In the Harry Potter Without Harry Potter

Chapter 30: News in the newspaper

Ron also noticed the newspaper that Jon had picked up.

"Oh yeah, in the letter Mum also mentioned that Dad had stuffed some newspapers from the previous months in there for me, he wanted me to learn more about current events in the wizarding world. But if you ask me, it's impossible to get any real news from reading the Daily Prophet, and it's clear to everyone that after three reporters in a row who dared to dig up big scoops disappeared, this newspaper is now on its knees on all aspects of the Magic Government and is afraid to say even a word of truth."

Jon listened to his words, while his attention remained on the front page article about Barty Crouch Jr.'s award.

Indeed, it was just as Ron had said, this whole article touting Barty Crouch Jr. without saying a word about exactly for what merit he had received that Second Class badge.

Neville also inclined his head to look at the article with Jon, as he commented from the sidelines.

"I've long heard from my dad that the Order of Merlin award lost its former glory completely once that man started his rule, by awarding almost every one of his core most loyal men a badge, this Barty Crouch fellow supposedly received a third-class badge before, and now he got a second class as well, but what's funny is that he is in fact most famous for executing his own father with his own hands."

Jon shifted his gaze away from the newspaper with a surprised look on his face.

"Executing his own father?"

Neville shrugged.

"Yes. Barty Crouch's father was also called Barty Crouch, and the Crouches were a long-standing pure-blood family, but his father was very firmly against Pure-blood supremacy, and resisted that man's rule over the wizarding community; back in the days he was the Head of the Ministry of Magic's Department of Magical Law Enforcement, and the Aurors of the entire wizarding community were all part of the department under him. Then after the man succeeded in overrunning the Ministry of Magic, Crouch Sr. was captured, and he did not grovel and surrender like the other Ministry officials, even though his only son was in a high position among the Death Eaters."

"I heard that man at the time simply wanted to keep him in prison for the rest of his life, but Crouch Sr's son, this now-awarded Barty Crouch, actually offered to execute his own father. In the end, that man agreed, and the man who executed him as the executioner was his own son."

Both Lavender and Justin, who were nearby listening to the story he was telling, all had their mouths dropped open and Ron looked at the youth's fake smile in the newspaper with disgust.

"My mum and dad have always told me that this guy isn't human!"

"Killing your dad with your own hands, that's horrible," Lavender said with a pale face.

Because of the impressions from the original story, Jon wasn't too surprised by what Barty Crouch Jr. had done in this world; after all, even in the original story he had killed his father with his own hands, it was just that the time had moved earlier, and the nature of it was much worse now.

Jon put this newspaper down, Mr Weasley had sent Ron plenty of old newspapers, and he had a keen interest in these things that gave him information about the current wizarding world.

He flipped through a few more in quick succession, and apart from information about the changes in the Ministry of Magic and some of the gossip, they were all articles praising Voldemort's virtues, and all of them spared no expense in praising him, and just as Neville had said before, "The Great Sir" had apparently become the official name for him in the wizarding world. Just reading these articles sent a chill down Jon's spine and raised goose bumps on his arms.

Finally, he came across a newspaper dated September 12th which featured an article about this Hogwarts school under Dumbledore's command.

It reported that in the middle of a routine patrol, Aurors had inadvertently discovered the whereabouts of the wizarding community's most wanted dark wizard, Albus Dumbledore, and the terrorist group under his command. The Aurors on the scene proceeded to take matters into their own hands without waiting for reinforcements from the Ministry, resulting in a failed operation and the loss of information about the movements of this group of criminals.

In response, the Great Sir, who normally rarely interferes with the inner workings of the Ministry of Magic, made his displeasure clear to the Head of Auror Office - Lucius Malfoy - and Lucius sent the Aurors who had survived Dumbledore's men straight to Azkaban for dereliction of duty as a result.

This article was not on the front page of the newspaper that day, it was in a corner and there were no pictures on it, so it appeared as if the Daily Prophet was not taking this matter very seriously.

Jon, however, sensed something wrong with it.

He couldn't quite put his finger on what it was, he just felt that Voldemort didn't seem to take Dumbledore and this Hogwarts very seriously.

Or else with his character would he simply express his displeasure towards Lucius?

But Jon knew too little about the Voldemort of this dimension now, and he knew that if Voldemort remained unchanged from the original story, there was no way he would have forced Dumbledore and Hogwarts to such an extent.

So he didn't take his own mental image of the 'great sir' and speculate on it.

Jon shook his head, and just as he was about to put the newspaper away, the headline of another article on the back of the newspaper caught his attention.

[ Nicolas Flamel's First Death Anniversary, Philosopher's stone still Missing]

He frowned as he read the article in full, and finally, he looked up at Neville, who was already showing signs of being a "know-it-all".

"Nicolas Flamel died of old age?"

Neville nodded as he too glanced at the article.

"Yes, the alchemist who lived for many centuries ultimately died of old age, along with his wife. He went to the Ministry of Magic three months before he died to report the theft of his Philosopher's stone in England; he is a French wizard, but also used to live over in Devonshire from time to time, and it was at that time that the stone was lost."

"It was rumoured that when he went to report the theft, that man had a private meeting with him, and it was unknown exactly what they had discussed, but after that, the Ministry of Magic's Aurors did all they could to help him track down the Philosopher's stone, but there were no clues until the last of Nicolas Flamel's Elixir of Life was used up and both he and his wife eventually passed away in Devon. "

Ron said as he interjected into their conversation.

"George and Fred were talking about it at home last year, they both suspected that it was actually the Ministry of Magic who had stolen Nicolas Flamel's stone; they were supposed to be the ones who stole it, so he went there to report it just to get his stone back, but it turned out as you saw."

Jon listened to them both and then looked thoughtfully back at the article in the newspaper.

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