"Why is it like this…"
In the underground level of Durmstrang, the three champions had long since finished their discussion after reaching an agreement, deciding to cooperate, and settling on a plan of action. Fleur and Krum had already returned to their own rooms, and Avada no longer had any need to hide his emotions.
He sprawled across the bed, staring blankly at the ceiling, feeling completely dazed.
"There are no records on Karkaroff at all in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement archives… doesn't that mean he was never arrested or tried from the very beginning??"
"Then was he even a Death Eater or not? And how exactly did he come into contact with Crouch? It can't be that he was happily serving as a Death Eater and then suddenly grew a conscience, proactively sought out Crouch, and ratted out all his accomplices, can it??"
"Or is it that… his contact with Crouch back then didn't go through standard procedure at all? Was Crouch's act of letting Karkaroff go itself illegal?"
He suddenly blinked, having thought of a possibility that was at least somewhat plausible, but then immediately rejected it.
"But that still makes no sense, does it? Back then, Crouch was still the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Every Death Eater he caught counted as one of his achievements, and someone like Karkaroff, who knew the identities of so many infiltrators, must have held quite a high rank. That should have counted as a major accomplishment… so how could he possibly have secretly altered the files just for a list of Death Eater names?"
"Karkaroff wasn't even put on trial a single time… at the very least, give him an acquittal or something!"
He scratched his head hard and began rolling around on the bed irritably.
"If we go by normal logic, then after catching Karkaroff, shouldn't they have just stuffed him with Veritaserum or hit him with the Cruciatus Curse, forced all the information out of his stomach, and then tossed him straight into Azkaban for life? Even if Karkaroff had behaved well and willingly cooperated, at most that would only count as making up for his crimes and shaving a few years off his sentence…"
"Calm down, calm down. Think carefully."
He abruptly threw off the blanket and stood up, went into the washroom and splashed his face with cold water, then started pacing around the room without even bothering to dry it.
"First, think about what can be confirmed at present. Start with Karkaroff's personal history."
"He was originally a high-ranking Death Eater, the kind who knew the identities of many infiltrators. Then after Voldemort fell, he fled, and it still took Mad-Eye Moody a full six months of pursuit before he was finally caught… which means his strength and intelligence must both have been top-tier. In a one-on-one, he was probably no worse than a legendary Auror like Moody. No wonder he could become the headmaster of Durmstrang and stand on equal footing with Dumbledore…"
"No, that's going too far off track… Next: he reached an agreement with Barty Crouch, provided a list of other infiltrated Death Eaters in exchange for escaping punishment, and in the end even had his files erased. That part is an established fact—but it's also the most unreasonable part."
"Why wasn't he interrogated after being captured, but instead had the qualification to negotiate? Why were the names he gave enough to clear him completely, rather than merely reduce his sentence? Why didn't he even have to go through a trial—and why was there even someone inside the Ministry, presumably Crouch, actively helping him erase all the records?"
"In fact, if Crouch had been ruthless enough, he could have simply taken the intelligence and then gone back on his word, tossing Karkaroff straight into Azkaban anyway. It's not like Karkaroff would have had any means of retaliation!"
"…"
He suddenly froze.
"…A means of retaliation?"
"Yes… back then, Karkaroff must have had some sort of leverage over the Ministry. Otherwise, there's no way he could have achieved that level of complete exoneration!"
"But what could it have been… an Unbreakable Vow, for example? He could have forced Crouch to swear one, guaranteeing he would honor their agreement, otherwise he would never hand over the Death Eater names… but that still wouldn't explain the issue of torture and Veritaserum."
"Although for a powerful wizard like Karkaroff, Veritaserum and Legilimency might very well have been ineffective, that still wouldn't save him from torture by Cruciatus. Aurors at that time had the authority to use the Unforgivable Curses. Once he fell into their hands, they would always have some way to force out whatever information was in his head—unless he simply didn't know that information anymore…"
"Oh, right!"
Avada suddenly slapped his hand hard against the table, feeling that washing his face earlier had not been in vain at all. Not only was his mind clearer now, even his face had gone paler, making it easier for him to find the correct line of thought.
"Karkaroff was on the run for a full six months. During that time, he could absolutely have extracted those memories and hidden them somewhere no one could possibly find! Didn't Slughorn use a similar method back then?"
"And he could also have set a few spells on the hiding place so that if anyone other than himself tried to access it, the memories would immediately be destroyed. That way, he wouldn't need to worry about the Aurors torturing the location of the memory cache out of him and going to retrieve it themselves!"
"So the truth is…"
He pulled out a chair and sat down with a thump, took out paper and pen, and rapidly listed out all the clues from before. Then he carefully sorted through the relationships between each of them. At last, looking at the perfectly seamless chain of logic he had built, he revealed a satisfied smile.
"Karkaroff anticipated that he might eventually be captured, so he extracted the crucial Death Eater intelligence from his mind and hid it away somewhere. Then, during the Aurors' interrogation that followed, he was able to use those memories as leverage to negotiate with Barty Crouch, and even force him into making a magical contract with him—most likely an Unbreakable Vow."
"But at the time Karkaroff had already been hunted for six months, so secretly letting him go was absolutely illegal. Yet Karkaroff insisted on that condition, and the information in his head was too important… so after reaching an understanding with Moody, Crouch had no choice but to abuse his authority and privately destroy all of Karkaroff's records. That was how Karkaroff managed to walk away completely untouched, without ever facing trial!"
"That way, Karkaroff not only avoided the immediate risk, but also cut off any possibility of being held accountable afterward—because Crouch himself had also violated the rules, so even without the constraint of an oath, he would do everything in his power to keep the matter from ever leaking out!"
"And this line of reasoning would also be very easy to verify with evidence—if I can find matching contract marks on both Crouch and Karkaroff, then there's a ninety-nine percent chance this is true!"
"And Ludo Bagman's death… could it have something to do with this as well?!"
The moment that thought clicked into place, Avada felt as though his heart had skipped a beat.
"Yes! He had a very close relationship with Augustus Rookwood, the Death Eater exposed by Karkaroff… which means he very likely had suspicions about the inside story of this matter. And this year, since they were working together as colleagues, their relationship would have become even closer. On top of that, if Bagman wanted to tamper with the Tournament, he would naturally need to keep a close eye on the other judges…"
"Tomorrow… tomorrow I have to find proof!"
(End of Chapter)