After Fudge slunk off like he was fleeing the scene, Bagman immediately felt awkward.
He was well aware that the Ministry of Magic was now openly divided, and as an old hand, he had no desire to offend either side.
But after hearing what Barty Jr. had just said, he quickly realized the problem they were about to face.
You-Know-Who had very likely returned for real.
He was not Fudge, and he had no power worth clinging to, so that news very quickly sent him into a panic.
At that moment, Marvolio hauled Barty Jr. up out of Dumbledore's magic, gripping him by the neck like a chick.
Then he looked meaningfully at Bagman, who was still standing there in hesitation.
"I'm heading back to the Ministry. Would you like to come along, Mr. Bagman?"
Bagman froze for a second. He looked at Marvolio in surprise, then at Dumbledore and the others, whose faces revealed nothing.
He made his choice at once.
"All right, I'll go with you!"
This side obviously had more backing than Fudge's. He was this fat. If he did not cling to the thicker leg, was he supposed to just wait to die?
The number of people present dropped again. Only Dumbledore, Snape, and Tver remained.
Dumbledore sank into thought, as if wrestling with some especially difficult problem, and showed no sign of speaking.
Snape, meanwhile, stood frowning with his head lowered, staring at his left forearm as though he could stay there in silence until sunrise if nobody said anything.
Tver, on the other hand, had nothing much to think about.
Voldemort's resurrection had been inevitable. In fact, he had allowed it to happen. Aside from Peter's unexpected death, tonight had basically remained within his control.
The only thing he still needed to worry about was what trouble Fudge might cause for Barty after learning about Barty Jr.
But Barty and the others had already prepared for that long ago, so Tver did not need to concern himself with it at all.
So...
"If there's nothing else, I'll be going back first."
The moment he spoke, both Dumbledore and Snape seemed to snap awake.
"Severus, please go to Alastor's. Well, that office anyway. The real Moody should still be there."
"Once you've rescued him, send him to the hospital wing for an examination as well."
Snape nodded in understanding. Before leaving, he did not forget to throw Tver a cold sneer.
Moody was Dumbledore's old friend, and yet Dumbledore had left the task of rescuing him to Snape. That clearly meant Dumbledore had something even more important to deal with.
"Maybe I should go help too. Moody doesn't look like the kind of man a weakling like Snape could carry."
Putting on a face of heartfelt concern for Snape, Tver spoke as if he were being considerate and started to follow.
"He knows magic," Dumbledore said flatly.
Tver's steps faltered.
"Ah, right, he really is impressive. Haha, if you hadn't said so, I might've forgotten..."
Looking at Dumbledore's blank expression, Tver let out a couple of awkward laughs that sounded especially embarrassing in the empty night.
"Tell me what happened after Harry and the others were sent away. Even if there are things you cannot say, there should still be plenty you can, shouldn't there?"
At last, Dumbledore spoke, and Tver relaxed slightly.
He had thought Dumbledore would blame him for Voldemort's return and explode in fury.
After all, what Barty Jr. had said just now had been truly vicious. If he had not promised Barty's father, Tver would have wanted to slap a silencing spell on him right there.
"Actually, I knew a long time ago that Barty Jr. was disguising himself as Moody. I just kept quiet so Peter Pettigrew would not be exposed, and so we could keep control over Voldemort's plans."
Tver began revealing some of what he knew.
Of course, only he knew how much of it was true and how much was false.
Still, he was not really deceiving Dumbledore that much. He was only turning himself from a cheat-level player with a godlike viewpoint into a kind wizard who was careful, observant, and good at scheming.
But when he reached the part about Voldemort absorbing Peter Pettigrew's soul, Dumbledore suddenly cut him off.
There was not much left to tell anyway.
"You mean... Peter Pettigrew is dead?" Dumbledore asked, his brow tightly furrowed.
"That's right."
Tver took out Peter's final letter and handed it to Dumbledore, who looked at it curiously.
"What is this?"
"You'll know once you read it."
It was rare for Tver to be so mysterious, which only made Dumbledore more curious. He opened the paper without another word and saw it crammed with dense lines of writing.
"This..."
After finishing the letter, Dumbledore closed his eyes and let out a long breath, trying to ease the heaviness in his heart.
"Although Peter made mistakes before, I think he was also a true Gryffindor..."
It was a long time before he opened his eyes again, and for the first time, Tver saw a trace of confusion in them.
"This was my fault. I failed to notice that Alastor had been replaced. I failed to realize Barty Jr.'s plan. I never even imagined the badges had been tampered with..."
"Just as Barty Jr. said, Voldemort's return really was made possible by me..."
Tver stared at Dumbledore in shock. It was also the first time he had ever seen the wizard standing at the peak of the magical world look so tired.
He looked like an ordinary old man who had made a mistake, and the sight of that bewildered panic left Tver completely at a loss.
To be honest, Tver would rather have seen Dumbledore scold him furiously, or even glare at him with the same wariness he once used for the Dark Lord.
Anything but this. Anything but seeing Dumbledore show weakness and self-reproach.
...Wait, why did that make him sound like Davies?
"It was my fault!" Tver said at once, snatching the letter from his hand.
"I should have told you about Barty Jr. from the beginning, so you could have been on guard against Moody!"
Dumbledore reached out helplessly to take it back, but his old hand could not even brush the edge of the letter.
That only made Tver panic more.
"No, your plan was perfect. It's all because of me. I kept thinking about making this tournament more memorable, so that it could be promoted further and encourage more exchanges between schools."
"And because of that, I failed to notice what Barty Jr. was doing, and I should never have overlooked Voldemort lurking in the shadows all along..."
"I'm old. I've long since fallen behind the times..."
Tver had to admit it. Now he was really panicking.
If Dumbledore truly lost heart and, just like in the original course of events, focused only on dealing with Voldemort to the point where he no longer cared about his own life, then it might look as though Tver had one less obstacle in his way.
But in reality, without Dumbledore's reputation and support, Tver, a handsome young man, no matter how powerful or how good at planning, would still be questioned by the wizarding world.
Dumbledore was different.
To put it bluntly, if Dumbledore stepped forward and declared he wanted to destroy the wizarding world, there would still be plenty of wizards willing to hear him out first.
That was why Tver had spent so much effort on him in the first place.
To be perfectly frank, winning Dumbledore over was basically the same as winning over one fifth of the entire wizarding world.
"No, no, no. Your wisdom is the most precious thing protecting the wizarding world. After all, defeating the Dark Lord is something only you have ever done."
"But Voldemort has returned now. How are we supposed to stop him from harming other wizards and Muggles?" Dumbledore asked worriedly.
"Even though I don't want to see any more Peter Pettigrews appear, I'm powerless to stop it now."
"No. Voldemort's influence absolutely will not be as strong as it was last time." Tver smugly wagged a finger.
"Most werewolves are wearing the bracelets now and working diligently like ordinary wizards."
"Most Death Eaters have already realized there is no future in following Voldemort. All we need to do is offer them protection and keep Voldemort from coercing them through sheer power."
"So the only people Voldemort is likely to be able to command are the Death Eaters in Azkaban whose minds have already been sucked half blank by the Dementors, along with the Dementors guarding them."
"And as long as the Ministry's Aurors join forces with us, dealing with them will be completely safe."
"Wonderful!" Dumbledore said with feeling, clapping his hands. The crisp sound echoed clearly through the maze.
"Thank goodness you're here, Tver. Otherwise, I really would not know what to do."
"Since you're so confident, I'll leave stopping Voldemort to you."
He turned away decisively, with no trace left of the dejection he had shown moments earlier.
"Oh, and one more thing." He paused just before disappearing. "If something like this happens again in the future, do not keep it from me. I do not want to see another accident like Peter Pettigrew's."
With that, he vanished completely into the darkness, leaving Tver standing there in the cold wind, thoroughly disordered.
How did it feel like he had been played again?
Dumbledore really was Dumbledore. His skill at manipulating people was practically on par with the professor's.