After learning what Trelawney had predicted, the Ministry of Magic was on the verge of an enemy.

In order not to make the same mistake, the Ministry of Magic not only added twice as many Dementors as guards for Azkaban, but also risked Apparating a few Aurors in the past to assist the guards. Don't even think of flies flying over"

However, after a tense night at the Ministry of Magic, nothing happened.

Not to mention Peter Pettigrew and the Restrange couple, even ordinary criminals didn't make trouble tonight, which made the Aurors who were dispatched complained a lot.

"It turns out that not every prophecy, even Sybill Trelawney, can come true," Kingsley Shacklebolt said to Dumbledore, yawning.

\"Good work." Dumbledore nodded to him.

To be honest, this result was somewhat unexpected by Dumbledore, because in his opinion, Trelawney's true prediction should not be wrong.

If it were an ordinary person, it might be time to give up his trust in Trelawney at this time, but Dumbledore was not an ordinary person, so his thoughts turned to other aspects.

"In other words, the Dark Lord's most loyal servant is not in Azkaban, and has escaped," Dumbledore murmured.

Kingsley Shaker said nothing on the surface of Dumbledore's conjecture, but he didn't take it seriously in his heart.

Like many others, he believes that the so-called "true prophecy" is nothing more than a bunch of old gangsters pretending to be ghosts.

The reason why those guys are famous is because they used a set of vague words in prophecy, which makes people puzzled, and the aftermath cannons are fired again and again.

Loud and full, and many people holding stinky feet cheer for them, so they have been able to sway to this day.

But it was Dumbledore who said that, so he couldn't argue with that.

Fortunately, his skin was indeed darker, so Dumbledore couldn't notice the subtle expressions on his face.

"In that case, I'll go back to the Ministry of Magic and check again to see if there are any omissions," Shacklebolt said.

Dumbledore nodded: "Excuse me then."

As a result, at this moment, the fireplace in the principal's room suddenly ignited a green flame, and a paper plane drilled out of the fire and flew to Dumbledore's table before stopping.

Dumbledore reached for the paper airplane, opened it, looked at it for a while, and then sighed heavily.

\"Kingsley, I don't think you need to check."

Kingsley o Shacklebolt: ?

Lockhart was sitting at a long desk in the Auror's office, looking a little restless, and there were several Aurors sitting opposite the desk.

"Guidero, take it easy..." Robards reassured him, "You have no responsibility in this matter."

"No, I think I have, I should have found out sooner," Lockhart replied bitterly.

Several Aurors looked at each other, then nodded slightly.

"Don't be like this... If even you are responsible, wouldn't those of us who have worked with Crouch for many years have more responsibility? And you have been in Hogsmeade for more than a year, everyone knows that." Robards took the initiative to excuse him.

At this moment, the door was opened, and Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge and Albus Dumbledore slowly paced into the office.

And every Lin's beard, what the **** is going on? "

As soon as he stepped into the door of the office, Fudge began to yell, and his face had an undisguised look of joy.

Just a while ago, because he was too rash, he was beaten by Crouch in the political struggle and defeated.

Just when he was thinking about how to give himself a decent step down, the head of the Magic Law Enforcement Department came to the office with a serious face and told him a huge piece of good news... no, bad news.

Barty Crouch is in trouble!

Just this morning, Crouch did not come to work at the Ministry of Magic without informing anyone.

You know, the entire Ministry of Magic is at full capacity, and as a well-known workaholic, it is really unreasonable for Crouch not to come to work.

Even Lockhart, who came to the office to discuss the resort with him, was a little surprised, because this had never happened before.

So he asked others for the address of Crouch's house, and then went to his house at noon.

Then…

"Guidero, I hope you can tell us about the situation at that time again." Dumbledore found a seat and sat down.

Fudge hurriedly nodded in agreement: "Yeah, hurry up and say it again, so I can come back... er, review it again, or if there is a deviation in the publicity, I will also take responsibility."

"All right…"

Lockhart had no choice but to repeat what he had said twice.

"It was this morning, it was almost noon, because of the resort, I came to the ministry to discuss with Mr. Crouch, but everyone else in the office told me that Mr. Crouch did not come to work.

I wanted to go directly to his house, but my colleagues told me that Mr. Crouch didn't like people visiting him at his house, so I was advised to wait.

But I was in a hurry, because I was planning an itinerary for the first group of tourists to the resort, so I asked someone for the address of Mr. Crouch's house, and I was going to visit him and leave after talking.

But after passing through the garden of Mr. Crouch's house, I noticed something was wrong - the front door of the mansion was wide open and no one was there.

I was wary and took out my wand and walked inside cautiously. Immediately I found that the living room on the first floor was extremely messy, and there was even a chair that fell to the ground, as if it had been knocked over.

I knew something was wrong, so I listened carefully for a while, and after I didn't notice any movement, I sent a letter to the Auror's office with a paper plane, and followed the traces on the ground to find the back of the sofa - I found a house-elf lying down out there.

I was afraid that the house elf was just a "booby trap" placed there, so I didn't approach it rashly. Instead, I used a few exploration magics and protective magics to cover myself, and then approached it carefully.

I soon found out that it should have just been knocked out, so I put it down temporarily and continued searching. Then I found Mr. Crouch in the bedroom—he was in his pajamas, slumped over the bedside table, bleeding from his head.

I hurried over to check, and when I found out that his life was in danger, I made my own decision, and took his entourage to St. Mungo's to show up first... You will all know what happened next. "

Robards took Lockhart's words: \"Yes, Mr. Crouch has been rescued, and his life is safe. And the house-elf has come to life under our control, but because it will not say We found out what was going on, so we used Veritaserum, and we got some pretty amazing news..."

While the unauthorized use of Veritaserum on humans is illegal, house-elves clearly don't belong in the category of "humans", so the Auror Office can make its own decisions.

Dumbledore's expression was as usual after hearing this, and he didn't mean to stand up for the house-elves at all. As for what he was thinking, only he himself knew.

"So, can I know what's going on?" He looked at Fudge.

Fudge seemed impatient: "Amazing news! Terrible! I never imagined that a high-ranking official of the Ministry of Magic would be so selfish, to secretly trade his poor wife for his son from Azkaban, and Controlled him with the Imperius - he definitely broke at least 300 laws!"

For the first time, Dumbledore revealed a surprised expression: "You mean, Barty Crouch Jr? He's not dead, is he?"

"Yes! It's his wife who died in prison... This is maddening!" Fudge's face was filled with righteous indignation, "As a result, his son suddenly got rid of Crouch's Imperius Curse last night for no reason, and was waiting for an opportunity. Attacked the house-elf who was looking after him. If nothing else, Crouch was also attacked by his son... More importantly, his wand was stolen by his son!"

Fudge was there to denounce Crouch hoarsely, but Dumbledore was unusually quiet.

So that's it... It seems that Trelawney's predicted record of never being missed, I'm afraid it will continue to hold for a while.

Father P.So told me very seriously at noon that the plot I wrote had no suspense at all

, everyone can guess.

I didn't believe it at first, but after reading the post in the morning chapter, I believed it. What, forcing me to write an O'Henry-style inversion?

Chapter 237 Umbridge's Reward

Before the next day, what happened to the Crouchs spread through the Ministry of Magic with explosive speed.

With the deepening of the investigation and the continuous inquiries of interested people, the truth of the matter has gradually become clear:

At the expense of his dying wife, Barty Crouch secretly replaced the only heir of his family from Azkaban, a little Barty Crouch. Since then, old Crouch has been using the Imperius Curse to control his son, and has been looking for a way to make him obedient.

He planned to find an opportunity to transfer his son to Hogsmeade, but before he could do it, he suffered an accident.

The reason why this story can spread so fast is not only because it has a great impact on people, but also because of Fudge's intentional connivance. He waited until the matter was completely spread before he pretended to call the person in charge of the news media office and asked them to control the spread of public opinion.

The result is naturally that this matter spread like wildfire.

\"Have you heard? Crouch thing?"

"I heard that the whole Ministry of Magic is talking about it now... I can't believe that he would do such a thing, such a well-behaved person..."

There was such a discussion inside the Ministry of Magic, and even when he walked in the corridor with Lockhart, who was a "supporting actor", he also enjoyed a "welcome in the aisle".

Although this treatment Lockhart did not like.

Although the Auror Office unanimously believes that Lockhart is not responsible for this matter, politics is not responsible for you. If Crouch loses power, it is very likely that these policies, which are already halfway through, will end up alone. The ending of taking the tea cool.

He had to find a way to save himself.

In addition, Lockhart felt that he was actually responsible for the sudden escape of little Crouch.

As Dumbledore said, he once again fell into his own habitual thinking, always thinking that after so many changes, things would still proceed according to the track he knew, which was a very absurd idea in itself.

Because Bertha Jorkins has not been transferred to Crouch's department (condition A), and Peter Pettigrew has not gone to Albania (condition B, he thinks it does not constitute result C (the escape of Barty Jr.), but carefully Come to think of it, the conditions that can trigger C are actually much more than that one line.

That's the only thing Lockhart doesn't understand—why little Crouch regained his self-control and got rid of the Imperius Curse so early.

Now that things have come out, Barty Crouch is unlikely to continue to hold public office in the Ministry of Magic, and Lockhart should cut him.

But he felt that he had to figure this out no matter what, otherwise he would have trouble sleeping and eating.

So he came to St. Mungo's Hospital alone the next day and found Crouch's ward.

Because Crouch is now a "suspect", there are two Aurors waiting in the ward in addition to Crouch, and whatever Lockhart and Crouch say, they will record it.

Barty Crouch looks haggard and has a lot of gray hair. It seems that his son's escape has dealt a big blow to him.

"I really didn't expect you to come." He looked at Lockhart, "I thought you would be too busy trying to clear things up."

Lockhart forced a smile to himself: "How could that be? That's two different things... In justice, I must condemn your actions more violently than anyone else. But from

From a personal point of view, there's nothing wrong with seeing an old boss you've known for a long time

As he spoke, he put the fruit basket in his hand on Crouch's bedside table.

The two Aurors next to them were not polite when they saw it, and immediately separated one person to open the fruit basket and inspect it carefully.

Crouch, who was lying on the bed, was a little surprised: "Are you such a person with a clear distinction between public and private?

■

"As you see it now," Lockhart replied.

In order to show that he is a man of words and deeds, when the Auror finished his inspection, Lockhart took out an apple from the middle of the fruit basket and began to peel it.

Crouch knew that he would come to him when something happened, but in this case, one had to learn to pretend to be confused, not to mention that he also had something to talk to Lockhart.

"...You know about me now, and I have explained the specific process to the Ministry of Magic. If you want to ask for details, you can go back now." Crouch said tentatively.

"No, although I am somewhat interested in the specifics of what happened, I am not very interested. I am more concerned about your next plan." Lockhart said solemnly.

Plans to come down with a concubine? " Crouch asked rhetorically, "Do you think I have any plans for the future?" "

But Lockhart's expression is very serious: \"Things can't be left halfway, I believe you think so too."

As he spoke, he handed over the peeled apple.

Crouch took the apple, then glanced at the whole apple peel on the floor: \"It seems you are a perfectionist."

That's not it, it just wants to have a beginning and an end. "Lockhart is "humbly" a

sentence.

Crouch sighed: "I know you won't admit defeat... Don't worry, although it is impossible for me to stay in the Ministry of Magic, the contract that has been negotiated will not change, and I have already placed a bet on it. people, they won't change course because of this little accident."

\"So?\" There was some hope in Lockhart's heart.

"Don't worry, you're not the first to see me." Crouch yawned.

\"I don't worry about this.\" Lockhart was determined.

Since Crouch's connections have not been damaged too much, and the political climate has not changed, the so-called loss of power is only temporary.

"Besides... I don't think I can hide this from you for a long time, so I'll just say it." Crouch took a bite of the apple, and then said the rest slowly, "Dolores Umbridge one by one. I know you may not like her very much, but I hope you can take good care of her for a while."

\"What? Who?" Lockhart thought he had heard it wrong.

"Umbridge in the Minister's Office, don't tell me you've forgotten her," Crouch repeated.

"I know who she is, but...why?" Lockhart asked in disbelief. "Why does she have your favor?"

"Because she already has the blood of the Crouch family." Barty Crouch gave the answer.

This time, Lockhart couldn't hold back any longer.

He stood up in fright, and was stunned.

"I... I always thought that the reason why you didn't have a new bloodline was because of your body!" Because he was too shocked, Lockhart didn't care about the city, and simply said

out of mind.

Crouch coughed heavily, reminding Lockhart to pay attention to his words.

\"\"It turned out to be because...of course...everyone's aesthetics have their own uniqueness, and we should be tolerant of this..." Lockhart quickly retracted the words.

Unexpectedly, Crouch's taste is so unique that even a woman like Umbridge can talk. No wonder he swore to say that except Umbridge \"has been settled".