The reason these twenty wizards had come here was naturally because of the Dark Mark.
After these Ministry-affiliated wizards arrived, all they saw were Harry and the other two in a fluster, so they immediately took them to be the ones who had cast the Dark Mark and, without asking questions, greeted them with Stunning Spells.
Forget three underage wizards—even if Dumbledore had been standing here, if he took twenty Stunning Spells head-on, Dumbledore would have to say goodbye to this world too.
No one knew what was in these people's heads. They hadn't figured out the situation at all, didn't even know who was standing opposite them, and they opened with twenty Stunning Spells right away. What, did your family buy Stunning Spells wholesale or something?
When facing that marching mob just now, how come none of you seemed this capable?
And now you've suddenly grown some backbone—waving guns at mice, acting tough only on your own turf!
Eda had also followed the Dark Mark here and had naturally noticed there were people in the forest.
But Eda did not rashly rush forward. Instead, she focused and observed for a moment.
And that observation was enough—Eda found the silhouettes of those three very familiar.
Wasn't that Harry, Ron, and Hermione?
But in just that brief delay, these twenty brainless wizards had already surrounded Harry and the others and forcefully handed them a wholesale batch of Stunning Spells.
Worried that something might happen to the three of them, Eda immediately flashed in front of them and blocked the barrage of Stunning Spells on their behalf.
Unfortunately, Eda was someone who favored offense, so the magical protective barrier she created was not simply defensive.
Most of those twenty Stunning Spells were reflected right back by the invisible magical barrier.
That was why Harry had seen that half of the twenty wizards were already lying on the ground.
How could they have expected that the spells they fired would make a round trip and come right back?
Unable to dodge in time, they naturally ended up on the ground.
At that moment, another ten streaks of red light came hurtling forward, as if a fierce wind had swept across the clearing.
Eda calmly waved her wand.
This time Harry saw it clearly.
With Eda's movement, an extremely faint light lit up in front of her, and it was this light that blocked every single one of the attacks.
Immediately afterward, Harry saw a ring of flames surround the four of them.
The wizards who had attacked were forced to dodge the Stunning Spells rebounding toward them while also avoiding the flames that had suddenly appeared.
"A bunch of useless fools!" Eda shouted mercilessly. "Take a good look at who you're attacking!"
And Eda could hardly be blamed for being angry.
Good grief—when dealing with three Hogwarts students, they opened with twenty Stunning Spells right away.
Was the Ministry of Magic trying to stage a rebellion or something?
Had the Ministry changed its slogan?
Changed it to: When dealing with Death Eaters, we cower and submit; when dealing with Hogwarts, we strike with full force!
"Stop!" Mr. Weasley's voice came from the distance. "Stop! Those are my children!"
The remaining wizards finally stopped what they were doing, but the flames around Eda still did not disperse.
Mr. Weasley came striding over at a run, and two others were even faster than he was—Sirius and Lupin.
By the time they reached them, the flames automatically parted, opening a path for the three of them to pass through.
Mr. Weasley and Lupin immediately checked on Harry, Ron, and Hermione with worried expressions.
Sirius, however, was not in such a good temper.
He erupted into curses on the spot.
"The Ministry has rotted to this extent? Now you're trying to kill Harry Potter! Come on then, let me see you make another move!"
The wizards had just started to step forward, wanting to check whether the person they had attacked really was Harry Potter, when Sirius's wand had already begun firing spells.
At the same time, Eda's flames also began actively attacking anyone who came close.
"Stand aside."
A cold, emotionless voice spoke.
It was Barty Crouch. He and the other senior Ministry officials had surrounded them.
Crouch wore a sour expression. He seemed completely uninterested in whether the Ministry had just attacked Harry Potter.
Instead, he appeared far angrier that Sirius and Eda were obstructing the Ministry.
"Stop resisting and submit to investigation. That is your only way out," Crouch said sternly.
The others from the Ministry also raised their wands, waiting only for a single order from Crouch before swarming in to arrest these people resisting detention.
"Barty Crouch!" Sirius snarled viciously. "Do you think I scare that easily? Open your damn eyes and look at who that is!"
At that moment, Harry cooperatively stood up as well.
In the light of the flames, the lightning-shaped scar on his forehead was visible to everyone.
The Ministry really had just attacked Harry Potter.
"They were found at the scene of the crime. The Ministry has the right to investigate, no matter who he is," Barty Crouch continued. "Which one of you did it? Who conjured the Dark Mark?"
"We didn't!" Harry said, pointing at the skull above.
Eda had truly never seen anything like this.
She finally no longer wanted to tolerate it.
The flames sensed their master's anger, and the fire leaped higher and higher.
Eda said, "That's Harry—Harry Potter! And you actually suspect him of conjuring the Dark Mark? Why don't you go suspect Cornelius Fudge instead!"
Barty Crouch continued, "Even if the Minister were here, he would still have to submit to questioning. I said it already—no matter who!"
Rigid, stubborn, and utterly stuck in his ways.
Eda swore she had never met anyone this hard-headed and impossible.
So there was really no reasoning with him, was there?
Sirius, standing beside her, suddenly burst into laughter.
Laughing as he spoke, he said, "I think there's only one person here tonight who could conjure the Dark Mark—and that would be Barty Crouch…"
Everyone sucked in a sharp breath and looked toward Sirius and Barty Crouch.
People knew that Mr. Barty Crouch would never do such a thing.
"Barty Crouch Junior!" Sirius continued. "What your son did—I don't need to spell it out for you, do I, Mr. Crouch!"
You don't hit a man in the face, and you don't expose his deepest wounds when insulting him.
Sirius was truly furious.
Old grudges and new were being settled all at once.
Bringing up young Barty here and now, Sirius clearly had no intention of leaving Barty Crouch any dignity.
It was the equivalent of slapping him across the face in public.
"Barty Crouch died in Azkaban," Mr. Crouch said, his face growing even darker. "And I do not have such a son."
Sirius was still laughing.
He even started applauding Crouch.
Sirius said, "In Azkaban, my cell just happened to be fairly close to young Barty Crouch's. Do you know what he said every single day? Every day, over and over again: Daddy, Mommy, I'm scared…"
"Shut up! Stand aside!" Barty Crouch roared angrily, raising the wand in his hand.
The answer he received was Sirius leveling his own wand.
Sirius said, "I escaped Azkaban to protect Harry. I won't let anyone lay a finger on him!"
At this point, both sides had forgotten the real issue.
They had forgotten what they were supposed to be doing.
They simply stood facing off against each other, locked in a stalemate.
At that moment, if even a single spark flew from a wand, it could trigger a full-scale battle between the two sides—
and it would probably be a fight to the death.
Fortunately, there were still calm people present.
A witch from the Ministry, dressed in a dressing gown, said softly, "Barty, they're just children. And that's Harry—Harry Potter. They couldn't possibly…"
Quite a few calmer Ministry officials also chimed in, trying to persuade Barty Crouch.
If Harry Potter really had cast the Dark Mark, then the world truly would be turned upside down.
Mr. Weasley and Lupin were calming the badly frightened Ron and Hermione.
Lupin gently asked, "Hermione, did you see anything, or hear anything?"
"Professor, over there, behind the trees… we heard someone say a spell…" Hermione said in a trembling voice, pointing toward where they had heard the sound earlier.
"Oh, so they were standing over there, were they?" Mr. Crouch said, turning his bulging eyes toward Hermione, his face full of suspicion. "And they spoke a spell, did they? You seem to know quite a lot about how to conjure the Mark, miss…"
"Moving you out of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement was absolutely the right decision. Other than Sirius, who knows how many wrongful cases you handled!" Eda mocked. "So self-righteous!"
First he had placed his suspicions on Harry Potter—
Harry Potter, who had defeated Voldemort.
And now he had placed them on Hermione—
Hermione Granger, a Muggle-born witch.
Was this what Ministry officials were like?
Was this the famed fair and impartial Barty Crouch?
What a disappointment.
"Shut up, little girl!" Barty Crouch shouted. "For attacking Ministry officials, you'll have plenty of time later to account for your crimes!"
Eda was so furious that she laughed instead.
In an icy tone, she said, "Account for it? Fine! I'll give you an account!"
Barty Crouch's reaction here is only slightly exaggerated; it's not deliberate character-bashing.
(～￣▽￣)～Read 12 Chapters ahead:
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