bioinnovel Chapter 299 Piecing Together the Truth
Chapter 299 Piecing Together the Truth
Chapter 299 Piecing Together the Truth
As Harry described the man's appearance in his dream for what seemed like the hundredth time, Barty Crouch's voice gradually faded into the distance.
Then, the memory of the Ministry of Magic's courtroom vanished like smoke, and everything that could be seen became blurry and gradually disappeared.
Then, the Ministry of Magic's courtroom reappeared, and Harry sat in an empty seat in another row.
To his right were the Dumbledore and Barty Crouch from his memories, and to his left was the real Dumbledore, with Belvina, Professor Moody, and Snape sitting behind him.
The dimly lit dungeon was quiet, the only sound coming from a frail witch drawing her pipe.
The witch's frail body trembled uncontrollably, and she clutched her handkerchief tightly to her mouth, making her sobs sound even lower and more mournful.
Barty Crouch, standing to the side, still had a full head of black hair, but he looked extremely haggard and pale.
"Bring him in." Crouch's voice echoed in the silent courtroom, cold and devoid of any emotion.
The door at the corner of the trial room opened once again, and six Dementors escorted four people in, slowly walking toward the open space in the center of the dungeon.
Harry saw many people turn to look at Barty Crouch and heard a noise behind him.
"How is this possible!"
"That's impossible!"
Belvina and Snape spoke almost simultaneously.
Feeling somewhat bewildered, Harry looked at the four people being led into the trial room. The first person he saw was a short, fat man with a blank expression, and a slightly thinner man with a nervous look.
Beside her stood a very confident woman; she was beautiful, with long eyelashes, a tall figure, and a head of glossy black hair. And...
She seemed very arrogant.
The woman's haughtiness gave Harry the illusion that he had seen her somewhere before.
Finally, there was a boy who looked about seventeen or eighteen years old. He was terrified, trembling all over, with straw-colored hair falling over his face, covering his paper-white skin and freckles.
"It's him!" Harry jumped to his feet. "The man I dreamt about is him!"
Harry pointed to the boy who looked only seventeen or eighteen and said, "It's him, there's no mistake!"
As he spoke, Harry looked at the real Dumbledore to his left, only to see Dumbledore with a furrowed brow, staring intently at the young man in the room.
Harry turned to look at Belvina behind him, only to see that Belvina's expression was even more puzzled, while Snape looked like he had seen a ghost.
"Crouch!" Snape stood there, stunned. "Barty Crouch Jr.!"
"What?" Harry asked blankly. The person he dreamed of had the same name as Mr. Crouch!
"Merlin! How could it be him!" Belvina exclaimed in surprise. "He's dead, he died in Azkaban, he's been dead for many years!"
"A man who died long ago in Azkaban actually appeared in Potter's dream," Professor Moody said slowly. "Magic can't bring people back to life."
Instantly, Harry's emerald green eyes widened as if they were about to fly out.
If the young Barty Crouch is already dead in Azkaban, then who was the person he dreamed about last night?
The trial in Dumbledore's memory continues, and will not stop because of the people's shock and disbelief.
Mr. Crouch stood up and glared at the four men being led in, while the frail witch beside him sobbed and wept bitterly.
"What's going on?" Harry asked. "If that person is already dead, who was it that I dreamt about last night?"
Seeing the shock on the faces of Belvina and the other two, Harry became insecure, and even his accusation against Barty Crouch Jr. began to waver.
The trial continued in the courtroom, with Mr. Crouch reading out the four men's crimes word by word: the four men had kidnapped the Aurors, the Longbottoms, and used the Cruciatus Curse on them in an attempt to extract information about the Mystic from the Longbottoms.
The two male wizards, one fat and one thin, remained silent, while the haughty witch, still full of arrogance, looked at the judgment seat with disdain.
Only Barty Crouch Jr. was crying and begging, screaming, "Father, I didn't! I didn't! I swear, don't send me back!"
However, Mr. Crouch, who presided over the trial, remained unmoved and completely ignored his own son's cries for help.
Barty Crouch Jr. had no choice but to turn to his mother for help—the frail witch sitting beside Mr. Crouch, crying so hard she was about to faint.
"Mother, stop him! Mother, I didn't do those things! It wasn't me!"
As her own son's pleas grew louder and louder, the frail witch sobbed even harder; she couldn't stop Barty Crouch.
It couldn't save Barty Crouch Jr.
The scene in my memory ended abruptly, and everything in the courtroom vanished like smoke, leaving only darkness in the blink of an eye.
Immediately afterwards, Harry felt as if he was slowly floating into the air. After a dazzling burst of light, Harry found himself standing in the headmaster's office again, with the sunlight shining brightly through the window.
"Barty Crouch Jr., is he still alive?" Belvina whispered. "If he's not dead, then who died in Azkaban?"
"If Mr. Potter hadn't had his complications, if his letter of authorization had been valid," Snape said slowly, "the one who died in Azkaban wouldn't have been Barty Crouch Jr.
Belvina glared at Snape; he was talking nonsense.
No matter how magical magic may be, there is no magic that can bring someone back to life.
Unlike the childish boy who argued and bickered regardless of time or place, Professor Dumbledore was very caring towards Harry.
Dumbledore explained, "Harry, the people you just saw were Rodolphus and Bellatrix, and also Barrastan..."
Lestrange. The person you're pointing to is Barty Crouch Jr., who inherited his father's name.
"They were all imprisoned in Azkaban, and Barty Crouch Jr. died there, right?" Harry asked hastily, this being his biggest question at the moment.
“That’s right, Azkaban should be sentenced to life imprisonment,” Professor Moody said. “If you ask me, the Dementors should give each of them a kiss.”
Dumbledore let out a dismissive snort from his crooked, long nose.
"I forgot, you don't like Dementors, Albus," Moody continued. "But scum like them—"
"Alright, Alastor," Dumbledore said, "we're discussing Barty Crouch Jr.'s life or death, not the Ministry of Magic's cooperation with the Dementors."
Belvina glanced at Snape again, then said, "The Ministry of Magic's cooperation with the Dementors is a mistake. Dementors are untrustworthy; they have never been reliable partners."
She paused for a moment, then continued, "If Sirius Black could escape right under the Dementors' noses, Barty Crouch Jr. might very well fake his death. Remember, Mrs. Crouch died not long after Barty."
“Of course I remember, that poor woman didn’t even have a decent funeral,” Professor Moody said. “There might be something wrong here. You mean the person who died in prison wasn’t Barty the Younger, but his mother?” Snape said uncertainly. “The so-called funeral was just for show, to cover up Mrs. Crouch’s whereabouts.”
"Whether there's a problem or not, we'll know at a glance," Belvina said. "Go to the Crouch family cemetery, dig up Mrs. Crouch's coffin, and we'll find out."
Instantly, everyone else in the principal's office looked at Belvina, and Snape even silently gave her a thumbs up.
As expected of Belvina Volbuga Black, who can be as mean as you?!
Right now, it's just a suspicion that Barty Crouch Jr. isn't dead, and there's no concrete evidence yet, but she's already planning to dig up his grave. If there were solid evidence, who knows what other despicable things she might do!
For a fleeting moment, Snape felt a pang of regret, regretting that he had repeatedly offended Belvina, that jinx.
He absolutely could not die before Belvina, and even if he did die earlier, he absolutely could not let her know where he was buried! Snape silently made up his mind.
Seeing the shocked looks on everyone's faces, Belvina not only did not feel guilty or back down, but became even more confident.
She said, "What else? Are we supposed to search for Barty Crouch Jr.'s remains in the Azkaban cemetery? That's not easy to find."
Whether she disregards everything or acts recklessly, Belvina's thoughts are straightforward.
Since the problem lies with the Crouch family, let's start by dealing with them.
Either dig up the grave and examine Mrs. Crouch's remains, or secretly capture old Crouch and cast a memory-restoring spell on him. If given a choice, Belvina didn't want to go near that awful place, Azkaban; Dementors were no pleasant creatures.
Dumbledore thought for a moment and said, "Assuming Barty Jr. isn't dead, where has he been hiding all these years? Has he been under Crouch's control?"
"Given Crouch's character, he certainly wouldn't let his Death Eater son run around and bring shame to the family," Professor Moody said. "He would probably hide Barty Jr. and restrict his movements using special methods, such as the Imperius Curse."
Harry immediately thought of the spider that had been hit by the Imperius Curse in his Defense Against the Dark Arts class.
"In other words, Barty Jr. has now broken free from Crouch's control, which is why he can appear in Mr. Potter's dreams," Snape said. "So he can rejoin the Dark Lord."
"Which Barty Crouch did we see yesterday?" Dumbledore asked again.
In the principal's office, Dumbledore, Professor Moody, and Snape discussed the matter incessantly, piecing together a "truth" in no time.
Watching the three of them discussing back and forth, Harry could only stand there anxiously, unable to get a word in edgewise; his little head was practically steaming.
At that moment, Harry looked at Belvina, who was trying to dig up the grave.
Belvina sat there silently, her brow furrowed, her fingers constantly rubbing together.
She seemed to be considering how to dig up someone's ancestral grave without leaving a trace.