章節 250: Barty's Wife's Son

"Well, all that to say, Crouch wasn't above using Dark magic to fight Dark Wizards," said Sirius. "And he wasn't above turning on his own family, too. When his son was found with the Lestranges after… after what they'd done, he sent his own flesh and blood to Azkaban…"

"He didn't try to get his own son off?" Hermione whispered.

"I… I'm not so sure any more," Sirius said. "At the time, no one doubted he'd be the next Minister for Magic, but after the trial, during which he gave his own son a life sentence in Azkaban? There was no way he'd get the job. He'd tried to appear uncompromising and equally hard on all criminals, but instead, he was seen as heartless… Cold-hearted… At any rate, with a Death Eater in the family, his reputation was tainted."

"What happened to him?" Harry asked. "Mr. Crouch's son, I mean."

"His cell in Azkaban was next to mine," said Sirius, "and every day, he'd scream for his mother and cry himself to sleep, but he gradually stopped doing that… and then he died, one year after he was brought in. There had never been any proof that he'd actually committed the crimes he was accused of, just like in my case…"

Sirius's voice slowly drifted off and his eyes grew distant, as if he were looking at a place a thousand miles from here. Dead eyes, Oleandra reckoned. The man had mostly recovered, but he was still haunted by his time in Azkaban with the Dementors.

"Sirius," said Lupin slowly. "What are you talking about? What do you mean, you're not sure…?"

"I saw him being brought in from my cell, with my very own eyes," said Sirius, snapping out of his trance. "He looked exactly as Oleandra just described. But if it really was him that she saw, then that means that Crouch sent in an innocent to take his son's place. Someone dedicated enough to die in his son's place… But that's a stretch, and I don't see how any of this connects with the rest of the big picture. The only connection is old man Crouch himself, and he's gone missing, for all intents and purposes."

It was a shame that they didn't have a picture of Crouch's son on their little deduction wall, or they could have immediately confirmed the truth. They had plenty of pictures of a mousey little man, however; Peter Pettigrew, Oleandra assumed.

"Any leads on Pettigrew?" Oleandra asked Sirius and Lupin. "Could he have come back, just like you?"

"I seriously doubt it," Sirius scoffed. "He's always been a coward through and through; he knows we're looking for him and that his cover's blown. I've got his scent, so if he ever comes within ten miles of me, I'll know it immediately."

"I still think he might have joined up with Voldemort," Lupin argued. "He's still the same old Peter, who always liked hanging around us; powerful friends to help keep him safe, and Dumbledore agrees with me."

Which basically meant that they had no idea where he currently was. If he really was still alive after all this time, then he could be anywhere in the world right now, even Hogwarts, and nobody would be the wiser. He was impossible to tell apart from other rats; his only distinguishing feature in animal form being his missing finger.

Oleandra looked at Ron. From the look of disgust on his face, it seemed like he had finally accepted the fact that his furry companion had been an old man the entire time. At that moment, a light bulb went off in Harry's head, as thinking of his father's old friends made him think of their sworn enemy, Snape.

"Right, I nearly forgot," said Harry. "Karkaroff came to see Snape today. You should have seen Snape's face when he just barged into our Potions class, refusing to leave until Snape spoke to him. He looked strangely nervous, and he showed Snape something on his arm, but I couldn't see what it was."

Startled, Oleandra suddenly remembered the ominous, miasma-like glow on Karkaroff's arm.

"He showed something on Snape's arm?" said Sirius, who quite frankly looked stumped, as he scratched his head in confusion. Or maybe his head was just itchy because he had fleas... "Well, I've no idea what that's about… but if Karkaroff's worried about something, and he's going to Snape for answers…"

"D'you reckon Snape's a Death Eater too?" Ron asked excitedly.

"Snape's always been a slimy little git," said Sirius, ignoring Lupin's reproachful stare. "Knew more curses than any kid his age ought to know in our first year, and he hung out with all the Slytherins who turned out to be Death Eaters…"

Harry, Ron and Hermione unconsciously turned to look at Oleandra, who was dressed in Slytherin's colours.

"…Like Rosier and Wilkes, who're dead now— killed by Aurors a year before Voldemort's fall— The Lestranges, they're still in Azkaban— Avery— he managed to get off by claiming to have been acting under the Imperius Curse— Lucius Malfoy, a few years older than we were, Snape idolized him…" Sirius said, before adding with some hesitation, "But Snape's never been formally accused of being a Death Eater. And if Dumbledore trusts him enough to let him teach at Hogwarts, I don't think he could have ever been a Death Eater…"

"Lucius Malfoy was never proven to be a Death Eater," Oleandra pointed out. "And he didn't participate in the riots after the World Cup; he and his wife were found unconscious, with Ron's brothers piled up on top of them."

"Really?" said Sirius, suddenly sounding very interested.

"Fred and George lost some of their memories," Ron added. "Dad said that the Malfoys never allowed themselves to be examined, but he said that if my brothers had their memories stolen, then there was a good chance that they also had their minds wiped."

"Which means the Malfoys knew something they shouldn't have…" said Lupin. "Or saw something they shouldn't have seen…"

"But they were still useful enough to be worth keeping alive…" Sirius completed.

In Sirius's and Lupin's minds, the theory that Crouch's son was still alive was becoming more and more likely… Through a roundabout way, the truth was emerging, although their reasoning was completely off: Ginny had been the one to erase those memories, to keep the Horcruxes a secret!