"I really think we should try talking to Professor Snape one more time!" Hermione bust out suddenly.
Five pairs of eyes turned to her, registering various degrees of shock and disbelief. The six of them, Harry, Ron, Ginny, Neville, and Luna, along with Hermione, had been making ready to mount the waiting thestrals on a mad mission to rescue Sirius from Voldemort's torture. Harry was almost mad himself by now after all the delays. He had had the vision of Voldemort torturing Sirius during the History of Magic O.W.L. exam that afternoon and Hermione had insisted that they at least confirm that the vision was true before they went off, half-cocked, to their doom. After Kreacher had told them that Sirius was not at Grimmauld place, they had been further delayed by Headmistress Umbridge's interrogation. They had even tried to warn Professor Snape of Sirius's plight, but the enigmatic Professor had seemed not only to misunderstand Harry's warning, but also to be completely unconcerned about it.
Hermione's quick thinking and the lucky interference of Grawp had helped them escape from both Headmistress and the band of furious centaurs in the Forbidden Forest. Ron and the others had managed to escape from the inquisitorial squad thanks to their D. A. training and Harry was desperate to get moving towards the Ministry of Magic, where he knew that Sirius was being held.
"Are you mad?" Harry fairly shouted. "We already tried talking to Snape!"
Hermione knew that Harry wouldn't like her reasoning, but she also knew that she had to try to stop him from getting them all killed.
"Well," she said slowly, "Snape couldn't very well let Umbridge know that he understood you, could he? I just think it's a really bad idea for us to go to the Ministry alone."
"But Sirius is there," Harry hissed. "Being tortured. We have to do something!"
"That's the whole point!" she cried in exasperation. This whole year Harry had been completely unreasonable, and she had had enough of him being nasty to her. Especially since he apparently wanted her to risk her neck in a reckless rescue mission. "If Sirius is there…"
"What do you mean, 'if Sirius is there?'" Harry interrupted.
Hermione gritted her teeth and began again. "If Sirius is there with Voldemort, and who knows how many Death Eaters, what do you think will happen to us? We're just kids, Harry!"
Harry glared coldly at Hermione. "You swore that you would come with me. I didn't want to wait even the time it took us to contact Kreacher and you swore that you would come with me if I did. Now you're stalling because you're a coward and if Sirius dies, it will be your fault."
Hermione was close to tears. "I'm not a coward," she said tightly. "I just don't want us to do something idiotic."
"Snape hates Sirius. If we go back to talk to him, he'll just give all of us detention and then Sirius will die while we're wasting time."
Hermione's lip was trembling, and she looked to the others for support. Ron and Ginny were glaring at her as blackly as Harry was. Neville looked extremely uncomfortable and as though he had no idea which side to take. Luna was staring off into space, smiling at something only she could see.
Taking a deep breath, Hermione said in a soft, firm voice, "I know I promised to go with you and I'm really sorry, Harry. But I can't let you do something this stupid. It could get us all killed. I'm going back to talk to Professor Snape."
She squared her shoulders and started off towards the castle. Before she had gone ten steps, Harry flicked his wand at her.
"Stupify!" he shouted.
Hermione crumbled to the ground, unconscious.
"Come on," Harry muttered to his shocked, motley army. "We've wasted enough time here."
"Enter," Snape replied curtly to the frantic knocking at his door. It was almost time for dinner and, if Potter was not in the Great Hall, Snape would have to go out into the forest and look for the brat.
Hermione tumbled into Snape's office and he raised an eyebrow at her frazzled, blood-covered state. She was panting and obviously distraught. Without preamble, she launched into her story, talking so quickly that it sounded like one long word.
"Harry'shadavisionthatVoldemortistourturingSiriusandRonandGinnyandLunaandNevilleareonthierwaytotheMinistryofMagictosavehimand…."
"Miss Granger!" Snape interrupted sharply. "Stop babbling!"
She forced herself to slow down as tears started slipping over her cheeks. "Harry and the others—they're going to the Ministry of Magic," she said.
"They're what?" he snapped. Surely he had misheard her. "How?"
"On Thestrals. Harry thinks that Voldemort has Sirius there."
"Of all the arrogant, idiotic attempts at self-aggrandizement." Snape glared at Hermione. "Get back to your dormitory. Speak of this to no one. If you set one foot outside of the school, I will personally see that you are expelled. And stop blubbering!"
Hermione was crying openly now. She numbly made her way back to Gryffindor tower. All she could do now was wait.
"How are we supposed to tell which door leads where when they change every time we try one?" Ron complained loudly.
The five teenagers had been standing in the circular room, trying door after door, for at least half an hour. Harry was becoming more and more agitated as the minutes ticked by but, as the doors shifted each time they tried one, it was impossible to remember which they had already chosen. The first room they had seen had contained an eerie looking fish tank full of what Luna claimed were Aquavirius maggots. They had been in and out of the strange amphitheater multiple times, possibly due to Harry's preoccupation with the ghostly whispering therein.
"I know," Luna said dreamily. "Why don't you mark the door the next time you close it. Then we'll know which one's we've tried."
"Brilliant," Harry said, sounding relieved. He wished again that Hermione had come with them. That was the sort of thing she would have thought of straight away.
"I don't think that will be necessary," said the drawling, aristocratic voice of Mr. Malfoy behind them.
Harry, Ron, Neville, Ginny, and Luna all turned slowly towards the voice. All of them, even Luna looked horrified at the sight that met their eyes. At least a dozen wizards, dressed in black robes and sporting death's-head masks, surrounded them. Before any of the teenagers could do as much as raise their wands, the Death Eaters had slashed theirs silently towards their prey. All of the younger witches and wizards lay sprawling on the floor, stunned. All but Harry.
"Expelliarmus!" Harry shouted and Malfoy's wand flew out of his hand. But before Harry could repeat this spell on another of his attackers, one of them used it on him.
"Expelliarmus!" came a strange, babyish sounding female voice.
Harry's wand flew out of his hand and he leaped frantically towards it, but a large Death Eater beat him to the thing. In the same instant, another Death Eater conjured ropes that wound themselves around the boy. Harry struggled and strained against the bindings, but they were simply too tight to budge.
Malfoy collected his wand and jerked Harry to his feet.
"We're going for a little walk, my boy," Malfoy gloated. "And if you do not cooperate completely, I will murder every last one of your little friends in front of your eyes."
Why didn't I listen to Hermione? Harry thought as Malfoy marched him out of the depths of the Ministry of Magic. Harry held the strange glass ball clutched in his hand. For some reason, Malfoy seemed loath to touch it until they were far enough away from the room that Harry had seen in his dreams. Malfoy had his wand jabbed painfully in Harry's ribs, but that wasn't what was keeping him in line. It was the knowledge that if he didn't do what Malfoy ordered, all of his friends would die. And it would be all Harry's fault, too. He should have realized that the vision was a trick. He should have tried harder to contact the Order of the Phoenix. Now they were trapped, and no cavalry was coming to save them.
Unless…Hermione! The jinx Harry had cast on her—yet another mistake—must have worn off by now. Maybe she had gone to Snape. Maybe Snape really could be trusted. Maybe he was sending help. Maybe….
"Give me the boy, Lucius." Snape's silky voice interrupted Harry's frantic musings. They were in a passage near the circular room of doors by that point and Harry realized that he could hear the muffled sounds of a battle in the room beyond.
"What's happened, Severus?" Malfoy demanded.
"The Order has arrived," Snape replied lazily.
Malfoy's eyes glared at Snape from behind his Death Eater Mask. "And just how is it that the Order knew to arrive at this particular moment?" Malfoy spat.
Snape sounded bored as he said, "The Granger girl came to me with a warning about Potter's idiotic quest for fame. How would it have looked to Dumbledore if I had ignored it? You can be sure that she would have told him. She is an insufferable busybody."
"Where are you taking him?"
"To the Atrium. The Dark Lord will be there soon and he will relieve me of the brat. I will, of course, make an effort to prevent the capture, but I will tragically fail." The smirk that accompanied this explanation told Harry that Snape was only too eager to hand him over to Voldemort.
Malfoy studied Snape shrewdly, as though trying to decide what to do. Snape had his wand drawn, but it was at his side. Snape seemed as relaxed and bored as Malfoy was tense and agitated.
"I'll go with Snape," the babyish female voice from earlier said. A woman in black robes appeared behind Snape and started circling him slowly. She removed her death's-head mask to reveal a drawn, pale face. "I'll make sure he does what he says he's going to do. You go back to the battle, Lucius. It won't look very good for you if the Order succeeds while you're here dawdling with Snape."
Snape stared at Bellatrix for a long time, his face impassive. Finally he shrugged, grabbed Harry by the arm, and said, 'This way Potter. It is time for you to meet someone who will be able to teach you respect."
He knew it. He knew it! Harry had known it all along! He had known that Snape was on Voldemort's side and now he was going to die, and Voldemort was going to get the Prophecy, and there was nothing he could do about it. Anger boiled inside him as Snape marched him through a maze of corridors. Hadn't he always known that Snape hated him? Hadn't he thought from the beginning that there was something wrong with his horrible professor? Hadn't he always suspected that the man was evil?
Snape's grip was hard on Harry's arm as he forced the boy towards his doom. The woman, Bellatrix Lestrange brought up the rear, and she flicked her wand at Harry from time to time, making him jump with a short shock of pain. The Atrium was dark and deserted when they reached it. Their footsteps echoed loudly through the empty room and Harry began to wrack his brain for anything he could do to escape. After all, the Order of the Phoenix was there, a few floors beneath him. Maybe if he could stay alive for long enough, someone would be able to rescue him. Of course, that would require staying alive.
They halted near the fountain and Snape turned to Harry.
"Give me the Prophecy, Potter," he ordered in a tone that would brook no argument.
Harry glared at Snape, hating the man with every fiber of his being. He gripped the smooth, glass ball in his sweaty hand and, for a moment, he stood stock still, trying to murder Snape with his glare. Then he felt his hand rising, moving towards Snape's outstretched fingers, ready to surrender the thing that had caused so much trouble. Halfway to the exchange, Harry threw the ball to the floor, where it shattered into a million pieces amidst a crash and the shriek of two women.
"Neither can live…." cried a ghostly female voice as it rose from the wreckage of the ball and evaporated into nothingness.
The other shriek came from Bellatrix, who seemed to forget for a moment that she possessed a wand. She slapped Harry so hard that he fell into Snape. The potions master was immovable though, like a stone.
"You should not have done that, Potter," he said mildly. In the next instant, Harry was thrown across the room. He slammed into a wall and the security guard's podium slid across the floor and parked itself in front of him as a shield.
It took a moment for Harry to catch his breath. When he did, he peered cautiously around the podium and, to his amazement, he saw Snape rounding on Bellatrix, red hexes flying at her. She did not seem surprised. She stood behind her shield charm, absorbing the impact of the hexes with an expression of wild hatred on her face.
"I knew it," she said, as though singing the words to a nursery rhyme. "I knew it. I knew it! I knew that Snape was a traitor. I knew that he was Dumbledore's lapdog."
"One dog knows another," Snape observed, advancing on her.
"I tried to tell the Dark Lord," she went on. "I told him you were not to be trusted."
She had regained her footing and she started matching him, hex for hex. They circled each other like a pair of fighting dogs and soon she was advancing and Snape was retreating.
"I am the Dark Lord's true servant!" she shouted, casting a viscous hex at Snape that threw him into the fountain.
He scrambled over the statue, putting it between him and Bellatrix. She started laughing maliciously, and Snape slashed his wand in the air. The banner of Cornelius Fudge ripped down from its place on the wall and wrapped itself around Bellatrix. She stopped laughing and started struggling to free herself.
"Bella, I think it is high time that some one informed you how exceptionally dull you are," Snape said.
He flicked his wand at her, almost lazily, and she skidded away from him, still encased in the banner. Hope surged in Harry's chest. Dumbledore had been right about Snape after all.
"Oppungo!" Bellatrix suddenly shouted, extricating her arm and her face from the banner.
Immediately, the fountain exploded, and Harry ducked behind the podium to protect himself from the flying debris. When the smoke cleared, Harry couldn't see Snape any more. He must have been killed in the blast. But, if that were true, where was the body? Bellatrix whipped her wand at the fabric holding her captive, and it ripped to shreds. She stood slowly, her eyes tracking a cloud of black smoke that had not quite dissipated. As Harry turned his eyes to the dark cloud, he realized that it was Snape. Harry's professor was flying.
Bellatrix's eyes narrowed and she prowled beneath Snape, watching him sharply. Her wand was at the ready and her body was taut as a whip as she paced. The cloud that was Snape darted through the room, blowing by her and causing her to flinch. Instead of chasing her away, though, she stopped her pacing and stood rooted to the floor.
Without warning, she hissed, "Crucio!"
Her curse hit the mark and Snape fell to the ground. Harry could not look away as Bellatrix tortured his professor. He wanted to close his eyes and cover his ears to shut out the sight and sound of it, but he sat frozen. It went on so long that Harry thought Snape must surely be dead, except that the man still writhed and cried out in pain.
Harry wanted to vomit, but before he did so, Bellatrix ended the curse. She rounded on Harry and licked her lips, stalking to where he was hidden like a cat.
"Your turn, Baby Potter," she cooed. "Your turn."
Harry was trapped behind the podium as the madwoman advanced on him. She knelt down in front of him and smiled, "Your. Turn."
She raised her wand to begin the torture.
"Avada Kedavra," rasped Snape from where he lay on the floor.
Bellatrix slumped to the ground, smile still on her face. Harry was suddenly able to breath again, and he struggled to free himself from the podium. This took a few minutes and, by the time he had done so, he saw that Snape had managed to drag himself to his knees. Harry ran to Snape and they stared at each other for a long moment. Harry's eyes were filled with confusion and bewilderment; Snape's eyes were unreadable.
"Thank you," Harry whispered.
There was a flicker of something in Snape's black gaze, but before he could say anything, they heard another voice coming from the smoking ruins of the fountain. Snape reacted faster than Harry would have thought possible in his injured state and Harry found himself once again flung across the room, away from the danger.
"Avada Kedavra," hissed the high, cold voice that haunted Harry's dreams.
Snape fell silently to the floor and Harry felt the red eyes trying to take his soul again. There was nothing in the world but those red eyes, that terrible voice, and a throbbing pain in his scar.
But then Harry felt yet another hand on his shoulder, pulling him out of the room, and he saw Dumbledore's stately frame appear from nowhere. Voldemort whirled to Dumbledore, Harry forgotten for the moment. As the wizards began their battle, the door closed behind Harry, and he could see no more.
"You're safe now, Harry," Sirius said, embracing his godson. "We've won and Albus'll finish Voldemort."
Harry felt very close to tears. "What about the others?" he choked out.
"All fine. Bumps and bruises, nothing to worry about."
Sirius hurried Harry through another maze of corridors. Harry was in a daze and could not really say exactly when or how they managed to stumble into Grimmauld place some time later. Most of the Order was assembled there in the kitchen, seeing to wounds and talking loudly about the battle. Ron, Ginny, Luna, and Neville were sitting at the table, eating the sandwiches and drinking the cocoa that Mrs. Weasley was pressing on them.
Before they entered the fray in the kitchen, Harry put his hand on Sirius's arm to gain his godfather's attention.
"Sirius, this was all my fault," Harry said miserably.
Sirius smiled kindly at the boy. "Nah. Don't even think that. Wizards older and wiser than you have been fooled by Voldemort."
Harry was silent for a moment and then he added softly, "Snape died protecting me."
A mixture of disgust and amusement appeared on Sirius's face. "I guess even Snive—Severus can do something useful once in a while," he said grudgingly. He put his arm around Harry's shoulder and steered the boy into the kitchen. "Come on Harry, let's get something to eat."