Running footsteps and shouts echoed through the castle.
Through the corridor windows, streaks of bright light flashed across the pitch-black sky.
The Order of the Phoenix members protecting Harry Potter now followed the noise to the main gates of Hogwarts.
Speaking of which, quite some time had already passed, yet the pain coming from Harry Potter's scar showed no sign of weakening.
He was in agony, yet painfully awake.
For the first time, Harry Potter wished he would simply pass out.
And that unbearable pain caused the magic throughout Harry Potter's body to start running wild.
"Harry, stay with me!"
"Professor... Lupin."
"Can you hear me?"
"I... I destroyed the Horcrux."
"Horcrux?"
"Ravenclaw's Diadem... Voldemort... he hid it in the Room of Requirement..."
Although Harry Potter's words came out in broken fragments, the Order of the Phoenix members present still understood what he was trying to say.
The Fiendfyre just now.
The fire coming from the Room of Requirement.
And the reason Harry Potter had risked returning to Hogwarts.
All of it now had an answer in his explanation.
However, compared with the Horcrux that had already been destroyed, there was something far more urgent before them.
Ahead in the corridor lay the first group of casualties brought back from the battlefield, along with Madam Pomfrey, the school nurse, who was so busy she did not even have time to drink a mouthful of water.
And among those casualties were many professors and companions Lupin and the others recognized, which made it clear just how fierce the battle had become.
It was worth mentioning that, on the way here, the two Gargoyles that usually guarded the entrance to the teachers' office had suddenly been struck by a Jinx fired through another broken window. After they were shattered, the remaining fragments writhed feebly on the floor.
As Harry Potter and the others leapt over a head separated from its body, they could still hear it groan weakly, "Oh, don't mind me... just let me lie here and fend for myself..."
That long, ugly stone face called to mind the marble bust of Rowena Ravenclaw, and the ridiculous headdress on it. Then, in turn, it brought to mind the statue in Ravenclaw Tower, with the stone Diadem resting on its white curls.
Interestingly enough, even at such a critical moment, the loyal little knight Sir Cardogan was still accompanying Harry Potter and the others.
He could be seen charging out of one painting and into another, shouting words of encouragement as he ran along the entire corridor.
His armor clattered loudly, and his fat little pony trotted behind him. "Braggarts, bastards, filthy rogues, scoundrels! Drive them out, Harry Potter! Beat them back!"
Was this what it meant to be a knight?
Insults of this level could not even begin to compare with Snape's venomous tongue.
...
In any case, after greeting the busy Madam Pomfrey briefly, Lupin led the remaining Order of the Phoenix members toward the battlefield.
As for the abnormality in Harry Potter, the heavy-hearted Lupin overlooked it.
Perhaps only Hagrid, who was currently carrying Harry Potter as he ran, faintly sensed that something was wrong with Harry Potter.