We bolted for all we were worth, turning right at the dead end however as we reached the room that we'd entered through, I realised that the others hadn't followed. "No, wait!" But Hermione had already locked it behind us, realising too late that she'd trapped the others inside. Her face was white and she was shaking all over as Harry gasped out, asking where the others were and Hermione whimpered.

"They must have gone the wrong way!"

"Listen!" Hearing voices, Neville made us all quieten down as I'd started towards the door. Someone was coming and from their voices, it wasn't our friends. It was Lucius.

"Leave Nott, leave him I say! His injuries will be nothing to the Dark Lord compared to losing that prophecy. Jugson, come back here, we need to organise! 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!" And then there was the sound of more movement, footsteps coming towards the door so I laid a trap on the floor, a sticking jinx to hold them up for a while then hastily grabbed the others and pushed them into moving.

I wanted nothing more than to have all of them here together so I could protect them all, but seeing as I only had three, I had to work with what I had. Ron and Ginny would look after each other, and although Luna was rather absent minded, I'd seen her work in the DA, she was a pretty gutsy witch and she's quite clever. They'll find a way back to us. I had to believe that. Behind us the door rattled, threatening to give way so I pulled Neville and Hermione up, thrusting them under desks and quickly casting disillusionment spells on all four of us so that we completely disappeared, my hand gripping Harry so that I could find him and unceremoniously shove him under too. "Take them by surprise, knock them out." I whispered quickly. "They'll get stuck at the door, this spell will wear off quickly since it's a quadruple effort…" I stopped talking as the door gave way and two Death Eaters entered. The first one got stuck by my jinx but the second smartly jumped over it, yelling in irritation as I lay flat on my stomach under a desk, wand aimed at the two of them but I didn't have a good enough angle yet. I needed them to come closer.

"What is this?! I can't move!"

"Looks like a sticking jinx. I'll try get it off." They both spoke in rough voices, the latter muttering as he tried to free his comrade but couldn't. "I'll go check to see if they're hiding, you stay here a moment." The other one grumbled, but now that he was closer, I aimed a spell and without even uttering a word, fired it at the one closing in. The stunning spell hit him before he even realised what happened or where it had come from as I then immediately rolled out and, still on the floor, knocked out the second one. Both clattered to the floor, a sickening crack sounding as the other Death Eater's feet were still stuck to the ground and he fell at a bad angle, breaking both ankles.

"Accio wands." I murmured softly as I stood up, the disillusionment charm now fading so that I shimmered back into view, the others climbing back to their feet too. Both Death Eater wands flew to my hands so I put my own wand between my teeth then snapped them both, tossing them aside before then turning around. "Aim to stun or disarm them if you have a clean shot, if not, just blast them with the strongest spell you've got in your arsenal. Once you have one of their wands, break it. They're useless if they can't do magic and if they're unconscious. Let's go." Getting the feeling that our work wouldn't go unnoticed for long, I had everyone move forward again.

Before we'd even got very far, there was a shout from somewhere nearby, followed by a crash and a scream which made Harry yell immediately. "RON! GINNY! LUNA!"

"Harry! You can't give away your position! They're after you and that prophecy." I reminded him sharply, looking down to the prophecy still clutched into his hand. "Let's go find them, come on." It was too late, Harry had already let the other Death Eaters know where we were and now they were charging towards the door at the far side of the room. "Run!" These Death Eaters were on us in moments, sprinting across the room and as they started to shoot spells at us, Harry, Hermione and Neville dove into a side office as I flew the other direction, skidding along the floor and quickly scrambling out of sight, but they went straight for where they'd seen Harry.

There was a mess of jumbled voices all crying out different spells, crashes and cluttering of things falling as I jumped back up to my feet. "Glacius Tria!" A burst of icy light shot out from my wand and hit the Death Eater in the back, ice rushing to encasing him before I then sliced my wand. "Reducto!" The explosion of the ice knocked him out and flipped him into the air, his wand dropping so I summoned it and snapped it, making sure that the Death Eater was out cold as the others dealt with the other one in the office as I stepped towards the door.

A brilliant burst of light suddenly appeared, bright purple in colour, followed by a bellow. "HERMIONE!" Bursting through the door I stunned the second Death Eater who had been yelling before and completely forgot about his wand as I leaped over him in order to turn Hermione over. Unfortunately the Death Eater I'd stunned fell in an awkward way, making his foot jerk outwards just as Neville emerged with his wand in front of him. I heard a snap and saw blood. So much blood. For a moment I was at a loss as to who to treat first but then focused on Hermione. She was in bad shape, with an angry looking slash on burn across her chest.

I did as much as I could as quickly as I was able, but the heat from the spell had cauterised it and I daren't wake her otherwise she'd be in so much pain. "She's alive, but she's out for the count. You'll have to carry her." I said as I then fixed Neville's nose and mouth so that he'd stop bleeding. "We have to move, there's no time…come on."

"We're not far from the exit, we're right next to that circular room." Harry said as he and Neville lifted Hermione up between them and I cast a spell to make her float so all they had to do was pull her along. "If we can just get you, Neville, across it and find the right door before anymore Death Eaters come, I'll bet you can get Hermione up the corridor and into the lift…then you could find someone…raise the alarm…"

"And whad are you going do do?" Neville demanded, still lisping as he wiped the blood off his face as best he could but his swollen lip was make it exceedingly difficult for him to talk.

"I've got to find the others." But Neville refused to leave us, insisting that he'd watch over Hermione whilst the two of us found the others and the right door. Harry saw there was no point in arguing so found Hermione's wand and passed it to Neville since his was broken. I scooped up the pieces and stuffed them in my pocket as Neville groaned.

"My gran's going do kill be. Dat was by dad's old wand." Considering the circumstances, I'm pretty sure Neville's nan would just be glad if he got out of here alive. We got back through the door to the circular room but to our great sense of dread, all the marks on the door had faded, so before I closed the door I made a fresh one on the door we'd just left, and as I closed it, another one burst open. Out poured Ginny, Ron and Luna, making me give a garbled cry as I ran to Ginny and flung my arms around her to hold her tight as Ron giggled.

"Ron! Ginny, are you all…?"

"Harry." Ron started, making me pull back from Ginny who was favouring one of her legs so I quickly stooped down to try and fix it the best I could, creating a splint and holding it together with bandages I made with my wand. "There you are…haha…you look funny, Harry…you're all messed up…"

"Ginny? What happened?" She just shook her head, having sunk to the ground as I tended to her leg as Luna looked around mildly.

"I think her ankle's broken, I heard something crack." She supplied helpfully as I numbed the area and managed to fit the bone back in place. I really needed to learn how to fix bones like Madam Pomfrey, maybe I'll ask her to teach me when we got back. I should have learned with Ron's incident with dad and him breaking his leg on the tree. "Four of them chased us into a dark room full of planets, it was a very odd place, some of the time we were just floating in the dark…"

"Harry, we saw Uranus up close!" Ron interrupted, pawing at Harry's clothes as I finished fixing up Ginny then grabbed him so I could take a good look at what might have happened to him. He was acting completely mental, I tell you. "Get it, Harry? Mia? We saw Uranus…haha!"

"Anyway, one of them grabbed Ginny's foot, I used the redactor curse and blew up Pluto in his face, but…" Luna made a hopeless gesture at Ginny as I started to try and sort out Ron's addled brains so that he would at least stop giggling stupidly and make so much noise.

"And what about Ron?"

"I don't know what they hit him with, but he's gone a bit funny. I could hardly get him along at all."

"Looks like a bad mix of spells, probably a confundus charm in there to confuse him, as well as the imperius curse. There's not much I can do really, it's something he'd need to sleep off with Madam Pomfrey checking in on him." I announced to the others, touching my wand to the tip of his head. "Pax vobis." It worked a little, but not much. At least Ron wasn't giggling all the time now. "We should get going, we're wasting time standing around here."

"Right, Luna, can you help Ginny?" Luna cheerfully agreed and stuck her wand behind her ear, though Ginny tried to insist on managing herself, the moment she stood up she went dreadfully pale and Luna had to support her anyway. Harry seized Ron, which meant three of us were practically out for the count, and I was the only one left with both arms free. We started towards a door at random, hoping for a lucky guess but then in flooded three more Death Eaters, led by my dearest distant cousin herself.

"There they are!" That shriek really is annoying. Three stunning spells fired across the room and I leaped in front of everyone, creating a triple barrier shield to protect us as we all backed up and Harry threw his shoulder against a door to smash it open and launched Ron inside, Luna and Ginny following as I held the others off, using the banishing charm to keep on sending them back across the room.

"Depulso! Dupulso! Harry!"

"Come on!" With everyone else inside, I quickly dove through the door and Harry slammed it shut behind us and quickly locked it. "Colloportus!" I took a moment to catch my breath, lying flat on my back before then rising to my feet to look around. Ah, the brain tank. Lovely. From the other side of the door, we could hear one of the Death Eater's yelling that they'd got us. With a start, Harry called for us to help him seal the doors so we rushed to get them all as they lined the entire room, sealing them shut before the Death Eaters could come bursting in.

Unfortunately, they got through before Luna could finish, making her fly back as she screamed. "Arresto momentum!" I yelled quickly, catching Luna's fall but she remained unresponsive, dropping to the floor in perfect stillness, unconscious. "Stupefy!" I yelled, taking on two of the Death Eaters whilst Neville handled another one, and Ginny also facing her own opponent, whilst Bellatrix focused on Harry, screaming to get him as he raced away, probably trying to lead them away from us.

"Hey! Hey, Harry, there are brains in here, haha, isn't that weird Harry?" Ron was back to being addled and confused, poking at the glass of the brains' tank. Harry yelled for Ron to get away from there but I couldn't even risk a glance over my shoulder, my lips now tightly pressed shut as I fought off the Death Eaters I was duelling to protect Luna's helpless form, but then next thing I knew, Ron had summoned a brain out of the tank. Everyone now turned to look, though in my opponent's distraction, I blasted them with a spell each that sent them flying backwards, crashing with a desk and toppling. Now I looked at Ron.

He was giggling, looking at the brain that was suspended in the air before him with long tentacles starting to spread from within. Ron urged Harry to touch it, but despite Harry's warning, Ron caught the brain and almost instantly, the tentacles began to wrap themselves around him. They were going to strangle him, squeeze the air out of his body until there was nothing left. Everything happened at once. Harry rushed over to help Ron as Ginny screamed that he'd suffocate, earning several stunning spells to the face which knocked her out too, making Neville and I retaliate with a bellow between us.

I sprang forwards and turned into a lion, burrowing my fangs into one of the Death Eater's shoulders and ripped it until I felt the bone crack, hearing him scream in my ear before I jumped again and barrelled into the others with my huge size and weight. Abandoning Ron as I was thrown off with a spell, Harry held up the prophecy and raced away, leading the other Death Eaters to follow him as Neville hadn't been able to use Hermione's wand to perform the stunning spell he'd been trying. Springing back onto my feet, I slashed my wand at Ron. "Relashio!" The brain sprung off him and I promptly made it drop back into the tank where it smoothly settled, the tentacles getting sucked back in as Ron dropped.

"Mia! Mia…Harry!" Neville reminded me and I looked back at all the others. All of them were down, but I couldn't do anything for them. I felt so useless. "Mia come on!" Giving a firm tug, Neville pulled me to come with him so that we could go and help Harry. Seeing four of my friends being knocked out and injured by these people, these Death Eaters…I was now out for blood. There was no holding back. I'd kill them all if I had to. I'd do whatever it takes to get everyone out of here alive. As we ran I tried to reduce the swelling in Neville's lip so that he could talk better, following the direction Harry had taken through the only open door, the ones the Death Eaters had come through.

We felt the floor disappear as we dove headfirst into darkness but I quickly caught us with magic, letting us float lighting onto the stairs before we then raced down them, my hand gripping Neville's but I slowed down as we approached the end, seeing a pale light and voices speaking from inside. "Let the others go and I'll give it to you!" Harry was saying and I made Neville stay back so that I could see what we were up again. Ten, if not a dozen Death Eaters. The ones that had been knocked out had been woken up, making me curse and feel like I should have just ended them when I had the chance.

"You are not in a position to bargain, Potter." Lucius Malfoy's cold voice spoke, a hint of glee in his tone at finally having cornered Harry. "You see, there are ten of us and only one of you…or hasn't Dumbledore ever taught you to count?"

"He's dot alone!" Neville yelled and charged into view before I could stop him, making me wince and quickly follow after him. "He's still god us!" Neville was rushing to get to Harry, awkwardly climbing over the stone benches but I leaped from them gracefully and with a wave of my hand like a delicate lift, the both of us rose into the air and glided neatly down to touch the ground beside Harry, wands raised as I quickly planned in my head how this was going to happen. Neville, however, had other plans. "STUBEFY! STUBE-!" A parry spell came at him and I forced him to duck with a swish of my wand, neatly twirling it in rapid circles to take out the attacker then swirled my wand with a greater breadth, breathing deeply and quickly as Harry and Neville were suddenly pulled further away and a golden circle appeared around them, the strongest shield I could muster forming to protect them.

"Now you deal with me." I announced, standing with ten – well, nine if you consider the fact I'd already hit one of them – Death Eaters all staring at me. I'd been fast, much faster than they'd expected, and the level of competency I displayed was clearly another thing they hadn't anticipated. All the same, Bellatrix broke into a maniacal laugh as Lucius then relaxed, smirking lazily.

"So, Longbottom and Black, is it? You boy, I suspect your grandmother is used to losing family members to our cause, your death will not come as a great shock." Neville started to surge forwards but Harry wisely caught him as I hissed for him to stay in that circle. They were safe as long as they stayed there. More or less. I doubted they'd use anything too strong against it in case they succeeded and hit Harry, who they still needed to hand over the prophecy.

"Longbottom?" Bellatrix suddenly stopped laughing, straightening up with interest. "Why, I have had the pleasure of meeting your parents, boy."

"I KNOW YOU HAB!" She grinned gleefully, suggesting that she tortured Neville to see how long he'd last until he cracked like his parents, making me look at Neville quickly, concerned. Harry was struggling to hold him back, so I made Neville look at me then gave him a strong, confident smile.

"Don't worry Neville. I'll whip that smile off her face soon enough, then you can have her once she's been tamed. I'm sure you've got a few good spells you'd like to test out on her, right? I'll sort it for you, then you can go tell your parents that the hag who tortured them has been dealt with, and I'll continue my research and make sure that one day, they'll be better and they'll understand." I said to him in a desperate bid to calm him down, and thankfully, it worked. Bellatrix snorted at me.

"You tame me? I think it's you who needs to be taught some valuable lessons, girly. I'm going to enjoy purging you from my family tree." She said to me slowly, raising and twisting her wand at me but I remained coolheaded. All the same, I smirked.

"Try me." Without further warning, I whipped my arm around to create a lasso of bright white light, lashing it forwards like a whip and struck Bellatrix with so much force she screamed as she was thrown backwards. Immediately spells exploded and I quickly performed counter measures, creating a powerful shield charm to protect my back and checked over my shoulder. Harry and Neville looked worried, but their ward was holding and any spells that hit just rebounded off again. Harry took a step forwards. "NO! STAY WHERE YOU ARE! DON'T MAKE ME HEX YOU TOO HARRY POTTER!" He sharply jumped back behind the ward and did not dare to take another step beyond the barrier.

My wand had never moved faster as I parried and blocked, returning spells in rapid fire as I fought nine of them all at once. I picked them off one at a time, catching a few of them one way or another. I saw the one called Macnair and made the floor soften underneath him, seeing it swallow him up to his knees, then his hips as he cried out in alarm. I disarmed him then and as the wand flew into the air, I fired the reductor curse at it and it exploded. Everywhere the room was bursting with bright lights of every colour, snapping like lightning as I stood in a full blaze of glorious fury which powered me onwards.

A spell caught my shoulder, the bright purple blaze of Dolohov but I ignored the burst of pain and returned the favour, silently sending a cyclone of flames at him which caused him to scream as they slammed against his flesh. Whirling my wand in a wide circle over my head, my lips murmured softly as my eyes continued to burn like blue wildfire, constantly moving on my feet as spells charged at me. A powerful wind began to rise, swirling into a vortex with me at it's centre, pulling at the Death Eaters so that they tipped off balance and began to struggle against the intense tornado that I had whipped up against them.

Bellatrix howled at me, the two of us exchanging blows before I leaped to the side and turned sharply, a spell shooting right past me and hitting another Death Eater in the face as I then swung my wand upwards, making them fly up into the air all the way to the ceiling to crash before then dropping back down again. I was doing well, but more and more spells were starting to get closer to me now and one of them hit and shattered the bones in my arm, causing me to scream before I waved my wand down my right arm, knitting them back together as best I could and throwing out shields around me so I had a moment to bind it tightly so that I could maintain the use of it.

They were starting to close in now but I continued fighting, forcing Harry and Neville to stay in that circle by sending them back every time they tried to run out, so they could only poke their wands though the golden, shimmering layer and also yell out their attacks until suddenly, doors burst opened above us. I didn't hear them over the whirlwind that was still raging, but when I heard my dad's voice, I immediately looked up as he bellowed. "MIA!" A rush of relief overcame me and I cancelled the storm, dragging air into my body but in that moment, I had to jump to perform another shield charm as a garish green light came shooting towards me and it rebounded. Dad and four others came flooding into the chamber as I staggered, falling to my knees with a final desperate flick of my wand at Rookwood, ropes bursting out and latching themselves around him.

Lupin, Tonks, Moody and Shacklebolt were here, and dad rushing to try and get to me and Harry but his way was blocked by Death Eaters. I felt incredibly drained, and when I looked around the protective shield was starting to fade, holes appearing the more it got hit as it deteriorated so I turned myself onto my front and forced myself to rise, running over to Harry and Neville in order to grab them both and shove their heads down, pulling them out of the way and we all tumbled to the floor off the dais just as a curse hit the ward and it burst. "Mia! Mia are you alright?"

"I'm fine, just keep your head down!" I ordered, struggling to catch my breath. The floor between Harry and Neville suddenly exploded so I made them crawl forwards, firing back spells and countering any that came too close. I hadn't even realised how far we'd moved until Neville gave a garbled yell and Harry made a choking sound as someone snarled.

"Give me the prophecy!"

"Harry!" Screeching in shock, I turned to find that Macnair was strangling Harry from where he was stuck waist deep in the ground, trying to squeeze the life out of him so I kicked the Death Eater in the face as Neville sprung at him, forcing him to let go of Harry before I then yelled for Neville to move and he rolled off. "Stupefy!" For a moment the three of us just stared and breathed, hardly able to understand what was happening around us, but then all at once, it all came rushing back.