Karkaroff's Strange Actions

Kyle's words immediately eased the tense atmosphere in the Headmaster's Office, and even the usually serious Dumbledore couldn't help but chuckle.

But it must be said, this idea is indeed very tempting.

"Alastor, Kyle is only in fifth grade," Dumbledore said. "Let's talk about this after he graduates."

"Perhaps you are right, Dumbledore." Professor Moody glanced at Kyle and changed the subject, "Should we tell Fudge about this? He shouldn't be gone yet."

"Of course," Dumbledore said. "Voldemort's resurgence concerns the safety of the entire Wizarding World, and there's not much we can do alone."

"Severus," he turned to Snape, "Please go to the field, find our minister, and bring him to this office. We need to have a good talk."

Snape nodded silently and quickly left the room.

"Professor," Kyle suddenly said, "I don't think Fudge wants to hear this."

"Furthermore, without concrete evidence proving Voldemort's identity, your conversation will certainly end badly."

"Perhaps you are right. Nobody wants to hear about Voldemort's resurgence, and I have no doubt about that."

Dumbledore said calmly, "But as I just said, we can't do much against Voldemort on our own."

"Dumbledore, have you captured Death Eaters?" Professor Moody asked.

"Unfortunately," Dumbledore shook his head, "They were running very fast, and I couldn't be distracted at the time."

Everyone's mood turned heavy again.

Well, there's no evidence right now, just talk... Kyle can already picture Fudge and Dumbledore parting ways.

As for using the Pensieve to reconstruct Dumbledore's memories... that's certainly a good method, but Fudge wouldn't look into it.

Even if Dumbledore forced him to see it, he would find all sorts of reasons to believe that it was just a false memory.

No one spoke.

Fawkes flew down from the perch and landed on Kyle's lap.

Kyle stroked its golden-red feathers.

It must be said that the phoenix is truly a magical animal. It was precisely because of the tail feather that Fawkes gave him for Christmas that Kyle had the confidence to challenge the Triwizard Cup in the maze.

Without Dumbledore, he might have escaped from the mountaintop, but it would certainly have been much more humiliating than what he is now.

"Alright, Fudge will be here soon." Dumbledore suddenly glanced at Kyle and Harry and said, "I don't think you want to get involved in the rest of the conversation, do you?"

"Goodbye, Professor." Kyle the first to stand up and walk towards the door.

Fawkes rubbed his hand against his before returning to the perch.

"Goodbye, Professor," Harry said, seemingly just realizing what was happening.

"Goodbye... Oh, and by the way, remember to go see Madam Pomfrey." Dumbledore reminded them, "Go get her a bottle of Dreamless Sleep Potion; it will be good for you."

"OK."

The group left the office one after another.

As Kyle stepped through the door behind the gargoyle, he saw Snape leading Fudge happily toward him.

"Kyle, son, Dumbledore must be so excited he can't sleep," he said with a chuckle. "I brought a bottle of Ogden Firewhisky, you should come along too. I think you're old enough to enjoy a little of this."

"Thank you, Minister," Kyle said, "But I'm too tired right now and just want to go back and get some sleep."

"Yes, that's right, you really should get some rest." Fudge nodded. "Alright then, I'll have Albus save you a drink, if he doesn't drink it..."

Fudge walked past the group with a smile.

However, Kyle felt he would soon lose his appetite for whiskey.

After leaving the Headmaster's Office, Kyle didn't immediately return to the common room, but instead prepared to accompany Harry to the Hospital Wing to get the Dreamless Sleep Potion.

Dumbledore was right. After witnessing Voldemort resurrected with his own blood, Harry definitely needs this now.

When the two arrived near the Entrance Hall on the first floor, they ran into Professor McGonagall and Madam Pomfrey.

A stretcher floated beside them, on which lay the unconscious Filch.

"Professor," Kyle went over, "What's wrong with him?"

"He was hit by Stunning Spell and was carelessly tossed into a box in the office," Professor McGonagall said. "But thankfully, his life wasn't in danger."

At this moment, Madam Pomfrey hurriedly left with the stretcher, and Professor McGonagall quickly followed, as she needed to ask Filch some questions when he woke up.

Harry followed behind them.

Kyle glanced at Filch's office; the furnishings had become much more cluttered, with a cabinet leaning against the wall at an angle, its contents scattered all over the floor.

"Ouch..."

Just then, a cat suddenly wobbled out from under the table and howled at Kyle.

Judging from Mrs. Norris's limping gait, it too had not survived the attack by Barty Crouch Jr..

That makes sense; if you want to get to Filch, you can't avoid Mrs. Norris...

etc.

Kyle suddenly realized something.

At Christmas, Karkaroff inexplicably clashed with Filch, determined to lock Mrs. Norris up and prevent her from appearing at school...

Did they already intend to use Polyjuice Potion to impersonate Filch back then?

That makes sense, after all, Mrs. Norris has some Kneazle blood, so even if she used the Polyjuice Potion, she could still tell at a glance whether the "Filch" in front of her was real or not.

Moreover, this cat and the human were always together, and it was the only problem with the imposter Filch. Could it be that Karkaroff was preparing for Barty Crouch Jr.'s plan back then?

But that doesn't make sense... Kyle shook his head.

The difference between a wizard and Squib is significant; it's not something that can be achieved simply by changing one's appearance. Even if the students don't care, there's Professor Moody; he can't possibly miss it.

Kyle shook his head, perhaps he was overthinking it; it was just a personal feud between Karkaroff and Filch at the time.

Or perhaps they were about to make their move, but unexpectedly discovered that Filch was a Squib, so they abandoned their original plan and chose to attack Harry just before the match, when all the professors had left the castle.

Just then, Mrs. Norris darted past Kyle and limped after Filch.

Kyle walked at the very back, lost in thought.

Looking back now, there are just too many strange things about Voldemort's resurrection.

He was certain that before Harry was arrested, no one in the school, including the referees, had used Polyjuice Potion, a fact he had confirmed several times with the Marauder's Map.

But why was Barty Crouch Jr.. able to appear at the most opportune moment and kidnap Harry using Filch's identity?

And then there's the Triwizard Cup —how did it get replaced with Portkey? Only the referee could have access to it, so it could only be Karkaroff helping him.

And this has already been confirmed.

But shouldn't Karkaroff have run away immediately upon hearing the news of Voldemort's resurrection? After all, he betrayed so many people to save himself.

If there's anyone who would least want to see Voldemort resurrected, Karkaroff is definitely one of them. How could he possibly go out of his way to help Barty Crouch Jr..? That just doesn't make sense.