The light in Vivi's eyes flickered.
"Very clever." She slightly raised her head, "The fact is exactly as you guessed, Old Batty's Soul-snatching Curse was used on him by his son, Little Bartie Crouch."
"So it's like this..."
Harry didn't feel sympathy for Old Batty or Little Batty, he just thought it was quite interesting.
Just then, the door of the office was knocked on once again.
"Come in." Vivi said.
The door was pushed open, and Harry saw that the person who walked in was Little Sirius, along with Professor Lupin.
"Harry, are you okay?" Little Sirius opened his arms and went over to give Harry a hug.
"I'm fine." Harry said with a smile, "Why did you and Professor Lupin come over? Is there anything happening?"
"Of course." Lupin said, "It's about Mr. Crouch. Miss Grindelwald informed Bigfoot and me to come to her office at Hogwarts. We originally planned to call you along, but then Ron said you weren't there, so we guessed you must have come to Miss Grindelwald's place."
"Haha." Little Sirius chuckled and said to Harry, "You absolutely can't guess what happened at the Crouch family—"
"You know it too?" Harry asked, looking up.
Little Sirius quickly wilted.
"Oh, it seems you already know." He said disheartened, "I knew that Miss Grindelwald would definitely tell you about this. Honestly, I was planning to share this interesting story with you."
But he soon recovered.
"It's also a good thing that you know, since he ordered to send me to Azkaban without any procedural judgment." Little Sirius sniffed and continued, "At the time, someone predicted he might be elected as the next Minister of Magic; he's an exceptional wizard, Batty Crouch, highly skilled in magic—and with a strong desire for power... But everyone also knew that Crouch firmly opposed Voldemort."
"Now imagine, when Voldemort's forces are strong, you don't know who supports him and who doesn't, you don't know who serves him and who doesn't. You realize he can control people tightly, making them do terrible things involuntarily. You fear for yourself, your family, and your friends. Every week brings bad news of more deaths, disappearances, or tortures... The Ministry of Magic is in chaos, clueless about what to do, while they try various methods to hide this from Muggles, who are dying as well. It's all terror... tension... chaos... That's how the situation was back then."
With that, Little Sirius stood up and paced in the office.
"Ah, times like this can indeed bring out the best virtues in good people and expose the worst in bad ones. Initially, Crouch's principles might have been commendable—I don't know much; he quickly rose up the ranks in the Ministry and started implementing very tough measures against Voldemort's supporters. Aurors were granted new powers—such as the right to kill, not just capture."
"I wasn't the only one sent directly to the Dementors without a trial, and Crouch used violence against violence; he allowed the use of unforgivable spells on suspects—in my view, he became as ruthless, unfeeling as many involved in Dark Magic."
"You know, he had his supporters too—many believed his approach was correct; many wizards loudly demanded he become Minister of Magic. And after Voldemort's disappearance, Crouch assuming the top position seemed just a matter of time. But then, an unfortunate incident occurred..." Little Sirius showed a maliciously pleased smile, "Crouch's own son was caught; he was with a group of Death Eaters who had escaped Azkaban through cunning words. Apparently, they were looking for Voldemort, hoping to bring him back."
"I know about this." Vivi said, resting her face in her hands, looking as if discussing something joyful, "Dumbledore showed me the relevant memory; it was Kakaroff, seeking redemption by first reporting Snape, but Dumbledore vouched for Snape, saying he was his spy—then, he reported Little Bartie Crouch."
"Yes." Little Sirius scratched his face, "I don't know the details, but I knew after Little Bartie was identified as a Death Eater, everyone was shocked; after all, Little Bartie was a good student who had received twelve 'Os' at school. How could he be involved with Voldemort?"
"Sometimes, it's very hard to learn good things, but if one wants to learn bad things, that becomes very easy." Lupin commented sharply on the side.
"Yes, yes." Vivi chuckled softly, "Perhaps it's because Old Batty's high expectations for his son led to the child's rebellious mentality; but that's not our concern. All I know is, after such things happened, his path to becoming the Minister of Magic was completely blocked."
"Sigh." Little Sirius sighed, "I always thought Little Bartie died in Azkaban... Back then, I saw the Dementors bring him in; I watched him through the iron bars of the cell door... He seemed no more than nineteen years old. They threw him into a cell next to mine. In the evening, he yelled miserably for his mom, but after a few days, he was silent... They all eventually grow silent... Occasionally screaming in their sleep... Later, he just died."