Ministry of Magic, England, Sub-Level Eight, Main Hall.
Barty Crouch squinted, carefully scrutinizing the sudden, uninvited guests.
The wizards emerging from the fireplace in a surge of sickly green flames appeared faceless...no, a moment later, he realized that all of them wore hoods, their faces hidden beneath masks… a garb of a certain group of wizards with which he had once been very familiar.
But… how could it be…
Meanwhile, Kingsley drew his wand, pointing it forward with a grave expression.
"Who are you?" he asked again.
At the same time, Tonks, who had been sleeping on the security desk, rubbed her eyes, sleepily looking up at the black-robed wizards flooding out of the fireplace like a tide. She yawned, stood up, and started to walk towards the crowd, mumbling.
"You’re back at last, Minister. All is well at the Ministry, nothing—"
"Tonks! Be careful! Don't go over there! Crouch, those are Dark Wizards!"
Before Tonks could steady herself, Kingsley abandoned his previous casual demeanor from chatting with Barty Crouch. His free left hand swiftly grabbed the bewildered newcomer's arm, pulling her roughly aside. Simultaneously, he brandished his wand, as if summoning something.
"Hey, what are you—"
"Time is of the essence. Eliminate the Ministry guards!"
Someone among the "uninvited guests" not far away spoke in a loud and cold voice.
A series of whooshing sounds, and two or three piercing screams shattered the hall's tranquility.
"Avada Kedavra!"
"Avada Kedavra!"
Several intense green flashes pierced the eyes of Crouch and Tonks, and an inexplicable sense of dread and nausea instantly dispelled their drowsiness.
They heard a dull thud from the front, as if something had exploded against the wall. A blurry black shadow appeared before them, separating them from the green light. Then, dazzling flames rose before their eyes—only then did Barty Crouch realize what was happening: the uninvited guests Dumbledore had warned about had arrived, but they weren't petty thieves; they were maniacal Dark Wizards!
If Kingsley hadn't summoned the wooden table to block the Killing Curse, they would already be corpses on the floor.
Barty Crouch hastily pulled out his wand, looking at the murderous lunatics who had attacked without warning, his expression a mixture of shock and anger.
"Damn it, how dare you—"
"Potent Explosions! Blasting Curse! Amplifying Charm! Chain Detonation!"
Before the no-longer-young former Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement could finish speaking, a series of clear incantations rang out.
A crimson spell-beam grazed Crouch's shoulder, heading towards the group of uninvited guests. The shockwave from the powerful explosion instantly shattered the burning wooden table, turning it into a shower of fire that scattered forward, interspersed with the crackling sounds of exploding firecrackers.
The previously dazed Auror recruit's eyes cleared, and her bubblegum-pink hair gradually transformed into a crimson hue in the flames.
Her wand moved ceaselessly, casting various spells, as if she were a battle-hardened Auror, working in tandem with Kingsley to unleash four or five spells in quick succession, temporarily suppressing the uninvited guests who had just emerged from the fireplace with their combined strength.
"Retreat! Retreat quickly! There are too many of them—"
Kingsley swung his arms wildly like a windmill, shouting loudly at the two beside him.
The solid gold statues standing in the center of the Ministry Magic Fountain seemed to come to life, leaping down from their pedestals like guards, blocking the golden gate behind them that led to the central hub of the Ministry of Magic.
"Wait, my files..."
Barty Crouch glanced at the replies he had been writing all night not far away.
There were at least a dozen letters stacked there, from various magical governments, along with some unfinished personal files.
"Forget about the letters, staying alive is what matters now!"
Tonks said decisively, grabbing Barty Crouch by the shoulder and pulling him towards the golden gate behind them.
Just as Tonks spoke, a spell from afar hit the spot where Barty Crouch had been sitting, and raging flames instantly engulfed the area, spreading outwards as if alive.
"Damn it, are those guys crazy? They're using Fiendfyre here?! I really want to twist their heads off and shove them up their asses—"
Tonks cursed angrily. Barty Crouch, seeing this savage side of the witch for the first time, twitched at the corner of his mouth. He retracted his previous prejudices towards Miss Nymphadora—this witch was simply a born Auror, just usually in energy-saving mode.
Barty Crouch was pushed and half-ran through the gate, arriving at the central hub hall of the Ministry of Magic.
There were twenty-one elevators installed here, all blocked by delicate golden gate doors.
Ministry members usually relied on them to move between floors. When Tonks and Crouch arrived, Kingsley, who had arrived a step earlier, had already pressed all the elevator buttons. Barty Crouch saw the numbers on all twenty-one elevators flying rapidly.
"Hey, Kingsley, did you see that? They're using Fiendfyre here!" Tonks still seemed particularly indignant.
"Tonks, less talk! You hurry and try to destroy the gate!"
Kingsley Shacklebolt said in a deep voice, turning to look at Barty Crouch, who was still somewhat at a loss.
"Scrimgeour should still be patrolling somewhere upstairs. You take the elevator up first and tell him the situation below. After you two raise the alarm, evacuate the Ministry as soon as possible. I'll blow up the remaining elevators after you leave, and then leave with Tonks. After leaving, we'll wait for you at the Leaky Cauldron in Diagon Alley! Hurry! Tonks and I might not be able to hold them off for too long—"
"Potent Explosions!"
Boom!
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Kingsley Shacklebolt's remaining words were drowned out by a series of huge rumbles.
In the deafening noise, Barty Crouch stared blankly as the golden gate of the Ministry's main hall collapsed.
The red office areas hanging down on either side of the golden gate creaked painfully, pressing towards the center. Broken stones, glass frames, and scattered doorways… He had never imagined such a scene in the Ministry of Magic. And Tonks's spells were still bombarding the surrounding environment. If he didn't know that this was to delay the enemy's advance, Barty Crouch might have even thought she was sent by the other side to destroy the Ministry.
"Hurry! Mr. Crouch—"
Tonks turned to look at old Crouch, panting heavily, her face and hair covered in dust.
"Although I don't know who they are, judging from the fact that they're killing people, no matter what their goal is, we absolutely can't let them succeed too easily—you hurry up and find Mr. Scrimgeour, he should have a way to contact the Minister and the others!"
"They are... hmm, I understand!"
Crouch opened his mouth, then nodded solemnly and forcefully.
"Be careful, evacuate as soon as you destroy the elevators, we'll meet at the Leaky Cauldron later!"
Undoubtedly, just as Dumbledore had warned in the Howler, this was a carefully planned conspiracy against the Ministry of Magic.
Having lost most of their Auror combat power, all they could do now was delay the enemy as much as possible and spread the news of the attack on the Ministry as quickly as possible. The journey from England to the Armenian Forest was a long one, but the return trip would be much faster.
Barty Crouch looked at the ever-expanding ruins, where angry curses and explosions echoed from the other side of the rubble barrier.
He didn't know how many people were on the other side of the rubble, but it was definitely more than the four of them could contend with. When they evacuated the main hall, "Death Eaters" were still pouring out of the fireplace—that's right, Barty Crouch had almost guessed the identity of the attackers.
Perhaps Kingsley and Tonks didn't recognize those garbs, but Barty Crouch was at least ninety-eight percent certain that those people were Death Eaters!
As the former Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement who had directed the Aurors to resist and capture the forces of You-Know-Who, when he saw the hoods, masks, and familiar figures among them, the detestable word "Death Eater" immediately emerged from the depths of Crouch's memory.
He took one last look at the two young Aurors, pulled a piece of paper from his pocket, and quickly tapped it with his wand.
"Barty Crouch, an urgent document is being delivered here. Rufus Scrimgeour, recipient."
The parchment automatically folded into a small paper airplane, which floated into the elevator.
Barty Crouch quickly followed, hurrying to catch up. To cancel owl post, the Ministry had spent a lot of effort to create such a paper airplane replacement spell, which could automatically travel within the Ministry, and he never thought it would be useful in such a situation.
…………
Behind the pile of rubble that Barty Crouch couldn't see, in the main hall of the Ministry of Magic.
Contrary to his imagined vicious and manic spell attacks.
The "Death Eaters" who had broken into the Ministry were shouting loudly, waving their wands to wantonly attack the surrounding fireplaces and walls, as if they were fighting to the death with invisible enemies. The animated statues and Cornelius Fudge's huge portraits attracted a lot of attacks, and many of the magical lamps on both sides of the fireplace wall were knocked down, but the spells that actually landed on the rubble pile Tonks had created by destroying the gate were surprisingly few.
The little one named Nymphadora was just a member in the "internship period", and they weren't sure how much strength she really had.
If they weren't careful and used too much force, directly shattering the rubble piles, the subsequent plot would be really hard to continue.
After all, Tonks and Kingsley weren't top-tier wizards who could fight a hundred enemies by themselves. Creating some chaos in a hurry was reasonable, but switching to a head-on resistance against the combined attacks of dozens of adult wizards would be too unrealistic, and no fool would believe it.
"Is it almost done? How long will it take us to break these things?" a "Death Eater" asked softly.
"Three minutes. These ruins and rubble are too annoying."
The "Death Eater" giving the orders said. If Frank was here, he could recognize his uncle in disguise just from his figure.
This was the headquarters of the British Ministry of Magic, and no one knew if there were any recording or sound-recording spells around, so they had to be extra careful throughout the conversation. Except for a few senior officials, most of the action personnel were not allowed to speak without permission throughout the whole process.
Three minutes later, Kurt Mehl raised his hand, and the surrounding spell attacks temporarily stopped.
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The old wizard listened for a few seconds, made sure there were no new sounds on the other side of the pile of stones, then pointed his right hand forward and raised it high.
"Everyone, target the pile of stones directly in front—"
"Group Four, constrain the trajectory of the debris. Groups One, Two, and Three, cast spells, blast a path for me!"
"When you enter the area later, Group Four will stand by to support. Groups One, Two, and Three will go to various areas of the Ministry according to the original plan to carry out the 'cleanup' mission. The mission time is tentatively set at forty minutes. If the time is advanced, I will notify the group leaders to implement the backup plan according to the situation."
"Now, go!"
With Kurt Mehl's right hand heavily waved down, dozens of dazzling spells shot towards the seemingly solid pile of stones.
The combined spellcasting of the Wizard Corps level was fundamentally different from the battle against ordinary Aurors. Under the combined spellcasting of dozens of wizards, a huge hole instantly appeared in front of everyone. Before the surrounding stones could collapse, the wizard team responsible for stabilization instantly filled in, waving their wands to quickly maintain the "channel" outline, and in a few seconds, cleared a road suitable for people to pass quickly.
According to the mission objectives issued by "Miss Fool", the number of "garbage" they had to clean up from the Ministry of Magic was not small. If they didn't hurry, they might only be able to adopt the rather crude cleaning method of burning it on the spot, which was not what Kurt Mehl wanted to see.
…………
At the same time, Charing Cross Road, the Leaky Cauldron.
The tavern, which had rarely closed its doors in decades, had broken the norm today and locked its doors, hanging up a "Closed for Business" sign.
"Sorry, John, thank you for closing early today..."
Rufus Scrimgeour looked at the middle-aged wizard who was walking back from the door, his face terribly gloomy.
"The Ministry of Magic has been invaded. We may have to temporarily borrow your fireplace to ensure that the Minister and the Aurors on the expedition can return to London smoothly. Now, please get us some drinks and warm food. I may also need to borrow your owls."
He looked at Tonks, who was sitting in the corner with a gray face, and Kingsley, who was silent, thought about it, and added another sentence.
"Well, it would be best to have hot water and towels..."
In any case, these children had done quite well just now, and he really didn't have much to criticize.
Tonight... was destined to be a very difficult night.
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Hooray! So big, so big!