harry potter book of crimes

"...Yes, there is no problem with old Batty. The problem is probably that child."

In the Leaky Cauldron, Maka and Sirius sat at a table near the wall, while Hermione and others sat around them.

Perhaps it was because of Hermione's words today, or perhaps because everyone's strength had indeed improved tremendously, Maka finally stopped hiding everything from them.

Of course, if there is something directly related to Haierbo, or even a situation where it is very possible to encounter that guy, it is still impossible for Maka to let them participate casually.

Hearing that Maka mentioned old Barty again after sitting down with Sirius, Hermione couldn't help but become a little curious about it.

"What's okay and what's wrong?" she asked doubtfully, "What did Mr. Crouch do?"

When Maka heard this, she couldn't help but shrugged and said:

"No, Mr. Crouch did almost nothing. He just went to the Muggle world to adopt two orphans with a longing for his son and an unbroken ambition in life."

After saying this with some emotion, he turned to explain:

"You also heard in the library just now that Mr. Crouch intends to use the matter of raising Muggle children in the wizarding world to explore the way for the future coexistence of Muggles and wizards... and maybe he can also let him

My later life will be less painful."

Up to this point, it was actually the same content that Maka had talked to Old Barty before. But immediately afterwards, he pointed towards Sirius again and said slightly seriously:

"Originally, after Mr. Crouch opened the library in Diagon Alley... no, to be precise, after Mr. Crouch came to Diagon Alley with his two children, several scenes appeared in succession here.

Murder case. In order to ensure that no bad rumors would arise, Sirius and the others temporarily tried to eliminate the impact of the case..."

"However, he and Lupine also speculated based on this that the person who secretly murdered was most likely Barty Crouch who suddenly came to Diagon Alley to open a shop."

After hearing what he said, Hermione nodded immediately, having a preliminary understanding of the current situation.

It turned out that Maka brought her to play in Diagon Alley today, and she actually had a mission. Hermione, Ron and four others became the best cover when testing each other.

Thinking about it this way, if she hadn't expressed her thoughts in advance today, Maka might have taken care of this matter by herself again.

After thinking about it secretly, Hermione finally said:

"So, you have just confirmed that Mr. Crouch did not kill the person?"

"Yes," Maka recalled the situation at that time, and then whispered, "I didn't actually think that he would commit a murder. After all, he has not done many illegal things in his life...

Well, except for that time when he couldn't resist the plea of ​​his seriously ill wife and went to Azkaban to replace his son Barty Jr."

Having said this, he paused slightly and then shook his head.

"But due to some reasons, I can't guarantee that his temperament will not change drastically... so today's test is still necessary."

"Some reason?"

Ron, who had never spoken, finally couldn't help but repeat it after hearing that Maka seemed to have deliberately skipped something.

"Um."

Seeing that other people were either confused or curious, Maka didn't hide anything anymore, nodded and said calmly:

"His son, Barty Crouch Jr., was killed by me myself."

No matter how much Maka understands human nature, he can't easily see through people's hearts. Because of his son's death, he couldn't guess whether old Barty would hold a grudge.

Because he understands that the death of little Barty is equivalent to a seed buried in old Barty's heart, and no one knows whether that seed will sprout or rot.

Maybe one day, old Barty will suddenly put all the pain of losing his son on his head, Maca McClain, and then the other party will most likely take the initiative to help Haierbo.

However, amid the surprised expressions of Hermione and others, Maka quickly said:

"Fortunately, I think old Batty did not kill anyone, because... I have probably guessed who the real murderer is."

When Hermione heard this, she frowned immediately, but then she seemed to be unable to accept her conjecture and shook her head slightly and threw away the number one candidate in her heart.

"Was... was it a guest who was in the library at that time?" she said hesitantly.

On the contrary, Neville next to him asked subconsciously after being slightly startled:

"Is it that little girl? Oh, no...it can't be?"

Neville's almost blurted words were actually the answer that Hermione thought of at the first moment. After all, the people Maka had the most contact with in the library at that time seemed to be Old Barty and the little girl.

However, a child of that age would kill others... This kind of thing makes people shudder to think about it.

After Neville asked, Hermione couldn't help but stare at Maka's head, as if she was afraid that he would nod and agree with Neville's terrible guess.

And when Maka shook her head again, she breathed a sigh of relief unconsciously.

"Sure enough...no!"

"Well, it's not her," Maka said, but then sighed, "But it's still related to her after all. Do you remember? As I mentioned, old Barty adopted a total of two Muggle orphans - girls

We have met, but don’t forget, there is also a boy!”

"But, although we haven't seen the boy, it doesn't mean that he -" Halfway through her words, Hermione couldn't help but said, "Maka, did you find something on that little girl?"

It can be seen that the kindness in Hermione's heart makes her unwilling to doubt the boy she has never met. However, based on her understanding of Maka, she understands that the other party's words are never without purpose.

Thinking about it this way, the conclusion seems obvious.

Sure enough, a complicated smile appeared on Maka's face.

"You're right." He picked up the cup at hand, took a sip of juice, and moistened his throat that was dry from talking too much. "The child...has traces of black magic on his body, and the old man...

Barty doesn't seem to know."

"Then... wouldn't he be very dangerous?" Ron said immediately.

This time, before Maka could answer, Hermione took the lead and said to Ron:

"No, on the contrary, maybe he is the safest one in Diagon Alley today!"

"ah?"

After Ron heard this, he couldn't help but wonder.

"Isn't it difficult to understand?" Hermione said, "First of all, Maka has just said that there have been several murders in Diagon Alley recently, but if the murderer was really a child, would he kill the people around him? No,

Even if that boy is smart enough to know that doing so can avoid suspicion. But without old Barty, he will be even more inconvenient as a child!"

As she was speaking, she paused briefly, and then continued:

"Secondly, the fact that a child can kill someone is suspicious enough in itself. I think there may be someone else behind him. And if that person is familiar with the magical world, Mr. Crouch will definitely be left behind -

-His son was a Death Eater in the first place, so could he himself not be a good person?"

"You mean, once the murder is exposed, they will use old Batty as a scapegoat?"

When Ron was stunned again, Maka also nodded.

"This idea makes sense," he said. "I did think that the boy might be controlled by others, but I didn't think that they might use old Barty as a shield."

After receiving Maka's admiring look, Hermione was obviously more confident, and she immediately continued:

"And the third point - we all know that Mr. Crouch has adopted those two children for some time. If the children wanted to take action, I am afraid that Mr. Crouch would have been dead long ago, wouldn't he?"

Although Hermione was ostensibly answering Ron's questions, she was also taking this opportunity to express some of her speculations.

To be honest, Hermione is indeed a quick thinker. Even Maka has not considered some details. After listening to her analysis, everyone, including Maka and Sirius, fell silent for a moment.

for a moment.

In the final analysis, no matter how convincing Hermione is, these are just inferences. What are the facts and how the situation will develop next will definitely require further investigation.

Not long after, Sirius suddenly spoke.

"Maka," he asked suddenly, recalling what Maka and Hermione had just said, "just now you said that you found 'traces of dark magic' on the little girl adopted by old Barty? Then you see

What kind of black magic did it come out specifically?"

If they could know the details of the black magic, it would not only provide them with safety guarantees for subsequent investigations, but they might also be able to learn more about the boy... and even the secrets of the person behind him.

Unfortunately, Maka waved her hand casually without much hesitation and said:

"I don't know. There are very few traces left on her body. It must have been several hours... To be honest, I was lucky to have discovered this at that time!"

After hearing this, Sirius lowered his head with regret and began to ponder other doubts.

So, after a short while, he probably knew that he couldn't figure out any more information, so he simply stood up.

"Maka, don't you have anything to say?" he said, "Then I'll take the first step - later I have to change shifts with Dunge to monitor the library, so that he can come over to eat something to fill his stomach.

.”

Maka first glanced at Hermione, seeing that she seemed to have nothing to say, and then nodded to Sirius:

"Okay, go ahead! I'll have dinner here with everyone, and then I'll go back to Hogwarts. If you find anything new, please let me know at any time." (To be continued)