When Harry, who had come along, saw Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge take that half-step backward, he could barely stand to watch.
Was that half-step retreat really serious?
Just then, Dumbledore reached out and stopped Sherlock.
He glanced somewhat helplessly at Sirius.
Looking at Sherlock's eager expression, if he didn't hold him back, Sherlock would probably actually punch Fudge.
That would certainly cause quite a scene.
Sure enough, when he saw Dumbledore stop Sherlock, a flash of regret passed through Sirius's eyes.
No entertainment for him now.
"Cornelius, I still hope you can summon both Barty Crouch senior and junior here," Dumbledore said, looking at Fudge with an amiable expression. "Some matters still need to be clarified face to face."
"Is that really necessary?" Fudge asked. Seeing Sherlock back down, he quietly breathed a sigh of relief. But after hearing Dumbledore's words, he frowned again. "Barty has already made arrangements with me. With him and other Ministry Aurors watching, young Crouch won't be able to cause any trouble..."
"I've already said that wouldn't be safe, because young Crouch might very well resist the Imperius Curse."
"Not only that," Sherlock suddenly spoke up, and immediately everyone's eyes turned toward him.
"I originally thought that under those circumstances, young Crouch would have been taken to the Ministry and kept under strict guard, but it seems that's not the case."
As soon as Fudge heard Sherlock speak, he frowned, ready to rebuke him that a student had no place speaking here. But Dumbledore immediately interjected, "Sherlock, are you saying they might make a move?"
Not long ago, Sherlock had already written to Dumbledore about Harry's dream.
So he immediately grasped Sherlock's meaning.
Ally, servant—once again it matched the prophecy!
"There's that possibility, and it's not a small one."
At these words, Dumbledore immediately became serious. "Cornelius, we must have both Barty Crouch senior and junior come here immediately! Rest assured, we merely want to ask them a few questions. If everything goes smoothly, we can proceed with your method."
"Very well..." With that last sentence as assurance, Fudge reluctantly agreed.
He looked toward Arthur Weasley, who without a word immediately turned and left the room.
In fact, Fudge hadn't initially intended to have Mr. Weasley handle this matter. But of the Ministry members who had been in the box, only Arthur Weasley and Ludo Bagman remained. Bagman was now representing him at Barty Crouch's side, so Arthur Weasley was his only available person. Moreover, Mr. Weasley had good relationships with Sherlock, Harry, and Sirius, which made him quite suitable for this task from that perspective.
"Dumbledore, you should be very clear," Fudge said in a warning tone during the wait for Mr. Weasley's return. "I don't want anything to affect it."
Dumbledore smiled slightly. "Cornelius, I'm even more aware of this than you. Don't forget, the Triwizard Tournament will be held at Hogwarts."
When Harry heard this name, his eyes immediately lit up.
That's right! Just before the Quidditch World Cup began, Ludo Bagman had already mentioned it briefly, though Barty Crouch had stopped him at the time. When the Weasley twins asked their father about it, he had been very mysterious.
Harry had actually been quite curious then, but it had been overshadowed by the imminent World Cup.
He never expected Dumbledore to just casually mention it now!
How should he put it?
It gave him the feeling of not understanding what it meant, but it sounded really impressive.
The question was... was this something that could be said?
"You actually said it out loud!" Sure enough, as soon as Fudge heard the name, he cried out, "This matter is confidential, Dumbledore. How could you say it!"
"Keeping it secret at this stage is actually meaningless..." Dumbledore shook his head. "There's only one week until the official start of term, and I'll announce this to the students at the opening feast."
"But that's still a whole week away!" Fudge said with dissatisfaction.
"Don't worry, Cornelius. If you think it necessary, I can have Sherlock and Harry keep it secret."
"Can they do that?"
"They've already done so more than once."
Seeing Dumbledore's resolute attitude, Fudge said nothing more.
However, he always felt that since last year's incident with Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew, Dumbledore seemed somewhat different from before.
He seemed to have become somewhat... firmer?
Strangely enough, in the past when Dumbledore expressed his complete lack of interest in the position of Minister of Magic, Fudge had always worried he would steal his position. Because he knew very well how he had obtained this position.
But now that Dumbledore's attitude had become firmer, he felt the opposite—that Dumbledore was unlikely to do such a thing.
A thought even vaguely arose from the depths of his mind: was he perhaps masochistic? Did he only feel comfortable when the other party took a hard line?
What followed was a rather boring waiting period.
During this time, both Dumbledore and Harry sat properly. Sirius and Sherlock, however, walked around, examining the Minister of Magic's office with great interest.
As they walked, they commented on the decorations, "This position isn't good. Putting it here doesn't coordinate at all."
"This table's colors are garish."
"This handwriting is truly ugly!"
Although it was mostly Sirius speaking, this still made Fudge very uncomfortable. But with Dumbledore present, and since the two kept talking but never actually touched anything, he ultimately endured it.
Never mind. Soon enough, when Barty Crouch expressed his loyalty, Dumbledore would understand that he was no longer the same as before. Even someone as powerful as Barty Crouch had fallen into his hands!
As for the fact that this leverage had been delivered into his hands entirely because of Sherlock—Fudge didn't take that to heart at all.
Just as Barty Crouch had misremembered Percy's surname from Weasley to Weatherby, Fudge paid no attention whatsoever to this "Holmes" person.
So what if he discovered the truth? As a student still attending magic school, cooperating with the Ministry's work was his duty!
Thinking this, Fudge simply picked up a cup of tea and sipped it slowly while blowing on it.
Just endure a little longer, just a little longer... soon it would feel good.
Just as Fudge frowned, wondering why notifying someone was taking so long, the office door was suddenly pushed open.
Mr. Weasley practically rushed in, and with him was his son Percy Weasley. The latter's nose was still bleeding.
Sherlock's gaze swept over the father and son, and he could see at a glance that Percy was doing this deliberately. As for Mr. Weasley, he had no attention for such details.
At the same time, from their behavior, Sherlock had already deduced what had just happened.
A cold smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.
The Ministry really never disappointed when it came to making people lose hope!
Seeing the Weasley father and son in this state, Fudge's heart couldn't help but thump, and an ominous premonition arose in his mind.
"A-Arthur, what happened?"
Please don't be bad news, please don't be bad news! Even if it is bad news, please don't let it be too bad!
Fudge prayed silently in his heart, but Mr. Weasley's words shattered his illusions.
"Suspected Death Eaters attacked the Muggles in the campsite. The Dark Mark appeared over the camp. Young Crouch has been abducted!"
"Bang!" The teacup in Fudge's hand fell to the ground. At that moment, his face was even paler than Percy's with his bleeding nose.
Yet he remained oblivious, staring straight at Mr. Weasley as if he couldn't believe what he'd heard.
"What did you say? Say that again!"
Mr. Weasley took a deep breath, then poured out everything he knew in one go.
Sherlock had discovered young Barty Crouch, who should have died but hadn't. This matter was too important, causing some Ministry employees, including Fudge and Arthur, to return early.
Shortly after they left, a group of strangely dressed wizards appeared at the campsite the Ministry had specially prepared for wizards.
They did something extremely vile.
These wizards wore hoods over their heads and masks over their faces, using magic to levitate several Muggles in the air, twisting them into all sorts of bizarre shapes.
Not only that, they also set fire to several tents, causing considerable chaos.
Their attire and behavior naturally identified them as what the Ministry considered supporters of Voldemort—Death Eaters.
They took pleasure in torturing Muggles, building their happiness on others' pain. Their moral character was corrupt, they had lost all ethical boundaries, and their actions were extremely vile!
Due to the sudden nature of the incident, the Ministry's emergency response plan wasn't adequate enough, and more than a decade of peaceful living had left the Ministry somewhat powerless in dealing with such emergencies.
Even Ministry family members like Bill, Charlie, and Percy joined the teams maintaining order.
Even so, they were still overwhelmed.
However, just when everyone was at their wits' end, this matter ended in a way no one had expected.
Someone had fired the Dark Mark over the campsite.
As the name suggests, the Dark Mark was the symbol of the Dark Lord and his supporters.
Its image was very distinctive.
An enormous skull composed of countless emerald-green star-like things, with a large serpent emerging from the skull's mouth like a tongue.
Under the gaze of countless wizards, the skull rose higher and higher, glowing brilliantly in a cloud of greenish smoke, looking like a new constellation against the pitch-black sky.
Setting aside its terrifying image, the appearance of the Dark Mark instantly changed the entire situation.
The suspected Death Eaters who had been torturing Muggles saw the Dark Mark appear and immediately Disapparated without a word, leaving the area one after another.
The chaos they had caused thus ended.
But greater chaos arose.
However, for the Ministry, they would have preferred to deal with that group of suspected Death Eater wizards.
If that were the case, the Ministry could publicly announce that only some Death Eaters hadn't yet been captured. This was normal.
After all, Voldemort had ruled the wizarding world for more than a decade during that dark period, so having some slip through the net was understandable.
But once the Dark Mark appeared, the nature of things completely changed.
Compared to Professor Trelawney's unreliable death omens, the Dark Mark was the true herald of death.
During the wizarding war, whenever Voldemort or his followers killed someone, they would display the Dark Mark in the sky.
During that time, the terror this mark brought was simply incomparable.
Wherever there was a Dark Mark, there was death.
But since Voldemort's disappearance, this mark had never appeared again.
A full thirteen years!
The reappearance of the Dark Mark after all this time brought shock beyond imagination.
From the fact that those Death Eaters fled as soon as they saw it, one could tell how terrifying it was.
More importantly, shortly after the Dark Mark appeared, the Ministry personnel who had been escorting young Barty Crouch back were ambushed.
The Auror escorting Crouch was knocked unconscious on the spot, and young Barty Crouch was abducted.
When Mr. Weasley learned this news, he was completely stunned and immediately returned to the Ministry with Percy.
At this moment, Fudge had no remaining trace of luck.
He seemed to have had his spine removed, staggering and collapsing into his ornate high-backed chair, his face as pale as bone powder in a cauldron.
Every sentence Mr. Weasley spoke made him feel suffocated. Young Barty Crouch had been abducted! And this was after the Dark Mark hung high and Death Eaters openly ravaged the campsite in chaos!
The office fell into dead silence, with only Fudge's heavy, rapid breathing.
Dumbledore still stood calmly, his deep blue eyes revealing no emotion. Sirius frowned tightly, while Sherlock and Harry exchanged a look that said "just as we thought."
Mr. Weasley's face was written with heartache, and only Percy stood with his head high and chest out, as if showing off something.
After a moment, Fudge suddenly raised his head, his eyes mixed with fear and a kind of humiliation from being harshly slapped by reality.
He waved his trembling finger and asked, "Who? Who was escorting young Crouch?"
Mr. Weasley sighed. "John Dawlish."
"What an absolute fool!" Fudge couldn't help shouting. "Why would he escort young Crouch alone?"
"Minister, we were short-handed everywhere at the time," Percy interjected, saying in a boastful tone, "My nose was also broken in battle by those Death Eaters..."
You can read more than 40 chapters on:
patreon.com/MikeyMuse