Marina had expected pandemonium.
She'd left the letter on the kitchen table after ordering Kreacher to direct anyone who'd heard her to read it. He was also under orders not to leave the house, under any circumstances, and have no form of contact with Bellatrix whatsoever. They'd have to figure out how he managed to betray them later.
Then she had apparated to the Ministry. Carmen, Jolene and Elvira were there, waiting.
"Ange and Trish got cornered by Snape," Jolene explained.
"Katie and Sam stayed behind to rally the others, in case we're not back by morning," Carmen added.
"Let's go," she said and took the lead.
Voldemort wanted the prophecy, so the trap would be down in the Department of Mysteries.
"Is it me, or is it way too easy for us to get in?" Elvira asked dryly. "Where the hell is everybody?"
"They all called it a day. It's past five."
"Still, there should at least be some guards," Marina agreed with Elvira. "Amelia knows better."
"Maybe there were guards," Jolene suggested glumly. "Caught unawares, they could have been neutralized – especially if he's really here."
"He isn't," Marina assured them, fighting against their collective fear. "He'd never risk it. But I'm reasonably sure he would have sent Bellatrix."
She mentally cursed herself when her voice broke on her cousin's name.
But she had far more interesting questions.
"What the bloody hell was Harry thinking?" she snapped as the lift descended.
"I don't think he was," Carmen said quietly. "It's you."
The two people in this world Harry would risk anything for were Marina and her father.
Well, and Ron, Susan and Hermione. But they'd been with him, safe at school.
"He knows better," she grumbled. "He knows Voldemort wants that prophecy. And still he's running into a freaking trap."
They all jumped out of the lift, disillusioned each other, and took off running.
Jolene's pessimistic outlook proved true. On their way to the Room of Prophecies, they came across multiple guards – all of them knocked out cold. Hopefully.
"Shouldn't we check if –?"
"No," she said. "We need to get there and make sure my idiot of a brother and his friends don't get themselves killed tonight."
"Hang on," Carmen mumbled and they all drew to a stop. It was weird to watch basically nothing – if you knew what to look for, you could see Carmen's outline.
Then a big, silver horned owl burst out of thin air and shot through the sealing.
"When did you master Patronus messages?" she asked her best friend while they hurried on.
"About a week ago. Flitwick's been teaching me."
If the toad had caught them, that could have gotten their Charms professor sacked.
"Let's just hope it finds him."
No one needed to ask. If there was even a miniscule chance that they would encounter Voldemort tonight, they needed Dumbledore. Wherever he was.
Shelves upon shelves of prophecies made it difficult to find Harry or anyone else.
"It's like a damn maze down here," Elvira muttered.
"Makes you wonder how many of these actually come true," Jolene replied.
"Less than you think," Marina answered grimly. "The future isn't set in stone. Unless of course, you make things happen yourself."
"Can you sense them?"
"No. My empathy doesn't work at this dist-" She never got to finish.
A horribly familiar cackle echoed throughout the massive room.
To her chagrin, Marina froze.
Her wand was shaking in her hand and she clenched her teeth against the memories.
She had no time for a meltdown.
"Mar?" Elvira whispered, her own voice trembling.
She crouched, leaning against one of shelves and trying not to hyperventilate.
Pull yourself together, she told herself angrily.
Tears burned in the corners of her eyes, the memory of pain haunting her. It had taken months for the phantom pain and tremors to stop. She'd only just started sleeping without draught again. The thought that Bellatrix might get another crack at her…
Dad wouldn't let that stop him. Not with Harry in trouble.
And his friends had followed him straight into a trap. Ron, Hermione and Susan. Ginny, Tyler, Luna and Neville.
Neville.
Marina straightened back up and undid the disillusionment on herself. Her friends followed suit. She would not let that lunatic win.
"Let's go."
And again, they took off running. Bellatrix' laughter became louder, which meant they were headed in the right direction.
Then another sound joined in. Marina's screams.
Except of course, it wasn't her. But it sure was her voice.
"Which one do you think volunteered to be tortured?" Jolene asked dryly. "He must really want that prophecy, and they must really be afraid of failing him."
"Still, the Polyjuice potion has to wear off soon," Elvira mumbled. "Hopefully before Harry does something stupid."
"If it is Polyjuice potion," Marina said grimly. "If so, they took a risk they didn't need to. They have a carbon copy of me, remember?"
All three gaped at her. But using Titania for this made much more sense than risking potion wearing off before Harry did what they wanted.
"You ready for this?" Carmen asked her and squeezed her arm.
"Like I have a choice."
Finally, they rounded another corner and promptly ducked behind a shelf for cover.
She peeked around the wood and bit her tongue.
Harry was, as per usual, standing in front of his friends, as if to shield them. On the other side of the aisle were Death Eaters.
Bellatrix was the only one who wasn't wearing a stupid mask, and she was having a blast, torturing … someone who looked exactly like Marina.
Now that they were this close, though, her empathy worked. There were too many of them.
Harry was clutching something round in his left hand.
"He already took down the prophecy," she whispered as soundlessly as possible. Her friends nodded in understanding.
This was very bad.
Then the screams stopped, and all four of them peeked.
"How much more of this do you think she can take, boy?" the Death Eater next to Bellatrix asked, and Marina damn near snarled.
It was Lucius.
"Amelia never said a word," Carmen whispered, thunderstruck. "Not a peep about another escape."
"Well, not to us," Marina replied. "I'm guessing our parents knew."
And if they all made it out of there, they'd be having another talk about that.
Harry recognised Lucius too, judging from the disgust on his face.
Her doppelganger whimpered, curling into a ball.
"Harry … please."
Marina rolled her eyes. She never thought she'd hate the sound of her own voice.
But Harry, to … well, everyone's astonishment, laughed. It wasn't a happy sound. More like someone who'd just realised he'd been had.
"Nice. But you're not my sister."
It was utterly ridiculous, but she was happy he could tell the difference.
"Harry…"
"She would rather be tortured to death than risk him," Hermione informed the whimpering woman on the floor. "So you might as well drop the act."
"And you are a hundred percent certain, are you?" another Death Eater asked. "Willing to risk your sister's life?"
That was just about enough of that.
Marina looked at the girls, all of whom nodded in grim agreement.
Then she threw up a shield between the kids and the Death Eaters, stepping out from behind the shelves.
"If you get lost now-," Marina told them with a glare, "- you might make it out in time to avoid a fight with the Order."
The teenagers' relief at seeing her was somewhat flattering, if a bit exaggerated. She was good, but no miracle worker.
"Black," yet another masked menace hissed.
That one she recognised and mentally swore. Amelia really didn't share any better than Fudge.
"Rodolphus," she said grimly, standing next to Harry.
"You really are the most foolish girl I have ever encountered," Lucius hissed through the mask.
"Funny. I was about to say the same to you. Walking into the Ministry has to be the stupidest thing you ever did."
Before any more nonsense could come forth, she focused on the still curled-up woman on the floor.
"Get up already, you moron," she sighed. "Game's up."
Pure wrath washed over her.
Marina really didn't know why she was surprised. Hatred was a prerequisite for the Death Eater cult.
The figure heaved herself up, pulling her wand while she was at it.
She supposed she should have disarmed her, but she needed to stall. They were still outnumbered and she had to buy the cavalry time to arrive.
If they came.
When the masochistic fool turned around, Marina knew. No Polyjuice potion had been needed. The woman's eyes were grey.
"Tell me something, Titania," she nonchalantly said, drawing shock from across the aisle. "What kind of maniac volunteers to be tortured by the lunatic behind you?"
Harry shot her a look.
Well, yes. In a roundabout way, she had volunteered, hadn't she?
"You know who I am?" her twin asked coldly and Marina had to suppress a shudder.
It was her voice alright, but it was… different. Even when talking to Voldemort himself she had never sounded like that.
"Yes. As does the Order and the Ministry. So this will be the last time this little charade of yours works. It shouldn't have worked tonight, in fact," she added somewhat grumpily, glaring at her brother from the corner of her eye.
"Sorry," he mumbled, but didn't dare say more.
"How?" Titania demanded. "Mother assured me she killed everyone who knew."
Just like that. As if she was talking about the weather forecast. It made Marina sick.
"True enough. But our mother warned me even in death."
"Little mud-blood grew a brain, did she?" Bellatrix huffed, twirling her wand.
Titania shot their cousin a glare. Marina snorted a laugh.
"I don't think Mum was the brainless one," she said. "Do you really think Castor and Jezebeth would have stolen a muggle-born's child?"
Bellatrix cackle cut off in the middle, and she seemed stunned.
"Our great-great-great-grandmother was Cassandra Trelawney. We're just from her daughter's line and she took her American husband's name."
There was no harm in telling them. Voldemort already knew.
And so did Titania, judging from her decidedly unsurprised feelings.
"Just give us the prophecy and you can leave. Tonight," her sister added almost like an afterthought.
"You can't honestly expect me to believe that bullocks."
Apparently, her twin's temper was worse than her own because she bared her teeth – good grief, that looked ridiculous – and raised her wand.
But one of the girls was faster, disarming her from the shadows.
The Death Eaters all stood at attention, looking around in confusion.
"Again, you didn't really think I came alone, did you?" Marina questioned drolly.
"Too scared to take me on?" Titania asked, derision in every syllable.
"Hardly. Just ask Crouch. If it was just me, I'd duel you and be done with it. But I won't risk my brother and his friends just to take you down a notch. … Or a few."
If Titania was an empath as well, then all her bravado was for nothing.
Marina might have been able to take on her sister, but there was the matter of the Death Eaters with her.
This was ridiculous.
"Why in Merlin's name would you come here, Harry?" she grumbled, never taking her eyes off the fanatics before her.
"I… it happened again. Like at Christmas."
That meant Voldemort had caught on. He had used their connection to lure Harry into a trap, and her fool of a brother had run straight into it.
"I figured. But why would you come here, knowing what he's after? Even if it had been me."
Indignation flooded her, and she sighed.
"Like I was just gonna leave you to him?" he huffed, for a moment sounding like the teenager he was supposed to be. Not the kid with the weight of the world on his back.
"We tried stopping him," Hermione spoke up somewhat timidly. "But he wouldn't listen."
"Awesome. Then I guess I'll just have to give you a bracelet too," she mused almost to herself.
"Say what?"
"I gave Carmen a charmed bracelet. The charm works kind of like the one on the Weasley's clock. Expect this one only tells her weather I'm in trouble or not."
And the spell was a pain in the arse. Still, it would be better than Harry waltzing into traps.
The Death Eaters had stayed suspiciously quiet during that side-play. And with a start Marina realised that she wasn't the only one stalling.
But who would they be waiting for? Not one fruitcake was missing from this particular line-up and…
No.
He wouldn't actually risk coming here, would he? Into the Ministry?
"Harry, did you watch the damn thing?" she asked, and the kids snapped into attention behind her. They heard in her voice that something was wrong.
"Yes, we did."
"Then you know what to do."
She could feel them bracing themselves. The girls in the shadows did the same.
Hurry up, Dad, she thought and prayed to whoever might listen. This is about to get ugly.
With a deep breath, Harry raised the prophecy orb… and threw it on the ground as hard as he could.
It shattered into a billion pieces, before dissolving into nothing.
Titania and Bellatrix let loose identical howls of fury, while the others just stared in shock.
Marina knew that their master would not take their failure well.
"Now the prophecy exists only in their heads," Marina told them grimly. "He'll never know what it said."
But mostly it meant that they couldn't kill the kids now. Not while there was a chance that they could pull the memory from their brains.
"You'll pay for this!"
"No, Lucius. The only ones who'll pay are you. I don't imagine he'll be too pleased."
Collective fear seized them.
How can you be loyal to someone who so terrified you? It boggled all sense.
One of the maniacs tossed some jinx their way out of anger, but Hermione easily blocked it.
This was exactly what Harry and Marina had been training their friends for.
She had just been hoping they wouldn't need it so bloody soon. Or ever.
"Harry, you guys get out of here no matter what," she said. "Floo to Headquarters."
She didn't trust that in his anger Voldemort wouldn't risk attacks on their homes.
"Not without you."
"Yes, without me" she snapped and turned to him. She trusted the girls to watch her back. And the kids for that matter.
"That would defeat the point," Ron tossed in drolly. She had seldom seen him so serious.
"Enough. For once in your lives, do as your told."
She rather pointedly looked at Susan and Neville.
Harry's eyes widened.
Yes, the guilt-trip was low. But right now she didn't care, not if it got the kids out in one piece.
Susan harrumphed, clearly not impressed with her tactics.
"Cru-!"
Marina whirled around, but Bellatrix never got to finish. A spell-flash hit her from the shadows and she fell to her knees, bleeding from her mouth.
Ouch.
That was a particularly nasty curse, shredding part of your lungs and vocal cords. The Ministry frowned at its use, other than in life and death situations.
Amelia would just have to get over it this time.
Rodolphus waved his wand over his wife a few times, mumbling, and the lunatic recovered.
"Death Eaters who know how to heal. Who would have thought?" Carmen mused and stepped out of her hiding place.
It scared Marina. Carmen was capable, yes, but she hated fighting. She could hold her own but it went against her rather pacifistic instincts – and that gave the Death Eaters an edge.
But her friend wouldn't have revealed herself without good reason.
"Well, someone has to fix all the damage their master does them," Jolene drawled and stepped forward too.
Had they lost their minds?
Marina was very tempted to close her eyes, knowing what came next.
"Half of them would be dead already otherwise," Elvira added, stepping out with her wand hand steady. Only Marina could tell how terrified she was.
Carmen said something in Spanish – as if anyone but her understood the language.
But Marina didn't need to. Her empathy told her what her friend has said.
The Order had arrived. Just how the girls knew that, what with the members just barely having entered the chamber, she didn't know.
That means Dad came, she thought. Otherwise, I wouldn't sense anything yet.
For a few second, no one moved, the Death Eaters clearly too flummoxed at her friends' move.
This was their only chance.
"Now!" she snapped, and all DA members in the room cast their strongest jinxes.
Naturally, their opponents weren't completely inept either, most of them throwing up shields.
But some spells hit their targets. Enough at least.
"GO!"
The kids took of running, wands still at the ready, while the girls stayed and kept the maniacs busy.
Elvira POV
When asked about this later on, she would never comprehend how she had managed to fight.
Every cell in her body screamed in fear, her subconscious never forgetting just how helpless she had been last year.
Marina and Harry had put very much effort into training their friends, making sure everyone could hold their own. For a while at least. But the Imperius…
Her blonde tutor had asked Mad-Eye the Crank to practice with her.
Elvira knew that Moody had wanted her cut out of the inner circle. Hell, she even agreed with him. But her friend had insisted, even going so far as to remind Mad-Eye that he had succumbed to the curse too. And so the former Auror had been tutoring her on the weekends – all the older students, in fact.
Umbridge never had a clue.
Still, right now it was pandemonium. She was moving on autopilot, fending off curses and jinxes without even seeing who had sent them her way.
Harry and his friends had taken off running as soon as Marina had told them to. The Order members had joined the fray soon after.
Mad-Eye, Kingsley, Remus, Tonks, Sirius, Hestia and Ted Tonks had apparently gotten her friend's message.
A few of the fanatics had, naturally, followed their young friends. Elvira could hear fighting going on in a distance.
The only light was coming from the glowing orbs of prophecy and from the spell-flashes.
It was madness.
Still, the Death Eaters had made a mistake in coming here.
Their masks hindered their duelling, so they mad tosses them aside. Elvira recognised each of her father's friends:
Bellatrix, Crouch Jr, Lucius Malfoy, Jugson, Macnair, Avery, Travers, Rodolphus and Rabastan Lestrange, Crabbe Sr., Goyle Sr., Mulciber, Dolohov and Selwyn. There was a woman that she could only assume was Jezebeth Wilkes from the way she had puffed up when the name was mentioned.
And then there was her father of course. Augustus Rookwood. The bane of her existence.
Elvira could tell that her friends were doing their best to ensure she wouldn't have to fight him directly. Jolene was keeping him very busy.
Security and public panic concerns or not, Amelia should have told her that her father had escaped. He must have been the one to tell Voldemort that only Harry could remove the prophecy.
Speaking of the boy… the Death Eaters had pushed the teenagers back to them.
Then again, she gathered they hadn't been keen on escaping anyway. She didn't need her friend's empathy to know they were furious.
Consequently, Sirius and Remus appointed themselves the teenagers' protectors, shielding them as much as possible.
It was obvious none of the idiots had expected the teenagers to know how to fight.
Unfortunately, that just pissed them off and they sunk more menace into their spells.
Then there was the added confusion of Marina and Titania. During the fighting nobody could check the eyes, so keeping track of who was who … impossible.
Which was probably why Marina had engaged her twin. And Titania was losing.
Apparently, no one had bothered teaching her how to fight aurors – or aurors-to-be.
Elvira blinked and ducked a spell-flash, barely noticing it in time. When she turned to face her new opponent… it was her father.
She looked briefly and noticed Jolene now busy against Crabbe and Goyle. Sirius and Remus had the devil of a time keeping Crouch and Bellatrix busy. Hermione and Susan were faced with Macnair.
"You chose the wrong side," her father rasped, derision clear in his voice. Elvira snorted.
"No, I didn't. You did."
That was all it took for his temper to snap. But this was good. Faced with her personal demon, she got furious. For her mother, for all the innocents he hurt, and for herself. He didn't stand a chance.
Just when she thought she could disarm him, Elvira's blood froze. Bellatrix' voice was loud and clear.
"AVADA KEDAVRA!"
