Chapter 280 - 280 Pensieve

Chapter 280: Chapter 280 Pensieve

"Little Barty..." Dumbledore narrowed his eyes and recalled, "He is a very good student... Well, he is somewhat similar to Tom back then."

"But there are many differences between the two. Tom has been thoughtful since he was a child, and he is also good at acting and deceiving others..."

"Little Barty is different. He was originally just a good student like Percy Weiss... But from a certain period of time, he became more and more taciturn and more and more withdrawn."

Dumbledore stroked the lid of the teapot, and a bit of sadness appeared in his eyes.

"Why, did something happen in the middle?" Dracula asked curiously.

"To be precise, those things have been happening all the time." Dumbledore corrected, "Professor Dracula, you should have known that when Little Barty was in school, it was the period when Voldemort and the Death Eaters were most active."

Dracula nodded gently.

"At that time, both the Ministry of Magic and the Order of the Phoenix were under considerable pressure, and the then Director of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, Barty Crouch Sr., certainly shouldered the greatest burden." Dumbledore sighed and introduced to Dracula.

"It was precisely because of this kind of thing that Barty Sr. was busy presiding over the overall situation and neglected his son for a long time... coupled with Mrs. Crouch's over-indulgence in her child, that eventually led to such a tragedy."

"Is this another cliché story of a child who lacks love and then turns evil and joins the enemy camp?" Dracula tutted.

He raised his hand and sucked a piece of plasma chocolate on Dumbledore's desk and stuffed it into his mouth.

"I've seen a lot of this kind of thing, and I can imagine what he was thinking." Dracula said casually, "Because he was not valued by his father, a senior official, he wanted to prove himself in front of his father, so he studied hard..."

"But he got twelve OWLs certificates, an excellent result that is rare in decades, but it is not even as good as a memorandum from the then Andorran Minister of Magic."

Dracula smiled playfully and shook his head, "Then Barty Crouch Jr. completely gave up the idea of ??relying on his own efforts to avoid being ignored by his father, and turned to become a Death Eater..."

"Since there is no way to get your attention by conventional methods, then become your enemy and stand from the perspective of a serious concern to let old Crouch look at you."

"Do you think I'm right?" Dracula raised his mouth and looked at Dumbledore.

Dumbledore stopped stroking the lid of the pot.

He stared blankly at the white steam that kept coming out of the spout of the pot and sighed deeply.

"There are many tragedies that don't need to happen. Maybe if old Barty can take a few minutes out of his work every week to praise his children," Dumbledore sighed softly.

"There's no need to feel sorry," Dracula said, "I heard that Barty Crouch Jr. and other Death Eaters tortured Longbottom's parents with the Cruciatus Curse, and they have no intention of repenting."

"You should see it clearly, Dumbledore. What he pursues in his bones is the pleasure brought to him by violence, abuse and blood. He is essentially a terrorist."

Dumbledore took off his glasses and shook his head helplessly.

"I hope you can understand me, Professor Dracula," he said softly, "I don't have as long a life as you, and I am getting older both physically and mentally...Old people always like to be sad, don't they?"

After that, Dumbledore suddenly stood up and walked towards the black cabinet on the side of the office.

"Want to see what little Barty looked like in the past?" he asked. "Perhaps this will help us find something."

Dumbledore opened the cabinet door.

There was a shallow stone basin in the cabinet, and the mouth of the basin was covered with strange carvings, composed of various types of runes.

After the cabinet door was opened, a silver light emanated from the stone basin, which looked like liquid and gas, like a piece of bright silver, but it was constantly flowing, like ripples on the water in the breeze, and like clouds that spread out and spun softly.

The things in the basin looked like light turned into liquid, and like wind condensed into solid...

"Is this... a meditation basin?" Dracula became interested and stood up from the sofa.

"Yes, the Pensieve." Dumbledore nodded gently, "Sometimes I feel that my mind is filled with too many thoughts and memories. At this time, I use the Pensieve to suck out the extra thoughts from my mind and pour them into this basin. I will take a good look at it when I have time..."

"Bellatrix Lestrange." Dracula suddenly took over and said.

"Does Professor Dracula know her?" Dumbledore asked with some confusion.

"Well, I saw her in Azkaban prison..." Dracula saw the astonished expression in Dumbledore's eyes, and had to add, "Wasn't it to find Sirius Black at that time? I sneaked into Azkaban to take a look."

Of course, his curiosity about Azkaban was the most critical reason for sneaking into the prison... But there was no need to tell Dumbledore this reason, so as to avoid being caught by the old headmaster and constantly persuading him.

At the front of the courtroom, Crouch had stood up, looking down at the four people below, with extreme hatred gradually gathering on his face.

"You are brought before the Magical Law Committee to await sentencing," he said clearly, "Your crimes are so heinous--"

"Father," the straw-haired boy begged with a horrified expression on his face, "Father... please..."

"--This is rare in the cases tried by this court." Mr. Crouch raised his voice, drowning out his son's voice, "We have heard the accusations against you. The four of you kidnapped an Auror--Frank Longbottom, and used the Cruciatus Curse on him, trying to find out the whereabouts of your master, the mysterious man--"

"Father, I didn't!" Little Barty, who was tied to the chair, screamed, "I didn't, I swear! Father, don't send me back to the Dementors--"

Dracula stared closely at the eyes of little Barty Crouch, but he could not see the fear and regret in his eyes, but only luck, cruelty, madness... and joy.

Dumbledore frowned, as if he couldn't bear to watch this scene.

"The accusation also says," Mr. Crouch continued, "that you used the Cruciatus Curse on Frank Longbottom's wife when he refused to provide information. You conspired to make You-Know-Who come back and want to restore the violent life you led when he was powerful. Now I ask the jury-"

"Mother!" Little Barty shouted loudly, and the thin witch next to Crouch sobbed and swayed back and forth, "Mother, stop him! Mother, I didn't do those things, it wasn't me!"

"Now I ask the jury to vote," Mr. Crouch ignored him and said loudly, "Those who think that these crimes should be sentenced to life imprisonment in Azkaban as I do, please raise your hands!"

The wizards on the jury on the right side of the dungeon raised their hands in unison.

The audience around them clapped their hands happily, with relieved expressions on their faces... After all, few people have seen two elite Aurors being tortured to madness, and they all have a deep understanding of what happened to the Longbottoms.

Barty Jr. began to scream, and a trace of panic seemed to finally appear in his eyes.

"No! Mother, no! It wasn't me, it wasn't me, I didn't know! Don't send me there, stop him!"

The Dementors slowly floated in again.

Barty Jr.'s three companions stood up from their chairs silently, and Bellatrix looked up and shouted to Crouch:

"The Dark Lord will come back, Crouch! Throw us into Azkaban, we'll wait! He will come back to save us. He will reward us specially! Only we are loyal! Only we try to find him!"

Barty Jr. tried his best to get rid of the Dementors, even though the cold suction of the Dementors that sucked happiness and souls had begun to take effect on him.

Some of the audience laughed at him, some stood up, and some cheered angrily for their fate.

Bellatrix had already walked back to the door in the corner with pride, and little Barty was still resisting.

"I am your son!" he shouted to Crouch, "your son!"

"You are not my son!" Crouch roared loudly, his eyes suddenly bulging outward, "I don't have a son!"

The thin witch took a breath, collapsed on the stool, and fainted. But Crouch seemed not to see it.

"Take them away!" He waved his hand and roared at the Dementors, "Take them away, let them rot there!"

...

The picture in the Pensieve was frozen at this moment.

In the frozen picture, Dracula and Dumbledore looked at each other, and their brows were tightly twisted together.