Barty Crouch walked into the Ministry of Magic as usual.

He wore a distinctive square wizard hat, and the suit under his robe was as straight as if it was stuffed with wooden brackets, and there was no expression on his face. Scrimgeour, the current head of the Auror Office, was a serious character like him, but the two looked completely different.

Scrimgeour gives people a tough feeling, he is like Barty Crouch when he was young, but the current Barty Crouch makes people feel old, like a pile of dead ashes.

Many employees greeted him along the way. Although he had sent his son Barty Crouch Jr. to Azkaban, which damaged his reputation - many people thought he could abandon everything for his own power. But he was still an important member of the Ministry of Magic, especially at this critical juncture -

"Hey, old Barty."

Hearing a familiar voice behind him, Batty turned around and saw a middle-aged man with short blond hair, blue eyes and a muscular body walking towards him with a smile on his face. He searched for the man's name in his mind and quickly found the name.

Ludo Bagman, current Head of the Department of Magical Games and Sports.

A complete idiot!

"Good morning, Mr. Buckman." Crouch's tone was a little dull, as if he was not willing to focus his energy on this person because it was a pure waste of time.

"I'm glad to see you this early in the morning. I don't have to go to your office to look for you." Ludo Bagman was completely unaware. He walked over to Crouch and hooked his arm around his shoulder as if they were close friends. He said frivolously, "We must cooperate more in next year's Quidditch World Cup!"

"I will." Barty sullenly knocked Ludo's hand off his shoulder. "This is my job."

"That's great," Ludo Bagman said happily. He owed a lot of money because of gambling recently, and the salary from the Ministry of Magic was not enough for him to squander. The World Cup was a chance for him to make more money! Batty turned around and was about to leave, but was stopped by Ludo.

"Wait, old man, there's one more thing." Ludo Bagman said something that surprised Barty before he could get angry.

The big guy looked around like a thief, and when he found that not many people were paying attention to this side, he whispered: "Did you know that Dumbledore plans to restart the Triwizard Tournament?"

"When did it happen?" Barty Crouch's deathly pale face finally revealed an expression of surprise.

"Just now. I overheard it when I passed by Fudge's office. It was Dumbledore's proposal. He had already contacted the headmasters of Durmstrang and Bubbaston in advance and reached an agreement with them. I think Fudge seemed a little worried, but if this matter can succeed, I guess we have to wait until the World Cup is over." Ludo said.

Ludo was eager for this matter to pass.

He himself is the Director of the Department of Magical Games and Sports. Only when such large-scale events are held will his power rise like the tide.

Compared to Ludo Bagman's enthusiasm for this matter, Barty Crouch had more to think about.

What exactly was Dumbledore's intention in bringing up the idea of ​​holding the Triwizard Tournament again at this critical juncture? Was he simply trying to restore a tradition and deepen the ties between the three European schools? Barty Crouch, or rather, Barty Crouch Jr., didn't think Dumbledore would do something meaningless, especially when he knew that Voldemort could be resurrected at any time. How could he so leisurely propose holding a competition that could result in the death of students or even teachers?

'I'm afraid he wants to use the Triwizard Tournament to establish contact with the other two magic schools. Once the Dark Lord returns, he can use this to get help from the Ministry of Magic of other countries.'

Barty Jr. thinks far ahead. He believes that Dumbledore may have foreseen that when the Dark Lord is resurrected, the British Ministry of Magic will be infiltrated and become untrustworthy. Therefore, he plans to seek help in advance through the Triwizard Tournament.

Dumbledore's attention to Voldemort made little Barty feel both proud and troubled. That old guy was indeed a huge trouble!

He didn't expect that he would learn such important information just by pretending to be his father and working for one day at the Ministry of Magic.

Unfortunately...

'It's too far after the World Cup.'

The time span of more than half a year made Barty feel a little regretful. The Dark Lord couldn't wait that long, otherwise he might have taken this opportunity to make some good operations.

'We still have to find another way to get to Hogwarts and take Harry Potter away.'

"By the way, who are the headmasters of Durmstrang and Bubbleston?" Little Barty asked puzzledly.

"The headmaster of Bubbleston School of Witchcraft and Wizardry is Ms. Olympe Maxime, a big woman." Ludo said with some sarcasm. Even in the wizarding world, a height of nearly three meters is very special. The implication of his words seemed to express his suspicion about the identity of the lady.

"As for Durmstrang, you are very familiar with it." Ludo laughed softly, "Igor Karkaroff, you have tried him before, right? Later, this guy ran away to Northern Europe. I didn't expect that he has become the headmaster now."

Ludo laughed and shook his head, as if to say that nothing is certain in this world.

"Is it him?" Barty Jr.'s disguised face showed an expression of disgust. He wanted to kill that hateful traitor as soon as possible! Unlike Malfoy, Karkaroff was a complete traitor. Malfoy only used the excuse of being cast under the "Immortal Curse" to deny the fact that he was a Death Eater after the fall of the Dark Lord, but Karkaroff was completely different. He reduced his sentence by betraying other Death Eaters. Such a traitor must be liquidated after the Dark Lord makes a comeback! Even Barty Jr. couldn't wait that long. He wanted to appear in front of Karkaroff right now and cut off his head!

No, he should be allowed to continue serving the Dark Lord!

After all, casting the resurrection spell requires the sacrifice of the servant's flesh.

Just as Little Barty was thinking maliciously, Ludo suddenly grinned and laughed with gloating: "But his good days will not last long."

"What's the meaning?"

"I also heard from my Bulgarian friends that it seems that he won't be able to stay in this position for long." Ludo was vague, and the general meaning seemed to be that there was another more suitable candidate who was about to take office.

Little Barty was not surprised by this. Although Durmstrang was more tolerant of dark magic, it was not a school that specialized in training dark wizards, not to mention someone like Karkaroff, whose temperament and strength were as narrow as a sewer rat.

"I understand." Little Batty sorted out his thoughts and then separated from Ludo.

Little Batty kept thinking about it until he returned to his office.

"If Karkaroff could still serve as the headmaster of Durmstrang, he would be of greater use. If he loses this position, then the only thing he can offer to the Dark Lord is his life!"

Controlling a magic school is very beneficial to the long-term development of the Death Eaters. Through the school, young wizards can be educated and become the reserve army of the Death Eaters, cultivating a group of truly capable wizards! The Death Eaters in the past were even more incompetent because there were too many rubbish like Peter Pettigrew and Igor Karkaroff!

If it were like Dumbledore's Order of the Phoenix or Grindelwald's Witch Party, would it be difficult to conquer Europe and sweep the world?

But this is also because the Dark Lord chose the most difficult British wizarding world from the beginning. Otherwise, the influence of the Death Eaters might not be less than that of the Witch Party.

Albus Dumbledore! No matter how much Barty hated this man, he had to admit Dumbledore's strength. But on the other hand, even Dumbledore, who defeated Grindelwald, failed to defeat the Dark Lord, didn't he?

If it weren’t for that prophecy, who knows what would happen today!

Little Barty was still full of confidence in Voldemort, and this confidence was not groundless. He had seen Voldemort's strength with his own eyes, and his power was evident from the fact that no one dared to pronounce his name.

Although this is because Voldemort cast a curse on his own name, Voldemort has been "dead" for more than ten years now and the Death Eaters have all dispersed, the fact that this name still makes people shudder is enough to explain a lot.

Barty Jr. was working in the office on behalf of his father. Unexpectedly, he was very capable and could handle almost all the affairs of the Ministry of Magic very well. In the afternoon, Fudge came to him and told him about the Triwizard Tournament.

He had a stiff face and looked at Fudge with an unhappy expression: "This is my job. I will contact the French Ministry of Magic and Scandinavia."

Rather, it was just what he wanted.

Dumbledore wanted to seek international help, and Barty the Younger did not intend to confine the Death Eaters to a small country like Britain did more than a decade ago.

After seeing off the fat Fudge, little Barty took off his disguise and lay lazily in the chair, thinking about what to do next.

"The most urgent task is to find a way to resurrect the Dark Lord, otherwise we will never have the capital to fight against Dumbledore. And we must also pay attention to that impostor." Little Barty made a decision quickly.

The next day, when Barty Crouch came to work at the Ministry of Magic again, everyone thought he was a little confused.

Barty Jr. cast the Imperius Curse on his father, forcing his father to help the Dark Lord, while he himself set his sights on Remus Lupin.

Few people know that the current Defense Against the Dark Arts professor at Hogwarts, Remus Lupin, is a werewolf.

Of course, this is not a secret to Voldemort, because there was once a traitor who gave him all of Lupin's information.

"Werewolf, huh!" Little Batty sneered disdainfully as he walked through the dark jungle. Under the bright night, he stopped and looked at an isolated wooden shed from afar.

That is the famous haunted house in the British wizarding world, the Shrieking Shack.

About twenty years ago, horror legends began to spread here. Every full-moon night, terrifying howling sounds could be heard one after another, making people wonder if there was some monster trapped inside.

Now, the monster is back!

"The Dark Lord said that the werewolf will drink the potion made by Snape and stay here for a whole week." Little Barty did not approach rashly.

Wolfsbane potion can keep a werewolf awake while transforming, but it does not weaken the werewolf's power. Little Barty doesn't dare to fight a rational werewolf.

Like other magical creatures, werewolves have excellent magic resistance. Ordinary spells have almost no effect on werewolves. Even many black magics can only make the werewolf's charging body pause slightly.

Moreover, the werewolves moved very quickly, and Little Batty couldn't even guarantee that his spells would hit the target.

Now all he had to do was wait for dawn.

Little Batty leaned against a thick tree trunk and closed his eyes.

It was a January night, the weather was still very cold, and the heavy snow in the woods had not melted at all. Remus Lupin curled up his bony body, looking at the moonlight streaming in through the window sill.

His body didn't feel cold at all, but he felt very sad inside.

Wolfsbane potion can allow werewolves to remain sane while transforming, which to a great extent prevents werewolves from accidentally hurting other wizards due to madness. It can be said to be a potion of redemption. From this point of view, Lupin is very grateful to Damocles Belby, the wizard who invented wolfsbane, and even more grateful to Snape who put aside their past grudges and brewed the potion for him.

However, on the other hand, for a wizard like Lupin who was unfortunately infected with wolfsbane, watching himself turn into a monster clearly was another kind of torment.

In the past, he couldn't see his own appearance when he transformed, let alone think about how pathetic it was to be a werewolf.

And now, all of this is laid out before our eyes in a bloody manner.

Lupin lowered his head and looked at the thick arms covered with fur, his eyes revealing sadness about his fate. Even though Dumbledore was generous and full of trust in him, it could not change the fact that he was an outlier.

And it's a monster that is full of danger!

Even if it's unintentional, a werewolf's claws can hurt innocent people.

Lupin thought of Sirius and the pleasant time he and Harry had spent together, and felt both happy and frightened.

If my identity were to be discovered, I would probably have to return to my homeless life.

Lupin was even more grateful to Snape for this. Although Snape had always tried to let the young wizard know his identity when he was teaching last semester, he never told him openly. This was already a great favor to Lupin.

As for now, Sirius has replaced him as the substitute teacher, so Lupin has nothing to worry about.

As he was thinking, Lupin found that the hair on his arms began to recede and his sturdy torso became thin again. He raised his head, touched the not-so-smooth skin on his face, and looked out the window, where the light had become more dazzling.

It's dawn! The werewolf stood up with a weak face, leaving all his burdens behind, and walked towards the bright snow outside the door step by step.

He turned around and saw a weak shadow with its knees hugged in the dark corner of the shed. It was his cowardly self.

Lupin grabbed a handful of snow and put it on his face. The biting coldness sobered him up a lot. He took a step forward, and the snow made a "crunching" sound.

The forbidden forest was very quiet in the heavy snow, except for a sudden spell: "Faint!"

As we all know, Defense Against the Dark Arts is a cursed subject! (End of this chapter)