Hogwarts: From Little Wizard to White Lord

He scratched his head in confusion, and his memory clearly told him that he had suddenly lost his concentration and stood there like a fool for about a minute.

He didn't notice anything unusual and quickly put it out of his mind because of his anxiety about rushing to take over the night shift.

Before entering the public restroom, he saw a young man in a purple robe raising his wand at a nearby intersection.

Soon, a double-decker bus, invisible to Muggles, came rushing over. From a distance, the receptionist's warm greeting could be heard: "Welcome to the Knight Bus, dear. Where are you going?"

The boy gave an address.

The young wizard heard it from afar and laughed at the coincidence. "You actually live in the same Muggle community as Mr. Crouch? Hmm, those are Wizengamot robes. Maybe he's visiting?"

After thinking for a while, he suddenly shuddered again, not knowing what triggered it.

Then, the young man in the purple robe completely faded from his memory...

……

A secluded Muggle community in the suburbs of London.

Barty Crouch walked out of the fireplace with a stern face. The lights in the living room were not on. He frowned slightly, "Winky, where are you?"

Crack!

There was a slight noise, and a house-elf wearing a tea towel, who looked like a robe because of his small stature, Apparated in front of Crouch and screamed, "Master, Winky is here, Winky is taking care of the young master."

Being a female, her voice was shrill and gave Crouch a headache.

But he held back, frowned, and asked sternly, "Did you let him out?"

"No, Master," Twinkle said fearfully, tears welling up in her large, dark brown eyes. "You told me to lock him up, and I didn't dare, but...but, the young master hasn't been out in the sun for a long time, and he's infested with bugs. He's feeling very uncomfortable."

"..."

After a moment of silence, Crouch sighed.

He felt very tired. Since 10 years ago, regret, guilt, hatred and grief have been tormenting him like maggots on his tarsal bones.

In recent years, with the death of his wife and his own crossing of the line to abuse his power for personal gain to rescue his son, the increasingly complex sense of guilt has been gnawing at his heart all the time, especially now that he is living in hiding.

He didn't even dare to go back to his ancestral home. There were too many familiar people and wizards living nearby. Now he didn't dare to reveal any mistakes, otherwise, his wife's life would be meaningless.

Only the Muggle community can help him relax his tense nerves a little.

After thinking for a moment, Crouch sighed and said, "In two days, after the meeting is over, I will give myself a day off and then accompany him out to bask in the sun."

Shanshan cried with joy and thanked his master for his kindness.

This struck Crouch as darkly humorous and a bit pathetic.

The son who should have been held in his arms and inherited everything from him is now imprisoned by his father. Even letting him go for a walk would make a house-elf grateful.

After sending Winky away, the tired Crouch sat on the sofa for a while, and somehow he thought of tonight's meeting.

And there was Vaughn Weasley at the meeting who seemed to want to drag him into this.

An ambitious guy!

Crouch could hear the other party's subtext. The so-called cooperation between the Werewolf Affairs Committee and the Department of International Magical Cooperation was actually Vaughan Weasley trying to completely get rid of the Ministry of Magic and even split it.

After all, the other party has stated that the Werewolf Affairs Committee does not accept donations or grants and will not accept any constraints.

If it is finally established, it will inevitably lead to sharp confrontation with the Ministry of Magic, so the other party tried to find support for itself within the Ministry of Magic.

He couldn't help but think that if it were 10 years ago, he would have been happy to participate in such a collaboration.

It is very beneficial to establish friendly relations with an emerging force and increase political bargaining chips. Unfortunately, he no longer has the energy to consider those issues.

Crouch was silent for a moment, he shook his head and forced himself to forget all the disturbances.

He got up and prepared to go to the kitchen to make himself dinner.

However, before he left the living room, the doorbell rang.

Crouch was not overly sensitive. In order to connect the fireplace to the Floo network and facilitate commuting, he did not hide his address. It was normal for him to occasionally receive guests.

He just subconsciously glanced at the basement. It had been sealed long ago using Muggle cement and spells. No one could open it.

Normally, he relies on Shanshan's Apparition to get in and out.

After making sure there was nothing wrong with the basement, Crouch thought for a moment and asked, "Who's outside?"

Unexpectedly, he heard a childish voice that was very familiar to him today: "Hello, Mr. Crouch, I'm Vaughan Weasley. I'm sorry to bother you, but can we chat?"

"..."

Crouch frowned and refused without hesitation: "I'm sorry, Mr. Weasley, it's very late and I need to rest. Let's discuss it at the meeting tomorrow."

But Vaughn Weasley outside the door didn't seem to be giving up.

Crouch heard him laugh, as if he was talking about the weather, and said lightly:

"Are you sure? I thought that locking your son in the basement would make you patient enough to talk to me..."

At that moment, Barty Crouch felt the blood rushing into his brain, his ears ringing, his eyes dizzy, and his mind was suddenly blanked by the words whose tone was calm but whose content made him terrified.

Only one thought remained clear: I couldn't let him go! I couldn't let him tell anyone!

He grabbed the wand with his sweaty hands and swung it hard, and the door of the room suddenly opened under the silent unlocking spell.

The moment the wind outside blew into the room, Crouch cast two consecutive spells.

"Except your weapons!"

"Collapse!"

In the wizarding world, so-called wisdom and strategy, the things that Muggles pursue, are secondary.

In the world of magic, the standards for measuring things or judging people are sometimes very complicated and sometimes very simple - strength!

Or rather, magic!

If the wolfsbane potion incident had not been successful and the monthly fame points had not skyrocketed, Vaughn would not have appeared outside Barty Crouch's house today.

He will wait patiently for a few more months or even a year.

Because he knew that when he exposed Crouch's deepest secret, the terrified Crouch would definitely resist!

The door opened under a silent spell.

The wind he inhaled made Vaughan's robe flutter. He saw a little light come on in the dim living room and heard Crouch's spell.

In the wind, in the murderous intent that was blowing in his face, an armor spell appeared around Vaughn, and the disarming spell and the stunning spell hit him almost the moment it was formed.

The light flashed as the spells collided with each other!

The next moment, Vaughan heard a crackling sound.

He flicked his wand downward, his body grew light, and then—

boom--

A violent invisible explosion instantly tore the door apart, and immediately afterwards, a fire dragon suddenly expanded in front and came towards it with a ferocious bite.

When you face a wizard who once fought on the front lines, and hear him chanting a spell, you'd better be on guard, because behind the spell he chants, there may be more sinister means hidden.

Vaughn was well prepared. When the Fire Dragon bit him, his body became light and was blown away by the shock wave of the explosion like a leaf, floating in the air.

The purple-red robe fluttered in the violent shock wave, like a raging fire. Vaughn remained calm, and before his floating figure landed, he lightly tapped his wand downwards.

Several pieces of collapsed walls and ruins were immediately controlled by his spell and then deformed.

In a flash, they were transformed into several thick spears shining with cold light. As Vaughn waved his wand, under the huge power provided by the flying spell, they blasted into the small building in front of him like cannonballs.

boom!

boom!

The roaring fire dragon made of flames was torn apart by the terrifying kinetic energy of the spears. Every time the spear penetrated, the ground trembled, and the small building wailed and was on the verge of collapse.

At this time, Vaughn's wand, which had fallen to the ground, continued to tap lightly.

Fragments of doors and walls, large pieces of earth, stones, branches... everything around him was used by him, and under his wand, they turned into several strange animals.

At the same time, Crouch, who was supposed to be in the house, heard a hoarse cry from behind Vaughn:

"The soul is out of body!"

Unforgivable Curse!

The Shield Spell was one of the few spells that couldn't be defended against, but Vaughn, who knew the Shield Spell's weaknesses, was already prepared.

He reacted quickly, throwing several transformed animals behind him, then turned quickly, and a red light lit up at the tip of his staff.

injection!

The red light released by the disarming spell, which was as thick as an adult's arm, illuminated the dark night sky, allowing both combatants to notice that the animal Vaughn transformed into perfectly blocked the Imperius Curse.

Crouch, who had appeared out of nowhere, had a ferocious expression and a hint of surprise.

The power of Vaughan's magic, especially the Disarming Charm, was clearly beyond his comprehension, but not enough for him to sit idly by and wait for death.

The experienced old wizard had already used the Apparition technique again the moment Vaughn turned around. Space twisted around him, and when the red light hit him, he had already disappeared in the violent distortion and reappeared more than ten meters away.

But this time, he paid the price for his inability to understand.

The disarming spell that had struck him a second earlier exploded like fireworks—

Countless tiny spells slithered and bounced like little red snakes, covering an area of ​​more than 20 meters in radius.

Crouch reappeared and almost ran headfirst into two of the split disarming spells.

Such an unexpected event didn't even allow him to summon his armor. He was suddenly stiffened by the power of the spell and fell backwards. His wand flew up and landed in Vaughn's hand.

Crouch still wanted to struggle.

But Vaughan's wand turned quickly a few times, and a few fallen leaves turned into a rope, which flexibly tied up Crouch.

Even at this moment, the dust and wind waves stirred up by the shock wave of the previous explosion had not dissipated, and Vaughn's purple-red robe fluttered in the turbulent airflow.

A few Muggle households nearby had just turned on their lights, as if they were preparing to come out to see what was happening.

This was a battle of ups and downs, which was also the standard fighting style of wizards.

The competition is about spell proficiency, reaction ability, and adaptability.

Vaughan breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately, he was good at everything!

But there was no time for him to reflect on the past. He glanced at the Muggle houses with lights on in the distance, raised his hand slightly, and the bound Crouch floated to his side.