Harry and co. landed near the entrance of the Magic of Ministry. Getting off the thestrals Luna had tamed and leaving them in an alleyway.

"Ya' know, for them being so boney, they're strangely soft." Ron petted the thestral he rode on on the snout.

Nobody chose to comment on that as they all entered the ministry, coming across no one as they entered the atrium. Entering the elevator, they busied themselves as they prepared to go head to head with the Death Eaters.

"Remember, no instigating. If all goes according to plan, Dumbledore will have done his part in time."

Hearing Lilith's reminder to the group, Harry closed his eyes and tried to settle his mind. Keeping his mental shields strong…

"Best we make haste. There is no telling what Voldemort will do if he thinks we will not take his bait."

Dumbledore said, pacing to the location where Forbidden Forest would be. Harry and the others following him step by step.

"I have a plan brewing in my mind, unfortunately I cannot share it to any of you. Although Harry and Lilith, and I assume the three of you," Dumbledore nodded to the three Slytherins in the group, "Know Occlumency, the others may not have. Thus, I feel it best to tell you the bare minimum, in case any of them catches wind of our machinations in the unprotected minds of your friends."

"Of course sir, so what are we doing?" Harry asked as they stopped at the fray of the Forbidden Forest.

"Voldemort created that fake memory to unnerve you and force you into you making a rash decision. He does not care if you come with company, all he needs is you there. The Room of Prophecies has this security system wherein if one wishes to attain a prophecy involving two parties, both parties have to consent to the attainment of the prophecy in question. Voldemort already wishes to get a hold of this prophecy, thus he needs you , as the other party involved, to be present."

Dumbledore did not stop for a second as he moved on to his plan, "We shall let him believe that we are dancing to his tune. You and your friends will travel and appear to be none the wiser. Now all you need to know is that you all have to lead the Death Eaters into the room

with The Veil, coequally known as the Death Chamber. As long as you can do that, then all will be well. Oh, and I will need the help of your three Slytherin friends."

The three Slytherins in question were surprised, Tracey stepped forward and spoke for the group, "But why us three? Is it because we're Slytherins?"

The hurt look upon their faces made Dumbledore quickly explain his reasoning, "Of course not! No, I need Ms. Daphne's prowess for runes, Batsheda has spoken highly of you, to help me with my plan. I ask that you two accompany her for one reason: I assume they are the most compatible with one another and that is an aspect that is highly required for my machinations to flourish."

The three snakes were hesitant to go along with the Headmaster's given motives but it was Harry who convinced them, "Look, we haven't got much time. Professor Dumbledore says he needs you three, that's good enough for me. Go along with him, we'll catch up with you lot after all this is done."

Blaise sighed and shrugged to the other two, "Well, come on then, no need to waste any more time."

Dumbledore lowered his head thankfully and scurried along with them in his stead.

Ding!

Harry opened his eyes and the door slid open to reveal the hallway, with a nervous step, he was the first to come out the elevator.

"Let's go."

The others followed him as their footsteps echoed along the empty corridor, the hazy memory of his vision of Mr. Weasley aiding Harry in finding the right path to the room he was guarding. Before long, the dreaded door had appeared before them and they stopped. Ron took a shaky breath, "Is this is?"

"Yeah." Harry answered with a whisper, afraid his voice would carry beyond the door. He lifted his hand and grasped the doorknob tightly. The cold steel made him involuntary shiver, and as he opened the door…

"Bloody hell…"

Although Neville had said these words softly, his voice echoed into the vast room filled with several shelves and countless rows of glass orbs.

The group quietly walked in and had their mouths open in awe of the room. Their steps had them stop in front of a particular shelf and Harry took a look upon the name attached to the orb.

"The Dark Lord and Harry Potter." He read aloud to the others, and unbeknownst to him, to another group hiding in the shadows.

"Potter."

The Hogwarts students jumped back in surprise at the unexpected person's voice. And it took a moment for Harry to connect the familiar voice to the masked Death Eater.

"Malfoy Senior."

The masked death eater shook in their stance. They gently lifted their wand and revealed the pale face sneering at them all. The others behind him followed suit and revealed their faces.

"How cute. A bunch of schoolchildren playing heroes. I'll give you a proposal, Potter. Give me the prophecy, and your friends may live through tonight." Lucius held his hands out, palm up.

Harry held the prophecy in his hand tightly. Avoiding making eye contact with the blonde death eater, not risking it regardless of his proficiency in Occlumency.

"Shelves, on my cue." Harry said under his breath to the others with him. He hadn't made a move to look if they got his meaning as he spoke up to reply to Lucius.

"Apologies, Mr. Malfoy. But I don't think we'll be able to find it amongst these glass balls. Now!"

The confused look on Lucius's face turned into panic quickly as the teenagers threw Reducto's near the shelves. Bringing them down and creating a massive catastrophe that gave them enough time to run.

"Everybody run and stay together! Spread out only if necessary, and find the room with the veil!"

He ran in one direction, away from the death eaters, and the others followed suit. As they ran together, a figure appeared miles ahead of them and looked to have shit off a spell in their direction.

"Break!"

Harry's instruction caused the group to split off; Harry dodged the purple spell by sliding under it, whilst Lilith bent down and sprung up, junping over the spell and landing next to Harry. Hermione and Ron ran right, and Neville, Ginny, and Luna ran left.

"Keep dodging and close the distance!" Harry called out to Lilith. The two then started to run towards the figure ahead of them, which as they got closer recognized to be one of the death eaters. The death eater shot off more spells but with each spell the magical fatigue had made their attack much slower, making it easier to dodge.

Lilith waved her wand as they finally closed the distance enough for them to start attacking, "Stupefy! Expelliarmus!"

The two attacks were quickly absorbed by the death eaters shield but it was for naught. As soon as they put their wand up to counter attack, Harry sprinted up and knocked the wand out of their hand.

"Stupefy!" Harry shouted out and the death eater shot back several feet, crashing unto the ground with a sickening thud.

Lilith and Harry ran up to the death eater, Lilith took the man's hand and put her fingers to his wrist, "He's alive."

Harry nodded and looked back towards the spot where they had split off, "We have to look for the Death Chamber, but if we come across any of them we'll give them backup."

They both took a moment to get their bearings together and set off towards finding the Death Chamber and perhaps the others.

Ron yanked the door open and fled inside with Hermione right behind him.

The room was filled with all types of clocks and time devices, with a single room being filled with the device that saved Sirius during their Third Year.

Ron held his face against the glass of the door, looking straight inside the room, "Wow, that's a hell of a lot of time turners."

"Ron, look out!"

As Ron pulled his head back from the glass, he only had a moment's breath to dodge the hand coming at him from the reflection. He quickly moved and pointed his wand at the man, "Stupefy!"

The death eater reflected his attack easily, the spell crashing into several clocks that made the whole room be filled with the sound of alarms and high tone sounds. Hermione aimed his wand at the man that attacked Ron, but suddenly found held up in a Nelson hold from behind. Her feet lifting off from the ground a great few inches.

"Now, little girl. No need to be so hostile." She felt the leering voice from behind, the man's breath on her neck making her shudder in disgust and fear.

She tried to struggle but she couldn't escape from the death eater's hold. Ron tried to get to her but had to dodge the spell coming straight at him from the other death eater in the room.

Hermione wracked her brain trying to find some sort of spell to get out of the hold, but came up with a much simpler solution; she dropped her wand, which surprised the man from behind her.

"What-" The man couldn't finish his sentence as a searing pain from his groin, courtesy of Hermione's leg, had him on the ground. Quickly snatching her wand from the ground, she aimed at the death eater fighting with Ron, who hadn't heard his colleagues shout of pain, and shot him with a, "Stupefy!"

The death eater smashed the door with his body, breaking countless time turners in the room as he crashed into the wall, the sand slowly falling down to the ground. The blaring alarms had gone quiet, filling the room with uneasy silence.

Hermione quickly went to Ron, but stopped in her tracks as he raised his wand towards her, "Stupefy!"

She closed her eyes and felt the spell whizzing past her, closely followed by the sound of a body thumping to the ground. She looked behind her and saw the unconscious body of the male that had held her a moment ago.

"Are you alright, Hermione?" She nodded as Ron took a glance at the other death eater and the sand of the smashed time turners around him.

"Shite, hope we won't get into too much trouble for this." Ron joked and turned to grin at her.

Hermione returned his grin with one of her own.

"Avada Kedavra!"

They both turned towards the green light quickly making its way to them. Ron, without hesitation, pushed Hermione aside.

"Ron!" She shouted in desperation.

Ron closed his eyes, not having enough time to dodge himself, and waited for the impact of the Killing Curse to hit him.

The seconds ticked… And yet he was still standing.

Not feeling anything happening to him, Ron cautiously opened his eyes and took stock of himself, "Huh, is this what death feels like?"

"Wha- Gah! Avada Kedavra!"

Hermione rushed to tackle Ron away from the next Killing Curse, both of them crashing into the ground, but as she looked to see where the Killing Curse will go, it dissipated as it passed the threshold of the doorframe of the room the death eater was in.

The both of them stood up and watched as the death eater released a scream of rage and charged at them full force, but as soon as his foot stepped outside the room, he popped back in the same spot he had landed in.

"Fascinating." Hermione commented as she saw the death eater struggle to escape the clutches of the room.

"And creepy, it's like he's stuck inside a photograph or something." Ron said, unnerved.

The pair looked around the room and the destruction they had caused.

"We should get going, the others are probably already at The Veil." Ron nodded at Hermione's statement and the couple made their way to find the room with The Veil and the rest of their group.

Neville and the two Fourth Year girls entered a room after breaking off the group. As they stopped in their tracks to assess the location they were met with a large, rectangular container, filled with blobs of pink matter.

"Urgh, what in Merlin's name is that?" Ginny asked with disgust evident on her face. Neville took a cautionary step forward and touched the glass, the things inside either were not alive or didn't react to his hand on the glass.

"I'm not sure, but I think these are brains." Ginny's face became much greener at Neville's suggestion at what these things were.

Luna tilted her head in confusion, "But those are supposed to be in heads, so where are these brains' owners?"

"Gah! Enough, or else I'll hurl!"

Ginny turned around to rid herself of the disgusting imagery of a bunch of brains swimming around in a container…

Only to be met with two menacing, masked figures.

"Protego!" Her panic outburst brought both Neville and Luna to action as they both aimed towards one of the death eaters. The masked death eaters' spells were blocked by Ginny's shield.

"Stupefy!" "Impedimenta!"

Two spells shot forward towards the death eater duo. One of the masked figures approached and casted a shield, nullifying the spells, and the other death eater shot a sickeningly yellow spell over the shoulder of his partner. The trio dodged and kept up their offence, forcing the two death eaters to defend in their spot. The Hogwarts students surrounded the death eaters.

"Stupefy!" "Expelliarmus!" "Diffindo!"

Their attacks were slowly but surely weakening the shield charm the death eaters were keeping up. As the onslaught of spells continued however, the shield disappeared and Neville saw the two figures crouched, back to back.

"Incendia Duo!"

He heard the two figures shout out. Spouts of fire emerged from their wands and his vision was suddenly filled with the dancing flames as they encircled themselves in the fire. Keeping his guard up, he tried to put out the fire. But he surmised that a simple water charm wouldn't work.

Out of the flames, two spells shot out, striking Ginny and Luna.

Ginny crumpled over in pain as Luna was catapulted towards the glass case in the room. Cracks beginning to show on the glass frame.

His brain working into overdrive, Neville pointed his wand at Luna.

"Accio Luna Lovegood!"

As Luna's body slid away from the glass case, he aimed yet again towards the same direction.

"Bombarda Maxima!"

And broke the glass container, waves of water and a bunch of pink and squishy matter enveloping the circle of flames. As Neville waited with bated breath, he saw that the duo were suddenly nowhere to be found. Before he could begin to panic, he felt his body go limp as his wand fell out his hand.

"Close, but not close enough."

He could hear the sneer in the man's voice as he tried to fight against the spell holding him. He felt his head become free of the petrificus totalus.

The man crouched down and held his head up from the ground, "Well well well, I've been dying to finish this job for years. Shall we, brother?"

Neville's blood ran cold. The other death eater seemed to have shone with glee as he pointed his wand at him.

"Cruciatus!"

The pain was unimaginable. His screams filled the room as the man held the spell on him for what seemed like forever.

"Expelliarmus!"

Both of the death eaters' wands flew out their hands and into the expecting hands of Lilith.

"Stupefy! Stupefy!"

Their bodies slumped down into unconsciousness. Harry ran over to Neville while Lilith tended to Ginny who was still writhing in pain.

Harry released Neville from the hold and held him up, "Neville, you alright, mate?"

Neville didn't respond, which worried Harry. Looking around the ground, he found Neville's wand and handed it to him.

"Neville, stay with me. We'll get you to Madam Pomfrey or get someone to look at you after this. Just-" Harry was cut off as Neville began to stand and walked over to the death eaters. He silently watched as Neville trudged over to their slumped bodies, and as he stood over them, a blank expression on his face.

After a while, he slowly aimed his wand at the both of them.

"Avada-"

With a snap of his wand, Harry quickly aimed at Neville, "Expelliarmus!"

Neville's wand was sent flying over to Harry's awaiting hand. A tense silence followed as Neville made no move to get his wand back or to get away from his spot.

With quiet and careful steps, Harry walked over to Neville and slowly grasped his shoulder.

"They were there. They were two of the people that tortured my parents. They wanted to torture me, make my brain go to mush, just like my parents." Neville said, a quiet, angry tone washing over his voice. His knuckles clenched tightly as he fought the urge to hurt and maim them.

Harry quietly listened as Neville continued, "They used it on me… It was horrible, and to imagine that they held the same spell over my parents until they… I want to hurt them, make them feel the pain they gave to me and my parents."

"...I don't have the same experiences as you do, Neville. But if I had to say give you some advice, it would be this; The weight of a person's death over your conscience, whether they deserved it or not, whether it was by your hand or not, it's heavy; and it'll weigh you down. It isn't worth it. They aren't worth it."

Neville took a shuddering breath in and released it, his eyes closed as he contemplated Harry's words. After a few seconds, Neville opened his eyes and locked in to Harry's, giving him a small smile.

"Thanks, Harry. I needed that." Harry smiled and patted him on the back.

"No worries, now let's go help the girls." Neville nodded and they both made their way to Lilith, who floated Luna's still unawakened body next to Ginny.

"How are they?" Lilith turned towards Harry and gave a shake of her head.

"Ginny's out for the count, so is Luna. Luna's injuries are minor, a bruised back and a small concussion, Ginny's on the other hand… She may have been hit with a bludgeoning charm to her stomach, I've petrified her to minimize any more damage, but I'm no healer. We need to get her somewhere safe and get a healer as well."

Harry grimaced and touched the wincing face of Ginny, his honorary little sister.

"What happened to Ginny!?"

The outburst was quickly followed by a red blur as Ron kneeled down next to them. Assessing Ginny from head to toe.

"The death eaters got her good, she'll be out for the remainder of today." Harry tensed up as he felt several footsteps closing in on them, "But no time to muck about; Ron and Hermione, you two levitate Ginny and Luna. Let's go."

Ron and Hermione nodded and levitated the two young girls and made their way out of the room, exiting out another door. Harry and the others realized where they were as soon as they saw the archway.

"We're here! Quick, get those two out of harm's way and be on the defensive. We'll have to hope that professor Dumbledore managed to do what he intended."

Levitating them softly down behind a boulder, Ron and Hermione made sure no harm made its way towards the two unconscious girls, making a makeshift barrier with other rocks and boulders in the area. They both ran back towards the group as a bunch of other death eaters entered the chamber, the familiar pale and blonde man leading the charge.

"Enough games, Potter! Hand me the prophecy or else we will take the lives of your friends!" Lucius bellowed out, aiming his wand at them. The other death eaters followed his example and raised their wands against them as well.

"Bellatrix!" Neville said through gritted teeth. The person in question only had a gleeful smile on her face and a menacing shine in her eyes as she focused her attention on him.

Harry held the prophecy at arms length, "Ah ah ah! Would be a shame if my grip were to slacken."

Lucius only glared but he made no move to cast a spell on them. Harry was sweating beads, hoping that whatever the Headmaster had in plan, it would soon take into effect.

On cue, a pink bubble emerged from the ground, encapsulating the whole chamber by the walls and blocking the doors.

"What is this?!" One of the death eaters shouted, panicking. And as if to answer their question, a small pop was heard behind them and the familiar feeling of a wand touching their necks.

"Your defeat. Put down your wands and surrender." The baritone voice of Kingsley Shacklebolt taunting the death eater. Other members of The Order appeared as well, encircling the death eaters and making sure they had no means of escape.

"What the- The portkeys aren't working!"

"Shite, and apparition as well!"

The death eaters slowly started to panic as they realised they had been captured, Lucius in particular seemed to have paled even more and almost looked sickly in his appearance.

"Harry!"

Harry's heart jumped in joy as Sirius made his way towards them, giving him a tight hug. Regardless of the fake vision, knowing he was truly safe relieved The-Boy-Who-Lived immensely.

"And you lot as well. Good job in facing them toe to toe and leading them here." Sirius commended all of them happily.

Lilith however, was not partaking in the joyous mood, "Sirius, er, Lord Black, Ginny and Luna have been injured. While Luna got through with relatively minor injuries, Ginny is in bad shape. We need to take them to a healer."

Taking charge of the situation, Sirius quickly whistled towards a woman and gestured to her to come over, "Emmeline, we got two injured students here! Take em' to Hogwarts and get Madame Pomfrey to take a look at them!"

Ron and Hermione guided the order member to the protective rock formation they had formed. Meanwhile, Sirius returned his attention to the other three, "That'll do it, we're the only ones allowed to get in and out of here. Brilliant man, that Dumbledore. Oh, and just call me Sirius, Lilith. I'd rather not be reminded of my status as Head of House Black."

The grimace he gave to them lightened up the mood considerably.

Which was then quickly broken by the sudden appearance of a black shadow flying over them.

The order members were on guard, still keeping watch on the death eaters, whose expressions were a mixture of fear and glee. The cackle of Bellatrix was the most prominent as the shadow crashed down in the middle of the chamber, near The Veil. Harry's scar started to ache in anticipation of who would appear out of the smoke and he wasn't surprised to see he was right.

Lord Voldemort had made his appearance.

A/N: Hello! I'm so sorry that I missed another week. Life has been coming at me like a train and it's been crushing me like several trains and it's been distracting me from writing for so long like a… train…

Where was I? Oh yeah! Unfortunately I may or may not be able to adhere to my self-proclaimed schedule for the following week. Fingers crossed that I'll finally have some breathing room to write! Other than that, please do be a dear and leave a review, I've run out and they don't stock up till' next Friday.