Harry Potter and the Secret Treasures - H.P.S.T Chapter 380: Bertha Jorkins and Evan’s plan

There was a moment of silence. The atmosphere in the corridor was somewhat delicate, filled with a strong aroma of wine. 

Moody’s drink was very spicy and strong. It was uncomfortable just to smell it.

“I’ll pay attention to Barty Crouch!” Moody put the flask back and said to Evan, “Remember, always be vigilant and don’t trust anyone.” 

He waved his black cloak and headed for the lift. 

As he walked away, the sound of his cane hitting the ground grew distant.

Before he disappeared completely, no one moved, and Evan could be sure that Moody was watching the three with that made false eye. 

Evan didn’t know how he was going to pay attention to Barty Crouch. He just hoped that this would give him a wake up call and not be easily knocked down and locked up by Barty Crouch Jr. 

“He’s always been so insane. I hope he doesn’t do silly things!” Mr. Weasley sighed and explained to Evan, “He’s Mad-eye Moody, the best Auror in the history of the Ministry of Magic, powerful strength, the master of catching Dark wizards.” 

“Just like you, he’s suspicious of everything, not trusting anyone!” Sirius lowered his voice and said, “But he’s trustworthy, he’s from the Order of the Phoenix, just now those words he heard are nothing, or we would have to use the Memory Charm!” 

“Since he retired, his suspicions grew stronger and stronger. He is wary of everyone, and he’s always suspicious of being attacked. He even used spells against Muggles, and our Department had to go behind him to solve the problems!” Mr. Weasley said. 

“He can’t be blamed for that. He caught a lot of Dark wizards when he was Auror. Half of the prisoners in Azkaban were arrested by him. This offended many people.” Sirius said, “Those people want him dead. He has to be careful.”

“Yeah, yeah, it’s never wrong to be careful, but we really shouldn’t have unsubstantiated doubts…” Mr. Weasley looked at Evan pointedly and said uneasily, “Well, we’ve been standing long enough. Let’s go in and have a cup of tea.”

Nobody mentioned anything about Barty Crouch, as if nothing had happened.

They crossed the narrow corridor, turned a corner, and walked through a pair of heavy oak doors. 

They emerged in a cluttered, open area divided into cubicles, which were buzzing with talk and laughter. 

Memos were zooming in and out of cubicles like miniature rockets.

“This is the office of the Wizengamot Administration Services.” Mr. Weasley said, and from time to time, he stopped to greet some people and introduce Sirius and Evan. 

In a small compartment, they crossed the second elm door. 

The three people walked into another passage, turned left, marched along another corridor, turned right into a dimly lit and distinctly shabby corridor, and finally reached a dead end. 

A door on the left stood ajar, revealing a broom cupboard, and a door on the right bore a tarnished brass plaque reading: MISUSE OF MUGGLE ARTIFACTS. 

Mr. Weasley’s dingy office seemed to be slightly smaller than the broom cupboard.

Two desks had been crammed inside it and there was barely room to move around them because of all the overflowing filing cabinets lining the walls, on top of which were tottering piles of files.

The little wall space available bore witness to Mr. Weasley’s obsessions; there were several posters of cars, including one of a dismantled engine, two illustrations of postboxes he seemed to have cut out of Muggle children’s books, and a diagram showing how to wire a plug.

Sitting on top of Mr. Weasley’s overflowing in-tray was an old toaster that was hiccupping in a disconsolate way and a pair of empty leather gloves that were twiddling their thumbs.

Beside the in-tray were a few photographs of the Weasley family, one of which had been taken in Egypt last year. Ron had shown it to everyone. However, the rat ‘Peter Pettigrew’ had disappeared from above and should have been erased with magic.

“We haven’t got a window.” Mr. Weasley said apologetically. “We’ve asked, but they don’t seem to think we need one. Have a seat; I’ll get you some water.” 

Evan and Sirius squeezed themselves into the two chairs behind the desk.  What could be seen from the office environment, Mr. Weasley’s Department was not taken seriously. 

“You can write a letter to your parents here, I’ll find an owl to mail it for you.” Mr. Weasley came up with two cups of tea. 

He pulled out a few blank parchments from the blue and handed them to Evan. Several report-style papers fell down. 

Evan read: “It is reported that the incident of sewage backflow from toilets in Wimbledon was investigated to be…

“A regurgitating toilet?”

“Anti-Muggle pranksters,” said Mr. Weasley, frowning. “This is the first time it happened. It’s very bad in nature. Muggles are pulling the flush and instead of everything disappearing … well, you can imagine. The poor things keep calling in those … those pumbles, I think they’re called … you know, the ones who mend pipes and things …”

“Plumbers?” 

“Exactly, yes, but of course, they’re flummoxed. I only hope we can catch whoever did it.” 

“Will it be Aurors who catch them?”

“Oh no, this is too trivial for Aurors, it’ll be the ordinary Magical Law Enforcement Patrol to deal with it.” 

“This report is about Bertha Jorkins; what did she do?!” Sirius said with interest, picking up a report. “The cactus plants she bought from a Muggle Store growing wild and growing a giant mouth. Two Muggles witnesses….” 

Evan had a flash in his mind. Wasn’t Bertha Jorkins the woman in Barty Crouch’s Department?! 

She found out the truth of the whole incident in the original story, and Crouch used the Memory Charm on her.

Then she went on holiday to Albania. 

At the busiest time of the Ministry of Magic, she disappeared for several months and was actually caught by Voldemort. 

Voldemort broke Bertha’s Memory Charm and learned a lot from her, including the news that his most loyal servant, Barty Crouch Jr., was still alive. He rescued him, and then planned a series of plots on the Goblet of Fire to return successfully.

If he could find her, he would prove in advance that all what he said was true. 

By then, they would have enough evidence to expose Barty Crouch’s true face to the world and recapture Barty Crouch Jr. 

Evan thought excitedly that it was an opportunity. 

Ever since he had failed to persuade Sirius and Mr. Weasley, Evan had been thinking about it.

He looked at the circular snake bracelet on his wrist and wondered if he was chosen by Voldemort.

Regardless of whether others believed it or not, in order to prevent it, he was determined to take a more proactive approach to stop Voldemort. 

Evan had a brand new idea. Why should he follow the original book? With the emergence of the Four Founders’ Secret treasure and the horrible evil spirits, the world had already become totally different. Maybe it was because he had crossed to this world that greater evil was approaching. 

Before that, he must first find a way to eliminate Voldemort. 

He knew the locations of all the Horcruxes, and as long as there was enough time, he could destroy them in turn. 

He would try to delay Voldemort’s return, and when all the Horcruxes were destroyed, he would have nothing to fear.

At that time, he would not, as the prophecy said, gain unimaginable power with his help. 

Evan planned so, but would everything really go as smoothly as he thought?!

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