Harry Potter and the Great Old Ones

Chapter 361 Sirius's Deduction

After giving Hermione a brief introduction, or rather, a simple impromptu explanation of the Tarot Society's structure, responsibilities, and general future direction, Tiera opened several portals and sent Dobby, Slytherin, and Gilderoy Lockhart away.

Only then did he politely take Hermione's hand and step into a portal of light, but before entering—

“Wait a moment.” Tyella stopped, then gently brushed Hermione’s shoulder and the wizard’s hat on her back. “There was a bug stuck to your hat, I just brushed it off for you.”

After speaking, Tyella reached over Hermione's shoulder, gave a cold laugh from an angle where Hermione couldn't see, and glanced coldly at the green beetle lying on the ground. Then, she grabbed Hermione, turned around quickly, and left the "Inheritor" without looking back.

A dark green beetle was left in the vast, deserted, and lonely library—

Ritaskita had no further use for Tiera except for genetic experiments.

In fact, every time Rita Skitta sneaked into Hogwarts this semester, Tierra managed to catch her, but Tierra has single-handedly allowed her to survive until now.

It was all to get her to finish that report about the Christmas dinner.

Now that the report is out, Tiera has no reason to let Ritaskita wander around outside any longer.

After Hermione and I pushed open the portal and stepped out, we found ourselves not at Hogwarts, but on a bustling, old street with a unique architectural style.

Restaurants and vegetable stalls crowded both sides of the street. It was lunchtime, and countless people with black hair and black eyes like Tiera were busily going in and out of these shops like ants.

“Where is this…” Hermione looked at Tyella in confusion.

“Chinatown in London,” Tierra said with a smile. “It would be such a waste to go back after all this trip, wouldn’t it?”

"Is this London?" Hermione looked around in surprise. "Did you use spatial magic to bring me here?"

“Yes,” Tierra said. “I remember your home is in London, right?”

“Yes,” Hermione replied.

“Alright,” Tyella said. “Let’s go, Hermione. I’m getting tired of the school food. I’ll take you out for some authentic Chinese food. Then I’ll take you home. You must miss your parents terribly for Christmas, right?”

“Yes!” Hermione exclaimed excitedly. “Thank you! Thank you, Tyella!”

“No, it’s what I should do,” Tierra said, waving her hand. “You haven’t seen your parents in so long, it’s time for you to go home and visit them.”

“Everyone should go home and visit their families,” Tierra added. “I should go home and visit my family too…”

……

Meanwhile, as Tyrell and Hermione strolled through London's Chinatown looking for a restaurant, Sirius Black had finally finished most of the food Harry and Ron had brought. Sitting down, he had the energy to chat with Harry and Ron about other things.

"This whole thing... burp!" Sirius, having eaten too quickly, suddenly let out a burp, making him blush slightly. He covered his mouth a little embarrassedly, patted his chest, and after feeling a bit better, continued:

“Harry, I had to come here myself. Your last letter… well, we can say things are getting increasingly suspicious,” Sirius Black said worriedly.

"What if they catch you? What if you get discovered?"

“Around here, only you and Dumbledore know that I am an Animagus.” Sirius said, shrugging, then picked up another chicken leg and continued to eat heartily. “And things have been strange ever since you started the competition.”

"What kind of eerie feeling?" Harry asked, puzzled.

Sirius didn't say anything. Instead, he continued gnawing on a chicken leg with one hand and reached into his thin leather jacket with the other, pulling out several copies of the Daily Prophet, all single sheets of the newspaper.

Harry picked up the newspapers, glanced at them, and suddenly felt his face burning—

These newspapers contain the final part of Rita Skita's headline story.

Rita Skita, having somehow learned of Tierra's trip to the Black Lake with her, embellished the story in the latest issue of the Daily Prophet, portraying herself as a dim-witted fool and Tierra as a cunning and ruthless womanizer.

It was only because of Tyrell's superb magical skills and his usual formidable strength that the Slytherin group led by Malfoy did not mock and ridicule them in Potions class or elsewhere at Hogwarts.

Harry was a little confused as to why Sirius would bring out this newspaper at this time. Was it because Sirius was unhappy that he was getting too close to Tyrell?
“Barty Crouch is sick.” After Sirius finished his chicken leg, he tossed the bone to Buckbeak, who took it and began crunching away. “And Bertha Joggins still hasn’t been found.”

After saying that, Sirius Black pointed to a small section on the second newspaper.

It was only then that Harry noticed that besides the large sections of gossip about himself and Tyrell in the newspaper he was holding, there was another news item that only took up half the page—

Barty Crouch's Illness Is Mysterious

Harry quickly skimmed the article about Crouch. A few snippets caught his eye: He hadn't been seen since November…his house appeared to be uninhabited…St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Injuries declined to comment…The Ministry of Magic wouldn't confirm rumors of his terminal illness…

“They sound like he’s about to die,” Harry said slowly after finishing reading.

“My brother, Percy…you don’t think you’ve met him, he’s Crouch’s personal assistant,” Ron told Sirius. “He said Crouch’s health deteriorated because he was overworked.”

"Overworked to the point of illness?" Sirius raised an eyebrow and said, "No, that's unlikely."

“He hasn’t had much power since that incident,” Sirius said. “He used to be in charge of some of the Aurors, but after the Dark Lord’s Mark incident at the World Cup, Cornelius Fudge stripped him of his command over the Aurors for inadequate oversight and sent him to the Department of International Magical Exchanges to be in charge of the Triwizard Tournament.”

“Ludobagman can handle all of this in the Triwizard Tournament by himself; he can’t possibly have anything that requires too much attention,” Sirius Black said. “Fudge can’t possibly give him too many things to do either.”

“So I suspect he might not be sick, but cursed,” Sirius said, then looked at Harry. “Harry, you said you felt someone was trying to harm you in the game.”

"I suspect that Batty Crouch's illness at this time may have been deliberately caused by someone."

I'm so sorry everyone, I've been incredibly busy today, so the update is a bit late. I'll thank everyone tomorrow.

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(End of this chapter)