Harry watched worriedly as his godfather and Bellatrix Lestrange dueled in front of the dias. Sirius had just thrown a Confundus charm at Bellatrix and missed. Bellatrix then returned with a Stunning Spell.
"You can do better than that," Sirius taunted his cousin with a laugh. Bellatrix swept her long black hair out of her face and laughed a menacing laugh.
"Serpensortia!" She flicked her wand in the air and with a thud on the marble floor, a huge black snake with large, venomous fangs came slithering toward Sirius.
"SIRIUS! NO!" Harry's scream echoed across the large atrium. He let go of the broken-nosed Neville he had been supporting, and as fast as his skinny legs could carry him, Harry ran toward his godfather, placing himself in front of Sirius and the snake.
The snake hissed loudly and, before anyone could utter a word, had plunged its two enormous fangs into the side of Harry's neck, bloody spurting in every direction.
Everyone in the room had stopped dueling. Neville, Luna, and Tonks all screamed aloud, but Sirius screamed the loudest of all.
"HARRY!" Sirius desperately caught Harry in his arms as the latter fell to the floor, pale, bleeding, and trembling. He took hold of a lock of his godfather's long black hair and looked straight into his now horrified and watery gray eyes.
"I'm…glad…you're…okay," the words were brittle and came out feebly as Harry shook uncontrollably. "You're…the greatest thing…that's ever happened to me…I love you."
"Harry, please don't go, please. You mean more to me than anything else in the world." Tears were now streaming down Sirius's face as he held Harry close. Harry stared backed at him for a moment longer, and then shut his eyes. He loosened his grip on Sirius's hair, and Sirius caught his hand."
"Harry…" Sirius pleaded. He kissed Harry's forehead, the tears hitting it. "I love you, too."
Bellatrix stared at the scene in shock. "I killed Harry Potter," she breathed. " I just killed Harry Potter!" She jumped into the air and hollered. Then, she skipped merrily. "I killed Harry Potter, I killed Harry Potter! I must tell the Dark Lord!"
She ran out of the atrium through one of the open ground doors. A red hot rage built up inside Sirius. He grabbed his wand and ran after her, shooting curses as he went.
"SHE KILLED HARRY!" His face was red with both grief and anger, his hair flew behind him like a banner as he ran.
Tonks, Luna, and Neville ran to Harry. "We have to do something," Tonks said, her eyes gleaming with tears. "Let's try CPR. Do you guys know what that is?"
"Yes," Neville sobbed, "but that won't help. He's already dead and the poison flooded his entire body. There's no way we can revive him."
"But there has to be. Come on Harry, wake up." Tonks cried and pressed on Harry's chest with her hands.
"Tonks!" Neville shouted. "There's nothing we can do. He's dead."
Sirius ran down the hallway right behind Bellatrix. "You stupid coward! Come back and fight!"
Bellatrix turned around and cackled at him. "Ah, do you want to avenge your poor stupid godson?"
That was the last straw. More determined than he ever had been, Sirius flicked his wand and shouted, "Expelliarmus!" Bellatrix flew into the air and landed headfirst onto the marble floor. Sirius caught her wand. Her head was bleeding.
Sirius approached her swiftly and kicked her in the side as hard as he could, breaking one of her ribs.
"You like to torture people," Sirius said, a crazy glint in his eyes. "Let's see how you like being tortured, Bella. Crucio!" Bellatrix let out an ear-piercing scream and twitched violently.
This continued for a long while, until finally Sirius shouted, "Avada kedavra!" A brilliant flash of green light hit Bellatrix Lestrange straight in the chest, and she was no more.
"That was for Harry." Sirius yelled as he spat on his cousin's stiff face.
Sirius ran back to the atrium. By now, the Death Eaters were gone and the Order members were crowding around Harry's body. Ron and Hermione had gained back their senses and were crying their eyes out, along with everyone else.
Remus walked over to Sirius and put his arms around him. "He risked all this for you, because he loved you so much."