England, a concealed residence.
In the lavishly decorated living room, two men sat facing each other. Uncontrollable complaints spilled from one man's mouth.
"Every place has been searched, every method tried! But after that, there's been nothing! Absolutely nothing!"
Hearing Dino Perkins' complaints, Barty Jr. merely smiled, his gaze fixed on the locket in his hand, and did not speak.
Seeing him, as usual, paying no heed to other matters, Perkins grew even more impatient.
"Since the day you left that cave where you found this useless locket, Rowle has disappeared! You must tell me! Where did he go!"
"That question, I have answered you many times." Finally, Barty Jr.'s gaze shifted from the locket to meet Perkins' eyes.
"Perhaps your memory isn't very good, or maybe your hearing isn't sharp. I could assume you didn't hear my answers the previous times. But now, I must say this is the last time I will answer this question."
"Rowle has been sent out of Britain by me to carry out a top-secret mission concerning Master. He cannot return until Master is fully welcomed back by us."
Perkins met his hollow, cold gaze but instinctively looked away after less than two seconds, his body shuddering involuntarily.
"But he didn't even leave us a letter before he left..."
"What do you think we are doing?" Barty Crouch Jr. said indifferently, "We are preparing to bring back our Master, to plunge the Wizarding World back into fear of us! Doing such things, you actually still think about maintaining unnecessary contact with anyone?"
"I... I didn't mean that..." Perkins stammered in excuse, "But we haven't had any harvest these days, have we? Not only that, we were almost discovered and captured by those Aurors!"
"And then there's France. There's been trouble there. Nicolas Flamel was kidnapped! The French Ministry of Magic was breached by someone! And, and Thomas Shafiq! We all know him, don't we? He once followed Master too. He was actually caught by the French!"
"The French say the people who did those things are connected to us. I'm wondering, I'm wondering, could those people really be connected to us? Could it be people organized by Black? Or Snape?"
"I think it's very likely Snape! That bunch of fools in France were completely fooled by him! They're all proclaiming that Nicolas Flamel was rescued by him! This must be a play he staged himself with some people!"
Perkins said indignantly.
"The person who broke into the French Ministry stole a top-secret document from them! That must have been their real goal. And now, Snape has achieved his goal and gained a better reputation! He wouldn't do these things for no reason!"
"He's been acting all along, but we haven't noticed. We've just been staring at this locket, with nothing to show for it!"
Barty Jr.'s fingertips tapped lightly on the armrest of his chair.
Perkins had heard these news, so naturally, Barty Jr. had known even earlier.
Initially, Barty Jr. never thought the events in France could actually be related to Death Eaters. He simply assumed the foolish French Aurors were being led by the nose by the real culprits, their investigation direction misled.
But until Thomas Shafiq was captured, the massive Inferi attack on Paris at night, and the Dark Mark lighting up, Barty also began to doubt.
Since witnessing the countless Inferi underwater in the cave where the locket was hidden, he knew his great Master possessed the ability to mass-produce Inferi.
And this was identical to the danger encountered that night in Paris.
What Perkins suspected, Barty Jr. naturally suspected as well.
'If the people who did those things in Paris were really Death Eaters, then who organized them?'
'Black?'
'Snape?'
If it was Black, then Barty's impression of this escaped prisoner lone wolf would have to change, indicating that his Master had clearly placed him elsewhere with some assignment. Otherwise, he couldn't have organized those people in Paris.
If it was Snape, then it pointed to one thing.
His publicly declared 'repentance' to the Ministry and the British wizarding public was a complete fraud. His effort to redeem his image in the public eye had a greater scheme.
The incident in France was the same. As Perkins said, if the Death Eaters in France were really organized and led by him…
Then in just those few days, he obtained what he wanted from the French Ministry and also gained immense prestige for rescuing Nicolas Flamel!
Now, his reputation is not only resounding in Britain but also in England, France, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland, etc. Tales of his deeds are spreading across various wizarding communities.
The reasons for this are, first, Worple's book has completely left Britain and begun to sell well across Europe, and second, Nicolas Flamel's own influence in the European Wizarding World.
Every time Barty Jr. thinks about it, he finds it frightening upon closer thought.
'What does Snape want to do?'
'He's gathering the Malfoy group, also rallying them under the banner of finding Master. He organized such a group in France and is constantly promoting his reputation across Europe!'
'Cultivating power, accumulating wealth, promoting fame...'
Every time he thinks of this, Barty Jr.'s face can't help but turn extremely grim.
He can be sure that Snape is absolutely no longer loyal to his Master!
No matter what he is doing now, no matter what banner he raises, such actions already constitute abandoning loyalty to his Master.
Perkins's last sentence was correct.
Snape has been doing many things outside, but these days, they in Britain have achieved nothing.
Since obtaining this locket using Rowle, unlike the ring, Barty has found nothing unusual about it from beginning to end.
Besides, during this time, Barty Jr. also took Perkins and some others around Britain searching for people related to Hepzibah Smith.
In the visions Barty Jr. saw in his dreams after obtaining the ring, there was an image of the Master obtaining a golden cup from her.
Barty Jr. attempted to find the whereabouts of that golden cup indirectly by searching for people related to Hepzibah Smith.
But the final result was nothing.
Now, they can no longer afford to waste time in Britain!
"Pack up. Tonight, we prepare to go to Albania."
Perkins stood up from his chair, puzzled.
"Why go to Albania?"
"You don't need to know why."
…
After capturing Lockhart, Andrews, who had taken a walk by the river, asked Severus how he planned to deal with this thief.
"He's already ambushed and modified the memories of many adventurers before." Severus had already made his decision, "I will hand him over to the British Aurors. Let the Aurors investigate how many victims there are and then help those victims restore their lost memories."
In the original work, Lockhart, after using Ron's broken wand to ambush Harry, ended up having his own Memory Charm backfire, losing his memory and being sent to St. Mungo's.
After that, neither Dumbledore nor Harry and Ron exposed Lockhart's true nature, so the Ministry couldn't find the wizards he had harmed and restore their memories.
Until their fifth year, Harry and the others received news that Lockhart's treatment at St. Mungo's was quite effective, though he was puzzled by the fan letters from his rabid fans and couldn't remember ever being a celebrity.
Now that Lockhart had fallen into Severus's hands, he naturally wouldn't let him off so easily. He intended to hand him over to Kingsley for the Aurors to handle the aftermath.
Just then, Andrews suddenly said to Severus,
"This evening, Lockhart also told me something. He said he came from the west of the forest and accidentally entered that area sealed off by the Albanian Aurors… the place near a small hill and a dried-up lake that the two dragon tamers who came to see us mentioned before."
Severus looked somewhat puzzled.
"Wasn't that area sealed off? How did he get in?"
"He told me the Aurors made a mistake, allowing him to wander in. Then, between the small hill and the dried-up lake, under a tall but withered fir tree, he found a trapdoor with a brass handle!"
Andrews said, pinching his chin.
"He also suggested that I go explore under that trapdoor with him. Now it seems his intentions weren't good either."
This clearly caught Severus's attention.
Previously, when he went searching for the Hag's ghost, the information he received was that it had drifted towards the western Dragon Nature Reserve.
But during his time in the valley, Severus never found any trace of it, so he had already suspected it might have gone into the reserve itself.
Coupled with the subsequent unusual activity of the dragons, it further proved that something was very unusual within that sanctuary. Even if the Hag's ghost wasn't there, there must be something else.
"Did he tell you anything else besides this?" Severus pressed.
Andrews shook his head.
"Since I directly refused his proposal, he didn't tell me more after that."
Severus didn't find this troublesome. Lockhart was now in his hands, so whatever he wanted to know, he could just ask directly.
Thinking this, Severus turned and walked towards the wooden house specifically built to hold Lockhart.
Seeing Severus enter, Lockhart, who had been leaning against the wall drowsily, instantly became alert. He stared at Severus.
"What are you going to do!"
Things couldn't get much worse than this, but Lockhart was clearly afraid of Severus. He knew exactly what kind of person his senior was.
Don't be fooled by his begging and saying that if he went back to his student days and saw James and his gang bullying Snape again, he would definitely speak up.
In reality, he didn't dare offend either James's group or Severus!
If James and his friends were just active Gryffindors, then Snape was one of those cold-blooded Slytherin snakes!
He hung out with Malfoy and his lot all the time, all of whom believing in the Blood Purist theories of You-Know-Who.
And outside Hogwarts, this group already had the power to pressure the British Ministry of Magic.
This left an extremely deep impression on Lockhart during his student years.
So even though Severus's reputation had improved now, Lockhart was instinctively wary of him. Especially since he had been caught red-handed, if Severus suddenly decided to finish him off, he wouldn't even have a place to plead his case!
Severus just stared at Lockhart.
He could easily extract the memories related to the sanctuary from this liar's mind, but since Lockhart was ultimately to be handed over to the Aurors, it wouldn't be good if the Aurors found signs of Legilimency.
So, Severus spoke softly.
"I can give you a chance, Lockhart."
Hearing this, Lockhart's body jolted. He looked at Severus in shock.
"You... you're going to let me go?"
"Don't dream about me letting you go, but I can allow you to turn yourself in to the Aurors at the Ministry yourself." Severus said, staring into his eyes, "If I hand you over directly to the Aurors like this, given the crimes you've committed, they will likely send you to Azkaban."
"But if you turn yourself in, it's different. With a reduced sentence, you could serve time in a more comfortable prison."
Lockhart swallowed hard.
He certainly knew how terrifying Azkaban was. Not to mention the Dementors on the island, just the prisoners held there were no ordinary folk. If he were sent there, he wouldn't last half a year… he'd either go mad or die!
However, he was even more aware that Severus would absolutely not give him a chance for nothing.
"You... what do you want from me?"
Seeing him so cooperative, Severus got straight to the point.
"I heard from Pique that before finding him, you accidentally entered that abandoned Dragon Nature Reserve sealed off by the Aurors in the forest?"
Lockhart hunched his shoulders.
"I wasn't there long before the Aurors caught me and threw me out!"
"But you also made an accidental discovery there, right? A trapdoor with a brass handle." Severus said calmly, "What else did you find besides that? I need more information."
Lockhart curled up. Not wanting to completely lose the rest of his life, he naturally didn't dare hide anything.
"Besides... besides that trapdoor under the fir tree! I also saw many dead animals on that small hill!"
"Animals? What kind of animals?"
"All kinds of animals! There were magical creatures and ordinary animals! Their bodies were everywhere there!"