The effects of Polyjuice Potion only last for one hour.

The Death Eaters watched him in silence.

Pius Thicknesse was not a member of the Death Eaters' camp, nor was he someone they could win over. He was a wizard who was firmly opposed to their master. He was brave and good at fighting, and had caused them a lot of trouble. Some of them were even sent to Azkaban by Thicknesse himself.

If it was the real Pierce Thicknesse, they would have torn him apart by now.

But he is not.

More than ten minutes passed.

Piers Thicknesse's body began to twist, his long, narrow face was squeezed into a smaller frame, his frame shrank, and the robes that had once fit him tightly drooped.

A pale, haggard, hideous face, but very familiar to all the Death Eaters present, appeared before them.

"Bati?" someone exclaimed.

"Don't call me by that name." Crouch looked at him coldly.

The man shuddered: "Dear godson."

Crouch nodded with satisfaction. He really liked this somewhat incongruous-sounding title - among the Death Eaters, he was the only one who had been allowed to be called "father" and become his closest person.

"I heard that you were not dead?" he asked carefully.

Crouch sneered: "I should be dead."

"But Mrs. Crouch is soft-hearted. She couldn't bear to see me, her son through flesh and blood, suffer." He began, describing what happened to him in a very cold, bystander tone. "This stupid Hufflepuff who had done nothing all his life finally came up with a clever idea."

"He asked Mr. Crouch to use Polyjuice Potion in my place, and she, as a mother, would go to jail for her child."

"Mr Crouch is not as heartless as he appears."

"He did that just because he wanted to swing the whip in his hand and hear the obedient lambs wailing and begging him."

"If he agrees, I think he will agree immediately without hesitation. After all, he should be tired of that crazy woman who only knows how to complain all day long."

At this point, he paused slightly, raised his hand, covered half of his eye, and spoke in an exaggerated and humorous tone, with an indescribable sarcasm: "What a great motherly love."

"She has already suffered a lot from Mr. Crouch."

"She died not long after arriving in Azkaban."

He loosened his hand and gently pressed his index finger and thumb together. "As you know, people who die after taking Polyjuice Potion will retain the same appearance as when they took the Polyjuice Potion. Everyone thought I was dead, but no one could have imagined that it was Mrs. Crouch who died."

"I'm alive."

At this point, he paused again and looked around at the group of people: "Unfortunately, in the more than ten years since I left Azkaban, I have not been able to gain true freedom."

"Mr. Crouch imprisoned me, took away my wand, my thoughts, and my freedom. Of course, this is not too much. After all, he treated me the same way before I found my real father."

"I was fighting it until recently."

“But when I was free, I was disappointed.”

Crouch's tone became compassionate, then angry: "Fourteen years, from my father's accident to me breaking free from the shackles, a full fourteen years."

"You guys are of no use at all!"

"Father is in Albania, all alone, without servants to serve him, and even crippled to the point where only a wandering soul remains. Father is suffering, but what are you doing?"

Bellatrix was the first to cry.

Others are hypocritical and pretentious.

"Alright." Crouch waved his hand impatiently, "I don't have time to settle accounts with you one by one. Father is in a dangerous situation right now. The critical moment has come."

"certainly……"

"Before that, I still have to settle an account with someone."

He drawled out a name, "Lucius Malfoy."

"One of my father's most trusted Death Eaters."

"You should be here. I specifically told Amycus to bring you out."

Perkin bent his head, knelt humbly on the ground, and crawled over like a dog using his hands and feet. "Dear godson, I am here."

Crouch lowered his head and sneered: "So you are here, my dear Lucius."

"Today, today, why are you so embarrassed?"

Lucius pressed his head against Crouch's shoe.

"Father really trusted you." Crouch sighed, very melancholy, "He wanted to give that thing to me, but my father trusted me but not my family, so he gave it to you."

"You know what I'm talking about?"

Lucius trembled.

The cold November wind, accompanied by Crouch's words, penetrated his body, took away his flesh and blood, leaving only a lonely heart hanging on his ribs, being cut little by little by the cold wind and rain, bleeding, and then dried in the wind.

"But what did you do with your father's trust?" Crouch raised his wand.

This isn't his.

Blackthorn, nine and three-quarter inches, dragon heartstring.

This was a trophy he had seized from an Auror. It was a wand of great power, very suitable for the Dark Arts.

"Lucius, answer me, what have you done with your father's trust?" Crouch's tone remained calm.

Lucius lowered his head even lower.

He was terrified and trembling, not daring to speak.

The pain from the last Cruciatus curse still lingered on him.

"You've failed your father." Crouch stood and let him press down, even though his feet were aching. "You put your father's most important things in Hogwarts and leaked your father's most important information."

"My father's resurrection plan has been frustrated again and again."

"Lucius, my dear friend, can I still regard you as my father's most loyal servant?"

"Of course." Lucius answered in a hoarse voice, impatiently, "I have always been the master's most loyal servant."

He kissed Crouch's feet.

Crouch nodded slowly, "Then prove it to me, Lucius. I have a task for you."

Lucius froze in place, his body and heart completely dried out by the wind.

"Look up and look at me." Crouch said softly.

Lucius raised his head with difficulty.

"You should know what your father gave you?" Crouch asked him.

Lucius gritted his teeth and nodded.

He didn't know it before and thought it was just a hot dark magic item. Now he knows that it is much hotter than ordinary dark magic items. It is a Horcrux, the Dark Lord's Horcrux.

"Father has more than one." Crouch tapped Lucius' head with his wand. "There is another one stored in the Lestrange family's vault at Gringotts. It is the Hufflepuff gold cup."

The long years of torture in Azkaban.

Lucius looked haggard and thin. The faint light in the darkness cast a thick shadow on the sunken parts of his cheeks, making him look like a dead man who had just crawled out of a grave.

"Let us, let Father see your loyalty."

"Lestrange is not available to show up, but they can give you the token."

"Resurrect father, okay?"

The last sentence made Lucius a little breathless. He clenched his fists and forced a smile: "Dear godson, what should I do?"

"It requires vitality, a lot of vitality." Crouch had a blank expression on his face, tapping him with his wand, "At least twenty lives. Send them to the vault for father to consume and restore his strength."

Lucius's expression became even uglier.

This is difficult.

It's not just about twenty articles, such a huge number.

And put them in the vault.

"Why don't you just snatch the owner's thing?" He took a deep breath and asked carefully.

"Idiot!" Crouch scolded him, "You can keep the prison break a secret for as long as possible! Do you want to tell Dumbledore and Potter that the Death Eaters are planning to resurrect your father?"

"We can't fight against Potter with our strength alone."

Bellatrix was surprised. "Harry Potter? One of those brats that the Master wanted dead?"

"As far as I remember, he is at most sixteen this year, no more than eighteen. Does he really have the strength to compete with the Master?"

Crouch corrected her mistake with a cold face: "It's fifteen."

"Mr. Potter is only fifteen years old."

"But he is very powerful, and his magic level is hard for me to match."

At this point, he paused and said, "Do you all remember Snape?"

The Death Eaters nodded.

It would be hard for them to lose their impression of someone so powerful.

It was also at this time that they noticed that the most powerful person among the Death Eaters, who should also be the Death Eaters' biggest card, was not here.

"Potter is as strong as Snape. No, maybe he is even stronger now." Crouch introduced softly, "In the third year, Potter could fight Snape back and forth and even cut off one of his arms."

"Snape is so loyal. Is he eager to avenge his master?" Bellatrix sighed.

"Loyalty?" Crouch sneered and shook his head. "I doubt Snape's loyalty. He is now the noble Hogwarts Potions Professor."

Hogwarts professor?

Some Death Eaters who didn't understand the changes in the times were stunned.

"And now, Potter is already in his fifth year." Crouch gestured, "Last year, father tried another method of resurrection, and we sorted out twelve Death Eaters. Of course, they are not as good as you elite ones."

"But at that time, they were already my father's twelve most outstanding servants."

"But even with the magic given by my father, which temporarily enables them to have the same magical level as you, they still cannot cause any obstacles to Potter. Just like we slaughtered Muggles, Potter easily slaughtered those twelve pieces of trash."

"Fortunately, my father was very far-sighted. He knew that it might not be possible to achieve my goal, so he arranged for me to make other plans."

The Death Eaters' eyes widened.

They could not imagine or believe that a fifteen-year-old wizard could be as powerful as Crouch described.