"Do you want to know about Mr. Crouch?" Percy was stunned.
"That's right." Dracula nodded and went straight to the point. "Let's talk about Crouch's family first. How did his wife and son die?"
"Ah, isn't this a bit bad?" Percy hesitated.
He always felt that it was inappropriate to directly tell others about his boss's family situation, but the person who asked the question was the professor he respected and feared, so Percy was embarrassed to refuse.
"Why, as a personal assistant, don't you know the details of your boss?" Dracula saw Percy's hesitation and added fuel to the fire, "You're not doing a good job. Weiss, don't say you're my student when you go out."
"How could that be?" Percy said loudly, "I have asked many colleagues in the Ministry of Magic, done sufficient research, and have learned everything about Mr. Crouch! I can definitely become a qualified assistant!"
As expected, Percy took the bait immediately. In order to prove his ability to work, he told the story of Crouch like spilling the beans.
Harry felt a little embarrassed standing by, feeling that this newcomer to the Ministry of Magic who thought he was very capable was completely manipulated by Professor Dracula.
"Mr. Crouch is actually quite pitiful," Percy sighed and told Dracula, "During the wizard war against the mysterious man, he was probably too busy with work to teach his son..."
"Later, Barty Crouch Jr. became a Death Eater..."
"This is the first time I've heard of this," Dracula's eyes moved. "Since his son is a Death Eater, is it possible that Crouch himself has also been bewitched and become a pawn of Voldemort?"
"That's impossible!" Percy denied flatly, "Anyone in the Ministry of Magic could be a Death Eater, but Mr. Crouch definitely can't be!"
He explained: "Professor Dracula, you may not know... After the mysterious man left, Mr. Crouch personally tried his son, ignored Barty Jr.'s sophistry, and personally put him in Azkaban."
"Is that so?" Dracula said thoughtfully, "So... he is a righteous man who would sacrifice his own family for the sake of justice?"
"There is no one in the Ministry of Magic who is more righteous than Mr. Crouch." Percy said seriously, with a look of admiration in his eyes, "Mr. Crouch was the Director of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement at the time. Many of his tough measures actually provided great help to the Ministry of Magic in fighting against the Death Eaters..."
"For example, Aurors are allowed to use the Unforgivable Curse on Death Eaters, and Death Eaters who are caught with solid evidence can be directly imprisoned in Azkaban..."
"But his actions were not necessarily correct," Dracula shook his head. "Wasn't Sirius Black imprisoned in Azkaban without any interrogation, and therefore misunderstood by wizards for more than ten years?"
Harry, who was listening to their conversation with great interest, suddenly changed his expression and his mood became much darker when he heard about Sirius.
Because of this incident, he couldn't admire the senior official from the Ministry of Magic.
"That... that's just an example." Percy said stubbornly, "Those measures are generally beneficial, as can be seen from the fact that Mr. Crouch has gained a lot of prestige with those measures."
"So why wasn't he made Minister of Magic?" Dracula asked. "Because his son is a Death Eater?"
"Professor, this is actually a big stain." Percy shook his head helplessly, "So Minister Fudge performed excellently and was chosen as this Minister of Magic."
"There's no need to be so tactful, Weiss." Dracula sneered, "Fudge didn't do anything outstanding. He just took the opportunity to unite with other members to exclude Crouch, and then wrote letters to Dumbledore every day, using Dumbledore's reputation as the 'pillar of the wizarding world' to create a humble and steady personality for himself, didn't he?"
"Oh, now that I have almost secured my position, I want to get rid of Dumbledore's influence."
Dracula did not hold back his contempt for people like Fudge.
"Ah, that's not the case..." Percy's sweat was dripping down his face, and he picked up the napkin on the table and kept wiping his forehead.
"But it's understandable. After all, when it comes to political matters, it's no big deal if the means are a little dirty." Dracula changed the subject.
"Crouch is not necessarily a selfless good man. Putting his son in Azkaban is probably just a way for him to fight for his hope of becoming a minister."
"Professor, you may have some misunderstanding about Mr. Crouch..." Percy wiped his sweat more frequently.
From time to time, he would turn his head guiltily to look at Bagman, the Head of the Department of Magical Sports and Physical Education, hoping that the other Ministry official present did not notice this.
He was worrying too much; Bagman was happily chatting with Krum and trying to draw the fellow Quidditch professional into his bet.
"You are still too young, Weiss." Dracula chuckled, "Many things are not as simple as you think, nor as bright and honest as they seem on the surface."
Seeing that Percy still looked a little unconvinced, he shook his head and said, "Forget it, you may not have completely integrated into those politicians. You will know when you see more of them."
"Now tell me something else. What about Crouch's wife?"
Percy breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that Professor Dracula was not pressing him any further.
"This is actually known to everyone," he said. "Mrs. Crouch has not been in good health for a long time. After she learned that Barty Crouch Jr. had become a Death Eater and was imprisoned in Azkaban for life by Mr. Crouch himself, her health condition deteriorated."
"Later, for unknown reasons, Barty Crouch Jr. died in Azkaban. Mrs. Crouch could not bear the shock of the news and passed away soon after."
"Wait," Dracula suddenly frowned, "You said Barty Crouch Jr. and Mrs. Crouch died at about the same time, right?"
"Yes, it's normal that Mrs. Crouch can't bear the pain of losing her son, right?" Percy asked doubtfully.
"Maybe." Dracula didn't say much, just nodded slightly.
Percy and those slow-witted officials of the Ministry of Magic might not realize anything was wrong, but Dracula was different. He looked at things from a preconceived standpoint of being suspicious of Crouch.
It might be normal to single out the fact that Mrs. Crouch died of excessive grief and serious illness, but why did Barty Crouch Jr. die in Azkaban
We can learn from many places that Barty Jr. is a young man who joined the Death Eaters shortly after graduation. His body would never be so weak that he could not withstand the torture of the Dementors in just a few months - Sirius was tortured for a full thirteen years!
Not only that, since Batty Jr. chose to argue during the trial, it shows that he has no intention of dying, which can also rule out the possibility of suicide.
So the question is, why would an excellent, young wizard who had no intention of committing suicide die in Azkaban for no reason
Dracula plans to take some time to go to Azkaban again to see if he can find other evidence...
Before they knew it, everyone present had eaten and drunk their fill, and the banquet was coming to an end.
Dumbledore stood up first and looked at the laughing little wizards with a smile.
"It looks like everyone has almost finished eating," he said with a smile, "Then, the next step is to move on to the part we are most looking forward to - the dance!"
"All rise!"
The students stood up excitedly and carefully tidied up their clothes and hairstyles that had been messed up at the party. The witches hurriedly took out small mirrors to touch up their makeup.
After Dumbledore saw everyone stand up from their chairs, he raised his hand and waved his wand -
All the tables flew to the wall with a "whoosh" and were neatly arranged close to the wall, leaving a large open space in the center of the auditorium.
Then he conjured up a tall stage and attached it to the right wall, on which were placed a drum set, several guitars, a lute, a cello and several organs.
At this time, the members of the Weird Sisters Wizard Band, the top band in the magic and entertainment circles, rushed onto the stage screaming, and the audience immediately burst into thunderous applause.
Most of the members of this group are witches. They have long and extremely thick hair, wear black robes that are deliberately torn and tattered, and pick up their own musical instruments.
"Oh, that's their lead singer, Myron Wagtail!" Ginny looked at the band on the stage and patted Harry's back excitedly, "Mum usually likes to listen to her singing on the magic radio!"
"And Donaghan Temlit, the only male wizard in the Weird Sisters, plays the bass. I heard that because of his excellent playing skills, the band made an exception and invited him in..."
It was obvious that Ginny was very fond of this magical band and could call out the names of every wizard in the band.
Harry was also watching the band on the stage with great interest, almost forgetting what to do next.
Just then he suddenly noticed that the lanterns at the other tables had gone out, and several other warriors and their partners had stood up.
"Harry, Ginny, hurry up!" Hermione came over and reminded kindly, "You should start dancing too!"
After saying this, she blushed and handed her hand to Krum, who was looking at her expectantly.
Harry stood up quickly and walked with Ginny onto the brightly lit dance floor, carefully avoiding the eyes of his friends - he could see Seamus and Dean waving at him, secretly laughing at his stiff movements.
Then, Ginny took the initiative to grab his hands, put one of his hands on her waist, and held the other tightly in her hand.
It was the first time for Harry to hold a girl's hand. He felt a heat in his heart rushing straight to his forehead. His palms suddenly started sweating. It seemed as if half of his body had lost its strength. He had no memory of the dance moves that Professor McGonagall had taught him.
He accidentally stepped on Ginny's toes.
"I'm sorry, I..." Harry apologized quickly and looked into Ginny's eyes guiltily, only to find that her eyes were full of smiles, a foolish smile, and she didn't seem to blame him at all.
Harry's mood slowly relaxed.
Harry's performance on a slow, gentle piece played by the Weird Sisters was not as bad as he had originally expected.
While slowly turning in circles on the spot under the guidance of Ginny, he silently recited the steps and frequency taught by Professor McGonagall. The two of them cooperated more and more tacitly, and the dance became more and more enjoyable to watch.
Gradually, Harry had enough energy to look at the other spectators who had not yet started dancing. They were watching the warriors' lead dance with envy, amazement, or appreciation.
He was very glad that he had passed another test without making a fool of himself in public.
Soon, many people entered the dance floor, and the warrior was no longer the center of attention.
Neville and Hannah Abbott were dancing nearby. Hannah frowned and dodged frequently because Neville stepped on her foot clumsily. Fortunately, Hannah was very considerate and deliberately slowed down her pace and kept comforting him.
Dumbledore was dancing the waltz with Madam Maxime. Compared with Madam Maxime, Dumbledore, who was originally very tall, looked like a dwarf. The top of his pointed hat just touched her chin.
However, for such a large woman, her dancing was very graceful, without any trace of Hagrid's clumsiness;
On the other side, Professor McGonagall invited Professor Dracula to join her on the dance floor.
There is no need to mention Professor McGonagall's dancing skills. After all, she is the "dance teacher" who personally taught the warriors to dance before the Christmas ball and has professional dancing skills.
But to the surprise of all the little wizards, Professor Dracula, who had always been low-key, actually possessed an excellent dancing skill. He cooperated with the professional Professor McGonagall surprisingly perfectly and stole most of the limelight at the ball.
"I told you Professor Dracula can dance!" Harry heard Fred showing off to his dance partner Angelina as the Weird Sisters switched songs.
"I knew it when he let us experience the Imperius Curse. To be able to control me and George to do such difficult movements, Professor Dracula must have done special research on dancing!"
Soon, the second song started playing, with a much more cheerful rhythm than the previous one.
Fred and Angelina immediately began to dance wildly -
Fred tried to recall the perfect dance moves he had when he was under the control of Professor Dracula's Imperius Curse, but to outsiders it looked like a mess, as if he was trying to get Angelina to learn how to play ball with a Chinese fireball dragon...
Harry and Ginny watched his performance in amusement, then looked at each other and laughed easily.
"Want to have another dance?" asked Harry, his face flushed.
Ginny nodded emphatically.
…
…