Christmas had just passed, and he had opened a bunch of Christmas gifts and attended a Christmas ball, but Dumbledore was not in a good mood.
Because Barty Crouch was sick a few days ago and didn't come to the Christmas ball.
Honestly, it's not a big deal. It's normal to be sick. Moreover, Batistuta has been working hard for the World Cup for a whole year. It's understandable that he wants to spend a quiet Christmas, but...
If you combine this with Albert's prediction, it is undoubtedly a bad omen.
A few months ago, Sirius had found Dumbledore and mentioned that Peter was still alive. Through his memory, he saw that the man who appeared in the prophecy was Barty Crouch Jr. Dumbledore recognized him when he saw him for the first time.
Is Barty Crouch Jr. still alive
But why are you still alive
Since then, Dumbledore has been quietly investigating the matter. Old Barty Crouch was the breakthrough in the whole thing, but Dumbledore could not do anything about a senior official of the Ministry of Magic.
Although Dumbledore was not involved in politics, it did not mean that he knew nothing about it. He knew better than anyone that some things should not be taken too far.
For example, forcing Barty Crouch Sr. to tell the secret. Otherwise, even if he got the answer, even if the whole thing was related to Barty Crouch Sr., it would still be a big trouble.
However, fortunately, some time ago, old Barty fired his loyal house-elf for some reason, and that house-elf named Winky was currently working at Hogwarts. Although using a large dose of a powerful truth serum on it could extract some secrets, Dumbledore did not do so because it was too cruel and might cause the death of the house-elf or permanent damage.
The loyalty of house-elves allows them to keep secrets for their masters. Even if a house-elf has been driven out of the house by his master, their loyalty remains unquestionable.
But if Dumbledore wanted to know some information, he didn't need to go through so much trouble, and he didn't even need to get an accurate answer.
He called Winky to the headmaster's office and told the house-elf the news that Barty Crouch Sr. was ill. He also made some of his own guesses, saying that he suspected that Barty Sr. was under the control of the Imperius Curse, and asked about some news about Barty Jr.
Although Dumbledore's words did not cause the house-elf named Winky to tell him the truth, Dumbledore did not really need to get an answer from the house-elf. He could figure out the truth of the whole matter just by looking at the other party's reaction.
There is no doubt that Albert's prediction was correct. Barty Jr. was still alive. The whole thing was related to Barty Sr. Perhaps it was Barty Sr. who used some secret methods to keep Barty Jr. alive. As for who died in Azkaban prison, it was self-evident.
Because not long ago, after Dumbledore learned from Sirius that Peter Pettigrew was still alive, he guessed the specific reason.
It’s a pity that the two great mothers used their own lives to save their sons’ lives, but ultimately failed to save their sons’ consciences and guide them onto the right path.
After finding out the truth, Dumbledore wanted to find Albert as soon as possible. He needed to get some verification from him.
Albert seemed to know something.
In other words, the other person may know more than you do.
Dumbledore realized that something was wrong when he heard the conversation between Albert and Percy at the ball.
The other party seemed to be intentionally hinting that Crouch was going to die.
Yes, he meant that Crouch was going to die, and later Percy became the Minister of Magic's assistant.
Albert was a genius at prophecy. Even if he didn't know, Dumbledore believed that after a brief exchange between the two sides, they would be able to obtain a lot of useful information.
What's more, Dumbledore was sure that Albert knew it, he was too smart.
However, Dumbledore discovered that their champion was missing, and even with his tracking magic, he was unable to track Albert's location.
It seemed to have disappeared out of thin air.
Where is Albert
Dumbledore didn't know, but someone must know, so... He asked Albert's roommate and good friend.
Well, not even his roommates knew.
"Probably went home."
"Maybe, he went to spend the Christmas holiday with his girlfriend."
These are two speculations made by Fred, George and Lee Jordan.
However, the Anderson family was not in their original home. At least, when Dumbledore went there in person, he found that no one lived there at all, at least it had not been occupied for several months.
Did their whole family move
If you think about it carefully, it doesn't seem strange.
After all, if he is someone who can predict the future, especially a powerful master of prophecy, it would be really difficult to find him if he really doesn't want you to find him.
Nicolas Flamel is a ready-made example. When Voldemort peeked at the Philosopher's Stone a few years ago, he noticed something was wrong at the first moment and contacted him in advance, asking him to use the Fidelius Charm to protect his residence.
Dumbledore, who failed to find Albert, found that he seemed to be unlucky.
According to the original plan, he was going to ask Ludo Bagman to go visit old Batty together and talk about the safety measures for the second project, but Ludo Bagman seemed to be in trouble.
When Dumbledore came to visit at the agreed time, Ludo Bagman had already been sent to St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries for consuming horseshoe chocolate laced with aphrodisiac.
The most embarrassing thing is that after Bagman was drugged, the person he was thinking about was a girl from Hogwarts. The woman who wrote to him was obviously fake, or in other words, the letter was fake from beginning to end. What was going on
Dumbledore quickly guessed the answer because the next day a large number of students appeared in Hogwarts who were poisoned by love potions, causing a great commotion.
It is said that Fred, George and Lee Jordan took out a bunch of snacks and desserts to share with everyone after breakfast. It was not the first time they did this. Sometimes people gave Albert a bunch of snacks and desserts that they could not finish, but they were worried that they would go bad if they were left alone, so they would take them out and share them with everyone.
For example, the last time he won the International Wizarding Chess Championship and the Magic School Potions Championship, every time Albert won a championship and became famous, he would always receive a bunch of gifts, including a large number of desserts and snacks. Every time he would let the Weasley twins and Lee Jordan take them out and share them with everyone.
As for the reason, Dumbledore had already heard that Ludo Bagman was in a lot of debt.
"Bagman used fake gold coins to trick us during the World Cup and was even unwilling to return our principal, so we just wanted to play a joke on him and make him work for nothing without getting a single Galleon." George said to Dumbledore.
They knew without a doubt that those desserts were most likely laced with aphrodisiacs.
However, they would not admit it and would just say it was a little prank.
Dumbledore naturally had no intention of punishing them. After all, no matter who it was, if their hard-earned Galleons were stolen, they would be extremely annoyed. A small prank showed that they had been quite restrained.
As for the incident of collective exposure to aphrodisiac, it was purely an accident.
After all, they "knew nothing" and were just sharing dessert with everyone as per custom, without any malicious intent.
But this undoubtedly interrupted Dumbledore's original plan and delayed his visit to Barty.
As for, he goes by himself
No, I can't do that. It's easy to get into trouble. It's better to find a legitimate reason so that the people in the Ministry of Magic will think it was just an accident.
Otherwise, no one knows what will happen when they go there.
If Crouch dies, he will be very passive.
The Ministry of Magic will not admit that Voldemort is still alive, and will only blame him or some other dark wizard for the incident.
As for looking for people from the Ministry of Magic, should we ask the Aurors to go together
This is never a good idea.
To be honest, Dumbledore was not very willing to trust the Aurors of the Ministry of Magic, especially the Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge, except for a few trusted friends.
The other party is now becoming more and more obsessed with his own status and power, becoming more and more "corrupted", and moving closer to a pure-blood wizard.
He is unreliable, very unreliable.
To Dumbledore, the British Ministry of Magic was never a help, but a hindrance and a trouble.
There are too many pure-blood wizards who hate Dumbledore and like to hold him back, and most of these people are Death Eaters who escaped the death in the past. They took advantage of some loopholes to escape the punishment of the law. Even Dumbledore has no good solution, as he cannot overthrow the existing system of the Ministry of Magic.
Therefore, asking Ludo Bagman to go find old Barty together is the best solution at the moment, and Dumbledore has already thought of the reason.
The second task is much more dangerous than the first one, because the warrior needs to enter the Black Lake to rescue the hostages and get out of his sight. Even Dumbledore has no good solution. Therefore, the warrior's safety can only be taken care of by the fishmen under the Black Lake. Even if the fishmen are willing to help take care of the warrior, there may still be big problems, such as the warrior being attacked under the Black Lake or drowning accidentally.
They need a safe and reliable plan to ensure that the warriors can be rescued as soon as possible when they encounter danger.
As for the plan, Dumbledore has already thought of it.
Dumbledore looked at the plan at hand, then at the pocket watch on the table. In another hour, it would be the time agreed with Bagman.
He had to make some arrangements before leaving school.
At this moment, Dumbledore was waiting for someone in his office.
He didn't have to wait too long. Someone knocked on the door of the headmaster's office and Snape walked in with a gloomy face.
There was no way. The love potion incident actually allowed the Gryffindor quartet to escape. Those four annoying guys brought back some unpleasant memories for Snape.
What made Snape even more annoyed was that Dumbledore had already defined the incident as an accident and simply glossed over it.
Even though Snape could tell at a glance that the three of them were lying, and he even believed that Albert Anderson was the culprit of all this, but... he couldn't send those four bastards to detention.
"I will leave school before eight o'clock. I need you to keep an eye on Moody and don't let him out of your sight." Dumbledore said to Snape.
"What happened?" Snape immediately realized something was wrong.
"I may have found something," said Dumbledore vaguely.
"A clue?" Snape muttered, reaching out and grasping his arm. "Is it related to that person?"
There are not many things that Dumbledore can take seriously, and Voldemort is definitely one of them.
Dumbledore did not answer, but continued, "I suspect someone has sneaked into the school, and I need you to help me keep an eye on the professors in the school."
"Including Moody?" Snape asked oddly.
"Of course, I will also let Moody keep an eye on you. You can find any excuse you want." Dumbledore looked at Snape and said.
"What's the point of doing this?" Snape asked with a frown.
"Yes," said Dumbledore. "If there were any of Voldemort's minions in the school within two hours of my departure, they would have sensed something was amiss and informed Voldemort, and he would have been found."
"Who do you suspect, Moody?"
"Not yet."
"Okay, if you say so." Snape agreed, although he was confused.
About half an hour after Snape left, Moody raised his hand and knocked on the office door.
"Albus, what do you want from me?"
"I will be leaving the school to deal with something later." Dumbledore said straight to the point.
"It seems this matter is very important. I will go back and prepare."
"No, I need you to stay in school and help me look after Hogwarts." Dumbledore said, "I have always suspected that there are Voldemort's helpers in the school. I need you to make sure that no professor will pass on the news within two hours after I leave the school.
"You really don't need help?" Moody repeated.
"Need not."
"Okay." Moody nodded and asked, "Do you have any suspects?"
"No." Dumbledore shook his head.
"There is indeed no professor in the school who has symptoms of the Imperius Curse. Although a more powerful Imperius Curse cannot be ruled out, it is impossible for there to be no symptoms after a long time." Moody analyzed, "After ruling it out, there are only two people with criminal records left. Karkaroff escaped some time ago."
"I believe Snape will not betray me, and he doesn't need to do that." Dumbledore looked at Moody and said.
"There are many cunning people in Slytherin. Even you could be fooled." Moody sneered, "Albus, you are too soft-hearted and like to give others opportunities. I overheard them saying that the Dark Mark has reacted. God knows whether that guy will prepare to return to his master."
Dumbledore said calmly, "If possible, take this opportunity to find the hidden person."
There is no doubt that this is a conspiracy against him, but... what is the point of a known conspiracy
However, Batty Jr. soon realized the seriousness of the problem.
I might be being targeted.
Moreover, Dumbledore might really discover the Dark Lord's whereabouts. Doing so would be purely to prevent someone from tipping off or discovering himself hiding in Hogwarts.
Of course, it could also be a pure conspiracy to lure and capture me.
What should I do now
After pondering for a moment, Barty Jr. finally gave up on tipping off Voldemort. He couldn't be exposed yet.
With Crouch's magical defenses, even if the master really got into trouble, he would definitely be able to escape on his own.