Inside the Ministry of Magic's temporarily commandeered command tent, Cornelius Fudge paced back and forth anxiously.
A cup of tea sat untouched in front of him.
"A private army! Amelia, you saw them! Well-trained, perfectly coordinated, completely obedient to him alone!"
Fudge whispered excitedly to Director Bones, who was reviewing a report, his alchemical prosthetic fingers tapping nervously against the table. "And the magic he used... completely unheard of! Dark and powerful! He stripped Avery and Crabbe of their magic... Merlin! Right in front of everyone!"
He took a large gulp of cold tea to steady himself, his voice filled with barely restrained panic.
"What does he want? What exactly does he want? With power like that, yet he hides away at Hogwarts teaching? Impossible! Absolutely impossible!"
A thought rapidly took root in his mind, and he seized upon it as though it were the only possible explanation.
"It's status! He must be after my position!"
Fudge's voice grew shrill with fear. "First, he displays his power to win people over. So many people tonight saw him 'suppress' the riot! Then he openly humiliates the Ministry of Magic and tramples over the law, weakening my authority! Next... next he'll certainly manipulate public opinion, or use more direct methods... to force me out! That team he formed is his private army, meant for seizing power!"
The more he spoke, the more convinced he became that this was the truth, and cold sweat once again soaked through his collar.
"We must remain vigilant, Amelia! We need to find a way to counterbalance him! Otherwise, the entire British wizarding world will fall into the hands of this... this dangerous individual!"
Amelia Bones looked up from the report in her hands at the flustered Fudge, her gaze calm, almost icy.
"Minister," she said in a professional tone, "it is unwise to speculate about the motives of a wizard who came to assist us during a crisis without any evidence. Our priority right now is dealing with tonight's disaster. That group of rioting Death Eaters has already turned the reputation of the British Ministry of Magic into a joke within the international community."
But deep down, she knew Fudge's suspicions were not entirely baseless, merely completely misguided.
If Sagres truly possessed ambition, that ambition would never be limited to the position of Minister for Magic.
That thought made her even more uneasy.
Fudge saw a struggle for power. She saw a storm capable of engulfing the entire world.
"You're right, we have to get ahead of this!"
Fudge continued pacing through the tent as he spoke to Amelia Bones and the pale-faced Barty Crouch. "We need to define this tragedy first! Otherwise, all of us will be dragged down with it! Even the International Confederation of Wizards will question our ability to maintain control!"
In the end, he adopted the plan that best served his interests: shifting most of the blame onto "lawless remnants of former Death Eaters" while downplaying the appearance of Bronze Feather, mentioning only vaguely that "unidentified international wizarding forces intervened to assist, though their methods remain controversial."
As for Avery and Crabbe, who had lost their magic, the matter was strictly kept secret. Publicly, it was only announced that they had been severely injured and were receiving treatment, a barely convincing excuse meant to placate the pure-blood families.
However, rumours had already spread like wildfire.
The name Sagres Greengrass, associated with mysterious and terrifyingly powerful magic, became an awe-inspiring symbol whispered about in secret.
Aboard the Hogwarts Express on its journey back to school, the atmosphere inside the compartment was unusually heavy.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione stared out at the scenery rushing past the window, none of them speaking first.
The horrifying scenes from that night and Sagres's cold figure still lingered vividly in their minds.
"He... he just did it," Ron said dryly. "Turned them all into... Muggles. As easily as crushing a beetle."
He tried to sound calm, but the slight tremble in his hands betrayed him.
"They deserved it!"
Harry suddenly spoke, his voice carrying an intensity even he did not notice. "Have you forgotten how they tossed those Muggles around like toys? Forgotten what they wanted to do to Mr Weasley and Sirius? If Professor Greengrass and the others hadn't shown up..."
He did not finish the sentence, his fists clenched tightly.
"But that's not right, Harry!"
Hermione turned toward him, her brown eyes filled with pain and confusion. "No one, no one has the right to do that. I mean, permanently strip someone of their magic! If everyone punished people according to their own judgement, then what would laws even be for?"
"But the law doesn't work, Hermione!"
Harry shot back. "Even Mr Weasley said those Death Eaters escaped punishment last time because of insufficient evidence, using the Imperius Curse as an excuse! If it weren't for Professor Greengrass this time, those Muggles might already be dead, and those Death Eaters could be sitting at home drinking tea and laughing about how useless the Ministry of Magic is!"
Hermione's brows remained tightly furrowed, though she slowly nodded, her tone softening slightly.
"You're right, Harry. The loopholes and flaws in the law are real, especially when power and money can twist it. It's not that I don't sympathise with the victims, or that I can't understand the... effectiveness of Professor Greengrass's actions."
She admitted that point with obvious reluctance.
"But that's the most dangerous part, isn't it?"
She continued, a scholar's sharpness entering her voice. "It's effective, so we're more likely to accept it, even cheer for it. But we can't judge whether something is right simply because it achieves the result we want at the moment. We have to ask ourselves what would happen if this principle were applied everywhere. If every powerful wizard believed they had the right to carry out 'judgement,' what would wizarding society become? Isn't the whole point of fighting Voldemort to create a world that isn't ruled by fear and individual power?"
Ron looked at Harry, then at Hermione, before finally speaking with difficulty, trying to ease the tension.
"Hermione... I get what you mean. Really, I do. It does sound a bit... extreme."
He swallowed nervously. "But Harry's right too. Sometimes... sometimes the rules just can't catch the really cunning villains."
He scratched at his hair, looking utterly conflicted. "I don't even know what's right anymore. Maybe... maybe there's something more satisfying than the law, but also more... more just than taking the law into your own hands? Merlin, this is way too complicated."
Part of him agreed with Harry, but another part instinctively felt Hermione had a point as well, and the contradiction left him completely lost.
Hermione's expression softened slightly, but the worry in her eyes remained.
"That's exactly the dangerous part, Ron. The moment we start trying to define that 'something,' we're already walking along a very dangerous edge. Today we saw evil punished, so we applaud it. But if this kind of thing becomes normal, then next time, it may not just be Death Eaters."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Harry asked.
"It means whoever is stronger gets to decide the rules," Hermione replied. "At least, that's how some people would see it."
"Today, Professor punished Death Eaters, and everyone applauds him. But what if tomorrow someone decides another person deserves punishment too? If some people believe a certain degree of 'evil' is enough to justify stripping someone of their magic, then who decides where that line is drawn? Professor Greengrass alone?"
Harry took a deep breath, trying to calm himself.
"I'm not saying everything Professor did was right," he said in a lower voice, "I just can't feel any sympathy for what happened to those Death Eaters. Just thinking about them escaping again... I just..."
He shook his head, unable to find the words.
"I understand," Hermione said softly. "We all hate them, Harry. We all want them to get what they deserve. But power needs restraint, even when it's used for righteous reasons. Otherwise, what's the point of fighting Voldemort?"
She repeated, "Isn't it to stop a world where one person can decide everyone else's life and death according to their own will?"
___
o(*≧▽≦)ツ💫 Read up to 12+ chapters in advance on Patreon/DarkDevil1