Professor Vampire.

Chapter 277: Barty Crouch's Secret

On an island without sunlight, the sky is gloomy and the sea breeze is howling.

The island is surrounded by waves, and rows of black waves rise and fall, like countless sea beasts breaking free from their cages, with their rough backs covered with seaweed almost touching the sky.

On this island, a lonely fortress is surrounded by tall steel walls on all four sides. The waves hit the iron walls, splashing high waves, but no drop of water can pass over the towering walls on the island.

Countless Dementors, wearing tattered black cloth and looking like they have been soaked in water, are wandering in the sky. Wherever they pass, it seems that all the happiness has been sucked away, reminding people of the most terrible things they have experienced in their lives.

However, these Dementors, who are almost feared and dreaded by the entire magic world, behave very abnormally today.

They deliberately bypassed an open space on the island of Azkaban, far away from there, as if something more terrifying than these monsters appeared in that direction.

This is a cemetery on the island of Azkaban.

No one takes care of it here, just like an abandoned mass grave, with corpses lying there in a mess.

The bodies of wizards who were tortured to death by Dementors in Azkaban were hastily buried, and occasionally some friends or relatives who came here to visit would erect a few stones here, just as tombstones for the dead.

A tall figure with long silver hair and wine-red eyes stood quietly beside the cemetery, with a look of contemplation on his face.

Countless Dementors on the island did not dare to get close to him——

Most of the Dementors had experienced the Patronus spell that covered the entire island, and had seen their almost immortal Dementor companions being completely annihilated... Their fear of Dracula had been deeply engraved in the memory of the tribe.

Dracula was happy that there were no disgusting monsters like Dementors to bother him, so that he could find someone more conveniently.

Or a ghost.

As early as the Christmas ball, Dracula wanted to come to Azkaban to take a look, but he only found time between the various funs of the semi-finals after the second project was over.

Before the Christmas ball, Percy introduced Barty Crouch's family situation to Dracula, and mentioned Crouch's Death Eater son who died in Azkaban, and Crouch's wife who also died during that time.

Dracula had always been very suspicious of Crouch, so he would not let go of such seemingly minor doubts.

How could an excellent young wizard like Barty Crouch Jr., who obtained twelve OWLs certificates during school and joined the Death Eaters shortly after graduation, not be able to withstand the torture of Dementors for just a few months?

Dracula stood in front of the cemetery and snapped his fingers gently.

Next, it was as if a blood-red thread passed through Dracula's hand and connected to all the almost unformed bones on the ground.

Gradually, these corpses began to move -

In fact, each corpse may still have some remaining soul fragments still in the body, especially in a cruel place like Azkaban, it is almost impossible for wizards to die peacefully, and more or less they will have some obsessions...

These obsessions are the premise for the birth of ghosts.

As Dracula once said to his cheap daughter Selina, he is the purest dark life and is very good at necromancy.

This blood-red thread is an application of necromancy, which evokes the broken souls and meager consciousness that have not yet completely dissipated in the bodies of the dead, allowing Dracula to get some information he needs here.

Under the effect of the blood-red thread, transparent figures floated up from the corpses. Most of them had dull eyes and no consciousness, and there was no possibility of communicating with them.

However, this is a prison that has existed for who knows how many years. With such a large number of dead people, there are always some souls that still retain a relatively complete consciousness.

These relatively complete soul fragments are actually only a hair's breadth away from forming ghosts.

"What's your name?" Dracula walked to the side of a illusory wizard with the clearest eyes and asked softly.

"I... yes, what's my name?" The illusory wizard looked at Dracula blankly, and then looked at the surrounding environment, "I seem to remember... I should have died in a prison..."

He covered his head in pain, and his vague voice seemed a little hoarse, "I... my name... my name should be..."

"It's okay, forget it if you can't remember it." Dracula interrupted the illusory wizard, and the light in his eyes kept flowing, "I want to ask you a few questions, listen carefully..."

The wizard seemed to be controlled, and stopped abruptly with a hoarse look, looking at Dracula solemnly.

"You say." He said in a stiff, flat voice.

"How long have you lived in this cemetery?" Dracula asked casually.

The illusory wizard frowned unconsciously and fell into thought.

"About thirty years." After a long time, the illusory wizard slowly uttered this sentence.

It can be seen that the wizard's consciousness is not sure how many years he has been here, so under the control of Dracula's necromancy, he can only give an approximate value.

"Thirty years... Then you must know Barty Crouch Jr., right?" Dracula asked, "He also died on this island more than ten years ago, and I still have some questions to ask him."

However, the transparent wizard shook his head.

"I don't know anyone named Barty Crouch Jr. in this cemetery." He said.

Dracula frowned.

"Do you know the others?" he asked softly, "Or do you not know Barty Crouch Jr. because you have no way to contact the other broken souls who died nearby?"

"No, I know everyone buried here." The transparent wizard retorted, "But I have never seen a wizard named Barty Crouch Jr."

"Is that so?" Dracula's eyes showed some intriguing colors.

There are only two possibilities now-

The first is that Barty Crouch Jr.'s body was taken away by his father and was not buried here at all; the second is that Barty Crouch Jr. was not dead at all and has been hiding in the dark...

"Very good, I need to find other people to confirm it." Dracula nodded.

Next, he found other broken souls with clearer consciousness one by one and asked them, and the answers he got were similar.

This specially set up tomb on the island of Azkaban really seems to have never had any information about Barty Crouch Jr....

Until he asked a slightly older witch with gray hair.

"I need to ask, do you know a wizard named Barty Crouch Jr?" Dracula stood in front of the witch's illusory figure and asked as usual.

However, unlike other wizards, the moment this witch heard the name "Barty Crouch Jr.", her eyes suddenly enlarged, and then she turned her eyes to the side as if nothing had happened.

"From the looks of you, you should know Barty Crouch Jr., right?" The red light in Dracula's eyes flowed again, and the witch's eyes gradually lost focus.

Just when Dracula thought that she would tell everything she knew like the souls she had asked before, the witch's eyes suddenly regained their sanity.

There was a trace of panic and agility in her eyes that should not belong to these residual souls. She turned her eyes to the side and wanted to escape from Dracula.

"Stop!" Dracula said coldly.

He was a little embarrassed that his necromancy, which he was good at, had an accident.

So, Dracula raised his finger and pointed at the witch——

"Imperio."

The effect of the Imperius Curse in this situation was almost immediate.

Although the witch struggled again and again, she had no magic power in her body, nor did she have a complete consciousness and soul, and there was no room for resistance.

Soon, this witch, who was not young, became obedient and submissive like the residual souls before.

"So, now can you tell me..." Dracula sighed, stood in front of the witch, and asked softly, "You know Barty Crouch Jr., right? What is your relationship with him?"

The witch's lips moved, and it seemed that she still had the strength to struggle, and she didn't know where the strength came from.

However, she didn't last more than a minute in the end. Her willpower was ultimately no match for Dracula's powerful magic.

The illusory witch spoke:

"I am the mother of Barty Crouch Jr."

Dracula's child hole suddenly shrank

...

Hogwarts Castle.

Usually, the beginning of the summer semester means that Harry has to step up training to prepare for the last Quidditch match of the season.

But this year, he has to prepare for the third and final event of the semi-finals, and does not need to participate in Quidditch training.

But he still doesn't know what to do, and there is no specific direction for preparation.

Until one afternoon after the Transfiguration class, Professor McGonagall called him to the back of the classroom.

"Potter, you go to the Quidditch field at nine o'clock tonight," Professor McGonagall said to Harry, "Mr. Bagman will be there to tell the warriors what the third event is."

So, at half past eight that night, Harry separated from Ron and Hermione, who had reconciled, in Gryffindor Tower and went downstairs. When he walked through the hall, Cedric was coming out of the Hufflepuff common room.

"What do you think the third project will be?" Cedric asked Harry as they walked down the stone steps and merged into the cloudy night. "Cho and Fleur both think it will be an underground tunnel. They think we are looking for treasure."

"That's not bad," said Harry, thinking that he could just borrow a Niffler from Rolf and leave the task to it.

They walked along the dark lawn towards the Quidditch pitch and entered the pitch through a crack between the stands.

"What have they done here?" Cedric stopped suddenly and said angrily.

The Quidditch pitch was no longer flat and smooth.

It looked as if someone had built countless long low walls here, which were intricate and winding in all directions.

Cedric and Harry were both loyal fans of Quidditch, and of course they could not accept that the Quidditch pitch they were familiar with had been transformed into this.

"It looks like a wall!" Harry said, looking down and carefully observing the low wall closest to him.

"Hello!" a cheerful voice called out.

Ludo Bagman stood in the middle of the field, with John, Krum and Fleur beside him.

Harry and Cedric stepped over the low walls and walked towards them. Fleur smiled brightly at him as Harry approached - her attitude towards him had changed 180 degrees since Harry rescued her sister from the lake.

"Looks pretty good, don't you think?" Bagman asked cheerfully as Harry and Cedric climbed over the last low wall. "Progress is pretty fast, isn't it? In another two months, Hagrid will make them twenty feet high."

He saw the unhappy expressions on Harry and Cedric's faces and smiled comfortingly, "Oh, don't worry, your Quidditch field will be back to normal as soon as the championship project is over!"

"Well, I think you can probably guess what we are going to do here?"

Bagman looked at everyone with expectation.

"Maze." After a moment of silence, Krum said in a gruff voice.

"That's right!" Bagman clapped his hands, "It's a maze! The third task is very simple and clear. The Triwizard Cup is placed in the center of the maze. Whoever can touch it first will win the final championship."

"We just need to pass the maze?" Fleur asked doubtfully.

This doesn't seem very difficult.

"There will be many obstacles," Bagman said happily, hopping on tiptoe, "Hagrid provides a lot of animals... and some spells must be lifted... things like that, you know."

"In addition, the warrior with the leading score will enter the maze first." Bagman glanced at John, "But it doesn't mean that the first one to enter will definitely be the first to pass the level. You all have to try your best!"

Harry and the other warriors couldn't help but look at John.

Harry knew exactly what kind of animals Hagrid would provide in such an occasion. It was not fun at all...

In addition, he later learned from Rolf that John had studied for a long time with the most outstanding magical zoologist, Newt Scamander. If the obstacles were all magical animals, he might have won the championship.

"Don't worry, there won't be only magical animals." Bagman seemed to see their concerns and explained, "There are also various other obstacles such as protective magic and alchemical products waiting for you!"

After explaining the content of the competition, everyone walked over the growing low wall and walked towards the castle.

Bagman hurriedly walked beside Harry... Harry felt that he was about to ask to help him again.

Sure enough, Bagman found an excuse to pull Harry to a remote place near the Forbidden Forest, and his expression seemed a little upset.

"Listen, Harry, do you think you can defeat the other warriors and win the final championship?" he asked.

"Of course I don't think so." Harry shook his head and smiled with relief. "In fact, I am very satisfied to have come this far. I don't force the first place."

"No, how can you not pursue the first place..." Bagman said anxiously, "I can make you get the first place!"

Harry shook his head and didn't want to pay attention to this referee who didn't know what he was thinking.

At this moment, a rustling sound suddenly came from the depths of the Forbidden Forest.

Harry turned his head and stared at the place where there was movement just now. He reached into his robe and fumbled for his wand.

At this time, a ragged man suddenly stumbled out from behind a tall oak tree.

Harry didn't recognize him for a while... Then, he realized that this was the Director of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, Mr. Barty Crouch.