#324 - Chapter 324 Barty Crouch is bored

As he spoke, Newt looked up at the sky with a smile, clearly lost in fond memories of his youth.

Sebastian didn't interrupt, but turned to Charlie.

"Charlie, I remember sending a Norwegian Ridgeback here two years ago, named Norbert, I think. How is that little dragon now?"

Thinking of the little dragon that had been sent with such fanfare, Sebastian was quite curious to know how the little guy was doing.

If it was suitable, perhaps they could add the little guy to the first task.

He wondered if it would still recognize Hagrid, Malfoy, and Ron.

"Haha," Charlie laughed heartily, "That muddle-headed Hagrid couldn't even tell its gender and gave it the name Norbert."

"It's actually a female dragon. We later renamed her Norberta. She's fully grown now and doing great."

"She's not afraid of people at all and often comes to the camp looking for brandy. Everyone likes her a lot."

"However," Charlie shook his head helplessly, "She doesn't seem to recognize the name Norberta very well. She only reacts when you call her Norbert most of the time."

The group continued to share amusing stories from the school, and with the barbecue and fruit wine, they happily spent the afternoon.

After the meal, Sebastian and Mia followed Newt into his suitcase.

Looking at the wide variety of magical creatures, Mia was overjoyed. In the end, she really took a liking to an ugly Kneazle cub.

Seeing this, Sebastian didn't hesitate. After having Newt sign a confidentiality agreement, he directly transformed into a Dragon Man, opening the other party's eyes.

However, Sebastian really couldn't stand Newt's fervent gaze, as if he were studying a magical creature.

Before long, he hastily ended the transformation and fled with Mia.

Back at the visitor center, he had a good night's sleep. The next day, just after breakfast, a dragon tamer came to say that a high-ranking official from the British Ministry of Magic had arrived at the camp.

The man was named Barty Crouch, and he was waiting for Sebastian to discuss the tournament tasks.

Crouch?

Sebastian raised an eyebrow.

He didn't expect him to come in person, instead of delegating the work to his subordinates.

This was a tough guy who had steadfastly fought against Voldemort during the Second Wizarding War.

At the time, people generally believed that he would be the next Minister for Magic.

However, to everyone's surprise, his son, Barty Crouch Jr., was a Death Eater, and the most fanatical kind.

Even more shocking was that Barty Crouch Jr. had participated in the torture of Neville's parents, and was one of the main culprits behind their complete madness.

As the former Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, Crouch personally sent Barty Crouch Jr. to Azkaban prison.

From then on, Crouch's reputation plummeted. He not only lost the opportunity to compete for the Minister of Magic position, but he couldn't even keep his position as Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.

After Fudge came to power, Crouch was transferred to become the Head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation, and he was mainly responsible for the Triwizard Tournament this time.

Barty Crouch sat with a dark face on a chair in the dragon tamer camp.

His brow was furrowed, and he stared blankly at the ground in front of him, lost in thought, completely ignoring the surrounding environment.

The secret that his son was not dead had finally been discovered.

It was all his fault for being soft-hearted back then. To fulfill his terminally ill wife's last wish, he had her drink Polyjuice Potion and switched that rebellious son out of Azkaban.

As a result, not only did his wife die miserably in Azkaban, but that rebellious son showed no remorse and was only thinking about finding the Dark Lord and helping him rise again.

Helpless, he had to control him with the Imperius Curse, and usually had the house-elf take care of him.

As a result, the house-elf was unreliable too!

When he was not at home, that house-elf, Winky, actually let outsiders into the house, and then continued to talk to that rebellious son without the slightest vigilance.

Although his son was wearing an Invisibility Cloak, the other party still guessed who was under the Invisibility Cloak.

Bertha Jorkins, why did you, an ordinary employee of the Department of Magical Games and Sports, have to come to my house to ask me to sign something? Weren't you just asking for trouble?

Barty Crouch had considered that this secret would eventually be exposed. After all, that rebellious son had been resisting the Imperius Curse.

He just didn't expect that so many years of peaceful days would be broken by that reckless fellow, Bertha Jorkins.

To protect himself, Barty Crouch had to cast a powerful Memory Charm on Bertha Jorkins in order to make her completely forget the secret she had discovered.

However, that Memory Charm was too powerful and directly caused permanent damage to Bertha's memory, making her forgetful.

Crouch sighed silently in his heart.

Fortunately, Bertha usually acted scatterbrained, and her colleagues in the Ministry of Magic had not noticed her changes.

Recently, that fellow Bertha seemed to have gone on vacation to Albania. He hoped she wouldn't cause any more trouble.

When Sebastian arrived at the camp, he discovered that, in addition to him, Crouch had also summoned Newt and the dragon tamer captain.

Without much small talk, the group went directly to the camp's conference room.

"Before the meeting begins, I need everyone to sign a confidentiality agreement," Crouch went straight to the point. "All the dragon tamers in the camp must sign this agreement."

"Sebastian, I heard that your wife has also come here. She will also need to sign the confidentiality agreement later."

"The content of the agreement is not harsh. It only requires that everyone not reveal the secrets of the dragons before the tournament."

Sebastian had no objections. As this year's host, these formalities had to be done properly.

After everyone had signed, Crouch continued, "According to the Ministry of Magic's research, the first task will involve dragons."

"At that time, the participating members from each school will each face a dragon. I want to ask, are you ready with the dragons?"

The dragon tamer captain replied seriously, "We currently have four suitable targets. They are the Welsh Green, the Swedish Short-Snout, the Chinese Fireball, and the Hungarian Horntail."

"Only these four?" Crouch frowned.

"According to the requirements of the British Ministry of Magic, we need to find mother dragons that are currently laying eggs," the dragon tamer captain said. "This requirement is not easy to meet."

"If there are no dragons laying eggs recently, we will find a dragon with good temperament and have it cooperate with the performance."

"Mr. Crouch," Newt couldn't help but say, "Mother dragons laying eggs are particularly dangerous. Is it too difficult for the students to deal with these dragons?"

"This is the first Triwizard Tournament in hundreds of years," Crouch said firmly. "We must make it spectacular."

"The students participating in the Triwizard Tournament are the most outstanding people from each school. They must have a way to handle this situation."

Seeing this, Newt didn't say much, and actively participated in the discussion of the tournament details.

This time, Crouch did not act arbitrarily, but listened carefully to everyone's opinions.

Sebastian also put forward many ideas, and Crouch nodded repeatedly, adopting them all.

After two days of research, the group finally finalized all the details of the tournament.

"Let's go with this plan," Crouch said with a smile. "I'll go back to the Ministry of Magic first. There are still a lot of things waiting for me to deal with at the Quidditch World Cup."

With that, he stood up and left the dragon tamer camp in a hurry.