The Death Eaters, having lost their will to fight, were soon destroyed.
In an effort to prevent the next mass breakout, the Regulators were ruthless, killing all but a dozen Death Eaters who had lost their ability to fight.
After a brief cleaning of the battlefield, Arthur Weasley and the others came forward to hug Pierce gratefully.
"Thank you so much, Pierce. You saved us!"
"Yes! If you'd come any later, you'd have had to clean up after us…" said Rufus Scrimgeour, his voice thick with fear.
The rest of the Ministry of Magic officials stepped forward to express their gratitude, and some of the more thoughtful wizards made friendly gestures.
After all, Minister for Magic Fudge had been killed by You-Know-Who's Death Curse, and the election of the next Minister would be held no later than tomorrow morning.
Pearce was a popular candidate for Minister for Magic, and now he had made a name for himself in the war, fighting off the Dark Lord and saving more than thirty high-ranking Ministry officials. Anyone with half a brain could see that the next Minister for Magic was out of the question.
In the midst of all the praise, Rufus Scrimgeour became a bit of a wet blanket as he questioned the whole incident, curious as to how Piers had learned of You-Know-Who's plans in advance and why Lucius and the others had suddenly rebelled.
Under the probing gaze of Rufus Scrimgeour and the others, Pierce remained calm and repeated the speech he had prepared.
"Well, a week ago, Macnair came to me out of the blue and explained the You-Know-Who's plan to attack the Ministry of Magic, providing me with partial memories as evidence… I realized the gravity of the situation then, and gathered some trusted Aurors to investigate."
All of the wizards present turned to look at Macnair. Many of them had been involved in the trial more than a decade ago, and were, of course, aware of Macnair's former status as a Death Eater. Now, it seemed that they were unhappy with You-Know-Who's tyranny and chose to resist, thus revealing the attack on the Ministry to Pierce.
Kingsley Shacklebolt, however, still found this odd, and pressed the issue. "If you had evidence, why didn't you tell us? It would have saved you a lot of unnecessary casualties."
"Forgive me for being cautious, Kingsley… but I couldn't be sure you were working for You-Know-Who at the time," Pierce said solemnly, then turned to Lucius.
"After all, Mr Malfoy told me that Minister Fudge may have had some shady dealings with You-Know-Who, so it's best not to trust anyone!"
"Eh?" Lucius was taken aback by Pierce's sudden outburst, but he quickly recovered and nodded.
"Ah, yes, that's right. I heard the news by chance from the Dark Lord, but he didn't really trust me, so I didn't know what sort of agreement he had with Minister Fudge."
Arthur and the others looked down at Fudge, who was lying on the floor, and understood why Pierce was being so cautious.
Seeing the expressions on everyone's faces, Pierce knew they believed him and continued to explain.
"With that in mind, I had to start from the outside, as Minister Fudge had placed me in charge of investigating Knockturn Alley in recent months, where I happened to meet Mr Dougett and Madam Alicia, and learn of the changes in Knockturn Alley in recent years…"
Piers was full of praise for the couple and tried to show that the residents of Knockturn Alley had expelled the wicked Dark Wizards and achieved true democratic self-rule.
The expressions on Kingsley Shacklebolt and the others' faces grew stranger and stranger as they listened to Pierce. Everyone in the wizarding world knew that Knockturn Alley was a gathering place for dark witches and wizards. It had been a chaotic place for centuries, filled with murder and intrigue.
Expect these Dark Wizards to suddenly come to their senses and repent?
The sudden death of the mysterious man was more reliable than this!
Kingsley Shacklebolt, by contrast, would have preferred to believe that Pierce had made a deal with these men, promising them many benefits in order to get so many men to work for him on such short notice.
However, Kingsley Shacklebolt did not state this publicly. After all, this was a special period in which all the forces that could be united were needed.
He had personally witnessed the fighting prowess of those Dark Wizards. They were no weaker than the Aurors, and were even more ruthless in their attacks. If they were forced to the You-Know-Who's side because of some prejudice…
After ten minutes or so of explaining the situation, Pierce gathered everyone who was not seriously injured in the main hall for the post-war reorganisation.
The battle just now caused extremely serious damage and a large number of casualties. Hundreds of people had to be sent to the infirmary for emergency treatment!
Add to that the need to arrange places for Death Eaters to be held, the meetings to discuss repairs to the badly damaged buildings, and Pierce was so busy that he did not catch a break until around four o'clock in the afternoon, when he was able to take half an hour to his office.
Despite his hectic schedule, Pierce enjoyed the feeling of being in charge, not to mention the fact that everyone seemed to think of him as a hero for driving You-Know-Who away, and even Rufus, whom he had never dealt with before, was grateful.
Pierce felt light-headed at the thought.
Crack…
While Pierce was lost in his thoughts, the door to his office burst open and he looked annoyed. He looked up to see who had just walked in without knocking.
However, when Pierce saw who it was, he shivered and his arrogant expression immediately became extremely humble. He hurriedly stood up and moved aside to greet them respectfully.
"Sir Harls…"
Ivan locked the door behind him and sat down at the head of the table. He tapped the table with his right hand and asked casually, "How did it go, Pierce? Did anyone suspect us?"
"No, your plan was flawless. Everyone now believes that You-Know-Who attacked the Ministry of Magic… No one would ever think of the second possibility!" Pierce said excitedly, shaking his head.
Pierce was very glad that he had chosen to side with Fudge half a month ago. Otherwise, he would have died a horrible death, like Fudge, or he would have been played like a fool by those fools outside…