"Get me out of here!"
Howard drew his wand and was about to Apparate.
But at that moment, the Anti-Apparition jinx that Scrimgeour and his team had prepared was immediately released. Howard—whose body was already half-transformed into light—was affected by the Anti-Apparition jinx and immediately separated from his Apparition state, nearly losing his footing and falling to the ground.
At this time, Howard's four subordinates immediately shielded him, leading Howard away while resisting the Aurors' attacks.
A great battle erupted instantly.
Although there were a few slackers among the Aurors, the vast majority were quite outstanding in ability. Whether in magical capability or combat experience, both the Aurors and masked Aurors in the field demonstrated considerable skill.
Scrimgeour waved his wand, roaring continuously. His brown hair flew wildly like a lion's mane—looking extremely intimidating from a distance. His wand poured out various spells continuously as if they cost nothing, while the masked Auror leader fought while retreating, trying as much as possible to avoid direct confrontation with Scrimgeour.
This wasn't because the masked Auror leader feared Scrimgeour—but rather because if he engaged Scrimgeour head-on, he would inevitably have to go all out and display his signature spells, revealing his combat patterns. In that case, as someone familiar to Scrimgeour, he would definitely be recognised. The key issue was that he wasn't confident he could actually kill Scrimgeour—and if he let him escape, it would definitely be huge trouble.
So the masked Auror leader never intended to confront Scrimgeour directly from the start.
Meanwhile, outside the abandoned shop in Hogsmeade, Sean stood with Marlowe and others, watching the battle inside the distant abandoned shop. He said quietly to Marlowe, "Marlowe, take some people to help Howard—bring him to safety, then control him. The rest will come with me to support those masked Aurors. On the basis of ensuring our own safety, capture those masked Aurors."
Hearing Sean's instructions, Marlowe and the others immediately nodded. Through Marlowe's management and indoctrination, these people were extremely loyal to Sean and had no doubts about his orders.
Having given his orders, Sean focused on observing the situation in the field.
Due to the Anti-Apparition jinx, neither side could use Apparition—which meant they could only rely on their legs to flee or pursue.
Once this Anti-Apparition jinx was cast, wizards within the magical range would all be affected. Even if they moved away from the jinx's range, they would continue to be affected. Depending on the strength of the wizard who cast the spell, this magic would last different lengths of time on different wizards.
Sean and Marlowe's group had hidden in the abandoned shop opposite from the beginning and weren't affected by the Anti-Apparition jinx—this was their advantage. They could Apparate immediately for surprise attacks, catching them off guard.
Sean quietly watched Scrimgeour and the masked Auror leader battling opposite him. They had already rushed out of the abandoned shop one after the other, running toward the forest near Hogsmeade. Strangely enough, several of Sean's covert operations had been related to the forest near Hogsmeade.
Additionally, it must be said that Sean had another plan.
That was to reveal Voldemort's identity in front of Scrimgeour—letting him personally witness Voldemort's reappearance, planting a nail in the Ministry. When Voldemort truly resurrected, whether Fudge denied Voldemort's return for his Minister position or because of the pure-blood families supporting him, Scrimgeour—as Head of the Auror Office and an extremely upright person—would be enough to prevent the Ministry from speaking with one unified voice in denial.
And that time would be the perfect opportunity for Sean to step into the Ministry.
Seeing the battle spreading outward and the time being right, Sean decisively gave the order.
"Take action!"
With Sean's command, Marlowe and the others beside him all transformed into streams of black smoke, falling toward the battlefield. Sean's body was surrounded by black smoke—once again wrapping him and transforming him into Voldemort's appearance—as he shot skyward, falling toward Scrimgeour and the masked Auror leader's direction.
"Surrender! If you continue resisting, I'll have to be impolite!"
Deflecting the Stunning Spell Scrimgeour shot at him, the masked Auror leader fled forward while sneering, "What can you do if you're impolite? Surrender—surrender and wait to be thrown into Azkaban for a fate worse than death?"
"Since you've violated the law, you must accept punishment. As Aurors, your behaviour has disgraced the badge and everything it represents!"
"Disgraced the badge? We risk our lives hunting Dark wizards while Ministry officials grow fat on bribes from pure-blood families—yet our salaries barely cover our children's schoolbooks. So what if we facilitated some potion smuggling? We helped ordinary witches and wizards afford healing draughts and protective charms they couldn't otherwise buy. We served the magical community better than half the corrupt officials in the Ministry!"
"Don't make excuses—you know in your hearts how many dirty things you've done for Howard!"
"We only killed Dark wizards—without them, the magical world is cleaner."
"Really? What about the two rookie Aurors who died at your hands!"
At these words, the masked Auror leader fell silent. He said no more—only focusing wholeheartedly on fleeing forward.
Seeing this, Scrimgeour also stopped talking nonsense. His wand waved continuously, and the trees in the forest seemed to come alive—all blocking the masked Auror leader's path.
The masked Auror leader immediately raised his wand, preparing to deal with those trees.
But just then, black smoke serpents emerged from all directions—swimming around the trees near Scrimgeour and the masked Auror leader.
Seeing these black smoke serpents, Scrimgeour's expression immediately became ugly. He suddenly remembered some memories buried deep in his mind—those extremely terrible memories.
"This is... those black smoke serpents! And they're moving with such precision—just like, just like that person used to..."
"That person? Who?"
Looking at the masked Auror leader, the corner of Scrimgeour's mouth twitched slightly, and his hand holding the wand trembled slightly. This scene made the masked Auror leader immediately think of a name that couldn't be mentioned!
"Oh no no no, no no no—it absolutely can't be him. This could be some Death Eater who learnt similar magic—it absolutely can't be him!"
"I've only ever seen magic like this once before. Those serpents of living darkness... he was the only one who could command shadows like that."
As Scrimgeour's words ended, a low, hoarse yet magnetic voice that made both him and the masked Auror leader's hair stand on end suddenly rang in their ears.
"Ah... it seems there are still people in this world who remember me. How very... honoured I am!"