Chapter 346 Crouch's Request

The crowd in the parliament hall gradually dispersed, and Crouch wiped the sweat from his head. Speech is a laborious job.

After taking a hurried sip of water, he took the initiative to stop Dumbledore who was about to leave:

"Mr. Dumbledore, can we come to the office for a chat?"

Dumbledore stopped, his gaze resting on Barty Crouch's tired face and the sincerity in his eyes.

"Of course." Dumbledore said with a smile.

"That's good -" Crouch breathed out softly and stretched out his hand in a gesture of invitation.

Dumbledore looked at the Office of the Minister of Magic, which he had visited many times in the past year or two.

Crouch’s office has changed, but not changed, from Fudge’s time.

What remains unchanged is that Crouch did not let people clean up those expensive appliances, as a wealthy pure-blood family.

These things are not luxuries to Crouch, maybe he just treats them as normal office supplies.

What has changed is that there are a lot more things on this table, with documents piled high and ink bottles and signature pens placed randomly.

Half-written parchment, seal crooked to the side

This is a busy minister.

Crouch tidied up casually:

"Sorry, I've been too busy recently. There are too many things to deal with from the time I took office to now. Fuji - alas -"

Crouch wanted to complain about the mess left by his predecessor, but in the end he held back and just turned it into a sigh.

“These are all expected, Batty, your work is very effective, and now the public has high recognition of you.

I'm also glad that the Ministry of Magic is finally on track again. "

Dumbledore smiled lightly. As the chief of the Wizengamot, it was natural for him to comment on the Minister of Magic. He didn't say it before because he didn't want to say it.

The only real move was to have Fudge step down directly. This was why Fudge had to deprive Dumbledore of his position.

"I won't talk about this anymore. I've been very busy recently and I don't want to express any opinions on the matters of my previous term."

Crouch shook his head and said simply:

"Dumbledore, I have something to ask you for help."

"Oh? Tell me, if this old man like me can really help."

Barty Crouch laughed:

"Dumbledore, let's stop joking like this and let's get down to business, about the Goblet of Fire."

He became serious, folded his arms and put them on the table:

"Dumbledore, my name alone and the Ministry of Magic cannot completely promote the global Goblet of Fire.

So I implore you, Dumbledore, for the future of the wizarding world to move forward with this tournament, because as I said, we are in decline.

It can't be like this anymore. Dark wizards have been getting stronger by relying on killing and black magic. Muggles are developing. It's just us - look, what have we done?

The dark wizards that the Aurors risked their lives to capture were all gone in the blink of an eye! "

Crouch hammered the table angrily: "Have they been punished? Have they had to atone? Not at all!

Damn it."

Although it was very quiet, Dumbledore still vaguely heard the content behind it-'Fudge'.

"Ahem, it's too far off topic - but Dumbledore, you should understand what I mean, we can't go on like this."

Crouch waved his hand, and his old-fashioned face regained its composure.

Dumbledore was silent for a while, then nodded slowly: "I'll think about it."

Privet Drive was still so quiet, it was June, and the grass on the lawn looked green with dewdrops hanging from the water just now.

There are very few pedestrians on the road. Occasionally, there are people walking leisurely with their dogs. The evening sun shines on the road and dyes everything golden.

Harry had never carefully observed the place where he had lived for so long. He didn't know what was going on. Today he just wanted to take a good look at this place.

Look at this place that I call ‘home’.

Penny was very unskilled at reversing, and she had to pull the car out again and again and try to back it into the garage.

In the end, she simply parked the car on the side of the road.

Since he couldn't use magic, the huge suitcase was not an easy task for Harry.

Even though Petunia seemed to have the intention to help, Harry didn't dare let her reach out because Petunia was so thin that she looked like she might collapse at any time.

After taking down the suitcase with a lot of effort, Harry panted and looked at No. 4 Privet Drive.

The originally well-manicured lawn had become messy, and the lawn mower that was always polished lay crooked and covered with dust.

Harry's mood suddenly dropped. He pushed the cart and followed Petunia, silently walking into the familiar house.

As soon as the door was opened, an indescribable strange smell came out of the door.

"Ugh—" Harry couldn't help but retched, hurriedly covered his mouth, and looked at Aunt Petunia carefully.

But she saw Penny turning on the light in the living room as if she hadn't noticed anything.

"Is this No. 4 Privet Drive?" Harry covered his mouth and stared at the messy living room in shock.

The originally neat sofa was littered with garbage, and the bare wooden floor was covered in stains.

A pile of wine bottles were scattered on the floor, and the kitchen sink was filled with dirty dishes.

In his impression, Number 4 Privet Drive has always been so neat, and Aunt Petunia seems to have endless energy.

Her eyes are like the best radar, able to detect the slightest stain, and then she will loudly scold Harry for not cleaning seriously.

If the only clean thing in the house is the large wedding photo of Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon leaning on the sofa.

Harry opened his mouth and wanted to say something, but when he really said it, it became:

"Where's Dudley?"

"There are activities at school, and you need to live on campus for a month."

Petunia said dryly, she looked at the living room in front of her, suddenly covered her face as if she was unwilling to face all this, and squeezed out a sentence from her throat:

"Dudley will be back tonight. I'll go buy some food."

After saying that, she turned around and ran away in a hurry, as if she was running away.

I don't know if it's an illusion, Harry always feels that he heard a subtle, but heart-twitching sobbing sound.

The sound of a car starting came from outside the door.

Harry put down his hand and held his waist, looking at Hedwig in the cage, muttering:

"Okay, Hedwig, I think we need to clean up."

Hedwig tilted her head and stared at him with golden eyes.

Harry rolled up his sleeves and said confidently:

"Actually, I'm pretty good at it!"

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