Chapter 199: Sectumsempra

When Harry met Barty Crouch Jr., he was sitting in his office, wearing a pair of large square-framed glasses, flipping through his lesson plans.

"Oh, Harry," he said, folding his glasses and putting them into his pocket. "I have always wanted to talk to you, but I never knew how to bring it up. Since you're here, good, then we can talk."

"You tell me first why you came to find me; do you need any help?" Barty stood up, walked around the desk, and came to Harry.

"I don't know if this is appropriate, but I do indeed need some help," Harry said hesitantly.

"So, you discovered the matter of the dragons, is that it?" Barty's chin lifted slightly.

"I shouldn't have known," Harry said with some guilt.

"It doesn't matter; cheating has always been a traditional part of the Triwizard Tournament," Barty walked to a small sofa on the side. "Come, let's sit down and talk."

"Indeed, you should have some understanding of the parts within this..." Harry recalled the conversation between Barty Sr. and Leslie; the Ministry of Magic had bought off Fleur and Krum from the very beginning.

"Then, Harry, have you thought about how to deal with those dragons?" Barty asked.

"Cedric and I both fly well, at least enough to pass them," Harry said dryly. "But we lack effective means of attack, making it difficult to achieve results."

"Very good, you used the word 'them'," Barty commented. "It seems you never intended to pass just one dragon from the start."

Harry blinked; he suddenly realized that there might be a lone dragon, and he might not necessarily need to defeat it—but of course, he hadn't intended to do that anyway; that would seem too childish.

"Of course, I cannot help you openly, but I can provide you with a little general advice," Barty adjusted his sitting posture. He crossed his hands on his lap and said in a light tone, "Everyone knows that spells are difficult to work on dragons; their magical resistance is very high, but physically speaking, the strength of a dragon's skin is actually quite average, right?"

"It seems so." Ron later followed Hermione's advice and collected some information for Harry, which mentioned that although the toughness of dragon skin is far beyond ordinary fur, it is, after all, just animal fiber and can still be pierced by a sharp sword.

"If you need a spell that causes physical damage, I would generally recommend Diffindo," Barty said softly. "But you will feel it is not enough; you will need a more powerful spell, right?"

"That's right." The Blasting Curse also flashed through Harry's mind, but judging from Barty's tone, it seemed he had another answer in his heart.

"Even if it is Dark Magic?"

"Er," Harry hesitated, but he quickly reacted; if Barty thought it was not suitable to teach him, he wouldn't have brought it up. "I hope its side effects are not great."

"Strictly speaking, it doesn't have any side effects; it is a very genius spell, it's just that the user was a Death Eater, so we defined it as Dark Magic," Barty pursed his lips. "The only problem is that its effect is very powerful and seems to be irreversible."

Harry didn't speak, just watched him silently.

"Sectumsempra; it can cut anything in half silently and cannot be reversed by magic. Many Aurors have left unremovable scars because of this spell," Barty continued. "The Ministry of Magic easily cracked and learned it, but we still don't know what its counter-curse is."

"The wounds caused by Sectumsempra cannot be healed by any healing spells or medicines like Dittany. You will keep bleeding until the platelets start to play a role, or you die," Barty added.

"In other words, it causes 'purely scientific' damage, containing no magical components?" Only then did Harry understand what the antonym of "magic" was in this context.

"It seems you have also heard of this theory," Barty nodded. "That's right, in principle, it almost eliminates the magical part, which makes the victim like a Muggle when facing the injury."

"This sounds," Harry deliberated, "like it is indeed a very effective spell against dragons."

"Yes, but I want to remind you, you must never use this spell on wizards," Barty said. "For our own people, it is too vicious, but for Death Eaters, some of them have mastered the counter-curse, so this spell is not that useful."

Harry nodded gently; Barty had guessed what he was thinking in an instant: he wanted to use this move to deal with Voldemort.

"So, that is all I have to say regarding the topic of dragons." Barty wrote a line on a piece of paper and handed it to Harry; it looked like the incantation for Sectumsempra.

"Then, are we going to talk about," Harry put away the note, then said somewhat nervously, "the matter of the Chrono-Momentum?"

"Yes, Ollivander told me about this matter; it is very difficult to make a decision, and I cannot bring myself to say it," Barty touched his chin with a difficult expression. "Some people think we should ignore this point and let you deal with Voldemort according to the original plan; some think we should look for other ways, and others feel we should hand the power of decision to you."

"What is your opinion?" Harry didn't mention the Stasis Charm.

"The Department of Mysteries reorganized the original Unspeakables twelve years ago and started the Doctor Project," Barty spoke of a completely unrelated matter, but Harry didn't interrupt him. "Originally, their task was only to study the magic of time and fate, just like what Master Xuanjun has been doing, but some things happened, and the Dark Lord returned."

"My father overcame all opposition and decided to stand up and resist the Dark Lord; this was a very... risky decision, but we all agreed in the end. This is because his way of ruling was too brutal and was by no means a good thing for the Wizarding World," Barty seemed to be struggling. "On that very day, the Doctors reached a consensus: never cowardly, never cruel, never give in, never give up. This was once hung on the console of the TARDIS; we must do this; this is where the meaning of 'Doctor' lies."

"So, Ollivander told me the truth," Harry agreed softly.

"Yes, that's right, even if you look determined now," Barty stood up abruptly. "We cannot sit idly by and watch you do that; we will find other ways to defeat Voldemort without harming any innocent life."

"Give me the Chrono-Momentum," he said in an unquestionable tone. "Firstly, to prevent you from doing something stupid, and secondly, I want to see if I can fix it."

"No, I have a new idea," Harry refused him. "If the problem with the Chrono-Momentum is overcharging, then that's perfect; I know a spell with high magical consumption that can also achieve our plan, and perhaps it might just happen to consume the extra energy of the Chrono-Momentum."

"You underestimate the energy level of time and fate, Harry," Barty sighed gently. "We have dozens of ways to solve the problem of magical consumption, but the Chrono-Momentum is definitely the most dangerous one among them."

"That's fine too," Harry calmly took out his wand. "If you have a way to help me solve the problem of magical consumption, of course I don't have to use the Chrono-Momentum. But the consumption of that spell is really high; an adult wizard's entire magic can only seal him for three days, maybe even less."

"Sealing?" Barty was somewhat puzzled. "And, such high consumption, it sounds like Soviet technology; is the source of the spell really reliable?"

Harry was stunned for a moment, but he immediately thought that since that painting was sent back by Neville using the Hyper-Ascension, there shouldn't be any conspiracy in it. As for whose technology it was, it actually didn't matter; Neville could also go and learn Soviet spells; he would do so; he was very studious in the matter of resisting Voldemort.

"I don't think there's a problem," Harry said.

"In that case, perhaps we really can use the Chrono-Momentum," Barty handed the wand back. "Converting the time potential energy of three days of overcharging into magic might be enough to banish him to the end of time."

"Good," Harry's tone suddenly became relaxed. "I didn't expect to be able to solve two things that have been weighing on my mind in one day."

"Don't be happy too soon; we still need to perform some calculations," Barty's face also revealed an undisguisable smile. "We must ensure there is no problem with your spell; of course, we also need to keep a backup plan."

Ten minutes later, when Harry walked out of Barty's office, another matter suddenly climbed into his heart. It was said that Barty was once a Death Eater and died not long after entering prison; this was what Neville told him.

But Barty himself, he didn't look like a Death Eater at all. Harry could see from his eyes that he genuinely liked the title "Doctor" and was firmly determined to continue practicing the so-called "meaning of the Doctor." This didn't look like something a reformed Death Eater would do, or perhaps he had never been a Death Eater.

An intuition told Harry that he couldn't trust Barty and Neville at the same time. But Harry felt this thought was somewhat absurd; if he admitted that the Stasis Charm was reliable and that the Doctor was providing him with help, this would fill the last piece of the plan. Now, if he doubted either of them, it was not what Harry hoped to think.

Finally, before he walked back to the train, Harry's reason overcame this unusual intuition, and he thought of an explanation.

Barty Sr. must have been firmly determined to resist Voldemort all along, and for this, he didn't hesitate to send his son to go undercover. And after Voldemort's first downfall, Barty Jr. was about to be liquidated, but Barty Sr. knew that Voldemort would return sooner or later, so he decided to let Barty Jr. fake his death to escape, and then establish the Doctor Project to continue resisting Voldemort. The cleverness of this plan lay in the fact that everyone was called Doctor, which helped Barty Jr. cover his true identity very well; the outside world only knew he was the Tenth Doctor and would not know he was actually Barty Sr.'s son.

Thinking this way, Harry smoothed out all the information, and he couldn't help but feel awe for Barty Sr. Although he was not as powerful as Dumbledore, he also used his own way to rack his brains to maintain justice; this was definitely a person worthy of admiration. ===== CHAPTER 200 =====