Crouch's disappearance was finally revealed a few days later.
On the cover of the Daily Prophet, Rita Skeeter published an article with her usual style of sensational headlines——
"Shocking! Employees of the Ministry of Magic are missing one after another, and even the Director is inevitable! Is the Ministry still capable of protecting the safety of the people?"
Even Fudge, the Minister of Magic, had tried his best to suppress the situation.
If the outside world knew that a senior official at the director level of the Ministry of Magic was missing, the impact of the Quidditch World Cup riots that he had finally managed to deal with would be brought up again by the public. He mobilized a large amount of human resources from the Ministry of Magic, but could not find any clues.
In fact, as early as a few months ago, Crouch often took frequent vacations due to physical discomfort, and the entire Ministry of Magic had not seen him for several months.
He gave remote instructions to his personal assistant, Percy Weasley, on matters in the ministry via letters sent by owl. Percy, who was fascinated by the desire for power, did not raise any suspicion at all. Instead, he regarded this as Crouch's respect for him and giving him a chance to hone his skills, so Crouch's disappearance was never discovered.
When Dumbledore saw the news, he was also puzzled.
It’s clear behind Crouch’s case that it’s extremely complicated——
He is obviously a workaholic. After he fired the house elf at the Quidditch World Cup, his physical condition suddenly deteriorated very obviously. He had less and less time to work, and he handed over more and more things to young and inexperienced people. Percy Weasley's treatment, which obviously does not fit with his character in Dumbledore's mind.
According to Harry, Crouch came all the way to Hogwarts because he had something important to ask of him. Moreover, he was already incoherent and confused at the time, but he still remembered that he must tell himself in person.
When he actually saw himself, he didn't remember anything. He only remembered taking a nap and running to Hogwarts. This thing looks weird no matter how you look at it.
Dumbledore highly doubted that his memory had been altered, but—
With his mastery of memory magic, he was unable to detect any clues when he made eye contact with Crouch. Crouch's memory was coherent, with no gaps, no abruptness, or any inconsistency. Although it was a bit arrogant to say this, Dumbledore did not believe that there was really someone in this world who could modify a person's memory to this extent, so seamlessly that he could not see any flaws at all.
You must know that "cracking and restoring memory magic" and "seeing the flaws in memory magic" are two different things.
If someone can modify the memory to the point where he cannot crack it and extract the real memory, it is not impossible. For example, Slahoen in the original work can do it. But if you want to make the modified memory so that he can't see any problems, it will be really difficult to convince him. Even the world-famous Grindelwald and Voldemort couldn't do it.
Originally, he planned to leave Crouch to stay in Hogwarts to recuperate, so that he could have more time to observe and investigate. He also specially arranged for Ms. Pomfrey to take care of him. Unexpectedly, it only took a few When he was young, Crouch disappeared mysteriously, and Madam Pomfrey was hit by a very powerful forgetting spell and could not remember anything.
He watched Crouch enter the school hospital with his own eyes, and he did not forget to personally cast his most powerful defensive magic and warning magic around the school hospital, including the entrance door and every window. Even if Voldemort in his prime came in person, it would be impossible to kidnap Crouch without alerting him.
As a result, neither alert magic nor defensive magic was triggered. Crouch mysteriously disappeared from the school hospital, as if his whole body evaporated into air, leaving no trace.
Madam Pomfrey was unable to tell him any useful information. Even because of her mental damage, she took a long leave to recuperate, so as not to become confused and forgetful after being left behind.
The school hospital at Hogwarts could not operate without a licensed therapist, so Dumbledore had to run around a lot these days. He finally persuaded a retired therapist to temporarily replace Madam Pomfrey. position.
During this period, Dumbledore also tried to investigate the mystery of Crouch's disappearance, but no matter whether it was portraits, armor, statues, or ghosts, he could not give any useful information.
The most amazing thing is that Apparition cannot be performed within the scope of Hogwarts, and using the Floo Network in the furnace in the castle requires his authority as the principal. How Crouch disappeared from Hogwarts without anyone noticing, Dumbledore really had no clue.
Therefore, although Dumbledore knew that Crouch was last seen in Hogwarts, he did not plan to announce it to the media to excuse Fudge until he solved the mystery of Crouch's disappearance. Anyway, if you have to say it, Fudge is also responsible for Crouch's matter. On the surface, Fudge and Crouch are harmonious colleagues, but in fact, who doesn't know the dirty things that Fudge secretly squeezed out and suppressed Crouch.
This time, let Fudge take the blame.
Speaking of Fudge, he was no fool. In the beginning, he was still very responsible. He did his best to send many people from the Ministry of Magic to find Crouch's whereabouts. But as time passed, he began to feel tired. Why should he take the blame? ? The Ministry of Magic is so big, should he be brought to trial for every missing employee?
of course not.
Fudge used his trick——
Throw the blame.
In other words, find someone unlucky to take the blame.
Crouch's personal assistant, Percy Weasley, was the unlucky man.
Not only was he suspended for investigation, he was also arrested as the number one suspect.
Now, the media is full of voices questioning the Weasley family, suspecting that Arthur Weasley has begun to fight for power in order to realize his illusory ideal of peaceful coexistence with Muggles. Percy, as his most outstanding son, was exactly the pawn he had laid out for the Ministry of Magic. The current revelation of Crouch's disappearance was nothing more than proof of an accidental leak of information in his plan.
In an instant, the reputation of the Weasley family changed from an unknown and low-income family to a thorn in everyone's side. Families that have always been good friends with them, such as the Prewett family, the Longbottom family, and the Diggory family, have also begun to draw a clear line with them and keep a distance from them, fearing that they will be affected by this public opinion storm.
Although it was Fudge's own idea to shift the blame, he did not expect that the public opinion would be so fierce. Naturally, there are people behind the scenes who are fueling all this.
That person is naturally the protagonist of this book, the second young master of the Malfoy family, Sherrin Malfoy.
After Barnabas Guffey, the editor-in-chief of the Daily Prophet, established a connection with Schelling through the Slug Club of his former nobleman Horace Slughorn, the Daily Prophet also fully moved towards Schelling's camp. Coupled with the influence of the Medieval Wizards' Union in the media world, Schelling can make public opinion develop in the direction he wants with just one sentence, confuse right and wrong, manipulate public opinion, and incite public opinion.
Schelling may have owed Dumbledore a favor and did not want to break up with him directly, but this does not mean that the conflict between Schelling and him will disappear. The two of them were not in the same camp from beginning to end——
There can only be one White Devil in this world.
If Schelling couldn't deal with Dumbledore himself, couldn't he attack his members of the Order of the Phoenix?
This time, even with Dumbledore protecting them, the Weasley family would have to strain their muscles and bones, and the family's already small savings would have to be reduced by half. As for social fame and the like, haha.
