The Wizards' Hospital for General Welfare appeared suddenly in Diagon Alley.
Over the past year, due to the successive attacks by werewolves, dark wizards, and Dementors, businesses in Diagon Alley had been struggling. The situation plummeted further after the werewolf attacks.
The werewolves, able to transform at will, even bit Aurors. Who wouldn't be scared? Under such circumstances, who would dare to shop in Diagon Alley!
Consequently, many shops in Diagon Alley closed down, but the day after the werewolf attacks, a hospital was established on the premises of a shop that had gone out of business.
It combined three adjacent shops into a new, conspicuous, pure white four-story building in Diagon Alley.
On its opening day, the Wizards' Hospital for General Welfare displayed banners saying, "Treating werewolf bites, preventing transformation! Treat early to prevent regrets for missing the opportunity!"
Opening a hospital for treating werewolf bites in Diagon Alley, plagued by werewolves, was somewhat ironic.
However, when the bitten Aurors faced the choice of transformation or suicide at St. Mungo's, the emergence of the Wizards' Hospital for General Welfare undoubtedly gave them some hope.
Even though many Aurors secretly suspected that the hospital might be operated by the mastermind behind the werewolves, out of desperation, some were still willing to give it a try.
A day later, two Aurors with minor bites and timely treatment were cured without transforming into werewolves.
After this news spread, Aurors who couldn't receive effective treatment at St. Mungo's rushed to the Wizards' Hospital for General Welfare.
Soon, a few more Aurors were cured, and although others with deeper infections couldn't be completely cured, their physical injuries were treated through surgery to remove magically infected tissues. With the help of a potion for werewolf poison, they could almost live like normal people.
The hospital quickly gained fame.
But the Aurors soon discovered that the people treating them used Muggle techniques. Upon inquiry, they learned that these individuals were formerly Muggle doctors who had been bitten by werewolves, successfully transformed, and then invented a medical practice for treating lycanthropy—of course, these were just claims.
In reality, they were doctors from a magical research institute who had voluntarily transformed into werewolves.
Transforming from Muggles to werewolves and then entering the wizarding society was actually a suggestion they made to Murphy.
As the institute's research into magic deepened, they began to venture into uncharted territories, and the existing knowledge in the wizarding world was becoming insufficient.
To further their research, they needed more firsthand data.
As doctors, their way of obtaining firsthand data was naturally through healing and saving lives.
Additionally, the Aurors discovered that aside from these werewolf doctors, there were two healers in the hospital, who were precisely the ones Murphy Dackholm had taken from St. Mungo's: Aledy and Valeria.
This confirmed that the hospital's backer was indeed Murphy Dackholm.
However, the Aurors found themselves in a dilemma.
On one hand, Murphy had never appeared in the hospital, and these people were ostensibly unrelated to him, yet they had saved their lives or the lives of their colleagues.
On the other hand, if they took action against the hospital, what would happen to other Aurors who hadn't yet received treatment? Wouldn't this be cutting off their last hope?
After arriving at the hospital, Bartemius Crouch also realized this issue.
Attacking the hospital now would be abandoning his own Auror subordinates.
With his reputation already in jeopardy, he relied on solidarity with the Aurors to maintain his base of support. If he were to undermine this, he feared he wouldn't last two days in his position.
Realizing this, what started as a forceful inquiry turned into a visit to comfort the injured Aurors.
After expressing his concern, Crouch's heart sank. He understood that the hospital had won over the Aurors.
But could he blame them?
Considering their treatment at St. Mungo's, where healers couldn't cure them properly and showed indifferent attitudes, even neglecting their lives. Here, however, the werewolf doctors not only alleviated their suffering with their skilled treatments but also provided psychological counseling and heartfelt talks, offering great comfort.
Moreover, the doctors being werewolves naturally bridged the gap with the Aurors. After a few days of treatment, most Aurors no longer believed the hospital was related to the werewolves attacking them. How could these doctors, victims of werewolf attacks themselves, possibly be the masterminds behind the attacks?
Crouch suppressed his initial desire to arrest all doctors and healers and sought out Aledy and Valeria to inquire about their experiences after being taken from St. Mungo's, as an Auror.
Their responses were consistent.
First, they left St. Mungo's to study and research better treatment techniques.
Second, Murphy had their consent before taking them away, without any coercion.
Third, they later met werewolf doctors who knew how to treat lycanthropy through Murphy's introduction, and these doctors also helped some of Murphy's Muggle friends.
Fourth, one of Murphy's Muggle friends became a werewolf and opened this hospital to relieve more people of their suffering.
Fifth, the name of the werewolf director? Nicholas Fiji, a duke, commonly referred to as Duke Ji. The specifics of his dukedom and how to meet him were beyond their knowledge.
Crouch naturally didn't believe a word of it.
But he understood that Murphy had prepared a narrative sufficient to withstand investigation.
And he also understood the reason Murphy opened the hospital—to legitimize his act of storming St. Mungo's and taking away the Muggles.
In fact, the only concrete charge against Murphy in the Aurors' warrant was his intrusion into Auror-controlled areas, taking witnesses, and hindering Auror duties.
This was initially just a pretext for a comprehensive investigation into Murphy, which was already underway and had made some progress, such as learning from the Supreme Potion's staff that Murphy was mass-producing love potions.
Though these acts were minor compared to Murphy's real crimes, if pursued with full effort, it might be possible to imprison him in Azkaban for a while, allowing for further investigation and legal action.
But for now, the only public crime Murphy had committed was obstructing Auror duties.
This was something the Aurors could directly arrest him for, while other acts like producing love potions typically required a conviction through a Wizengamot trial first.
That is, if Murphy could now legitimize his actions through public opinion—like providing better treatment than St. Mungo's—then the Aurors' warrant would immediately become invalid, and their investigation into Murphy would have to stop.
One could imagine, once Murphy was free to act, Crouch would inevitably face his vengeful retaliation.
Thinking this, Crouch couldn't sit still. After returning to the Ministry of Magic with Gawain Robards, he immediately said, "Notify the Wizengamot Administration Office, prepare for a trial, we can't wait, we must convict Murphy now!"
"But... we haven't caught him yet..." Robards hesitated.
"Aren't there wizards who flee from justice all the time? Not catching him is fine, a trial in absentia works just as well!"
In fact, in his mind, not catching Murphy was a good thing. Otherwise, given the other's ability to twist facts, whether they could convict him was indeed questionable.
However, Robards had barely left when he returned with a peculiar expression.
"Director, the Wizengamot has postponed our trial request..."
"Postponed, why?"
"The Administration Office said that trials against Death Eaters are the highest priority and must proceed immediately."
"What?" Crouch was stunned. "Death Eaters? Who caught a Death Eater?"
You're the head of the Auror office, and I'm the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, and we both don't know about a Death Eater being caught. Who the hell could catch a Death Eater?
"It was the Watchers..." Robards revealed a smile more bitter than crying, "They caught Sirius Black!"
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