Swollen Face

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

George pointed his wand at the four unlucky ones who had been taken down. They had lost in a truly humiliating fashion—before they could even react, Albert and the others had ambushed them.

There was nothing they could do. This was Hogwarts; they had never imagined they would be attacked here. Worse still, Albert had kept using Black to distract them.

"Hit each of them with another Stunning Spell, then take their wands." Albert waved his wand and conjured a pile of chains that tightly bound the four men, making them look 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 Ministry Aurors in an instant—or why Albert had attacked Ministry of Magic personnel.

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

"There's nothing wrong with it. Don't forget, these bastards just unleashed Dementors on 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 have..."

Hermione's body trembled slightly. She was unwilling to believe things would turn out the way Albert described.

"Don't give me that 'should have' rubbish. Since those Dementors came swarming in as a whole pack, it 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 all still