Moody's expression suddenly turned serious.
His one good eye stared straight at Dumbledore as he said, "Dumbledore, can you really be sure that there's a Horcrux hidden in the Department of Mysteries?"
Hearing this, Dumbledore took a deep breath and said, "How should I put this, Alastor… The source of this information is basically reliable, and the Death Eaters' recent activities have indeed been focused on the Ministry of Magic and the Department of Mysteries. So there's a high probability that this is true."
"High probability? Basically reliable?" Moody frowned and repeated a few of the words from Dumbledore's statement.
"Dumbledore, I've noticed that the way you talk now sounds more and more like the Auror commanders I ran into during the war back then."
"Every time we asked them about their strategic intentions and plans, their words were always full of this kind of uncertainty."
"Yes, I understand, intelligence is never something you can be one hundred percent sure about, and sometimes war really does require taking a gamble."
"But that doesn't mean the lives of us frontline personnel should be used by you to test and correct mistakes!"
"So I'll ask you one more time. Can you be sure that there is a Horcrux hidden inside the Department of Mysteries?"
Hearing this, Dumbledore fell silent, only looking at Moody with a complicated gaze.
And just at that moment, Sirius suddenly shoved the door open and walked in.
He frowned, first glaring at Moody, then said excitedly to Dumbledore, "Do it, Dumbledore! Let's sneak into the Department of Mysteries! I'm not a coward like Moody, and I believe Remus isn't either! We're willing to give it a try!"
Moody looked at Sirius with a contemptuous gaze.
He had seen far too many green recruits like this.
He himself had once been just as hot-blooded, just as reckless.
But what had that brought him?
Betrayal and death.
You had to know that during the Second Wizarding War, the casualty rate of new recruits in their first battle once reached a shocking 80%.
Someone like Sirius Black, in his eyes, was exactly the type to die in the first wave.
He sneered and turned his gaze back to Dumbledore, ready to see how Dumbledore would handle Sirius.
If Dumbledore, like those commanders before him, only knew how to use lofty, high-sounding words to stir up fools like Sirius, then Moody would have to seriously reconsider whether he should continue following Dumbledore.
After all, although he was willing to sacrifice for ideals and social stability, at the end of the day, he was still a man who was very afraid of death.
Otherwise, he wouldn't have been rumored to suffer from persecution paranoia.
Under Moody's watchful gaze, Dumbledore slowly let out a sigh.
He didn't answer Sirius's question. Instead, he said very seriously to Moody, "Alastor, I'm sorry, but I can't be one hundred percent sure that the Horcrux is inside the Department of Mysteries."
"However, I absolutely have no intention of sending you to your deaths to test things. In fact, in the short term, I've never had any plan to bring people into the Department of Mysteries at all."
"Why!?"
Before Moody could speak, Sirius suddenly roared, "This is a heaven-sent opportunity! We've been tracking the Death Eaters for so long, and now that we finally have a chance, you won't let us act?"
"Do you have any idea? Ever since Voldemort took over Azkaban, the power in his hands has been expanding more and more! If we keep sitting around waiting like this, then we..."
Sirius couldn't go on.
He stood there biting his fingers, strange whimpering sounds constantly coming from his throat.
This made both Dumbledore and Moody lower their heads.
Sirius's emotions really hadn't been very stable during this period.
The large-scale prison break discovered in Azkaban had given him a huge shock, causing him to lose control from time to time.
But Dumbledore and Moody completely understood.
Anyone who had been locked up in Azkaban for more than ten years would end up like this.
So after waiting until Sirius gradually calmed down, Dumbledore softened his tone and said, "Sirius, I know you're anxious, but this operation involves the Department of Mysteries. We must think it through carefully."
"What's there to think through?" Sirius retorted. "Do you think I don't know? The entire Ministry of Magic is in total chaos right now! I don't think sneaking in would be difficult at all!"
Moody then shook his head and said, "No, the Department of Mysteries is different. The waters there are deeper than you imagine, far from simple."
"It's not just a research facility, it's also a special prison. The things that have been held inside… some of them even possess the power to destroy the world!"
Sirius looked shocked at this, clearly not believing it.
He turned his head to look at Dumbledore, hoping to get a definite answer from him.
However, at this moment, Dumbledore turned his gaze out the window instead.
His eyes were distant and deep, his pupils trembling slightly, as if Moody's words had stirred up some terrifying memory.
———
[Hogwarts]
[The Room of Requirement]
Link, Hermione, and the others were anxiously watching Madam Pomfrey as she treated Harry on the hospital bed in front of them.
Ron was so anxious that he had practically shoved his hands into his mouth.
To be honest, he really wanted to go up and ask about Harry's condition again.
But over the past ten-plus minutes, he had already asked that question more than twenty times, which had resulted in Madam Pomfrey snapping at him.
And so, he could only wait like this.
After another full fifteen minutes passed, Madam Pomfrey finally took off her gloves, stood up, and let out a long sigh.
"Madam Pomfrey! How is Harry?"
In the end, Ron still couldn't hold back and shouted it out together with Hermione.
Fortunately, since he shouted along with Hermione this time, Madam Pomfrey only shot him a glare and didn't scold him further.
"Same as always. With our current level of medical knowledge, I can only confirm that this is an injury to the soul, but there's simply no way to cure it," Madam Pomfrey sighed, then looked at Link.
"By the way, how did you find such a good place? The medical equipment and environment here are practically on par with the professional operating rooms at St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries."
"The only issue is that the equipment is rather old, and some of the newer medical devices aren't available here."
Hearing this, Link raised an eyebrow and quickly understood.
Madam Pomfrey probably hadn't discovered the Room of Requirement during her time as a student at Hogwarts.
Otherwise, she wouldn't be so surprised by the medical ward form of the Room of Requirement.
"This is the Room of Requirement. You should've heard of it, it can provide rooms for different purposes based on the user's wishes," Link explained with a smile.
"However, since the spells and instruments that make up this place were built at the very beginning of Hogwarts' founding, even though the four founders used the most advanced technology of their time, by today's standards the equipment is still quite outdated."
"But that's not a big problem."
"In the future, I'll selectively purchase some new medical equipment to supplement what's here."
"If next time there's a student who can't be sent to St. Mungo's in time, we can just bring them here directly for treatment."
"If we can do that, then that would be wonderful," Madam Pomfrey said with a smile and nodded.
She was genuinely happy for Link.
That poor little boy from back then, bullied by his classmates every day, had now grown into a towering tree.
And what was most admirable was that this tree wasn't a robber that only stole nutrients from the earth, but one willing to use its broad canopy to provide shade for those below, or return nourishment to the land with its fallen leaves.
It was a truly noble quality.
"Hey! Could you maybe pay a bit of attention to the situation? Harry is still unconscious!"
Hermione said unhappily.
She had been holding it in for a long time.
She had originally thought that Link and Madam Pomfrey would quickly steer the conversation back to Harry, but instead the two of them had gone further and further off-topic, discussing how to improve the Room of Requirement's medical equipment.
Hearing this, Madam Pomfrey shook her head and said, "There's nothing to worry about. You should all know this well, this is an old problem of his. I've already given him medicine. Based on the effects of the potion and past experience, he should wake up very soon..."
Before Madam Pomfrey could finish speaking, a faint groan came from the hospital bed.
The anger in Hermione's eyes as she stared at Madam Pomfrey instantly vanished, replaced by disbelief.
She and Ron rushed to Harry's bedside in one stride, bombarding him with concerned questions.
Ron even reached out and felt Harry's face and body, as if afraid Harry had suffered some injury and deliberately hadn't said anything.
After all that, the pained expression on Harry's face only grew more pronounced.
Seeing this, Link shook his head with an amused smile, stepped forward, and pushed Hermione and Ron aside. Only then did he take out a bottle of potion and pour it into Harry's mouth.
This potion had been specially developed by Snape for him. In the first few years, he had relied on this stuff to suppress the strange power in his bloodline.
At the same time, the potion also had some soul-soothing effects, so using it on Harry counted as treating the right problem.
After an entire vial was downed, the painful look on Harry's face immediately eased.
At this moment, Arkam, who had already recovered from a semi-hibernation state, poked his head out from Link's sleeve and kept flicking his tongue at Harry to show concern.
To be honest, Harry was one of only two people in all of Hogwarts who could communicate with him in Parseltongue. Although Arkam didn't particularly like him, if Harry were really gone, he would still feel a bit lonely.
Parseltongue was actually a very rough and simple language.
It had no fixed written form or pronunciation, and relied entirely on emotions, sounds, and pheromones to convey information.
So Harry naturally sensed Arkam's concern.
He smiled and reached out to try to touch Arkam, but Arkam dodged away.
Seeing this, Harry didn't get angry. He simply said in Parseltongue, "Hiss hiss hiss~!" (Thank you. I'm fine. I'm not going to die.)
Hearing this, Arkam nodded in a very human-like way, then immediately slipped back into Link's sleeve.
And as Arkam disappeared, the expression on Harry's face gradually became serious.
He turned his head to look at Link, who was wearing a gentle smile, took a deep breath, and said, "Link, I dreamed about Voldemort again."
As soon as these words were spoken, Hermione and Ron both cried out in alarm.
But Link, as if he had already expected this, simply nodded calmly, signaling Harry to continue.
Harry swallowed, his voice trembling as he said, "I had a very, very long dream."
"In the dream, I saw the Department of Mysteries again!"
"But this time it was different. Those people… those Death Eaters, they had already gotten inside the Department of Mysteries!"
"More precisely, they had entered a room filled with crystal balls everywhere!"
"I also saw Dumbledore, Sirius, Mr. Weasley…"
"They were constantly searching for something there, while Voldemort and his followers watched them from the shadows with malicious eyes!"
"In the dream, I shouted at the top of my lungs, trying to warn Dumbledore to run!"
"But it was already too late!"
"Voldemort led the Death Eaters in a surprise attack on Dumbledore!"
"Dumbledore began to fight back."
"But there were just too many Death Eaters. Dumbledore and Sirius couldn't hold them off."
"In the end… in the end Sirius fell! And Mr. Weasley also…"
Harry's expression was agonizing.
Ron's pain was no less.
He rushed over almost immediately, frantically shaking Harry's body and asking about his father's situation.
But Harry couldn't say anything.
He just tugged hard at his own hair, his entire face beginning to contort and twist.
Left with no choice, Link poured another vial of a special sedative into him, but Harry grabbed Link's arm and begged, "Link, I know there are some flaws in my mind that let Voldemort send false information."
"But this time, this time it's completely different from all the previous dreams!"
"It was too real!"
"I can guarantee it's real!"
"We have to do something, Link. Dumbledore and the others are in danger!"
At these words, Ron, still lost in panic, seemed to come back to his senses.
He lunged forward and grabbed Link's leg with all his strength, like a drowning man clutching at his last lifeline, and said, "Link, please! Help them!"
Link reached out and lightly tapped Ron, and Ron's arms instantly went limp and dropped down.
But that didn't stop Ron from looking at him with the pitiful eyes of a puppy.
After that, even Hermione came over to plead.
It left Link utterly speechless.
He took a deep breath and said, "Calm down, all of you. I never said I wouldn't help!"
"But right now, we can't rule out the possibility that this is a trap deliberately set by the enemy."
"So for now, you should try to contact Mr. Weasley and Sirius Black and ask about their situation."
"As for me, I'll immediately convene a committee meeting and ask Percy about the situation at the Ministry of Magic. How does that sound?"
Hearing this, Ron and Harry looked at each other, and finally calmed down.
Watching the trio hurriedly leave the Room of Requirement under Madam Pomfrey's guidance, Link's expression gradually grew grave.
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