Chapter 779: Unscrupulous Tactics
Chapter 779: Unscrupulous Tactics
Kyle and his team's sudden appearance caught the Death Eaters off guard, perhaps because they believed it was impossible for Aurors to arrive so quickly. As a result, they initially paid little attention to their surroundings.
Seizing the opportunity, some shop owners quickly reacted and turned the tables, launching counterattacks against the Death Eaters.
The situation was instantly reversed.
"Stupefy!" Kyle shouted as he knocked another Death Eater off his feet. Just as he was about to switch targets, he noticed a strange-colored smoke drifting towards him.
At the same time, a foul odor assaulted his senses, traveling up his nose and reaching his head. It was as if the entire world had suddenly turned putrid.
"Ugh!"
Kyle struggled to keep his dinner down and immediately abandoned the idea of continuing to fight the Death Eaters. Instead, he cast the Bubble Head Charm on himself.
After taking these measures, he felt much better.
"Fred, George!" Kyle's voice sounded muffled due to the bubble, but his anger was evident, "Can't you use more conventional methods?"
"This is perfectly normal!" Fred, hidden within the mist, blinked innocently, "As the owner of the magic trick shop, I'm just using some magical props in battle. What's the problem?"
"And it's a great way to promote our shop," George added, unaffected by the odor and grinning, "You know, business hasn't been great lately, and our shop hasn't had any customers in a while."
After saying this, the twins waved at Kyle and rushed towards the area with the most Death Eaters, pulling out more dungbombs.
Kyle, seeing Mr. Weasley still standing there in confusion, quickly moved to his side and reminded him to cast the Bubble Head Charm to protect himself.
As more dungbombs exploded, the stench quickly filled Diagon Alley. Fred and George, the instigators of this chaos, became the least welcome individuals, causing everyone, including the Death Eaters, to avoid them.
The odor was simply too overwhelming to bear.
...
Due to Fred and George's unconventional methods, the battle ended dramatically.
All thirty-three Death Eaters were captured, none managing to escape. They didn't have the spirit to flee; it was simply impossible.
The stench spread too quickly, carried by the wind, filling the entire street. Moreover, the odor made it extremely difficult for ordinary wizards to concentrate, unless they possessed exceptional willpower and self-control. Without these qualities, Apparition was nearly impossible.
Among those present, none had such self-control.
This directly reduced the Death Eaters' fighting capabilities by half, if not more. They were defeated one by one by Kyle and the Weasleys.
Additionally, those who attempted to escape met a similar fate, each leaving something behind... some lost a leg, others half an arm.
One poor soul even left his head behind, his body disappearing into the unknown. Kyle, even if he wanted to help, couldn't do anything.
And he didn't want to, for that matter. If his memory served him right, this was the same person who had laughed the loudest while attacking the shop owners.
Now, if his body could return before the Apparition spell's protection wore off, there was still a chance to reattach his head.
If not... well, it would be a gory sight.
Kyle circled around, disappointed to find that none of the familiar faces, neither Bartemius Crouch Jr. nor Bellatrix, were among the captured Death Eaters.
It seemed the Death Eaters hadn't acted together. The elite members had vanished after leaving the Ministry, leaving behind only this group with numerical superiority to distract the majority.
The reason for this, Kyle suspected, was to hide something... perhaps to divert attention from an injured Voldemort.
This thought had crossed Kyle's mind when he saw Dumbledore.
He was now certain that Dumbledore had been injured, and the injury was severe, with his entire arm nearly destroyed. Only Voldemort could have caused such damage.
But Voldemort could only do so much, like two evenly matched Quidditch teams. If one wanted to win, there would be a price to pay.
The most likely scenario was that Voldemort and Dumbledore had fought to a standstill, both sustaining heavy injuries.
Of course, these were just Kyle's speculations, and the elite Death Eaters could be elsewhere.
After all, Britain was vast, and Diagon Alley wasn't the only well-known location.
The battle ended swiftly for several reasons: the large number of participants, the lack of combat prowess among the Death Eaters, and the unconventional methods of Fred and George. Kyle was confident he could have handled them within half an hour, even without the twins' secret weapon.
If they had done that, they definitely wouldn't have caught as many people as they have now.
"Thanks..."
"Thank you for your support..."
"The Ministry of Magic is so unreliable. It's been so long and no one has come to help. Are Fudge and Scrimgeour having a candlelit dinner together?"
After the last Death Eater was thrown out, the shop owners all came forward to express their gratitude. However, since the news hadn't spread yet, they were unaware of the changes in the Ministry and complained about the Aurors and Hit Wizards' inaction.
Once Mr. Weasley explained the situation at the Ministry, the surroundings immediately quieted down.
They didn't like Fudge, or to be honest, not many people liked this indecisive Minister. But upon hearing the news of his death at the hands of Death Eaters, everyone felt a sense of discomfort and an inexplicable anxiety.
Even the Minister of Magic was killed by Death Eaters... What could they, as ordinary wizards, do to protect themselves?
No one spoke, and the atmosphere turned as cold as frost. Even the lingering foul smell seemed to become insignificant.
Mr. Weasley tried to encourage them, but to little effect.
This was the Death Eaters' intention: to disrupt the Ministry's plans by killing the Minister, establish their dominance, and severely demoralize their opponents. The benefits were numerous.
From the current situation, the Death Eaters had succeeded. Everyone knew their intention, but no one had a solution.
The only thing everyone could do now was to salvage the situation... Quickly elect a new Minister and get the Ministry running again, but that would take time.
...
After a while, Fred and George couldn't bear the atmosphere any longer. With their minds on their own shop, they quickly ran forward after exchanging a few words with Mr. Weasley.
Their actions also brought several shop owners back to their senses.
Kyle paused for a moment, then followed. Florean Fortescue, the ice cream shop owner, watched their backs with a desire to speak, but after hesitating for a moment, he sighed and remained silent.
He approached Kyle and said, "Thank you, you saved me again."
"It's nothing," Kyle shook his head. "If you really want to thank me, treat me to some ice cream."
"Of course, no problem," Florean Fortescue patted his chest and said generously, "You can come anytime and eat for free. This promise is forever valid."
"That's really great," Kyle's eyes lit up, further solidifying his idea of opening a shop in Diagon Alley.
As for what kind of shop... Unconsciously, he turned to look at the people from the Quidditch Supplies Shop, but they immediately averted their gaze to the side.
He was kidding. How much could an ice cream cost? Even the cheapest brooms could be bought with half a year's worth of ice cream.
"Tsk, stingy," Kyle couldn't help but click his tongue, temporarily giving up on the idea of opening another Quidditch Supplies Shop.
"Ah!"
At that moment, Fred and George's screams echoed from a distance, and Kyle instinctively drew his wand.
"Don't worry," Florean Fortescue said, "I think their screams have nothing to do with the Death Eaters. They probably just found their shop."
"What do you mean?" Kyle asked.
"It's just..." Florean Fortescue looked at Mr. Weasley with a fleeting gaze, and said hesitantly, "Their joke shop might be slightly more severely damaged."
Out of curiosity, Kyle immediately ran over to see for himself.
Weasley's Joke Shop was still some distance away from the entrance of Diagon Alley. Before Kyle even reached the place, he heard their piercing screams echoing one after the other.
The sound was so pitiful, as if someone had taken all their Galleons.
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But the facts were not far off.
Their shop was gone.
As soon as Kyle turned the corner, his field of vision suddenly widened. The originally neatly arranged shops had an abrupt gap.
The missing one was Fred and George's shop.
It should have been specially instructed by the Death Eaters, as Weasley's Joke Shop was the most severely damaged shop in the entire Diagon Alley, without a doubt.
The door and the Weasley statue, which served as the shop sign, were blown to pieces, scattered randomly on the ground, and even the walls and windows did not escape damage.
What was once a delicate two-story building was now reduced to a pile of rubble, about half a meter high.
The neatly displayed merchandise was thrown everywhere... on the street, on the ground, and on the wall opposite, but not on the shelves.
To put it this way, if Kyle hadn't known there was a shop here beforehand, he would have thought someone had dumped construction waste here.
But it was also understandable...
Fred and George had been making fun of Voldemort for a while now, and they hadn't taken down the "Constipation Beans" advertisement yet. Not only that, but they had also posted many famous parodies of Death Eaters.
For example, Bellatrix and Rodolphus Lestrange were depicted as a pair of ugly Cornish House-Elves viciously biting each other, promoting their new product, Anger Candy, a candy that makes people extremely angry when consumed.
There's also a goblin with Antonin Dolohov's face... promoting the Hair Loss Hat, which temporarily transforms the wearer into various forms of baldness, but the hair grows back within two days. It's currently the most popular prank product in their shop.
Kyle witnessed many students secretly bringing this hat into the castle during his school days. They would wear this seemingly ordinary hat with their school uniforms to avoid Filch's inspections.
Once they obtained it, they would casually use it on others or wear it themselves, then roam around displaying their bald heads.
Young wizards without hair loss issues seemed to find this amusing and enjoyed it thoroughly.
By the way, it is said that the inspiration for this hat came from Mr. Weasley, but Mr. Weasley himself is still unaware of this, and Fred and George are tight-lipped about it, insisting that they got the idea from Professor Slughorn at Hogwarts.
However, the problem is that by the time Professor Slughorn was teaching, they had already graduated, and the hat was sold last October when they were still working at the Ministry of Magic, so they had no chance to meet Professor Slughorn.
But none of that matters now.
In any case, Fred and George have been using Death Eaters and Voldemort to promote their new products, and while this is satisfying, it also carries significant risks.
For instance, the Death Eaters are causing havoc in Diagon Alley, and upon discovering this "blasphemous" behavior, they will not let it go unchecked.
As a result, Weasley's Joke Shop was thoroughly demolished.
"My shop!" Fred and George's screams echoed in the early morning sky.
"We'll kill them... kill them!" George's eyes turned red, and he pulled out all the dungbombs he had, ready to teach those Death Eaters a lesson they'd never forget.
He intended to stuff the dungbombs into their mouths and then put them inside an even bigger dungbomb.
"Don't be impulsive, Mr. Weasley is questioning them now. We can teach them a lesson after he's done," Kyle said, stopping him in time.
When Kyle arrived, Mr. Weasley was interrogating the Death Eaters about the Dark Lord's plans and the locations of other Death Eaters. If those Death Eaters knew anything, Fred and George's actions might hinder the investigation.
"But my shop... it's our hard work..." George struggled, barely able to speak.
"I know, but have you forgotten that you're a wizard?" Kyle said helplessly, "Do you remember what Professor Flitwick said? You're wizards, not monkeys with sticks."
He waved his wand, and the stones on the ground immediately reassembled, returning to their original positions.
Fred and George were slightly stunned, then they realized... yes, they had forgotten about the Repairing Charm.
So, they immediately gave up on finding the Death Eaters and joined the effort to repair the shop.
First, they fixed the walls, then the broken glass windows were restored to their original state and automatically returned to the window frames...
"You should be grateful that the Death Eaters used Incendio and not Fiendfyre," Kyle said as he restored a charred statue fragment, "Otherwise, even the most skilled Repairing Charm wouldn't work."
"Then they're doomed!" Fred said through gritted teeth.
"But they probably wouldn't dare to use Fiendfyre either," George said calmly, "That spell, if not controlled properly, can harm even the caster. There are quite a few Death Eaters here, they wouldn't want to risk hurting themselves."
He glanced meaningfully at Kyle.
Kyle is the only wizard he has seen so far who can use Fiendfyre as casually as a regular Incendio.
Dumbledore and Voldemort could probably do it too, but he hasn't seen them.
With the combined efforts of the three, Weasley's Joke Shop was rebuilt in just five minutes.
Next, they turned their attention to the magical items around the shop, which was much more challenging than repairing the shop. Many of these items were one-time consumables, like maps and various potions, and once broken, they couldn't be fixed with Repairing Charms.
Some items were also more complex and couldn't be fixed quickly.
They did a quick inventory check and found that more than half of the items in the shop were missing.
Looking at the empty counters and shelves, Fred and George's faces turned red with anger. Those were Galleons! All gone!
At this moment, their hatred for the Death Eaters and Voldemort reached its peak, and they wished they could put them on display in the shop.
(End of Chapter)
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