Chapter 359: The Helpless Cry for Help

"Wake up, Harry, wake up." Harry felt he had slept for a long time; he opened his eyes to see Ron shaking him vigorously. He instinctively glanced at Ron's watch—it was just past nine.

"What's wrong?"

"Didn't you notice the Phoenix Ring is hot?" Ron extended his hand wearing the ring. "Most members of Dumbledore's Army are gathered outside the dorm. You need to decide."

"What decision?" Harry mumbled, still half-asleep. "Where's Neville? Isn't Dumbledore's Army under his command?"

"Neville's gone. I think he went to the Ministry of Magic." Ron spoke with growing urgency.

"Are you mad?" Harry jolted upright. "Why would he go to the Ministry of Magic?"

"To get the thing Dumbledore left behind." Ron said. "He probably thought this was a rare opportunity."

"Don't say 'probably,'" Harry said as he pulled on his clothes. "What's the real situation? What actually happened?"

"The truth is, I saw him staring at that pin for a long time," Ron realized he'd been too speculative. "Then he left and never came back. I thought nothing of it at first—but then the Phoenix Ring suddenly grew hot, and it was pointing straight toward the Ministry of Magic."

"Stay calm, Ron." Harry stood at the dorm door, not rushing out. "Neville has the Time-Shift Spell. He won't easily get trapped. So if the Phoenix Ring is heating up, we must first suspect someone else is in trouble—and only consider Neville last."

As Harry stepped out of the dorm, several members of Dumbledore's Army immediately surrounded him.

"Neville's missing!" Seamus said urgently.

"Hermione's missing too!" Ginny's tone was even more frantic.

"Hermione?!" Harry's eyes widened. "That's impossible. Did Neville think Hermione would be more useful than me or Ron?"

"Well, optimistically speaking," Ivy crossed her arms, "maybe they just went off to hook up."

"Who forged the ring?" Ginny shouted at her.

"Hannah did. She told everyone to go catch them in the act." Ivy said casually.

"Is Hannah missing too?" Harry sharply extracted this key detail from the banter. "Let's go outside first. Where are the other Dumbledore's Army members? Tell them to gather in the Room of Requirement."

"They're already there," Ginny said as they walked. "Our agreement was: if the Phoenix Ring heats up, we assemble first to confirm who's calling for help."

"But none of the Slytherins are here—they're at Malfoy's party." Ivy added. "What if someone got drunk at the party and started fiddling with the ring?"

As Harry stepped out of the dorm, he saw Zhang Qiu standing solemnly in the corridor, behind her a few scattered Ravenclaw students. The door to the Room of Requirement stood open, noise spilling out from within.

"Harry, you didn't go to the Department of Mysteries? Then it must be Neville." Zhang Qiu reached the same conclusion as Ron. "He must have taken Hannah and Hermione with him—he wants to bypass you and fulfill his own destiny."

"Wait, wait, don't jump to conclusions." Harry felt he'd missed something; in this chaos, he strained his mind to find the anomaly.

"Elena!" Harry snapped his fingers. "Is Elena here?"

The Gryffindor girls exchanged glances, none able to answer. Ivy stepped back half a pace. "I'll check."

"If Neville was looking for Hermione to team up, would Elena follow them?" Harry said as he walked into the Room of Requirement. Students looked up at him; the noise suddenly quieted.

"The Phoenix Ring is hot, Harry." "It's been burning for a while." "It's pointing southeast."

"Stay calm, everyone!" Harry called out. "Who's not in school? Don't mention Gryffindors—I already know."

"Luna's not here," Marietta said.

"She went to Malfoy's party as Cui Ge's date," Harry explained.

"Hannah and Ernie aren't here either," Justin from Hufflepuff said. "Susan's gone too."

Susan was Susan Bones—Harry remembered her: a quiet girl from a pure-blood family, close to Ernie.

"Probably went to the party too," Harry muttered, scowling. He'd suggested Draco throw the party to distract Lucius—but he hadn't expected it to cause this exact problem now.

"Elena's not here," Ivy panted as she ran back into the Room of Requirement.

Harry glanced at her, wondering if Hannah and Neville had gone to the party too.

"Hannah's too strange to abandon Neville and go to a party," Justin said. "She must've gone on an adventure with him."

"Neville invited Hermione and Elena tagged along?" Harry found this configuration absurd. "He has no reason to seek out Hermione—especially if Hannah's with him. I assumed Hannah went to the party, which is why Neville turned to Hermione."

"You're right—they're probably not together," Ron agreed. "Then who's fiddling with the ring?"

"Hermione and Elena—or Neville and Hannah," Harry said, seeing merit in Ron's logic. "But if Hermione and Elena were in danger, they wouldn't use the ring—they have better ways to call for help."

Zhang Qiu instantly understood Harry's point: Elena must have a way to reach Tang Nade. But others might not grasp this.

"Maybe Neville and Hannah just went on a date," Ivy said again, crossing her arms and making a sarcastic remark.

"Then who's fiddling with the ring?" Ginny frowned at her.

"Crabbe and Goyle—drunk as hell," Ivy shrugged. "Kids being stupid, playing with it."

"Calm down, calm down," Harry rubbed his temples. "Who else? Who else…?"

"I think it's Neville," Zhang Qiu said. "Divination mentioned you all fighting desperately in the Department of Mysteries. Maybe he just wandered there by accident."

"But he wouldn't take Hannah!" Harry flung his hands out. "Neville isn't that kind of person. He'd go alone—or if he took Hannah, he'd at least bring Ron first!"

"We need to go check," Zhang Qiu said. "Regardless, the ring is definitely hot."

"We go?" Marietta gripped Zhang Qiu's shoulder. "Shouldn't we find a professor? Or at least Klaister?"

"Snape isn't there," Ron said. "I knocked, no answer."

"McGonagall's gone too," Ginny added. Zhang Qiu continued: "Flitwick's gone too—they're on the grading team."

"What about the other professors? Isn't Arnold here?" Marietta asked blankly.

"He has no combat ability," Zhang Qiu shook her head. "Most professors have little to no combat power."

"Alright, we split up," Harry said. "Ivy and Ginny, contact Draco. Confirm no one got drunk and started fiddling with the ring at the party."

"Okay, we'll use the Floo," Ginny said.

"Everyone else find brooms. We'll fly along the direction the Phoenix Ring points to see what's happening." Harry scanned the crowd. "Meet back here in fifteen minutes. If you don't want to go or can't find a broom, stay in your dorm. Don't act alone."

After the crowd dispersed, Zhang Qiu whispered: "But there's a faster way to the Department of Mysteries."

"What?" Harry hadn't reacted yet.

"Through the Dream Realm, reverse through the Veil," she said in a soft voice.

"No, Snape isn't here," Harry thought for a moment, then shook his head. "That means he's in the Department of Mysteries. If Snape's there, we have nothing to worry about."

"After eliminating the unlikely options, I think the most plausible explanation is someone got drunk and played with the ring," Harry said calmly. "I know you trust divination—but it's delayed predictions before, hasn't it?"

"But you need to go to the Department of Mysteries," Zhang Qiu flipped through her journal, worried. "Something important for you is there—and this is a perfect chance."

"What's so perfect about it?" Harry shook his head. "Snape is doing his own thing there. If we barge in, we might disrupt his plan—I believe Neville understands that too, so he wouldn't act at this critical moment."

"At this moment, the Order has taken all Ministry forces away," Zhang Qiu said. "It's never been this easy to break in."

"What exactly is it?" Harry took a deep breath. "I don't feel I'm missing anything critical—especially something locked inside the Ministry."

"I don't know," Zhang Qiu read from her journal. "The final piece of fate appears on row ninety-seven."

Harry pressed his palms together against his nose, thinking seriously about this so-called fate. Then he said: "No. We don't need to rush in blindly. We can sneak in another day—even without reverse-veiling. We have Tardis."

"I meant, if Neville's trapped there, we could rescue him and…," Zhang Qiu began, then froze.

Neville stood panting at the entrance to the Room of Requirement, his tie crooked, his robe turned inside out, a lipstick mark on his cheek.

Before he could catch his breath and speak, Hannah ran up, equally disheveled, hair wild, her socks slipped to her calves, gasping. She placed her hand—wearing the Phoenix Ring—on Neville's shoulder.

"What happened? The Phoenix Ring's hot," Neville swallowed hard. "Who's in trouble?"