With extraordinary comprehension, I built a floating city at Hogwarts.

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Dumbledore didn't give up. He looked deeply at Fudge and said, "Fudge, I know what you're worried about. But we must face the truth, not run away from it. Only in this way can we better protect the wizarding world."

However, their conversation was interrupted by Jaina.

Compared to Fouché, this deputy director of the Legal Enforcement Division is much more decisive.

“Now, I ask the jury to vote,” Jaina Proudmoore’s voice echoed in the silent dungeon, “those who believe these crimes should be punished with the Dementor’s Kiss, please raise your hands!”

After saying that, Ms. Proudmore herself resolutely raised her hand.

On the right side of the dungeon, the wizards, as if they had been rehearsed beforehand, all raised their hands in unison.

The surrounding audience immediately erupted in enthusiastic applause. Their faces were filled with the cruel expression of victory. Their relatives and friends had been hurt to varying degrees in the final a few days ago, and at this moment, they longed to see justice served.

Seeing this, Dumbledore could only sigh and stop arguing with Fudge.

"You unfilial son!" Crouch suddenly roared as the two Dementors walked toward Crouch, who was tied to a chair in the middle.

His eyes widened as if they were about to pop out of their sockets: "I told you long ago, stay home and relax!"

Crouch Jr., who had been expressionless in the dock as if the Dementor's kiss was nothing more than a breakfast to him, clenched his fists and a glint of madness flashed in his eyes after hearing his father's words.

“How could I possibly stay at home?” he screamed hysterically. “He, my master, is far greater than you! He and I have so much in common. We both have very disappointing fathers… utterly disappointing. We both shamefully inherited our fathers’ names. To ensure the rise of the Dark Lord’s power, I would sacrifice anything, even your life!”

“You’re insane!” Crouch roared. “You’re absolutely insane!”

"Am I insane?" Crouch Jr. raised his voice uncontrollably, his words echoing through the dungeon. "We'll see! We'll see who's insane. The Dark Lord is back, and none of you are getting away!"

The Dementors had reached Crouch Jr., and they untied their veils, revealing large holes beneath. The opening seemed like a bottomless abyss, radiating an aura of death.

The Dementor leaned down and approached Crouch Jr., and white matter floated out of Crouch Jr.'s body, turning into a stream of air that was sucked into the Dementor's mouth.

Dumbledore turned his head away reluctantly—he had always opposed such cruel punishments as the kiss of the Dementors.

"Mr. Crouch, was the idea you and your wife plotted to replace him with your own plan decided before you tried him?"

Tonks, who had been silent all along, suddenly asked Crouch, "If you didn't care about him, why did you agree to let him go to the World Cup to keep watch? And then he ended up running away?"

Crouch's back stiffened slightly, but he didn't turn around; his attention was entirely focused on little Crouch.

Crouch Jr.'s hands were clenched tightly, whether out of anger or resentment.

But whether it was because his soul had been completely absorbed, or because he heard Tonks' words at the last moment, the hand quietly loosened its grip.

“Now it’s your turn, Mr. Barty Crouch.” Fudge turned his head toward Crouch.

The trial of Mr. Barty Crouch proceeded with exceptionally smooth progress, and he did not protest any of the charges read out by the judge, such as aiding Crouch Jr. in his escape.

His silence seemed to tacitly acknowledge all the accusations.

An unexpected event occurred while all the judges were raising their hands to vote.

Jaina was the one who put Crouch on trial, but when it came to the vote on Crouch's alleged collusion with dark wizards, she actually voted against it.

Seeing this, officials from her faction also raised their hands to vote, just as she had suggested.

Fudge glanced at Gianna Proudmore with surprise.

He didn't understand why Jaina had shown mercy at this moment, and hadn't completely defeated Crouch, reducing him to eighteen.

"

狱。

“He’s a good father, isn’t he?” Gianna Proudmoore rarely showed such a sentimental expression.

As a female politician, she only reveals her vulnerable side under such circumstances.

Fudge didn't care about that anymore; on the contrary, he was happy to see that Gianna Proudmoore had such a soft heart.

Whether as a political enemy or a colleague, he believed that it was better for Gianna to be weak than cold-blooded.

Chapter 447 Using a Mixed Kind of Kings and Hegemons

In fact, Jaina's opinion was not the only one in dealing with Crouch's affairs.

Before the trial began, Jaina had already discussed with Levin how to deal with old Crouch.

It was in Levin's tower, where Jaina, Levin, Onyxia, Ciri, Penelope, and a group of others were discussing the follow-up treatment and trial. Hermione, who was also interested, came to listen in.

Jaina, somewhat embarrassed, told Levin that she wanted to let old Crouch off the hook.

Everyone else was surprised and couldn't understand why she would think that way.

Only Levin agreed, saying, "This proposal is bold, but also very rational. I agree with you, Jaina. You truly deserve to be the Deputy Director of the Department of Law Enforcement."

“Thank you.” Jaina smiled slightly and explained her reasoning: “I just feel that he has lost the ability to threaten us. Breaking the rules to save his son who was sentenced to death is a huge blow to his reputation.”

She paused and continued:

"Moreover, he rose to power by fighting Voldemort. Now that Crouch Jr. has sided with Voldemort again and caused serious unrest, this has overturned his base. It can be said that even if he doesn't step into the courtroom, he is already politically dead. We don't need to go after him anymore."

Levin nodded in agreement: "That's right, and there are other benefits to letting him go."

He analyzed, "An ancient Chinese emperor once said that a qualified leader must 'use a variety of kings and tyrants.' The so-called 'using a variety of kings and tyrants' means being both warm and ruthless. Your ruthless side has been shown enough through the Great Purge and the treatment of Crouch Jr. Now it's time to show our tolerance and humanity, and letting Crouch Sr. go is the most direct way to demonstrate this."

He then concluded:

"After all, even the most loyal subordinates would prefer a leader who is humane."

Oh, is there another meaning to that?

Jaina was a little confused. She looked at Levin, not expecting him to say such a thing.

But Tonks, Cerella, and Penelope all nodded in agreement.

Indeed, if it weren't for Levin's special relationship with Jaina, they, as her subordinates, would certainly be happy to have such a boss.

But Levin's analysis is not over yet:

"In fact, this purge has offended many people by dismissing and sentencing so many people. If it weren't for the urgency of the situation, I wouldn't have agreed to use such a crude and simplistic approach."

He sighed,

“In fact, I suspect we’ve created an atmosphere of fear throughout the Ministry of Magic, with everyone terrified of being the next to be purged. In this situation, continuing to be tough will only make us a target of public criticism. Letting old Crouch go might ease the tension.”

He pointed out seriously: "Treating old Crouch leniently can actually be seen as us showing a conciliatory political stance, telling everyone not to be nervous, that we have decided to 'stop here'. We can even use this to gain the trust of those neutral parties, making them believe that our 'Great Purge' is truly aimed at cleaning up the internal discipline of the Ministry of Magic, rather than eliminating dissidents."

"Would anyone really believe this?"

Both Jaina and the others had some concerns.

Only Onyxia seemed to be deep in thought.

“Of course it will.” Levin said matter-of-factly, “Think about it carefully and you’ll see. As everyone knows, old Crouch is Jaina’s biggest political enemy. If Jaina wasn’t so selfless, why would she have dealt with so many people but let her biggest enemy go?”

“That’s because I felt sorry for him,” Jaina whispered.

“That’s because she doesn’t have enough evidence!” Levin shouted.

"To let even political enemies go when there is insufficient evidence—doesn't that prove Ms. Jaina's dedication to the public good?" Levin said in a flattering tone.

Jaina's neck had turned red.

Levin continued his reasoning: "Following this logic, even old Crouch was let off the hook because there was really insufficient evidence. Conversely, those who weren't let off the hook, those who were dismissed, and those who were sent to Azkaban, were completely deserving of their fate."

"I can't believe you can think like that." Jaina's mouth dropped open.

"So... this time we're really eliminating corrupt elements and dark wizards, not eliminating dissidents?" Cirira seemed to be convinced by Levin.

“Of course!” Levin said, sounding quite certain.

“But if that’s the case, we don’t need to be…so…rough?” Hermione pointed out seriously.

“Well, there’s nothing we can do about it,” Levin said with a wave of his hand, his tone helpless. “We can only say that our overall intentions were good, but we were a bit rough in our execution. But that’s what we could do, wasn’t it? After all, the situation was urgent, with so many Death Eaters suddenly invading Hogwarts.”

“But those positions…” Penelope raised her hand to ask, “most of those vacant positions have been occupied by officials from our faction, haven’t they? If it’s all about public service, this result doesn’t seem quite right.”

"Then you're still too young." Levin sighed with an air of maturity. "Please, in that kind of emergency, even a politically reliable veteran like old Crouch was found to be involved in collusion with Death Eaters. How are we supposed to know who we can trust? What if we elect someone who is another Death Eater lackey?"

“So, just in case, we can only promote people we trust, right?” Onyxia continued.

“That’s right, she’s a quick learner.” Levin patted the mother black dragon on the shoulder with satisfaction. “So, this is definitely not Lady Jaina showing favoritism.”

After hearing Levin's reasons, Jaina was greatly surprised: "Wow, there are so many twists and turns in this?"

She looked at Levin as if he were a monster: "I really don't understand how you, at such a young age, can think things through more thoroughly than I, an old civil servant."

Levin asked in surprise, "What, isn't that what you think?"

“Of course… that’s not what I think.” Jaina said somewhat awkwardly. “I just feel that… since old Crouch is powerless to resist anyway, I see my father in him.”

“Mr. Dale Proudmoore?” Levin mentioned the name.

“It was him,” Jaina closed her eyes nostalgically, and after a moment said, “There was a time when Daelin treated my brother the same way, seemingly strict, but secretly caring for him… It’s a pity that my brother was clearly a good person, but he wasn’t as lucky as Crouch, and died in the war against the orcs.”

She paused, then said finally.

"I'm only thinking of letting him off the hook because she's a good father."

“Okay… alright.” What else could Levin say? “Well, you’ve got… a real talent for politics.”

In fact, as a princess of Kul Tiras and having worked in the Ministry of Magic for over a decade, Jaina's political skills were already quite impressive; otherwise, she wouldn't have been able to rise to the position of the powerful Deputy Director of the Department of Law Enforcement.

However, when facing Levin, a former political commentator who is well-versed in five thousand years of history, she is still slightly inferior.

Levin shook his head and looked at everyone present: "Pretend you didn't hear what Jaina just said, and do everything my way. By the way, political gestures alone are not enough; we must have targeted propaganda."

He looked at Onyxia: "You will be in charge of this matter. Not only will you use the media to publicize Jaina's selflessness and that the Great Purge was a last resort, but you will also spread the word in the Ministry of Magic. Follow what I just said and make sure everyone understands Jaina's predicament."

"No problem, watch me, Master."

Jaina readily agreed, looking eager to try it out.

She felt that this little master was becoming more and more to her liking.

· ········Requesting flowers···· ·········

So after everything was agreed upon, Jaina adopted this posture in the trial hall.

If you're going to put on a political show, then you have to see it through to the end.

When Mr. Crouch was taken away by the Dementors, his back looked so lonely and helpless.

But in this difficult time, Tonks reached out to him. She carefully untied the chains binding him to the chair, every action filled with respect and care.