Chapter 48 Malfoy, Crouch, All Secrets Revealed!

"Well, if we want to verify now, there's still one quickest way, and it was given to us by themselves!"

"You mean..."

"That's right!"

Dudley smiled slightly, then clapped his hands twice and called out, "Winky, Dobby!"

With two swishes, two short house-elves appeared in Dudley's bedroom.

"Master, what do you command!" (x2)

The two house-elves, wearing ragged clothes, bent down to bow to Dudley in unison.

"Tell us, what shameful secrets did your previous masters have, especially those related to Voldemort and the Death Eaters!"

Dudley asked seriously with a straight face.

"Ah? This... Dobby knows, but Dobby can't! The previous master ordered Dobby not to!"

Dobby hung his pointed ears, his face full of hesitation and reluctance, which quickly turned into guilt. "Bad Dobby! Bad Dobby! Dobby must punish himself severely!"

Dobby knelt on the ground and started banging his head on the floor, thump, thump, thump.

"Alright! Stop hitting your head and stand still obediently first!" Dudley couldn't stand it anymore and ordered.

Dobby immediately stood up straight, with tears of self-reproach still streaming down his face.

Although Dobby didn't betray Lucius Malfoy subjectively, it actually proved that there was something fishy about the Malfoy family.

At this time, Winky beside them also spoke up to answer, "No, master. The Crouch family I served previously was very upright and had no connection with the Dark Lord or the Death Eaters."

She thought for a long time but couldn't find anything related in her memory.

"It seems that the problem lies with Lucius Malfoy, not Barty!" Dumbledore beside them had a glint in his eye, thinking he had found the truth.

"No, Dumbledore, you're thinking too simply. The suspicion on Barty Crouch cannot be ruled out!" Dudley said bluntly.

"Oh? But..." As soon as Dumbledore spoke, he thought of the flaw and immediately stopped talking.

Dudley then continued to ask Winky, "You just thought for a long time. Barty Crouch is a high-ranking official in the Ministry of Magic. He shouldn't have spent much time at home, right?"

"Yes, master. Mr. Crouch came home very late." Winky replied.

"Who was your main master in the past ten years? Was it Barty Crouch's wife or his... son?"

Dudley pressed on step by step.

"Mr. Crouch's wife passed away almost nine years ago. His son was sent to Azkaban. For the past ten years, I mainly served... served..."

Winky hesitated. She found that her memory of the past ten years was rather fuzzy, full of blanks.

What was even stranger was that she remembered very clearly the memory of Barty Crouch, the son of her previous master Barty Crouch, before he was imprisoned.

"I forgot! Winky couldn't answer master's question and failed to meet master's expectations! Wuuu——"

Winky said helplessly. Realizing that she couldn't answer Dudley's question, she actually burst into tears.

"Alright, stop crying. I already know what I want to know. You can go now and help my parents with some housework."

Dudley waved his hand and let Winky go.

Then, turning to Dumbledore, he said, "It seems that this Mr. Barty Crouch's Memory Charm isn't very well - practiced!"

"Brilliant reasoning, Dudley, I didn't expect both Lucius and Barty to be involved. But how can we uncover the secrets they're hiding?

As long as the commands given to house - elves haven't been revoked by their masters, their memories will instinctively resist the Legilimency probes of other wizards.

Forcing the probe would turn Dobby into a vegetable. And as for Winky, her memories have already been erased."

Dumbledore found the situation rather thorny as one was a pure - blood noble and the other a high - ranking official in the Ministry of Magic. It seems he has to resort to some measures.

"That's not difficult, Dumbledore, given the current situation in the wizarding world, you have the upper hand, and Voldemort is lying low.

These two are powerful and influential. The secrets they don't want you to uncover are most likely one of three scenarios.

First, they're keeping a Horcrux for Voldemort. Second: they're hiding Death Eaters who haven't been exonerated. Third: they're sheltering Voldemort's main soul that's on the run."

After sending Dobby away, Dudley rationally analyzed, "So, which of these scenarios do you think Lucius and Barty fall into?"

Dumbledore fell into thought, pacing as he analyzed, "Lucius is afraid of Voldemort. If Voldemort's main soul came to force him, he'd do all three."

But at this stage, if Voldemort's main soul were to come and force him, both Voldemort and he himself would want to stay hidden and reduce their presence in the wizarding world. They wouldn't come to me voluntarily and send a house - elf as a gift.

So, it's likely that Voldemort's main soul hasn't approached Lucius. The most likely secret Lucius is hiding is the first scenario. When Voldemort was in power, he probably entrusted a Horcrux to Lucius for safekeeping!

This matter is extremely secretive and easy to hide, which is why Lucius didn't take it too seriously and dared to come to me with a gift to ingratiate himself.

As for Barty, it's highly unlikely that he's involved in the first and third scenarios. He publicly opposed Voldemort, and assisted in arresting and prosecuting many Death Eaters back then. He couldn't have defected to Voldemort.

He doesn't seem to be under the Imperius Curse either, coupled with the fact that he erased a large number of Winky's memories from the past decade, the most likely answer is... Barty Crouch isn't dead!

Barty Crouch got his son to fake his death and escape from Azkaban! He's been imprisoned at home all these years, with Winky taking care of and watching over him!

Dumbledore's analysis was spot - on, ever since Dudley analyzed for him how Peter Pettigrew faked his death and escaped, he's become much more sensitive in this regard. Whenever he encounters someone who died suspiciously, he always considers the possibility of faking death.

Luckily for him, he guessed right this time.

"Dumbledore, your reasoning is as brilliant as mine." Dudley clapped and praised.

"But there's one thing I don't understand, Barty sold Winky to me. Who will take care of his son for him now? Could it be... his son escaped?"

Dumbledore suddenly guessed.

Hearing this, Dudley's expression also became solemn. This possibility couldn't be ruled out. Although in the original story, it would be another three years before Barty Crouch Jr. broke free from his father's control, now the plot has changed drastically.

This guy might really have escaped earlier!

"I can't rule that possibility out, Dumbledore.

What I can think of is, either Winky has too soft a heart and is easily exploited by Barty. To keep Winky from helping Barty escape, Barty simply sold Winky, cutting off his son's chances, and at the same time currying favor with you to secure his future status.

Or it's the scenario you mentioned, Barty has already escaped!" Dudley analyzed.

"So what should we do now?" Dumbledore asked. He was already used to Dudley coming up with ideas.