"Come, let me see who this mad dog is," Moody muttered to himself, pulling off the mask of the Death Eater he had killed. "So it's Evan Rozier. I should have known. I didn't expect him to be corrupted so deeply by the Dark Lord. It seems he and Wilkes, who was taken down upstairs, were classmates. To resist arrest with a Killing Curse... he truly deserved to die!"
Moody grumbled as he dealt with the bodies, then suddenly paused, his magical eye spinning. "Speaking of which, that young wizard Alan—was that silent spellcasting? And the Death Eaters they took down here in the cellar are more than those left on the main battlefield. They really are an impressive bunch."
Meanwhile, the group from the basement had returned to the main hall. The front door and the interior walls were pitted and scarred, showing the marks of a fierce magical exchange. Several Aurors and Order members were already busy with repairs. On the far side of the hall, a crowd had gathered around Sirius and Peter Pettigrew.
"James!" "Frank!" Lily and Alice, still clutching their children, rushed to their husbands.
"Lily, thank goodness! We won! You wouldn't believe the chaos out there!" James embraced Lily, his relief palpable, clearly unaware that the battle had moved into the very safe room where he had sent his family.
The gathered crowd turned to greet the survivors. Alan recognized Edgar Bones, Emmeline Vance, and Gideon Prewett. Standing beside Gideon was a man who shared his features—his brother, Fabian. There was also a woman with a sharp, capable demeanor who looked enough like Charles McKinnon to be his aunt, Marlene.
Sirius and Peter Pettigrew were the center of attention. Bandages were wrapped around Sirius's torso, while Peter had a makeshift dressing on his right arm. Peter was currently in the middle of a dramatic retelling, describing how heroically he had fought and how he had bravely rolled to dodge a curse, only to gash his hand in the process. Sirius, though clearly more severely injured, said nothing. When he spotted Alan, he even managed to muster a playful, mocking face.
Listening to Peter's boasting, Alan found it slightly ridiculous. The man had injured himself by falling, and it was his right hand—his wand hand. Didn't that mean he had been effectively useless for the rest of the fight?
Lily, seeing the two injured men, handed Harry to James and moved forward to hug them both. "Thank you. Thank you, Peter, Sirius. You were both heroes tonight."
Sirius tried to grin, but the movement clearly pulled at his wounds. He managed a pained smile. "It was nothing, Lily. Just chasing away some riff-raff. It's a shame the Dark Lord managed to pull most of them away when they retreated. Hmph."
Augusta Longbottom, standing nearby, let out a booming laugh. "That's not entirely true, Sirius. There are four more lying in the basement."
"What?" "Death Eaters in the basement?" The hall erupted in confused questioning. Everyone realized then that the safe room had been compromised.
James's reaction was instantaneous. He pulled Lily close, his eyes searching hers. "What happened? Did they get inside the safe room? Are you hurt? Is Harry alright?"
Augusta interjected again, "Can't you tell they're fine just by looking at them? Honestly, James, you wouldn't believe how dangerous it got down there."
Lily, sensing that Augusta might reveal the terrifying detail of the Killing Curse aimed at Harry—which would surely haunt James—quickly cut in. "Don't worry. I cast the protective charms in the cellar, and we were prepared for them thanks to Alan's warning. As soon as they broke through the door, we were ready. We handled it."
Lily downplayed the skirmish to keep the peace, but the reality had been a hair's breadth from disaster, especially with two infants in the room. Augusta caught Lily's eye and understood the silent plea, so she didn't elaborate. Instead, she turned her sharp gaze toward her son, Frank. Since they had emerged, Frank had been fussing over Alice as if she were made of glass, completely ignoring his mother.
"Hey, Lily, do you know who that Death Eater downstairs was? He was an old classmate of yours." Mad-Eye Moody's voice preceded him as he limped into the hall. Four bodies floated behind him: three bound in magical cords and one corpse drifting apart from the rest.
"What?" The crowd pressed forward, murmuring in shock.
"Why did one die? What exactly happened in that cellar? Lily, did you have to kill him?" James asked, his voice thick with concern.
Moody let out a grim laugh. "I'm the one who ended him. It was a close thing. If it weren't for Alan's split-second reaction, that lunatic—who was hopped up on Blood Rage Potion—would have put a Killing Curse right through your son."
James gasped, looking at Lily for confirmation. She nodded solemnly.
At that moment, three figures entered through the shattered front door: Dumbledore, followed by a man with a neat mustache and a dignified middle-aged woman.
Moody nodded to them. "Dumbledore. Minister Bagnold. Director Crouch."
The group stood straighter at the arrival of the Minister of Magic and the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.
Minister Millicent Bagnold surveyed the room, her voice calm and authoritative. "You have all done exceptional work tonight. This is a significant victory. We have reports of two dead and one arrest on the grounds."
Moody grunted, gesturing to the figures at his feet. "Minister, the count is higher than that. We have another death and three more arrests from the basement."
Bagnold's eyes widened in surprise. "Some of them actually slipped past the perimeter?"
Barty Crouch, standing beside her, looked down at the captives. He recognized the face of the dead man immediately. "Is that Evan Rozier?"
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