Chapter 223 The Burned Contract

Sherlock didn't mention Little Barty's question, but he told Kingsley about the Hand of Traction.

"I connected the Hand of Traction to one of the wizards who escaped, but the location was only displayed for a moment before the connection was disconnected. One of them should have discovered the problem. The last location is a small town in the northernmost part of Derbyshire. You can send someone to investigate now, but there is a high probability that nothing will be found."

Kingsley was naturally very concerned about Sherlock's words. He immediately went out and ordered two Aurors who could Apparate directly to Derbyshire to investigate the situation, and then returned to the interrogation room.

"Where did you get the Hand of Traction?" He asked with a frown.

Sherlock didn't tell the truth, but spread his hands and made up an excuse.

"I bought it from an unknown wizard in Knockturn Alley. You have to keep it a secret for me. I don't want to be charged with reselling dark magic items."

Kingsley nodded.

"It doesn't matter if you are discovered. You use dark magic items to help the Ministry of Magic do serious things. No one will hold you accountable."

"After all, you are civil servants, so you speak differently."

After that, Kingsley simply took a few notes for them, and after applying to the higher-ups, he released Sherlock and Silk from the Ministry of Magic.

After coming out of the Ministry of Magic, Sherlock's face, which was originally quite relaxed, slowly became gloomy.

Silk noticed his change.

"What happened?"

Sherlock frowned.

"The reason why the Hand of Traction is listed as a dark magic item is not only that the materials it is made of require manpower, but also that the traction magic attached to this thing is almost impossible to be discovered. But now that the connection is broken, it means that someone has discovered the problem with little Barty at a glance."

"To have such eyesight means that he has recovered some of his strength." He muttered to himself.

Then he turned to look at Silk.

"Please help me go to the Weasley family to report my safety and say that I am fine and I am going to Hogwarts now."

Silk nodded and used Apparition to leave.

Sherlock did not stay there for too long after she left. He went directly to Hogsmeade and returned to Hogwarts Castle along Hogsmeade.

There was still a week left before the start of the school term. The castle was very deserted. He went up the stairs and came directly to the stone monster on the third floor.

"Is Professor Dumbledore in the office now?"

The stone monster did not speak, but was silent for a moment, as if asking someone in the office.

After a few seconds, it jumped to the side by itself, revealing a passage for Sherlock to move forward.

Sherlock walked all the way to the end of the spiral staircase, reached the eighth floor and opened the door of Dumbledore's office.

Dumbledore was holding a letter at this time, looking at the contents of the letter with a serious expression. When Sherlock came in, his face relaxed.

"Wow, I just got the news that there was an accident at the Quidditch World Cup. I was wondering if you would come to see me today, but now you come."

Sherlock was not as relaxed as he appeared. He restrained the expression on his face, making it impossible for people to see what he was thinking at the moment, and sat opposite Dumbledore.

"I saw Barty Crouch Jr. in the audience."

Sherlock's words made Dumbledore's face solemn. He put down the letter in his hand and motioned Sherlock to continue.

"You should know that I mastered a strange magic from the things left by my mother. I used this magic to find Barty Crouch Jr. wearing an invisibility cloak in the audience of the final. He was accompanied by the Crouch family's house elf Winky."

They are all smart people. There is no need for extra explanation. Just emphasize this matter like this, and Dumbledore can hear the problem.

"Bartty knew that his son was still alive and had been hiding him." Dumbledore said in a deep voice.

"And Barty Jr.'s condition is very wrong. He seems to be controlled by Barty Sr., and the house elf has been watching him."

"When I went back to the past, there was a grudge between him and me, and I always felt that his coming to watch the World Cup final was not simple. I followed him after the game."

"The timing of the chaos was very clever. Someone was helping Barty Jr. to create an opportunity to escape. He finally succeeded and used a Dark Mark to the sky to fight three masked people."

Dumbledore said softly.

"Death Eaters."

"Yes, Death Eaters. They all have Dark Mark tattoos on their bodies, plus those masks. They are Death Eaters who disappeared after the Dark Lord disappeared and were not liquidated by the Ministry of Magic."

"They wanted to take Barty Jr. away, I stopped them, and then Barty Jr. recognized me and said my mother's name."

When Sherlock said this, he kept staring at Dumbledore's eyes. He paused for a moment when he said this.

"He told me something you've been reluctant to tell me, something unknown to others."

Dumbledore's eyes were deep, and he seemed to be deliberately avoiding Sherlock's gaze, tapping the desk lightly with his fingers.

"He wanted to irritate you."

"I don't deny that." Sherlock said calmly, "and he succeeded. I was really angry, so angry that I even planned to use the Killing Curse and put it into action."

Dumbledore frowned immediately.

"You killed them with the Death Curse?"

Sherlock took a deep breath.

"Maybe it's because I used the Death Curse for the first time. The Death Curse I used didn't have the effect of killing people directly. They just kept bleeding and didn't die. When they wanted to escape, I used the Transformation Technique. Killed two."

Hearing what he said, Dumbledore's brows widened. He looked at Sherlock with complicated eyes, but his biggest emotion was relief.

"Dark magic, especially the three Unforgivable Curses, requires the user to have infinite malice in order to use it successfully. Compared with the other two spells, the Death Curse is even more so. I am very happy that although you are excited by him, you still feel in your heart Very angry but still didn't use the spell Sherlock."

"What will happen if I use it?" Sherlock asked flatly.

"Nothing will happen. Black magic is very dangerous, but its erosion of people's minds cannot be achieved instantly." Dumbledore's voice was calm but extremely solemn. "Many wizards use the Death Curse for the first time. They will all be immersed in the pleasure of being able to take away the lives of others at will, and they will start to use the life-killing curse unscrupulously. It is at this time that black magic erodes their minds. "

Sherlock understood what Dumbledore meant, but he thought of more.

When he used hundreds of wands to use the Patronus Charm, the excessive positive emotions directly infected him and affected his thinking.

If he were to actually use those hundreds of Death Spells tonight, what would the negative emotions that would come back to him be like?

He didn't think about it deeply, but he was alert and tried not to use multiple wands to cast spells such as the Unforgivable Curse in the future.

"I want to know if what he said is true?" Sherlock stared into Dumbledore's eyes and calmly asked the purpose of his trip.

"Caught by Voldemort, tortured into madness, and then released."

Dumbledore was silent.

He and Sherlock looked at each other and remained silent for a long time.

After three minutes, he sighed and stood up from his chair, pacing around the office, obviously hesitating.

"Did you kill little Barty later?" He asked an irrelevant question.

"Kill, but I let one person go." Sherlock didn't hide anything. "The Death Eater took little Barty's body away. I want to use his body to find the Dark Lord's current hiding place. But just after getting a position, the magic I set on little Barty was discovered. "

Dumbledore didn't seem too surprised by this result.

If Voldemort really had such a good plan, he wouldn't have such a big influence in the wizarding world.

"Did the Death Eater who escaped recognize you?"

"He called me out."

Sherlock's words seemed to make Dumbledore completely determined. He turned towards the wall covered with portraits of previous principals and found a portrait of an older and kindly witch.

"Dalys, give me that contract."

The kind witch seemed to have taken something out of the pocket of her robe in the portrait, and then handed it to Dumbledore through the frame of the portrait.

The old piece of parchment magically slipped out of the frame, and Dumbledore reached out and took it in his hand.

Sherlock had been paying attention to Dumbledore's movements. He saw a dozen densely packed names on it, some of which had turned gray-white, and some were still the color of dark green ink.

After Dumbledore got the contract, he had no intention of showing it to Sherlock. Instead, he directly waved to Fawkes, the phoenix perched on a golden branch behind the door, and handed the parchment to its sharp beak.

"Excuse me, Fawkes," Dumbledore said softly.

Fox chirped, as if giving some response. He returned to the golden branch with the parchment in his mouth, flapped his wings twice, and then a golden-red fire suddenly appeared on his body!

A painful bird call sounded.

The flame instantly swallowed up Fox's whole body and the parchment!

"That contract can only be destroyed by the flames generated when the phoenix reaches nirvana. Although Fox has not yet reached the time, we can only trouble him to advance his nirvana."

Dumbledore looked at Fawkes, who had turned into a fireball, and explained softly to Sherlock.