Volume 1 Chapter 30 News in the Newspaper
Ron also noticed the newspaper Jon picked up.
"Oh, yes. In the letter, Mom also said that Dad stuffed some newspapers from the past few months into my pocket. He hoped that I could learn more about current events in the wizarding world. But I would say that it is impossible to learn any real news by reading the Daily Prophet. Everyone knows that after three reporters who dared to dig out big news disappeared, the newspaper is now flattering the wizarding government in all aspects and dares not even tell the truth."
Jon listened to him, his attention still focused on the front-page news about Barty Jr.'s award.
Just as Ron said, the whole article was praising Barty Crouch Jr., but it was vague about what get the second-level badge.
Neville also tilted his head to look at the news with Jon, and he commented on the side.
"I've heard from my father a long time ago that the badge of the Order of Merlin completely lost its former glory after that man became the president. He awarded badges to almost all of his most loyal core subordinates. This man named Barty Crouch should have had a third-level badge before, and now he has a second-level one. But the funny thing is that his most famous deed is actually executing his own father with his own hands."
Jon turned his eyes away from the newspaper with a look of surprise.
"Executing your own father?"
Neville shrugged.
"Yes, Barty Crouch's father is also named Barty Crouch. The Crouch family is a pure-blood family with a long history, but his father was indeed a staunch anti-pure-blood person, and he resisted that man's rule over the wizarding world. At that time, he was still the Director of the Department of Magical Law of the Ministry of Magic, and all the Aurors in the wizarding world were from his subordinate department. Then after that man successfully captured the Ministry of Magic, old Crouch was arrested. He did not surrender like other Ministry of Magic officials, even though his only son held a high position among the Death Eaters."
"I heard that the man originally just wanted to keep him in prison for life, but the old Crouch's son, the current award-winning Barty Crouch, actually took the initiative to propose to execute his father . In the end, the man agreed, and the executioner who executed him was his own son."
Lavender and Justin, who were listening to his story, opened their mouths wide. Ron also looked at the young man's hypocritical smile in the newspaper with disgust.
"My parents have always told me that this guy is not a human being!"
"Killing your own father with your own hands, this... this is too terrible..." Lavender said palely.
Because of the impression he had from the original book, John was not too surprised by what little Barty did in this world. After all, in the original book he also killed his father with his own hands, it was just that the time was earlier and the nature of the incident was even worse.
John put the newspaper down. Mr. Weasley sent Ron a lot of old newspapers. He was very interested in these things that could provide him with information about the current wizarding world.
He flipped through a few more pages, and apart from information about changes in officials within the Ministry of Magic and some gossip, there were articles praising Voldemort's merits. These articles were full of unreserved advocacy, and just like Neville had said before, "Great Sir" had apparently become official name for him in the wizarding world. Just looking at it, Jon felt a chill in his heart and goose bumps all over his arms.
Finally, he saw a news article about Hogwarts led by Dumbledore in a newspaper dated September 12.
It was reported that during a routine patrol, the Aurors accidentally discovered the whereabouts of the magic world's top dark wizard, the wanted criminal Albus Dumbledore, and his terrorist organization. The Aurors at the scene took action without waiting for reinforcements from the Ministry, but the operation failed and they lost track of the criminals.
For this reason, the great gentleman, who usually seldom interfered in the internal operation of the Ministry of Magic, clearly expressed his dissatisfaction to the Chief of the Auror Command, Lucius Malfoy. Lucius directly sent the Aurors who escaped from Dumbledore to Azkaban for dereliction of duty.
This piece of news was not on the front page of the day, but was placed in a corner. There was no picture on it either, and it seemed that the Daily Prophet did not take the matter very seriously.
But Jon felt something was wrong.
But he couldn't explain where this wrong feeling came from. He just felt that Voldemort didn't seem to attach much importance to Dumbledore and the Hogwarts where he was now.
Otherwise, given his personality, would he simply express his dissatisfaction to Lucius?
But John now knows too little about Voldemort in this time and space. He knows that if Voldemort remained the same as in the original book, he would not have forced Dumbledore and Hogwarts to such an extent.
Therefore, he did not continue to use the inherent impression in his mind to speculate on the psychology of this "great gentleman".
Jon shook his head, and just as he was about to put the newspaper back, the headline of another news article on the back of the newspaper caught his attention.
[One year after Nicolas Flamel’s death, the Philosopher’s Stone is still missing]
He frowned and read the report carefully in its entirety, finally looking up at Neville, who already showed signs of being a "know-it-all".
"Nick Flamel died of old age?"
Neville also glanced at the news and nodded.
"Yes, this alchemist who lived for centuries eventually died of old age with his wife. Three months before his death, he went to the Ministry of Magic to report that his Philosopher's Stone had been stolen in England. He was a French wizard, but he also lived in Devonshire from time to time. The Philosopher's Stone was lost at that time."
"It is said that when he went to report the case, the man met with him privately. We don't know what they talked about, but after that, the Aurors of the Ministry of Magic tried their best to help him track down the whereabouts of the Philosopher's Stone, but there was no clue until Nick Flamel used up the last bit of elixir he had left. He and his wife eventually died in Devonshire."
Ron interrupted their conversation and said.
"George and Fred talked about this at home last year. They both suspected that it was actually someone from the Ministry of Magic who stole Nick Flamel's stone. These people were originally a group of robbers. He went to report the case just to get his stone back, but you saw the result."
After listening to what they said, Jon looked at the news in the newspaper again thoughtfully.
