Hogwarts: Undercover Death Eater Replaces the Dark Lord

"We all know Mr. Crouch very well. He would never do such a bizarre thing... Besides, Barty Crouch Jr. died in Azkaban a long time ago. This has been confirmed by the Ministry of Magic!"

"Then who was that man I saw at Crouch Manor this morning?" Bertha Jorkins objected in a similarly loud voice. "I saw with my own eyes the Dark Mark on his arm..."

When Bertha Jorkins said this, the expressions of many wizards present changed.

"No, no!" Fudge immediately spotted the flaw in Bertha Jorkins' words. "Barty Crouch Jr. was once the top Death Eater. Since he was hiding in Crouch Manor, how could he easily let you see his arm?"

As he said this, Fudge also had a smug smile on his face.

"I see, Jorkins. It seems that old Batty isn't very kind to his employees, which makes you so dissatisfied with him that you come up with such a boring way to frame him. Or perhaps, you are just trying to attract attention and draw our attention?"

"Cornelly Fudge, you're completely slandering me!" Bertha Jorkins immediately took offense and even called out the Minister of Magic by his full name. "When I went there, Barty Crouch Jr. was in a daze, so it wasn't hard to see his arm..."

"Besides, what's there to doubt? Just go to Crouch Manor and see if you know if I'm lying or not."

These words were agreed upon by Lycos and Bertha Jorkins.

To ensure that everything went smoothly, Lycos taught her a few tricks before leaving Crouch Manor.

On the one hand, it was to prevent Bertha Jorkins from showing weakness in front of Fudge, which would result in the Ministry of Magic not searching Crouch Manor; on the other hand, it was also to fill in a few loopholes and shift the blame for the Dark Mark onto Barty Crouch Jr.

Bertha Jorkins' words at this time also attracted the interest of another person -

"Cornelly, I don't think what Ms. Jorkins said is necessarily false," Dumbledore said with a smile. "At least one thing is true. Whether Barty Crouch Jr. is at Crouch Manor or not, we only need to go and see for ourselves."

With Dumbledore's wisdom, he had already guessed the general ins and outs of the matter.

Because he knew very well that with Lycos's character, since he dared to cast the Dark Mark in the sky, he must have found a solution.

However, the solution found by Lycos even gave Dumbledore an unexpected surprise - if Barty Crouch Jr. was not really dead, it would have dealt a serious blow to Barty Crouch Sr.'s political reputation.

By that time, Dumbledore, as a member of the Wizengamot jury, would naturally have sufficient reason to re-examine Barty Crouch's past case.

Among them, the case in which Sirius Black was directly imprisoned in Azkaban without trial was obviously the one that most needed to be retried.

"Are you kidding me?" Fudge was already a little impatient at this time. He jumped up and said, "How could I search the manor of a Director of Magic without any solid evidence?"

His repeated defence was not in defence of Barty Crouch.

After all, as direct opponents who had once run for Minister of Magic, the relationship between them was far from good. However, after the fact that Barty Crouch Sr.'s son was a Death Eater was exposed, Barty Sr. directly withdrew from the competition.

In fact, it was that incident that ultimately led to Fudge's successful election and becoming the current Minister for Magic... After he took office as Minister, he also transferred his competitor Barty Crouch from the Department of Magical Law Enforcement to the Department of International Magical Exchange and Cooperation.

Although the two departments appear to be on the same level, their powers are vastly different.

However, Fudge did not want Barty Crouch's reputation to be hit again at this time.

After all, Fudge's current idea is to maintain the peaceful status quo in the magical world, and any slight disturbance will arouse Fudge's vigilance.

If the famous old Barty Crouch fell, the Ministry of Magic would probably fall into turmoil for a period of time, which would make Fudge's wish for "peace" even more difficult.

"Cornelly, but this is a special situation now." Dumbledore shook his head slightly. "The Dark Mark suddenly appeared in the sky, and Ms. Jorkins brought back news of a Death Eater in time..."

“I think these two things may not be unrelated.”

Fudge raised his head, looked at the almost invisible Dark Mark in the bright sunny sky, and sighed slightly.

He really needed a reason to give an explanation to the magical world.

"Then go and have a look."

……

Chapter 228 Searching Crouch Manor

"Rufus, take my note and go to the Ministry of Magical Transportation to get some portkeys."

Fudge turned and said to Scrimgeour.

"No need to bother." Dumbledore suddenly interrupted them, smiling and shaking his head, "I can definitely do this for you..."

Without waiting for Fudge's consent, he picked up a stone from the ground and took out his wand.

"Portus."

Before anyone present could react, the stone in Dumbledore's hand turned into a portkey that bypassed the Ministry of Magic's authority and led directly to Crouch Manor.

Fudge gaped.

"You know very well that it is illegal to make portkeys privately and that you must obtain permission from the Department of Magical Transportation..."

"Aren't you, the Minister of Magic, right here?" Dumbledore chuckled. "I remember there's a rule in the Ministry of Magic that in an emergency, the Minister of Magic has the power to skip the established procedures and grant permission directly."

"But..." Fudge's face flushed.

"Isn't this an emergency?" Dumbledore asked, still smiling gently.

"If what Ms. Jorkins said is true, it means that Crouch Manor has a huge security risk, which may pose a major threat to the peace of the wizarding world at any time."

Fudge fell silent as he looked at the portkey Dumbledore handed him.

Even after becoming the Minister of Magic, Fudge had been trying to weaken Dumbledore's influence, but how could the prestige of this unique pillar of the wizarding world be weakened so easily?

To this day, there are still many wizards who regard Dumbledore's words as truth.

So now that Dumbledore had already spoken, and what he said was such a reasonable thing, it was difficult for Fudge to find a reason to reject Dumbledore's proposal in front of so many members.

"Then... I'll trouble you, Albus..."

Fudge forced a smile and took the stone, which had become a portkey, from Dumbledore.

Before long, Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall representing Hogwarts, Fudge, Scrimgeour and some Aurors representing the Ministry of Magic, and Bertha Jorkins, the informant, appeared in Crouch Manor.

I don’t know if it was Dumbledore’s intention, but even the reporter Rita Skeeter was given a portkey and came into the manor with the others.

However, to everyone's surprise, a figure blocked the way.

"I'm curious, Minister Fudge, but what went wrong at work that even warranted an Auror search of my house?"

A wizard with neatly short grey hair stood in the manor, staring at Fudge with a cold expression and asked in a serious tone.

"Barty, why are you back..." Fudge's mouth twitched.

Under such circumstances, he really didn't want to face his old colleague.

"If I don't come back, my estate might be demolished by you." Old Barty Crouch said lightly, "I need you to give me a reason."

Old Barty said the last sentence while looking at Scrimgeour.

As the former Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, Barty Crouch Sr. was Scrimgeour's immediate superior.

Although he had been transferred to the Department of International Magical Exchange and Cooperation, the friendship between superiors and subordinates remained, and old Barty was a leader with considerable charisma... It was difficult for Scrimgeour to ignore the care that old Barty had given him over the years.

"Director Crouch... you have an employee named Bertha Jorkins," Scrimgeour said slowly, "she said she saw your son in this manor..."

"Oh?" Crouch's expression didn't change at all. He turned coldly to Bertha Jorkins standing on the other side. "Bertha, who told you to come here to see me without permission?"

Bertha Jorkins, who had originally been eager to overthrow old Barty Crouch and think she could become the director of the Department of International Magical Exchange and Cooperation, was now intimidated by Crouch's aura and stammered for a long time, not knowing what to say.

Seeing this, Crouch took advantage of the situation and looked at Fudge again.

"Connelly, as Director of the Department of International Magical Exchange and Cooperation, I am filing an appeal against the staff of the Department of Magical Transportation," he said in the same cold tone. "They have disregarded Ministry of Magic procedures and privately granted Portkeys to employees of other departments..."

For a moment, all the members of the Ministry of Magic who came to search aggressively lowered their heads.

This powerful leader from the Wizarding War ultimately retained his former prestige and effortlessly took control of the situation, to the point where the search was almost at a standstill...

"Ahem...Excuse me for interrupting, Mr. Crouch."

At this moment, Dumbledore coughed twice.

His cough seemed to have magical power, easily breaking the tense atmosphere and taking control of the situation from Crouch.

"Everyone knows that you are a selfless war hero." Dumbledore smiled gently. "We will never forget your outstanding contribution to the Wizarding War, nor will we forget your demeanor when you sacrificed your own family for your own son..."

After the high praise, Dumbledore changed the subject——

"But Ms. Jorkins claims to have seen your son, Barty Crouch Jr., who is supposed to be dead, at Crouch Manor."

"Barty, for the sake of your reputation and the stability of the wizarding world, shouldn't you let us continue this investigation... and clear your name?"

"The Ministry's search is an insult to the Crouch family." Barty Crouch Sr. stared into Dumbledore's blue eyes.

Dumbledore also looked at him with a gentle look, but his attitude was not giving in at all.

"Battie, there's no reason why a family without pure-blood blood can avoid searches. That never happens." Dumbledore chuckled. "Take Malfoy Manor, for example. I don't know how many times it's been searched by the Ministry of Magic because of contraband from the Dark Arts."

Crouch was silent.

Finally, after an unknown amount of time, he sighed deeply.

"Well, search ahead." Crouch shook his head and turned to the other side, as if he couldn't bear to witness this search. "Fortunately, we are not the Malfoy family, and there is no contraband in the manor."

Just like that, Crouch turned his back and actually let it happen, and remained indifferent no matter what the Aurors who came to search did.

Looking at Crouch who didn't care, Dumbledore frowned slightly.

This doesn't seem like the attitude of someone harboring a criminal, does it?

……

Chapter 229 A sudden appearance outside the door

"It seems there was a battle here... not long ago."

Scrimgeour, along with a group of Aurors, quickly found the place where Lecos duelled with Barty Crouch Jr.

Although Crouch had used repair spells to repair most of the furnishings in the manor... there were always some things that could not be repaired in a short time.

You know, when Lycos and Barty Crouch Jr. dueled, they used a lot of Killing Curses, as well as Lycos's best fire shield protection -

As the most representative of the Unforgivable Curses, the Killing Curse has always been difficult to recover from the explosion marks caused by the objects it hits; and as a forbidden flame of the same level as the Fiery Flame, the burning of the surrounding environment by the Fire Shield is also difficult to recover from.

These remnants of magic could not be erased by old Batty who hurried back.

And his way of covering it up seemed sloppy too—

"I was practicing a spell in the yard a while ago and made a lot of noise. Is there anything wrong?"

This was what Crouch had said when Scrimgeour made his routine inquiries about the remaining traces of battle.

All the Aurors present who had a bit of common sense were shocked.

Just this perfunctory attitude and the traces of fighting in the yard...what's the difference between this and direct admission?