Chapter 321 The Past

"I think that even if I neglected to teach him, I have always instilled the right ideas in him. It was his own choice to go the other way in the end. I can't blame anyone. He might blame me and think it was all my fault. This is also the immature part of his thinking. He just thinks about what he has lost and never wants to get."

"But I always owe Kate."

"When I was young, I was busy with work. Even when my child was just born, I didn't spend even a day at home with her. We don't have a wedding anniversary, no candlelight dinner, no romantic memories, but she still has no complaints."

"When I was promoted to the director of the Execution Department and publicly issued a statement of resistance to Voldemort, she was already in danger. Those inhumane thugs tried countless times to threaten me to compromise by kidnapping her, and they succeeded several times."

"But she never gave in, nor did she weakly ask me to save her, even once."

When he said this, Crouch had already grabbed his hair in pain.

"At the most dangerous moment, the Death Eater's wand was already against her head, and she just smiled and told me to work hard, take good care of little Barty, and not to be sad about her death."

"I love her, so I feel even more sorry for her. So I couldn't refuse this last wish before her death, even if it betrayed what I had always insisted on."

"I did as she said, went to Azkaban in the name of visiting the prison, and then turned her into little Barty in prison, and then turned little Barty into her, completing the replacement, personally sending my wife to death, and saving my son who had gone astray."

"But even if little Barty came out, he still didn't have loyalty to Voldemort. Reduced. He treated that man as his own father, and after he came out of Azkaban, he was determined to find him again. I had no other choice but to use the Imperius Curse to keep him at home and let the house elves take care of him. "

"It was Kate's last wish to take good care of him. I can only hope that Voldemort will never come back, and little Barty will eventually accept this reality. "

"However, the result of the matter finally proved that I was wrong. "

"His expression had become numb. In the office, Dumbledore, Sherlock and Moody did not disturb him, and just listened quietly to him telling the story of the old man who almost became the Minister of Magic.

"No spell can erase Barty's loyalty to Voldemort. His willpower is extremely strong, but he disguised himself more and more later, making me think that he had really come out of his past self. Then, in order to relax him, I asked the house elf to secretly take him to watch the Quidditch World Cup."

"Then something happened."

Cock Crouch raised his head and turned his gaze to Sherlock. His eyes were complicated, with hatred, relief, uneasiness, and relief.

"You should all know what happened that time. Professor Forrest should have told you everything he did. Barty took this opportunity to reconnect with Voldemort's people, but in the end he was discovered and Forrest killed him. He also told me the news at the scene that day."

"I should thank you for not saying this on the spot. At least it saved my reputation that actually doesn't matter." He said to Sherlock decadently.

Everyone present tightened their breath slightly. They knew that Crouch was going to get to the crux of the matter now.

"After the World Cup, I returned home and several uninvited guests came to my house. I know all of them. They were all wizards who had worked for Voldemort and later used connections and bribes to get rid of their crimes. The most notorious one was Jugson."

"They told me that little Barty was not dead and was now with them. He missed his father and wanted to meet me."

"Such a clumsy lie certainly couldn't fool me. I already knew in my heart that Forrest didn't lie to me. He really killed little Barty with his own hands."

"I tried to involve them first, and then send a message to the Ministry of Magic to wait for reinforcements, but they didn't give me such a chance at all. They directly controlled me and used the Imperius Curse."

"After the Quidditch World Cup, all you saw of me were the ones who had been imperfected."

When he said this, Dumbledore asked softly.

"Is Harry's name in the Goblet of Fire that they controlled you to throw into it?"

Crouch shook his head.

"It wasn't me. After Jugson and his men had taken my soul, they had been asking me to plan one thing from the beginning to the end." He looked at Sherlock again, "Kill Forrest and take his body back."

"That day in the Forbidden Forest, I was the one who summoned the fire dragon and attacked Forrest, but after the failure of that operation, I had already started to fight against the soul-stealing on my body. Jugson and his men also noticed that something was wrong with me. When I was still barely under their control, they asked me to hand over all the work to Percy, and then privately tried to control me again."

Sherlock couldn't help but frown. Crouch's words were completely different from what he had guessed before.

"From beginning to end, you only did that one thing?"

Crouch said calmly.

"I'm willing to accept Dumbledore's Legilimency, or drink Veritaserum and talk everything over again."

Dumbledore shook his head.

"There's no need for this. We believe what you say."

Moody's hoarse voice also sounded.

"They separated the two things."

Sherlock and Dumbledore's eyes turned to him.

"Killing Sherlock and dealing with Harry were handed over to different people by the mysterious man. After his soul was taken away, Barty was responsible for Sherlock, and for Harry..." He said this intentionally There was a pause, "I think it's the guy we've been suspecting."

Dumbledore and Sherlock naturally knew who the person he was talking about was tacitly aware of, but without the use of strong methods, the existing evidence could not accuse him at all.

Dumbledore looked at Crouch again.

"I want to know, during the time when your soul was stolen, did you ever see the current Voldemort with your own eyes?"

Crouch drank the hot cocoa in his cup and shook his head.

"No, the only people who have been in contact with me are Gargson and the others, but from their words, I can confirm that Voldemort is planning a comeback!"