The Shopkeeper of All Worlds in the British Wizarding World

Chapter 584 Preparation (Please subscribe, please bookmark, please vote)
Hermione's concerns about the situation were very reasonable. Although the Daily Prophet was still claiming day after day that everything was under control, after analyzing the information he had obtained from the Order of the Phoenix and Lupin, Ryan could clearly feel that Voldemort and his subordinates were indeed planning a major operation.

Judging from the progress of the repair of the Vanishing Cabinet, all this will probably happen within a week. So Ryan basically put all his energy into preparing for the battle during this week. If he is lucky, he is even confident that he can deal with the group of guys who may invade the school through the Vanishing Cabinet alone.

But not everything goes as smoothly as Ryan thought. One Friday after Ryan and Hermione talked, the two of them were reading in the library after dinner, and suddenly Ryan turned his head nervously and looked out the window.

"What's wrong, Ryan?" Hermione asked when she heard the noise coming from Ryan's side.

"Look outside." Ryan said, pointing to the sky outside the window. Hermione, who was sitting with her back to the window, immediately turned her head and looked in the direction of his finger.

"What is this?" Hermione asked in surprise. Through the glass window of the library, she saw a transparent barrier slowly forming in the sky outside. The setting sun shone on this transparent barrier, illuminating everything below, including the castle, in a golden glow.

"The magical defense of Hogwarts Castle." Ryan said while looking out the window. At this time, almost everyone in the library saw the unusual scene outside. They all walked to the windows and pointed at the strange scene that suddenly appeared in the sky.

"When Hogwarts was built, the wizarding world was at its most chaotic. So in order to protect the vulnerable young wizards, it was not only a school, but also a battle fortress. And today's situation means that all the ancient defensive magic of Hogwarts has been opened." Ryan whispered to Hermione who was looking outside. Compared with before, the magic barrier outside has been completely formed. It is like a half-transparent egg shell covering the sky above the castle.

"No loud noises are allowed in the library." Seeing the changes outside, the students' voices became louder and louder. Madam Pince came out of her office with her wand raised and shouted loudly. "If you can't keep quiet, please--"

At this point she saw the scene outside the window, then Madam Pince took two steps back in shock, sat on a chair and shook her head weakly. "This is impossible, how could things be so bad?"

Just as everyone in the library was arguing about the situation outside, Professor McGonagall's voice, amplified many times by magic, resounded throughout the castle. "All students, please return to your respective dormitories immediately. All teachers, please return to the staff lounge. Please act immediately."

"What happened?" After returning to the common room according to Professor McGonagall's order, Ryan kept asking others what happened. But everyone seemed confused, and no one knew what happened.

Fortunately, seven or eight minutes later, Professor McGonagall crawled in from the entrance of the common room. She looked serious, with her lips tightly pursed.

"Professor McGonagall, what happened?" "What's going on outside?" "Is someone injured?" When you saw Professor McGonagall come in, the classmates immediately surrounded her as if they had found their backbone and asked questions at once.

"Now, students, please keep quiet." Professor McGonagall stretched out her hands and pressed down slightly, and everyone in the common room immediately shut their mouths. After complete silence, Professor McGonagall announced to everyone, "A quarter of an hour ago, the You-Know-Who led the Death Eaters to attack the Ministry of Magic. At the request of Minister of Magic Scrimgeour, Dumbledore went to the Ministry of Magic to provide support. For safety reasons, Hogwarts is now under curfew." "Under curfew, every entrance to the castle is covered with powerful magic. All students should stay in the common room and are strictly prohibited from going out. The school's professors and some volunteers will patrol the school to ensure everyone's safety. I hope each of you can abide by the rules, especially at this time, uncontrolled blind adventures are absolutely not allowed." At this point, Professor McGonagall glanced at Harry.

"Okay, that's all I have to say." Professor McGonagall looked around the common room. "Now, the sixth and seventh year prefects, come out with me. I need to talk to you about something."

Ryan followed Professor McGonagall to the corridor outside the common room. When Professor McGonagall saw the four people had arrived, she said seriously, "Because there are not enough professors and volunteers, I hope you can join the patrol team. Of course, this is not a mandatory requirement, you can also choose to help us maintain order in the common room."

"I'm willing to patrol the school." Ryan was the first to speak up as soon as Professor McGonagall finished speaking. He had been planning to find an opportunity to monitor the entrance of the Room of Requirement when Professor Dumbledore was away, and he would not miss this convenient opportunity. After he agreed, Hermione and the other two seventh-year prefects also said that they would patrol the castle.

This situation was not unexpected, because for Gryffindors, taking risks is everyone's character. Professor McGonagall looked at the four prefects standing here with some satisfaction. They did not flinch in the face of danger. "Don't worry, we will not give you any dangerous tasks. You just need to patrol upstairs. The entrances and halls of the school will definitely be patrolled by our professors. And the school curfew today is just a precaution by Dumbledore before he goes to London against the current tense situation. I don't think there will be any big danger."

After that, Professor McGonagall took everyone to the teacher's lounge downstairs. When they entered, they found that most of the people in the room were already sitting: almost all the professors were there, and the prefects of Hufflepuff and Slytherin had already arrived because their dormitories were closer. As soon as Ryan entered the door, he focused his attention on Malfoy, and found that he had swept away his previous decadence, and the corners of his mouth were slightly raised, as if something very happy was about to happen in his heart.

It seems that today is the day Malfoy planned to attack, Ryan could not help but be more vigilant. Then he turned his eyes away from Malfoy and looked around the lounge. As a result, he found that the so-called volunteers were actually acquaintances of the Order of the Phoenix, including Tonks, Bill and Arthur Weasley.

After sitting down in the empty chair next to Arthur Weasley, Ryan asked, "Mr. Arthur, are you the only three people coming to the Order of the Phoenix?"

"There are only three of us." Arthur said in a low voice. "Moody, Sirius, Kingsley and the others are now fighting alongside Dumbledore near the Ministry of Magic in London. Because the You-Know-Who and a large group of Death Eaters have caused a lot of pressure there, especially this year, the You-Know-Who has summoned so many dark wizards from other places, so London needs more capable personnel."

"Where is Professor Lupin?" Hermione asked curiously after hearing Arthur describe what everyone in the Order of the Phoenix was doing.

"He said before that he was going to come over, but we stopped him. Because most of the werewolves on his side are old, weak, women and children who are not fit for fighting. I told Lupin that we have enough manpower and he needs to protect the weak ones." Arthur tilted his head and whispered to Ryan and Hermione. "Okay, let's keep quiet, everyone is here."

Ryan looked towards the entrance of the room when he heard this. Sure enough, the four Ravenclaw prefects and the Head Boy of the Student Union, who were the farthest from the common room, followed the short Professor Flitwick in. After seeing that everyone was there, Professor McGonagall and the other three deans gathered together to discuss, and then she stood in front of the common room and announced the arrangements for tonight.

(End of this chapter)