#58 - Minister Millicent Barnold

"Come on, let me see who this mad dog is," Moody muttered to himself, removing the mask from the Death Eater he had killed. "So it's Evan Rosier, should have known it was him. Didn't expect the Dark Lord to corrupt him so deeply. Seems like he and Wilkes, who was taken down upstairs, were classmates. Deserved to die for resisting arrest!"

Moody grumbled as he dealt with the bodies, then suddenly thought of something else, muttering to himself, "Speaking of which, that young wizard Anduin, was that wandless magic? And they've taken down more Death Eaters here than on the front lines. Quite a remarkable bunch."

Meanwhile, the group that had gone above ground had just returned to the main hall. The front door of the house and the walls inside were riddled with holes, showing signs of intense fighting. Many Aurors and Order of the Phoenix members were helping with repairs, while on the other side of the hall, a crowd was gathered around Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew.

"James!" "Frank!" Lily and Alice each embraced their husbands as they approached with their children.

"Lily, thank God, we won! You wouldn't believe what we just went through!" James and the others seemed unaware that Death Eaters had infiltrated the underground safe house, embracing Lily with lingering fear.

The gathered crowd turned to greet the returning group. Anduin saw Edgar Bones, Kingsley Shacklebolt, and Gideon Prewett, whom he had met before, as well as a man resembling Gideon, presumably his brother Fabian. There was also a woman with them, whose demeanor was similar to Charles's, likely his aunt Marlene McKinnon, whom Charles had mentioned.

Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew, surrounded by the others, were bandaged, one around his torso, the other on his right arm, indicating they had been injured in the recent battle.

Peter Pettigrew was recounting how bravely he had fought, how he had desperately rolled to avoid a curse, and how his right hand had been cut in the process. Sirius, who was clearly more seriously injured, remained silent but managed to give Anduin a playful wink when he saw him.

Listening to Peter's boasting, Anduin thought it was ridiculous. So he injured himself falling? And it was his wand hand, which meant he was useless for the rest of the fight, doing absolutely nothing.

Seeing the injured men, Lily handed Harry to her husband James, then stepped forward to hug them both, saying, "Thank you, thank you, Peter, Sirius. You were both heroes today."

Sirius grinned, but it seemed to aggravate his injury, so he could only grimace as he said, "It was nothing, Lily, just dealing with some rabble. Too bad we only caught three, the others were rescued, Humph!"

Augusta Longbottom, hearing this, laughed and said, "That's not necessarily true, there are four more lying in the basement downstairs."

"Ah?" "What?" "There are Death Eaters downstairs? What's going on?" The crowd finally realized that someone had infiltrated the basement, and likely engaged Lily's group.

James reacted strongly, quickly pulling Lily close, asking, "What's going on? Did Death Eaters infiltrate the safe house? Are you hurt?"

Augusta interjected again, "Can't you see with your own eyes if they're hurt? Goodness, you wouldn't believe how dangerous it was in the basement, fighting those Death Eaters."

Lily, held by James, was afraid Augusta would exaggerate and reveal the part about the crazed Death Eater rising to attack, which would frighten everyone, so she quickly interjected, "Don't worry, I put protective enchantments on the safe house downstairs. We were prepared, thanks to Anduin's idea. They were taken care of as soon as they broke through the enchantments."

Lily downplayed the situation to ease everyone's worries, but it had been extremely dangerous, especially with two children under the age of one.

Augusta understood Lily's intentions and didn't say anything more. Instead, she glared at her son Frank, who had been holding Alice, checking her over as if she might break, while completely ignoring his own mother.

"Hey, Lily, do you know who that dead Death Eater downstairs is? He's an old classmate of yours," Mad-Eye Moody said, his voice preceding him as he limped towards the group, followed by four floating Death Eaters, three bound together, and the other, or rather, the corpse, floating separately.

"What!" Hearing there were four more downstairs, the crowd began asking questions again.

"A Death Eater died? What exactly happened in the safe house? Did you kill him, Lily?" James asked Lily anxiously.

Moody, who had just come up, laughed loudly, "I killed that one! It was quite a close call. If it weren't for Anduin's quick reaction, that guy who drank the blood potion, his Killing Curse might have hit your precious son."

James gasped and looked at Lily with questioning eyes.

Just then, three people walked in from outside: Dumbledore, a middle-aged man with a mustache, and a stern-looking middle-aged woman.

Moody nodded to greet them, "Dumbledore, Minister Bagnold, Director Crouch."

Seeing the Minister of Magic and the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement entering with Dumbledore, everyone greeted them.

Minister Millicent Bagnold, addressing the crowd in a slow, gentle tone, said, "Thank you all for your hard work today. Tonight is a victory for us against the Death Eaters. We killed two on the spot and formally arrested one Death Eater."

Moody chuckled, "Minister, tonight's haul is more than that. One more was killed, and three Death Eaters were arrested."

Only then did Millicent Bagnold notice the four figures lying at Moody's feet, exclaiming in surprise, "There were survivors?"

Barty Crouch, standing beside the Minister, stared in astonishment at the four figures, and upon recognizing one of them, exclaimed, "This is, Evan Rosier?"