Chapter 445: Attack of Fudge

"Cornelly, don't be so impatient," Dumbledore said in a deep voice, "I have another witness who can prove the existence of Barty Jr."

"Don't forget, there is a house elf in Crouch's home. We can ask it for confirmation."

"Sebastian, Winky is now working at Swann Alchemy. Can you please call her?"

House elves?!

Damn, how could I have forgotten about this?

Fudge's smile froze on his face, and then turned liver-colored at a speed visible to the naked eye.

To be honest, Sebastian really didn't want to bother Winky again about this kind of thing.

The poor little thing gradually relaxed its guard under Hermione's guidance, and with the persuasion of Mary and other Hogwarts elves, it slowly integrated into the collective life.

During the holidays, Sebastian took it back to Swann Alchemy and told it to work with peace of mind.

After all this commotion, the little guy will surely collapse again.

Sebastian sighed softly, walked to the front of the audience, and waved his wand gently: "Sparkle!"

With a swish, a small, shining figure appeared in the conference room.

It looked around in confusion, then timidly retreated behind Sebastian, tightly grasped the corner of his robe, and said in a voice so low that it was almost inaudible: "Mr. Swann, you...you are looking for me?"

"Winky, we need to find out the cause of Mr. Crouch's death. You need to cooperate with the investigation."

"Master is dead?" Shanshan screamed, her voice was sharp and piercing, and her nose and tears burst out instantly. "Why did this happen? It must be because I didn't take good care of him! It's my fault!"

Its emotions quickly got out of control, and it began to roll and thrash on the floor, its movements full of self-blame and despair. Sebastian sighed helplessly, took out his wand and whispered, "Forget your worries!"

The power of the spell gradually calmed down Twinkle's emotions, its sobbing subsided, and it looked at Sebastian with confused eyes.

"Winky," Sebastian said slowly, "Tell everyone how Mr. Crouch brought little Barty out of Azkaban. Be sure to explain it clearly, because this is related to the cause of Mr. Crouch's death."

Concerning the cause of the master's death?

A hint of determination flashed in the eyes of the elf, as if it had found some meaning. It straightened its body a little and told the wizards present about how little Barty escaped from prison.

As it was told, everyone gradually figured out the facts. It was a simple matter: a mother who was seriously ill and worried about her son, with the help of Polyjuice Potion, used her life to exchange young Barty out of Azkaban.

"Merlin's beard! Little Barty is still alive!"

"So, he really murdered old Crouch?"

"It's absolutely heartless. How could he do this?"

Hearing these comments, Shanshan's face turned pale instantly. He knelt on the ground in a daze and burst into tears again: "Master Batty, how could you do such a thing?!"

Looking at the crying elf, Fudge showed an impatient look on his face and interrupted rudely, "If little Barty is really still alive, why hasn't there been any movement for more than ten years? Where did Crouch hide him? Why should he be so obedient?"

Suddenly, he had an idea, as if he had thought of some important information, and shouted loudly before the elf could speak.

"I see. Crouch used the Imperius Curse to control Barty Jr., and then locked him up at home for more than ten years."

That’s absolutely true!

Fudge thought of a key point, that is, the Aurors found a lot of traces of the Imperius Curse on Crouch's wand.

He originally thought that this was a spell used by Barty Jr. to control Crouch, but now it seems that this is not the case at all.

Fudge loudly explained to everyone what the Aurors had discovered and the basis for his speculation, then he looked at Winky and shouted.

"Winky, am I right in my speculation? In the name of the Minister of Magic, I command you to answer my questions."

The elf was frightened by Fudge's tone. It sobbed and said, "Winky doesn't know if it was the Imperius Curse. Winky only knows that the master used a terrible spell, and then the young master stopped making trouble."

After saying that, it covered its face and cried loudly: "Why is this happening? Why did the young master kill the master? You bad young master..."

"That's it." Sebastian cast a spell on Winky again, then waved his hand to let it leave.

"The facts are clear now," Fudge said with a confident smile on his face. He spread his hands and looked around at everyone. "I admit that the person Karkaroff saw was indeed Barty Jr."

"But everyone should not ignore one important point." After finding a breakthrough, Fudge spoke more and more fluently. "In order to cover up his crime of helping his son escape from prison, Crouch used the Imperius Curse to control Barty Jr. for more than ten years."

"To be honest, I don't sympathize with that Death Eater at all. He deserves what he gets. But everyone, think about Barty Jr.'s mental state."

"His mother died in Azkaban for him, and his father has been controlling him with the Imperius Curse. He has not seen the sun for more than ten years, and has not communicated with others for more than ten years. Little Barty has already gone crazy."

"That's right. His mind had already collapsed and he couldn't tell the difference between reality and fantasy. So after breaking free from the control of the Dementia Curse, he insisted that the mysterious man still existed and was still assigning him tasks. So he pretended to be Crouch, sneaked into Hogwarts and kidnapped Harry Potter."

Looking at Fudge who was talking eloquently, Sebastian couldn't help but give him a thumbs up in his heart.

Great!

As expected of a politician, his mind works quickly. After his explanation, Batistuta's behavior became perfectly reasonable. At least most people at the scene agreed with his point of view and showed sighing expressions on their faces.

Dumbledore was doing a completely thankless job. Before the mysterious man actually showed up, politicians like Fudge could find ten thousand excuses to exonerate himself.

"Cornelly," Dumbledore said calmly, "your speculation is reasonable, but don't forget that Harry Potter and Sebastian Swann have both seen the mysterious man. They are the first eyewitnesses."

Before Fudge could say anything, a sickly sweet voice rang out.

"Dumbledore," Umbridge stood up slowly with a professional smirk on her face, "it's easy to explain."

"Harry Potter identified some Death Eaters, but after our investigation, they were all innocent. For example, Lucius Malfoy was dealing with a warehouse fire that night, and the others were all in their respective homes."

"Poor Savior, after being tortured by the Cruciatus Curse, he had some hallucinations."

"As for Sebastian Swann," she paused, first glanced at Fudge, then glanced at everyone, "Please don't forget his other identity - a businessman."

"After the news of the mysterious man spread, the magic world fell into panic, and his Swann Alchemy will be the biggest beneficiary."