Chaotic Battlefield

The ghosts swarmed Voldemort, blocking his view and buying time for him to escape.

Harry, however, was not at all happy, and felt that he might be letting the ghosts down.

Because there were seven or eight Death Eaters standing in a semi-circle to his right, it would have been an extremely foolish decision to try to break through, but Harry had no choice but to take James and Lily's word for it.

The Death Eaters standing in a circle outside were at a loss as to what to do, having witnessed Harry Potter once again warding off the Killing Curse and using an unknown spell to summon a swarm of ghosts to entangle the Dark Lord.

"Stop him, all of you!"

Voldemort's angry voice echoed through the graveyard, waking the panicked Death Eaters.

The men blocking Harry's path immediately drew their wands, and Lucius, standing at the forefront of the group, smiled malevolently and raised his cane. He muttered an incantation, and a scarlet beam of light flew from the tip of his wand and shot straight at Harry.

In the nick of time, Harry cast the Shield Charm again.

Fortunately, the spell worked this time. The rising barrier deflected the red light, and a scream came from the crowd. It was unknown who had been hit.

Harry didn't have time to look behind him, as a feeling of dread overcame him, and several Dark Wizards next to Lucius raised their wands at him.

Harry's pupils contracted; the Shielding Charm could not defend against so many spells at once.

What made Harry's skin crawl, however, was the fact that the withered tree behind the Death Eaters suddenly "grew" a very abstract face with deep holes for eyes, mouth, and nose, as if they had come out of a worm.

A twig as thick as a man's waist swung in his direction, and Harry, desperate to protect his head, heard several cries of pain and screams.

Harry, who did not get to attack, raised his head in surprise, only to find that the strange old tree was not attacking him. Its thick branches swept past again, hitting the other Death Eaters and sending them flying.

Transfiguration!

Harry immediately thought of this and felt a little joy at having been saved. He knew that the ghosts were right. Someone was really here to save him!

With the way clear, Harry scrambled to get out of there, but the spell that Voldemort had placed on him was still in effect, and he felt weak in his arms and legs, the exertion of which had sapped what little strength he had left…

Unfortunately, more Death Eaters had reacted by waving their wands, and twenty or thirty charms flashed through the air.

Nobody could imagine how angry the Dark Lord would be if Harry Potter escaped, so they would do anything to keep him!

There was no way Harry could evade the dozens of incoming beams.

Another voice echoed through the graveyard.

"Tombstones flying!"

Harry recognised Sirius's voice and, before he could think, the headstone with Tom Riddle's name on it flew towards him from behind and crashed into him with extraordinary speed.

The Shielding Charm broke, taking some of the damage, though Harry still suspected his bones might have been broken.

Even so, he clung to the corner of the tombstone and was lifted off his feet.

The Death Eaters' spells missed, striking the ground and tombstones in brilliant sparks.

The withered old tree was also ignited by a flame spell. The hot flames burned its broken body, but it was still strong under the influence of Transfiguration. It exerted its final heat and struggled to get up.

The elongated roots replaced the legs like tentacles and centipede mutilations, giving the tree men the ability to move.

It stood at least three or four stories tall, and was wreathed in flames, as if it were a magical tree spirit from a fairy tale, waving its forearms at the Death Eaters before it so that they could not pursue Harry.

On the other hand, Harry had been smashed to the ground along with the tombstone, and was rolling around twice, moaning in pain.

"Harry, are you okay?" Sirius hurried over to Harry and helped him to his feet.

Harry felt as though his bones were about to fall out, but his excitement at seeing Sirius got the better of him, so he shook his head decisively, indicating that he was fine.

"Harry, Sirius, you'd better catch up later, we've got to go! The ghosts and my Ents won't last long…" Ivan said urgently.

Sirius nodded, his anger subsiding a little when he saw that Harry was safe.

Sirius's face froze as if he had just thought of something. 'But where do we go now? The You-Know-Who will follow the trail of magic, we can't take him to Hogsmeade…'

A furious Lord Voldemort was likely to kill anyone he saw, and while there were many wizards there who could buy them time to escape, he could not bring himself to trade the lives of others for his own.

Ivan frowned, troubled. He knew that Apparition could be tracked.

During his second year at the Wizarding Market, the Regulators used a magical tool to track Doggett's Apparition, and Ivan had no doubt that Lord Voldemort was capable of doing so.

In other words, no matter where they fled, they would eventually be caught…

Ivan's only hope was to wait for Dumbledore's rescue, as Hermione and Ron had gone to inform him, but even if the old professor had been informed, he would not have been able to pinpoint their exact location.

A thousand thoughts flashed through Ivan's mind as a ferocious roar filled the graveyard.

"You useless people!"

'It's You-Know-Who!' Sirius's face fell as he realised that Voldemort had probably dealt with the ghosts.

Sure enough, in the next second, a violent explosion rang out in the graveyard, and the flaming tree man standing in the middle of the graveyard was blasted into pieces by a blast of dark magic…

"Harry, Sirius, hold my hand! I know where to go!" Ivan shouted, vaguely thinking of a place.