"I want everyone who came with Valiz here, right now!" Moody shouted, in a threatening tone. "Don't make me go get you myself!"
Several Aurors glanced nervously at each other. Finally, some of them walked toward Moody, heads lowered. Soon, three people were standing in front of him.
"Is this all of you?" he asked, his magical eye moving between them and the others present.
"Well..." muttered one, looking at the group of injured Aurors on the ground, being tended to temporarily by their colleagues. "There were ten of us..."
Moody snorted, irritated, eyeing the injured and then giving me a reproachful look. I shrugged, still focused on tending to Tonks, who was now somewhat stable, though she had fallen asleep in my arms.
"It doesn't matter. You better explain to me under what authorization you accompanied Valiz on an arrest that wasn't even properly authorized," Moody demanded.
The Aurors exchanged nervous glances, diverting them to some of Valiz's companions who weren't Aurors and were near the Minister of Magic's entourage. Seeing the Minister staring at them, they paled, realizing they couldn't tell the truth without putting their own lives in danger.
"It was... a mistake," one of them said with a tense voice. "Our fault."
"Shut up!" Moody snapped, irritated. Someone like him could easily tell where their eyes had gone; he knew how complicated the situation was and that his men weren't directly responsible. "All of you, take your injured comrades to St. Mungo. When you get there, ask for mediwizards to come here and tend to those who can't be moved," he ordered firmly.
"They can't leave," Fudge intervened, irritated. "First, they must arrest that criminal," he said, pointing at me.
"Don't push me, Fudge," Moody replied, losing patience and speaking to him rudely and disrespectfully. "My men came here following orders from someone who doesn't even have the authority to give them. You want to arrest the victim? You want to damage the Ministry's reputation even more?" He spoke loudly for all the civilians to hear, making it clear he was tired of Fudge and his political games.
"You..." Fudge was at a loss for words, upset, imagining that as soon as he got back to the Ministry, he would seek to fire Alastor. He had been thinking about it for a while, as he considered the old Auror too paranoid and that his attitude affected everyone else, like when he attacked anyone who spoke too loudly near him. "It doesn't matter why they came. Look around, do you really think he can get away with this after causing so many injuries?"
"It was all in self-defense," I added firmly.
"Nonsense," Umbridge retorted with disdain.
"No one died," I clarified. "I only defended myself when I was attacked, even when outnumbered multiple times. I had no other choice. Ministry staff appeared out of nowhere and attacked without mercy; I couldn't just stand there and die. My companion got injured in all of this; we're nothing more than victims attacked mercilessly by a large and powerful group. We were defenseless." As I said this, the people looked at me, incredulous, observing the chaos that spread across the battlefield, refusing to accept for a moment that we were 'defenseless.' "Even when I called for a ceasefire, they didn't stop, because the Minister didn't authorize it. I had no choice but to fight for my life. All the injuries were accidental," I said loudly for everyone to hear, taking another jab at Fudge. #Here we have the Director of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement; she can tell me if my self-defense was legitimate," I pointed to Amelia.
Amelia frowned, her veins visibly showing on her forehead as she heard me. She knew I had a special talent for getting myself into trouble, though she also understood it wasn't entirely my fault. Like Alastor, she could deduce the truth of the situation. She could only sigh, resigned, and try to help me once again.
"Under our laws, legitimate defense really applied here. No one died; once an Auror was incapacitated, they were set aside, and there was no evidence of any intent to finish anyone off, except for the area damage typical of combat," Amelia said, relieved she had arrived and was able to verify the facts after the fight stopped. If it had been different, she would have had to lie, but fortunately, everything happened as I said. "However, due to the number of injuries, Mr. Akaichi will have to visit the Ministry to testify after the witnesses are consulted," she added, giving me a firm look.
'I'll gladly do so, as long as the proper procedures are followed,' I replied with a smile, to which Amelia rolled her eyes.
Fudge was fuming, as were his followers. He felt his authority had been challenged by everyone, and not only had he gotten nothing here, but his reputation seemed to have been stained and trampled. He held grudges against both Alastor and Amelia, though the latter was much harder to confront.
"What are you waiting for? Take your injured comrades to the hospital!" Moody ordered the Aurors, who witnessed Fudge's humiliation and the murderous look he gave some of them. "And make sure to inform the unconscious when they wake up that their training will be tripled. I can't believe two people who aren't even Aurors and didn't finish Hogwarts defeated nearly a hundred of you! What a disappointment!"
These last words seemed to sting the present Aurors even more, who knew the coming days would not be pleasant.
The crowd began to disperse slowly, but some remained in place, especially because of Fudge's insistence that I be investigated for the illegal portkey matter. His entourage also backed his demand; those accompanying him were nobles and leaders of large businesses in the magical world. They weren't fools; they had already investigated my business and knew my success could affect theirs. They feared losing part of their weak monopolies due to the affordable prices of my products, especially the canned magical plants. Even though they noticed the loss of quality when canning them, the price at which I sold so much was still dangerous.
Fudge, aware of the interests of those people, had no problem helping them against me. I was a former hero who had once stolen the spotlight from him, and then I became a "criminal" he couldn't send to Azkaban. I wasn't exactly his favorite person, but after what happened today, his contempt for me had grown into genuine hatred. Unable to attack me openly, he could only take advantage of the situation.
"We need to investigate the illegal Portkeys. Since we're here, we should verify it and find out what caused all this commotion," said Fudge, pointing to the few Aurors who were still able to follow him. Of course, he didn't forget to respectfully greet Dumbledore and apologize for not being able to attend to him, offering to invite him for a drink in his office once the matter was finished. His main objective at that moment was to create trouble for me.
"You could come by my shop for a drink," I offered with a mocking smile. "Professor Dumbledore, I can offer you a free service while the investigation is taking place."
Fudge was about to shout at me for offering such a thing, but at that moment, he heard Dumbledore's response and had to swallow his words.
"That would be nice," the elderly man replied.
Fudge internally grumbled, but there were too many people present, and he couldn't oppose Dumbledore's words so openly without damaging his image even more. So he had no choice but to accept and follow us to my business.
Several people followed me; some, like Dumbledore, acted naturally, while others, like Amelia and the remaining Aurors, looked tired and uncomfortable. Then there was Fudge and his entourage, who seemed to have a stick shoved up their backsides every time they looked at me.
Upon entering, we saw my employees, who were trying, with little success, to tend to their injured companions. Although they had been away from the center of the fight, they also suffered some injuries. Most would recover with simple spells, but a few were more affected, so I decided to intervene.
"Enervate," I cast a spell on one of the unconscious girls. Then, I looked at the one who seemed to be most injured and began to recite with wide movements of my wand: "Boreas, pnoe oxeia, apallaxon me tēs nosou. Ō Hēlie, phōs lampron, thermanthēti ta osta mou. Ō dendron hieron, rizai bathies, dos sarki trophēn."
The girl was enveloped in a soft light that changed color: first a grayish blue, then yellowish, and finally green. It was a full recovery spell; not very strong, but enough to stabilize any issues she might have had.
"Take your companions to the hospital," I told the healthier ones. "Take a few days off and let the other group know they'll have to work overtime."
"They can't leave, they're under investigation," said one of the nobles behind Fudge.
"You can tend to your wounded, but I can't?" I replied, glaring at them with clear hostility. I wasn't the only one; Amelia, Moody, and Dumbledore also looked at Fudge and his people disapprovingly.
Fudge had no choice but to accept sending the girls to the hospital. Under different circumstances, he would have used this to pressure me, but with Dumbledore's presence, he couldn't act so openly.
"Take them, but they'll have to present themselves at the Ministry to testify," Fudge said.
The girls left, and the rest began to settle in the place. Dumbledore was the most confident and looked for a table, while I offered a seat to Amelia and Alastor, though the latter preferred to stand with the Aurors, doing his job. Fudge and his companions didn't receive the same cordial treatment, and those who wanted to sit had to find a seat themselves.
The investigation began with Umbridge, who took the documents from one of the Aurors and started reading in a bureaucratic tone the list of charges against me, mentioning each hour, place, and person involved. Her irritating voice made everything much less bearable.
"I'm innocent," I repeated. "I don't have Portkeys in this business."
"According to the statement of a witness, a few days ago you explicitly said you had a..." she searched through the papers, "…a bulletin board for orders. Which, according to what was said, functions as a Portkey to the location of those orders," she said, looking at me with her chin raised, as if she despised me.
"Well, your witness has a very bad memory. I'm sure what I said was something like, 'This mission board works as a Portkey to the place where the missions take place.'"
"Ah, so you confirm you have a Portkey that has not been approved by the Ministry!" she exclaimed, with a strange malicious joy.
"You don't seem very bright. I said it 'works as a Portkey,' not that it is one."
"Impertinent!" she yelled, annoyed. "Then I could also say I have a stick that works as a wand, but it's not a wand," she mocked my words.
"I don't think Ollivander would appreciate what you're saying about his products," I said, smiling. "But what I'm saying is true, I don't have a Portkey."
"What's the object in question?" asked Amelia, wanting to end the discussion with the toad face.
"It's that bulletin board over there. You can check it if you want," I pointed before going to the kitchen to get some food for my guests, with a completely casual attitude, which irritated more than one person.
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2nd Additional Chapter
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