Sherlock Holmes at Hogwarts.

Chapter 619 What is a Surprise?
"Albus, what exactly is going on?"

Even though Sherlock had just said that the truth was about to come to light, Cornelius Fudge was still completely bewildered when he saw this scene.

Whenever he encounters situations that require him to use his brain, especially deep thinking, he always feels that his intelligence is being severely challenged.

"Take it easy, Connelly."

Dumbledore watched Professor McGonagall leave quickly, then turned and picked up the curved bottle on the table. He unscrewed the cap, glanced at it, and handed it to Snape, who was standing nearby.
“Severus, it seems we’ve also found the person who broke into your office to steal potion ingredients.”

Snape took the bottle, brought it close to his nose, and took a light sniff. His brows furrowed instantly.

A flash of intense disgust crossed his eyes, and he said in an icy tone:

"The compound decoction is really excellent."

"Compound decoction?"

This time, Fudge finally realized what was happening, his eyes widening in disbelief:

"You mean, Moody... no, this person used Polyjuice Potion to transform into Moody's appearance?"

Sherlock was utterly speechless at Fudge's genuine surprise.

Why are there always people in this world who speak of such obvious things with such shock?

"yes……"

Dumbledore sighed deeply, a hint of regret in his voice:
"Look how simple and ingenious this is."

Everyone knows that Moody has always used only the curved bottle he carries with him to drink, a well-known habit.

So anyone who wants to impersonate him only needs to fill this bottle with the compound decoction and drink a sip every hour to maintain the disguise without arousing suspicion.

Of course, the imposter must keep the real Moody by his side so that he can obtain his hair at any time to prepare new potions.

That explains why Professor Snape's potion ingredients went missing from his office.

Now, Connelly, all you need to do is wait quietly, and you will see the truth with your own eyes.

I think he'll give you a surprise.

As Dumbledore said, Moody, who was bound like a dumpling on the ground, began to show a visible change in his face.

Those crisscrossing, hideous scars gradually receded like the tide, and the skin became smooth and delicate;
The damaged nose gradually grew back, shrank, and regained its normal shape;

Her originally long, messy, gray hair quickly shortened and turned into a light golden color, lying smoothly against her scalp.

Then, an even bigger change occurred:
His signature wooden leg fell to the side with a clatter, and a complete, hairy real leg slowly grew out of the broken end.

The constantly rotating magical fake eye popped out of its socket and rolled to the ground.

Instead, it had a normal eye with a light brown pupil.

"Crouch!"

Even the slowest of them exclaimed in surprise at that moment:
"It's Barty Crouch Jr."

"As you can see."

Dumbledore smiled slightly: "It was him who had been impersonating Alastor Moody and lurking in Hogwarts."

"Wasn't he kidnapped from Azkaban a long time ago?"

Fudge stammered, his brain still unable to process this astonishing fact.

This is hardly a surprise.

It was absolutely terrifying!
"idiot."

Sherlock uttered two words calmly.

Having witnessed the entire process of the disguise being exposed, yet still unable to connect the dots, such intelligence is truly hopeless.

"Yes, he was indeed kidnapped."

Although Dumbledore agreed with Sherlock's statement, his personality prevented him from openly showing contempt for Fudge like Sherlock did.

He patiently explained:

"According to our information, the people who kidnapped him at the Quidditch World Cup were Voldemort and his allies."

They rescued Barty Crouch Jr. precisely to plan all of this today.

"But, but..."

Fudge opened his mouth, still looking blank, wanting to say something but unable to organize his thoughts.

Ludo Bagman, standing beside him, kept rolling his eyes, as if he had already figured something out.

Just then, hurried footsteps came from outside the door, and Professor McGonagall strode in.

Although she had already learned the truth from Dumbledore beforehand, she was still stunned when she saw Barty Crouch on the ground with her own eyes.

She stood there stunned for a few seconds before she came to her senses and said to Dumbledore:

“I found Moody; Crouch Jr. had locked him in a box with seven keys.”

You must use different keys to open the door seven times in a row to find the person hiding inside...

Moody is in bad shape; his wooden leg and prosthetic eye have been removed.

He was so thin he was just skin and bones, and incredibly weak, but thankfully his life wasn't in danger...

Ms. Pomfrey is already taking care of him.

"Thank you very much, Minerva."

Dumbledore nodded, then turned to Snape. "Severus, are you ready?"

"It has been prepared for a long time."

Snape sneered and strode forward.

He took out a small glass bottle from his pocket, which contained a clear, transparent liquid.

It is the legendary truth serum.

Torture interrogation is an essential remedy for extracting confessions without resorting to torture.

Snape walked up to Barty Crouch Jr., squatted down, and unceremoniously grabbed the man's chin, forcing him to open his mouth.

Then the entire bottle of liquid was poured in.

Sherlock and Harry exchanged a glance upon seeing this.

Snape's rough action instantly reminded the two of the scene when they exposed Peter Pettigrew.

At that time, the professor also ruthlessly forced the truth serum down the throat.

It seems there must be some personal grudge between Snape and these Death Eaters.

After all, according to Snape, just one drop of this stuff is enough to reveal even the Dark Lord's deepest secrets.

There's absolutely no need to chug the whole bottle down like this.

"Connelly, this is the most potent truth serum."

Dumbledore turned to look at the dumbfounded Fudge and Bagman:
"I think what he's about to say will answer all your questions."

Fudge opened his mouth, but couldn't say a word.

Bagman's expression was similar.

Now, all the two could do was stare blankly at little Barty Crouch on the ground, waiting for the truth to be revealed. The ensuing interrogation was utterly devoid of any skill.

After taking the truth serum, Barty Crouch Jr. completely lost the ability to resist and answered any question without reservation.

His account of how he escaped from Azkaban is consistent with his father Batty Crouch's previous statements.

It was all thanks to Mrs. Crouch's sacrifice and dedication.

Little Crouch, however, went into more detail, describing how his mother replaced him with Polyjuice Potion and how she exhausted her life in Azkaban.

Unfortunately, his words showed no gratitude for his mother's sacrifice; instead, they revealed a fanatical loyalty to Voldemort.

He also gave a truthful account of what happened to Bertha Jorkins, which perfectly matched the known clues.

After that, it became a secret known only to Barty Crouch Jr.

Just as Sherlock had previously deduced, Voldemort ran into Bertha Jorkins, who was on vacation in Albania.

As a top Legilimency master, he easily broke through the Oblivion Curse that Barty Crouch had cast on Bertha Jokins and found the hidden true memories.

But what follows is the key point, a secret that Barty Crouch Jr. himself knows.

After Voldemort met Bertha Jorkins, he naturally learned that Barty Crouch Jr. was not dead.

I also learned about the Quidditch World Cup.

In this situation, he came up with a bold idea.

Rescue Barty Crouch Jr., the Death Eater who is loyal to him, and make him work for him—after all, he needs men right now.

Coincidentally, at that very moment, Barty Crouch Jr. was wearing an invisibility cloak and had infiltrated the top tier box of the Quidditch World Cup.

Neither his father, Old Crouch, nor his house-elf, Sparky, anticipated that he had already been able to resist the Imperius Curse's control.

Taking advantage of the moment when Brilliant, who has a fear of heights, covered his eyes and dared not look, he quietly stole Harry's wand from the front row.

They thought they had done it perfectly, but they didn't expect that there was a genius like Sherlock Holmes in the private room, and they were caught red-handed.

Upon hearing this, everyone looked at Sherlock with admiration in their eyes.

Sherlock, however, remained unfazed and continued to press, "How were you rescued?"

Voldemort originally did not intend to make a move at the Quidditch World Cup.

His plan was to go directly to Crouch's house to rescue him after the World Cup ended.

His ally, John Smith, came to the Quidditch World Cup, but only to gather information.

But to everyone's surprise, Sherlock singled out Crouch during the World Cup, disrupting all plans.

In this situation, John Smith had no choice but to change his plan on the spot and take action to abduct the person.

To their even greater surprise, the forced abduction was accomplished with remarkable ease.

"John Dexter was too careless."

He thought that by casting the Soul-Stealing Curse on me, he would be completely safe, but little did he know that I could even resist my father's Soul-Stealing Curse.

Just then, my master sent men to rescue me. Caught off guard, they were immediately knocked down.

This time, everyone's eyes were drawn to Fudge.

Fudge's face turned bright red, as red as the Weasleys' hair, and he silently cursed them as "useless."

The Aurors of the Ministry of Magic are so useless that they can't even keep an eye on a prisoner who has no ability to resist.

In this way, the incompetence of the Ministry of Magic was laid bare before everyone.

Even with his thick skin, he wished he could disappear into a crack in the ground.

At the crucial moment, it was Dumbledore who broke the awkward silence:

"Tell me, what did he ask you to do after you reunited with Voldemort?"

He said that they now have the support of allies, but that is not enough, far from enough.

Barty Crouch Jr.'s eyes lit up with fanaticism, his voice filled with adoration for Voldemort:

He asked me if I was willing to take any risks for him—of course I was!

Serving him and proving my loyalty to him is my dream and my greatest wish!

He told me that he needed to place a trusted confidant at Hogwarts to monitor Harry Potter and ensure he could successfully win the Triwizard Tournament.

Just then, his allies found out that Moody would be replacing my father as the referee for the Triwizard Tournament, so we set our sights on him.

"Why choose Moody?" Bagman couldn't help but interject. "I'm a referee too, why didn't you target me?"

Harry glanced at Bagman with some surprise. What was there to argue about?

Does this guy have some kind of unusual hobby?

"Because Moody is less likely to be suspected than you."

Barty Crouch Jr. answered in a calm and even tone:
"You were tried in Wizengamo, so if anything unusual happens, you're bound to be suspected."

Everyone knows that Moody and my master have an irreconcilable hatred for each other, and no one would have thought that he would be my master's confidant.

Besides, he has an eccentric temper and an impulsive personality; no one would want to provoke someone like that.

Hearing Crouch Jr.'s words, Bagman's feelings were extremely complicated.

On one hand, she was angry that she was despised by the enemy, and on the other hand, she was secretly glad that the other party had not chosen her.
Just from Professor McGonagall's description, it's clear that Moody, who was chosen, has suffered quite a bit.

Crouch Jr.'s next words confirmed his idea:

"The whole thing was done by Smith and me together—we prepared the compound decoction beforehand and broke into Moody's house together."

Moody is indeed very powerful; he fought back fiercely and made a big fuss, but we are not weak either.

I recuperated at my father's place for a while and have recovered my health.

Smith's strength is also much greater than we expected.

In the end, he couldn't fight off four opponents and was subdued by us.

We pushed him into the dark chamber of his own magic box and plucked a few strands of his hair to add to the potion.

I drank the potion, transformed into his likeness, and took his wooden leg and magical fake eye.

Not long after, Arthur Weasley came to inquire about the Muggle complaints.

However, I was already prepared at that time, so I made sure to put the trash cans around the yard.

When he asked, I told him I heard someone break into the yard, which caused the commotion, and I successfully fooled him…

Fudge: "..."

Can't the people at the Ministry of Magic stand up for themselves?!
"After that, I packed Moody's clothes and the Dark Magic Detector, put them in a box along with Moody, and set off for Hogwarts."

I cast a soul-stealing spell on him, but it didn't kill him.

Because I need to ask him questions, understand his past and his habits, in order to better imitate him.

The people in the Ministry of Magic are easy to deal with; they're all stupid and slow-witted. But that student named Sherlock Holmes is too amazing!
I have to be on my guard when dealing with him, or I'll be exposed if I'm not careful.

Fortunately, he didn't know Moody very well, and I consciously avoided having too much contact with him, so he never noticed.

At this moment, Fudge's face was as black as the bottom of a pot.

(End of this chapter)