The Ministry of Magic didn't take kindly to the news that Hogwarts had been taken over by a student and his followers.
They sent aurors immediately, dozens of them, all of them armed and ready for combat. Their orders were simple: capture or kill Dean Potter, restore order to Hogwarts, and eliminate the threat posed by the Unbound.
But Dean had anticipated this. He'd spent weeks preparing defenses, creating wards that would protect his followers from Ministry interference. And he'd cultivated allies throughout the magical world, people who owed him favors or who believed in his vision.
When the Ministry aurors arrived at Hogwarts, they found the gates sealed, protected by magic that was far beyond their ability to break through. And when they tried to force their way in, they were met with a response that made them pause.
Dean appeared before them, alone, his power radiating outward like a physical force.
"I don't want to fight the Ministry," Dean said, his voice calm and measured. "But I will if I have to. Hogwarts is now a free zone. No one here is subject to Ministry control. Anyone who tries to enforce Ministry law will be met with resistance."
The lead auror, a grizzled veteran named Gawain Robards, stepped forward. "You're under arrest for the murder of Albus Dumbledore and for treason against the Ministry."
"I didn't murder Dumbledore," Dean said. "He died of a curse he'd inflicted on himself. And as for treason, I'm not a citizen of the Ministry. I'm a free person, exercising my right to live my life as I see fit."
"That's not how the law works," Robards said.
"Then the law needs to change," Dean replied.
The standoff lasted for hours. The Ministry aurors tried various tactics to breach the wards, but none of them worked. They tried negotiating, tried threatening, tried appealing to Dean's sense of justice.
But Dean was unmoved. He'd spent a lifetime refusing to accept the rules imposed by authority figures. He wasn't about to start now.
Finally, the Ministry made a decision that surprised everyone: they backed down. The aurors withdrew, leaving Hogwarts under Dean's control.
It was a tactical retreat, Dean realized. The Ministry was gathering its forces, preparing for a larger confrontation. They were going to try to take Hogwarts by force, and they were willing to level the castle to do it.
Which meant Dean had to move quickly. He had to consolidate his power, had to prepare his followers for the coming conflict, had to ensure that the Ministry understood the cost of trying to take what he'd built.
"We need to expand," Dean told his inner circle, the most trusted of his followers. "We can't just hold Hogwarts. We need to take control of other magical institutions, other centers of power. We need to show the Ministry that we're not just a school, we're a movement."
"That's a big step," Hermione said. "Once we do that, there's no going back. The Ministry will declare us enemies of the state."
"They've already done that," Dean said. "We might as well make it official."
Over the next few weeks, Dean's followers spread throughout the magical world. They took control of magical academies, magical libraries, magical institutions of all kinds. They didn't use violence, not initially. They simply showed up and offered people a choice: join the Unbound and be free, or remain under Ministry control.
Most people chose freedom.
The Ministry's response was to declare Dean and his followers criminals. They put a price on Dean's head, offered rewards for information about the Unbound's locations and activities.
But it was too late. The movement had grown too large, had spread too far. And more importantly, people were beginning to believe in Dean's vision. They were beginning to see that there was an alternative to the rigid control of the Ministry and the authority figures who'd ruled the magical world for centuries.
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