A Professor of Magic at Hogwarts Chapter 465: Very different attitude
There was a violent gasp in the meeting room. The wizard who had just asked about the discount of a new product for his granddaughter slid directly from his chair to the floor. He stood up cursing, but no one cared about him. The room was like a vegetable market Likewise, even Professor Marchban looked at Dumbledore in surprise.
"Are you sure he's really back? Dumbledore, I mean... really back?" Amelia Burns said seriously, with a face under her monocle.
Dumbledore shook his head slightly, Ms. Bones' stiff body relaxed, and her two thick eyebrows returned to their proper positions.
"So, we still have time to prepare." She was greatly relieved.
"The premise is that we can't turn a blind eye and pretend that nothing happened"
"Enough, Dumbledore!" Fudge yelled, his face flushed purple and spittle flying, but he seemed completely unaware, "Stop promoting the atmosphere of terror! There is no evidence that he Really come back...or there are signs of coming back!"
"The evidence is right under your nose, Fudge, and you just have to look at it calmly for a few seconds with your head down," said Dumbledore.
"Where is it?"
"Barty Crouch"
"Aha! I knew you were going to say this!" Fudge tugged at his neckline roughly, his face and neck discolored with rage, and he stood up, pinching the bowler hat in his hand Deflated, he waved his arms excitedly. "Gentlemen and ladies, let me talk about this so-called evidence, and you will know how ridiculous it is"
The members of the Wizengamot stared at Fudge walking up and down the conference room, talking loudly.
"Barty Crouch! I didn't want to say that there was a scandal involved, but the former director of the Department of International Magic Exchange and Cooperation committed serious malfeasance twelve years ago, and put his damned The Death Eater's son was fished out of prison, hidden from everyone! Barty Crouch used Polyjuice Potion to switch his wife and son, and the dementors didn't find out... I admit Azkaban There is a loophole, we are considering adding a Thiefproof Waterfall to wash away all the effects of enchantments and Polyjuice Potions"
Fudge stopped suddenly. Holding his bowler cap tightly with one hand, and putting the other on the chair, he said loudly: "Think about how crazy his behavior is. He committed murder more than ten years ago. He is So...evil! Not much better than those Death Eaters."
"Connelly," Amelia frowned, "Barty did do something wrong, but according to his testimony, his wife was dying at the time, and Batty couldn't stand his wife's last plea"
"More than that!" Fudge interrupted her, "Barty Crouch committed more crimes than this, he also drove his own son crazy!"
The meeting room was quiet, only the heavy panting of Fudge himself. He looked like a dangerous gladiator. They were not in the room of the Ministry of Magic, but an ancient arena. Fudge was always preparing to fight with him. Anyone who dares to fight.
He ushered in the hit opponent, and Dumbledore crossed his hands on the table, looked at Fudge with interest, and said softly: "Fantastic point of view! Fudge, I am more and more interested in the thoughts in your mind." Interested, I'm all ears."
Fudge seemed offended by Dumbledore's calm expression, and then his voice grew louder, as if using a Magnifying Charm.
"I have evidence too, Dumbledore. If you choose to believe Barty Crouch, you have to believe everything about him. Isn't that so?" Fudge had a weird smile on his face, and he did everything for the day After a lot of preparation, speaking now is very smooth.
His small eyes were fixed on Dumbledore, and Dumbledore met his gaze without hesitation. Dumbledore's body seemed to exude an indescribable power, and Fudge took the initiative to look away.
"The Imperius Curse... Yes, everyone, have you ever thought about how Barty Crouch controls his son? In order not to expose his crimes and continue to climb up the Ministry of Magic, he personally imposed the Imperius Curse Curse, keep little Crouch under the invisibility cloak for twelve years!"
"He deserved it, that little Death Eater!" cried Professor Marchbane. The poor couple are still alive in St. Mungo's."
"I know." Fudge said impatiently, "I assure you, I have no sympathy for that Death Eater, my uncle died in the war, and I hate them as much as you! I just wanted to tell you, Bar Ty Crouch is already crazy, he has been crazy for a long time, he is different from what you imagined. A person who has used the Unforgivable Curse for twelve years in a row, what will happen to his heart? Huh?"
Felix glanced at Fudge in amazement. He could think of this breakthrough. As for the effect, just look at the shocked wizards. Barty Crouch's reputation is completely over, and there will be no future people sympathize with him.
But thinking that Dumbledore found him yesterday, he knew that Dumbledore was also ready.
"So you ask me what happened? It's a tragedy," Fudge said with a heavy expression. "The father used his power for personal gain, and used the Imperius Curse to control his own son for his own rights. Finally, his son was under the curse. Crazy under the effect, crazy enough, he hallucinated another voice in his head, fancied that You-Know-Who wasn't dead, but anyway, he got rid of the spell's control, instead, he controlled his father!"
"The spell messed up little Crouch's mind. In the past six months, he pretended that he accepted the command of the mysterious man, pretended that he was still serving the mysterious man, sneaked into Hogwarts, and tortured his father. Everything was imagined by him."
Felix let out a long sigh of relief. He had a new understanding of Fudge's character, and Fudge's recalcitrance and stubbornness opened his eyes. Fudge's strategy is also very convincing, first exposing Crouch's crimes, turning Crouch into a de facto dangerous criminal, and finding the rationale for Crouch Jr.'s behavior, although there are still many Flaws, but it is already a qualified story. If the guess is correct, Fudge will destroy all the testimony of Crouch next.
"Barty Crouch is crazy!" Fudge exclaimed. "He reappeared with severe torture, mental and physical!" He looked at Amelia Bones, "You know that, don't you?"
"Barty Crouch did suffer inhuman torture, but," Ms. Burns said cautiously.
"St. Mungo's people have also confirmed his condition!" Fudge immediately looked at Dorothea Boham, "Your... that therapist, he personally admitted that Barty Crouch was injured. A serious confusion spell and memory tampering!"
Ms. Boham nodded slowly. Many members of the Wizengamot were persuaded, with regretful expressions on their faces.
"This is the truth of the matter!" Fudge waved his hat, "There is no You-Know-Who! There is no war!" He put the hat on his head, looked at Dumbledore with a smile on his face.
Dumbledore also smiled, and he even clapped his hands a few times, "Fudge, your stories are all based on imagination..."
"So, you have evidence?" Fudge asked impatiently.
Dumbledore said calmly: "If the evidence you are expecting is seeing Voldemort standing in front of you with your own eyes," Fudge couldn't help but wince when he heard the name, Dumbledore continued: "Then I really didn't , but I'm happy to share some facts, and my own speculations based on those facts."
"So you're going to make up stories too, Dumbledore? I'm too busy to listen to these"
"I'm afraid not," said Dumbledore.
"What's wrong?" Fudge gasped, it seemed that Dumbledore was not talking, but took out his wand and threatened him.
"Fuji, please forgive me, I am the chief mage of the Wizengamot. Although you are the Minister of Magic, according to the procedure, you are only a member of the Wizengamot. You must listen to me." Deng said Bullido, and Fudge stared like he'd been whipped.
Felix sat quietly in the chair and thought about it. If Dumbledore planned to tell all the secrets about Voldemort, he would never believe it. He is more inclined that Dumbledore intends to remind, the question is, to what extent.
"Where do you start?" said Dumbledore softly, "On that night fourteen years ago, with the help of a traitor, Voldemort walked into the Potter couple's safe house and killed Potter. Couples, but they missed in front of the baby Harry Potter, he bounced the Killing Curse on himself, and lost his power since then”
"He's dead," said Fudge stiffly.
"Where's the body?" Dumbledore asked back.
"Nobody cares about that, Dumbledore!" said Fudge impatiently. "He's dead! Probably turned to ashes, or someone took the body away."
"This is just a beautiful hope," said Dumbledore shaking his head, "I realized at the time that there was a possibility that Voldemort was still surviving in a corner of the world, surviving...but people were too eager to hear Good news, I am so eager to restore order and embrace peace.”
"Where's the evidence, Dumbledore? Where's the evidence?" said Fudge.
"Why can't you hear him out?" cried Professor Marchban. "He's not so rude when you talk!"
Fudge gave her a hard look, and muttered, "Well, I would like to hear... what evidence..."
"Thank you, Geselda," Dumbledore smiled and thanked Professor Marchban, and he continued: "I didn't express my guess. Maybe, as Fudge said, he really turned into a Ash, dead. Although according to my understanding of him, this possibility is very low."
"One of the evidences is the cursed Defense Against the Dark Arts class entrenched above Hogwarts, which was still in effect in the second year after Voldemort's death. I felt even more uneasy. I took the initiative to collect evidence that he was still alive Pay attention to unusual experiences and legends..."
"After spending several years, I finally found something suspicious in a Muggle newspaper." Dumbledore said, "That's right, I developed the habit of reading Muggle newspapers in those years, and I still have the habit of reading Muggle newspapers." Keep it, I especially like the Sudoku game above, according to Muggles, it can prevent Alzheimer's."
Fudge looked at him with a dull expression, as if he already had signs of geriatric disease.
" Closer to home, I read news about an expedition team in the newspaper. They heard the horror legend of the Albanian forest. Some small animals and domestic animals will die without warning. The behavior before death is very abnormal. A 10-year-old boy swears that he saw a snake reading a newspaper, and the pictures in that newspaper still move."
"We all know what this means?" Dumbledore said, looking at the crowd.
In the crowd, Tiberus Ogden said dissatisfiedly: "Which fool wizard threw away the newspaper after reading it?"
"That doesn't mean anything..." said Fudge stiffly. "It may be an Animagus from another country, who happens to be a snake."
"I checked, and they are possessed," said Dumbledore.
"What?"
"Possessed," repeated Dumbledore, "it doesn't mean anything, maybe some evil spirit is behind it, but again, I need to remind you, it could also be someone who has lost power, I continued to investigate in the forest... and found a large pit full of animal carcasses, mostly rats and snakes, of course, the largest number of snakes. I tried to unravel the mystery, and for a while thought I saw a familiar He was dilapidated and turned into a ghost, flashing past me, but I never saw him afterwards.”
"You mean that thing...he's avoiding you?" asked Amelia Bones gravely.
"I think so," Dumbledore nodded slightly, "I persuaded the nearby families to move away, and asked the owner of the local wizard tavern to keep an eye on the movements of the ghosts, and it has been more than ten years like this. I got more information, and my inner guess became firmer."
"But if it's really that person, why didn't he come out, but hid and wandered in the Albanian forest for more than ten years?" Amelia Bones asked.
"Yes! I want to know that too"
"I'm afraid I can only give a few guesses," said Dumbledore.
"Your guess is very valuable." Ms. Burns said, some wizards in the conference room nodded in agreement, while others kept shaking their heads.
"I think before I speculate, I need to remind you that Voldemort has lost his powers. He is weaker than ever before, and even more limited than a ghost can do," said Dumbledore. "One of his flaws is that , unable to suppress those fierce thoughts against him for a long time, so he is more inclined to possess simple-minded animals, especially snakes. He has a special influence on snakes."
"Parseltongue," said Ms. Burns sullenly.
"That's right, maybe in the first few years when he lost his power, he still hoped that Death Eaters would find him and help him regain his power...but he was disappointed, he maintained his rule with fear, and he was doomed to have nothing after failure," Dumbledore said softly, "Of course, a few people who were loyal to him were imprisoned in Azkaban."
"Barty Crouch, Lestranges!" said Ms. Burns.
Felix's heart moved, and he was touched again. The first time he was talking to Neville, he thought of Azkaban and Dementors, but he didn't realize the problem, but he ignored it. A key point is revealed, Azkaban is a prison with all kinds of criminals in it.
He leaned back in the chair, looked up at the ceiling, and thought hard. Dumbledore's voice became the background sound, providing him with inspiration
"Nearly four years ago, Voldemort possessed a professor at Hogwarts, sneaked into the school, and wanted to get the Philosopher's Stone hidden inside... Finally Harry Potter and his friends stopped him... ...the Sorcerer's Stone was also destroyed."
"More than a year ago, Peter Pettigrew, the war hero who was considered dead, appeared again. He and a Death Eater who turned out to be Crouch Jr. were ordered to infiltrate the school, but before they had time to launch a conspiracy, they Discovered by Harry Potter and his friends, the battle broke out on the edge of the Forbidden Forest. Fortunately, Sirius Black and two school professors who were slandered as Voldemort's loyal servants rescued them in time, and they survived..."
"Unfortunately, these people almost died at the hands of out-of-control dementors." Dumbledore said sternly, Fudge winced, and Umbridge hid his head behind the file. "Peter Pettigrew died that night, it was the kiss of a dementor... Before he died, he suddenly repented and admitted that he was the traitor who betrayed the Potters. He also said a word."
The meeting room was quiet, everyone held their breath and looked at Dumbledore.
Dumbledore repeated softly: "He said: He is coming back, the man who can't even mention his name is coming back, I did something wrong, forgive me"
"What!" Ms. Burns took a breath, and she stared at Fudge in disbelief, "No one told me about this! You put a gag order?"
Fudge faltered, kept wiping his sweat, and finally he yelled, "What do you want me to do? With a single sentence that doesn't make sense, to completely martial law? To destroy the peace we have painstakingly built all these years?"
"Peace is not fake." Felix said with a smile, he finally figured it out.
Azkaban, dark wizards, Death Eaters... Voldemort, resurrection...and Dumbledore to add.
It all comes together to surmise that if Dumbledore had fatally wounded Voldemort on multiple occasions, if Voldemort had been so weak that he had to seek help from others, his options were extremely limited.
This person must be a Death Eater who is fanatically loyal to Voldemort and agrees with his ideas. Only in this way can he gain Voldemort's limited trust and get the honor of helping the "great Dark Lord" treat his injuries and even hold a resurrection ceremony.
If such a person gets away with it after the war, it is impossible for him to do nothing for more than ten years, so he must be imprisoned in Azkaban.
So does he know more, like Horcruxes?
Of course, of course, Voldemort is extremely selfish, it is impossible to tolerate the secret of the Horcrux being known, even the loyal servant who can give his life for him. He may have used some kind of spell to keep the secret, the forgetting spell or the confusing spell can both achieve the goal...
Fudge stared at Felix, the expression on his face still stubborn.
"In this year, the omens are more obvious," said Dumbledore. "There have been several disappearances, Bertha Jorkins disappeared without a trace in Voldemort's last hiding place, and then a Muggle. His name was Frank Bryce, and he lived in the village where Voldemort's father was born ~IndoMTL.com~ I read it in the papers, remember? I read the Muggle papers...and Crowe Strange, if it wasn't for being rescued, it might be another case of disappearance."
"Dumbledore, the few things you said are also speculations, maybe it's just a coincidence!"
"I have a witness," said Dumbledore in a deep voice.
Fudge looked at him so fast that he almost sprained his neck. Others also looked at Dumbledore. Fudge muttered, "You don't want to say Barty Crouch, do you?" The testimony of is not credible”
"What about his house-elf?" Dumbledore asked politely, waving his wand at the same time, and Winky and Dobby suddenly appeared in the office.
Winky's expression was still a little dazed, but Dobby was better adapted to this kind of scene. He took Winky's hand, and the two bowed deeply, and said in a sharp voice: "Mr. wizards, hello! .”
It's not because of Dumbledore's magic that everyone is staring at them, but because they are both wearing dainty little clothes. What this means, they know very well:
These are two free elves.