20demayo Chapter 93 Should we believe him?
Chapter 93 Should we believe him?
Chapter 93 Should we believe him?
Crouch slowly unrolled the parchment.
The only sounds in the office were the rustling of parchment and his increasingly heavy breathing.
Dumbledore stood quietly to the side, his gaze fixed on Fawkes, but out of the corner of his eye he noticed every subtle change in Crouch's face.
He saw this director, known for his impartiality and incorruptibility, lose his composure for the first time. His brows furrowed deeply, forming a deep frown, and then shock washed over his face like a cold tide.
"He is... the hangman!"
Dumbledore completely averted his gaze from Fawkes and calmly met Crouch's eyes: "Yes... he is the Hangman."
"For so long! You've been secretly keeping the hangman locked up at Hogwarts!?" Crouch's voice suddenly rose, filled with accusation and incomprehension.
Dumbledore nodded slowly, his gentle expression fading into a solemn one. "This is the only way... Mr. Crouch. Professor Lynch's magical power and potential influence on the wizarding world far exceed ordinary people's imagination. Forcibly transferring him to Azkaban would be extremely risky. After careful consideration, Wizengamot and I jointly believe that the safest, and only, way to balance the law and the potential risks is to continue isolating him at Hogwarts under my supervision."
Crouch's expression changed several times after receiving Dumbledore's calm reply, but he ultimately said nothing more, as if Dumbledore's reasoning had convinced him.
He lowered his head again, digesting the contents of the parchment. As his gaze moved downwards, the knuckles of his fingers, which were gripping the edge of the paper, gradually turned slightly white from the force.
When he finally looked up from the parchment, his face was even more somber than when he had come in, and his sharp eyes seemed to hold the brewing of a storm.
He looked at Dumbledore, trying to suppress his turbulent emotions and make his voice sound calm, but the suppressed anger was still clearly discernible:
"Dumbledore, here are two documents from Wizengamor. One is the judgment, dated approximately ten years ago; the other is an amendment to the judgment, dated a few months ago."
His voice intensified at two points, his gaze piercing Dumbledore like torches: "As the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement..."
I oversee the enforcement of law throughout the British magical world! Yet I have never seen either of these documents! They have never appeared on my desk, never passed through my department!
Dumbledore's tone softened again, tinged with apology: "I'm sorry, Mr. Crouch. But this was a Wizengamor trial, a matter of utmost secrecy. By protocol, only the then Minister for Magic, besides the Wizengamor members involved in the trial, was entitled to know the details."
When Dumbledore said that the Minister of Magic also knew about it, Barty Crouch's pupils contracted sharply.
The one who sent himself to Hogwarts to take Jim Lynch back for questioning was none other than the current Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge!
He knew perfectly well that with the Wizengamor's judgment in hand, he had neither the right nor the ability to bring the person back to the Ministry of Magic...
Crouch's heart sank as he thought of his recent investigation into the secrets of certain ancient pure-blood families.
Was it a warning directed at him? Or was it a carefully orchestrated slap in the face from Fudge? Was he using the hot potato of the hangman to undermine his authority?
Numerous thoughts arose in Crouch's mind, but decades of experience navigating the power arena allowed him to barely maintain a calm and dignified demeanor.
He instinctively lowered his head, avoiding Dumbledore's all-seeing gaze, deeply concealing his true emotions.
Crouch's gaze returned to the parchment in his hand, his fingers unconsciously tracing the edge of the parchment as if trying to penetrate the exquisite ink writing.
He remained silent for a long time, and the atmosphere in the office became somewhat oppressive, with only Fox occasionally letting out a low, clear chirp.
Finally, as if he had made up his mind, he rolled up the parchment and stuffed it back into the scroll, the metal cylinder making a crisp clinking sound as it closed.
He raised his head again, looking at Dumbledore with a complex expression. The initial aggressiveness was gone, replaced by an inquiry seeking some kind of understanding.
Crouch clearly realized that from the moment he accepted Fudge's order and stepped out of the Ministry of Magic's doors, he had already stepped into the trap carefully laid by the Minister.
At this moment, the only hope for him to escape unscathed, or even turn the tables, lies in the old man in front of him.
Fudge's order was essentially to bring Jim Lynch back for questioning, with the aim of uncovering the truth behind the tragic deaths of the six Vargadu wizards.
So, as long as he can independently find out the truth and prove Lin Qi's innocence, or at least not arrest Lin Qi immediately, he can perfectly avoid the impossible task of bringing people back, and even take this opportunity to boost his prestige!
Hogwarts, this ancient school with a history of over a thousand years, seems to hold many secrets that are unknown to others, but these are not things that I need to explore.
His only and most urgent goal at this moment is to find out the real culprit behind the murder of the six Vagado wizards!
Despite the lack of concrete evidence, Crouch's keen intuition told him that Dumbledore must, in some way, hold the answer to this crucial question.
“Tell me, Dumbledore,” Crouch’s voice was low and slow, “you insist that Jim Lynch is not the murderer behind this killing, then…who is the murderer? Who killed those six Vagado wizards?”
This time, it was Dumbledore who remained silent.
He quickly reviewed in his mind the entire career of the Chief Justice of the Law Enforcement Division before him—Barty Crouch:
His tough stance during Voldemort's first reign of terror led to the brutal extermination of the Death Eaters:
He defied public opinion and established an emergency law that allowed Death Eaters to be thrown into Azkaban without trial;
He authorized the Aurors to use the Unforgivable Curse in pursuit, and even tacitly approved the "kill without mercy" principle in extreme circumstances.
In the war against Voldemort, he was undoubtedly a vanguard.
However, the price for this "achievement" was devastating.
He personally sent his only son to Azkaban, causing his wife to die in despair and illness, and his son eventually died in the cold cell of Azkaban.
On a personal level, his hatred for Voldemort was deeply ingrained and irreconcilable.
So...maybe we can trust him? At least, in the face of this common, most deadly enemy?
Dumbledore thought to himself.
Ever since receiving the worst news—Voldemort had returned—Dumbledore had been cautiously keeping the information to a select few, but even then, he only revealed a limited portion of the truth to them.
But at this moment, looking at the director in front of him who had a blood feud with Voldemort, he realized that perhaps it was time to reveal this heavy news to the authorities of the wizarding world.
After all, the Ministry of Magic possesses the largest resources and power, making it Voldemort's natural and primary enemy.
The jumbled thoughts cleared up in an instant.
Dumbledore took a deep breath, his deep blue eyes, which seemed to see right through people, fixed on Barty Crouch, who was waiting for his answer.
He uttered, clearly and slowly, the name that had been deliberately forgotten by the magical world for ten years, a name powerful enough to freeze the air:
"The real killer is Voldemort."