Repeated Provocations [Seeking Follow-ups]

"You put a fair amount of personal vendetta into those punches."

The battle had ended, and Sirius couldn't help but remark. This ambush had come fast and ended even faster; in less than a minute, every Auror present was lying on the ground. They hadn't even had time to call for reinforcements before they were all struck down, left without a shred of room to resist.

Before Dewey, Walker lay on the ground, his face covered in blood.

This blood wasn't caused by any spell.

It was because Dewey had asked Sirius to cast a counter-curse to wake Walker up, after which the two of them had engaged in a boxing match.

Walker had been beaten into a miserable state.

His nose was broken, and he had lost several teeth.

Blood was everywhere.

Even Sirius had rarely seen such brutal hand-to-hand combat.

He glanced at Dewey, who was still pummeling an Auror, then looked up at the nearly full moon in the sky, saying with a touch of realization: "Do you get some kind of uncontrollable urge when the moon is full?"

"I appreciate the concern, but I'm not a werewolf."

Retrieving Walker's wand from his hand once more, Dewey proceeded to quickly beat the remaining wizards one by one.

He was farming cards from them.

Dewey knew what Sirius wanted to ask, but he could tell him with certainty that he was no werewolf.

"I just have a bit of a violent streak."

Dewey explained.

Sirius wasn't in a hurry.

They had spent very little time ambushing this group of wizards, and no one would know they had intercepted these Aurors here.

If these people from the Ministry of Magic followed their usual habits and precedents, they wouldn't discover these Aurors were missing until tomorrow afternoon.

Even the Ministry's patrols wouldn't appear here for a while. The Ministry of Magic's rule over the wizarding world was like fishnet stockings.

They looked good, but in reality, they were full of holes.

Sirius set up a magical barrier to the side, casting spells; unless a wizard possessed immense magical power, no one would be able to see through this enchantment.

"It can't mask us from Mad-Eye Moody's eye, so let's pray we don't run into him. But if we do actually meet him, the two of us against him—who wins is anyone's guess."

Sirius cast a sidelong glance at Dewey, who was still busy beating people up.

Dewey let out a long, heavy breath.

Beating people was physical labor, and it required a certain amount of technique.

Dewey's technique for beating people wasn't exactly refined.

"I fractured my index finger."

He shouted to Sirius, and Black waved his wand to heal the hairline fracture.

"It's just a fracture," Black said. "Don't be so delicate, Dewey. How long do you plan on staying here?"

Black didn't stop Dewey's impulses.

He could understand this madness of Dewey's.

Sometimes, he too had an urge to destroy everything, as if there were a fire in his chest that wanted to burn himself, and burn this world along with it.

Reason was a precious virtue.

However, Harry Potter, his godson, was like a basin of cold water that always managed to extinguish the flames in his heart at just the right moment.

Sirius felt it was no small feat that Dewey could maintain this level of sanity.

Pressure always needed an outlet.

"I'm not just doing busywork."

Dewey didn't explain his behavior; after finishing with the man, he shook out his hair and said, "You seem to have a lot of confidence in me. Are you sure the two of us can handle Mad-Eye Moody?"

He was simply looking for a topic of conversation to make it easier to continue pummeling these Aurors.

Surrounded by these Aurors suffering from concussions, broken ribs, and fractured brow bones, Dewey collected the white cards, blue cards, and several purple cards from the ground. Compared to the agents of the Improper Use of Magic Office, these Aurors dropped higher-quality cards.

"Not bad, really not bad."

As for asking about Mad-Eye Moody, it was just a random topic he had brought up because he wanted to chat with Sirius.

Mad-Eye Moody was indeed considered an expert among Aurors. Yet, he didn't exceed the scope of an average wizard; Barty Jr. had once ambushed Moody alone and defeated him.

He couldn't be compared to Voldemort at all; Voldemort had killed Mad-Eye Moody in a single move.

Wizards were divided into average wizards and others. Mrs. Weasley could kill Bellatrix in a state of extreme rage, but that didn't mean she could defeat a one-seventh, severely wounded Voldemort in a state of extreme rage.

Those were two completely different things.

Dewey didn't feel that he and Sirius combined were the weaker party.

Within the wizarding world, Sirius was considered a top-tier figure.

"Of course there's no problem."

Hearing Dewey's question, Sirius spoke up. Dewey found some chocolate in a hit wizard's robes and tossed it to Sirius, who shoved it into his mouth and said, "Your Protego is the best I've ever seen."

"Most people don't care about that charm. They prefer flashier spells, and even if they do learn Protego, it's only for the sake of passing exams."

He was telling the truth; many hit wizards at the Ministry of Magic were not proficient in Protego.

Yet hit wizards were perhaps the people who encountered danger most often.

The rest of the Ministry of Magic personnel were even more mediocre when it came to combat.

Hearing Sirius praise him, Dewey felt quite happy.

"Anything else?"

He asked Sirius.

Sirius stared at him steadily.

"Have some shame!"

He couldn't help but say.

Dewey shrugged, feeling a bit disappointed; hearing praise from others was always a delightful thing.

He was starved for amusement.

Dewey cast Memory Charms on the people on the ground, even though he knew his charms would eventually be broken. After loading them into the boat, he beckoned to Sirius and said, "Give me a hand, will you? Let's get this piece of junk moving."

Sirius tapped the side of the boat, and it pulled away from the dock.

"A busy day, isn't it?"

Sirius remarked. This afternoon, they had ambushed a Ministry of Magic official, obtained the time and location of these hit wizards' return, and incidentally learned that Arthur Weasley would be taking his sons to Diagon Alley.

These were exactly the pieces of information they needed.

"We don't have much time, Sirius."

Dewey took a breath and said, "We need to keep an eye on Mr. Arthur Weasley. Once they appear, we launch a surprise attack, take down everyone in the Weasley family, and strip them of everything they have.

This all has to be done within two minutes, then we Apparate and shake off any pursuers. The important thing is that one item, do you understand? Everything else is just window dressing; only that item is what matters most.

Find that item, cast the spell, and get out of here!

If possible, we can rob a few more wizards to mask our true intentions."

Dewey confirmed the plan with Sirius once more, and Sirius nodded to show he had committed it to memory.

"Aha, we two are natural-born villains, aren't we?"

Dewey snapped the remaining five wands and said to Sirius.

"If that's how you see yourself, I have no objection, but I am no villain."

Sirius did not agree with that sentiment.

Before leaving, Dewey told Sirius to write something on the boat.

[A gift for the Ministry of Magic -- Dewey Jones]

"Why don't you write it?"

Sirius asked.

Because I don't know how.

That was the real reason, but Dewey said, "My handwriting is too ugly."

The two of them left the area quickly to rest and recuperate.

The upcoming operation was extremely risky.

They could run into a large number of hit wizards and Aurors at any moment.

Fortunately, Mr. Weasley's movements were not hidden from others; Mr. Arthur Weasley was well-liked at the Ministry, and everyone was fond of him.

Mr. Weasley never avoided others, either.

He had always been interested in Muggle technology. When Harry Potter was in his second year, the car Ron took Harry away from the Dursley Family in—I mean, that flying car—was Arthur Weasley's masterpiece. He was very interested in merging technology with magic.

When sending his children to school, he would take them to Diagon Alley early and walk the whole way, just to get a better look at Muggle life.

It was this habit that gave Dewey his opportunity!

"I hope Mr. Weasley doesn't put up too much of a fight. In any case, we must not hurt his children."

Dewey said.

Sirius looked at Dewey, asking why, and Dewey explained, "Don't underestimate the power of emotion. If you hurt those poor kids, you'll see what 'love magic' really looks like.

Mrs. Weasley will kill us!"