Hogwarts: Harry Returns from Azeroth

Chapter 292, Section 291: Little Devil Crouch
After leaving the Great Totem, Harry went to the castle as quickly as possible to find Dumbledore. The old man was still living in the same headmaster's office, since Harry's usual place of residence was still the Great Totem.

Dumbledore, Professor McGonagall, Professor Flitwick, Snape, Professor Sprout… leading some of the most capable fighters in all of Hogwarts, Harry and his friends headed straight for the Colosseum, far from the castle.

Without revealing Rita's presence, Harry simply explained Crouch's unusual behavior and the purpose of their trip to the group on the way. Therefore, although Professor McGonagall and the others found it hard to believe that Crouch Jr. was still alive and had used Polyjuice Potion to infiltrate the school in the likeness of his father, they were still prepared for battle.

The Colosseum, now empty and deserted after the audience had left, was a bit desolate. Harry and his companions only encountered some Ministry of Magic employees busy repairing damaged buildings and cleaning up trash along the way. After asking them, they learned that Crouch was in his temporary office and there was nothing unusual about him.

Harry knocked on the door.

"Please come in."

Old Crouch's voice came from inside the door, and when Harry and the others went in, it was clear that Old Crouch was somewhat surprised by so many people appearing in his office at the same time.

"What happened?" Crouch asked suspiciously. "Did a Muggle or wizard sneak into Hogwarts during yesterday's match?"

“Something did happen,” Harry explained casually, his gaze quickly sweeping across the makeshift office. In just a few seconds, he found the huge box Rita had described, placed next to the cabinet by the bed.

"After yesterday's match, Professor Snape returned to his office only to find some of his precious herbs—"

"Avada Kedavra!!!"

It suddenly erupted!!
No one expected that Crouch's old face would show such a ferocious expression. Before Harry could finish speaking, Crouch suddenly drew his wand and released a Killing Curse without warning.

Harry was right—the same thought flashed through the minds of several professors at the same time, and being prepared, they certainly couldn't be hit by such a spell.

However, Crouch Jr. seemed to have anticipated being discovered, and immediately after the unexpected Killing Curse, he cast a second spell, the Explosion Curse.

boom! ! !
It was just like the explosion Peter Pettigrew released twelve years ago to cover up the truth; the entire temporary office, along with this section of the corridor in the Colosseum, was blown to smithereens.

Harry was astonished by this decisiveness. Wasn't Crouch worried about blowing himself up? And wasn't he afraid of blowing up his father? Did he really have no love whatsoever for his father, who gave him life, raised him, and now seemed to have secretly rescued him from Azkaban?

But soon, Harry stopped wondering about it.

Because he had already smelled a very familiar stench—the stench of fel energy.

Amidst the lingering dust and smoke from the explosion, Harry was quite certain what that fleeting green light meant.

Crouch Jr. had become a demon, a demon transformed from the wizarding race.

"Demon!!" Harry shouted without hesitation, "Don't let your guard down! Watch out for anyone who gets close!"

"Vanished completely!"

Dumbledore waved his wand to clear the smoke and dust from his view.

The now-empty corridor was now filled with people from the nearby Ministry of Magic Garden Road who had rushed over, all nervously raising their wands in this direction, both tense and curious, after all, what had just been blown up was the office of one of their superiors, Crouch.

But there was no trace of Crouch Jr., and even the faint smell of fel energy had dissipated, making it impossible to find him.

With a gloomy face, Harry knew he had probably encountered the worst and most disgusting situation.

That is, Voldemort's fragment of soul, which had been completely transformed into a demon, returned to this world from the Twisting Nether, and also transformed some of the Death Eaters who were still loyal to him into demons.

More importantly, these demons transformed from wizards seem to have an amazing ability to hide, easily concealing their evil power and transforming into ordinary people, much like a very disgusting demon in Harry's memory, who is good at disguise.

But Harry was certain that the fleeting fel energy he had just witnessed was definitely not that of a Nathrezim, the dreadlords that people in Azeroth often refer to. These demons use shadow energy, not fel energy.

What a hassle.

It's like stepping in dog poop while walking outside, and then stepping in dog poop with every step you take—it's disgusting. In Harry's eyes, this kind of demon with the ability to disguise and lurk is just like that dog poop.

Using this ability to infiltrate the enemy, lure those with weak wills into depravity, and lead them astray, Harry has hated fighting enemies like this the most in countless past battles. The Dreadlord sits at the same table with Sutter there, both disgusting creatures.

It would be better to fight the bull head-on, with real weapons.

Well, if Harry had that kind of thinking, he'd be a Pit Lord in the Burning Legion, no doubt.

With that thought in mind, Harry jumped to a high place and shouted:

"Everyone! I am Harry Potter, the Headmaster of Hogwarts. Please be quiet!"

Principal Potter's name is now considered very intimidating and convincing.

“A Death Eater has infiltrated this place and impersonated Mr. Crouch. After being discovered by me and many professors, he caused this explosion and fled. Now, I ask all of you to stand still. I suspect he has taken advantage of the commotion caused by this explosion to infiltrate among you.”

“I need to verify the identities of all of you. Until your department heads arrive, I expect you to remain calm, not panic, not overthink, and certainly not do anything that might cause us to misunderstand—Professor Dumbledore and Professor Snape will be watching you, understand?”

He briefly explained the current situation, and the Ministry of Magic employees naturally didn't object. Both Dumbledore and Snape were very influential, especially the latter.

The other professors weren't idle either. Using their prestige, they helped control the situation and kept those who had been nearby in the incident under surveillance. And it's true, for these students who had all graduated from Hogwarts, the professors' reputations were quite effective; many of them even joked with their own professors without any sense of unease.

After making some arrangements, Harry went straight to the large box that Rita had mentioned was used to hide people. There were no twists or turns or traps. When Harry opened the box, he saw an old man lying quietly inside.

It was Crouch. Harry had to look closely before he recognized the haggard-looking man, who looked much thinner, as the same person he had seen in court. His once neatly combed hair was now covered in grime, and he wondered how long he had been locked in that box.

“Let me do it,” Professor Sprout said, leaning closer. “He probably needs some tonics.”

“This is troublesome,” Harry said, nodding slightly.

Professor Sprout's expertise in herbalism extends beyond plants; it extends to humans as well. Thanks to Professor Sprout's efforts, old Crouch regained consciousness in no time. However, his eyes were vacant, and his soul seemed to be dead—dazed and listless. Dumbledore tried to talk to him several times but received no response.

It wasn't until Harry got a little impatient and Snape forced him to take some energizing potion that old Crouch started to act like a normal person again.

“I can hardly believe the news you brought, Headmaster Potter, oh, Dumbledore, you're here too, this is truly…” Scrimgeour stormed in, leading a group of men, pushing through the crowd. “Crouch, my God, you actually…”

Hesitant to speak, yet still wanting to speak, Scrimgeour rushed to Hogwarts with the Aurors as fast as he could after receiving Harry's magical message. He couldn't believe what Harry had written in the letter, about Old Crouch and Young Crouch—but the haggard Old Crouch before him, who was even sitting in his trunk, forced him to believe everything Harry had said.

That was something old Crouch did stupidly.

A very, very stupid thing to do.

“…We can’t let so many people watch here.” After taking a deep breath, Scrimgeour leaned closer to Harry and whispered, “Crouch is still the Director of the Department of International Magical Exchange and Cooperation, and he still represents the face of the Ministry of Magic.”

“It’s difficult, Rufus,” Harry replied quietly. “I’m pretty sure Crouch has become a demon, and the most troublesome kind at that, capable of impersonating someone else.”

"What do you mean?" Scrimgeour was taken aback. "So, he's among these people right now?"

“Yes, so we need to do our own investigation, ask them some secrets, and prove that they are still themselves,” Harry said with a headache.

He missed those cold-faced, short-tempered, and stubborn demon hunters; at least those difficult-to-get-along-with guys could easily spot demons hidden among the crowd.

Those stubborn blind people are good at this; they're professionals.

It's a pity they're no longer in this world.

“Minister, we did find some of the compound decoction in the kettle,” an Auror who had finished inspecting the scene suddenly leaned over and whispered, pointing to the other side.

To test the efficacy of the compound decoction, an Auror took a sip—and soon he became a completely new Barty Crouch.

This undoubtedly proves that the message Harry sent was true, or at least part of it was true.

When another Auror used specialized tracking magic and special dust to create a young figure in the air—the figure before he drank the Polyjuice Potion—nothing more needed to be said.

“Scrimgeour…” Crouch’s sudden voice drew everyone’s attention to him. He looked around as if he had just returned from another world, then lowered his head.

"Feel sorry……"

"I really hope you can use the effort you put into apologizing to uphold the law impartially, instead of repeatedly trampling it underfoot!" Scrimgeour said angrily. "I never imagined you would do such a thing! Crouch! Even though we don't get along very well, and we were even rivals in the cabinet election, I did respect you—I used to!!"

“But not now,” Scrimgeour said, his expression returning to its usual blank look. “In any case, not when Crouch Jr., who should have been dead long ago, reappears—Barty Crouch, in the name of Minister of Magic, you are dismissed.”

"Your investigation will take place later, and I hope you have thought about what you will say then... and where you will end up."

There's really nothing to think about; using his power to rescue prisoners from Azkaban is something Crouch himself can only do by going to Azkaban.

Crouch himself had committed a crime, even though it was unrelated to Sirius Black's case.

“No need,” Crouch sighed deeply, looking utterly despondent. “It’s him… my son, Barty Crouch Jr.… He’s no longer a wizard, nor a human, he’s a demon…”

Crouch's voice was unusually hoarse.

"...Back then, I used my power to get him out of Azkaban... There was nothing I could do, Jenny kept crying, she couldn't let him go, she was even willing to give herself in exchange for him... I couldn't do anything, Jenny kept begging me..."

"...So Jenny drank the Polyjuice Potion, swapped that bastard out of Azkaban...and then died inside...you should know that a body doesn't revert to its original form after drinking the Polyjuice Potion..."

Crouch continued to recount the secrets that had happened.

"...Then I kept him locked up in the house, controlling him...He hated me, was hostile to me, and regarded the Dark Lord as his true father...Ha...He wanted to escape at all times, to find his master, so I gave him the Water of Death and Resurrection and used the Soul-Stealing Curse to control him, so that he wouldn't escape from the house..."

Those around Crouch who heard his confession couldn't help but gasp.

He self-destructed by using the Imperius Curse, and the target was his own son. Putting everything else aside, just using one of the three unforgivable curses, the Imperius Curse, would have been enough to keep Crouch in Azkaban until he died.

But more than anything, everyone was shocked. Whether it was the professors or the Aurors present, everyone was stunned by Crouch's words, because no one could imagine that Crouch, who was always serious, fair to the point of being rigid, and who even put his own son on trial in Azkaban and fought on the front line against Voldemort, had done such a thing.

(End of this chapter)