It's just a Defense Against the Dark Arts professor.

Chapter 305 The Crouch Family
On December 26, in the outskirts of London.

It's only [-]:[-] in the morning. Although Christmas has passed, Christmas songs are still being played everywhere in this suburban town.

Three or four young men and women with Santa hats on their heads, holding a few unlit fireworks in their hands, walked across the snowy road with laughter.

The neon lights hanging on the pine and cypress trees on the side of the road are constantly flashing light of various colors, and some passers-by have noticed the old and the young walking into the town along the road.

The old man was a lame old man. He had a wooden leg that was not convenient, and he limped when he walked on the snow.

But looking at his appearance, normal people can't feel any pity.

His gray long hair was scattered behind him, there were a few inconspicuous scars on his face, his face was vicissitudes, and his back was slightly hunched, but under his solemn expression, he exuded a terrifying aura.

Walking side by side with him was a young man who seemed to be in his early 20s.

Compared with the crippled old man, this young man looks much more handsome and pleasing to the eye, but both of them are dressed in the same weird way. It is a dark suit, which looks like a popular medieval robe.

"If you accept my proposal and change into normal clothes before you come out, maybe we won't be watched by so many eyes."

Sherlock grumbled. It's not that he didn't remind Moody, but the retired Auror nicknamed "Mad-Eye" was a bit too stubborn in some ways.

Moody didn't care about those eyes around him at all, he said in a rough voice.

"Muggle clothes are so inconvenient that there isn't even a proper place to hide a wand. Besides, I've been wearing it to the ball for this trip."

"Professor Sinista is your dance partner tonight, isn't she complaining about your outfit?"

"Do you think us old people care about this? But she is always worried that my wooden prosthetic leg will step on her foot when dancing. Huh, she doesn't know that when I was young, I was in the Ministry of Magic. They're always in demand at balls."

"I don't care if she cares about your attire, but she will definitely care about what you said just now that she is getting old."

"Shut up! I'll only say this in private, it's not gentlemanly to mention her age in front of a lady!"

The two chatted while walking, and soon came to the edge of the town.

There are not many houses here, and there are not many wheat fields, but the trees are very lush.

They didn't stop even after leaving the town, and kept walking deep into the woods.

"Is the Crouch family's manor here?" Sherlock couldn't help asking curiously.

Moody shook his head.

"The manors of pure-blood families are generally built in inaccessible places, this is also to prevent being disturbed by Muggles, the Crouch family, as a wizarding family with a long history, of course will not build their own manor next to a Muggle town. "

"This is just Barty Crouch's own residence. In order to deal with magical things in London, he specially prepared a house when he was the boss, and he has lived here since then. The ancestral home of the Crouch family Instead, no one lives there.”

Of course, Moody has enough right to speak about the former director of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.

Sherlock frowned after learning the information.

"Where is the Crouch family's ancestral home? Does anyone know?"

"No one knows about this. Old Batty never mentioned it himself, and there is no record about it in the ministry." Moody's expression was solemn, "Because of the history of the witch hunt, some pure-blood families The manor has a high level of secrecy, and only communicates with the outside world through the fireplace, and non-trusted wizards don't know where the ancestral homes of these families are located."

Hearing his words, Sherlock's heart sank slightly, his face was a little ugly, and he always had some bad premonitions in his heart.

With Moody leading the way, they quickly passed through the woods and came to a clearing where a small two-story building stood.

The snowflakes piled up very thick around, much thicker than on the streets of the town.

Obviously, the few snowfalls before the snow on Christmas have not been cleaned here, so this kind of snow appears.

The two-story building was the same, with no Christmas atmosphere at all, the roof and window sills were covered with snow, and it looked like an abandoned field house.

After Sherlock and Moody approached here, they silently drew out their wands at the same time.

"There's news from Kingsley that Crouch hasn't been to the Ministry of Magic for how long?" Sherlock asked in a deep voice.

Moody's magic prosthetic eye stared at the building in front of him, and it kept turning around.

"On December 23, he promoted the position of the third son of the Weasley family in the Ministry, made him the assistant to the director, and appointed most of the duties to him, and he has not appeared since then It's over. According to the Weasley kid, he's got a bad cold and needs to recuperate."

"It's been three days." Sherlock said softly, "He hasn't shown up for three days, so it's hard not to wonder what kind of state he is still in."

At this time, they had already walked to the small two-story building. The area of ​​the house was not large. Sherlock directly launched his control magic, and he could see the situation inside without entering the door.

"There's no one in there."

Moody's fake eyes were also turning all the time, and without hesitation, he waved his wand and opened the door of Crouch's house.

The door was not locked, and no protective measures were taken, so it was simply pushed open.

The scene inside the house was also revealed in front of them at this time.

The living room was in a mess, all kinds of furniture were violently overturned to the ground, and the stuffing in the pillows was scattered everywhere in the room. It was obvious that there had been a fierce conflict here.

Moody limped in. Instead of studying other things, he squatted on the ground and gently wiped the floating ash on the floor with his fingers.

"No one has been here for at least three months."

Sherlock also walked through the messy furniture. He walked to the fireplace with a clear goal, bent down, and picked up a dusty ring from an inconspicuous corner.

"Do you know this?" he asked Moody, holding up the ring.

Moody came closer, and he stared at the engraving on the ring, a strange bird with two heads.

"This is the family crouch of the Crouch family. It should be the family heirloom ring that old Batty often wears on his finger."

(End of this chapter)