"Hum, hum." Rose and Harry heard a voice say behind them.
They had been turned toward the door where their godfathers were fighting for their lives and turned around, surprised not to be alone when Fudge was supposed to have made sure it was empty.
Behind them stood, wand raised, a woman in pink. Once they turned around, she took her white Death Eater mask off and they both recognized her as Dolores Umbridge, the woman who had sent Dementors after them at the beginning of summer. She was dressed like the other Death Eaters, except that her cloak wasn't black but pink. Despite the situation, both Potter twins wanted to laugh at her outfit. What did she do for Voldemort to be allowed such frivolity while everyone else wore black? Was her love of pink really so big that she couldn't dress like everyone else?
"Children shouldn't wonder around on their own. Children should learn to stay in their place and to obey adults and their rules. Now children, give me this prophecy, it isn't yours to touch." The woman spoke with a fake smile on her face, her voice making them want to punch her.
"If it wasn't ours to touch, we wouldn't have been able to touch it. Yet here we are..." Rose replied, taking her wand out discreetly while her brother did the same.
"This belongs to someone else, someone who really wants it. Now give it and I'll kindly return it to its rightful owner." Umbridge insisted, her wand raised towards them.
"If Voldemort really wants it, then maybe he should have come to get it himself instead of sending other people to do his job for him. What, is he afraid he'll lose to me again?" Harry replied smugly.
"How dare you say his name your stupid child! Our Lord will destroy you, obliterate you both like he did your parents!" Umbridge snapped angrily before she tried to curse them.
"Yes, he's tried before, but he's failed 3 times so far." Harry chuckled as he and his sister defended themselves.
"3? Wasn't it 4 times?" Rose asked.
"Right, I didn't count the diary one." He chuckled as they fought back.
Unfortunately for her, they were both ready for her attack and managed to shield themselves quite efficiently before they tried to Stupefy her. They knew that she wouldn't try to kill them, because Voldemort didn't know which one was the child from the Prophecy and so he wanted to kill them both himself. Since she couldn't kill them, they just had to hold on long enough for the others to arrive. It made her task harder of course, since she couldn't kill them or injure them too badly, her actions were limited and they were apparently both extremely well trained.
They considered splitting to make her job harder but being side by side made it easier for them to have each other's back and so they kept on blocking her spells and throwing their own. At some point, Harry managed to injure Umbridge on her wand holding hand and so they had the time to break the prophecy safely, which only enraged her more.
Somehow, Umbridge had gotten closer to them and they felt the need to escape, so they opened the closest door and started running, followed quickly by the witch. They ended up, after opening and closing a few doors and breaking a few things to slow her progress, in a room that seemed empty except for a single archway. Once there, they managed to split up before Umbridge joined them and it made it easier for them to fight her.
They didn't know how long they fought her for but as they fought, Umbridge had her back to the door they had just come from. The door slammed open and Rabastan Lestrange ran out, followed by two other Death Eaters. By the sound of things, they were followed closely by more people. Seeing who Umbridge was fighting, they joined her and soon, Rose and Harry found themselves fighting harder than ever and about to lose.
On top of that, they had been separated.
"Let's go, we lost. We need to run at the first opportunity!" Rabastan ordered Umbridge.
"No! We'll bring those two back with us now. Where's Bellatrix? She's the only one who's allowed to call for a fall back! Those are the rules!" Dolores exclaimed angrily as Rose and Harry still managed to shield themselves very well.
"She's dead, Black killed her. They got Malfoy and my brother prisoner already, the others can't run either. Let's go. I'm not going back to Azkaban tonight!" He yelled before he tried to run out of the room, only to be stopped by Sirius and Remus.
"No! Bellatrix can't be dead!" Umbridge exclaimed angrily.
"She is, I saw it with my own eyes. She was fighting Black fiercly, but he got her while she mocked Lucius who had already been captured." he insisted.
Dumbledore arrived as well, and it should have allowed them to win easily, except Voldemort had decided to join in on the fight after all, and so the two strongest wizards in the room fought each other.
Rose was fighting Rabastan Lestrange, decided to make him pay for what he had helped do to the Longbottoms. Harry still fought Umbridge. Sirius and Remus were both fighting a Death Eater each.
Rose managed to knock Rabastan out and Harry had sent the pink witch flying against the door. Sirius was fighting near the archway and both twins watched in horror as he was hit by a stupefix curse. He was slowly falling back, they could see a strand of his hair already touching the grey veil of the archway and Rose is the first one who reacted.
She didn't see anything in the middle of the archway, but Harry obviously did considering his look of pure horror and she was smart enough to figure that such an arch, alone, in the middle of a room in the department of Mysteries, was most definitely not a portal to Wonderland.
She pointed her wand at him and screamed "ACCIO SIRIUS". Understanding what she was doing, Harry helped her and did the same while Remus woke his best friend up.
Once Sirius moved once more, Harry noticed that the hair that had touched the grey veil was now grey too, almost white (and getting even more white) and he knew, somehow, that even if he was to cut them, they'd always grow back this way. But at least he was alive.
It would give him a style, this white strand of hair.
Dumbledore and Voldemort were still at it, fighting to the death it seemed. Their fight took a lot of space and Voldemort managed to cause a big enough distraction that Rabastan and the two other Death Eaters were able to run away at his command. Umbridge stayed, willing to fight some more by her Lord's side. Rose wondered if she was hoping to replace Bellatrix by his side by staying here.
Not able to hold back, Harry joined the fight by Dumbledore's side, against Voldemort and the Dark Lord's wand suddenly seemed unable to fight properly against its twin wand and it surprised everyone so much that Dumbledore stopped fighting for a moment. Knowing about a connection and what had caused it in the past and seeing a powerful wand, in a powerful hand, refusing to work properly were different things. Obviously, it angered the Dark Lord. Maybe scared him a little too.
"Go, we'll try again later!" The Dark Lord ordered the Pink Witch before he left running as well.
"This isn't over Potters." Umbridge spat before she tried to run out, following after her new master.
"Oh, I believe it is, Dolores. I never thought you'd be one to follow a man such as You Know Who! Oh Dolores, how low you've fallen!" Fudge spoke, surprising his ex employee by his presence.
He had just arrived, surprised to see Voldemort run past him. The Dark Lord had tried to curse him but Fudge had been ready and had raised a shield.
She turned around, her wand still raised and was soon stupefied by Remus and Fudge, the 2 curses hitting her at the same time. Three Aurors ran past them, trying to catch up with the escaped Death Eaters.
"How are you doing?" Rose, Harry, Sirius and Remus asked at the same time, making them smile.
"We're fine." Sirius and Rose answered, making Dumbledore chuckle.
"Is it true? Is Bellatrix really dead?" Rose asked.
"Yes, it is. We also caught Lucius Malfoy, Rodolphus Lestrange and... Well, those 3 are the only ones who managed to escape the Hall of Prophecies." Sirius explained.
"Anyone hurt on our part?" Harry asked.
"Everyone should be fine by tomorrow." Dumbledore reassured the twins.
"We broke the Prophecy, we couldn't risk them getting their hands on it." Harry confessed.
"Well, at least this way He Who Must Not Be Named won't have it either." Fudge replied before one of the Aurors that had run out after the three escapees came back.
"We weren't able to stop them from leaving, Minister. You know who created a diversion by destroying the great statue and the fountain. We've got a few more injuries on our side but nothing too bad." He explained.
"It's good that we sent most of the Ministry employees home for the afternoon, there could have been more casualties. I should go and take care of this. Albus, we'll debrief tomorrow afternoon. Miss Potter, Mister Potter, take care of yourselves." Fudge nodded their way before he followed after the Auror.
"Was Lucius Malfoy really caught?" Harry asked.
"Yes, he was. He's unconscious for now, but he'll wake up in Azkaban." Remus replied.
"We should go now, we'll tell you about all of this once we're back in Hogwarts." Albus decided and they all walked out.
It could have been dangerous to be overheard by the wrong person.
"But that's definitely a success, right? I mean, none of us was injured, the Prophecy is gone which means that HE doesn't know it. A deranged maniac is dead..." Rose asked.
"Yes, I'd say that it was a success." Albus nodded.
"6 more Death-Eaters in Azkaban tonight." Sirius added in a tone that showed how satisfied he was by the situation.
"Sirius, did you notice your hair yet?" Rose asked shyly.
"No, why?" He asked, confused.
"It seems that your almost fall through the archway of death left a trace. The strand of hair that touched the veil is now..." Remus started to say but stopped.
"Is what?" Sirius asked.
"As white as mine are." Dumbledore replied.
"Just this strand right?" Sirius asked, worried.
"Yes, just this one strand, and I'm afraid it won't go away." Albus replied.
"Well, I'm sure I'm still handsome." Sirius smiled confidently.
"I wonder why Voldemort didn't try to fight with me or Rose. When I joined, he looked, I don't know, scared?" Harry wondered out loud a little later.
"You saw how your wand and his reacted. His wand refuses to work against yours. Voldemort is afraid of what caused the link between your two wands last year. He doesn't know about the feathers. He doesn't want to find himself trapped this way again. He felt humiliated enough that you, a teenage boy, was able to stand up to him in front of his followers. He wants to make sure it doesn't happen again. And when you joined, it proved that he had been right to be afraid." Dumbledore explained.
"Both wands come from Ollivander, could he come after him?" Remus asked worriedly.
"I don't know, but I'll try to convince him to get security none the less. Voldemort could simply try to find another wand that suits him as well as the one he had before he tries to attack you two but if that doesn't work, he could kidnap Ollivander to find the reason behind this link. While twin wands have existed before, it's never existed between two people with such an history, this is a rather unique case. We can only guess what will happen." Dumbledore nodded.
"Well, let's hope it takes him a few tries." Rose frowned.
"In other words, Sirius, we believe, Remus and I, that we've taken care of the curse on your position. Would you be brave enough to come back for a second year?" Albus asked the actual Defense against the Dark Arts professor.
"Of course I am. This teaching thing is actually pretty fun and so far I've only been unable to escape Trelawney once. She predicted my death of course, claiming that I'd die soon if I didn't get a lady in my life, but who cares what she says. And what kind of Gryffindor would I be if I was actually scared of coming back?" Sirius nodded.
"I think some girls would have fallen into a deep depression if they had learned that you weren't coming back." Rose chuckled.
"I'm not that popular." He frowned.
"You most definitely are the most popular of the teachers." Albus confirmed with a smile.
"I'm pretty sure the 6th and 7th year girls have bets about charming you and getting you into bed with them." Harry added, having overheard two 7th year and a 6th year discussing this a few weeks ago.
"A few boys too." Rose added, amused.
"Anyway, let's go, we can have something to drink and eat before we part ways and you kids go back to your friends." Sirius changed the subject.
"I'm craving some chocolate ice cream." Remus declared as they walked past the gates of Hogwarts.
"I'll ask an elf to bring us some in my office. We'll debrief and celebrate your engagement." Albus offered with a smile.
"Who's going to tell Draco the news? About his father and his aunt?" Rose asked in a small voice.
"I'll warn Severus as soon as we're back and ask him to inform young Mister Malfoy. I'm a bit worried about what Voldemort will decide to do this summer... He might decide to mark Draco and give him a mission, a hard mission, to punish his father, or he could look at him like Bellatrix's nephew, the one who came up with a great plan, and allow him to keep his present position... I guess time will tell us." Albus whispered.
"In any case, I'm going to give him, before he goes on the train, a mirror so he can call me. If he needs to escape at the last minute, he'll just have to call one of us and we'll help him get to safety. Grimmault Place is ready to house guests now. I've warned Kreacher and he'll make sure there are always two rooms ready to welcome Draco and his mother in case they need it. Andromeda is ready to help them as well. I know he's going to try and find an excuse to leave as a part of his spying plan, but just in case it fails, we have backup." Sirius informed the headmaster who nodded.
.
That evening, the Potter twins found themselves in Sirius Black's quarters with their close friends to celebrate the end of term exams and Fred and George coming graduation. Draco was present also. He hadn't been too sad about the death of his aunt and his father's arrest was only fair in his mind. Not having his aunt or his father around would help him escape with his mother, it would make everything much easier. Less lies to come up with.
Sirius was telling them of one of his adventures in school with James and Peter, while Remus was resting at the infirmary and where they had ended up injuring a teacher. It was, apparently, the only time they had hurt a teacher in one of their escapades.
"Well, at least you didn't set a teacher on fire." Ron commented, bringing all eyes on him while Hermione blushed.
"Hermione?" Rose asked.
"Well, Harry was being cursed during that first Quidditch game, and we thought it was professor Snape, I didn't see that Quirrell was chanting too. So I snuck behind Snape and set his clothes on fire. It saved Harry!" Hermione explained.
"Oh, I wish I had been able to see this!" Sirius chuckled.
"Your first game... Isn't this the game where you almost swallowed the snitch?" Draco asked and Harry nodded.
"Well, Hermione, you're a little rebel, aren't you?" George told her with a wink which made her blush.
"I am not!" She shook her head defensively.
"Aren't you the one who suggested we used Polyjuice potion during our second year?" Ron asked before he realised that Draco was there.
"Polyjuice? Now I've got to hear about this." Sirius decided while the Weasley twins looked like they had missed on a lot of fun.
"There was the whole 'Chamber of Secret' thing going on and we thought Malfoy, Draco I mean, was the heir of Slytherin but we needed proof. Hermione suggested to made Polyjuice Potion to get into the Slytherin's common room." Harry explained.
"Yes, it was all Hermione's idea." Ron nodded eagerly, making his siblings chuckle and Hermione glare at him a little.
"We brewed it in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom since nobody ever went there, it was safe to think nobody would find it. It was ready for around Christmas, so we made Crabbe and Goyle fall asleep by giving them cookies filled with sleep potion. We took some of their hair and drank the potion to look like them. Hermione had some hair taken on Milicent Bulstrode but she made a mistake and it was cat hair, so she didn't come along." Ron added.
"I stayed a while in the infirmary in some sort of human-cat form." Hermione frowned.
"We went in the general direction of their common room, we weren't sure where it was... We were lucky because we ran into Draco." Harry continued the story.
"I remember that day, Crabbe and Goyle seemed weird, but I brushed it off as it being because they ate too much cakes and chocolates." Draco exclaimed.
"He told us that he didn't know who was the heir of Slytherin, added that people thinking it was Harry was ridiculous, and when it was obvious that he wouldn't give us information we needed, that he didn't know more than we did, we left. Especially since the time was almost up." Ron finished.
Harry held Ginny a little tighter, knowing that hearing about this story would bring back memories of what she had been forced to do by Tom Riddle. He hated that she had been hurt by him and it only reinforced his need to kill the Dark Lord.
"Let me get this straight, the three of you managed to get into Slytherin's common room and you used this opportunity to... I mean, you didn't even set a little prank? What a wasted opportunity! Do you have any idea how much James and I dreamt of this? What we would have given to do this?" Sirius shook his head, looking defeated, which made the Weasley twin chuckle because they agreed with him.
"It never crossed our minds." Harry replied.
"Well, you still managed to get in, and I have no doubt that your father would be proud of you for this." Sirius smiled.
What did you think of this?
I just finished writing chapter 67, end of july for them. Lots happening.
Review please?
Lorelei Candice Black