Looking at Harry's determined face, Ron opened his mouth in a daze, only to find that he could not say a single word to persuade him.
He could not convince Harry.
He suddenly realized that.
Just as no one could convince him not to go onto the battlefield later.
"I... I..."
Harry gently pried away the arm Ron had used to stop him, then smiled at Hermione, whose eyes were full of tears.
"You don't need to talk me out of it. We've already lost two professors. No matter what, as long as the Horcrux inside me is destroyed, Professor Dumbledore will be able to kill Voldemort."
Yes. Even knowing that Snape had done this to give him a better chance, Harry did not truly expect to survive Voldemort.
Too many people had already died in the war against Voldemort. His parents, Peter Pettigrew, Professor Fawley, Snape...
If possible, he hoped he would be the last.
"I..."
Ron bit his lip hard and stared fixedly at Harry.
"Don't misunderstand me. I mean, how are you planning to face Voldemort? Is there anything we can do to help?"
Harry was amused into a silent grin.
"Dumbledore plans to lead everyone in an attack on the Death Eaters and create a chance for me to face Voldemort alone."
"I only have one request for you. Survive."
At that, Hermione's tears immediately spilled over. She lunged forward and pulled both of them into her arms.
"You too. You have to survive!"
That was a difficult question for Harry to answer. After a long moment, he simply patted Hermione on the shoulder.
"What are you doing?"
Sirius walked over carrying several things from the Weasley twins, tugging at the anti-curse vest he was wearing with obvious distaste for its purely practical design.
The Weasley twins' anti-curse set had actually been developed long ago, and had even been issued to Aurors and muggle military police on the front lines.
But after their trip to Egypt and personal guidance from Nicolas Flamel, they had lost interest in those earlier crude versions and started improving the next generation of anti-curse robes and Shield Hats.
For mass production, however, they had very pragmatically chosen lightweight bulletproof vests and berets that could be industrially produced in large batches.
So after changing into the gear, Sirius was still wearing wizard robes underneath, but with a green bulletproof vest over them, while his hair was pressed beneath a red beret.
Seeing him look so strange, Harry and the other two could not even keep feeling sad.
"It's nothing. I'm just a little worried about the fight later," Harry said, wiping the corner of his eye.
"No need to worry." Sirius casually shoved the vest in his hands into Harry's arms. "Put this on, stand behind me later, and I promise nothing will happen to you."
Harry stared blankly at the large bundle in his arms.
The only person Harry could now call family was Sirius. But to Sirius, wasn't Harry also his only family?
So Harry had not, and did not dare, tell Sirius about his decision.
He could only stare at the vest in his hands, dazed, not knowing what to say at this moment of farewell.
Even Sirius noticed something off about such an unusual reaction.
"What's wrong? Don't like the style?"
"Exactly."
Hermione forced a smile, snatched the vest from Harry's arms, and started putting it on Ron.
Seeing them clumsily getting into the vests, Sirius finally nodded in satisfaction.
"Remember, Dumbledore and Grindelwald will be leading. We professors and members of the Order of the Phoenix will be in the middle, and you lot stay at the very back. Don't try to be heroes."
After giving them a careful round of instructions, he hurried to catch up with the main group led by Dumbledore.
"I'm honestly not even surprised that elegant old man is Grindelwald," Ron said helplessly, patting the vest on his chest.
Someone capable of helping Dumbledore fight Voldemort, and whose ruthless methods even surpassed Dumbledore's, had long since made the students suspect his identity.
Only now did Ron and the others learn the truth from Sirius's slip of the tongue.
"Who is Grindelwald?" Harry asked curiously.
He did not think the vest he was wearing could withstand Voldemort's magic, but Sirius kept signaling from a distance, and he did not want to disappoint his godfather at a time like this.
"The first Dark Lord. The war he once set off across Europe was far greater than anything Voldemort has done. If Dumbledore hadn't stopped him, Voldemort might never have had his chance."
Hermione looked at Grindelwald, who was quietly saying something to Dumbledore, with a complicated expression. The looks on their faces were no better than the three of theirs.
"Fleur once told me there's always been a rumor in the wizarding world that Professor Fawley's teacher was this legendary Dark Lord imprisoned in Nurmengard."
At the mention of the professor's name, Harry and the others fell silent again, and their curiosity about Grindelwald immediately faded.
"After something like this, he must be... heartbroken too."
The three of them silently followed at the rear of the main group. But unlike before, they no longer had the mood of students going out to play.
At that moment, the sun was still far from rising. Only a smear of gold at the edge of the sky had begun to seep into the endless darkness, offering them a trace of warmth in the cold night.
"Wow."
Sensing the movement here, Voldemort quickly gathered his followers and came forward to confront them.
Unlike their solemn expressions, Voldemort's face, pale as an Inferius, was filled with smug mockery.
"I was still trying to work out how to control those stupid great stone statues, and I didn't expect you to bring the students out yourselves."
"What, are you all here to watch the sunrise together?"
The Dark Wizards behind Voldemort immediately burst into wild, piercing laughter. Streaks of green light shot into the sky and exploded into sinister sparks.
Dumbledore watched it all calmly. As he looked at Voldemort, who no longer held the slightest trace of Tom Riddle's soul and had only grown more deranged, a flicker of sorrow crossed his eyes.
Marvolio's existence had shown him that Voldemort might not have been beyond redemption. In a sense, Dumbledore's resistance and mishandling of him back then had been one of the causes that led Voldemort to become what he was now.
Fortunately, Tom had still left behind a Marvolio.
At that thought, Dumbledore put away every trace of sympathy he had for Voldemort. All that remained was the severity he had restrained for so many years.
"Tom, this is the last time I will call you by that name."
The madness on Voldemort's face froze for a moment. He looked at Dumbledore in astonishment, realizing that something was wrong.
"With actions as deranged as yours, your incomplete soul can no longer support your wicked ambitions. You brought these people here for one reason only. You want Hogwarts and the wizarding world to be buried with you."
"And now, I won't even leave you the chance to see the sunrise."