When Alaric was invited into the Headmaster's office, a heated debate was underway.
"Dumbledore, I fail to see any connection here, absolutely none!" Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic, exclaimed.
"Ludo says Bertha might have just gotten lost. I also believe we should find her by now, but regardless, we have found no traces of foul play, Dumbledore, none at all.
And linking her disappearance with Barty Crouch's disappearance is purely speculative!"
"Minister, what do you think has become of Barty Crouch?" growled Moody in his rough voice.
"I think there are two possibilities, Alastor," Fudge said, "Crouch is either completely mad—given his personal history, this is quite likely.
I'm sure you'd agree—or he's wandered off confusedly, not knowing where he's going—"
"If that's the case, he moved rather swiftly, Cornelius," Dumbledore said calmly.
"Or perhaps... maybe... I should reserve judgment until I see where he was found. But do you know he was found near Bostons' carriage, Dumbledore?"
"I believe she is a very capable headmistress—and quite the dancer," Dumbledore replied serenely.
"Enough, Dumbledore!" Fudge snapped angrily.
"Do you not think you're biased in favor of her because of Hagrid? They are not all harmless.
If you can say Hagrid poses no danger, with his obsession with giant creatures—"
"I trust Madame Maxime as much as I trust Hagrid," Dumbledore replied placidly.
"If anything, Cornelius, perhaps you are the one with biases."
"Can we focus?" Moody roared.
"Alright, alright, let's move this discussion to the field," Fudge said impatiently.
At this moment, Alaric impatiently tapped on the door frame.
"Dumbledore, Alaric is here. He's right outside," Moody reminded.
Alaric entered the room.
Before him, three individuals had been sitting, now all looking at him with varied expressions.
Dumbledore's gaze was evidently gentle and benevolent. Cornelius Fudge, upon seeing Alaric, involuntarily contracted his pupils, clearly intimidated, but he managed to conceal this emotion well.
Moody's eyes were alert, not out of his usual professional habit of vigilance, but rather betraying a sense of guilt.
After all, they had just been discussing the perpetrator of the recent events, who happened to be the impostor Moody.
"Alaric!" Fudge approached feigning delight. "How are you?"
"Fine," Alaric replied with a cold smile.
"We were just discussing Mr. Crouch appearing on the grounds that night," Fudge said.
"You found him, didn't you?"
"Yes," Alaric nodded.
"I was with Fleur and Hermione at the time. I intended to bring Mr. Crouch back to Hogwarts, but we encountered Professor Snape midway.
Professor Snape volunteered to take over, and as you all know, events unfolded from there."
"So, you didn't see any suspicious individuals at that time?" Fudge pressed.
"Suspicious individuals?" Alaric countered with a glare.
"Are you referring to Madame Maxime? Frankly, with her stature, it's not easy to hide so well, is it?"
"Oh, well," Fudge seemed somewhat embarrassed.
Just as he was about to say something, the door knocked again, and Harry entered.
"Professor, I need to talk to you," Harry said urgently, looking at Dumbledore.
Dumbledore dismissed Moody and Fudge. About a minute later, he returned to the Headmaster's office.
"Now, you can tell me what happened," Dumbledore said with a smile.
"But..." Harry glanced at Alaric sitting beside him, hesitating to speak.
"Don't worry, you can trust Alaric," Dumbledore assured him.
"Really?" Harry glanced suspiciously at Alaric, hesitating for a while before making up his mind.
"Professor... I was in Divination class, but I... I had a vision," he hesitated, expecting criticism, but Dumbledore encouraged him to continue.
"Um, I had a dream," Harry said. "I saw Voldemort, he was torturing Wormtail... you know, Wormtail—"
"I know," Dumbledore interjected. "Go on."
"Voldemort received a letter delivered by owl.
It seemed he was saying Wormtail's mistake had been corrected.
He said someone had died, and he also said he didn't intend to use Wormtail to feed the snake anymore—there was a snake beside his chair.
He also said—said he wanted to use me to feed the snake.
Then he cast a spell on Wormtail—my scar started hurting badly, so much that it woke me up."
Dumbledore simply looked at him.
"Well... that's it," Harry said.
"Ah," Dumbledore said calmly.
"I see. So, has your scar hurt at any other time this year? Besides waking you up during the summer?"
"No, I—how did you know it woke me up during the summer?" Harry asked in surprise.
"You were not the only one who wrote to Sirius," Dumbledore said.
"I have kept in touch with him since he left Hogwarts last year."
"Do... do you know why my scar hurts?"
Harry looked hopefully at Dumbledore, longing for a definite answer to the question that had troubled him for so long.
"Why don't we hear Alaric's opinion first?" Dumbledore smiled at Alaric.
"It's quite apparent that our Potter has some connection with Voldemort," Alaric said calmly.
"Perhaps due to the failed Killing Curse, the protection from Harry's mother not only caused the curse to fail but also produced other effects."
"I, I have a connection with Voldemort?" Harry looked at Alaric incredulously.
"How is that possible? I've never even used Dark Magic."
"No, it's possible," Alaric smiled faintly.
"Think about your Parseltongue ability.
We all know Voldemort is the heir of Slytherin, controlling serpents through Parseltongue.
However, as a Gryffindor, why would you possess this Slytherin heir trait?"
"Is... is it because of Voldemort?"
Harry finally started to believe, as he never thought he would be the heir of Slytherin or anything like that.
"Exactly."
"Do you think... that dream... was real?"
"It's possible it's real, it's possible it's fabricated," Alaric shook his head.
"Even if you have a connection with Voldemort, it doesn't mean you can see exactly what Voldemort sees.
Your dream should be a memory. This memory could be true or fabricated."
"But... he doesn't have a body himself, does he? But... how could he wield a wand?" Harry said slowly.
"Alaric's analysis is quite reasonable, Potter," Dumbledore nodded satisfactorily.
He explained to Harry what had happened the previous night, then said, "Mr. Crouch briefly mentioned while awake that Voldemort's power is growing."
At this, Harry immediately paled in shock.
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