Inside the Hall of Prophecy, looking at the figures around him closing in with grim smiles, Harry felt his whole body turn cold from the inside out.
He felt there was no need to ask anything anymore.
The appearance of Lucius Malfoy, a former Death Eater, along with these black robed wizards who clearly did not look friendly, was already enough to explain everything.
Link's worry had been correct.
They had all been tricked by Voldemort.
"Give it to me, Potter!"
Maybe because he had not received a reply for a long time, Lucius spoke again in a drawn out tone.
Harry still did not answer. He just looked apologetically at George, Fred, Aberforth and the others standing in front of him.
If not for his stubbornness, if not for his impulse, these people would never have followed him into this trap.
George clearly noticed Harry's look.
He tilted his head slightly, winked at Harry, and said in a deliberately relaxed tone, "Hey Harry, looks like we got ambushed."
Fred joined in, "But that's actually good news. If this is only a trap, then our parents should still be safe. That's enough!"
As he spoke, Fred slapped Ron on the head, hinting for him to say something too.
Ron, who got hit, scratched his head and said, "Harry, don't take it too seriously. Anyway, our parents have quite a lot of kids. Even if a few of us are gone, they still have brother Charlie, sister Ginny, and Percy. They still…"
Before Ron finished, George slapped him on the head again.
After hitting him, he smiled apologetically at Harry.
Because Ron's gloomy words just now made Harry's guilt look even stronger.
"Tsk tsk, how touching."
At that moment, a sharp, slightly hysterical female voice suddenly sounded.
Everyone instinctively looked toward the sound and saw a woman covered in faint black silk, with extremely heavy makeup on her face and her hair piled high with many accessories, slowly walking past Lucius toward them.
This woman, Link had also seen in his dream."
Bellatrix.
Sirius's cousin, and also one of Voldemort's most loyal Death Eaters.
There seemed to be a powerful aura surrounding her.
That aura was hard to describe.
It carried extreme madness, yet also strong pressure.
The result was that as soon as she appeared, Lucius, who had been acting proud like a noble before, went silent, and the aggressive black clothed Death Eaters around lowered their heads one by one.
Harry and the others gripped their wands tightly, watching Bellatrix approach like facing a great enemy.
Hermione's gaze toward Bellatrix was especially full of hatred.
Because she recognized who she was, and it was this woman who tortured Neville's parents into insanity, turning Neville into a timid, chubby boy.
A woman capable of that naturally clashed with Hermione at a deep instinctive level.
So the moment Bellatrix appeared, Hermione felt disgust rising from deep inside.
"I'll say it one last time. Hand over the crystal ball in your hand. Otherwise, today you will probably end up as corpses."
Bellatrix spoke without expression, then pointed at Hermione.
"Also, this child's look annoys me. Gouge out her eyeballs and give them to me too. Otherwise, you still die."
As soon as those words came out, Harry and the others' expressions changed greatly.
The Death Eaters around them burst into mocking laughter.
As if what Bellatrix just said was only some funny joke.
Lucius Malfoy coughed and stepped forward, seemingly wanting to smooth things over again.
But today he was destined not to get that chance.
Because Aberforth had already swung his wand.
"Incendio!"
BOOM!
Large clusters of fireballs shot out from the wand tip, landing among the Death Eaters and exploding, turning into a nearly endless deep red sea of flames amid their screams.
Although the Death Eaters reacted quickly and the attack did not cause much real damage, it still created major chaos among them.
Taking advantage of that moment, Aberforth grabbed the crystal ball from Harry's hand and said, "They came for the crystal ball. Killing or capturing you is only secondary."
"So next, I'll hold the crystal ball and keep them busy. You run quickly toward that narrow door we saw before!"
As if to prove his words, Aberforth raised the crystal ball directly toward a Killing Curse Bellatrix angrily shot at him during the chaos.
The next moment, Bellatrix's face changed drastically. She pressed her wand down hard, cutting off the magic flow and canceling the curse.
Watching the green light slowly fade before Aberforth, Harry stared in shock.
After years at Hogwarts, he had gained a good understanding of how spells worked.
So he knew Bellatrix's action would cause irreversible harm to her body.
Yet even risking injury, she still did not want to risk even a little damage to the crystal ball. That clearly showed how important it was to them.
"What exactly is this crystal ball? Why is my name on it?" Harry asked instinctively.
Aberforth only glanced at him and said nothing.
Harry wanted to continue, but Ron spoke first, "Aberforth, we can't just leave you! If this crystal ball is that important, we can use it to threaten them to retreat!"
"Yes, Aberforth. And that narrow door, didn't we try it before? There's a spatial restriction on it. We can't even get close."
George and Fred added, "So we think we should stay here with you and fight these Death Eaters together."
After using the crystal ball again to force back several spells shot at them, Aberforth ruffled Ron's red hair.
"You Weasley kids are pretty good. But your suggestion won't work. Death Eaters may be a bit crazy, but they're not stupid. They won't be threatened that easily."
"Also, the spatial restriction on that narrow door is actually just an illusion made by the Death Eaters."
"That part was my oversight. If I had…"
"Forget it, no more of that."
"Anyway, just run that way. I'll clear the path for you."
As soon as Aberforth finished speaking, he forcefully swung the wand in his other hand.
A huge shockwave burst out centered on him, pushing back several shadows trying to approach and precisely blasting Harry and the others toward the narrow door.
George and Fred grabbed Harry and Hermione midair, landing smoothly without injury.
Ron, without anyone protecting him, was less lucky.
He landed hard on his backside and slid far across the smooth floor of the hall.
He was about to complain when he instinctively looked back toward Aberforth.
Aberforth had already become the main target of the Death Eaters.
The Death Eaters who had just put out the flames were now desperately firing spells at him. Dense grey white spell lights almost merged together and pressed down on him.
Most importantly, this time they had learned.
To stop Aberforth from using the crystal ball as a shield, they used mostly low damage control spells like Stunning Spells.
These would not damage the crystal ball but could make Aberforth unable to resist.
Luckily, such spells were not very strong.
Aberforth simply raised a strengthened Shield Charm and blocked most of them.
Only a small portion slipped through gaps in the shield and hit his body accurately.
His body stiffened for a moment.
But soon he formed another strengthened Shield Charm to block the next wave.
Watching this, Ron felt his nose sting.
Because he knew clearly that facing so many Death Eaters, Aberforth's ending was almost certain.
Although they were still in a stalemate due to concern for the crystal ball.
Aberforth's magic power had limits.
And the accumulated control effects on him would eventually make him unable even to lift his arm.
At that moment, an impulse suddenly rose in Ron's heart.
A Gryffindor kind of impulse.
He wanted to rush back to help Aberforth.
Even dying without a trace did not matter.
But at that moment, George and Fred ran past him like the wind. As George passed, he casually slapped Ron's head again.
"You idiot! Run already!"
That slap knocked Ron's heroic impulse right back down.
With teary eyes, he gave Aberforth one last look and then hurried after his brothers.
There were actually quite a lot of enemies blocking their way.
Many Death Eaters had their own thoughts.
Although the main target was the crystal ball, Harry Potter clearly had huge appeal to their master Voldemort.
If they could capture Harry alive, the reward would surely increase greatly.
So many Death Eaters who should have been attacking Aberforth quietly moved toward Harry and the others using the shelves for cover.
Not only that, they kept quite far from each other, even having small conflicts while moving.
After all, they believed subduing students who had not even graduated from Hogwarts was extremely easy.
What they really guarded against were teammates trying to steal credit.
And that actually gave Harry and the others a slim chance.
After Link's personal training, George and Fred theoretically already had near Auror level strength.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione were comparable to excellent near graduates.
Even if they lacked real combat experience, strength was still strength.
Facing scattered Death Eaters rushing at them, George, Harry, and the others, filled with grief and anger, did not hesitate. Their wands flashed repeatedly, and several red beams blasted the first wave of Death Eaters away.
That bought them some time to follow Aberforth's instruction and continue toward the narrow door.
But the earlier problem still remained.
No matter how fast they ran, the narrow door ahead kept the same distance. They simply could not get closer.
Hermione was so anxious she almost cried.
Because the second wave of Death Eaters had already regrouped.
And learning from before, this group advanced in a triangular arrow formation.
"What do we do now?"
Harry shouted to George and Fred, who stayed at the back blocking attacks.
George just shook his head.
"Keep running! That's what Aberforth said! We can only choose to trust him now!"
Harry gritted his teeth and kept running toward the distant door.
It was not that he did not trust Aberforth.
But… could this illusion really be broken just by running?
Or did Aberforth have another method?
Harry was very confused.
However, the very next moment, Aberforth gave the answer Harry wanted.
"Expecto Patronum!"
Surrounded by Death Eaters, Aberforth suddenly raised his wand high and roared.
Powerful magic poured out of him, forming waves of air around his body.
Under his guidance, the magic surged into the wand, transformed into dazzling white light, and exploded outward.
BOOM!
Harry and the others suddenly saw a bright flash behind them, followed by a huge explosion and endless white light rushing over.
Under that white light, the entire hall became bright as day.
All the Death Eaters covered their faces in pain.
The strong positive energy in the Patronus light caused backlash in their bodies long corrupted by cursed magic.
Though the backlash was mild compared to the legendary cases where dark wizards died with maggots growing all over them after forcing a Patronus, the pain still made them temporarily unable to move.
Meanwhile, Harry and his group felt warmth under the white light.
Fear, unease, sadness, and all negative emotions in their hearts were swept away.
Not only that, thick black smoke suddenly rose on the path before them.
Accompanied by painful, evil cries, the smoke gradually faded.
Harry blinked, and the narrow door that had been nearly a hundred meters away suddenly appeared just ten meters ahead.
"The illusion is broken! Move!"
George's shout woke everyone from shock, and they rushed with all their strength toward the door.
But at that moment, a green light carrying strong ominous energy suddenly shot silently from behind a nearby shelf toward Hermione.
═❀═❀═❀═❀═❀═❀═
[email protected]/AmbitiousTranslator
🥳Joining P@treon keeps me motivated and eager to work diligently, so please consider joining.🥰 You can access upto 40 advance chapter through P@treon.