Chapter 160: A Dark Night! Part-2
{Dumbledore's Room, Hogwarts}
{31th Oct 1991}
{Dumbledore's POV}
...
*RINGRINGRINGRING*
Albus woke up abruptly to the distant yet clear sound of bells ringing. With shaky hands, he grabbed his glasses, which were arranged on the bedside table, as he counted the number of continuous rings.
'Why now?' He frowned, and he stood up, transfiguring his nightgown into a robe as he emerged into his office. A quick tempus charm told him that it was 1:45 in the morning. That little information did give him some sense of comfort as he pinged a finite at the blaring snow globe. The elder wand tapped onto thin air in invisible patterns as he gained access to a different field of vision.
The dementers, as a pack, were swarming in from the Greenhouse. They were still far away from the castle itself, but it gave him time to organize a defense. He debated for a moment before canceling the thought of sending a message through the Patronus charm to warn the teachers. Instead, he used the wards to send a message.
Hogwarts was a school that had stood the test of time for centuries. While its sturdy build and easily defensible location were plus points, one of the largest plus points it had was the rune scheme. Each inch of the castle was covered in runes, making it a defensive island. At the same time, since the whole castle was connected, it allowed for some fluent communication.
While he could not parse words through this connection, short messages based on pulses of mana were the recommended approach. Albus rushed toward his office gate as he sent the mana pulses through. At the same time, across the castle, every professor would be getting the same pulses, parsed through artifacts that would process this stimulus and show a result.
With the basics done, Albus went through the second set of protocols that he had used earlier in the term. The castle reacted almost immediately as a metallic clang rang across its deserted hall. With the Lockdown in place, the castle would be secure from the dementor's advance while he figured out what in Merlin's name went wrong today.