Lucius pulled a copper walnut from inside his robes.
Engraved on it was the logo he hated so much: MPC, Marauders Power Company.
"Go to hell! Holmes's junk!"
Cursing, Lucius hurled the copper walnut at the net of light overhead and kicked Avery in the backside for good measure. The two of them tumbled toward the stern in a sorry heap.
Boom!
The copper walnut exploded the instant it touched the net of light.
There was no flash of fire or smoke.
Only a huge cloud of purplish-red mist burst out, along with a chorus of piercing screams-the compressed, magically amplified wails of banshees.
"That's a Screaming Smoke Bomb!"
On the silver speedboat pursuing them, the noise made Tonks's hands jerk, and the boat skipped dangerously across the sea.
"That's the riot-control equipment we only approved last month! How did these filthy rats get hold of it?!"
Tonks shouted in disbelief as she struggled to steady the crystal-ball controller.
The purplish-red mist did more than obscure their vision. It was corrosive and sticky, too.
The white net of light became stuck the moment it plunged inside. Its runes immediately dimmed, and finally, the purplish-red gelatinous stuff ate right through it, turning it into pinpricks of starlight that blew away.
"Because the Ministry of Magic leaks like a sieve!"
Scrimgeour stood at the bow of another speedboat, his unruly hair whipping in the wind, his tawny eyes blazing.
He had seen it perfectly clearly.
That copper walnut was on the Auror Office's latest procurement list, a nonlethal weapon the Marauders Power Company had designed specifically for British Aurors to disperse unlawful gatherings and obstruct vision.
And now it was being used against the Aurors themselves.
"Those parasites... those damned greedy bureaucratic parasites!"
Gritting his teeth, Scrimgeour lashed his wand through the