Chapter 377: The Weak Are Easily Bullied
"Go ask around and find out what kind of family I come from! You want an explanation from me? I'm someone who's made it in this world—who exactly am I supposed to answer to?"
Eda's short temper erupted like a volcano in an instant.
Before her words had even finished falling, the flames shot upward violently and began spreading at high speed.
Part of the fire broke away and danced through the air, charging straight at the wizards who had fallen unconscious earlier, as if it intended to burn them alive on the spot.
The Ministry wizards all waved their wands frantically, trying to stop the advancing flames.
Several quick-reacting people Apparated at once, pulling their unconscious colleagues out of the encircling fire.
"Calm down, please calm down!" many Ministry officials shouted loudly, hoping Eda would stop the flames.
Among them seemed to be some who recognized Eda, and they shouted as well, "Miss Twist, stop at once!"
The originally red flames gradually turned blue.
Wherever the fire passed, not a blade of grass remained.
The Ministry officials could only retreat again and again, waving their wands constantly and shouting nonstop for calm.
"This is the explanation you wanted, Mr. Barty Crouch," Eda said softly. "Are you satisfied?"
Her voice was not loud, yet it carried with astonishing force, overwhelming every other sound present and slipping into everyone's hearts like the whisper of a demon.
The flames that gradually turned blue looked fierce, but in reality, they were only driving the Ministry officials back.
They were not choosing to kill indiscriminately.
Otherwise, who knew how many people would already be dead by now.
Of course, if you were simply too slow to run, that was another matter.
Grindelwald had been right.
Killing was the last resort—the resort of those with no other options.
Studying and learning reason was so one could speak calmly with others.
Studying magic was so others could calmly listen when one spoke.
And sure enough, look at them now.
These people were all begging Eda to calm down, all wanting to hear what she had to say.
Unlike just now, when she argued with reason and nobody listened, nobody believed.
Suppressing them with force without harming their lives, while displaying mercy—
in a sense, Eda had truly graduated.
When gods fight, mortals suffer.
Most of the Ministry officials present did not believe that Harry Potter had conjured the Dark Mark.
Combined with Hermione's testimony, they had already turned to look in the direction Hermione had pointed.
If not for Barty Crouch's inexplicable stubbornness, this matter would already have been resolved by now.
Attacking Harry Potter?
If Dumbledore didn't come demanding an explanation from the Ministry, they should count themselves lucky.
And yet here he was, demanding explanations from the other side.
Now he had gone and kicked a hornet's nest.
Most of the Ministry officials were cursing Barty Crouch in their hearts.
If not for sensing that Miss Twist did not have much killing intent, many of the people on this field would probably have already fled by now.
There was no reason for them to be buried alongside Barty Crouch.
Mr. Weasley quickly stepped in front of Eda and tried to persuade her.
"Calm down. Stop the flames. Eda, what you're doing now won't solve anything!"
"I'm not trying to solve the problem," Eda said in a low voice. "I'm trying to solve the person raising the problem. Mr. Weasley, haven't you figured it out yet? Last year, Dementors attacked Harry Potter. This year, Ministry officials attack and frame Harry Potter. What do they plan to do next?"
That accusation came down like a hat dropped straight onto their heads.
By putting Dementors and Ministry officials in the same category, Eda was forcing the label onto them.
No matter what the truth behind the two incidents actually was, once Eda put that label on, the Ministry would never be able to take it off.
If this ever got exposed, the Ministry could just wait to be pelted with rotten eggs and spoiled vegetables.
The Ministry officials present cried injustice in their hearts.
How had they somehow gotten lumped together with Dementors?
And besides, we really didn't mean to attack Harry Potter—that was an accident!
We weren't trying to frame him either!
What kind of mess was this?!
Following the principle that whoever caused the trouble should be the one to fix it, the officials all turned to look at Barty Crouch.
Crouch's hair was no longer perfectly neat.
Some of the strands were even singed, as blue flames continued rushing toward him.
Even though, under Mr. Weasley's persuasion, Eda's flames had slowed their advance—there were barely any flames left in front of the others—the fire around Barty Crouch still came at him endlessly.
"Eda, don't throw a tantrum. Our priority right now is solving the problem," Mr. Weasley continued. "It's finding the person who cast the Dark Mark."
That was what he said, but everyone present knew perfectly well that person would not be found.
Barty Crouch had wasted too much time fixating on Harry and the others.
Unless that person was an idiot, they should already have escaped long ago.
Lupin also joined in persuading Eda, telling her to put away her magic for now.
If the Ministry still kept this attitude afterward, there would be plenty of time to set things on fire again.
The flames gradually weakened, retreating back to Eda's side and curling obediently at her feet, tame as could be.
They looked nothing like the fire that had just chased the Ministry officials into utter chaos.
The Ministry officials finally let out the breath they had been holding.
Compared to receiving compensation for dying in the line of duty, it was still better to stay alive and collect a salary.
As for whether the Ministry would later come looking for trouble with this little witch named Twist—whoever wanted to go could go.
I'm certainly not going!
Besides, even if they really died here tonight, whether they would actually get compensation was another question entirely.
In the end, Hogwarts and the upper Ministry officials would probably just argue back and forth, and people like them might even get thrown out as scapegoats.
A thoroughly bedraggled Barty Crouch got a firsthand experience of being smoked and roasted.
Panting heavily, he said nothing.
But his eyes remained fixed on the forest not far away.
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