<h4>Chapter 280: Pensieve</h4>
"Little Barty..." Dumbledore narrowed his eyes and recalled, "He is a very good student... Well, he is somewhat simr to Tom back then."
"But there are many differences between the two. Tom has been thoughtful since he was a child, and he is also good at acting and deceiving others..."
"Little Barty is different. He was originally just a good student like Percy Weiss... But from a certain period of time, he became more and more taciturn and more and more withdrawn."
Dumbledore stroked the lid of the teapot, and a bit of sadness appeared in his eyes.
"Why, did something happen in the middle?" Drac asked curiously.
"To be precise, those things have been happening all the time." Dumbledore corrected, "Professor Drac, you should have known that when Little Barty was in school, it was the period when Voldemort and the Death Eaters were most active."
Drac nodded gently.
"At that time, both the Ministry of Magic and the Order of the Phoenix were under considerable pressure, and the then Director of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, Barty Crouch Sr., certainly shouldered the greatest burden." Dumbledore sighed and introduced to Drac.
"It was precisely because of this kind of thing that Barty Sr. was busy presiding over the overall situation and neglected his son for a long time... coupled with Mrs. Crouch''s over-indulgence in her child, that eventually led to such a tragedy."
"Is this another cliché story of a child whocks love and then turns evil and joins the enemy camp?" Drac tutted.
He raised his hand and sucked a piece of sma chocte on Dumbledore''s desk and stuffed it into his mouth.
"I''ve seen a lot of this kind of thing, and I can imagine what he was thinking." Drac said casually, "Because he was not valued by his father, a senior official, he wanted to prove himself in front of his father, so he studied hard..."
"But he got twelve OWLs certificates, an excellent result that is rare in decades, but it is not even as good as a memorandum from the then Andorran Minister of Magic."
Drac smiled yfully and shook his head, "Then Barty Crouch Jr.pletely gave up the idea of ??relying on his own efforts to avoid being ignored by his father, and turned to be a Death Eater..."
"Since there is no way to get your attention by conventional methods, then be your enemy and stand from the perspective of a serious concern to let old Crouch look at you."
"Do you think I''m right?" Drac raised his mouth and looked at Dumbledore.
Dumbledore stopped stroking the lid of the pot.
He stared nkly at the white steam that kepting out of the spout of the pot and sighed deeply.
"There are many tragedies that don''t need to happen. Maybe if old Barty can take a few minutes out of his work every week to praise his children," Dumbledore sighed softly.
"There''s no need to feel sorry," Drac said, "I heard that Barty Crouch Jr. and other Death Eaters tortured Longbottom''s parents with the Cruciatus Curse, and they have no intention of repenting."
"You should see it clearly, Dumbledore. What he pursues in his bones is the pleasure brought to him by violence, abuse and blood. He is essentially a terrorist."
Dumbledore took off his sses and shook his head helplessly.
"I hope you can understand me, Professor Drac," he said softly, "I don''t have as long a life as you, and I am getting older both physically and mentally...Old people always like to be sad, don''t they?"
After that, Dumbledore suddenly stood up and walked towards the ck cab on the side of the office.
"Want to see what little Barty looked like in the past?" he asked. "Perhaps this will help us find something."
Dumbledore opened the cab door.
There was a shallow stone basin in the cab, and the mouth of the basin was covered with strange carvings,posed of various types of runes.
After the cab door was opened, a silver light emanated from the stone basin, which looked like liquid and gas, like a piece of bright silver, but it was constantly flowing, like ripples on the water in the breeze, and like clouds that spread out and spun softly.
The things in the basin looked like light turned into liquid, and like wind condensed into solid...
"Is this... a meditation basin?" Drac became interested and stood up from the sofa.
"Yes, the Pensieve." Dumbledore nodded gently, "Sometimes I feel that my mind is filled with too many thoughts and memories. At this time, I use the Pensieve to suck out the extra thoughts from my mind and pour them into this basin. I will take a good look at it when I have time..."
He then looked at Drac, "Professor Drac has lived for so many years, doesn''t he need a Pensieve to organize his memories?"
"I''ve never been toozy to use this kind of thing," Drac shook his head, "Just forget the things you can''t remember. Anyway, most of them are unimportant things, why do you have to force them to stay in your mind, which will only add to your troubles?"
"You''re right, I actually envy your attitude." Dumbledore smiled softly, "But life is so short, there are always some things you don''t want to forget, and there are always some things you can''t forget..."
It seems that he feels that he has been sentimental and sad a little too many times today. Dumbledore shook his head, as if he wanted to get rid of someplicated emotions.
"Want to take a look together?" He looked at Drac and asked.
Drac nced at the stone basin and nodded.
In fact, he had long been curious about Dumbledore''s past memories.
Unfortunately, this great wizard was very good at Legilimency and his brain lusion was quite stable. Even with Drac''s Legilimency, he could not see anything from his eyes.
Today, he had the opportunity to see some of Dumbledore''s memories on the spot, which was just what Drac wanted.
The two of them drove their minds at the same time and explored the silver substance that seemed to be liquid and solid.
The next moment, the principal''s office suddenly fell over.
Drac and Dumbledore came to a dimly lit room full of stepped benches and sat on one of the benches. This bench seemed higher than the others.
There were at least two hundred wizards in this room, and no wizard looked over here. It seemed that no one noticed that there were suddenly two more people here.
Drac and Dumbledore were like two spectators who were separated from the screen and could not be noticed by the people here, but the scene in front of them was extremely real, as if they were actually there.
"This is quite interesting." Drac''s voice echoed in the room, but none of the wizards present heard it.
Dumbledore turned his head and found that Drac appeared in front of an old man with a long white beard and white hair, looking around him with interest -
That was Dumbledore who was a dozen years younger, and his long white beard was much shorter than it is now, only hanging down to the abdomen.
"Ahem... Professor Drac, our focus is not here." Dumbledore looked at this scene and said with a bit of a smile, "Aren''t we here to observe the condition of little Barty?"
"By the way, it''s not bad to take a look at what you looked like more than ten years ago!"
Drac looked at Dumbledore''s image from front to back and said happily, "When will you take me to see what you looked like when you were young? I want to see how ugly you were back then, and how you lived your whole life without even a partner."
Dumbledore: "..."
Just then, the door in the corner of the room suddenly opened.
Six Dementors walked in from behind the door, and among them were four disheveled wizards.
Many people present secretly looked at a meticulous wizard sitting high up - Barty Crouch, the then Director of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.
Next to Crouch sat a frail witch, who was sobbing in a low voice, with her trembling hands holding a handkerchief to her mouth.
With his excellent eyesight, Drac could clearly see in the dim room that Crouch''s face was very haggard and gray, and a vein on his temple was throbbing... This haggardness was as serious as when he was a judge in the semi-finals.
Several people around began to whisper, as if they were discussing something.
The Dementors put four people in four chained chairs in the center of the dungeon. One of the short and fat wizards looked at Crouch nkly; the other thinner wizard seemed more nervous, his eyes directly nced at the audience.
There was also a woman with thick ck hair and long eyshes, who looked crazy andcent, sitting on a chained chair, as if she was sitting on a throne.
Thest one was a boy of seventeen or eighteen, who lookedpletely frightened and trembling, with straw-colored hair scattered on his face and freckled skin as pale as paper.
Seeing the boy, the frail witch next to Crouch began to sway back and forth, sobbing with her handkerchief covering her mouth.
"The two wizards in front are Rodolphus and Rabastan, a pair of Death Eater brothers." Dumbledore saw that Drac looked a little confused, and introduced him, "The witch is..."
"Betrix Lestrange." Drac suddenly took over and said.
"Does Professor Drac know her?" Dumbledore asked with some confusion.
"Well, I saw her in Azkaban prison..." Drac saw the astonished expression in Dumbledore''s eyes, and had to add, "Wasn''t it to find Sirius ck at that time? I sneaked into Azkaban to take a look."
Of course, his curiosity about Azkaban was the most critical reason for sneaking into the prison... But there was no need to tell Dumbledore this reason, so as to avoid being caught by the old headmaster and constantly persuading him.
At the front of the courtroom, Crouch had stood up, looking down at the four people below, with extreme hatred gradually gathering on his face.
"You are brought before the Magical Law Committee to await sentencing," he said clearly, "Your crimes are so heinous--"
"Father," the straw-haired boy begged with a horrified expression on his face, "Father... please..."
"--This is rare in the cases tried by this court." Mr. Crouch raised his voice, drowning out his son''s voice, "We have heard the usations against you. The four of you kidnapped an Auror--Frank Longbottom, and used the Cruciatus Curse on him, trying to find out the whereabouts of your master, the mysterious man--"
"Father, I didn''t!" Little Barty, who was tied to the chair, screamed, "I didn''t, I swear! Father, don''t send me back to the Dementors--"
Drac stared closely at the eyes of little Barty Crouch, but he could not see the fear and regret in his eyes, but only luck, cruelty, madness... and joy.
Dumbledore frowned, as if he couldn''t bear to watch this scene.
"The usation also says," Mr. Crouch continued, "that you used the Cruciatus Curse on Frank Longbottom''s wife when he refused to provide information. You conspired to make You-Know-Whoe back and want to restore the violent life you led when he was powerful. Now I ask the jury-"
"Mother!" Little Barty shouted loudly, and the thin witch next to Crouch sobbed and swayed back and forth, "Mother, stop him! Mother, I didn''t do those things, it wasn''t me!"
"Now I ask the jury to vote," Mr. Crouch ignored him and said loudly, "Those who think that these crimes should be sentenced to life imprisonment in Azkaban as I do, please raise your hands!"
The wizards on the jury on the right side of the dungeon raised their hands in unison.
The audience around them pped their hands happily, with relieved expressions on their faces... After all, few people have seen two elite Aurors being tortured to madness, and they all have a deep understanding of what happened to the Longbottoms.
Barty Jr. began to scream, and a trace of panic seemed to finally appear in his eyes.
"No! Mother, no! It wasn''t me, it wasn''t me, I didn''t know! Don''t send me there, stop him!"
The Dementors slowly floated in again.
Barty Jr.''s threepanions stood up from their chairs silently, and Betrix looked up and shouted to Crouch:
"The Dark Lord wille back, Crouch! Throw us into Azkaban, we''ll wait! He wille back to save us. He will reward us specially! Only we are loyal! Only we try to find him!"
Barty Jr. tried his best to get rid of the Dementors, even though the cold suction of the Dementors that sucked happiness and souls had begun to take effect on him.
Some of the audienceughed at him, some stood up, and some cheered angrily for their fate.
Betrix had already walked back to the door in the corner with pride, and little Barty was still resisting.
"I am your son!" he shouted to Crouch, "your son!"
"You are not my son!" Crouch roared loudly, his eyes suddenly bulging outward, "I don''t have a son!"
The thin witch took a breath, copsed on the stool, and fainted. But Crouch seemed not to see it.
"Take them away!" He waved his hand and roared at the Dementors, "Take them away, let them rot there!"
...
The picture in the Pensieve was frozen at this moment.
In the frozen picture, Drac and Dumbledore looked at each other, and their brows were tightly twisted together.