All I Crave is a Normal Life

by cazgirl

R for later chapters. (HarSev) Harry has defeated Voldemort at great personal loss and has fled the wizarding world. Circumstances force him to return and he must face all that he left behind, including his greatest enemy - and his greatest fear.

16. chapter 16

Disclaimer: I don't own the whole concept of Harry Potter or any of its characters. Only the plot is my own.

Thank you to everyone who reviewed (and Awen, thank you very much) and a big thank you to my beta/ editor-in-chief/compadre, Sepia. Your efforts are greatly appreciated and you don't get nearly enough credit for your involvement with, and input into, the story.

CHAPTER 16

As a teenager, Harry would have given his right arm to sit in on an Order meeting. He had imagined that secrets were shared during these meetings and that members would spend this time to form all manner of cunning and stealthy plans to stay two steps ahead of their enemies. If he had known then just how wrong he'd turn out to be, he wouldn't have wasted so much of his time getting caught by Mrs Weasley while trying to eavesdrop.

Despite the number of meetings that they'd had since Voldemort had returned, nothing productive seemed to have come out of them. Now that Voldemort knew where Snape's and the younger Malfoy's loyalties lay, they had lost a valuable source of information about the Dark Lord's movements.

The Order members had talked of trying to prepare another spy to infiltrate Voldemort's inner ranks, but Albus had finally decided that the risk of sending in another spy was far too great. The Order had proven that it was indeed possible to infiltrate the ranks of the Death Eaters, but the Dark Lord rarely made the same mistake twice. He would be much more cautious about who he permitted to serve him now. Harry hoped that the information he would be able to give them about his vision last night would bring them closer to making a move against Voldemort.

Harry stood before the large statue of the griffin that guarded the passageway to Albus's office and looked carefully about him to make sure that no one was watching him.

"Chocolate Niblets," he said quietly. The griffin closed its wings and moved aside to allow Harry to the spiral staircase that ascended to Albus's office.

Most of the members had already gathered by the time Harry arrived. They had been chatting amongst themselves, Harry could hear them from the staircase, but most of them stopped talking and turned to look at him when he stepped inside the room – the way they did almost every time he walked into a room full of people. They'd been working side by side with 'Harry Potter' for some weeks now, and Harry was chagrined that he still had this effect on them. This would certainly take some getting used to.

The Headmaster's office was large, larger even than the Gryffindor Common Room, but Harry was struck by how small and crowded it looked today. Gone were the gadgets that had always decorated a large part of the office. In its place were row upon row of soft squishy leather chairs, arranged in a semi circle before Albus's large desk, which was bare save for the sword of Godric Gryffindor which lay reverently on a soft cushion under a large glass case.

Fawkes trilled loudly and left his perch to sit on top of the glass case, looking proud. Harry smiled. Of course Fawkes should feel proud, he thought. Harry couldn't help but feel a twinge of pride himself as he recalled the events of his second year at Hogwarts.

Fawkes had saved his life when he had come face to face with the basilisk unleashed from the Chamber of Secrets by the spectre of a sixteen year-old Tom Riddle. All had seemed lost until the phoenix had delivered the sorting hat to him, from which he pulled Gryffindor's sword and skewered the beast. The wound Harry had received in the process was healed by the phoenix before the poison could run its course, quashing any plans he might have had of dying in the chamber.

The phoenix spread his wings and nodded deeply to Harry from his place on the glass case, and Harry returned the sentiment, bowing deeply in a gesture of profoundest respect to the bird that had saved his life so many years ago.

"Good morning, young Master Potter. It is always a pleasure to see you," Armando Dippet greeted Harry from his portrait, breaking the silence that had fallen over the room.

"Thank you, Headmaster, you're looking well this morning," Harry replied politely.

"Why thank you. Professor Dumbledore just recently had me restored, you know," the former Headmaster beamed.

"It's made a big difference, not that you weren't impressive before, though."

"If I hear any more of this simpering I think I'll be sick," came a sneer from a set of frames next to Dippet's.

"Headmaster Nigellus," Harry bowed politely.

"Hmm. At least you've learned a few manners, boy. I'll say that for you," Phineas said, narrowing his eyes at Harry.

Harry snorted and held out his arm for Fawkes

"Or perhaps not," Phineas said snidely.

The room full of people continued to stare at him as Fawkes perched on his arm and used his beak to arrange his feathers about him. As always, the phoenix knew instinctively where his pain was. It trilled a soft lilting melody and his aches and pains immediately began to disappear and his tiredness seemed to evaporate.

"Thanks Fawkes," Harry murmured, stroking the bird's silky feathers as it leaned in and cried pearly tears onto Harry's scar.

The tears left a silky trail of tingling coldness behind it as it traced a path down his scar, seeming to extinguish the fiery pain that had threatened to tear it apart only hours before, and easing the throbbing in his head.

A sea of faces greeted him when he looked up, reminding him that he was, once again, making a spectacle of himself. Fawkes seemed to sense his unease and sang softly, pointing with his head to where Ginny, Hermione and Remus were standing.

"If I didn't know better, I'd swear you could read minds, too," Harry said, moving toward them. They were standing in a corner by themselves, each nursing a mug in their hands. He didn't miss the look that they exchanged when they saw him approach, the same look that conspirators give one another when they know something that somebody else doesn't. Normally, he'd corner them and try to pry the information out of them; but for some reason, he didn't seem to care too much. Fawkes trilled happily and nuzzled at his neck.

"…I told him only –" Remus said in hushed tones before he was interrupted.

"Morning Harry," Hermione greeted him brightly. A little too brightly.

"Morning," Ginny echoed, equally as cheerful.

"Morning," Harry said quietly. He was still embarrassed that she, Ginny and Remus had seen him while he was having one of his nightmares.

"Er, I have to ask, how on earth did you do that?" Hermione asked, pointing at Fawkes who was resting his head on Harry's shoulder.

"Do what?" Harry asked.

"That. A phoenix is absolutely loyal to its master. Some phoenixes will allow people other than their master to touch them, but they rarely go to someone who isn't their master," Hermione explained.

"I don't know about that," Harry replied, "But Fawkes and I are old friends. Aren't we?" he asked the bird, who trilled a happy agreement.

"Ah, I forgot about your episode in the Chamber," Hermione said, realisation dawning. "I was petrified at the time, though, so a few memories are bound to slip through," she grinned.

"So, how are you?" Ginny asked, sounding casual but giving Harry's face a thorough once-over.

"I'm fine. I've had a couple of cups of Remus's coffee and it was potent. Nobody could be tired after that."

"Well, you look much better than you did before Se-" Ginny began.

Remus suddenly doubled over coughing violently and gripping his throat.

Suspecting his friend's tea had gone down the wrong pipe, Harry rushed over, thumping on his back in an attempt to be helpful.

"Thank you Harry, I owe you one," Remus said when the coughing finally subsided, shooting a weary glance at Ginny.

"No problem," Harry replied before turning back to Ginny. "You were saying?

"Hmm?" Ginny asked looking confused. "Oh right. I was just saying that you were looking absolutely dreadful before Sev-"

"SPELLS!" Remus shouted suddenly, shoving Ginny aside with his body. "You promised to demonstrate the new concealment spells that you helped to develop."

"Er, right." Harry looked suspiciously at Remus, then Ginny and then back at Remus, who was looking at him with big innocent eyes.

"Er…look, about last night..." Harry began in explanation, suspecting Remus's interruptions were nothing more than an attempt to avoid any discussions about what had happened last night.

"It's all right, Harry. You don't need to talk about it if you don't want to, particularly as so many people appear to be so very interested in you right now," Remus said pointedly, looking at the other professors in the room, many of whom were still staring at them.

"I do seem to attract quite a bit of attention."

"I'll say," Hermione nodded.

The door opened and Albus entered the room followed closely by Snape and Draco.

Fawkes sang loudly when he saw Albus and flew over to the Headmaster, sitting on his arm, much as he'd sat on Harry's.

"I think he likes you," Albus smiled, carrying his bird back to his perch. "Perhaps now is a good time to begin our meeting."

As usual, Harry claimed a seat for himself near the door. He looked behind him, expecting to find Remus, but he was surprised to see that Remus was still standing in the corner, talking to Hermione and Ginny. He wondered what they had to talk about that couldn't be done in front of him.

"I would have expected everybody to have seated themselves by now," Albus began, smiling but looking pointedly at Remus, Hermione and Ginny. The trio apologised and rushed to their seats. Remus found a seat by Harry, and the two girls joined Ron, Snape and Draco by the window on the other side of the room that looked out onto the Quidditch pitch.

Hermione and Ginny looked apologetically at Harry. Probably, Harry thought, because they hadn't joined him. Ron avoided looking at him, which made a nice change from the way he had been picking an argument with him every chance he could find since he had been exposed in his disguise. He was hoping that he and Ron would have been able to make things up with each other by now. Telling Ron what he wanted to know might have put an end to the hostility, but it would also involve admitting certain things to other people that he didn't even want to admit to himself and he wasn't prepared to do that.

Draco sat by Snape, speaking quietly to him and pointing at the newspaper in his hand every now and then as if to emphasise a point, but the professor didn't look like he was listening to him at all. He was too busy staring at Harry. Harry had seen that look before. It was the same look he had when he was inspecting potions ingredients for a single flaw that might ruin an otherwise perfectly good potion. It made the hairs on his neck stand on end.

"I shan't keep you longer than is necessary," Albus began."I have been attempting to re-forge our friendships with some of the other 'communities' for some time now. The Dementors have always supported Voldemort, but other communities, such as the Centaurs, the Goblins and the Werewolves, have been reluctant to befriend either side. Their strength will be important to us, so Minerva, Remus and I will leave to meet with some of them the day after tomorrow. I do not expect to be gone for more than ten days. In my absence, Severus and Hermione will share the Headmaster's duties."

Hermione seemed to sit a little straighter in her chair for hearing this.

"Does anybody have anything they wish to add?" Albus invited, looking expectantly around the room.

"Actually, I have some information you need to hear, but I don't know how to explain it," Harry said quickly. "It…concerns a 'vision' I had last night," Harry began hesitantly, disturbed at how close he was to sounding as if he were channelling Professor Trelawney.

"It was Voldemort, I'm sure…he was in a room full of people. There must have been about fifty people in front of me, all kneeling in their Death Eater Robes, with their hoods up and their faces down. I—Voldemort, that is to say—made a big speech –"

"Can you remember what was said?" Albus interrupted him.

"I can't remember everything, but he said something like that he'd 'returned to them all as promised, and that things would be done differently this time; for although it was the beginning of a new age, it was time to revive old traditions'." Harry paused for a moment, as he searched his memory. "He was going to lead his Death Eaters in some type of raid, to 'show the filthy Muggles and Mudbloods why they would always be superior to them.' But he warned them against raising the Dark Mark, because he said, 'It is not yet time'."

"Was that all he said?" Minerva asked.

Harry paused again, not sure how to impart his next bit of information. "There…was…a mirror on the other wall and I…caught a look at his face. It wasn't the face of Voldemort, as we know it to be. It…looked the face of…Salazar Slytherin."

The room fell into a tense and uncertain silence, only to be broken by the headmaster's soft voice.

"It was common knowledge among the Death Eaters during the last war that Voldemort was dissatisfied with the body he had chosen to return in. Though his magic was as powerful and as strong as it had always been, he felt the limitations of his body keenly. His body was created from odd elements, which meant that it could not grow and develop, so he lacked real physical strength and robustness," Albus explained.

"Be that as it may," Albus continued, "Severus and Draco discovered that he had begun conducting research into the transfer of one's essence from one body to another."

"Do you mean like the way he inhabited Professor Quirrell's body?" Harry asked.

"That was more along the lines of a parasitic inhabitancy. It was necessary for him, in his primitive state, to find a living, breathing host that could support his life essence as well. The research Albus is referring to concerns transferring his essence into an empty vessel, something that he can inhabit on his own, whether it is temporarily or on a more permanent basis," Hermione explained. "There are a lot of theories out there, but nothing that I found to be really solid."

"Some of the more radical wizards have claimed that they have found a way to make this transfer possible. Neither Draco nor myself could ever find out for certain whether the Dark Lord had indeed discovered a way to do this, but if Potter really did have a vision about Slytherin –" Snape supplied.

"I did," Harry leapt in.

"If he did," Snape continued, ignoring the interruption, "then it would seem that the Dark Lord has found a way to make a theoretical possibility a reality,"

"Harry, you've had visions before that weren't 'true' visions – ones that were sent to you deliberately by Voldemort to pass some false information," Hermione said delicately "Could this vision that you're talking about have been a false vision?"

Harry had seen false visions before, particularly during those years after he had left Hogwarts to take on further training for his upcoming role in the war. None of those had been as dreadful as the vision that had been sent to him by Voldemort during his fifth year where he had seen Sirius being tortured to death in the Ministry of Magic and had decided to try and save him. That sequence of events had led to the death of his godfather and to this day he hadn't completely forgiven himself for that.

"I suppose so," Harry finally admitted.

"I disagree somewhat with your assertion, Hermione," Albus interjected. "We know that Voldemort has returned to us in some fashion. We also have first hand knowledge of wide spread acts of violence in the Muggle communities, which is why we have all spent time patrolling various Muggle inhabited areas. All of this corresponds with the information Harry is giving us. Not surprisingly though, the Wizarding newspapers have run no such corresponding reports."

"But why Salazar Slytherin?" Professor Sinistra queried. "Perhaps he's wearing a disguise?"

"What for? Everyone knows that Slytherin died centuries ago, so he won't be fooling anyone. Anyway, it wouldn't matter what Voldemort looked like to his Death Eaters. They'd follow him regardless of his appearance," Harry argued.

"I cannot think of any other explanation for this phenomenon. Voldemort must have discovered a way to use Salazar Slytherin's body as a host for his essence," Albus said softly.

It seemed that every witch and wizard in the room began talking at once about the implications of it all.

Harry didn't quite know what to believe. The idea was slightly absurd, but then, he'd seen Pettigrew brew up a new body for his master in a cauldron. If Voldemort could do that, inhabiting the body of his ancestor didn't seem like it was such a stretch of the imagination after all – though it sent chills down his spine.

"Does that mean that Voldemort's power has increased now? That he's able to use Slytherin's strength as his own?" Ginny asked.

"I wouldn't think so," Hermione replied. "Voldemort is using Slytherin's body as nothing but a host. The body is a shell, nothing more. It has no magical strength except what Voldemort brings to it himself. Of course, if Slytherin preserved some of his magic into his body, then that would be a different story altogether. But I doubt he did anything of the sort. He couldn't possibly have known that someday one of his descendants was going to inhabit his body and would need him to preserve some of his magic."

"Though we cannot rule out that, however remote it may be, there is still the possibility that Slytherin did preserve some magic within his body," Snape added.

"Not that he needs any more magic from Slytherin," Ron muttered.

"Was that all you saw in your vision?" Albus prompted Harry, bringing the conversation back to him.

"Yes," Harry lied. The truth was he had seen much more than that. Voldemort had taken part in the Muggle hunting himself, so Harry saw all of the horrors of their hunt. The way they'd tortured and then slaughtered Muggles, who had no hope of defending themselves against the dark magic. Not even the elderly or the women and children had been spared.

Albus looked closely at Harry and then at Remus, who shook his head and very carefully mouthed, "Later."

"It does not make sense," Snape declared suddenly, and to no one in particular.

"Pardon? What doesn't make sense?" Hermione asked.

"Everything. Everything about that vision is wrong. The Dark Mark was always raised over the victims of a hunt, or inscribed somewhere nearby. It's the Dark Lord's signature. True, he enjoys Muggle hunting, but he enjoys the fear he can inspire even more – which is why it makes no sense that he did not raise the mark on this occasion. Perhaps even more strange than that, though, is that during the time I was associated with the Dark Lord, I have never known him to participate in a Muggle raid."

"Neither have I," Draco added. "Father used to tell me that Muggle hunting is something he used to indulge in when he was younger, but abandoned when he gathered his Death Eaters. He just didn't expose himself like that. Since no one, except us, knows he's back though, he isn't really exposing himself by participating this time, particularly as he didn't raise the mark. Maybe he just wanted to relive the 'good old days'," Draco suggested.

Snape shook his head. "I disagree. The Dark Lord does not act unless it will benefit himself in some way, and I do not see the benefit he will gain from doing this."

"Nor do I," Albus said, shaking his head.

"Maybe we should think about forcing his hand," Harry volunteered. "Tell the public about Voldemort. He's got supporters in the very high places, like the Ministry and the banks. Not everyone will believe us but enough might that his supporters might start feeling the pressure bear down on them a little and they'll have to go underground. We can find them and find out what Voldemort is planning and flush him out that way."

"We will not be believed –"Albus began.

"I know, I know, it was just a thought," Harry sighed. "It'll have to come out eventually though."

"Yes, it will. But timing is everything. Voldemort, or one of his supporters, will make an error, and when he does, we will bring the truth to light in such a way that everybody will have no choice but to believe us. Now is not the time though. We have plenty of work to do. So, unless anyone has anything further to add, I will not keep you," Albus said, dismissing the group.

The Order members filed out of the room quietly and sombrely. Besides a few hushed whispers, no one, it seemed, felt much like chatting.

"Why don't you go on ahead, Harry? I'll catch up with you in a minute," Remus said.

"Er, alright." Harry looked suspiciously at his father's best friend.

"It's all right. I just need to have a word to Severus, about my potions."

"Okay. I'll see you later. Goodbye, Fawkes," Harry called to the phoenix, who trilled lightly as he left the room.

OOoOO

Remus quickly crossed the room, toward the small group of Order members still seated by the window.

"Harry had a vision last night," Ron stated soberly when Remus joined them.

"Yes," Remus nodded.

"How bad was it?"

"That was the first time I've ever seen him during one of them. He seemed to be in agony."

"Why didn't you call me? I might be angry as hell at him, but I would have helped."

"With things as they stand between the two of you, he wouldn't have wanted you there, so calling you is the last thing I would have done. In fact, he was embarrassed that anybody saw him at all."

"It always took a bit of effort to bring him out of one of his visions. He used to thrash about so much that it was hard to get near enough to him to help, but you made sure that he couldn't hurt himself, didn't you? And that he had potions to take for the pain when he woke up?"

"Yes, I did," Remus looked closely at Ron. "It would be nice, though, if you and he stopped this nonsense and got on with things."

Ron folded his arms across his chest obstinately. "I don't take kindly to family members who just up and leave me without so much as a good bye – and he is a part of my family, whether he likes it or not."

"This is all getting just a tad too sentimental for me, so I believe I shall take my leave," Snape scoffed, heading toward the door.

"Actually, I was rather hoping to have a word with you," Remus said before he could move too far. Turning around, the Potions Master raised an eyebrow, but moved no further.

"What could you have to discuss with me?"

"I just needed to have a quick word with you and Hermione about the research I was doing for the both of you."

"Research?" Ron asked, screwing up his nose. "She's got you doing research for her as well? I have a feeling that I'm going to be fighting hard to stay awake if I stay for this. Are you coming Draco? Ginny?"

"Draco and I have matters to discuss with the Headmaster," Snape said, narrowing his eyes slightly at the werewolf who looked for all the world like the picture of calm and innocence.

"Oh, oh. Of course you'd have things to talk about. So it's just you and me then, Gin," Ron said, using the nickname he'd always called her by when they were very young.

"Don't call me Gin," she said with a touch of exasperation, mixed with just a hint of fondness for the nickname she hadn't heard in so many years. "And I'll wait for Draco."

"All right then. I'll see you later on," he said, heading for the door.

"What is so important that I was not permitted to leave the room?" Snape asked, with not the least bit of interest, once Ron had left the room.

"Ssh." Remus hissed, casting a glance at Albus and Professor Sinistra, who were still deep in discussion on the other side of the room. "It's about what happened last night. As far as Harry knows, only Hermione, Ginny and I were in the room with him last night. He doesn't know that the two of you were there as well, and I don't want him to find out," Remus explained, looking at the two former spies.

"I should have guessed that this would have something to do with Potter," Snape said, rolling his eyes.

"Didn't he see us? I mean, I was standing right by his bed," Draco asked, ignoring Snape.

"That's just it. He didn't see you. He wasn't wearing his glasses, so he couldn't see very much at all. In fact, the only reason he knows that anyone was in the room at all was because he heard Ginny and Hermione. He was humiliated enough to know that anyone saw him that way at all, so I told him that the three of us were the only ones who saw him," Remus said.

"We'll stick to the story. But he doesn't have any reason to be embarrassed. He didn't bring that nightmare on himself," Ginny said, her eyes full of concern.

"Many years ago, he began learning the art of Occlumency in an effort to reduce his receptiveness to these visions. If he had mastered the skill he would not have had a vision last night," Snape lectured. "Perhaps you should pass on that bit of advice the next time you see him."

"Professor Snape!" Hermione rebuked.

"Why yes, I'll have to keep your suggestion in mind. I have some things that I need to see to, so I won't keep you any longer, Professor," Remus said, "Oh, and Severus, Harry's found a way to add a pleasant flavour to his potions. Perhaps you might like to think about doing the same when you next make mine."

"I have found many interesting things to flavour your potions with – unfortunately the Headmaster frowns upon the use of toxins."

OOoOO

Exam time was nearly upon them at Hogwarts. Though the students had the inclination, they unfortunately didn't have the time to enjoy the warm weather outside anymore, and many of them could be seen gathered in the library, or cloistered in their common rooms studying quietly.

Harry had finished his course work a week ago, and had given his students these final two months to revise what they had been taught and have some of his more difficult lessons repeated. Last week, his seventh year combined Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw class had asked him to revise his lecture on defensive potions. The last time he'd given this class, he'd dipped into his own supply of potions ingredients and had avoided having to take any from the Potions storeroom in the dungeons. This time, however, he wasn't as lucky, and didn't have all of the ingredients necessary – which is why he found himself wandering a little aimlessly through the corridors in the dungeons, searching for the elusive storeroom. The last time he'd visited the Potions cupboards was when he was a student, but it had apparently been moved since then, and as Harry didn't have the time to keep looking for it, he would have to ask someone to point him in the right direction. He hoped he'd be able to find a student, because he had a feeling that climbing over barbed wire wearing nothing but a nervous grin would be safer – and ultimately less painful – than knocking on the Potion Master's door for something as mundane as directions.

The dungeons had always seemed colder than any other part of the castle, and he started to regret that he hadn't thought to wear anything warmer than a thin long sleeved v-necked shirt and black trousers. When he was younger, he used to think that the dungeons must have been damp and dark, and had a permanent chill because they were built underground. But now, on his way to the storeroom, he saw that it wasn't damp at all. In fact, there seemed to be more torches burning in this part of the castle than anywhere else, with the exception of the Great Hall. Perhaps the chill was magical; Harry wouldn't have been surprised if Hogwarts' resident curmudgeon had deliberately created a chill in the dungeons to keep people from being down there unless they absolutely had to be. Harry didn't think Snape needed to go to such extreme lengths though – his presence alone was enough to keep people away.

"Harry!" Ginny called from behind him.

For just a moment, Harry considered the possibility of hurrying on his way without stopping to talk to her. His next class was scheduled to begin in about ten minutes. He was already going to be late and he still needed to find the ingredients he was looking for and set everything up in his classroom.

On the other hand, if he didn't stop and talk to her, he was sure she would make him regret it. With a small sigh, he turned and waited while she, Draco and Snape caught up to him.

"How are you?" she asked. Her cheerfulness was again slightly forced and Harry nearly groaned out loud. He was grateful that she was making such an effort to move their relationship along, but he wasn't a child and didn't need, or want, her to behave cheerfully for his benefit.

"Er, fine, Ginny, but I have to keep moving, or else I'll be late for class."

"I won't keep you," Ginny said quickly. "Draco told me that you have a free afternoon today, so I wanted to invite you to our rooms for afternoon tea and a chat."

"He told you that, did he?" Harry asked, looking pointedly at Draco.

"Hermione's going to be there, so is Ron and Professor Snape, as well as Draco and I of, course. So, I'll expect you at about three o'clock," Ginny said.

"What? But I – I haven't agreed to anything," Harry protested.

"You are free, aren't you?"

"Well, yes, but –"

"And you wouldn't consider refusing an invitation from a friend, would you, particularly when that friend has missed your company and is really hoping you'll come along, would you?" Ginny pressed him.

"Your wife would have made a fine Slytherin," Snape said quietly to Draco, who grinned.

A frantic flapping of wings disrupted the negotiations, and a large brown barn owl swept over them in a flurry of wings and feathers, pausing only long enough to drop a scroll into Harry's hands before it shot straight back down the corridor and out of the dungeons.

Harry quickly opened the scroll and read it, trying not to let the concern he felt show on his face. It was a short message:

Help - Ministry Breached

Tonks

"Er, you don't usually get owls down here in the dungeons, do you?" Harry asked as casually as he could.

"No. We do not," Snape said, narrowing his eyes suspiciously.

"What does it say?" Ginny asked anxiously.

"Er, Ginny. Is your father working today?"

"Yes. So are Bill and Charlie. Why?"

"There were some papers I wanted to pick up from the Ministry, but if your dad was there, I was going to ask him if he wouldn't mind doing it for me, that's all."

Ginny weaved a quick silencing spell before leaning forward and pulling Harry down by the front of his shirt, so that she could look him in the eyes. "Harry James Potter, I don't care how many years it's been, I can still tell when you're lying to me. If you don't tell me what's going on right now I will hex some of your more sensitive parts off. Do I make myself clear?"

"Tonks sent the note. There's been an attack on the Ministry building and she's calling for help," Harry blurted out, carefully extricating himself from her grasp.

"Oh my God!" she gasped.

"Since your family is in the building, maybe it would be best if you –" Harry began, but he cut himself off when he caught the look on Ginny's face.

"Don't even think about finishing that sentence. If you were me, what would you do?" she asked him, eyes blazing.

Harry had found himself in a similar position only a few weeks before his final year at Hogwarts came to an end. He had wasted no time in charging over to the Ministry of Magic when he thought Sirius was being held and tortured there. "I'd be over there before anyone could stop me," he admitted.

"Ginny! We were just looking for you," Hermione called out, hurrying down the corridor with Ron in tow.

Ginny ran to meet them, to no doubt inform her brother and sister-in-law of what had just transpired.

"What did the note say?" Draco asked Harry, taking advantage of his wife's absence.

"Here," Harry said, passing it to him.

"Shit," he murmured, passing it on to the professor. The older man frowned as he skimmed his eyes quickly over the note. Pulling his wand out of his sleeve he quietly murmured a spell to clear the parchment of all writing.

"Voldemort," Harry growled.

"Maybe," Snape said cryptically.

"Who on earth else?" Harry argued.

"Not now, gentlemen. We have to decide what we're going to do," Draco said, heading off the argument before it could start.

"We'll need some help of course. What a time for Albus and Minerva to be away from the school," Harry said, thinking aloud."

"You are right. We will need help, and it is a woefully inconvenient time for them to be absent. However, I do not think we will have the time to organise the rest of the 'old crowd' to lend their assistance," the Potion's Master said, using Albus's euphemism for the Order. "Of all the emergencies that have come to pass, none have ever sent communication by Owl before where it could be so easily intercepted. The matter must have been extremely urgent for them to have committed such a gross breach of protocol."

"I don't think Ginny and Ron should come along, though. They're not going to be thinking too clearly and they might make a mistake that could get themselves, or someone else, hurt," Draco said, looking worriedly at his wife.

"Agreed," Snape nodded.

"And Ron's going to be absolutely furious with Hermione if she went along and left him behind. I know we'll be limiting our numbers, but I'd rather not do that to them," Harry said.

"Our numbers weren't really that high to begin with. In any case, since Albus left both Severus and Hermione in charge, one of them should really stay at the school," Draco noted.

"How are we going to do this?" Harry muttered as Ginny, Hermione and Ron rushed over to join them.

"Where's the message, and do we have a plan?" Hermione asked, all business.

Harry and Draco glanced awkwardly at each other.

"We shall arrange for the house elves to gather the rest of the school's crowd together. One of them can then organise the rest of the crowd," Snape suggested, gesturing toward Draco and Harry. It would be prudent to take some potions to the Ministry with us though," Snape added, looking deep in thought. "And considering the circumstances, we may require the 'above regulation' strength potions, in my potions cabinet."

"While we are organising the house elves, I would ask the three of you to retrieve the potions from my personal store. The password to my rooms is 'vivificus'and you will find my potions in the cabinet in my study. They are all clearly labelled so you should not have any difficult in identifying them. You are capable of using your discretion to select the ones you think we might need."

"Of course," Ginny nodded, dashing off in the direction of the professor's rooms with Ron and Hermione close on her heels.

"We aren't going to have much time to get away," Harry said, silently admiring the way Snape had been able to divert Ginny's Hermione's and Ron's attention from them so quickly and so effectively.

"We have a little time. I have cast some rather interesting spells over my potions cabinet, and that will delay them, however, I recommend that we leave – sooner rather than later," Snape replied.

"Right," Harry nodded. "I'll call Dobby."

While Harry explained his instructions to the little house elf, Snape and Draco removed their robes and rummaged through their pockets before shrinking them to a size more easy to hide.

"This will do," Severus said, drawing his wand and murmuring a spell over an empty potions vial. "I have taken the liberty of creating a portkey. The sooner we leave the better."

"It won't take them long to see through that fool's errand you sent them on, and nothing's going to stop them from coming after us after that," Harry said.

"I assure you, they will be most unable to follow us," Snape told them, setting the portkey on the ground.

"I don't think I like the sound of that," Draco said, looking suspiciously at the older man.

"Do not concern yourself. They will remain relatively unharmed," Snape assured him.

"I don't like how that sounds, either," Draco muttered.

The three men grabbed onto the portkey and disappeared, but not before they heard the sound of a woman's scream from somewhere down in the dungeons.

OOoOO

It's impossible to travel by portkey and not feel like you've just been sucked into a giant hole and spat out the other end. The three men made a less than spectacular landing and Harry found himself in the rather awkward position of having to remove himself from Snape's lap, where he had landed. Of course the older man had to make the make whole situation even more embarrassing by tensing up like a bow at the contact. Harry rolled his eyes. The two may have had their history, but surely the man had dealt with things more disgusting than himself.

They landed in a small park only a few blocks from the Ministry building. It was large and relatively empty given that it was a weekday and most of the children were in school. A few mothers with very young children were seated here and there, and every now and then somebody walked their dog or jogged past them.

"Why did you bring us here? Why not a back street somewhere, closer to the Ministry?" Harry asked, weaving a strong silencing spell around them.

"We need to be able to plan our next movements, and three men would look suspicious talking in a back street," Snape explained, leading them to a nearby bench.

"Yes, well given that we only have a suspicion as to who, or what, attacked the Ministry, I don't think we can make much of a plan. We might have to just charge ahead and wing it most of the way through," Harry said, sitting down and leaning forward on his seat to face the other two.

"I don't think we can wait for everyone to join us. You said yourself that Tonks must have been desperate for help if she had to breach Order protocol to get the note to us, so I think that we should get in and do as much as we can."

"You may have a point, Potter, as much as it pains me to admit it," Severus grimaced.

"I must admit, though, I'm not familiar with the current layout of the Ministry. How is it set out and what sort of security measure have they got?" Harry asked.

"The building was more or less destroyed in the last war, so Fudge had what was left of it destroyed and he had the whole building re-built. The Death Eaters managed to infiltrate the building at least a half-dozen times during the war, so he had more security measures integrated into the new design. The old Ministry building was underground, but he decided that he wanted to have a nice showy building sitting above the ground albeit only visible to a wizard's eyes. He said if it was good enough to have St Mungo's sitting above the ground, then it's good enough for the Ministry too," Draco explained.

"Idiot."

"You won't hear me disagree. You can't apparate onto the premises or disapparate from them, and you can't portkey in or out of the premises either – so there's only one way into the building now, and that's through the front door. The old visitor's entrance was pulled down and there are no side doors or back doors, and the windows are false. There's some sort of air filtration and circulation system built into the building but it can't be used as a point of entry because it's not done with air vents, it's done with holes drilled in and around the building and small pipes, or something like that."

"That sounds like a death trap, not a security measure," Harry said in disbelief.

"A lot of people feel the same way, but that's the way Fudge wanted it done…and since when has the man listened to reason?" Draco shrugged. "The front door has a couple of wards built into it that will identify you as soon as you walk through the door. It sends the information to the rooms in the building where they monitor this sort of thing. One of them reads your magical signature and energy and the other one removes all concealment spells and charms that you're wearing when you walk through. You said your concealment spells are different. Would they be affected by this ward?"

"Probably not. The ward would be utilising the standard revealing spells that people use all the time and they can't see through my spells. We're not using concealment spells though, are we?" Harry asked.

"I see no reason to. I recommend using a strong Confundus spell to disable the ward that reads magical signatures," Snape suggested.

"There are also Roving Eyes that move about the building taking everything in and sending the images to whoever's monitoring security. They're not particularly difficult to disable, a standard stunning spell, or slashing hex or even burning charm will do. The trick is to avoid them. You can't hear them coming and they're not very big, so a lot of times, they're right on top of you before you've even realised that they're there. That's it. The rest of the security is just in the layout of the building."

"There should be about a hundred people working today. If they're being held hostage, they'd probably be on the basement level, where the Wizengamot holds court. They're all big enough to hold them. Or, they'd be on the top floor, where Fudge's office is. His office is bigger even than the courtrooms –"

"Big surprise," Harry muttered under his breath.

"– so it would easily hold all of them. The first floor reception level only has small rooms, like Careers Offices and such. The second level has the offices and the cubicles that the Aurors use when they're not in the field, which isn't often. They're hardly big enough to fit three people each, so there really isn't any point checking them," Draco explained.

"However, we must not rule out the possibility that the Ministry employees are being held separately," Snape added.

"True. The only other level after that is the top level and that's Fudge's level," the young blond continued.

"However, since we will not have the time to search every room in the building, we should find the hostages, and then discover from them whether any of them have been taken to a separate room," Severus instructed.

"I agree, considering the number of rooms there are on the first and second levels alone, we could be there for hours," Draco nodded.

"Consider also that if they are indeed being held captive, it would be foolish not to assume that we will encounter random guard patrols. As time is of the essence, I suggest that we avoid them if we can. It is better to remain undetected and anonymous so that we may move about freely, than risk having our movements hindered by patrol units that have been sent to look for us," Severus added, receiving a nod from Harry and Draco. "Alternatively, we may encounter unbridled chaos inside the building. We may, quite possibly, walk into the middle of a fight that is already in progress. We must be extremely cautious," Severus said, getting up and dusting off his clothes.

"Don't you think that goes without saying?" Harry asked cracking his knuckles.

Severus sneered. "Not in your case, Mr Potter. Kindly curb your appetite for foolish heroics and recklessness. I do not wish to die today."

Harry's eyes flashed. "I'm not an idiot, Snape, and I certainly don't need your instruction."

"Both of you need to stop it. We don't have time for this," Draco said, leading the way. "Before we go, I always used to let Severus lead when we were working together. If that suits you, Harry, I think we should keep to that arrangement."

"That suits me just fine, since I don't know my way around the place."

"And I think it might be best if I stay between the two of you. If you end up bickering you're likely to get me killed and if that happens, I think it goes without saying that I'll be extremely pissed off."

They moved quietly and quickly through the streets toward the Ministry, each of them with one hand on their wand, ready to draw it at a moment's notice. Their caution was unnecessary though, as they encountered no one on the way.

The new Ministry Building looked more like a fortress on first inspection than anything else. A large stone wall, which easily stood about ten feet tall, formed a stern looking perimeter around the property save for a single opening which lead onto the main compound.

The building itself looked very much like an old – but very large – sprawling Muggle-style Victorian town house. Typically ostentatious, just like the Minister. Well groomed flower beds and rose bushes filled the emptiness of the large lawn and a row of short bushes lined the inside of the stone perimeter.

A path led from the opening in the wall to the front door of the Ministry Building. It was a sound attempt to make sure that no one could enter the premises undetected and there was no doubt that it would be effective in keeping out unwanted people – unless of course someone found a way through the stone perimeter, or managed to bypass the security measure concealed in disguise.

Unfortunately, if the Ministry had really been breached, he couldn't risk being seen, even in a disguise. Whoever had infiltrated the building would no doubt have stationed people outside to make sure that they weren't interrupted until they finished what they had come to do, and if they were people standing guard, he, Severus and Draco would be seen if they tried to go over the wall. He swore viciously under his breath.

The Potions Master glared at him and put a finger to his lips. The three of them approached the opening in the wall. Severus took a very quick peek around the corner and held up two fingers. The trio backed away from the opening, regrouping far enough away that they could talk without the risk of being overheard.

"Only two guards?" Harry whispered.

Severus nodded. "One on either side of the front door. However, I was only able to have a very quick glance."

"Do you think we'd be able to just stay at the wall and hex them from around the corner," Harry suggested.

"Too risky. They'd be aiming straight at us but we won't be able to aim if we're just shooting peeks around the corner," Draco disagreed.

Harry and Draco looked expectantly at the Potion Master, who looked to be deep in thought and didn't seem to have heard a word that had been said.

"Severus?"

"Draco, I will need your mirror," the Potions Master finally said.

"Excuse me?" Harry asked, looking at the professor like he'd just lost his mind.

"Why would you think I have a mirror?" Draco asked defensively.

"Look, we don't have much time. Would you just hand the mirror over?" Harry asked, still confused about why Snape would want a mirror, of all things.

Draco sighed and handed over a small compact. "You'll never know when you'll need it," he mumbled, catching Harry's amused look.

Severus silently crept back to the opening in the wall. Carefully crouching down on his hands and knees, he held the mirror out and moved it a various angles so that he could see into the compound while remaining safely hidden.

"I had no idea the Professor was so…flexible," Harry noted, watching with obvious fascination as Severus continued to flex his long limbs into awkward positions in an effort to remain unseen by the guards.

"I don't think this is the right time to be getting those sorts of ideas about the professor," Draco whispered, sending a sly look at Harry.

"I wasn't," Harry said, feeling his cheeks begin to burn. "Those sorts of ideas and Professor Morbid over there don't belong together. I've just never seen anyone so flexible. No, actually, I take that back. There was a guy in one of my classes at university who gave a speech with both of his legs hooked behind his neck. He's the most flexible person I've ever seen."

"Really? Just think of all the possibilities."

"I was…believe me, I was."

A few moments later, Severus crept back to join the others.

"There is a third guard stationed on the roof," Severus told them, handing the mirror back to Draco. "He is well concealed behind the ledge and in a position to be able to attack us should we enter the compound. From his vantage point, there is no doubt that we have already been seen. Therefore, we have no option but to initiate an attack. We have lost our advantage of surprise, so we must try to overwhelm them with raw power instead. One of us should attack the guards who are on the ground, while the other two of us should concentrate our attack on the guard on the roof. He will be harder to hit, as he is well concealed behind the ledge, so we will need to draw him out of position before we can attack him."

"I can help with that," Harry said, rummaging through his pockets and pulling out three Weasley Wizarding Wheezes brand fireworks that he confiscated from one of his students earlier that morning. "If one of these goes off near him, he won't want to stay where he is. We can attack him while he's trying to run away from these things."

"I might add that as we have been seen, it is possible that others have been notified of our presence," Severus warned them.

"So we do what we have to do as fast as we can. The others shouldn't be too long. We should be able to manage on our own until then," Harry said, gripping his wand.

"Agreed," Severus nodded. "Draco and I will attack the guard on the roof while you attack the ones in front of the building."

Harry rushed through the entryway first, hexes blazing and hoping that blind luck would smile on him and his spells would hit at least one of the guards. None of them did though, and he found himself standing completely in the open before two armed wizards who were doing their level best to hex him into next week.

Severus had been right. The guards had been expecting him. As soon as he'd run out from behind the wall, a hex flew straight over his head and another one brushed past his side, nicking him on the way past and opening a shallow gash. There was no pause in the barrage of hexes the guards were throwing at Harry. They seemed to be doing their best not give Harry an opportunity to aim any spells at them. Spells seemed to be raining down on him from all directions and Harry dove to the ground. A loud explosion erupted over the roof, and suddenly flashers and sparklers of every colour seemed to rain down on them. While the two guards were distracted, looking for the source of the explosion, Harry managed to stun them.

The familiar tingle behind him told him that a spell was fast approaching, barely a moment before it hit him. A bludgeoning hex caught him on his left shoulder as he tried to turn around, and an even heavier blow to the middle of his back knocked him forward onto the ground. The attacker had been standing barely a body's length away from Harry, the close range adding force to the spell.

Harry felt like he'd been bludgeoned by a sledge hammer and it was a few moments before he was able to move. With as much speed as he could muster, Harry rolled over onto his back and held his wand in front of him, looking for the person who attacked him. He was surprised to see no one standing over him, only a young man sprawled out on the ground in front of him.

"That's one hell of a drop," he observed, looking from the roof top to the ground and back again. His comment was met with silence. Looking about, he found himself on his own and he began to worry that something had happened to his cohorts. He found them rustling through the bushes by the side of the building.

"The man who attacked you from behind had been hiding in the shrubbery behind you. I did not see him during my preliminary search of the grounds," Severus frowned.

"Well if he was hidden in the bushes, you wouldn't have been able to," Harry said.

"There aren't any more. They all would have come out and joined in the fight by now anyway," Draco said, heading back to the bodies of the wizards they had just been fighting with.

"It is imprudent to leave loose ends. If one had been hiding in the vegetation behind Potter, there is no telling how many others may have been similarly concealed," Severus said following Harry and Draco.

While the two former spies hid the bodies in the hedge, Harry untucked his shirt and lifted it up to check the large gash on his side, which had been steadily bleeding since it had opened up.

"I thought that guy hit you in the back," Draco said, dumping the fellow he'd been levitating unceremoniously into the hedge.

"This happened when I ran in. I told you that those guards were ready for us," Harry replied, running two of his fingers along the length of the cut and murmuring a low grade healing spell to seal the wound.

Harry was, without a doubt, a powerful wizard, skilled in many areas of magic, but if Madam Pomfrey had seen his attempt to close a simple gash, she would have been beside herself. It seemed that Harry had trouble tracing the course of the wound, and instead of applying his magic in one smooth motion, from one end of the injury to the other, he applied his healing energy in short spurts. The result of his efforts was that he was left with a long, angry looking scar, which; on closer inspection, looked more like a hodgepodge of short criss-crosses beginning at one end of the scar and ending at the other. What was sure to have sent Madam Pomfrey into apoplexy though, was the fact that Harry's effort wasn't even wholly successful. His scar…leaked. Literally. There were sections along the new scar that continued to dribble blood.

Severus and Draco grimaced at his efforts.

"It'll do," Harry said defensively, wiping as much of the blood away as he could with his already blood stained shirt. Pulling his shirt back down, he hurried to the front door.

"Wait," Severus commanded, joining him. "Do you not find it strange that nobody has come out to see what all of the commotion was about?"

"I do, but I don't really want to sit and wait for them to come and find me. I'd rather go and find them. At least that way I can catch them off guard, even if just a little," Harry replied.

Severus looked as though he wanted to object but Harry cut him off before he had the chance. "Look, before you suggest that we sit and wait for everyone to arrive, think about this – if they really are preparing to attack us out here, then there's no telling when they're going to charge out. If we stay out here, then they'll gang up on us out here. If they're still gathering behind the door and we go in, they'll gang up on us in there. In the worst case scenario, the same thing will happen to us, just in different places. So we may as well just head in there. Time is everything, and it may already be too late."

"I was only going to suggest that I open the door and that the both of you stand behind me, and hex anything that moves as soon as I push the door open. If we hit any of the Ministry staff, we can always explain ourselves later," Severus said.

"Oh," Harry muttered awkwardly, stepping aside to let Severus stand in front of the door.

"Oh yes, and we should all try to minimise the amount of noise coming from our wands. It would not do to give ourselves away so easily," Severus added. "Ready?"

"Yes," Harry and Draco replied, holding their wands at the ready.

Severus opened the door just a fraction and peered through the tiny gap. Seeing no one, he quickly murmured a Confundus spell and disabled the ward that would identify their magical signatures and announce their entrance into the building. Even though they were in a hurry, they made sure that the room was empty before they entered the building. None of the wizards had any desire to stroll into a room without making sure they knew exactly what to expect.

When they were sure that the room was empty, they crept inside, and Severus quickly disabled the security eyes that roved about the room.

They moved swiftly and silently through the room, stepping around the broken glass and overturned furniture. Peering cautiously about them, they crept through the level, heading for the stairwell. It made more sense to keep hostages together, rather than separate them into different rooms, so the trio didn't waste any time checking any of the rooms on this level, heading instead for the level with the larger rooms.

They froze when they neared a corner and heard voices coming from the other side. Looking about the corridor, Harry saw nothing to hide behind. Seeing no other alternative, he pressed himself up against the wall behind him and pointed his wand at the corner, waiting for the first person to step into range.

He bit back a startled oath when a hand grabbed his arm tightly and pulled him into a room somewhere behind him. Without thinking, yanked his arm free and lunged at the person who had attacked him, knocking them to the ground. He had pinned them down with his hand around their throat and his wand pointed at the spot between their eyes before he even realised that the person he'd just tried to strangle was Severus Snape. For a moment, the Potions Master looked surprised, but now he looked annoyed. Very annoyed.

Harry quickly let go of his throat and took a few steps back.

"Don't ever do that again!" Severus hissed, retrieving his wand and picking himself up off the floor.

"I could say the same to you," Harry gasped. He felt as though his heart was beating in his throat, which was where it seemed to have lodged itself when Snape had surprised him earlier.

"Ssh!" Draco hissed, standing behind the door with his wand raised and pointed at it, ready to attack the first person unfortunate enough to walk through it.

The other two wizards silenced themselves and stood, wands at the ready. The sound of footsteps grew louder and whoever was walking the corridor was so close that their conversation filtered clearly through the door.

"…and she didn't like it. She said it was too plain and that it needed a few diamonds set into it. Diamonds! Where am I going to get the galleons for that?"

"She's got expensive taste! I'm glad she's your girlfriend and not mine."

"You don't even have a girlfriend."

"And I'm richer for it, too…."

The footsteps disappeared down the corridor, and they crept out of the room, fleeing across the hallway and around the corner. It took only a few moments for Severus and Draco to disable the magical security items behind the door to the stairwell and slip inside.

Pausing only to magically seal the door behind them, they hurried down the steps to the ground floor, where court was held. There was a possibility that the hostages were being held on this level, and if that was the case, they could no longer rely on stealth. They would have to fight their way in, and then quite possibly fight their way out. Severus opened the door – and then quickly shut it.

"How many?" Draco asked.

"Three."

"So they're not on this floor then," Draco murmured.

"There may be more of them in the courtrooms themselves. It is dangerous to make any assumptions at this stage. However, there may be another problem. The Minister has hung portraits along the walls on this floor. I was not aware that they had done that," Severus replied.

"Neither was I. Fudge hates them. He says they chatter too much, though I couldn't hear anything coming from them when you opened the door. We'll need to make sure they stay silent," Draco added.

"I will take care of them,"

"We might not need to. If the Ministry put the paintings up, they'd be on the Ministry's side, right? So they're not going to make a noise when we head in there, are we?" Harry asked.

"I trust nothing. It is safer that way," Severus said flatly, raising his wand.

Draco, you will take care of the security measures and Mr Potter, you will stun the guards. They are not facing us so we will have the advantage of surprise. I suggest you use it."

"Of course I'll use it. In case you've forgotten, I have done this sort of thing before," Harry snapped.

"Now isn't the time," Draco whispered harshly. "This would be much easier with more people. The others should have been here by now."

Draco was right. The Order was well trained to be able to be able to lend their assistance, wherever it was needed, at a moment's notice. Harry didn't want to think about what could have happened to prevent the Order from getting to the Ministry.

"We don't have the time to organise anything else. Besides, I'm not leaving until I find what I came for," Harry said determinedly, thinking of the Weasleys who were being held hostage. They had shown him what it felt like to be a part of a family and he wasn't leaving without finding them, even if he had to go through a hundred Death Eaters to get to them.

The Potions Master threw open the door and the three wizards cast their spells almost as one. Two of the guards were stunned before they even had time to react but the third guard had already spun around and had his wand half drawn before Harry sent him to join his friends on the floor.

The first two courtrooms they checked were empty, save for broken and overturned furniture, but the third was strangely bare. All of the furniture had been removed – nothing remained except the bench of the Wizengamot.

The three wizards had taken every care to make as little noise as possible as they moved through the level, but it quickly became obvious that they needn't have bothered. Sounds of raucous laughter and amusement came from the courtroom at the very end of the hallway. Harry had an almost insane urge to thank whoever was making the noise for making their job that much easier.

"Albus Bumblebore," boomed a voice from the room, followed by the sound of a gavel being struck. "I find you guilty of being an interfering, doddering old fool. You are hereby sentenced to a lifetime of imprisonment in our Lord's dungeons. And I furthermore suspend all lemon drop privileges forthwith. Take him away!"

More laughter and sounds of people banging on furniture erupted from the room. Having checked the other rooms, the three wizards crept toward the end of the corridor. Taking care to tread carefully around the broken and upturned furniture and ornaments, they moved on silent feet.

Without warning, a sharp pain surged through Harry's forehead and he stumbled sideways, tripping over his own feet and landing heavily against the wall.

"For Merlin's sake! Not now!" he gritted out, clutching his head between his hands. His scar felt like it was on fire and Harry's eyes watered, but a moment later the pain disappeared, just as suddenly as it had arrived.

"What, in the name of Slytherin, are you idiots doing?" a woman's voice yelled out from the room directly across from the last courtroom. A door slammed open and a petite, dark-haired witch stomped out of the room, looking extremely angry. Severus and Draco stunned her before she could realise what was happening.

"Are you fit to proceed?" Severus asked, quirking an eyebrow.

"Of course I am," the younger wizard replied brusquely, following Severus further down the hallway.

"What's going on out here?" A young man made the mistake of poking his head out of the room and Draco rewarded him with a curse that struck him right between the eyes and sent him flying back in.

Without waiting for Severus or Draco, Harry hurried over to the room at the end of the corridor, where the nosey young man had appeared from, and peeked in. There were only two men left in the room and they had dived for cover behind the Court bench after Draco had rather forcibly sent their friend back inside to join them.

"I'll check the room that witch came from," Draco said Severus as they followed Harry down the corridor.

"How many?" Severus asked Harry quietly when he caught up with him.

"Two," before he stepped into the room, followed closely by Severus who cast a silencing spell over it.

One of the men, who were hiding behind the bench, peeked over the top of it but before he could draw his wand, Harry hit him square on the jaw with a stunning spell, and he fell back onto his friend. Throwing him off, his friend raised the tip of his wand over the top of the bench and blindly threw curses about the room. None of them came close to hitting Harry, but Severus found himself having to dodge a few.

"You didn't really think that would work, did you?" Harry said impatiently, raising his wand and casting a spell so powerful that it blasted apart the Wizengamot's bench.

The young man let out an unexpectedly shrill squeal worthy of Pettigrew, and crawled out from under the pile of wood that used to be a court bench. Holding his hands up in front of him, he side-stepped slowly away from the debris.

"Look! I'm unarmed!" he yelled, looking at Harry and Severus, with wild eyes darting from the two wizards in front of him to the pile of wood that used to be the Wizengamot's bench. He was so busy looking around him that he bumped right into a very irritated looking Draco, who had been standing in the doorway.

"MacCaster, you pathetic little swine," Draco growled.

"Please –

please don't kill me. I'll do anything – tell you anything!" He stuttered, looking first at Draco and then at Harry and Severus.

"So quick to surrender, too. You know, I'd never trust anything coming out of your mouth," Draco hissed, pointing his wand at the pathetic little man at his feet.

"The people in the building," he blurted before Draco could cast a spell. "You're looking for everyone who was in the building when we got here, aren't you? If you let me go I'll tell you how to find them."

"We already know where they are. You're hardly in a position to bargain," Draco replied, holding his wand right in front of MacCaster's face and pointing it at the space between his eyes. The young man swallowed loudly.

"You – you might know where they are, but you don't know how to look for them."

Draco narrowed his eyes and grabbed the grovelling man by the collar, hauling him to his feet. "Explain," he said simply.

"If you guarantee me safe passage out of here, I-I'll tell you everything."

"If you don't tell us how to find them, we'll take you upstairs and use you as a shield while we look for them ourselves," Draco threatened, taking his wand away from MacCaster's throat and pressing the tip of it against his crotch instead. MacCaster squealed and tried to back away, but Draco pulled him forward by the collar and jabbed his wand right up against his family jewels. "If you cooperate, you'll leave here with everything in tact. Tell me how I find the Ministry Workers."

"They-they – ah!" he squeaked when Draco jabbed him again.

"Get on with it," Draco growled.

"They're on the third floor," he began, trying to back himself away from Draco's wand, but Draco dragged him forward and poked him rather sharply. "Ah! Ah – but an illusion spell has been cast over the whole third level. When you look up there, all you'll see is an empty floor. Everyone up there will be able to see you though, since you're not part of the illusion."

"Has any other level been adjusted that way?"

"No, just that one. I-I swear it."

"How many of you are up there?"

"I don't know, maybe fifteen or so," MacCaster replied, shifting his eyes to the floor.

"Oh, and you were doing so well." Draco jabbed him once more. "Try again."

"Ah, there's probably about thirty up there, maybe a few more."

"Is there anything else we should know?"

"No, that's it. Really," he said, nodding his head vigorously.

"You'd better be right." Draco told him, releasing his grip on his collar. As soon as he was free, MacCaster lunged at Draco, but Draco seemed to have known that this would happen. He ducked the punch and drew his wand.

"Reducio!" he cried.

The young man froze as a bright light surrounded his crotch. "Merlin, no!" he cried, dropping his wand and grabbing his rapidly shrinking genitals with both hands.

"That's for what you did to Ginny. Never touch my wife again," Draco grated out from between clenched teeth.

"Augh! I can make it grow back," MacCaster whimpered, frantically feeling around his crotch.

"You'll have to find it first," said Draco darkly, before he finally stunned him and left the room.

"A little unorthodox, perhaps, but the punishment fit the crime," Severus supplied dryly.

"You'll have to explain that to me when we get out of here," Harry said. "But we're lucky that they didn't cast illusion spells on every level in this place. We didn't anticipate that. If they had, we wouldn't have made it out of here alive," Harry said. The other two men nodded sombrely. None of them had thought to check for such traps and each of them looked none too pleased that they had allowed themselves to be so careless.

It was a much more sombre and wary trio that made their way down the hallway and back to the stairwell.

"Considering who we are, most likely we would have been taken directly to the Dark Lord so that he could kill us himself," Snape explained.

"Ssh." Draco hissed, stopping abruptly. Harry ran straight into the back of him, pitching them both forward slightly.

"What –" Harry began.

"Ssh." Draco shushed him again, staying perfectly still and cocking his ear toward the stairwell door. "Someone's coming." The three men hid quickly in a nearby room.

They hadn't gone far when they heard the stairwell door swing open and several sets of footsteps thundered onto the level. Harry, Severus and Draco hurried into the nearest courtroom and closed the door quietly. Stepping back a few steps, they raised their wands and pointed them at the doorway – just in case.

"Hey! Someone's breached the Ministry! Le Fahey wants you to stop what you're doing. Apparently Hayford and Dabel didn't check in and…" the voice trailed off.

Harry couldn't hear any more footsteps, and when they moved again, their steps were much more cautious and considerably softer.

"They know we're here. Should we wait for them to find us, or surprise them?" Harry whispered.

"It sounded like there were only three or four out there. I say surprise them," Draco said.

"On three, then. One…two…three," Harry hissed, throwing open the door and leaping out, stunning the first two people he saw before they'd even turned around. Draco rushed out after Harry and stunned the only Death Eater left standing before them and Severus hexed the Death Eater standing in the door way of the stairwell before he magically closed and locked it.

"Is there another way off this floor?" Harry asked.

"The lift will also take us to the third floor, however, as it will announce our arrival to the thirty or more people who are guarding that level, I believe it will be safer to traverse the stairwell and sneak onto the third floor unannounced," the Potions Master said sarcastically. "We must seal all doors leading into the stairwell behind us as we move through the building, to prevent anybody from following. I would also suggest that we cast a silencing spell over the stairwell so that any noise we might make will not alert anybody else to our location. They may know we are in the building, but as long as they can't pinpoint our exact location, we still hold the element of surprise," Severus instructed.

"What I wouldn't give for an optic cable right now though, so we'd be a little more prepared for what's on the other side of that door," Harry sighed, bracing himself for the fight ahead.

"A what?" Draco asked, looking confused.

"An optic cable. It's a Muggle thing. A bit like extendable ears, but rather than hearing it lets you see what's on the other side of a door," Harry explained.

Severus unlocked the door and threw it open, hitting the two Death Eaters who stood behind it. Before they could recover, Harry and Draco stunned them and Severus cast a silencing spell over the stairwell.

"Potter! We should have known. How considerate of you to bring Snape and Malfoy with you. My Lord and Master wants to see you all very much, but I'm willing to be reasonable about this. How about you hand over Snape and Malfoy, and I tell the Dark Lord I didn't see you?" A tall, pale Death Eater shouted from the staircase above him from whence the spells came.

"How about you give us your hostages and we let you walk out of here in one piece?" Harry replied.

"I never knew you had a sense of humour," the Death Eater drawled. "Don't be foolish. What do you expect to be able to do? You're woefully outnumbered. Just hand over the traitors, and I'll let you go."

"How many do you think are up there? I can't see for all the hexes," Harry asked the professor.

"Three, perhaps four," Snape replied, returning the fire and sending spells blindly up into the stairwell.

"Oh man, I feel like I'm a kid all over again and you, Ron and Hermione are shooting at me from the top of the stairs in the castle," Draco grunted, joining Severus and casting spells blindly up into the stairwell, hoping to get lucky and find a target. "You know, it'd be nice if you gave us a hand," he added pointedly to Harry.

"We never pranked you like that…wait a minute, speaking of pranks…" Harry dug quickly through his pockets. "Aha!" He cried, triumphantly holding up two packets of stink pellets.

"Potter you have two seconds to assist us or I will…what in Merlin's name?" Severus asked, looking oddly at Harry.

"Confiscated them this morning. Some of your students were planning something special for your class, Professor," Harry told Snape as he concealed one of the packets in his handkerchief and levitated it through the stairwell door and up into the stairwell itself.

"Shouldn't be long now," Harry muttered, standing by the side of the door frame and keeping an eye on the package.

The sound of muffled shouting filtered down the stairwell.

"What is that?"

"Don't touch it, it could be a trap."

"Destroy it, then."

"You destroy it."

"Shit…it's coming this way."

"Oh, hell! Get out of the way! Flippendo!"

"Bingo," Harry grinned evilly, rushing into the stairwell.

"You idiot! It was stink gas!"

A thick cloud of green gas enveloped the three Death Eaters who tried desperately to escape the noxious fog which forced its way into their lungs, and brought tears to their eyes.

Harry, Snape and Draco stunned them before they could recover and rushed up the stairs.

"Whew! I don't remember stink pellets ever being this strong," Harry said, wincing and breathing shallowly as he stepped over the stunned bodies of the Death Eaters.

"The Weasley twins' brand is more popular than any other brand on the market, largely because they're much more…potent…than the others," Draco explained, doing his best to hurry through the thick fog without breathing too deeply.

"Unbelievable to think the Weasley twins actually produced something useful. A rather ingenuous application of advanced potions work…I think," Severus choked out, blinking back the tears stinging his eyes and magically locking the door to the second level.

"If there really are thirty people up on the third level, we're going to be hard pressed to handle them on our own," Harry noted.

"Pragmatism? From you? I never thought I would live to see the day," Snape sneered, moving quickly past the thick noxious fog.

"We will not be able to see any of the guards until the Disillusionment spell is removed. As such, depending on where the guards are stationed. They know we're here, so it would not surprise me if they were all lined up in front of the door with their wands pointed directly at us."

They crept up the stairs two at a time, to the third level and listened carefully for sounds of people behind it, but they heard nothing. It didn't sound as though there were thirty angry Death Eaters on the other side of the door waiting to take them to the Dark Lord in pieces, nor did it sound like any hostages were being held.

As soon as Severus carefully opened the door, Harry and Draco quickly threw up shields to protect them all while Severus removed the Disillusionment spell. Harry was relieved that the spell was created only to alter what an outsider would see if they stepped onto the level. It didn't affect the Death Eaters already on the floor, so they wouldn't notice that it had been removed.

It took only moments for the wizard's spell to work its magic, and when it was done, he slipped inside, motioning for Harry and Draco to follow him. The hallway in front of them was long and empty, save for the broken furniture and ornaments scattered across it. There were a few offices along this corridor, though all of their doors remained closed.

Harry began to wonder if they had been tricked. He found it difficult to believe that the Ministry workers were actually being held on this floor. Granted, they had been lucky to find out about the Disillusionment spell, but there hadn't even been any guards watching the only door that opened out onto the level. Noises of muttered conversations and of heavy footsteps carried over to the three men, but they came from the other side of the floor. No sensible person would guard a floor with hostages like this.

Harry threw Draco a questioning look but Draco only shrugged and followed Severus down the corridor. Each time they turned into another empty corridor, Harry grew a little more certain that they had been set up and that at any moment, they would be ambushed and taken to the Dark Lord in chains.

They had turned down four corridors before they encountered any guards. They ambled slowly down the hallway, with their back to Harry, Severus and Draco.

"Stupefy," Harry and Draco murmured so softly they could barely hear each other. The two guards slumped to the ground and the trio hurried past them.

Two more guards standing outside Fudge's door, but the three wizards disposed of them in the same quick and quiet way they'd disposed of the last two.

They stayed well hidden around the corner, in case anybody decided to investigate the noise, but the door stayed closed.

"If there were supposed to be thirty guards on this level, and we've knocked out four of them, there are still at least twenty-six in that room, holding the hostages," Harry began.

"Well done, Potter, you have mastered basic subtraction," Snape snapped, his brow creased in thought.

"My point," Harry said, glaring at Severus, "was that it's still odds of at least eight to one, not to mention that there are about a hundred hostages in there who are likely to get hurt if we go in there and pick a fight. I hope one of you has an idea because the only plan I have involves charging in and hoping that we get lucky," Harry finished.

"A Gryffindor's first instinct is always to 'charge ahead'," Severus sneered. "However, your idea may actually have some merit this time," he added.

"Excuse me?" Harry and Draco asked in unison, both of them looking a little surprised.

"You heard me correctly. We cannot start a fight in the office where the hostages are being held, so we must remove the threat from them, or minimise it as much as we can," the Potions Master explained.

"I'm still lost. Can't you speak plainly?" Harry sighed in frustration.

"Very well, for the simple-minded – one of us must draw as many of the guards out of the room as possible. With fewer guards in the room, there is less chance that they will be able to maintain their control over the hostages, and the hostages may be able to assist us to stun the remaining guards," Severus elucidated.

"What about the person who drew the guards out in the first place?" Harry asked.

"I can only suggest that you find a room to barricade yourself in so that you can pick off the guards as they come for you. The rest of us will come to assist as soon as we are in a position to do so," Severus said.

"Me? I'm not sure I'm too happy with the way you delegate," Harry muttered at Snape.

"This has nothing to do with delegation. Your Gryffindor foolhardiness and recklessness suits you to this task extremely well. We do not have time for anything fancy. A direct approach must suffice."

"What do you mean direct? You don't expect me to just knock on the door and walk right in, do you?"

"I do not expect you to knock."

Harry looked at his former professor in astonishment. "You're insane! You're going to get me killed! Do you have any idea what they're all going to do when they see me?"

"Of all the things that are likely to get you killed, I do not think this is at the top of the list."

Harry muttered a few unrepeatable things as he moved to the door. A quick check revealed that there were no locking spells, and Harry took a deep breath before he threw open the door and stepped inside.

Several people jumped in surprise and for a moment, nobody did anything but look at Harry with a mixture of surprise and confusion.

As soon as he was sure everyone had seen him, he turned on his heels and ran out of the room, dodging a barrage of hexes.

Harry wasn't sure how many people were following him, but the thundering of the footsteps behind him and the number of spells he could hear hitting the walls around him told him that there were quite a few. Twisting and weaving down the hall, he rounded the corner and pulled open the first door he could find. He raced in and slammed it shut behind him, quickly casting a powerful locking spell and strengthening charm over it. The door rattled on its hinges as one spell after another struck, but it held together. Harry knew that no charm was impenetrable, but it would delay them, which would give Harry time to make preparations.

Harry scanned the room. It looked like almost every other room in the building. Broken furniture and ornamental decorations were scattered from one end of the room to the other, and books and scrolls were strewn over every surface. A large overturned table in the centre of the room caught Harry's eye. It had been tossed aside, but it looked largely undamaged so he dragged it to the other side of the room and bunkered down behind it, wedging himself into a corner against a bookshelf and a wall.

As suddenly as it had started, the sound of spells being thrown at the door stopped. But it was soon replaced by the intermittent thuds and muffled grunts of someone, or some people, trying to charge it down. Harry shook his head in disbelief. The fact that the door had held up even under their strongest spells didn't seem to put them off.

Putting his wand to the side, Harry pulled out all of the knives he was carrying and laid them out in front of him. He'd made it a habit to conceal any number of weapons about his body during the last war and when the war had ended, it had taken him quite some time to break the habit. Now that Voldemort was back, he found himself adopting many of his old habits, like wearing weapons about him, even if he was only teaching at the school.

If they carried on the way they were, it would be some time before they managed to break the door down, but when it did come down, he would find himself trapped in a room with at least a dozen people who would be doing everything they could to hex him into next week and he would need all of his weapons close at hand.

And then there was silence. The guards outside had stopped trying to charge the door down, but Harry was more worried by the fact that he couldn't hear any voices coming from outside. He grabbed his wand and one of his knives and levelled them both at the door while he scanned the room again, making sure that there really was only one way in and out. There were no windows, and aside from a small bare section of one of the walls where the door was, every other part of the walls in the room was lined with bookshelves.

The bookshelves! Harry groaned. He of all people should have realised that some buildings had secret passages built into them. Hogwarts had plenty of them and he'd spent much of his time as a student exploring them with Ron and Hermione. How could he have been so stupid? Snape was right all those years ago when he had been yelling at him as a student. His foolishness was going to get him killed. It was too late to try and check for any passages leading into the room. There was no telling where – or when – anybody was going to come in. At least if he stayed where he was, with his back to the wall, nobody could sneak up behind him.

So he waited, watching and listening for any signs of the guards.

A loud CRACK shattered the silence and startled Harry so much that he nearly dropped his wand. The blade of an axe lay wedged in the door, breaking apart the wood and letting thin ribbons of light penetrate the room. CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! The door burst apart as a large, beefy Death Eater broke through, kicking down what remained of the door and holding his axe in front of him. He pointed his axe at Harry and gave an evil grin.

At least ten more people stood behind the first one, some Harry recognised as Death Eaters, and some he didn't. He swallowed – hard. Raising himself up slightly, he quickly stunned the Death Eater who was holding the axe before he threw his knife at the one behind him. The first Death Eater fell forward, wedging his axe into the floor with a thud, but Harry's knife lodged itself into the throat of the second Death Eater, throwing him back into the group of people behind him who moved aside and let him fall to the ground.

They stared at their dying comrade in stunned silence and Harry took advantage of their distraction and stunned another two from their group – a young blonde woman who Harry recognised from his days as a student, and a tall dark man, who Harry recognised as one of Voldemort's Death Eaters from the last war.

The rest of the Death Eaters hurried out of the room, stumbling over each other in their haste, but moments later an older looking wizard peeked his head around the corner, and Harry knocked him out with a spell right between his eyes. If they had thought to simply waltz into the room and hex Harry into oblivion, they were quickly finding out that it wasn't going to be that easy to capture the young wizard.

And if Harry thought that he could buy himself some time until help arrived by scaring them into attacking more slowly, then he was also sorely mistaken. Moments later, they all charged into the room, throwing all manner of hexes and curses in Harry's direction.

Harry ducked back behind the table, which burst apart under the force of the spells being thrown at it. He hadn't expected them to launch such a brazen attack. A slashing hex caught Harry under the eye and a scalding spell shot its way up his right leg, pushing him back against the book shelf and knocking the wand out of his hand. Clever tricks and fancy strategy couldn't help him, and there was no point conserving his strength if he was going to die before he had the chance to use it. He quickly gathered his energy together and cast it across the room.

"STUPEFY!" he cried.

For a moment, the whole room seemed to shake, and then, one by one, the remaining Death Eaters dropped to the ground. Harry pulled himself up and sat against the wall, sweating from the effort of using that much energy at once.

"The floor began to tremble some moments ago. I assume that you are responsible for that?" The professor asked, with typical Snape-ish bluntness.

Harry jumped, startled by the Potion Master's sudden appearance in the doorway. "Yeah," he gasped, not having the energy to offer any lengthy explanations – or even any brief ones.

Kneeling next to the body of the Death Eater who had been unfortunate enough to catch Harry's knife in his throat, he jerked the weapon free and waved a cleaning spell over it. "Draco and the hostages are standing guard at the stairwell door, in case anybody should attempt to come through. However, the door will not remain permanently locked. Are you fit to continue?"

"He should be alright. All the ministry workers are with him, aren't they?" Harry asked, his breath still hitching a little.

"Yes, however, their wands were destroyed when they were taken hostage. Some of them were lucky enough to be able to pick up the wands of their captors though," Severus replied, crossing the room and holding Harry's knife out to him.

Harry looked at it suspiciously for a moment before he accepted it, and tucked it underneath his shirt.

"Well?" Severus asked, looking carefully at Harry.

"What?" Harry asked. He was tempted to give in to sarcasm and ask Snape to speak in whole sentences and explain, but the look he was given stayed his razor sharp tongue. On the one hand, Snape had sounded typically cynical and impatient, but the look he levelled at him was anything but malicious. If Harry didn't know better, he could have sworn that Snape looked…concerned. He didn't mind catching Severus' eyes, because for the first time in a long time, he felt like Severus was seeing him as an equal, rather than as an obnoxious child.

"Er, yes," Harry said, remembering where he was. "Though I notice that I'm not the only one looking a little worse for wear." He added gesturing to the scratches and bruises that Severus had already collected from their trip into the building, and tucking the rest of his weapons back into his clothing.

"They are of no concern," the Potions Master harrumphed before spinning on his heel and striding out of the room, with Harry following behind him a little unsteadily

The Ministry workers looked tired and troubled and their injuries showed that they hadn't come out of the ordeal unscathed.

"You all right, Harry?" Arthur Weasley asked, stepping aside for them.

"Just fine. You, Bill and Charlie doing okay?" he asked, shaking his hand warmly.

"We're all fine," Arthur replied, letting go of Harry's hand and giving his shoulder a small squeeze. "We'll talk later."

Harry nodded and hurried to meet Draco and Snape who were waiting for him by the stairwell door.

"Doesn't Fudge's office have a floo network? That would be a much easier way to get everyone out of here than trying to walk them all out the front door," Harry said, looking puzzled.

"They destroyed his fireplace," Draco explained, rubbing absently at a bruise that was already beginning to come up on his cheek.

"Oh…bugger," Harry muttered, raising his wand.

Draco looked briefly at Harry and Snape, who both stood behind him with their wands raised and pointed at the door, before he magically opened the door. Someone lurched through it from the other side, grabbing onto the door to straighten themselves up. His eyes took on a slightly wild look when he saw whose feet he had nearly trampled on, but before he could raise his wand, Draco slammed the door shut on him.

"It's Potter! Potter's up here, and so are Snape and Malfoy!" the fellow on the other side of the door yelled. Footsteps thundered up the stairwell, followed moments later by the sound of spells hitting the door.

Harry dropped to the ground and lay on his stomach, holding his wand out in front of him. "Open the door!" he cried.

He threw the door open and he and Severus stepped aside. The intruders tried to barge in; their wands raised high expecting to come face to face with their opponents. By the time they caught sight of it was too late for them. A moment later, they fell under his stunning spells. Severus waited a few moments before he peered into the stairwell, checking that it was safe.

They moved as quickly as they could down the stairs. As they passed the second level landing, three Death Eaters stepped into the stairwell through the first and ground floor doors but they fell before they could even look up at the trio.

Barely pausing to catch their breath, the three wizards continued down the staircase with the hostages close on their heels, replacing the locking charms they had cast over each of the stairwell doors as they passed them until they reached the entrance level.

Clever strategies might have guided them on their way to reach the hostages, but now was not the time for subtlety. The more time they spent in this building, the more chance there was that the remaining intruders would find them and hex them while most of them were wandless and unable to counter their spells. Throwing open the door, Harry, Snape and Draco rushed ahead, casting hexes and curses in front of them in the hopes of stunning anybody who happened to be behind the door. Two Death Eaters fell under the barrage of spells, but the three wizards barely paused to register this. They moved quickly through the hallway, wands held high and ready to hex anyone who got in their way.

When they reached the building entrance, Severus and Draco stepped outside, checking to see if it was safe to take the Ministry workers outside.

Moments later, Severus returned. "It is safe. There is nobody in the yard, nor is anybody in the street outside. Mr Malfoy, Mr Potter and I will ensure you are not attacked from behind while you organise portkeys for yourselves."

"Since most of those intruders don't have wands any more, we should be able to secure the building and round up whoever's still wandering around in here. I think we've got enough wands among us," said Susan Bones. She had succeeded her aunt for the position of Head of the Department of Law Enforcement.

"I must say, though, that these are not our wands, so they will be difficult to control and largely ineffective if they are not suited to our particular magical energy. We should take steps to bring others in to secure the premises," Kingsley Shacklebolt offered.

Kingsley had been one of Harry's instructors during those final years before the end of the last war. As an Auror, he gave Harry extensive training in magical fighting techniques, and as a scholar, he was also able to give Harry an extensive education in the fine art of potion making, which was something he had never appreciated in school.

"Your plan is the best one. We will not waste any more time," Kingsley told Severus, heading toward the door.

"Come and see me later," he said quietly to Harry as he passed him by. This small exchange did not escape Severus's notice and he looked suspiciously at the two men.

The Ministry workers carried and helped their unconscious and injured colleagues to the port key point on the street outside of the premises while Harry, Draco and Severus stood in the doorway, putting themselves between them and any more attacks that might come from the intruders who were still in the building.

"What would Death Eaters want in this place?" Harry asked, with his eyes and his wand pointed at the doorway into the foyer, just as Draco's and Snape's were.

"I could not guess," Severus replied.

"Arthur said that they were talking about records and files that were supposed to be kept here," Draco supplied.

"I did not hear him say that," Severus said, sounding a little confused.

"It was just after we got the hostages out of the room. You'd gone to find Harry."

The discussion had gone no further, as a fiery hex flew from somewhere near the foyer entry and destroyed what was left of an already broken chair. Another sizzling curse flew into the room and forced the front door shut, locking Harry, Severus and Draco inside. They spread out, slowly closing in on the doorway from all sides.

"Why don't you come out where we can see you?" Harry asked, still advancing. Picking up a large plank of wood, which looked very much like the seat of a chair, he pointed his wand and cast a spell with just enough power behind it to send it flying toward the doorway. When it passed through the doorway, Harry sent a stronger spell after it, which smashed the wood to pieces and sent large splinters flying out in every direction.

A single figure ran out from behind the doorway and dove for cover behind what was left of the receptionist's desk.

"Reducto!" Draco cried, decimating the table and exposing the witch who had hidden behind it. She was a familiar figure, though she had aged since Harry had last seen her.

The three wizards levelled their wands at her.

"Well, well…if it isn't little Harry Potter all grown up," the assailant drawled.

"Bellatrix," Harry growled fiercely.