Chapter 274: Warning Spell Activated

Bad news kept coming one after another, and Fudge's face turned as pale as paper.

On one side, hundreds of Dementors were collectively attacking Muggle citizens; on the other, the ruthless the Death Eaters roamed the streets of London unchecked.

What on earth is happening!?

Fudge immediately ordered all Aurors to mobilize, sending even the combat‑capable support staff to the front line, while he slumped back into his chair.

Watching the Ministry of Magic spring into action, dozens to hundreds of Wizards hurried to the main hall's fireplace, exiting the Ministry through it.

Sirius and the others finally sensed something was wrong.

"Harry! John! Something's off, go back to school first!"

At this moment, Professor Lupin, who was behind them, finally spoke, addressing the two.

Although Fudge didn't want to let Harry go, he no longer had the mood to concern himself with Harry.

The two exchanged a glance, then rose to leave.

But John's steps suddenly halted.

"Ring ring ring!!!"

In an instant, a cacophony of shrill, urgent alarms boomed within a five‑kilometre radius of the Muggle World above them!

Although those underground didn't notice.

But John jerked his head up, his pupils contracting sharply.

It was the Warning Spell he had set at home that had been triggered!

"Someone's broken into my house!"

John shouted immediately, and without waiting for Sirius and the others to react, he swung his wand.

Bang!

The floor‑to‑ceiling window behind Fudge's office shattered instantly, and John leapt out, glass shards scattering like a rain of stars in the gust.

He plunged rapidly toward the Ministry's main hall below!

"John!!"

Harry, Sirius and the others shouted anxiously.

But John had already reached the main hall.

Just before landing in the hall, he waved his wand again, a gentle cushioning force catching him, and ignoring the startled gazes of others in the hall, he sprinted toward the fireplace.

Snap!

With a booming crack, John's figure vanished straight into the fireplace.

From the upper floor, Harry and the others saw the scene through the window, realizing John's family was in danger, and prepared to give chase.

But the instant John had just vanished from the fireplace,

all the surrounding fireplaces suddenly flared with green light.

Dozens of figures cloaked in black robes stepped out together.

Their gazes simultaneously locked onto Harry on the upper floor.

Although they didn't reveal their identities, Professor Moody instantly realized they had been tricked!

"Retreat quickly from Fudge's fireplace!"

Professor Moody said decisively.

In the Minister's office, there was also a fireplace that could lead outside.

But at this moment, the fireplace's function had been shut down.

The Department of Magical Transportation harbored the Death Eaters' allies!

Only those there could control the Ministry's fireplaces!

Professor Moody's one eye spun wildly as he contemplated an escape plan.

"Go! To the Department of Mysteries!"

In less than three seconds, Professor Moody spoke again.

Then he grabbed Harry's hand, leading Sirius and Professor Lupin toward the elevator.

He planned to take the elevator straight to the ninth floor of the Department of Mysteries to buy time there!

"Notify Dumbledore immediately for support!"

"The Ministry now has no living combat power; we must hide in the Department of Mysteries, where ancient Defensive Spells and isolation barriers are our only way to survive!"

Professor Lupin had already produced a fiery red Feather—a Phoenix Tail Feather—that, even if it fell off, could let him ignore the Counterspell of Apparition and teleport directly like a phoenix.

As the fiery feather burned, the distress signal was successfully sent.

All that remained was to hide inside the Department of Mysteries and stall for time.

Dumbledore should arrive shortly, perhaps in less than three minutes.

The group rode the elevator straight down to the ninth floor.

Meanwhile, the black‑robed figures in the main hall all marched toward the elevator shaft.

Bang bang bang!

Someone among the black‑robed crowd had already swung a wand at the elevator shaft!

Except for the elevator carrying Harry and his group, the other shafts were blown up one after another.

It seemed as if they deliberately funneled them into the Department of Mysteries.

Then they turned and rushed down the stairs.

As the elevator doors slowly opened, Professor Moody immediately ordered Harry and the others to slip behind the black door of the Department of Mysteries.

He stayed at the rear, leaving a final protective barrier to block their advance.

Harry finally saw the corridor; behind that black door, what scene lay?

A circular hall, aside from the door they entered through, had ten other doors.

Each door was uniformly black, with no sign or guidance.

Professor Moody looked around, then led a few people to open the left‑front door.

Inside was a room filled with various fish tanks.

But what was terrifying was that the tanks contained no fish.

Instead, they held one brain after another.

They floated in a pale‑green liquid, their gray‑white folds pulsing slowly like living things.

Harry felt sick after seeing it all, yet Professor Moody kept pulling him forward, through the brain chamber.

They then entered a domed hall covered with star charts, a planetary room full of planet models.

The dome rotated slowly, the stellar trajectories drifting like living beings.

Before Harry could examine it closely, Professor Moody dragged him through another doorway.

This time, the scene before Harry was especially familiar.

Because he had seen the Prophecy Orb Hall countless times in nightmares.

On the other side, the Muggle World.

Ring—ring—ring!!!

Shrill alarms blared incessantly, covering almost the entire Muggle block.

The Muggles on the street had no idea what was happening, as various sharp alarms suddenly sounded nearby.

Police, fire, and ambulance lights flashed wildly at the corner, yet no fire or disaster was present nearby.

Only the western sky was a mass of oppressive black clouds.

Moreover, the clouds seemed to press ever closer toward the city.

At the center of the alarms, in John's home, several the Death Eaters in black robes were startled by the sudden alarm.

"Dammit!"

"We've been discovered!"

One of them, hearing the alarm, instinctively thought of retreating.

But another shouted back.

"Useless! The alarm is Muggle's, not an Auror's!"

"That little brat Meilik deliberately left this Warning Spell to scare us!"

Another person cursed outright.

Meanwhile, the Merick Couple were hiding inside a wardrobe in the room.

John had told them that if anyone broke in, they should hide immediately; he would rush over at once.

However, the room's main door was suddenly ripped open.

Three black‑clad figures entered, immediately glancing at the wardrobe.

With a cold sneer, they raised their wand.

"Thunderbolt Blast...."

Boom!!

In the next instant, a devastating wave of magic erupted, engulfing the entire room.

When the smoke cleared.

The wardrobe remained intact, and the three black‑clad figures were thrown to the ground.

And in front of the wardrobe, a figure appeared.

It was John, who had arrived.