Ministry Atrium, chaos reigned.
People in front wanted to squeeze towards the door, while those behind wanted to retreat towards the exit. The two streams collided, completely blocking the originally spacious main hall.
Several officials in purple robes were pushed by the crowd and bumped into stone pillars, scattering their documents all over the ground.
The owl flapped its wings between the beams, emitting a restless hooting that sounded particularly jarring amidst the chaotic arguing.
Someone shouted, "Make way! Let me out!" Another person responded even louder, "It's blocked! I can't move!"
The main exit of the main hall was completely blocked by the surging crowd, and the bronze door could not be fully pushed open.
Fudge was surrounded by several people in his entourage, squeezed into a relatively empty corner of the guest area. His face turned pale and then red, and his lips trembled as he couldn't speak.
A young clerk was bumped by the crowd and nearly fell into the adjacent press section.
He struggled to his feet, looked up at the chaotic crowd around him, and said in a clearly panicked voice, "Minister, what do we do? Should we—"
"What can I do!" Fudge's voice suddenly rose, even cracking slightly. "What can I do? Dumbledore's gone! There's no news of him at all! The Floo Network is completely cut off!"
His entourage exchanged glances, but no one spoke.
Just then, a low cough came from the front row of the VIP area.
A tall male wizard from the International Confederation of Wizards stood up.
He dusted off his robe, ignoring the stares of those around him, and walked straight to a relatively open area in the center of the main hall.
"Ladies and gentlemen," his voice was amplified by Sonorus, carrying clearly to every corner of the main hall, "Please be quiet."
The noise from the crowd gradually subsided.
Hundreds of eyes turned to him at once, even Fudge looked up.
"I know everyone wants to go to Hogwarts to check on things," the tall wizard said, glancing around, his tone softening slightly. "But think carefully, where is the safest place right now?"
He paused, letting the sentence finish. "It's the Ministry of Magic. Although the Floo Network is broken, the Ministry of Ministry of Magic's own defenses are intact; no one from the outside can get in."
"If you rush out now, you'll be truly exposing yourselves to danger."
A low murmur arose from the crowd, but the sound was much quieter than before.
Several people who were pushing their way to the door stopped, looked at each other, and hesitated.
The tall wizard continued, "So my suggestion is that we stay here and wait for news from Headmaster Dumbledore."
He raised his hand and gestured in another direction from the guest area. "Besides, I happen to have a way of finding out how Hogwarts is doing right now."
His words silenced the entire main hall.
Even Fudge was taken aback for a moment, then took two steps forward. "You can see over there?"
The tall wizard didn't answer, but simply nodded slightly and drew a wand from inside his gray robe.
He drew a circle in the air with the tip of his cane, his movements neither too fast nor too slow, as if he were tracing an invisible mirror.
" The Distant Scene Revealed," he read aloud.
A layer of silvery-white light began to emanate from where the tip of the staff passed, and that light slowly spread out in the air, like a veil being slowly drawn back.
The silver light grew more and more abundant and brighter, eventually forming a light screen about the size of a tabletop, suspended in mid-air, its surface shimmering with tiny specks of light.
A collective gasp filled the main hall.
"This is..." The female reporter in the round hat stood on tiptoe in the crowd, her eyes fixed on the light screen.
"... Distant Scene Revealing Charm?" Amelia whispered.
"A very high-level spell," the white-haired elder from Wizengamot continued, "The caster can see a real-time scene from a specific location thousands of miles away, and everyone around can see it."
Fudge looked up at the gradually forming water curtain, his expression complex.
He certainly knew what level of magic the spell was, but if the images truly showed what was happening at Hogwarts, then everyone in the entire main hall would witness the current state of the school firsthand.
If things go badly, Dumbledore's credibility will be further damaged, and the little bit of trust that was built up this morning could collapse in an instant.
But Fudge no longer had the power to stop the tall wizard, because the water curtain had already taken shape.
The tall wizard put away his wand and faced the direction of the light screen.
His lips twitched slightly, but he quickly regained his composure.
"This is an ancient observation spell that can project scenes from thousands of miles away onto the caster," he said calmly.
"I admit that Professor Dumbledore and I disagree on many things."
I don't always agree with his methods.
He paused for a moment, as if choosing his words carefully. "But his school is under attack."
"Those children... no matter what I think of him, I don't want to see anything happen to them. So I want to do my part."
These words were reasonable and logical, and those around them nodded in agreement.
But a fleeting glance at the screen out of the corner of his eye revealed a barely perceptible smile.
Of course, he wouldn't tell these people crammed into the Ministry Atrium that he chose to cast the spell now because he knew that once the light screen opened, everyone would see the true appearance of Hogwarts at this moment.
Then Dumbledore's statement, " Hogwarts is not unguarded," will become a joke.
The representative of the International Confederation of Wizards did not hate Dumbledore; he even acknowledged that the old wizard had indeed done a lot for the Wizarding World.
He just felt that this person was taking up too much of the spotlight.
This "greatest wizard," revered by all, should perhaps occasionally be shown his blunders.
But if someone can catch a glimpse of Hogwarts amidst this chaos, it might not be a bad thing.
The silvery-white specks on the light screen finally converged into a blurry outline.
First came the dark dome, then the patterns on the stone walls, and then a panoramic view of the entire Great Hall appeared in the center of the light screen.
All sound in the main hall vanished in that instant.
On the screen, Hogwarts Great Hall was in complete disarray. Several rows of long tables were overturned, plates and cups were shattered, and a thick layer of dark gray smoke still clung to the ground.
Several students lay slumped against the table legs, some curled up, others lying on their backs.
Over at Hufflepuff, a girl was sitting on the ground with a long gash on her arm, blood dripping from her fingers.
A large figure lay in the middle of the passageway, his dusty beard stained with blood, and a large black dog curled up beside him, motionless.
A dozen or so people dressed in black robes were walking from the center of the Great Hall toward the door, their boots crunching softly on the broken porcelain shards.
The man in the black robe at the very front was flanked by two men, one on each side, supporting a boy wearing round-framed glasses.
The boy's arms were twisted behind his back, and he staggered, but his head did not bow.
It's Harry Potter.
A suppressed gasp rose from the crowd.
A witch covered her mouth, almost crying. Fudge took two steps forward, gripping the edge of the VIP chair back tightly with her fingers.
" Merlin's beard..." someone whispered in the crowd, "They're dragging Potter away..."
"Wait, there seem to be other students!"
"That's... the Malfoy family son, I've seen him before!"
Lucius, in the VIP section, turned deathly pale in an instant, and his body swayed.
He certainly hadn't forgotten the statement he'd released just a few days prior.
Could it be...?
As if contemplating some terrifying possibility, Lucius's vision went black. He gripped the armrest of the chair to keep from falling, his eyes fixed on the screen of light.
The tall wizard's breathing quickened slightly, but after glancing at Harry's face, his gaze lingered more on the men in black robes.
Just then, the image on the screen flickered for a moment.
The leader of the black-robed figures suddenly stopped. All the Death Eaters behind him also stopped and assumed a defensive posture.
The air seemed to freeze for a moment, and even the smoke on the light screen seemed to be paused.
A beam of blue light suddenly exploded in front of a dozen or so men in black robes, then the light quickly converged into a slender human figure.
The remaining students in the Great Hall also suddenly looked up. The leader of the black-robed men stopped and quickly raised the tip of his wand.
At that moment, hundreds of eyes in the Ministry Atrium also focused on the newly appeared figure.
After the light faded, a figure appeared at the distance between the man in black robes and the Great Hall door, with his back to the light screen.
It was a person wearing a purple-striped fox mask and a black trench coat, the hem of which was still fluttering slightly.
The main hall was quiet for a moment, then erupted into chaos like a beehive that had been punctured.
"Who is that?!"
"Where did you come from?!"
"Did he use Apparition?! Isn't Apparition forbidden in Hogwarts Castle?!"
Fudge leaned forward, his eyes wide with shock. "Who is that? What's he doing in Hogwarts Great Hall?"
The tall male wizard stood rooted to the spot, his breath almost stopping for a moment.
His gaze was fixed on the person wearing the fox mask, and within a few seconds, his expression changed from initial confusion to surprise.
The images on the light screen continued to play.
The leader of the black-robed men seemed to be stunned as well. His voice, "Who are you?" became somewhat distorted after being transmitted through the blurry light screen, but it could still be heard clearly in the main hall.
The masked man in the black trench coat glanced around, then tilted his head, seemingly troubled.
"Would you believe me if I said I was here for a visit?"