Chapter 1029 - 779: Intimidation
In a sense, the Death Eaters are pretty tight‑lipped; out of fear of Voldemort, usually unless you use Legilimency or Veritaserum, people from the Ministry of Magic can hardly get anything useful out of them.
The Death Eaters caught this time were the same. Even though they were all tied up, every one of them put on an attitude of "kill or beat me as you please," craning their necks and refusing to say a word, as if convinced that Mr. Weasley definitely wouldn’t torture them.
Of course, they weren’t wrong about that—Mr. Weasley really wouldn’t. But there are exceptions to everything.
"So you were only sent to wreak havoc in Diagon Alley, and you don’t know anything else, is that right?"
When Kael came back, he happened to witness a horrifying scene.
Mr. Weasley was squatting there talking to a head, while the headless body lay less than five feet away, being watched over by a shopkeeper.
"Yes, I’ve already said it three times, we really only know that much!" The head’s voice carried a hint of sobbing. "Please, put me back on, it really hurts already."
"No rush." Mr. Weasley said unhurriedly, "As far as I know, a split caused by Apparition can last about thirty minutes. Right now we..." He glanced at his watch. "We still have seven minutes to talk."
"No, don’t... you said that was only an approximate time... it really hurts now..."
"We really don’t know anything else... oh, right, it was Lord Yaxley who sent us..." The man’s voice grew weaker. "And Lord Lestrange... they seemed very anxious... when they left they said..."
"Shut up, you traitor!" a Death Eater roared. "The Dark Lord will definitely kill you for your betrayal!"
His voice was intense, but not because of anger—because of fear. He was afraid Voldemort would take his anger out on him.
But the "head" ignored the furious curses behind him and went on weakly, "They said... they had to get back to the master as soon as possible... that’s the Dark Lord... only the most trusted Death Eaters... can become his servants..."
"Servants... absolutely unbelievable." Mr. Weasley’s face was grim; he couldn’t understand why those Death Eaters would think that way.
"Please... please... I really don’t know anything more..." The man’s voice grew even fainter, and his face started turning deathly pale.
Seeing this, Mr. Weasley immediately picked his head up and set it back on his neck, then looked over at the apothecary owner.
The man, extremely unwilling, took out a vial of Dittany Essence and smeared it roughly around the man’s neck.
At this moment, Kael also walked over.
"You’re just in time," Mr. Weasley said. "I just got some very interesting information."
"I heard it all." Kael said. "I think You‑Know‑Who must be injured."
"That wouldn’t be surprising," Mr. Weasley said. "After all, he’s up against Dumbledore. It’s a pity we don’t know where You‑Know‑Who is hiding, otherwise we could take this opportunity to launch a final assault on the Death Eaters."
"Maybe someone else knows." Kael swept a glance over the Death Eaters tied up around them. "There are still so many people here—we can take our time asking."
Noticing his gaze, those Death Eaters immediately let out cold, mocking laughs.
"You want us to betray the Dark Lord? Keep dreaming, kid."
"Go home and drink your milk..."
"If you kneel down and kowtow twice right now, maybe I’ll get in a good mood and tell you something."
"Hahaha, yeah, that’s right, that’s..."
The last Death Eater’s laughter cut off abruptly, because he saw the man who had just spoken suddenly froth at the mouth, his body turning quickly bluish‑purple as he collapsed to the ground, motionless.
The sight was eerie to the extreme; in an instant, the surroundings fell silent, and a wave of fear began to spread.
The reason these Death Eaters were so arrogant was that they believed the Ministry of Magic and the Order of Phoenix wouldn’t really do anything to them. Based on past experience, at worst they’d be interrogated, then locked up in Azkaban.
Back then, the Dementors’ intimidation was considerable, but now even the Dementors have been recruited by Voldemort, and Azkaban has practically become their back garden—how could these people possibly be afraid?
But now they suddenly realized that something seemed off.
"Tewa, Tewa!"
Someone shouted his name loudly, but it was useless—he was clearly dead.
The crowd fell into dead silence.
Only then did they realize this wasn’t the kind of game‑like duel they’d had before, but a real war. It wasn’t just them who could take pleasure in torturing others—others could kill them in return.
"Damn it... what did you do!" someone asked, voice trembling.
But Kael didn’t even look at him, acting as if he hadn’t heard.
"You’re finished..." someone shouted with forced bravado, trying to bolster himself by raising his voice. "Using the Killing Curse... even as an Auror you’ll be put on trial..."
Kael still didn’t spare him a glance.
"You shouldn’t have done that," Mr. Weasley frowned and said quietly.
"It’s fine."
Only then did Kael wave his hand dismissively and say, "Right now the Ministry of Magic is in chaos; all the rules can be ignored, at least until the new Minister takes office."
"No, what I mean is, you shouldn’t have killed him in front of so many people." Mr. Weasley sighed. "I’m guessing the next Minister will be Amelia Bones. I know her—she’s fair, but sometimes a bit inflexible.