Hogwarts: Undercover Death Eater Replaces the Dark Lord

"So, as Chief Wizard of the Wizengamot, I am filing a lawsuit against Barty Crouch—"

"I demand a retrial of the case of Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew!"

……

Chapter 231: The Absence of Class Was Discovered

The next day, news of the arrest of Barty Crouch, Director of the Department of International Magical Exchange and Cooperation, spread almost throughout the entire wizarding world.

"Lex, come and take a look at this newspaper!"

At breakfast time at Hogwarts, Draco ran to Lecos, shouting and holding an unknown tabloid.

Lycos was currently putting a piece of steak between two slices of toast, pretending it was a roujiamo (a meat bun)... Hearing this, he glanced at what Draco was holding and immediately understood.

In the end, Rita Skeeter failed to publish the news that shocked the wizarding world yesterday in the Daily Prophet, so she had to choose a tabloid that was not under the control of the Ministry of Magic.

Fortunately, Lycos thought of this in advance and asked Lucius to send a letter to call Rita Skeeter, who would do anything to get big news.

If it were any other reporter, after being threatened by Fudge, they would probably have simply swallowed the news...

"What did it say?"

Although he already knew what was written in the newspaper, Lycos still asked a question in order not to dampen Draco's enthusiasm.

"The story in this is so weird..." Draco sat next to Lycos and read the contents of the newspaper with raised eyebrows.

"It is said that Barty Crouch lost the election for Minister of Magic, and even after several years he still felt unwilling to accept the loss, so he hid his son, Barty Crouch Jr., as a Death Eater. He attacked Fudge a day ago, but was unfortunately secretly stopped by an elite wizard who wished to remain anonymous..."

"In the end, both Crouch and his son were apprehended by the Ministry of Magic. As for that unknown warrior, he disappeared like the wind..."

Lycos: “?”

The hand that was spreading the black pepper sauce evenly stopped in mid-air, and Lycos looked at Draco in disbelief.

"Are you sure that's what the newspaper said?" he asked.

"That's what the newspaper said... This story is really ridiculous." Draco curled his lips. "But this newspaper seems to be selling well today. It seems that everyone likes to hear unrealistic things."

Lycos: “…”

He really didn't expect that Rita Skeeter could add another layer of "artistic processing" to the already bizarre reality and make up such a sensational story.

Of course, if the newspaper were to be published according to the true situation, there might still be many wizards in the magical world who would believe it; however, after being adapted into such a story, I am afraid that even a fool would not believe the truth of this matter...

But from another perspective, this might be a method specially devised by Rita Skeeter, just to allow her to get what happened at Crouch Manor into the newspapers.

"Never mind. Let her write whatever she wants." Lycos shrugged and focused his attention on the steak and toast in his hand again. "Anyway, I didn't intend to use this incident to bring down Fudge..."

After all, Lycos wrote to Rita Skeeter just to prevent Fudge from suppressing the news and completely eliminating the impact of the Crouch incident.

As long as Rita Skeeter, a reporter with no moral integrity, was present, the fact that Barty Crouch Jr. was not dead would sooner or later be spread in various ways, causing Crouch Sr.'s reputation to plummet.

In order to vindicate Sirius, Dumbledore would definitely not miss this opportunity.

"What are you talking about?" Draco didn't hear what Lecos muttered and looked at him suspiciously.

"Nothing, just eat your meal." Lycos glanced at Draco and ignored him, instead concentrating on his rare high-calorie breakfast.

However, before he could take a few bites, another uninvited guest came over.

A loose black robe dragged on the ground, revealing a sallow complexion and a particularly prominent hooked nose.

"Hayden, come to my office."

"Okay, Professor Snape." Lecos responded casually while chewing on his steak on toast.

However, while chewing, he suddenly felt that the atmosphere around him was a little wrong.

Snape's large black robes still hung to the side, and Draco was trembling and winking at him frantically.

Lycos raised his head and met Snape's eyes.

He saw his headmaster looking at him coldly with deep black eyes, as if he was looking at a spoiled potion ingredient in a crucible.

"…Professor Snape?"

"Is this how you talk to professors?" Snape curled his lips sarcastically, his tone unfriendly. "Or has the 'good deed' you did yesterday... made you forget who you are?"

"That's absolutely not what I meant!"

Lycos felt something was wrong and quickly put down the toasted steak. Without even wiping his greasy hands, he stood up in a hurry.

"Professor, I was holding a steak just now, it's not convenient..."

"I don't want to hear your explanation." Snape interrupted him coldly, swung his sleeves and walked towards the door of the hall.

Just when Lycos was still in a daze, he suddenly turned around and said, "What are you still standing there for? Follow me!"

Lycos sighed, took a last regretful look at the steak on toast of which he had only taken a few bites, and followed Snape under Draco's sympathetic gaze, walking out of the hall with him.

Snape said nothing all the way to the Potions Professor's office, but his face seemed to reveal great anger.

So Lycos was helpless.

He could only guess from the few words just now in the hall that Snape must have guessed that he was "contributing" to yesterday's big news.

As for where he got the information from, Lycos had no idea.

Going down the spiral staircase, the environment gradually becomes darker and the forest green torches gradually light up.

Just as the two arrived at the dungeon of Hogwarts Castle and walked to the door of the Potions Professor's office, the castle's school bell spread to this place under the spread of magic.

"Professor Snape, I remember you have a class in the first period..." Lycos asked tentatively.

After all, he really didn't want to be alone with this eccentric dean, so he could only hope that he would go to class.

However, Snape was clearly prepared.

"What's your business whether I go to class or not?" He sneered. "Or at least it's better than that daring student who hasn't taken a single elective class in two months since school started, right?"

Lycos' heart skipped a beat.

The fact that I skipped the elective course was finally discovered.

"If I hadn't asked the professor of the elective course a few questions, you might have gotten away with it." Snape sneered. "You're probably the first person to do this in all the years since Hogwarts started implementing the elective course policy!"

……

Chapter 232: Argument with Snape

"Actually, I didn't skip every class. I did go to Arithmancy class a few times..."

Lycos pulled the corners of his stiff mouth.

"Tsk, that's really amazing!" Snape sneered, "Do you need me to applaud you?"

"Just applaud and pretend you don't know." Lycos muttered.

"You think you're funny?" Snape's expression grew even colder. "Or... do you really think I, the Head of Slytherin, am just a figurehead?"

"That's not what I meant..." Lycos said helplessly, "But Professor McGonagall originally allowed us to arrange the class hours of elective courses flexibly. I can't be considered to be going against her words... right?"

"Flying nonsense!" Snape sneered. "Minerva obviously didn't expect that among these so-called 'good students' who overestimate their abilities and take all the subjects, there would be someone like you who takes advantage of loopholes."

"Okay, I admit my mistake." Lycos sighed, "So how do you want to punish me? Deduct points from Slytherin?"

Snape's face visibly stiffened.

It was obviously impossible for him to deduct points from Slytherin... In the academic year before last, they were almost about to win the seventh consecutive house cup, but were overtaken by Gryffindor at the last moment. Snape still feels aggrieved about this.

He was busy giving Slytherin extra points, so how could he possibly deduct points from Slytherin because of such a small matter as Lycos!

However, if Snape wanted to punish the little wizard who skipped classes without reason and talked back to the professor, he had other options.

"Rather than deducting points, I think confinement might leave a better impression on you." Snape's mouth curled up in a cold arc. "If you don't want to go to class, why not help me deal with the slime of the Flobberworm..."

"That's not necessary." Lycos's mouth twitched. Flobberworm mucus is not something that can be easily dealt with. "Professor, there's no need to target me just because of some groundless speculation..."

"Tell me what you mean by groundless speculation!" Snape suddenly stood up, staring intently into Lycos's eyes. "Did you think I couldn't guess who placed the Dark Mark yesterday?"

"Who is it?" Lycos looked normal, and even a hint of curiosity appeared on his face.

Seeing Lycos's expression, Snape sneered even more.

"How many core Death Eaters do you think are still capable of casting a complete Dark Mark?" he asked coldly. "The most diehard ones are all in Azkaban. Those who used various means to exonerate themselves back then were mostly cowards. They would never challenge the Ministry of Magic face to face..."

"After eliminating these people, how many people do you think are left?"

Snape took a step forward and stood directly in front of Lycos.

"And I just learned from Professor McGonagall that you've signed up for all the elective courses, so your attendance won't be counted towards your elective course attendance... Lecos Hayden, what exactly do you want to do?"

Lycos frowned, then relaxed.

"I'm curious, from what position are you asking this question?" he whispered. "Are you questioning your students as a dean or a professor? Or are you questioning a suspect as a member of the Order of the Phoenix..."

"Or are you, as a lost Death Eater, questioning your colleagues?"

Staring closely at Snape's deep black eyes, Lycos put away his awkwardness as a Slytherin student facing the dean and adopted a different attitude.

If the question was about academic matters, Lecos, as a student, would naturally have no room to resist the professor... But when Snape asked about the secrets of the Death Eaters, Lecos no longer represented a student.

Both of them are undercover Death Eaters and are tools that Dumbledore relies on to fight Voldemort. What right does Snape have to point fingers at Lycos?

"What do you want to say?" Snape asked coldly.

"I mean... I have my reasons for doing this," Lycos said, emphasizing each word. "If you have any questions, you can ask Headmaster Dumbledore instead of treating me like a criminal and 'interrogating' me in your office."

Snape's expression was particularly grim.

He stared into Lycos's eyes with a threatening look, and the pair of dark golden eyes stared back at him without giving in.

Finally, Snape was the first to turn his gaze away.

"Follow me." He suddenly took a step forward, and whether intentionally or unintentionally, his arm bumped heavily into Lycos's shoulder. "I want to ask Dumbledore what exactly you mean by doing this!"

Lycos shrugged and followed Snape out of the office, all the way in silence to the headmaster's office on the eighth floor of the main tower.

When Snape rang the knocker that pushed open the griffin and knocked on the bright door of the headmaster's office, Dumbledore was sitting peacefully behind his desk, tapping the surface lightly with his slender fingers.

"You've come just in time, Severus." His eyes were still fixed on a document on the table, and he casually greeted Snape who had come in. "I just happen to have something to tell you."

"Perhaps you want to tell me...that your good student secretly cast the Dark Mark in Hogsmeade?" Snape said expressionlessly, "Don't tell me you condoned this."