A magical journey that begins at Hogwarts

"Mr. Crouch has disappeared."

"Didn't we speculate about this a month ago? It's not a big deal, is it?"

"Let me finish. Mr. Crouch came to Hogwarts last night, but he seemed completely out of his mind and kept insisting on seeing Dumbledore."

Aaron immediately became interested. "Tell me in detail. I need to know all the details."

Harry nodded. "Last night, Krum and I had a private conversation at the edge of the Forbidden Forest about Hermione. He read Rita Skeeter's newspaper."

"What?" Hermione gritted her teeth, barely containing her anger. "Why didn't you tell me?"

“He just wanted to know if the newspaper was true. I explained it to him, and he believed me.”

"Don't interrupt, Harry, continue."

"After that, Crouch ran out of the Forbidden Forest, saying he had done something stupid and had gone to great lengths to escape, and wanted to warn Dumbledore."

He also mentioned Bertha Jorkins, as if he were quite certain that Jorkins was dead.

"Any more?"

"He kept saying it was all his fault, and he even mentioned his son."

"Son?" Aaron frowned slightly. "That can't be! Didn't his son die a long time ago?"

“I’m sure I heard correctly, but his condition was clearly wrong; he was acting like a psychopath.”

He started talking halfway through, assuming that his wife and son were still alive and that his family was happy and fulfilling.

He would also give Percy instructions and guidance from time to time.

“Poor Percy Weasley,” Hermione sighed. “He always thought his boss wanted to groom him!”

"Is that so?" Aaron asked thoughtfully. "What about Voldemort?"

"Could you please not mention his name?" Ron asked timidly.

Crouch said the Mystic is getting stronger.

call!

Aaron let out a long sigh of relief. "What's meant to happen will happen eventually. That's probably true."

Harry nodded, clearly thinking the same thing.

"After that, I had Krum keep an eye on him and went to find Dumbledore, but Snape wouldn't let me in."

Fortunately, Dumbledore came out on his own after a short while. He followed me to the Forbidden Forest to see Crouch.

"And then he disappeared?" Aaron asked in surprise.

“That’s right, we didn’t see him when we arrived. Krum was knocked unconscious by a sleeping spell.”

Aaron was silent for a moment before speaking, "Tell 'Cold' about this first."

“We’ve already written him the letter,” Ron said.

“I have a pretty good idea of ​​the situation.” Aaron tapped the table. “If nothing unexpected happens, Barty Crouch has been hit by the Imperius Curse, and it should have happened before he handed over his work to Percy.”

However, to be able to break free from mind control through sheer willpower and still manage to reach Hogwarts is quite an achievement.

"But who could control him? And for so long?" Hermione asked doubtfully. Barty Crouch was the director of the International Department of Magical Cooperation; someone in that position must have considerable magical power.

“There’s someone,” Aaron said meaningfully. “Isn’t the mysterious man getting stronger?”

The three of them were immediately shocked and involuntarily swallowed.

"You mean the mysterious man did it himself?" Harry asked anxiously. "But he should be very weak."

"What if we add a worm's tail?" Aaron countered.

Harry was speechless. Professor Trelawney's prophecy mentioned that Wormtail would return to Voldemort's side, so it wouldn't be difficult for the two of them to control Crouch.

"Right now, all the clues are fragmented and intermittent, and many things have become even more confusing. All we can do is... ignore this mess."

Three people: ...

Chapter 393 A Qualified Sparring Partner: Crouch Might Be Finished

After confirming Crouch's disappearance, Dumbledore notified the Ministry of Magic, and Fudge immediately dispatched people to investigate.

Harry received a reply from Sirius Black, who criticized him, accusing him of meeting with Krum alone outside Hogwarts Castle, and instructing him to practice some useful spells for the third project.

Not only did his godfather say so, but Moody also gave the same advice. He could only selectively forget about Crouch's disappearance, since he had no way to get involved even if he wanted to.

Hermione and Ron were great teammates, taking him to the library every day to look for spells that might be useful, and then finding empty classrooms to practice.

During the divination class, Aaron sat next to Harry and Ron.

Looking at their exhausted appearance, he couldn't help but ask curiously, "What happened to you two? You look much more haggard than usual!"

“Ask him.” Ron pointed at Harry, his eyes full of helplessness.

"I've been practicing spells a lot lately, so I'm a little tired."

"You're tired? I'm the one who's tired," Ron said irritably. "I'm the only one willing to be your sparring partner. I get hit by the Stunning Curse more than ten times a day, and my whole body aches from all the falls."

"hiss!"

Aaron couldn't help but gasp, his gaze towards Ron filled with admiration mixed with a hint of concern for the idiot.

Using a live person as a sparring partner requires a very strong heart.

If Harry accidentally casts the Smash Charm instead of the Stunning Charm, Ron might have to stay in the university hospital until the holidays.

"Aaron, could we borrow Abe for a while?"

"What do you want to do?"

“Find Harry the perfect sparring partner!” Ron said matter-of-factly. “He’s a dragon, so he has high magic resistance and agility, right?”

Moreover, they have thick skin and don't feel much pain when hit by the curse.

"Heh!" Aaron sneered. "You're not it, how do you know it won't hurt when you're hit by a curse!"

Abe nodded seriously. It wasn't even in its adolescence yet. Although its magic resistance was maxed out, it still felt pain.

“Just say you want to kill me,” Harry said, exasperated. “What if you piss Abel off and he swats at you with his paw?”

"this..."

Ron looked at the harmless-looking Abe, and his lips twitched involuntarily.

His understanding of Abbey was still based on his first year, but even so, one swipe of its paw was more than Harry's small frame could withstand.

"forget it."

The school bell rang, and Professor Trelawney came down the stairs.

The fire in the stove was particularly strong today, and the incense she wore quickly filled the classroom, making everyone's heads throb.

“Harry,” Ron pursed his lips, “why don’t we open the window?”

Harry nodded, opened the window a crack, and felt a little more comfortable as the cool breeze blew in.

“Darling,” Professor Trelawney said mysteriously, “we’ve almost finished with planetary divination, but today is a great time to study the role of Mars, because it’s currently in a very interesting position.”

Please look this way, I'm turning off the lights.

Professor Trelawney waved his wand, and all the lights went out, leaving the fireplace as the only source of light.

She took out a miniature model of the solar system, with the nine planets and their moons twinkling in their respective positions, and Mars forming a peculiar angle with the other planets...

Ah!

Just as everyone was admiring the view of the planets in motion, Harry suddenly let out a scream.

He covered his face, the scar on his forehead gleaming faintly red in the dim light of the professor's office, tears streaming down his face.

"Harry, Harry..." Ron quickly helped him up, asking with a worried expression, "Are you alright?"

“Of course he has something to do…” Professor Trelawney seemed extremely excited, but was interrupted by Aaron before he could say something.

"Professor, I think we should take him to the hospital to get checked out first."

“Gaius,” Professor Trelawney said somewhat reluctantly, “he’s clearly affected by the extrasensory perception in the classroom. If we miss this opportunity…”

“I just want to know how to stop the pain,” Harry said hastily.

“Professor, I’ll take him to see Madam Pomfrey. I’m afraid we’ll have to ask for leave for this class.” Aaron said, helping Harry out of the classroom, leaving Trelawney looking dejected and a group of students who were confused.

The two left through the trapdoor via the stairs and went down to the next floor. Only then did Aaron look at him seriously and ask, "What did you dream about?"

“Voldemort.” Harry gasped nervously. “He’s with Pettigrew and a giant snake.”

What did they say?

I need Voldemort's exact words, not your paraphrasing.

Harry pondered for a moment, then tried to mimic a cold, shrill voice, “Wormtail, you’re very lucky. Your mistake didn’t ruin things. He’s dead.”

Nagini, uh... that must be the name of that giant serpent.

"That's exactly what he said," Aaron reminded him.

“Nagini, you’re out of luck. I’m not going to feed you with Wormtail, but it’s okay, there’s always Harry Potter.”

"It seems Voldemort plans to kill you and then feed you to the snakes."

Harry shuddered in a panic. "This joke isn't funny at all."

"Your dream...confirms my previous suspicions."

Crouch was most likely controlled by Voldemort, but Wormtail's momentary lapse in attention allowed him to escape to Hogwarts.

"So that means Mr. Crouch has already..."

“He’s dead.” Aaron took a deep breath and said, “Voldemort must have had other servants. He was hiding in Hogwarts. That night, while you were looking for Dumbledore, he knocked out Krum and killed Crouch.”

I don't know how the body was disposed of, but there are too many ways to make it impossible for us to find him.

"Karkaroff or Snape?" Harry asked, frowning.

“I’m warning you one last time, don’t doubt Professor Snape,” Aaron said irritably. “Although his attitude towards you hasn’t been good these past few years, he’s protected you more than once or twice, otherwise you would have fallen off your flying broomstick when you were a freshman.”

It might not necessarily be Karkaroff. You heard his conversation with Professor Snape that day; that headmaster is just a cowardly bum who's all bark and no bite. Otherwise, Professor Snape wouldn't have advised him to run away.