Anomaly

"Are you saying Voldemort went to Austria?"

At noon the next day, Kyle raised an eyebrow in puzzlement as he looked at Professor McGonagall, who had come to deliver the news.

Today was the day Harry was to be moved, yet Voldemort had left England at such a critical moment?

"Someone spotted Voldemort near the border between Switzerland and Austria," Professor McGonagall said. "The news came from Madame Maxime, so it should be true."

"What did Professor Dumbledore say?" Hermione, who had only just arrived, asked anxiously.

"Dumbledore has already gone there," Professor McGonagall said. "But according to him, he may not be able to take part in tonight's operation. He told you to use the backup plan you settled on earlier."

The room immediately fell silent. No one spoke.

To be honest, although everyone took tonight's operation seriously, they had not been particularly nervous... because Dumbledore was still here.

As long as Dumbledore was there, tonight's operation could not fail. Everyone believed that without question.

In fact, Moody and Kingsley's plan had even included an alternative: use Harry as bait to draw out the Death Eaters and Voldemort hiding in the shadows, then confront them head-on.

They simply knew that neither Sirius nor the Weasley family would agree to it, so they had not brought it up.

But that was indeed what they had been thinking.

Dumbledore would handle Voldemort while they dealt with the Death Eaters, and they would face them in a direct battle—or rather... a decisive battle.

To that end, they had made extensive preparations behind everyone else's backs and drawn up a series of detailed plans.

But all of that depended on Dumbledore taking part in the operation. Without him, any clash between them and the Death Eaters could only be considered a minor skirmish.