Chapter 12

Holly briskly walked down the long corridors of the room of prophecies. There was still a lot of broken glass on the floor, it crunched under her feet and those of the wizard following her. It was April and Holly had not seen Charlie since their wedding more than a month ago now. She was still upset that the last thing they had talked about was her having to kill someone and it had been a horrible end to the happiest day of her life. It had been an attack on the muggle prime minister but Holly had not been able to send Charlie a note for ages after as their attack had been unsuccessful and Holly had been punished by the dark lord. Holly thought he would kill her then but luckily for her, all his anger was focused on another death eater who had been in charge of the attack. When Holly finally managed to contact Charlie he had of course already known about the attack. They then planned on meeting at the flat in Shoreditch but Holly felt like she was being followed and so she turned into a side street. She was proven right when Greyback appeared behind her, asking what business she had in muggle London. Holly did not really know what to say so she made up some lie about having heard rumours that Potter had been seen in the area. She then had to spend the rest of the afternoon pretending to look for Potter with Greyback.

Holly and the wizard had finally made it to the small door leading to the room of death. Holly hated being in there. Nevertheless she opened it resolutely and walked around the seats, trying her best to ignore the voices coming from the gate in the middle of the ancient court. They seemed to get louder every time she entered the room.

"I've read Hogan's notes on this room. Apparently you can only hear the voices when you are close to death." The wizard, Puddley, said.

"Well, all of us working here can hear them. I would be surprised if there is anyone left in the wizarding world who cannot hear them." Holly said, not slowing down. She did not want to stay in this room any second longer.

"True." Puddley hurried to keep up with her. "Where are we going again?"

"To the room of love. Higgins has found a former Unspeakable at St. Mungo's who is apparently not too far gone to remember." Holly said and opened the door at the end of the room of death. They stepped into a long dark corridor.

"And you reckon he'll know how to open the door?" Puddley said and then cast a quick lumos so they could see where they were going.

Holly just nodded. Ever since they had started with trying to uncover the secrets at the department of mysteries the room of love had remained locked. Holly knew that the other wizards working with her had tried everything to open the door but to no avail. There were no notes like for the other rooms and so they had started to interrogate the wizards and witches who used to work at the department. Most were insane as a result of all the curses they had been under whilst the dark lord had been preparing the take over of the ministry. But she'd received an owl from Higgins this morning with the good news.

When Holly and Puddley made it to the end of the corridor, Higgins was already there. A skinny and pale wizard was squatting at his feet, shaking visibly. That must be the Unspeakable.

"Took you long enough." Higgins hissed at them, visibly uncomfortable with the insane wizard so close to him.

"I had to find Puddley first." Holly said by way of apology. Puddley didn't say anything but stared at the wizard at their feet who had now started whining. It was a ghastly sound.

"How do we open the door?" Higgins said, pointing his wand at the wizard. The wizard did not react.

"He doesn't look like he'll be able to tell us. It's no good." Puddley said, still not able to take his eyes of him.

"Have you tried legilimency?" Holly asked, knowing full well that Higgins was a poor legilimens.

"His mind is too broken. Not really sure what would happen if any of us tried to go there." Higgins answered.

"So what are we going to do? You must have something in mind or you wouldn't have called us here." The hair on the back of her neck started to stand up. "Why did you even call us? Both of us are working in the room of time."

Higgins gave her a dangerous smile. "Well a little birdie has told me that Severus Snape himself has trained you as a legilimens." He turned to Puddley. "But I thought before you had a go, Puddley here can be our guinea pig."

Holly's insides turned to ice. She knew exactly why this was happening. Snape did practise legilimency with her but she was not that good at it. So Greyback must have told the dark lord of her suspicious behaviour and the dark lord had decided that she was no longer needed. And what better way than to make her lose her mind by trying to penetrate an insane man's brain.

Puddley looked just how Holly felt. Nevertheless he squatted down opposite the skinny wizard. He pointed his wand at the other's face and shouted "legilimens!". For a while nothing happened and then they both screamed. Puddley sank back unconscious. Higgins swore and slapped Puddley's cheek hard. Puddley's eyes fluttered open.

"And?" Higgins asked. Holly looked down the long corridor behind her. If she made a run for it would she be able to make it out before Higgins hexed her?

"I've never seen anything like it." Puddley whispered, his voice shaky.

"But you've not gone insane. Holly, your turn."

Holly sighed but then sank down in front of the skinny wizard. She braced herself and whispered "legilimens" whilst pointing her wand at the other's forehead. For a moment she saw nothing but darkness. And then the wailing started. Holly pressed her eyes shut and tried to get out but couldn't. She started moving and something hit her but she did not stop. Holly opened her eyes again and there were hundreds of doors around her. She opened one at random and again, more doors appeared. It was like the department of mysteries was in this wizard's mind. Holly hurried through door after door until she entered a room that looked much like the room of death. The voices in here were even louder than in the real room of death.

"Can you hear what they are saying?" A deep voice said behind her. Holly flinched and turned around. It was the skinny wizard, but he looked much healthier here.

"No." Holly answered, turning back to the gate.

"I can. They are calling for me to join them. That's how I know I will die soon." The skinny wizard grabbed her arm. "We should not linger. Come." The two of them left the room of death but Holly could still hear the voices. They walked down the long corridor that Holly knew was leading up to the room of love.

"How can we get in?" Holly asked when they had arrived at the door.

"They can't." The wizard answered. "But you can."

"Why?" Holly stared at the door. It seemed much smaller than in reality.

"Only those may enter who know love and who are loved in return. To those, the room does not pose any danger. I have worked there for many years. I can tell that you are in love and are loved." The wizard smiled. "The wizards with you will not be able to follow you when you walk through the door."

"What is in there?" Holly felt a pull at the back of her head. "Quickly, tell me. I can't stay much longer."

"Nothing of use to Voldemort. He won't be able to enter the room nor use any of the magic hidden in there."

Before Holly could ask anything else she felt the pull again and suddenly she was lying on the floor, Higgins' face close to her.

"I thought you were a goner." He said coldly. "Did you find anything?"

Holly sat up. Puddley was standing with his back to the wall, looking terrified. The skinny wizard was flat out. Holly was not sure whether he was alive still. Choosing to ignore Higgins, Holly walked up to the door and pressed down the handle. It clicked once and opened, just like the wizard had said. The room seemed filled with a bright white light and Holly stepped through the door. Angry shouting behind her told her that Higgins and Puddley had not been able to follow.

First Holly thought the room was empty, but then she saw that the walls were lined with bookshelves. There were various objects placed on stone columns scattered around the room. One held a bow and arrows, another an apple and a third a harp. Holly inspected the objects but did not touch anything. Then she came to a shelf with various vials and bottles. Holly was pretty sure they were all love potions. She was proven right when she read the small labels. She picked one up that said "Amortentia". Holly of course knew the potion, everyone did. It was the strongest love potion known to wizards. She uncorked the bottle and as soon as it was open the smells of forest, bonfire and a strong cup of tea filled the room. Holly smiled because this was how Charlie smelled to her. She closed the bottle again and put it back on the shelf. Holly stepped away from the shelf and only then did she notice the large mirror at the far end of the room. She walked up to it and when she looked into it, she saw herself with Charlie by her side. There was a small but cozy looking house behind them. A small girl with Charlie's red hair appeared by her side and a boy with her own dark hair appeared next to Charlie. They all looked happy.

It took Holly a long time before she was ready to leave the room of love and the mirror. Higgins and Puddley were waiting outside, Higgins looked furious.

"What was that all about? Why were we not able to enter?" He barked at her. They all flinched when the door fell shut with a loud bang.

"I don't know. The wizard's mind was empty, he is dead inside. And the room is useless to us. There is nothing in there but the mirror of erised." The lie left her lips easily. Holly left the two wizards behind and left. She needed to see Charlie.

Holly looked at Charlie who was sitting opposite her in Bill's old flat in Shoreditch. She had just told him that she could not work for the dark lord anymore.

"I will join my family in Italy. I'll be safe there. I hope." She bit her lip. "Can you please reconsider coming with me?"

"I can't. I feel like things are coming to an end. One way or the other. I can't disappear on everyone now." Charlie stood up and joined her on the small sofa. He scooped her up in his arms. "We'll be able to be together soon." He kissed her forehead.

"I was in the room of love at the department of mysteries." Holly said against his neck. "It smelled like you."

"Did it?" She could feel Charlie smiling against her forehead. "What was that like?"

"Forest." Holly looked up at him. "A bonfire." She kissed his chin, his cheeks and the tip of his nose. "A strong cup of tea."

Charlie smiled again. "Sometimes I think about what amortentia would smell like for me." He held her more tightly. "I think you smell like daisies."

Holly pressed herself against him. She didn't think that she would smell like anything so pure. In her head the smell of blood and pain must linger wherever she went. But she wasn't going to correct him. Holly could not bear the thought of him knowing about the darkness inside of her.

"They also keep the mirror of erised in there." Thinking of what she had seen in it scared Holly more than anything else. Because it had given her hope. Hope that maybe Charlie was right, and there was a future for them.

"What did you see?" He had become perfectly still.

At first Holly thought it'd be better to lie. She looked up at him and something in his eyes made her tell him the truth instead.

"Two?" He said and the hopefulness in his voice went straight to Holly's heart. She nodded. Charlie laughed. "Doesn't seem enough for a proper Weasley family."

Holly let herself get swept up in his laughter and joined in. She didn't know even know how long it's been since she last had laughed.

"I'll need a couple of weeks to get everything sorted but then I'll be leaving for Italy at the end of April." Holly kissed Charlie on the lips. "I'll send Wanda as soon as I can."

"It'll be good to know that you are safe. I have to go back to Romania for a bit but I'm sure I'll be able to come see you in Italy. If it's safe?" He kissed her and there was an urgency in his kiss now.

"It should be." Holly pulled her jumper over her head and kissed him. And then they didn't talk for a while.

Saying goodbye to Charlie was a lot harder than it had been in the past. There seemed to be some sort of finality to it although Holly knew that they'd see each other again in just two weeks. Which was nothing considering that there had been times when they hadn't seen each other in months. When Charlie eventually disapparated Holly had a strange feeling in her stomach that she just couldn't seem to shake. She sighed and disapparated.

Everything was falling apart. Holly frantically ran down Diagon Alley, Barnaby and some other death eaters in front of her. She was meant to be well on her way to Italy now. She was meant to have sent a message to Charlie. But the dark lord had called them. All of them. He was furious. Holly had never seen him like that. Something had gone very wrong for him. And now Holly was on her way to Gringotts where they could just about make out the tail end of a huge dragon flying off. What on earth was going on? Holly asked herself for what felt the hundredth time.

She entered the wizarding bank and it was more or less destroyed. There were dead goblins on the floor as well as some security wizards. And then her mark burned and she fell to her knees and so did the other death eaters. When she managed to open her eyes again the dark lord was there, Bellatrix Lestrange by his side.

"They took it!" He screamed and Holly was in pain again.

"My lord, please, we can't be sure." Bellatrix said, and although she looked to be in just as much pain as everyone else, her voice was soothing.

"Send them." The dark lord pointed at where Holly was kneeling on the floor, Barnaby beside her. Then he disapparated and the pain subsided somewhat.

"You!" Bellatrix came up to her and Barnaby. "Take the others and go to my vault. Look for a sword and a golden cup." The cruel witch looked around. "There are no goblins left alive, but you can probably open the door just as well with a dead one." She pushed a small key into Holly's hand and then disapparated as well.

Holly shakily got to her feet and after a nod towards the other death eaters one of them picked up a dead goblin. Holly lead them to the entrance down to the vault and it was just total destruction.

"How are we meant to get down there?" One of the death eaters mumbled and Holly did not know how to answer him. Then her gaze fell on several brooms.

They all grabbed a broom and flew down into the destroyed underbelly of the bank. Holly hated flying but she was even more scared that she wouldn't be able to deliver Bellatrix a satisfactory answer. There was no point to just lie and say they had looked when they hadn't. Bellatrix would see straight through them.

Holly flew at the head of their small party and so she was the first one to be drenched by a waterfall that even now was still pouring down from a place Holly could not make out. Then they were at the bottom and got off their brooms. The death eater who had grabbed the goblin earlier held out his hand towards Holly and she wordlessly handed him the key. He disappeared towards a vault but Holly could see that they wouldn't need a key. It had been broken open.

"Holly." A weak voice said behind her.

Holly turned around. Barnaby just stood there, drenched like everyone else, but there was a strange expression on his face. Holly froze. For the first time in months he looked like he had before Holly had cast the memory charm on him. He looked sane. He looked like he remembered everything. Holly frantically raised her wand but Barnaby was faster.

"Expelliarmus!" He shouted and Holly's wand flew out of her hand and landed somewhere far behind her.

Barnaby slowly walked up to her. Holly did not dare to move. She did not dare to say a word.

"You." The dark wizard said, his face now contorted with anger.

Holly started to shake. The waterfall. It had washed away the enchantments. It had washed away the fake memories in Barnaby's head.

"You." Barnaby said again. There was so much hate and anger in just the one word. He raised his wand at Holly.

Holly knew that this was it. She was utterly defenceless. There was nothing that she could say or do to stop him from killing her. She heard the other death eaters rummaging and shouting in Bellatrix's vault. They wouldn't be of any help to her.

"Barnaby…" Holly started but stopped herself when his face became even more distorted with anger.

Barnaby walked up closer to her, his wand still raised. Holly's eyes filled up with tears. Barnaby shouted at her, the flash of a spell in her eyes. Holly thought of Charlie and the smell of forest, a bonfire and a strong cup of tea filled her nose. And then everything just ended.