Sherlock Holmes at Hogwarts.

Chapter 472 Take another one, one for each person!
Barty Crouch is the Director of International Magical Exchange and Cooperation at the Ministry of Magic.

He is a serious and upright person, fluent in multiple languages, and was formerly the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, the largest department in the Ministry of Magic.

During the Wizarding Wars more than a decade ago, he consistently advocated for the use of harsh measures against Voldemort, who led the Death Eaters, and was a representative figure of the hawks in the wizarding world.

Therefore, after winning the Wizarding War, he naturally gained the trust of most people in the magical world.

After all, someone who persists in fighting the enemy even in adversity can't be too bad off after becoming Minister of Magic.

This is why, in the immediate period immediately following the Wizarding Wars, Barty Crouch's reputation was unparalleled.

Many people believed he was a strong contender for the position of Minister of Magic—and he was indeed the most promising of the many candidates.

It was during this process that he, being a tough man, imprisoned Sirius Black in Azkaban without trial.

Now, more than a decade later, the two have met again.

To Arthur Weasley and Ludo Bagman, the scene was undeniably awkward.

However, both Sirius Black and Buddy Crouch, the two people involved, acted as if nothing had happened.

Although he was unwilling to admit that he was a member of the Black family, it had to be said that he possessed the same kind of obsessiveness as the Black family.

Sirius Black had mistakenly trusted Peter Pettigrew, which led him to willingly spend the rest of his life in Azkaban.

To put it more bluntly, he believed that advising James and Lily to switch from the Secret Service to Peter Pettigrew at the last minute was tantamount to harming the couple.

So when Buddy Crouch announced his imprisonment in Azkaban without trial, he did not argue.

According to Barty Crouch, it's not that Sirius didn't defend himself.

Even if he defended himself, it wouldn't have made much sense in that situation back then.

To everyone else, it was a fact that Sirius betrayed the Potters to Voldemort, leading to their deaths, and that he also harmed Peter Pettigrew.

With conclusive evidence and no trial required, the execution proceeded without any issues—in any case, not a single person raised any objection at the time.

As for the truth coming to light and the situation turning around, it wasn't until twelve years later that things changed.

Time has passed, and Barty Crouch has been transferred from being the most promising candidate to succeed as Minister of Magic to the International Magical Cooperation Division.

Crouch can hardly say he doesn't regret his actions back then.

However, compared to something else that was much more important, this matter seemed less important.

So when the two met, they simply exchanged greetings, and the situation that Mr. Weasley and Mr. Bagman had feared did not occur.

So after Percy was mistakenly called "Weasley" instead of "Wetherby," only Sherlock and Sirius didn't react.

As for Percy himself, his ears had turned as red as his hair.

In this situation, he could only pretend to be engrossed in tending to the teapot.

"By the way, there's something I've been wanting to tell you, Arthur."

Mr. Crouch looked at Mr. Weasley as he spoke, “Ali Bashir has made a provocation; he wants to talk to you about your embargo on flying carpets.”

Upon hearing this, Mr. Weasley let out a heavy sigh:

“I sent him a message last week, specifically to discuss this matter.”

In fact, I've told him almost a hundred times—the rug is classified as a Muggle craft on the Register of Forbidden Magical Items—but will he listen?

“I doubt he will,” Mr. Crouch said, taking a cup of tea from Percy. “He can’t wait to get the flying carpet out here.”

“But in England, a flying carpet can never replace a flying broomstick, can it?” Bagman interjected.

"Alibaba believes there is a loophole to exploit in the market for family transportation vehicles."

Mr. Crouch said, “I remember my grandfather had an Axminster velvet rug that could seat twelve people.”

However, of course, that was before the flying carpet was banned.

Hearing Crouch's last attempt to salvage the situation, Sherlock glanced at Crouch again.

This person is interesting.

He said this as if to convince everyone that all his ancestors had strictly abided by the law.

"How have you been? Pretty busy lately, buddy?"

After the flying carpet topic was over, Bagman asked specific questions about the Quidditch World Cup.

“It is indeed quite busy,” Mr. Crouch said dryly. “Organizing and arranging door keys on five continents is no easy task, Ludo.”

“I suppose…you all wish this matter would end as soon as possible?” Mr. Weasley asked.

"What are you saying? I can't wait for it to end! I've never been so happy!"

Ludo Bagman seemed taken aback, but then quickly changed the subject, "However, there is still hope ahead."

Right, Batty—we still have a lot of events to organize, don't we?

Mr. Crouch raised an eyebrow at Bagman, somewhat displeased, and said, "We promise not to announce anything until all the details are complete—"

"Oh, the details!"

Bagman waved his hand dismissively, as if shooing away a swarm of mosquitoes:
"They've already signed it, haven't they?"

They've already agreed, haven't they?
I bet you, these kids will find out very soon.

I mean, after all, this happened at Hogwarts—”

"Ludo, you should know that we need to go see those Bulgarians."

Mr. Crouch suddenly interrupted Bagman sternly, "And thank you for the tea, Weatherby."

He shoved the untouched teacup back into Percy's hand and waited for Ludo to get up.

Ludo could only struggle to his feet, downing the tea in one gulp, the Galleons clinking merrily in his pocket.

"Okay, see you later!"

Arthur, you know, you were with me in the penthouse box.

Oh, and Mr. Blake over there too—Connelly arranged the best seats for you.”

He winked at the group and said with a smile, "I'm the commentator for this match, so you can look forward to it."

After saying this, he waved goodbye to everyone warmly.

Barty Crouch simply nodded.

The next moment, both of them Apparated and disappeared from everyone's sight.

"Is there anything wrong at Hogwarts right now, Father?"

Fred immediately asked, and didn't even laugh when Mr. Crouch called Percy Wetherby again as he left.

"What exactly were they talking about? Is something about to happen at Hogwarts?"

"You'll find out soon enough."

Mr. Weasley laughed and said that he clearly did not intend to tell anyone about it.

"This is classified information; we will only know when the ministry decides to release it."

Percy said in a serious tone, "Mr. Crouch is right not to easily reveal secrets."

His actions would undoubtedly annoy people, so Fred immediately said without hesitation:
"Oh, shut up, Wetherby."

Everyone burst into laughter again, and the surrounding area was instantly filled with a joyful atmosphere.

Seeing Percy frowning and remaining silent, Sherlock spoke calmly:
“If I were you, Percy, I would point out his mistake on the spot instead of remaining silent.”

“How could you?” Percy said in surprise. “How could I point out the leader’s mistake in public?” Sherlock gave Percy a deep look and said nothing more.

Time passed by, minute by minute, from noon to afternoon to evening.

A feeling of excitement spread across the camp like a tangible cloud.

As dusk fell, even the quiet summer air seemed to tremble with anticipation.

As night fell like a curtain over the thousands of eagerly waiting wizards, the last trace of disguise vanished.

The stubborn Ministry of Magic finally stopped opposing people and allowed obvious signs of magic use to emerge everywhere.

It was as if they were succumbing to an inevitable trend.

And so, every few steps, a phantom vendor would descend from the sky.

They carried trays and pushed carts filled with all sorts of strange and unusual things:
There are miniature models of real flying fire arrows.

There are the flags of both countries, and waving them will play their respective national anthems.

It has a tall green hat, decorated with clover that dances in the wind.

It has a Bulgarian sash, and the lion printed on it really roars.

These two items are clearly the most popular souvenirs among supporters of Ireland and Bulgaria.

There are also glowing rose-shaped badges—green for Ireland and red for Bulgaria—that can shout out the team members' names.

In addition, there are also statues of famous team members available for collection.

Those little statues can walk around on your palm, looking all smug.

The best-selling item is undoubtedly the Bulgarian Seeker, Viktor Krum figure.

"Isn't Apparition supposed to be a very profound form of magic?"

Seeing this, Harry asked in confusion, "Why does it seem like everyone can do this?"

“My dear Harry, Apparition is indeed difficult, but that’s relative.”

Sirius Black chuckled and patted his godson on the shoulder:

"In my opinion, its biggest difficulty actually lies in the learning conditions—you must be at least seventeen years old to learn."

In terms of difficulty alone, both Animagus transformations and the Guardian Charm are far more difficult.

“There is also survivor bias.”

Sherlock added, "The Quidditch World Cup brings together wizards from all over the world, including the apparition vendors."

As for those things they can't do—you can't see them anyway.

"I see."

Harry felt he had learned something new.

Ginny, who was standing next to him, nodded as well.

“Stop worrying about the happy individual bias!” Ron couldn’t help but interject, “We…”

“It’s survivor bias, Ron,” Hermione corrected.

"That kind of thing is fine no matter what, but now is shopping time!"

Ron waved his hand impatiently. "I saved up my allowance all summer for this."

He bought a hat with a dancing shamrock and a large green rose-shaped badge.

Clearly, he supports Ireland.

However, he also bought a small statue of Bulgarian Seeker Viktor Krum.

The little Krum walked back and forth in Ron's hand, frowning and staring at the green badge above him, which was quite amusing.

However, Hermione frowned upon seeing this.

She really disliked this Bulgarian Quidditch star.

Sherlock, Harry, and Hermione didn't buy anything.

From this perspective, the three have similar personalities and are not very interested in these flashy but impractical things.

They are more concerned with practical things, or rather... knowing how to manage a household?
Wow, look at these!

Just then, Harry rushed to a small cart.

The car was piled high with many things that looked like binoculars, but they were covered with all sorts of strange knobs and dials.

"This is called a panoramic telescope."

The wizard vendor clearly didn't recognize the famous Savior of the wizarding world, and enthusiastically tried to sell Harry the goods on his cart:

"You can use it to replay the game footage, but note that you should still play it in slow motion."

Of course, it can even quickly display match analysis if needed.

Don't hesitate, you can get one for just ten Galleons.

Ten Galleons—you won't lose out, you won't be cheated.

"I wish I hadn't bought this."

Ron glanced at his hat with the dancing shamrocks on it, and looked longingly at the panoramic telescope.

Clearly, he was also very interested in the panoramic telescope, but unfortunately, having already spent all his money, he was short of cash and could no longer afford it.

"It's okay, you can buy a few to exchange!"

Upon hearing Ron's words, the wizard vendor immediately offered his advice:

"Any match footage viewed using it will be recorded and won't disappear..."

"Swap them? Are you kidding me?"

Just then, Sirius Black suddenly interjected:
"If the foreign neighbor sees this, he'll think I can't afford it."

The wizard vendor looked at the handsome adult wizard with some surprise.

In fact, he knew very well that selling a panoramic telescope for ten Galleons was not cheap.

But there's no way around it; this thing is already quite expensive to begin with.

In addition, he paid a considerable price to be able to come here to sell things.

He wouldn't make much money unless he sold at least ten Galleons.

That's why it's only natural for several people to pool their money to buy one and exchange them. Just now, he had already successfully sold several using this spell.

But he didn't expect the wizard's reaction to be so strong.

"No, no, no, they're all the same!"

The wizard vendor quickly pointed to the foreign wizards and explained that they also had cases where several people pooled their money to buy one.

"What do you mean they're all the same?!"

Sirius, however, was not convinced.

Just as the wizard vendor was having a headache, Sirius's next words made him so excited he almost jumped up:
"How many people sharing one telescope is enough for everyone to see!"

"Get another one, one for each person!"

(End of this chapter)