Chapter 256: Fudge Passes the Buck
Crouch's disappearance was exposed a few days later.
On the cover of the Daily Prophet, Rita Skeeter published an article with a sensational title in her usual style -
"Shocking! Ministry of Magic employees disappear one after another, even the director is not immune! Does the Ministry of Magic still have the ability to protect the safety of the people?"
Even if Minister of Magic Fudge tried his best, he couldn't suppress the matter.
If the outside world knew that the director-level officials of the Ministry of Magic were missing, the negative impact of the Quidditch World Cup riots that had been finally quelled would be brought up again by the public. He mobilized a large number of human resources in the Ministry of Magic, but could not find any clues.
In fact, as early as a few months ago, Crouch often took leave frequently on the grounds of physical discomfort, and the entire Ministry of Magic had not seen him for several months.
He gave remote instructions to his personal assistant Percy Weasley through letters sent by owl about the affairs of the Ministry. Percy, who was blinded by the desire for power, did not suspect anything. Instead, he regarded this as Crouch's respect for him and the opportunity to hone himself, so Crouch's disappearance had not been discovered.
When Dumbledore saw the news, he was also puzzled.
There was something very complicated behind Crouch's incident -
He was obviously a workaholic. After firing the house elves at the Quidditch World Cup, his physical condition suddenly deteriorated significantly. He had less and less working time, and handed more and more things to the young and inexperienced Percy Weasley. This obviously did not match his personality in Dumbledore's mind.
According to Harry, Crouch came all the way to Hogwarts because he had something important to do with him, and he was already incoherent and confused at the time, but he still remembered to tell him in person.
When he actually saw him, he didn't remember anything, but only remembered that he ran to Hogwarts after sleeping. This matter was weird no matter how you look at it.
Dumbledore was very suspicious that his memory had been modified, but -
With his mastery of memory magic, he could not see any clues when he made eye contact with Crouch. Crouch's memory was coherent, without any gaps, and without any abruptness or disharmony. Although it was a bit arrogant to say so, Dumbledore did not believe that there was really someone in the world who could modify a person's memory to this extent, so seamless that he could not see any flaws at all.
You know, "cracking and restoring memory magic" and "finding memory magic flaws" are two different things.
If someone can modify the memory to the point where he cannot crack and extract the real memory, this is not impossible, such as Slughorn in the original book.
But if he wants to make the modified memory so that he can't see any problems, it will be really hard for him to believe it. Even the world-famous Grindelwald and Voldemort can't do it.
Originally, he planned to keep Crouch in Hogwarts to recuperate, so that he could have more time to observe and investigate. He also specially arranged for Ms. Pomfrey to take care of him. Unexpectedly, after only a few hours, Crouch disappeared strangely, and Ms. Pomfrey was hit by a very powerful forgetfulness spell and remembered nothing.
He saw Crouch enter the school hospital with his own eyes, and he did not forget to cast his most powerful defensive magic and warning magic around the school hospital, including the entrance gate and every window. Even if Voldemort in his prime came in person, it would be impossible to kidnap Crouch without alarming him.
As a result, none of the warning magic and defensive magic were triggered. Crouch disappeared strangely from the school hospital, as if the whole person evaporated into the air, leaving no trace.
Ms. Pomfrey could not tell him any useful information, and even because of her mental damage, she took a long vacation to recuperate, so as not to fall into sequelae such as confusion and forgetfulness in the future.
Hogwarts' hospital ward cannot be without a licensed therapist, so Dumbledore has been running around recently, and finally persuaded a retired therapist to temporarily replace Ms. Pomfrey.
During this period, Dumbledore also tried to investigate the mystery of Crouch's disappearance, but no matter whether it was a portrait, armor, statue, or ghost, he could not provide any useful information.
The most amazing thing is that Apparition cannot be performed within the scope of Hogwarts, and the use of the Floo network at the stove in the castle requires his authority as the headmaster. Dumbledore really has no idea how Crouch disappeared from Hogwarts without anyone noticing.
The only thing he can be sure of is that Crouch was definitely not kidnapped. No one can break the magic outside the hospital ward without alerting him, he can be sure of this.
Crouch left the hospital ward by himself, because those magics only defend against the outside but not the inside, and cannot warn or prevent people or objects from coming out of the hospital ward. Only in this way can we explain why his warning magic was not triggered. And the Oblivion Curse that Madam Pomfrey was hit by was cast by Crouch. (The purpose of defending against external forces instead of internal forces is to avoid the situation where Pomfrey needs to leave the hospital wing)
As for why Crouch did this, where did he go after leaving the hospital wing, how did he leave or disappear from Hogwarts Castle in the end, and what was the purpose of his words to Harry about wanting to see him, these are the biggest questions in Dumbledore's mind.
So, although Dumbledore knew that Crouch was last seen at Hogwarts, he did not intend to announce this matter to the media and exonerate Fudge before he solved the mystery of Crouch's disappearance. Anyway, if you insist, Fudge is also responsible for Crouch's affairs. On the surface, Fudge and Crouch are harmonious colleagues, but in fact, everyone knows that Fudge secretly excluded and suppressed Crouch.
This time, let Fudge take the blame.
Speaking of Fudge, he is not stupid. At the beginning, he was still very responsible. He tried his best to send many people from the Ministry of Magic to find Crouch's whereabouts, but as time went by, he began to feel tired. Why should he take the blame? The Ministry of Magic is so big, does he have to be blamed for every missing employee?
Of course not.
Fudge used his trick -
passing the blame.
Or in other words, find an unlucky person to take the blame.
Percy Weasley, Crouch's personal assistant, is the unlucky person.
Not only was he suspended from his job for investigation, he was also arrested as the prime suspect.
Now, the media is full of voices questioning the Weasley family, suspecting that Arthur Weasley has begun to fight for power in order to fulfill his illusory ideal of peaceful coexistence with Muggles. Percy, as his most outstanding son, is the pawn he has laid in the Ministry of Magic. The current disclosure of Crouch's disappearance is just a proof of an accidental leak of information in his plan.
In a short time, the reputation of the Weasley family changed from an unknown family to a thorn in everyone's eyes. And the families that have always been friendly with them, such as the Prewett family, the Longbottom family, and the Diggory family, also began to draw a line with them, keeping a distance, fearing that they would be affected by this public opinion storm.
Although it was Fudge's own idea to pass the buck, he did not expect that the public opinion would be so fierce. All this was naturally fueled by someone behind the scenes.
That person is naturally the protagonist of this book, the second young master of the Malfoy family, Shaylin Malfoy.
After Barnabas Guffey, the editor-in-chief of the Daily Prophet, connected with Shaylin through the Slug Club of his former benefactor Horace Slughorn, the Daily Prophet also fully sided with Shaylin's camp. Coupled with the influence of the Medieval Wizarding Union in the media, Shaylin can make public opinion develop in the direction he wants with just one word, reversing black and white, manipulating public opinion, and inciting public opinion.
Shaylin may not want to tear his face with him directly because he owes Dumbledore a favor, but this does not mean that the conflict between Shaylin and him will disappear. The two of them, from beginning to end, did not belong to the same camp-
There can only be one White Devil in this world.
Shaylin can't deal with Dumbledore himself, can't he take action against the members of the Order of the Phoenix under his command?
This time, even with Dumbledore's protection, the Weasley family will be seriously injured, and the family's already small savings will be reduced by half. As for social prestige and the like, haha.