The Head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation, Barty Crouch, was dead?
Killed by Peter Pettigrew?
"Ah, this... cough, cough..."
Upon seeing the front-page headline of the Daily Prophet, Albert spat the milk he had just swallowed all over the newspaper.
"What's wrong?"
Everyone at the breakfast table looked up. They rarely saw Albert lose his composure.
In truth, it was not the news of Barty Crouch's death that stunned Albert, but the fact that Dumbledore had actually cornered Voldemort at the Crouch residence and killed him.
Albert had long known that things might change, but this was far too drastic. Since when had Headmaster Dumbledore become so fierce?
"Cough, cough, it's nothing. I just saw something surprising."
Albert put down the newspaper, took a handkerchief from his pocket, wiped the corner of his mouth, and began reading the front-page report in the Daily Prophet.
The fact that Dumbledore had gone to the Crouch residence to ambush Voldemort was truly astonishing.
Albert had no idea that Dumbledore had suddenly gone there entirely because of his careless chatter with Percy at the Christmas feast. Dumbledore had picked up on something and formed a rather strange misunderstanding.
Yet the outcome was not wrong. Percy's boss was gone, and his next job would be as the Minister for Magic's assistant.
Albert had no idea what consequences Dumbledore's blatantly rule-breaking move would bring. In any case, Dumbledore had chopped off Voldemort's snake.
Albert realized this when he opened his Quest Panel and checked the quest "The Dark Lord's Downfall," only to find that his contribution had increased dramatically.
It seems the Headmaster made careful preparations. The Dark Lord did not lose unfairly, Albert muttered to himself.
In fact, Albert bore more than half the blame for Voldemort's Nagini having her head cut off