"How much longer are we supposed to stay here?"
A Death Eater angrily slammed the bread in his hand onto the table. The springy loaf bounced several times along the long table and struck Bellatrix squarely on her gloomy face.
Bella's cheeks visibly puffed out. But just as everyone thought she was about to draw her wand, she merely crushed the bread into crumbs.
She knew very well that everyone desperately needed to vent right now. If she kept suppressing them, the backlash would not be something the current Dark Lord wanted to see.
So, even though she was angrier than anyone else, for the sake of the Dark Lord's cause, she could only take it out on the bread.
"Old Goyle, you're disturbing everyone's dinner," Bella said, forcing down her anger.
But to the Death Eaters, that gritted-teeth expression was even more frightening than when she was truly furious.
Old Goyle, who had been trying to act tough, was instantly terrified.
"No, Bella, what I mean is... is..."
Unfortunately, his intelligence was not enough to help him quickly come up with an excuse, and he stood there awkwardly, stammering for a long while.
"...I'm already full, so why do I still have to stay in the kitchen?"
Old Crabbe, beside him, could not bear to watch anymore. He quickly tugged at his old friend, telling him to sit down.
"That excuse is awful. You'd be better off saying you can't wait to carry out missions for the Dark Lord, since the Joint Operations Office's actions have slowed down anyway."
Old Goyle suddenly understood, completely failing to notice that everyone around them was looking at the two of them as if they were a priceless pair of idiots.
Bella held back a stomach full of anger and took two bites of bread, but the dry bread did not soothe her at all. Instead, it made her feel even more choked up.
She knew that if she did not step forward now and calm these Death Eaters whose minds were beginning to wander, the core force the Dark Lord had worked so hard to rescue would fall apart.
Damn it. This kind of plotting had clearly been what they were best at during the last war. Yet this time, just because there was an extra Tver Fawley, they were the ones being tormented.
The problem was, unlike the Dark Lord, she could not calm this bunch of bastards with just a few words.
"Ahem..."
Bella braced herself and stood up, only to find herself speechless under everyone's gaze.
In the end, she could only widen her eyes in fury and slam her fist onto the long table with a bang.
"I know all of you are miserable right now, but you need to understand that if it weren't for those Aurors waiting to use us for credit, why would the Dark Lord ever waste the usefulness of all of us?"
"In my opinion, the Dark Lord simply looks down on us..." Old Goyle could not help muttering under his breath.
Bella glared at him, but had no real way to refute it.
"No matter what, the only thing we can do right now is stay here!"
"Unfortunately, you won't even have the chance to keep staying here." A teasing voice suddenly came from behind Bella.
"Who?"
Bella spun around sharply. At the same time, the wand in her hand had already lifted quickly, and a flash of green light shot out.
But the man behind her merely turned sideways. Even the robe on his body only shifted slightly before the Killing Curse missed him.
"What sharp reflexes. I imagine you must be Miss Bellatrix Lestrange."
He did not take Bella's threat seriously at all. He still stood there casually and even bowed with interest.
"I am Dusko, a wizard from Greece. While wandering around the British Ministry of Magic, I happened to hear an amusing piece of news, so I came to inform you."
"Greece?"
"Wandering around?"
"Amusing?"
The Death Eaters present were all baffled.
A Greek wizard coming to Britain was one thing. That was still fairly normal. But under Barty's leadership, the British Ministry of Magic was currently at the height of its power. How could anyone wander around there?
"What news?" Bella had indeed sensed something unusual.
Although she was not one of the earliest Death Eaters to follow the Dark Lord, she had witnessed the grand scene of Dark Wizards from various European countries flocking to join them during the last war. Karkaroff was an obvious example.
So the sudden appearance of a Greek Dark Wizard was not impossible to understand. Especially since she somehow felt that this Dusko was not lying.
Or rather, he definitely had the strength to wander around the Ministry of Magic and appear here so suddenly.
"Good news and bad news. Which do you want to hear first?" Dusko said lightly, but the Death Eaters present all had stiff faces and were in no mood to joke with him.
"All right." Dusko shrugged. "The good news is, I accidentally saw several of your companions in prison and rescued them while I was at it."
Before smiles could spread across the Death Eaters' faces, Bella frowned and asked, "And the bad news?"
"The bad news," Dusko said with a meaningful smile, in sharp contrast to Bella's grave expression, "is that the Aurors know you're hiding here. Tver Fawley has already brought a team to arrest you!"
"What proof do you have..."
Before Bella could finish speaking, as if perfectly timed, a burst of explosive roaring suddenly came from the tightly sealed house.
Bang.
The Death Eaters were terrified. At a complete loss, they stood up and stared blankly in the direction of the sound, as if both anticipating and fearing what was about to happen.
"So that's why those Death Eaters were taken away. Turns out you were behind it, Dusko."
Tver tapped his wand against his left hand, one beat after another. Yet he looked like an extremely strict teacher, frightening the Death Eaters into panic.
This was a man who could rival the Dark Lord.
"Tver Fawley!"
No one knew who shouted it, but it was like a signal. The Death Eaters immediately scrambled in panic toward the other side and huddled together.
It was not that they did not want to run. It was that to prevent Aurors from directly storming in, they had set up many Protective Enchantments, naturally including Anti-Apparition.
Only now, against powerful figures like Tver and Dusko, those Protective Enchantments looked more like cages meant to imprison the Death Eaters themselves.
Wait, that was right.
The Death Eaters' eyes instantly focused brightly on Bella.
No, on Dusko beside her.
Although they did not know where this Dusko had come from, judging from his entrance and the fact that even Tver Fawley seemed wary of him now, they could infer one thing.
This man was definitely extremely powerful.
And he was on their side.
Sure enough, as if answering the Death Eaters' expectations, Dusko took one step forward and stood in front of Bella and the Death Eaters.
Perhaps to make fighting easier, he removed the hood he had been wearing the whole time, revealing a wickedly handsome face even younger than Tver's.
Just when everyone thought an earth-shattering battle was about to erupt, Dusko turned back to look at Bella.
"Miss Lestrange, could I trouble you to take these children away first? I'm afraid I might injure them by accident."
"Huh?"
Bella stared blankly at that somewhat familiar yet unbelievable face for a while before coming back to herself, only to be stunned again by his words.
"Don't worry," Dusko said with a casual smile. "Those Aurors are all gathered near the entrance. Tear down the wall and you can run."
"As for Mr. Fawley here..."
He turned his head back and once again faced the expressionless Tver.
"I don't think he will, or can, refuse."