Chapter Twenty-Six- The Deadly Curtain

"Nox." I whisper, turning my wand light out. "Leave Nott, the Dark Lord will not care about his injuries. Bellatrix, Rodolphus, Rabastan, that way. Avery, Mulciber, take the right side. Jugson, come with me." I hear Father giving out orders, and footsteps heading towards my hiding place. "Stupefy!" I shout again, and take off. "That way, run!" Someone orders several more Death Eaters after me.

I run through a door into an empty classroom, and crawl behind one of the desks. "No one's in here." A Death Eater calls, quickly looking in. "Check again. I could have sworn I saw the blonde one run in there." A second Death Eater says. Does he mean me, or Luna?

That's when I spot Luna and Hermione hiding in a dark corner. Hermione nods slightly and we both shout "Expelliarmus" at the same time. The Death Eater manages to dodge both spells, and in a flash of purple light, Hermione crumples. "Petrificus Totalus!" I exclaim. This time my spell, hits the Death Eater in the chest.

"Help me, Luna." I say, running over to Hermione. "Rennervate." I say, repeating a spell I think I've heard somewhere. Hermione stirs and opens her eyes. Luna and I support her as we walk as fast as we can out of the room, and through another door.

"There you are!" Ron exclaims as we walk into a room with an ancient curtain in the center. "We've been looking for you." Harry adds. He, Ron, Neville, and Ginny are standing a few feet away from the curtain. "Can you hear them?" Luna asks suddenly. "The Death Eaters?" I say. "No, the voices." Harry says. "Harry, there's no voices." Hermione says, standing up off my shoulder.

Harry doesn't have time to answer, for at that moment, black smoke of flying Death Eaters surrounds us. Someone grabs me. "What's going?" Someone calls. A second later, the smoke clears, and I can feel the wand of Bellatrix pressed into my throat.

"Did you actually believe that mere children such as yourselves could stand a chance against us?" My father says, walking up to Harry. "Now, you have two options. Hand over the prophecy, or watch your friends die."

I wince in pain as Bellatrix digs her wand into my throat. "Don't give it to him, Harry!" Neville exclaims. Bellatrix laughs when Harry refuses to give it over. "Seems he needs a little convincing! Crucio!" The spell hit my throat and I scream.

One thing for sure about Bellatrix is that she likes to go overboard. Even Voldemort didn't hold on with the Cruciatus Curse this long. "Bella, that's enough!" Someone says, I can't tell. Bellatrix doesn't stop. "BELLA! No!" I can make out the voice this time as Bellatrix lets go. I crumple to the floor, breathing ragged.

The Order runs in suddenly, pulling the Death Eaters off of everyone. Tonks helps me to my feet, and immediately, the two of us go after Bellatrix, matching each other spell for spell. Bellatrix manages to duel us both at the same time.

A jet of light hits Tonks in the chest, and she collapses, falling down the side of the circle. "Stupefy! Expelliarmus! Petrificus Totalus!" I shout. Nothing works. "Avada Kedavra!" Bellatrix yells.

It seems to happen in slow motion. Bellatrix yells the spell, and I freeze in fear. Another jet of red light heads towards the green light. The spells collide inches from my chest, and Sirius pulls me out of the way. Bellatrix turns to him, and fires off a jet of light from her wand. This spell hits Sirius in the chest, and he falls through the ancient curtain.

Numbness crawls all over me. Sirius isn't dead. It's impossible. But Sirius doesn't come out the other side of the curtain. Out of the corner of my eye, I spot Lupin hold Harry back. Hermione grabs my arm, but she doesn't need to. He's gone. Sirius, who was my cousin. Sirius, who let me stay at Number Twelve Grimmauld Place without asking any questions. Sirius, who came rushing to the Department of Mysteries to save Harry. He's dead. And it's my fault.

Hermione points at something. I look up. Dumbledore has come. He quickly subdues all the Death Eaters, save Bellatrix, who has run off. It looks as though Harry has as well. He quickly checks that the rest of us are alright, then runs out.

I run over to where Tonks is lying unconscious. "Tonks?" I say. She doesn't stir. "Hermione, is she dead?" I ask, my voice quivering. Hermione comes over, and shakes her head. "Tonks is still alive." She assures me. "Hurry!" Ginny calls from across the room, holding a glowing object between her, Neville, and Luna. Hermione and I dash forward and grab it. As the Portkey leaves, I get one last glimpse at my father before I land in the hard floor of Hogwarts.

And that's it for Year Four! Year Five coming soon!