Unlike William's excitement, Carson pondered, staring at the records in his hand, after Weilan finished recounting the entire incident.
"So, Bader's Death is still a mystery," he said, flipping through the parchment sheets.
"We've already checked the boy's background on our side. He is indeed the child Barty adopted in Spinner's End, not a legitimate bloodline of the Crouch family."
"In that case, he doesn't meet the victim criteria for the serial murder case at all."
Weilan felt that his encounter in the Forbidden Forest was enough for him to piece together the entire scope of the serial murder case:
"Mr. Carson, may I share my thoughts on this pure-blood Wizard serial murder case?"
"Please."
William consciously pulled out a fresh sheet of parchment and picked up his quill.
"First, let's consolidate all the information and timelines we have."
Weilan pressed two fingers to his temples, slowly rubbing them:
"Last year or the year before, Olena had already started working within the Ministry of Magic, constantly inserting her own people. Possible methods include — bribery, seduction, and blackmail."
"She had the ability to control Dementors from the very beginning. It's highly likely that at this time, she had already gained influence over Azkaban."
"Barty also replaced his father around this time, becoming the high-ranking Ministry of Magic official, Mr. Crouch."
"Then, at the beginning of this year, she started spreading magic powder among Wizards. Because this magic powder can strengthen a Wizard's power to some extent, it was highly sought after by many Dark Wizards."
"She likely earned a large amount of funds for subsequent operations this way, to bribe more officials and purchase more magic materials."
"At the same time, living creatures that consume magic powder and die will automatically transform into Inferi. They only need one command from Olena to rise from the ground and become her aid."
"This can help strengthen Olena's power — she relies heavily on these additional aids."
"As I said, Olena's close-quarters combat ability is very weak; even a 14-year-old student like me could get behind her and take her down."
"The Ministry of Magic's initial attitude towards magic powder was very resistant. However, as the moles Olena planted began to exert their influence, bans related to magic powder faced heavy obstacles."
"Around this summer, there was already news within the Ministry of Magic that the Triwizard Tournament would be held at Hogwarts."
"Olena, who had infiltrated the Ministry of Magic, immediately received this news. She wanted to use this competition to extend her dark hand from the Ministry of Magic to Hogwarts."
"She must have another purpose for wanting to get involved with Hogwarts. I don't think a Daphne is worth her spending so much effort to set up a scheme at Hogwarts."
"The Greengrass family doesn't only have her."
"But what we can be sure of is that in order to control Hogwarts, Olena began her scheme, intending to let magic powder flow into Hogwarts."
"Barty was the most suitable pawn. He served as the Head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation, and with the Triwizard Tournament about to kick off at Hogwarts, he had ample reason to enter and exit Hogwarts."
"Leading up to the Quidditch World Cup final, she orchestrated Rowan's Death to send Malfoy to Azkaban."
"I don't believe Mr. Malfoy has met the same fate as other pure-blood nobles, with his body dismembered. If that were Olena's intention, she could have simply found an opportunity to kill him."
"Mr. Malfoy is very likely still alive, but how he is living is unknown."
"Little Malfoy... I can't say for sure about him yet, so let's skip."
"After that was the incident of the Hogwarts House-elves being poisoned. The true culprit, Oni, never mentioned that he had contact with Olena or any woman suspected of being Olena."
"However, the House-elves died too coincidentally, and based on Oni's description at the time, it's not impossible that he was secretly manipulated."
"In short, Oni became the bridge, the bridge that delivered magic powder to Hogwarts."
"Olena precisely set a time on the magic powder, causing it to suddenly erupt with a fatal allure in the kitchen, enticing the House-elves to eat the magic powder and become Inferi."
"These House-elves had nowhere to go and could only be buried in the Hogwarts Forbidden Forest, becoming one of Olena's sources of power."
"At the same time, Olena, thousands of miles away, was carrying out another part of her plan—sacrificing pure-blood Wizards to gain power from an entity we have yet to identify."
"Within Britain, the first case of the serial murder occurred."
"Then came the second, the third, the fourth — until the fifth."
Weilan slowly opened his eyes and asked Carson and William, who were sitting in front of him:
"Don't you think that the fifth case of the serial murder, before Bader's Death, was different from the previous four?"
William held his quill, blinking somewhat blankly. Carson, however, stroked his chin and thoughtfully offered an answer:
"The fifth murder case involved the victim's personal maid, who, after consuming too much magic powder, hallucinated and accidentally killed her master."
"The previous four murder cases were all related to the mistresses the victims had previously kept."
"Exactly!" Weilan clapped his hands, confirming him, "That's right! Olena disguised herself as the victim's mistress and killed the first four people."
"As for the fifth person, the reason Olena manipulated the maid to kill him was because, at the time of the incident, she had already arrived near Hogwarts!"
"Do you remember when the Triwizard Tournament champions were selected? Wasn't it very close to the time the fifth murder occurred?"
"In order to get Daphne to be Hogwarts' champion, Olena arrived near Hogwarts almost a month in advance, disguised as an ordinary Witch, selling star bottles."
"She used the opportunity of selling star bottles to pull a switch, making Angelina throw Daphne's name into the Goblet of Fire."
"Afterward, those Ministry of Magic pawns helped Olena quell the public outcry regarding the serial murder case. And no new victims appeared in the serial murder case."
"The reason is simple: Olena had fully focused her attention on Hogwarts."
"It was also at this point that she entered the Forbidden Forest and used magic to build her underground stronghold."
"The House-elf Inferi were summoned from their graves by her. She also summoned Dementors to aid her."
"All these variables occurred with Bader's Death."
Weilan clenched his fist, his gaze involuntarily sharpening:
"If Bader hadn't died, we wouldn't have accepted Mrs. Crouch's commission to track Mr. Crouch."
"If we hadn't tracked Mr. Crouch, we wouldn't have discovered him entering the Forbidden Forest."
"If we hadn't entered the Forbidden Forest, we wouldn't have discovered Olena's outpost in the Forbidden Forest."
Weilan spoke slowly and clearly, word by word:
"Olena is a smart person, or rather, there is a smart person behind her."
"Our original line of thinking was wrong. Bader's Death has no relation to that serial murder case."
"Bader's Death was a copycat murder. The killer was deliberately imitating the serial murders from a while ago!"
