The Swollen Face

"What are you going to do with these four?"

George pointed his wand at the four unlucky men who had been taken down. They had lost rather unfairly—before they could even react, Albert and his companions had ambushed them.

It couldn't be helped. This was Hogwarts; they had never expected to be attacked here. More insidiously, Albert had kept using Black to draw their attention away.

"Hit each of them with another Stunning Spell, then take their wands." Albert waved his wand, conjuring a pile of chains that tightly bound all four of them. They looked like grasshoppers tied to a straw rope.

Hermione was stunned by what Albert had done. She simply could not understand how he had taken down four elite Aurors in an instant, or why Albert had attacked Ministry of Magic employees.

"Is this really a good idea?" George was clearly worried too.

"There's nothing wrong with it. Don't forget, those bastards just sent Dementors to attack us." Albert's voice was cold, like a winter wind that sent a shiver through their hearts. "Put away your hypocritical mercy. If we didn't know the Patronus Charm, do you know what would have happened to you? The Dementors would have sucked out your souls and turned you into walking corpses. You probably wouldn't be standing here listening to my nonsense."

"They should..."

Hermione's body trembled slightly. She was unwilling to believe things would really develop as Albert had said.

"Don't tell me what they should do. The fact that those Dementors came swarming over in a whole pack means the Ministry of Magic has temporarily lost control of them. It's perfectly normal for a few unlucky people to have their souls sucked out by Dementors." Albert turned to Hermione. "The reason you're still standing here is largely because