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(End of this chapter)
Chapter 551 Barty Crouch Investigation Ends
Barty Crouch?
Kyle felt like he hadn't heard this name in more than half a year.
Ever since Sirius was acquitted shortly after the start of the school year, Barty Crouch has been criticized by the public for not trying Sirius and directly putting him in Azkaban.
Actually, there was nothing wrong with this at the time, and even Sirius himself thought so... Kyle remembered that he even had a good opinion of Crouch.
Before Voldemort fell, Crouch advocated some tough measures to give the Aurors some new rights.
They were no longer able to only arrest, but had the power to kill, and were allowed to use the Unforgivable Curses against Death Eaters...Sirius wasn't the first person to be handed over directly to the Dementors without a trial.
This method of responding to violence with violence made Aurors as cruel and ruthless as many Death Eaters. Although it doesn't sound that way now, it actually allowed many people to survive in that chaotic era.
And it is precisely because of this that the Ministry of Magic has been able to fight the Death Eaters on equal terms for several years.
In the end, if his son, Barty Crouch Jr. had not been confirmed to be a Death Eater, Fudge would not be the current Minister of Magic.
So, Sirius actually didn't hate Crouch that much. He just wanted to regain his freedom so that he could take care of Harry, instead of blaming anyone.
But even so, Crouch was investigated for this mistake on suspicion that he intentionally helped Peter Pettigrew cover up the crime and damaged the reputation of the Ministry of Magic.
And this investigation lasted for half a year.
Kyle looked at the photo in the newspaper.
In just half a year, Barty Crouch seemed like a different person. His neatly trimmed beard became messy and he looked extremely listless.
In stark contrast to him, Fudge in the photo looked very proud.
"He must be very happy that no one can compete with him for the position of minister..." Kyle thought to himself.
But Kyle didn't care.
He continued to read the newspaper.
The investigation into Crouch did not yield any substantive evidence that he had any connection to the Death Eaters.
So after the investigation was over, he could still continue to work in the Ministry of Magic and retain his position as Director.
The only difference was that he was transferred from the Department of International Magical Cooperation to the Department of Magical Transportation.
This is probably the most marginal department in the Ministry of Magic, only slightly better than the Department of Sports and Physical Education.
Of course, it’s not that the Department of Magical Transportation is not important, it just depends on who you are comparing it with.
If people were asked to choose between the Department of International Magical Cooperation and the Department of Magical Transportation for the same position, no one would choose the latter.
In addition to Crouch, all other people under investigation were removed from their original positions and reassigned to more marginal departments, such as the Department of Magical Games and Sports.
Ludo Bagman should be very happy, after all, this is the first time that so many people have been assigned to his department.
However, the Ministry of Magic did not seem to want to publicize this matter. Logically speaking, such important news should be placed on the front page, but this time it only appeared on the back of the newspaper, in an inconspicuous corner, and the content was mostly glossed over, with only one result.
……
"It must have been Fudge."
Sirius spoke in a low voice while standing next to Kyle during the first Defense Against the Dark Arts class in the morning.
I don’t know if it was because of Crouch’s incident, but Professor Moody took a leave of absence, so before he came back, the fifth-year Defense Against the Dark Arts class was also handed over to Sirius.
He asked the students to review the Armor Spell they had learned before, and he ran over to Kyle and talked about the contents of the newspaper.
"It must be Fudge, I guarantee it." Sirius continued, "He is a person who is extremely obsessed with power, and he just took this opportunity to transfer those who support Crouch from important positions in one fell swoop.
"I don't know if you've noticed, but almost all of those being investigated this time are from the Department of International Magical Cooperation and the Department of Law Enforcement.
Although there were many people in other parts who were involved in this matter and firmly supported Crouch, nothing happened to them. "
"Need I say that?" Kyle said, "Except for the Minister of Magic, no one else can mobilize so many people at once even if they have a suitable reason."
"I don't like Fudge." Sirius looked around and lowered his voice again, "Even though I regained my freedom because of him, I just don't like him. He is a little too obsessed with power.
"Moreover, he has hinted more than once that he wants me to accept more interviews with the Daily Prophet and to emphasize how I was acquitted."
"Obviously, he wants to establish himself as fair and serious," Kyle said. "Fudge was the interrogator of the retrial. If you bring up the retrial, you can't get around him anyway."
"Yes, that's it."
Sirius said irritably, "I've already accepted three interviews, but he keeps sending owls to me... It's as if he wants me to cry about my experience in the Daily Prophet every day."
"You were portrayed as a tragic hero at the time," Kyle said with a smile. "Of course he wanted to use this opportunity to promote himself more."
"Who said it wasn't?" Sirius shook his head, "I really didn't want to continue saying those words that I had repeated countless times, so I just wanted to find a random excuse to hide, and then I came to Hogwarts.
"I never thought that Dumbledore would agree to let me be a professor at Hogwarts... To be honest, I have to thank Fudge again. It's because of his annoying behavior that I have the opportunity to teach Harry personally."
Kyle looked at the cheerful Sirius and suddenly didn't know what to say. How should I put it? He felt that Dumbledore was the person who wanted to thank Fudge the most.
Dumbledore's biggest worry every year was how to find a new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. When someone offered to teach him the job, he certainly couldn't refuse.
But judging from Sirius's expression, he didn't seem to care about it.
In order not to attract too much attention, Sirius quickly went to other places to instruct those who had not yet completed the Shield Charm.
After not practicing for a few months, some people have almost forgotten this spell.
Sirius walked around until the end of get out of class when he came to Kyle again.
"I really don't know what the Ministry of Magic will become in the future." Sirius looked out the window and said, "Fudge's methods are very clever, but his character... Never mind, I won't say anything. After all, it's because of him that I regained my freedom."
He suddenly sighed, "Anyway, without Crouch's constraints, Fudge will no longer have to worry about anyone threatening his position as Minister. To be honest, this is not a good thing for the Ministry of Magic."
"Isn't there still a headmaster?" Connor said, "People say that he trusts Professor Dumbledore very much, and every year when he encounters a problem, he comes to Hogwarts to ask for the headmaster's advice."
"Yeah... and Dumbledore is here," said Sirius, but his tone was a little reluctant.
He didn't know what happened in the past few years, but this year, since he became a professor, Fudge had never come to see Dumbledore once.
……
(End of this chapter)
Chapter 552: The Deputy Minister's Outrageous Proposal
Moody's leave this time was longer than everyone expected. It was about a month later that he returned to Hogwarts.
On Friday night, when everyone was enjoying their dinner, the door of the auditorium was suddenly pushed open from the outside, and Moody limped in with a gloomy face.
Although Moody's expression was usually very serious, even a little scary, everyone could tell at a glance that he was in a bad mood today.
The scarred face was tense, and the evil eyes in the eye sockets never stopped looking at everyone around him quickly.
Seeing this, some students who originally wanted to say hello to him gave up the idea and sat there obediently, not even daring to look at Moody.
"Kyle, guess what happened." Cedric whispered at the Hufflepuff table, "This is the first time I've seen Professor Moody so angry."
"I don't know either." Kyle shook his head, "But I guess it may be related to what happened in the Ministry of Magic recently."
He glanced at the Daily Prophet at hand.
On the front page of the newspaper, there is an eye-catching headline.
[Dolores Jane Umbridge, former Deputy Director of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, was transferred to the Minister's Office as Senior Undersecretary of the Ministry of Magic]
Unlike the brief reports on Crouch a month ago, the new Deputy Minister Umbridge alone occupied the front page of the newspaper.
It details her past achievements and her contributions to the Ministry of Magic.
Kyle didn't even read most of the content. He just glanced at it and ignored it. Only the last one caught his attention.
It says that Umbridge thinks the Aurors have too much power and that some spells that used to be powerful, such as the blasting curse, should be banned.
She also said that the Aurors were too disorganized before, and they should all be under the dispatch of the Minister's Office like the strikers, instead of being directly led by the Director of the Auror Office as it is now.
Judging from the time, this proposal appeared half a month ago, and it was marked as pending at the end. It is obviously still under discussion and has not been passed or rejected.
This must be the reason why Professor Moody took so long to come back.
If that was the case, no wonder he was so angry.
Aurors and strikers are two different departments. Aurors mainly deal with notorious dark wizards. Their missions are more dangerous, and it can even be said that every mission is like dancing on the edge of a knife.
Once you are forbidden to use more powerful spells, the consequences can be imagined.
Moreover, being under the dispatch of the Minister's Office means that the Aurors must go through an extra procedure every time they take action, which will also greatly reduce their efficiency.
Sometimes, especially in emergency situations, even a second of delay can make things worse.
Although Moody has retired, he certainly won't just watch the Ministry of Magic send the Aurors to their deaths.
Fudge must be too inflated. He didn't even reject this outrageous proposal immediately.
Other countries are working hard to improve the treatment of Aurors in order to attract more talents, but he chooses to do the opposite.
Kyle could guess a little bit that he probably wanted to take control of the Auror Office as well, but this method was too stupid.
If people from other countries saw this, then...
Well, in fact people in other countries have seen it.
Furong sneered at the newspaper.
Although Kyle wasn't sure if she was laughing because of this news, there didn't seem to be anything else funny in today's newspaper.
And at the Slytherin table on the other side, Krum did not eat in silence as he had done before, but was chatting and laughing with other Durmstrang students in Bulgarian.
He also had a copy of the Daily Prophet in his hand.
Kyle shook his head helplessly.
It seems that Sirius was right. Without Crouch, it would not be a good thing for the Ministry of Magic.
But he didn't need to worry about these things, Dumbledore would definitely not allow such a proposal to pass.
Kyle glanced in the direction of the teachers' seats. Dumbledore was talking to Moody with a serious expression.
……
the next morning.