Like the collapse of a dam, a vast amount of water, shimmering with a dark hue, burst out from the breaches in the metal walls. On the surging wave peaks, several bodies of wizards in uniforms were swept by the current and heavily collided against the opposite wall.
The sudden unexpected change shocked Sirius for a moment. Before he could say anything, Amelia on his side grabbed his arm and dragged him back to the fireplace they had come from.
In the roar of thunder, Sirius shouted aloud,
"What's going on, Amelia, isn't this where you keep the criminals? How could there be so much water?" Sirius shouted in the midst of the rumbling noise.
"That's not water!"
Amelia, pale-faced, looked back at the surging waves flooding into the branching corridors. The silver metal walls on both sides of the passages, having been swept over by the water, instantly lost their luster and turned black at a visible speed.
"That's potion, extremely poisonous potion!"
Amelia's voice was impossibly shrill,
"The Ministry uses it to execute death row prisoners. They put the wizards who have been sentenced to death into a trance, then let them sink into the water cell, you saw those bodies, those poisons can take away a wizard's life in just a few seconds!" Amelia's voice was impossibly shrill.
"Your Ministry is truly perverted!"
A sudden spasm of fear caused Sirius to break out in a cold sweat, his fur standing on end. Pulled by Amelia, he leaped forward abruptly, transforming into an animagus mid-air and then whining softly to Amelia.
Amelia immediately understood. She gritted her teeth, leapt onto Sirius's back and lay flat, tightly gripping the mane around his neck.
The potion spilling from the execution chamber seemed limitless, and like fierce flames, this potion seemed to have a mind of its own, instinctively wanting to extinguish all life. Sensing the potion of Sirius and Amelia stirring up waves of roaring chaos, it came crashing after them in a frenzied pursuit.
It was clear who had breached the barrier of the execution room, but what puzzled Amelia was whether the imposter vampire pretending to be Greygoose was doing so only to meet his death.
Roar!
A roar burst through the rumbling sound of water waves, and upon hearing the call, Amelia's face paled instantly. She turned her head to look back at the wave crashing behind them.
The roar grew louder and clearer, moving quickly and getting closer to them in just a few seconds. A black shadow appeared on the wave, jumping quickly towards them.
Recognizing each other's identities at that moment, Amelia and the man riding on the toxic leopard both looked shocked.
It was Morgrims—the vampire arrested by Amortentia at the Muggle restaurant!
The toxic leopard, whose eyes had turned blood red as if controlled by some force, did not surprise Amelia much. She had guessed that the vampire who had poisoned them had entered the underground cell to reclaim it from the International Magic Congress. However, she did not expect that this vampire was the one Amortentia had arrested in the Muggle coffee shop.
How had this vampire managed to escape from prison, and why was he so bold as to return to the Ministry of Magic, intending to steal the toxic leopard?
Before Amelia could voice her doubts, Morgrims spoke first, in a sinister voice.
"How did you two wake up? Where is Bran, is he still being monitored by the Aurors?" Morgrims spoke in a sinister voice.
"If you want to surrender, I'll tell you the answer!"
Amelia raised her wand and fired a few spells at Morgrims who was riding the toxic leopard, but he managed to dodge the spells with incredible agility, controlled by the leopard.
"Surrender?"
"Ridiculous!" Morgrims chuckled darkly, looking at the huge black dog running ahead and narrowing his eyes at Amelia before shaking his head and saying,
"It doesn't matter how you two woke up or how you found out I was here. None of it matters anymore. You are destined to die here, while we will fulfill my plan."
"Your plan?"
Amelia's eyes flashed with a sharp light.
"How many accomplices do you have? What are you planning, my colleagues couldn't extract those secrets from your mouth?" Amelia asked.
Morgrims did not answer the question, but only laughed coldly again.
Morgrims gently patted the toxic leopard beneath him, and the dangerous beast suddenly released all its strength, vanishing into the waves like a mist. It reappeared seconds later, hundreds of feet ahead of Sirius and already flashing like a teleportation, quickly disappearing at the corner of the silver corridor.
"Quick, Sirius!"
Amelia knew that Sirius was just an animagus and not a real beast, and couldn't compete with a 5X-level dangerous magical creature in terms of speed. However, she couldn't help but shout,
"That guy must be planning to——"
Boom, boom, boom!
A series of heavy booms interrupted Amelia's words. Of course, Sirius also guessed what the vampire would do; his gray eyes flashing with fury, he exerted all his strength and ran forward, charging into the corridor they had first entered, seeing the vampire known as Morgrims!
The wall, lined with several fireplaces, was mostly damaged by the explosion just then, only one remaining intact. Seeing Amelia riding Sirius at the corner of the passage, Morgrims' eyes darkened as he smiled coldly. Then, he stepped into the fireplace on his toxic leopard, and once his figure disappeared——
Bang!
The last fireplace exploded into fragments in the fierce flames, causing the entire wall to collapse!
After a sharp scraping sound of claws on the floor, Sirius stopped in his tracks and turned to face the collapsed fireplace. His face was pale and hideous.
"What should we do now, Sirius?"
The highly toxic potion was surging into the channel like an out-of-control inferno. Amelia's pupil contracted to the extreme, and with her lack of experience, she could only turn to Sirius for help.
"If we could have an Apparition here—"
Sirius also fixed his eyes on the rapidly approaching potion, grinding his teeth as he said.
"No!"
Amelia breathed heavily, saying,
"This place is bound by a counterspell against Apparition. We can't Apparate out of here!"
"Then --"
Sirius's pale sideburns were beaded with sweat drops the size of beans, and his breathing became heavy as he racked his brains for a way out.
Suddenly, a thought flashed through Sirius's mind. He immediately turned his head towards the sky and shouted loudly,
"Fox!"
Boom!
In the roaring waves, the faint sound of air bursting was like sweet music to their ears!
Amelia exclaimed in delight as she looked at the phoenix that was issuing a series of clear, tinkling cries.
"Oh, wonderful! This bird can ignore the Counter-Apparition Charm?"
"Fawkes is Dumbledore's Phoenix. It has great abilities!"
Sirius smiled, showing his teeth, and then looked up towards the circling Fawkes above.
"Take us to the upper floor, Fawkes, floor 98!"
Screech!
After the resounding cry, the fiery red light that burst from Fawkes enveloped Sirius and Amelia. A brief brilliance flashed before their eyes, and when they looked again, they had appeared in front of Greygoose's fireplace.
The flames that were gushing out of the fireplace had just receded into the mantle, indicating that someone had just left through the fireplace in this office.
"Damn it, we were just a step away!"
Sirius stamped his foot in anger and shouted.
"Who?!"
Sirius's voice had just faded when a cry was heard from the reception desk outside the office. In quick succession, the sound of hurried footsteps began. Before either of the pair could react, Celina Hilde from the Department of Magical Law Enforcement appeared in their line of sight, her face cold and expressionless. Behind her were many Aurors who had just come on duty.
(Chapter ends)
