The spell flew at Harry before Harry had raised his wand or thought of a spell. Harry was suddenly jerked backwards, the spell flying past him.

"HERMIONE!" Ron yelled as the spell zoomed toward her in the glass case.

The long table that had been behind the cages was thrown in front of them, the deadly spell smashing into it, making it burst into flame.

Voldemort looked slightly shocked. "What--?"

"Over here, Goldilocks," Elyse said from behind Voldemort.

Voldemort turned and stared at her, an expression of anger on his face, followed by one of puzzlement. "Hm… you look familiar."

"I sure hope I do," Elyse said. "I've only seen you a good twelve dozen times."

"I can't place you, though…" Voldemort mused.

"Well, you wouldn't, would you? Guess I did the job well." Elyse smirked.

"Hm…" Voldemort's eyes suddenly grew wide. "Yes… yes, you are with Andrews, over there."

"Very good!" Elyse said mockingly.

"Hm… but it seems there would be a third…?" Voldemort pondered to himself, though he seemed to also be asking the question aloud.

Elyse's face turned grave. She barely got out in a whisper, "Heather was murdered last year by someone." She straightened a bit, and ignored the questioning looks Harry and Ron were giving her behind Voldemort's back. "I can only imagine it was one of your Death Eaters."

"I can only imagine…." Voldemort smirked. "Well, I really do have a world to take over; I was not jesting. I'll have to ask you to kill yourself, or have one of these gentlemen do it for you." There was a cough behind him. "Oh, yes, and Bella."

There was a light tap that Harry barely heard on some wall behind him. He turned, but saw nothing.

"Well, I would love to stay and chat, too, but you must understand, I have two friends to save, so if you'd move aside? I'd hate to have to do it myself," said Elyse.

Voldemort lifted an eyebrow. "You're hardly one to be giving orders. We outnumber you twelve to one."

"Oh, I think I am. You see, I have something you want, something you don't have." Elyse smirked.

"Oh, and what could that be? Harry Potter's life?" He turned to Harry. "I'll kill you in a moment."

"Well, yes," Elyse said, "but something else as well. Would the last record of the prophecy made by Sibyll Trelawney be of any interest to you?"

Voldemort's expression dropped. "What?"

"You heard me. The last--now the only--record you can possibly get of the prophecy Sibyll Trelawney made," Elyse repeated.

Harry's eyes grew wide. They weren't seriously going to bargain with the prophecy? And there was another one made?

"There are no others," Voldemort said, as though reading Harry's mind (giving Harry an unpleasant feeling). "The only one on record was destroyed."

"The only official one," Elyse confirmed. "But there was another."

"Another?" Voldemort asked, interested.

"Another?" Harry and Ron asked simultaneously, confused.

"Shut up, Potter, Weasley," Voldemort snapped. He turned back to Elyse. "Where is it?"

"Oh, I'm not that gullible," Elyse said, smirking.

"Oh? So what do you want for this prophecy? Or is that an obvious question?"

"Very obvious."

Voldemort considered this. "All right. If you give me this prophecy, I will let one of these pathetic fools go."

"Both of them," Elyse corrected.

"One of them," Voldemort repeated. "I'm not giving you a two-for-one deal."

Elyse considered. "All right, we'll start with one. Then we'll escalate. Let Hermione Granger go."

"First I want this prophecy," Voldemort said.

Elyse tilted her head from side to side. "I'll show it to you. I won't let you hear it until Hermione is safe."

"I don't think so," Voldemort said. "When she's safe, you'll just Apparate out of here."

"You can't Apparate out of here," Elyse said, smirking. At Voldemort's slightly surprised look, Elyse chuckled. "Yes, I'm smarter than you give me credit for. Master of precautions, remember? I've over checked this place in the last few minutes. You put an anti-Disapparation charm on this cave."

"Smart little girl, aren't you? First off, you have yet to show me where this other prophecy is," said Voldemort.

"Indeed." Elyse snapped her fingers and a shallow stone basin with runes and symbols appeared in her hand. "This is where the final record of the prophecy lies."

"But it's just a… Dumbledore!" Voldemort hissed.

It was Dumbledore's pensieve in her hand, the very one in which so many of Dumbledore's thoughts could be. Dumbledore wouldn't want Voldemort, of all people, to see this!

"Elyse, you can't--"

"Be quiet, Harry," Elyse said quietly.

"Didn't I tell you to shut up, Potter?" Voldemort said eagerly, staring at the pensieve greedily. "You want Granger?"

"Yes," Elyse said. "And then we'll work something out for Katie."

Voldemort was looking like nothing else would be worth letting Katie go. He was about to get all of Dumbledore's thoughts, or at least the many Dumbledore was sure to have placed in there! What more would he want that they could give him?

"Lucius!" Voldemort snapped, not taking his eyes off the pensieve. "Let the girl go."

Lucius hesitated, then walked over to Hermione's cage. He took out his wand and did a large swishing movement with his wand, ending it with a sharp jerk. Nothing happened for a moment, while everyone watched the cage except Elyse and Voldemort. The cage suddenly burst apart and Hermione screamed as she fell into the pit.

"HERMIONE!" several voices rang out at once.

"It's all right," someone whispered so that no one but Harry and Ron could hear. "She's fine."

Harry wanted to talk back but knew that he shouldn't be talking to someone most around him thought dead. Ron quietly nudged him. Harry looked at him, but he was staring at something else. Harry followed his gaze. It was Katie, her eyes glowing red as she looked downward toward where Hermione had fallen.

Most people were back to watching Voldemort and the pensieve.

"There, she's free," Voldemort said. "Now give me the pensieve."

Elyse looked at him disbelieving, a very good impression of shock on her face. "You killed her! I'm not giving it to you after you've murdered her!"

"It was you who failed to specify where we were to set her free," Voldemort said with a smirk. "That man was my favorite pirate… pity he died… Lucius, is it still on our list to kill those who murdered him?"

Lucius nodded with a look that showed he thought it was stupid. "Yes."

"Good…" Voldemort said, still staring at the pensieve. "Now give it to me, or I shall be forced to kill you."

Elyse rolled her eyes. "I--"

There was a sharp tapping. Harry turned quickly. Katie was tapping--slamming, more like--on the cage that held her, her eyes blood red. She was on her knees, sweat coming down her face like a river.

"Do you see, Potter?" Voldemort asked, having finally taken his eyes off the pensieve. "Can any normal person do that?"

"No," Harry confirmed. "No, they can't. But I love her anyway, even for what she didn't tell me."

Katie made an odd face; Harry couldn't tell if it was something near a laugh or relief.

"Yes… love." Voldemort shivered. "What an accursed word! But she didn't tell you. She lied to you completely! You don't even know who she is!"

Harry stiffened a bit at this. He wasn't sure if he knew who she was; he was going by someone's word on that. "I do know her; I know more about her than you."

"Is that so?" Voldemort asked. "I am highly amused at your confidence, Potter."

"That is so, because if you did know her, you'd know to let us all go," Harry said.

"Indeed?" Voldemort asked. "Why is that?"

"Because if you knew her you'd know not to tick her off, something you're failing at miserably," Harry said. "Everyone who knows her won't deny her abominable temper, and you obviously have yet to learn that."

Katie gasped behind them. Harry turned to see her gasping on all fours, but relief showing on her face to have something off her hands. Harry looked back to Elyse, but she was gone.

Voldemort smirked. "Potter, this is the last time I'm going to say it: I have a world to destroy, and so little time to do it before the muggle-loving fool catches on to the real plan. I really must say goodbye."

"Yes, well I'd love to say goodbye, too," Harry said, pointing his wand at Voldemort. "And now seems like a good enough time to say it."

Voldemort let out a soft cackle. "You think you can defeat me?"

Harry smirked. "I know it."

Voldemort lifted up his wand and got into the dueling stance form. "Then let the games begin."