Chapter 1316 Voldemort's True Target
Bella looked back and discovered that the Order of the Phoenix had completely taken control of the hall entrance.
Besides Arthur, she also saw several familiar faces.
Remus Lupin, Alastor Moody... and Sirius Black!
When Bella saw that handsome yet haggard face, her breath caught in her throat for a moment, then her eyes flashed with an even more venomous light.
“Sirius…” she hissed with laughter, “my dear cousin, you’ve come here to die too? Perfect, I can send you to meet your filthy mud-blood friend—”
“Shut your filthy mouth, Bella!” Sirius pointed his wand at her, his voice trembling with rage, but even more so with chilling killing intent. “You have failed!”
“Failure?” Bella burst into maniacal laughter, her chilling laugh echoing through the hall. “Hahahaha—was this your decision?”
She looked to her left and right, "For the great Dark Lord! Charge!"
The Death Eaters immediately unleashed blasting and obstruction spells, scattering and rushing into different black doors.
Moody roared, "Don't let them get away!"
His Mystic Eyes were constantly watching the Death Eaters' movements, and they rushed toward the black doors they had chosen, like frightened mice.
The door that had been kicked open was quickly closed again, and the spacious hall of the Department of Mysteries returned to calm.
"Chase!" Sirius was about to rush toward the door Bella was heading towards when Lupin stopped him.
"Don't rush in! The situation inside is unknown!"
Dumbledore quickly scanned the several black doors, his brow furrowed.
"Tom..." he murmured to himself, "To go to such lengths, to personally infiltrate the Ministry of Magic... He's spent his whole life trying to control everything—to control power, to control life and death, to control fear..."
But deep down, he was always tormented by something: fate, or rather, the unknown fate.
Vincent understood immediately, "A prophecy?"
Dumbledore nodded, took a small step forward, and his gaze became deep, as if lost in distant memories.
“When he was a child in an orphanage, he used magic to intimidate and control others; that was the beginning of his desire for control.”
At Hogwarts, he was obsessed with exploring his extraordinary origins and searching for the Slytherin legacy, an attempt to take control of his origins.
He created Horcruxes because he wanted to control death, which stemmed from his fear and contempt for his mother's mundane death.
His first failure was precisely because he was defeated by something he didn't understand and couldn't control—love.
A protective spell based on love reflected back his own killing curse, a defeat more terrible than death for him. He was defeated by what was unexpected, defeated by the reality that he could not crush everything with force.
The group's thoughts became clearer, and Vincent continued his analysis: "So, when he makes a comeback and learns that the prophecy from back then was incomplete, this incomplete prophecy will become his greatest inner demon."
It represents the past beyond his control, an unknown that may reveal his weaknesses or his fate. He must obtain it, read it, and then use it to completely take control of his destiny.
Vincent looked at Dumbledore with a strange expression. "Professor, Professor Snape still doesn't know the second half of the prophecy?"
Dumbledore smiled without saying a word, which was taken as tacit agreement.
Vincent felt a chill run down his spine for no apparent reason.
During his time impersonating Scrimgeour, he had learned more or less about the other departments of the Ministry of Magic. He remembered that the Department of Mysteries had a place called the Hall of Prophecy, which was a passive recording device that could capture all the complete prophecies made by real prophets within its range. Even if no one heard them, the prophecies would condense into a glass sphere.
This sphere is also known as the Prophecy Sphere. Only the prophet and the prophesied can safely touch it and activate its contents. If others touch it, the sphere will shatter and its contents will be permanently lost.
More than a decade has passed, and Dumbledore still hasn't told Snape the second half of the prophecy. It's really hard not to suspect that old Dumbledore is setting things up.
Vincent took a deep breath. He didn't care whether it was a coincidence or a carefully planned scheme; all he cared about was how to stop Voldemort from getting the prophecy orb.
He had never been inside the Hall of Prophecy, but rumors circulated that it contained thousands upon thousands of prophecy orbs, so…
“Professor, since only specific people can safely retrieve the prophecy orb, and we cannot instantly find the one Voldemort wants among thousands of orbs, nor do we have time to intercept him before he succeeds, the most reliable method is to ensure that he never gets it.”
"Destroy the entire Hall of Prophecy?" Sirius gasped. "Simple, efficient, and direct. I like it."
But apart from him, it seemed that no one else was in favor.
“Vincent.” Dumbledore’s voice was soft, yet carried an undeniable weight: “I understand your thoughts, but that hall contains more than just prophecies about Tom and Harry.”
He revealed an ancient secret: "The Secret Service collects and preserves prophecies not for the purpose of recording possible futures, but because these prophecies involve a large number of innocent people. Destroying them means depriving others of that faint but precious possibility when facing crucial fates."
Destroying all the prophecy orbs would have been far too costly and would have had far more serious consequences than Voldemort obtaining the prophecy.
Vincent fell silent. He understood Dumbledore's concerns; it was indeed not worth sacrificing so many lives to stop Voldemort.
He looked at the black door that Bella hadn't chosen. "Professor, you mean we have no choice but to go in and play hide-and-seek in his maze, betting on who finds that damn ball first?"
Dumbledore gently corrected him: "Or, I'll bet I can find Tom himself first."
His azure eyes swept across the battlefield. The damage he had caused was limited, but it was a different story on Vincent's side. The ground was riddled with potholes, and even the ceiling had been affected.
“Vincent, you and your methods could trigger uncontrollable variables, even greater than Tom himself.”
This was said euphemistically, but the meaning was clear: Dumbledore was not comfortable with Vincent entering the Hall of Prophecy, fearing that Vincent would still choose that destructive solution once and for all.
“I understand.” Vincent rolled his eyes without hesitation, then turned his gaze to the other black doors. “So, Professor, my task is to ‘clean up the rats,’ making sure no bedbugs stab you in the back, right?”
Dumbledore's eye twitched slightly.
He recalled how, during the resurrection ceremony of Young Hangleton, he had been stabbed by Young Barty disguised as Old Barty because of his carelessness.
Vincent's words were clearly meant to annoy him.
"Ahem..." Dumbledore cleared his throat, quickly regaining his composure. "Alright, let's split up. Everything behind the door is unknown, so everyone must remain vigilant."
Having said that, he didn't linger any longer and walked straight toward the black door leading to the Hall of Prophecy.
……
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