Lys didn't hear a single word of Lucius's final warning... she'd left too quickly.
Right now, Lys's mind was focused entirely on calling back Cerebold.
After that, she had to find Fred!
During her years of free wandering, she'd witnessed wizarding wars and Muggle wars abroad. Even though she'd been among the elite wizards back then, she could only barely manage self-preservation.
Whether Muggle or wizarding, once something was called war, those weapons and curses didn't discriminate. Or rather, once the fighting got intense, who knew which side you were on? Clearing out your surroundings became the only thought for those killers and survivors.
If little Potter had already escaped, or...
Or if the professors refused to hand over little Potter, then her brother might be in danger of exposure to such warfare.
Lys didn't hope for little Potter to appear before the Dark Lord.
She hoped little Potter would stay alive and well.
Whether from selfish motives or otherwise.
But the prerequisite was that her Fred couldn't be caught in war.
Once real fighting broke out, all you could rely on in battle was your own strength and luck.
War wasn't fair. Lys couldn't gamble on Fred truly remaining unharmed, especially with his sister being a Death Eater.
Lys couldn't guarantee those professors truly knew nothing, or that they would protect Fred well.
There were so many students in Hogwarts.
Fred wasn't the special one.
Before leaving the crowd, Lys had even secretly calculated—with this number of Death Eaters, wizards controlled by the Imperius Curse, plus quite a few werewolves and absent giants, all of Hogwarts was completely surrounded.
It seemed the Dark Lord truly wanted to end everything, but...
A doubt flashed through Lys's mind:
Why hadn't Severus Snape opened Hogwarts's gates for the Dark Lord?
Wouldn't that count as Hogwarts surrendering? Did the Dark Lord want the side represented by Hogwarts to voluntarily open their doors and submit to him, breaking their psychological defenses?
But that didn't warrant activating and deploying all of Hogwarts's defensive magic...
What if the delay actually let Potter escape?
Lys tucked the struggling Cerebold—still wanting to deliver messages—under her arm, puzzling over this while Apparating to the entrance of Honeydukes, diving into the cellar at maximum speed.
She didn't waste mental energy continuing to ponder. Seeing the collapsed tunnel before her, Lys confirmed Hogwarts's stance, which made her even more anxious.
Fortunately, Lys had sufficient magical power. She cleared the tunnel in a relatively short time, then used a Flying Arrow charm to shoot forward rapidly. Behind her, she heard the violently cleared passage collapse again due to unstable structure, completely blocking an even longer section.
Lys even shouted "Reducto!" aloud, but the final wall leading to Hogwarts showed no reaction. She anxiously glanced at the pocket watch in her hand... wrong one.
Switching watches, Lys saw only a minute or two remained until midnight. She thought for a moment, protected Gabon and the stupid bird in her arms, then blasted directly toward that wall.
But the safest place for several centuries...
Perhaps that title truly had its own merit.
Lys actually couldn't break open the secret passage entrance!
After expending enormous magical power, Lys finally opened a gap. The explosion produced an ear-splitting tremendous sound.
Fortunately, no one was in this corridor—even the portraits were empty. Lys steadied her breathing and guessed the students and professors had probably gathered together.
Most likely the Great Hall, but Lys couldn't be certain Fred would definitely appear where she guessed, so she had another more accurate method.
Lys pulled out the note prepared for Fred, had Cerebold hold it in its beak, and for the first time since buying it, coaxed the bird.
"This is a crucial moment. Only our Cerebold is up to the task, isn't that right? Find Fred, find your other master, and give him the note!"
Looking at Cerebold's bald head, Lys cast a Flying Arrow charm and chased after the stupid bird as it ruffled its feathers and took flight.
At that moment, a flash lit up the sky outside Hogwarts. Tremendous noise and shrieks accompanied the intent to wage war.
Midnight.
The time given by the Dark Lord's ultimatum.
...had arrived.
Lys followed Cerebold's shadow through the corridors.
Amid the portraits' clamoring, she saw wall reliefs and stone armor shaking their bodies, stepping out and leaping from the castle.
As she advanced, armor charged toward Lys. She turned to deal with those two suits of armor's entanglement before she could leave.
By then, Cerebold's figure had reached the central grand staircase and was diving sharply downward.
Only scattered tail feathers flashed through Lys's vision.
Lys ran to the corridor's end, gripped the railing, and leaped out. Under the Flying Arrow's acceleration, her robes were actually snapping in the wind.
She gripped her wand in her right hand, holding down Gabon, while her left hand unfastened and threw off her robes, revealing the black cross-collared shirt underneath. The robes Lys had chosen for today's outing were overly large for warmth while sitting in trees, but would be very cumbersome once fighting began.
After landing, she took two steps forward to ease the tremendous inertia from her excessive speed.
The Great Hall's doors were open. Lys saw people scattering in all directions, curses shooting out from windows, while Cerebold had already vanished from sight.
"Fred! Cerebold!" Lys called her brother's name. It was too chaotic here—her voice was completely drowned out by the sounds produced by those curses.
Lys dodged a reinforcing Transfiguration curse and grabbed a child wearing Hufflepuff-colored slippers. "Have you seen Fredmram? That Durmstrang transfer student!"
Lys heard her say Fredm had gone to the greenhouses with Professor Sprout and some older students.
After transfiguring the little girl's slippers into boots more suitable for running, Lys leaped out through the Great Hall's window.
Damn it, why would Fred run to the greenhouses instead of hiding?!
On the way, Lys saw dangerous creatures beginning to pour out of the Forbidden Forest, while the nearby greenhouse—already damaged and open on all sides—gave Lys a glimmer of hope.
However, when Lys rushed inside, she was disappointed. Fred wasn't there.
Through the gaps in the shattered greenhouse roof, Lys could see moonlight appearing and disappearing behind clouds.
While fighting off approaching giant spiders and checking the other greenhouses, she shouted loudly, "Fredm! Cerebold!!"
Half a minute later, the stupid bird flew over from the Astronomy Tower's direction with a note.
Lys's heart sank halfway. The stupid bird hadn't found her brother?!
Impossible. The war had just begun. Her brother's poor magic didn't mean he lacked destructive power—this shouldn't be happening!
Lys snatched the note from the stupid bird's beak, earning a displeased screech.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
📚 BOOK COMPLETED ON PATREON!📚
This story has reached its conclusion on my Patreon!
🔥 Full story available now
💎 Exclusive bonus content & early access to new books
👉 Join my Patreon community today!
[✨patreon.com/DarkGolds]
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━