Hogwarts: Dumbledore reigned over the wizarding world.

Chapter 335 The Clique Surrounding Vaughn

Among those who changed was Barty Crouch Sr.!

He is a power-hungry animal, and he has never changed. He chose to keep a low profile in the past only because his son was taking up his energy, and he also knew that his own stains made him unable to integrate into the current system.

But—what if everything changes?

Aside from Crouch himself, no one knew what kind of ambition had been rekindled in the heart of this old wizard who had been decadent for many years.

At least, he hasn't been urging Vaughn to treat Barty for a long time.

To put it bluntly, the so-called "treatment" has long since become an excuse. If it were to actually cure him and cause our dear Mr. Vaughn Weasley to shift his research interests, it would be a case of losing more than we gain!

Beneath his expressionless face, Crouch was lost in thought, eating his breakfast with Vaughn without tasting a bite.

Vaughn opened the "Dimensional Gate," and Crouch felt a blur before his eyes as he "saw" his own and Vaughn's figures reflected by countless overlapping spheres. In an instant, the surrounding environment changed.

The dark, turbulent sea and the overcast sky filled with leaden clouds stretched into the distance.

Crouch observed that they were standing on a semi-circular boulder, and not far ahead on the cliff face, there was a crevice large enough for a person to crawl into, submerged by seawater.

"Is the entrance to the cave there?"

Crouch asked the question.

"Yes, there's an anti-apparition system inside. You'll only be able to teleport to the outer perimeter when you come here in the future, so I didn't take you in directly. I wanted you to memorize the surrounding environment."

Crouch remembered it as instructed.

Apparition requires a strong desire to reach a certain place as "emotional energy." According to Vaughn's basic magical structure, memory is the "coordinate" of Apparition.

Crouch quickly completed the memory process, and the next time he came, he could teleport/manifest directly to the vicinity.

They then swam across the seawater-filled crevice and arrived at the front hall. The hidden door had already opened, and several small packages, probably enchanted with a traceless stretching spell, were placed outside the light gate, indicating that there were other people there.

Crouch was not surprised by this.

Or rather, his positive response to Vaughn's request for help today was intended not only to strengthen his relationship with Vaughn, but also to try to integrate into Vaughn's small group.

As expected, there were people inside when we passed through the portal.

Crouch recognized the man too: Remus Lupin!

Not many people may know that he was once James Potter's friend, but his other identity is quite well-known in the wizarding world today—a member of the C Executive Committee and a werewolf wizard whose power in the C management is second only to Vaughn.

Hearing the noise, Lupin turned around and saw Crouch. He wasn't surprised, but quickly walked over and politely adjusted his hat to Crouch: "Good morning, Mr. Crouch."

After completing the formalities, he reported to Vaughn: "Master, all the equipment you ordered is ready. Professor Kettleburn brought a fire dragon, intending to use it to counteract the interference of the Infernals. He also brought a water monster in the shape of a horse. The tests are complete. — The Dark Lord's magic on the Great Lake doesn't work on magical creatures. Kettleburn believes we can use the water monster to probe the bottom of the lake and perhaps find the ritual —"

While listening to Remus Lupin's report, Crouch also kept an eye on the cave and the large lake ahead.

The cave was indeed as Vaughn had described, filled with a dense darkness that suppressed magic, and he could sense the oppressive atmosphere that felt almost tangible.

However, a few glowing lights still appeared in the darkness.

The most conspicuous mass, located in the lake, is moving rapidly in the water and should be the Kettleburn and the Kelpie monster mentioned by Remus Lupin.

On two distant islands, several wizards dressed in C robes were busy measuring and setting up equipment, using the light provided by the glowing charm. They were probably werewolf wizards that Vaughn had brought in.

The last group seemed to have noticed the commotion and was moving closer.

That must have been a very powerful wizard. The darkness had almost no effect on him. Some of the vulvas that had been awakened by the horse-shaped water monster were easily dealt with by him in the occasional flash of firelight.

A short while later, the man arrived.

He was a middle-aged man with a rather ordinary appearance, but Crouch, who had been shrewd all his life, could tell at a glance that the man had a temperament that was completely different from that of an English wizard, as well as traces of trained etiquette in his every move.

Suddenly, a name came to mind.

Donald Graves!

The Graves family, one of the twelve Aurors of America, and the acting head of the Magical Security Department of the Magical Congress, surrendered to Vaughn during the battle in the Alabacia Mountains.

This was news that caused a sensation in the wizarding world throughout England and even the world at the end of August.

Although there are few details, that's precisely what gives this news a touch of legendary tale.

Everyone was laughing at Graves for betraying his own family and the Magic Council, but unfortunately, after following Vaughn to England, Donald Graves seemed to disappear.

Nobody knows where he is.

So much so that a few months ago, during the uproar in The Daily Prophet, there were still opponents of Vaughn and C who claimed that Donald Graves had been tortured to death by Vaughn Weasley and that the Graves family was seeking revenge.

That's quite humorous.

Seeing the other party here, Crouch immediately understood that Donald's surrender probably had a deeper reason, and that the other party's position in Vaughn's heart was not simple.

Vaughn, who was listening to Lupin's report, also noticed Donald Graves: "Donald, you've come at the right time. Let me introduce you. This is Barty Crouch—dear Barty, and this is Donald Graves. The two of you will be partners in the study of the rituals."

To be honest, Crouch didn't think much of his North American counterparts, especially those two Aurors.

They're just a bunch of losers fleeing Europe.

But to rekindle the fire within him, Crouch doesn't mind expressing friendliness to anyone in a way that aligns with Vaughn's wishes.

So the first meeting between the two seemed amicable, with Barty Crouch Sr. expressing his admiration for the Graves ancestor who saved his people in distress, and Donald expressing his awe for the Crouch family’s long history.

After exchanging pleasantries for a while, the pair tactfully left.

Watching the two figures gradually disappear into the darkness, Lupin said, "Crouch has actually made up his mind to get closer to you. I thought his lust for power had disappeared after what happened to Barty Jr.."

"How can a person's character be changed so easily? He just felt he had no chance to make a comeback before."

"Vaughn said calmly."

He was not surprised by Crouch's change of heart, and he never minded that his subordinates were ambitious.

If everyone lacks ambition and is content with mediocrity, then who will share his burdens and fight for him?

Even the most peaceful Lupin harbors ambitions—to completely cure the werewolves!

Lupin paused for a moment, then suddenly asked, "Mr. Chairman, is Regulus really a hero as you say?"

"Of course, you don't believe me?"

"No—I just feel that he is so different from the Regulus I remember."

Lupin had certainly met Regulus. He was a very "cold" boy who didn't like to talk. If they occasionally met at school, he would usually ignore Lupin, Peter, and James.

Only when facing Sirius would the child throw a tantrum, yelling and cursing.

Therefore, the two brothers never parted on good terms whenever they met.

When Sirius Black was 16, he decided to run away from home and secretly met with Regulus. No one knows what they talked about; Lupin only remembers that the two of them got into a fight that day.

When they rushed over, the hot-tempered Sirius had already beaten Regulus badly and was reprimanding him mercilessly: "—If you had even a shred of conscience, you should open your eyes and see what a filthy and evil thing your Dark Lord is——Don't call me brother anymore, I have no brother, my brother died long ago!"

Lupin had no biological brothers, but now that I think about it, the boy who was covered in wounds that afternoon, stubbornly staring at Sirius, was probably very sad.

The light emanating from those crystal-clear eyes may not have been hatred, but something more positive, something that now evokes regret and pain.

In the days since learning about Regulus's experience, Lupin has been thinking about it constantly, and the more he thinks about it, the more uncomfortable he feels in his chest.

My heart felt like it was being gnawed at by something, the pain like a maggot clinging to my bones.

For the first time, he felt the world was so absurd, and fate, so elusive and cruel.

His closest and most upright friend is now imprisoned in Azkaban for massacring Muggles, while Black, whom he once despised and hated, has actually lived out his inner goodness with his life.

However, this realization came too late.

He was there on the day Regulus was buried. He watched the boy who had once been so naive and stubborn, glaring at his brother, close his eyes and sink into the grave.

I am filled with sorrow.

Lupin's sadness did not last long.

With Crouch's arrival, the final piece of the puzzle in the study of ancient magic and rituals joined the team, and the "Dark Lord's Legacy Magic Research Group," led by Vaughn, immediately began its busy work.

As Vaughn's second-in-command, Lupin was no exception. Soon, his mind was overwhelmed by a large amount of tedious, fragmented, and highly repetitive work that made his scalp crawl.

In just two days, Lupin's brain was completely unable to indulge in sentimentality; it was working at high capacity almost every minute, analyzing, recording, and organizing the endless stream of parchment that was pouring in.

The research group was divided into two parts.

One was the magic research group, led by Barty Crouch and Donald Graves, which Lupin considered a disaster.

The reason lies in the different educational backgrounds of Crouch and Graves.

Crouch is a typical "classical magician," that is, a practitioner of European magic. The magic system he has mastered, especially ancient magic, is a very standard European classical magic system, which emphasizes a strict set of rituals, tools, celestial phenomena, and even constellations.

And Donald Graves—it must be said, his North American counterparts do have some unorthodox methods.

This group of impoverished people who fled the European continent hundreds of years ago, though only half-baked, did not learn much of the classical European magic system. However, after settling in North America and attaching themselves to the indigenous people, they absorbed a lot of the indigenous people's "primitive magic," forming a unique approach to magic research and theory.

Normally, these ideas will not affect the modern spell system that wizards are currently studying. On the contrary, because of their different understandings, they may spark new ideas through communication.

But that's normal.

What if their ideas are similar in status, but their essence is too different?

During the few days of conversation, Lupin discovered that although many of the "primitive spells" described by Donald Graves were indeed primitive, one of the ancient North American schools of magic known as "shamanism" had surprising potential.

Some of the ideas in this school of thought are both different from and similar to the currently popular theory of the Golden Soul.

Like the Golden Soul, the "Shaman" believes that all things have a spirit.

The difference lies in the fact that the Golden Soul believes that the spirit of all things is the result of the loss of the great being and the spirit of the universe, and that they will eventually return to unity.

Shamans, on the other hand, believe that all spirits are independent, with their own personalities, likes and dislikes, good and evil. Moreover, their definition of the wisdom and personification of "spirits" is not limited to intelligent life, but rather they believe that a tree, a river, a stone, and a cloud all have their own independent "personality" and "divinity".

If it were just theoretical talk, that would be fine.

The key point is that, according to Donald Graves, shamanic magic can truly "awaken" the spirits of nature, allowing plants,

Stones and rivers give rise to intelligence.

"This is also the main reason why Native American shamans don't care much about Muggles."

Donald Graves explained to Vaughn, Lupin, and Crouch, "Shamans are passionate about awakening and nurturing spirits; their ultimate goal is to transcend the human body, contain spirits within themselves, and ascend to become ancestral spirits," which is what we call legendary wizards.

To be honest, Lupin could understand every single word he said, but when put together, he had absolutely no idea what it meant.

However, Vaughn—Lupin noticed that Vaughn listened very attentively, and after that exchange, he asked Donald to carefully recall and record all the information about the shaman.

I don't understand why.

In short, after that exchange, Crouch and Donald had a huge disagreement about their research direction.

Crouch firmly believed that the Dark Lord's magic in the cave was based on a strict ritual. Although Kettleburn and the Kelpie, who were in charge of searching the Great Lake, found no trace of the ritual in the following days, Crouch thought that the Dark Lord's magic was too profound.

"He created a little world in the cave, and who can say where he hid the rituals? Perhaps every breath we take is part of his wildly imaginative design—you've probably heard that Vaughn mentioned that everything in the cave can distort the ripples of light."

This is Crouch's complaint to Lupin.

He even complained that Donald was very "despicable"—

"What ancestral spirits? That guy's so-called shamanistic theories are just for show, to curry favor with Vaughn—like some Muggle restaurants put on magic shows, it's just a gimmick. He's trying to increase his own value in Vaughn's eyes—you despicable Yankee!"

Lupin felt uneasy whenever he recalled Crouch's expressionless, rambling monologues.

But he also had to admit that Crouch's complaints were not unfounded.

Donald Graves has indeed been using the guise of a "shaman" to get close to Vaughn whenever he gets the chance in the past few days.

The former acting head of the U.S. Department of Magical Safety had absolutely no sense of propriety.

Of course, despite his inner biases, Lupin wouldn't let them interfere with his work. For him, the most tiring task these days was recording, analyzing, and summarizing the drastically different viewpoints of Barty Crouch and Donald Graves in order to determine which of the two was more reliable.

This consumed a lot of his energy.

In contrast, Vaughn's potion analysis team had a much smoother time.

One morning, Lupin appeared below the cliff. The view was no longer of a rocky coastline. The tide surged and circled around a tent, splashing water but leaving the tent completely dry.

Because wizards have been frequently visiting this area recently, even though it's a remote place, Lu Ping and the others made some arrangements to avoid being seen by Muggles and causing a leak of magic.

Above the cliff, for at least a mile, was a Muggle banishment spell.

Inside the tent in front of us, several wizards were also on duty day and night.

At that moment, upon hearing the sound of the teleportation, the tent flap was lifted, and a stubble-bearded head poked out—it was someone they knew.

James Brown.

Last year, James Brown was among the first werewolves to defect, joining Vaughn's ranks alongside Lupin. Although he was just a wild wizard who had been infected by his parents at a young age and had never attended school, and whose strength was very average, he became one of the members of the C Executive Committee because he defected early.

Of course, the child was very hardworking. After solving the problem of food and clothing, he spent the whole year trying to study on his own.

Lupin was practically his teacher.

Upon seeing Lupin, James immediately crawled out of the tent, holding a pot of coffee: "Remus, come and try this. Donald brought it this morning."

James poured a cup of coffee and handed it to Lupin.

Despite the cold wind, the rich fragrance wafted upwards, making Lupin feel as if he could smell spring.

He smiled.

Donald, that Yankee, liked coffee, so he often brought some over to give to the werewolf wizard on duty. Although it was a small favor, after a few days, it really changed everyone's opinion of him quite a bit.

Therefore, Lupin believed Crouch's complaints—that Donald was indeed deliberately trying to please Vaughn and those around him.

That's understandable.

Donald betrayed his family and the Magical Parliament, leaving his homeland and coming to England from the other side of the Atlantic, clearly not to avoid hardship.

They must have their own demands and purposes.

This also certainly means that the other party believes that following Vaughn will better enable them to achieve their demands and goals.

Whatever that is!