"Only rainbows after rain, the sun will always come again." -Keep Your Head Up by Andy Grammer
A/N: This song always makes me think of Luna and her positivity even in the darkest parts of the books :)
Thanks to everyone who has been reviewing and adding the story to their favorites/alerts! Keep it up!
I recognized the man standing behind us almost at once. It was almost hard not to recognize him. He was a known Death Eater and besides that, he shared many features with his son. It was Lucius Malfoy.
He held out his hand and motioned for Harry to hand over the glass ball. "Give it to me," he repeated.
"Harry," Hermione hissed, tugging on his sleeve. I looked up and saw other masked Death Eaters heading towards us from all directions, making sure we wouldn't be able to run. We stood in a circle, aiming our wands at the Death Eaters. Harry stayed where he was, staring back at Lucius Malfoy.
"Where's Sirius?" he asked.
The Death Eaters just laughed.
"I know you've got him. He's here," Harry said.
"I think it's time you learned the difference between life and dreams, Potter," Lucius Malfoy said quietly. "Now, hand over that prophecy."
"If you do anything to us, I'll break it," Harry answered at once.
A female laugh rang out loudly throughout the room. I looked over my shoulder to see someone behind Lucius step forward. "He knows how to play, itty bitty baby Potter!" She pulled off her hood and I instantly looked at Neville. I had recognized her immediately.
"Bellatrix Lestrange," Neville said.
"Neville Longbottom, isn't it?" she asked, an amused expression flitting over her face. "How are mum and dad?"
"Better now that they're about to be avenged," Neville answered, raising his wand.
I grabbed his hand at the same time Harry pushed Neville's outstretched arm down. Bellatrix had raised her own wand and Lucius was slowly pushing it back down.
"Let's just all calm down, shall we?" he said, his voice low. "We only want that prophecy."
"Why did Voldemort send me down here to get it?" Harry asked, turning the glass ball, what the Death Eaters were calling a prophecy, in his hands.
"You dare speak his name? You, a filthy half blood, dare to-,"
"Did you know he's a half blood too?" Harry interrupted. "Or has he been telling you lot that he's pureblood?"
Bellatrix raised her wand again, but Malfoy stopped her. For a second, nobody moved.
"So, you need more persuasion, it seems," Bellatrix said when it became clear that Harry wasn't moving to hand them what they wanted. "Very well, why don't we take one of the girls? The redhead, perhaps?" She tilted her head and looked at Ginny. "Or maybe the blonde."
The others closed in around me and Ginny. Neville pulled me behind him and raised his wand again. This time, Harry didn't push his arm down.
"I've told you that this is going to be smashed if you touch any of us," he said with a small shrug as he looked down at the object in his hands. He looked up at the Death Eaters again. "I don't think your boss will be too pleased if you come back without it, will he?"
There was another moment of total silence where nobody moved. Finally, Harry spoke again.
"So, what's so important about this prophecy?"
Malfoy laughed and blinked a few times. "Do not play games with us, Harry Potter."
"No games," he answered, raising his eyebrows.
"Dumbledore never told you that the entire reason you have that scar was hidden here, in the Department of Mysteries?"
"What? What about my scar?" Harry asked.
"Can this be?" Malfoy asked, sounding shocked, but delighted. The Death Eaters were laughing again. I noticed Harry turn and whisper something to Hermione while they were distracted.
Malfoy was saying something else not, but I had diverted my attention to Hermione, who was now whispering something to Ron, trying to move her lips as little as possible. I wondered what Harry had told them.
"The only people," I heard Malfoy say, "who are permitted to retrieve a prophecy from the Department of Mysteries are those about whom it was made."
Ron lightly tapped my foot with his and I looked over at him.
"When Harry says go," he whispered, his eyes on the Death Eaters over my shoulder and his lips barely moving, "start smashing the shelves. Pass it on."
I nodded and stood on my tiptoes to whisper into Neville's ear. I relayed the message and he nodded before turning to Ginny.
"Why does he want a prophecy about me?" Harry was asking.
"About both of you," Malfoy corrected. "Haven't you ever wondered why he tried to kill you as a baby? Don't you want to know the secret behind that scar? All of the answers are there in your hand. All you have to do is give it to me and I can show you."
"I've waited fourteen years," Harry said.
"I know," Malfoy said sympathetically, although I suspected he wasn't the least bit sympathetic.
"I guess I can wait a little longer. Now!"
The room was filled with six different voices yelling the same spell. Everyone turned and ran. I had no idea where to go and it was hard to see with prophecies falling and spells being shot from every direction, but I saw someone running up ahead of me and I followed them.
I came to an abrupt stop, almost smashing into Ginny. The others had stopped too and I saw why almost at once. Lucius Malfoy had appeared in front of them, blocking their path and holding out his hand.
Harry ran down an aisle to the left and the others followed. I meant to follow as well, but I could feel someone standing behind me. I turned and found myself face to face with another Death Eater. Before I could do anything, he hit me and I fell to the ground. I could feel blood trickling from my lip, but there was no time to worry about that now. The Death Eater was coming closer and closer. I used the first spell I could think of. "Stupefy!"
The spell missed him and hit the shelves over his shoulder. Prophecies fell and crashed to the floor. I used the Death Eater's momentary distraction to send another Stunning spell at him. This time, it hit him and I took the opportunity to get up and run.
I paused at the end of an aisle. I could either go left or right, but I had no idea which way the others had gone. Thankfully, I had the perfect solution.
I held my hand out flat, palm up, and placed my wand in it. With my other hand, I spun my wand. Whatever way it pointed would be the way I would go. The wand spun for a second before stopping. It was pointing back the way I had come. That was no help at all. I tried again. This time the wand was pointing right. With a smile, I ran in that direction.
Within a few moments, I saw two people up ahead. I recognized Neville fighting a Death Eater.
"Petrificus Totalus." Neville stared as the Death Eater became as still as stone and he fell to the ground. The only things moving were his eyes, shifting from left to right.
"Well done, Neville," I said, taking his hand and pulling him away. He kept glancing over his shoulder.
"That was cool, wasn't it?" he finally said with a smile.
"Oh yes, it was very good," I said. "I don't think he'll be going anywhere for quite awhile."
Neville smiled and we continued to run. "Any idea where we're going?" he asked.
"No," I said, "but hold on." I stopped and placed my wand in my hand again.
"Luna, whatever you're doing, we don't have time!"
I looked up to see Neville looking over my shoulder. I turned around. More Death Eaters were coming towards us.
Neville took my hand this time and pulled me down another aisle. We kept running until we collided with the others again. Thank goodness. This place was very big.
We stood in a circle, catching our breath. No Death Eaters were in sight.
"Your lip," Neville said, touching it with his finger. When he pulled his hand away, I saw the blood that I had expected was trickling from my lip now on his hand.
"Oh yes, one of them hit me, but it doesn't hurt much. I can barely feel it anymore."
"He hit you?" Neville asked.
"Yes, but don't worry. I stunned him."
"If you hadn't, I would have," Neville said.
"Look," Hermione said suddenly.
A black mist was flying towards us rapidly. Another Death Eater.
"Reducto!" Ginny cried.
At once, prophecies at the other end of the aisle began to fall, and little by little, the rest of them began to fall. It was quite interesting to watch; various sized glowing, glass balls falling off the shelves as they collapsed. It looked like a giant glowing tidal wave.
I was so absorbed in watching the falling prophecies that I hadn't noticed the others had moved. It wasn't until Neville grabbed my hand and dragged me backwards that I snapped out of it and began to run.
"Get back to the door!" Harry was yelling.
The tidal wave of falling prophecies and collapsing shelves were catching up to us, and soon we were covering our heads to avoid the falling debris, an action that made it necessary for me to let go of Neville's hand. I had no idea where I was going, but I managed to keep my eyes on Ginny's red hair in front of me.
Soon, I saw a door up ahead. I didn't know where it led, but I hoped it was the exit. I wasn't really enjoying running from falling glass objects and Death Eaters.
I burst into the room and stopped to catch my breath. Ron ran in behind me and slammed the door shut, locking it.
"What did you do that for?"
I turned and saw Ginny standing behind me. "Oh, hello, Ginny. I didn't know you were in here," I said.
"I am," she answered, "and you are, and so is Ron, but I don't know where the others are and now Ron has gone and locked the door."
"I can go and unlock it. Don't get your knickers in a twist." Ron went to unlock the door, but before he could, someone slammed into it from the other side and began pounding.
"It's locked!" shouted a gruff voice.
"I don't think that's Harry," I said, looking at the other two.
"Where is he anyway? I thought he was behind us with Neville and Hermione," Ginny frowned.
"I thought he was ahead of us," Ron said.
"I didn't know where they were," I shrugged. Ginny and Ron looked at me. "It was rather difficult to see anything." More silence.
"Well, which door?" Ron asked.
I looked around. We were back in the room with all the doors. Hermione's 'X's' had faded, so all the doors were the same again.
"Hopefully we can get to the exit and wait for the others there," Ron continued.
"No," Ginny said as if Ron were mental. "We're going to look for the others. They might need our help."
"That's right," I said, nodding. "I'd very much like to know if they're okay."
"Yeah, I suppose you're right," Ron mumbled.
"So, back to your earlier question," Ginny said. "Which door?"
I put my wand in the palm of my hand again and spun it.
"What in the name of Merlin's pointy hat are you-?" Ron began, but Ginny shushed him.
"That door," I said, pointing towards the one my wand tip had stopped on.
We had just started towards it when the door we had ran through burst open and four Death Eaters ran in after us.
"Get them!" one of them shouted.
"Let's go," Ron whimpered.
We ran into the next room and for a moment we all stopped short. It was a very dark room filled with planets. Besides the planets, everything was dark and black. It looked as if we were just floating in midair.
Unfortunately, our hesitation cost us. We hadn't shut the door and the Death Eaters ran in after us. They didn't seem fazed by the unusual room and ran straight for us.
"There's another door down there!" Ginny pointed across the room.
We ran for it, but encountered another surprise. After a few more feet, the floor seemed to stop and we were floating in the dark. It was as if the entire middle section of the room had no floor or gravity.
One of the Death Eaters reached out and grabbed Ginny's ankle. I grabbed her hand and pulled, but it was no use.
I tried a different approach. I aimed my wand at one of the planets above the Death Eater's head. "Reducto!"
The planet blew up in his face, but as a result, his hand must have twisted Ginny's ankle. I heard a crack and a scream, but there was no time to stop.
"How are we going to cross the room?" Ron asked.
"Use your arms and hands!" I said, demonstrating. It looked as if we were swimming, but it worked.
"They're getting closer!" Ron shouted.
I looked behind me. The Death Eaters were using their arms to propel themselves towards us.
"They look very silly. I can only imagine what we look like," I said.
"Never mind that," Ron answered. "Let's just get out of here!"
A jet of light soared over my shoulder, narrowly missing my head. Instead, it hit Ron. He stopped in midair and looked dazedly at the ceiling.
"Ron!" Ginny gasped. "Are you okay? What's wrong?"
"Is that Uranus?" Ron asked. His voice was feeble and dazed.
"Excuse me?" Ginny asked.
"Uranus," Ron said, the word coming out in almost a sigh as he pointed above Ginny's head to one of the planets.
"I believe it is," I answered.
Ron began to giggle. "Oh, that's funny. I want to get a closer look at Uranus."
He began using his arms to try to reach the planet, but Ginny grabbed his hand. I looked behind us. The Death Eaters were huffing and puffing as they tried to reach us. If we didn't hurry, they would catch us.
"Come on, Ron," I said. I took his hand from Ginny, who was very pale. I wasn't sure how she was going to walk or run with her ankle the way it was once we got on the ground. Ron wasn't going to be much help either. I wondered how I was going to manage both of them and get all of us to safety completely on my own.
"No, I want to see Uranus," Ron was insisting. He tugged on my hand to try and get me to move. Then, he burst into giggles.
"Luna's taken, Ron," Ginny snorted. I turned a bright pink.
Ron kept giggling. I used my free arm to float towards the other side of the room, dragging Ron with me.
"Look, there's a star!" Ron said. "Make a wish!"
I had already made a wish back at the fountain that we'd all make it out okay, but I found myself taking Ron's advice and making my second wish in one night. I looked up at the star and wished with all my heart that the others were okay and that soon I could feel Neville's hand in mine again.