There was still some confusion on Crouch's face, but when he heard Dracula's question, he still demonstrated his usual quick reaction.
"I don't know why you ask that, Professor Dracula." His face quickly regained its composure, and he even had time to ask back, "Not only that, I'm also very curious, why were you the first to arrive at the scene after the Dark Mark appeared?"
"As far as I know, it is the Ministry of Magic's job to track down dark wizards who break the law. For this kind of emergency, we don't need to let a Hogwarts professor intervene."
"Mr. Crouch, your question makes no sense." Dracula sneered, "As a professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts, isn't it normal for me to come to the scene to investigate when I see traces of dark magic?"
"Besides, not all those who helped maintain order at the scene were from the Ministry of Magic. I saw Bill and Charlie from the Weisley family and many other wizards contributing their efforts, but I didn't see you reject their help."
Dracula's eyes flickered as he stared coldly into Crouch's eyes.
"Maintaining order at the scene does not require very professional skills, but the Dark Mark is different. Every wizard who approaches here is a suspect." Crouch said with the same cold face.
"As the Director of the Department of International Magical Exchange and Cooperation, and the former Director of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, I have the ability and obligation to come and arrest the suspect. But you are different. Not only will you not be of any help, you may even destroy the scene!"
"That's a good reason." Dracula sneered, "So, Mr. Crouch, tell me what you saw when you arrived at the scene. As the first person to arrive here, you must have discovered something, right?"
In fact, the reason why Dracula was suspicious of the Director of the International Magic Exchange and Cooperation Department was because he arrived at the scene too efficiently.
Dracula originally stayed near a group of Death Eaters led by Lucius Malfoy, ready to take control of the situation at any time, and at the same time protect Lucius, a pawn he had placed next to Voldemort, from being easily captured by the Ministry of Magic.
The sudden appearance of the Dark Mark in the night sky was completely unexpected.
Lucius and his gang of Death Eaters actually did not want to completely expose their identities. They just wanted to take certain actions to show Voldemort, who was hiding somewhere unknown, that they had not forgotten the glory and prestige of the Death Eaters organization, so that they would have some confidence when they were summoned by Voldemort again.
However, this Dark Mark completely tore off their masks, allowing everyone present to realize the true identity of this rebellious gang.
As a result, the employees of the Ministry of Magic will surely increase their efforts to capture them, and several pure-bloods like Lucius who have a tacit understanding with the Ministry of Magic will also be questioned and suspected.
Because of this, Dracula Apparated to the scene the moment he saw the Dark Mark appear in the night sky. However, he did not find any dark wizards here, only Barty Crouch standing there stupidly.
Then there are only two possibilities left:
One possibility is that the wizard who cast the Dark Mark was Barty Crouch; the other possibility is that Crouch was standing not far away before the Dark Mark was launched.
If the latter is the case, Crouch must be on to something.
"I did find something." Crouch nodded. "Before the Dark Mark was cast, there was indeed a figure standing at my position. I was not far away at the time and I clearly heard his voice. Although it was a little hoarse in disguise, he was still young overall."
"Is that so?" Dracula frowned slightly, and looked at Crouch with a deeper gaze. "Then why didn't Mr. Crouch catch the dark wizard?"
"He was very cautious. He didn't even look at the mark in the sky after reciting the spell. He immediately Apparated away from the spot." Crouch shook his head. "Although I came very quickly, I was still a little short."
Just as he finished speaking, Crouch suddenly felt a pain in the middle of his eyebrows, as if a picture was about to emerge in his mind.
He subconsciously closed his eyes and his face darkened.
"Professor Dracula, are you using Legilimency on a Ministry official?" Crouch demanded sharply, "Do you know what you are doing?!"
"No evidence, Mr. Crouch." Dracula chuckled, "Don't accuse someone of innocence out of thin air."
Crouch opened his eyes again, looking a little ugly.
At this moment, a group of people hurried over, led by Mr. Weasley and Cedric's father, Amos Diggory.
"What happened here? Who placed the Dark Mark?" Mr. Wesley ran over breathlessly, asking as he ran.
He stopped and saw two people confronting each other. "Ah, Professor Dracula and Crouch, you are here!"
"Arthur, Amos, how's the situation over there?" Crouch looked at Dracula again, then quickly adjusted his mood, turned around and asked Mr. Wesley and Mr. Diggory.
"Oh, it was going relatively smoothly on our side. Those Death Eaters were spineless. After seeing our people restore order, they no longer had any intention of fighting." Mr. Weasley said, "But I don't understand why, when the Dark Mark rose, they not only did not become excited, but instead Apparated away one by one."
"Originally, they couldn't escape." Mr. Diggory added, "But I don't know when a very strong guy appeared among the Death Eaters. I almost dealt with the leader among them several times, but each time I was easily resolved by a force."
"If that guy didn't seem to be very aggressive, I'm afraid that the few of us wouldn't be enough for him to fight alone..."
Hearing this, the corner of Dracula's mouth twitched slightly.
The "very strong fellow" who broke Mr. Diggory's spell was obviously Dracula himself.
He already knew that Lucius had always lived a life of luxury and would definitely not be very strong in a fight, but he did not expect Lucius' actual combat ability to be so poor.
Dracula had to intervene several times to protect Lucius from Mr. Diggory's attacks, to prevent him from being caught by the Ministry of Magic and ruining his fun.
"Mr. Crouch, have you found the Death Eater who cast the Dark Mark?" Mr. Diggory asked Crouch.
"It's a pity that he got away." Crouch shook his head and said in a deep voice.
Then he looked at Dracula and said, "Professor Dracula, now is the time for the Ministry of Magic to conduct an investigation. If you do not want to be investigated, please leave the crime scene temporarily."
"I really want to know, how are you going to conduct the investigation?" Dracula looked at Crouch, with a faint smile on his face. "Or are you going to just deal with it perfunctorily, brush it off, and then let the Daily Prophet make some irrelevant remarks, and finally use other messy things to divert the attention of the civilians?"
Obviously, Crouch's face darkened instantly.
"Ahem... Mr. Crouch, I need to go back and look for my family first." Seeing that the atmosphere between the two was not right, Mr. Wesley quickly stepped forward to change the subject, "They are still alone in the woods, I am not very reassured."
Then, he pulled Dracula away from the area without saying anything and walked to the other side.
"Professor Dracula, although Crouch is a bit strict, he is actually a very good person." Mr. Weiss advised as they walked on the road, "If you have any conflicts, it is very likely a misunderstanding. There is no need to escalate it further."
"We don't have any conflicts." Dracula chuckled and shook his head, then looked to the other side and said, "Sirius, there are only three of us here now, you can come out."
The next moment, Sirius lifted the Disillusionment Spell and his figure appeared in front of Dracula and Mr. Weasley.
"I don't know how you can tell that. I thought I used the Disillusionment Charm pretty well." Sirius muttered.
"Sirius?!" Mr. Weisley was startled by the sudden appearance of Sirius. "Why are you here? Where are Ron and Harry?"
"Don't worry, their location is quite safe." Sirius said, "I rushed here after I saw the Dark Mark just now, but Dracula found me and wouldn't let me remove the Disillusionment Curse."
Then, he looked at Dracula and asked, "Professor Dracula, do you suspect Crouch was the one who cast the Dark Mark? I heard him say... you just used Legilimency on him."
"Well, I do have some doubts about him." Dracula nodded slightly. "He arrived too quickly and too coincidentally, so I have to be suspicious. But his brain blocking skills are pretty good, so I can't see anything specific."
"This... this is impossible?" Mr. Weasley said in a daze, "When Crouch was the Director of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, he was an absolute hardliner. He was one of the wizards least likely to use the Dark Mark. He even passed a temporary regulation that allowed the use of the Unforgivable Curse on Death Eaters..."
"If it weren't for his son, Barty Crouch Jr., who later became a Death Eater and tarnished his reputation, I'm afraid Fudge wouldn't have been the Minister of Magic at all."
"His son is a Death Eater?" Dracula suddenly raised the corners of his mouth, a look of interest appearing on his face.
"It was," Mr. Weasley corrected. "Barty the Elder personally convicted his son and imprisoned him for life in Azkaban. Later, Barty Crouch Jr. died in prison."
"Is he dead already?" Dracula frowned again.
"Professor Dracula, please stop doubting old Barty. He can't possibly be a Death Eater." Mr. Weasley said helplessly, "He has too much blood of Death Eaters on his hands. Even Voldemort would not accept his allegiance."
…
At the same time, a group of figures wearing black robes, hoods and masks sat in the living room of Malfoy Manor.
The living room went from brightly lit to dim and gloomy, as if no lights could be turned on.
From time to time, one or two wizards dressed in the same manner would Apparate into the living room and sit in their seats.
When all the seats were filled, the wizard sitting in the upper seat spoke in a stern voice.
"Admit it yourself, which idiot placed the Dark Mark?" The man slowly took off the mask on his face, revealing Lucius' pale face, and glanced at everyone present with a sullen look.
"I remember I told you very clearly before the operation that we should not do anything that might expose our identities and avoid attracting the attention of the Ministry of Magic." Lucius said coldly, "We did this so that we would have something to say in front of our master in the future, not to attract the Aurors to arrest us!"
"Lucius, don't be so serious. No one has been caught!" A Death Eater next to him patted Lucius on the shoulder carelessly.
"On the surface, it seems that no one has been caught." Lucius slammed his fist on the table. "But that's only because I found a powerful wizard in advance to take care of us. If he hadn't been there, we would have been caught by those people from the Ministry of Magic!"
The Death Eater was speechless.
No matter how dumb he was, he could see that there was indeed a powerful being secretly helping them before.
However, at this time another Death Eater was dissatisfied.
"Lucius, we agreed to let you be the leader not because we respect you, but because you were the first to propose this action—" he said sarcastically, "So don't put on that leadership air in front of us, I can't stand it!"
"If you're not convinced, you can be the leader yourself, Yaxley!" Lucius sneered in response, "I'm trying to find out the problem and see who is not following my instructions."
"No one disobeyed the order, Lucius. None of us here are fools!" Yaxley slammed the table and stood up, pointing at the Death Eaters present and said, "Haven't you noticed yet? When the Dark Mark was launched, everyone here gathered together!"
"That's impossible!" Lucius retorted flatly, "If everyone was there, then who cast the Dark Mark? Could it be those officials from the Ministry of Magic?!"
At this moment, another Death Eater suddenly raised his hand and interrupted the two people who were arguing.
"Do you think there are other Death Eater companions wandering around who have not been discovered?" he asked thoughtfully, "Is it possible that he is in some kind of trouble and cast the Dark Mark just to contact us?"
Lucius and Yaxley were both stunned.
"Or maybe the person who cast the Dark Mark was actually the Dark Lord who has not fully recovered yet..."
The air suddenly became quiet.
The Death Eaters present all thought of how they had immediately chosen to flee when they saw the Dark Mark.
Everyone's mood suddenly sank to the bottom.
…
…