The Hogwarts Emerald

Chapter 419 Strange Circle
The second project was over and the stands by the Black Lake were removed overnight, but people still talked about what happened that day, especially what happened underwater.

People are always curious about things they don't know or understand.

People were eager to know what happened under the Black Lake, but Hermione, Ginny and Gabriella either kept silent or told the truth without any exaggeration.

Obviously, this was not the "truth" that everyone wanted to know. So, people turned their attention to the only boy, Ron, hoping to pry some secrets out of him.

Ron finally got his wish and became the focus of everyone. He was so excited that he told the underwater story over and over again, and each time he told a different version of the story.

To satisfy himself, Ron added a lot of things that didn't happen, turning his unconsciousness underwater into a thrilling kidnapping story and a legend of the hostage's efforts to save himself.

In fact, in Professor McGonagall's office, Dumbledore used magic to hypnotize the hostages and first assured them that they were absolutely no danger and would wake up as soon as they came out of the water.

Every time she heard Ron bragging and saw his beaming face, Ada wanted to throw Ron back into the Black Lake to see if he could defeat the fully-armed mermaid and cause trouble in the Black Lake once again.

If not, then I'll just stay at the bottom of the Black Lake and marry into the merman's family.

After entering March, the weather became clearer, but Ada's mood took a sharp turn for the worse. She felt as if she was trapped in a vicious circle. The more she wanted to get out of this vicious circle, or to see it clearly, the deeper she would fall.

When Ada lived in the Burrow in the summer, she learned about Bertha Jorkins' disappearance from Mr. Weasley. This was the cause and beginning of the matter.

Bertha Jorkins is an employee of the Ministry of Magic. She is not very smart, but she is very curious and doesn't know when to say what. She is not suitable for politics. Bertha is always driven from one department to another. Wherever she goes, she seems to be a burden.

When Bertha Jorkins disappeared, most people in the Ministry thought she had simply lost track of time because her memory was not very good. She might have been having so much fun in Albania that there was no need to waste manpower looking for her, and she would return on her own after a while.

But now more than half a year has passed, and Bertha has still not appeared in the Ministry of Magic, neither alive nor dead.

In addition, although Bertha Jorkins worked in the Department of Magical Sports and Magic at the Ministry of Magic before her disappearance, she had worked in many departments and was once a subordinate of Barty Crouch.

If Bertha Jorkins was an employee of the Ministry of Magic and her disappearance had nothing to do with Ada, then what happened after her disappearance could be related to Ada.

Bertha Jorkins' disappearance did not cause any waves. The 94 Quidditch World Cup was held as usual, and then there was a suspected Death Eater parade and the Dark Mark.

When the Dark Mark was launched, Ada was at the campsite and had a conflict with the Ministry of Magic staff led by Barty Crouch. After the conflict, the matter was left unresolved, and the Ministry of Magic has not caught the perpetrator to this day.

After that, it was the old tradition of Hogwarts, Halloween Terror.

It’s just that the Halloween in 94 was not as scary as in previous years. There was just one more candidate in the joint entrance examination of three schools, making it four in total. This extra warrior happened to be Harry Potter.

The matter once again involves Harry, which makes people think more.

Barty Crouch is the Director of the Department of International Magical Cooperation and one of the main persons in charge of the Triwizard Tournament. He also serves as the referee of the tournament.

The existence of this Ministry of Magic official who sacrificed his own family for the sake of justice connected these three things together to form a circle, and he was the center of the circle.

In the past, Barty Crouch left Ada with the impression that he was a man who sacrificed his own family for the sake of justice, because he sent his own son to Azkaban. But after the World Cup, Ada's evaluation of him was reduced to one word: stupid.

Without a cerebral hemorrhage, tens of thousands of CCs wouldn't do such a stupid thing. He actually put the blame for creating the Dark Mark on Harry Potter. Barty Crouch acted as if he had a serious illness.

The facts also proved that Barty Crouch was indeed sick and there was really something wrong with his body.

On Halloween night, the day the fourth warrior was born, Barty Crouch looked sick and seemed to be worried.

But everyone's attention was on Harry Pott at the time, so no one noticed Crouch's condition or discovered his abnormality.

After the first project, Barty Crouch never appeared in Hogwarts again. The Christmas ball and the second project were both done by Percy, who said that Crouch was sick from overwork and was recuperating at home. This was consistent with the news Ada received, Barty Crouch was indeed staying at home due to illness.

Ada is trapped in this vicious circle called "Barty Crouch". Three consecutive events are related to this patient who has suffered from "cerebral hemorrhage" for many years. Is this his problem, or is it simply bad luck?

It was really hard for Ada not to suspect Barty Crouch. After putting him in the role of the mastermind, all the things that didn't make sense seemed to make sense.

Bertha Jorkins was once Barty Crouch's subordinate. It is assumed that she accidentally discovered some secrets of her boss, and then she disappeared.

Because Bertha's boss understood her and knew that the people in the Ministry of Magic would not mobilize a large force because of her "disappearance".

Assuming that the person who cast the Dark Mark in the World Cup camp was an old acquaintance of Barty Crouch, or was himself, then his idiotic behavior of making things difficult for Harry Potter would make sense.

How could a person who can serve as the director of the Law Enforcement Department and still hold the position of director of a department after losing all his prestige be a moron?

If the person sitting in that seat was really mentally ill, he would have been eaten to the point of leaving nothing but bones.

Barty Crouch was not stupid for putting the blame on Harry, but he had to do it. He had to hold back everyone present, leaving enough time for the real murderer to escape, or to cover up for himself.

Coincidentally, Sirius and Ada were both present at the time, and their impulse indirectly helped Barty Crouch, allowing him to successfully delay time.

After that, Crouch threw his own house-elf Winky out to take the blame and hastily closed the case.

Assuming that it was Barty Crouch who put Harry's name into the Goblet of Fire on Halloween, since he had the time and the ability to do so.

Crouch knew the format of the Triwizard Tournament and the Goblet of Fire, and he knew that once Harry's name was chosen by the Goblet of Fire, Harry would have to participate in the competition.

From Bertha Jorkins "disappearing", to being the one who helped cast the Dark Mark, to putting Harry's name into the Goblet of Fire, Barty Crouch was more than capable of doing all three.

After the matter was accomplished, Barty Crouch withdrew himself and hid aside, quietly watching the progress and changes of the matter.

These three things seemed to have reasonable explanations and were all justifiable, but Ada knew that her statements were totally untenable, and she had countless ways to refute herself.

Everything is just Ada's guess and assumption, without any real evidence, and there are also some unreasonable aspects.

This is the strange thing about the vicious circle. There are too many unreasonable and inexplicable things about it.

Every time you explain one point clearly, more questions will immediately arise, and these new questions will overturn all your previous conclusions.

It all comes down to the same question: what is Barty Crouch's motivation or purpose?

It really doesn't make sense that a person who could put his own Death Eater son into Azkaban would choose to help the Death Eaters and murder Harry!

Moreover, what kind of shocking secret or contradiction could cause Bertha Jorkins to "disappear"?

Everything is back to the starting point. Everything that happened this year seems like a mess, and Barty Crouch, who seems to be the center of the circle, is just a line in it.

Snape and Karkaroff, the two Death Eaters who were successfully whitewashed, were also involved, as was Alastor Moody who was attacked before school started. What roles did these three people play this year?
What happened this year was like an invisible and intangible hand that muddied everything, making it impossible to see clearly or guess.

Ada knew that only by finding this hand and its owner could she break this vicious circle and get the truth of the matter.

But where is that hand?

(End of this chapter)