DISCLAIMER: I don't own any of this—I'm just playing in J. K. Rowling's playground and despite the recent damage to her reputation (for good reason), I'm still thankful to her for writing the masterpiece of the Harry Potter series. Please don't sue me :D

A/N: (2/2/21)

Halfway through making chapter 7, I noticed that the first few chapters needed a bit of polishing, so here I am, fixing it up a bit. If you're reading this for the first time, welcome. If you're here again, welcome back, and I hope you enjoy it—it's been fun to write at the very least.

Leave a review on your way out! Knowing I'm not alone is what makes writing here fun. Of course, I will continue writing regardless of reviews and the like, but I do enjoy hearing what everyone has to say, whether it's constructive criticism or compliments or anything really. To me, reviews are better than favorites or follows :)

Prologue: Into the Veil

"WE'VE GOT HIM!" yelled the Death Eater, "IN AN OFFICE OFF—"

"Silencio!" Hermione cried, quickly following it with a "Stupefy!" The Death Eater, crumpled to the ground, unconscious and silenced.

"Petrificus Totalus!" Harry shouted, causing the other Death Eater to fall to the ground, stiff as a board. There was a thunk as the body hit the ground. Neville crawled towards Harry, who was helping Hermione off the ground.

"Neville," Harry whispered, "We're not far from the exit. I think that we're right next to that circular room, and I also think that if we can just get you across it and find the right door before any other Death Eaters find us, we might be able to get you out unharmed—" He stopped abruptly, glancing sheepishly at Neville's bloody nose. "Well, mostly unharmed. It would probably be a good idea if you could find an alarm or something, maybe to call the Aurors?"

"Leaving me behind, Harry? I dob't dink so," Neville replied quickly, his bloody nose audibly impairing his speech. He wiped some blood away from just under the said nose, looking miffed that they would even consider sending him off on his own.

"We've got to find the others!" Hermione whispered furiously, shaking her head at Harry slightly. Suitably chagrined, Harry nodded in agreement with her. She was right. There was no way they'd leave anyone behind. What had he been thinking?

"Well, I'm going do find dem wid you," Neville stated, still frowning at him.

"Let's go then. No time to lose, we need to get out of here," Harry said, starting to move.

Neville looked down forlornly at his wand. "Alrighd. Yeah, we'd bedder ged going, bud my gran's gonna kill me. Id was my dad's old wand..."

Ignoring his friend's muttering, Harry walked to the door and looked out. He noticed the Death Eater with the baby head wailing and stumbling all over the room, clearly unable to control his own body to much effect. His amusement must have shown on his face, as Hermione startled him out of his observation by slapping his arm with considerable force, clearly showing her irritation.

"Harry!" she hissed, "Now is not the time for distractions! We need to go!"

Hastily, Harry nodded. He knew better than to get on her bad side... well, most of the time.

They snuck out of the office and crept through the time room, out of the door into the black hallway, which promptly swung shut after them, the bang of the door's impact with the wall echoing behind them. Harry swore quietly as he realized the fiery crosses Hermione had marked the doors with had disappeared, leaving them without a clue of where to go.

Before they could decide which door to try, however, the decision was taken out of their hands. Another door opened and three people—familiar people—tumbled out of it.

"Ron!" Harry exclaimed, striding towards them. Hermione and Neville quickly followed, eager to greet their friends.

"Ginny? Are you all right?" Hermione asked, giving the girl's broken-looking ankle a worried once-over.

Ron giggled quietly from where he was slumped against Luna. "Ha-Harry… ha… haha! Funny… You look real funny, Harry… haha, ha…" Ron's eyes rolled back into his head and he collapsed, leaving all of the weight to rest on his carrier. Unfortunately for him, Luna was a waif of a girl, who couldn't support that kind of weight. He ended up falling bonelessly to the ground, leaving a dull thud to echo through the hallway in the wake of his collapse.

Hermione stared at him for a moment, dismayed, before looking back to Ginny. Ginny was leaning against the wall and clutching her ankle, a noticeable grimace marring her features. With a shake of her head, she slid down to the ground, air coming out of her mouth in short, sharp breaths.

Luna took in Hermione's worried and confused expression with her usual aura of oddness. "I think her ankle is broken," she said mildly, peering at something far in the distance that only she could see.

Suddenly regaining consciousness, Ron rolled over a few times and began giggling again. "Harry! We saw Uranus! Up close, in there!"

The group, bar Luna, collectively sighed. Harry shook his head. "Loopy," he muttered. "Well, regardless of... whatever's going on with Ron right now, we need to go. Luna, Hermione, can you help Ginny? Me and Neville can get Ron." Everyone nodded in agreement with his words.

As the two girls moved to help Ginny up, she shot them an angry look. "I can get up myself, thanks."

When she tried to stand, however, she stumbled forward, crying out in pain. She ended up clutching Hermione's shoulder for support, scowling as she stood on her good leg.

Wisely not commenting on the stubbornness of the youngest Weasley, Neville and Harry supported Ron with their shoulders and started moving towards a door. Noticing their movement, the three girls followed. They had almost reached it when another door abruptly swung open and Bellatrix Lestrange, followed by three other Death Eaters, ran into the hall.

"There they are!" she yelled. The situation devolved into chaos fairly rapidly as everyone in the room able to do so opened fire.

Making a split-second decision, Harry took the brunt of Ron's weight and slammed through the door. Almost as soon as he was past the threshold, he unceremoniously dropped Ron to the ground, more concerned with all of them still being alive at the end of the day rather than his friend's momentary comfort. The rest of their group luckily managed to get through before Harry locked it with a quick flick of his wand and a "Colloportus!" that he'd poured as much power into as he could. The Death Eaters slammed into the other side of the door, cursing rapid-fire as they quickly discovered that the unlocking charm wasn't overcoming his spell.

They heard a gruff voice filter through the door. "It doesn't matter, there are other ways in." Then, the voice raised to alert his fellow Death Eaters, "WE'VE GOT THEM TRAPPED IN HERE! GET YOUR LAZY ARSES OVER HERE, NOW!"

Harry spun around and took in his surroundings, noticing that they had ended up in the brain room again.

Outside of the relative safety of the room, more Death Eaters ran to the four outside of the door.

"Quickly, everyone! Lock as many doors as you can! Try and pack as much power into the charms as you can—they'll last longer!" Harry ordered swiftly. Luna, Neville, Harry, and Hermione ran around the room as quickly as they could, sealing the doors as they went. Every now and then, a thud could be heard as a Death Eater slammed against a recently locked door, followed by an ever-increasing flow of expletives as they realized they were continuously being thwarted by schoolchildren.

Ultimately, it wasn't enough. They were, in fact, students, and their attackers were fully-fledged wizards with years worth of combat experience.

It all started going downhill when Luna wasn't quick enough to one of the doors, and a few Death Eaters entered. When Harry looked over, he watched, horrified, as she flew through the air, hit by a spell from one of the Death Eaters pouring through the door. She hit the ground, landing on her right leg which gave a sickening crunch as it bent at an odd angle before she fell to the ground, unconscious. Hopefully, the Death Eaters would leave her alone after that.

Ron, it seemed, had just regained consciousness again, as he began giggling, and turned his limited attention towards one of the tanks containing the brains. "Haha…" he giggled with an odd gleam in his eyes, "Look! They're brains! Haha ha… Accio brain!"

Somehow, after Ron had managed to gather the will to cast a summoning spell in his state, the room fell deathly silent, apart from Ron, who was giggling like a maniac. The brain Ron had summoned broke out of the tank and flew towards Ron quite quickly, and everyone, in spite of themselves and the fight, turned to watch the spectacle.

As the brain's tentacles made contact with Ron's now outstretched hands, they began coiling around his arms. The effect was instantaneous. Ron recoiled and tried, in his semi-lucid state, to get the tentacles off of his arms, failing pathetically. Even he, loopiness and all, could tell that something was wrong with the situation.

Thinking quickly, Ginny tried to sever the tentacles with a Diffindo, but there was no effect. Instead, Ginny was blasted straight in the face with a stunner by a Death Eater who had taken advantage of the momentary distraction. This seemed to bring everyone back to their senses.

Bellatrix Lestrange charged at Harry, intent on getting the prophecy still clutched in his hand. Knowing he was outmatched, Harry ran, Hermione close behind. As Harry ran into the next room through the only door open, he looked over his shoulder and saw the red light of a stunner slam into Neville's chest. Unfortunately, because Harry was looking back, he didn't see the approaching stairs in time and began to tumble. Keeping the fragile orb close to his chest, he rolled down the stairs. Hermione followed quickly, though she was lucky enough to avoid falling. He hit the bottom with a crash, landing on his back. Hermione helped him up and gripped his arm painfully as she pulled him along.

Wincing, he looked towards the door that he had recently entered through, and saw five Death Eaters from the brain room dash through.

Thanking his lucky stars that he hadn't broken something in that fall, he and Hermione backed up until Harry felt the back of his legs come into contact with something solid. He glanced back quickly and noticed that he was at the base of the dais, where the odd archway stood. Harry scrambled to get up on it as quickly as he could pulling Hermione with him. They clutched each other, as if afraid that if they let go, they would be taken from each other—and violently at that.

Unfortunately, their fears were not unfounded.

"Accio mudblood!" Bellatrix snarled, twisting her wand in the familiar motion of the summoning charm. With a desperate cry, Hermione was yanked from Harry's grasp. Harry reached out for her hand, which was also outstretched, reaching for his, but he knew she was too far away for him to reach, and she only got farther as she sailed through the air.

As Hermione landed at their feet, Lucius Malfoy stepped forward from his position at Bellatrix's left. "Potter, give us the prophecy or your pet mudblood dies. Now."

Hermione wrenched her head up and yelled to Harry, "Don't do it, Harry! I'll be fine. You can't give them what they want! No matter the consequences!"

The words echoed hollowly through Harry's head as he stared helplessly at his best friend, her tear-stained, desperate expression breaking something inside of him.

What he knew he had to do warred with what he, himself desired.

Harry swallowed nervously, his hands shaking. In the end, the choice was clear. "If—if you let her go, I'll give it to you," Harry asserted with confidence he didn't really feel. The Order's going to kill me, he thought blankly.

He must have been more transparent than he'd hoped because Malfoy simply smirked in response. After a tense few seconds where Harry's heart rate sped up to nearly incalculable levels, Malfoy made his move—and it wasn't the one he'd hoped.

"You aren't really in any position to make demands, Potter, but you sure have loyalty. Perhaps you should have been a Hufflepuff rather than a guileless Gryffindor. Crucio!" Malfoy yelled the torture curse and all Harry could do was watch Hermione writhe and scream under its effects, his heart breaking on the inside. By the time Malfoy lifted it, tears were streaming down Harry's cheeks and Hermione was whimpering, curled up in a ball at Malfoy's feet.

Bellatrix laughed. "Potter! Now you've seen what we can do to your little friend—" The word friend was uttered with such malevolence that Harry flinched "—so hand over the prophecy, or that will seem like a cute little warm-up!" Bellatrix cackled maniacally, and Harry's face took on a horrified expression.

"But—" he stuttered, barely able to concentrate on his own words, "didn't I say I would?" Before either Death Eater could respond, several stunning spells came from the door that the Death Eaters came through. Two Death Eaters that Harry didn't recognize fell to the ground as they were hit with stunners, caught off guard.

Harry looked sharply towards the door and he couldn't help but feel less morose as he saw Lupin, Sirius, Tonks, Moody, and Kingsley fiercely engage the remaining Death Eaters.

Tonks, however, separated from the group and rushed towards the whimpering Hermione and handed her a potion, which was weakly accepted.

"Drink this," she advised, "this will help with the pain."

Hermione swallowed the solution with the assistance of Tonks, and the change was visible. She stopped whimpering and her shoulders straightened as she collected herself. Tonks held out her hand and Hermione took it, getting to her feet.

Harry was shocked, and it must have shown on his face because Tonks chuckled. "Harry, chuck the prophecy. All that matters now is keeping it out of their hands. I reckon Dumbledore knows what it says already anyway." Harry looked surprised, then angry.

He wasn't the only one, though.

"Dumbledore knewthat there was a prophecy about Harry down here, and didn't tell him what it said?" Hermione whispered angrily.

Harry's eyes snapped to hers after he managed to push aside his own momentary anger. "Hermione, I know you're concerned, and I appreciate it, but there's a fight going on right now," Harry stated firmly. Hermione looked like she wanted to protest but managed to keep her mouth shut. Tonks looked very surprised at Hermione's outburst, but managed to contain it, and dashed away to rejoin the fight, not liking where the conversation seemed to be heading.

"Right," Harry said, shaking his head as he watched her take on one of the Death Eaters, "time to get rid of this blasted thing." He pitched the prophecy at the ground in front of his feet, and it smashed at his feet, the shards scattering in the surrounding area. A small pile of glowing, clear sand was left, and from it, a figure rose. Its mouth opened, and the duo stood transfixed as they heard the prophecy in full:

"The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches... Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies... And the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not... And either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives…"

The figure faded, and with it, the message. Harry reached out for Hermione's hand and she grabbed it, gripping it tightly. Harry shook his head angrily, not only terrified of what it might mean but also infuriated that he was only hearing of it now.

Suddenly, they remembered that a fight was occurring around them as a sickly yellow light soared towards them. They ducked in unison and turned to face their attacker, Dolohov.

"Tarantallegra!" Harry shouted, to which Dolohov smirked and cast a shield. Harry watched disappointedly as his spell diffused on the clear, shimmering barrier the man had erected. Dolohov was about to throw a curse but was stopped when Sirius appeared out of what seemed like nowhere and slammed into him with his shoulder, sending him flying. There was a crack as he hit the ground.

"Petrificus Totalus!" Dolohov's arms snapped to his side while his legs locked together as a result of Harry's spell.

Sirius looked at Harry approvingly and yelled, "Nice one!" The three of them ducked as a jet of green light barely missed Sirius. Cackling filled the room as Tonks fell down the steps in the same manner as Harry, Bellatrix looking triumphant.

Sirius took on a grave expression. The two Death Eaters who were stunned early on were back in the fight, having been revived by their compatriots. He turned to Harry with a fierce look. "Get yourself and your lady out of here!" Harry nodded and quickly started pulling Hermione away from the fighting. A spell impacted the floor in front of them, leaving a small crater, and creating a small cloud of dust. Harry and Hermione coughed but continued around the new hole, wary but unscathed.

From behind him, Harry heard Hermione gasp and stop running. "Dumbledore," she panted. "He's here!" Harry turned and saw the truth to her words.

Dumbledore rushed past the couple and entered the fight. Harry and Hermione glanced at each other, both no longer possessing any intention of leaving. Once the Death Eaters realized he was there, there was a mad scramble to escape. Nobody wanted to take on the most powerful wizard alive, and despite their anger at him, Harry and Hermione couldn't help but feel relief now that he was here.

In fact, only one couple was still fighting. Sirius and Bellatrix were multitasking; exchanging spells and verbally jousting at the same time.

"Come on! You can do better than that!" Sirius taunted, dodging a stunner. Harry and Hermione ran forward, intending to help. Unfortunately, it was useless, as Bellatrix's second jet of red light impacted him in the chest.

The laughter had not quite died from his face, but his eyes widened in shock.

It seemed to take Sirius an age to fall. His body curved in a graceful arc as he sank backward through the ragged veil hanging from the arch…

And Harry saw the look of mingled fear and surprise on his godfather's wasted, once-handsome face as he fell through the ancient doorway and disappeared behind the veil, which fluttered for a moment as though in a high wind and then fell back into place.

- Page 805-806, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J. K. Rowling

Bellatrix yelled out triumphantly, announcing to the heavens her great victory, while Harry could only stare in shock, staring at the last place his godfather had stood. Hermione wasn't faring much better.

Harry yelled, "SIRIUS! SIRIUS!"

But there was no answer, and deep inside, Harry knew he hadn't really expected one. He ran forward, dodging Lupin, who attempted to grab him, and pulled back the curtain.

"HARRY, NO!" He heard Hermione shout, panic coloring her tone, but he didn't care. He would find his godfather. He jumped through.

As his senses faded, he heard Bellatrix yelling about how her master would reward her for taking care of not only Black "but Potter too!" The last thing he saw was Hermione jumping through after him. She grabbed his hand as his vision faded to black.