"Excellent!" Tver looked on in delight as Neville produced a small white figure that was just on the verge of taking shape.
Neville did already have quite a bit of practice behind him, but even Harry and Draco had not managed to go from being completely unable to cast the Patronus Charm to nearly forming one in a single night.
But whether it was because he had heard Tver's praise or not, Harry suddenly clutched his forehead in pain and let out a scream.
"Harry?!"
Ron, who had been slacking off nearby, and Hermione, who had been working hard on the Patronus Charm, both stopped at once and stared in panic as Harry rolled on the ground in agony.
Hermione dropped to her knees beside him, struggling to keep his head from smashing against the floor.
Ron's eyes went wide. He swept a glance over the startled students around him and immediately spotted Tver, who stood out above the crowd.
"Professor, come and look at Harry!" he shouted hoarsely, shoving aside the curious students pressing in around them.
The result was that the nearby students only grew more curious, and the pressure of the crowd became even worse. Ron was almost swallowed up by it.
Just as he was about to wear himself out completely, a pair of warm, chubby hands caught hold of his and pulled him up.
"Neville?"
Ron stared in surprise at Neville's smiling face, but Neville only gestured behind him.
There, the surrounding crowd seemed to have been pushed aside by some huge but gentle force, opening up a broad path for Tver as he strode toward Harry.
Only then did Ron finally let out a sigh of relief. He allowed Neville to support him and followed after the professor.
It was not that his strength had truly run out so quickly. He had simply been too worried about Harry. Now that the tension had suddenly eased, the violent swing in his emotions left him weak all over.
So by the time he slowly made it back to where he had been before, Harry had just regained consciousness.
"P-Professor..." Harry's eyes were wide with terror. He gasped for breath as he spoke in a trembling voice. "Percy's been caught... he..."
"Percy?!" At the sound of that name, Ron let out a hoarse, warped cry.
"What happened to Percy?!" George and Fred demanded at once.
They had always called Percy a traitor, but hearing that he had been captured still made panic rise in them uncontrollably.
"He caught Percy, and then... then he had Fudge and Umbridge bring a group of people to Hogwarts to arrest Dumbledore and Professor Fawley."
Harry stared fixedly at Tver, as though there was something else he desperately needed to say.
"Who is he?" Tver asked slowly.
Harry swallowed hard and said fearfully, "It was... it was me. I saw myself catching Percy, and then... and then..."
He could not bring himself to continue until he saw the encouragement in Tver's eyes and the urgent expressions on the faces of the Weasley siblings around him.
"Destroy the Ministry of Magic!"
"What does that mean?" Cedric asked, baffled.
George and the others had told him about Mr. Weasley being attacked, but obviously no one was going to tell him that Harry could see someone else's actions.
"It means tonight's session is over."
Tver rose abruptly to his feet. The imps hovering above him seemed to sense his anger. Faint black mist began to seep from their bodies, swallowing up all the joy the Patronus Charm had brought.
The young witches and wizards around him wanted to complain, but the moment they met the professor's icy gaze, not one of them dared open their mouth. All they wanted was to get out of there as quickly as possible.
The fear radiating from the imps grew stronger and stronger. If not for the few Patronuses still holding firm against it, the students would already have been unable to bear it.
"George and Fred, take Harry to the Hospital Wing. Hermione and Ron, go find Professor McGonagall and have her tell Headmaster Dumbledore what Harry saw."
As he gathered up his imps, Tver gave orders with calm efficiency.
"Cedric, George, Fred, and Draco, clear everyone out of here. No one is allowed to leave their common room tonight without good reason."
"But Professor, what about Percy?" Harry asked hesitantly. "He was... taken..."
Tver pulled out a piece of chocolate, pressed it into Harry's hand, and said firmly, "I promise you, he'll be alright."
He did not know why Voldemort had chosen to attack the Ministry of Magic, and he could not even be sure whether it might be a decoy.
But the solution was simple. He would go to the Ministry himself.
Tver could not afford to gamble on this. If Voldemort's target really was the Ministry, then more than half of the foundation Tver had built there would be destroyed.
And with Dumbledore guarding Hogwarts, going to the Ministry to see what was happening was the best response for the moment.
Of course, it was not as though he had no way to contact the Ministry.
After seeing the students, who were already fleeing the Room of Requirement in a panic, safely on their way back, Tver stayed behind and took out his communication badge.
"Tver... I was just about to notify you..."
Cynthia's voice came through distorted, accompanied by a harsh hiss, as if she were in an area with especially strong magical interference.
"Percy suddenly told me... Voldemort seems to have shown up at the Ministry of Magic, and they were planning to go arrest you and Dumbledore!"
"Percy?" Tver froze for a moment.
"That's right. He tricked Pius Thicknesse, who was guarding him... I told him to report to you."
"Professor!"
Percy's voice cut in at exactly the right moment, speaking rapidly and anxiously.
"My cover was blown and they caught me, but I fooled Thicknesse, who was guarding me, with Transfiguration. He still hasn't realized I got out."
"Fudge and Umbridge have gone to Hogwarts with the Carrow siblings and several Death Eaters. I think their aim is to slow you and Dumbledore down."
"Because Voldemort didn't go with them. It looks like he intends to destroy this place with the giants!"
"This place?" Tver paused. "Aren't you at the Ministry of Magic?"
"No, Professor!" Percy said in alarm.
"Madam Cynthia brought me back up to the surface, because Voldemort suddenly appeared here with the giants under his control!"
As if to confirm his words, a deafening crash burst from the badge at the same time as Cynthia's disbelieving cry.
"Tver, you have to come here... the Inferi giants have started attacking the Muggle government offices above the Ministry!"