Chapter 1454: Ambush
Chapter 1454: Ambush
"Damn, why is it so difficult?"
In a room, Ron, wrapped in a thick cloak, was flipping through Hermione's notes while practicing spellcasting with his wand.
He was well aware that if he didn't want to hold the team back any longer, he needed to quickly master the art of extinguishing the fierce fire to ensure their mission to break into Gringotts and destroy the Horcruxes would go smoothly.
Relying solely on Hermione could lead to disaster, leaving the trio unprepared and even costing them their lives to the fierce fire.
"Forget it, I'll talk to Hermione again tomorrow."
Ron closed the notebook and glanced at the empty bed. He realized that Harry and Ginny's relationship wasn't all bad.
At the very least, no one disturbed him when he was talking to Hermione.
He wondered where Harry and Ginny had gone for a date at this late hour.
Should he ask Hermione? Maybe she knew something.
Ron hesitated for a moment but ultimately lacked the courage to go find Hermione.
As he took off his thick cloak and hung it on the nearby rack, intending to lie down and rest, a loud crash came from downstairs as if a wooden door had been forcefully opened.
"What's going on? Has someone broken into the Order of the Phoenix headquarters?"
He leaped off the bed, wand in hand, and cautiously made his way downstairs toward the source of the noise, ready for any impending combat.
"What's happening?"
Percy, seeing his sneaky younger brother, furrowed his brows and asked.
"I don't know."
As the two made their way downstairs, they found chaos below. The commotion had attracted the attention of the other Order of the Phoenix members as well.
But...
"Something terrible has happened."
Seeing the crowded infirmary, Percy's expression turned grim. He seemed to hear Mrs. Weasley's distraught voice, and amidst the noise, he could faintly hear someone calling Bill's name.
"What's going on?"
Ron's heart sank as he felt a sense of foreboding. He began to push his way through the crowd to understand the situation better.
"Bill has been injured. It was the Death Eaters," Sirius said, holding Ron back from entering the infirmary to avoid disrupting Bill's treatment.
"How could this happen?" Ron exclaimed, his eyes widening in disbelief that Bill could have been ambushed by Death Eaters.
Ever since Albert invented and distributed the detection watches, it had become nearly impossible for the Death Eaters to launch a surprise attack.
Everyone turned to Lupin, who had brought Bill back. His face was equally grim as he began to recount the entire incident.
"That group of Death Eaters destroyed another Muggle village and turned its inhabitants into Inferi. Bill and I were ambushed while scouting the area."
"How were you two ambushed? Didn't you have the detection watches?"
"How could we make such a childish mistake?" Lupin raised his hand to show them the detection watch, a bitter smile on his face. "Those Death Eaters seemed to have anticipated our arrival and were lying in wait for us."
"You were ambushed?"
Everyone was stunned. It was incomprehensible that they could be ambushed despite having the detection watches.
"No, we spotted them early on, but by then, we were already surrounded," Lupin explained with a bitter smile. "They must have guessed that we had some means of detection. Although the watches did alert us to their presence, there were simply too many of them. Two invisible Death Eaters took advantage of the chaos and ambushed us. That's when Bill was severely injured."
A heavy silence fell upon the group, as they were all too familiar with this tactic.
Albert had used it more than once, and now it seemed the Death Eaters had learned from him and turned it against them.
"Are you alright, Remus?"
Tonks, with her bulging belly, pushed her way through the crowd, her face filled with worry. She reached out and began patting Lupin's body as if assuring herself that he was unharmed.
"I'm fine."
Seeing his pregnant wife, Lupin felt a pang of guilt and quickly helped her sit down before continuing his account of how they had escaped the Death Eaters' encirclement.
Moody, leaning on his staff, asked, "How is Bill doing now?"
"He's alive," Arthur replied, still shaken from the close call of losing another son.
"Fortunately, Bill was wearing a Fire Dragon Jacket, otherwise that Dark Magic would likely have taken his life instantly."
"We must send Bill to St. Mungo's for treatment immediately!" Mrs. Weasley exclaimed, her voice filled with panic.
"Don't be foolish," Arthur said grimly. "Those Death Eaters could be lying in wait for us there."
"But we can't just do nothing..." Mrs. Weasley trailed off, her worry evident.
"We've already sent a message to Professor McGonagall, and she'll be bringing Madam Pomfrey soon. She'll definitely be able to heal Bill," Kingsley assured them, grateful for Albert's foresight in recruiting Madam Pomfrey to their cause.
They didn't have to wait long before Madam Pomfrey and Professor McGonagall arrived with the help of house-elves. The two women seemed to have been in a hurry, still wearing their nightgowns and only draped in thick cloaks to ward off the night's chill.
After examining Bill's injuries, they hurried back to the school to retrieve the necessary supplies.
The amount of potion stored at the Order's headquarters was insufficient to treat Bill's severe wounds, and Madam Pomfrey needed to return to Hogwarts for more ingredients.
"Don't worry, he'll make a full recovery," Madam Pomfrey assured them.
With Bill's life no longer in danger, Arthur finally calmed down and gently comforted his distraught wife.
"Madam Pomfrey said that it was lucky he was wearing that dragon-hide jacket. It significantly weakened the power of the Dark Magic," Mrs. Weasley choked out, "otherwise, Bill might not have survived."
"I think we should prepare more dragon-hide liners. At least those going out on missions will have some protection," Arthur suggested.
Tonks shuddered at the thought of what could have been. Remus didn't have a dragon-hide jacket, and if the curse had hit him instead of Bill, it might have taken his life.
"More sets?" Sirius's voice rose slightly. "I don't mean to discourage you, but do you know how much those things cost to commission from Albert?"
"How much?" The group asked in unison, their gazes fixed on Sirius.
He held up a hand, displaying a number that made everyone fall silent.
"I told him it was for Harry, so he gave me a very low price," Sirius explained.
In that moment, a heavy silence hung over the group.
"Where's Potter, then?" Moody asked, breaking the tense silence.
The group looked around, realizing they hadn't seen Harry at all during this commotion. It seemed unlikely that he would still be asleep, as Ron, his roommate, was present.
"Ron, do you know where Harry is?" Sirius asked directly, knowing they shared a room and would likely know each other's whereabouts.
"What's wrong?" Ron asked, his confusion evident.
Seeing Ron's puzzled expression, the group furrowed their brows, sensing that something was amiss.
"Harry is probably on a date with Ginny!" Hermione explained to the group on Ron's behalf.
Although the Order had taken over the entire hotel, they only occupied the lower floors. If Harry and Ginny had gone upstairs for their date, it was no surprise that they hadn't heard the ruckus below.
"As long as Harry's safe, I don't mind," Sirius shrugged, not too concerned about the matter.
The Weasley parents, naturally, had no objections to Harry and Ginny's relationship and were even supportive of it. However, with Bill's injury, they didn't have the heart to focus on that at the moment.
The others were curious as well, but it didn't seem appropriate to discuss it further given the current situation.
"For now, we should discuss the Death Eaters," Moody said, tapping his staff on the ground for emphasis. "Those beasts have clearly been driven to desperation. They're massacring Muggles to lure us in and take advantage of us."
"Albert predicted they would do something like this. Those bastards have had their eyes on us from the start," Sirius reminded the group.
Once again, a somber silence fell over the group, as they knew this to be true.
Whether it was Albert's warnings or Fred and George's recent concerns, they simply hadn't taken the threat seriously enough, which had led to Bill and Remus's ambush and narrow escape.
"Similar massacres will likely occur again," Kingsley said grimly, looking at Sirius. He, too, lacked a foolproof plan to stop those fanatics.
"I'll get in touch with Albert as soon as possible. Perhaps he'll have some ideas," Sirius suggested.
(End of Chapter)
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