bacchusnovels Chapter 512 The End of the Triumph Tournament
Chapter 512 The End of the Triumph Tournament
Chapter 512 The End of the Triwizard Tournament (2)
"His mother saved him."
Bertha Joggins took a sip of her black tea and spoke slowly.
"She was old and nearing her end, so she begged Crouch to save young Crouch. She and he entered Azkaban under the guise of visiting him in prison. Then, Mrs. Crouch took Polyjuice Potion and switched places with young Crouch."
"A compound decoction?" Dumbledore asked, somewhat surprised.
“Yes,” Bertha continued, “Dementors judge prisoners’ condition by their senses alone. They can’t see people, only smell them. To them, if a healthy living person and a dying person walk into Azkaban together, they cannot tell who the two are.”
"Mr. Crouch successfully smuggled young Crouch out by disguising him as Mrs. Crouch," she continued. "And Mrs. Crouch, she died not long after in Azkaban. So many people died there that she never forgot to drink Polyjuice Potion, so when she died, she was still in the appearance of young Crouch."
"What did Crouch do with the little Crouch after he brought him home?" Dumbledore pressed.
"They faked Mrs. Crouch's death. A secret funeral was held, the grave was empty, and the house-elf Sparkle cared for him until he recovered. Because young Crouch was eager to serve Vanquish again, Crouch had to hide him and then control him with the Imperius Curse."
'
""
"Bertha, let's get back to the point," Sean reminded her.
"Yes, Director." Dumbledore saw Bertha nod respectfully to Sean, then turned the conversation back to the investigation in the Auror's office. "As we were saying, since Crouch has disappeared, we need to find a breakthrough, so that breakthrough lies with Crouch Jr.."
"If Crouch disappeared intentionally, he certainly wouldn't have taken Crouch Jr. with him, because that would have made him too conspicuous."
Crouch Jr.'s disappearance further confirms our suspicions.
"Crouch disappeared under duress, or rather, something happened to him."
"Considering what happened to Crouch Jr., it's not hard for us to guess who's behind this. In that case, our Auror Office is investigating all cases of missing wizards and dark wizards over the past year, and we've deployed surveillance in key areas."
"Thanks to Director Phillips for proposing the review system, which has been very helpful."
"Speaking of Mysterio, or Death Eaters, the most sensational event in the past year has to be the Quidditch World Cup. At that time, Crouch was still alive, which means that Crouch Jr. was still under his control. As for what happened, we didn't know at the time. Perhaps only Gilgamesh or the two Crouchs themselves knew what happened."
"In short, after that incident, through questioning other people, we discovered that Crouch was acting strangely."
"And then—"
—
"A while before and after the first project, the Mystic approached Crouch Jr., took him into custody, and then rescued him. Afterward, they attacked Moody, and Crouch Jr. took Moody's place and came to Hogwarts to teach. This is also why the Goblet of Fire selects so many champions."
"What?!" This time, Dumbledore was genuinely surprised. "You're saying that Moody was Crouch Jr. in disguise?"
"Isn't this normal?" Bertha looked at Dumbledore and asked curiously, "Over the years, which Defense Against the Dark Arts professor you've consulted, besides Director Phillips, has been clean? As for how we're so sure Moody was switched, that goes back to the anomaly of the Goblet of Fire. If something is illogical, then there must be other factors causing that illogicality."
Faced with this answer, Dumbledore was speechless for a moment.
Sean raised the teapot, filled his own teacup with tea, and toasted Dumbledore.
"The position of Defense Against the Dark Arts professor is naturally within the scope of our investigation. Moody is a member of our Auror office. He is all alone, and no one knows him better than us, his colleagues who work with him day and night. After these days of contact, we have found that he is indeed ambiguous about some things, which has given our investigation a new breakthrough."
"Then how can you be so sure that Moody was Crouch in disguise? Why not someone else?" Sean asked on Dumbledore's behalf.
"Motive. Who would bother to go to such lengths to attack an Auror who wants to become a professor at Hogwarts? Hogwarts isn't Gringotts; it only has students, not Galleons. Aside from Crouch Jr., who works for Varian, no one would be that audacious. Besides... Moody is incredibly powerful; there are very few who could attack him. And Crouch Jr., with Varian's help, happens to fall right into that 'very few' range."
Dumbledore nodded unconsciously.
Indeed, Moody is a well-established Auror, and there are only a handful of people in the world who could attack him without making a scene and succeed.
Voldemort was one of them.
"As for Crouch's whereabouts, we discovered it through what happened recently."
"You mean last time..."
"That's right, the time Miss Delacour and the others were attacked. Director Phillips told us that the man who appeared outside Hogwarts that day was probably Mr. Crouch. He seemed completely insane, so it's not hard to guess what he had been through. And Little Crouch, disguised as Moody, happened to discover Crouch's whereabouts, so he..."
Do you have any evidence?
"Of course." Bertha nodded confidently. "The maze on the Hogwarts lawn was contracted to the Ministry of Magic. Under the guise of the Ministry of Magic building the maze, our Auror office investigated the area near the scene of the incident. We searched for places where people could be buried, where the soil was freshly turned over, and so on. In short, after these days of effort, yesterday we unearthed a person's remains near Hagrid's hut."
"You guys one"
"There are photos."
As Bertha spoke, she pulled out an autopsy report, which also included photos.
"The forensic examination revealed that this is the skeleton of an adult male, whose bone age matches Crouch's, indicating that he died recently."
"We can't just bury a body after someone recently died at Hogwarts, can we?"
'
'
The air seemed to freeze for a moment as Dumbledore took the autopsy report and examined it carefully.
Meanwhile, Bertha was further explaining the plans for the future.
"While our speculations are gradually becoming clearer, several key questions remain. For example—why did Crouch disguise himself as Moody and infiltrate Hogwarts? He's been lurking here for almost a year; his purpose couldn't have been just simple surveillance."
Dumbledore would most likely answer this question for Harry Potter's sake.
Besides Harry, who else could Voldemort care about so much?
"So we are left with only two paths."
At this point, Bertha abruptly put her teacup down on the coffee table and stood up.
"The first option is to arrest Crouch Jr. immediately."
"Director Phillips will sign a special arrest warrant. All of our Ministry of Magic's Aurors, along with emergency strikers, have surrounded the perimeter of Hogwarts."
"The anti-appearance spell has been set up to ensure the target cannot escape."
"At the same time, a group of elite teams are stationed in the fireplace hall of the Ministry of Magic, waiting for an order to activate the Floo Powder portal at any time, or to advance simultaneously using flying brooms, Portkeys, or other means."
"I can guarantee this as the Auror's Office Director."
She paused, then looked intently at Dumbledore: "The entire operation will take no more than five minutes."
"Little Crouch will have nowhere to escape."
Dumbledore seemed somewhat dazed.
A large-scale Auror and Strikers entering Hogwarts to carry out a capture operation was unprecedented in the history of Hogwarts... at least, it had never happened once in his hundred years at Hogwarts.
He actually wanted to say that he could catch Crouch Jr. by himself, but looking at Bertha's face, he found it hard to say. If it were true, Crouch Jr. had been operating under his nose for a year without him noticing, and Bertha and the Aurors had discovered this fact through months of hard work, and that they had notified him, the headmaster, before carrying out the arrest, hoping for his cooperation... it would be inappropriate for him to take credit for someone else's work.
Not only would Bertha disagree, but the Aurors who have been working on this matter would probably also disagree.
Moreover, this proposal is not ideal.
"Then... what about the second way?" he asked.
"While arresting Crouch Jr. directly would ensure the mastermind is brought to justice, that's not our ultimate goal."
"The reason Crouch Jr. is infiltrating Hogwarts must be to work for Void."
"If we can lure out the mysterious person behind Crouch through him, then this matter will be a great success. Making a hasty arrest will only alert the enemy. It might even be like losing the big picture for a small gain."
"So, given that we already know Moody is Crouch Jr. in disguise..."
"We devised a second plan, to turn the tables on them."
Admittedly, this is much what Dumbledore wanted to do.
His goal was to figure out the reasons behind Crouch Jr.'s actions and to use this incident to hurt Voldemort. As for Crouch Jr.—
When is it not considered an arrest?
Seeing that Dumbledore was interested, Bertha's tone became even more enthusiastic.
"With the semester coming to an end, Crouch Jr. won't have many more opportunities to make his move."
"Considering the unusual state of the Goblet of Fire, and the fact that Harry Potter was designated a champion before he was even old enough, we can reasonably deduce that Crouch Jr.'s best opportunity to strike is during the third event that is coming up tomorrow."
"Although we don't yet know how Crouch Jr. plans to act, now that we know he's going to make a move, we can prepare more thoroughly, plant our own people in advance, and then wipe them out once Mystic or the Death Eaters who caused chaos at the Quidditch World Cup have gathered!"
As she spoke, she sat down again, looking intently at Dumbledore, and said sincerely.
"Professor Dumbledore, the reason why Director Phillips and I are telling you this today is primarily because of your position as Headmaster of Hogwarts. Since notifying you is an essential procedure if an arrest is to be carried out within Hogwarts."
"Secondly, as a wizard who participated in the Grindelwald Rebellion and the First Wizarding War, and also our former headmaster, you possess wisdom and insights far beyond the reach of ordinary people. Therefore, we would like to fully consider your opinion on this matter... Which of these two plans do you think we should choose?"
Now that things have come to this point, even if Ron came, he would know which plan Bertha wanted to carry out.
Comparing one achievement with a bunch of achievements... anyone with a brain can make the choice.
Moreover, to be fair, both plans had a high success rate; the enemy was in the open, while our side was in the shadows, and preparations were complete. To go through all that trouble just to capture a mere Crouch was, frankly, overkill.
Therefore, Dumbledore knew that Bertha was not seeking his help.
Instead—
They requested assistance in the second plan, and, if necessary, to cooperate with the Ministry of Magic and provide indispensable help.
Even so, he disregarded Hogwarts' reputation in the outside world and suggested arresting Crouch Jr.
I'm afraid... Bertha wouldn't agree either.
But these are not the main reasons that put Dumbledore in a dilemma.
The core reason is still the same as the reasons explained above—Dumbledore himself also favored the second plan.
However, Dumbledore overlooked one thing: Bertha's reason for seeking him out was not to ask for his help.
Sean is enough to deal with the mysterious man.
The reason for having Dumbledore intervene was to get his endorsement.
Sean wanted Fudge to be involved in this matter, and since he wanted to get Fudge's approval, it was crucial to first gain Dumbledore's support.
Moreover... even if things go wrong in a "low probability" manner, Dumbledore will still get a share of the blame.
Therefore, under the premise of a very low probability (and with quotes), telling Dumbledore about this was simply to make it easier for Dumbledore to take the blame later.
"Miss Jockins," Dumbledore said with satisfaction, looking at the spirited witch before him. "Haven't you already made your choice? My suggestion is... the second option: play along."
Bertha was not surprised by Dumbledore's choice at all, as if she had expected him to do so.
Dumbledore abruptly changed the subject, his gaze sharpening.
"I need the students of Hogwarts to be safe. I need to ensure that all the warriors involved in tomorrow's third project are safe and sound. That's my bottom line."
"As you wish, Professor Dumbledore."
Sean suddenly spoke, smiled gently, and extended a hand.
Let's plan what we need to do tomorrow, 9