This was...
Harry's eyes flew wide. As he watched the beads of blood floating before Voldemort, a terrifying thought flashed through his mind.
Could it be...
The next moment, Voldemort flicked his wand, and the beads of blood shot upward, reaching the Underground Palace's vaulted ceiling in an instant.
As they flew, the beads of blood turned into countless threads, tracing an intricate magic array in the air.
"Oh no!" Cries rang out from different parts of the Underground Palace. More than one wizard exclaimed, in different languages, but they all wore the same horrified expression.
But even more people had no idea what was about to happen.
Harry was surprised. He had thought very few people knew about this sort of thing, but judging by the number of voices in the Underground Palace, there were quite a few more than he had expected.
But that thought only flashed through Harry's mind before he could no longer spare it any attention. He shouted, "Get away from him! Get away from him!"
Similar cries rose all around. Those who reacted quickly, or particularly trusted the people calling out, all retreated.
Sirius, Lupin, and the others from the Order of the Phoenix, for instance, all fell back when they heard Harry. Although not all of them knew that Harry had inherited the legacies of two Hogwarts Founders, they knew he possessed extraordinary strength and knowledge beyond that of most wizards.
It was hardly reasonable for a teenage wizard to possess so much knowledge, but when it came to The Boy Who Lived, the legendary Harry Potter, unreasonable things happening to him seemed perfectly normal.
So, after hearing Harry's voice, the members of the Order of the Phoenix all moved away from Voldemort.
But naturally, where some reacted quickly, others reacted slowly.
Among