Chapter 237 - 237 Buddy Crouch

Chapter 237: Chapter 237 Buddy Crouch

Crouch still had a bit of bewilderment lingering on his face, but when he heard Dracula's question, he remained steady with his usual quick-witted reflexes.

"I don't know why you would ask such a question, Professor Dracula." His face quickly regained its composure, and he even had time to ask back, "Not only that, but I'm curious as to why it was you who was the first to arrive on the scene after the black magic marker appeared."

"As far as I know, tracking down black wizards who violate the law should have been the job of the Ministry of Magic. For this kind of emergencies, we can't use a Hogwarts professor to intervene."

"Mr. Crouch, your question makes no sense." Dracula sneered, "As a professor of Defense Against Black Magic, isn't it normal for me to come to the scene to investigate when I see traces of black magic?"

"What's more, those who helped maintain order at the scene just now weren't all from your Ministry of Magic, I saw Bill and Charlie from the Weasley family and many other wizards contributing their share, yet I didn't see any of you refusing their help."

The light flowed in Dracula's eyes and he gazed coldly into Crouch's eyes.

"It doesn't take a great deal of expertise to maintain order at the scene, but the Dark Mark is different, and every wizard who comes near here is suspect." Crouch said with the same cold face.

"As the director of the Department of International Magical Exchange and Cooperation, as well as the former director of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, I have the ability, as well as the obligation, to come and arrest the suspects. But you are different, not only will a non-professional not be of any help, they may even damage the scene!"

"That's quite a good reason." Dracula snorted, "So, Mr. Crouch, tell us exactly what you saw when you came to the scene. As the first person to come here, you should have found something, right?"

As a matter of fact, the reason why Dracula was skeptical of this Director of the Department of International Magical Exchange and Cooperation was also because his efficiency in arriving at the scene was just too high.

Dracula had originally stayed near the group of Death Eaters led by Lucius Malfoy, always ready to control the scene and clean up the situation, while at the same time, incidentally protecting Lucius, such a pawn that he had placed by Voldemort's side, from being easily captured by the Ministry of Magic's people.

And the sudden appearance of the black magic mark in the night sky was completely unplanned -

Lucius' group of Death Eaters actually didn't want to completely expose their identity, but just wanted to make certain movements to show Voldemort, who was now hiding somewhere, that they hadn't forgotten the glory and prestige of the Death Eaters as an organization, so that they could have some backbone when they were summoned by Voldemort again.

However, the dark magic mark completely sort of tore their masks apart, making everyone present realize the true identity of the troublemaking gang.

In this way, the employees of the Ministry of Magic would definitely increase their efforts to arrest them, and several purebloods such as Lucius who held a tacit agreement with the Ministry of Magic would also be questioned and suspected.

Because of this, the first moment Dracula saw the black magic mark that appeared in the night sky, he phantom shifted to the scene. Yet he found no dark wizard here, only a Barty Crouch standing frozen in place.

Then there were only two possibilities left:

One was that the wizard who had cast the black magic marker was Barty Crouch; the other was that Crouch was standing in a nearby place not far away before the black magic marker rose into the air.

If it was the latter case, Crouch was bound to have found something.

"I do have something to discover." Crouch nodded resolutely, "There was indeed a figure standing in my position before the Black Demon Marker was cast, and I was not far away from the vicinity at the time, and clearly heard that his voice, though somewhat hoarse in disguise, was still young overall."

"Is that so?" Dracula frowned slightly, his gaze on Crouch deepening, "Then how come Mr. Crouch didn't capture the dark wizard?"

"He was so cautious that he didn't even bother to look at the mark in the sky after the spell was recited, and immediately phantom shifted away from the spot." Crouch shook his head and said, "Although I had come quickly, I was still a little bit short."

Just after the words were said, Crouch suddenly felt a sudden pain in his brow, as if images were about to emerge from the middle of his mind.

He subconsciously closed his eyes and his face sank.

"Professor Dracula, are you using Regard for Thought on a Ministry of Magic official?" Crouch sternly questioned, "Do you realize what you are actually doing?!"

"Empty words, Mr. Crouch." Dracula laughed softly, "You don't want to slander someone's innocence out of thin air."

Crouch opened his eyes again, his face a little hard to see.

"His son was a Death Eater?" Dracula suddenly hooked the corners of his mouth, a rakish look on his face.

"Was." Mr. Weasley corrected, "Buddy Sr. himself pronounced his son guilty and locked him up inside Azkaban for life. Then Barty Crouch Jr. died in prison."

"Already dead?" Dracula's brow furrowed again.

"Professor Dracula, just stop doubting Barty Sr. There's no way he's a Death Eater." Mr. Weasley said helplessly, "He has too much Death Eater blood on his hands for even Voldemort to accept his subservience anymore."

...

Meanwhile, a group of figures in black robes, hoods and masks sat around the parlor of Malfoy Manor.

This parlor had again gone from a brightly lit décor to dim and gloomy, as if it couldn't afford to light a lamp.

Every now and then, an occasional apparition or two of similarly costumed wizards would move into the parlor and take their seats.

Only when all the seats were filled did the wizard sitting in the top seat speak in a cold voice.

"Admit it to yourself, which fool released the Black Magic Marker?" The man slowly removed the mask from his face, revealing Lucius' pale visage as he scanned everyone present in exasperation.

"I remember I made it clear before the operation not to do anything that might reveal our identities to prevent attracting the attention of the Ministry of Magic." Lucius said coldly, "We're here to have something to say in front of our master in the future, not to attract Aurora to come and capture us!"

"Lucius, don't be so serious, it's not like no one has been arrested!" A Death Eater next to him patted Lucius' shoulder with a big grin.

"From the looks of it no one did get caught." Lucius' fist slammed heavily on the tabletop, "But that's only because I found a powerful wizard in advance to look after us for a moment or two, if he wasn't there, we would've long since been captured by those people from the Ministry of Magic!"

That Death Eater couldn't speak.

Even if he was even more obtuse, he could see that there was indeed a powerful existence secretly helping them before.

However, at this time there was another Death Eater who was dissatisfied.

"Lucius, we didn't agree to you being the leader because we were convinced, it's just that you were the first one to propose this operation-" he said in a conspiratorial manner, "So don't put up that leadership in front of us! I don't like it!"

"If you don't like it, you can be the leader yourself, Yaxley!" Lucius responded with a sneer, "I'm finding out what's wrong now, and finding out just who's not following orders."

"No one is not following arrangements, Lucius, and none of us here are fools!" Yaxley stood up with a fierce slap on the table and pointed at the Death Eaters present, "Haven't you noticed? Everyone here gathered together when the Black Demon Marker rose into the air!"

"That's impossible!" Lucius retorted flatly, "If everyone was there, then who cast the Black Magic Mark? Is it hard to believe that those officials from the Ministry of Magic put it there?!"

Just at this moment, another Death Eater suddenly raised his hand to interrupt the arguing two.

"You guys, could there be other fellow Death Eaters drifting around undetected?" He asked thoughtfully, "Is it possible that he's in the middle of some sort of predicament and cast the Black Magic Mark just to make contact with us?"

Lucius and Yaxley both froze.

"Or what if that person casting the Black Demon Mark is simply the Black Demon Lord who has yet to completely recover ..."

The air steeply quieted down.

The Death Eaters present unanimously thought of their actions of immediately choosing to flee away when they saw the Black Demon Mark.

Everyone's mood suddenly sank to the bottom.