Chapter 908 Dumbledore comes to visit
Christmas had just ended, he had opened a bunch of Christmas gifts and attended a Yule ball, but Dumbledore was not in a good mood.
Because Barty Crouch was actually ill a few days ago and did not come to the Yule Ball.
Honestly, this is not a big deal. It is normal to get sick, not to mention the old Batty who has been working hard for the World Cup for a whole year. It is understandable that he wants to spend Christmas quietly, but...
If you associate this matter with Albert's prediction, this is undoubtedly a bad omen.
A few months ago, Sirius approached Dumbledore and mentioned that Peter was still alive. Through his memory, he saw that the man who appeared in the prophecy ball was Barty Crouch Jr., Dumbledore's first You knew him the moment you saw him.
Barty Crouch Jr. is still alive?
But, why are you still alive?
Since then, Dumbledore has been quietly investigating the matter. Barty Crouch Sr. was the breakthrough in the whole matter, but Dumbledore could not do anything against a senior official of the Ministry of Magic.
Although Dumbledore is not involved in politics, it does not mean that he knows nothing about it. He knows better than anyone that some things cannot be taken too far.
For example, forcing Barty Crouch Sr. to reveal the secret, otherwise even if the answer is obtained, even if the whole thing is related to Barty Crouch Sr., it will still be a big trouble.
However, fortunately, old Barty fired his loyal house elf for some reasons some time ago, and the house elf named Winky is now working at Hogwarts, even though he Using a large dose of powerful veritaserum could reveal some secrets, but Dumbledore did not do that because it was too cruel and might cause the house elf to die or be permanently damaged.
The loyalty of house elves allows them to keep secrets for their masters. Even if the house elves have been kicked out of the house by their masters, their loyalty is still unquestionable.
But Dumbledore didn't need to go to that trouble if he wanted to get some information, or even get an accurate answer.
He brought Winky to the principal's office and told the house elves about Barty Crouch Sr.'s illness. He also shared some of his speculations, expressed his suspicion that Barty Sr. was under the control of the Imperius Curse, and asked some questions. News about Barty Jr.
Although Dumbledore's words did not cause the house elf named Winky to reveal the truth to him, Dumbledore did not really need to get the answer from the house elf. He only needed to get the answer from the other party's reaction. The truth of the whole matter can be deduced.
There is no doubt that Albert's prediction is correct. Little Barty is still alive. The whole thing has something to do with Old Barty. Perhaps Old Barty used some secret methods to keep Little Barty alive. As for who died in Azkaban Prison, it is self-evident.
Because not long ago, after Dumbledore learned from Sirius that Peter Pettigrew was still alive, he guessed the specific reason.
It’s a pity that these two great mothers saved their sons’ lives with their own lives, but in the end they failed to save their sons’ conscience and guide them to the right path.
After figuring out the truth, Dumbledore immediately wanted to find Albert. He needed to get some verification from him.
Albert seems to know something.
In other words, the other party may know more than you do.
Dumbledore was able to realize that something was wrong with the whole thing, or he learned the news from the conversation between Albert and Percy at the ball.
The other party seemed to be deliberately hinting that Crouch was going to die.
Yes, he meant that Crouch was going to die, and later Percy became the assistant to the Minister of Magic.
Albert is a genius who is good at prophecy. Even if he doesn't know it, Dumbledore believes that after a short exchange between the two parties, he can get a lot of useful information.
What's more, Dumbledore was sure that Albert knew that he was too smart.
However, Dumbledore found that their warrior was missing. Even if he used tracking magic, he could not track Albert's location.
As if disappearing into thin air.
Where is Albert?
Dumbledore didn’t know, but someone must know, so...he asked Albert’s roommate and friend.
Well, even his roommates don’t know.
“Probably going home.”
“Maybe, I went to spend the Christmas vacation with my girlfriend.”
These are two speculations by Fred, George and Lee Jordan.
However, the Anderson family was not in their original home. At least, Dumbledore went there personally. No one lived in that home at all, at least for several months.
Their family moved?
It doesn’t seem strange if you think about it carefully.
After all, he is a person who can predict the future, especially a powerful master of prediction. If he really doesn’t want you to find him, it’s really hard to find him.
Nico Flamel is a ready-made example. When Voldemort peeked at the Philosopher's Stone a few years ago, he immediately noticed something was wrong and contacted him in advance to ask him to use the Fidelity Charm to protect his residence.
Dumbledore, who failed to find Albert, found that he seemed to be having a bad time.
According to the original plan, he planned to ask Ludo Bagman to visit Old Batty together and talk about the safety measures for the second project, but Ludo Bagman seemed to be in trouble.
When Dumbledore came to visit at the appointed time, Ludo Bagman had already been sent to St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Injuries and Injuries. The specific reason was that he had eaten horseshoe chocolate mixed with a love agent.
The most embarrassing thing is that after Bagman was addicted to the love potion, the person he was thinking about was a girl from Hogwarts. The woman who wrote him the letter was obviously fake, or in other words, the letter was fake from beginning to end. It’s also fake. What’s going on?
Dumbledore quickly guessed the answer, because the next day a large number of students who had been poisoned appeared in Hogwarts, causing a great commotion.
It is said that after breakfast, Fred, George and Lee Jordan brought out a pile of snacks and desserts to share with everyone. This is not the first time they have done this. Sometimes everyone gave Albert a bunch of snacks and desserts that he could not finish, and they were worried that they would spoil and waste if left alone, so they would take them out to share with everyone.
For example, last time he won the International Wizarding Chess Championship and the Magic School Potions Championship. Anyway, every time Albert won the championship and became famous, he would always receive a bunch of gifts, which also included a large number of desserts and snacks. He would give them to him every time. The Weasley twins and Lee Jordan took it out to share with everyone.
As for the reason, Dumbledore had already heard about Ludo Bagman being in debt.
"Bagman deceived us with fake gold coins during the World Cup and was not even willing to return the principal to us, so we just wanted to play a joke on him and make him work in vain without getting a single galleon. ." George told Dumbledore.
They undoubtedly knew that 80% of those desserts were laced with love potions.
It’s just that they won’t admit it, they just say it’s a little prank.
Dumbledore naturally had no intention of punishing them. After all, no matter who it was, anyone who had saved up a sum of galleons would be extremely annoyed. A small prank showed that they were quite restrained.
As for the incident of the love drug in the group, it was purely an accident.
After all, they “know” nothing. This is just a common practice to share desserts with everyone, without any malice.
But this undoubtedly interrupted Dumbledore's original plan, and his plan to visit Barty was postponed.
As for, he goes alone?
Otherwise no one knows what will happen.
In case Crouch dies, he will be very passive.
The Ministry of Magic will not admit that Voldemort is still alive, and will only blame the matter on him or other dark wizards.
As for finding people from the Ministry of Magic, should we go with the Aurors?
This is never a good idea.
To be honest, except for a few trusted friends, Dumbledore was not very willing to trust the Aurors of the Ministry of Magic, especially the Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge.
The other party is now becoming more and more obsessed with his status and power, becoming more and more "degenerate", and moving closer to pure-blood wizards.
He is unreliable, very unreliable.
For Dumbledore, the British Ministry of Magic has never been a help, but a hindrance and a trouble.
There are too many pure-blood wizards who hate Dumbledore and like to hold him back, and most of these people are Death Eaters who escaped death in the past. They used certain loopholes to escape legal sanctions, even Dumbledore Lido doesn't have any good ideas. He can't overthrow the existing system of the Ministry of Magic.
So, finding Old Barty with Ludo Bagman is the best way at the moment. Dumbledore has already thought of the reason.
The second project is far more dangerous than the first project, because the warrior needs to enter the Black Lake to rescue the hostages, and even Dumbledore has no good solution if he leaves his sight. Therefore, the safety of the warriors can only be troubled by the fishmen under the Black Lake. Even if the fishmen are willing to help look after the warriors, there may still be big problems, such as the warriors being attacked or drowning accidentally under the black lake.
They need a safe and reliable solution to ensure that warriors can be rescued as soon as possible after encountering danger.
As for the plan, Dumbledore has already thought of it.
Dumbledore looked at the plan at hand, and then at the pocket watch on the table. In one hour, it would be the time agreed with Bagman.
Before leaving school, he had to make some arrangements.
At this moment, Dumbledore was waiting for someone in his office.
The other party didn't let him wait too long. There was a knock on the door of the principal's office, and Snape walked in with a gloomy face.
There was no way, the love potion incident actually allowed the Gryffindor four to escape. Those four annoying guys reminded Snape of some unpleasant memories.
What irritated Snape even more was that Dumbledore had already defined the incident as an accident and just downplayed it.
Even though Snape could tell at a glance that the three of them were lying, and he even determined that the culprit of all this was Albert Anderson,...he couldn't send those four **** to solitary confinement.
"I will leave school before eight o'clock. I need you to see Moody and keep him out of your sight." Dumbledore said to Snape.
“What happened?” Snape immediately sensed something was wrong.
"I may have found some clues." Dumbledore said vaguely.
"Clue?" Snape reached out and grabbed his arm and murmured, "It's related to that person?"
There are not many things that Dumbledore can pay attention to, and Voldemort is definitely one of them.
Dumbledore did not answer, but continued, "I suspect someone has sneaked into the school. I need you to help me keep an eye on the professors in the school."
“Including Moody?” Snape asked in an odd tone.
"Of course, I will also let Moody watch you, you can find any reason." Dumbledore looked at Snape and said.
“What’s the point of doing this?” Snape asked with a frown.
"Yes." Dumbledore said. "Two hours after I left, if there were Voldemort's minions in the school, they would have sensed something was wrong and tipped off Voldemort to find him."
“Who do you suspect, Moody?”
“Not yet.”
"Well, if you say so." Although Snape was confused, he agreed.
After Snape left, about half an hour later, Moody raised his hand and knocked on the office door.
“Albus, what do you want from me?”
"I'm leaving school later to take care of something." Dumbledore said straight to the point.
“It seems like this matter is very important. I’ll go back and prepare for it.”
"No, I need you to stay in the school to help me look after Hogwarts." Dumbledore said, "I have always suspected that there are Voldemort's helpers in the school. I need you to make sure that within two hours after I leave the school , no professor passed the news to the outside world.
“You really don’t need help?” Moody asked repeatedly.
"Need not."
"Okay." Moody nodded and asked, "Do you have a target of suspicion?"
“No.” Dumbledore shook his head.
"It is true that no professor in the school has symptoms of the Imperius Curse. Although a more powerful Imperius Curse cannot be ruled out, it has been a long time and it is impossible for there to be no symptoms." Moody analyzed, "After ruling out, there are only two One of them has a criminal record, and Karkaroff escaped some time ago.”
"I believe Snape will not betray me, and there is no need for him to do that." Dumbledore looked at Moody and said.
"There are a lot of cunning people in Slytherin, and even you may be deceived." Moody sneered, "Albus, you are too soft-hearted and like to give others opportunities. I once overheard them talking about the Dark Mark. With the reaction, God knows if that guy will be ready to go back to his master.”
Dumbledore said calmly, "If possible, use this opportunity to find out who is hiding."
There is no doubt that this is a conspiracy against him, but...what's the point of a known conspiracy?
However, Barty soon realized the seriousness of the problem.
You may be being targeted.
Furthermore, Dumbledore might actually find traces of the Dark Lord, and that would be purely to prevent someone from tipping off the information, or from finding out who he is hiding in Hogwarts.
Of course, it may be purely a conspiracy, just to seduce and catch yourself.
What to do now?
After little Barty thought for a moment, he finally gave up informing Voldemort. He couldn't be exposed yet.
With the Crouch family's magical defense measures, even if they really encounter trouble, the master will definitely be able to escape alone.
(End of this chapter)