Queen of Swords (reversed): Bad speculation.

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Hogsmeade Village, England

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Time flies by in the waiting, and the next weekend, you can see the sun for a long time early in the morning. And the weather on this day is also considered the warmest of the year.

Waiting for Hermione in the library first, Harry wasn't surprised to see Krum here - but to his comfort, Hermione made it clear to him that they had an appointment. Seeing Krum's somewhat lost look, Harry didn't know why he suddenly felt so happy.

After arriving at Hogsmeade, Harry and Hermione joined up with Opal, who had already been there, and then went to the Wizard Costume Store of the Fengya brand and bought Dobby two pairs of brightly colored socks as gifts. Then Opal and the others went to the Duke of Honey to buy some snacks, and had lunch directly in the three broomsticks in Hogsmeade.

At half past one o'clock, they walked along the road past Deves-Bans towards the outside of the village.

"It feels so remote here......"

Harry had never been in this direction before, so he looked around curiously, "I said how could the Godfather choose to meet here......

[Seriously, I think it's okay to just meet in three brooms, and it's a lot of work to come here.] ]

This is Opal's opinion.

"Forget it, it's good to eat after eating."

Hermione shrugged.

The winding path led them to the wilderness fields surrounding the village of Hogsmeade. There are only a handful of cabins, but they have a large garden. They walked towards the foot of the mountain, where the village of Hogsmeade sits in the shadow of the mountain. Then, they turned a corner and saw a fence at the end of the path. Waiting for them there was a large, sloppy black dog, with its front paws resting on the highest fence and a few newspapers in its mouth, and this dog looked familiar......

[…… Siris ...... Why don't you hurry up and turn back......]

Although he was not a cleanliness fetish, after seeing the sloppy big black dog wagging his tail and pounce in their direction, Opal reflexively threw "Incarcerous" to freeze the other party in place, and then threw a "Scourgify" past, which finally made one of them a little more visible.

"Woohoo!"

The big black dog barked several times at once, and the tail behind him was wagging wildly, although he couldn't see his expression, but even Harry and Hermione, who were bystanders, felt that the other party's attitude towards Opal could be described as "flattering".

"Good afternoon, Godfather."

When Opal had untied the big black dog, Harry barked and took off his school bag, which had all the food he had promised to bring to Siris.

The big black dog sniffed Harry's bag eagerly, wagged his tail, and then turned and trotted over a bushy field that led to the rocky foothills.

Harry, Hermione, and Opal hurried over the fence and followed.

Siris led them all the way to the foot of the mountain, where the ground was covered with stones, large and small. On this kind of road, four legs are always faster than two legs, and fortunately, Riopar, Harry, and Hermione don't exercise less on weekdays, otherwise I am afraid that I will not be able to keep up with Siris's speed here.

On the winding, steep, rocky uphill path, Sirius suddenly disappeared in a flash. And when Harry and the others came to the place where he had disappeared, they saw a narrow crack in the rock - and when they squeezed in, they found themselves in a dimly lit, very cool cavern, where some necessities were kept, and it was clear that Siris had been living here for a short time.

The big black dog shook his body, and then changed to Sirith, but his robes looked a little dirty, and his black hair was much longer than the last time Harry had seen it in the fire, and it was unkempt and tangled again.

The only good news is probably that Sirius doesn't look malnourished or anything, and he looks pretty good.

"Chicken!"

Obviously, he had just thrown the worn-out "Pre-Yanjia Daily" on the ground of the cave, and said in a hoarse voice.

Harry tore open his bag and handed over the contents - roast chicken, bread, and a jug of pumpkin juice.

"Thank you."

As he spoke, Siris eagerly opened the package, grabbed a chicken leg, sat on the ground, tore off a large piece of chicken with his teeth, and began to gobble it up.

[How did you get so bad?] ]

Opal looked around and sat down in a less dirty spot.

"I can't steal much food from Hogsmeade, or I'll get someone else's attention."

Siris looked up at Harry and smiled as he ate, but Harry only reluctantly replied, "There's been a lot of activity on the Mystery's side lately, especially on Hogsmeade's side...... I can only stare at it. Every time people throw away newspapers, I steal them back, and I'm not alone in the current state of affairs. ”

[Don't you know how to use an owl?] I said last time that I could lend you Hades. ]

"Spare me, your owl doesn't bother anyone but your orders. So I can only pretend to be a stray dog to trick me into eating. ”

Siris rolled his eyes widely. Then he landed on the yellowed copies of the Daily Prophet on the ground and nodded, and Hermione picked it up and opened it.

But Harry still stared at Siris, "What if they catch you?" What if you were discovered? ”

"Around here, only the three of you and Dumbledore know I'm an Animagus."

Ciris shrugged his shoulders as he spoke, and continued to munch on the roast chicken.

"What's wrong with those two messages?"

Hermione handed Harry the Daily Prophet - there were two copies of the newspaper, one of which was printed with the headline: Barty Crouch was strangely ill; Another stamp: The Witches of the Ministry of Magic are still missing - and the Minister himself is currently involved in the matter.

Harry skimmed through the article on Crouch. He was reminded of a few words that he hadn't seen since November...... The home appears to be unoccupied...... St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Injuries declined to comment...... The Ministry of Magic refused to confirm rumors that he was terminally ill......

"Listen to their tone, it's like he's going to die."

Harry said slowly, "Since he has the strength to break here, he can't be so sick......

[I had Crouch's personal assistant Percy asked, the one from the Weasleys.] ]

After glancing at the newspaper, Opal gave his clues, [His reaction was that Crouch was too tired from work and was sick from overwork.] ]

"But he did look sick."

Harry said as he skimmed through the report, "It's the night my name spewed out of the Goblet of Fire......

"I think it's because he fired his house-elves, so his life wasn't taken care of."

Hermione pouted - although she hadn't bothered with the "vomit" association after Opal's education, she still cared about house-elves.

"Fired your own house-elves?"

Siris became interested in the matter, "Can you elaborate on that?" ”

Harry immediately told the whole story - including participation in the Quidditch World Cup, Death Eater attacks, wand theft, and so on. After analyzing it, Sirius thought that Harry's wand must have been stolen in the top box, so everyone in the top box at the time should be suspicious.

It's just that the people proposed by Siris were rejected by Harry or Hermione in turn, but I don't know why Opal didn't speak up, and he was purely listening to the soy sauce on the side.

Eventually, the focus of the conversation shifted to Barty Crouch.

"What, you know Crouch?"

That's Harry's problem.

"Oh, of course I know Crouch."

After a moment of silence, Siris whispered with a somewhat hideous expression, "He is the one who ordered me to be sent to Azkaban - even the trial is spared." ”

"You're kidding!" X2

Harry and Hermione spoke in unison.

"No, not a joke."

Ciris opened his mouth a little sullenly, and spit out the chicken bones in his mouth, "Crouch used to be the director of the Law Enforcement Department of the Ministry of Magic, don't you know?" ”

[I remember someone saying that it was predicted that he would be the next Minister of Magic.] ]

At this time, Opal finally spoke, [He has good ability, great ambition, and even more desire for power. But unfortunately, he and Voldemort can be said to be different furnaces of ice and fire. ]

"That's right......"

Nodding in affirmation of Opal's statement, Siris shrugged, "Barty Crouch has always spoken openly that he is against the dark arts. But many people who oppose black magic are ...... Alas, you won't understand...... You're too young......"

"You don't tell how you know, we don't understand."

Hermione stopped hearing Siris' last words - it seemed to her to be a challenge to her intelligence.

"Okay, let's try then."

After glancing at Opal and seeing that she was not opposed, Siris spoke again, "Now imagine that when Voldemort was powerful, you didn't know who was his supporter and who wasn't, and you didn't know who was serving him and who wasn't. You know he can keep people in control and make them do horrible things involuntarily. You are scared of yourself, your family, and your friends. Every week there is bad news, another death, another missing, and another being tortured...... The Ministry of Magic was in chaos, they didn't know what to do, they had to hide it from the Muggles in every possible way, and at the same time, the Muggles were dying. There was a horror everywhere...... Nervous...... Confusion...... That's how it was then. ”

"Alas, times like this always make the good people show their best virtues, and the bad ones expose their worst nature. At first, Crouch's principle was probably good - I don't know. He quickly rose through the ranks in the ministry and began to take some very tough measures against Voldemort's supporters. The Aurors gained some new powers—for example, they had the power to kill, not just capture. I'm not the only one who has been sent directly to the Dementors without trial. Crouch counters violence with violence, and he allows unforgivable spells to be cast on suspects. It seemed to me that he had become as ruthless and ruthless as many people in the Dark Arts. You know, he also has his own supporters - many people think he is right to do this, and many wizards have spoken out for him to be the head of the Ministry of Magic. After Voldemort's disappearance, it seemed only a matter of time before Crouch took the lead. But at this moment, a very unfortunate thing happened......"

As he said this, Siris smiled grimly, "Crouch's own son has been captured, and he is with a group of Death Eaters who escaped from Azkaban with their rhetoric. Looks like they're looking for Voldemort and trying to make him ......"

"Wait, wait, wait......"

Hermione interrupted Sirius in surprise, "Did I hear me right?" You mean...... Crouch's son...... Support Voldemort?! ”

"yes."

Cialis, who noticed that Harry was also pricking up his ears, continued to speak, tearing the bread in his hand in half as he poured himself a glass of pumpkin juice, "As you can imagine, this is really a big blow to that old fellow Barty. He should have spent more time with his family, shouldn't he? You should leave work early every now and then...... Learn more about your son. ”

"And his son is a Death Eater?"

Harry thought for a moment before speaking, "Against Voldemort's father...... Support Voldemort's son...... It's a mess. ”

Later, Siris said a few more things about Crouch, including Crouch's power and selflessness, and the fact that his son who didn't know if it was a Death Eater died in Azkaban. Harry came to the conclusion that Crouch should be fine - or that he couldn't figure out anything suspicious about Crouch.

Eventually, Harry said that he had seen Crouch go to Snape's office on the map of the living spot, and the conversation turned to Snape.

In fact, Siris originally wanted to laugh at his old rival in front of Harry, but unfortunately he heard a few prompting coughs from Opal as soon as he started, so he could only roll his eyes and give up.

"Opal, you really have a temper with your mother...... I really don't understand that snot...... Well, it's the old bat, what's so good about it that you deserve to maintain like this. ”

[It's my own business.] ]

"Okay, whatever you want."

Ciris was choked by Opal in an instant, and immediately changed the subject, "If Crouch wants to tune Chasnep, why doesn't he come to be the referee of the tournament?" That would allow him to visit Hogwarts and spy on Snape's actions. ”

"So, do you think Snape might have done anything wrong?"

Harry asked, but Hermione interjected, "Hey, I don't care what you say, Dumbledore believes in Snape anyway-"

"Harry, at least Snape saved you! Many times! ”

Hermione completely disagreed with Harry's targeting, "I don't think we should have reached a consensus on this like Opal?" Why are you still ......?"

"Can't you make me doubt it? I knew he wouldn't really kill me, but ...... His usual malice towards me is going to overflow! ”

Harry puffed out his mouth—after all, suspicion or something was out of the way, "At least Snape and Karkaroff knew each other very well, but he didn't want anyone else to know about it." You should have seen the look on Snape's face when Karkaroff broke into Potions class yesterday! Karkaroff wanted to talk to Snape, who he said had been avoiding him. Karkaroff looked very anxious. He showed Snape what was on his arm, and I didn't see what it was. ”

"What did he show Snape on his arm?"

There was something strange about Cialis.

[Mark of the Dark Magic.] ]

This time it was Opal who spoke, but as soon as she opened her mouth, she dropped a bomb directly, [Karkaroff was a Death Eater. ]

"What?!" X3

Harry, Hermione, and Siris all spoke in unison.

[As you heard, Karkaroff was once a Death Eater.] ]

Opal continued nonchalantly, [so the reason he came to Professor Snape was probably because he wanted to remove the Dark Mark from his arm.] However, the worst-case scenario cannot be ruled out - Voldemort is looking for his followers through the Dark Devil sign. ]

"Stop, stop!"

Harry really wanted to cover his ears at the moment, "Can you stop talking about such horrible things?" ”

[Isn't the clue obvious?] ]

Looking at Harry, who was clearly escaping reality, Opal sighed, but didn't say anything more.

"Isn't there still no evidence?"

Siris excused himself, "But I think you can inquire about Bertha Jorkins's whereabouts, and honestly I think her disappearance should have something to do with Voldemort." ”

"That's enough......"

At this moment, Harry was entangled in wanting to hit the wall, "Voldemort, are you going to die at the equinox?!" Will you die, will you die, will you die?! ”

Hermione, who was next to her, patted him on the shoulder, sympathetic - if there had been less excitement in her eyes, maybe Harry would have felt comforted.