HP Midnight Light

- 1980th July 7 - Ministry of Magic Underground Courtroom

"What makes you think you can always get away with it, Mr. Burst?"

silence.

"You'd better be honest. This list is more than you can afford."

Still silent.

Crouch, Amelia, and Scrimgeour stood side by side, looking at Signus, who was chained backwards on the chair through the enchanted wall. He hung his head in silence, as if he had fallen asleep. of.

Amelia asked, "How did he get caught?"

The Auror who was in charge of the arrest glanced at Scrimgeour: "This is a deal between us and Parkinson. As a tainted witness, he designed to lure Bulstrode to a place where Aurors were ambushing beforehand."

"He believed Parkinson's words so easily? It seems that Burst is not as cunning as the legend says."

"We didn't make public the news that Parkinson's family was placed under house arrest, and Parkinson also told us that Berster was actually not cautious, but a little conceited. Coupled with the current besieged situation, I think he is a little ill. He went to the doctor." Auror explained, "Parkinson wrote to him saying that he had found a way to make Selwyn let go, and invited him to come to Parkinson Manor for an interview. Burst came over through the Floo network without any doubts. , he was subdued as soon as he emerged from the fireplace by the Aurors guarding either side - effortlessly."

"So Parkinson will get away with it? Just because he 'served merit'?" Scrimgeour turned sullenly to the Auror. "Who came up with this idea? What did you promise in exchange?"

The Ministry of Magic stipulates that Aurors have the right to act on a whim during the course of their mission without consulting their superiors.Scrimgeour hated the rule, but he was powerless to interfere.

Hearing his words, Crouch and Amelia also turned to the Aurors, and the three high-ranking Ministry of Magic waited in unison for an answer.

"Frank." Auror carefully announced a name, "He promised Parkinson not to bring him to trial, and Parkinson also agreed to cooperate in the arrest of Berstrode."

"Ridiculous!" Scrimgeour reprimanded angrily, and the Auror hurriedly defended:

"But we can still do it in other ways—"

"What's the matter!" Scrimgeour roared, "Now Parkinson can get away with it, we all know that he has nothing to do with the Death Eaters, we have even been able to send him to Azkaban, and now all of this is up to you Broken a deal! We had a million ways to catch Bulstrode, and you chose the stupidest one—"

Crouch glanced at him. "Don't yell at your subordinates, Scrimgeour!"

"But Bestrode is more valuable than Parkinson," the Auror argued.

"That's not necessarily the case." Scrimgeour sneered, "You don't know how many hooks these people have behind their backs, maybe Bulstrode is just a fish that took the bait foolishly, but the real killer in the lake hasn't taken the bait yet. !"

"You have no right to accuse other Aurors like that!" Amelia stopped in front of Aurors and reminded.

"But it's not a big deal, we can also deal with that woman first for violating the "Secrecy Act"—"

"Scrimpie?" Amelia exclaimed in shock, her eyebrows furrowed in disbelief. "It's illegal!"

Crouch quickly reassured: "This is just one of our assumptions, Amelia. After all, that woman is very suspicious—"

Amelia turned to Crouch: "If you mean Hyacinth Lord White, Mr. Crouch, you may have forgotten: she was once the first witness in the Smith case."

Crouch didn't answer immediately, he blinked his eyes quickly as if enlightened: "Thank you for your reminder." He didn't forget to give Scrimgeour a cold look.

"But Aurora Smith herself is suspected. She has a close relationship with the Greengrass brothers..."

"Do you have any solid evidence to prove any of their crimes, Scrimgeour?" Amelia asked calmly, but Scrimgeour stopped immediately. She looked at Crouch and continued, "If we use this What will the public think of us if we ask them to question their innocence? The Squib Bill of Rights is already difficult, and I don’t want to make it worse at a time like this.”

"Even so, we can skip Smith and Greenglass and deal with this woman first!"

"You underestimate the imagination of ordinary people, Scrimgeour. They will suspect that the upper echelons of the Ministry of Magic are also composed of pure-bloods, they will think that the class gap caused by blood still exists, they will think that the Ministry of Magic has broken its trust- —the previous uproar about equality is all empty words—then you can also imagine what the consequences will be.” Amelia paused for a moment to let the two of them digest her words, “If you have evidence, then none of this will be a problem .The point is that you have nothing but doubts."

"Very well," Scrimgeour raised his voice, "then Black—"

"You have to treat them equally, Scrimgeour." Amelia said firmly, "Besides, Dumbledore will make his decision."

"So you trust Dumbledore not to be mistaken, Ms. Burns?"

"That's right!" Amelia replied loudly.

"If Edmund Parkinson had worked under me, then I would have been properly silent at a time like this." Scrimgeour's face flushed purple, and he said without hesitation, "You understand my Mean, Ms. Burns!"

"That's enough, Scrimgeour! How dare you speak to your superior in such a tone?" Crouch reprimanded, and he turned to the Auror who was so embarrassed that he didn't know if he should avoid it, "Continue to interrogate Bulstrode, He must be told everything!"

"And what about what we discussed earlier, Director?" Scrimgeour asked unwillingly.

"Maybe you should focus on those real Death Eaters for the time being." Crouch replied coldly, he paused, "If it's true as you said, then sooner or later they will show more of their feet."

- 7 July - Unnamed Castle, Cumbria

"Master," Evan walked into the meeting room alone, "Please forgive us for being late."

"Why isn't Cornelia here?"

"She went all the way north to chase a small group of members of the Order of the Phoenix." Evan quickly bypassed the subject, "Master, Signus hasn't said anything so far."

"Little Barty returned to his father?"

"Yes, he claims he's on vacation. That's a good excuse, and Crouch won't suspect it. Besides, we need an eyeliner right now, master."

The Dark Lord almost smiled slightly: "You're doing well, Evan. But what else do you know about Signus?"

"The Ministry of Magic set the trial for that day at the end of July. They decided not to use any witnesses, because they obtained a search warrant a few days ago and obtained a large amount of evidence from the Burst Manor that is sufficient to incriminate Signus." said. After finishing, Evan quietly glanced at the Dark Lord.

"How did they get permission to search Bulstrode?"

"Jr. Barty didn't get the specific details, but someone betrayed Signus to the Ministry of Magic."

There was a long silence.Evan could even hear the sound of the Dark Lord exhaling heavily, the hair on his neck stood on end, and Evan stared nervously at the cracks in the bricks on the ground——

"Cruciatus!" The Dark Lord yelled suddenly, pointing at a Death Eater casually. He howled and rolled down from his chair. Several Death Eaters around him screamed briefly, but when they saw There was a miraculous silence in the room as the Dark Lord still held his wand in his hand.

Evan continued tentatively: "Other than that, this trial will not be held in public."

"I don't care," said the Dark Lord grimly. "We must silence Burstrod for good before he can speak."

No one answered immediately.

Evan could feel the Dark Lord slowly scanning his men, a difficult task, but one that would be rewarding once accomplished.But who would be willing to take high risks to do so?

"Maybe Wilkes can, master." Bellatrix said suddenly, "We can't send a target that is too conspicuous."

She looked back at Evan with a provocative smile on her face, and he easily read a trace of smug contempt in her eyes.Evan twitched the corners of his mouth and cleared his throat: "I agree. But I think it is necessary to send two people to this mission. Wilkes can shoulder the heavy responsibility of solving Burst, but he definitely needs one person Come to cover and cooperate with him. After all, he doesn't have much actual combat experience, Master."

The smile on Bella's face faded a little.

"Do you have a recommendation, Evan?"

"Rodolphs." Evan gave the reason well prepared, "He once went to the Ministry of Magic to perform a mission. It is always good to have someone who is familiar with the situation."

—Rodolphus had led a small band of Death Eaters in the courtroom massacre a few months earlier.

"Rodolphus was wounded not long ago, my lord."

"If it's just a battle injury, it should have healed by now?" Evan captured the panic on Bella's face as he wished, "Or we can let Severus see why he hasn't healed for so long."

Bella stared at him with a livid face, and she squeezed out a sentence through her teeth: "Rodolphs is willing to go through fire and water for the Dark Lord, a little injury is nothing."

"That's good." Evan smiled back calmly.

"We'll soon find out whether that prophecy is true or not." The Dark Lord said to Snape who held his hands in silence. "If it's true, Severus, you're my hero; if it's No, that's okay, I won't blame you for that..."

"Master," Snape said, not daring to look into the Dark Lord's long, scarlet eyes, "who do you think the baby in the prophecy will be?"

"One of Potter or Longbottom." The Dark Lord's words hit Snape's heart like a heavy hammer. He didn't care about his subordinate's silence, and he continued, "They have all been killed by the Death Eater three times. Escaping from the accident is a big worry in my heart..."

"But only one person was mentioned in the prophecy, Master." Snape asked directly, regardless of the possibility of angering the Dark Lord. "What if the two children were born at the end of July?"

"Isn't this a prophecy, Severus, so it will naturally let me know who the child is." The Dark Lord stared at the wand in his hand, "I have decided to send people to watch the two families separately... ...Even if Dumbledore knows my plan, it's useless, he can't stop me." The Dark Lord's voice gradually fell, and Snape quietly wiped the sweat from his hands on the robe:

"So...then what do I need to do, Master?"

"You haven't been spotted by anyone, have you, Severus?" the Dark Lord asked suddenly.

"No, Master," Snape denied. "I left as soon as I heard footsteps on the stairs."

"Very well, then don't do anything, Severus." The Dark Lord commanded slyly, "Stay in the castle and witness with me who my 'destined opponent' really is." He issued a Terrible laughter, as if thinking he was being humorous.

Snape had no choice, he closed his eyes: "Yes, Master."

-June 7th - Parkinson Manor

"I've already given you what you want." Edmund stopped Frank as soon as he stepped into the room. He glanced at the Aurors scattered in every corner, and lowered his voice, "When are you going to cash it? Your promise?"

"Wait until the trial of Bulstrode is over, Mr. Parkinson." Frank replied politely, "Once Signus Bulstrode is thrown into Azkaban, once he confesses to the satisfaction of the Ministry of Magic, you will will know the punishment you will face."

Edmund took a step back, his face turned pale: "Punishment?"

Frank looked at him ironically: "You don't think you can maintain your innocence, do you? In any case, your previous crimes cannot be cleared up. The only clear promise we made to you is that you will not be thrown into AZ Caban, this is already an attractive price tag."

After saying this, he turned and walked towards the other Aurors.Edmond stood alone in the foyer like a fool, looking at the group of people whom he sneered at in the past but now controlled his destiny. He couldn't imagine that one day he would be imprisoned in his own home, shouting that he should not, The ground is not working.

"Don't get in my way."

Hyacinth walked past him impatiently and walked into the hall, her body exuded the breath of sunshine and the smell of belonging to the garden, and Edmund was annoyed to find that she was still holding the damn "One Hundred Years of Solitude" in her arms.

"Are you quite happy?"

"This is the happiest time since I came here." Hyacinth adjusted the position of the bookmark and looked at the Aurors in the room, "Although they won't let me leave here, but... I am very happy to be able to Witnessing what you are like now, maybe you will begin to understand my original thoughts—" Hyacinth's words stopped abruptly when she inadvertently met Frank's gaze, and she hurriedly took a step back, as if she wanted to escape It's like the sun is going down.But Frank had stepped forward and stopped her:

"Can you take a step to talk?"

Edmund narrowed his eyes as Hyacons and Frank walked together to the fireplace.

"You would have faced charges against the Ministry of Magic with Parkinson, but someone persuaded them to dismiss the idea." Hyacinth glanced at him hastily, and Frank knew she was thinking too much, he shook his head, "Not Sirius .”

Hyacinth hung her head and said nothing, she leaned against the fireplace and hugged the book tightly.

"Sirius is not doing well." After thinking about it, Frank still said, "People in the Order of the Phoenix suspect that he is an undercover agent of the Death Eaters. Although Dumbledore chose to believe him, those rumors are still there."

She still didn't speak.Frank didn't know why she was silent—guilt, sentimentality, guilt—but would a cold-hearted woman be silent at this moment?Maybe not.Is her love for Sirius equal to Sirius' love for her?perhaps.So is she really out of control?

Frank didn't know.

"If you have anything you want me to bring him, maybe I can help."

Hyacinth shook her head, her tears streaming down the book.Before Frank could say anything else, she suddenly walked past him and walked quickly out of the house.

"Hyase..."

She stopped suddenly in the hall, and Edmund called her cautiously from behind her.Hyacinth ignored it.She leaned on the door frame and stared at the sun that was too bright in midsummer, but it didn't belong to her.It neither brought warmth nor illuminated her heart.

"One Hundred Years of Solitude" fell to the ground with a bang, and Hyacinth raised her hand to cover her eyes, and burst into tears.

The author has something to say:

Note:

1. The image of Amelia also follows the original: a just person.

2. The original book says that Crouch is a person who is particularly keen on fighting dark wizards, and even throws Sirius into Azkaban without trial.It is assumed here that he is not so extreme at this time.About Crouch's transformation, it will be mentioned later.

3. It is assumed that Snape has not officially started working undercover for Dumbledore at this time.

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