Chapter 491: Harry's Wand

"Elf!" Scrimgeour asked sternly. "Do you know who I am? I'm the head of the Ministry of Magic's Auror Office!"

Winky began rocking back and forth on the floor. His breathing was interrupted by loud sobs every now and then!

When she heard that Scrimgeour was an Auror, she almost fainted again.

"A short time ago, the Dark Mark was conjured here. "Scrimgeour asked sharply, pointing his wand firmly at Winky, "A moment later, you were discovered, right under the Mark! You have some explaining to do!"

"I, I, I, I wouldn't, sir!" gasped Winky, "I don't know how, sir!"

"When they found you, you had a wand in your hand!" Scrimgeour said impatiently, taking a wizard's wand and brandishing it in front of her. "Tell me, where did you get it?"

Harry, standing in the crowd, suddenly said in astonishment, "That's mine, sir!"

Everyone turned quickly and looked at the bewildered Harry.

"What did you say?!" Scrimgeour's face was full of shock and suspicion. "Is this your wand?!"

"It's my wand!" said Harry, swallowing, "I dropped it!"

"Hmph, you dropped it? is this a confession?" Scrimgeour groaned loudly and looked like he was going to swallow Harry. "After conjuring the Mark, you threw the wand aside?!"

"SCRIMGEOUR, heed your words!" Sirius roared. "Think about who you're talking to - is Harry Potter likely to conjure the Dark Mark?"

"Sirius Black!" Scrimgeour said with a hint of exclamation. "This boy is Harry Potter?!"

His sharp eyes quickly swept over Sirius and Ivan, then fell on Harry.

"We all saw him riding a broom in the sky, trying to save Ivan and Hermione, who were fighting the Black Wizard." Sirius said angrily, "This is what you Aurors should have done, but tonight it all depended on a few children.... And now, you dare to say that Harry has conjured the Dark Mark?"

He also pulled out his wand and faced Scrimgeour.

"Easy, Black!" Fudge said quickly. "Harry certainly can't conjure that Mark. We all know that... Rufus is just asking Harry when he dropped his wand."

"Shortly after the chaos started, I think he was in the stands. "

When Harry spoke of the bleacher, Scrimgeour's face was even more unnatural. He was now in ruins.

Ivan's powerful magic was still fresh in his memory, and everything about tonight was extraordinary.

There were so many people waiting outside for the outcome, and they had to make a quick decision.

Scrimgeour looked again at Winky huddled at his feet, and his eyes grew colder. "Elf, you found this wand there, didn't you? You picked it up and thought you could have some fun with it, didn't you?"

"I'm not doing magic with it, sir!" cried Winky, tears running down the sides of his flattened, bulbous nose, "I am, I am, I am, I am! I just picked her up, sir! I'm not doing the dark mark, sir, please believe me, I don't know how!"

"You can't use this magic? Easy to say," Scrimgeour said with a touch of solemnity in his voice. "Since this wand is in your hand, it must have something to do with you. There's a simple way to find out the last spell a wand cast, elf, did you know that?"

Winky shivered and shook her head frantically, her ears flapping.

Scrimgeour ignored her and seemed determined to catch the assassin hiding backstage.

He looked at Crouch, who said nothing, raised his own wand and placed it end to end with Harry's.

"Prior Incantato!" Scrimgeour said quietly.

The crowd gasped, horrified, as a giant snake-like skull burst from the point where the two wands met, but it was a mere shadow of the green skull overhead, seeming to be made of thick grey smoke: the ghost of a spell.

"Deletrius!" Scrimgeour roared, and the smoky skull vanished in a wisp of smoke.

"How about that?" he flashed a wild grin of triumph, as he looked at Winky.

Winky was still shaking convulsively, looking very pitiful.

"I didn't do it!" she cried, her eyes full of terror. "I didn't do it, I didn't do it, I don't know how! I'm a good elf, I'm not using wands, I don't know how!"

"Stop it, you've been caught red-handed, guilty wand in hand!" Scrimgeour shouted. "Only few wizards know how to cast that spell! Tell us, where did you learn it?"

The winds screamed, like a broken bellows.

"Scrimgeour, perhaps you are suggesting... "said Mr. Crouch, with cold rage in every syllable, "That I teach my servants to conjure the dark mark?"

Scrimgeour looked at him with a very suppressed silence and a strange light in his eyes.

Hundreds of Ministry of Magic officials did not speak. Barty Crouch had high status and majesty in the Ministry.

In particular, his past experience had frightened all wizards.

Fudge, who was supposed to be in charge, looked frightened and panicked. He looked at Crouch for a moment and then turned to Scrimgeour.

"Anything is possible, we have to investigate!" Scrimgeour was unfazed, and his tone was equally cold.

Looking at him, it seemed certain that Crouch had planned tonight's attack. And in the end, he had his own tame elf conjure the Dark Mark.

"I hope you remember the many proofs I have given, throughout my long career, that I despise and detest the Dark Arts and those who practice them!" Mr. Crouch shouted, his eyes bulging.

"Obviously, but this doesn't explain why your house elf has this dark magic. "

"She could have picked it up by chance anywhere!" Fudge said uncomfortably. "Okay, elf, tell me, where exactly did you find Harry's wand?"

Winky was twisting the hem of her tea towel so violently that it was fraying under her fingers.

"I, I found it there, sir..." she whispered, "There, in the ruins, I'm terrified, all the buildings were collapsing, the stones kept falling . "

"Well, let me see, this matter is already very clear!" Fudge whispered. "The Dark Wizard who fought Ivan must have picked up Harry's wand in the box and finally conjured up the Dark Mark!"

"Minister, I just saw someone Disappeared!" The wizard who first encountered Winky said hurriedly, "The figure suddenly disappeared from my sight and vanished immediately.... "