Hogwarts: What are the four great masters doing?

So far, as far as Ryan knows, the only one who knows for sure about the existence of the Room of Requirement...besides himself, is Voldemort!

Therefore, the discovery on the Marauder's Map at this moment almost made Ryan begin to doubt whether his previous thoughts were wrong.

Could it be that both he and Dumbledore guessed wrong—that old Barty was actually in cahoots with Voldemort?

But at the same time, Ryan felt something was wrong.

Because he knew very well that Voldemort must have known the existence of the Marauder's Map from Ron's memory last year.

In fact, Peter Pettigrew, one of the makers of the Marauder's Map, is still with Voldemort.

Ultimately, the power of the Marauder's Map lies mainly in the material it is constructed of - that special map material is the reason why the Marauder's Map can even monitor legendary wizards like Dumbledore.

Its focus is on 'surveilling the enemy without being detected'.

But speaking of the spells set by the marauders on the Marauder's Map... to be honest, they were not that profound, at least for Ryan.

simply put.

Before Ryan knew the existence of the Marauder's Map, he was unaware of its surveillance due to the special nature of the Marauder's Map itself.

But once he knew the existence of the Marauder's Map, he would have many ways to deal with the "Tracking Curse" and "Revealing Curse" on it.

As Voldemort was a legendary wizard, Ryan was certain that he must have found a way to crack the Marauder's Map long ago.

so...

"If old Barty had collaborated with Voldemort, his name shouldn't have appeared on the Marauder's Map... But he does seem suspicious..."

Ryan was a little confused.

However, he did not hesitate.

"Friday."

He called out "White Cat".

Then, a magnificent colorful light appeared.

A moment later, his figure appeared at the corner of the eighth floor of the castle.

He first silently cast an Disillusionment Charm on himself, then stuck his head out to look at the Room of Requirement on the eighth floor.

Then, a hint of surprise flashed in his eyes.

At this moment, in front of the House of Requirement, a shining figure was indeed standing there.

But Ryan didn't see anyone else beside her.

At this moment, Winky was holding the suitcase that she had been keeping for old Barty Crouch. The lid of the suitcase was slightly open, and Winky was closing it.

So Ryan raised his eyebrows with interest.

He picked up the Marauder's Map in his hand and took a look at it.

At this moment, Old Batty's name had indeed disappeared from the Marauder's Map, leaving only Shanshan's name.

"Left? How could it be so soon?"

So, Ryan muttered in his heart.

There's something incredible about him.

He and Friday arrived here by traveling thousands of miles a day, a speed that was actually equivalent to Apparition.

From the time he discovered the anomaly to the time he got here, it took no more than a minute.

But in that minute, old Barty Crouch disappeared.

Unless it was Winky who used Apparition to take him away, it would be impossible for the other party to disappear so quickly.

But right now, Shanshan was clearly still in front of Ryan.

Thinking of this, Ryan decisively lifted the disfigurement spell and walked out from the corner.

"Mr....Elias!?"

And when he saw Ryan at this moment, Winky was also instantly startled - the elf's ears wrinkled.

And based on what Ryan learned from the house-elves such as Jinzhen in the kitchen, this action meant that she was very panicked.

"Twinkle... I'm surprised you're here so late."

Ryan said with a smile.

"Yeah...Mr. Elias, Winky was just...just hanging out..."

"Could you tell me where Professor Crouch went? And—how did you know about this room?"

"I...I...Sparkle doesn't understand what you are saying, Mr. Elias. The old master is not here!"

After hearing this, Shanshan said in a daze.

"And this room... This room was told to me by the young master before. It has nothing to do with the old master!"

She said so.

"Twinkle...Twinkle is leaving! Twinkle is just strolling around!"

She said this, then suddenly raised her hand and snapped her fingers.

The next moment, her voice disappeared.

Ryan was left watching where she left, his brows furrowed even more.

He had no intention of making things difficult for Winky - a house-elf would not betray his master, and he knew that no matter how he asked, he would get no results.

On the contrary, the house-elf's not very smart brain was enough for Ryan to judge something from her attitude.

for example...

"The young master... Barty Crouch Jr. - it's no surprise that he knew about the Room of Requirement."

Ryan could understand this.

But the crux of the matter is...

"A lot of what it said was lies - for example, it certainly didn't come here to hang out, as you can tell from its expression."

"But when it said that old Batty wasn't here, its expression was very sincere...it didn't seem to be lying."

Ryan was a little confused.

So with doubts, I walked to the House of Requirement.

"The room Barty Crouch just entered."

He repeated this in his mind three times.

Then, he pushed the door open and walked in without hesitation.

Then, Ryan's brows furrowed even more tightly.

Because at this moment, the room he entered was not another room, but a...

"Storage room?"

Looking at the cabinets densely packed in front of him, Ryan was a little confused - he had never even known there were so many cabinets in the school.

There are double doors, triple doors, and even a jewelry cabinet... This is obviously a storage room.

"Old Barty wants to hide something in the Room of Requirement?"

Ryan thought.

Apparently, this was the only plausible excuse he could come up with.

"What is he trying to hide?"

Ryan's frown deepened—things were becoming increasingly confusing.

He tried to piece together some of the information in his mind.

For one, he saw Barty Crouch on the Marauder's Map.

Secondly, he arrived at the Room of Requirement, but instead of seeing Barty Crouch Sr., he only saw Winky.

Third, the other party seemed to want to hide something in the Room of Requirement.

After combining this information, Ryan finally came to a conclusion.

"don't know."

That's right.

He had absolutely no clue - the entire truth seemed to be shrouded in fog, and he could only see through it, completely unable to see clearly.

But there is at least one thing Ryan can be sure of.

"Old Barty Crouch...you can't let up on him."

Ryan made a decision in his heart.

"I'll have to tell Dumbledore about this later."

After making this judgment, Ryan turned around and left the Room of Requirement.

And at the same time...

"Shh!"

Accompanied by a clear and crisp sound.

The gleaming figure returned to the Defense Against the Dark Arts office—to be exact, the part belonging to old Barty.

That's right.

The Defense Against the Dark Arts professor's office and the lounge are actually connected - the bedroom is just behind the round door in the office.

Or to be more precise, most of the professors in Hogwarts were like this - the headmaster's office was also connected to Dumbledore's bedroom, and Snape spent most of his time in the 'Bat's Nest'.

But the situation in the Defense Against the Dark Arts class is obviously very special.

Since there were two professors for the Defense Against the Dark Arts class this semester, Lockhart and Crouch were obviously not close enough to sleep in the same room.

So the school allowed them to cast the invisible extension charm in the office and divided the bedroom into two parts as their own dormitories.

Even so, the two still couldn't avoid the fate of seeing each other every now and then, but at least they had some private space for each other.