Chapter 361

"Did you know about Regulus's actions?" Harry asked in front of the members of Dumbledore's Army; he didn't really want to discuss this, but he desperately needed to understand the situation, because according to the original plan, Sirius was supposed to let Bella and Delphi escape.

"We have an informant in his gang," William said. "But he did pull off a surprise move—the informant reported back only after he'd already captured Bella and Delphi."

Sirius had taken the mother and daughter alive. Harry thought this looked better on the surface, but in reality, it was probably a hot potato.

"Lucius threw a party at home—you really knew how to play it smart. I don't know if Lucius has switched sides, but that party definitely made us let our guard down," William said with admirable poise. "And at this moment, Snape is quietly moving against Nagini, isn't he?"

Harry didn't respond. He didn't want to reveal any information.

"When the news reached me, I was still in the Malfoy Manor's dance hall. I knew right then that Bella was finished, that the Lestrange faction had collapsed," William glanced at Rabastan. "But out of professional ethics, I came up with a clever move in a short time: secretly capturing Harry Potter."

"If I caught you, I'd have leverage to negotiate with Snape and Regulus," William said. "But I had no one left to deploy—maybe just pull a few people from the dance floor: me, my partner Sindge, Rabastan, the Carrows, Antonin and Mulciber—but those two are turncoats; they've probably already fled back by now."

"Is this the list of seven attackers?" Harry said. "You're awfully forthcoming about them."

"It doesn't matter. Either way, Sindge and I will eventually get extradited by the Magical Congress," William said casually. "The others, even if they didn't join this operation, will be purged by you sooner or later."

"That's easy for you to say, you bastard!" Rabastan suddenly exploded, shoving William hard to the ground with his shoulder.

Harry signaled the students to separate them, then gestured for William to continue.

"We plotted at the Malfoys' place. Coincidentally, all factions are busy right now. If Harry finds his friends in danger, he'll likely come himself to rescue them," William said. "I also happened to know some stories about Dumbledore's Army, so I stole that fat kid's Phoenix Finger and laid an ambush here for you."

"How could you be sure I'd actually come?" Harry asked, puzzled.

"I had no choice—I could only gamble," William shook his head. "I gambled that one of your friends was away from school, that you believed the Phoenix Finger's plea, that Snape hadn't returned, that you were desperate to save someone and rushed out with only one or two friends."

At that moment, Zhang Qiu arrived with over a dozen students, laughing and chatting. They dumped five bound captives beside Rabastan, who immediately wore an even more desperate expression.

"It's fine, keep going," Harry couldn't help laughing.

"What else is there to say? Obviously, I lost the bet," William sighed.

Seeing Harry's dismissive expression, he added: "But think about it—I came up with a viable strategy in such a short time. That's already impressive. If it had succeeded, wouldn't it have been a miraculous turnaround? I just happened to be out of luck."

Harry shrugged. He now understood the full story. Indeed, the operation had been rushed, which explained why they failed so quickly and completely.

"Where's Ron?" Harry stood up, scanning the crowd for familiar faces.

"I'm here," Ron's voice came from another direction. He was approaching with four or five students—each carrying a captive.

Harry narrowed his eyes at William, teasingly asking: "Can't you count?"

"Alright, that's my other good partner Adams. Guess he's out of the picture too," William finally showed genuine relief.

"Let's wait here until everyone's gathered, then head straight back," Harry glanced at the ring in his hand—the Phoenix Finger was still warm, now pointing toward William.

While waiting for the students, Harry suddenly felt something fly past his head. When he looked up, it flew back—the TARDIS.

From the half-open door, a very familiar face poked out.

After the TARDIS landed, several unfamiliar figures stepped out. Then Lupin emerged, glanced around, and asked: "What's going on, Harry? Who called for help? Why are you all gathered here in the middle of the night?"

"It was a trap…" Harry said, slightly embarrassed. "Luckily, we had numbers—we forced our way through. Uh, you can interrogate them for details."

Lupin looked at the fallen figures and suddenly exclaimed: "The Carrows! Antonin! You caught big fish!"

"Strictly speaking, it was William who brought the big fish right to us," Ron said proudly.

"They're dangerous—very dangerous. I mean, quick, add more ropes!" He signaled his men to take custody of the captives. Then Tonks and Sirius stepped out of the TARDIS.

"Godfather!" Harry exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"

"My business was finished, and I was just going to find Lupin," Sirius said vaguely. "Then I ran into Cress in searching for him about the Phoenix Finger. I worried it was you calling for help, so I didn't let him follow. Just Lupin, Tonks, and a few werewolves—he brought them along. We just said we were here to rescue someone. Didn't you go to the Ministry?"

"No, Snape didn't let us go," Harry said, not elaborating in front of his classmates.

"Good thing," Sirius nodded. "We almost stormed in directly. Luckily, Tonks suggested we check on Hogwarts first."

"Oh right," Harry leaned close to Sirius and whispered, "You didn't deliberately let Bella escape, did you?"

"I did," Sirius whispered back. "I specifically arranged a Lestrange family traitor to guard the back door. Who knew the bastard turned on us?"

"I couldn't just let Bella go right in front of everyone while they were praising me," Sirius made a pained face. "So it got complicated—I had to lock them up first and see if Bella could find a way out on her own."

"Alright. Sometimes things just go wrong by accident," Harry chuckled, glancing at the chattering students. "It feels like tonight went too smoothly for all of us. I hope Professor Snape also achieves his goal successfully."

After securing the captives, Lupin dropped the line "Get back to school early and rest," then left. He'd originally planned to use the TARDIS to return the children, but Harry didn't want too many kids cramming inside—first, he feared overexcited students might cause chaos; second, he worried too many people might expose Sirius's true identity to the Death Eaters, since both had left in a hurry.

"Wow, that's so cool, Harry," Justin said as soon as the TARDIS vanished. "Professor Lupin drove the TARDIS! Who are the others? Are they Aurors?"

"Strictly speaking, no," Harry scratched his head. "Just call them members of the Order of the Phoenix."

"Harry, do you have a lot of operational plans?" Marietta asked curiously, approaching. "I heard you interrogating William—does that mean the Order won big elsewhere, and that's why he took this desperate risk to attack us?"

"Uh, pretty much, yes," Harry gave a vague shrug.

"So we've completed the Order's great victory?" Marietta's voice rose involuntarily. Some students who had been chatting in small groups turned toward them, eyes gleaming.

"Amazing! The Order won big—and we played a key role!" Justin cheered, unaware of the truth.

Amid the cheering crowd, Harry forced a smile. He didn't dare dampen their spirits, nor could he explain the truth, so he joined in the celebration.

Soon, the last lost student found them and naturally joined the cheering. Harry struggled to quiet them down, then announced they'd fly back to school.

The children, just as they had been at departure, rode their brooms, laughing and chatting, slowly flying toward the school. They lit their wands again, forming a slow-moving ribbon of light in the sky.

Someone suddenly changed the color of their Lumos spell, and the ribbon instantly became a rainbow. Then others began shooting fireworks into the air, their flashing lights illuminating every smiling face.

When noisy singing broke out, Neville gave Harry a helpless smile.

"We were hoping to do something big," he said. "Now it's turned into a parade."

"We did do something big," Harry smiled. "For students, it's huge enough."

"Harry, what's that?" Ron suddenly pointed in a direction.

The group slowed down—many had spotted a dark shape lurching toward them from afar.

As the massive creature drew closer, Harry's eyes widened: it was a clearly vicious Hungarian Horntail dragon, flying unevenly, with two girls perched on its neck.

"Help! Can someone please! Catch us!" Elena shouted.