Fudge Shifts the Blame

Crouch's disappearance was finally exposed a few days later.

The Daily Prophet's cover featured an article by Rita Skeeter with a sensational headline, characteristic of her style.

"Shocking! Ministry of Magic employees are disappearing one after another, even the Director has not escaped! Is the Ministry of Magic still capable of protecting the safety of the public?"

Even with all his efforts, Minister for Magic Fudge could not suppress the matter.

If the outside world were to learn that a high-ranking official at the Ministry of Magic's director level had disappeared, the impact of the Quidditch World Cup riots that he had so painstakingly quelled would be brought up again by the public. He had mobilized a large amount of the Ministry of Magic's manpower, but still couldn't find a single clue.

In fact, Crouch had been frequently taking leave under the pretext of being unwell for several months, and the Ministry of Magic had not seen him for several months.

He remotely instructed his personal assistant, Percy Weasley, on departmental matters through letters sent by owl. Blinded by his lust for power, Percy didn't suspect anything and instead took it as Crouch's appreciation of him and an opportunity to hone his skills. As a result, Crouch's disappearance went unnoticed.

When Dumbledore saw this news, he was also puzzled.

There's clearly more to the Crouch affair than meets the eye.

He was clearly a workaholic, but after firing the House Elf at the Quidditch World Cup, his health suddenly and noticeably deteriorated. He worked fewer and fewer hours and delegated more and more tasks to the young and inexperienced Percy Weasley, which was clearly inconsistent with the persona he had in Dumbledore's mind.

According to Harry, Crouch had traveled all the way to Hogwarts to talk to him about something important, and although he was already incoherent and delirious, he still remembered that he had to tell him in person.

When he finally saw himself, he remembered nothing, only that he had fallen asleep and ended up at Hogwarts. The whole thing seemed incredibly strange.

Dumbledore strongly suspected that his memories had been altered, but--

With his mastery of memory magic, he couldn't detect anything amiss when Crouch eyes met. Crouch's memories flowed seamlessly, without any gaps or inconsistencies. Although it might sound arrogant, Dumbledore didn't believe that anyone in the world could alter a person's memories to such an extent, so flawlessly that he couldn't detect a single flaw.

It's important to understand that "breaking and restoring memory magic" and "finding the flaws in memory magic" are two different things.

It's not impossible for someone to alter memories to the point that he can't decipher or extract the original ones; for example, Slughorn in the original books could do that. But to make the altered memories so seamless that he can't detect any problems is truly difficult for him to believe. Even the world-renowned Grindelwald and Voldemort couldn't do that.

He originally planned to keep Crouch at Hogwarts to recuperate, giving himself more time to observe and investigate. He even arranged for Madam Pomfrey to look after him. However, just a few hours later, Crouch mysteriously disappeared, while Madam Pomfrey was hit by a powerful Memory Charm and remembered nothing.

He personally witnessed Crouch enter the Hospital Wing, and he also personally cast his most powerful defensive and warning spells around the Hospital Wing, including the entrance gate and every window. Even Voldemort at his peak would not have been able to kidnap Crouch without alerting him.

As a result, neither the warning nor the defense magic was triggered. Crouch simply vanished from the Hospital Wing, as if he had evaporated into thin air, leaving no trace.

Madam Pomfrey was also unable to provide him with any useful information. In fact, due to her mental distress, she took a long leave of absence to recuperate, lest she suffer from long-term effects such as confusion and forgetfulness.

Hogwarts' Hospital Wing cannot be without a licensed healer, so Dumbledore has been running around a lot lately, and finally managed to persuade a retired healer to temporarily fill in for Madam Pomfrey.

During this time, Dumbledore also tried to investigate Crouch's disappearance, but neither portraits, armor, statues, nor Ghost could provide any useful information.

Most remarkably, Apparition cannot be used within the boundaries of Hogwarts, and using Floo Network at the fireplace inside the castle requires the Headmaster's authorization. Dumbledore truly had no clue how Crouch had disappeared from Hogwarts without anyone noticing.

Therefore, although Dumbledore knew that Crouch's last appearance was at Hogwarts, he did not intend to disclose this to the media or exonerate Fudge before he solved the mystery of Crouch's disappearance. In any case, Fudge also bore some responsibility for Crouch's situation. On the surface, Fudge and Crouch were amicable colleagues, but in reality, everyone knew about Fudge's dirty tricks of secretly ostracizing and suppressing Crouch.

This time, let Fudge take the blame.

As for Fudge, he wasn't stupid. Initially, he was quite responsible, diligently sending many of the Ministry of Magic's personnel out to search for Crouch's whereabouts. But as time went on, he began to tire of it. Why should he be the scapegoat? The Ministry of Magic was so large; should he be held responsible for every missing employee?

Of course not.

Fudge used his ultimate move--

Shifting the blame.

Or, to put it another way, find an unlucky person to take the blame.

Crouch's personal assistant, Percy Weasley, was that unfortunate fellow.

He was not only suspended from his duties pending investigation, but was also arrested as the prime suspect.

Now, the media is flooded with voices questioning the Weasley family, suspecting that Arthur Weasley has begun a power struggle to realize his unrealistic ideal of peaceful coexistence with Muggle. Percy, as his most outstanding son, is a pawn he has placed in the Ministry of Magic, and Crouch's disappearance has just been exposed as proof of an accidental leak in his plan.

In an instant, the Weasley family's reputation plummeted from an obscure, low-ranking family to a thorn in everyone's side. Families that had previously been on friendly terms with them, such as the Prewett family, Longbottom family, and Diggory family, began to distance themselves, keeping their distance for fear of being affected by this public opinion storm.

While Gibbon, he hadn't anticipated the fierce backlash from public opinion. Clearly, someone was pulling the strings behind the scenes.

That person is naturally the protagonist of this book, the second son of the Malfoy family, Skylar Malfoy.

After Barnabas Cuffe, the editor-in-chief of the Daily Prophet, connected with Skylar through his former benefactor Horace Slughorn's Slug Club, the Daily Prophet completely sided with Skylar. Coupled with the influence of the International Confederation of Wizards in the media, Skylar could manipulate public opinion and distort the truth with a single word, inciting public sentiment.

Skylar might not want to directly sever ties with Dumbledore because he owed him a debt of gratitude, but this doesn't mean Skylar conflict between them will simply disappear. From beginning to end, they were never on the same side.

There can only be one White Lord in this world.

Skylar can't deal with Dumbledore himself, can't he at least take on his Order of the Order of the Phoenix members?

This time, even with Dumbledore's protection, the Weasley family will suffer a significant blow. Their already meager savings will likely shrink by at least half. As for their social reputation, well...