bacchusnovels Chapter 381 Time is running out
Chapter 381 Time is running out
Chapter 381 Time is running out
Ron muttered something, but quickly ran to another bookshelf and began searching for the folder "High-Risk Judgments" (C).
"Hurry up, we don't have much time left," Hermione urged again.
Harry flipped to another scroll and continued searching for possible clues.
At this moment, every minute feels incredibly precious.
"Found it!" Ron's voice came from the other side, tinged with barely concealed excitement.
He ran over and handed Hermione a thin document, saying, "This is called 'Supplement to the Buckbeak Trial!'"
Hermione immediately took it, quickly scanned it, and her eyes suddenly lit up: "This is it! It records the parts where the evidence was disputed, and even a preliminary opinion supporting innocence, but it was rejected."
"That proves Buckbeak's trial was flawed!" Harry said softly, a glimmer of hope in his voice.
"That's right," Hermione quickly stuffed the documents into a bag. "We need to leave immediately and take these documents back with us."
"Please come in."
A cold female voice came from inside the office.
Sofia didn't hesitate for long and pushed it in directly.
Inside, a surprisingly simple yet strongly personal office comes into view.
The room was sparsely decorated, with only a few rows of bookshelves filled with heavy books along the walls and a huge black wooden desk in the center.
Apart from a few neatly stacked documents and an antique silver table lamp, the table was almost empty.
Behind the desk sat a petite figure, a girl with snow-white hair, sitting with her legs crossed in a large chair, reading a book.
Her hair fell to her shoulders, her face was as pale as porcelain, and her legs swayed, making her particularly eye-catching.
Hearing the door open, the girl looked up and glanced at Sophia.
"You've come," she said softly.
"You know me? Aunt Lily?" Sophia looked a little surprised, but soon her expression relaxed, as if she thought the answer made sense.
She took a piece of parchment from her pocket, walked to the table, and handed it to Lily. "This is something my father specifically asked me to give you before he left."
Lily raised an eyebrow slightly, put down the book in her hand, took the parchment, and unfolded it to examine it.
After glancing at the paper for a moment, a smile appeared on her lips, and even her tone softened: "Good child."
"Don't talk to me like that, Aunt Lily! Aunt Vivi never talks to me like that!" Sophia frowned and complained.
Lily remained unmoved, continuing to examine the parchment in her hand. Then she looked up, her gaze thoughtfully falling on Sophia.
"Sophia, do you know the price you pay for staying in this dimension of time?"
Sofia paused, a hint of confusion flashing across her face: "Price? What do you mean?"
Lily placed the parchment on the table, slowly stood up, pointed to Sophia's shoulder, and said softly, "Time is eroding your body. You may not realize it, but the magic within you has begun to fluctuate abnormally. This is the price of entering the realm of time—your existence will be repelled by the laws of time here."
Sofia looked down at her arm. Although nothing seemed outwardly unusual, she felt a chill run down her spine.
She bit her lip and said in a low voice, "I'm fine. I know how long I can hold on."
Lily shook her head, saying with a hint of helplessness, "I hope you haven't overestimated yourself, Sophia. Time won't pity you because of your pride."
Sophia took a deep breath, looked up and stared directly at Lily: "Then I'd better finish my task quickly, right?"
Lily didn't respond, but simply sat down again, spreading the parchment open on the table. "If this really is what Sean instructed you to do, then I must say, he's still as cautious as ever."
Sofia smiled faintly: "Being cautious is his habit. You're not used to it, are you?"
Lily smiled. "Perhaps. But I'm quite curious about exactly how much he told you."
"That's enough for me to know what I'm going to do," Sofia said softly. "As for the rest, I think that's why he didn't tell me—to leave it as a mystery for you."
Lily smiled slightly, seemingly satisfied with the answer, or perhaps simply too lazy to press further. "Very well, in that case, let's not waste any more time. You have things to do, and I have tasks to complete."
Sophia nodded, straightened up, and turned to leave, but stopped at the doorway and turned back, saying, "Thank you, Aunt Lily, anyway."
Lily waved her hand and said lazily, "Don't call me that, it's too intimate. Just live well, Sofia Time isn't your friend, you only have a little over a month left to stay here."
The three people in the archives quickly put the other useless documents back in their places, exchanged glances to make sure all traces had been covered, and then quietly left the archives.
The corridor was quiet, with only their light footsteps echoing in the empty space.
Hermione walked at the front, carrying the important documents she had just collected, and every now and then she would turn back and whisper, "Be careful, don't make a sound. We have to get out of here before the patrols find us."
Harry nodded and followed closely behind Hermione, glancing around every now and then to keep an eye on things in case of any unexpected situations.
Ron, however, seemed somewhat distracted. As he walked, he suddenly asked in a low voice, "Wait—where's Sophia?"
Hermione and Harry were both startled, stopped in their tracks, and turned to look at Ron.
"Didn't she go to the restroom?" Ron continued with some concern. "We were all busy looking for files and completely forgot about her!"
"Oh my god—" Hermione muttered under her breath, a hint of frustration on her face. "I told her to hurry up, she said she had an invisibility cloak—but we still haven't seen her."
Harry frowned, his voice low. "We can't leave her alone somewhere in the Ministry of Magic. It's too dangerous. She might be in some trouble."
"Should we go back to her?" Ron suggested, his tone somewhat urgent.
"No." Hermione shook her head decisively. "We're holding these documents now, and time is too tight. We can't go back to her. The best thing to do is to return to the original location as soon as possible; maybe she's already waiting for us there."
Just as the group was discussing, they suddenly heard a soft footstep in the corridor behind them.
Hermione immediately pulled Harry and Ron into the shadows to the side, and the three of them held their breath and clung tightly to the Invisibility Cloak.
The footsteps grew closer.
"Come out, it's me." A low voice came from the open space ahead, and then Sophia's figure appeared from within the invisibility cloak. "You thought I was lost?"
"Sophia!" Hermione called out in a low voice, her expression shifting from tense to annoyed. "Where have you been? We almost thought something had happened to you!"
Sofia shrugged and said casually, "It was just a slightly longer route. You know, in a place this big, there's always something interesting."
"Take a detour?" Ron's eyes widened, his voice slightly louder than expected. "We're all barely breathing from the tension, and you still have the nerve to think about taking a detour?"
"Don't get so worked up, Ron," Sophia chuckled softly. "I'm back safe and sound, aren't I? Besides, I know you wouldn't leave me alone."
"Alright, enough talk." Hermione pursed her lips, took a deep breath, and said, "We need to leave quickly; we've already wasted too much time."
Sophia nodded slightly, said nothing more, and followed the three of them.
The four of them quickly descended the stairs, their steps light yet hurried, as if afraid of attracting the attention of the Ministry of Magic patrol.
The corridor remained silent, with only the occasional faint sound of wind echoing from afar.
Hermione walked at the front, her hand tightly gripping her pocket watch, occasionally turning back to check if the other three were following.
"We need to hurry," Hermione urged in a low voice, her anxious gaze sweeping across the wall beside her. "There's not much time left before the agreed time."
Harry nodded, cautiously observing his surroundings.
He asked in a low voice, "Sophia, when you took the detour, did you see anything unusual? Like patrol personnel or any other suspicious activity?"
Sophia slightly raised the corners of her mouth, her tone relaxed: "No, everything is very quiet. I even suspect that the Ministry of Magic may have cut its budget, which is why there are so few people."
"Only this many people?" Ron muttered uneasily. "Or maybe they already know we're in and are just waiting to arrest us."
"Don't overthink it." Hermione turned and glared at Ron. "What we need to do now is get out of here as quickly as possible and not waste any more time."
They continued on and soon arrived at the corridor on the first floor leading to the secret toilet.
Hermione stopped and gestured for everyone to stand close to the wall, whispering, "There might be patrols ahead, be careful."
Sofia pulled her invisibility cloak tighter, completely concealing herself, and added in a low voice, "If there's any movement, I'll go scout ahead first."
"Don't take risks," Hermione said immediately, her tone serious. "We must act together. Any one of us going alone could get into trouble."
Harry nodded in agreement and said in a low voice, "Hermione's right, we need to stay in formation. Now is not the time to split up."
Sofia pursed her lips, didn't refute further, and simply nodded slightly.
They cautiously made their way to the secluded toilet, keeping as close to the wall as possible.
The atmosphere around them grew increasingly tense, each step making the air feel heavy.
Just as they were about to reach the door, a series of hurried footsteps came from another corridor.
The group quickly held their breath and hid in the shadows of the corner.
Several wizards in Ministry of Magic uniforms hurried by, carrying glowing lanterns. One of them whispered, "We must carefully check every floor; someone said they heard suspicious noises."
"They already know someone broke in," Hermione said in a low voice, a hint of tension in her tone. "We need to hurry."
Once the wizards were gone, the group rushed into the toilet and closed the door from the inside.
"How are we going to get back?" Ron looked at Hermione, his face full of worry. "Do we have to crawl through the toilet again?"
"Of course." Hermione put the pocket watch in her pocket and quickly checked the documents on her person. "This is the most secluded route. Stop complaining."
Sophia stood to the side, a playful smile on her lips, watching Ron and Hermione's argument, but said nothing.
Hermione quickly followed the instructions Jorgins had given her, pulling the pumping rope and urging in a low voice, "Stop talking nonsense, get out of here!"
Harry was the first to walk over, slid down the pipe that appeared, and disappeared without a trace.
"It's your turn, Ron," Hermione said anxiously, glancing at the doorway.
Ron muttered, "I never want to crawl into the toilet again." But he still reluctantly put his body into the pipe and was quickly slid in as well.
Sophia looked at Hermione and smiled slightly: "You go first, Hermione."
Hermione frowned, somewhat distrustful of Sophia's performance: "Hurry up and go in, don't waste time."
Sophia shrugged, stopped arguing, and then her figure quickly disappeared into the teleportation channel.
Hermione glanced around the bathroom, and after confirming that no one was there, she took a deep breath and prepared to leave one last time.
However, just as she was about to crawl into the pipe, she heard hurried footsteps outside, followed by the sound of the toilet door being pushed open.
"Damn patrols—" a deep voice muttered, clearly a wizard from the Ministry of Magic.
Hermione froze instantly. In a moment of panic, without thinking, she stuck her head into the pipe and tried to slide down quickly.
However, her panicked movements caused her to overlook a crucial detail—the water rope was not fully activated, thus halting the magic of the teleportation channel.
Her upper body had disappeared into the pipe, but her lower body was still hanging above the toilet, creating a comical and bizarre scene.
Just then, footsteps came from the doorway of the cubicle, and a "wizard" walked in.
When his gaze fell upon the scene before him, his body stiffened abruptly, and the expression on his lips shifted between shock and speechlessness.
Hermione's lower body was so conspicuous that the "wizard" stopped in his tracks.
He muttered to himself, "What the hell?" His voice held a strange sense of astonishment.
With the help of the lamplight, the "wizard's" face became clearer. He was not an ordinary Ministry of Magic patrolman, but Sean, who had arrived here long ago.
A barely concealed smile played on his lips, but to make his "performance" more convincing, Sean raised his wand with feigned seriousness and said in a voice that wasn't his own, "How strange, what kind of anomaly is this?"
Hermione, inside the cubicle, had no idea who had come in.
Her mind was in chaos, a mixture of shame, anger, and tension, leaving her almost breathless from the awkward situation.
She twisted and turned desperately, trying to slide herself into the pipe, but the more frantic her movements, the more conspicuous her lower body became.
At this moment, her legs were swinging gently in the air, looking incredibly comical.
Sean stood at the door, suppressing a laugh, and continued to observe this rare sight.
Hermione thought she had been exposed, her face burning with embarrassment, and her shame and anger reached their peak.
"Slide down, slide down quickly!" she screamed frantically in her mind.