Let’s not mention the story of Harry’s trio for now.
Old Barty left the school hospital at midnight. At this time, Hogwarts Castle was under curfew, and no one was seen. Little Barty, the only one who had mastered the Marauder's Map, had also relaxed his vigilance and been injured. Because he fell asleep, no one discovered the whereabouts of old Batty.
The next difficulty is how to get in touch with the young Malfoy. He was also a member of Slytherin House. He knew the location of the Slytherin common room, but he couldn't get in without the password. If he mistakenly touched some warning magic and attracted the professors, it would be more costly than gain.
There was no hesitation in his eyes, but a shrewd look flashed from time to time.
Since the young Malfoy had planned to restore his memory at 12 midnight, he would not have failed to think of this.
"Can this be... a test of my ability?" This ridiculous thought flashed through old Batty's mind, as if he suddenly became a young man who had just entered society, and Schelling was a newbie. The scheming old guy asked, "If I couldn't even think of this, wouldn't my own value be significantly reduced in Malfoy's eyes?" Thinking of this, the mood of old Barty, who is used to seeing wind and rain, was like that. , and couldn't help but feel a chill.
Old Barty calmed down and silently came to the entrance of the Slytherin common room.
Sure enough, he had just arrived about ten steps away from the entrance, and the stone wall at the entrance to the Slytherin common room automatically opened from the inside.
The person standing at the door was none other than the platinum-haired boy, Sherlyn Malfoy. There was a calm and peaceful smile on his face, as if he had anticipated Old Batty's arrival.
Xie Lin naturally knew the purpose of Old Batty's visit.
The new memory that suddenly popped up in Old Batty's mind was his masterpiece. Not only that, he also used the absolute dominance to rewrite Old Batty's inner personality, and brought his ambitions and desires that had been deeply buried in the past to the extreme of family love. The impact of disappointment was dug out again and sprouted.
In fact, part of what Ron deduced last night was correct. Although Xie Lin did not direct or act the attacker, Xie Lin caused so much trouble. Naturally, it was not because he was full and had nothing to do. , his goal is just as Ron speculated——
It's Barty Crouch Sr.
Old Batty is a man who is resourceful, ambitious, capable, courageous, shrewd and courageous in making decisions. He is a useful talent. Judging from his ability to resist the Imperius Curse planted by Voldemort himself, as well as the Oblivion Curse he cast on Bertha Jorkins, his magic level is not low, and he also has a quite strong personality. strength. This was what Xie Lin valued most about him - his talent. In comparison, his status as the head of the pure-blood family and his position as director of the International Cooperation Department were just icing on the cake.
Xie Lin looked at the alchemy watch on his wrist. After he improved this watch, many functions were added to it.
The dial of the watch originally had twelve hands and various stars rotating along the edge of the dial. Xie Lin just lightly swept the watch mirror with his finger, and there was no magic seen on his part. The picture on the dial suddenly changed——
There are still twelve hands, but each hand is engraved with a name——
Daphne Greengrass, Maury McDougal, Astoria Greengrass, Luna Lovegood, Cho Chang, Susan Bones, Draco Malfoy, Lu Hughes Malfoy, Narcissa Malfoy, Dobby, Silverfang, Barty Crouch Jr.
The edge of the dial is no longer a variety of stars, but descriptions of different states or behaviors.
At this moment, most of the hands are pointing to the "sleeping" state, including Barty Crouch Jr. That's why Schelling looked at his watch.
After defeating and capturing Barty Jr. with a stun spell in the Forbidden Forest, Schelling first modified Barty Jr.'s memory, and then buried the "suppression" command in his mind, which would make him feel very tired. , drowsy, and then put him back to continue to act as his Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. According to Schelling's prediction, at this point in time, the instructions in Barty's mind should have been activated, and logically speaking, he should have fallen into a deep sleep.
But Schelling, who was cautious by nature, never did anything he was unsure of. He knew that little Barty had the Marauder's Map, and most of the secret passages in Hogwarts, including the secret passages on the fifth floor, could not be hidden from him. So he had to make sure that little Barty was really asleep at this moment.
Almost all the pointers were pointing as he expected, which made him relieved. There were only two people who exceeded his expectations and surprised him——
Luna and Susan's pointers were pointing at the item "Practice Magic." Are you still practicing magic after 12 midnight? What an effort!
Regardless of why Luna and Susan are working so hard, let's focus on the meeting between Schelling and Old Barty!
Sherrin put his finger on his lips and made a silent gesture. Although all the humans in Hogwarts had fallen asleep, it did not mean that the meeting between the two of them was absolutely secret. The portraits, statues, armor, and ghosts in the castle may all become Dumbledore's spies.
Xie Lin first cast an invisible phantom spell and a silent spell on the two of them, and then quietly directed Old Barty and him to slowly walk towards the secret mirror passage on the fifth floor. The two walked through the mirror and walked all the way to the secret room on the underground floor of the Miracle Alchemy Workshop, and then unlocked the invisibility magic.
"Sir, have you made your decision?" Xie Lin sacrificed his sleep time all night, not wanting to waste too much time here, so he got straight to the point.
Old Barty fully understood what Schelling meant. He was asking himself whether he was willing to represent all the forces of the Crouch family and join Schelling's camp and follow his lead. Since he had already made a decision when he was in the school hospital, he would not regret it now. He nodded and said, "I have a condition..."
"You want me to kill your son?" It was not difficult for Xie Lin to guess what he meant.
Old Barty frowned at first. To be honest, he was a little frightened by Xie Lin's ability to see into people's hearts. This boy really didn't look like a teenager. In a way, he was more like the Dark Lord who was good at manipulating people's hearts. But then he quickly relaxed his frown. The more powerful Xie Lin was, the more beneficial this bet would be to him. At this moment, he was even more determined to follow Xie Lin.
"Yes," he said in a deep voice, with no emotion in his tone, as if he was discussing not killing his son, but an animal, "As long as we can kill him, we can erase this secret of mine from the world. , on behalf of the Crouch family and all the affiliated families, I would like to swear allegiance to you, even by making a magic contract."
"Okay." Xie Lin readily agreed, "Then what are your plans now? The mysterious man is still in Crouch Mansion, right? It's not safe for you to go back."
Old Batty thought for a while and asked, "Is this your safe house?"
"No, this is one of my peripheral strongholds. It is specially used for the students who follow me to gather here and practice magic. It is mainly because of the convenience of this location. Because of the existence of the secret passage, the forces inside and outside the school can be here. To make contact, it is actually a stronghold that can be abandoned at any time. If you want to stay here, I have to put a shielding spell on your name to prevent others from using owls to find you."
Xie Lin thought for a while and said, "I have a real safe house outside the school. It's no problem if you want to hide there. The highest level of defensive magic has been cast there, so even a mysterious person can't find you."
What Xie Lin was thinking about was the Ella cabin he inherited from his grandmother. He had cast the most complete "Loyalty Curse" there. If old Barty hid there and never came out, no one would be able to find him. .
Old Barty pondered for a while. If he were replaced by Karkaroff, who was timid and afraid of death, he would immediately agree without even thinking about it, as if he was afraid that Schelling would suddenly regret it. However, Old Batty didn’t think so——
Although old Batty lost his ambition after experiencing the pain of losing his wife. But he did not get back up. From the fact that he still holds the power of the head of a department and takes his work a little too seriously, it can be seen that deep down in his heart, he still has an inseparable attachment to powerful causes.
When he was working at the Ministry of Magic, he was not just dawdling around. Instead, he was as clear as a mirror to everything around him. At that time, he was frustrated with chasing power and felt that it was no longer important to him. Since the matter has nothing to do with me, I just don't bother to pay attention to it.
During the summer vacation last year, on the day when Schelling was awarded the Order of Merlin, Third Class, in the Wizengamot, Fudge's prestige was greatly damaged by the Black escape incident. Fudge tried to win over Schelling to get close to the Ministry of Magic and improve the Ministry of Magic. His image in the eyes of the public is just like the way he used Dumbledore's banner to finally elect the Minister of Magic. Old Batty knew this.
Later, Schelling took this opportunity to visit the Ministry of Magic from time to time, talking to and asking questions from the staff of each department. On the surface, he was studying and understanding the operations of the Ministry of Magic, but in fact, he used Amelia Bones Using Rufus Scrimgeour as a bridge, he began to establish contacts in the Ministry of Magic, and used various coercion and inducement methods to build a close and broad interest alliance.
That kid Fudge probably doesn't know what kind of being he has introduced to the Ministry of Magic, and he is still having a silly time just to improve his image!
On the contrary, Old Barty, who was far away from the center of power and watched with cold eyes, succeeded in gaining a clear view of the situation. He watched Schelling infiltrate one department after another. Several departments suddenly had small but frequent personnel changes. First, the captain of the Law Enforcement Reconnaissance Team suddenly changed, and then the intelligence chief of the Auror Logistics Force. Then there are the two directors of the Animal Branch and the Alien Branch of the Department of Biological Management and Control...
He knew that behind Xie Lin, there was more than just a Malfoy family.
According to what he observed at the Ministry of Magic, he was more than 90% sure that the Bones family, the Wankanda family, the Osbot family, the Runcorn family, and the McLaggen family had already stood behind Schelling. . This does not include those high-ranking officials in the Ministry of Magic whose families are unknown but who personally hold real power, such as Rufus Scrimgeour, Arnold Peacegood, Bernie Pillsworth, and Bertie Seager. Si and so on.
As for the forces outside the Ministry of Magic, he is also the head of one of the 28 holy pure-blood families and has his own intelligence network. Although he is not keen on hanging out with those supporters of pure-blood supremacy, it does not mean that he has no interaction with them at all.
He had long heard that the Greengrass family and the Nott family had an extraordinary relationship with Schelling. He can also be sure that it is definitely not just these two families who have secretly made friends with Xie Lin.
It can be seen that Schelling has no shortage of allies and followers. What he lacks and desires is just—
Talent.
Excellent people.
Talents who can do things for him.
Not just mediocre people who make up numbers for the sake of momentum.
Old Barty can be sure that if he so easily agrees to the suggestion of hiding in a safe house, then his evaluation in Schelling's heart will most likely drop by at least one rating, or it may be worse, and he will lose the value of being recruited by him. .
