[More Than Half An Hour Later]
Cedric and the others, together with Percy who was far away inside the Ministry of Magic, all came to the Room of Requirement.
They each found a place to sit, then quietly stayed silent.
About the various details of the dream Harry had earlier, they had already learned everything on the way here. Now they just wanted to gather and discuss what exactly they should do.
This strange silence lasted until close to noon, when John finally could not help saying, "Actually, I think Harry Potter's words aren't reliable. We all know his head has problems, and he could be invaded by Voldemort at any time. That's exactly why he needs to learn Occlumency, right?"
"And also, the Department of Mysteries getting attacked. That kind of thing sounds way too ridiculous! You have to remember, the Ministry of Magic is also our territory!"
John looked toward Percy. "Senior Weasley, have you heard before that something unusual happened in the Department of Mysteries?"
Under everyone's gaze, Percy shook his head and said, "Ever since last time, we've already strengthened the security level of the whole Ministry, including the Department of Mysteries. Although the Auror Office in charge of this isn't directly under our control."
"And the Department of Mysteries itself is very secretive. Those Unspeakables only answer to the Wizengamot council, so we can't get very detailed information."
"But overall, there shouldn't be any big problem."
"Otherwise that guy Scrimgeour would definitely use it again as an excuse to ask us for more funding!"
After saying that, Percy seemed amused by his own last joke and could not help laughing.
Seeing this, Emily beside Link slowly said, "I went to see Professor Snape earlier. He told me some things too."
As soon as these words came out, John and the others all lowered their heads and stayed silent.
Link, who had been silent before, said lightly, "You went to see him privately?"
Emily said with interest, "I didn't expect that to be the thing you noticed. I thought you'd first ask what he told me."
Link let out a cold laugh and said, "What else could it be? Probably just some painless, not very useful small bits of information again."
"This time you guessed wrong." Emily smiled. "Professor Snape actually gave us a fairly important piece of information this time.
He said Voldemort recently has been trying to infiltrate the Ministry of Magic with the Death Eaters.
But because the Ministry suddenly strengthened security recently, the infiltration progress has been very slow."
"So that means their infiltration still has made some progress, right?" Percy said anxiously. "Honestly, that would be a serious threat to the Ministry, including our whole D.A.! Did he explain how far they've gotten?"
Emily shook her head, then added, "Professor Snape probably only knows this much. More specific intelligence isn't something a non core member like him can access."
Percy lowered his head in distress and started thinking hard, probably calculating which people inside the Ministry were the most suspicious.
He already regarded the Ministry as his main base.
If Voldemort bribed or controlled one or two key people there with the Imperius Curse, it would basically be a devastating disaster for him.
Seeing the atmosphere becoming heavy, Cedric spoke to comfort everyone, "If Professor Snape's information is true, then this can count as good news, right?"
"Although it proves Voldemort really has plans for the Department of Mysteries, it also proves Harry's dream is fake, doesn't it?"
"After all, Professor Snape also said their infiltration into the Ministry isn't complete yet."
Hearing this, John and the others all breathed a sigh of relief.
They had only just taken control of Hogwarts and stabilized things.
Right now Hogwarts' strength had not been built up yet. Honestly, compared to immediately fighting Voldemort head on, many people in the D.A. preferred continuing development for a while longer to gather more strength.
However, what they did not expect was that Cedric only paused briefly before continuing, "The only thing I can't understand is why Voldemort is so obsessed with the Department of Mysteries."
"Could it be that there really is one of his Horcruxes hidden there?"
As soon as these words came out, everyone's nerves that had just relaxed tightened again.
They all knew very clearly that if a Horcrux really was hidden in the Department of Mysteries, then not taking action would not be an option.
"There definitely isn't a Horcrux there. I'm certain of that."
Link's firm voice pulled everyone's attention back again.
Cedric frowned and said, "That doesn't make sense. Otherwise why would Voldemort and the Death Eaters insist on breaking into a place like the Department of Mysteries?"
"No, it makes perfect sense, because something even more important to Voldemort is hidden there." Link deliberately paused, then smiled and said, "A prophecy. A prophecy about Voldemort's downfall."
Cedric clearly froze when he heard this.
Most people present reacted the same way, only Stephen frowned slightly in surprise.
Link said expressionlessly, "The one with the power to defeat the Dark Lord approaches—born to a family that has defied the Dark Lord three times—born in the seventh month."
"That is the prophecy."
"Otherwise you wouldn't seriously think Voldemort was bored enough to specially go kill the Potter family, right?"
"Actually, the reason he did that was completely guided by Trelawney's prophecy."
"But the problem is, that prophecy isn't complete. There's still a second half Voldemort never learned."
"And now, the prophecy sphere that records the full content of that prophecy is stored in the Hall of Records in the Department of Mysteries."
"So Voldemort carefully plotting against the Department of Mysteries is just to get that prophecy sphere?" John seemed to suddenly think of something and turned to Percy.
"Senior Weasley, why don't you just take that prophecy sphere out of the Department of Mysteries? That shouldn't be too difficult for you, and it could stop Voldemort too."
Percy said somewhat angrily, "What do you mean not too difficult? I'm telling you, it's very difficult, you could even say there's basically zero chance of success!"
"I already told you, the Department of Mysteries answers directly to the Wizengamot council!"
"And right now the Wizengamot council is already very unhappy that we're controlling Fudge like a puppet!"
"Although they don't have direct authority over us, they absolutely won't approve any requests from us!"
John was left speechless and could only awkwardly turn to look at Link.
The others reacted similarly.
In this situation, the only person who could really make decisions was Link.
Seeing this, Link chuckled and said, "Percy, how is Scrimgeour's Auror force training going?"
Percy seemed confused by this sudden topic change. After a moment of stiffness, he replied, "After spending more than 70% of this year's Ministry budget, he finally rebuilt an Auror force."
"That force was previously sent to hunt the Dementors and Death Eaters who escaped from Azkaban. After a series of battles, their combat ability is currently pretty good."
"At least much stronger than the D.A. student force we have now."
"What do you mean?"
Link smiled even more happily.
He nodded slightly and said, "In that case, let's play along with their plan."
"Doesn't Voldemort want Harry, or even all of us, to go into the Department of Mysteries?"
"Then let's let him succeed once."
"And at the same time lure Dumbledore and the others there too."
"Fudge and Scrimgeour have about reached the end of their usefulness anyway."
"This time, let's solve everything at once."
Cedric and Percy both showed excited smiles after hearing this.
From Link's words, they sensed a different kind of meaning.
———
[Inside the Gryffindor Common Room]
The Harry trio were anxiously waiting for Sirius Black's reply.
Right after leaving the Room of Requirement, they had already written a letter asking about Sirius's situation and expressing concern about Harry's dream.
To make sure it would reach Number 12 Grimmauld Place as fast as possible, even stingy Ron unusually took out his savings and used the expensive express service from the Hogsmeade owl post office, meaning a special courier would Apparate directly to deliver the letter.
Although this communication method would still be affected by the Fidelius Charm on Number 12 Grimmauld Place, it should arrive within ten minutes at most and bring back a reply.
However, several hours had already passed, and the trio still had received no news at all.
Ron anxiously paced back and forth in front of the fireplace. Harry covered his face with his hands, lying on the table without saying a word.
Hermione frowned while watching them and said troubledly, "Maybe we should ask Professor McGonagall again if there's any news. When we went to her after writing the letter, she said she would write to Dumbledore to inform him."
"Come on, Hermione," Ron said impatiently. "We just went to her half an hour ago. Remember what she said? 'Sorry, children, the reply might come later than we expected!'"
"Maybe the reply just arrived now?"
"Hermione, be realistic! Ever since Link helped drive away Umbridge and set up the committee system, Professor McGonagall hasn't been getting along with us! She won't help us!"
"How can you say that about Professor McGonagall? She's a good professor, did you forget she…"
"Yeah yeah, she's a good professor! But what happened? When we were being bullied by Umbridge, what was she doing? Just standing there watching, wasn't she?"
———
While Hermione and Ron argued back and forth, George and Fred walked into the common room chatting and laughing.
Since it was class time and George and Fred had skipped class, the entire common room only had the Harry trio.
George and Fred exchanged a glance, grinned mischievously, and quietly came up behind Ron. One on each side, they grabbed him and said gloomily, "We think we just heard someone speaking badly about Professor McGonagall?"
Ron, who had been arguing heatedly with Hermione, was startled and shivered.
But when he saw it was George and Fred holding him, his face turned red like a boiled lobster.
George and Fred burst into laughter. This kind of brotherly prank was their favorite.
Normally at this point Ron would just yell at them, then after being roasted by them until he had no comeback, he would tearfully run back to the dorm to write to their mother to complain.
However, this time, after turning red, Ron's face quickly darkened again.
He pointed at George and Fred with a trembling finger and said, "Great! Dad and Mum are in danger right now, and you two are still teasing me! I really should tell big brother Charlie about this and see how he deals with you!"
Hearing Charlie's name, George and Fred both shivered first.
With their personalities, they had been beaten plenty by their older brother Charlie growing up, so it became a reflex.
But they quickly reacted.
Just now… Ron seemed to say their parents were in danger?
The two of them immediately became serious and said to Ron, "What exactly is going on?"
Ron, full of grievance, told them everything that happened throughout the day.
After finishing, maybe because his emotions were stirred again, his eyes turned red, and he threw himself into the arms of George and Fred, the very brothers who had just teased him, crying.
At this moment, George and Fred's expressions were already extremely ugly.
While gently patting Ron to comfort him, they frowned and asked Harry and Hermione, "You said Link told you to try contacting Sirius and Dumbledore yourselves first?"
"That's right." Harry also raised his reddened eyes and said, "He said he needed to ask Percy about the Ministry first. To avoid wasting time, he told us to contact Sirius at the same time…"
"Do you really think he wouldn't be able to contact Sirius or Dumbledore?"
Before Harry could finish, George and Fred interrupted him. "Don't be naive, Harry. Link's abilities and connections are far stronger than we imagine! Besides, he can enter Number 12 Grimmauld Place too. If he wanted, he could go there personally anytime to confirm the situation!"
"But more than two hours have passed now, and you still haven't received any information from there."
"Do you understand what that means?"
"W… what does it mean?" Harry asked shakily.
He was extremely flustered now, and a frightening thought was slowly forming in his mind.
"We don't know either!" George and Fred sneered. "So let's not sit here guessing. Let's go straight to Link and demand an explanation!"
George and Fred didn't bother with Harry anymore. Dragging the still crying Ron, they rushed straight toward the Room of Requirement on the eighth floor.
Seeing this, Harry and Hermione looked at each other, gritted their teeth, and quickly followed.