As if appearing out of nowhere, many dark shadows appeared around Harry and the others, blocking their way on both sides.
Their eyes gleamed in the slits of their hoods, and a dozen wands with glowing tips were aimed at their hearts... The little wizards held their breath in fear.
Lucius took two steps forward and appeared in front of Harry.
"Give it to me... Potter," he repeated slowly, holding out his hand, palm upward.
Harry's heart sank suddenly. They were surrounded. They were not at an advantage in terms of numbers or strength.
"Give it to me," Lucius said again.
"Where's Sirius?" Harry asked, gritting his teeth.
Several Death Eaters laughed.
"The Dark Lord always predicts things!" A shrill female voice said proudly among the dark figures on the left, "I knew he would be fooled."
"I want to know where Sirius is!" Harry shouted frantically.
"You took him," Harry said, shaking off the panic that was rising inside him. "He's here... I know he's here."
"The little darling was frightened awake and thought what she dreamed was real." The woman, Bellatrix Strange, said disgustingly in a baby-like voice.
As Dumbledore expected, the Dementors eventually betrayed the Ministry of Magic and secretly released Bellatrix and other vicious Death Eaters from prison.
In order to avoid the Dementors, the Aurors stationed in Azkaban usually did not go into the deepest floors for inspection. This also meant that Fudge, who firmly believed that the Dementors would not betray him, was still unaware that half of Azkaban was already empty!
At this moment, Harry noticed that Ron moved beside him, as if he wanted to take out his wand.
"Don't do anything," Harry muttered. "Not yet—"
Bellatrix laughed in a raspy, hoarse voice.
"Did you hear that? Did you hear that?" She laughed maniacally. "He was giving orders to the other kids, as if he was going to attack us!"
"Oh, you don't know Potter as well as I do, Bellatrix," said Lucius quietly. "He has a great weakness for heroism - and the Dark Lord knows that."
"So, give me the prophecy, Potter."
"I know Sirius is here," Harry said unwillingly, even though his panic made his chest tight. "I know, you caught him!"
More Death Eaters laughed, and Bella's laughter was the loudest and most shrill.
"It's time for you to understand the difference between reality and dreams, Potter." Lucius said, "Give me the prophecy immediately, or we will have to use coercive measures."
"Well, come on!" said Harry, raising his wand to his chest.
At the same time, Ron, Hermione, Neville, Ginny, Rolf and Luna raised their six wands on both sides of him.
Harry's heart tightened. If Sirius really wasn't here, then he was leading his friend to a meaningless death...
But the Death Eaters did not attack.
"Hand over the prophecy, there's no need to get anyone hurt." Lucius said coldly.
This time it was Harry's turn to suddenly laugh.
"Yes, that's right!" he said sharply. "You want the prophecy ball, but you're afraid that using a spell will break it, right?"
As soon as he said this, Bella couldn't help but read:
"Accio Prophecy!"
Harry was prepared for her, and before she finished the spell, he shouted quickly:
"Protego!"
Although the glass ball slipped onto his fingertips, he still managed to catch it.
"Well, he's quite good, Potter darling," said Bella, glaring at Harry through the slit in her hood with furious eyes. "Very well, then—"
"Heart-piercing..."
However, before Bella could recite the Cruciatus Curse, Lucius raised his voice and interrupted her.
"I told you not to do this!" he yelled at Bella, "If you break it, are you prepared to face the Dark Lord's wrath yourself?!"
Lucius blocked Bella's attack and relaxed a little.
He still remembered his undercover mission, which was to take action when necessary to prevent the Death Eaters from harming those young wizards... Fortunately, protecting the prophecy was a very good excuse that would not arouse suspicion from other Death Eaters.
However, just when the Death Eaters had not figured out how to get the prophecy without damage, several young wizards suddenly moved.
"Do it!" Harry shouted.
Six different voices read aloud behind him:
"Reducto!"
Six crushing spells flew in six different directions, hitting the oncoming shelves and causing them to explode. The towering shelves shook, and hundreds of glass balls shattered into pieces. Countless pearly white prophetic images floated out of the prophecy balls and floated in the air.
The voices of countless prophecies intertwined together, making it extremely noisy.
The broken glass fell on the floor like a heavy rain, and the sawdust from the countless shelves seemed to be snowing...
In such a scene, the Death Eaters almost subconsciously raised their hands to cover their faces, while the seven little wizards ran together "in the rain" in the opposite direction of the Death Eaters, lowered their heads and rushed forward.
They reached the other end of row 97, turned right and began running at full speed.
Directly ahead was a door ajar, leading to another hall of the Department of Mysteries, through which they had entered.
He rushed out the door, waited for the others to pass through the threshold quickly, and then slammed the door shut, still holding the prophecy ball tightly in his hand.
"Colloportus!" Hermione chanted the locking spell breathlessly, sealing the door completely.
"Are...are we saved?" Harry asked breathlessly.
However, before he finished speaking, several angry voices of Death Eaters came from inside the door -
“Open Sesame!”
This was a much more violent unlocking spell than the Alacho, destroying the locking spell Hermione had cast directly from the inside of the door.
Harry and the others realized that something was wrong, so they could only run again, panting, and then they entered another door... They could no longer tell the exact direction, and could only run around the six halls and rooms of the Department of Mysteries like headless flies.
The Death Eaters were following closely behind them. If it weren't for the prophecy in Harry's hand, Harry and his companions would have been drowned in the Death Eaters' spells.
After fighting with the Death Eaters in several halls for a long time, the young wizards were more or less injured...
Even in order to protect the prophecy from being damaged, the Death Eaters' spells would not attack Harry on a large scale, but they were still far inferior to adult and experienced Death Eaters.
By the end, only Harry, Rolf and Neville still had some fighting power.
They supported their companions who were either unconscious or hit by the petrification spell, and stumbled into a black door.
The Death Eaters followed closely behind them and stopped beside them, staring at them intently.
Several Death Eaters were gasping for breath like Harry and his companions, and one was bleeding profusely. It seemed that Dumbledore's Army's Defense Against the Dark Arts exercises were effective, and the Death Eaters were not feeling well either.
"Potter, it's time to end it," Lucius slowly pulled off his mask, walked forward like the most loyal lackey of Voldemort, and said softly, "Now hand me the prophecy like a good child."
"Let...let my friends go and I'll give it to you!" said Harry desperately.
Several Death Eaters laughed.
"You have no right to bargain, Potter." Bellatrix laughed shrilly, "Look, there are still ten of us, and only three of you can move... Didn't Dumbledore teach you how to count?"
Harry gritted his teeth and tried to struggle again, but Bella pointed her wand at Neville again.
"Longbottom, right?" Bellatrix's pale face showed a very evil smile, "Great, I have had the honor of meeting your parents, little one."
Neville seemed to have suddenly thought of something, and his expression became extremely ferocious.
"It was... it was you?!" he yelled, raising his wand and trying to rush towards Bella.
"What a vitality." Bellatrix stared at Neville, looking excited. "Well, let's see how long Longbottom can last before he collapses like his parents... Unless Potter is willing to hand over the prophecy to us."
"No... Neville, don't go..." Harry wanted to hold Neville back, but Neville didn't know where he got the strength from, and he couldn't hold him back at all.
Bellatrix laughed cruelly and raised her wand:
"Crucio!"
Neville screamed and fell to the ground, his legs curled up to his chest, twitching and screaming in pain.
Harry could completely understand Neville's feelings, after all, he didn't have the amulet made by Professor Dracula.
Rolf took a few steps forward, trying to save Neville from Bella.
However, another Death Eater, Antonin Dolohov, spotted him and used a Barrier Charm to fend Rolf off.
"Bella, that's enough. The most important thing is to get the prophecy ball first." Lucius was still working hard to carry out his undercover mission.
"It's just to give him a little taste!" Bellatrix said indignantly, putting down her wand.
Neville stopped screaming and lay at her feet sobbing.
She turned and looked at Harry.
"Well, Potter, either hand over the prophecy to us, or watch your little friend die in agony!"
Harry didn't have time to think anymore, he had no choice.
The prophecy was still in his hand, warm from his body heat, and he passed it over.
Lucius reached out to take it, wondering how he could lose the prophecy.
At this moment, the entire dim room seemed to be lit up by a dazzling light.
Then, above Harry and the Death Eaters, two doors opened at the same time.
Five figures rushed into the room like gods descending from heaven, and leaped down from the high steps.
They are Sirius, Lupin, Moody, Tonks and Kingsley, all core members of the Order of the Phoenix.
Dolohov turned, wand raised, but Tonks had already fired a Stunning Spell at him.
Harry took the opportunity to jump to the side, out of the reach of Lucius's arm.
The appearance of the Order of the Phoenix members distracted the Death Eaters' attention. They jumped down the stairs one by one and shot spells at the Death Eaters like raindrops.
Harry and Ralph pulled Neville, who was lying on the ground, through the running crowd and flashes of light, dodged the rays of magic, found a safer place, and helped Neville sit against the wall.
"Are you all right?" Harry asked Neville as another spell flew past them inches above their heads.
"Not bad," Neville said, trying to stand up, but Rolf pushed him down.
"You're already injured, just leave the rest to us." Rolf said softly, "Luna and the others are not in good condition, so we need you to take care of them here."
As he spoke he exchanged a glance with Harry and joined the battle between the Order of the Phoenix members and the Death Eaters.
On the other side, Lucius once again began to perform with his superb acting skills.
He cast spells more diligently than anyone else, but hit no one; and the members of the Order of the Phoenix seemed not to see him. No one cared what Lucius was doing and they were only concerned with fighting with other Death Eaters.
The situation on the field seemed to be gradually improving. There were only ten Death Eaters left who were able to fight—
Antonin Dolohov was hit by Tonks's Stunning Spell without any preparation and fell into a coma. In addition, Lucius was a traitor, so there were only eight Death Eaters left.
And the five people in the Order of the Phoenix plus Harry and Rolf make seven people!
Harry and Sirius stood together, shoulder to shoulder, facing the attack from the opposite side, and their cooperation was extremely tacit.
Rolf came to Tonks and took over a few small magical animals she brought to assist him in the duel, and he was also getting better and better.
It seems that the two sides are gradually becoming evenly matched.
Until the scar on Harry's forehead began to hurt again, as if it was burning, the pain was unbearable... The pain made him cry...
"Harry, what's wrong with you?" Sirius deflected a petrification spell cast by Bella and bent down to ask Harry.
"Be careful..." Harry murmured in pain, "Voldemort... he... is coming..."
As if to verify Harry's words, a black mist suddenly rushed into the dim hall.
The black fog dissipated, and a figure appeared in the center of the hall—
Tall, skinny, wearing a black mask, with a snake-like face pale and haggard, and a slit-like scarlet eye staring at Harry...
Harry stood there stiffly, unable to move. Sirius subconsciously stood in front of Harry.
A wave of tension surged into the minds of all members of the Order of the Phoenix. They knew that all the people here combined were no match for Voldemort.
"We meet again, Potter." Voldemort smiled sinisterly, "If you know what's best for you, hand over the prophecy."
However, just when Harry felt a little desperate, another lazy voice sounded, and this voice made Harry open his eyes wide in surprise, and Voldemort's face changed instantly -
“I didn’t expect it to be so lively here!”
A silver-haired figure appeared above the hall in the moonlight.
At the same time, a ball of golden-red fire appeared in the hall, reflecting the moonlight.
…
…