Murphy stripped the Invisibility Cloak off Barty Crouch Jr. and casually patched him up with another Petrification Spell—the ordinary version.
Then he helped old Barty Crouch up, sat him down in a chair, and personally patted away the footprints he had kicked onto the man's clothes.
A warm smile appeared on Murphy's face, as if the person who had just beaten the old man across from him black and blue had not been him at all.
"Mr. Barty Crouch, the Ministry of Magic will be changing leadership this year. Do you want to be Minister?"
"What?!"
Old Barty froze.
He had thought Murphy was going to make some humiliating demand of him, but the first thing out of his mouth was this?
"Why?"
And more than that, "How is that possible?"
His reputation had already fallen to rock bottom. Forget becoming Minister—he could barely keep his current position.
Murphy looked down at him. "Since I could make you fall, naturally I can also let you climb back up."
"..."
If those words had come from any other young man in his twenties, old Barty would only have sneered. But having truly experienced the other party's methods, and having just been beaten so badly he could not fight back at all, he knew there was not the slightest exaggeration in them.
Without realizing it, a quiet surge of hope rose in his heart.
Perhaps I really can reach for that position?
"H-how?"
"First, hurry up and withdraw that bullshit wanted notice."
"Second, go apologize to me."
"But..."
Old Barty hesitated. It was not because he was debating whether to withdraw the wanted notice. Since he had already been utterly defeated, the wanted notice would be withdrawn one way or another. When he had grabbed Murphy's leg just now, he had already