"Think it through. What happens if you get out? You let so many serious criminals escape—when the higher-ups hold you accountable, you'll all be dead. I'm not like you. I'm a pure-blood."
His voice struck the inner wall of the barrier and bounced back, as though the purple flame patterns had added a faint echo to it. After the captain declared himself a pure-blood, the hand of the person holding up a wand trembled, and the wand tip dipped roughly half an inch.
The Auror captain, who had been watching the other side's every movement, had clearly noticed that subtle change. He smiled smugly and spread his hands.
"Looks like there are sensible people among you. Good. Let me put it plainly: I'm a direct descendant of the Nelson family. We may not be one of the Sacred Twenty-Eight, but we're still not people you can afford to deal with. My father used to be the deputy director of the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes. I have more connections above me than all of you put together."
The Auror captain drew back his outspread hands. "If you kill me, then once you get out, you won't just be facing accountability from the Ministry of Magic. You'll face the reckoning and revenge of pure-blood families. Think carefully."
The group around the temporary leader stood with their backs to the barrier's southern wall, forming a semicircle facing the Auror captain.
Four stood in the front row, their wands all pointed at the ground but held at the same angle, ready to be raised at any moment. Two people in the back row crouched halfway down, their knees braced against the lower backs of the front-row members to provide support, forming a simple yet effective defensive formation.
The temporary leader turned halfway