Study Days at Hogwarts

  Chapter 908 Dumbledore's visit

  Christmas was just over, opened a bunch of Christmas presents, and attended a Christmas ball, but Dumbledore was not in a good mood.

   Because Barty Crouch was sick a few days ago, he didn't come to the Christmas ball.

   To be honest, it’s not a big deal, it’s normal to be sick, not to mention the old Batty who has been working hard for the World Cup for a whole year, it’s understandable that he wants to spend Christmas quietly, but…

  If you associate this incident with Albert's prediction, this is undoubtedly a bad omen.

A few months ago, Sirius had approached Dumbledore and mentioned that Peter was still alive. Through his memory, he saw that the man who appeared in the prophecy ball was Barty Crouch Jr., the first Dumbledore When I saw him, I recognized him.

   Barty Crouch Jr. still alive?

  Yes, why are you still alive?

  Since then, Dumbledore has been quietly investigating this matter, and Barty Crouch Sr. was the breaking point in the whole thing, but Dumbledore can't do anything about a high-ranking official of the Ministry of Magic.

  Although Dumbledore is not in politics, it does not mean that he is ignorant of this aspect. He knows better than anyone that some things cannot be overdone.

  For example, forcing Barty Crouch Sr. to tell the secret, otherwise, even if the answer is obtained, even if the whole matter is related to Barty Crouch Sr., it will still be a big trouble.

However, fortunately, some time ago, old Barty expelled his loyal house-elf for some reason, and that house-elf named Winky was working at Hogwarts at the moment, even though he didn't care much about it. With a large dose of the powerful Veritaserum, secrets could be revealed, but Dumbledore refrained from doing so because it would have been too cruel and could have killed or permanently damaged the house-elf.

  The loyalty of house elves allows them to keep secrets for their masters. Even house elves who have been kicked out of the house by their masters, their loyalty is still beyond doubt.

   But Dumbledore didn't need to be so troublesome if he wanted to know some news, and he didn't even need to get an accurate answer.

He took Winky to the principal's office, told the house elf that old Barty Crouch was ill, and said some of his own guesses, expressing his suspicion that old Barty was under the control of the Imperius Curse, and asked some News about Barty Jr.

Although Dumbledore's words did not make the house-elf named Winky confide the truth to him, Dumbledore didn't really need to get the answer from the house-elf. He only needed to get the answer from the house-elf. The truth of the whole thing can be deduced.

  There is no doubt that Albert's prediction is correct. Barty Jr. is still alive, and the whole incident has something to do with Barty Old. Perhaps, Barty Old used some secret methods to keep Barty Jr. alive. As for who the person who died in Azkaban Prison was, it was self-evident.

  Because not long ago, after Dumbledore learned from Sirius that Peter Pettigrew was still alive, he guessed the specific reason.

   It's a pity that the two great mothers saved their son's life with their own lives, but in the end they failed to save their son's conscience and lead them to the right path.

  After figuring out the truth, Dumbledore immediately wanted to find Albert, and he needed some verification from the other party.

   Albert seems to know something.

  In other words, the other party may know more than yourself.

  Dumbledore was able to realize that the whole thing was wrong, or he learned the news from the conversation between Albert and Percy at the ball.

  The other party seemed to be deliberately implying that Crouch was going to die.

   Yes, he meant that Crouch was going to die, and then Percy became an assistant to the Minister of Magic.

   Albert is a genius who is good at prophecy. Even if he doesn't know, Dumbledore believes that after a short exchange between the two sides, he can get a lot of useful information.

   What's more, Dumbledore was sure that Albert knew that he was too smart.

  However, Dumbledore found that their warrior was missing, and even if he used tracking magic, he couldn't track Albert's location.

   It seems to have disappeared out of thin air.

  Where did Albert go?

  Dumbledore didn't know, but someone must know, so...he asked Albert's roommate and friend.

   Well, not even his roommates know.

   "Probably went home."

   "Maybe, I went to spend Christmas vacation with my girlfriend."

   These are two speculations by Fred, George and Lee Jordan.

  However, the Andersons were not in their original home. At least, Dumbledore went there himself. No one lived in that house at all, at least for several months.

  Their family moved?

  Thinking about it, it seems that it is not surprising.

   After all, he is someone who can predict the future, especially a powerful prophet. If he really doesn't want you to find him, it's really hard to find.

  Nicole Flamel is a ready-made example. When Voldemort peeped at the Sorcerer's Stone a few years ago, he immediately noticed something was wrong, and contacted himself in advance, asking him to use the Fidelity Curse to protect his residence.

   Dumbledore, who failed to find Albert, found that he seemed to be a bit unlucky.

  According to the original plan, he planned to visit the old Batty with Ludo Bagman, and talk about the security measures of the second project by the way, but Ludo Bagman seemed to be in trouble.

  When Dumbledore came to visit at the appointed time, Ludo Bagman had already been sent to St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Injuries and Illnesses. The specific reason was that he ate horseshoe chocolate mixed with a love potion.

The most embarrassing thing is that after Bagman took the love potion, the person who was thinking about it turned out to be a girl from Hogwarts. The woman who wrote him the letter was obviously a fake, or in other words, the letter from the beginning to the end It's also fake, what is going on with this matter?

  Dumbledore quickly guessed the answer, because the next day at Hogwarts there were a large number of students who had taken the love potion, which caused a lot of commotion.

   It is said that after breakfast, Fred, George and Lee Jordan brought out a bunch of snacks and desserts to share with everyone. It's not the first time they've done this. Sometimes everyone gave Albert a bunch of snacks and desserts that he couldn't finish eating, and they were worried that they would be ruined and wasted, so they would take them out and share them with everyone.

For example, the last time he won the International Wizard Chess Championship and the Magic School Potion Championship, anyway, every time Albert won the championship and became famous, he always received a bunch of gifts, which also contained a large number of desserts and snacks. The Weasley twins and Lee Jordan shared it with everyone.

   As for the reason, Dumbledore had already heard about Ludo Bagman's debts.

"During the World Cup, Bagman fooled us with fake gold coins, and he didn't even want to give us back the principal, so we just wanted to play a joke on him, let him work for nothing without getting a galleon. ’” said George to Dumbledore.

  They undoubtedly know that 80% of those desserts contain love potions.

   It's just that they won't admit it, just say it was a little prank.

  Dumbledore naturally didn't intend to punish them. After all, no matter who they were, they would be extremely annoyed if they were hacked and saved a sum of Galleons with great difficulty. A small prank showed that they were already quite restrained.

  As for the incident of the group taking the love potion this time, it was purely an accident.

   After all, they "don't know" anything, and this is just sharing desserts with everyone according to the usual practice, without any malice.

   But this undoubtedly interrupted Dumbledore's original plan and delayed his plan to visit Batty.

   As for, he goes by himself?

   No, you can't do that, it's easy to get in trouble. Better to find a decent reason to convince the Ministry of Magic that this was just an accident.

   Otherwise, no one knows what will happen if you go there.

  In case Crouch dies, he will be very passive.

  The Ministry of Magic will not admit that Voldemort is still alive, it will only blame him, or other dark wizards.

   As for the people from the Ministry of Magic, go with the Aurors?

   This is never a good idea.

   To be honest, apart from a few trusted friends, Dumbledore is not very willing to trust the Aurors of the Ministry of Magic, especially Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic.

  The other party is now becoming more and more obsessed with his status and power, becoming more and more "degenerate", and moving closer to a pure-blood wizard.

  He is unreliable, very unreliable.

  For Dumbledore, the British Ministry of Magic has never been a help, but a hindrance, a trouble.

There are too many pure-blood wizards who hate Dumbledore and like to hold him back, and most of these people are Death Eaters who escaped unharmed back then. Lido has nothing good to do, he can't overthrow the existing system of the Ministry of Magic.

  So, looking for Ludo Bagman to find Old Batty is the best way at present, because Dumbledore has already thought about it.

  The second project is far more dangerous than the first project, because the warrior needs to enter the Black Lake to rescue the hostages, out of his sight, even Dumbledore has no good way. Therefore, the safety of the warriors can only be taken care of by the murlocs under the Black Lake. Even if the murlocs are willing to help take care of the warriors, there may still be serious problems, such as the warriors being attacked underground in the Black Lake, or accidentally drowned.

  They need a safe and reliable plan to ensure that the warriors can be rescued as soon as possible after encountering danger.

   As for the plan, Dumbledore has already thought about it.

  Dumbledore looked at the plan at hand, and then at the pocket watch on the table. In another hour, it would be the time agreed with Bagman.

  Before he leaves school, he has to make some arrangements.

  At this moment, Dumbledore is waiting for someone in his office.

  The other party didn't keep him waiting for too long, someone knocked on the door of the principal's office, and Snape walked in with a sullen face.

   No way, the love potion incident actually saved the Gryffindor foursome, and those four nasty guys brought back some unpleasant memories for Snape.

   What annoyed Snape even more was that Dumbledore had already defined this incident as an accident, and directly exposed it lightly.

  Even if Snape could tell at a glance that the three of them were lying, he even believed that the culprit of all this was Albert Anderson, but...he couldn't send those four **** to confinement.

   "I will leave school before eight o'clock, I need you to go and see Moody, just don't let him out of your sight." Dumbledore said to Snape.

   "What happened." Snape immediately sensed something was wrong.

   "I may have found some clues." Dumbledore said vaguely.

   "Clue?" Snape reached out and grabbed his arm, muttered, "Who is it related to?"

   There are not many things that Dumbledore can pay attention to, and Voldemort is definitely one of them.

  Dumbledore did not answer, but continued, "I suspect someone has sneaked into the school, and I need you to help me keep an eye on the professors in the school."

   "Including Moody?" Snape asked oddly.

   "Of course, I will also let Moody watch over you, you can find any reason." Dumbledore said, looking at Snape.

   "Is there any point in doing this?" Snape asked with a frown.

   "Yes." Dumbledore said, "Two hours after I leave, if there are Voldemort's minions in the school, they will definitely notice something is wrong and inform Voldemort to find him."

   "Who do you suspect, Moody?"

   "Not yet."

   "Well, since you said so." Although Snape was puzzled, he still agreed.

   After Snape left, about half an hour later, Moody raised his hand and knocked on the office door.

   "Albus, what can I do for you?"

   "I'm going to leave school later to deal with something." Dumbledore said straight to the point.

   "It seems that this matter is very important, I will go back and prepare."

"No, I need you to stay in the school and help me look after Hogwarts." Dumbledore said, "I have always suspected that there are Voldemort's helpers in the school, and I need you to make sure that within two hours after I leave the school , without any professor passing the news to the outside.

   "You really don't need help?" Moody repeated.

"Need not."

   "Okay." Moody nodded and asked again, "Do you have any targets of suspicion?"

   "No." Dumbledore shook his head.

"It is true that there is no professor in the school who has the symptoms of the Imperius Curse. Although a more powerful Imperius Curse cannot be ruled out, it is impossible to have no symptoms after a long time." Moody analyzed, "After the exclusion, there are only two people left. He has a criminal record, and Karkaroff escaped some time ago."

   "I'm sure Snape won't betray me, and he doesn't have to." Dumbledore said, looking at Moody.

"There are many cunning people in Slytherin, even you may be deceived." Moody sneered, "Albus, you are too soft-hearted and like to give others a chance. I overheard them talking about the Dark Mark With a reaction, God knows if that guy will be ready to return to his master."

  Dumbledore said calmly, "If possible, take this opportunity to find out the guy who is hiding."

   There is no doubt that this is a conspiracy against him, but... a known conspiracy, what's the point?

   However, Barty Jr. quickly realized the seriousness of the problem.

  I may be targeted.

  Also, Dumbledore might actually find the Dark Lord's trail, and that's purely to prevent someone from tipping off the news, or uncovering himself hiding in Hogwarts.

  Of course, it may also be purely a conspiracy, just to lure and catch yourself.

   Now what to do?

   After pondering for a moment, Barty Jr. finally gave up on informing Voldemort. He cannot be exposed yet.

  With the magical defense measures of the Crouch family, even if they really encounter trouble, the master must have a way to escape alone.

  (end of this chapter)