At the same time, after warning Pansy and the others not to follow him, Draco set off alone on the path to find Harry Potter.
After all, if Draco had not had the Marauder's Map, something almost like a map cheat, there was no way Pansy and the others would have felt at ease letting him act alone.
Let alone willingly step into such a dangerous place.
Right now, there were many people in Hogwarts who wanted to capture Draco.
After all, Draco had thoroughly outplayed those Death Eaters.
The moment he stepped out of the secret passage, Draco sensed that something was wrong with the atmosphere.
To be precise, the malice in the air was so clear that even someone who was not particularly sharp could feel the chill within it.
"So that's how it is?"
As Draco looked down at the Marauder's Map in his hand, his expression showed a sense of relief, as though this was exactly what he had expected.
He let out a self-mocking laugh. "Good thing I didn't let them see this. Otherwise, they definitely would have stopped me."
In truth, Pansy and the others would never have expected it.
They had considered so many possibilities and worried about all sorts of problems, yet in the end, the real issue appeared in the thing they trusted most: the Marauder's Map.
That was right.
Draco had not been ambushed by Death Eaters, nor had he run into Snape again by chance.
Instead, the instant he stepped out, the ink lines on the Marauder's Map vanished before Draco's eyes at a speed visible to the naked eye.
"Wait... what is this?"
His gaze, which had originally been fixed on the Marauder's Map, was suddenly drawn to the strange sight outside the window.
Even Draco could not help widening his eyes in shock at the scene before him, momentarily unable to speak.
Beautiful.
Breathtaking.
Especially beneath a night sky like this, it was enough to make anyone lose themselves in the view.
At the same time, he understood why the Marauder's Map had suddenly stopped working.
So it was interference from an outside force after all?
...
Faced with this sudden incident, Draco honestly was not too surprised. Rather, if it had been him, he probably would have chosen the same method.
"I just don't know whether this magical barrier is meant to stop an invasion, or whether it was cast by the side trying to prevent an escape."
Judging from Draco's perspective and the limited information he had, he truly could not determine exactly which side had used this orange magical barrier.
Was it one of the professors at Hogwarts?
Or was it Voldemort and his followers, who were preparing to attack this place?
But no matter which side had used it, Draco had already grasped its general effect, because the Marauder's Map in his hand was the result of being interfered with.
"I see. It blocks magical detection?"
"Magic can still be used... Apparition is still restricted... and it seems flight is restricted too?"
As Draco tested things, he analyzed the effects and changes brought about by this magical barrier.
For now, aside from the Marauder's Map being unusable, there did not seem to be much other impact, or perhaps some things simply had not changed to begin with.
But it had to be said, the failure of the Marauder's Map alone had already created a huge problem for Draco's next move.
"I was prepared for this, but it really is troublesome."
As he spoke, Draco cast a Disillusionment Charm over himself.
At the same time, he planned which route he should take next. After all, he no longer had the Marauder's Map, which had let him see the whole picture and know things in advance.
Just as Draco was about to set off, a sudden chill ran through him, and he abruptly looked toward the window.
At some point, the pure white moonlight had been covered by dark clouds.
In the distance, thunder rumbled.
A storm was about to arrive.
Through the semi-transparent orange magical shield, Draco seemed to see a black mist watching this place from the sky.
Blood-red eyes.
Narrow pupils like a snake's.
And the cold voice that came from every direction.
"Hand over... Harry Potter!"
...
The instant he heard that eerie voice, Draco hid warily in the shadows behind the wall and watched everything outside the window from the corner of his eye.
"It's... that person. He actually arrived early?"
Although Draco had never truly met Voldemort face-to-face, nor had he ever had a real, formal conversation with him, he could still hear a trace of the young Voldemort in that voice.
After all, Draco was a wizard who had directly faced Voldemort's Horcrux. He had also seen Voldemort during his student days in the Pensieve.
So even though the voice had changed somewhat, that arrogant tone and way of speaking still allowed Draco to recognize his identity, and not merely because his target was Harry Potter.
"But... I didn't expect it to be Potter. I thought..."
While Draco was still feeling somewhat surprised, Voldemort's voice did not stop.
At this moment, that voice from who knew where could still be heard. "None of you will be harmed. Hand over Harry Potter, and I will leave the school unharmed. Hand over Harry Potter, and you will be rewarded. Hand over Harry Potter, unless you wish to embrace death!"
Three consecutive demands to "hand over Harry Potter."
Not only did it tell everyone in Hogwarts that there was no room for compromise or bargaining when it came to Harry Potter, but the shift from promise to threat also showed that this was the Dark Lord's final mercy.
At the same time, it showed just how much our cold and ruthless Dark Lord cared about Harry Potter's life and death.
"I will wait until midnight."
"..."
"..."
As the sound suddenly faded, silence once again swallowed Hogwarts.
It was easy to imagine how much emotional turmoil Voldemort's ultimatum had caused everyone in Hogwarts.
After all, sacrificing one person could save many.
That choice was indeed tempting, especially for wizards who had nothing to do with Harry Potter. For them, this condition was extremely attractive.
Draco could already imagine what kind of chaos and wavering would appear among the wizards who had heard those words.
...
As for the content of Voldemort's ultimatum, aside from fear, the first thought that would surface in most young wizards' minds would be whether it was feasible.
If it were Snape and the other professors, however, there would be deep concern mixed in with their anger.
What they were worried about was not their own safety, but whether they could protect the students they cared about. As for Snape, naturally, he would be worried about Harry Potter, the boy who had always left him conflicted.
But if it was Draco, who could calmly look at this matter from the perspective of an outsider, then he could faintly sense certain details within it.
"Wait!"
"Why 'hand over' Potter?"
The words "hand over" were extremely precise.
They meant that the Harry Potter Voldemort wanted could not appear before him dead.
It looked like a tiny detail that meant nothing, but in reality, it was the biggest problem here.
This did not fit Voldemort's usual way of doing things at all, nor did it sound like the attitude of someone who truly wanted to put Harry Potter to death.
Then what was the reason?
Surely Voldemort did not have some twisted hobby of torturing people face-to-face, did he?
Hm... though that was not entirely impossible.
"Looks like my direction wasn't wrong. That Chosen One definitely has some secret on him, and it's a secret that person cares about very much!"
Walking through the empty corridor, Draco slowed his steps and tried to focus his thoughts.
"Don't think about those things for now."
"Think carefully. If I were Potter, where would I hide so no one could find me?"
His mind spun rapidly.
At that moment, Draco stopped walking. Leaning against the wall, he covered his face with both hands and closed his eyes.
In this moment, Draco was very quiet.
The sweat beading at his temples showed just how quickly his thoughts were racing.
"First, that person can't know Potter's movements perfectly."
"Second, he seems to have done something to Potter that lets him vaguely know Potter's direction. Otherwise, he couldn't be so certain Potter is here."
"And finally... the Death Eaters' whereabouts!"
As if he had thought of something, the corners of Draco's mouth lifted slightly, and his reopened eyes shone with a bright, mesmerizing light.
Draco had noticed that some time had already passed since he returned to Hogwarts Castle.
The Death Eaters, who should have been sent to search thoroughly for Harry Potter and for him, had not appeared at all. There had not even been the slightest sound of footsteps.
Even if this location was not exactly the heart of Hogwarts, it was still impossible not to run into a single person. The probability of that was extremely low.
And when it came to this, Draco did not believe it was merely a coincidence.
In other words...
"The answer lies with them."
Draco lifted his feet again and quickly headed in a certain direction.
There was only one explanation.
That was...
From Voldemort, the Death Eaters had already received a rough range where Harry Potter might be hiding right now.