Days wandering around Hogwarts

Chapter 433 The aftermath
I don’t know how many people stayed awake that night.

Barty Crouch sat in the dark, cold living room all night without closing his eyes for a second.

It was time to go to work, and he almost missed it. After a quick tidy up, he lit the fireplace and sprinkled in Floo powder.

The living room turned green due to the firelight, giving Crouch a bad feeling.

The Ministry of Magic was more chaotic today than ever before. Wizards kept walking out of the fireplaces, and people walked hurriedly into the fireplaces.

Crouch suddenly found that people often saw him deliberately looking away.

This once again gave him a bad feeling in his heart.

After walking a few steps, Crouch heard people whispering about the name he made, and then heard names like The Daily Prophet and Rita Skeeter.

He felt that he understood the situation. It must be that the reporter heard some rumors and made up a shocking news.

In the elevator, someone greeted him.

"Good morning, Mr. Crouch."

"Good morning, Mr. Lupin. You don't look well?"

Lupin smiled bitterly and said, "Nothing. Several foreign werewolves who came to St. Mungo's Hospital made some excessive demands."

Crouch said seriously: "Whether it is a wizard or a werewolf, we cannot agree to any excessive requests."

"If they agree, they will make further demands."

"For a sausage, they only want to cut a 1-inch slice at first. If they agree, they will ask for another slice, then another 1-inch slice, and finally the whole sausage."

Lupin thanked him for his guidance.

Lupin now has a headache. He used to think that being an official was a simple thing, as many officials were stupid. But when he really became an official, he found that he was the only stupid one.

Crouch came to his office and found a note from Lai Fudge on the desk. He went to the minister's office first.

He was thinking that perhaps the Minister needed to take it upon himself to eliminate the international impact of last night's events.

There were too many foreigners at the scene last night, which had a very bad impact.

Come to think of it, if the Minister's "Advisor" went to continental Europe and made a public appearance, the reaction of the Ministry of Magic there would certainly be the same as that of the British Ministry of Magic today.

Crouch came to the Minister's office and only Fudge was there.

For Crouch, this was almost his office.

"Tea or coffee?" asked Fudge.

"Coffee." Crouch sat down. "Thank you."

Fudge waved his wand, and the coffee pot over there automatically brewed a cup of Crouch-flavored coffee.

Crouch took a sip and felt a lot more energetic.

Fudge waited for him to put down his coffee cup, sighed, and said, "Barty, there's a new position in the Ministry."

Crouch frowned slightly and asked, "Do you want me to be responsible for what happened last night?"

Fudge did not answer directly, but continued, "Last night, Scrimgeour, Dumbledore, and the Counselor and I went to Azkaban."

Crouch's heart tightened and his hands trembled a little.

Fudge said, "Barty, you can tell a man from a woman by the bones."

Crouch felt as if he had been struck by lightning. His hands were twitching. He tried to pick up the coffee cup but failed after several attempts.

Fudge continued, "Only the four of us know that you used her to exchange for little Barty, and none of them will tell anyone."

"If it was before, I could pretend I didn't know."

"But, last night..."

He paused here, waved his wand and brought a Pensieve over and placed it in front of Crouch, and placed the memories of Hermione and others from last night next to it.

"The bones reappear!"

Although I couldn't see the person, I could hear the spell clearly.

Fudge and the others all knew Barty Crouch Jr. and recognized the voice.

Crouch seemed to have his soul sucked out, his face was pale, his eyes were empty, and he sat weakly in the chair. Fudge said, "The Ministry recently set up a Falkland Islands Liaison Office."

The Falkland Islands, also known as the Malvinas Islands, are located in the South Atlantic Ocean, about 13000 kilometers from the United Kingdom. The United Kingdom and Argentina fought a war over this place.

From this point, it can be seen that this position can be said to be the political Azkaban.

Crouch's lips moved a few times, and finally asked: "When will I take office?"

Fudge waved his wand and a suitcase landed at Crouch's feet.

Crouch looked at the suitcase in silence for a long time, then reached out his hand and tried several times before grabbing the handle.

Using Portkeys in the Ministry of Magic was not a problem for the Minister.

Fudge looked at the empty chair in front of him and sighed deeply.

Barty Crouch was a very capable wizard and had been expected to become the Minister of Magic, but he failed that time because his son was a Death Eater, and he made the same mistake again this time.

The collective escape from Azkaban was enough of a headache for Fudge and his team. If the Crouch family's substitution of one thing for another many years ago were to be exposed, it would cause even greater trouble.

Soon after, Scrimgeour came to Fudge's office to report on his work.

"The Greengrasses have nothing to do with it," said Scrimgeour. "They have their eye on Charles Smith."

Fudge knew what was going on as soon as he heard it, and said, "Then let them go."

Scrimgeour continued: "There is no connection between Draco Malfoy and Barty Crouch Jr. He was simply causing trouble for Harry Potter last night."

"I asked Gryffindor and Slytherin students, and they always confront each other."

Fudge was about to say let him go, but Scrimgeour said, "We found other questions during the interrogation. He has engaged in illegal currency exchange in the past two months."

According to Ministry of Magic law, currency between wizards and Muggles must be exchanged at Gringotts.

But in fact, there are many Muggle-born wizards who exchange coins with each other privately, but the amounts are relatively small.

In particular, some Muggle parents of Hogwarts students, in order to give their children pocket money for their studies at Hogwarts but being too lazy to go to London, would find wizards near their homes to exchange some money for their children.

Just like when Mr. Granger wants to give Hermione pocket money, he doesn't go to Gringotts now, but directly exchanges it with Seamus's mother, Mrs. Finnigan. After Mrs. Finnigan gets the pounds, she gives it to her Muggle husband.

The Ministry of Magic turned a blind eye to this kind of thing.

Fudge thought Malfoy was helping his classmates exchange some Galleons or something, so he said, "Since he has nothing to do with Barty Jr., let him go."

Scrimgeour also reported on some wizards captured last night, many of whom were former Death Eaters and avoided being sent to Azkaban during the trial.

The problem was, there wasn't a single escaped Death Eater inside.

Fudge frowned and finally said, "Send them all to Azkaban and keep them there for a month before retrial."

This is a very old interrogation method of the Ministry of Magic. It allows people to first experience the horror of Azkaban, so that subsequent interrogations will be much easier.

Not long after Scrimgeour left, someone else came to report on his work.

Dirk Cresswell is the deputy director of the Goblin Liaison Office. The current director, Cuthbert Mockridge, is about to retire, and because of his outstanding work ability, he is preparing to take over the vacant director position.

Cresswell brought bad news: "Gringotts is unwilling to compensate for the damage in the camp last night."

Fudge frowned and said, "The relevant clauses in Gringotts' insurance contract stipulate the scope and reasons for compensation. They must compensate for the tent that was burned last night."

"The goblins made many excuses, such as saying the tents were too expensive and misrepresenting the types of tents they had," Cresswell said.

"Dirk," Fudge said seriously, "you were involved in the negotiation of the insurance contract. You should remember that we warned them of these risks."

"It was the goblins' greed that made them ignore our well-intentioned reminder and finally sign the contract."

"Next time you talk bring the minutes and throw them in their faces!"

"You must be tough on this matter, because you have 100,000 wizards from all over the world behind you, and you represent their interests!"

Cresswell said, "I know what to do. I'll find them tomorrow."

"No." Fudge shook his head. "I'll go find the goblin next Monday."

"I have an interview scheduled for you tomorrow. Everyone needs to know the progress of the tent compensation. Rita Skeeter will be in your office at 9 am."

(End of this chapter)