days at Hogwarts

Chapter 601 Shocking change!

"Harry, wake up, we are here to save Arthur and Percy!" Sirius said as he dragged Harry out of the pit.

"Yes... We are here to rescue people." Harry repeated in a low voice, moving his obsessed eyes away from the fluttering curtains. He shook his head to wake up, "Not in this room. Let's go back and try again."

On the other side of the arch, George and Fred stared at the fluttering curtain for several seconds with a hint of obsession in their eyes. After hearing the sound, they looked at each other. The twins showed a lingering fear on their faces and turned away without hesitation.

Returning to the dimly lit circular room, Hermione closed the wooden door leading to the veiled archway. She waved her wand, and a burning "X" was branded on the wooden door with the tattered veil. She asked in a voice that only the two of them could hear clearly, "Loren, what do you think that archway could be?"

"It's a little complicated to explain, let's look at the other rooms first..." Loren whispered.

The room was arranged like a theater stage. In the center was an arch leading to the world of death. The neatly arranged benches around it served as viewing seats. It looked like a courtroom no matter how you looked at it. Loren even suspected that this was where wizards carried out executions.

Loren turned his head and looked around, then walked to the smooth black wooden door next to him. He held the wand in one hand and pressed the other hand on the door, pushing hard - the wooden door did not move at all, not even the slightest shake, as if there was something heavy and hard behind the door, holding it firmly in place, and as if it was locked from the inside, preventing anyone from visiting or snooping.

Loren extended his wand and pressed it against the wooden door, gently moving it: "[Alaho Open]"

The wooden door still didn't respond.

The people watching also noticed something was wrong.

"Can't you open it?"

"Why can't it be opened?"

Ron stared at the dark wooden door, trying to observe some clues from it, but found nothing. He leaned closer and put his ear against the wooden door, listened for a moment, and shook his head in the face of everyone's expectant gaze.

"I'll try……"

Sirius took two steps forward, took out a dagger from his arms and held it in his reverse hand. He carefully placed the blade against the crack in the door, inserted it into the gap between the door and the wall, and slowly cut it from top to bottom... When he pulled the dagger out, the metal blade at the front of the dagger had melted and disappeared.

Ginny couldn't help but let out a small exclamation. What kind of powerful and restrained magic was it that could melt metal silently without the person holding the dagger noticing any movement?

Loren looked at the door with some surprise, trying to see what was stored behind the door through another perspective, but the material of the wooden door was very unusual, completely isolating it from magic and light, and he could not see anything.

"Let's abandon this room," said Hermione decisively.

Ron swallowed. "But what if this is the one?"

"No, the door of the Time Hall is not like this, and Harry can pass through that door smoothly in his dream." Hermione's expression was calm, and a burning mark was printed on the door.

The voices of several people discussing in a low voice echoed in the circular room. Loren came back to his senses from his thoughts. He looked at the three marks on the wooden door, and after a moment of hesitation, he suggested: "It will take too much time to search door by door. Let's try in groups. One person will push the door, and one person will be on guard at the side. Harry will be responsible for identification. Let's find the Time Hall as soon as possible."

"..."

After a brief and quick exchange, the group split into four groups, each coming to a wooden door.

Ginny and Harry stood behind Sirius, with their wands pointed at the door, ready to cast spells to guard against any possible danger. But when the space behind the wooden door appeared in front of the three of them, they never expected to see such a magical scene.

Inside the wooden door is an entire starry sky.

The space was pitch black, and it seemed as if there was no gravity. The slowly passing Pluto was only the size of a head, and the dim satellites outside Jupiter looked like a few stones. It was like some kind of miniature simulated starry sky, with no floors or walls, no dome, and even no shining sun...

Meanwhile, Loren and Hermione picked a random unmarked door, cautiously pushed open the wooden door, and walked into a dark, messy office.

An office that is not large or even narrow, and can only accommodate a few people at the same time. It looks quite old, with rough and slightly yellowed stone walls. The furnishings are very simple, with only a table, a bookshelf and stone walls around it. The cramped space reveals an indescribable weird atmosphere.

"It's weird..." Loren rested his chin on his hand and looked around, thinking, "It doesn't look like a staff office. The space is so small, and it doesn't look like an official's office either."

"Anyway, this is definitely not the Time Hall. Let's go out and open other doors." Hermione said decisively. The room in the Department of Mysteries looked normal, which was the biggest abnormality. But they were pressed for time and had no time to investigate.

"Found it! We found it!"

George and Fred's cheers suddenly came from next door.

The two men closed the door and strode over. Loren knew at a glance why this place was called the Time Hall. The room was filled with all kinds of clocks, round alarm clocks, square wall clocks, grandfather clocks and travel clocks, hanging in the gaps between bookshelves or placed on tables as long as the room. The fine sound of springs kept ringing, and the continuous ticking sound was like some small creature walking.

The most eye-catching thing is the bell-shaped transparent crystal cover at the end of the room. Strange magic flows and pulsates, and the light is as bright as a diamond.

"The Hall of Prophecy is inside, this way!"

Hermione led a few people inside. When they passed by the crystal cover, everyone's attention was attracted by the strange scene in the cover.

The crystal cover is crystal clear, with a silver mist swirling inside. Crystal gold particles are shining in the mist. A small, gem-bright egg is floating in the air flow. A hummingbird keeps breaking out of the shell, and after aging, it returns to the eggshell to be nurtured until it hatches again.

Is this... the power of time?
Loren gazed deeply at the light mist and the hummingbird, and followed Hermione hurriedly through the crystal cover. The scene of the hummingbird hatching and aging was deeply imprinted in his mind. He didn't know whether it was some kind of naturally occurring sand of time, or the alchemical work of ancient wizards, but one thing was certain - it contained extremely powerful magic.

Walk past the crystal cover and come to the only door at the back.

Harry took a deep breath and pushed open the wooden door: "Here it is..."

This was a spacious room, like a storage room or a warehouse, with a high ceiling and a very low temperature. Tiny ice crystals condensed in the air, and there was a distinct damp and cold smell.

The dim blue candlesticks were embedded in the tall display shelves, located at the ends of each row of shelves. The light in the hall was very dim and blurry.

Squinting their eyes, they could see a number on the shelf closest to them. The cursive number "53" was written in blue-black ink, indicating that this was the 53rd row of shelves. The shelf was filled with small gray crystal balls, each with a small yellowed label underneath. Some of the balls emitted a faint, flowing halo, while others were blurry and dark, like a broken light bulb.

When everyone walked into the prophecy hall holding their wands tightly, the air current from outside caused the candle flames to sway slightly, and the faint blue light and dark shadows swayed along with them. In the cold and empty space, nothing could be heard and the atmosphere became serious and tense.

Loren narrowed his eyes and looked at the two rows of shelves next to him. He lowered his voice and said, "Go to the right. Our target is in row 97."

The group moved forward cautiously, looking into the dim passage between two rows of shelves.

Perhaps the scenes in the dream were shining into reality. Loren could hear Harry's breathing become rapid and the Weasley children's heartbeats were fast and strong. They were all trying hard to hear every tiny sound in the room, but they could hear nothing.

Loren could even guess that their brains were spontaneously coming up with one bad guess after another, such as Mr. Weasley and Percy had been gagged or unconscious, Voldemort and the Death Eaters were hiding in an aisle among these shelves, ready to cast the Unforgivable Curse at them at any time, and the last thing they wanted to accept but kept lingering in their minds was... they might be dead.

Of course he didn't think so. His eyes swept across the room. Several crystal balls nearby flickered with soft light as they passed by. In the far corner, the evil black magic mixed with scarlet blood was so thick that it was almost impossible to disperse.

Voldemort...

Loren frowned slightly and began to sort out the doubts in the incident.

Voldemort's motives were very clear. Compared to occupying the useless Ministry of Magic, he attached more importance to his fate entanglement with Harry. Seeing his traces in the Hall of Prophecy also proved this. He painstakingly transferred other adult wizards of the Order of the Phoenix and then led Harry here through soul connection. All of this was for the prophecy ball.

Loren knew that the prophecy ball could only predict the future if it was touched personally by the relevant person, but Voldemort was here now, why didn't he take it down himself? Why went through so much trouble to go through so much trouble?
And get rid of your destined nemesis at the same time?
Besides…what about the other Death Eaters?

Loren twirled the wand between his thumb and index finger, combing the magic power flowing through his body while sensing his surroundings... The feeling of being able to Apparate at any time was reassuring.

They walked into the aisle of shelf 97, into the dim candlelight, and until they reached the end of shelf 97, the room was still quiet and there was no sound.

"It should be nearby..."

Harry's voice was hesitant. He squinted his eyes, trying to find some signs of a struggle, but he only saw a few crystal balls flashing soft light as they passed by. When his eyes swept over a crystal ball above his head, he was slightly stunned.

"What's wrong? Did you find anything?"

The others followed his gaze and saw a gray crystal ball covered with dust, as if no one had touched it for many years. A faint light shone from it.

The key point is the yellowed label below, on which a date about sixteen years ago was written in long and thin handwriting, followed by two short lines of words:
「SPT to APWBD:

The Dark Lord and Harry Potter

Hermione spelled out the letters in her mind and deciphered the result with almost no effort, reading it out softly: "Sybill Trelawney's prophecy to Albus... Dumbledore, concerning the Dark Lord and Harry Potter..."

Harry stared blankly.

"Sincere suggestion..." Loren glanced at the black magic that was getting closer and closer, holding his wand in his hand, "Since we can't find Mr. Weasley and Percy, why don't we leave now."

"Another sincere suggestion..."

Before anyone could reply, a long-drawn voice suddenly sounded from the corner of the shelf, and Voldemort walked out silently: "Potter, now stay where you are, take down the prophecy ball, and give it to me."

Ginny gasped in horror.

Voldemort looked towards them, his eyes flashing scarlet light, scanning them one by one. Perhaps sensing their fear, a smile appeared on the corner of his mouth: "It is disappointing that you failed to fulfill our agreement, Potter, but I can reluctantly forgive you. If you take that thing down and hand it over to me, I may consider letting your friends go."

The voice was not harsh, and the tone was even gentle.

Everyone stared at him closely, with different expressions, wondering how to respond.

Sirius silently protected the others behind him. George and Fred moved uneasily, one came to Ginny and the other came to Ron, holding their wands tightly.

There was a gleam in Loren's eyes. He looked around quietly, but found no trace of other wizards. He could not understand why Voldemort did not dare to approach the prophecy by himself.

Harry's heart sank slowly. He tried to ignore the tension and fear in his heart and asked in a deep voice, "Where are Mr. Weasley and Percy?"

"Who knows?" whispered Voldemort.

"Lies! You attacked them, you caught them, right here, I know it!"

"Stupid Potter, don't you understand by now? That was just a bait to lure you out of your nest..."

Voldemort smiled sarcastically, and pointed his wand at Ginny, emitting a faint light. "My patience is almost exhausted. If you don't want your friend to die before your eyes, hand over the prophecy to me immediately!"

Ron, George and Fred stood in front of Ginny at the same time, blocking the Dark Lord's wand. Harry's heart tightened and he silently raised his wand to his chest. Even Hermione was ready for battle.

"Wait, before we start, I have a question..."

Loren asked sincerely, "Why don't you just come and get it yourself?"

Before Voldemort could answer, a sharp female voice suddenly rang out from behind him: "Because he is afraid of Dumbledore's wisdom!"

Along with the explosion of the compressed air, many dark figures appeared out of thin air around, blocking all routes for Voldemort to move forward, backward, left and right. Those people were wearing Auror uniforms of the Ministry of Magic, with fear and excitement flashing in their eyes. Dozens of shining wands were pointing at Voldemort's heart.

(End of this chapter)