Chinese students at Hogwarts.

"Ding, first floor, the Office of the Minister of Magic."

The elevator stopped, and many paper airplanes flew in eagerly.

Dumbledore observed that there were obviously many more paper airplanes now than in Fudge's time.

There are many people entering and exiting the elevator, none of them is holding many things in their hands, and even their walking pace has accelerated.

The first floor is still so quiet, and the soft carpet absorbs the sound of footsteps very well.

Dumbledore walked slowly and soon arrived at the Office of the Minister of Magic.

To his surprise, the luxurious wooden door was not closed as tightly as it had been when Fudge had been there.

Instead, it was wide open, and paper airplanes flew out from inside from time to time. Looking in through the door, the huge wooden table purchased by Fudge was cluttered with all kinds of messy documents.

Barty Crouch was pouting and writing something vigorously on the parchment.

This is a completely different working situation from Fudge.

Dumbledore sighed. In fact, he had always believed that Barty was the most suitable to be the Minister of Magic, and everyone agreed so.

I just didn't expect that Barty Crouch Jr. would completely nail his father to the pillar of shame, and now he has become one of the most difficult problems for Voldemort.

He knocked on the door beside him.

The sound of "tuk-tuk-tuk" made Crouch raise his head. He was a little dazed and seemed to be still immersed in busy work. It took him a while to react.

He hurriedly dropped his quill and came forward with both enthusiasm and confusion:

"Albus? What brought you here? Could it be that something happened to the Super Goblet of Fire?"

Dumbledore smiled gently:

"No, the Super Goblet of Fire competition is a success and is in full swing. Barty, your vision is becoming a reality. The little wizards are now very motivated.

The atmosphere in the school has also changed a lot. Our librarian, Mrs. Pince, told me that she had never seen so many young wizards in the library who were serious about studying. "

A satisfied smile appeared on Batty's somewhat haggard face:

“That’s really great.

Come, take a seat, my old friend. It must be something very important to bring you to my place. "

Dumbledore sat on his seat, looking at Barty's swollen face, deep bags under his eyes, and his efforts to hold himself together, he felt suddenly unbearable.

Although the wizarding world seems calm, both he and Barty understand that this is just the calm before the storm.

Voldemort was hiding, and even though the Ministry of Magic and the Order of the Phoenix tried their best, no clues were found.

This abnormal phenomenon worried both of them.

Once Voldemort appears again, he must be fully prepared.

Barty had been working toward that moment.

But even so.

Dumbledore sighed softly again:

"Barty, although I really don't want to tell you this, but I think you shouldn't hide it from me."

Batty's hand holding the cup stopped for a moment, and he said with a smile:

"Hide it from you? Albus, you really have a problem.

For the sake of an old friend, give me some tips. I'm so busy that I can't even touch the ground. "

Dumbledore looked at him, with extremely complicated emotions in his blue eyes, and said softly:

"Your son. Barty Crouch Jr."

Barty's smile disappeared, and he just held the water glass and placed it by the water, looking at Dumbledore silently.

Dumbledore even noticed that his hand holding the water glass was shaking a little.

"Did you - did you still find out? I knew it. I knew it." Barty's eyes were a little red, and his swollen cheeks twitched due to overwork. It was a kind of extreme loss and sadness.

Barty put down the water glass in his hand and suddenly took out a bottle of wine from under the table:

"Redcurrant rum, Fudge's favorite. I found it in a secret compartment under my desk. Would you like a drink?"

Dumbledore wanted to refuse, but looking at Barty's appearance, he said slowly:

“Then let’s have a drink”

The wine was rippling in the crystal glass, carrying the unique spiciness and aroma of red currant rum. Barty picked up the wine glass and took a sip. He stared blankly at the exquisite chandelier on the top of the room.

"I knew that one day, sooner or later, that damn traitor would bring my reputation into disrepute!"

Turbid tears slipped silently from Badi's old face. He sniffed and said with a rich nasal voice:

"Dumbledore, I made a big mistake, a big, big mistake!"

Dumbledore took a sip of rum and said nothing. He also knew that he didn't need to say anything now. Barty only needed a listener at the moment.

Sure enough, Crouch didn't care about Dumbledore's reaction at all. He looked into the distant distance and murmured:

"Although I think my son should spend the rest of his life in Azkaban. After all, he did such evil things and he deserved it.

But my wife doesn’t think so. She is about to die and has been begging me bitterly to save our child, otherwise she will not find peace even if she dies.

Yes, she doted on little Barty so much, and it was her doting that brought little Barty to the situation she was in back then.

But I relented - you know, Albus, I couldn't look at my wife's thin, shapeless face, look her in the eyes and say 'no'! "

"I can understand, Barty. In fact, I think this is one of the greatest human emotions. The love of parents for their children will not disappear just because the children are willing. It is always there."

Dumbledore thought about his past. He once complained about everything and felt that Arianna's poor health was dragging him down, but it was not until later that he realized how wrong his thinking was.

So Dumbledore never thought that Barty shouldn't do such a thing. When emotions and reason go against each other, how many people can distinguish everything perfectly?

But this was wrong after all. Dumbledore was not prepared to judge Barty for his crimes immediately. He wanted to find out where little Barty was going first.

"What then, Barty?"

"I have been using the Imperius Curse to control him. When I was at work, I asked the house elf Sparkle to take care of little Barty. I broke his wand, thinking that this would stabilize him. I wanted to make him confused. to survive.

Everything was fine at first, my Imperius Curse was very effective, and the elf was very loyal, but one day—"

Barty continued to drink a large gulp of red currant rum, and the wine dripped down his well-trimmed beard, but Crouch, who always cared about image the most, ignored it at all. He seemed unaware. Continued:

“I wanted to ask Twinkle to send a document to Susan for me that day, but no matter how I called, Twinkle didn’t show up, which immediately made me alert.

I cautiously did not return home, but went to observe nearby, and sure enough I found some sneaky figures. Even from a distance, I could smell the rancid smell of Death Eaters! "