After HP shared the dream, Lao Fu was conquered by me

"He deserves it. The elves have had a much harder time than he does. This is what he deserves," said Hermione, her voice sounding sharp.

Sirius chewed the bone, making a crunching sound, but he never said a word.

"He must be regretting it now. No one is more loyal than those kind elves. I bet he must be having a hard time now."

"No one cares about elves more than Hermione," Ron whispered to Sirius, winking at him behind Hermione's back.

The content of their conversation seemed so boring to Lamia, but Sirius was very interested. "Crouch drove away his elf?"

"Yes, at the Quidditch World Cup just before," said Harry, and he went on to tell her in detail how the Dark Mark had appeared, and how Winky had been made the scapegoat and cruelly abandoned by his master.

When Harry had finished, Sirius stood up again and began pacing up and down the cave.

"Wait a minute, I'm a little confused, let me figure this out," he said after a moment, waving a freshly pulled chicken drumstick in his hand. "You saw that elf in the top box first. She was holding a seat for Crouch, wasn't she?"

"That's right," Harry, Ron, and Hermione said in unison. Lamia didn't know what Sirius was doing, which was not really an interesting topic.

"But Crouch didn't come to the game?"

Sirius stroked his chin and chewed the chicken leg in his mouth thoughtfully.

"No," Harry said, "I didn't see him during the match anyway, as Lamia can attest."

Several people's eyes fell on Lamia, who seemed a little erratic. She stared at the sky outside, as if she was worried about something, and did not answer for a long time.

"Lamia, Lamia, are you listening?"

Hermione patted Lamia's back gently, her gaze refocusing.

"What?" Lamia said.

"I say, do you remember that day when the Quidditch match started, Crouch was not at the game."

"I remember seeing him, but I'm not sure when he came," Lamia recalled. She was telling the truth, but Crouch was probably not in his position during the game.

Sirius paced back and forth in the cave silently, digesting all the information, and then he said, "Harry, did you notice Winky's position when you were hiding?"

"Hmm..." Harry tried to remember.

"No," he said finally, "We couldn't see anything clearly in the woods, and I don't know where Winky was at that time." He looked at Sirius, "Are you saying that Winky was willing to take the blame?"

"Very likely," said Sirius.

"Winky couldn't have done this willingly. She must have been forced," Hermione said firmly.

"Is there anyone else in that box besides the elf?" Sirius said. He frowned and began pacing again. "Who else is sitting behind you?"

"Lots of people," said Harry. "Bulgarian ministers... Cornelius Fudge... and the Malfoys..."

"Malfoy!" Ron suddenly shouted. His voice was so loud that it echoed in the cave. Lamia felt that the fragile wall would collapse at any second. "I dare say it was Lucius Malfoy who did it!"

"Is there anyone else?"

"No more," said Harry.

"Yes, there's Ludo Bagman too," Hermione reminded.

"Oh, right..."

"I don't know much about Bagman, I only know that he used to be a batsman for the Wimbourne Hornets." Sirius was still pacing and said, "How is he?"

"It's nice," Harry said. "He's offered to help me in the Triwizard Tournament several times."

"Oh, really?" Sirius said, frowning more tightly, "It's strange, why would he do this?"

"He said he had a crush on me," Harry said.

"Hmm." Sirius looked thoughtful.

"We saw him in the woods just before the Dark Mark appeared," Hermione told Sirius.

"Remember?" Hermione was the first to look at Lamia, who nodded solemnly.

"Yeah, but he didn't stay in the woods, did he?" said Ron. "He came over to the camp as soon as we told him there was a riot."

"How do you know?" Hermione asked immediately. "How do you know where he Apparated to?"

"Don't be ridiculous," said Ron incredulously. "You think Ludo Bagman conjured the Dark Mark?"

"He's more likely than Winky," Hermione said stubbornly.

"I told you," said Ron, looking at Sirius meaningfully, "I told you she was obsessed with domesticated -"

But Sirius held up a hand, silencing Ron.

"What did Crouch do when the Dark Mark was revealed and the elf was discovered by everyone?"

"He gave poor Winky a good beating!" said Hermione. "Winky kept begging for mercy, but he wouldn't listen..."

"Of course," Sirius muttered softly as he paced, "of course, what he did was wrong, to cover up someone's crime, so he's going to fire the elf and do something bad to her."

"Yes," said Hermione in a very angry tone, "he expelled her because she didn't stay in the tent and let others walk on her -"

"Hermione, can you stop grabbing the elf!" said Ron.

Sirius shook his head and said, "She knows Crouch's nature better than you do, Ron. If you want to understand a man, pay attention to how he treats his subordinates, not just how he treats people of equal status."

He stroked his bearded cheek with his hand, appearing to be thinking hard about something.

"Barty Crouch's absences so many times... at the Quidditch World Cup, he went to the trouble of having his house-elf save him a seat, but he didn't go himself... It's out of character for Crouch. If he's ever taken a day off sick before, I'll swallow this stone."

"What, you know Crouch?" Harry said.

Sirius's expression darkened, and he suddenly became very scary, Lamia had never seen such an expression on his face before, so gloomy and terrifying.

"Oh, of course I know Crouch," he said quietly. "He was the one who ordered me sent to Azkaban without even a trial."

"What?" Hermione and Ron cried.

"You're kidding!" said Harry.

Although Lamia didn't say anything, the look she gave Sirius was full of questions.

"No, I'm not kidding," said Sirius, taking another big bite of chicken. "Crouch was once the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement at the Ministry of Magic. Didn't you know that?"

Harry, Ron, and Hermione shook their heads.

"Some people predict he might be elected Minister of Magic," said Sirius. "He's a great wizard, Barty Crouch, a master of magic—and a thirst for power. Oh, and he's definitely not a supporter of Voldemort."

Sirius saw the expression on Harry's face and said immediately, "No, Barty Crouch always publicly said that he was against the Dark Arts, but many people who are against the Dark Arts... well, you won't understand... you are too young..."