Chapter Twenty-Four
Take Flight and Do Right
:.:.:
"Demetria!"
I opened my eyes and found myself in Kleio's arms, being held as though she'd just caught me from falling . . . and maybe that was happened, I didn't know, but I straightened myself up. My head was still throbbing and my balance was off, so I nearly tipped over again, but someone else grabbed me.
"Dem, are you all ri — ?" Finn looked me in the eyes and I watched horror strike his face. "What happened?!"
I pressed my hand to my eyes to wipe away the tears, but when I pulled it away, I didn't find water, but blood.
"See nearly killed herself trying to do something impossible!" Kleio scolded, absolutely livid.
"I did it!" I choked out. "I heard him! I read his mind!"
"Demetria, did you have a vision too?"
I turned toward the new voice. It was Harry — he was standing there with Ron and Hermione, both of whom were wearing an expression similar to Finn's.
"Yeah," I told him. "We have to go."
I started making my way toward the trapdoor, but was still dizzy, so Finn helped me over. Harry went down the ladder first to assist me as I climbed down next, and then the other three followed. We all quickly moved to occupy an empty classroom and shut the door behind us.
"Voldemort was in my head during the exam too," Harry filled me in. "He's got Sirius."
"He's torturing my grandad," I told him. "I dunno where — it was a huge room with shelves of —"
"— little glass balls?" Harry guessed; I nodded urgently. "It's the Department of Mysteries."
"It's the Hall of Prophecy . . ." said Finn. When we all looked to him, he said, "My step-dad works in the Ministry — the Bulgarian Ministry, but they've got a room just like that . . ."
"Prophecy . . ." I said, my mind still reeling. "You mean like Seers?"
"Yeah, I think so."
"Harry, I reckon there's been prophecies made about each of us," I said insistently.
"That's what Voldemort's after?" asked Hermione.
"Two weapons — Something he didn't have last time," Harry recited the words Sirius had said to us over the summer. "How're we going to get there?"
"I dunno, but —"
Ron cut me off.
"Whoa, g-get there?"
"Get to the Department of Mysteries so we can rescue Sirius and Demetria's Grandad!" Harry said loudly.
"Harry," Hermione said in a rather frightened voice, "er . . . how . . . how did Voldemort get into the Ministry of Magic without anybody realizing he was there?"
"How do I know?" bellowed Harry. "The question is how we're going to get in there!"
"But . . . Harry, think about this," said Hermione gently, "it's five o'clock in the afternoon . . . The Ministry of Magic must be full of workers . . . How would Voldemort and Sirius have gotten in completely undetected by Aurors?"
"Well what about Demetria's grandad?" said Harry irritably. "Is that more believable? You'll help save him but not Sirius — ?"
"Harry, that's not it!" said Hermione, looking frightened yet determined. "I'm trying to say — Voldemort knows you! He took Ginny down to the Chamber of Secrets to lure you there, it's the kind of thing he does, he knows you're the — the sort of person who'd go to Sirius's aid! What if he's just trying to get you into the Department of Myst — ?"
"Hermione, they've taken McGonagall to St. Mungo's, there isn't anyone left from the Order at Hogwarts who we can tell, and if we don't go, Sirius is dead!"
"But Harry — what if your dream was — was just that, a dream?"
"I read my grandfather's mind," I said confidently. "He was thinking about how he's going to die soon. If what I saw is real, then Harry's could be too. Now, we can't rescue my grandad, but —"
"What? Of course we can!" Harry insisted. "We just need a way out of here!"
And then something clicked in my head. A way out.
"You're right," I said darkly. Finn eyed me curiously.
Something else clicked then too — the classroom door opened. Ginny walked in, looking curious, followed by Luna, who as usual looked as though she had drifted in accidentally.
"Hi," said Ginny uncertainly. "We recognized Harry's voice — what are you — Demetria, what happened?"
I could've only imagined what I looked like with dried blood around my nose and eyes.
"It's nothing, Gin," I assured her, keeping my irritation in check.
"What's going on?" she pressed.
"Never you mind," said Harry roughly.
Ginny raised her eyebrows.
"There's no need to take that tone with me," she said coolly. "I was only wondering whether I could help."
"Well, you can't," said Harry shortly.
"You're being rather rude, you know," said Luna serenely.
Harry swore and turned away.
"Wait," said Hermione suddenly. "Wait . . . Harry, they can help. Listen, Harry, what if we used Umbridge's fire to try and contact Sirius to see whether or not Voldemort is trying to lure you —"
"Do what you have to, but he's got my grandfather and I know that for a fact," I said determinedly.
"Who's got your grandfather?" said Ginny, concerned.
I said "Voldemort" at the same time Ron said "Don't worry about it."
"He's got Sirius too," Harry said, "and if Demetria's going to save her grandad, I'm going too. I'm not waiting around any longer."
"Looks as though we're going whether he's really got Sirius or not," Ron said indifferently to Hermione.
"There's just one problem," she said. "I can't see how we're going to get there."
We all fell silent for a moment until Luna spoke up.
"Well, we'll have to fly, won't we?" she said in the closest thing to a matter-of-fact voice I'd ever heard her use.
"Okay," said Harry irritably, rounding on her, "to be clear, 'we' aren't doing anything if you're including yourself in that."
"Besides, Ron, Demetria, and I are the only ones with brooms," Finn pointed out.
"I've got a broom!" said Ginny.
"Yeah, but you're not coming," said Ron angrily.
"Excuse me, but I care what happens to Sirius as much as you do!" said Ginny, her jaw set so that her resemblance to Fred and George was suddenly striking.
"You're too —" Harry began.
"I'm three years older than you were when you fought You-Know-Who over the Sorcerer's Stone," she said fiercely.
"We want to help," said Luna, smiling happily.
"Or was everything we learned in the D.A. for nothing?" Ginny challenged.
But when no one answered, I grew tired of standing around while Grandad was in danger.
"Feel free to argue over this all night," I said, moving for the door, "I'm taking my broom and going alone if I must."
"I'm coming with you," said Harry at once, the two of us leaving the room together.
"We're all coming with you," Ginny corrected.
"We've only got three broomsticks!" said Harry frustratedly as we all continued along the corridor.
"There are other ways of flying than with broomsticks," said Luna serenely.
"I s'pose we're going to ride on the back of the Kacky Snorgle or whatever it is?" Ron demanded.
"The Crumple-Horned Snorkack can't fly," said Luna in a dignified voice, "but we have creatures on the grounds that can, and Hagrid says they're very good at finding places their riders are looking for."
Creatures on the grounds that . . . .
"Luna, you're brilliant!" I said as I led the lot to the ground floor and out onto the lawn.
Harry seemed to've caught on as well and was racing alongside me as we neared the Forbidden Forest, and didn't stop until we saw them, their white eyes gleaming eerily. Harry and I approached the two thestrals, patting their long manes.
"Is it those mad horse things?" said Ron uncertainly, staring at a point slightly to the left of the thestral Harry was patting. "Those ones you can't see unless you've watched someone snuff it?"
"To put it delicately," I teased sarcastically.
"How many?"
"Just two," Harry replied.
"Well, we need five," said Hermione, who was still looking a little shaken, but determined just the same.
"Six, Hermione," said Ginny, scowling.
"I think there are seven of us, actually," said Luna calmly, counting.
"Don't be stupid, we can't all go!" said Harry angrily. "Look, you two" — he pointed at Ginny and Luna — "you're not involved in this, you're not —"
They burst into more protests, and I didn't have time for it.
"Fine, you can come!" I said. "But we have to go now."
"It's your choice," Harry said curtly, giving in as well. "But unless we can find more thestrals you're not going to be able —"
"Oh, more of them will come," said Ginny confidently, who like Ron was squinting in quite the wrong direction, apparently under the impression that she was looking at the horses.
"What makes you think that?"
"Because Demetria's covered in blood," she said coolly, "and we know Hagrid lures thestrals with raw meat . . ."
"All right, then here — my blood's all over the sleeves," I said, pulling off my robe and wiping off my face for good measure before tossing it to Ginny. "Harry and I will take these two and go ahead, and you lot can wait 'till that attracts more thestrals —"
"I'm not staying behind!" Finn, Hermione, and Ron all chorused.
"There's no need," said Luna, smiling. "Look, here come more now . . . Demetria, you must really smell . . ."
I turned and saw no more than six or seven thestrals picking their way through the trees now, their great leathery wings folded tight to their bodies, eyes gleaming through the darkness.
"All right," said Harry angrily, "pick one and get on, then."
I wound my hand tightly into the mane of the thestral I'd been patting and Harry gave me a boost up onto the horse's silken back. I then watched Harry place his foot on a stump nearby and scramble clumsily onto the back of the thestral nearest mine. Once he'd done so, he lodged his knees behind the wing joints and when I followed suit, I felt much more secure. I looked to the others and found Luna already in place, sitting sidesaddle and adjusting her robes as though she did this every day (and who knows, maybe she did). Finn, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny, however, were still standing motionless on the spot, openmouthed and staring.
"How exactly d'you expect us to get on?" asked Finn.
"Yeah, we can't even see the things," Ron added faintly.
"Oh it's easy," said Luna, sliding obligingly from her thestral and marching over to the two of them, Hermione, and Ginny. "Come here . . ."
She pulled them over to the other thestrals standing around and one by one managed to help them onto the backs of their mounts. All four looked extremely nervous as she wound their hands into the horses' manes and told them to grip tightly before getting back onto her own steed.
"This is mad," Ron said feebly, moving his free hand gingerly up and down the thestral's neck. "Mad . . . if I could just see it —"
"You'd better hope it stays invisible," said Harry darkly, and I had to agree. "We all ready, then?" We all nodded and Harry looked down at this thestral. "Okay . . . Ministry of Magic, visitors' entrance, London, then. Er . . . if you know . . . where to go . . ."
For a moment nothing happened, but then, with a sweeping movement, the wings on either side of everyone's thestrals extended, the horses crouching slowly and then rocketing upward so fast and so steeply that I had to clench my arms and legs tightly around it to avoid sliding off. I continued to hold on for dear life as we burst through the topmost branches of the trees and soared out into a bloodred sunset.
There was something far more thrilling about riding on the back of a thestral rather than a broomstick. Perhaps it was the speed — I don't reckon I'd ever moved so fast. The thestral streaked over the castle, then we were over Hogwarts grounds, next we passed Hogsmeade.
"This is bizarre!" I heard Ron yell from somewhere behind me. And it probably was bizarre to be flying along at such a great speed without being able to actually see your ride.
Twilight fell: The sky turned to a light, dusky purple littered with tiny silver stars, and soon it was only the lights of Muggle towns that gave us any clue of how far away from the ground we were or how fast we were traveling. But it didn't seem fast enough to me. The last time I'd seen Grandad, he was barely hanging on. Surely, we were already too late . . .
I willed my thestral to go even faster, and it wasn't long before the horse had suddenly pointed its head toward the ground as we finally began descending. I heard one of the girls shriek behind me and twisted around to see if we'd lost anyone, but everyone was accounted for.
And now bright orange lights were growing larger and rounder on all sides. I could see the tops of buildings, streams of headlights like luminous insect eyes, squares of pale yellow that were windows. Quite suddenly, it seemed, we were hurtling toward the pavement. I'd been bracing for a sudden impact, arms still wrapped fiercely around the thestral, but the horse touched the dark ground as lightly as a shadow and I immediately slid from its back and saw Harry do the same.
"Never again," said Ron, having just landed a short way away and toppled onto the pavement. He'd gotten to his feet but went to walk away from the thestral and ended up colliding with its arse. "Never, ever again . . . that was the worst —"
"I rather enjoyed it," I said airily.
"I'm sure it's far more pleasant when you can actually see what you're flying on," said Finn as he landed near me, sliding off his thestral with a bit more finesse than Ron. Hermione and Ginny also made rather graceful dismounts from their horses, and Luna's was smooth as well.
"Where do we go from here, then?" she asked in a politely interested voice.
"Over here," said Harry, leading the way to a battered telephone box and opening the door. Finn and I had followed straight away, but the others seemed hesitant. "Come on!" he urged them.
Ron and Ginny marched in obediently; Hermione and Luna squashed themselves in after them, and Harry was the last to enter.
"Whoever's nearest the receiver, dial 6-2-4-4-2!" he instructed.
Finn did it, his arm bent bizarrely to reach the dial. As it whirred back into place a cool female voice sounded inside the box, "Welcome to the Ministry of Magic. Please state your name and business."
I groaned; We didn't have time for this!
"Demetria Harris, Harry Potter, Finn Archer, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, Ginny Weasley, Luna Lovegood — on a rescue mission and in a bit of a rush, if you don't mind," I said in one breath.
"Thank you," said the cool female voice. "Visitors, please take the badges and attach them to the front of your robes."
Half a dozen badges slid out of a metal chute and Hermione scooped them up, handing them out mutely.
DEMETRIA HARRIS
Rescue Mission
"Visitor to the Ministry, you are required to submit to a search and present your wand for registration at the security desk, which is located at the far end of the Atrium."
"Yes, lovely, can't wait!" I said loudly. "As I said, we're in a bit of a rush!"
The floor of the telephone box shuddered and the pavement rose up past the glass windows of the telephone box. The scavenging thestrals were sliding out of sight, blackness closed over their heads, and with a dull grinding noise we sank down into the depths of the Ministry of Magic.
"The Ministry of Magic wishes you a pleasant evening," said the woman's voice.
The door of the telephone box burst open; Harry toppled out of it first and I was the last to leave. I could feel Finn eyeing me darkly as he had been doing for the entirety of the telephone box ride, but I continued to act as though I hadn't noticed.
"Come on," said Harry quietly and the seven of us sprinted off down the hall, Harry in the lead, Finn and I bringing up the rear. He continued to stare at me, but I couldn't bring myself to look at him. I knew that he knew something was going on with me . . . but I didn't want to tell him what I'd decided back at Hogwarts.
A way out.
We passed by a deserted security desk, through golden gates and into the lifts. Harry pressed the nearest down button and a lift clattered into sight almost immediately, the golden grilles sliding apart with a great, echoing clanking; we all dashed inside. When Harry pressed another button and the grilles closed, the lift began to descend, jangling and rattling.
"Department of Mysteries," said the cool female voice when the lift halted.
The grilles slid open again and we stepped out into the corridor where nothing was moving but the nearest torches, flickering in the rush of air from the lift.
"Let's go," whispered Harry, leading the way down the corridor. This was, after all, the room he'd seen a thousand times in his dreams.
Luna was right behind him, and everyone else kept close as well, but Finn grabbed my arm and pulled me back a bit so we were trailing behind the group.
"What are you doing?" he whispered so quietly that sound didn't even actually come out for every word.
I pulled my visitor's badge from my pocket; Finn's brows furrowed.
"Okay, listen," said Harry, stopping within six feet of a black door. "Maybe . . . maybe a couple of people should stay here as a — as a lookout, and —"
"And how're we going to let you know something's coming?" said Ginny, her eyebrows raised. "You could be miles away."
"We're coming with you, mate," said Ron firmly. "Let's get on with it."
When Harry had swung open the door and began leading the others through its threshold, Finn held me back again.
"What are you doing?" he whispered slowly, with emphasis.
"I can't explain now," I replied in just as low of a murmur.
We were standing in a large, circular room. Everything in here was black including the floor and ceiling — identical, unmarked, handle-less black doors were set at intervals all around the black walls, interspersed with branches of candles whose flames burned blue, their cool, shimmering light reflected in the shining marble floor so that it looked as though there was dark water underfoot.
"Someone shut the door," Harry muttered.
I went to do so, but the moment I did, I could see how bad of an idea it was. Without the sliver of light spilling in from the corridor behind us, the room we were in became so dark that for a moment the only things that could be seen were the bunches of shivering blue flames on the walls and our ghostly reflections in the floor below. But suddenly, there was a great rumbling noise and the candles began to move sideways. The circular room was rotating. For a few seconds the blue flames around us were blurred to resemble neon lines as the wall sped up around us, but then the rumbling stopped and everything became stationary once again.
"What was that about?" whispered Ron fearfully.
"I think it was to stop us knowing which door we came in from," said Ginny in a hushed voice.
"Where do we go then, Harry?" Ron asked.
"I don't —" Harry began. "In the dreams I went through the door at the end of the corridor from the lifts into a dark room — that's this one — and then I went through another door into a room that kind of . . . glitters. We should try a few doors," he said hastily. "I'll know the right way when I see it. C'mon."
He marched straight at the door now facing us and swung it open. Inside, there were lamps hanging low on golden chains from the ceiling and a few desks scattered around. In the very middle of the room, there was an enormous glass tank of deep-green water, big enough for all of us to swim in, which contained a number of pearly white objects that were drifting around lazily in the liquid.
"What're those things?" whispered Ron.
"Brains," said Finn uneasily with a shudder.
"Brains?" said Luna.
"Yes," said Hermione, sounding odd. "I wonder what they're doing with them . . . You really know quite a bit about the Department of Mysteries, don't you?"
"Sort of, but not really," Finn admitted. "My step-dad used to tell me stories about this place when I was really young — didn't go into detail or anything, but I remember him talking about the glowing room with a tank full of brains . . ."
"Who could forget . . ." said Ron darkly, eyeing the green water with disgust.
"Yeah, I was only nine," said Finn ominously.
"Let's get out of here," said Harry. "This isn't right, we need to try another door —"
"There are doors here too," said Ron, pointing around the walls.
"In my dream I went through that dark room into the second one," Harry said. "I think we should go back and try from there."
We all hurried back into the dark, circular room.
"Wait!" said Hermione sharply. "Flagrate!"
She drew with her wand in midair and a fiery X appeared on the door. No sooner had the door clicked shut behind them than there was a great rumbling, and once again the wall began to revolve very fast, but now there was a great red-gold blur in amongst the faint blue, and when all became still again, the fiery cross still burned, showing the door that we'd already tried.
"This is taking too long," I said desolately.
"Here, let's try this one," said Harry, striding to the new that was facing us and opened it.
This room was larger than the last, dimly lit and rectangular, and the center of it was sunken, forming a great stone pit some twenty feet below us. There was a raised stone dais in the center of the lowered floor, and upon this dais stood a stone archway that looked so ancient and cracked, it appeared as though it might crumble any second. It was hung with a tattered black curtain or veil which, despite the complete stillness of the cold surrounding air, was fluttering very slightly as though it had just been touched.
"Merlin's beard," breathed Finn incredulously.
"Who's there?" said Harry, jumping down onto the bench below. There was no answer.
"Harry," said Finn carefully, "it's the Veil . . ."
Everyone looked to Finn for further explanation, myself included.
"Haven't you ever heard the phrase 'going beyond the veil'?" he asked; silence. "It's — er — the land between the living and the dead . . ."
Grandad could've been behind that veil right then and there. The closer I got to this Veil, the more I could hear what I was sure Harry must've heard — voices, whispering voices. I thought for a split second it was just my mind-reading, but it soon became very clear to me that the voices were coming from the Veil.
I couldn't help but think of how many people I'd lost, and how many more I was sure to lose because this war was far from over. How many more innocent people would suffer? How many more would die? How many because of me . . . ? I thought of Cedric for the first time in what felt like a long time . . . how I'd pushed him to the back of my mind. I was once so haunted by his memory that I couldn't even hear his name without crying, and yet, I'd moved on . . . sort of — I don't reckon it's something you can ever truly and fully recover from — losing someone.
But I was determined not to lose another person that night. I was prepared to do whatever it took, and I knew what it would take. Grandad needed a way out — a way out of his Unbreakable Vow. I was going to free him of it, I was going to do right by him.
"Let's keep moving," I said, but Harry didn't move from his spot right in front of the Veil. "Harry, let's go," I said a bit more forcefully.
Finn had to actually give Harry a bit of a tug on his arm to get him going.
"Sorry," he said quietly, finally walking away. "I thought I heard —"
"— the voices of the ones who've passed," said Finn.
"Your step-dad told you all of this at nine years old?" Ginny asked.
"Yep, that sounds like Ivan," I said.
Hermione placed another fiery X upon the door as we waited for the wall spin to finish. Once it had, Harry approached a door at random and pushed it but it didn't move.
"What's wrong?" said Hermione.
"It's . . . locked . . ." said Harry, throwing his weight at the door which didn't budge.
"This is it, then, isn't it?" said Ron excitedly, joining Harry in the attempt to force the door open. "Bound to be!"
"Get out of the way!" said Hermione sharply; the blokes obeyed. "Alohomora!"
Nothing happened.
"Dem, your Light can break down the door, can't it?" said Finn hopefully. "It did last year."
"Not the most stealthy approach . . ." I said.
"I reckon it's our only option," said Harry. "I haven't got Sirius's knife."
"This can't be the right room anyway," Hermione said decisively. "Harry could get through all the doors in his dream." She marked the door with another fiery cross.
"You know what could be in there?" said Luna eagerly, as the wall started to spin yet again.
"Something blibbering, no doubt," said Hermione under her breath.
The wall slid back to a halt and Harry pushed the next door open.
"This is it!"
Harry had certainly been right — this room glittered. There was a beautiful, dancing, diamond-sparkling light filling it, with clocks gleaming from every surface, large and small, grandfather and carriage, hanging in spaces between the bookcases or standing on desks ranging the length of the room, so that a busy, relentless ticking filled the place.
"This way!"
Harry led the way forward down a narrow space between the lines of desks, heading for the source of the diamond-bright light, a crystal bell jar quite as tall as he was that stood on a desk and appeared to be full of billowing, glittering wind.
"Oh look!" said Ginny, indicating to the bell jar.
I didn't pay it any mind, however. We were finally on the right track and nothing was going to distract me or stand in my way.
"Keep going!" said Harry sharply, obviously feeling the same way.
"You dawdled enough by that old arch!" she said crossly, but following.
"This is it," Harry said as we reached the only door behind the bell jar. "It's through here —"
We'd all drawn our wands as Harry pushed the door open, revealing the room I'd seen in my vision: high as a church and full of nothing but towering shelves covered in small, dusty, glass orbs. They glimmered dully in the light issuing from more candle brackets set at intervals along the shelves. Just like in the circular room, they burned blue.
"You said it was row ninety-seven," Hermione whispered to Harry.
"Yeah," he breathed.
Looking up at the closest row, beneath the branch of blue-glowing candles portruding from it, I saw the silver figure 53. My heart skipped; my row was close.
"We need to go right, I think," whispered Hermione, squinting to the next row. "Yes . . . that's fifty-four . . ."
"Keep your wands out," Harry said softly.
We crept forward, working our way along the shelves, but it wasn't long before we reached the silver figure 64.
"This is me," I said.
"I'll stay back with her," Finn offered. "You all go on."
"I can stay too," Ginny offered.
"Thanks, Gin, but it's all right," he assured her. "This'll just be a second."
Ginny nodded and continued on with the others as they headed for row 97.
"He's not here," I said quietly, eyes scanning the yellowing labels under each orb for my own. "I guess I sort of figured . . . They must have him somewhere else now — we must be too late —"
"Demetria," said Finn sternly, in a hushed voice. "Why. Are. We. Here?"
I still refused to look at him, and instead kept my eyes on the shelf when I said, "Grandad struck an Unbreakable Vow with Dolohov that I would join the Death Eaters when I was of-age."
My name was still no where to be found.
"So if your grandad's going to die no matter wha —" Finn stopped, understanding. I knew I wouldn't've had to tell him. "Demetria."
"Don't try and talk me out of it, Finn," I said finitely. "My mind's made up."
"You can't!" he whispered fiercely.
"It's the only way!" I replied, and then I spotted the correct yellow label. "Found it . . ."
18 January, 1980
M.T.F. to A.P.H.
(?) Demetria Harris
I knew instantly that A.P.H. was my father, as I recalled seeing those initials every time I opened his old broomstick servicing kit, but I didn't recognize M.T.F.
"Dem, I know you don't want to hear this," Finn began disapprovingly, "but your Grandad isn't going to live forever —"
"Finn —" I tried to shut him up.
"— and you won't exactly be able to spend time with him if you're locked up in Azkaban for life!"
"I don't need to use the Killing Curse," I said thoughtfully, reaching up and closing my fingers around the glass orb. "I can use his own spell against him . . ."
With my prophecy in my hand, I finally turned to look at Finn, his sea green eyes matching his tone and staring at me critically.
"Please try to understand," I implored, his expression softening. "Killing Dolohov is the only way . . ."
And then, there came a painfully familiar voice from behind me that said smoothly, "I'd love to see you try, Switzerland."