HP Dual Masters and I had a blast in Hogwarts.

Chapter 304 The Standoff in the Prophecy Hall

“They’re chasing after Sirius.” I calmly took a sip of my tea.

Sirius's wand clicked against my Adam's apple, and a cold wind climbed up the back of my neck along his trembling wrist.

The bone china teacup rolled on the Persian carpet, the rose and jasmine tea soaking his gleaming leather boots: "You knew all along?"

His pupils shrank to pinpoints. "So that's why you set up this trap to bring me here?"

“Ayers? Why did you do that?” Sirius’s gray eyes stared intently at me.

“Riddle originally intended to send someone else to capture you and bring you to the Ministry of Magic as bait, but to protect you, I became the villain.” I said calmly, looking at the herbal tea in my hand.

Sirius's knuckles suddenly turned white, and his wand pressed a bloody gash into the side of my neck: "Protection? Using me as bait is protection?"

His voice was filled with anger, "Do you know how crazy Harry will go when he sees me disappear! He'll rush straight into a snake pit!"

I gently swirled the teacup, watching the floating rose petals swirl and sink to the bottom. "Lucius Malfoy and Bellatrix are already waiting in the Hall of Prophecy." The rim of the cup touched my lips, the aroma of tea mingling with the stench of blood spreading out. "I've already placed the key to the portal there."

Butler Chen suddenly raised his hand, and a silver chain shot out from the tip of his wand, wrapping around Sirius's wrist.

The old butler's wrinkled face was hidden in the shadows: "Young Master used the family's ancient scrolls to exchange for three door key location spells with the fairy. The anti-phantom revealing device is buried under the floor tiles of the prophecy hall."

His withered finger pointed to the crystal ball projection: "This play had its ending written from the very beginning."

Arthur suddenly sat down heavily, the armchair groaning under its weight: "So what positions are we supposed to hold?" His gaze swept over my calm expression.

“Riddle needs the perfect bait to lure Harry in.” I put down my teacup, the porcelain clinking against the saucer. “Instead of letting Riddle arrange it, we should take control of the script ourselves.”

"Ayers, do you have any other plans?" Sirius had calmed down now and asked about the next steps.

“When Harry appears in the Hall of Prophecy, you will use the Portkeys to teleport there. Protect these brave little wizards.” I handed each of them a Portkey from my portable backpack.

"And you?" Percy asked me what I was going to do later.

“I might just take the prophecy orb from Harry.” I placed the herbal tea I was holding on the table.

"Ayers, what are you going to do with that prophecy orb?" Sirius asked curiously.

"That prophecy ball is a tool I need for another negotiation." I need to get my hands on the crystal ball; Riddle won't try to take it from me.

I am determined to get my hands on that crystal ball; only with it in my possession can everyone be safe.

“Ayers, are you also connected to them?” The clever Percy immediately realized this connection.

"No matter what you see later, don't stop me, okay?" I said to the three of them with a smile, giving them a heads-up.

"Oh, right, and Severus too. I've arranged for him to go with Harry and the others later, as a form of protection for them. However, he'll probably be hidden in the shadows, since I don't want him to be exposed." I gently touched the spot where Sirius had just scratched me, the wound already healed.

"I'm sorry, Ayers." Sirius acted impulsively and injured Ayers' neck.

"It's alright." I smiled gently at Sirius, knowing that he was just worried and confused.

Back to Harry, the green flames in the fireplace suddenly went out, Harry shook off the Floo Powder from his shoulders, and heard Hermione's suppressed cough behind him.

In the empty corridor, their footsteps echoed eerily on the marble floor, as if unseen spectators were applauding from the shadows.

Ron's wand tip glowed with a ghostly blue light as he nervously scanned the closed office doors on either side.

“Harry, are you sure this is the right way?” he lowered his voice, his Adam’s apple bobbing nervously. “I haven’t seen a single Niffler. This is even more creepy than Professor McGonagall in her Boggart form.”

Harry stroked the familiar patterns on his wand, when suddenly, around the corner in the distance, dust floated in the halo of the bronze chandelier, but the Aurors who should have been patrolling there were nowhere to be seen.

Mad-Eye Moody's warning echoed in his ears: "The safest place in the Ministry of Magic often hides the deadliest trap."

“Stay close to me.” Harry’s voice was hoarser than he had expected.

He sidestepped a wall from which vines suddenly sprouted, his boots making a sticky sound as they rolled across the floor—black slime had seeped out of the floor, which should have been spotless.

As the bronze gate engraved with a star map came into view, Harry heard Hermione gasp behind him.

The doorknob transforms into a snake the moment it's touched, its cool scales gliding against my palm.

Harry took a deep breath and pushed open the door to the Department of Mysteries. A putrid magical aura, along with some ancient whispers, rushed towards him.

Pushing open the door, a blast of cold air, carrying the damp smell of mildew, hit them, and Harry and the others stopped in their tracks.

In the dimly lit room, thousands of glass oracle spheres floated among the crisscrossing silver metal frames, like miniature moons suspended in the starry sky.

They emit a faint blue or silvery light, spaced precisely apart, as if following some mysterious celestial law.

A faint buzzing sound rose and fell, like countless elves whispering in one's ear.

Whenever someone approaches, the prophecy orb shakes gently, causing the mist inside to surge and blurry light and shadow to appear and disappear, as if it were spying on the fate of the person who came.

The passageways between the shelves meandered like a maze, and the runes on the metal shelves flickered erratically, occasionally bursting into tiny sparks that illuminated the surrounding darkness.

The silence here was suffocating, with only the faint clatter of the prophecy orbs echoing in the stillness.

Each prophecy orb was suspended by a thin silver chain, engraved with obscure runes that gleamed coldly in the dim light.

They are arranged neatly, yet they give off an eerie feeling that they might get out of control at any moment, as if they might break free of their restraints at any second and spill out the secrets hidden within.

Ron's Adam's apple bobbed violently, and the blue light from the tip of his wand refracted into tiny spots of light on the surface of the rows of floating prophecy orbs. "It's like...like a galaxy in a bottle." His voice trembled involuntarily as his gaze followed a sphere that suddenly rippled, the mist on its glass surface eerily coalescing into a skull shape.

Hermione's fingertips traced the cold metal frame, sparks flying the moment the talisman touched it.

“Harry,” her breath condensed into white mist in the cold air, “the numbers on these prophetic orbs are even harder to decipher than ancient runes.”

She raised her wand to illuminate the nearest row, and the runes on the silver chain immediately twisted and deformed, turning into serpentine writhing patterns. "Even if I knew which one it was, it would probably be hard to find in a place like this..." Her words trailed off.

Because Harry had already been seen holding up a crystal ball, a crisp sound of glass colliding came from a certain direction, like a death knell tolling for fate.

The crystal ball glowed with a faint blue light in Harry's palm, revealing a hazy silhouette of a person inside.

Suddenly, the prophecy orbs around them began to tremble violently, and the silver chains emitted a piercing scraping sound.

Hermione's scream was drowned out by the shrill screech of twisting metal as Ron's wand slipped from his hand and fell to the ground with a crisp sound against the stone slab.

"Hand it over, Potter." A cold voice came from the depths of the shadows.

Lucius Malfoy twirled his wand gracefully, his platinum hair gleaming coldly in the shadows, the dark patterns on his black robes flowing with his movements, like countless venomous snakes lurking beneath his scales.

Bellatrix Lestrange emerged from behind him, her maniacal laughter piercing the deathly silence. "Didn't that traitor Sirius tell you? Curiosity killed the cat." A greenish-blue flame flickered at the tip of her wand, her distorted face glowing in the firelight.

As Lucius reached out, his sleeve slipped down, revealing the Dark Mark, with a snake's tongue and a skull glowing red in the shadows: "The prophecy should not belong to a half-blood like you."

Before she finished speaking, Bella pounced with a wicked laugh. The spell she hurled from her wand grazed Harry's ear, blasting the metal frame behind him into dust. In the instant countless prophecy orbs exploded, countless fragments of destiny flickered in the darkness before returning to nothingness.

"You guys go ahead, they need your protection." The few of us who were sitting there finally finished watching the scene playing from the crystal ball.

I spoke directly to Sirius, Percy, and Mr. Arthur Weasley.

"I'm coming right away." Sirius couldn't sit still any longer and immediately used the Portkey to go to Harry's side.

“Ayers, I’m going to protect the children first.” Mr. Arthur Weasley couldn’t wait any longer; several of his children were there, and if anything happened to them, Mrs. Weasley wouldn’t let him off the hook.

"Ayers, why do you seem so unhurried?" Percy, on the other hand, didn't rush to teleport over. Instead, he calmly sat down beside me and watched my expression.

It was as if they were trying to read something from my face.

"The people who should be showing up haven't shown up yet, so why am I in such a hurry?" This is just the beginning; Riddle hasn't even appeared yet.

Back to Harry's side, they had already started fighting.

The green and red light bursting from the wand tip intertwined in a net between the metal frames, and Fred and George's twin laughter bombs exploded in purple smoke, choking the Death Eaters and causing them to cough repeatedly.

Neville's wand swing was still a bit clumsy, but it struck a Death Eater precisely in the knee, who screamed and fell to his knees beside the orb of prophecy.

"Grab Porter! Don't let him destroy the Prophecy Ball!" Lucius's shriek pierced through the chaos.

He gracefully spun around to avoid Ginny's Stunning Curse, but Hermione severed the Rope Curse cast by his wand with fire.

Bellatrix let out a sharp, shrill laugh as her wand traced an eerie arc, a curse grazing George's ear and singing his sideburns.

Harry's back slammed heavily against the metal frame, and the prophecy ball above his head swayed violently.

He saw Bella's wand pointed at Ginny, while Ron was cornered by two Death Eaters.

“What determines what kind of person we become is not ability, but choice.” Harry suddenly remembered what Ayers had told him.

"Stun!" Harry's spell, carrying the force of a gust of wind, knocked the approaching Death Eaters to the ground.

He rushed toward Bella, only to see Lucius suddenly throw out chains and wrap them around his ankles.

Fred's Thunderclap Charm exploded at Lucius's feet, and in the firelight, Harry heard a crisp sound of metal breaking—the silver chain of one of the prophecy orbs was beginning to loosen.

The broken silver chain emitted a piercing clang, and the loose prophecy orb drew a dangerous arc in the air.

Harry knelt on one knee, trying to break free of the restraints on his ankles, only to see Bellatrix lunging at him menacingly, the tip of her wand glowing with a deadly green light.

At the critical moment, a dark shadow flashed by like lightning.

Sirius Black's figure crashed heavily into Bella, and the two tumbled and slammed into the metal frame, causing more prophecy orbs to clang.

"Run!" Sirius roared hoarsely, his voice tinged with blood. He simultaneously unleashed two spells with his wand, forcing back the Death Eaters who were flanking him from both sides.

Arthur Weasley's fire spell exploded above Lucius's head, and the father's wand swung like a burning sword: "Children, get behind me!" The hem of his robes was already on fire, but he was oblivious, his eyes fixed on the chains that were tightening in Lucius's hands.

Fred and George seized the opportunity to rush towards the rickety prophecy ball stand, the twins shouting in unison, "Tear it apart!"

The metal frame snapped, and hundreds of prophecy orbs rained down like a storm.

Hermione screamed and raised her wand, trying to slow their descent with a levitation charm, while Neville swung the nearby iron frame, smashing the approaching Death Eaters backward.

Harry felt the chains on his ankles suddenly loosen, and immediately used the 'Crush' spell to break them.

In the chaos, Harry clutched the crucial prophecy orb tightly.

The sphere trembled violently in his palm, and the mist inside surged.

Bella broke free from Sirius's grasp and let out a heart-wrenching scream: "We can't let him get away!"

Her spell grazed past Harry's ear but did not harm him.

Sirius also retreated to Harry's side, protecting him behind him.

"Looks like this farce is about to reach its most classic part." I slowly stood up, and Percy stood up with me.

He was holding the door key I had given him.

"He's here." I used the portal key to teleport over, and Percy followed suit.

The place where we were just having tea and snacks is now only occupied by Steward Chen, who is bending over.

It was as if they were seeing their master off.

The melee between the metal racks suddenly stopped, and uneasy whispers came from behind the Death Eaters' masks. Even Bella's maniacal laughter stopped abruptly.

Suddenly, Lucius Malfoy's face turned deathly pale.

The black mist behind him surged like a living thing, and the scent of blue roses mixed with a hint of blood permeated the air.

Bella suddenly let out a shriek of ecstatic joy, her wand pointing at the black mist almost reverently: "Master! You've finally come!"