"Damn it, with this many people, how am I supposed to get to the lower floors?"
Meanwhile, over in the Ministry of Magic's atrium, Cedric, hidden beneath the Invisibility Cloak, had run into the crowd already packing the hall. Trapped there, he could not even find somewhere to put his feet.
"No, I can't be the one to screw this up."
Anxious, Cedric wrapped the Invisibility Cloak tightly around himself and tried to squeeze into the crowd. But before he could make any headway, the press of people nearly ripped the cloak off him. Terrified, he hugged it close and hastily backed away, abandoning any thought of forcing his way through.
"What am I supposed to do? Hey, Roy, can you hear me?"
Unable to push through on his own, Cedric could only pin his hopes on asking Roy for help.
"I'm asking for you. Hang on."
Hidden on a cliff beneath Gringotts, Roy lay in a painfully awkward position inside a hollow eaten into the rock. It was only a few dozen centimeters deep, leaving half his body hanging in midair above a bottomless abyss.
After hearing Cedric's plea, Roy shifted his aching body in the hollow and contacted Kingsley, who was lying low inside the Ministry of Magic.
"I'll ask for you. Don't panic."
"No need. I've found a way out."
Before Roy could finish speaking, Cedric, who had been standing at a loss in the Ministry atrium, found a way to escape.
"I can see some wheeled cargo containers in the closed-off corridor beside me. I don't know where they're headed, but I'm going to climb into one. No idea where they'll take me, though."
"Cedric! Cedric!"
The moment Cedric finished speaking, his channel fell silent. Hanging from the cliff, Roy hurriedly called his name, but Cedric,