Chapter 49: A Wild Goose Chase

They could have lost the Death Eaters easily, had Harry simply led them out. He wanted, however, to see them all go to jail which meant that they took the much riskier option of leading them on a chase.

It sounded like Malfoy Sr. was in charge as he roared: "Leave Nott, leave him, I say, the Dark Lord will not care for Nott's injuries as much as losing that prophecy — Jugson, come back here, we need to organize! We'll split into pairs and search, and don't forget, be gentle with Potter until we've got the prophecy, you can kill the others if necessary—Bellatrix, Rodolphus, you take the left, Crabbe, Rabastan, go right—Jugson, Dolohov, the door straight ahead—Macnair and Avery, through here—Rookwood, over there—Mulciber, come with me!"

"What do we do?" Hermione asked Harry, trembling from head to foot as they waited.

"Well, we don't stand here waiting for them to find us, for a start," said Harry. "Let's get away from this door...but time this right so they see where we went…"

They ran, quietly as they could, toward the exit into the circular hallway at the far end of the room. They were almost there when the door behind them flew open and Harry, Hermione, and Ron dived under desks. They could see the bottom of the two Death Eaters' robes drawing nearer, their feet moving rapidly.

"They might've run straight through to the hall," said the rough voice.

"Check under the desks," said another.

Harry saw the knees of the Death Eaters bend. Poking his wand out from under the desk wordlessly, he cast his spell.

A jet of red light hit the nearest Death Eater; he fell backward into a grandfather clock and knocked it over. The second Death Eater, however, had leapt aside to avoid Harry's spell and now pointed his own wand at Hermione, who had crawled out from under the desk to get a better aim.

"Avada —"

Harry launched himself up and swung his wand wildly, exclaiming an incantation for the first time, "BOMBARDA!"

At the same time, Ron also popped up and fired a loud, "STUPEFY!"

The Death Eater was hit at the knees and chest, causing him to topple with a cry and writh, but not get back up. Blood poured from the probe form and slowly pooled on the floor.

There was a shout from a room nearby, then a crash and a scream. Was that the order? Or was that Kate?

Harry could hear more footsteps growing louder from the Hall of Prophecy they had just left and knew, too late, that he ought to have not shouted and given away their position. Kate would've never made such a rookie mistake, he thought ruefully.

"Come on!" he said, and leaving the bleeding death eater behind as they took off for the door that stood ajar at the other end of the room, leading back into the black hallway.

They had run halfway toward it when Harry saw through the open door two more Death Eaters running across the black room toward them. Veering left he burst instead into a small, dark, cluttered office and slammed the door behind them.

"Collo—" began Hermione, but before she could complete the spell the door had burst open again and the two Death Eaters had come hurtling inside. With a cry of triumph, both yelled, "IMPEDIMENTA!"

Harry, moving automatically, flung his wand up and produced his most powerful shield. The dueling lessons his sister had given him paid off as the spells collided with the shield and dissipated uselessly.

"WE'VE GOT HIM!" yelled the Death Eater nearest Harry, "IN AN OFFICE OF—"

"Silencio!" cried Hermione, and the man's voice was extinguished. He continued to mouth through the hole in his mask, but no sound came out; he was thrust aside by his fellow.

"Petrificus Totalus!" Said Harry, as the second Death Eater raised his wand. His arms and legs snapped together and he fell forward, facedown onto the rug at Harry's feet, stiff as a board and unable to move at all.

"Well done, Ha—"

But the Death Eater Hermione had just struck dumb made a sudden slashing movement with his wand from which flew a streak of what looked like purple flame. It looked as though it would pass right across Hermione's chest and just as she gave a tiny "oh!" Ron cast a shield directly in front of her. It was a reflecting shield apparently as it went back to its casted almost before they could react.

The Death Eater leapt to the side, landing brutally on a desk and gave a howl of pain and recoiled, clutching his mouth and nose.

Harry twisted around, his own wand held high, and saw that the Death Eater had turned onto his back, ripped off his mask and was pointing his wand directly at Harry, who recognized the long, pale, twisted face from the Daily Prophet: Antonin Dolohov, the wizard who had murdered the Prewetts.

Dolohov grinned, made all the more cynical by the blood gushing down his face. With his free hand, he pointed from the prophecy still clutched in Harry's hand, to himself, then at Hermione, who seemed frozen in shock.

Though he could no longer speak his meaning could not have been clearer: Give me the prophecy, or they get it...

"Like you won't kill us all the moment I hand it over anyway!" said Harry.

Then there was a crash outside the door, and Dolohov looked over his shoulder warily.

Harry seized his chance: "Incarcerous!"

The spell hit Dolohov before he could block it, and he toppled forward across the floor. "You didn't think we'd actually be stupid enough to come alone, did you?" Harry sneered, feeling the need to gloat.

Hermione stunned him for good measure.

"Come on, mate." Ron said, "Let's find Kate."

There was a pause in which Harry listened hard for the sounds of more footsteps, but all he could hear were the whimpers and blunderings of Death Eaters, he suspected, who had found his sister some rooms away.

"We're not far from the exit," Hermione whispered. "We're right next to the circular room...If we can just get you across it and find the right door before any more Death Eaters come, we can find the others, the order's should be here by now..."

Harry stuck his head out of the door and looked around cautiously. Their were still Death Eaters screaming and banging into things (probably being thrown into them), and the glass cabinet that Harry now suspected had contained Time-Turners had begun to fall, shatter, and repair itself on the wall behind them.

They began to creep towards the exit and were within a few feet of it when another door across the hall burst open and three Death Eaters sped into the hall, led by Bellatrix Lestrange.

"There they are!" she shrieked.

Spells shot across the room: Harry smashed his way through the door ahead, Ron unceremoniously blasting his way after him, and Hermione hot on their heels. They were all over the threshold just in time to slam the door against Bellatrix.

"Colloportus!" shouted Harry, and he heard three bodies slam into the door on the other side. He wanted to laugh, but another terrible thought occurred to him. Why hadn't Kate gotten them yet?

"It doesn't matter!" said a man's voice. "There are other ways in—WE'VE GOT THEM, THEY'RE HERE!"

Harry spun around. They were back in the Brain Room and, sure enough, there were doors all around the walls. He could hear footsteps in the hall behind them as more Death Eaters came running to join the first.

The three of them tore around the room, sealing the doors as they went. "Colloportus!" Harry muttered, "lock them out—it should buy more time!"

There were footsteps running along behind the doors; every now and then another heavy body would launch itself against one, so it creaked and shuddered. The room was a large cavernous hall, one Harry did not recognize, with nothing but a stone dias and some sort of veil in the middle.

Hermione was bewitching the doors along the opposite wall—then, as Harry reached the very top of the room, he heard her cry, "Collo—aaaaaaaaargh . . ."

He turned in time to see her flying through the air. Five Death Eaters were surging into the room through the door she had not reached in time; Hermione hit a desk, slid over its surface and onto the floor on the other side where she lay sprawled.

"Get Potter!" shrieked Bellatrix, and she ran at him. He dodged her and sprinted back up the room; he was safe as long as they thought they might hit the prophecy—

"Hey!" said Ron, "I feel forgotten!" He mocked.

Meanwhile, Hermione, who had staggered to her feet and was now pointing her wand at the Death Eaters again, said, "That really the best you got?"

The scene seemed momentarily frozen, five of the original twelve Death Eaters remained. Harry, Ron, and Hermione had gotten four, which meant that Kate had gotten the other two and Nott had stayed in the Hall of Prophecy (having been cursed by Kate, most likely). He didn't see Lucius Malfoy's blond hair amongst the group, and figured that meant Kate had probably gone after him and Mulciber. Where was she? He doubted the Death Eaters had gotten the better of her but she would've caught up with him by then. Unless the DADA curse had gotten—no. He couldn't think like that.

Both sides were just beginning their curses at each other when, high above them, two more doors burst open and seven more people sprinted into the room: Sirius, Jake, Moody, Tonks, Kingsley, and Dumbledore, led by Kate.

One of the Death Eaters turned and raised his wand, but Tonks had already sent a Stunning Spell right at him. Harry did not wait to see whether it had made contact, but dived off the dais out of the way. The Death Eaters were completely distracted by the appearance of the members of the Order, who were now raining spells down upon them as they jumped from step to step toward the sunken floor.

They all sped down the steps past Harry, Ron, and Hermione, who had no thought of leaving. Dumbledore was already at the foot of the steps when the Death Eaters nearest realized he was there. There were yells; one of the Death Eaters ran for it, scrabbling like a monkey up the stone steps opposite. Kate's spell pulled him back as easily and effortlessly as though he had hooked him with an invisible line—nearly all of the Death Eaters seemed to realize it was futile, trapped between Kate and Dumbledore.

Only one couple were still battling, apparently unaware that two of the most powerful magical s of all time were there. Harry saw Sirius duck Bellatrix's jet of red light: He was laughing at her. "Come on, you can do better than that!" he yelled, his voice echoing around the cavernous room.

The second jet of light hit him squarely on the chest. The laughter had not quite died from his face, but his eyes widened in shock. Time seemed to slow to a near stop as several people around them could do no more than stare.

Harry released the orb in his hand, though he was unaware of doing so and did not even notice it shatter on the floor. He was jumping down the steps again, pulling out his wand, as Dumbledore turned to the dais too. Kate was already facing the dias and raising her non-wand hand.

It seemed to take Sirius an age to fall. His body curved in a graceful arc as he sank backward…

The world seemed to turn purple and then—

Time suddenly snapped back to full time with his body when it jerked forward suddenly. The world became clear again and Harry saw the look of mingled fear and surprise on his godfather's face as he toppled forward with a muffled crash. Relief flooded Harry until he nearly collapsed onto his knees.

There was movement going on around them, pointless bustling, the flashes of more spells. To Harry it was meaningless noise, the deflected curses flying past them did not matter, nothing mattered except that he got to Sirius, who lay unmoving on the floor.

Harry sprinted toward the dais but Jake grabbed Harry around the chest, holding him back. He struggled, beyond words.

Dumbledore had most of the remaining Death Eaters grouped in the middle of the room, seemingly immobilized by invisible ropes. Mad-Eye Moody had gone to where Tonks lay and was attempting to revive her while Kate had gone up to Sirius and rolled him over, waving her wand above him silently. Behind the dais there were still flashes of light, grunts, and cries—Kingsley had run forward to continue Sirius's duel with Bellatrix.

"Harry?" Hermione whispered, having come up next to him.

There was a loud bang and a yell from behind the dais. Harry saw Kingsley, yelling in pain, hit the ground. Bellatrix Lestrange turned tail and ran as Kate and Dumbledore whipped around.

He aimed a spell at her but Kate deflected it. Harry was suddenly furious with his sister for letting the her go. Lestrange was halfway up the steps now—

"Harry—no!" cried Lupin, but Harry had already ripped his arm from Jake's slackened grip.

"SHE KILLED SIRIUS!" bellowed Harry. "SHE KILLED HIM—I'LL KILL HER!"

And he was off, scrambling up the stone benches. People were shouting behind him but he did not care. The hem of Bellatrix's robes whipped out of sight ahead…

"Why would you block my spell?" Albus demanded furiously, once Harry disappeared from sight.

Kate looked at him grimly, jaw locked, "because she will summon Voldemort. And someone should get a healer—Black's not dead. Albus—we need to go, my brother can't do this alone."

Albus didn't answer but instead scrambled up the steps that Harry had just gone up, Kate hot on his heels, both ignored the confused exclamations behind them.

Kate's heart was in her throat as she bolted after Albus, eventually over taking him in her haste to get to Harry. She absently wondered if this whole running-to-rescue-someone-from-evil-minions thing was what she and Albus would be doing whenever they were in the same room from now on. The thought of her brother alone with those monsters quickly overpowered that thought. Without anyone attacking her to serve as a distraction, her mind ran through increasingly horrible scenes for them to find. They made it up to the atrium at last.

"Remember the plan!" Kate hissed when they arrived. Albus nodded shortly and stalked forward.

"I have nothing more to say to you, Potter," Voldemort was saying quietly. "You have irked me too often, for too long. AVADA KEDAVRA!"

The headless golden statue of the wizard in the fountain had sprung alive, leaping from its plinth, and landed on the floor with a crash between Harry and Voldemort. The spell merely glanced off its chest as the statue flung out its arms, protecting Harry.

"What—?" said Voldemort, staring around. And then he breathed, "Dumbledore!"

Harry looked behind him, his heart pounding. Dumbledore was standing in front of the golden gates.

Voldemort raised his wand and sent another jet of green light at Dumbledore, who turned and was gone in a whirling of his cloak; next second he had reappeared behind Voldemort and waved his wand toward the remnants of the fountain; the other statues sprang to life too. The statue of the witch ran at Bellatrix, who screamed and sent spells streaming uselessly off its chest, before it dived at her, pinning her to the floor. Meanwhile, the goblin, the headless statue, and the house-elf scuttled toward the fireplaces set along the wall, and the one-armed centaur galloped at Voldemort, who vanished and reappeared beside the pool.

Harry was yanked backward, away from the fight, as Dumbledore advanced on Voldemort and the golden centaur cantered around them both. He glanced back to see who was gripping his arm and wasn't surprised to see, "Kate!" He exclaimed, part surprised and part frustrate.

"Why would you let her escape!?" Harry demanded, face flushing.

Kate looked strange to his eye, her face was set like marble into a neutral expression and her movement was swift and graceful, like a panther. The most disturbing thing, for Harry, was her eyes however, they lacked their normal kind brown warmth, but instead were like hard purple diamonds.

She sounded normal when she spoke, which made Harry, who was standing tensely and hadn't even noticed, relax. "Sirius isn't dead, Harry." She said gently, "and I think you forgot the most important part of this little plan out there."

Harry blinked, mind straining as he groped around for what he was missing before he glance behind him—

Dumbledore flicked his wand and the force of the spell that emanated from it was such that Harry felt his hair stand on end as it passed, and Voldemort was forced to conjure a shining silver shield out of thin air to deflect it. The spell, whatever it was, caused no visible damage to the shield, though a deep, gonglike note reverberated from it, an oddly chilling sound…

"You do not seek to kill me, Dumbledore?" called Voldemort, his scarlet eyes narrowed over the top of the shield. "Above such brutality, are you?"

"We both know that there are other ways of destroying a man, Tom," Dumbledore said calmly, continuing to walk toward Voldemort as though he had not a fear in the world, as though nothing had happened to interrupt his stroll up the hall. "Merely taking your life would not satisfy me, I admit—"

"There is nothing worse than death, Dumbledore!" snarled Voldemort.

"We will test that theory and you shall have to tell me," said Dumbledore, still closing in upon Voldemort and speaking as lightly as though they were discussing the matter over drinks. Harry felt scared to see him walking along, undefended, shieldless. He wanted to cry out a warning, but Kate put a hand over his mouth without even needing to be told what he was going to do.

A jet of green light flew from behind the silver shield. This time it was the one-armed centaur, galloping in front of Dumbledore, that took the blast and shattered into a hundred pieces, but before the fragments had even hit the floor, Dumbledore had drawn back his wand and waved it as though brandishing a whip. A long thin flame flew from the tip; it wrapped itself around Voldemort, shield and all. For a moment, it seemed Dumbledore had won, but then the fiery rope became a serpent, which relinquished its hold upon Voldemort at once and turned, hissing furiously, to face Dumbledore.

Voldemort vanished. The snake reared from the floor, ready to strike—

"Do what Albus tells you, Harry." Kate ordered suddenly, moving towards the fight.

Voldemort reappeared, standing on the plinth in the middle of the pool where so recently the five statues had stood.

One more jet of green light had flown at Dumbledore from Voldemort's wand and the snake had struck—

It dissipated into nothingness.

Voldemort whirled around, fear suddenly crossing his face. "That's not possible!" He hissed furiously.

He caught sight of Kate walking towards him just as calmly as Dumbledore had several minutes earlier.

"You must be Kate Ross," he hissed, "I've heard of you, mudblood."

She stared at him, completely unconcerned, "I've heard of you, too, I suppose."

A/N:: REVIEW! One more chapter to go!