Sherlock had been keeping his eyes on Barty.
He maintained a ten-metre distance, keeping a close watch on the House-Elf who appeared to be dragged backwards by some unseen force.
Winky held onto Barty without letting go for a single moment, dragging him far away from the crowd while muttering incessantly.
"Leave quickly! Must find Master quickly!"
"Winky is scared! Bad Wizards everywhere! Everywhere!"
However, she failed to notice that at some point, Barty, who had been struggling against being dragged backwards, suddenly stopped resisting.
During the recent chaos, he had picked up a wand from the ground. Now, he raised it, aiming it at Winky with a cold, grim gaze.
A bright red spell flashed silently. Winky was hit as expected; her large eyes struggled to stay open, but she could not resist the heavy, crushing weight and eventually collapsed helplessly to the ground.
Barty breathed heavily. The Invisibility Cloak was still on him. In the quiet, deserted thicket, the sound of his breathing, coming from nowhere, seemed exceptionally eerie.
Not long after, he seemed to recover. A silent, relieved, and sinister grin appeared on his face. Then, he gently raised the wand—lost by some unlucky soul—pointed its tip at the sky, and coldly recited the incantation.
"Morsmordre!"
A dazzling green light shot from the tip of the wand, rising into the night sky like fireworks before a giant Dark Mark exploded in the sky!
After casting this spell, which was destined to make the night even more chaotic, Barty tossed the wand carelessly beside Winky, wrapped his Invisibility Cloak tighter around himself, and walked deeper into the woods.
Sherlock watched silently as he regained his freedom, making no move to stop him, and continued to follow him like a shadow.
He noticed Harry and his two friends nearby, who were the first to discover the Dark Mark, but he did not reveal himself to deal with them.
In his perception, about twenty Ministry of Magic employees were rushing towards them, so he didn't need to worry about Harry and the others' safety.
Barty moved through the thicket with a clear goal, heading towards a secluded area. After about twenty minutes, he saw three Wizards wearing iron masks and black robes waiting for him ahead.
Sherlock saw this scene, and a cold smile immediately appeared on his face.
It was exactly as he had guessed.
The farce that occurred after the Quidditch World Cup today was entirely orchestrated by the Death Eaters, or rather, by Lord Voldemort, who was still clinging to life.
They had somehow learned that Barty Crouch Jr., the Death Eater who had once been most loyal to Lord Voldemort, was still alive. They used the large-scale chaos caused by the World Cup to create an opportunity for Barty to escape from the control of Barty Crouch Sr.(TN: They were just drunk in the book but I've just assumed this as AU and that will result in some changes.)
Now, the meeting between Barty and these three Wizards clearly indicated that their plan had succeeded.
"Where is Master?"
Barty's voice was hoarse and low, as if he hadn't spoken for a long time.
The one standing in the middle of the three masked Wizards said in a muffled voice,
"We are responsible for taking you to see Master now."
"Then what are you waiting for!" Barty's true personality was clearly different from how he had acted at the Ministry of Magic; he was irritable and extremely impatient.
The three Death Eaters responsible for the rendezvous did not dare to show any dissatisfaction.
Within the Death Eaters, there were naturally differences in status. Core members like Barty, who had once made significant contributions to Lord Voldemort and remained loyal instead of being fair-weather friends after he lost power, naturally held an extremely transcendent position after Lord Voldemort's return.
"We still want to meet up with the others; they are entangled with the Ministry of Magic personnel."
"If those useless fools can't even escape such a situation, then they don't deserve to be Master's followers!"
Barty's tone was nasty; the years of imprisonment had made his temper very bad.
"Take me to see Master immediately! That is the most important thing about your trip!"
The three Death Eaters had no choice but to step forward, grab Barty's arms, and wave their wands, intending to Apparate away with him.
However, just as they were about to recite the Apparition incantation, a calm voice suddenly rang out in the air.
"Lockdown."
The moment this Anti-Apparition ward took effect, several faint red threads of light appeared in the night, and the surrounding space was completely sealed, as if flowing water had turned into ice!
With Sherlock as the centre, the space within a ten-metre radius was completely locked down, and all Wizard Apparition magic was prohibited!
This was a spell technique Sherlock had developed, targeting his enhanced Control Magic, after obtaining the second Horcrux and completing another degree of soul stitching.
By merging the Anti-Apparition ward, which originally required specific maintenance, with Control Magic, as long as the Control Magic domain was expanded, the effect of the Anti-Apparition ward would be maintained within that domain.
In other words, as long as one was enveloped by Sherlock's Control Magic, it was equivalent to being pulled into a field similar to Hogwarts.
Except for some special cases, such as the Apparition of House-Elves and Phoenixes, Wizards themselves completely lost the ability to escape.
While locking down the space, the effect of the Disillusionment Charm on Sherlock himself could no longer be maintained, revealing his figure.
Upon seeing that it was only Sherlock, the three masked Death Eaters relaxed from their initial tension.
They swiftly aimed their wands at him, but what they didn't notice was that behind them, countless wands were slowly rising from the bushes.
Being pointed at by three wands simultaneously, Sherlock appeared very relaxed.
"Why not finish what you were saying? Where is that Master of yours now?"
Barty stared at Sherlock with his cold gaze, and a grim smile suddenly appeared at the corner of his mouth.
"Since you want to know so much, why not come with us? Besides, you look familiar; you look a lot like someone I once met."
Sherlock narrowed his eyes. He didn't think Barty could recognise him; the face he had used seventeen years ago was vastly different from his current one.
"Sherlock Cavendish, Defence Against the Dark Arts professor at Hogwarts. His mother was named Forrest," one of the masked Death Eaters whispered Sherlock's identity beside Barty.
A mocking smile suddenly appeared on Barty's face.
"Heh, Cavendish, I was wondering who it was! So it's that woman's son!"