Sherlock walked in front, while Eddie, holding Amy by the hand, followed behind him. The three of them pushed open the door and entered the Hall of Prophecy together.
"What's wrong with Amy's eyes?" Sherlock was the first to notice something was wrong with Amy; he stroked her head and asked with a frown.
Amy rubbed her eyes again.
"Amy feels like sand got into her eyes, but Amy thinks it's okay."
Her intuition had never been wrong. After hearing Amy say this, Sherlock didn't dwell on it further and instead led them deeper into the Hall of Prophecy.
"I've spent some time here and know that one of the doors is very special. It can only be opened on specific days of the week. I managed to open it once, and there was a breeze inside—it's very likely that it was blowing in from the outside!"
As Sherlock spoke, the three of them jogged all the way to the wall at the very back of the Hall of Prophecy.
There were three doors here in total. The one on the far left could be opened at will and stored some damaged crystal balls. The one on the right was always locked, and the black door in the middle was the room Sherlock had mentioned.
"Is today the day it can be opened?" Eddie asked, his voice somewhat urgent.
Sherlock nodded.
"It is today, as long as it hasn't passed midnight yet."
He reached out and pushed the door open with force. A gust of fresh, cold air blew out from inside the door, simultaneously ruffling the hair on all three of their foreheads.
The continuous sound of explosions was still ringing out behind them, but they didn't hesitate and walked into the pitch-black room together.
The black door shut tight again. Meanwhile, in the Time Room, the wall of vines, which Sherlock had conjured by controlling two hundred wands, was finally blasted open by the Death Eaters using the Explosion Charm.
In the circular black hall, Bella's expression was as cold as frost.
Dozens of Death Eaters surrounded her, continuously casting the Explosion Charm. Behind them lay four Aurors who had been knocked unconscious by the Stupefy spell.
To ensure that Barty's identity would not be exposed, they had not killed a single person in the Ministry of Magic tonight.
Aiming at the blasted opening, countless Reducto spells were cast again, taking effect on the already charred vines.
A minute later, an entrance large enough for people to pass through had been blasted open.
Just then, five Death Eaters walked out together from another room in the Department of Mysteries.
"The Ministry of Magic staff stationed here have been dealt with, but..." the Death Eater said hesitantly, "but Madam Selwyn, she is gone."
Bella looked at him with a gloomy face, flexing the fingers of the hand holding her wand.
"Did she disappear right in front of you, or did you not find her in the first place?"
"We didn't see her at all from the start. It's as if she wasn't here tonight."
Since they already knew the location of that room, the Head of the Department of Mysteries was no longer that important; it didn't matter whether they caught her or not.
"Go and complete the task the Master has assigned first."
Bella walked in front, and the other Death Eaters followed her, filing in one after another.
Rabastan and a few Death Eaters voluntarily separated from the main group, attempting to open all the accessible rooms to search for the whereabouts of Sherlock and the others.
The rest of them passed through the Time Room. Bella, with a clear objective, pushed open the door to the Hall of Prophecy and led the Death Eaters into the room filled with crystal balls.
The villains roughly pushed over several rows of wooden shelves that were blocking their path. The crystal balls on them fell to the ground, creating a "crackle" of shattering glass.
They kept walking inward without stopping until they too arrived at the wall with the three doors.
Following the image she had seen in Madam Selwyn's memory, Bella fixed her gaze on the black door that Sherlock had entered with Eddie and Amy, and reached out to push it open with force!
Behind the door was pitch-blackness; no scenery could be seen.
Those Death Eaters who were searching for Sherlock's whereabouts in the Time Room also returned empty-handed once again.
"The people were not found."
"Forget about them, we're going in."
Under her leadership, the Death Eaters each cast the Lumos Charm with their wands and then walked together into the room where the cold wind was blowing.
...
"Amy is a little sleepy." Amy, held in Eddie's arms, leaned against her father's shoulder and muttered to herself.
From the moment she said sand had gotten into her eyes, Amy's condition had clearly been off.
Sherlock asked with a frown.
"What exactly was it that got blown into Amy's eyes just now?"
Eddie recalled.
"It was the sand from that hourglass, the largest one leaning against the wall."
Immediately, Sherlock's brow furrowed even tighter.
"The stuff inside there is definitely not sand! We must get out as soon as possible, otherwise Amy may experience some issues!"
They had been walking in this pitch-black room for over ten minutes and still hadn't reached the end.
This room was very abnormal; the darkness seemed to have magic, squeezing out all sources of light.
Sherlock dispersed a dozen wands and used the Lumos Charm on all of them, yet the visibility was still less than a metre; any further and the path ahead couldn't be seen clearly.
Cold wind blew around them. The room seemed to be partitioned by countless small grids, like a labyrinth, making them twist and turn without finding the way out.
Sherlock also tried to destroy those grids with magic, but none of his attempts succeeded.
Soon, they arrived at a fork in the road, with two paths ahead for them to choose from.
"Which way?" Eddie asked.
This was also Sherlock's first time entering here, but when it came to choices and luck, there was someone among them who seemed to be cheating.
Sherlock asked softly to Amy, who was leaning on Eddie's shoulder, her eyes closed and her expression dazed.
"Do you think we should go left or right, Amy?"
Amy seemed extremely sleepy, but she still had some faint consciousness and muttered.
"Amy... thinks we should go left..."
Having her answer, Sherlock and Eddie didn't hesitate and continued to walk to the left. For all the subsequent intersections they encountered, Amy chose the direction, and they kept moving forward.
They continued to walk for about another half an hour, and after turning a corner, they saw a faint light.
Eddie and Sherlock held their breath simultaneously and exchanged a glance.
Someone!
The Wizard holding the wand with the Lumos Charm also saw them; Sherlock's side was much brighter, so it was easy to see their faces clearly.
"John!" A familiar female voice rang out, and then the Witch approached them with her wand raised.
It was only then that Sherlock saw the Witch's face clearly—it was actually Madam Selwyn!
"Why are you here?" Sherlock asked in confusion.
Madam Selwyn's face was pale, and she was panting rapidly, looking flustered.
"There is a door in my office that leads directly here." She looked at Sherlock with a look of guilt on her face. "I shouldn't have wrongly accused you, John. That door wasn't opened by you. Someone else must have snuck in that night; he stole my memory and then gave it to the Death Eaters!"
Sherlock naturally had no mood to dwell on those matters now. Upon hearing Madam Selwyn's words, his heart suddenly sank.
"Can this room lead out of the Department of Mysteries or the Ministry of Magic?"
"No, this room is a place for hiding things. Some of the most important things in the Department of Mysteries are hidden here."
Hearing her say this, Sherlock's face turned completely dark.
They had gone to the wrong place!
Not only was this not the way out of the Ministry of Magic, but it was very likely the final target of the Death Eaters' trip!
The further they walked in, the more it was like walking straight into a trap.
Eddie wasn't stupid; he also understood what this meant.
"What do we do now?"
They had already come this far; returning the way they came was impossible. Even if they were lucky enough not to run into the Death Eaters on the way back, by the time they reached the door, it would be past twelve o'clock, and the door wouldn't open at all!
Sherlock didn't hesitate for long before gritting his teeth and saying.
"Then we have no choice but to continue walking inside. We must find the room they are looking for one step faster than the Death Eaters!"
He turned his head to look at Madam Selwyn.
"Do you know where the room they are looking for is?"
Madam Selwyn, with a pale face, nodded and said.
"I only entered this labyrinth after I retrieved a part of my memory. I know the room the Dark Lord and his followers are looking for, but I haven't obtained the memory of the thing inside it."
Her tone was grave, and her voice was even trembling slightly.
"But what I do know is that they must not be allowed to get their hands on that thing, otherwise the most terrible consequences will occur!"
"You lead the way. We must go as fast as possible; we must get there before the Death Eaters do!"
With Madam Selwyn leading the way, their movements were undoubtedly much faster from then on.
But they could also clearly hear the messy footsteps coming faintly from behind.
The Death Eaters were not far from them, but due to the darkness that absorbed light, they couldn't see each other.
After continuing to walk forward for twenty minutes, they finally arrived at a space that looked like a great hall.
When Sherlock and the others stepped into this place, the chandeliers on the ceiling lit up one by one, dispelling the darkness that had been shrouding the labyrinth.
In front of them were two doors, one black and one white. Madam Selwyn pointed to the black door on the left and said.
"The room they are looking for is behind this one!"
Sherlock tried to push the black door open, but the door was as immovable as if it had been welded to the surrounding walls.
"Can you open it?"
Madam Selwyn extended her wand, her palms soaked with sweat.
"I need time."
"About how long?"
"At least 10 minutes!"
Sherlock sighed and controlled the hundreds of wands around him to turn back together; the footsteps coming from the darkness were getting louder and louder.
"I will try my best to buy you this time." Eddie put down Amy, who had already fallen into a deep sleep, and said with a firm gaze.
"I'll go with you!"