We made it out of the castle in record breaking time, my heart pounding in my ears the entire time. It was like I couldn't convince my mind to slow down, even as I tried to concentrate on just putting one foot in front of the other.

We had reached Hagrid's hut before we slowed, our gazes shooting around the tree-line. We'd reached the forest, but could hardly go running in there and expect to stumble across them- the Forest was enormous, and they could be anywhere inside it by now.

Sam and I had moved down the line of trees slightly, hopelessly trying to catch sight of our friends in the darkness, when he broke the silence.

"Why would he have left headquarters in the first place? Why is he in the Ministry? I just don't understand," he said, and I swallowed thickly. My mind left the present and shot back, to all those months ago when I'd encouraged Sirius to leave the safety of Grimmauld Place- to the time when I'd told him to do it again. This had been something I'd been avoiding thinking about ever since I learnt where he was.

"Soon, everyone will know you're innocent, and you can go anywhere you want. But until then, go outside as a dog sometimes. Don't wander too far obviously, but just… get some air, Sirius."

Remembering my words, I suddenly couldn't breathe. My hand shot up to cover my mouth to hide my gasps, as I wondered- had he listened to me, and left the safety of Grimmauld Place, and had that been how You-Know-Who had found him? Was this my fault?

"Bree? Hey, Bree, are you okay?!" Sam called, and I forced myself to take a deep breath as the eyes of everyone turned to me.

"Yes," I replied weakly, trying to think of an excuse. "I just- I was just wondering how we're supposed to get to London."

At the very same moment, a voice sounded from just beyond our line of sight into the forest. "Anyway, Harry, how are you planning on getting all the way to London?"

Our heads all shot towards the direction of the noise. Well, if that ain't the eeriest thing?

Ron was the first to move, pushing his way into the forest and towards the voice. A second later, Harry and Hermione came into view- but Umbridge was nowhere in sight.

"We were just wondering that," Ron piped up. "Any ideas?"

Harry and Hermione looked shocked to see us, but their expressions soon turned to that of relief. "How did you get away?!" Hermione exclaimed, rushing towards us.

"Couple of stunners, a disarming jinx, and some puking pastilles," Ron said airily, moving forwards to hand the two back their wands. "It wasn't very pretty."

"But more importantly, how did you get away?" I demanded, scanning them for any signs of injuries. "Where's Umbridge?"

"Um, she got carried away," Harry said, "by a heard of centaurs."

My jaw dropped.

"What, and they left you behind?!" Ginny asked.

"No, Grawp chased them off," Harry replied.

"Who's Grawp?" Luna asked interestedly.

"Hagrid's little brother," Ron replied airily. Wait, what the fuck? Hagrid's little brother? I had no idea he had a little brother, nonetheless one he kept in the Forbidden Forest? "Never mind that now- Harry, what did you find out in the fire? Has You-Know-Who got Sirius?"

Deciding to leave the discovery of Hagrid's baby brother confined to the Forest until another time, I kept my mouth shut and looked back at Harry.

"Yes," Harry answered, "and I'm sure he's still alive, but I can't see how we're going to get there to help him."

We fell into silence, knowing that it was imperative we get to London, but none of us having any ideas how. Except, apparently, Luna Lovegood.

"Well, we'll have to fly, won't we?" she asked, in a matter-of-fact voice, as though this were the reasonable conclusion to come to.

There was a very long silence to greet her words, until I decided to break it. "…I'm sorry, come again?"

"We fly."

…Nope, still wasn't getting it.

"We can't fly, Luna," Harry said irritably, "Ron and Ginny are the only ones with broomsticks that aren't being guarded by a security troll!"

"You don't need broomsticks," Luna said.

"Look," Ron said, barely managing to contain his frustration at the odd girl, "you might be able to fly without a broomstick, but the rest of us can't spout wings. Or are you planning on flying on the back of a Kacky Snorgle or whatever it is?!"

"The Crumple-Horned Snorkack can't fly," she said patiently, before raising her hand to point behind us. "But they can."

I whirled around, and saw… absolutely nothing. Literally just trees. No animals. I raised my eyebrows before extending my elbow to nudge Sam.

"I think Luna might be high," I muttered, and he snorted. Raising my voice to address the rest of the group, I continued, "Um, so is the plan to ride on thin air, or-"

But then I noticed that Harry didn't look confused. In fact, he was grinning and had begun to move further into the forest again. "Yes, Luna! Yes!"

More confused than ever, I closed my mouth with a snap.

"Is it those mad horse things?" Ron asked uncertainly, glancing around in a similar confusion to mine. "Those ones you can't see unless you've seen someone die?"

"Yes," Harry said, "Thestrals."

Thestrals? There were thestrals around here? "How many?" I asked, uneasy.

"A whole pack," he said in awe, and then turned determinedly back to us. "Right, pick one and get on."

"…How the flying fuck are we meant to get on an animal we can't see?!" Sam practically shouted in frustration.

"Oh, it's easy!" Luna said brightly, gliding forwards and taking Sam's hand. She led him forwards, before lifting his hand with her own. Sam all of a sudden jumped and yanked his hand back with a gasp- he must have felt the invisible animal.

"Oh, god, this is so weird," he breathed, as Luna guided him forwards again. Closing his eyes, Sam wound his hand into the thestrals mane, and threw his leg up- before apparently missing its body and toppling to the ground, where he lay for a moment, groaning.

I snorted. "Nailed it."

"Fuck you, Bree! You try!"

"She will," Harry said, striding forwards to help me and sobering me at his next words. "Every second we waste is another second that Sirius is in danger."

Taking a deep breath, I let Harry guide me towards the thestrals. Closing my eyes, I tried to picture the animal that had been sketched in my Care of Magical Creatures textbook- black, scaly skeletal body, reptilian facial features, white glittering eyes, and wide leathery wings like a bat. Picturing it did not at all help as I wound my hands through its mane and squeezed my legs around its body, trying to tighten my grip enough to not fall off.

Soon enough, we were all settled onto the animals (feeling particularly unsettled at their invisibility), and Harry spoke very clearly to the thestral he sat astride. "Ministry of Magic, visitors entrance, London."

For a moment, the animals did nothing. And then, very suddenly, the wings beside my legs rose, and I shot into the air. I let out a shocked shriek as the motion almost unseated me, but I managed to keep myself seated. Squeezing my eyes shut, I hugged myself as close as possible to the invisible thestral.

I had never moved so fast in all my life – the thestral streaked over the castle, its wings hardly beating; the cool air slapped my face as I dared to open my eyes, letting out another scream at what I saw. We were approaching Hogsmeade already, the red sun setting in the distance. I had to squeeze my eyes shut again as a wave of nausea hit me at the sight of my legs dangling in the air, the animal between me and falling still remaining invisible.

"This is mad!" I heard Ron shout, and I answered only a second later with a screech.

"THIS IS FUCKING TERRIFYING!"

What followed was probably the worst time of my entire life. I have no idea how much time passed on our journey to London- we were moving at an unbelievable pace, but we had quite the length to go. Twilight fell, soon followed by darkness. I opened my eyes very few times throughout the journey, preferring to not see the height I flew at. My face felt stiff and cold, my legs numb from gripping the thestrals body so tight, but I didn't dare shift my position in case I slipped off. I was deaf from the thundering rush of air in my ears, and the terror coursing through my blood never let up, as my emotions alternated between desperation to end the awful journey flying high above the ground on an invisible animal, and raw fear at what we may find at our destination.

Eventually, my stomach gave a jolt and I gasped as the thestral tilted its body down, and my eyes shot open to see that at last, we were descending- we had finally reached London! I watched as the bright orange lights of the city grew larger as we got closer to the ground, until finally the blurred shapes became the tops of buildings, and then, very suddenly, the pavement.

I gripped the animal tighter, bracing my body for imminent impact, but the thestral touched down as lightly as a shadow. Ecstatic at seeing land again, I scrambled to dismount- but once I had put my foot on solid ground, a wave of dizziness hit me so hard that I toppled straight over.

Groaning loudly, I clutched my eyes shut until the world had stopped spinning. A hand gripped my elbow and pulled me to my feet, supporting most of my weight, until I opened my eyes and smiled gratefully up at Neville.

"Never again," Ron vowed, also seemingly struggling to stay upright. "Never, ever again… that was the worst…"

"Where to now?" Luna asked Harry interestedly, as though we had just finished a portion of a lovely little day trip instead of the literal worst experience of my entire life.

Harry led the way towards a battered telephone box, which I knew from my father to be the visitor's entrance to the Ministry of Magic. Ron and Ginny were the first to march in after Harry, at which point the box was already pretty full. So of course Luna, Hermione, Sam, Neville and I then proceeded to squish ourselves in, too. I could hardly breathe once Harry closed the door behind us, my face squished up against the glass and Ginny against my back.

"Welcome to the Ministry of Magic. Please state your name and business," a bodiless, automatic female voice stated.

"Um- Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley, Ginny Weasley, Sam Montero, Bree Montero, Neville Longbottom, and Luna Lovegood- we're here to save someone, unless your Ministry can do it first!" Harry said.

"Thank you," the voice responded. "Visitors, please take your badges, and attach them to the front of your robes."

Beside me, eight badges toppled out of a metal chute. As the phone box lurched and we began to move down, I picked one up and read 'Bree Montero- Rescue Mission.'

Within a few seconds, a chink of bright light hit our feet, and slowly the phone box sank further and further down until we had fully entered the Ministry of Magic.

As soon as the telephone box stopped moving, Harry shoved the door open and we all practically toppled out. Swallowing thickly, I glanced around. We were standing at one end of a Hall with a highly polished, dark wood floor, and a high, peacock blue ceiling inlaid with gleaming golden symbols. The walls around us were also a dark wood, inlaid with dozens of grand fireplaces. In the very middle of the room was a giant water fountain, the central piece being a group of magnificent golden statues standing in the middle of the pool. Tallest of all was a noble looking wizard, surrounded by a beautiful witch, a centaur, a goblin, and a house-elf. It was a magnificent place, truly- but dark, and empty at this time of night. I snapped my eyes shut tightly and reminded myself firmly that I wasn't afraid.

"The Ministry of Magic wishes you a pleasant evening," the voice said from behind us, and Harry began to stride purposely forward, apparently knowing exactly where he was going. He broke off into a run almost immediately, and the rest of us took off after him, through the room and past the fountain and down to the end of the Hall.

I felt certain that there were supposed to be security guards in a place like this, but the entire Ministry seemed to be deserted. My sense of foreboding only increased the further into the Ministry that we travelled. Now that we were here, I almost wished that we were back on the thestrals.

No. I wish I was curled up in front of the fire in the Common Room with George, warm and without a care in the world.

But I wasn't. And that was that.

We reached a golden elevator soon enough, and Harry slammed his fist down on the 'Up' button, shifting impatiently until the door opened. We stood in silence as the elevator rose, until we stopped and the same cool voice from the phone box stated "Level nine: Department of Mysteries."

The dark corridor that the doors opened to reveal was empty except for a tall door at the very end, and Harry led us towards it as though familiar with the area- which I realised suddenly, he was, because he had dreamt of this place countless times in the past months.

"Okay, let's go," he whispered, before pushing the door open and stepping over the threshold.

I held my breath as I followed him, trying to prepare myself for whatever we might find inside of the Department of Mysteries.

We entered a large, circular room. Everything was black, including the floor and ceiling; identical, unmarked black doors were set at intervals around the black walls, interspersed with branches of candles whose flames burned blue. The cool shimmering light reflecting off of the shining marble floor made it look like we were standing on dark water.

"Someone shut the door," Harry ordered quietly, and I obliged. Without the sliver of light from the hallway outside, the room became so dark that for a moment, the blue candles and their ghostly reflections on the floor were the only thing we could see.

Then, there was a great rumbling noise and the candles began to move. The circular wall was rotating around us. For a few seconds, the blue flames were blurred so they formed a straight line around the walls, but then, just as suddenly as it had begun, the walls came back to a halt.

My eyes had blue streaks burned into them. It was all I could see.

"What was that about?" Ron whispered fearfully.

"I think it was to stop us from knowing which door we came in through," Ginny replied, and I realised that she was right. I could in no way differentiate the exit from any of the other doors.

Sam snorted from behind me. "Great. Well, Captain Potter, which way now?"

"In the dreams, I went through the door at the end of the corridor from the lifts, into this room, and then through another door into a room that kind of… glitters." Harry must have realised how vague this sounded, so he hurried to add "We should try a few… I'll definitely know it when I see it."

Harry strode forwards and opened the door that sat completely opposite us. Raising our wands cautiously, we all seemed to hold our breath when Harry pushed the door open.

After the darkness of the last room, the light in this one almost blinded me for a second. The room was totally empty except for a few desks and, in the very middle, an enormous glass tank holding a deep green liquid, big enough for us all to swim in. A bunch of pearly white objects were floating around lazily.

"What're those things?" Ron whispered.

"Fish?" I suggested.

"Aquavirius Maggots!" Luna gasped excitedly. "Dad said the Ministry were breeding-"

"No," Hermione said, and her voice sounded odd. She took a few steps forward to peer through the glass. 'They're brains."

"Brains?" Sam repeated, scandalised. "Eugh! What's the Ministry doing with those?"

I joined her at the side of the tank, and saw that she was right. There was no mistaking them up close. Glimmering eerily, the brains drifted in and out of sight in the depths of the green liquid. Silently, I agreed with Sam. Eugh.

"Let's get out of here," Harry spoke up. "This isn't right, we need to try another door."

"There's plenty of doors in here, too," Ron pointed out.

"No, in my dream I went straight from the dark, circular room into the glittering one," Harry said. "I think we should go back and try from there."

Eager to get out of this room, I didn't take much convincing.

Again, we walked into the darkness, and again, the room spun around us to disorient us. When it had all come to a halt again, Harry tried another door- and this time, his reaction was much more excited.

"This is it! This is the one!"

This room was darker and colder than the rest of the Ministry. High ceilings towered above us and the room was full of nothing but towering shelves covered in hundreds of small, dusty, glass orbs. The room was so vast and shadowed that I couldn't see where it ended- it might have been endless. Beside us on the wall was a plaque that read 'Hall of Prophecies.'

"Oh, great," Sam said sarcastically. "This dark, creepy old room is so much better."

Elbowing him in the ribs, I stepped around him to enter the room. For a moment, I strained my ears, listening for any signs that we weren't alone, but nothing broke the silence.

"Lumos," Harry muttered from beside me, and the rest of us quickly followed his lead. "This is it. They're at the end of row 97."

I glanced over at Sam unsurely as Harry started to move forwards, past the small metal plates that lit up from the light at the end of our wands that read 53, 54, 55…

"Keep your wands ready," Harry said, as though I wasn't already clutching my wand so tightly my hand was beginning to cramp. There was no more running, but rather we crept forwards cautiously, even a little hesitantly, as we got closer and closer to our destination- where Sirius and He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named would be the ones to greet us.

That thought very nearly made me turn and run hightail back the way we'd come. Sweating nervously and forcing myself to take each step forwards, we slowly made our way through the Hall of Prophecies.

Finally, Hermione spoke up. "Row 97… this is it."

I stepped to the front of the group, looking down at the alley beside us. It was completely empty.

Sirius was nowhere to be seen.

"He's right down the end," Harry insisted, "you can't see him properly from here."

He led us down row number 97, his steps heavier and more intentional now. I kept darting my eyes back the way we'd come, a dark sense of foreboding building within me. I felt sick- something wasn't right.

"Harry?" Hermione called out tentatively.

Ignoring her, he kept striding forwards, us trailing uncertainly behind, until we were right at the end of the row. We walked out into another dark alley, seeing only hundreds more of the small glass orbs. "I don't understand," he whispered, seemingly to himself. "This is the spot… he should be right here…"

"Harry?" I called out, but again, he ignored us.

"He might be…" Harry muttered hoarsely, peering down the next alley. "Or maybe…" he hurried to look down the one beyond that.

"Harry, I… I don't think Sirius is here," Hermione said.

He came to a halt, where he stood stock still for a moment, before very suddenly taking off down the row. Harry got right to the end before running back to us, panting heavily and his eyes wild. But no matter how far he went, it was clear that he wasn't going to find his godfather. "This isn't right…"

"Harry," Ron called his name this time, and he spun around.

"What?" he snarled, and I turned to see Ron staring intently at one of the small, glass spheres.

"It's… it's got your name on it," Ron replied.

"My… my name?"

Stepping up beside Ron, Harry craned his neck to see what the taller boy was looking at. As I stepped forwards, I saw that this was indeed true. There, on a yellowing label just beneath one of the spheres, was written:

S.P.T. to A.P.W.B.D

Dark Lord

and (?)Harry Potter

"Why is your name here?" Ron asked, sounding unnerved. "What is it?"

Harry stretched his hand upwards, and Hermione said sharply "Harry, I don't think you should touch it!"

"Why? It's got my name on it. It's mine," Harry said, and with that, he reached out and picked up the sphere.

It glowed slightly brighter for a second in his hands, before returning to its dull, misty colour. And then... nothing at all happened. We all stood in silence, watching the sphere expectantly, but it just sat there dully. Yet still, I just couldn't shake the feeling of dark foreboding.

This all felt so wrong. Harry had seen Sirius here, but that clearly wasn't true. So why were we here? Why had we been led to this place?

And then, very suddenly, I spotted something that told me why.

"Harry!" I cried, but this time my tone was different- it was full of fear, cried out as I stumbled back into Sam. Because I had just spotted a cloaked figure striding purposely towards us out of the darkness at the end of the row.

In a second, Harry was in front of me, shoving us all behind him.

"Where's Sirius?!" he demanded, his voice echoing loudly around the room and his wand pointing determinedly at the newcomer.

"You know, Potter, you really should learn the difference between dreams and reality."

A hand slid into mine and clutched at me like a vice, and I turned slightly to see Sam staring forwards. Seeing my baby brothers eyes full of fear, I wondered how I could have been so stupid to bring him here, into what was so clearly a trap.

"I want to know where Sirius is!"

"I want to know where Sirius is! Ha!" came a cackling female's voice, and from the darkness stepped another figure, behind the first. Then another… and another…

I felt my breath catch in my throat, as my eyes darted down the alley's around us, desperately searching for an escape. It soon became apparent that there was none, as cloaked figures appeared all around us. We were surrounded.

Jesus Christ, I thought, staring at their skull-like masks. Death Eaters- these were real Death Eaters. I remembered, all those months ago, when they'd broken out of Azkaban.

"On no account should any of these individuals be approached. They are highly dangerous," The Minister's words from the front page of the Prophet echoed in my mind. And now here they were- all of them, with their wands pointed right at myself and the people I cared about.

"You've got him here, I know you do," Harry called, "I saw it!"

"Ha! Little baby Potter woke up fwightened and fort what it dweamed was twoo," the female cried out in a horrible, mock baby voice.

The man took another confident step towards us, before bringing his wand up and vanishing his mask. As he shook out his bright blonde hair, I let out a gasp as I realised that I recognised him.

His long hair was the exact same shade as his sons, and his eyes- they were the same cool glare that I had seen all those months ago on the train platform, the day when I had first seen him.

Standing before me was Lucius Malfoy. This was Draco's Father.

"Potter, you saw only what the Dark Lord wanted you to see- nothing more," he said with a smirk. "Now be a good lad, and hand me that Prophecy. If you do this the easy way, we won't have to resort to using wands."

I watched as Harry's hand tightened on the glass sphere. "Yeah right! I'm supposed to believe that if I give you this, you'll just let us all skip off home?"

The words were hardly out of his mouth when the female Death Eater shouted "Accio proph-"

"Protego!"

Harry's spell knocked her askew before she could finish, and Lucius was in front of her in a second. "NO! If you smash it-"

She scoffed and pushed him out of the way, raising her hands to pull off her hood. I let out a gasp when I recognised her face- Bellatrix Lestrange. Swallowing my fear, I glanced at Neville to see that his whole body was shaking. But Harry caught my eye again, when he nudged Hermione and whispered something to her out of the corner of his mouth. I couldn't make out the words, but a glance up told me that the Death Eaters were too preoccupied to notice the exchange.

A second later, Hermione turned to Sam, who turned to me and repeated the order. "Smash the shelves when Harry says to, and run."

Swallowing thickly, I tightened my hold on his hand for a second before turning and relaying the message to Luna.

"So why did I need to come down here at all? Why did I have to be the one to get this?" Harry asked, gesturing down to the glass sphere in his hand.

"Prophecies can only be retrieved by those about whom they are made. The Dark Lord discovered that when he attempted to use others to steal it for him. No… only one of you two could collect it, and he was hardly going to stroll down into the Ministry when they've been so accommodating in ignoring his existence."

"And now he's got you down here doing his dirty work for him, does he?" asked Harry. "Just like he tried to get Sturgis Podmore to steal it for him- and Bode."

"Very good, Potter, very good," Lucius said slowly. "But the Dark Lord-"

"NOW!" Harry shouted.

Seven different voices all screamed "REDUCTO!" and seven curses flew in all different directions. The shelves that were hit exploded, the towering structures swaying dangerously as a hundred glass spheres burst apart. White, ghostly figures of past Seers appeared and floated in the air, their voices mingling together and echoing their prophecies.

"RUN!" Harry shouted, as the shelf directly above us swayed precariously and began to drop more of the glass spheres. The prophecies rained down upon the ground as we turned and sprinted back the way we'd come. With a scream, I threw one arm above my head to protect myself from the falling chunks of shelf and shards of glass, the other hand latching onto the shoulder of Sam's jumper and yanking him after me. The dust was everywhere- I could hardly see in front of my face, was practically running blind…

A Death Eater lunged forwards out of the cloud of dust, and I instinctively raised my hands, my elbow colliding painfully with his nose and knocking him back. In the madness of it all, my fingers slipped from Sam's shirt. I saw figures run past me, and I took off after them. Something struck me on the side of the face, but I didn't stop running, keeping my head sheltered as best I could.

I spotted a door ahead, and sprinted full pelt towards it, bodily throwing myself at it and shoving it open. I held it until the others hurtled over the threshold before slamming the door and raising my wand to seal it behind us.

Brushing my hair out of my face, I looked up and for the first time noticed my surroundings. This was not the way that we had entered the Hall of Prophecies through- instead, we stood in a long hallway, with another door and two adjoining hallways at the end. This would have to do- we couldn't go back where the Death Eaters were, so I would just have to pray that this, too, would lead to an exit.

But then I glanced back at my companions, and noticed something that nearly made me double over.

Ron, Ginny and Luna stood behind me- but that was all. The others weren't with us.

My brother wasn't with us.

Without even a thought, I turned and made to head back towards the door. My heart was pounding so loudly in my ears that I hardly even heard my own voice when I screamed my brother's name.

Two pairs of hands grabbed my arms and yanked me forcefully backwards, away from the door.

"Bree, stop! No, we can't go back!" Ginny hissed.

"But- Sam- he must have gone the other way- he's still back there-" I barely managed to get out, feeling myself nearly hyperventilating at the situation I'd found myself in. "My brother- where's my baby brother?!"

Ron yanked my back again and forced me to face him. "Bree- please! We need to move! Please, we can't stay here, we need to move!"

Taking a shuddering breath, I nodded. Even though the idea of where my brother could be, what could happen to him, was nearly crippling to me, I still had Luna, Ron and Ginny to think of, and I needed to focus on keeping them safe.

Sam's smart, he'll be okay… he'll be okay, I kept repeating in my head as I turned and hurried the three students up the hallway, despite the fact that my mind remained back in the Hall we'd just left.

I told myself that I couldn't let them find us- if we were with Harry, and only if we were with Harry, we had a chance, because they wanted the Prophecy. We had nothing they wanted. We were just extras in their way, and they wouldn't hesitate to hurt, or even kill us.

We had only just reached the end of the Hall when something large collided with door behind us, and I realised that my shout had just called every Death Eater right towards us. I only had a second to glance in either direction down the adjoining hallways, but seeing nothing but another door at either end, I made the choice to go through the one ahead of us. Ron had just slammed the door behind us when I heard the door at the other end of the Hall smash open.

When I turned and saw what was in the room we'd just entered, I let out a surprised gasp. It was dark in the cavernous room, and we were surrounded by a giant replica of the solar system. Stars, black holes, huge planets… all floating suspended in the air above us, as far as my eyes could see. I only allowed myself a second to be stunned by the sight, though I almost wished I could spend hours in here, just observing. But I couldn't- not now when my life was on the line. I shoved the two equally shocked Weasley's forward before grabbing Luna's sleeve and yanking her at a sprint further into the room- there was nowhere to hide in here, but if we could just get far enough into the room, the darkness would hide us before the Death Eaters entered and saw us.

We weren't that lucky.

The door behind us opened with a slam, and a red spell shot just past Luna's head. "STOP!"

Freezing at the Death Eater's shouted words, I spun back to face them and raised my hands in a gesture to tell them I wasn't a threat- not that they would think a tiny seventeen year old girl and her fifteen year old friends would be one, anyway. But I didn't see any choice but to stop and try and hit them with a spell when they weren't expecting it- this room was enormous, but there was absolutely nothing nearby for us to take cover behind.

There were two Death Eaters at the entrance to the room. One of them yanked off his mask to reveal a horrible grin, and it took me a second to recognise him from his mug shot in the Prophet: Antonin Dolohov, the wizard who had murdered Gideon and Fabian Prewett. Molly's brothers. George's uncles. He killed them.

A second later and a third figure entered, his blonde hair mussed and a deep scowl on his face as he shot us an unimpressed look.

"Two Weasley's and two blondes," he snarled in what seemed to be annoyance. "Potter must have gone a different way- but you might not be completely useless."

Turning to his comrades, he continued. "Kill two and bring two along with us, to make Potter more… agreeable."

The men on either side of him stepped towards us, raising their wands, as Lucius headed back the way he'd come.

"Don't- please," I choked out, my voice croaky in my terror, "please! Lucius Malfoy!"

None of them so much as hesitated as the four of us scrambled back away from them, so I tried again. "Lucius! I know your son!"

Lucius paused, turning his head slightly to peer back over his shoulder at me curiously- but not fully interested. I hadn't bought back the two lives he'd just ordered to be ended, but I'd bought us back some time. Having no idea where I was going with this in the first place, I continued desperately "I know Draco! I- I tutor him, in Defense Against the Dark Arts. He's smart- and he's also good. He's good… and you raised him, so there has to be good in you, too!"

I swallowed thickly as Lucius merely observed me, his eyes narrowed in contemplation.

"Please don't do this," I whimpered. "We're just kids."

A heavy silence hung in the air for a moment. Even though I had known all along that it was a long shot, my heart fell when he finally spoke.

"You're right. You're just… kids," he drawled out slowly, but his tone… it was wrong. My heart sank further and I couldn't control the hurried steps I took back, shoving the others back too as he took one more large, threatening step towards us. "But you're also traitors- fighting against the cause of the Dark Lord."

For another second, he merely observed me, before turning back to his comrades and repeating the same order as before and leaving the room the way we'd entered.

"NO!" I screamed, raising my wand and shooting a spell at the approaching Death Eaters. The others did the same as we kept pushing our way backwards, further into the room.

And then, all of a sudden, my feet were yanked out from under me and I shot into the air. The Death Eaters spells shot straight under where our legs had just been. I heard Ginny scream from beside me and Ron swear from above me. Apparently every aspect of space was being adhered to here, because we'd just exited the area where gravity applied.

I pointed my wand back at the Death Eaters, but my whole body spun around as I struggled to get control of myself without gravity to tether me to the ground. The men still on the ground sprinted towards us, and Dolohov jumped once he reached us, his hand just managing to close around Ginny's ankle before she floated out of his reach. With a manic grin, he began to pull her back to the ground as I struggled to point my wand at him.

Luna, from above me, managed to regain her bearings first. "Reducto!" she shouted, and a second later, the planet Pluto blew up from beside Dolohov. It blasted him off of his feet and so far back into the dark room that he disappeared completely from view.

Though he didn't manage to maintain his hold on Ginny, he didn't let go before he yanked her ankle back the way he had been blown hard enough to warrant a loud CRACK! to tear through the air.

Ginny let out a resonating, pain filled shriek as she yanked her leg up to clutch at her ankle, scrunching her face up in agony. Trying my hardest to push myself through the air towards her, I sent an Impediment Jinx at the last remaining Death Eater. He blocked my spell easily, and Ron's directly afterwards. Then, before I had the chance to shoot again, he slashed his wand through the air and I could only watch as a bright purple streak of what looked like fire passed across Ron's chest, before he toppled backwards and fell through the air until he hit the ground below with a loud thud!

I screamed his name- be okay, please be okay- kicking off of one of Saturn's rings to propel my body towards Ron's. I narrowly managed to dodge the Death Eater's next spell before shooting my own back at him.

"STUPEFY!" I screamed. "Stupefy, stupefy, stupefy!"

He managed to block all but one of my curses, and was knocked back off of his feet. Before he could scramble back to his feet, Luna shot an impediment jinx at him, and he didn't move again.

"Ron!" I shouted again, this time using the dusty surface of Mars to push myself closer to the ginger. And suddenly, with a surprised scream, I was falling back to Earth. My body hit the ground hard, and a shock of pain ran down my spine. I ignored it as I breathlessly pushed myself towards Ron, rolling him over onto his back.

He was alive- at this discovery, I let out a breathless laugh. However, the moment he looked up at me, I knew that something was very wrong. He was grinning in a sort of distracted way, and his gaze wasn't focussing on me. His next words confirmed my thoughts.

"Breeeeeeeeeeeee," he giggled in a vague sort of tone, reaching a hand up to twirl a strand of my blonde hair around his fingers. "Hello, Breezy…"

"What's wrong with him?" Luna called from above us, but I didn't answer. I couldn't, because I didn't know- all I knew was that it was very serious.

"H-how do you feel, Ron? Do you feel okay? Come on, let's get you up, yeah?" I asked weakly, and he nodded, letting out another misplaced laugh as I tried to hoist him to his feet. He gave my hair a bit of a tug as his gaze focussed in and out.

"Breeeeeeeeeeee… my brother loves you, he does," Ron giggled. "Georgie loooooves Breezy. I know why- it's cause you're beautiful, Bree! Hehe!"

He brought his hand down onto my cheek, tilting his head to the side- his whole body followed the motion, and I thought he would have toppled over if it weren't for my hold on him. "But you don't look happy now, Bree- why aren't you happy, Bree?"

"Ron, I-" I trailed off, completely lost on how to deal with the damaged Weasley boy. He could barely even stand straight, how was I supposed to get him out of this place safely? "Ron, I just need you to stand still for a second, okay? I gotta get your sister and Luna… I'll be right back?"

Nodding vaguely, he allowed me to rest him up against the wall. After making sure that he'd stay put, I hurried over to where the girls still hung in the air, next to Mars.

"Ginny, are you alright?!" I cried, reaching out towards her. "Here, take my hand, I've got to get you down!"

It took her a moment, but she finally managed to unclench her eyes and look down at me. Swallowing thickly, she nodded. It was clear that she was in a lot of pain. "It's just my ankle- it's nothing-"

"It's not nothing, I think it's broken," Luna disagreed from slightly above her, "I heard it crack."

Ginny shook her head determinedly. "No it's fine."

Nodding, I stood up on my tiptoes. "Quickly, grab Luna's hand and pull her down with you."

With a great deal of effort and Luna pushing off of Mars, I managed to get them both back to gravity. I tried my hardest to be gentle with Ginny, but as soon as she put any weight on her leg, she nearly collapsed.

"No, don't put any weight on it!" I cried, and she glared up at me.

"It's just my ankle, I'm fine," she insisted again impatiently, but a second later she had collapsed sideways and grabbed onto my shoulder for support.

Allowing her to lean on me, I swallowed nervously and looked back into the planet room. I knew that we couldn't go any further without ending up in the air again, and we were sitting ducks up there. If we wanted to get out of the Department of Mysteries, we needed to head back to the Hall of Prophecies. "Okay," I said firmly with a deep breath. "C'mon, we're heading back the way we came. Luna, I can't grab Ron- I need you to help him."

"Breeeeeeeeee… haha, look! It's Uranus! Haha, get it? We saw Uranus!" Ron giggled, staring up at the planet above him.

Luna managed to usher him forward, and we headed back towards the exit. I had only just managed to push open the door and hobble into the hallway when two figures collided heavily with us, sending us all toppling back to the ground. Ginny let out a shriek of pain as she hit her ankle again, but I was sitting up and pointing my wand at one of the newcomers faces before we'd even properly hit the ground.

And then, I gasped. "Sam!"

"Bree!" he cried in relief, before adding uncomfortably, "hey, would you mind lowering your wand? I'm uncomfortable with its current trajectory."

Quickly lowering my wand from his face, I sat up properly and took his face in my hands. "Oh, Sam, what happened? Are you okay?" I cried, using my sleeve to wipe away the blood gushing from a gash on his forehead and taking in his clearly forming black eye.

"I'm fine- we both are," he panted, reaching back to pull Neville to his feet.

I gasped when I properly looked at Neville. Blood was gushing from an obviously broken nose. "Neville!"

"I'm fine," he said, his words hardly intelligible.

"We just need to get out of here," Sam said. "We need to find Harry and Hermione."

Remembering the danger we were currently embroiled in, I nodded. "Come on- can you help me with the Weasley's?"

"What's wrong with the Weasley's?" Neville asked, and at that moment Ron decided to repeat that he'd seen Uranus again.

"Dolohov and another Death Eater followed us- I think that Ginny's ankle is broken, and Ron's gone a bit... funny," I said delicately, once again catching ahold of the redheaded boy before he could topple over. "It doesn't matter, we need to move. Come on..."

After a few second to regroup, we set off, all a bit worse for wear, back into the heart of the danger.

I like this chapter. I've been waiting to write about the Department of Mysteries for ages, and I'm so excited to finally be there! Hope you all are enjoying the bit of drama going down at the moment.