bacchusnovels Chapter 505: Forgetting All is Emptiness!
Chapter 505: Forgetting All is Emptiness!
Chapter 505 Complete Oblivion!
The night was deep and the wind was biting.
Fleur ran toward Hogwarts.
With each step he took, Crouch's terrified eyes and his incoherent mutterings echoed in his mind—"I need to see Dumbledore—to warn Dumbledore—"
What on earth happened? Why is Mr. Crouch here? Who made him like this?
These questions kept churning in her mind.
However, just five minutes before she reached the castle gates, a deep, hoarse voice suddenly rang out—
"Where are you going in such a hurry?"
Furong suddenly stopped and turned to look in the direction of the sound.
A figure emerged from the shadows, leaning on a heavy wooden cane. Moonlight illuminated his face, revealing a menacing magical prosthetic eye.
Who else could it be but that crazy Moody?
Of all the faculty and staff at Hogwarts, besides the famous Dumbledore and Professor Phillips, only Moody left a deep impression on her.
After all, you couldn't find someone as eccentric as Moody even among ten thousand people.
Moody's prosthetic eye darted around, staring straight at Fleur. Faced with this eerie scene, Fleur forced herself to remain calm and explained.
"Professor, I need to see Headmaster Dumbledore and Mr. Crouch—"
—
Moody frowned slightly and took a step closer to her, leaning on his cane.
"Crouch? Which Crouch?"
"Mr. Barty Crouch!" Fleur said anxiously. "He just appeared near the Forbidden Forest and looks—crazy! He grabbed me and insisted I take him to see Dumbledore—and then started rambling incoherently, as if he were completely lost in his own world—"
Moody paused for a moment, his prosthetic eye shifting slightly as he stared at Fleur's face, as if trying to determine whether she was lying.
"You mean, he was alone?" Moody said slowly, his tone even lower than before. "When you found him, there was no one else with him?"
"And Fleur, along with two other warriors from Beauxbatons, are there. They're with him!" Fleur said urgently. "Professor, I must hurry and inform Dumbledore!"
However, Moody didn't immediately move aside. Instead, he squinted and muttered under his breath, "Interesting—"
Just as Fleur was wondering if Moody had fallen asleep, she heard Moody suddenly say, "No need, I'm going to find Dumbledore. You go back to your dorm."
Furong was stunned, then frowned: "But one..."
“No buts, Miss Delacour,” Moody’s voice lowered further. “If Mr. Crouch really is insane, you shouldn’t have come to find Dumbledore alone. What if you encountered some danger on the way?”
Furong's heart tightened suddenly. For some reason, she felt that there was something else behind Moody's words.
But now that Moody's has taken over this matter, there's nothing to worry about.
"Then I'll trouble you, Professor. Please inform the principal as soon as possible."
Hibiscus nodded and turned to walk toward Beauxbatons' carriage.
But before she could take a few steps—
"Forgetting everything leads to emptiness."
A hoarse voice sounded from behind.
Before she could even react, her mind went blank, and then the world spun around her. Her body fell like a puppet with its strings cut, her long golden hair scattering in the night. Looking at the unconscious Furong on the ground, Moody sneered.
"Foolish woman."
He muttered to himself, raised his wand, and gently touched Fleur's body. A binding spell immediately bound her hands and feet tightly, preventing her from waking up unexpectedly.
Then, he slowly straightened up, his magical prosthetic eye spinning around to make sure no one else was nearby.
It's time to call that cowardly mouse over.
He pulled out a small, silver snitch—this wasn't an ordinary snitch, but a communication tool Voldemort had specially assigned to them. Barty tapped it lightly with his wand and whispered, "Come here, now."
The thief flashed away, transforming into a streak of silver light, and flew towards a certain location in Hogwarts.
Less than two minutes later, a furtive figure crept out of the darkness in the distance.
The visitor turned out to be Bagman, who had just parted ways with Furong and the others.
Or rather, Peter the Pettigrew has replaced Bagman.
Peter hunched over, a fawning yet fearful smile on his face, his eyes darting around, seemingly very reluctant to have been summoned here from the cozy castle by Little Barty.
"Master Crouch—" he asked in a low voice, his eyes darting around, "You wanted to see me?"
"Nonsense." Little Barty glared at him coldly, his magical prosthetic eye flashing. "Look what you've done!"
"What do you mean?" Peter was a little confused. He looked around and saw Fleur lying on the ground in front of him. "What did she do to you?"
"What did she do to me?" Little Barty's lips curled into a cold smile. "Because of your mistake, you almost caused us another huge problem! Your mistake last time" allowed that old geezer to escape. You think this matter is over so easily?
Peter shuddered, his mouth opening and closing, but he didn't dare to say a word.
Barty glared at him fiercely, his eyes filled with disgust: "If it were just that he got away, that would be one thing; at least the Death Eaters could find him and deal with him. But do you know what the situation is now?"
Peter looked at him nervously, his throat bobbing, and asked in a low voice, "W-what's going on?"
Barty sneered, "That old geezer actually showed up at the edge of the Forbidden Forest at Hogwarts."
Peter's pupils constricted sharply, and all color drained from his face: "What?!"
“Several people saw him. Krum, Fleur, and a few others; they all know he’s near the school now,” Barty said through gritted teeth. “Why do you think I knocked this girl out? She was on her way to see Dumbledore!”
Peter's mouth gaped open, and he was gripped by utter terror: "No—no way? He wasn't already—"
"Already what? Dead? Taken care of? If that were the case, do you think I'd be standing here wasting my time with you?" Barty Jr. scoffed. "He's still alive. He's regained some consciousness and is now frantically demanding to see Dumbledore!"
Peter shuddered, his breathing becoming rapid: "Does he—does he remember anything?"
A cruel smile crept across Little Barty's lips. "That depends on whether we want him to live and continue remembering." With that, he straightened his robes. "We need to hurry, get him out of here before he's completely discovered."
Peter nodded repeatedly, his back hunched, his hands unconsciously twisting the hem of his clothes, his expression even more tense than before.
"Then...then shall we go find him now?" he asked nervously.
"Of course." Little Barty snorted coldly, then his gaze shifted slightly and landed on Furong, who was still unconscious on the ground.
He slowly drew his wand, twirling it lightly between his fingers, his smile growing increasingly cold: "However, before that, let's deal with an unnecessary problem first."
Peter nodded, but then, as if struck by a sudden thought, he paused, his pupils contracting sharply.
Fuyo?
If he remembered correctly, this witch was the one who had been involved in a scandal with his master a few days ago.
If...the master knew that he stood by and did nothing when Furong was killed, what would he think of him?
And if...the master finds out that Little Barty wanted to kill Fleur but was stopped by him, what would he think of him?
The answers to these two questions are not difficult to find.
"Wait, wait a minute!" Peter quickly reached out to stop Little Barty, his voice a little urgent.
Little Barty narrowed his eyes slightly, his tone dangerous: "What do you want to do?"
Peter swallowed hard, forcing a fawning smile to make his tone sound more natural: "Uh, I mean—hasn't she already forgotten everything? Even if she wakes up, she won't remember anything—why waste our time?"
Barty Jr. scoffed. "You think leaving her alone is a good idea? She just heard about Mr. Crouch and went to find Dumbledore herself. What if she wakes up with even the slightest bit of memory left? That—"
'
"But the problem is, she's a champion of Beauxbatons!" Peter said hastily, his voice low. "Her disappearance will definitely be noticed, especially by Madam Maxim. If she finds out that her best student has vanished without a trace, and Hogwarts still has their entire group, what do you think she'll do?"
Little Barty's expression changed slightly, realizing the troublesome nature of the problem.
Seeing this, Peter quickly pressed his advantage: "She's a participant in the Triwizard Tournament, not an ordinary Hogwarts student. If she's suddenly found dead near the castle, the Ministry of Magic will definitely investigate. We don't want this to become common knowledge before Lord Voldemort is resurrected, do we?"
Little Barty gave him a deep look, a cryptic smile playing on his lips: "You may be timid, but you've certainly become more thoughtful than before."
Peter chuckled a few times, not daring to say anything more.
Little Barty narrowed his eyes, recalling the reports and rumors about Eileen from a while ago, and smiled sinisterly.
"We can't let her wake up too peacefully, otherwise what if she suddenly remembers something one day—wouldn't that be troublesome?"
Peter paused, not quite reacting, when he saw Barty the Younger casually flick his wrist, tearing open Fleur's robes, flipping her skirt wildly, and making her hair even more disheveled. He even maliciously used his wand to gently lift her collar, letting it hang loosely, making it look as if she had experienced something rather unseemly.
Peter's expression changed, and he opened his mouth, but ultimately didn't dare to say a word.
"That way, when she wakes up, she won't be thinking about anything else." Little Barty chuckled, his eyes full of mockery and coldness. "People always like to rationalize their experiences. When she finds herself in this state, all she'll be thinking about is how to cover it up, instead of thinking about why she collapsed here."
Peter swallowed hard, trying not to look at the hibiscus on the ground, and said in a low voice, "Then—shall we go?"
Time can't be wasted any longer —
"Of course." Little Barty took one last look at the girl lying on the ground, then put away his wand and turned to leave without looking back.
Peter shrank back and quickly followed.
About five minutes later, the two men quietly approached the location where Barty Crouch was.
Through the gaps in the tree shadows, they saw a disheveled figure—Mr. Crouch was still kneeling on the ground, muttering something under his breath.
However, he was not alone.
Three students surrounded him, seemingly trying to help him regain consciousness.
Staring at the three of them, Little Barty licked his slightly dry lips.
After adjusting his expression, he and Peter walked out together.
"What happened here?"
Eileen and Beauxbatons' students looked up abruptly and breathed a sigh of relief when they saw that the newcomers were "Mad-Eye" Moody and Mr. Bagman.
"professor!"
Two students from Beauxbatons rushed forward, one of them saying anxiously, "We just found Mr. Crouch at the edge of the Forbidden Forest. He seems very strange; he keeps muttering to himself and can't hear us at all!"
The other person nodded repeatedly, a hint of unease in their eyes: "He seems to be under some kind of spell, completely out of his mind! We were thinking of going to find Headmaster Dumbledore, but we were worried it wouldn't be safe to leave him here—Professor, you've come at the perfect time!"
Eileen didn't say anything; she felt that something was off.
However, Barty Jr.'s expression remained unchanged. He simply nodded slowly, his gaze sweeping over Crouch, revealing a thoughtful look: "You did the right thing. These things do require careful handling—but now that I'm here, you don't need to worry about it."
L
The students at Beauxbatons nodded in unison, one of them letting out a sigh of relief: "Professor, what should we do? Should we inform Dumbledore?"
Little Barty smiled slightly and said gently, "No need for that trouble—leave everything to me."
You all take a break first.
The next second, he suddenly swung his wand!
"Forget everything, and all is emptiness!"
Caught completely off guard, the two had no time to react as the magical light unique to the Oblivion Spell burst forth in the night, striking them directly!
The two students from Beauxbatons suddenly lost focus, swayed, and then collapsed to the ground, completely unconscious.
Eileen's pupils contracted, and she instinctively wanted to raise her wand, but Barty was faster!
"Forget everything, and all is emptiness!"
A forgetting spell shot out, and before Eileen could even utter a sound, she fell straight down.
Peter stood to the side, his entire back soaked in cold sweat.
For some reason... he always felt that anyone, taken individually, was more capable than him, even Barty Crouch Jr., a student who was two years his junior.
Was he studying a fake Hogwarts back then?