Speaking of which.
From the moment news of Dumbledore's death spread, all news of Harry Potter vanished at once.
Not only did he fail to appear anywhere outside Hogwarts, he did not return to his home in the Muggle world either.
It was as if, overnight, the Chosen One had disappeared completely from the magical world.
It looked as though something terrible had happened to him, but in reality, Harry Potter had not been captured by the Dark Lord, nor had he lost his life because of some incident. Instead, he had been protected by the former members of the Order of the Phoenix.
Although Dumbledore's death caused the Fidelius Charm to fail, exposing the Order of the Phoenix's location.
Lupin and the others still relied on Dumbledore's connections from when he was alive, along with their own considerable magical strength, to successfully hide Harry Potter's whereabouts.
But they probably never imagined.
That the Chosen One they were trying to protect would actually throw himself straight into the trap.
The Room of Requirement.
No one knew how much time had passed. Only after his violent panting gradually calmed did Harry Potter's mind begin to slowly turn again.
But very soon, Harry Potter stopped moving once more. Instead, he began to tremble.
Because he realized that the moment he entered the Room of Requirement, the scar on his forehead had started burning with searing pain again.
It was as if something nearby could affect that scar.
But when he opened the Room of Requirement, all he had been thinking of was a place to hide. There should not have been anything special about it, right?
Could it be the antiques piled in the corner?
"It's starting again... ever since I came in here..."
That intense burning sensation left Harry Potter trapped in a strange state, lucid one second and nearly unconscious the next.
He had the illusion that his brain was about to split open.
With his thoughts muddled, Harry Potter curled his body up and murmured to himself on the floor.
"Horcrux... secrets and lies... don't trust anyone... the plan... must find it... then destroy it."
Broken and disjointed.
And the contents were far from complete.
Yet when those fragmented words were pieced together, it seemed possible to extract some crucial information from them.
Beyond that, what drew the most attention was.
Deep within Harry Potter's emerald-green eyes, the very eyes that could drag Snape into memories, there seemed to be a terrifying, hideous monster lurking.
And Harry Potter's twisted expression, as if he were struggling to stay conscious and sane, carried an eerie feeling of someone fighting at the edge of an abyss.
...
It had to be said.
Without Snape's trust, and without Professor McGonagall's help.
Even if these Death Eaters tore the place apart for three feet underground, they still made no progress over the course of that week.
As for where Draco had hidden himself and that group of people, they had no clue at all.
They did not even know how Draco had done it.
Boom, boom, boom!
Inside the Slytherin common room, the sound of spells exploding rang out again and again.
Mixed in with those explosions was someone's shrill, furious roar.
"Shut up! You filthy, despicable Werewolf!"
"Hahaha, I'd really love to see what you look like as a Werewolf. You'd better not give me the chance, Amycus, soon to disappoint his master!"
Boom!
A violent explosion erupted not far from the fireplace.
And in the center of that fireplace, there was a man's head formed from green flames.
If Draco were here, he would definitely recognize the other party's identity.
It was the Werewolf leader under Voldemort.
Fenrir Greyback.
Although he was grinning broadly at Amycus Carrow before him, the red light flickering in his eyes and that frenzied murderous intent showed just how much damage Amycus's earlier insult toward Werewolves had dealt to him.
Because Voldemort looked down on them, the Death Eaters under him also looked down on these Werewolves.
That was why, despite clearly belonging to the same side, they treated each other like enemies.
"Calm down, brother."
"Mm..."
Only after Alecto Carrow spoke from the side did Amycus, who had been so irritable moments ago, withdraw the magic around him.
That obedient behavior could not help making one look twice.
It did not seem like a Death Eater at all.
...
Then Alecto Carrow looked at Fenrir Greyback, who still had his mouth open, with a face full of disgust.
"So you can confirm that our target is still inside Hogwarts?"
"Don't doubt my people. I can guarantee that during this past week, not a single magical mosquito or wizard has escaped Hogwarts' encirclement. Not one!"
"......"
In fact.
Alecto Carrow did not doubt Fenrir Greyback's words much.
Although he looked down on these Werewolves, he had to admit that their abilities were quite good. If there had been any movement, there was no reason they would not have noticed.
Rather, given Fenrir's hatred of wizards, he had absolutely no reason to let those young wizards who had delivered themselves to his mouth escape.
Especially not when there were so many of them.
After a pause.
"In that case, it means our target is still hiding right under our noses?"
"That's the only explanation."
"But... how did they do it? Hogwarts must still have secrets we don't know about."
"It seems we'll have to question our dear Headmaster and those responsible professors properly."
Hearing Alecto Carrow's analysis, Amycus revealed a ferocious smile. "So in the end, we still have to get what we want from Severus and those people? We should have done that from the start!"
Although, for certain reasons, they were somewhat restricted in how they could deal with Snape.
Death Eaters were, by nature, mad and lawless. When pushed into a corner, there was nothing they would not do.
Not to mention, Voldemort had no intention of restraining these people.
In any case.
Ignoring her excited brother, Alecto Carrow looked toward the green flames formed by Floo powder before her.
"It seems you have something to say, you filthy scavenger."
"Heh heh heh... Don't forget I warned you. A little rat has sneaked into your place."
"What do you mean by that?"
"Who knows... hahahahahahaha~~"
Along with that mad laughter.
Fenrir Greyback vanished directly into the air.
This result made even the calm Alecto Carrow burst out with magic full of murderous intent.