The next day, Van Lin's question was answered.

When Hermione opened the Daily Prophet, she had just stared at the front page for a moment when she screamed, causing everyone next to her to turn their heads to look at her.

"What's wrong?" asked Van Lin and Harry in unison.

In response, Hermione spread the newspaper on the table in front of her, pointing to the front page full of ten black-and-white photographs, nine of which featured a witch and the tenth of a witch.

Some silently mocked something, others tapped lightly on the edge of the photo, looking very arrogant and rude. Each photograph is accompanied by a name and a crime committed by the person prior to being sent to Azkaban.

"Antonin Dolokhov," Harry read, the man with a long, pale, distorted face looking at them all with a sneer. "Brutally murdered Gideon and Fabien Plivett. ”

"Algernon Lockwood," the man with acne sores on his face and greasy hair, leaning lazily against the edge of the photograph, "revealed the secrets of the Ministry of Magic to the mysterious man. ”

But Harry's eyes couldn't help but turn to the witch. Her face jumped out when he saw the page.

She was pictured with long black hair that looked unkempt and not as thick and shiny as he had seen in the past. She watched them from behind her eyelids, a haughty and contemptuous smile on her thin lips. Like Sirius, her face bears traces of her past good countenance, but something—perhaps Azkaban—has taken away much of her beauty.

Bellatrix Reststrong tormented and caused Frank and Alice Longbottom to go insane. Hermione nudged Van Lin with her elbow and pointed to the headline above the photo, which several people ignored as they looked at Bellatrix.

"Azkaban's Mass Prison Break"

"The Ministry of Magic is worried that Black is gathering old Death Eaters"

"Black?" Harry said loudly, "no—"

"Shhhh

"Later last night, the Ministry of Magic announced that there had been a massive prison break in Azkaban. Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge told reporters that ten prisoners who were on high security had escaped earlier last night, and that he had informed the Muggle Prime Minister that they were extremely dangerous. Unfortunately, we find ourselves in the same situation that Sirius Black was in two and a half years ago, when he escaped from prison. Fudge said last night, 'We think these two escapes are linked.' Such a large-scale prison break meant that someone was out there, and we must remember that Sirius Black, the first ever prison escapee, would have rightfully helped those people follow in his footsteps. We think these people, including Blake's cousin, Bellatrix. Reststrong, most likely, has gathered around the leader Blake. But we will do everything we can to round up these criminals, and hopefully the magicians will remain vigilant. Don't go near any criminal. ’”

"You see, Harry," Ron said fearfully, "that's why he was so happy last night. ”

"I can't believe it," Harry said angrily, "that Fudge should accuse Sirius of leading the prison break?"

"What else could he say?" said Van Lin, a little angrily, "There's no way he's going to say, 'I'm sorry, guys, Dumbledore warned me that this could happen, the guards of Azkaban have thrown themselves into Voldemort? ”

And now Voldemort's worst followers have escaped from prison. 'I mean, didn't he spend six whole months telling everyone that we had been lying?' Hermione added, opening the newspaper to read it while Harry began to look around.

He didn't understand why his classmates weren't scared, or at least discuss the terrible news on the front page, but only a few people read the newspaper every day like Hermione. They were all discussing homework and Quidditch, and other nonsense, and just outside the wall, ten Death Eaters accepted Voldemort's titles.

He glanced at the faculty member's desk. The situation was completely different there: Dumbledore was conversing deeply with Professor McGonagall, looking solemn. Professor Sprout leaned the newspaper against a bottle of ketchup, reading so intently that he didn't notice that the yolk was dripping from his motionless spoon onto his legs.

Meanwhile, at the end of the table, Professor Umbridge was sipping a bowl of cereal. For a moment, her toad-like eyes, droopy eyes, didn't scan the hall, looking for misbehaving students. She kept a straight face, swallowing, and from time to time glanced maliciously at Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall, who were concentrating on the other side of the table.

"Oh, my—" Hermione said curiously, still looking at the newspaper.

"What's wrong?" Harry asked quickly, feeling nervous.

"It's just—horrible," Hermione said, looking shivering. She folded up the pages of the ten Death Eaters and placed them on the table.

"The tragic death of the Ministry of Magic staff was found dead in his hospital bed last night, and he was strangled by a potted plant. St. Mongo's Hospital undertook to conduct a full investigation into the matter. Doctors had arrived at the scene, but they were still unable to save Bird. The deceased was admitted to the hospital a few weeks ago due to a work injury. Medica Miriam. Strout, the head of Bird's ward, was suspended with pay yesterday and declined to comment. But a statement from a hospital spokesman said: 'St. Mongo Hospital deeply regrets Byrd's death, and his health had been steadily recovering before this tragic incident. We had strict rules about the decorations in the ward, but the healer, Strout, was too busy with Christmas to ignore the dangers of the potted plant next to Bird's bed. As Bird's ability to speak and act was regaining, Straut encouraged him to take care of the pot himself, not realizing that it was not an innocent flying flower, but a piece cut from a demonic trap, and when the healing Bird touched it, he was immediately and mercilessly strangled. 'St. Mongo's Hospital still can't explain why this potted plant is in the ward, and is now asking all wizards in the know for clues. ”

"Bird," said Ron, "Bird, I think I heard it. ”

"We've seen him," Hermione whispered. "In St. Mongo, remember? He was right across from Alice, lying there, staring at the ceiling. We saw the devil's trap when it came, and she, the healer, said it was a Christmas present. ”

Harry went back to the report. A feeling of fear welled up in my throat like bile.

"Why didn't we recognize the devil's trap? We've seen it, and we could have prevented it from happening. ”

"Who would have thought that the devil's trap would end up in the ward as a potted plant?" said Ron sharply, "it's not our fault, the person who sent it is to blame!

"It's not a matter of checking, it's premeditated, Bird must have seen something, and it wasn't cleared at the time, and after gaining more followers, Voldemort had more useful manpower to erase the hidden dangers that might provide information. ”