The Hogwarts Emerald

Chapter 421 Bold Assumption
Barty Crouch, a Ministry of Magic official known for his toughness, resisted Voldemort's dark rule with an iron-blooded approach. Fighting violence with violence, he allowed Aurors to use the Unforgivable Curse on Death Eaters.

At that time, the ruthless and cruel Barty Crouch had many supporters. These wizards spoke out loudly and ran around, believing that the Ministry of Magic needed such a strong leader.

Ada believed that these wizards were not wrong. In that chaotic, dark, tortured and murderous era, the Ministry of Magic really needed a tough man to use thundering means to purge the villains.

Toughness and iron-bloodedness are the best response to Voldemort and his followers.

Barty Crouch was just one step away from becoming the Minister of Magic, but he was betrayed by his son Barty Jr., and the position of Minister that was about to be achieved was lost.

"I don't know much about the boy," Sirius said after thinking for a while. "When he was brought in by the Dementors, I took a look through the cell door. He looked to be no more than nineteen years old."

A 19-year-old boy who had perfect grades in 12 subjects, but he was Voldemort's henchman. Barty was caught at the crime scene. When he was caught, he was hanging out with the Death Eaters.

It was also from the trial of his son that Barty Crouch's life took a sharp turn for the worse, falling from the top to the bottom.

"The Dementors threw the child into the cell next to mine," Sirius continued. "In the first few days, he would shout about his injustice and cry for his father and mother. After a few days, he became silent, just like most of the people imprisoned there."

Azkaban, the place of despair, is not a place for human beings. Hagrid, the half-blood giant, would tremble when he heard about Azkaban, and Sirius, who regained his freedom, also had lingering fears about that place.

Even Ada, who often speaks shockingly, has never mentioned Azkaban, which is simply hell on earth.

"Is he dead?" Fred asked quietly. "In Azkaban, isn't he?"

Most people imprisoned in Azkaban have only two fates: being tortured mad by Dementors, or losing the will to live.

Even a tiger won't eat its own cubs. What kind of character does a father have when he puts his own son in Azkaban and doesn't care about anything? Using the word cold-blooded to describe Barty Crouch is no longer enough.

"Yes, he died about a year later, quietly." Sirius said, "Before he died, Crouch and his wife were allowed to visit their dying son, and not long after that his wife also died."

The three most joyful things for a middle-aged man are promotion, wealth, and the death of his wife. Barty Crouch not only lost his wife, but also his son, but he did not get promoted or get rich.

A year ago, Crouch was still a hero, confident that he would become the Minister of Magic... In the blink of an eye, his son died, his wife died, the family's reputation was tarnished, and Crouch became a lonely man.

After Barty Jr.'s death, people began to sympathize with the boy and began to question Crouch.

People believed that the reason why such an excellent boy like Barty went astray was entirely Barty Crouch's fault because he never cared about his son.

A man who doesn't take care of his family is not really a man. Don't Orientals also emphasize self-cultivation, family harmony, state governance, and world peace?

How can Barty Crouch be the Minister of Magic when he can't even take care of his own family, can't even take care of his own son!
Silence. The cabin fell into silence for a long time.

Barty Crouch and Barty Crouch Jr., the tragic lives of this father and son have the ability to silence people.

If Barty Crouch had cared more about his family, if Barty Crouch Jr. had not gone astray, would it be possible for the Ministry of Magic to have the story of "father and son ministers"?

Everyone is responsible for his own life, and life cannot be repeated, otherwise everyone would learn from Li Bai.

Ada tapped her forehead lightly with the knuckles of her index finger. She asked slowly, "Where is little Barty's body? Are you sure he's dead?"

"He wasn't the only one who died," Sirius replied. "Most people there went mad, and many of them ended up starving themselves. Death is a relief there."

Sirius understood what Ada meant, but he felt that it was impossible, absolutely impossible.

"Where is Barty Jr.'s body?" Ada asked again, "Are you sure he's dead?" "Of course, Crouch didn't come to claim his son's body, and the Dementors buried him outside the fortress." Sirius said, "I saw them do it."

Sirius grabbed the cashews on the table, stuffed them into his mouth one by one, and said slowly: "You don't think the child is dead! People die in Azkaban every day, and they are professionals in burying people."

"But you escaped." Ada said very seriously, "You escaped from Azkaban and turned into a dog!"

"That's because I'm an Animagus, and Dementors can't tell..."

Sirius stopped talking halfway, and was slapped in the face so quickly. He was too confident, he could fool the Dementors, why couldn't Crouch and Barty Junior?

Azkaban is the most heavily guarded wizard prison because it is built on an isolated island in the North Sea and its guards are Dementors. Many prisoners will become insane after spending a few weeks there and then start starving themselves to death.

Jailbreak? Not happening!
Azkaban was also the most laxly guarded, as it was only guarded by Dementors. If there was a wizard guarding the island, it would be unlikely for Sirius to escape.

Since Sirius had done it, was it possible for others to do something similar? To escape from the Azkaban with its many loopholes by working together from within and without?
Sirius fell silent again. He tried hard to recall his time in Azkaban and remember all the details about Barty Crouch Jr.

Although Sirius didn't want to recall those difficult years, he knew he had to do it.

"Ada, you mean a substitution?" George asked uncertainly, "Barty Crouch took his son out of Azkaban and left his dying wife there?"

From the Dementors' perspective, they were two sentient creatures when they entered Azkaban, and they were still two sentient creatures when they left. There was nothing wrong with the number.

There is a lot of potential for this, but no one has ever been as bold as Ada to come up with such an idea.

"I don't know, it's just an assumption, a guess without any basis." Ada frowned and said, she knew that her assumption was too absurd and sounded like a fairy tale.

Make bold assumptions and verify them carefully. Ada is making bold assumptions now.

From the disappearance of Bertha Jorkins to the current situation where Barty Crouch is seriously ill and missing, everything that has happened seems to be controlled by an invisible hand.

Where can we find someone more suitable for the role of the mastermind than a dead person?

Assuming that Barty Jr. was not really dead, and it was his mother who died in Azkaban, and he himself was swapped out of the prison, many problems would be solved.

As Barty Crouch's subordinate, Bertha Jorkins accidentally learned the secret that Barty Jr. was not dead, so she "disappeared".

Knowing that it was his son who cast the Dark Mark, Crouch had been stalling for time, talking about all sorts of things to cover up his son's departure.

It seems to make sense, but why did Batty do this?
After being law-abiding for so many years, why did Barty suddenly jump out? What stimulated him to do such an irrational thing? How did Barty affect the Triwizard Tournament?

New mysteries were added, but this time they were not as confusing as before. Ada figured out the clues. As long as her hypothesis was true, what Ada had to do next was to verify and prove her hypothesis.

Deep in his memory, Sirius found a detail that everyone had overlooked. He asked, "Do you remember who was in the box on the day of the World Cup?"

"Why do you ask?" Fred was puzzled. "Besides us, there are the Malfoy family and people from the Ministry of Magic."

"Is there anything strange?" George was also confused. "Let me think... there seemed to be a house-elf at that time."

Sirius pointed at George and said, "Yes, the house-elf, the house-elf that Crouch fired, Winky!"

(End of this chapter)