"Well, well Potter. What do we have here?"

Somehow the voice carried through the entire room, words silvery and sleek, slithering past the rows of prophecies. The icy coolness was familiar, a mocking tint to his words that Harry recognized immediately.

Lucius Malfoy.

"What are you doing here?" he hissed. "Where's Sirius?"

"Sirius? Sirius Black?" a woman's voice screeched, old and scratchy as if she hadn't spoken for decades. She began giggling madly. "Potter having bad dreams? Oh, boo-hoo, Sirius, where are youuuuu," she imitated with a high-pitched voice.

"I'm here for Sirius," Harry said, quashing down the rising panic. He had heard Sirius screaming in his dream, had watched the snake lunge forward, fangs flashing- his own fangs- digging into his leg, warm blood trickling out…

"Where's Voldemort?" he demanded, ignoring the way his voice was beginning to rise. "Where's Sirius?"

"Boo-hoo," the woman mocked. "Potter wants to fight the Dark Lord now after his bad dream. Maybe he should cry into someone's shoulder first? Or maybe his mummy never told him that dreams couldn't be real..."

"Stop lying. Tell me where he is-"

"Harry?" It was Percy's voice, strangely gentle. "I think she's saying the truth."

Harry whirled around to face him. There was a look of sympathy on Percy's face that he did not like, did not even want to mull over. "I saw him here-"

"I'm not very good at magic wizard-y stuff," Percy said quietly. "But how hard would it be for Voldy-"

A couple of Death Eaters interrupted Percy with choked splutters. In any other situation, Harry might have laughed at their expressions, but the crowd of dark cloaks made it impossibly hard to make light of the situation.

"Yes, Voldy," Percy re-emphasized, raising an eyebrow against the splutters. "I can give horrible nicknames to all the noseless dudes in the world." He turned back to Harry, as more Death Eaters started coughing. "But as I was trying to say, how hard would it be for him to fake a dream?"

Images of the empty Ministry of Magic came to mind: the strangely silent halls, the dimmed lights, the lack of bustling wizards or witches, the unguarded doors to the Department of Mysteries…

It wasn't a holiday… there was no reason for no employees to be at the Ministry, especially since it was only evening… unless Voldemort somehow had planned that all along. Unless they had some way to convince the entire Ministry to empty of the halls-as if this scenario had been planned all along.

The Death Eaters had only shown themselves when Harry had placed his hand on the strange orb still gently glowing in his hand. Merlin, he had brought his friends into this mess-

"Not the right time for that," Percy hissed, breaking Harry out of his thoughts. He sent a pointed look at the rest of the Death Eaters staring at them gleefully. "I got the stupid distractions, you think of a plan."

Percy was right. It wasn't over yet… The rest of Harry's group was still glaring at the Death Eaters defiantly, still had wands in their hands, still were determined to fight.

Harry grimaced but nodded. Percy gave him a brief thumbs-up, a what can you do about it face that made him look cross-eyed, before turning back to the Death Eaters who were still looking flustered.

"So, what does Voldy have planned for us?"

"You can't just call the Dark Lord-" one male voice began, high-pitched and nervous.

"Freedom of speech," Percy said faux-cheerfully. "If I want to call my pal Voldemort-not my pal, but let's pretend-if I want to call him Voldy, then you can't stop me."

"Careful." The amusement from the woman's voice had dropped. She had stopped giggling and was now glaring at Percy with a tilt of her cloaked head.

Percy placed a few fingers to his chin, pretending to think deeply. "You know, I might have a better spot for you Death Munchers. You're obviously at the wrong place for taking a vacation… with your cloaks, you need to be working at a Halloween store-"

Considering that both Death Eaters and people on Harry's side had their mouths open, the subterfuge was working. Although going on about brochures and great vacation spots where people in Halloween costumes were welcome was… an interesting distraction.

Think, Harry.

There were too many dark cloaks surrounding them-they were completely closed in a half-circle of Death Eaters... It was impossible, they couldn't just waltz out and-

But.

The Death Eaters hadn't tried to attack them. This was the perfect opportunity to kill Harry and his friends, once and for all, but none of the Death Eaters even took a step forward, surrounded by shelves and orbs and potential debris.

Surrounded by shelves and orbs and potential debris.

For the first time since they had entered the Ministry of Magic building, Harry could finally breathe. This, he could work with.

He turned to Ginny slightly, making sure that his face was hidden in the shadows before he tapped her shoulder. She started but leaned her head towards him, red hair brushing his shoulder.

"What?" she whispered.

"Pass the message. Reducto towards shelves on my three."

Her chin dipped before she straightened up and began whispering to Ron and Hermione.

"You need style to host a Halloween party." Percy was still distracting the Death Eaters. There was a disappointed frown on his face- like he was a professor giving back essays marked in red. "Dressing up as wannabe vampires? Seriously, that's one of the most cliche costumes you could have chosen."

"Wannabe… vampires?" Lucius sounded hesitant as if he couldn't believe the words coming out of his mouth.

"Exactly!" Percy didn't flinch at the gazes fixated on him. Oddly enough, the tension in his shoulders had dissipated, and he had crossed his arms together, looking bored. Only the tight line of his lips signified that something was off- that they weren't just on a daily excursion, shopping for weird, glowing orbs. "Take a look at your cloaks. What sort of fabric did you even use for them?"

There was a brief shuffling sound as most of the Death Eaters looked down at their cloaks as if to examine the quality of them. At that moment, Harry took the opportunity to hiss towards Percy and Luna, "Reducto. Shelves. On my three."

"Kneazle-hide," one of the Death Eaters grunted out. He sounded insulted that Percy had even questioned the quality of his cloak.

"Quiet, Crabbe," the woman hissed. "He's mocking us. Do not listen to his foolish questions."

The resemblance between Crabbe and mini-Crabbe in Harry's school year was uncanny- they both were large and stupid and strangely obsessed over hanging around their respective Malfoys. From Percy's raised eyebrow, he must have recognized the name as well-but if he did, he didn't comment.

Instead, Percy raised a shoulder. "Kneazle-hide? Looks more like you got something from the wizarding thrift store."

Crabbe snarled back, face twisted in ugly rolls of fat and scowls. He pulled up his wand with a clumsy, large hand. But before he could shoot a spell, the woman grabbed his arm. She didn't bother to look back at Crabbe, her masked face still facing Percy with a strange sort of coldness.

"You do not understand what is going on. Watch your words."

Percy and the masked woman stared at each other. Then Percy crossed his arms together.

"No."

Despite being unable to see past the woman's mask, Harry could have sworn that she blinked. "No?" she repeated.

"I think I know pretty well where this is going. Evil guys do a montage of how their evil lord and savior is somehow going to save the world, despite murdering hundreds-of-thousands-"

The woman whipped out her wand, in a motion so smooth and quick that Harry missed it. One blink and she was already growling out the spell, wand held in front of her.

"Silencio!"

But Percy was already moving before the spell hit him, leaning away to avoid the streak of light and spinning back around to retaliate. "Incendio!" he shouted, flicking his wand up.

Incendio? The fire spell?

Before Harry could shout a warning, flames had already roared out of Percy's wand, rolling across the room in a blaze of reds and oranges that licked up the shelves and shimmered on the reflective surfaces of the orbs. The woman twisted out of the way just in time, but a few other Death Eaters weren't so lucky. Their cloaks caught on fire, a blaze of light contrasting against their dark cloaks.

Percy's eyes widened. "Schist."

"Percy," Ginny hissed, looking frantically at the flames now climbing up the sides of the wooden panels of the walls. "Are you trying to get us all killed?"

"I don't know why it's so effective," Percy spluttered, waving his wand just as frantically in the air. "Last time I used it, I just burned off my eyebrows by accident-I thought it might just scare them for a teeny second-"

He whirled around, staring at the wizards now hopping up and down like they had spiders crawling inside of their cloaks. The smell of burning flesh and burning wood filled the air, smoke coating the ceiling with blackened ashes.

"Why is nobody using the water spell?" Percy said, almost helplessly. "Seriously, you'd think that they'd know that they were wizards." He waved his wand. "Aguamenti!"

If possible, the water that streamed out of his wand was even stronger than the flames that had rolled out. Instead of the thin jet of water that was supposed to be conjured, the water that burst out of Percy's wand was massive, a jet nearly one meter in diameter.

More Death Eater shrieks. A creak of splintered wood and toppling shelves that swayed and began to fall, as the water from Percy's wand carved a hole into the flaming shelves.

Percy looked at the destruction, back down at his wand, then back up to the now-extinguished watery mess.

"Holy Hephaestus."

"Can you not bring down this whole place?" Hermione shrieked. She waved her wand at a falling wooden beam- "Reparo!"- that had been swinging over Luna's head. It quickly reattached itself to the ceiling, leaving behind barely a scratch.

"Thank you, Hermione," Luna said, still somehow unperturbed.

"We're all going to die," Ron groaned. "We're actually all going to die."

"How do you even make water dangerous?" Neville squeaked.

"That's why I tried using fire!"

"That doesn't make any sense!" Neville, Hermione, and Ron all screeched in unison.

"Let's all just not question the usefulness of my spells." Percy laughed nervously, slipping his wand back into his sleeve. "No one saw anything. Nothing got lit on fire. Or got destroyed-do people in the wizarding world get arrested for breaking in and entering?"

Hermione's face twisted as if she ate something sour. "Not allowed," she threw over her shoulder, sounding somewhat guilty. "Do you think they'll be able to fix everything? I mean, a lot of things can be fixed with Reparo, but-"

"We could have all gotten killed- or worse, expelled," Ron said, mimicking a high-pitched voice.

Hermione flushed. "Oh, shut up, Ron."

"JUST RUN!" Ginny shouted, her red hair reappearing around the bend of the wooden shelves of orbs. She had somehow traveled halfway across the row of prophecies already. "Death Eaters here, don't need to be discussing about property damage-Merlin, get your priorities straight-"

She was cut off by the figure of the woman, who had reappeared in front of her through the thick smoke. The woman's mask had somehow come off… burned off, considering the frayed curls framing her face. She lifted her face, revealing dark curls that spilled out from underneath the mask, wide-eyes that didn't look quite sane, a sharp smile that cut across her face-

"Bellatrix Lestrange," Neville choked out, stumbling to a stop, and it was the first time Harry had ever heard him so bitter, so filled with loathing and hatred.

"No one's going anywhere," she said. With a flick of her wand, Ginny was sent tumbling back into the group.

The rest of the Death Eaters had regrouped, forming a barrier between them and any potential exit… Ginny had been the closest one to escape. But the woman's attention wasn't on Ginny… She was staring right at Percy, with an inquisitive look on her face. As if she was a Muggle child trying to figure out how a bicycle worked.

"You. What year are you in?"

"You think I'm going to answer you?" Percy scoffed. His grip was still tight around his wand, knuckles white.

She tilted her head to the right, frowning. "Your control over your magic is pathetic."

"Least I didn't miss."

The entire group tensed-both Death Eaters and Harry's group. But instead of fuming like Harry would have expected her to, Bellatrix suddenly cackled- a piercing laugh that was rough around the edges, like a rusting knife.

"The Dark Lord might make some use out of you," she said approvingly. Ignoring Percy's splutter of indignation, her eyes finally swept over the rest of Harry's group, coming to rest on Neville's scowling face.

Her face changed. Approval shifted into smug satisfaction, emotions changing as easily as water splashed on an oiled surface-as if she couldn't settle on one feeling to show.

"Longbottom, hmm?"

The fire, the hatred, glowing within Neville's eyes burned hot, so hot that Harry could feel himself burning in the brown depths.

"Your parents… Both their minds were quite pliable afterward, wouldn't you say? Just a little bit of magic, of course-"

Ron clapped a hand over Neville's mouth, who had jolted forwards, aiming his wand towards Bellatrix.

"Aww, still so angry about it?" Bellatrix cooed. "You'll be drooling right alongside them once I'm done with you too…"

Her wand began rising, hand outstretched… but surprisingly, it was Lucius who stopped her, placing a hand on her raised arm. "You've had your fun," he muttered. "Remember what we're supposed to be here for."

Annoyance flickered on Bellatrix's face. "The Dark Lord's orders," Lucius growled when she tried to pull her arm away. "Get the prophecy first, then you can have your games."

Harry exchanged a startled look with Percy. Hadn't Luna mentioned something about the orbs relating to prophecies? But this orb had his name on it… A feeling of recklessness fell over him. He turned towards Bellatrix and Lucius, who were still glaring at each other. "Prophecy?" he blurted out loud.

Both Lucius and Bellatrix's heads snapped towards him. Both of them had such incredulous expressions on their faces that Harry's heart began to pulse.

"Dumbledore never told you about the prophecy?" Bellatrix asked. "Why he decided to make you his precious, little weapon?"

"I am not a weapon."

She stared at him hard for a few, tense seconds before her face suddenly changed to a maniacal glee. She threw back her head, peals of laughter ringing throughout the room. "He doesn't know!" she shrieked. "He's standing there, and he doesn't know what he's holding!"

Like puppets held by a string, the rest of the cloaked figures began laughing as well, filling the room with a horrid echo of mad laughter. The sound was so awfully loud that Harry almost missed the quick flash of wood coming from the wizard at the back of the Death Eaters… the flash of a wand casting a spell…

"ACCIO!"

The red streak almost hit Harry on the head. He twisted around and nearly dropped the orb to the ground.

The laughter stopped abruptly. Lucius whirled to face the Death Eater who had shot the spell. "Are you a fool, Macnair?"

Macnair. He had been one of the Ministry officials in charge of executing Buckbeak… the one that held the axe with the sickening grin on his face…

"A fool?" Macnair's deep voice echoed throughout the room.

The venom in Lucius's voice startled Harry. "I told you. It's too risky… Potter must be unconscious first-"

Macnair cut Lucius off. "Kill Potter, take the prophecy. The Dark Lord never said to keep them alive."

"The Dark Lord would want to deal with Potter himself," Bellatrix mused. "I don't suppose that we need to spare Potter's friends though…" Her gaze fell on Neville, who was still being held back by Ron. A hungry smile crept up her face as she eyed him.

"As long as we have the prophecy," Lucius said dismissively.

A sneer formed on Macnair's face. "Do you think the Dark Lord wants some dusty old prophecy now that we have the Lady?"

The strange woman, with dark eyes and honeyed voice, came to Harry's mind. The one who had somehow managed to invade Harry's vision as well, who had been with Voldemort when they were torturing Sirius.

She was real? But… how? If the dream was just a dream...

Bellatrix sniffed. "She's just a pawn."

Macnair ignored Bellatrix. "He just wants to punish you more for your failures, Lucius."

"I do not care. The Dark Lord gave his orders." Lucius's voice was dangerously soft.

The voices beneath the cloaks murmured their agreement. But Macnair just laughed. "Ah, well you see, it's a shame that I do not care about your son. Your failures do not impact me."

Lucius didn't say anything but was now clenching his wand tightly. The eyes that had been on Harry and his group were now gone, focused on the two Death Eaters facing each other.

Now. No one would notice, no one would even bother glancing at them-

"On three," Harry said quietly.

The rest of the group followed what he said. A ruffle of cloaks. Wands slid out, hands slightly raised, faces grim and determined.

"Two."

None of the Death Eaters turned around.

"One."

Harry whirled around to aim his wand at one of the shelves holding the crystal globes in the air. Six other voices joined him. "REDUCTO!"

Macnair was beginning to raise his wand towards Lucius when the streaks of blue light soared through the air, smashing into the cloud glass containers. The shelves tottered, shivering from the force of the explosions set off by the spells.

For a moment, Harry stood there, transfixed at the ghostly voices rising from the shattered orbs, of the silvery faint fog that began to spread. But the fog wasn't fog. They were millions of ghosts being released from their prisons, released from the glass ball the prophecies were in.

Then, the shelves began falling.

Orbs shattered. The shelves twisted onto themselves. Glass rained down on the unlucky Death Eaters still on the back. Bellatrix turned around. She looked murderous, little pieces of glass still dangling her hair, lips turned downwards.

Throughout the din of shouting Death Eaters and falling glass, he saw her mouth move as she picked up her wand.

Cru-

"RUN," Harry roared. He spun around and hit the shelves with another Reducto as the people around him dispersed. Death Eaters scattered, wands over their heads away from the glass downpour.

Before Harry's thoughts crystalized, he could feel his feet moving towards the falling prophecies, in the opposite direction of the Death Eaters as they sprinted away.

From the corner of his eye, he spotted Luna trailing behind. Percy also appeared a couple of moments later. Both of them looked strangely serious: the joking glint in Percy's eyes and the serene expression on Luna's face had both disappeared.

"I hope you have a plan," Percy muttered. He was staring at the falling glass shards with a worried look on his face. "Else we're turning into shish-kebab. With lots of glass."

Harry wildly fished around his head for an idea, but he could only feel the panic seeping throughout his veins- none of them knew Apparition, a single shield spell wouldn't work…

A single spell wouldn't work.

"Protego on my count," Harry hissed. He waved his wand at the shelves still toppling towards them. Death Eaters were howling, dark red seeped into the cold, stone ground, shields flickered in and out of existence. "If all three of us combined our shields, we should be able to get through the glass."

There was a moment of silence. Then...

"I never did that one before."

Right. Harry had forgotten that Percy still hadn't learned the full arsenal of spells. He tried not to sound too panicked. "Keep an eye on any other Death Eaters behind us, then."

Percy nodded and twisted around.

"Uh," he said immediately. "Crazy lady's behind us. Beeswax or something? Also, the Lucius guy's trailing behind... They both have their wands out-"

The two people he did not want to see. Harry cursed under his breath as he picked up the pace, feeling the little slivers of glass begin to pierce his skin, transparent splinters and dust falling from the ceiling.

"Protego," he hissed. The shield dripped from his wand, spreading out into an impenetrable bubble. The glass was bouncing off the shield for now, but the shield was slowly bending, breaking under the constant rain of glass and debris.

It would only last for a minute. Protego shields were only supposed to stop one assault, not a constant battering of glass. Only Luna could support his shield… but when he glanced towards her, she wasn't even paying attention. Her head was twisting around at the surrounding shelves as if she was staring at mounds of writhing snakes.

"Luna?"

"There are Dabberblimps here," Luna whispered. She was biting her lip, eyes flickering around to what seemed like nothing in particular.

"That's great," Harry muttered hurriedly. "Er- we can discuss that later?"

She didn't seem to hear him. "They like blood."

A massive piece of glass crashed through Harry's shield. It scraped past Percy's shoulder, ripping through the sleeve of his robes and leaving a thin line of red. Percy didn't even wince, but his face tightened somewhat.

"Luna," Harry frantically hissed again, elbowing her. "Have you learned Protego?"

She blinked, and finally seemed to register what he said.

"Oh! Yes. We just learned it."

There was a pause. Then, Luna blinked again, looking at Harry's fading shield around them. Understanding flickered in her eyes. "Oh."

She held up her wand. "Protego!"

A weak blue glow shimmered from her wand. It reinforced itself on top of Harry's shield, solidifying the clear parts that had started to bend around the glittering shimmers of glass.

But it wasn't going to be enough… the wooden shelves were beginning to fall, and Harry instinctively knew that both Luna and his combined shields weren't going to hold. To make matters worse, Bellatrix was still shrieking behind them. A jet of green light soared over their heads once more, sizzling away another hole in the shield.

"Shelves are too heavy," he gritted out between clenched teeth, trying to force more magic through his wand. The shield stabilized for a moment before another piece of wooden shelf almost shattered the blue sphere.

Percy's eyes lit up. "I got an idea." Before Harry could say anything, he twisted around. "Restituo!"

The falling wooden shelf in front of them blinked out of existence, replaced by a Death Eater's mask… which was immediately followed up by a shriek from behind them. When Harry chanced a look, he saw that the same wooden shelf that vanished had appeared in front of Lucius and Bellatrix. Lucius's face was unmasked, face twisted into a panicked snarl as they barely dodged the falling wooden shelf above them… Percy must have switched Lucius's mask and the shelf.

Harry whirled around to gape at him. "That's brilliant."

Percy threw him a grin before he aimed his wand towards the other toppling shelves that were around them, replacing them with other random objects- more glass, wands, other Death Eater hoods. Not long after, they managed to escape the row with the falling shelves and were sprinting through the untouched shelves.

Row sixty-three. Row sixty-two.

"There's someone here," Luna said suddenly. Her soft voice nearly made Harry jump… she had been strangely quiet the whole time, eyes darting towards the shelves still around them.

"Aren't there supposed to be Anti-Apparition charms?" Harry hissed. If the Department of Mysteries didn't have any wards up, then he was secretly Dumbledore in disguise… there was no way a top-secret Ministry room wouldn't have wards.

"POTTER!"

"You wizards have terrible security," Percy muttered.

They slid to a stop when Lucius appeared in front of them. His usually slicked back hair was all over the place. There were shards of glass all over his cloak, but his mask was off- probably still buried beneath the broken orbs.

Gray eyes burned into Harry. "Potter. The prophecy."

The round orb grew warm in his hand. It completely slipped from his mind when running through the falling prophecies and shelves... He had been gripping the orb so tightly that he was surprised that it hadn't shattered yet.

"This?" He held up the orb. Something in Lucius's face tightened.

"It's useless to resist," Lucius hissed. "Bellatrix is coming in a few minutes… Just hand over the prophecy. Perhaps I'll spare your sidekicks." He glanced at Percy and Luna and they both tensed, shifting their stances.

"Who is the Lady?" Harry bit back. "Didn't Macnair say that the prophecy wasn't important?"

"None of your business," Lucius spat. "Orb. Or your friends die."

"I'm sure that Harry will just drop the prophecy if you kill us, Mr. Malfoy," Luna piped up.

Percy whirled towards her, eyes growing large. "What?" Percy choked out. "He's a Malfoy?"

"Malfoy's father," Harry reaffirmed. "Both evil."

Percy's eyes narrowed at Lucius. "You have a creepy silent garden with a massive fountain in the middle, right?"

Lucius's eyes were still blank, emotionless, but there was a flicker of acknowledgment that momentarily flashed in his eyes. "And?" he said softly.

Percy grimaced. "Dude. No wonder Malfoy- erm, Draco- was acting so weird. Didn't Voldy give him impossible tasks to punish you?"

Lucius's voice was sharp. "Where did you hear that?"

"When has Malfoy not acted weird?" Harry muttered under his breath. Percy ignored him, still facing Lucius with a frown on his face.

"It was a couple of months ago." Percy shrugged. "I have supernatural powers. I can spy on everyone in the world whenever I want because I'm cool like that-"

Lucius made a choking sound. "You can?"

Percy snickered. "Nope."

"Not the time for jokes," Lucius snarled, regaining his composure. "Bellatrix will be here at any moment."

Percy crossed his arms, suddenly sounding strangely serious. "Fine then. Getting to the point. You know that Voldemort won't ever stop punishing Draco for your actions?"

Lucius didn't respond. Instead, the lines around his eyes tightened.

"One of the bravest friends I'd ever had became a hero at the last possible moment," Percy said. "He sacrificed his life to save the world. You still have a choice to choose sides, no matter how far into schist you're in."

"The Dark Lord is too powerful."

"You're still listening," Percy pointed out.

Lucius's lip curled up, but he didn't move, didn't threaten Harry again, didn't try to jinx Percy or Luna. Instead, his wand wavered in the air.

Then Bellatrix's voice rang out, echoing throughout the shelves. "Lucius!"

Lucius immediately paled. His wand steadied, pointing at the prophecy in Harry's hand. "Last chance, Potter," he growled.

"You still have a choice," Percy whispered. Somehow, his green eyes were calm. "Trust me, Voldemort isn't going to win this war."

"It's not just the Dark Lord. It's the Lady. You can't possibly-"

"Can't possibly do what?" Bellatrix strolled out behind the shelves. Her voice was harsh, grating- as if she hadn't spoken for decades. Which, Harry supposed, wasn't too far from the truth. But even more startling was the harsh, intelligent gleam, hidden beneath the wide-eyed madness of her eyes.

Her gaze fell on him, flickered over his scar again, and Harry couldn't help but shiver. Then, she turned back to Lucius, who had kept silent. "Well?"

"Can't possibly go against him," Lucius said smoothly. If possible, he had gotten even paler, face a ghostly white, but his expression didn't twitch. "The Dark Lord is too powerful to be defeated by mere children."

"And yet, you stand here, chattering about useless things. Almost as if you were considering their offer."

"I would be a fool if I did," Lucius said quietly.

She considered him for a moment. In that fraction of a second, Percy snatched up his wand and slashed down, shouting, "Expelliarmus!"

Bellatrix and Lucius froze.

Nothing happened.

A very strong desire to bang his head across the shelves around the room arose. "You forgot the twirl at the end," Harry hissed.

Percy blinked. "Oh, wait. About that."

"Are you being serious?" Lucius sounded incredulous.

"I'm sorry," Percy retorted, looking flustered. "I'm new to this." Before anyone could say anything, he flicked his wand again. "Expelliarmus!"

Red light soared through the air. With a lazy flick of her wrist, Bellatrix conjured a ghostly imitation of the Protego shield- only, this shield was gray. Rather than emitting light, the soft glow shimmering in the room seemed to twist towards the shield, absorbed into the grayness like water funneling down a drain.

The red light shimmered for a moment, caught between the gray lines of the shield like a fly caught in a spiderweb, before disappearing completely.

"You're using us for practice?" Bellatrix's voice was dangerously low.

Panic flickered in Percy's eyes. It disappeared so quickly that Harry wondered if it had even appeared in the first place. "Looking crazy doesn't give you brownie points," he randomly shot back. "I've seen much scarier and uglier ladies than you, so if you're supposed to look intimidating, then you're not."

"You dare-"

Percy waved a hand. "Yada yada, we all know what you're going to say." He pitched his voice higher. "You dare insult me?"

"Percy," Harry hissed. "What are you-"

"We're going to Plan B," Percy whispered back.

"What Plan B-"

He stopped when Percy threw him a look. Not now, his expression seemed to say. I have this all handled.

More like he was going to get them all killed by a very angry Bellatrix.

But there was something in Percy's face that was strangely confident as if he did have everything handled. As if this was just another day, and Percy's plan of insulting one of the most dangerous witches in the world wasn't going to end up in three more dead bodies on the ground.

Whatever it was, it was enough to convince Harry to stay silent.

"Listen to Potter," Lucius murmured. "You do not understand what you're dealing with."

Percy huffed. "And that's what every baddie says. Seriously, you guys need some new lines. I swear…"

He suddenly stopped, staring at Bellatrix.

No, that wasn't right. He was staring at the shield around Bellatrix, where a small hole appeared in the gray mass floating around her.

Bellatrix drew herself up, looking triumphant. "Cat finally got your tongue?" she gloated.

"Well, that solves everything," Percy said under his breath. "I thought I was going to need a diversion, but we already have one."

The longer Harry stared at the shield, the longer he realized that the hole in the shield wasn't just a hole. Little cracks ran from the center throughout the entire barrier, as if a spider spun a web with gray silk instead of white. It was nearly unnoticeable, gray inlaid upon more gray- Harry would have never noticed if Percy hadn't pointed it out.

From Harry's memory, Unforgivable Curses were some of the only spells that broke through Protego shields, but Percy only used Expelliarmus, which should have been blocked by a Protego or any semi-decent shield... There wasn't enough dark magic to have it burn through Bellatrix's shield as it had done.

"Now, Potter." Bellatrix's voice was sickly sweet, now that Percy had stopped insulting her. She almost sounded as bad as Umbridge on a good day. "The prophecy."

"No," Harry gritted out. "Over my dead body."

Something in Bellatrix's eyes glinted. "Over your dead body?" She paused mockingly. "What about your friend's dead body? She looked over at Luna, eyes scanning her as if she was just another merchandise in a store. "Looks quite docile," she said breezily. "This should be easy."

Luna didn't even tremble. She held her head up, gray eyes oddly piercing. "Be careful of the masked."

Bellatrix let out a sharp laugh. "I am the masked. You should be the one who has to be careful." She finally raised her arm, wand pointing straight at Luna.

The cracks on her gray shield finally connected.

Harry's heart dropped.

Nothing happened.

"Schist," Percy whispered.

"How would you like to die?" Bellatrix asked, still facing Luna. "Tortured into insanity? Drowned by your own blood? Choked to death?"

Excitement throbbed in her voice. There was a hungry sort of light that shone in her eyes, much too similar to the look that was in Umbridge's eyes. But this light was more primal, filled with vicious excitement rather than the desperate sort of hunger Umbridge had.

Panic surged within Harry. She sounded like a cat playing around with her food as if they were all mouses lured in with a bit of cheese and a mousetrap.

He closed his fist around the orb again. Perhaps he could throw the prophecy up in the air? Even if it was the reason why the Death Eaters weren't attacking him, he would rather have his friends alive than keeping a useless glowing sphere intact.

As if Lucius read his mind, he spoke up. "Potter, just hand over the prophecy. That's all that the Dark Lord desires… for now," he added quietly, almost as an afterthought.

"How about the Cruciatus curse?" Bellatrix mused, ignoring him. She was still staring at Luna, her grey shield flickering around her face. "Bit dull, but it never gets old. The screaming is always the best part."

Luna's expression was still surprisingly firm. Nothing twitched in her face, even with Bellatrix's wand pointed at her chin. But despite her calmness, there was no choice, no other way out… They were all dreadfully outclassed in both experience and power.

Harry's hand twitched.

He would rather have Luna alive next to him rather than a stupid, foggy globe that somehow was supposed to be a prophecy.

"Bellatrix won't stop," Lucius continued. "Once she uses the curse, your friend will end up in St Mungo's, babbling nonsense and seeing-"

"Let's not continue with that train of thought."

The voice seemed so strange, so foreign, but it was Percy's. But instead of his typical lightness, his voice was edged with quiet malice that sliced through Lucius's words like a neat Diffindo to a piece of parchment paper.

Coldness rippled up Harry's spine. Percy's eyes were a dark, dark green. Harry hasn't noticed them change.

"Aww, he's bothered about the torture," Bellatrix cooed, looking unbothered. "So sensitive. Perhaps you'll be my next target… Potter will have to watch you both scream, begging for your lives-"

"Yeah, no," Percy gritted out. His face had turned into a light, sickly green color. But it wasn't just Percy. When Harry looked back at Luna, her serene face was green as well. Even Bellatrix and Lucius's faces were tinted with the same, greenish color.

The green glow was coming from Percy's wand.

The runes on his wand were glowing a mysterious green color, deep and shimmering. For a second, the two Death Eaters faded in the background- the only thing that seemed to exist was the green runes that drew Harry in.

The sound of Lucius's sleek voice pulled Harry out of his stupor.

"It's you?" Lucius faced Percy. He sounded incredulous, even more so than when he found out that Harry had freed Dobby with a disgusting old sock. "You don't even know the Disarming spell."

Both Death Eaters had dropped their gazes from Luna and were now staring at the glowing wand in Percy's hand. Strangely enough, Percy's face was scrunched up, lips white, as if he was struggling to pull back something… perhaps the green light that was now even seeping through the cracks of Bellatrix's grey shield.

The cracks were still there. Maybe…

Hope flared up within Harry. He lifted his wand slightly.

"I see," Bellatrix breathed out. Her wand had dipped, as her dark eyes reflected the green glow from Percy's wand. "His runes are similar to that of the Lady's…"

"You should probably stop talking," Percy gritted out. "Or my hand might slip. I would prefer not exploding this entire building, even if it gets your ugly face out of my way-" His voice was strained. But when his green eyes met Harry's, Harry realized that Percy somehow knew what Harry was thinking.

Aim for the cracks.

"They'll see us," Harry mouthed, trying to keep his lips from moving as much as possible. And it was true- he could feel Bellatrix and Lucius's eyes on them, especially on Percy's now glowing green wand.

"We should kill the spares." Bellatrix tilted her chin towards Luna, a glint in her eyes. "Leave Potter for the Dark Lord."

"You're afraid of him," Luna said serenely. Both Bellatrix and Lucius's heads whipped towards her.

Perfect.

Two voices- his own and Percy's- rang out in the large room,

"Expelliarmus!"

"Restituo!"

Harry's red streak of light landed first, shattering the shield as easily as a pebble dropping through the Great Lake. Then Percy's spell collided with Bellatrix, but instead of making her cloak disappear, she disappeared.

An orb shattered to the ground where she once was. A furious scream- Bellatrix's voice- suddenly howled, faint and distant, somewhere within the maze of shelves scattered around the room.

Harry gaped at Percy. "Did you just do a full Human Transfiguration?"

"Whoops. My bad," Percy said, not sounding sorry at all. The runes on his wand still were there, but they glowed with a less brilliant light- just a dim, green imprint on the wood of his wand. "Luna, thanks for the distraction."

Luna shrugged. "It was the truth," she said lightly, twirling her wand between her fingers. "Runes are a sign of great power- they're hardly used at all. Only the summoners of Nargles carry wands with runes on them… I told you to stay away from the Nargles."

She looked at Percy meaningfully, who just swallowed.

"Um, yeah. That."

She turned to Lucius, who was still staring at them with his wand held out. "Mr. Malfoy, you need to choose a side soon."

"I'm with the Dark Lord," Lucius bit back.

"You're not shooting any spells at us," Percy pointed out.

Lucius's hand twitched around his wand as if he was considering that idea. Harry tensed, almost expecting to see the familiar green light shooting out of his wand, but there was nothing.

"You said you knew Draco?" he suddenly asked, his eyes on Percy. It was the first time that Harry had seen anything besides pure derision, fear, or hatred in his eyes. The grey in his eyes almost softened, like melting silver.

Percy nodded. "He's my friend." He paused. "Actually, he never took my offer to make friendship bracelets, so I'm not too sure about that-"

"We never talked," Lucius interrupted, voice low. "You escaped after I tried attacking you."

Percy opened his mouth, but before he could say anything, Lucius shook his head. "I am loyal to the Dark Lord," he murmured. "But I'll spare you this once. Keep my son safe. The next time we see each other, I won't be so merciful."

Before they could react, he spun on his heel and disappeared in a flurry of black cloak and blonde hair.

"Stupid," Percy muttered. "Malfoys and their sense of drama. Almost as bad at Zeus, for gods sakes."

"We should probably go," Luna whispered. Her eyes darted around to the shelves surrounding them. "I don't think Bellatrix-"

A crack split the air, wood splintering into little pieces. Bellatrix's voice rang out, a shriek so loud that Harry cringed. "YOU CAN'T HIDE FOREVER!"

They all exchanged glances with each other and ran.

Update came out a little later than usual, apologies for that. I actually ended up editing this one last time during class haha-3rd graders were being taught how to round and how to do expanded-form in their virtual meetings, and I was busy quadruple-checking this edit. Man, I never thought I would miss the days of Zoom, but this school I'm volunteering at uses Google Meets, and MAN, I really do miss Zoom and breakout rooms. Now, because breakout rooms aren't a thing, there's just a ton of feedback and kids screaming questions and yup.

On the plus side, we've just hit exactly 500 followers, thank you guys all so much for the continued support! You cannot believe how happy I was when I realized how many people were actually following along with this long-winded storyline haha, and I hope you guys will stay longer until the story ends. Seriously thankful for all of you guys, and special kudos to reviewers-so you all better stay safe and healthy! :]