Chapter 562

In game theory, if the leftist and rightist candidates are too extreme, then the faction in the middle will easily win. This situation belongs to peacetime. Can be used in a democratic system.

Chamberlain was actually a very good prime minister. In 1937, he passed the "Factory Act", which stipulated the maximum working hours, workplace environmental standards, and improved working conditions; in 1938, he passed the "Housing Act", which provided subsidies for the improvement of shantytowns and crowded housing areas. Control economic housing rents. There are many other policies like this, and Chamberlain can be said to have done his duty in serving the United Kingdom.

In addition, Chamberlain has very good personal qualities. In terms of personnel appointment, he selects talents and talents, regardless of background and seniority, and constantly injects fresh blood into the government. He attaches great importance to honesty and justice. A person like this, It is no surprise that Churchill had such a pertinent assessment of Chamberlain.

The people give what they want, the people want peace and do not want war, and the diplomatic strategy pursued by Britain in the 19th century offended the whole of Europe, so it is not surprising that Germany appeases the signing of the Munich Agreement.

At the end of the Munich Conference, Britain and France accepted Hitler's request to force the Czech Republic to withdraw its troops from October 1, otherwise Britain and France would not support the Czech Republic in the event of war. Only a few people in Parliament, such as Churchill, still criticized the appeasement policy. He said that "we have suffered a complete and complete failure." His speech caused a sound of protest, but Churchill still ended his speech amidst boos. Because of his stance against the appeasement policy, Churchill was once impeached by the Conservative Party in his constituency, and finally kept his seat with a 3-2 vote of confidence.

In the wizarding world, there is also a Minister of Magic, Hector Freely, who does not take Grindelwald seriously. He was replaced by Leonard Moen, just as Churchill replaced Chamberlain. Leonard and Churchill have a good relationship. The war is a mess, the forces of all parties are intertwined, it is very difficult to figure out what is going on, so all kinds of spies began to spy on each other, true and false information are flying all over the sky, who knows which is true and which is false of?

Hours after the outbreak of war on September 1, 1939, Chamberlain summoned Churchill and invited him to join the war cabinet. Churchill was reappointed Lord of the Admiralty. Due to the unsatisfactory progress of the war, members of the House of Commons proposed a no-confidence motion against the Chamberlain government in May 1940, pointing the finger at Chamberlain. Churchill, who was once booed and almost had no seats, became everyone's hope.

"I have told you countless times, be careful of Germany!" Unfortunately, no one listened to Churchill at that time. At that time, Chamberlain and the cabinet were busy with re-election, and pleasing the people would definitely get more votes.

On May 8, 1940, Chamberlain submitted his resignation to the king and suggested that Churchill form a cabinet. Unlike Chiang Kai-shek, Chamberlain was still busy fighting for power and profit at the critical moment of the country's survival. He must "remonstrate" to cooperate with the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, even if men do not love money. And women also have the problem of love for power. This problem has existed since ancient times, and it has both the East and the West. The love of power made Fudge make a judgment to exclude Dumbledore. Albus in the Ministry of Magic has no interest at all. , His time is very precious, and he is even stingy about giving it to his family. Voldemort entered the school in 1938 and graduated in 1945. At that time, Grindelwald was making troubles in the wizarding world, and he had no time to take care of himself. Negligence is something under the nose, anyone will have it, but it would be a mistake to ignore it and let it magnify. Pomona never thought that Albus would use Voldemort to recruit Grindelwald's followers Under his own command, but Severus thought that he was a Slytherin who was good at manipulating power, and Grindelwald would be locked in prison only if no one wanted to save him.

But in fact, is it really Grindelwald himself who is in prison?

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The green light seemed to grow bigger and brighter at last, and after a few minutes the boat bumped lightly against something and stopped. Harry didn't see it clearly at first, but when he raised his lit wand, he saw them on a smooth rocky island in the middle of the lake.

"Be careful not to touch the lake water," Dumbledore warned again as Harry got off the boat.

The island was about the size of Dumbledore's office: a large flat black slate, empty except for that green light source. Looking closer now, the green light appears much brighter. Harry squinted at it, at first he thought it was some kind of lamp, then he saw that the green light was coming from a stone basin resembling a Pensieve, with a pedestal beneath it.

Dumbledore approached the stone basin, and Harry followed. They stood there side by side, looking into the stone basin. A basin full of emerald green liquid, glowing with phosphorescence.

"What's this?" Harry asked softly.

"I'm not sure," said Dumbledore, "but there are more things to worry about than blood and dead bodies."

Dumbledore shook up the sleeve of his robe that covered the black hand, and the tips of his withered fingers stretched out to the surface.

"Sir, no, don't touch it—!"

"I can't touch it." Dumbledore smiled faintly, "See? My hand can't go any further. Try it."

Harry squinted and reached for the stone basin, trying to touch the liquid. But he encountered an invisible resistance, and his hands couldn't get close to the liquid. No matter how hard he stretched his hand down, what his fingers touched seemed to be extremely hard and indestructible air.

"Get out of the way, Harry," said Dumbledore.

He raised his wand, made some complex movements on the surface of the liquid, and muttered silently. There was no movement, but the light from the liquid seemed brighter. Harry watched Dumbledore in silence, and it wasn't until Dumbledore retracted his wand that he felt he could speak again.

"Do you think the Horcruxes are hidden there, sir?"

"Oh, yes." Dumbledore gazed more intently at the stone basin. Harry saw his face reflected in the smooth green liquid. "But how do you get at it? It's a liquid that you can't stretch your hands into, break it up, scoop it up, or pump it up, or make it disappear with a Vanishing Charm, or magically deform it, or otherwise. change its nature."

Dumbledore seemed to be absent-minded and raised his wand again, spun it in the air, and conjured a tall crystal goblet in his hand.

"I can only come to the conclusion that this fluid needs to be drunk."

"What?" said Harry. "No!"

"I think so: only by drinking it can I empty the stone basin and see what lies beneath."

"But what if—what if it poisons you?"

"Oh, I'm sure it wouldn't have that effect," said Dumbledore lightly. "Voldemort wouldn't be willing to poison anyone who came to this island."

Harry couldn't believe it. Could it be that Dumbledore is so absurdly thinking of people's good side again?

"Sir," said Harry, trying to sound reasonable, "Sir, we're dealing with Voldemort—"

"I'm sorry, Harry. I should have put it this way: he wouldn't be willing to kill anyone who came to this island right away." Dumbledore corrected himself. "He'll let them live a little longer and find out how To be able to get past his defenses, and most importantly, to find out why they were so eager to empty the stone basin. Don't you forget that Voldemort believed that he alone knew about his Horcruxes."

Harry tried to speak, but Dumbledore held up a hand to silence him. Dumbledore frowned slightly at the emerald green liquid, obviously thinking hard about something.

"There is no doubt," he said at last, "that this potion will prevent me from acquiring a Horcrux. It will probably paralyze me, make me forget what I came here for, cause me extreme pain, distraction, or To incapacitate me in other ways. If that happens, Harry, it will be up to you to make sure I keep drinking it, even if you have to pour the potion down my tightly shut mouth. Understand?"

Their eyes met over the stone basin. Both pale faces were illuminated by that strange green light. Could it be that that was the reason he had been invited--so that he could force Dumbledore to drink a potion that might cause him unbearable pain?

"Do you remember the terms on which I brought you?" Dumbledore asked.

Harry hesitated, looking into the blue eyes, greenish in the light from the stone basin.

"But, what if—?"

"You swore to obey my orders, didn't you?"

"Yes, but—"

"I warned you that it might be dangerous, didn't I?"

"Yes," said Harry, "but—"

"That's good," Dumbledore said, shaking his sleeves up again, and raised his empty goblet. "This is my order."

"Why can't I drink the potion?" Harry asked desperately.

"Because I am much older and wiser than you, and I am much less worth than you," said Dumbledore. "I ask one last time, Harry, can you swear to me that you will do everything you can?" The power to let me continue to drink?"

"Isn't it possible—?"

"Can you swear?"

"But--"

"Swear, Harry!"

"I—well, but—"

Before Harry could protest, Dumbledore filled the crystal cup with the liquid. At that moment, Harry really hoped that Dumbledore could not touch the potion with the wine glass, however, the crystal glass sank all of a sudden. The glass was full, and Dumbledore raised it to his lips.

"I wish you well, Harry."

He drank it down. Harry watched in horror, his hands gripping the edge of the stone basin so tightly that his fingertips were numb.

"Professor?" he asked worriedly when he saw Dumbledore put down his empty glass, "How are you feeling?"

Dumbledore shook his head, his eyes closed. Harry wondered if he was in pain. With his eyes closed, Dumbledore reached into the stone basin again, scooped up a full cup, and drank again.

Dumbledore drank three glasses in silence. On the fourth cup, he staggered forward and fell on the stone basin. His eyes were still closed and he was breathing heavily.

"Professor Dumbledore?" said Harry, his throat tightening. "Can you hear me?"

Dumbledore didn't answer. His face was twitching, as if he was in a deep sleep, having a horrible nightmare. His grip on the glass relaxed, and as the potion was about to be spilled, Harry stepped forward and grabbed the crystal glass, holding it steady.

"Professor, can you hear me?" he asked again loudly, his voice echoing in the cave.

Dumbledore spoke out so heavily that Harry could hardly recognize his voice, for he had never seen Dumbledore so frightened.

"I don't want...don't force me..."

Looking at the pale face he knew so well, at the hooked nose and half-moon glasses, Harry didn't know what to do.

"...don't like it...want to stop..." Dumbledore moaned.

"You... you can't stop, Professor," said Harry, "you have to keep drinking, remember? You told me you had to keep drinking. Come on..."

Pomona wrenched herself free from that memory.

She used Legilimency to get it from the head of Severus, who is a master of Occlumency and a good memory, and he got it from Minerva's Pensieve, provided The first was Harry Potter, whom Minerva managed to get him to agree to hand over the memory.

"Why not continue?" the ex-Phoenix and Death Eater double agent asked in a drawn-out tone.

"He's in pain," said Pomona sadly.

"Who? An old fool or a savior?" He said sarcastically, standing up and pouring himself a glass of wine, and now they were in the luxury apartment Lucius provided, with cold lake green and silver everywhere, even on the top floor, She still felt like she was in the dark cellar of Slytherin.

"Albus is out of his mind." She rested her forehead on the sofa, "but he still remembers that he is much older and wiser than Harry, and worth much less than Harry."

"You thought he was a saint? He was dead at that time. Everything he said was a lie to Potter." Severus put the bottle on the table with a bang. "He lived 150 years, and that kid still Underage! He sacrificed himself for the greater good, as his lover said, Potter fool, if he goes into Slytherin . . . "

"He's going to get over it in his first year and drop out, Severus, admit it." Pomona interrupted his tirade listlessly. It’s not easy growing up in an environment that doesn’t become as extreme as Tom’s.”

"I hate you white wizards." The great potions professor, who loved black magic, pulled his robes and took a swig of wine while pacing. "Since you don't agree with my education method, why do you still keep me?"

"Albus thinks that education should be diversified, even a terrible teacher should have one." Pomona said irresponsibly, "And you think that besides Hogwarts, who would dare to use you as a Death Eater?" Background war criminals?"

Severus gasped and squeezed the cup tightly in his hand, as if he wanted to use his wand to give Pomona an Avada Kedavra.

The elderly have no dreams for this world, and lack the vigor of the young.

Young people have little experience, are prone to impulsiveness, and lack the maturity and prudence of old people.

Children graduating from school are like fresh blood that sooner or later flows into the brain. Families are hematopoietic stem cells, and without tens of thousands of families, no legitimate children will be born.

The whole mechanism is like a dying, terminally ill patient.

The old fool is dead, and Muggles don't live up to it. When those loan companies and intermediaries gave out the mortgage, what they thought was that another task was completed, and how much commission they could get. As for the consequences of doing so, they Never thought about it.

The embankment of a thousand miles collapsed in the ant's nest. The harder they worked, the faster the flood embankment collapsed. The power of the barrier lake's discharge is unimaginable. There will be no survivors under the financial tsunami.

No wonder the world is so "beautiful" that someone needs to sing about it.

The phoenix will be reborn from nirvana before dying, otherwise it will perish in the ashes. Pomona looks into the eyes of the "angel of death", will he blow the horn of "judgment"?

She really didn't want that day to come.