Chapter 277 Barty Crouch’s Secret
On an island where no sunlight can be seen, the sky is gloomy and the sea breeze is howling.
The island was surrounded by waves, with rows of huge black waves rising one after another, like countless sea beasts breaking free from their cages, and the rough backs covered with seaweed almost touched the sky.
On this island, a lonely fortress is surrounded by tall steel walls. The waves crashed against the iron wall, splashing high into the air, but not a drop of water could cross the towering walls of the island.
Countless dementors wrapped in tattered black cloth, as if they had been soaked in water, were wandering in the sky. Wherever they pass, it seems like all the happiness has been sucked away, reminding people of the most terrifying things they have ever experienced in their lives.
However, these dementors, who are almost feared and feared by the entire magical world, behaved very abnormally today.
They deliberately bypassed an open space on the Azkaban Island, far away from there, as if something more terrifying than monsters like them appeared in that direction.
This is a cemetery on the island of Azkaban.
No one was taking care of it, it was like an abandoned mass grave, with dead bodies lying there in a mess.
The corpses of wizards who were tortured to death by dementors in Azkaban were hastily buried. Occasionally, some friends or relatives who came here to visit would put up a few stones here, which were regarded as tombstones of the deceased.
A tall figure with long silver hair and burgundy eyes stood quietly next to the cemetery, with a vague look of thought on his face.
Countless dementors on the island did not dare to take a step closer to him——
Most of the Dementors have experienced the Patronus Curse that covered the entire island, and have seen their almost immortal fellow Dementors completely annihilated... Their fear of Dracula has been deeply engraved in their hearts. Deep in the memory of the ethnic group.
Dracula was happy that there were no disgusting monsters like dementors to disturb him, so he could find someone.
Or a ghost.
As early as the Yule Ball, Dracula wanted to come to Azkaban to take a look, but it was only after the second project that he found the free time between the various fun of the Four Wizards Tournament.
Before the Yule Ball, Percy introduced Barty Crouch's family situation to Dracula, and mentioned Crouch's Death Eater son who died in Azkaban, and Crouch who also died during that time. wife.
Dracula was already very suspicious of Crouch, so naturally he would not let go of this seemingly small suspicion.
How could an outstanding young wizard like Barty Crouch Jr., who obtained twelve OWLs certificates during school and joined the Death Eaters not long after graduation, endure the torture of dementors for just a few months? Can't bear it?
Dracula stood in front of the cemetery and gently snapped his fingers.
Next, it seemed as if a blood-red thread passed through Dracula's hand and hooked up to all the almost unformable bones on the ground.
Gradually, these corpses began to make some movements——
In fact, every corpse may still have residual soul fragments still left in the body. Especially in a cruel place like Azkaban, it is almost impossible for wizards who can die peacefully to exist, and they will more or less have some obsessions. …
These obsessions are the premise for the birth of ghosts.
As Dracula once said to his cheap daughter Serena, he is the purest dark life and is very good at necromancy.
This blood-red thread is an application of necromancy. It evokes the fragmented soul and meager consciousness in the body of the deceased that has not completely dissipated, so that Dracula can get some information he needs here.
Under the influence of blood-red silk threads, transparent figures floated up from among the corpses. Most of them were blind-eyed and unconscious, without any possibility of communication with them.
However, this is a prison that has existed for who knows how many years. The group of the dead is so large that there are always some souls that still retain relatively complete consciousness.
These soul fragments with relatively complete consciousness are actually just a hair away from becoming ghosts.
"What's your name?" Dracula walked up to a wizard with the clearest eyes and an illusory body, and asked softly.
"I...yes, what is my name?" The disembodied wizard looked at Dracula blankly, and then looked at the surrounding environment, "I seem to remember...I should have died in a prison. inside……"
He covered his head in pain, and his faint voice sounded hoarse, "I...my name...my name should be..."
"It's okay, just forget it if you can't remember it." Dracula interrupted the illusory wizard, with light in his eyes constantly flowing, "I want to ask you a few questions, please listen carefully..."
As if under control, the wizard suddenly stopped shouting hoarsely and looked at Dracula solemnly.
"Say." He said in a stiff voice.
"How long have you lived in this cemetery?" Dracula asked casually.
The illusory wizard frowned unconsciously and fell into thinking.
"About thirty years." After a long time, the illusory wizard slowly uttered these words from his mouth.
It can be seen that the wizard's consciousness is not sure how many years he has been here, so under the control of Dracula's necromancy, he can only give an approximate value.
"Thirty years... then you must have known Barty Crouch Jr., right?" Dracula asked, "He also died on this island more than ten years ago. I still have some questions. ask him."
However, the transparent wizard shook his head.
"I don't know anyone named Barty Crouch Jr. in this cemetery," he said.
Dracula frowned.
"Do you know the other people?" he asked softly, "Or do you have no way of contacting other broken souls who died nearby, so you don't know Barty Crouch Jr.?"
"No, I know anyone buried here around here." The Transparent Wizard retorted, "But I have never met a wizard named Barty Crouch Jr."
"Is that so?" There was some intriguing color in Dracula's eyes.
There are only two possibilities now -
The first is that Barty Crouch Jr.'s body was taken away by his father and was not buried here at all; the second is that Barty Crouch Jr. was not dead at all and has been hiding in the dark...
"Very good, I need to find other people to confirm." Dracula nodded.
Next, he successively found other broken soul bodies with clearer consciousness and asked them, and the answers he received were similar.
This specially set up tomb on the Azkaban island seems to have never contained any information about Barty Crouch Jr....
Until I asked a slightly older, gray-haired witch.
"I need to ask, do you know a wizard named Barty Crouch Jr.?" Dracula stood in front of the witch's illusory figure and asked as usual.
However, unlike other wizards, the moment this witch heard the name "Barty Crouch Jr.", her eyes widened suddenly, and then she turned her eyes aside as if nothing had happened.
"From the look of you, you should know Barty Crouch Jr., right?" The red light in Dracula's eyes began to flow again, and the witch's eyes gradually lost focus.
Just when Dracula thought she would tell everything she knew like the souls he had asked before, the witch's eyes suddenly regained consciousness.
There was a hint of panic and agility in her eyes that should not belong to these remnant souls, and she turned her gaze aside, trying to escape from Dracula.
"Stop!" Dracula said coldly.
The necromancy he was good at unexpectedly had an accident, which made him a little embarrassed.
So, Dracula raised his hand and pointed at the witch——
"Imperio."
The Imperius Curse is used in this situation, and the effect is almost immediate.
Although the witch struggled repeatedly, she did not have any magic power in her body, nor did she have a complete consciousness and soul, so there was no room for resistance.
Soon, this young witch became obedient and obedient just like the remnant souls before.
"So, can you tell me now..." Dracula breathed a sigh of relief, came to stand in front of the witch, and asked softly, "You know Barty Crouch Jr., right? What is your relationship with him? What about the relationship?"
The witch's lips moved, as if she still had the strength left to struggle, and she didn't know where the strength came from.
However, she couldn't last even a minute in the end. After all, her willpower was no match for Dracula's powerful magic.
The illusive witch spoke:
"I'm Barty Crouch Jr.'s mother."
Dracula's penis suddenly shrank
…
Hogwarts Castle.
Normally, the beginning of the summer term meant that Harry had to step up his training to prepare for the last Quidditch match of the season.
But this year, he has to prepare for the third and final event of the semifinals, and there is no need to participate in Quidditch training.
But he still didn't know what needed to be done and had no specific direction to prepare.
Until one afternoon after the Transfiguration class, Professor McGonagall called him to the back of the classroom.
"Potter, you go to the Quidditch pitch at nine o'clock tonight," Professor McGonagall said to Harry, "Mr. Bagman is going to tell the warriors what the third event is there."
So, at 8:30 that night, Harry separated from Ron and Hermione, who had reconciled, in Gryffindor Tower and came downstairs. As he walked through the foyer, Cedric was emerging from the Hufflepuff common room.
"What do you think the third project will be?" Cedric asked Harry as they walked down the stone steps and merged into the overcast night. "Cho and Fleur both thought it would be an underground tunnel. , they think we are looking for treasure.”
"That's not so bad," Harry said, thinking he could just ask Rolf to borrow a Niffler and let him do the work.
They walked along the dark lawn toward the Quidditch pitch and entered through a gap between the stands.
"What did they do to this place?" Cedric suddenly stopped and said angrily.
The Quidditch pitch is no longer flat and smooth.
It seems as if someone has built countless long low walls here. These low walls are intricate and winding in all directions.
Cedric and Harry are both loyal fans of Quidditch, and of course they cannot accept that the Quidditch pitch they are familiar with has been transformed into this.
"It looks like a wall!" Harry said, looking down at the short wall closest to him.
"Hello!" shouted a cheerful voice.
Ludo Bagman stood in the center of the pitch, flanked by John, Krum, and Fleur.
Harry and Cedric stepped over the low walls and headed towards them. Fleur smiled brightly at Harry as he approached - her attitude toward him had completely changed since Harry rescued her sister from the lake.
"It looks pretty good, what do you think?" Bagman asked happily when Harry and Cedric climbed over the last low wall. "It's going pretty fast, isn't it? In two months, Hagrid will It’ll make them twenty feet tall.”
Seeing the unhappy expressions on Harry and Cedric's faces, he smiled and comforted, "Oh, don't worry, your Quidditch pitch will be restored to its original state as soon as the competition is over!"
"Okay, I think you can probably guess what we're going to do here, right?"
Bagman looked at everyone expectantly.
"Maze." After a moment of silence, Krum said in a rough voice.
"That's right!" Bagman clapped his hands, "It's a maze! The third project is very simple and clear. The Triwizard Cup is placed in the center of the maze. Whoever can touch it first will win the final prize. champion."
"We just need to go through the maze?" Fleur asked doubtfully.
This doesn't seem very difficult.
"There'll be a lot of obstacles," Bagman said cheerfully, hopping up and down on tiptoe. "Hagrid has provided a whole bunch of animals... and there's some spells that have to be lifted... and stuff like that, you know. "
"In addition, the warrior with the leading score will enter the maze first." Bagman glanced at John, "But it does not mean that the first one to enter will definitely be the first to pass the level. You all must try your best!"
Harry and the other warriors couldn't help but look at John.
Harry knew only too well what kind of animals Hagrid would provide for such an occasion, and it would be no fun at all...
In addition, he later learned from Rove that John had studied with the most outstanding magical zoologist, Newt Scamander, for a long time. If all the obstacles in the way were magical animals, maybe the champion would already be there. It's his.
"Don't worry, there won't only be magical animals." Bagman seemed to see their worries and explained, "There are also various other obstacles such as protective magic and alchemy products waiting for you!"
After explaining the content of the game, everyone stepped over the growing low wall and walked towards the castle.
Bagman hurried beside Harry... Harry felt that he was about to offer to help him again.
Sure enough, Bagman found an excuse to pull Harry to a remote place near the Forbidden Forest. He looked a little distracted.
"Listen, Harry, do you think you can defeat several other warriors and win the final championship?" he asked.
"Of course I don't think so." Harry shook his head and smiled in relief, "Actually, I'm very satisfied that I can get to this point. I don't insist on being first."
"No, how can you not pursue first place..." Bagman said eagerly, "I can let you get first place!"
Harry shook his head, not wanting to pay attention to the referee who didn't know what he was thinking.
At this moment, a rustling sound suddenly came from the depths of the Forbidden Forest.
Harry turned around and stared at the place where there had been movement. He reached into his robes and fumbled for his wand.
At this moment, a man in ragged clothes suddenly stumbled out from behind a tall oak tree.
Harry didn't recognize it for a moment...then he realized it was Mr. Barty Crouch, the Director of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.
…
…
