have any special mix without adding alcohol."

"The price of today's cocktail has increased, and there is an additional 29 gold galleons."

The goblin bartender wiped the goblet in his hand, filled it with water with a snap of his fingers, pushed it in front of Ike Dubois, picked up the gold galleons on the table, blew in, and grinned. He smiled mysteriously and said, "Only tonight, how much you can earn depends on your ability."

"Thirty gold galleons?" Ike Dubois was stunned for half a second and couldn't help but frown.

You know, according to the previous rules, one gold galleon is almost equivalent to information about the secret mistress of a senior official of the Ministry of Magic.

So by analogy, what level of news can thirty gold galleons buy?

This was completely beyond Ike Dubois's imagination. This was the first time he encountered such expensive information. The first reaction in Ike's mind was that the goblin wanted to defraud him of money, whether it was Gringotts or on duty outside. Goblins, they can sell everything they can for gold galleons.

"So, well, if it's just one Galleons—"

Ike Dubois said hesitantly, then he said softly after careful consideration.

As an "old customer" of the Leaky Cauldron, Ike Dubois has a lot of experience in bargaining.

"Don't break it up, don't sell it alone - the 'information' that this news exists is worth a galleons."

The goblin bartender grinned, revealing the sharp little fangs inside, and put the gold coins into his arms very naturally.

"For the sake of your reputation in the past, I can give you a little tip. This news is limited, time-limited, and graded. Ordinary wizards can spend three gold galleons to get some small information for thirty gold galleons. The news about Long depends on the talent... If you are the kind of fool who will spread the word everywhere after getting the news, then the danger on my side is not small, and you have ten seconds to think about it."

The goblin bartender continued to clean the wine glasses nonchalantly, counting gently as he did so.

"Ten, nine, eight—"

"Three Galleons!"

Ike Dubois gritted his teeth and took out two gold galleons from his pocket and handed them to the goblin bartender.

"Just tell me the 'information' about the three gold galleons."

"Oh? Do you really not consider thirty coins?"

The elf bartender's long pointed fingers quickly passed over the table, picked up the two gold galleons, and glanced meaningfully at the wizard in front of him.

"Whether that news is true or false, it's not something I should know - I don't have any big ambitions. I just make money to survive. Thirty gold galleons is too dangerous." Ike Dubois shook his head The clear water in the foot cup said in the colorful lights.

"All right--"

The goblin bartender shrugged noncommittally and twitched his fingers at Ike Dubois, gesturing for him to come closer.

"All the Aurors from the British Ministry of Magic have just passed by the French Ministry of Magic. They are preparing to go on an expedition to the Armenian magical world to encircle the werewolves... In addition to the British magical world, I heard that most of the magical governments in Europe are involved. If you immediately Let's go, we should have a chance to get to the 'encirclement and suppression scene' before they take action - today is a full moon night, as a wizard you should be able to guess..."

A few minutes later, Ike Dubois left the Leaky Cauldron in a hurry.

This is big news. Nearly a hundred British Aurors "borrowed" from the hall of the French Ministry of Magic in a grand manner. This is already a big news, but compared with the content behind it and the grand stories that may be derived from it, the assault The expedition was just the appetizer.

On the other side, in the Leaky Cauldron (037).

Watching Ike Dubois leave in a hurry, the goblin bartender pulled out a noteboard from under the bar and made a few sketches.

It walked not far away to the wizard who was waving his wand to make magic wine, and casually handed the board to the wizard.

"Dubois bought tonight's special fire cocktail. I originally wanted to sell him the more expensive one, but unfortunately he refused because he felt that it might be dangerous to him. You can try to come and see it later. Let's see if we can convince him to do more part-time jobs or something..."

The goblin's sharp little teeth flashed in the magic light while looking around the lively and crowded tavern.

Between the music, lights, and dance steps, some gossip is quietly spreading.

In cities further afield, the nights began to become restless and tense.

A true rumor will never have just one side, it must have a dazzling luster like the facets of a diamond.

Unlike those wizard officials who used false stories to weave traps, Elena never bothered to rely on lies to achieve her goals.

Real light and shadow flicker in the night, just like the outline of the sun reflected by the moonlight on the ground.

At the same time that the editor-in-chief of France's "Magic Pravda" was awakened by a rapid knock on the door, Barnabas, the editor-in-chief of "The Daily Prophet," also fumbled for his wand and climbed out of bed.At the same time, Cornelius Fudge had just finished counting the people in the hall of the French Ministry of Magic and was preparing to go to the next place...

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Great!