Chapter 666 Fragile Balance
"I asked Percy, and he told me that Mr. Crouch was working too much and was recovering at home. He regularly sent owls to give him instructions. Percy showed me the letters. They were indeed written in Crouch's handwriting. But that doesn't mean anything. He hasn't seen Crouch in person! I would say Percy adores Crouch... He would love to be assigned more work."
"Yes, Percy is not the only one in the Department pleased that Crouch is suddenly ill and unable to go to work. As far as I know, Fudge may also see it as a good thing because he doesn't have to seek advice from Crouch on everything."
After Crouch's disappearance, the long and fragile power balance within the Ministry of Magic finally shattered.
Fudge took complete control of the Ministry of Magic. There was no longer a need to worry about Mr. Crouch's opinion, and no one would oppose him.
It was hard to argue that this was a good thing. Evan suspected that Fudge would then try to weaken Dumbledore's influence.
He hoped that his power would expand infinitely, to withstand all people and events against him.
At this moment, Fudge's foolish power struggle was exactly what Voldemort wanted to see.
Before the enemy attacked, there would be internal chaos. What could be worse?
They chatted for a while, and Sirius informed them that he was busy investigating the recent deaths in the forests of Albania, and he would soon be heading there, where the Ministries of Magic of European countries and the International Confederation of Wizards had sent personnel to investigate.
Obviously, the final outcome had nothing to do with Voldemort and was attributed to the vampires.
Then, Evan inquired about the vampire hunt, but the Ministry of Magic had made no progress yet. Even the vampires that had appeared in ancient ruins some time ago had now vanished. They had either found what they were looking for or ventured into more hidden ruins, which was not a good sign anyway.
Especially knowing through Caresius that not all vampires obeyed his orders, Evan was concerned about these individuals.
Vampires who served Voldemort wholeheartedly were much more dangerous than Death Eaters in general.
"Well, now it's one o'clock in the morning, you four should go back to bed," the flames licked their ears. "If you find anything strange, you can inform me at any time. By the way, I recall there's a two-way mirror in my house. I'll fetch it. It's more convenient to connect through it."
Evan, Harry, Ron, and Hermione approached to bid him farewell. Harry seemed to have a lot left unsaid.
"Wait, Harry! If your scar hurts again, or you encounter a situation that you four can't handle, go immediately to Dumbledore. He's the only person in the castle you can fully trust. He will help you."
It was evident that Sirius also had doubts about Moody. After all, his behavior that night was too abnormal.
"I know," said Harry, looking at Sirius again for a moment.
Then, they returned to their rooms to sleep. But about ten minutes later, Evan returned.
He saw Sirius smiling and waiting for him in the fire...
The following conversation became much more significant, and Evan confided valuable information to Sirius.
Not surprisingly, Sirius almost jumped out of the fire after learning these things.
In the end, Evan had to disclose his and Dumbledore's plan to calm him down.
Sirius and Evan agreed to keep watch on the scene at the second task and thwart Voldemort's conspiracy.
Although Sirius knew about Horcruxes, Evan did not mention that Harry was also a Horcrux. If he knew, Sirius would certainly lose control...
At that moment, the situation was very favorable. Evan had found all the help he needed, awaiting the start of the second task.
For a while, the school was quiet, without reports of Rita Skeeter's gossip and the fake Moody, Barty Crouch Jr., gradually subsiding.
As the time approached, everyone, including Evan, anticipated the second task.
The only interesting thing was that Hagrid had introduced a new magical creature. He had told everyone in the last lesson that they were done with unicorns.
Now he stood outside his cabin waiting for the students, with, at his feet, a fresh supply of opened crates they had never seen before.
"Please, let there be no scrutiny," said Colin, as his heart sank.
"I find erklings quite charming," said Gabrielle, disagreeing with Colin.
She found Hagrid's class truly captivating. She was perhaps the only one among them who had such a reaction.
Unfortunately, Hagrid had not yet fully recovered from Madame Maxime's injury.
He was now hardly ever seen near the Beauxbatons carriage, nor did he appear with Madame Maxime.
Even Harry informed Evan that he had recently seen Hagrid digging in front of his cabin. It was then that Madame Maxime emerged from the Beauxbatons carriage and approached Hagrid. She seemed to be trying to strike up a conversation with him. Hagrid leaned on his shovel, but didn't seem very eager to prolong the chat, as Madame Maxime returned to the carriage shortly after.
This incident wounded Hagrid so deeply that he displayed no kindness towards any of the Beauxbatons students.
But in the presence of a lovely girl like Gabrielle, who was akin to an angel, no one could truly remain cold and angry.
Hagrid had no intention of tending to Gabrielle, yet he promptly offered to introduce the new magical creatures in the boxes.
They were dark, fluffy creatures with long snouts. Their front legs were peculiarly flat, resembling spades, and they blinked at the class, observing with polite bewilderment all the attention.
"These are Taltuzas," said Hagrid. "They are primarily found in the mines. They are fond of shiny objects."
Evan had seen this magical creature in illustrations before, but he did not expect it to be so adorable in real life.
The girls gathered with interest, much like when they saw the unicorn.
If it weren't for one of the Taltuzas that suddenly leaped and attempted to nibble on a girl's wristwatch, the atmosphere would have been perfectly harmonious.