Snape, the Sunshine of Hogwarts.

Chapter 98 Long Time No See, Senior Malfoy
As Kingsley said.

The Ministry of Magic could no longer keep what happened today a secret from the public.

This is not just a simple Black Magic Mark as it initially appeared; it is a mistake made by a Director, or rather, a high-ranking official with the most power among the Directors, such as the Executive Director.

Even ruthless Death Eaters like Barty Crouch Jr. escaped from Azkaban and have already gathered a group of companions.

They didn't just make claims; the werewolves' actions show that they were doing something.

Such an outcome is truly alarming.

Everyone in the Ministry of Magic believed that the Mystic was truly dead and would never return, as the vast majority of the wizarding world shared this belief.

But even if they believed it from the bottom of their hearts, the fact that a group of Death Eaters would resurface during this period was something no one wanted to see.

Let bygones be bygones, and those who shouldn't be there should never appear.

Fortunately, the matter of the werewolf kidnapping the child was resolved satisfactorily, which finally allowed the Ministry of Magic to find a direction for public opinion and shift the attention of the wizarding public.

1989 7 Month 23 Day.

Today's edition of The Daily Prophet was delivered to the homes of British wizards early this morning.

Every wizard who subscribed to this newspaper would claim in the years to come that it was one of the best purchases they had ever made, even comparable to the accompanying issue of The Quibbler!

Because it contains an enormous amount of information.

A typical issue of The Daily Prophet has four full-page layouts. The most important headline usually occupies the best front page, while the remaining news is distributed across other pages.

Today's Daily Prophet is dedicated to reporting on one thing!

Its front-page headline was so eye-catching—"The First Escapee in Azkaban's History!"

Its second-page news edition was no less impressive—"Declaring the Judgment and Rescuing the Victim: The Merits and Demerits of Chief Executive Crouch."

As for the other pages, they were filled with news reports about Crouch and his son, including who Barty Jr. had gathered, how he recruited the werewolf Greyback and a group of werewolf wizards, and what happened last night at Crouch's old house!
If it were just this one newspaper, it wouldn't be anything special.

Along with this newspaper, a special edition was also delivered to the wizard's house!
It was a supplementary publication that was released before the next issue of the newspaper could be published, since the previous issue had already been published.

And the news above is even more explosive!

The front page headline of this extra edition boldly proclaimed: "After a day of apologizing and repenting for his past in court, he saved seven families!"

As for the other sections of the extra edition, they also featured a variety of eye-catching news headlines—

Werewolves and Wolves: Humanity Infiltrating the Wild Beasts

A Muggle's Journey to Rescue His Daughter in the Wizarding World

All sorts of news spread like wildfire among the wizards.

First, there's what happened to Crouch's family.

No one expected that Barty Crouch the Elder, who had personally presided over the Wizengamo Trial and single-handedly sent his son to Azkaban and sentenced him to life imprisonment, would salvage his political credibility, which was on the verge of complete ruin, because of this incident.

However, six years later, it was revealed that five years earlier, he had personally used his seriously ill wife to exchange his wicked son from Azkaban, helping him to escape!

This Director of the Executive Division, who had already lost his future, completely ruined his reputation on this day, ending his political career.

And three days later, Wizengamo will hold a trial for his misconduct, and the high-ranking official who would normally only sit in the dock will become the one being tried.

This news brought a sense of unease to wizards who had once believed that Crouch would be a very competent Minister of Magic.

But the escaped Barty Crouch Jr. is attracting even more attention.

Because of the incident where his biological father interrogated him, the magical public is quite familiar with the name Barty Crouch Jr.!
After that trial six years ago, almost everyone knows what this young Death Eater has done (Bati Jr. was born in 1962, sentenced to life imprisonment by Azkaban in late 1981 at the age of 19, and is now 27)!

He had only graduated from Hogwarts less than a year earlier, and together with the infamous Lestrange couple, they used the Cruciatus Curse to drive the Longbottoms, who were Aurors, insane in their quest to find out the whereabouts of the missing man.

After Old Barty sentenced them to life imprisonment in Azkaban, Wisengamo unanimously approved the verdict!

It has only now been revealed that he was switched with his father, who had imprisoned him five years ago, and became the first wizard in history to successfully escape from Azkaban.

Even after escaping from prison, he remained unrepentant, and Old Barty had no choice but to use the Soul Reaper spell continuously to control him.

Finally, due to the weakening of the Imperius Curse's control, he seized the opportunity to contact the werewolves and Death Eaters outside. He also used this opportunity to use the Imperius Curse to control several Aurors in the Ministry of Magic, creating the werewolf case.

Not only that, he also planned to take revenge on his biological father afterward, torturing him with the Cruciatus Curse, and ultimately intending to kill his father with the Killing Curse!
This act, which completely violated human ethics and morality and was utterly immoral, angered almost all the wizards in the British magical community.

In particular, it includes the case of the werewolf Greyback stealing children.

The Daily Prophet reported that, in order to avoid hindering the Aurors' self-investigation, the Ministry of Magic had been secretly investigating the werewolves and preventing them from resorting to desperate measures and harming children.

The newspapers have never reported on this matter.

Only today, with all the children safely rescued and the werewolf Greyback, wanted for over twenty years, brought to justice, have all the details been revealed in the newspapers. For further details on the werewolf case, please refer to another special edition.

A magic school professor who, just two days ago, declared in court that he wanted to repent and turn back.

A Muggle dentist whose daughter was unexpectedly kidnapped.

A werewolf father who once worked at the Ministry of Magic and was a renowned expert on non-human ghost phenomena in his early years.

The three of them participated in the entire tracking and investigation of the werewolf. Midway through, it was the professor from the magic school who discovered a clue and led a team to Crouch's old house in time, saving Barty's life and almost wiping out all of Barty's gang.

The wizarding public read through all the reports in the extra edition almost as if they were reading a legendary novel.

If, after that trial, many people still harbored great doubt and distrust of Severus's public pronouncements about the changes he would make...

Just two days later, their doubts turned into shock.

Severus Snape is serious!

Among those who were shocked was, of course, Lucius Malfoy, Severus's former Slytherin senior, his good friend among the Death Eaters, and an elegant and noble pure-blood wizard.

The moment Lucius finished reading the Daily Prophet, the first thing on his mind was...

Is Severus really going all out?
But he quickly dismissed the idea after reading the newspaper again.

Lucius has a stereotype of Severus, but that doesn't mean he's a fool.

Having gone to such lengths, Severus was clearly not just putting on an act. If he were only trying to escape punishment, there would be no need for him to oppose Barty Jr.

As one of the core Death Eaters, Lucius knew very well that although Barty Jr. was young, his position within the organization was not low.

This young man had an almost pathological loyalty to the Dark Lord, and his own talent and abilities were not bad, so he was always trusted by the Dark Lord.

Now that he has escaped from Azkaban, he will definitely be heading to find the Dark Lord.

Regarding whether the Dark Lord is alive or dead, Lucius is more inclined to believe that he is dead (otherwise he wouldn't have so easily given the diary Voldemort gave him to Ginny later).

Even though that master is gone, a group of Death Eaters, represented by Barty the Younger, who firmly believe that their master is not dead but just missing, still exist.

Severus's actions were tantamount to going against these people. If it were just for an act, he wouldn't have needed to go to such lengths!

Thinking about this, Lucius was filled with worry.

He frowned and put down the newspaper, pondering what kind of impact this event would have on someone like him.

Just as he was lost in thought, the house-elf Dobby suddenly appeared beside him.

"Lord, master, a guest claiming to be your friend has come to visit!"

Upon hearing Dobby's words, Lucius's face immediately turned extremely ugly.

"He didn't say who he was?"

“Dobby asked him, but he… didn’t want to tell Dobby.” Dobby shrank back.

"What does he look like? How old does he appear to be?"

He covered himself completely, Dobby, Dobby couldn't see what he looked like.

Lucius's face grew increasingly grim, and he spoke urgently.

“Go back and tell him! I’m conducting a very complex and dangerous spell experiment, and I don’t have time to see any guests today!”

"Perhaps I can help you?"

A sudden sound rang out, and Lucius and Dobby both turned sharply to look in the direction of the reception room door, where a figure in a gray robe was standing.

Barty slowly removed his hood and smiled at Lucius.

"It's been so long, and you still love studying spells as much as ever, Senior Malfoy."

Lucius's expression remained unchanged; he simply spoke coldly to Dobby beside him.

Go back to your run-down den and punish yourself! Until you faint!

Dobby wept and kowtowed several times before disappearing from the reception room.

The next moment, as if his face had changed, Lucius's face was now radiant with a warm smile.

"It really has been a long time, Crouch!"

(End of this chapter)