Chapter Twenty Five: Rumble
Harry turned to the Death Eaters, he could not help a smile forming on his face. It was obvious through their arrogance, they thought he had walked directly into a trap, but on the contrary, the trap was sprung on the Death Eaters.
"Hand it over Potter," ordered Lucius calmly, as the other Death Eaters took a couple of steps back. For some reason, it appeared that a smile appearing on the face of the person that they were supposed to trap unnerved them. It was mostly because many of them were present in the graveyard when Potter had fought the Dark Lord and he had held his own.
"Good afternoon Lucius, long time no see," responded Harry calmly, as if he felt there was no danger at all, as he took in the Death Eater robes and mask the pompous pureblood had on. "And you've worn your Sunday best as well, charming, indeed. What can I do for you?"
"The orb Potter, hand it over," repeated Lucius as he was well aware that Potter was now playing an absent minded game of catch with himself, as he tossed the orb up and down. If they had struck Potter, the orb would smash to the ground. Lucius kept a weary eye on some of the more hex happy Death Eaters, he knew they would attack too soon if Potter had baited them too much.
"The ickle baby obviously wants to know where is godfather is, look at him, trying to put on a brave face, even though he's scared, ah the poor whittle baby," cooed Bellatrix in a baby voice that caused Harry to want to impale a spike into her head.
"So it appears to me that your master used my godfather as bait to lure me here, to get me this glass orb, a vision of him being tortured," said Harry, as he read Lucius's mind, the man obviously thought this flimsy Occlumency shields could keep someone out but there were obvious flaws that someone with enough time and patience could exploit to their fullest. "Then he expected me to rush here, wand ready, to look for Sirius and just hope I luckily stumble onto this room, with this orb and just I happen to lift it off the shelf. I just have one question. How stupid does Voldemort think I am?"
"You filthy little half blood, you have no right to speak the Dark Lord's name!" shrieked Bellatrix angrily, as she was offended by the disrespect shown to the Dark Lord and what was worse, those eyes were staring back at her. Those green eyes that caused her so much pain and agony, the same eyes she wanted to tear out and stomp on. It was obvious to Bella that the boy was as disrespectful as his mother.
"What name? Voldemort?" asked Harry in a would be innocent tone of voice and several wands were pointed towards Harry but Lucius had turned towards his fellow Death Eaters, with a shield charm up, as a couple of spells were aimed towards Harry.
"No you fools, Potter cannot be attacked until he hands over the prophecy, if that orb smashes it will be all of our necks on the line," said Lucius, as he wanted to get the orb intact, as the Dark Lord had implied this was his last chance and if Lucius failed, he would be killed slowly and painfully. "The orb Potter, hand it over and we'll make this a little less painful on you."
"Speak for yourself," muttered Bellatrix under her breath.
"Bellatrix, enough," said Lucius sternly. "The orb Potter and we can end this without bloodshed."
"Once again, Lucius, exactly how stupid do you think I am?" asked Harry as he was getting bored with this entire game but the Death Eaters just stood, many of them looked to be a movement away from throwing some deadly curse at that boy.
"Obviously Potter, you're not as resourceful as people think you to be, as you walked directly into a trap, alone," answered Lucius smugly.
"Much like with your wife, Lucius, you simply don't get it," responded Harry which caused Bellatrix to cackle madly at the slight that Potter made against her brother-in-law. "I'm in a good mood so I think I'll keep the prophecy and you all disown Voldemort, before you swear your undying loyalty to me."
"We'll never bow down to a filthy half blood, Potter!" shouted one of the Death Eaters as Harry broke out in an insane round of laughter at the utter irony of this statement. He could not stop laughing and he just was barely able to keep the prophecy steady.
"So funny, on so many levels," answered Harry as he struggled to breath and the Death Eaters looked to be getting a bit anxious and he knew it would not be long before the curses started coming. He was ready to signal for help when things got really ugly but right now, he was getting in the heads of the Death Eaters. It would make them sloppy and prone to mistakes that he, the D.A. and the Aurors could exploit when it came time. "By the way, your so called champion of blood purists, Lord Voldemort is really nothing but a half blood. Not only that, but he is the bastard son of a Muggle and a squib."
"SHUT UP POTTER!" shouted one of the Death Eaters as many of them grumbled in irritation of what Potter was doing.
"STOP SLANDERING THE NAME OF THE DARK LORD!" shrieked Bellatrix Lestrange as she was about ready to strangle Potter. She saw those eyes, taunting her, tormenting her, causing her to flash back to the great pain she suffered in the past. They haunted her of failures of the past.
"The truth is more painful than anything that I can fabricate," said Harry as he tossed the Prophecy around, looking bored. "So while your bastard half blood master decides to send all twenty six of you to do his dirty work, he sits around without even bothering to get his hands dirty. The fact that he needs twenty six of you, says one of two things. Either he thinks highly of my abilities or he thinks so little off you that he figures no one of you could even handle a fifteen year wizard who has not even taken his Ordinary Wizarding Level exams yet. Not that it matters anyway, each of you are just nameless, faceless tools to Voldemort that can be replaced"
Harry continued to toss the prophecy up and down in his hand. He could see that even the most level headed Death Eaters were having trouble keeping their tempers in check and Harry knew that his plan had just about run its course. Still, he could not resist digging the knife into the wounds he created just a little deeper.
"In fact, I think the reason Voldemort refused to come here today, because he knew I could beat him and didn't want to suffer an embarrassment of failing to kill an underage wizard…again," said Harry with a smug smile on his face, as Lucius and others had to step in front of a group of Death Eaters, who looked like they wanted to rip into Harry. "Many of you were there in the graveyard. Voldemort was unconscious and I walked out of there, with his wand as well. I'm sure he was not too happy about that."
"Potter, you are stretching are patience thin, but if you hand over the orb there will be…" stated Lucius.
"No need for bloodshed," finished Harry dully, as he threw the orb up and down into the air as he hand his wand for the ready. "See here's the thing, you're going to have to pry this orb out of my cold lifeless hands if you want it and I'm not going to give you a chance."
Before any of the Death Eaters could react, Harry pulled off two spells at once. One sent a blast of blinding light into the hallway, that backed them off and the other sent out brief magically simulated sonic vibrations that caused the ears of the Death Eaters to ring.
"NOW!" shouted Harry into the Portkey and several spells shot into the hallway. A couple of unfortunate Death Eaters were stunned immediately while others spun around as several of shadowed figures moved as both their hearing and vision returned to them.
"Potter's not come alone," said one of the Death Eaters. "There's a…"
The Death Eater was silenced before he fell to the ground and Lucius turned to realize that Potter had slipped off in the confusion, as the Death Eaters turned, wands ready, as several footsteps were heard in the distance, as there appeared to be figures in the darkened Hall of Prophecies that circled the Death Eaters.
"They're surrounding us, whoever they are, don't get distracted, we need Potter, get him and the Prophecy, take out anyone you can, but don't toy with them," ordered Lucius as he looked at Bellatrix after he spoke this words.
A barrage of spells struck the side of a shelf and the shelf tipped over. Luckily for the Death Eaters nearby, they were able to avoid the shelf smashing on them but several prophecies shattered open and the spectral forms seeped out.
"Seal off the exits!" ordered Lucius as he moved over, wand drawn as he stalked in the direction of the noise. "They can't have gone far and get Potter, now!"
Harry was just a few feet away from where he stood, underneath the Invisibility Cloak. He snickered, as the Death Eaters searched around for him. It was pathetic, considering how he had not moved an inch since he had spent those two spells into the air. He had the Map of the Ministry in his hand, as he watched the Death Eaters spread out into different rooms of the Department of Mysteries. This was too perfect, it appeared his enemies had split their forces into smaller groups that would be easier to defeat. It was not like it would be hard to divide and conquer. He looked at the map, at least forty of his D.A. members had showed up, along with the Aurors and it appeared that Sirius and Remus had tagged along for the ride as well, even though Harry did not inform them.
Quickly, Harry removed the cloak as the most of the Hall of the Prophecies had been emptied except for one of the Death Eaters, a seedy looking man by the name of Phillips. The Death Eater opened his mouth to speak but a silent silencing charm had stopped the Death Eater from calling his friends back. The Death Eater pulled out his wand but Harry disarmed him effortlessly, Another blasting spell knocked his opponent into a shelf of prophecies, the crash no doubt attracted the attentions of those who might have been nearby. As a result, Harry wrapped it up by shooting a net out of his wand that wrapped tightly around the Death Eater. A thick chain wrapped around the net to tightly keep Phillips in place. At the sound of footsteps, Harry ducked behind a shelf of prophecies as he saw a masked Death Eater. He consulted the map to see that it was Crabbe. Crabbe looked around and Harry implemented the same holographic spell that he used in the lake during the Second Task to distract the mer-people from what was really going on.
"Potter, thought you could sneak off from me," grunted Crabbe as he followed the figure that he thought to be Potter down a corridor, where a group of D.A. members lead by Neville were.
"Neville, Death Eater coming your way, shouldn't be too hard to contain this one," said Harry over the Portkey.
"Right, Harry, we see him," said Neville as Harry stuck around just long enough to hear his response before he made his way down the hallway, where Sirius, Remus, and Tonks were battling with a quartet of Death Eaters and the other Aurors appeared to be having their problems with the Lestrange trio not too far away. Harry edged closer, to join the fun on that end of the Department of Mysteries.
-
Crabbe stumbled down the corridor of the Department of Mysteries, as he looked from side to side.
"Potter come out and hand me that orb thing!" said Crabbe but a trio of stunning spells had knocked him right off of his feet. He could not think quickly enough block the spells and he was slammed up and down. He crashed with a solid thud as Neville motioned for the other members of the D.A. with him to walk into the picture.
"Harry was right, this one was easy to take down, secure him just in case more are around here," said Neville and ropes shot around Crabbe, before he was placed next to the wall with a sticking charm. It was possible to get him down, but it would take several minutes and another charm ensured that they would be notified the minute someone tried to tamper with the sticking charm placed on Crabbe. It would easily lure any Death Eaters lurking around into a trap where they could be easily attacked.
-
Harry moved forward, as he watched as three of the four Death Eaters that Remus, Sirius, and Tonks had already been fighting had been knocked out of commission. Another one appeared to be rather illusive and as he checked the map, Rookwood was this opponent. It did make sense, as he had previously worked in the Department of Mysteries, so if anyone would know the layout it would be him.
"Watch your back Remus!" shouted Harry suddenly as a sickly yellow blast of fire from the direction of where Rookwood was standing, was aimed right at Remus. Harry's warning allowed Remus to block the spell and it also gave up Rookwood's positioning which allowed Harry to throw a stunning spell, Rookwood managed to block that but unfortunately it left him open from a Sirius attack. A jagged light struck Rookwood right in the wand arm. Bones cracking were heard and Rookwood fell to his knees in pain, as a blue light struck him in the chest, as he fell back, his body on the ground at a crooked angle.
"Hello Harry, fancy seeing you here," said Sirius as he watched Harry gift wrap Rookwood for the inevitable moment that the Aurors had discovered that the disturbance they were looking into was a fake.
"I could say the same about you, Sirius," said Harry calmly.
"Well Tonks just happened to stop by for a chat, when you sent your little message, the more wands the merrier right," said Sirius as he paused to hear the insane gleeful laughter of his cousin in the distance. "We better help the others, Bellatrix can be quite unpredictable and dangerous."
"So I've heard," answered Harry as he checked the map. "Looks like Ginny, Luna, and their group are having some trouble with a small group lead by Dolohov. I should give them a hand myself but Sirius, do stay out of trouble."
"When have I gotten myself into trouble?" asked Sirius but Harry had already gone before he had a chance to answer. Sirius shrugged, as he followed Remus and Tonks. The shrieks in the hallway and the cackles by Bellatrix indicated that she was making sport of the Aurors and that was one of her glaring weaknesses. His cousin could never resist a chance to showboat and that would lead to her downfall. Still all three Lestranges were equally dangerous, so this was not a battle to be taken lightly.
-
Two of the members of the D.A. had been teleported away when a near fatal spell had almost struck them. Ginny breathed a sigh of relief, at least they knew those charms on the robes worked, to get the wearers out of danger. They were back in the Room of Requirement, safe and sound. Shaken up sure, but at least they would still be one piece and safe. It was fortunate that they worked, as Fred and George only did some light testing on them when they developed them.
Of course, they were still having their problems, as Ginny managed avoid an attack by one of the Death Eaters she fought. Luna moved around, as the Death Eater that she was fighting had gotten frustrated and struggled to get in an attack on her. Fred and George disappeared into a hallway with the Death Eater they were fighting.
"I've got you now," said the Death Eater as he black bolt of light went at Ginny but Ginny moved and the curse struck the wall. A large hole was blown into it.
"INCENDIO!" shouted Ginny as she blasted the Death Eater, giving her fire a bit of extra power by speaking the curse aloud. Her opponent just barely put up a shield as intense heat filled the corridor and sparks flew everywhere. The mask was slightly burned as well as the sleeves, as the face of Dolohov was revealed beneath the damaged mask. One of the most deadly Death Eaters, Dolohov slashed his wand towards Ginny, in an attempt to hack her internal organs to shreds but a stone shield blocked it. The spell busted the shied into pieces and Ginny threw a vicious concussion curse at her enemy but Dolohov deflected the curse.
"You can't beat me alone, little girl," taunted Dolohov with a leer etched his face.
"Well she doesn't have to, Dolohov," said a voice which caused Dolohov to spin around and he was gleeful as Potter had showed up. He had worked for the Dark Lord since close to the beginning of his rise to power and now he had a chance to finally get his rightful place as the Dark Lord's most trusted follower, over the Lestranges, Snape, Malfoy, everyone else. All he had to do was defeat this fifteen year old brat and take both him and the prophecy to the Dark Lord.
"Potter, surrender the Prophecy and I'll let your little girlfriend go free," said Dolohov as he turned around to grab Ginny to hold her hostage but blinked as he realized that she was standing side by side with Harry.
"You were saying?" asked Harry which prompted Dolohov to throw another organ shredding curse but both Harry and Ginny put up a shield spell that reflected the curse. Harry moved in and sent a sensory overload curse at Dolohov. Dolohov twisted his wand to repel the curse and he blocked an attack from the side from Ginny. Another organ shredding curse was avoided and Harry jabbed his wand towards Dolohov. The Death Eater screamed as it felt like fire shot though all of his nerve endings at once. He was weakened for Ginny to disarm him and Harry banish him into the wall, before shackles sprung up from the wall and snapped the Death Eater into place. Another curse saw that Dolohov would be in a catatonic state for the next couple of hours.
"That one wasn't easy," said Ginny as she breathed a sigh of relief at seeing Dolohov put down.
"Yep," said Harry as he checked the map. If he was counting them right, eight Death Eaters remained standing but hopefully not for too much longer. "Looks like Nott and Goyle are giving Luna, Fred, and George some trouble, we should give them a hand."
"Right," said Ginny as she followed Harry, both of them with the wands at the ready. Everything was going according to plan so far but there was no time to celebrate as there was still much that can go wrong with Death Eaters still about.
-
Dumbledore arrived in the Ministry of Magic, dropping down. It was just as he feared when Severus had managed to pass along the warning of Voldemort's attempt to lure Harry to the Department of Mysteries. The attention had been diverted away from the Department of Mysteries due to some mysterious disturbance that was likely staged by one of many Voldemort supporters that worked in the Ministry. Dumbledore stepped down and he detected a barrier placed around the entrance of the Department of Mysteries. He raised his wand and attempted to blast though, but the magical backlash caused Dumbledore to be repelled backwards towards a wall. A cushioning charm prevented a potential broken hip as Dumbledore just barely avoided slamming into the stone wall hard.
Dumbledore gazed the barrier as he studied it intently to determine exactly what he was up against. It was magic at its most advanced. Not necessarily dark but a grey area of magic, once used by goblins as a security measure for vaults, but discarded a couple of centuries ago for being too unstable for long term use. Perfect though for a temporary security measure and it would take several minutes for him to find a way to magically disable it without setting off the fail safes.
He just hoped that Harry and any friends he brought along could last that long.
-
Bellatrix was face to face with her half blood niece as she sent an attempted stunning spell at her.
"Ah come on Nymmy, you're going to have to do better than that!" cackled Bellatrix as she easily blocked the spell. She hated her niece because she grew up in a loving home with both parents alive, so Bella wanted to make her suffer.
"Just wait," said Tonks as she threw a bone shattering hex at the wand arm, much more effective then a disarming spell. Bellatrix blocked that shot and sent a burst of dangerous looking black fire that completely obliterated the shield spell that she put up to stop the attack. A second blast of black fire and Tonks just narrowly escaped being burned to a crisp. Unfortunately, this left her wide open for another spell that sliced her forearm. Tonks dropped to her knees, in pain, as blood dripped from her arm.
"Ah did that hurt whittle Nymmy Wimmy," cooed Bellatrix as she sent another spell at Tonks who just barely blocked it. "Don't you worry, Auntie Bella will hex it and make it worse!"
Suddenly, Tonks found herself knocked unconscious by a sleep spell. It was mostly used by frustrated parents who could not get their children to take a nap, but it worked just as well as a combat weapon as Bella just demonstrated. Now with her niece unconscious, Bella grinned, now she could have her way with Nymphadora.
A stunning spell was thrown her way and Bellatrix blocked it, before she turned around to face Kingsley Shacklebolt, blood dripping from a large gash on his face as he limped over.
"Haven't had enough had you?" asked Bellatrix as she watched her cousin and the werewolf struggle to hold off Rodolphus and Rabastan before she turned her attention against the tough Auror. She blocked an attempt for ropes to snake around her. While Bella enjoyed being tied up, now was not the time or place. She fired a bone breaking curse right towards Shacklebolt's skull, but unfortunately for her, the Auror blocked it before he returned fire. Even when injured, he was a skilled adversary but Bella enjoyed the challenge.
-
Goyle turned with a stupid grin on his face. Potter had walked right into a trap, with the prophecy in hand. He had been busy backing up Nott against Potter's little friends, but it looked like Nott could handle himself. Goyle snuck over, pleased that he would be moments away from being the Dark Lord's most trusted and highest ranked follower by capturing both Potter and the prophecy.
"Alright Potter, hand over that orb right now and I'll go easy on you," said Goyle with a grin as he watched as the boy threw up his hands in obvious surrender.
"Alright Goyle, you got me, I knew I couldn't defeat a top Death Eater and tactical genius, a mental giant such as yourself is no match for me, I am not worthy to be in the great presence of Gregory Goyle Senior," said Harry with a grin as he held the glass orb. "CATCH!"
Goyle spun around stupidly to catch the prophecy before it hit the ground. If he allowed the prophecy smash, the Dark Lord would hang him by his robes. It took Goyle a second to realize that Potter had forced throwing the prophecy to the ground. This thought went through his head, before the paralyzing spell hit the base of his neck. Goyle's limbs went numb as he dropped down to the ground, only able to blink, swallow, and breath.
"That should keep you out of trouble for about six or eight hours," said Harry as Ginny was busy dueling with Nott, as both were evenly matched, with Ginny perhaps a little better in his completely biased opinion. Ginny was slightly backed up at a disadvantage and normally this would a cause for concern but Harry saw Luna sneak up behind Nott, wand raised.
"Got you now!" cackled Nott triumphantly.
"DUCK!" shouted Ginny suddenly but Nott just snorted.
"As if I'm going to fall for…" started Nott but he never finished his sentence as Luna had conjured what could only be described as a king sized rubber ducky that cracked Nott right in the back. Nott was dazed and a pair of stunning spells from either side had put him down for the count as Harry walked over to help the two girls secure him.
"You hit a Death Eater with a giant rubber ducky," dead panned Harry as he looked at Luna who was smiling.
"It worked," said Luna.
"Yes it did," answered Ginny. "Exactly how many do we have left?"
"Well, we've got the Lestrange three, Malfoy, Jugson, and Macnair left," answered Harry.
"We've got one Harry, don't know who he is, but we've got him," said George as he walked over.
"This one put up quite a fight," said Fred as they dropped the secured Death Eater to his feet, his eyes were swelled shut.
"Macnair," said Harry, as he looked at the Death Eater who was Buckbeak's would be executioner. As tempting as it was to decapitate the man in a sense of poetic justice, Harry did not want any casualties yet. Twenty six corpses would raise too many questions, from both Dumbledore and the Ministry. They would all pay in due time but today was not that time. "Daphne, Susan, Astoria, and some others look like they have Malfoy and Jugson in a corner, which could be tricky. I'm going to see if I can give them a hand. Take this lot and put them in the same place we had the others secured."
"Okay Harry, I'll see you a little bit," responded Ginny as she gave Harry a quick kiss good bye, as she moved off as Harry slipped down the hallway, map in hand as he checked the positioning.
-
"This is a man that not too long ago most of the Wizarding World lived in fear over?" taunted Rodolphus as he dueled Sirius, both of their spells clashing together as the two "Pathetic, I could roll you over just in a second flat."
Rabastan was giving Remus an equal headache as Sirius blocked a nasty little curse that would have caused his heart to speed up until he dropped dead from a heart attack. A conjured metal spike very nearly impaled Sirius but he blocked it with a split second to spare.
"Once you and the werewolf are done, I'm going to get Potter and the prophecy, and I'll be the Dark Lord's most trusted servant," taunted Rodolphus as Sirius blocked another spell that he did not recognize but he was sure it would cause much pain.
"Do you really want to talk about that with your wife in hearing distance?" asked Sirius as his head splitting hex had been just barely blocked. "You might have to sleep out the couch with your manhood removed, knowing Bella if she finds out you're trying to usurp her as Voldemort's favorite."
Rodolphus sent an explosive diarrhea hex at Sirius but Sirius blocked that one, before an ear ringing curse struck Rodolphus. He staggered back, as the ringing of invisible bells began to drive him insane. Sirius knocked Rodolphus into a wall, before ropes snaked around him and he rose up into the air.
"That should about wrap things up," said Sirius as Rodolphus was now strung up by the ceiling. "Just hang around there until the Aurors arrive, Roddy."
"Terrible Padfoot," said Remus as he dodged an attack, spiked silver orbs very nearly impaling into his skin. Rabastan stood with a look on his face, as Kingsley continued to duel Bellatrix in the distance, but not for much longer, as a loud crack echoed throughout the chamber and Kingsley dropped to the ground, blood dripping from his mouth.
"Well it's better then those Sirius/Serious jokes that James drove into the ground about three weeks into our first year," said Sirius as he waved his wand and a blue light shaped like a giant fist appeared in mid air. Rabastan was caught off guard as he was struck in the side of the face by the Foreman hex. Rabastan was down for the count. "Looks like you needed a hand, Moony."
"Once again, horrible, Padfoot" said Remus as he attempted to catch Bellatrix with a stunning spell but she deflected it back before she ran into the Death Chamber, a room in the Department of the Mysteries containing the illusive veil.
"Get Tonks and Kingsley out of here, they need medical attention bad," said Sirius as he walked off where Bellatrix had gone. It was time for a nice little family reunion.
-
"We just managed to get Jugson, but Malfoy fled the moment that the odds were against him," said Susan as Harry had made his way down the hallway, as Jugson was knocked unconscious with a lump on his head.
"He went down that corridor," added Daphne helpfully as she pointed her finger down a corridor.
"Thanks," said Harry, who wanted to deal with Lucius personally as he walked down the corridor as he saw Lucius walk down the corridor.
"AVADA KEDAVRA!" shouted Lucius suddenly as a green jet of light was aimed right towards Potter, a desperate attack made by a desperate man and Harry dodged before the green light struck the wall.
"End of the line, Lucius," said Harry as he used a disarming spell as a diversionary tactic before he blasted Lucius right in the eyes with a dizziness hex. Lucius staggered around, two more spells blasted towards Harry that handily ducked, before he caught Lucius right in the chest. The attack nearly knocked all the wind out of the elder Malfoy and the wand dropped from his hand. His arms and legs snapped together in a full body bind, before conjured chains tightly wrapped around Lucius. Lucius dropped to the ground before Harry sent a messenger spell down the hallway. "I've got Malfoy, feel free to collect him and put him with the others, I'm going to check for other Death Eaters that slipped though the cracks."
Harry walked down as he saw Sirius approach Bellatrix in the Death Chamber. He quickened his pace as he walked, his godfather was likely to need a little bit of help against that insane woman.
-
"Sirius," said Bellatrix calmly as she saw Sirius approach. She watched her cousin with narrowed eyes.
"Bellatrix," answered Sirius coolly as he stared down at his cousin. Right now she seemed rather calm and sedated, but she could turn into a raving lunatic within seconds. He prepared for a deadly attack in a moment's time.
"When you didn't take me when you left Azkaban, you hurt me, now I'm going to hurt you, Sirius," said Bellatrix sweetly as she raised her wand. "Crucio."
Sirius had dodged the Unforgiveable, he had seen it coming Two jagged pitch black lights aimed towards Sirius. One of them was a stomach rupturing curse and as for the other, Sirius had no clue whatsoever. A sickly yellow spiral of fire spun towards Sirius but Sirius blocked with a stone shield. The fire turned the shield to ash but Sirius was unharmed as he turned around to face Bellatrix, as he blocked a slicing curse aimed towards his throat.
"Sirius, everything that's happened to me, it's all your fault!" shouted Bellatrix angrily as she shot black fire at Sirius, that had spikes embedded in it. Sirius dodged.
"No one put a wand to your head and forced you to join Voldemort, Bella," said Sirius, as he dodged another deadly spell and sent a stunning spell back, but Bellatrix calmly deflected.
"Ah, what's the matter, cousin, are you too afraid to hurt your ickle little cousin Bella?" asked Bellatrix in her mock baby voice. "Didn't stop you that one time, when you turned me away."
"Bella, I tried to get you help but you ran away before I could do what was necessary," said Sirius, who began to realize that Azkaban had done a number on Bellatrix's mind. She was not right in the head to begin with because of the rough childhood she had, but he mostly was able to keep her under control at Hogwarts. By her fifth year, Sirius could not handle trying to keep Bella in line and tried to insist that she get help, but she ran off. Still over the years she had gotten worse and her recollection of reality was shoddy at best.
"LIES!" shouted Bellatrix angrily, as she throw a blast of fire at Sirius, whose back was right towards the veil. The disembodied voices from the other side of the veil had begun to get annoying, as they tempted Sirius to jump though. He could almost hear Lily and James on the other side, beckoning him to come though to join him. "I thought you cared about me, but you shunned me for your little friends and the Mudblood, even though she's nothing but a disruptive little bitch. She's the reason why Pettigrew turned on you lot and deep down you know it."
"Don't you dare tell lies like that about Lily!" snapped Sirius angrily as he dodged another attack before he fired one right towards Bellatrix.
"Why not, she's nothing but a cheap two timing Mudblood slut!" cackled Bellatrix as she dodged a dangerous spell from Sirius. "She dumped Snape when she leeched all the knowledge she could off of him and she would have thrown Potter to the side as well, if the Dark Lord hadn't killed them both first. Not that Potter was much better, some of the things I heard he did to the younger Slytherin girls…"
"Crucio!" snapped Sirius, he was sick of Bellatrix saying these vile, slanderous lies about his deceased friends. Bellatrix screamed, but it was more of an orgasmic scream, then a scream of pain. Bellatrix dropped to the ground, panting as Sirius stepped forward, his back still against the veil. Sirius stood, numb, he had never used an Unforgiveable Curse on anyone before but Bellatrix had gotten under his skin enough.
"Like a proper Black for once, Sirius, perhaps you have balls after all," said Bellatrix as she rose to her feet. "Too bad I'm going to have to rip them off and shove them down your throat, cousin."
With that Bellatrix send even more dark spells, each getting more dangerous as she got more frustrated with Sirius's ability to block her every attack.
"This is the best the most trusted servant of Lord Voldemort can come up with!" taunted Sirius as he lazily blocked another spell, as he faced Bellatrix, back to the veil. "Surely you can do better than that?"
Bellatrix prepared to do better than that, as she saw that Sirius was opened to an attack with the mocking of her but before she could blast him though the veil, she could hear a spell being sent at her behind her back. She turned around and blocked it, before she was looked right into those same blasted emerald green eyes that caused her so much pain and ridicule. The person who owned the eyes might have been different.
"Sirius get out of here, I'll take it from here!" shouted Harry as he watched Sirius move safely away from the veil and Bellatrix sent a spell in an attempt to burn out Harry's eyes, but Harry blocked it and sent on back. Bellatrix placed up a shield to block, before she nearly knocked Harry off of his feet.
"Aw, is Ickle Baby Potter getting tired?" asked Bellatrix as she sent magically created spike towards those damned eyes but Potter blocked it and angrily returned fire with a spell of his own. "Is Ickle Baby Potter getting cranky wanky? Does Ickle Baby Potter need a nappy wappy."
Harry did not let Bellatrix's annoying baby talk get into his head, as he sent a bright blast of light and a sonic vibration spell at his opponent who repelled the two sensory based assaults easily.
"Your little parlor tricks might have worked before, but not this time, Potter," said Bellatrix as Harry noticed she had a strange obsession of focusing her attacks to his eyes.
"I guess I'm going to have to try new parlor tricks then," said Harry as a dome of blinding light shot out of his wand. When the light cleared, a dozen magically created holographic duplicates of Harry Potter appeared in a circle around Bellatrix. Bellatrix angrily blasted one of the Potters with skin shredding curse but it just burst into nothingness.
"CRUCIO!" shrieked Bellatrix at the top of her lungs, she could not stand all of these green eyes staring at her, taunting her. One of the Potters was hit and it disappeared. Bellatrix turned around angrily as there appeared to be even more of the duplicates that she started with.
"A ninety year old Muggle with cataracts in both eyes can aim better than that," taunted the voice of Potter but Bellatrix looked wildly, as she sent two more spells but the illusions had vanished immediately. In fact, there appeared to be an infinite number of emerald green eyes staring at her. Bella clutched her hands to her head and screamed out loud.
"Ah, is ickle baby Bella getting all frustrated?" taunted the voice of Harry Potter in the same mock babyish tones that Bella had attempted.
"SHUT YOUR MOUTH, HALF BLOOD!" screamed Bellatrix as she threw more spells but it appeared that they were just more fakes.
"Ah you can dish it out, but you can't take it," responded Harry as he watched at a safe distance underneath the Invisibility Cloak, Bellatrix throw even more spells at the duplicates. What she did not realize, that until Harry cancelled the spell, for every illusion destroyed, three more would pop up to replace it. "What's the matter, Bella? Too weak to stomach your own medicine?"
"I'll show you weak, Potter, I'll present you to the Dark Lord in pieces," said Bellatrix, the word "weak" brought back all sorts of horrific memories deep within her fractured mind as she attacked the duplicates even more viciously then before.
"Was it something I said?" asked Harry, as he had no idea what set Bellatrix off to cause her to increase her attacks but he suspected she was simply getting frustrated. "Aw did I hurt wittle baby Bella's ickle feelings?"
Bellatrix fired more attacks but there now appeared to be at least a hundred of these eyes staring at her. She could see them looking at her with some sort of smug triumphant look at her failures, at every horrific thing that happened. Those green eyes were causing Bellatrix to lose her mind.
She closed her eyes but she could still see them. They were staring at her, mocking her, taunting her. Bella felt as if she had drowned in an endless see of emerald green.
Bellatrix opened her eyes back up and she moved towards the veil, to throw herself inside, so she would never have to seen those emerald green eyes ever again.
Before she could get close enough, ropes wrapped around her legs. She fell on her face down onto the ground and her wand was kicked out of her grasp. She turned around. In reality, it was Harry Potter standing over her but in her demented, fractured, mind, she saw a thirteen year old Lily Evans standing over her with a smug smirk on her face. Those emerald green eyes were the last thing she remembered for a while as the world went black around her.
-
"Everyone's where they need to be, right?" asked Ginny as she was outside with Harry, the members of the D.A. and Sirius.
"Yep, all nice and gift wrapped for the Ministry, even Voldemort won't be able to break though the protections on the chamber I have them in, as far as anyone else knows, the Unspeakables were the ones that captured them, it's not like that lot will tell anyone one way or another," said Harry as he took a deep breath. "Thanks for help but right now, the next thing I have to do is something we have to do on my own."
"We know Harry and good luck," said Ginny as she embraced Harry, before giving him a brief, but passionate kiss, with the unspoken agreement that there was more to come once Harry's business was done, before the D.A. took the Portkeys back to Hogwarts, with Sirius disapparating back home.
Harry turned into the distance, as he walked forward into the main Hall of Prophecies. There was an eerie calm in the air which confirmed to Harry more than anything that he was right.
"Okay Riddle, I've sent my friends home, I've incapacitated your minions, now it's time to settle whether or not what happened in the graveyard was a fluke or not due to you being weak from the blood transfusion," said Harry in the empty Hall of Prophecies. "Now just you and me, Riddle, one on one, wizard against wizard. I know you can hear me, I know you're lurking somewhere."
"Perceptive as usual, Potter," said a soft voice and Voldemort walked from the shadows, to survey Harry though his slit like red eyes. "It appears that my Death Eaters have failed me once again, such a disappointment, it appears I will have the pleasure of personally dealing with you and obtaining the prophecy."
Voldemort and Harry stood each other, neither wizard blinking as they prepared to duel.
And that's the end of Chapter Twenty Five because Voldemort against Harry is really something that deserves its own chapter. Yes, another cliffhanger, but what are you going to do.
Next chapter Voldemort and Harry duel. Will Voldemort get the prophecy? If so, exactly how pissed will Voldemort be when he sees it's a fake? Will Harry utterly humiliate Voldemort again? Will Dumbledore find a way though the barrier? When will the Aurors find out that the disturbance was a diversion? Will Batman and Robin escape the Riddler's Rubix Cube of Utter Doom and Dismemberment?(er wait a minute, wrong fandom). Will Nott suffer a severe duck related trauma from his ordeal? Why am I asking you these questions? There is only one way to find out and that's to tune in this weekend(or sometime there about) for Chapter Twenty Six.