Fred's reminder snapped them out of their reverie. It made Eda and Sirius realize that this was only the beginning. They had just taken their first step toward the truth.
Since they had proposed a hypothesis, they had to work to prove it rather than sit around in Twilight Cottage trading theories. Words were pale and powerless. Eda and Sirius needed stronger evidence to prove that Barty Crouch Jr. was indeed still alive.
It didn't take much thought to know that proving someone who had supposedly been dead for more than ten years was still alive would be incredibly difficult. Finding someone who had been dead for over a decade was no easier than finding a living person.
Barty Jr.'s remains had been buried outside Azkaban Fortress and had long since rotted away. Nobody even knew exactly where he had been buried. There had been no news about him all these years. He had truly died "cleanly."
Fortunately, both Eda and Sirius were true Gryffindors. They never feared difficulties and dared to face challenges.
The two of them whispered and discussed the matter for a long time before finally deciding to split up and tackle the problem from both sides, inside and outside.
Sirius would mainly be responsible for finding out where Barty Crouch was. Crouch was a key figure. As long as they found him, all their questions would be answered.
At the same time, Sirius also had to search for evidence that Barty Jr. was still alive, and see whether he could find Barty Jr. first and stop him before he carried out his conspiracy.
Mr. Black had a heavy responsibility on his shoulders, and Miss Twist naturally couldn't sit around doing nothing. Sitting back and enjoying the fruits of someone else's labor wasn't a good habit. Eda had her own task as well.
Because she hadn't graduated yet, Eda could only remain at school and keep an eye on everything happening around the castle.
The Death Eater parade at the World Cup campsite and the fireworks display that night had caused such a huge commotion. There was no way the other side had done all that simply to make Harry participate in the Triwizard Tournament. Death Eaters weren't some charitable organization.
Ever since Halloween, nothing strange had happened at Hogwarts. Everything had been unnaturally peaceful. But the calmer things appeared on the surface, the more it suggested that the other side had much greater ambitions and was secretly plotting some earth-shattering conspiracy.
Precisely because they wanted so much, the other side had to be extremely cautious and dare not act rashly. Even the smallest mistake could be detected by Dumbledore, allowing the Headmaster to uproot them completely.
One wrong move, and the whole game was lost. The person they had to face was Dumbledore. Causing trouble under Dumbledore's nose left them no choice but to be careful.
After all, not every villain was as foolish as Benedict Fowley, who turned Hogwarts upside down just to find an unknown object.
If everyone acted as recklessly as him, Eda wouldn't have had to rack her brains for so long. She could have simply brought over a little stool and sat down to watch the show.
Speaking of Foley, Eda really missed him. It definitely wasn't because she held a grudge. It was simply because villains as "adorable" as him were truly rare.
From now on, Eda's task was to keep a close eye on every plant and blade of grass in the school and search for details that might have been overlooked.
To ensure their plans succeeded, the other side certainly couldn't continue doing absolutely nothing. If you don't want people to know, don't do it. As long as they acted, they would inevitably leave traces and clues behind.
There was a very good chance that the people who had put Harry's name into the Goblet of Fire intended to make use of the Triwizard Tournament and achieve their hidden objective through the competition.
Now, only the final task of the Triwizard Tournament remained. If the other side had any plans, the third task was their best opportunity.
And Eda happened to be one of the Triwizard champions. She shared Harry's perspective, but she was also much more attentive than Harry. Perhaps she could find the other side's oversight from a different angle.
With their tasks assigned, Sirius left Twilight Cottage. He was going to meet Dumbledore and then say goodbye to Harry. Eda and the twins also left the cottage with him.
On the way back to the castle, Sirius reminisced about the past and provided the twins with quite a few new ideas. He also told them plenty of embarrassing stories from Snape's past.
From Sirius, Eda learned about some of the Potions professor's past, revealing a Snape who was very different from the one she remembered.
As expected, Snape had been a top student even during his school days. When he first entered Hogwarts, he already knew more spells than half of the seventh-year students.
This was truly a rare sight. Eda genuinely never expected to hear Sirius praise Snape. Of course, this was also the only nice thing Sirius had to say about him.
During his school days, Snape had already been deeply fascinated by Dark Magic, and many students at the school knew about it. A student obsessed with Dark Magic during his school days... Why did this template feel so familiar?
Besides that, Snape had also been a famous member of a Slytherin student organization. That student organization could practically be called a reserve organization for the Death Eaters, and almost everyone in that group became a Death Eater after graduation.
After hearing the names of some of the members of this student organization, Eda genuinely felt that Hogwarts's greatest mistake was having only four Houses. They could have established another House!
Upon graduation, students could immediately go to Azkaban for further study, receiving one-on-many instruction from the Dementor professors. Skip the middlemen and prevent certain middlemen from causing trouble. Save time and effort.
Of course, this was just a joke. Eda herself didn't take it seriously, so naturally nobody else did either.
At the entrance hall of the castle, Eda, the twins, and Sirius went their separate ways. Sirius went to the 7th floor alone, while Eda and the twins headed toward the Great Hall.
Before the troops moved, supplies had to go first. As long as the sky wasn't falling, nobody could stop Eda from eating. After all, people were iron and food was steel. If she missed even one meal, she'd be starving.
Actually, there was another person in Hogwarts Castle who knew something: the house-elf Winky.
Winky was Barty Crouch's house-elf, and she was currently staying in the castle, living together with the other house-elves.
Poor Winky still hadn't escaped the shadow of being dismissed. She was drunk all day long. She longed for her master's forgiveness and wanted to return to her master's side, but she couldn't go back. All she could do was numb herself with alcohol.
Drunken and filthy, Winky had become an outcast among the house-elves, practically synonymous with being unwanted. Apart from Dobby, not a single house-elf was willing to accept or care for her.
Eda and Sirius had both overlooked Winky, or rather, ignored her, although their reasons were somewhat different.
Like many wizards, Sirius didn't think much of house-elves. He had never considered this servant of Barty Crouch. This was a common problem among wizards. They didn't care about house-elves and sometimes even ignored them.
Dobby was a good example. He had obtained information from the Malfoy family and secretly gone to Privet Drive to warn Harry.
But Dobby was an exception and couldn't represent the house-elves as a whole. This was also why Eda had never considered Winky.
Not every house-elf was like Dobby, secretly working against their master. Whether Winky knew Crouch's secret or not, judging from her current state, getting anything out of her would be extremely difficult.
If Eda wanted to make Winky talk, she would have to use force. Severe torture, interrogation under duress, or, on a more sophisticated level, simply forcing a drop of Veritaserum down her throat. Otherwise, there was practically no chance of getting Winky to betray Barty Crouch.
The problem was that Eda didn't want to do that.
A gentleman knows what he should do and what he shouldn't. Although Eda wasn't a gentleman, she still didn't want to treat a house-elf this way. Eda had her own bottom line.
Besides, things hadn't yet deteriorated to the point of no return. Eda still had time to uncover the truth herself. If the day came when nothing could be done, Eda wouldn't mind changing her bottom line.
...
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