Zhang Xiao gaped, staring blankly at the perfectly composed Dumbledore.
Huh? You're all right?
Then he noticed the fingers half-hidden beneath Dumbledore's sleeve trembling slightly, and the relief he had just felt gave way to fresh alarm.
That attack... hadn't left him unscathed...
"I'm very curious. How did you evade the Ministry of Magic's screening, including mine?"
Dumbledore's voice was icy. Zhang Xiao racked his brains, but could not recall ever hearing him speak in that tone.
Barty Crouch Jr. panicked. His eyes bulged, and sheer terror made his words come in broken fragments.
"How did you-not possible. The Dark Lord gave me this... impossible..."
The bombing and Barty Crouch Jr.'s flawless passage through every magical screening suddenly clicked together in Zhang Xiao's mind.
The Death Eaters had made contact with the very Muggles they despised most!
Zhang Xiao jolted and blurted out:
"Plastic surgery! You had plastic surgery?"
Barty Crouch Jr. suddenly stopped trembling. Instead, that strange, wicked smile returned to his face.
"Zhang, everyone says you'll become the next Dumbledore, someone the Dark Lord needs to watch out for. A pity the bombs didn't kill you just now.
"But it doesn't matter, because you're destined to die here-
"That's right, plastic surgery. I look very much like my foolish, pathetic father. Sometimes even I have to marvel at how those filthy, lowly Muggles really do have a few useful things..."
Silence settled over the field, but soon everyone was staring into the distance in horror. Even the survivors who had briefly frozen in shock came to their senses.
Their eyes filled with despair. Zhang Xiao pressed his lips together, finally understanding why Barty Crouch Jr. was no longer afraid.
Because the Dark Lord had arrived...
Led by Voldemort, dense ranks of dark figures approached at speed. Numerous giants