For prisoners of war like the hooded man, the D.A. Army had detailed procedures for handling them.
Ron and the others followed those procedures strictly.
First, they snapped the hooded man's wand, then cast the Stunning Spell on him more than ten times to make sure he remained completely unable to resist until he stood before a military court.
As for what happened after that, it was no longer up to them.
That was the job of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.
While everyone was busy, Ron happened to catch sight of Neville slowly walking over from the corner of his eye.
The green glow at the tip of Neville's wand brought back some very bad memories.
His expression stiffened, and almost instinctively he rushed over and grabbed Neville.
"Don't do this, Neville! Stop! You can't do that!"
Ron's voice immediately drew everyone's attention.
The crowd instantly gathered around Neville, desperately trying to stop him from moving forward.
Anyone who had survived the night at the Department of Mysteries knew exactly what Neville was trying to do.
The problem was that both killing prisoners and using Unforgivable Curses on people were serious crimes. Together, the charges would be so severe that there would be no hope of redemption.
Last time, Neville had escaped punishment only because Link had personally given the order. But what about this time?
"Neville, you have to calm down. Just hand him over to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement!" Ron said desperately.
"The laws are so strict now, I guarantee this hooded man will be sentenced to death anyway. You don't need to do it yourself!"
"Think about your future! If you really do this, your whole life will be ruined! Throwing away your life for a piece of trash like him isn't worth it!"
By the end, Ron was shouting.
Yet Neville showed no reaction at all.
He suddenly pushed with his hand, and with magic surging from his body, everyone surrounding him was forced back.
Then he raised his wand again.
The appearances of Wade, Lani, and Joseph after their deaths kept flashing through his mind.
Those twisted faces seemed to come alive, doing their best to tell Neville of their grievances and suffering.
And all of it turned into pure killing intent.
"Avada... Kedavra!"
A green light representing death and misfortune flashed through the dark stairwell.
At the moment the green light hit him, the hooded man, who had been unconscious, suddenly opened his eyes.
His eyes were full of fear.
The next moment, all signs of life vanished. Even the color in his skin turned deathly pale in an instant, and his corpse became twisted and terrifying.
This was an effect that only the highest level Killing Curse could produce.
And now, Neville had achieved it with only ordinary magical power and completely pure killing intent.
Thud!
Exhausted, Neville collapsed onto the ground.
He gasped heavily, his eyes red, but no tears fell.
This was his promise to himself.
He would never cry again for the rest of his life.
He would turn all his sorrow into anger and unleash it upon his enemies.
The busy stairwell fell completely silent.
Everyone looked at Neville with complicated and fearful expressions.
Only Lani, who had remained silent the whole time, finally began sobbing.
Neville had really done it.
But... what now?
What were they supposed to do?
Everyone looked at one another helplessly, and in the end, all eyes turned to Hermione.
As the first person to gather everyone together to take shelter, and the last prefect in Gryffindor who still held authority, everyone felt Hermione had the right to decide what to do.
But at this moment, Hermione herself looked lost.
What could she do to Neville?
Lock him up and hand him over to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement?
As a friend and comrade, that was clearly inappropriate.
Besides, Hermione instinctively felt that Neville had done the right thing.
But if she did nothing, that would go against her values.
After a long and awkward silence, Ron finally let out a long breath and cast a Flame-Making Spell at the hooded man's corpse.
Scarlet flames wrapped around the body.
These magical flames reached thousands of degrees, enough to reduce flesh and bones to ashes.
"He was accidentally killed by us during battle. It was an accident. Everyone understands, right?"
Ron's hoarse voice echoed through the stairwell.
Hearing this, quite a few people, including Hermione, relaxed.
Several comrades who had also gone through the D.A. Army's strict training even started supporting Ron's story.
The few who felt this decision wasn't very appropriate gradually became firm after seeing Lani and the others' miserable conditions.
An evil person like the hooded man deserved to be eliminated immediately.
Leaving him alive for even one more day would be an insult to the victims and even to the entire world.
Looking at everyone's expressions, Ron gritted his teeth and continued, "I hope you all understand one thing. If you explain things the way I just did, no one's achievements will be affected. But if anyone decides to run off and talk nonsense and betray everyone..."
"Then even if the Ministry of Magic doesn't do anything, I personally will punish the traitor! If you don't want to spend the rest of your life living in fear, then go ahead and try! Believe me, I will do it!"
"Hey! Ron, there's no need to say something so harsh, right? I believe nobody will tell anyone! Besides, even if the Ministry really finds out, what can they do? Link isn't going to do anything to us over the death of a piece of trash."
The boy who had previously been punched by Neville hurriedly stepped forward to persuade him.
Because as Ron spoke those words, many people in the crowd had already shown displeasure.
Clearly, Ron's threat had backfired and caused dissatisfaction.
But Ron remained unmoved.
His bloodshot eyes swept over those dissatisfied faces as if he wanted to engrave their appearances deeply into his memory, so he could retaliate decisively if anything happened.
Faced with his sharp gaze, everyone he stared at felt their hearts tremble and lowered their heads involuntarily.
Finally, Ron looked at the boy who had spoken and slowly shook his head.
Simple loyalty was unreliable.
Even if these people sincerely wanted to help Neville keep the secret right now, what about the next moment? Tomorrow? Next year?
Eventually, so-called principles and loyalty would be defeated by desire, and the secrets they kept would be exchanged for more useful benefits.
At times like that, stronger restraints were needed.
Fear was obviously the best tool.
Though it wasn't perfect, at least it could delay the exposure of the secret for as long as possible.
As for Link forgiving Neville, that was even more ridiculous.
Although Ron's father didn't hold a high position, he was still a member of the Ministry of Magic.
Having followed his father around, Ron had seen far too much of the Ministry.
Because of that, he understood very clearly that ever since Link officially entered the Ministry, he was no longer the same Link as before.
Link might still retain most of his former qualities, but now his primary identity was Commissioner Link Flamel, not Link the Hogwarts student.
Those two identities, and the way they handled things, were worlds apart.
Entrusting Neville's safety to Link was the worst possible choice.
Without caring whether the boy understood his meaning, Ron turned around and checked on Neville.
After confirming that he was fine, he went back to helping Hermione manage the group.
There was still much to deal with.
The most important matter was naturally Lani's treatment.
Although magic and potion ingredients made wizards much more efficient than Muggles when treating injuries, the girls present who had studied under Madam Pomfrey still found injuries like Lani's difficult to handle.
To be safe, Ron and Hermione decided to send everyone who didn't want to continue forward back to the Gryffindor common room with Lani and the bodies of Wade and Joseph.
Those people wouldn't be idle after returning. Instead, they would defend the common room to prevent their base from being attacked.
After Hermione and Ron's orders were carried out, the previously crowded stairwell instantly became empty.
Counting those who remained, there were only a little over twenty people left.
Ron was very dissatisfied.
"Those cowards. They always talk big, but when the critical moment comes, they're completely useless!"
Ron muttered quietly.
Among the group that had returned to the Gryffindor common room were quite a few people with considerable combat ability.
Yet those people would rather retreat with the wounded and the girls.
In Ron's eyes, they didn't deserve to be called Gryffindors at all.
"Don't say that. We have no right to demand sacrifices from others. Besides, our strength hasn't really dropped much because they left, has it?"
Neville's voice suddenly sounded.
Ron quickly turned his head and saw that Neville had somehow regained his spirit. He was smiling together with the other twenty or so companions.
Ron's nose stung slightly, and he nodded hard with a smile.
What Neville said was absolutely true.
Because everyone who had chosen to stay and continue moving forward were sixth and seventh year students who had undergone the D.A. Army's earliest and strictest training.
Not only were they powerful, they also knew strategy and tactics.
Compared with the previous group, their actual fighting strength really wasn't much weaker.
For a moment, the atmosphere in the stairwell improved considerably.
Everyone encouraged one another and rebuilt their morale.
This was a war to defend their home.
Wade had been the first to die, but he would not be the last.
Yet in the face of death, no one present had any intention of retreating.
Because they were doing the right thing.
As long as they could achieve their goal, they were even willing to die willingly.
But at that moment, an unpleasant sound of footsteps came from the stairs below.
The footsteps were hurried and rushed, mixed with heavy breathing and strange cries.
The expressions of Ron and the others immediately became serious.
After Neville made a tactical hand signal to prepare for battle, the remaining twenty or so people spread out and hid in the darkness, waiting for the enemy to arrive.
One second, two seconds...
The footsteps grew closer and closer.
And finally, the source of the sound appeared before them.
It was two hooded figures wearing large cloaks.
Although they were much smaller than the previous hooded man and could even be called dwarfs, Neville identified them immediately.
Enemies.
"Expelliarmus!"
Red light burst from Neville's wand.
Like a signal, the other Gryffindors lying in ambush around him all raised their wands.
Countless spells formed a net and swept toward the two hooded figures.
The two hooded figures were no weaklings.
Although they had been ambushed, they still blocked most of the attacks with swings of their wands. Only a small number of weaker spells were taken head-on.
Neville wasn't surprised.
After fighting the previous hooded man, he had already judged the combat ability of the others to be around the level of Aurors.
But Aurors weren't invincible.
Neville and the others quickly changed formation.
Apart from Ron and a few others who continued attacking, everyone else focused their minds, preparing to defend and counter the hooded figures' next attacks.
This was the most effective tactic when facing enemies whose individual strength far exceeded their own.
It was also the result of D.A. Army training.
As long as the enemy used beam-type magic to counterattack, they would strike back immediately.
But this time, the tactic failed.
Because the two hooded figures had no desire to counterattack.
Faced with Neville and the others' interception, they simply transformed into large clouds of smoke and charged toward the crowd like madmen.
Their strange behavior gave Ron a bad feeling.
They were so desperate to get close.
Could they be planning to use some kind of close-range spell to wipe them all out at once?
"Attack! Don't let them get close!"
Ron roared while waving his wand, though what he said was pointless.
Because the Gryffindors around him who were still attacking had already gone all out.
However, whenever their attacks entered the black mist, they silently disappeared.
The black mist was like a black hole, swallowing all magic.
Ron's expression instantly became ugly, and he cursed, "Damn it! There are too few of us! Are we really the only ones in Hogwarts still fighting? Where are the cowards from the other houses!?"
But hearing that, a strange expression appeared on Neville's face.
Because he had the feeling that the two hooded figures weren't trying to approach them to launch an attack.
The reason they were charging so desperately felt more like someone was chasing them from behind.
But... was that possible?
Just as the thought crossed Neville's mind, he saw two long black objects suddenly shoot up from below the stairs and fly straight into the black mist.
Accompanied by two miserable screams, the black mist gradually dispersed.
The two hooded figures had already been nailed to the ground by two iron skewers.
At the same time, dense footsteps rang out once again from the corridor below.