Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to Harry Potter. If I did I would be a far richer man. And I'd be a woman. I also don't own Star Trek or Stephen King.

Reviews are appreciated but certainly not required.

AN: Wow, so I didn't quite realize that there would be such vehemence about going back to the Ministry. That's actually been the plan since before I sat down to write this. The more things change, the more they stay the same. Dora's reasons for allowing this are explored a bit more in this chapter and the whole shebang serves to set things up for further down the road with the story/characters as a whole. Is it a stupid move? Yes. Is it something that these characters would do anyway? Yes.


Chapter 10: Take Two

The trio had just made it to Hogsmeade when Hermione fell back slightly pulling on Dora's hand to slow her as well. "Dora, this is neither the time nor the place to get fully into this, but I must ask something before I let Harry walk into that pub."

"What?" Dora asked hesitantly.

"Am I correct in assuming you've lived through this already?" Hermione stated. The point blank, no-nonsense, matter-of-fact inquiry nearly made Dora fall on her face. As it was she missed a step and had to do a strange sort of hop to catch her balance again.

"Err…that's not precisely a wrong statement…" Dora mumbled. She kept her eyes glued to Harry's back as he hurried forward and started banging on the door to the Three Broomsticks.

Hermione's sharp intake of breath was evidence enough to the fact that she hadn't wanted to actually believe her own hypothesis. "Well. That…Well. Okay then. How badly did it go the…first time?"

Dora hesitated for a long few seconds before swallowing and replying, "Bad. Really, really, bad…I think you might have died…and I'm pretty sure a few others did too…"

Hermione made a strangled noise and missed a step before seeming to collect herself. "Then why exactly have we not stunned him and tried to sort this out in a different fashion?" She asked the strain in her tone and the way her wand vibrated in her hand directly contradicting the relatively calm delivery.

"I…" Dora shut her eyes and shook her head. "I can't say for sure that he's wrong. Sirius was safe originally, but this time things are different. Small different, but different. There were a lot of students on the original raid – at least six – and now it's just the three of us. The Order didn't know he'd gone to the Ministry – for several hours – and now they already know."

"None of that justifies allowing this to happen with no confirmation of immediate backup."

Dora grimaced. "I know. It's the sealing of Headquarters that's stopping me from acting. Kreacher can seal the house without any problems, but Sirius should've been able to order him to unseal it. McGonagall should've been back almost immediately. That she wasn't able to come back to the castle…something's wrong. I can't say that Sirius is actually safe this time. If I stop Harry and Sirius dies because of it…Sirius is one of the few people I have left…" She trailed off and blinked away a light sheen over her eyes as Rosmerta finally opened the door to the pub.

Hermione scowled as she stomped the ground with one foot. "Harry would never forgive either of us for the rest of our lives; and we would never forgive ourselves either. Merlin…Can you get us through this? Can you walk us safely through the trap?"

"I honestly don't know, Hermione," Dora mumbled. "Just Harry and me? Probably…possibly. All three of us? I don't know if I can watch us all at once. I don't know the full details of the trap either. I don't even know what Voldemort wants…I'm…I don't know if I can do this…"

Rosmerta scowled, but stepped to the side and Harry nodded and walked past waving the two of them to follow. Beside her Hermione's fingers tightened around her wand. "Well woman up, Dora, because you're going to have to. Harry and I can handle ourselves, but if this went as badly as you're implying we're going to need you to push us in the right direction when the fighting gets started." She began walking after Harry and cast a glance over her shoulder. "You love him. I…well I love him too, despite my efforts to move on. Against my better judgment I have grown to care deeply about you as well. I fully intend to see all three of us walking out of that building with Sirius between us. Let's make that fantasy happen shall we? There will be time to berate you over truthfulness and full-disclosure later. For now, we have a rescue to attempt and a trap to avoid."


The Ministry was empty. Totally and completely empty. This wasn't just a distinct lack of night security and budget cuts, this was malicious maneuvering.

"It's still somewhat early isn't it?" Harry said as they walked out of the Floo reception area and across the deserted Atrium. "Shouldn't there at least be a guard or something?"

"There should be. Malfoy probably managed to whisper in a few ears and get everyone reassigned or declared it a temporary holiday or something," Dora said with a scowl. There went Plan A. No more immediate Auror backup now. He'd probably gotten rid of the night Auror too. She glared at the ceiling and muttered, "Or they slaughtered everyone while moving down to bait their trap."

Hermione frowned. "Such a cheery thought there, Dora. Shouldn't we at least go up to the Auror office and find the night guard?"

"Not enough time. We already took too long getting here as it is," Harry said sweeping past her and rushing to the lift.

Dora sighed and followed after Harry. "Considering how dead quiet it is, Hermione, I'm worried that whoever is up in the Auror office will be in on the Death Eater's plot. They wouldn't have been able to set this whole thing up without inside help."

"It still seems foolish not to try…"

"We're here way early, Hermione," Dora commented softly as Harry started hitting the slow moving lift's button over and over trying to speed up the arrival of the contraption. "The Ministry doesn't shut down this early. The Death Eaters have already cut off all potential avenues for help we could try; no one friendly is going to be waiting for us up there. Even if by some miracle they were…only Shacklebolt, Hestia or Tonks would even entertain listening to us about a friend being kidnapped and held in the Department of Mysteries as bait. How crazy does that sound to you?"

Hermione shuffled her feet and sighed. "Well when you put it like that it does sound rather like foolish children crying wolf…"

Dora nodded. "These bastards are a lot more prepared than we had originally suspected. I underestimated them and I didn't take enough precautions and all three of us are going to be paying the price."

"This is not your fault, Dora," Hermione said reaching out to squeeze the metamorph's arm. Dora gave a sad smile back; it didn't quite reach her eyes.

A ding heralded the arrival of the lift and as the door's opened Harry finally stopped mashing the button. "It's here. Let's go." Harry walked onto the open platform and stared anxiously at the two girls. Hermione sighed and followed him on with Dora hesitating another brief moment before joining them.

As the doors clattered shut Dora turned to her friends and took a deep breath. "Okay look you two this is where things get dangerous. They'll probably wait for us to get to wherever Voldemort was baiting you, Harry. That's what smart people would do at least so of course we should be expecting an attack the entire time. Either way when they spring the trap don't bother with stunners, go for stronger spells. Things that will keep someone out of a fight; spells like bludgeoners, cutting, slashing, fire whips, water and lightning combos, etc. Anything that'll hit hard and fast and leave lasting wounds. We're going to be outnumbered and we need to even the odds as much as we can."

Hermione nodded. "The one thing we have going for us is that Voldemort has a personal vendetta against Harry so the Death Eaters likely won't try to cast the Killing Curse near us if we stick close together. They'll want to save you for their master and won't risk shooting that when you're right there."

Harry shook his head. "Don't rely on that, Hermione. These monsters aren't the type to think things through."

Dora reached out and took Hermione's arm in her hand squeezing just hard enough to make sure the brunette paid full attention to her. "And just because they may not be tossing AKs at us doesn't mean we can't die from other things. A deep slashing curse to the chest will kill someone just as easily as the Unforgiveable." Hermione paled and her eyes widened before she gave a slight nod. Dora breathed out a soft sigh and let go, knowing her message got across.

"If they threaten Sirius to get us to comply…" Harry started.

Dora shook her head. "Leave Sirius to me. If he's actually here I can tag his guards and grab him as we run."

Hermione nodded. "They'll probably want to monologue for a bit too so that will give us a moment to take stock of the situation or perhaps stall."

"Really?" Dora asked.

Harry sighed and shrugged. "Every time I've encounter Voldemort and his Death Eaters they love to gloat any time they think they've got the upper hand. It's pretty standard for us at this point."

"Oh. Well, that makes things a smidge easier I guess," Dora murmured thinking on that a bit. The time for planning came to an end as the lift finally alighted on the bottom floor and the doors clattered open again.

Dora took a half second to center herself, raised her wand and strode forward leading the way down the hall.

Rule 20: A confident Auror intimidates worried criminals.


"This place is even weirder than I imagined," Dora murmured as the trio walked past a replica of Jupiter floating in the middle of a black room. The other planets hovered at varying points around the space with the overall effect leaving her feeling remarkably like an underdressed titanic astronaut. It was almost enough to shift her growing fear to wonder. Almost.

"Harry, do you have actually have an idea where you're leading us or are we just wandering hoping to get lucky?" Hermione asked unable to tear her gaze from the Great Red Spot until a rectangle of light fell on the planet from the door Harry pulled open nearby.

"Bit of both I think, Hermione. We can play tourist later, come on. I think it was somewhere past this coliseum thing. Why do they even have this thing down here? It's just a weird, creepy arch? Who needs an auditorium to watch a weird creepy arch?" Harry said glaring into the next room.

All of Dora's fleeting feelings of awe induced by the sights in some of the rooms they had walked through vanished in an instant. She blinked rapidly as her foot paused in mid step; though her upper body kept moving forward through sheer momentum. Luckily Hermione was close enough to grab her shoulder before Dora could actually topple over.

"Dora?" Hermione whispered casting a wide-eyed glance between the metamorph and the open door.

Dora shook her head, uncaring that her hair had lengthened from her pixie-cut into her default's neck length tresses. "Bad room. Very bad room."

"Right." Hermione straightened up, pulled on Dora's arm to get her moving and marched straight after Harry. They shut the door to the Space section just in time to watch Harry cock his head at the Arch and clamber onto the dais.

"Shite!" Dora cursed. She scowled and ran through a litany of curses as she jumped down to the center of the room. "Time to go, Harry! Stay away from the Veil."

"But they're calling to me…Can't you hear them, Dora?" Harry asked. His voice sounded far away and his eyes were locked onto the rippling curtain hanging in the air from the cursed piece of rune inscribed rock.

The worst thing was…she could hear them. The first time she'd been through this room her head had hurt whenever she'd cast her eyes towards the Veil, but now she did hear whispers. Faint murmurs on the edge of consciousness. Just enough of a sound to know that someone was there. That someone was trying to talk to you. That someone was begging to be heard. That someone was begging you to come just a tiny bit closer. That someone needed you to grab ahold of them and yank them into – "Time. To. GO!" Dora straight up growled as she ripped her eyes away from the Veil of Death, snatched Harry's hand with her own and practically threw him from the dais into Hermione standing near the edge of the final row of benches.

The brunette proved she might have been a decent Quidditch player in another life as she managed to catch hold of the airborne boy with both arms and a slightly gaping mouth. She quickly turned to look down at Harry and sighed as she let him climb back to his feet. "Sorry about that, Harry."

"Sorry for what?" Harry murmured. He made to look towards the Veil again before seeming to catch himself and scowl, abruptly shifting his gaze to the ground. "Bloody hell. That thing is dangerous."

"It's the Veil of Death," Dora stated. She hopped down stepped in front of both teens grabbing their arms and dragging them back up towards the door further down the wall of the room. "It's not supposed to be evil, but anything that leads straight to afterlife can't be good either! At least not for those without a death wish."

"Says the woman dragging me towards an acknowledged Death Eater trap," Harry said trying to smile at the awful joke. It didn't reach his eyes and neither of the girls laughed. "You know you seem a bit taller, Dora…"

Dora grunted in acknowledgment. Her morph was the least of her worries. She could deal with that shite later. Especially since this room was the so-called 'Thought' room. Dora glared at the cognivores in their awful little aquariums with their disturbing tendrils of thought and memory fanning out towards the trio. "Stay away from the brains. They eat intelligence and reasoning. The effects diminish, but it takes a long time."

Hermione's jaw dropped open and she gasped. Her eyes turned to the floating brains with a mixture of horror and rage and the way her wand started vibrating and lighting up at the tip Dora briefly worried that Hermione was about set the entire room ablaze to wipe the affront against learning from the map.

"Hermione," Harry said softly laying a hand on the brunette's shoulder and carefully guiding her across the room. "Please don't destroy any of the Unspeakables' fancy toys. They might bill us. Or lock us up. Or both. At least later on, we can blame any destruction on the Death Eaters that are probably going to be chasing us. When the fighting starts you can kill evil brain eating brains, but not before."

"Brain eating brains?" Dora muttered raising an eyebrow at her boyfriend. The answering shrug did a lot to help her breathing calm back down into a somewhat normal level from the near hyperventilation she had been running on since seeing him open that door to the Arch. Shutting her eyes to recenter herself, Dora twisted and grabbed the handle to the next door. As she pulled it open her stomach dropped back out from under her. "I think we found your room of glowing orbs, Harry."

Prophecies. They were chasing a prophecy. Of course they were chasing a prophecy. Everyone knew that Unspeakables had a record of every prophecy that was made. Everyone knew that every prophecy was protected. Only Unspeakables could remove and listen to one.

Only Unspeakables and those present for the delivery of said prophecy…or those it referred to.

"That arrogant, secret-loving, overprotective bastard fool!" Dora cursed. Harry and Hermione shot her a confused glance as each walked past her. Dora didn't care one iota. She'd had vague suspicions the first time through, but now she knew. Dumbledore knew they'd been guarding a Merlin-be-damned prophecy! For a YEAR! A PROPHECY! Possibly the most useless piece of shite in this entire building including Fudge!

Prophecies were utterly pointless until after whatever they spoke of took place. At best, they made perfect sense in hindsight. At worst idiots and fools fell all over each other trying to force one outcome or the other just to realize that it had never even been about the conflict they were reaching towards to begin with. And to make matters even more stupid this one had to be about Harry at minimum – and probably Voldemort as well judging by the lengths the psycho had gone to to get Harry here and steal it for him.

Meaning that a simple trip through the DOM during the normal working day with a few Auror or Order guards and Voldemort's entire plot would've been foiled in 15 fucking minutes! Dora gnashed her teeth and stomped after her friends who were busy scanning the aisles. After she finished slaughtering Death Eaters she was going to rip Dumbledore's beard off and wring his neck with it. The man probably thought he was being clever, but he was playing a 1940s war still, not a 1990s war. He was playing with 2D battleships when he should be playing with 3D submarines.

Dumbledore's leadership was going to get them all killed. Technically it already had, and only a strange twist of fate had given them another shot. One which would likely never happen again…hopefully at least…

"Dora? Hermione? I…I think this is the right row," Harry took a deep breath and stood up straighter, his hand tightening on his wand. "I don't see Sirius. Do you think the ball…orb…thing…will take us to him? The one in my vision was about halfway down this aisle I think."

"Well…I suppose it's possible," Hermione conceded reluctantly as she followed him down. Dora noted with pride the neither were actually looking at the orbs but instead running their eyes up and down the length of the 'empty' aisle.

Dora scowled as she caught a pattern shift ever so slightly a few dozen feet away. They're here alright. Bastards are disillusioned and likely invisibility cloaked. Now to see if they managed to get my cousin this time or if I let the people I love waltz right into this stupid trap again for NOTHING! "They're prophecies, Harry. Don't pick up one without your name on it. The protections here are rumored to have even Gringotts impressed."

"My name? Like this one?" Harry asked softly as he came to a stop and stared at a glowing orb just in front of him.

Dora stepped closer and cursed under breath. "S.P.T to A.P.W.B.D and S.T.S; Dark Lord; and (?) Harry Potter."

"Are we certain about this?" Hermione asked. Her eyes flitted to a shadow behind Dora and Dora narrowed her own gaze in return. They didn't have much choice now.

Dora tightened her hand on her wand. "Harry? Just remember, the important thing is to always keep – "

"Constant vigilance," Harry finished. His hand shot out and grabbed the sphere almost faster than the eye could see. As one the three teens turned toward the lone Death Eaters each had picked out and shot off curses, falling back to back in a triangle configuration covering each other. Shouts of pain rang through the Prophecy Room and all of the remaining followers of the Dark Lord dropped their camouflage.

"Well done, children, well done indeed!" Bellatrix Lestrange said. Her grin was wide enough to swallow a small watermelon and with the way the fire danced in her eyes Dora realized her insane aunt wasn't even mocking in her approval. Dora's blood chilled as she took stock of their situation. Eleven of the twelve original timeline's Death Eaters were here. She dimly recalled Travers having been killed trying to escape Azkaban so that helped somewhat if not much. Three teenagers against 11 hardened killers weren't good odds.

Even if one of those killers looked to have lost the use of his leg from a bludgeoning curse impact on the hip, another was desperately trying to stem the fountain of blood spurting from the brachial artery and a third was barely breathing with his chest seemingly caved in. Three shots and two possible kills. Not bad for schoolchildren.

And yet this entire 'rescue' mission was already tits up since Sirius Black was nowhere to be seen.

"Now, hand over the prophecy, Harry, and I promise not to play with your little girlfriends before killing them," Bellatrix said holding out one hand.

Harry snorted and shifted positions enough to level his wand at the woman. "That's your best offer? That's not much of an incentive, Bellatrix."

"It's the best you'll get, Harry. I might have been convinced to let them walk away, but with killing poor, stupid Rabastan and Goyle…that I just can't ignore." Dora couldn't help the slight upturn of her lips as she saw the prone Death Eater's chest finally stop moving. She hazarded a guess at that one being Goyle since he was farther from Bellatrix. Rabastan would be the one who had just fallen unconscious in the pool of spreading blood then. Bellatrix must really dislike her brother-in-law; it technically should've been possible to save him had any of the Death Eaters actually bothered to help seal the wound. "It's a shame neither are pure. We could have used a good replacement for either one, but these gentlemen simply would not allow for it. Neither would I, I suppose though with them being women I might be able to overlook it assuming they'd be willing to properly service their betters." Bellatrix paused to look at Hermione and Dora. Dora honestly considered the viability of researching deadly eye beams. That would be a useful ability to have for a response to that type of proposal. "No? Very well. Back to Plan A then! Now, hand it over, Harry."

Harry started idly tapping a finger on the prophecy as he held it over the hard stone floor, the threat explicit. "Where's Sirius?"

A hollow voice laughed off to the Dora's side. She tore her gaze from her aunt and gnashed her teeth at the masked figure of Lucius Malfoy. "The Blood Traitor paid for his betrayal of tradition and purity. We ensured that. He's dead and buried! You are a fool for thinking we would bring him here just to showcase your utter failure, Potter!"

"You killed him already," Harry stated. His voice was suddenly flat and completely emotionless. All traces of forced levity and nervous energy had vanished from him.

Something in Lucius' statement didn't sound right though. It didn't fit…the pieces were mismatched. Dora opened her mouth to try and taunt the man into revealing more, but Hermione beat her to it. "That's not what he said Harry. Malfoy only hopes he's dead." Hermione smiled at Malfoy and inclined her head. "You have been attempting to toy with us too long, Malfoy – we're starting to learn your mannerisms and inclinations. You and your ilk would have definitely thought it fitting to bring Sirius' body here just to try and break Harry. That you haven't almost certainly means that you never killed him. Though judging by your words and tone I would say you likely did at least encounter him. He got away from you didn't he? And now you're just trying to bait us into doing something foolish. It's not going to work."

Dora's eyes widened as she skimmed through what Hermione had said. That sounded far more likely. Sirius could've been leaving the house for a few minutes like an idiot, gotten into a short skirmish, tagged by something, knocked out, and left to recover in Grimmauld. That's why Kreacher had free reign with the wards. The Order would've had to wake the man from a potion induced haze to counter it!

None of that helped their situation now though…

"Foolish little witch, far too smart for your own good, dear," Bellatrix crooned. She twitched her wand towards Hermione and the tip glowed orange for a brief instant before dying back down as Harry tapped the prophecy sphere again. "You should know better than to flaunt your intellect mudblood. It might behoove those of us pure to remind you of just why we are superior in every way."

"Really?" Dora openly laughed and grinned at Bellatrix. She had to get her friends out and the only way to do that was to change the status quo. A Mexican Standoff wouldn't work out well for them for much longer. "Why don't you go ask good old Tom what his father did for a living, Bellatrix? Or you could always ask Wormtail to regale you with the tale. Harry, you said the rat was there with you when Voldemort started waxing poetically about how his poor Muggle father ran away from his near Squib mother and – "

"LIAR!" Bellatrix shouted. One thing that Dora knew about her aunt with absolute certainty: Bellatrix Lestrange could always be counted on to go insane and lose her grip on reality if pushed too hard in just the right place. This was a textbook example.

An orange curse flew from Bellatrix's wand and arced towards Dora. It struck the block of rock that Dora had started conjuring even as she finished taunting her aunt. The ricochet launched into the prophecy shelves beside Dora shattering several and flinging wooden splinters and pieces of glass everywhere.

It was like a signal for all hell to break loose.

Spells started flying widely from every Death Eater around them while Harry and Hermione launched overpowered explosion hexes into the base of the shelves. Dora's hasty shield deflected the majority of the Death Eater's volley while the wood around them blew up with a screeching concussion. A mighty groan and crash saw both sides of the aisle begin to topple inwards onto the group of fighters.

"Run!" Dora shouted. Neither of her friends needed further prompting and all three of them took off through the falling prophecy spheres and collapsing shelves. One Death Eater moved to block their path, but he was too busy using his wand to bat aside a falling piece of wood to avoid or block the cutting curse that Dora sent his way. It severed his wand hand and carried on to slice his face. A cry of agony rang out and Dora caught a brief glimpse of Macnair clutching at his eyes before he dropped to the ground and they were past him.

A green flash of light shot ahead of them and caused a renewed volley of exploding prophecies. Behind her Dora heard Malfoy frantically shout, "No, you fools! The Master wants Potter alive! What do you think will happen to us should we destroy the prophecy! Capture him, don't kill him!"

Rule Number 80: If your enemy is trying to kill you, the smart thing is to abandon your bloody mission and try to kill them right back.

Dora smiled to herself as the trio burst through into the cognivores' lair and slammed the door behind them. Maybe I just might be able to get us out of this after all.

They were halfway to the next door before that thought proved a tad premature. The wooden barrier leading into the Thought Room exploded outward showering the trio with splinters and leaving Dora bleeding from several small scratches. Spells flew through the hole barely deflected by Harry's hasty shield. "Hermione get the door open!" Harry shouted as he maintained the shield and Dora turned to shoot cutting curses and exploding hexes back towards the four Death Eaters jumping through the breach.

The Death Eaters in front jumped to the sides as more of their number tried to enter the room. Dora narrowed her eyes at Crabbe Sr. The idiot had wandered far too close to the cognivores. Letting her mouth set into a thin line, Dora snatched three of the brains with a levitation spell and threw them into the man. All movement on both sides seemed to stop at the strange sight of flying brains smacking into a human male. Crabbe let out an unholy scream of pain and terror as the brains' tentacles wrapped around his head, neck, arms and waist. One forced its way into his open mouth and cut off his screams as two others threaded into his nose. Dora had a brief glimpse of the Death Eater's eyes rolling up into his head before he started convulsing and collapsed to the side.

Abruptly the novelty of the scene wore off and spells started flying again. Hermione wrenched the door behind them open and shot a series of spells into the cognivores' tank while Harry and Dora lunged through the opening. More shouts came from behind them as Hermione kicked the entrance closed and shot a door sealing spell at it leaving the Death Eaters with the hunting brains. "Remind me to never work in this Department, please," Hermione commented looking slightly green as the trio ran down a narrow corridor.

"You and me both," Harry muttered.

The room they were running through was a new one for Dora. It was longer and narrower and both sides of the wall were lined with glass and bars. Each section had all manner of strange and exotic creatures locked away behind various cages or enclosures. "That's a nundu…what the bloody hell are they thinking keeping a nundu down here?" Dora muttered hurrying past one particular enclosure set back into the wall. Another enclosure right next to it had a sign on the glass stating to all and sundry to 'Beware, Hungry Lethifold. Do Not Cuddle The Lethifold.'

"They're here!" a shout rang out from behind. "Bombarda!" Dora ducked and watched with wide eyes as the lethifold's glass exploded beside her along with several other smaller cages nearby.

"Time to find a room!" Dora shouted. Her friends didn't bother to reply though Hermione shot her an annoyed glance as they picked up speed and turned a corner. As Dora rounded the bend another spell shot over her shoulder and destroyed the cages right next to her. A terrified animal screech sounded and Dora felt a dull impact between her shoulder blades. She twisted and shot a spell over her shoulder at the attacker before diving through the door that Harry was holding open for her. As soon as she was through they slammed it shut, sealed it and started running again.

Dora grimaced realizing that they were back inside the Death Room. Surging forward she jumped into the lead and hurried to get her friends out of this nightmare inducing arena. They were about to reach for the next door when it opened of its own accord and spit forth Lucius Malfoy and Bellatrix and Rodolphus Lestrange. Dora skidded to a stop and raised her wand. She wasn't quite as quick as Harry who actually managed to shoot a stream of boiling water towards Rodolphus' face before the Death Eaters raised a shield. The damage had been done though and Bellatrix's husband dropped to the side whimpering with his hands clutched to his face.

Dora muttered a curse as behind them the door to the Evil Creatures Room shot open again and emitted Dolohov, Rookwood and Nott. The teens were trapped between the two groups of Death Eaters.

"Impressive, Harry. I must say you are doing quite well for yourself," Bellatrix said grinning and idly shooting an exploding curse towards the trio's feet. Dora shifted her shield to cover them as Harry and Hermione started edging down the atrium's benches. Dora could hear the quiet whispering of the Veil at the edge of her thoughts, but she pushed it down. She couldn't afford to lose it. Not here. Not now. Not when things were so precarious. Not in this room…

"Hand over the prophecy, Potter," Malfoy stated extending his arm. "We are done asking."

"And yet that's exactly what you're doing, Malfoy," Harry replied. His voice was edged with steel and his green eyes practically blazed. Under other circumstances the power he was radiating would've gotten her hot and bothered but here…here it mostly just helped to buoy her quickly diminishing supply of hope. "I still have the power here." Harry hefted the prophecy and sent a grin towards the Death Eaters. If Dora hadn't been spending so much time with the teen she would likely have missed the way his neck muscles were bulging and the strain evident in his perfectly straight back. "Draco runs to you crying when he loses. Are you going to run to Voldemort with tears in your eyes? Isn't that how the Malfoy family functions these days?"

"You'll regret the day you chose to cross us, boy," Malfoy hissed. He had raised his wand with a curse on his lips before Bellatrix reached over and slapped his hand down.

"Now, now, no need to damage the prize," Bellatrix said. "We get to play after, Lucy, not before. The Master was quite clear it was after." She leered at the teens and Dora felt her heart rate skyrocket.

Dora's feet knocked up against the dais for the Arch and sweat started to bead on her brow. Her eyes flicked frantically around the room. Dolohov and Nott looked beat up; both were bleeding from several large cuts and their masks were gone. Dolohov also seemed to be unable to use his left arm while Nott had a conjured patch over leg. Rookwood on the other hand almost seemed untouched by all of the chaos. His hair was still pristine and his robes were unstained. He was brandishing his wand with nary a care in the world. Lucius had a small limp which he hid well and Rodolphus had fallen to his side, unconscious from Harry's attack. Bellatrix was just as unhurt as Rookwood. Because of course she was…

In short, they were still up shite's creek. While the Death Eater's numbers had diminished slightly – or maybe some had just gotten lost – at best the trip had shifted the odds enough to be paddling with brooms instead of their hands. At best. If something didn't happen soon…

"I grow tired of waiting for you to stop toying with the brats, Bellatrix," Dolohov stated as he leaped over the last two rows and landed directly in front of Hermione, wand raised. "I'm taking that prophecy, Potter, or I'm killing your friend. Do you know how painful it is to die from an organ-rot curse? I'm curious how long the bitch will last before her mind breaks. Your choice, boy. Five, four – "

"Ulcere Sanguis!"

"Confrigo!"

Dora's snarled blood boiling curse lanced out towards Dolohov at the same time as Harry's blasting curse. The spells converged on a shield that Rookwood erected around his fellow Death Eater. It didn't help. Dolohov's eyes had barely an instant to widen in shock as both spells punched through the shield and impacted on his chest. The Death Eater was sent flying and crashed headfirst into the wall of the room slumping to the floor, unmoving.

Hermione for her part had ducked and sent a spell towards the former Unspeakable while he was distracted with his compatriot. Dora didn't know exactly what Hermione let fly, but it was powerful. The orange spell lanced into Rookwood and left a fist-sized hole in his chest, spinning the Death Eater around and dropping him right next to Dolohov.

Spells started flying about the room again and Dora dove to cover behind the other side of the dais along with her friends. They were down to three on three, but with Bellatrix on hand those numbers didn't mean much. Her aunt had always been a superb caster and, oddly enough, her insanity had only improved on that skill. The bench behind them exploded as Bellatrix started cackling and Lucius shouted for her to avoid the prophecy.

"Any ideas on how to get out?!" Hermione shouted as she dodged a Killing Curse from Nott and sent an earthquake hex towards Malfoy.

"Kind of running out of plans at the moment!" Dora yelled back as she hastily conjured a rock to absorb an entrails expelling curse. "This place doesn't exactly follow standard departmental layouts!"

Harry leaned over the edge of the dais and sent a gout of flame towards Bellatrix before ducking back down. "I think the door above us is the Space room! Hermione, Dora, I'll cover you, just get up those benches!"

"You are not staying down here all alone with three Death Eaters, Harry Potter!" Hermione yelled back.

"Five actually, girly!" Bellatrix cackled. The door she and Lucius had charged through banged open once more and Dora grit her teeth as Macnair and Mulciber joined the fray. Macnair had a patch over his useless eye and he'd swapped his wand to his still attached hand. Slowly, the executioner started to circle around the upper section of the room as Mulciber ran down halfway and joined with the remaining Death Eaters'.

"You're not getting the prophecy!" Harry shouted.

"I'll pry it from your dead hands if I have to boy!" Lucius yelled back.

Harry pulled out the glowing sphere and shared a glance with the other two girls. Dora nodded back and placed her hand on his shoulder. "We'll deal with what's coming either way, Harry."

Hermione also gave Harry a small reassuring smile. "We've done okay without a prophecy before; we'll do okay without one now." Harry shut his eyes and squeezed the sphere. Grimacing he pulled his hand back and hauled the small record into the floor shattering it into a thousand pieces. A spectral form of a shawled woman rose from the remnants, but any words she spoke were drowned out in the frustrated cry of rage from Bellatrix.

"How DARE you deprive my Master of his rightful due!"

Dora, Hermione and Harry all ducked back down behind the dais as a wave of heat and energy washed just overhead. The power that Bellatrix put into her spell did little to hide how they were being hemmed in on both sides while still pinned down behind the dais. "I'm sorry, guys…I should've…" Dora said softly clutching her wand and desperately searching for a way out of their predicament.

"Not your fault, Dora. It's mine," Harry replied. He scowled as the spellwave subsided. "Let's at least make them work for it."

"Agreed," Hermione nodded.

The trio stood as one and turned their wands onto Lucius. Before any could shout their spells though, the door above them burst open. Avery and Jugson flew through and landed hard near Macnair. Following right behind them, the reinforcements finally arrived on-scene.

Moody, Tonks, Remus, Kingsley, McGonagall and Fleur surged into the room firing spells as they went. The benches near Bellatrix and Lucius exploded in a hail of stone while Nott just barely managed to avoid a dark blue curse sent by Kingsley. McGonagall started shouting in Gaelic as she leapt to cross wands with Mulciber. Moody and Remus ran towards Bellatrix and Lucius, the aged Auror moving far faster than most would think possibly considering his peg leg. Tonks and Fleur jumped the benches to land next to the trio and face off against the remaining three Death Eaters.

"Took you long enough," Dora said the grin blossoming on her face dispelling any potential notion of reprimand.

"Sorry we're late, had to kill Kreacher," Tonks muttered irately as she eyed the bench that Avery had rolled behind.

"Is Sirius all right?" Harry asked. His wand didn't shake and neither did his voice, but his white-knuckled grip gave away his feelings loud and clear.

Fleur nodded. "Oui. Ze old dog was hurt while visiting wiz ze Tonkses and zen ze elf knocked him out. Andromeda was taking care of him when we left."

Jugson and Macnair chose that moment to stand and let loose a volley of spells towards the group. Hermione and Fleur blocked the attack with a deft combination of shields and conjured items while the other three retaliated with curses and hexes of their own making the Death Eaters dive back under cover.

"You hide when fighting women and children yet you call yourselves ze Deaz Eaters!" Fleur shouted. "Hypocrites! You are all pazetic cowards!"

"Fleur, maybe we don't antagonize the insane purist asshol – " Tonks abruptly cut off as an enraged Macnair shot over the bench and charged towards them bellowing curse after curse. She hurriedly cast a shield spell to deflect the mundane items while Dora and Harry conjured rocks to intercept the two Killing Curses. Between his aim, blinding rage and skilled defenders not a single spell came close to landing on their targets. The onslaught of curses stopped as quickly as they began and Dora could only blink in surprise as she looked on at a whip made of fire issuing from the palm of Fleur's hand that wrapped around the Death Eater's throat.

Fleur gave her hand a jerk and the former executioner dropped to the floor leaving a satisfied looking Veela glaring down at him. "I do not like zese men. Zey see me and my sister as mere breeding playtoys. Zey deserve worse zan zis."

"Note to self, never piss off Fleur," Dora muttered.

"I could've told you that," Harry commented offhandedly as he kept a careful watch on the bench hiding Jugson and Avery. "I saw what she did to Roger Davies near the end of the Triwizard Tournament."

"Ze boy was a pig," Fleur snorted. "He deserved to look like one."

Hermione held up a hand and glanced between Fleur and the bench. "Not be the voice of reason here, but perhaps we should stop bantering and attempt to leave? They may have more reinforcements of their own arriving and we need to – "

Dora felt icy claws dig into her back and a triumphant cackle echoed around the room. Dora felt her head twist in slow motion as Harry cried out from beside her. "Remus!" Finally her eyes completed realigning and she went numb. Raising her wand seemed to take a decade with how slow she moved and she was forced to simply watch as Remus Lupin – her friend, her coworker, her mentor – was struck by a red spell from Bellatrix while he stood near the edge of the dais with the Arch. Time slowed and Dora's arm finally finished rising. She tried to cast a spell but the tip had barely even started to glow with the congealing magic before Remus fell backwards and vanished through the Veil of Death.

She'd failed.


Dora was brought back to reality as she heard Hermione shout, "Harry, no! Stop!" Her boyfriend had moved from beside her and surged towards the Veil. Dora could only give an incoherent cry of pain and horror. She rocketed into motion desperate to reach him before he could follow Remus into oblivion.

She was too slow. She wasn't going to make it. She'd frozen too long. He was too far ahead. She'd waited too long to tell him her story and now everything was about to end because she'd screwed up and been arrogant enough to think she could handle it all on her own instead of asking for help and she was acting just like Dumbledore and now Remus was dead and Harry was going to die too for nothing and it was all her fault and –

"SHE SAID STOP! ACCIO HARRY POTTER!" Tonks yelled. Harry's hand brushed the fabric of the Veil before his forward momentum halted and he rocketed backwards towards Tonks. The Auror barely managed to grab ahold of him as both woman and man tumbled to the floor of the room.

Jugson and Avery used the confusion and chose to rejoin the fray. They both stood and started firing spells down into the small group sending Fleur and Hermione scrambling to intercept and retaliate. Before Dora could go to help either side, Harry rolled off of Tonks and whipped his head around. He focused in on Bellatrix who merely cackled. "Have fun here boys and girls! I have places to be and a summons to answer!" She shot a final spell towards Moody knocking the old man back and turned to run out of one of the upper doors.

Harry roared in rage and pushed off the ground charging after Dora's insane aunt. Behind him Tonks groaned and rolled over as she tried to stand. Hermione attempted to disengage from the battle with the Death Eaters but was forced to stand her ground and continue her fight as a stray spell reached out towards Fleur. McGonagall barely even seemed to realize that there was anyone else in the room as she continued her heated duel with Mulciber. Moody was still trying to get his leg back under him and Kingsley was consumed in his own battle with Nott Sr.

History was repeating itself. Everything that had happened before was happening again. Everyone was dying. Harry was losing all control. Bellatrix was getting away. There was nothing she could do. Everything she'd tried to accomplish was being blown away in the hurricane of fate and there was absolutely nothing that she could do to stop it. You couldn't fight fate. Having a natural disaster on your side was all well and good until it decided that it was bored and whipped you into its death spiral as well.

The cold claws cut into her again and Dora scowled. "No," she whispered. Jumping forward she surged after Harry. She'd long since stopped sparing any thought to controlling her morph and focused all her being on speed. If she could get to him fast enough…If she could reach him before he cast that curse…If she could just change one more thing

Rocketing through the door in the arena Dora crashed into the Time Room, mousy brown hair flying in a banner behind her head. She was just in time to watch Harry level his wand at Bellatrix's back. Dora felt her breath hitch and she started to cry out.

"Confrigo!" Harry screamed. Dora's shout died in her throat as she watched Harry's spell fly towards Bellatrix. She'd…she'd made a difference. Even if they all died here…she'd made a difference to him…Maybe that was enough to make it all mean something.

"Clipeum!" Bellatrix shouted twirling on her heel and lashing out with her wand. Her wand tip lit up and almost seemed to catch Harry's spell before directing it off into the bank of Time Turners and grandfather clocks. The entire series of contraptions exploded with an ear shattering bang from the strength of Harry's spell. "Not bad, Harry. Not bad at all! It's a shame that you can't be convinced to join us. I sadly can't stay, but I'll give my Master your best. See you in Hell!"

Dora's world slowed to a crawl. It was almost like she saw double. She saw Bellatrix start to raise the wand again. She saw the black lightning curse start to form. She saw Harry in its path. One timeline lay on top of the other as her feet carried her forward without conscious thought. "Harry! Move!" She saw his head whip to the side and his eyes widen as he realized he wasn't alone with Bellatrix. She saw the lightning leap from her aunt's wand and start to arc across the distance between them. She saw herself push Harry out of the way and though she tried to avoid it her foot still slipped on the exact same tile as before. She could only shut her eyes in consignment to her fate.

You can't fight against a hurricane.


Dora's world rocked back into full speed as a fleshy body barreled into her knocking all of the wind out of her chest. Her eyes flew open and her mouth opened in a brief shout of pain as Bellatrix's black Chest Crushing Curse flew over her shoulder close enough to leave an energy burn. The curse crashed into the – apparently rebuilt – giant grandfather clock in the corner causing it groan and roar with cascading sands for an instant before folding in on itself and seemingly vanishing from existence. Dora herself crashed to the ground as a mane of bushy brown hair flew into her face and a weight settled onto her arm while Bellatrix's cackle fled into the distance.

"Hermione?" Dora gasped blinking in confusion.

Grunting, the other girl picked herself up and reached down to help haul Dora to her feet as well. "You really need to watch where you are going, Dora. Harry, are you alright?"

Harry could only nod as he stared between Dora and the vanished grandfather clock. "I…I…yes. Yes, I'm fine."

"Good. Well, what are waiting for? We've followed her this far, let's stop the evil bloody bitch before she can get away!"

Dora and Harry's mouths dropped open as they stared blankly at Hermione. "Hermione…" Harry murmured. "You never curse…"

Hermione turned to Harry and glared. "That woman just murdered my best professor and then tried to slaughter the two people I care about most in this world outside of my parents! I can call her whatever I damn well like thank you very much! Now are going to stop the Death Eater or are we going to sit here arguing about my manners?!"

Shaking his head, Harry clambered to his feet and turned towards the door. "She ran this way. Come on. I…I'm sorry I wasn't thinking when I ran ahead like that. I just…"

"Later, Harry. Hermione's right. We don't have time," Dora said. She squeezed his shoulder and started to run down the indicated hallway.

Harry was alive. She was alive. Hermione was alive. Sirius was alive. Remus was…Remus had paid the price for her arrogance and she'd have to live with that for the rest of her life. But…

Maybe you could fight a hurricane after all…


AN: Much thanks to RhysThornbery for his beta assistance on this.

I did consider having Sirius actually captured, but it ended up feeling too much like drama for drama's sake instead of serving a legit purpose. I aim to have my stories make sense (even if just to the character making the decision) and that option just didn't feel real when I tried to write it up. So we have this one instead.

Anyone who hates cliffhangers needs to thank RhysThornberry. I wanted to cut this chapter off on the massive one prior to the last scene and he convinced me that would be mean…

What did Fleur do to Roger? He acted like a pig so she literally transfigured him into a delightfully rotund pot-bellied pig for a few hours.

There were a few Easter Eggs in this chapter for the eagle-eyed reader. All will be revealed in time if you missed them.

\/\/\/\/

Mad-Eye's Rules For Successfully Reaching Retirement:

Rule Number 20: A confident Auror intimidates worried criminals.

Rule Number 80: If your enemy is trying to kill you, the smart thing is to abandon your bloody mission and try to kill them right back.

\/\/\/\/

Fic Recommendation: "Shrouded Veil" by pi R round. This fic is somewhat near the end of the beginning, but has a very promising start. It's a crossover with Sekirei and is somewhat unique to those crossovers: this is set in the HP verse exclusively with only one character from the Sekirei world making the leap. It's currently a Harry/Uzume/Tonks/almost definitely Fleur pairing though what the plans are for down the road I have no idea. The basic plot is that after Uzume is terminated she crosses over through the Veil and ends up being winged by Harry. This causes all sorts of problems. Saying too much more would be spoiling things. Anyway, this fic is very well written and has a lot of fun using concepts from both universes in new and intriguing ways that only manage to compliment the original instead of feeling tacked on. A fun read for fans of both verses.