The days at Hogwarts

A few blue bell-like flames floated in circles in the air, exuding a soft warmth.

Sitting around the campfire, Bill collapsed on the ground, covering his arm with a sheet, blood stained his sleeves, Charlie's shirt had a big tear, the old scar on his chest was torn, and the dried blood solidified into dark There was a red scab, and Percy was wiping a bloody nose with a wet handkerchief.

Some were accidentally injured while maintaining order, and some were accidentally injured while carrying the bodies of petrified people. While dealing with the injuries of several children, Molly cried, complaining that they should not pay attention to the danger.

Having just experienced a farce, even George and Fred were a little depressed. Listening to Molly's nagging complaints, they felt a little relieved.

Loren unfolded the plain white blanket and wrapped himself and the girl beside him, and the temperature gradually rose.

Like melting ice and snow, Hermione's cold expression softened. She tilted her head weakly and leaned gently on Loren's shoulder. The light and shadow danced in her beautiful brown eyes, and the sparkling face of the house elf kept reappearing in her mind. .

……

"The disobedient elf...should be punished!"

"Lord, Lord, Master...please, please..."

"I was shocked by your behavior tonight. I told you to stay in the tent. I told you to stay there and I went to resolve the commotion...but you disobeyed me, and that means - clothes!"

"No! No, Master! No clothes, no clothes!"

……

Hermione shook her head and found a soft and comfortable position on her shoulders, and spoke in a hoarse voice: "She must have been frightened at the time... Winky was afraid of heights, and those masked wizards made people hang in the air. It's understandable that she would want to escape them, anyone would do that and no one can blame her for it."

Loren didn't say anything, but just rested his cheek on the girl's hair to get some warmth.

"Why did they treat her like that...Mr. Diggory kept calling her 'the goblin', and Mr. Crouch..." Hermione paused, "He clearly knew it wasn't her, but he still wanted to abandon her. No one cares about how scared and sad Twinkle is, and they don’t regard her as a human being... It’s really, really disgusting.”

Hearing Hermione say such serious words, Percy paused. He glanced at Molly and whispered to make amends for his boss: "A wizard in Mr. Crouch's position, if his house elf holds He can't bear the responsibility of a wand doing whatever he wants... Moreover, house elves are indeed not human."

Molly threw the wrung-out handkerchief into his arms and glared at him bitterly.

"That doesn't mean she has no feelings, no heart... She didn't act up, she didn't do anything, she just shouldn't have been in that place at that time."

Hermione leaned motionless on Loren's shoulder. She had communicated frequently with Professor Bubbaji in the past year. She already knew the wizard's attitude towards house elves.

Loren hugged the girl tighter.

"Ugh……"

Arthur Weasley sighed and added a few slightly damp logs to the bonfire. The incompletely burned logs raised bluish-white smoke and melted into the ethereal night.

"Hermione, I agree with you, but..."

"What's the point..." Molly sprinkled the white essence on Bill's wound, causing a cry of pain, "I don't know if house elves have human feelings, but Crouch definitely doesn't!"

The Weasley children were shocked that their mother had said such cruel words.

Ginny asked weakly: "Mom, what does that mean?"

"When he discovered us just now, he ordered an attack without saying anything. If we couldn't escape in time, a spell of that scale, even just a coma spell, would be enough to keep us lying in St. Mungo's for several months!"

Molly became even angrier when she talked about it. When she bandaged Bill's wound, she unconsciously increased her strength, making him grin: "And when the mysterious man fell more than ten years ago, it was he who took the initiative to sentence his son Az Caban is imprisoned for life... Even his own son is like this, what kind of feelings does he have!"

"Ahem..." Arthur coughed twice, "Don't say that, Mr. Crouch also wanted to deal with the Death Eaters... Maybe it was too dark just now..."

George smiled in a strange accent: "Yeah, the sky is too dark, and the green skull is too dark."

Fred couldn't help but nodded, feeling a little scared when he thought of being besieged by dozens of stun spells: "It's all the fault of You-Know-Who and the Death Eaters. When they invented that magic, they didn't make it look like the sun."

"..."

Arthur and Percy lowered their heads in silence and tended to the bonfire. If they continued talking, they would be disliked by the whole family.

Ron looked at Molly. He was deeply impressed by his mother's frightened expression. After hesitating for a while, he asked, "Dad, why is everyone so nervous about that skeleton?"

Loren felt Hermione's cheeks move. She probably wanted to explain out loud, but gave up because she was in a low mood.

"Let me tell you, that is the symbol of You-Know-Who, Ron," Bill replied softly. As the eldest child of the Weasley family, he had experienced that era personally. "I haven't seen it for thirteen years. People were naturally nervous...it was almost like seeing the mysterious man again."

"I don't understand..." Ron frowned and looked at him, "I mean... after all, this is just a shadow in mid-air..."

"Ron, every time the mysterious man and his followers kill someone, they will display the Dark Mark in the air." Arthur explained in a deep tone, "The fear it brings... you don't know, you are too young. .Imagine when you come home one day and find the Dark Mark hovering over your house, you know what you will see when you go in..."

Molly shivered in fright, and the bandage rubbed against Charlie's wound, and the wound that had stopped bleeding started to ooze red again.

Charlie grinned: ...

"That's what everyone fears the most...the most fearful thing..." Arthur said quietly.

The young wizards who had not experienced that era were silent for a while. Thinking of the scene he saw tonight, Harry couldn't help but ask: "What did the Death Eaters want to do, make Muggles hang in the air? I mean, What’s the point of that?”

"Meaning?" Arthur laughed dryly, "Harry, there is no meaning. It's just their way of having fun. In the past, when the mysterious people were in power, most of them killed Muggles for fun."

Loren thought of the Roberts family and felt a little uncomfortable. He frowned and asked, "Mr. Weasley, how will the Ministry of Magic treat the Roberts family?"

"Well..." Arthur said thoughtfully, "We should cure their injuries, repair their houses, then erase their memories, and then contact the Muggle government to give them some compensation."

Loren looked at the swaying and rising flames, with a faint light in his eyes.

This is really the standard procedure for dealing with magic leaks...

After treating the child's injuries, Molly came over and handed over the white essence, gently rubbed his hair, and said with a smile: "Thank you Loren, if it weren't for your medicine, they would have shed dozens of gallons of blood. "

George suddenly exclaimed: "Dozens of gallons, are they bison?"

Sporadic laughter suddenly sounded in the cold swamp forest, blending into the crackling bonfire, adding a little warmth to the chaotic night.

……

A lot of things happened tonight, and hundreds of thousands of wizards from all over the world were involved, including employees of the Ministry of Magic from powerful countries and relatives of pure-blood families... As the place where the accident occurred, the British Department of International Affairs and Cooperation immediately entered its busiest period. moment.

Count the petrified wizards, contact the Ministry of Magic of other countries to verify their identities, comfort the frightened wizards, apologize to other Ministries of Magic and ancient families, and maintain the image of the Ministry of Magic...

It is foreseeable that people in the Department of International Affairs and Cooperation will be very busy in the coming months.

But at this time, Mr. Barty Crouch, the always dedicated Director of the Department of International Affairs and Cooperation, actually asked to go home to rest and handed over the work to the Deputy Director.

However, considering that Mr. Crouch has been the coordinator since the Quidditch World Cup was held, he probably has never had a good sleep in the past week, and then thinking about Mr. Crouch's house elves being involved in the Dark Mark case... … Colleagues who believed Mr. Crouch was physically and mentally exhausted took it upon themselves to take over.

Crouch House, Wizarding Village, Wiltshire, England.

Only a few oil lamps were on. The person who lit them was probably in a hurry and didn't even have time to close the lampshade. The lights kept shaking, and the shadows in the room kept shaking.

In a hurry, Barty Crouch finally cleaned up the house and turned all traces of Barty Crouch Jr.'s existence into ashes. In order to prevent any flaws, he didn't even use a wand, but used an ash to light the fire. Matches dropped in from Arthur Weasley.

Looking at the ashes in the fireplace, Barty Crouch rubbed his face tiredly and slumped on the sofa weakly.

Panic, shock, anger, sadness and other emotions came one after another, and his brain was already a little numb, but chaotic thoughts still emerged from every corner of his brain, pulling at his mind and preventing him from falling asleep.

That idiot son has escaped, what will he do?

Discredit yourself by going public?

No, as long as Winky didn't reveal his secret, the Ministry had no evidence.

The Dark Lord who went to join him?

Is Dumbledore's claim of Voldemort's return a ploy to seize power, or a real warning...

Boom!

dong dong!

Suddenly there was a rapid and powerful knock on the door.

Crouch stood up suddenly and stared at the mansion door.

Boom boom boom!

The knock on the door echoed in the ancient and empty castle.

"Who?" Crouch asked warily.

"I."

A high, familiar voice answered, the voice of another Barty Crouch, his son.

Barty Crouch's eyes were covered with mist. He couldn't tell what he was feeling at this moment. It wasn't anger, joy, or sadness...

Or both.

But Barty Crouch, a veteran employee of the Ministry of Magic, did not let down his guard. He went over the relevant situation in his mind: Bertha Jorkins' wand had been confiscated as evidence. Barty Jr. should not have a wand on him. He was under house arrest in the castle for many years, and he could not find any help in a short period of time.

Barty Crouch, who had eliminated the danger, carefully approached the castle gate with his wand. He waved the wand lightly, and with a harsh creaking sound, the gate quietly opened.

Seeing two figures standing outside the door, Barty Crouch was startled and immediately waved his wand——

A flash of red light flashed, and Barty Crouch fell to the ground and fell into a coma.

Bellatrix glanced at the guy on the ground with pride, walked into the house first, looked around with her chin raised, and saw the dilapidated scene in the mansion, her face full of disgust.

Little Barty Crouch walked behind, holding a swaddle in his hand. After closing the door, he carefully placed the swaddle on the sofa and shouted piously and respectfully: "Master."

The candlelight flickered by, revealing the infant monster. It was a lump of tender flesh that seemed to have been reborn after being burned by fire. It was a dark red sticky mass with scarlet eyes on its flat snake face.

"Hahaha... This couldn't be more appropriate, this could not be more appropriate!"

……

There was no light in the deep blue sky, a thick moist fog rose, and the bonfire went out quietly at some point.

"Wake up, wake up..."

Hearing the low-pitched call, Loren, who was sleeping lightly, opened his eyes and saw Molly, who had already packed the package, waking them up one by one.

"You can leave now, let's go."

Walking back along the way we came, we passed through the burned ruins of the tent camp. There were Ministry of Magic staff on duty at the entrance and exit of the stone hut checking in. Probably because not many people had heard the news, and it was still dark, so there were people queuing up. Not much.

Mr. Roberts stood at the door of the stone house, looking dazed and with glazed eyes.

"He will be fine." Arthur finished filling out the registration form and saw Loren and Hermione staring at Roberts in a daze. He consoled him, "When a person's memory is modified, he will be temporarily confused, and besides, they want to make him It’s such a big thing that I forgot...it’ll be fine after some time.”

When they walked out of the door, Roberts mechanically waved goodbye to everyone leaving and said vaguely: "Merry Christmas."

Hermione's heart tightened, and she subconsciously tugged at Loren's sleeve.

Loren sighed softly: "I wish the Roberts family good luck."

They walked away towards the swamp, and at the door of the stone house that no one noticed, a light flashed quietly in Roberts' eyes.

Chapter 435 You’re welcome

The sun has not yet appeared, but there is already some light in the distant sky, and the dark blue sky is gradually fading.

The path leading to the swamp clearing outside the stone house was damp and narrow, and the scrawled lanterns lit up with bits of orange light. I didn't meet any pedestrians along the way, but when I walked to the place where the door keys were stored, there were suddenly more people.

Molly took the children to join the team. Arthur thought for a while and went to the side to maintain order with Basil.

"What happened last night?"

"The matter has not yet been clarified. An announcement will be made after the investigation is complete."

"That python is the basilisk, right?"

"I am not sure as well."

"Who conjured that mark?"

"Not sure yet."

"Arthur... could he be... that person?"

Arthur waved his hand: "Of course it's not him. We don't know who it is. It seems that he has disapparated... Please queue up to receive the door key. Like you, I just want to go home and have a good sleep."

Hearing the exchange not far away, Loren looked at Percy who was standing obediently behind Molly and asked curiously: "Percy, why don't you maintain order?"

Hearing this, Hermione and others around them also looked over curiously. In the past, Percy was most interested in this kind of thing.

Percy was silent for a moment and said slowly: "I was thinking about what happened last night..."

"He bumped his nose last night, got a bit of wind and caught a cold, and now he's sore all over." Molly bluntly said, but couldn't help but feel sorry for this most well-behaved son, "I'll take out the cold medicine when I get home. I’ll make a pot for you.”

George and Fred immediately looked at Percy with pity. The medicine at home was given by their mother at home. It was unclear whether it would cure the disease, but it was definitely very unpleasant to drink.

Percy also knew this, and glanced at his old mother with a resentful look: "I was really thinking about what happened last night... There was a safety issue at the World Cup, and the ministry may provide some compensation."

The Weasley child's eyes lit up, and Hermione looked at him suspiciously: "There are a hundred thousand wizards in the camp, and there are tens of thousands of tents. Can magic afford to pay for it?"

"The ministry has raised a lot of money recently, and..." Percy paused, "The financial losses from being burned may not be compensated, but mom you were attacked, and if Mr. Crouch doesn't object, compensation should be no problem."

Molly's face softened a little and she snorted: "This won't make me change my opinion of Crouch."

In the end, they finally got an old tire before the sun rose, and relied on it to return to Stoat Mountain. In the dim light of dawn, they passed through the village of Ottery St. Catchpole and walked along the wet huts towards the Burrow. Go.