Chapter 232: Investigation

The skull mark rose high, like a terrifying neon sign, illuminating the entire forest.

Shrieks erupted from the surrounding woods, even Madame Maxime looked flustered.

"What's happening?" Fleur looked around at the frightened wizards, puzzled.

As young wizards like them had never experienced Voldemort's reign over the wizarding world, they had no idea what the skull mark represented.

The true name of this skull mark was the Dark Mark, the symbol of Voldemort. 

In that dark era, whenever he or his Death Eaters killed someone, they would leave the Dark Mark above the bodies or houses.

Additionally, the Dark Mark was also branded on the left forearm of every Death Eater who joined their ranks, serving as a distinctive mark.

Whenever Voldemort grew stronger or was nearby, the mark on a Death Eater's arm would burn like fire, becoming clearer and turning red.

By pressing a Death Eater's Dark Mark on their left arm, Voldemort could summon other Death Eaters, who would Apparate immediately and appear by his side to obey his commands. 

Whenever a Death Eater touched their branded Dark Mark, Voldemort could sense the summoning and Apparate to their location.

Just as Alaric was explaining the Dark Mark to Fleur and her sister, they heard a series of popping sounds, and twenty wizards descended from the sky, appearing nearby.

Alaric recognized them as members of the British Ministry of Magic, including some other officials, but leading them was not Scrimgour but Bartemius Crouch Sr.

During Voldemort's brutal reign, he was the Head of the Magical Law Enforcement and also the superior of the Aurors, thus commanding respect among them.

Under Crouch's leadership, the Ministry wizards closed in.

"Who did this?" he demanded sharply, his sharp eyes scanning the crowd. "Who conjured the Dark Mark?"

His words shocked everyone present; they were being treated as suspects.

"Are you suspecting us, Barty?" Madame Maxime retorted sharply. "We are tourists from France; you cannot treat us like this!"

"Oh, Madame Maxime," Crouch nodded at the half-giantess.

"I believe you and the Beauxbatons students have nothing to do with this, but please cooperate. Do not leave arbitrarily. We are certain the one who conjured the Dark Mark is nearby."

Then, Crouch immediately shouted loudly to everyone present, "All wizards must remain in place and await inspection by Ministry wizards. 

Until the inspection is complete, no one is permitted to use Apparition to leave the scene!"

However, a lazy and casual voice interrupted him.

"No need for all this trouble. No magic was used around here when the Dark Mark appeared."

"Who's speaking?" challenged Bartemius Crouch, visibly annoyed. "Who questions the Ministry's decision?"

"It's me!" Alaric stepped forward boldly.

"It's him!"

"The Grim! The one who destroyed the Ministry atrium!"

"I saw it last time; the entire atrium was burnt to a crisp, truly terrifying!"

"We had two or three dozen colleagues ganging up on him, and they were all sent to St. Mungo's!"

Seeing Alaric, the Ministry wizards all paled and began to whisper among themselves.

Several Aurors who had been hospitalized by Alaric involuntarily took a few steps back.

"Who are you?" Bartemius Crouch frowned, staring intently at Alaric.

"How dare you guarantee that no one used magic around here?"

"Me? I'm Alaric, a third-year student at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry," Alaric met his gaze fearlessly and said calmly.

"As for why I can guarantee that? You can ask your colleagues behind you."

The Ministry wizards immediately began to chatter, recounting Alaric's various achievements and exploits to Bartemius Crouch.

"I see," Crouch said after hearing it all, his gaze towards Alaric now filled with awe and wariness. 

He understood that here stood someone who would eventually be on par with Dumbledore or Voldemort. 

On one hand, he genuinely couldn't afford to provoke such a figure; on the other hand, the credibility of a master like Alaric claiming no magic was used nearby was evidently high.

"Since Alaric can make such a judgment, there's no need for us to waste time here."

He nodded friendly at Alaric.

"Let's go!"

With another series of pops, the Ministry wizards Disapparated from the scene.

"Wow! Big brother is so cool!" Seeing the grumpy wizards leave, Gabrielle immediately admired Alaric.

Fleur also looked at Alaric in surprise. "They just left like that? They seemed... afraid of you..."

"Because I'm stronger than them," Alaric explained. "Last year, the Ministry wanted to treat me unfairly, and some of them received a lesson."

"That's... impressive," Fleur looked at Alaric with some admiration in her eyes. "I wouldn't dare do that if it were me."

After chatting for a while, Alaric left the scene and returned home.

As Fleur bid him goodbye, Alaric winked mysteriously at her.

"Believe me, the next time we meet will be sooner than you think."

...

The appearance of the Dark Mark threw the entire British wizarding world into chaos.

Initially, Voldemort had brought considerable darkness to the wizarding world, causing countless wizards to tremble in fear at home. 

Many were persecuted by Voldemort and his Death Eaters, driven mad or killed, and the Ministry of Magic nearly collapsed.

Fortunately, Voldemort's death plunged the dark Death Eater organization back into silence, with many Death Eaters imprisoned in Azkaban and more busy disassociating themselves from Voldemort. 

The wizarding world finally returned to normal.

Now, with the Dark Mark appearing again, though it was just a mark, no one wanted the wizarding world to return to Voldemort's reign.

Additionally, the hundreds of charred bodies left at the campsite posed a great challenge to the Ministry wizards.

They could vaguely identify these dead wizards; they were not innocents. 

Almost all of them had participated in Death Eater marches or supported Death Eaters. However, they hadn't figured out who had caused all these wizards to die at the same time.

All eyewitnesses claimed they died from accidental fires or rituals of self-immolation, but the Ministry wizards obviously did not believe such conclusions.

However, no matter how they investigated, they received the same answers.

The most useful testimony merely mentioned a continuous flash of fire in the sky at that time.

Finally, they had to stop this aimless investigation.

What really happened that night? The truth of the matter became increasingly mysterious and baffling.

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