The Late Prophecy
Chapter One
"The Sudden Attack"
"What –?" said Voldemort, staring around and then he breathe, "Dumbledore!"
Harry looked behind him, his heart pounding. Dumbledore was standing in front of the golden gates.
Voldemort raised his wand and set a jet of green light at Dumbledore.
"Look out!" Harry yelled.
Dumbledore turned and was gone in a whirling of his cloak; next second he had appeared behind Voldemort. Dumbledore advanced on him.
"It was foolish to come here tonight, Tom," said Dumbledore calmly. "The Aurors are on their way –"
"By which time I shall be gone!" spat Voldemort. "There is only one thing I need to accomplish, Albus." He continued, sending another killing curse at Dumbledore but missed.
"There are other ways of destroying a man, Tom… if that's what you mean by it." said Dumbledore calmly, still advancing with Voldemort.
At that precise moment, Bellatrix scampered behind Harry and held him tightly around her arms, leaving Harry with his wand on the floor, which he accidentally dropped and was now two feet away from him.
Harry couldn't shout and he can't breath. Bellatrix held her arms around Harry's neck and mouth and dragged him away from Dumbledore's sight, turning a corner where Wormtail stood waiting for them. Wormtail grabbed Harry on his shirt while Bellatrix cast a spell that bind Harry so tightly with ropes that he felt so much pain from head to foot.
Harry felt hopeless, he can't shout for help. He was running out of breath. He felt like air was gone and his lungs were not working properly.
Wormtail produced a portkey from his pocket, setting it beside Harry, touching his shirt, and held his arms around it while Bellatrix emerged from their hiding place and called Voldemort from behind, who's still fighting Dumbledore.
"Master! It is done now! We got him!" She then ran back and touched the portkey. After a couple of seconds, they're gone.
Voldemort eyed Dumbledore, grinning. He stood behind the wizard statue, blocking Dumbledore from sight, then shouted,
"See you, Dumbledore!" and with the flick of his wand, he apparated.
Full of people emerged from the Atrium, along with them were Remus Lupin, carefully holding Hermione's unconscious body, Sirius Black who's now walking limply after falling behind the veil, which thought Harry and Bellatrix to be dead. But the real reason why Sirius took so long is that he fractured his knees and couldn't stand. Ron helped him walked after clutching Hermione's unconscious form and asked Lupin to help him. Neville also had a bad injury on his legs; along with him was Ginny who also happened to have her ankle broke with a snap. Luna helped them both while carefully walking to avoid Neville from tripping twice already.
Fudge came stunned from what happened on the Ministry, he was about to faint when he reached Dumbledore who's still rooted on the spot after Voldemort apparated.
"What happened? I saw You-Know-Who disappeared just right here!" said Fudge, massaging his chest.
Dumbledore gazed in his direction with a look of glum over his face after fighting off Voldemort but failed to kill him before they took Harry.
Dumbledore took a deep steadying breath and said, "They took him."
Fudge look utterly bewildered on what Dumbledore was talking about and said, "Who? I don't understand, Dumbledore."
"No… that couldn't be possible, Dumbledore." said Sirius, shocked of what he just heard.
"Yes." said Dubledore, feeling tired. "They took Harry with them," he continued, his eyes with Fudge and Sirius.
"But how?" Lupin asked, still lifting Hermione's unconscious form.
"I don't know how, only did Bellatrix claim that she had him. She ran from that alley but I don't have the chance to save him. Everything's happening so quickly. They planned this," Dumbledore clutched his wand tightly from his hand.
"This is a mess, Dumbledore! I don't know how bunch of death eaters and You-Know-Who got here without being seen!" started Fudge, eyeing Dumbledore fretfully.
"Then I believe you lose out your control why several of your workers are not here," Dumbledore said quietly but clearly.
"I do not lose control over matters that concerns to me, Dumbledore!" said Fudge, agitated. And looking around, shocked of what he was seeing, he saw Sirius Black standing just three feet behind him, not noticing that he's been there all along. "I can't believe this, you've been hanging all along to Sirius Black without telling the Ministry of Magic! He's a mass mur –"
"You shut up!" barked Sirius from behind. "I'm not here to dwell on things and do nothing! I came here to save Harry's life for goodness sake!" snapped Sirius, advancing on Fudge but Lupin held him back. "And if you still think that I'm a madman and killed those people fifteen years ago, you're loosing your touch Mister! I've been living my whole life trying to protect Harry and –"
"How are we going to save Harry now?" Lupin interrupted before Sirius kills off Fudge and was now turning brick red.
Ron, Neville, Luna and Ginny stood perplexed on what they're hearing. And Lupin was right, how are they going to save Harry now. They don't even know where he is.
Dumbledore cleared his throat and said, "Hear me out here, Cornelius. Sirius simply is trying to save Harry's life fifteen years ago and your beliefs were too far from reality. Peter Pettigrew is still alive and was now in the hands of Voldemort. He's the one who betrayed Harry's parents and believed to be dead but he's not! He obeys orders from Voldemort in all these years without you knowing because you don't want to see it, you just don't want to accept it but it's happening now, Cornelius, it's happening…"
Cornelius shuddered on hearing Voldemort's name and looked frightened from what he had just heard. He kept on glancing at Sirius as though Sirius was about to start attacking him but he concentrated on Dumbledore's words.
"But Dumbledore –" Dumbledore raised his hand, unwilling to hear anymore of Fudge's commentaries. He said, "Cornelius, we are trying to help you now to know the truth, it is time for you to have the esteem, regardless of what the others believe is not true."
"And you're forgetting The Quibbler, sir." Ron interrupted while still holding Sirius. "I guess you don't know, Harry once told the whole truth about what really happened last year! Start reading, Minister!"
"And he said no foul things against the Ministry of Magic unlike what you did!" Neville shouts with anger.
"He is desperately wanting to end this, but you just don't get it! You're making things hard on him! He needs your support!" Ginny said, tears started to form from her eyes.
Fudge look nowhere else but onto the floor. He couldn't stand the hard feelings he is now trying to deal with at the moment, but Dumbledore said calmly, patting him on his shoulder,
"Now that you've heard them, Cornelius, start bringing around with you the needs of your people, the truth, Cornelius. I know some won't accept the facts, but I will help you."
"Well I guess I'm not a good Minister of Magic after all," Fudge said with finality on his voice but his face was full of sadness and despair.
"We have to act at once!" said Dumbledore, staring around them all. "But first, we must help these kids return to Hogwarts. Madam Pomfrey will be waiting for all of you." He added, addressing to Ron, Neville, Luna and Ginny. But Ron shook his head and said,
"No! I want to help! Harry needs me, Professor."
But this time, it was not Dumbledore who spoke against them, but Sirius.
"No." Sirius looked down at Ron and reached his hand on his shoulder. "You cannot come, Ron. You do not know what Voldemort might do! And –"
"Sirius is right." Lupin spoke, addressing it to Ron, Neville, Luna and Ginny who looked like they were about to argue back but no one speak after Lupin said his final words. "There are things you still do not know! All we need are your support and trust."
Silence followed these words, then Dumbledore cleared his throat again and said plainly, "We are to go back to the lifts and up on level six. The kids have to go back to Hogwarts using the portkey."
Together, they trudged their way to level six, where several of portkeys stood disorderly on the wooden table.
Dumbledore reached for an old newspaper and beckoned Ron, Neville, Luna and Ginny to touch it while Dumbledore made arrangements with Lupin who's still carrying Hermione in his arms.
"Lupin, bring Hermione back to Hogwarts and make sure they're all okay. Come back here when you're done."
Lupin nodded and made his way to the four kids, touching the portkey. Then they're gone.