My Hogwarts has a serious problem.

Chapter 424, Section 421: Crouch's Friendship

Peter's guilt was established, which meant that Sirius's guilt was cleared.

In the event of this incident, the most appropriate course of action for the magical government would be to publish an apology to Sirius Black in the newspaper and to provide him with compensation for his reputation and the more than ten years he was imprisoned.

But Fudge believed that doing so would cause the Ministry of Magic to lose its authority, so he rejected the proposal.

They simply withdrew Sirius's wanted notice quietly.

The Daily Prophet immediately reported the verdict in Peter's trial, but the Ministry of Magic has not offered any further explanation, only announcing that Peter would be subjected to the Dementors' kiss.

Peter's original sentence was only life imprisonment, but Fudge believed that every day Peter lived was a slap in the face to the Ministry of Magic.

Therefore, the punishment was increased, all of Peter's honors were stripped away, and his fate was pronounced.

Wizards in the magical world were certainly not satisfied with this result.

The wicked were punished, but the good did not receive fair treatment; the Ministry of Magic did not even publish a statement of innocence.

This has led newspapers like "The Quibbler" to criticize the Ministry of Magic for being nothing more than a bunch of incompetent idiots.

Although the Ministry of Magic did not apologize to Sirius Black in the public newspapers, all the arrest warrants were indeed withdrawn.

Having received information that Dumbledore had been involved in the capture of Peter and his Death Eaters, Sirius Black secretly wrote a letter to Dumbledore, asking him whether he had been exonerated.

Dumbledore replied to him, saying that the Ministry of Magic was only unwilling to admit its mistakes out of face, and that internally all his warrants had been lifted, including the charges of murder, rioting, and the recent prison escape.

So Sirius made a tentative appearance in Diagon Alley, and not only was he not hunted down by the Aurors, but the wizards who saw him cheered loudly for him.

This put his mind at ease, and he excitedly wrote a letter to Harry Potter, telling him that he could live with him this summer.

Sirius Black, being wealthy and powerful, didn't care about any compensation from the Ministry of Magic, nor did he need anyone to apologize.

What made him happy was that he could finally openly acknowledge Harry as his son.

Of course, the only thing that still left him with some regret was that Peter hadn't let him catch and kill him himself. But in any case, Harry's parents' great revenge had been achieved.

Excited, Sirius decided not to stay in Diagon Alley any longer and carried his things back home.

No matter what, this is still his house. The houses he bought outside are nowhere near as grand as the Blake family's ancestral home.

In his heart, Sirius still wanted to show off his big house to Harry.

However, he was stunned by what he saw as soon as he stepped into the Blake family's ancestral home.

The surrounding area was a mess, showing signs of having been ransacked. The house-elf Kreacher lay silently on the ground, and a large hole had been blown into his mother's portrait. Everything was in disarray.

Just as the wizarding world was celebrating the Death Eaters' situation.

Old John personally visited Barty Crouch, who had been transferred from the Director of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement to the Director of the Department of International Magical Cooperation.

Old John is now a well-known figure in the British magical world.

His businesses are so vast that they span across Europe, and there are even rumors that he has long since completed the consolidation of British businesses, and that he is the mastermind behind the booming Lungard Magic Company.

The Crouch family is also a long-established pure-blood wizarding family, but their focus is mainly on the Ministry of Magic. Although they have some involvement in business, it is far less important than that of families like the Malfoys.

However, pure-blood families often share resources, and he had heard about Old John taking over the businesses of the Malfoys and their families, since some of those businesses belonged to his Crouch family.

On the surface, Barty Crouch's wife and son have both passed away in the past few years. It seems like his transfer from the Department of Magical Law Enforcement to the Department of International Magical Affairs is a lateral move, but the difference in power between the two departments is enormous. Anyone with eyes can see that he has essentially been transferred covertly.

Crouch, who once enjoyed great success and even nearly became Minister of Magic, is now a powerless and isolated figure.

But what terrified old Crouch the most was something else entirely.

His son, whom he had been hiding at home using the Imperius Curse, has recently gone missing!

While he was working at the Ministry of Magic, the house-elf Gilgamesh was watching over Crouch. But a few days ago, Gilgamesh tearfully said that Crouch had broken free of the Imperius Curse and run away from home.

At that time, the Great Azkaban breakout was taking place, and old Crouch knew perfectly well that his son, who was extremely loyal to Voldemort, had gone to join the Death Eaters.

Just when old Crouch was at his wit's end, Leon wiped out all the Death Eaters who had gathered together in just over ten days.

In the days since the news broke, old Crouch has been on tenterhooks at home.

If his son is caught, then everything will be exposed.

The wizards of the British magical world all considered him a fair and honest man, but that impression was about to be shattered.

He will be stripped of all his positions and imprisoned in Azkaban, where he will face an unknown number of years in prison.

But even after the Death Eaters' trial was over, he had not heard any news about his son.

Crouch used his connections from his time in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement to investigate, only to discover that his unfilial son was not among the Death Eaters who had been captured.

Where did little Crouch go?

This problem kept old Crouch up at night.

On this day, old John, accompanied by a man shrouded in a black robe, visited Crouch's house.

Although Crouch and John had a previous conflict over the United Company, Crouch still invited John and the man in black who was with him into his home.

Because the man in black robes gave him an overwhelming sense of familiarity.

Even though father and son were not on good terms, old Crouch still spent nearly thirty years as father and son with young Crouch.

Just by observing the height and appearance of the man in the black robe, he was certain that the person standing next to old John was his missing son.

As soon as he entered, Old John didn't waste any words. He immediately pulled down Crouch's hood, allowing Crouch to see his son's face clearly.

However, Crouch Jr.'s behavior seems a bit strange now.

There was a discrepancy between the time of Crouch's wife's death in the previous chapter and the original text. I am grateful to the reader for pointing it out, and it has been corrected.

(End of this chapter)