Ever since Dumbledore fell from the Astronomy Tower, what had collapsed was not only the symbol of an era, but also the confidence to oppose Voldemort.
The positions of the Death Eaters and the Order of the Phoenix had been overturned in an instant. From then on, the Death Eaters stepped into the spotlight, while the Order of the Phoenix went underground and waited for opportunities to act.
The Death Eaters easily cast themselves as the rulers of Britain's Wizarding World. The Ministry of Magic soon began a massive hunt for every force opposing Voldemort, including the Order of the Phoenix.
Wanted posters flew from the Ministry of Magic like snowflakes. Owl droppings nearly covered every street and alley, and the Ministry clerks responsible for printing them had been replaced several times over.
Wizards walking through Diagon Alley could scrape an inch-thick layer of wanted posters from the walls at street corners and find criminals wanted a week earlier.
The Ministry's black-robed patrol squads roamed freely through every street and alley. Wizards even had to worry that a group of people might show up early in the morning with some inexplicable document and brazenly barge into their homes.
The Ministry of Magic had become the busiest place around. Perhaps only Diagon Alley at the height of its prosperity could compare.
From dawn until nightfall, the Ministry's courtrooms were almost never empty, with people constantly being sent in on all manner of charges.
Some had uttered Voldemort's name three times in a single day; some had mentioned a wizard from one of the Pure-blood Families without using an honorific and been overheard by a passing patrol squad. The most common convictions, however, were for being "half-blood" or "Mudblood." No defense was needed—your very existence was against the law.
Compared with those