The next second, a dazzling white light burst forth, like a brilliant star suddenly blooming in the darkness.
The light was so intense that the entire night was transformed into daylight. A magnificent phoenix pattern spread its wings across the night sky.
"Dumbledore! Dumbledore is here!" The Death Eaters dropped their rubber toys, panicking and fleeing in all directions. "Run! Get out of here!"
The quickest among them Disapparated or plunged into the crowd, vanishing without a trace; but the slower ones were frozen in place by spells.
Ministry of Magic staff rushed forward immediately to start apprehending them.
"Don't push me! Don't shove!"
"Ah—help!"
The Death Eaters charged into the crowd, while Ministry officials pressed in, and people who hadn't yet grasped what was happening were jostling each other, barely able to stay on their feet. There were children's screams one moment and adults' angry shouts the next.
Someone fell to the ground first, pulling down a small group of people with them. Those who had fallen tried to use Levitation Charms and ropes to rescue themselves or their families, making the already chaotic campsite even more disorderly.
"Hold hands!" Mrs. Weasley raised her voice to the highest pitch, practically shrieking like a whistle. "Fred at the front, George at the back!"
"Hurry! Head to the woods, go to the stadium!"
The woods leading to the stadium were pitch dark, the colorful lights long extinguished.
Under flickering lumos, the group stumbled forward, but waves of people kept surging in, scattering them.
Jane Yu grabbed Harry with one hand and Hermione with the other to prevent them from getting separated.
Around them came chaotic chatter, French, German... all jumbled together. Jane could barely make out what Harry was saying.
The three of them followed the path into the woods, searching for their lost companions. The crowd gradually thinned.
"Damn it, I can't believe... my wand is gone!"
Jane finally caught Harry's words as he rummaged through his coat pockets.
"What?" Hermione asked anxiously, "Did someone knock it off just now?"
Harry was patting himself down frantically, but soon he felt the slender, hard object inside his coat and sighed in relief:
"It's still here, it's still here. The one Sirius gave me fell off."
The three continued along the path into the woods, arriving at a clearing, but suddenly, a sound came from behind them.
It sounded like someone, trudging forward with uneven steps, but the footsteps disappeared into the pitch-black bushes.
"Hello?" Harry called out.
But there was no response. The distant woods remained dark, though it felt like something was watching them.
Jane drew her wand, her eyes wary of the surroundings.
A man's voice suddenly broke the silence without warning, uttering a spell—
"Morsmordre!"
With the incantation, a rubber duck sprang out of the woods, bounced a few times on the ground, and then lay still, quacking.
The scene was hilarious, but no one could laugh.
They all realized there might be a dark wizard hiding here.
"Stupefy!"
Jane swiftly fired a Stunning Spell into the woods. The spell seemed to hit something—or maybe it didn't.
She could only hear the sound of someone inside slapping themselves and crying out:
"Master! Master! Flash violated orders, Flash made a mistake!"
But when she used a spell to part the bushes to see what was happening behind them, all she found was a single house-elf.
"Bad wizard! Bad child!" The house-elf's shrieks continued incessantly. "Flash must escape!"
With the snap of an Apparition, the woods fell silent again.
...
"It's over now, it's over, children."
The chaos at the campsite finally subsided. Mr. Weasley found them, his face tired.
Everyone was back in the tent, and fortunately, they were all safe.
"What exactly happened?" Ron asked nervously.
"Morsmordre," Jane said, "We heard someone say it... but they failed. What kind of spell is that?"
"Death Eaters—they must be the remnants who weren't imprisoned in Azkaban—that's their mark," Mr. Weasley said with disgust. "I imagine they had a few drinks tonight and couldn't resist reminding us that many of them are still out there. They threw themselves a little party."
"But why did they conjure a bunch of rubber toys?" Harry asked, "They're not usually... this stupid, are they?"
Mr. Weasley pursed his lips, seemingly recalling something funny, and couldn't help but laugh.
He looked at Jane and his twin sons with approval:
"After the Dark Lord fell, they tried every way to avoid being sent to Azkaban."
"They concocted all sorts of lies, claiming the Dark Lord forced them to kill and torture people, so they had to conceal their identities—"
Mr. Weasley picked up a fake wand from the table and waved it in the air. It transformed into a rubber caterpillar:
"A single-use wand is the best way to hide your identity compared to using your own wand."
The case was finally cracked.
Jane realized why fake wands were so popular, often sold in bundles.
It turned out the sales were thanks to the generous contributions of their Death Eater clientele!
She thought about her exaggerated sales pitch, phrases like "a cross-century invention," "only 5 Galleons each," "single-use," "no spell traces left"... and how the twins quickly learned this spiel.
Who knew which prominent Death Eaters they had fooled?
After all, she always tailored her sales approach, specifically targeting well-dressed, wealthy customers, and sold at high prices.
Honestly, it was pure coincidence.
Who would have thought selling joke products could trip them up?
Jane scratched her head.
"Wow—" Fred cheered, exchanging a glance with George, "We've emptied the Death Eaters' pockets!"
"Excellent!" Dumbledore poked his head into the tent. He had just finished helping to resolve the chaos. "Thanks to your fake wands, no one was injured. That Muggle's memory has been modified. If this were Hogwarts, I'd give you an award."
He smiled warmly, patting Jane's head with his gentle hand:
"You truly are perceptive! I knew you noticed something unusual during the conversations..."
Pride and admiration—he was nearly overusing these words!
Coming up with the idea of using fake wands to fool Death Eaters, this child truly was a genius!
Dumbledore began chatting with Mr. Weasley, and soon Mrs. Weasley arrived at the table with freshly brewed hot cocoa.
"Crouch is furious. His house-elf broke his orders, and apparently, it might be dismissed..."
"A pile of rubber toys... Sirius personally caught several people..."
Jane sipped her hot cocoa, listening curiously to their conversation.
But she didn't notice that Harry, Ron, and Hermione were no longer paying attention to the discussion. They huddled in a corner, whispering:
"Do you remember, it was Yu who had Fred and George bring the fake wands?"
Harry nodded vigorously, recalling Jane's sales activities, and said softly:
"And she personally chose the customers... they were all wealthy... buying in bundles..."
The three exchanged knowing looks and simultaneously turned their admiring gazes toward Jane's back.
She must have foreseen what would happen here, hence the early preparation!
After swapping out their wands, she even summoned Dumbledore!
Of course, it all made sense—after all, she was a Seer...
Understanding everything.
Jane felt a chill down her spine, as if something was watching her.
But when she turned around, all she saw were three heads huddled together.
How strange.
A chill down her spine—was she catching a cold?
Life truly was full of mysteries!
~~~~❃❃~~~~~~~~❃❃~~~~
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