Hogwarts: What are the four great masters doing?

The serious man nodded. "School grades mean nothing. If one associates with evil, then even the best grades will ultimately be worthless. Azkaban is his only destination."

Then he looked at Ryan seriously. "I heard about the Longbottoms—I suppose I must thank you for that, Elias."

He thanked Ryan earnestly.

"Are you... Mr. Barty Crouch?"

So, Ryan already knew the other party's identity.

Barty Crouch Sr., Director of the Department of International Magical Exchange and Cooperation.

There is no need to explain why he apologized at this moment.

His son, Barty Crouch Jr., was a Death Eater and one of the people who tortured and drove the Longbottoms insane.

"it's me."

Barty Crouch Sr. nodded.

"You've undoubtedly heard about me—if there's anything I can do to help with the Longbottoms' treatment, you'd be more than happy to ask."

"If you can heal them, I think my sins and guilt might be alleviated."

His words were powerful, and Ryan could clearly hear their sincerity.

This gave Ryan a good impression of Barty Crouch Sr.

As far as he knew, this hardliner and powerful figure in the Ministry of Magic originally had a great chance of becoming the Minister of Magic.

It could even be said that he had almost been designated for this position - at the time he was the Director of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, the second-in-command of the entire Ministry of Magic.

But his son's affair became his only and biggest stain, which directly led to him losing the opportunity to become Minister of Magic and being transferred to the Department of International Magical Exchange and Cooperation.

Logically speaking, if it were someone like Fudge, he would definitely be extremely sensitive about this matter.

But Barty Crouch Sr. was different.

He mentioned the old incident directly without any scruples, and even accepted Professor Marchbank's explicit accusation with pleasure.

This open attitude was enough to make Ryan admit that Mr. Crouch's personality was indeed completely different from Fudge's.

"I'll try to get them back to health."

So, Ryan said to Barty Crouch Sr.

After this brief greeting, Professor Marchbank started chatting with Professor McGonagall.

From their conversation, Ryan learned the purpose of their visit.

"OWLs exams start tomorrow, and NEWTs a week later."

"You may not know this yet, but Barty will be the professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts next semester—so I asked him to come early to get accustomed to the school atmosphere... Over the years, the teaching quality of Defense Against the Dark Arts has been difficult to satisfy."

Professor Marchbank said sternly.

And there is no doubt about it.

Her words surprised Ryan greatly.

Barty Crouch Sr. will be the professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts next semester - this undoubtedly exceeded Ryan's expectations!

Although he had known from Pansy a long time ago that the Ministry of Magic and the pure-blood families seemed to be deliberately working to place someone to work at Hogwarts.

But he never thought that person would be old Barty Crouch.

the reason is simple...

"I remember that the ruthless Mr. Crouch didn't have a very good relationship with the pure-blood families."

Ryan looked at Barty Crouch Sr. and muttered to himself.

That's right.

To be more precise, Barty Crouch Sr. and the pure-blood families could almost be called enemies - because after Voldemort's fall, it was Barty who personally sent many Death Eaters from pure-blood families to Azkaban.

In addition, he and Fudge were political enemies and had a very bad relationship.

It was neither reasonable nor moral for him to obey the orders of the pure-blood family and Fudge.

So, many possibilities flashed through Ryan's mind at this moment.

For example, Barty Crouch Sr.'s ruthless appearance may be an act; he is actually in cahoots with the pure-blood families.

Or maybe old Barty Crouch was actually a target for the pure-blood families, and sending him to Hogwarts just made it easier for the pure-blood families to catch him in one fell swoop.

For example, this is actually Fudge's conspiracy - Barty Crouch Sr. enters Hogwarts to teach, which will inevitably keep him away from the center of power, and Fudge's power will be even greater.

But fortunately.

"Mr. Crouch, why would you..."

At this moment, Professor McGonagall had obviously just heard about this matter - and she asked the question that Ryan wanted to ask most on his behalf.

Old Barty Crouch took the initiative to give the answer himself.

"I asked for it."

He said directly: "Cornelly originally intended to send Thorfinn Ron to take up this position, but he is not sharp enough, and... he is a former Death Eater. I am worried that he will work with Sirius."

He said so.

"Sirius?"

Professor McGonagall covered her mouth and said in surprise.

"Yes."

Old Barty Crouch's expression also became sharp at this moment.

"That prisoner... I don't know how he managed to escape... but someone must have helped him, and brought him some information or means..."

When he said this, he glanced at Ryan without hesitation: "I'm sorry, Mr. Elias - but there are many suspicious points about his prison escape. You and Dumbledore are indeed the suspects in my mind."

"I think Sirius might be coming back to Hogwarts—maybe to kill Harry Potter, maybe for something else."

He seemed to be hinting at something, and his voice gradually became higher: "I have already applied to Cornelius to regularly deploy Aurors and strikers around the school, and to set up anti-theft waterfalls at all entrances to the castle... I will discuss this matter with Dumbledore today!"

His words obviously left no room for maneuver, so much so that Professor McGonagall's face turned very unpleasant.

Professor Marchbanks even shouted angrily, "Barty Crouch!"

She addressed old Barty by his first name—her position and seniority gave her the right to do so.

"I told you not to bring Ministry of Magic tricks into school... This is Hogwarts! Not a court for the trial of Death Eaters!"

"Besides... Albus Dumbledore is a great wizard. You should know that he is not the type of person who would help prisoners escape, let alone Ryan Elias - how can you doubt a genius little wizard?"

She was obviously furious.

But Barty Crouch Sr. did not apologize this time, his expression was very stiff.

"I was just following a lead, Professor Marchbanks - and if I'm proven wrong, I apologize."

The atmosphere became tense for a moment, and Professor Toford quickly began to ease the atmosphere.

But at this moment, Ryan did not feel any anger in his heart.

"Professor Marchbank was mistaken. The principal really is that kind of person."

He muttered to himself.

As the person involved, he knew very well that...Old Barty Crouch's judgment was indeed correct.

Both Ryan and Dumbledore were involved in Sirius's escape from prison.

Ryan also knew that Sirius would indeed return to the vicinity of Hogwarts after escaping from prison.

The only misjudgment made by Mr. Crouch was the purpose of Sirius's escape from prison - he did not want to kill Harry, but to kill Peter... But considering that the other party did not know the truth about Peter Pettigrew, this was understandable.

So it has to be said...all the decisions made by Barty Crouch Sr. were correct in Ryan's view.

It's just a little radical and lacks tact.

"Don't look like a conspirator."

So, Ryan made a judgment in his heart.

There was no doubt about it—he felt that old Barty Crouch was not a conspirator, but rather as ruthless and unfeeling as the rumors had said.

But obviously.

Professor McGonagall didn't know what Ryan was thinking at the moment.

She looked at Ryan who seemed to be stunned in place, and thought that Ryan was angry about what Crouch said.

"Don't worry, Ryan... I'm sure Dumbledore won't allow beaters and Aurors to come to the school - this is a school, not a prison."

So, she comforted Ryan.

"But now, I think you can go back to your final review."

"Oh, Professor—you're right."

Looking at Professor Marchbank and old Barty Crouch arguing with each other, Ryan shrugged.

"I think I should leave first."

He really needed to think carefully about old Barty Crouch's matter, and it would be best if he could use the crown to carefully analyze the details of the other party's actions.

However, there was one thing Ryan was certain of.

That's next semester...

"The castle will probably be quite lively."

Chapter 142 Voldemort: Ahhhhhhhh!

Ryan was not aware of the final outcome of the argument between Professor Marchbank and Barty Crouch Sr.

However, considering that both of them were obviously very stubborn, he tended to think that there would be no result in the end - the two sides might end up parting ways unhappily.

In this matter, the ones who will end up getting hurt are likely to be the fifth and seventh grade wizards.

For example, Ryan heard that a fifth-year little witch performed poorly during the OWLs exam and fainted on the spot - because Professor Marchbanks looked gloomy at the time, which made her overly nervous.

Of course, Professor Marchbanks later publicly apologized and said that he would give the little witch a chance to retake the test.