Chapter 280 Pensieve
"Little Barty..." Dumbledore narrowed his eyes and recalled, "He is a very good student... Well, he is somewhat similar to Tom back then."
"But there are many differences between the two people. Tom has been more thoughtful since he was a child, and he is also good at acting. He is very good at deceiving other people's trust..."
"Little Barty is different. He was really just a good student like Percy Weiss...but from a certain period of time, he became more and more taciturn and withdrawn."
Dumbledore rubbed the lid of the teapot, with a somewhat sad expression in his eyes.
"What, what happened in the middle?" Dracula asked curiously.
"To be precise, those things have been happening." Dumbledore corrected, "Professor Dracula, you should also know that when little Barty was in school, it was the period when Voldemort and Death Eaters were most active."
Dracula nodded slightly.
"At that time, both the Ministry of Magic and the Order of the Phoenix were facing considerable pressure. Of course, the then Director of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, Barty Crouch Sr., shouldered the biggest burden." Dumbledore sighed. , introduced to Dracula.
"It is precisely because of this kind of thing that Old Barty was busy presiding over the overall situation and neglected his son for a long time... In addition, Mrs. Crouch was too doting on her children, which ultimately led to such a tragedy."
"Is this another cliche story about a child who lacks love and turns black and joins the enemy camp?" Dracula clicked his tongue.
He raised his hand to suck up a piece of plasma wine chocolate on Dumbledore's desk and stuffed it into his mouth.
"I have seen this kind of thing so many times that I can imagine what he was thinking." Dracula said casually, "Because he was not valued by his father, a high-ranking official, he wanted to prove himself in front of his father, so he studied hard... "
"But he received twelve OWLs certificates, an outstanding achievement that has been rare in decades, but it is not even comparable to a memorandum from the then Minister of Magic of Andorra."
Dracula smiled playfully and shook his head, "Then Barty Crouch Jr. completely gave up on the idea of relying on his own efforts to avoid being ignored by his father, and turned to become a Death Eater..."
"Since I can't get your attention through conventional methods, then I will become your enemy and let Old Crouch look at you from the perspective of a serious enemy."
"Do you think what I said is right?" Dracula raised his lips and looked at Dumbledore.
Dumbledore stopped stroking the lid.
He stared blankly at the white steam emerging from the spout and sighed deeply.
"There are many tragedies that could not have happened. Maybe if Barty took a few minutes off from his work every week to praise his children." Dumbledore sighed softly.
"There is no need to feel sorry," Dracula said. "I heard that Barty Crouch Jr. and other Death Eaters tortured Longbottom's parents with the Cruciatus Curse and had no intention of repenting."
"You should have seen clearly, Dumbledore, what he pursues in his heart is the pleasure that violence, abuse and blood bring him. He is essentially a terrorist."
Dumbledore took off his glasses and shook his head helplessly.
"I hope you can understand me, Professor Dracula," he said softly, "I don't have as long a life as you, and I am getting older both physically and mentally...Old people always like to be sad, don't they? "
After saying that, Dumbledore suddenly stood up and walked to the black cabinet on the side of the office.
"Want to see with your own eyes what little Barty was like back then?" he asked. "Maybe it will help us find something."
Dumbledore opened the cupboard door.
There is a shallow stone basin in the cabinet. The mouth of the basin is covered with strange carvings, composed of various types of runes.
After the cabinet door was opened, a piece of silver light emitted from the stone basin, which was both liquid and gaseous, like a piece of bright silver, but it was constantly flowing, like water ripples in the breeze, and like clouds. Spread out elegantly and rotate softly.
The things in the basin are like light turning into liquid, and like wind condensing into solid...
"Is this...a pensieve?" Dracula became interested and stood up from the sofa.
"Yes, the Pensieve." Dumbledore nodded gently, "Sometimes I feel that there are too many thoughts and memories in my mind. Then I use the Pensieve to suck out the excess thoughts from my mind and pour them out. Go into this basin and take a good look when you have time..."
He then looked at Dracula, "Professor Dracula has lived for so many years, doesn't he need a pensieve to organize his memory?"
"I've never been too lazy to use this kind of thing," Dracula shook his head. "Just forget the things you can't remember. Most of them are unimportant things anyway, so why force them to stay in your mind, which will only increase the number of things." Are you worried?"
"You're right, I actually envy your attitude." Dumbledore chuckled, "But life is so long, there are always some things you don't want to forget, and there are always some things you can't forget..."
It seemed that he felt sad a little too much today. Dumbledore shook his head, as if he wanted to get rid of the complicated emotions.
"Want to take a look together?" He looked at Dracula and asked.
Dracula glanced at the stone basin and then nodded.
In fact, he had long been curious about Dumbledore's past memories.
It's a pity that this great wizard is very good at Legilimency, and his Occlumency is quite stable. Even Dracula's Legilimency can't see anything in his eyes.
Today I have the opportunity to see some of Dumbledore's memories live, which can be said to be exactly what Dracula had in mind.
The two of them used their minds at the same time to explore into the liquid-like and solid silver substance.
The next moment, the principal's office suddenly collapsed.
Dracula and Dumbledore came together to a dimly lit room filled with stepped benches and sat on one of them. This bench appears to be taller than the other benches.
There were at least two hundred wizards in this room, and no wizard looked here. No one seemed to notice that there were two more people here.
Dracula and Dumbledore are like two spectators who are separated from the picture and cannot be noticed by people here, but the picture in front of them is extremely real, as if they are immersed in it.
"It's quite interesting here." Dracula's voice echoed in the room, but none of the wizards present heard it.
Dumbledore turned his head and found Dracula appearing in front of an old man with a long white beard and white hair, looking around him with interest——
That was Dumbledore who was more than ten years younger. His long white beard was much shorter than it is now, only hanging down to his abdomen.
"Ahem... Professor Dracula, our focus is not here." Dumbledore looked at this scene and said with a bit of laughter, "Aren't we here to observe the condition of little Barty?"
"By the way, it would be nice to take a look at what you looked like more than ten years ago!"
Dracula looked at Dumbledore's image back and forth and said happily, "When will you show me what you were like when you were young? I want to see how ugly you were back then. You have lived your whole life without a wife." nothing."
Dumbledore: "..."
At this moment, the door in the corner of the room suddenly opened.
Six dementors walked in from behind the door, and among them were four unkempt wizards.
Many people present secretly looked at a meticulous wizard sitting high up - the then Director of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, Barty Crouch.
Next to Crouch sat a frail witch, sobbing softly, holding a handkerchief to her mouth with trembling hands.
With his excellent eyesight, Dracula could clearly see in the dim room that Crouch's face was very haggard and gloomy, and a vein on his temple was twitching... This haggardness was just like when he was a judge in the Four-wizard competition. as serious as ever.
Several people around started whispering to each other, seeming to be discussing something.
The dementors placed the four men into four chained chairs in the center of the dungeon. One of the short, fat wizards looked at Crouch blankly; the other, a thinner wizard, looked more nervous and glanced straight at the audience.
There was also a woman with thick black hair and long eyelashes, sitting on a chained chair with a crazy and triumphant expression, as if she were sitting on a throne.
The last one was a boy of seventeen or eighteen. He looked completely petrified and trembling. His straw-colored hair fell around his face and his freckled skin was as pale as paper.
At the sight of the boy, the delicate witch next to Crouch began to rock back and forth, sobbing with her handkerchief to her mouth.
"The two wizards in front are Rodolphus Lestrange and Rabastan Lestrange, a pair of Death Eater brothers." Dumbledore saw Dracula's confused expression and introduced him Said, "That witch is..."
"Bellatrix Strange." Dracula suddenly took over and said.
"Does Professor Dracula know her?" Dumbledore asked with some confusion.
"Well, I saw it in the Azkaban prison..." Dracula saw the shocked expression in Dumbledore's eyes and had to add, "Weren't we looking for Sirius Black? I just Sneak into Azkaban and take a look."
Of course, his curiosity about Azkaban was the most critical reason for sneaking into that prison... But there was no need to tell Dumbledore this reason, so as not to be caught by the old headmaster again and keep admonishing him. .
In front of the courtroom, Crouch had already stood up, looking down at the four people below, with extreme hatred gradually gathering on his face.
"You were brought before the Magical Law Commission for sentencing," he said clearly, "your crimes are so heinous—"
"Father," the boy with straw-colored hair begged with a frightened expression on his face, "Father... please..."
"——A rare case before this court." Mr. Crouch raised his voice, covering his son's voice. "We have heard the charges against you. The four of you kidnapped an Auror. ——Frank Longbottom, used the Cruciatus Curse on him, trying to find out from him the whereabouts of your master, the mysterious man——"
"Father, I didn't!" Little Barty, who was tied to the chair, screamed, "I didn't, I swear! Father, don't send me back to the dementors -"
Dracula stared closely into the eyes of Barty Crouch Jr., but there was no fear or regret in his eyes. Instead, he could only see luck, cruelty, madness... and joy.
Dumbledore frowned tightly, as if he couldn't bear to look at this scene.
"The allegation goes on," Mr. Crouch yelled, "that you used the Cruciatus Curse on Frank Longbottom's wife when he refused to provide information. You conspired to revive You-Know-Who and restore the power you had when he was powerful. That violent life. Now I ask the jury—"
"Mother!" Little Barty shouted loudly. The thin witch next to Crouch sobbed and shook her body back and forth. "Mother, stop him! Mother, I didn't do those things, it's not me!"
"Now I ask the jury to vote," Mr. Crouch said loudly, ignoring him at all. "Those who believe that these crimes deserve a life sentence in Azkaban, as I do, please raise your hands!"
The wizards in the jury on the right side of the dungeon all raised their hands.
The audience around them applauded happily, with expressions of relief on their faces... After all, few people had seen two elite Aurors tortured to the point of madness, and they all felt sorry for what happened to the Longbottoms.
Little Barty began to scream, and a trace of panic finally seemed to appear in his eyes.
"No! Mother, no! It wasn't me, it wasn't me, I didn't know! Don't send me there, stop him!"
The dementors slowly floated in again.
Barty Jr.'s three companions stood up from their chairs silently. Bellatrix raised her head and shouted to Crouch:
"The Dark Lord will come back, Crouch! Throw us into Azkaban and we'll wait! He will come back to save us. He will reward us specially! We are the only ones who are loyal! We are the only ones who try to find him !”
Barty Jr. struggled to get away from the Dementors, even as the Dementors' icy suction of joy and souls began to work on him.
Some of the audience laughed at him, some stood up, and some angrily applauded their experience.
Bellatrix had already walked proudly back to the door in the corner, while little Barty was still resisting.
"I am your son!" he shouted to Crouch. "Your son!"
"You are not my son!" Crouch shouted, his eyes suddenly protruding outwards, "I don't have a son!"
The thin witch took a breath, collapsed on the stool, and fainted. But Crouch didn't seem to see it.
"Take them away!" He waved his hand and roared filial piety to the dementors, "Take them away and let them rot there!"
…
The scene in the Pensieve is frozen at this moment.
In the frozen scene, Dracula and Dumbledore looked at each other, their brows tightly knitted together.
…
…
