Hogwarts: What are the four great masters doing?

And now...

"Sparkly, where have you been?!"

Old Barty Crouch, who was in the room, immediately asked sternly at this moment.

He seemed to be preparing the content of the next class. In front of him were several props emitting the aura of black magic, and next to each prop was a piece of parchment with the counter-spells of some black magic spells written on it.

"I...I went out for a while, Master."

At this moment, Shanshan said softly.

"go out!?"

Old Barty's expression was extremely ferocious at this moment, as if he wanted to swallow the house-elf in front of him: "You took the box...where did you take him!?"

"Do you know what you are doing? You are a servant of the Crouch family, and now you are treating all the glory of Crouch as nothing!"

He was in a state of such violent temper that it wasn't even like him.

"I...I'm just following your instructions, Master."

And Twinkle said this very fearfully at this moment.

"My arrangements?"

Hearing this, Old Barty's voice became even more frantic: "Great—lies! Deception! What else have you learned!?"

"No! It's not like that, Master."

Winky mustered up the courage to say, "You told me to take good care of the box and prevent anyone else from finding out what's inside... I mean, Master Wizard Lockhart lives too close to us now."

"He might discover the secret of the box... So I want to hide the box somewhere else tonight, and then secretly check its condition every day..."

It says so.

And the ferocious face of old Barty Crouch gradually calmed down as it spoke.

"Gilderoy Lockhart is a piece of crap—there's something fishy about the provenance of his books. I'll get to the bottom of it sooner or later."

"But you're right, he's at least an adult wizard... and if the box is placed here, the young wizards will be too close to it when they come to class, which is not good, especially Ryan... He's too good and is likely to notice the problem."

Old Batty thought about it.

Obviously, he thought what Twinkle said made sense.

But at this moment...

"Master, I was just about to tell you—Mr. Elias... I just met him, and I think... he might have discovered the secret of the box!"

"What!?"

Then, old Barty Crouch's eyes widened instantly.

"He...he found out!? Are you sure?"

He didn't even bother to blame Shanshan, but asked this quickly.

"No, I'm not sure, Master..."

Winky lowered her head at this moment: "But Winky was buttoning the box at the time, and Mr. Elias happened to appear. I mean... he might not have noticed, but - what if?"

It lowered its head and made a sharp sound, which seemed to carry some subtle, guiding meaning.

"What if he finds out? For the glory of the Crouch family, you have to be prepared for it... right?"

Chapter 174 I could have endured despair if I had never seen hope.

After regaining vigilance about the matter of Barty Crouch Sr.

Ryan also asked Friday to increase surveillance of the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor.

But at the same time, he himself had things to do.

Inside St. Mungo's Hospital.

"Is it that formal?"

Looking at the fully armed wizards guarding St. Mungo's Hospital, holding wands, and the warning magic that had been activated in various parts of the hospital.

Ryan looked at Dean Olivia beside him with some confusion.

"It's just an attempt."

He said so.

"First, let me correct you—not just an attempt, but a crucial treatment."

Dean Olivia said seriously.

"Soul Radiance Potion... Do you know what this treatment would mean if it were successful? Do you know the fame you and Severus would gain?"

Her words were filled with rare excitement.

"That means there is hope for healing the soul-shattering effects of the Cruciatus Curse, and all similar spells. This is a major step forward in soul healing. You and Severus will both receive the Order of St. Mungo and the Order of Merlin!"

"Oh, I suppose at my age, my reputation is big enough that it's already giving me a headache... As for Professor Snape, I'm sure he won't be too bothered by it."

Ryan said casually.

Snape researched the Soul Radiance potion just for Lily Potter.

Ryan was even certain that if using his reputation as a potion master could increase the possibility of bringing Lily back, Snape would choose to give up the so-called reputation without hesitation.

"Ok."

After hearing this, Olivia waved her hand and said, "But I think this is very important. Besides, this curfew is not entirely because of you and Severus."

"why?"

After hearing this, Ryan raised his eyebrows in confusion.

"It's because they're worried about a werewolf riot—not only at St. Mungo's Hospital, but the Ministry of Magic has also increased its defenses recently."

"Werewolf?"

Ryan was a little surprised: "What happened to them?"

Dean Olivia seemed a little surprised when she heard his question: "Didn't you read the Daily Prophet last week?"

"..."

Ryan nodded - he had been very busy recently. Not to mention the newspaper, he hadn't even read a word of Lockhart's new book since he bought it.

So, Dean Olivia began to explain to him.

And it must be said that the situation really surprised Ryan.

"It's Lucius Malfoy—I don't know what he's up to, but he recently used the Malfoy family's connections to ban Wolfsbane Potion within the Apothecary Guild. He also withdrew the Malfoy family's investment in the hospital and the Ministry of Magic regarding werewolves."

"It is said that he also intends to promote a bill to classify werewolves as dark creatures rather than wizards."

"He claimed it was because his good friend Anos Dokhorov had been harmed by wolfsbane... Things have been getting pretty serious lately."

Her words also made Ryan frown.

"Lucius Malfoy?"

He repeated the name with some surprise.

Lucius Malfoy, as far as he knew, the patriarch of the Malfoy family should still be under house arrest by Voldemort and the pure-blood families.

Of course, according to the information provided by Dumbledore, this house arrest was not a falling out between the two, but more like a "test" of Lucius's loyalty by Voldemort.

At least Lucius can still use the influence of the Malfoy family, and he even attended a meeting held by the Ministry of Magic not long ago.

But Ryan didn't expect that Lucius would suddenly do such a thing.

Wolfsbane Potion is a potion invented by the potion master Damocles that can allow werewolves to remain sane after transformation.

Of course, the high cost of this potion means that most werewolf wizards have no chance to buy it.

But Lucius Malfoy's subsequent actions were undoubtedly extreme.

The first was to divest from St Mungo's Hospital and the Ministry of Magic's Werewolf Act.

As mentioned before, the wealthy Malfoy family does have a profound influence in places like Hogwarts, the Ministry of Magic, and St. Mungo's Hospital.

Their withdrawal itself would mean that some research into werewolf recovery, as well as the operation of some agencies within the Ministry of Magic, would cease.

Classifying werewolves as dark creatures rather than wizards is a real threat to the werewolves' lifeline - although most werewolves are excluded from the mainstream of the magical world, they can at least still move around in the magical world.

But if Lucius succeeds in what he is pushing for... then the werewolves will be completely driven into the deep mountains and forests, never to see the light of day again.

They would become nothing more than beasts, not wizards.

This directly touched the bottom line of the werewolf wizards.

"So, it's said that a large number of werewolves have entered the UK, and even some werewolves who were originally cooperative and kind have become aggressive."

Dean Olivia was worried.

"There are werewolves planning an attack on him, and we are also worried about the werewolf patients at St. Mungo's Hospital..."

As she said this, she also pointed out the reason why the atmosphere in St. Mungo's Hospital has been so tense recently.

But Ryan frowned at this moment.

He still couldn't understand it.

He believed that there must be a reason why Malfoy suddenly expressed such a fierce attitude towards werewolves - and this reason obviously could not be such a ridiculous reason as the so-called Anos Dohorov suffering from wolfsbane and Lucius Malfoy's revenge for him.

"No, it's not necessarily impossible... Pureblood families hate werewolves..."

Ryan thought to himself.

That's right.

Although in fact, many of the werewolves, a special marginal group in the wizarding world, chose to stand on Voldemort's side in the last wizarding war.

But there is a saying that goes - a friend of a friend may not be a friend.

At least that's how pure-blood families view werewolves.

In the eyes of pure-blood families who advocate purism, werewolves are even dirtier and more despicable than Muggle wizards.

This can be seen from Anos Dohorov's attitude when he learned that he was scratched by a werewolf.