Author's Note:
SURPRISE! Early chapter — why? Today is my birthday and I thought I would be generous. BUT — no chapter next week so that I don't knock Dusk off her editing schedule and because I think the break will be needed and I need more time to write. Win/Win.
*fingers crossed there's no rioting*.
To answer the multitudes of reviews: To xXQueenof DragonsXx: Haha, Harry, why do you do this? To Kellykat1889: I make no promises. I'm so happy everyone loved the idea of Zee being pregnant with twins! To Steelcode: 'Please let Theo's father get shot in his undersized wanker' — omg, I literally LOL'd at this statement! To Katiekat197: You want me to kill off Lady G? Hmm… To midnitewanderer: I'm sorry I made you cry, but not really, as it means I've drawn you into the story and that is so incredible to me and I'm so honoured, but I am sorry I raised your blood pressure LOL. To LifeonEarth: I didn't make you wait a week! Only 2 days!
As to the reviews about Althea and her babies, it was a mistake on my part, I did go back and edit as needed in chapter 175 where the first discrepancy was (in my defence, I have a lot of characters LOL): Niko and Nilo were born in February of 91, Phoenix in April of 92, twins Basil and Bryony in August of 94 and then Calla was born in September of 95. I made a mistake there, but it has been fixed! I apologize. To bronzebec: Thank you! To Ari Black-18: Finn definitely needs to kick some butt, I agree! To notthatchhavi: Snog Ginny is always excellent advice and I'm so glad you liked the Animagi and Patronus attacks! To xXMizzAlecVolturiXx: Harry will find out — just not yet. To scrappy8: Thanks! When you leave me a review like that, I know I did something right! To SlytherinTime-LordGirl: "it is at this moment that I love you and severely dislike you and what makes you an amazing author" — thank you! To blackwingedguardian: Yes, I am an evil, evil person and I'm sorry/not sorry. To coloredwords: Sugar on top, granted! To Mutt N. Feathers: Trusting authors… that's dangerous territory.
To Wolf's scream: Agreeing with Snape? No, that's actually fair. To Leaf Ranger: I'm sorry you've been so disappointed with my updates, but I know where I want this story to go and it may not be at a pace you appreciate, but it works for me. I appreciate you reading and reviewing. To purplevictory: I've missed you! To Siriusblack411: I will try when I find time!
DISCLAIMER: I do not own the parts of Order of the Phoenix, that belongs to JKR. I interweaved the parts I wanted to make my story work — I've had this chapter written since November of 2018...
My posting schedule: Once a week.
As always, thank you very much for reading and please, please review!
Your reviews give me life! They give me inspiration! And they make me want to keep writing for more than just myself! Thank you for all of your continued support!
CHAPTER TWO-HUNDRED AND NINETEEN:
Ginny gasped for breath as they ran down the dark aisle, dust collecting so thick in the air that it looked like a desert storm. She coughed on the dust, grabbing Ron's arm for support as she almost crashed into one of the shelves. The room was vibrating, but the collapsing shelves seemed to have stayed on the other side. She made to say something to Harry when she realized that he was nowhere in sight.
"Ron, where's Harry? Where are the others?"
Luna covered her mouth with her hand as she gasped. "They must have gone the other way!"
Thaddeus Nott and four other masked Death Eaters stepped out in front of them, panting in exertion. "Think that was fun, do you?"
Ron shrugged. "Watching you get bested by some teenagers? A little bit, yeah."
Nott sneered. His arm was still bleeding from where Ginny had torn into it in her Animagus form. "You think that you were clever… an Animagus… I'll give you credit for originality."
The Death Eater on the left snorted. "We'll rip out every tooth in that pathetic little bear's mouth to show you how much we appreciate it."
"I'll wear the teeth as a necklace," Nott continued. "Then I'll skin you alive and keep the pelt."
"Stupefy!" Luna shouted, catching the Death Eater on the right off guard.
He went down and his accomplice had barely reached for his wand before Ron charged forward, knocking him back into the shelf with such force that three rows of orbs crashed to the ground.
Nott tripped and Ginny moved in, swiping hers and Theo's wands from the pocket of his cloak and before he even realized, her wand waved in front of him.
The echoing sounds of bogeys the size of the bats erupted from his nose. Ginny waited half a beat before she hit him a second time - and when the bat-sized bogeys exploded from his crotch, he screamed and doubled over in pain.
"That's for Theo!" she declared viciously.
The last Death Eater - who had almost toppled over the broken orbs — turned his wand upon Luna just as the wolverine burst forward and pulled the man's leg out of its socket. Ginny grabbed Luna's hand and the two of them climbed onto the wolverine's back. They held on as he ran through the dust and away from the four Death Eaters who had cornered them.
Ron changed back into himself, gripping Ginny and Luna each with one arm and tugging them along as his long legs moved three paces faster. Ginny brandished her wand and froze when she heard Crouch speak.
"They think they're clever. Let them play their games. We need that prophecy and the moment it's in our hands, you know what to do."
"Bart, what about Nott and Selwyn? You heard the screams —"
"— Shut it, Avery! I want that prophecy or you'll be the one explaining to the Dark Lord how seven teenagers escaped. Move it!"
Luna gripped Ron's arm. "We have to get around them to that time room."
Ginny nodded. "The others must already be in there. Walk quietly… there has to be another way inside."
She snuck around the broken orbs, careful not to step on shattered glass, her eyes on the Death Eaters who crowded near the door. Her wand was clutched tightly in her hand and she gestured for Ron and Luna to follow. They just needed to go in behind them, she thought. Harry was their priority. Harry and the prophecy.
Hold them off, Harry, she thought desperately. Hold them off.
~ ASC ~
"Listen!" Neville hissed, interrupting the bickering of Harry, Theo, and Hermione.
Footsteps and shouts echoed from behind the door they had sealed. Harry put his ear close to the door to listen and heard Lucius yell.
"Leave Nott, leave him, I say! The Dark Lord will not care for Nott's injuries as much as losing that prophecy — Jugson, come back here, we need to organize! We'll split into pairs and search, and don't forget, be gentle with Potter until we've got the prophecy, you can kill the others if necessary. Damn it, Avery, it's not my fault that you let them get away! What do you mean there was a wolverine? Bloody hell — is Dumbledore teaching all of his students to turn into Animagi? — No, we'll deal with it later — Bellatrix, Rodolphus, you take the left, Crabbe, Rabastan, go right — Jugson, Dolohov, the door straight ahead — Macnair and Selwyn through here — Pettigrew, Parkinson, over there — Mulciber, Greengrass, Fields, come with me!"
"What do we do?" Hermione asked Harry, trembling from head to foot.
"Well, we don't stand here waiting for them to find us, for a start," Harry said. "Let's get away from this door…"
They ran, quietly as they could, past the shimmering bell jar where the tiny egg was hatching and un-hatching, toward the exit into the circular hallway at the far end of the room. They were almost there when Harry heard something large and heavy collide with the door Hermione had charmed shut.
"Stand aside!" a rough voice declared. "Alohomora!"
As the door flew open, Harry, Hermione, Neville, and Theo dove under the desks. They could see the bottom of the two Death Eaters' robes drawing nearer, their feet moving rapidly.
"They might've run straight through to the hall," the rough voice said.
"Check under the desks," another voice ordered.
Harry saw the knees of the Death Eaters bend. Poking his wand out from under the desk he shouted, "STUPEFY!"
A jet of red light hit the nearest Death Eater; he fell backward into a grandfather clock and knocked it over. The second Death Eater, however, had leapt aside to avoid Harry's spell and now pointed his own wand at Hermione, who had crawled out from under the desk to get a better aim.
"Avada —"
Harry sent his stag Patronus slamming into the Death Eater, knocking him to his knees. He launched forward, grabbed the Death Eater's wand as he fell to the ground and tossed it to Theo. Theo caught it in the air and stunned the Death Eater, who fell backwards onto the desk, flipping over it.
Harry flung himself sideways as Neville took aim at the Death Eater coming from the left and shouted, "STUPEFY!"
The jet of red light flew right over the Death Eater's shoulder and hit a glass-fronted cabinet on the wall full of variously shaped hour-glasses. The cabinet fell to the floor and burst apart, glass flying everywhere, then sprang back up onto the wall, fully mended, then fell down again, and shattered —
The second Death Eater made a beeline for them and Theo pointed his wand out.
"Expelliariums!" he shouted, sending the Death Eater's wand straight into his hand. He broke the wand he had been using in favour of the new one and flicked his wrist. "Flipendo!"
The man did a backflip, belly flipped over and into the glittering bell jar. Harry expected to hear a clunk and a crash, but instead, his head sank through the surface of the bell jar as though it was nothing but a soap bubble and he came to rest, sprawled on his stomach on the table, with his head lying inside the jar full of glittering wind.
Harry stared in amazement. "What is that thing?"
Hermione shook her head as if unable to articulate words.
Neville climbed over the desk he had tripped over, a cut over his eye. "Everyone all right?"
Theo nodded, rubbing his own head. "Surprisingly, yes. Plus, I have a wand now."
"Who has your wand?" Harry asked him.
"My father. He had Ginny's as well," he said, his eyes seeking Harry's. "You know that they were waiting for you to take the prophecy more than anything."
Harry nodded. "I figured that out for myself, thanks. I knew it was a trap walking in, but they — I wasn't leaving Ginny. We have to find the others and get out of here."
Theo nodded, eyeing the orb in Harry's hand. "If I were you — I'd smash that. It's been nothing but trouble and from what I know about prophecies, they are fickle, and often more trouble than they're worth."
Harry had to agree with Theo's assessment, but at the moment, it was the only thing that gave him any leverage. "Not yet." There was another loud bang on the door and Harry shook his head. "Right, let's get out of —"
" — Look out!" Neville said, horrified, staring at the Death Eater's head in the bell jar.
All four of them raised their wands again, but none of them struck. They were all gazing, openmouthed, appalled, at what was happening to the man's head.
It was shrinking very fast, growing balder and balder, the black hair and stubble retracting into his skull, his cheeks smooth, his skull round and covered with a peach-like fuzz. A baby's head now sat grotesquely on top of the thick, muscled neck of the Death Eater as he struggled to get up again. But even as they watched, their mouths open, the head began to swell to its previous proportions again, thick black hair was sprouting from the head and chin…
"It's time," Hermione said in an awestruck voice. "Time…"
The Death Eater shook his ugly head again, trying to clear it, but before he could pull himself together again, it began to shrink back to babyhood once more.
There was a shout from a room nearby, then a crash and a scream.
"RON?" Harry yelled, turning quickly from the monstrous transformation taking place before them. "GINNY? LUNA?"
"Harry!" Hermione screamed.
The Death Eater had pulled his head out of the bell jar. His appearance was utterly bizarre, his tiny baby's head bawling loudly while his thick arms flailed dangerously in all directions, narrowly missing Harry, who ducked. Harry raised his wand, but Theo beat him to it.
"Petrificus Totalus!"
The baby-faced Death Eater's arms and legs slammed into place and he collapsed face first into the floor as Hermione gasped.
"You attacked a baby!"
Theo glared at her. "No, I attacked a version of a baby!"
Hermione looked like she was going to protest this so Harry grabbed her arm. "Come on!"
There was no time to argue the point. He could hear more footsteps growing louder from the Hall of Prophecy that they had just left and knew, too late, that he ought not to have shouted and given away their position.
"Come on!" he said again, and leaving the ugly baby-headed Death Eater frozen behind them, they took off for the door that stood ajar at the other end of the room, leading back into the black hallway.
They had halfway reached the open door when Harry saw two more masked Death Eaters running across the black room toward them. Veering left, he burst instead into a small, dark, cluttered office and slammed the door behind them.
"Collo —" Hermione began, but before she could complete the spell the door had burst open again and the two Death Eaters had come hurtling inside. With a cry of triumph, both yelled, "IMPEDIMENTA!"
Harry, Hermione, Neville, and Theo were all knocked backward off their feet. Neville was thrown over the desk and disappeared from view. Hermione smashed into a bookcase and was promptly deluged in a cascade of heavy books; the back of Harry's head slammed into the stone wall behind him, tiny lights burst in front of his eyes, and for a moment he was too dizzy and bewildered to react.
"WE'VE GOT HIM!" the Death Eater nearest to Harry yelled. "IN AN OFFICE OFF —"
"Silencio!" Hermione said, and the man's voice was extinguished. He continued to mouth through the hole in his mask, but no sound came out; he was thrust aside by his accomplice.
"Petrificus Totalus!" Harry said, as the second Death Eater raised his wand. His arms and legs snapped together and he fell forward, facedown onto the rug at Harry's feet, stiff as a board and unable to move at all.
"Well done, Ha —"
But the Death Eater Hermione had just struck dumb made a sudden slashing movement with his wand from which flew a streak of what looked like purple flame. It passed right across Hermione's abdomen; she gave a tiny "oh!" as though of surprise and then crumpled onto the floor where she lay motionless.
"HERMIONE!"
Harry fell to his knees beside her as Neville crawled rapidly toward her from under the desk, his wand held up in front of him. The Death Eater kicked out hard at Neville's head as he emerged — his foot broke Neville's wand in two and connected with his face — Neville gave a howl of pain and recoiled, clutching his mouth and nose. Harry twisted around, his own wand held high, and saw that the Death Eater had ripped off his mask and was pointing his wand directly at Harry, who recognized the long, pale, twisted face from the Daily Prophet: Antonin Dolohov, the wizard who had murdered the Prewetts.
Dolohov grinned. With his free hand, he pointed from the prophecy still clutched in Harry's hand, to himself, then at Hermione.
Though he could no longer speak his meaning could not have been clearer: Give me the prophecy, or you get the same as her…
"Like you won't kill us all the moment I hand it over anyway!" Harry told him.
A whine of panic inside his head was preventing him thinking properly. He had one hand on Hermione's shoulder, which was still warm, yet did not dare look at her properly. Don't let her be dead, don't let her be dead, it's my fault if she's dead…
"Whaddever you do, Harry," Neville said fiercely from under the desk, lowering his hands to show a clearly broken nose and blood pouring down his mouth and chin. "Don'd gib it to him!"
Then there was a crash outside the door, and Dolohov looked over his shoulder.
Harry seized his chance: "PETRIFICUS TOTALUS!"
The spell hit Dolohov before he could block it, and he toppled forward across his comrade, both of them rigid as boards and unable to move an inch.
"Hermione," Harry said at once, shaking her arm. "Hermione, wake up…"
"She won't," Theo said, rubbing his head where the back of it was bleeding as he struggled to his feet. "Purple flame… that's one of Dolohov's specialities. She needs to get to a healer as soon as possible."
Harry paled. "How bad is it?"
Theo pulled his hand away from his head to see it was covered in blood. "Bad."
"Whaddid he do to her?" Neville asked, crawling out from under the desk again to kneel at her other side, blood streaming from his rapidly swelling nose. Neville groped for Hermione's wrist. "Dat's a pulse, Harry, I'b sure id is…"
Such a powerful wave of relief swept through Harry that for a moment he felt light-headed. "She's alive?"
"Yeah, I dink so…"
There was a pause in which Harry listened hard for the sounds of more footsteps, but all he could hear were the whimpers and blunderings of the baby Death Eater in the next room. Someone must have revived him, he thought.
"Neville, we're not far from the exit," Harry whispered. "We're right next to that circular room… If we can just get you across it and find the right door before any more Death Eaters come, I'll bet you can get Hermione up the corridor and into the lift…"
"And whad are you going do do?" Neville asked, mopping his bleeding nose with his sleeve and frowning at Harry.
"I've got to find the others," Harry said.
"Well, I'b going do find dem wid you," Neville said firmly.
"But Hermione —"
"We'll dake her wid us," Neville insisted. "I'll carry her — you're bedder at fighding dem dan I ab —"
He stood up and seized one of Hermione's arms, glared at Harry, who hesitated, then grabbed the other and helped hoist Hermione's limp form over Neville's broad shoulder.
"Wait," Harry said, snatching up Hermione's wand from the floor and shoving it into Nevilles hand. "You'd better take this…"
Neville kicked aside the broken fragments of his own wand as they walked slowly toward the door. Theo swallowed and took up the rear behind Neville.
"Be careful. They might not hurt Potter while he's holding the prophecy, but I can promise you — the rest of us are simply collateral damage," Theo warned.
Harry knew that already, but hearing the fear in Theo's voice only made it seem more real. They had to find the others and get out of here. He just hoped that Sirius and the Order were in fact on their way.
~ASC~
Ginny, Ron, and Luna crept slowly through the aisles, avoiding the broken orbs and shadowy figures that kept emerging from the smashed prophecies. The sight of a door on the left had her gesturing over and she made a beeline for it.
"There!" someone shouted as the three of them ran through the door and toppled outside under the brightly lit stars.
Luna staggered and Ron caught her as the three of them fell down the darkened stone steps. Ginny landed on her ankle wrong and winced, crawling out of the way before she realized that they weren't actually outside.
The entire room was black as night, but illuminated with stars and planets. The planets themselves were the size of train cars, some rested on the ground, some floating above them. A few even seemed to be cut open as if someone was studying the very foundation of how it worked. She crawled to her feet, her ankle shaking slightly and urged them forward as the door burst open above them.
Ron gripped Ginny's arm to help her along as they edged quietly along the wall. Four Death Eaters stumbled down the steps much like they did, wands raised.
"We know you're in here," a sing-song voice called out. "Come out and play. We'll show you a good time."
Luna's foot hit the base of a planet and the room lit up as if she hit a switch. The planets rose up into the air and began to get into their proper position within the universe as a curse went flying past their head.
"Protego!" Ron shouted, the spell bouncing off.
"Get them!" a woman's voice declared.
But then they were all lifted off the ground.
The entire room's atmosphere changed into something heavy as the gravity shifted and they began to float into the air. Ginny attempted to wave her wand and watched in fascination as it moved in slow motion, her arm and body feeling as if it had fallen asleep in the struggle. Every move she made felt heavy and sluggish. She reached for Luna's hand and they made a swimming motion with their hands, propelling through the air.
The female Death Eater, who had taunted them, floated near them, grabbing Ginny's injured ankle and tugging. Ginny gripped Luna's hand tighter as the Death Eater on the ground hit something and they all crashed back to the floor.
The three of them stumbled to their feet and made a break for it, jumping over the uneven ground as quickly as they could muster. Ginny pulled them through towards the same door they had come in as another spelled whizzed past them.
"Confractus!" the woman yelled.
Ginny cried out as the spell hit her injured ankle with a loud crack and she fell. Ron caught her before she crashed head first. The woman pulled her mask off to grin maliciously, her wand raised.
"Reducto!" Luna shouted and the planet above the woman exploded to shreds, bouncing light and chunks of earth everywhere. The woman screamed as it collapsed on her and the man on her left dove out of the way of the falling planets, swearing under his breath.
Ron picked up Ginny, throwing her over his shoulder as he started running towards the door. The third Death Eater dodged Ron's stunning spell and blue light erupted from his wand, smacking Ron in the side of the head. He grunted and dropped Ginny. She crumpled onto her broken ankle and turned sheet white. Luna sent a second reducto towards the Death Eater chasing them and Pluto erupted overhead. Suddenly, they rose up off the ground, floating towards the ceiling. Ron reached forward to touch the blue planet in front of him.
"Look, Luna, it's Uranus!" Ron exclaimed, giggling as he put his hands on it. "See! I'm touching Uranus!"
"Ron!" Ginny hissed through the pain. "Now is not the time for stupid jokes!"
They floated towards the door, trying to propel themselves to the ground. The closer they got to the ground, the more the gravitational pull seemed to vanish; the three of them collapsed to the stone again. Ron caught Ginny before she fell on her ankle a third time, but he was still grinning widely and muttering about Uranus.
Ginny leaned on Luna as she helped her to her feet as Ron continued to giggle uncontrollably, his eyes glazed and unfocused. Ginny grabbed her brother's arm and tugged him along with them through the door, slamming it shut behind them.
"Colloportus!" Ginny exclaimed, sealing the door.
The dust and broken remains of the Hall of Prophecy was clouded in darkness again as Ginny leaned on Luna desperately. Ron's laughter seemed to echo in the room, his breathing heavy as they limped along.
Ginny was trying to breathe through her nose as every step she took sent a hiss of pain up her leg and into her hip. Ron started to wander so she pointed her wand at her brother.
"Accio Ron!"
He whined as he flew towards her, but let her grip his arm.
"Help me, Ron."
Ron's arm slipped around her waist as they moved through the hall, but he continued to be rather loopy.
"What hit him?" Luna whispered.
Ginny shook her head. "I don't know. He seems out of his mind a bit, doesn't he?"
"Mind, shmind," Ron said, laughing again and blood dribbled out of the side of his mouth. "Loony Luna, we like that you're loony."
Luna rolled her eyes. "Happy to oblige. His mouth is bleeding, Ginny."
Ginny winced as she hit her ankle on the doorframe as the three of them attempted to move through it and Ron giggled again, a bubble of blood bursting from the corner of his mouth. Ginny didn't like the look of it, but they needed to get out of here. They were in a brightly lit room that they didn't recognize, but there was another door up ahead.
"Come on," Ginny hissed in pain. "We just need to find a way back to that black room. Everything in here has to connect. Come on, Ron. Just a little further and we'll find help."
Luna nodded as she tried to lead Ginny and Ron through the doors as Ron tried to wander off.
Ginny gripped her brother tightly, as much for support as to hold him in place. They had to find help, she thought, sneaking a look at her brother in concern. She just hoped that Harry and the others were all right.
~ASC~
Harry stuck his head out of the nearby door and looked around cautiously for a means to escape. The baby-headed Death Eater was screaming and banging into things, toppling grandfather clocks and overturning desks, bawling and confused, while the glass cabinet that Harry now suspected had once contained Time-Turners continued to fall, shatter, and repair itself on the wall behind them.
"He's never going to notice us," he whispered. "C'mon… keep close behind me."
They crept out of the office and back toward the door into the black hallway, which now seemed completely deserted. They walked a few steps forward, Neville tottering slightly due to Hermione's dead weight. The door of the Time Room swung shut behind them, and the walls began to rotate once more. The recent blow on the back of Harry's head seemed to have unsteadied him; he narrowed his eyes, swaying slightly, until the walls stopped moving again. With a sinking heart, Harry saw that Hermione's fiery crosses had faded from the doors.
"So which way d'you reck —?"
But before they could make a decision as to which way to try, a door to their right sprang open and three people fell out of it.
"Ginny!" Harry croaked, dashing toward them as relief soared through him. "Ginny — are you all —?"
"Harry," Ron exclaimed, giggling weakly, lurching forward, seizing the front of Harry's robes and gazing at him with unfocused eyes. "There you are! Ha ha ha…You look funny, Harry. You're all messed up."
Ron's face was very white and something dark was trickling from the corner of his mouth. Next moment his knees had given way, but he still clutched the front of Harry's robes, so that Harry was pulled into a kind of bow.
"Ginny?" Harry said fearfully. "What happened?"
But Ginny shook her head and slid down the wall into a sitting position, panting and holding her ankle.
"Her ankle's broken, I heard something crack," Luna whispered, who was bending over her and who alone seemed to be unhurt but rather winded. "Four of them chased us into a dark room full of planets, it was a very odd place, some of the time we were just floating in the dark —"
"Harry, we saw Uranus up close!" Ron declared, still giggling feebly. "Get it, Harry? We saw Uranus — ha ha ha —"
A bubble of blood grew at the corner of Ron's mouth and burst.
"Anyway, one of them grabbed Ginny's foot, I used the Reductor Curse and blew up Pluto in his face, but…" Luna gestured hopelessly at Ginny, who was breathing in a very shallow way, her eyes still closed.
"And what about Ron?" Harry asked fearfully, as Ron continued to giggle, still hanging off the front of Harry's robes.
"I don't know what they hit him with," Luna said sadly. "It was some kind of blue light, but he's gone a bit funny, I could hardly get him along at all…"
"We've got to get out of here," Harry said firmly. "Luna, can you help Ginny?"
"Yes," Luna said, sticking her wand behind her ear for safekeeping, putting an arm around Ginny's waist and pulling her up.
"It's only my ankle, I can do it myself!" Ginny said impatiently, but next moment she had collapsed sideways and grabbed Luna for support. Harry pulled Ron's arm over his shoulder, his eyes on his girlfriend, who had gone sheet white when she pressed on her ankle. He looked around: They had a one-in-twelve chance of getting the exit right the first time…
"I can't Apparate all of us out of here at the same time so we have to keep moving," Harry instructed as he heaved Ron toward a door.
They were within a few feet of it when another door across the hall burst open and three Death Eaters sped into the hall, led by Bellatrix.
"There they are!" she shrieked.
Stunning Spells shot across the room: Harry smashed his way through the door ahead, flinging Ron unceremoniously from him, and ducking back, helped Neville in with Hermione as Theo and Luna half carried Ginny in. They were all over the threshold just in time to slam the door against Bellatrix.
"Colloportus!" Harry shouted, and he heard three bodies slam into the door on the other side.
"It doesn't matter!" A man's voice yelled. "There are other ways in — WE'VE GOT THEM, THEY'RE HERE!"
Harry spun around. They were back in the Brain Room and, sure enough, there were doors all around the walls. He could hear footsteps in the hall behind them as more Death Eaters came running to join the first.
"Luna — Neville — Theo — help me!"
The four of them tore around the room, sealing the doors as they went: Harry crashed into a table and rolled over the top of it in his haste to reach the next door. "Colloportus!"
There were footsteps running along behind the doors; every now and then another heavy body would launch itself against one, so it creaked and shuddered. Luna and Neville were bewitching the doors along the opposite wall — then, as Harry reached the very top of the room with Theo sealing the door on his left, he heard Luna cry, "Collo — aaaaaaaaargh…"
He turned in time to see her flying through the air. Five Death Eaters were surging into the room through the door she had not reached in time; Luna hit a desk, slid over its surface and onto the floor on the other side where she lay sprawled, as still as Hermione.
"Get Potter!" Bellatrix shrieked as she ran at him. He dodged her and sprinted back up the room; he was safe as long as they thought they might hit the prophecy —
"Hey!" Ron said as he staggered to his feet and was now tottering drunkenly toward Harry, giggling. "Hey, Harry, there are brains in here, ha ha ha, isn't that weird, Harry?"
"Ron, get out of the way, get down —"
But Ron had already pointed his wand at the tank.
"Honest, Harry, they're brains — look — Accio Brain!"
The scene seemed momentarily frozen. Harry, Ginny, Neville, Theo, and each of the Death Eaters turned in spite of themselves to watch the top of the tank as a brain burst from the green liquid like a leaping fish. For a moment it seemed suspended in midair, then it soared toward Ron, spinning as it came, and what looked like ribbons of moving images flew from it, unraveling like rolls of film —
"Ha ha ha, Harry, look at it —" Ron said, watching it disgorge its gaudy innards. "Harry, come and touch it, bet it's weird —"
"RON, NO!"
Harry did not know what would happen if Ron touched the tentacles of thought now flying behind the brain, but he was sure that it would not be anything good. He darted forward but Ron had already caught the brain in his outstretched hands.
The moment they made contact with his skin, the tentacles began wrapping themselves around Ron's arms like ropes.
"Harry, look what's happen — no — no, I don't like it — no, stop — stop —"
But the thin ribbons were spinning around Ron's chest now. He tugged and tore at them as the brain was pulled tight against him like an octopus's body.
"Diffindo!" Harry yelled, trying to sever the feelers wrapping themselves tightly around Ron before his eyes, but they would not break. Ron fell over, still thrashing against his bonds.
"Harry, it'll suffocate him!" Ginny screamed, immobilized by her broken ankle on the floor — then a jet of red light flew from one of the Death Eater's wands and hit her squarely in the face. She keeled over sideways and lay there unconscious.
"Ginny!" Theo exclaimed, moving toward her as a spell shot out and hit him, flipping him over a desk and smashing his head into the wall behind it. Blood trickled from his head as he crashed to the floor, unmoving.
Lucius whipped around, his eyes on Theo's limp form, and he turned his wand on the Death Eater who had just hit Theo: The stooped form of Thaddeus Nott. "Do not touch my son!"
Nott sneered. "Your son?"
Lucius' eyes narrowed as he raised his wand. "Yes, my son! Avada Kedavara!"
Nott's eyes widened in surprise before he fell to his knees and then face first into the stone, dead.
Lucius lowered his wand, looking over at Theo in concern before he turned back to Harry. "Now give me the damn prophecy, Potter!"
Someone elbowed him and he fell forward as Harry ducked an oncoming spell from one of the masked figures behind Malfoy.
"STUBEFY!" Neville shouted, wheeling around and waving Hermione's wand at the oncoming Death Eaters. "STUBEFY! STUBEFY!"
But nothing happened — one of the Death Eaters shot their own Stunning Spell at Neville; it missed him by inches. Harry and Neville were now the only two left fighting the five Death Eaters, two of whom sent streams of silver light like arrows past them that left craters in the wall behind. Harry ran for it as Bellatrix sprinted right at him. Holding the prophecy high above his head, he sprinted through the room; all he could think of doing was drawing the Death Eaters away from the others.
It seemed to have worked.
They streaked after him, knocking chairs and tables flying, but not daring to bewitch him in case they hurt the prophecy, and he dashed through the only door still open, the one through which the Death Eaters themselves had come. Inwardly praying that Neville would stay with Ron — find some way of releasing him — he ran a few feet into the new room and felt the floor vanish beneath his feet.
He was falling down steep stone step after steep stone step, bouncing on every tier until at last, with a crash that knocked all the breath out of his body, he landed flat on his back in the sunken pit where the stone archway stood on its dais. The whole room was ringing with the Death Eaters' laughter. He looked up and saw the five who had been in the Brain Room descending toward him, while many more emerged through other doorways and began leaping from bench to bench toward him. Harry got to his feet though his legs were trembling so badly that they barely supported him. The prophecy was still miraculously unbroken in his left hand, his wand clutched tightly in his right. He backed away, looking around, trying to keep all the Death Eaters within his sights. The back of his legs hit something solid; he had reached the dais where the archway stood. He climbed backward onto it.
The Death Eaters all halted, gazing at him. Some were panting as hard as he was. One was bleeding badly; Dolohov, freed of the full Body-Bind, was leering, his wand pointing straight at Harry's face.
"Potter, your race is run," Lucius drawled, pulling off his mask. "Now hand me the prophecy like a good boy…"
"Let — let the others go, and I'll give it to you!" Harry said desperately.
A few of the Death Eaters laughed.
"You are not in a position to bargain, Potter," Lucius declared, his pale face flushed with pleasure. "You see, there are seventeen of us and only one of you… or hasn't Dumbledore ever taught you how to count?"
"He's dot alone!" A voice shouted from above them. "He's still god be!"
Neville was scrambling down the stone benches toward them, Hermione's wand held fast in his trembling hand. "STUBEFY!" Neville shouted again, pointing his wand at each Death Eater in turn, "STUBEFY! STUBE —"
One of the largest Death Eaters seized Neville from behind, pinning his arms to his sides. He struggled and kicked; several of the Death Eaters laughed.
"It's Longbottom, isn't it?" Crouch sneered, tugging off his mask and marching forward. "Well, your grandmother is used to losing family members to our cause. Your death will not come as a great shock."
"Longbottom?" Bellatrix repeated and a truly evil smile lit her gaunt face. "I was so sad when you left the last time we met. I had such plans for you, boy. Bart, surely you remember what we did to his parents?"
Crouch's eyes gleamed in delight. "Oh, the sounds they made. Your mother in particular… the memory of her screams still gives me a little tingle right here," he said maliciously, grabbing his crotch through his robes. "I wish I'd had more time with them. Do you know how many wanks I've had remembering that night? But don't you worry, dearie, I'll take my time with you. Bella and I will open you up and see what makes you tick."
Neville began to struggle so hard against the masked Death Eater holding him that someone urged them to stun him, but Bellatrix shook her head. She looked transported, alive with excitement as she glanced at Harry, then back at Neville. "Let's see how long Longbottom lasts before he cracks like his parents. Unless Potter wants to give us the prophecy —"
"DON'D GIB ID DO DEM!" Neville roared, who seemed beside himself, kicking and writhing as Bellatrix drew nearer to him and his captor, her wand raised. "DON'D GIB ID DO DEM, HARRY!"
Bellatrix raised her wand. "Crucio!"
Neville screamed, his legs drawn up to his chest so that the Death Eater holding him was momentarily holding him off the ground. The Death Eater dropped him and he fell to the floor, twitching and screaming in agony, the sound echoing off the walls like a bad memory as Crouch laughed, his eyes gleaming as he watched Neville's body twitch.
"That was just a taster!" Bellatrix said gleefully, raising her wand so that Neville's screams stopped and he lay panting at her feet.
"Hit him again, Bella," Crouch exclaimed eagerly.
Bellatrix smiled at him. "Later, Bart." She turned and gazed up at Harry. "Now, Potter, either give us the prophecy, or watch your little friend die the hard way! Because trust me, anything I do to him will be child's play compared to Crouch here."
Crouch grinned widely. "Let me have him, dearie. I'll take Potter, too. A two for one deal."
Harry did not have to think about it: There was no other choice. The prophecy was hot with the heat from his clutching hand as he held it out.
Lucius jumped forward to take it as Crouch pouted his disappointment.
Then, high above them, two more doors burst open and nine more people sprinted into the room: Sirius, Remus, Zee, Tonks, Bill, Fleur, Percy, Moody, and Kingsley along with a sleek black panther.
Lucius turned and raised his wand, but Tonks had already sent a Stunning Spell right at him. Harry did not wait to see whether it had made contact, but dived off the dais and out of the way.
The Death Eaters were completely distracted by the appearance of the members of the Order, who were now raining spells down upon them as they jumped from step to step toward the sunken floor: Through the darting bodies and the flashes of light, Harry could see Neville crawling along. He dodged another jet of red light and flung himself flat on the ground to reach Neville.
"Are you okay?" he yelled, as another spell soared inches over their heads.
"Yes," said Neville, trying to pull himself up.
"And Ron?"
"I dink he's all right — he was still fighding the brain when I left —"
The stone floor between them exploded as a spell hit it, leaving a crater right where Neville's hand had been seconds before. Both scrambled away from the spot, then a thick arm came out of nowhere, seized Harry around the neck and pulled him upright, so that his toes were barely touching the floor.
"Give it to me," a voice growled in his ear. "Give me the prophecy —"
The man was pressing so tightly on Harry's windpipe that he could not breathe — through watering eyes he saw Sirius duelling with a Death Eater some ten feet away. Kingsley was fighting two at once; Tonks, still halfway up the tiered seats, was firing spells down at Bellatrix, Zee and Remus were back to back fighting Lucius and a woman who Harry didn't recognize — nobody seemed to realize that Harry was dying… He turned his wand backward toward the man's side, but he had no breath to utter an incantation, and the man's free hand was groping toward the hand in which Harry was grasping the prophecy —
"AARGH!"
Neville had come lunging out of nowhere: Unable to articulate a spell, he had jabbed Hermione's wand hard into the eyehole of the Death Eater's mask. The man relinquished Harry at once with a howl of pain and Harry whirled around to face him just as a loud growl shot through the room and Lady Godiva pinned the man to the ground, tearing out his throat in one quick motion.
The Death Eater keeled over backward and his mask slipped off, revealing that one of his eyes was now swollen and bloodshot, his throat torn open and bloody.
"Thanks!" Harry said to Neville, pulling him aside as Sirius and his Death Eater lurched past, duelling so fiercely that their wands were blurs. Lady Godiva turned and stared at him a moment before she took off towards her mistress after realizing he was all right. Then Harry's foot made contact with something round and hard and he slipped — for a moment he thought that he had dropped the prophecy, then he saw Moody's magical eye spinning away across the floor.
Its owner was lying on his side, bleeding from the head, and his attacker was now bearing down upon Harry and Neville: Dolohov, his long pale face twisted with glee.
"Tarantallegra!" he shouted, his wand pointing at Neville, whose legs went immediately into a kind of frenzied tap dance, unbalancing him and causing him to fall to the floor again. "Now, Potter —"
He made the same slashing movement with his wand that he had used on Hermione just as Harry yelled, "Protego!"
Harry felt something streak across his face like a blunt knife but the force of it knocked him sideways, and he fell over Neville's jerking legs, but the Shield Charm had stopped the worst of the spell.
Dolohov raised his wand again. "Accio Proph —"
Sirius hurtled out of nowhere, rammed Dolohov with his shoulder, and sent him flying out of the way. The prophecy had again flown to the tips of Harry's fingers, but he had managed to cling to it. Now Sirius and Dolohov were duelling, their wands flashing like swords, sparks flying from their wand tips —
Dolohov drew back his wand to make the same slashing movement he had used on Harry and Hermione. Springing up, Harry yelled, "Petrificus Totalus!" Once again, Dolohov's arms and legs snapped together and he keeled over backward, landing with a crash on his back.
"Nice one!" Sirius shouted, forcing Harry's head down as a pair of stunning spells flew toward them. "Now, I want you to get out of —"
They both ducked again.
A jet of green light had narrowly missed Sirius; across the room, Harry saw Tonks fall from halfway up the stone steps, her limp form toppling from stone seat to stone seat, and Bellatrix, triumphant, running back toward the fray.
"Now, what the hell are you doing here?" Sirius demanded. "I told you to stay at school!"
Harry glared at him. "They took Ginny!"
Sirius grabbed his shoulder, ducking behind a statue and pulling his son with him. "You and your stubborn arse should have — where is Ginny?"
"She and the others are in the other room. They're injured!"
Sirius let out a slow breath, his eyes on the orb in Harry's hand. "Is that the prophecy?"
Harry nodded, moving closer to Sirius to hide behind the statue. "Yes. As long as I have it, they won't hurt me. They're afraid it will smash. I'm worried that —"
"— I'm worried about you," Sirius interrupted, ducking his head lower and pinning Harry against the statue to keep them both low. "You can't be here! Get yourself and your friends out of here."
"I want to help!" Harry protested, his eyes on the battle around him. "I can fight!"
"Not today. Get back to school where you will be safe!" He leaned in and kissed his forehead. "We'll talk about this later. Back to school, Prongslet."
"But Uncle Siri —"
" — No," Sirius said sternly. "Back to school. Get your friends and go! Apparate them to Hogsmeade. We've got this."
He hurried off back towards the Death Eaters just as Neville crawled over to him.
"Harry," Neville said, tugging on his friend's arm. "We hab to go!"
But as Neville pulled him along he found himself watching the fight around him as if it was unfolding in slow motion. Tonks, slightly disoriented from her fall, rolled out of the way of a red flash that blew the wall apart behind her. Remus' wand was flashing so fast as he duelled Dolohov that Harry couldn't even distinguish the spells that he was using. Zee and Lady Godiva were working in tandem against a woman he didn't recognize and Rabastan Lestrange shot a spell out that narrowly missed Zee.
Sirius was now fighting his cousin.
Bellatrix was laughing manically. Her wand flicking hexes and spells at him, but he blocked all of them. One after the other and Bellatrix screamed in frustration. Her scream echoed off the walls and the flash of red from the corner of his eye had Harry turning in time to see Lady Godiva's teeth sink into the neck of Goyle Sr, snapping it in half before the stunning spell could hit her. Kingsley swayed across his field of vision, battling with Parkinson and Greengrass, now mask-less; another jet of green light flew over Harry's head as he launched himself toward Neville —
"Can you stand?" he bellowed in Neville's ear, as Neville's legs jerked and twitched uncontrollably. "Put your arm round my neck —"
Neville did so — Harry heaved — Neville's legs were still flying in every direction, they would not support him and then, out of nowhere, a man lunged at them. Both fell backward, Neville's legs waving wildly like an overturned beetle's, Harry with his left arm held up in the air to try and save the small glass ball from being smashed as he fell to the ground.
"The prophecy, give me the prophecy, Potter!" Lucius snarled in his ear, and Harry felt the tip of Malfoy's wand pressing hard between his ribs.
"No — get — off — me… Neville — catch it!"
Harry flung the prophecy across the floor, Neville spun himself around on his back and scooped the ball to his chest. Lucius pointed the wand instead at Neville, but Harry jabbed his own wand back over his shoulder and yelled, "Impedimenta!"
Lucius was blasted off his feet. As Harry scrambled up again he looked around and saw Lucius smash into the dais on which Sirius and Bellatrix were now duelling. The other female Death Eater was battling Zee, spells flashing furiously left and right in a blur of colours. The Death Eater jumped up as Bellatrix and Sirius passed them, sending a spell at Zee as she ducked to avoid it and Harry froze when the woman shrieked, "Avada Kedavra!"
A second Death Eater came out of nowhere and his shoulder knocked Zee out of the way of the curse. He hit her so hard that his mask fell off and she stumbled down the stairs, falling flat on her back, hard enough to knock the wind out of her. Lady Godiva flung herself over her mistress' body and Harry's eyes landed on the unmasked Death Eater who had shoved her: Peter Pettigrew. Pettigrew's eyes widened in shock from where the spell had hit him and he stumbled back through the curtain of the arch, vanishing into thin air as if he'd never been.
Zee scrambled to her feet, wand in hand to continue her duel as Lady Godiva jumped up with a growl. Another masked Death Eater sent a spell at Zee as Lucius swore, his eyes on where Pettigrew had just vanished through the veil.
"That fucking rat!"
He aimed his wand at Harry and Neville again, but before he could draw breath to strike, Remus had jumped between them, knocking Malfoy off his feet with a wave of his wand.
"Harry, round up the others and GO! Get out of here!"
Harry seized Neville by the shoulder of his robes and lifted him bodily onto the first tier of stone steps. Neville's legs twitched and jerked and would not support his weight.
"This is stupid — finite incantatem!"
Harry heaved Neville again as his legs finally stopped jerking, and they climbed another step. A spell hit the stone bench at Harry's heel. It crumbled away and he fell back to the step below: Neville sank to the ground, slipping on the crumbled stone, and thrust the prophecy into his pocket.
"Come on!" Harry said desperately, hauling at Neville's robes.
He gave another stupendous heave and Neville's robes tore all along the left seam; the small spun-glass ball dropped from his pocket. It bounced off the broken step and flew some ten feet to their right and smashed on the step beneath them. As both of them stared at the place where it had broken, appalled at what had happened, a pearly-white figure with hugely magnified eyes rose into the air, unnoticed by any, but them. Harry could see its mouth moving, but in all the crashes and screams and yells surrounding them, the sound was nonexistent. The figure stopped speaking and dissolved into nothingness.
"Harry, I'b sorry!" Neville cried out. "I'b so sorry, Harry, I didn'd bean do —"
"It doesn't matter!" Harry told him. "It's better that way. Now they will never know —"
"Dubbledore!" Neville exclaimed, his sweaty face suddenly transported, staring over Harry's shoulder.
"What?"
"DUBBLEDORE!"
Harry turned to look where Neville was staring. Directly above them, framed in the doorway from the Brain Room, stood Dumbledore, his wand aloft, his face white and furious. Harry felt a kind of electric charge surge through every particle of his body — they were saved.
Dumbledore sped down the steps past Neville and Harry, who had no more thought of leaving. Dumbledore was already at the foot of the steps when the Death Eaters nearest realized he was there. There were yells; one of the Death Eaters ran for it, scrambling like a monkey up the stone steps opposite. Dumbledore's spell pulled him back as easily and effortlessly as though he had hooked him with an invisible line —
Only one couple were still battling, apparently unaware of the new arrival. Harry saw Sirius duck Bellatrix's jet of red light: He was laughing at her. "Come on, you can do better than that!" he yelled, his voice echoing around the cavernous room.
The second jet of red light hit him squarely in the chest.
The laughter had not quite died from his face, but his eyes widened in shock.
Harry released Neville, though he was unaware of doing so. He was jumping down the steps again, pulling out his wand as he went.
Blood spurted out of Sirius' mouth and his glazed eyes met Harry's before he fell back, head smashing against the stone steps.
Harry heard Bellatrix's triumphant scream and he shook his head desperately, running towards Sirius, dodging the spells that continued to fly around him. He slid across the stone, throwing himself over Sirius as a jet of red light flew over his head.
"Uncle Sirius!"
His chest and abdomen seemed to be caving in. Blood was escaping so quickly that there was no way to stop it. Harry reached out with his hands to try anyway as blood escaped through his fingers. Sirius coughed up blood, his shaking hand rising to cup Harry's cheek.
"You're the — best thing I ever — did. I'm so proud of — Harry…"
Blood spurted from his nose and bubbled from his mouth as he spoke.
"Uncle Siri," Harry whispered, shaking his head in denial. "No! We can… stop it."
Sirius visibly swallowed as more blood bubbled. "I love you… Prongslet. Tell Zee… love her…"
And then he just stopped.
Harry shook him desperately. "Uncle Sirius! Uncle Padfoot!"
But Sirius' grey eyes were no longer full of the laughter and love that Harry was accustomed to. They stared blankly ahead, dim and frozen in death.
"Uncle — Dad!" he cried out, tears in his throat. "Dad, no! Dad! Dad!"
Arms grabbed his waist, pulling him back. "There's nothing you can do for him, Harry —"
"Bill, he's —"
"He's gone, Harry," Bill said quietly in his ear. "Get out of here! Go!"
Dumbledore had most of the remaining Death Eaters grouped in the middle of the room, seemingly immobilized by invisible ropes. Moody had crawled across the room to pick up his eye. Remus and Tonks were nowhere in sight. Behind the dais, there were still flashes of light, grunts, and cries — Kingsley had run forward to continue Sirius's duel with Bellatrix, Zee by his side.
"Harry?" Neville asked, placing a hand on Harry's shoulder as he still struggled against Bill's grip.
Bill's face was pale. "Let's — let's find the others. Where are they all, Neville?"
"Dey're all back dere," Neville told him. "A brain addacked Ron, bud I dink he's all righd — and Herbione's unconscious, bud we could feel a bulse —"
Bill let go of Harry and helped Neville to his feet. "Get out of here, both of you. We'll take care of — this…"
There was a loud bang and a yell from behind the dais. Harry saw Kingsley, yelling in pain as he hit the ground and Zee stumbled, ducking the spell Bellatrix sent her way. Percy grabbed Zee before she fell, tugging her down into his arms as they ducked another spell, shielding her. Bellatrix turned tail and ran as Dumbledore whipped around. He aimed a spell at her, but she deflected it. She was halfway up the steps now and Harry didn't think, he just ran.
"Harry — no!" Bill shouted, but Harry had already moved away from Bill.
"SHE KILLED SIRIUS!" Harry bellowed. "SHE KILLED HIM — I'LL KILL HER!"
"HARRY — NO!" Zee shouted, trying to move from where she was tangled with Percy on the opposite end of the amphitheatre.
But he ignored them.
Harry was scrambling up the stone benches, ignoring the shouts behind him. He didn't care. She had just murdered Sirius and he wasn't going to just sit back and let that stand. The hem of Bellatrix's robes whipped out of sight ahead and they were back in the room where the brains were swimming.
She aimed a curse over her shoulder. The tank rose into the air and tipped. Harry was deluged in the foul-smelling potion within. It bubbled and burned as it hit him, but he didn't stop. The brains slipped and slid over him and began spinning their long, coloured tentacles, but he shouted, "Wingardium Leviosa!" and they flew into the air away from him. Slipping and sliding, he ran on toward the door. He leapt over Luna, who was groaning on the floor — past Ron, who giggled feebly — and Hermione, Theo, and Ginny, who were all still unconscious. He wrenched open the door, the door smashing into the dead body of Thaddeus Not as he ran into the circular black hall and saw Bellatrix disappearing through a door on the other side of the room — beyond her was the corridor leading back to the lifts.
He ran, but she had slammed the door behind her and the walls had begun to rotate again. Once more he was surrounded by streaks of blue light from the whirling candelabra.
"Where's the exit?" he shouted desperately, as the wall rumbled to a halt again. "Where's the way out?"
The room seemed to have only been waiting for him to ask. The door right behind him flew open, and the corridor toward the lifts stretched ahead of him, torch-lit and empty. He ran. He could hear a lift clattering ahead of him. He sprinted up the passageway, swung around the corner, and slammed his fist onto the button to call a second lift. It jangled and banged lower and lower; the grilles slid open and Harry dashed inside, now hammering the button marked atrium. The doors slid shut and he was rising.
He forced his way out of the lift before the grilles were fully open and looked around. Bellatrix was almost at the telephone lift at the other end of the hall, but she looked back as he sprinted toward her, and aimed another spell at him. He dodged behind the Fountain of Magical Brethren; the spell zoomed past him and hit the wrought gold gates at the other end of the atrium so that they rang like bells. There were no more footsteps. She had stopped running. He crouched behind the statues, listening.
"Come out, come out, little Harry!" she called in her mock-baby voice, which echoed off the polished wooden floors. "What did you come after me for, then? I thought you were here to avenge my dear cousin!"
"I am!" Harry shouted, and a score of ghostly Harry's seemed to chorus I am! I am! I am! all around the room.
"Aaaaaah… did you love him, little baby Potter?"
Hatred rose in Harry such as he had never known before. He flung himself out from behind the fountain and bellowed: "Crucio!"
Bellatrix screamed. The spell had knocked her off her feet, but she did not writhe and shriek with pain as Neville had — she was already on her feet again, breathless, no longer laughing. Harry dodged behind the golden fountain again — her counter-spell hit the head of the handsome wizard, which was blown off and landed twenty feet away, gouging long scratches into the wooden floor.
"Never used an Unforgivable Curse before, have you, boy?" she taunted. She had abandoned her baby voice now. "You need to mean them, Potter! You need to really want to cause pain — to enjoy it — righteous anger won't hurt me for long — I'll show you how it is done, shall I? I'll give you a lesson in causing pain —"
Harry had been edging around the fountain on the other side. She screamed, "Crucio!" and he was forced to duck down again as the centaur's arm, holding its bow, spun off and landed with a crash on the floor a short distance from the golden wizard's head.
"Potter, you cannot hope to win against me!"
He could hear her moving to the right, trying to get a clear shot of him. He backed around the statue away from her, crouching behind the centaur's legs, his head level with the house elf's.
"I was and am the Dark Lord's most loyal servant, I learned the Dark Arts from him, and I know spells of such power that you, pathetic little boy, can never hope to compete —"
"Inpulsa!" Harry yelled. He had edged right around to where the goblin stood beaming up at the now headless wizard and taken aim at her back as she peered around the fountain for him. She reacted so fast he barely had time to duck.
"Protego!"
The jet of red light, his own taser and shocking spell, bounced back at him. Harry scrambled back behind the fountain, and one of the goblin's ears went flying across the room.
"Please, I killed Sirius — Fucking — Black… Merlin, I hope he suffered! You know that spell, Potter… it tore out his insides… made his bones melt into his skin… He died screaming in pain! I'll show you what it feels like. I'll show you —"
Harry wasn't sure what exactly he had done. The anger welled up inside of him so quickly that he hadn't been able to control it. The burst of magic erupted from him in a blue-white shield so blinding it flashed across the room in a wall-sized rectangle that blasted her off her feet and into the wall as she shrieked.
She was panting now as she stood up. "You're losing control, Potter! Do you really think that you can defeat me? I am going to give you one last chance!" Bellatrix shouted. "Give me the prophecy — roll it out toward me now — and I may spare your life!"
"Well, you're going to have to kill me, because it's gone!" Harry roared, his hand clutching his wand tightly and then a thought occurred to him. He had two wands.
"Give me the prophecy, Potter!"
Harry pulled the second wand from his holster and in one quick motion sent a double stunning spell her way. She ducked, but the power of it crumbled the wall where her head had just been resting.
"Oooh, baby Potter's playing with fire now," she cackled manically. Then her wand turned and she yelled, "Turbine ignis!"
Bright fire erupted from the end of her wand and immediately ignited the floor at her feet. Harry could feel the heat of the flames from where he stood as Bellatrix cackled.
"Get past me now, Potter. The fire will incinerate your very soul!"
Harry rolled out of the way as he used both wands to shoot spells at her, but the fire destroyed each one before it made contact with her. He ducked and rolled away from the flames as they seemed to gain more momentum, flowing across the floor as if it was made from kindling. Not knowing what else to do, he yelled back at her.
"Voldemort's not going to be too happy with you, is he?"
"What? What do you mean?" she cried, and for the first time there was fear in her voice as she tried to escape the fire storm that she had created within the atrium.
"The prophecy smashed when I was trying to get Neville up the steps! What do you think Voldemort'll say about that, then?"
"LIAR!" she shrieked, but he could hear the terror behind the anger now. "YOU'VE GOT IT, POTTER, AND YOU WILL GIVE IT TO ME — Accio Prophecy! ACCIO PROPHECY!"
Harry laughed again because he knew that it would incense her. He wanted her to feel pain, he thought. He wanted her to feel loss like he was feeling. He waved his empty hand from behind the one-eared goblin and withdrew it quickly as she sent another jet of green light flying at him.
"Nothing there!" he shouted. "Nothing to summon! It smashed and nobody heard what it said, tell your boss that —"
"No!" she screamed. "It isn't true, you're lying — MASTER, I TRIED, I TRIED — DO NOT PUNISH ME —"
"Don't waste your breath!" Harry yelled. "He can't hear you from here! Too cowardly to show up and take the bloody prophecy himself! Too cowardly to show up so he had to have his minions fight teenagers!"
"Am I, Potter?" a high, cold voice said.
Tall, thin, and black-hooded, his terrible snakelike face white and gaunt, his scarlet eyes staring… Lord Voldemort had appeared in the middle of the hall, his wand pointing at Harry who stood frozen, quite unable to move.
Voldemort raised his wand and in one motion, the fire around them vanished. The walls and floor were scorched from the flames and still steaming.
"So, you smashed my prophecy?" Voldemort said softly, staring at Harry with those pitiless red eyes. "No, Bella, he is not lying. I see the truth looking at me from within his worthless mind. Months of preparation, months of effort… and my Death Eaters have let Harry Potter thwart me again."
"Master, I am sorry, I knew not, I was fighting the Animagus Black!" Bellatrix sobbed, flinging herself down at Voldemort's feet as he paced slowly nearer. "Master, you should know —"
"Be quiet, Bella," Voldemort said dangerously. "I shall deal with you in a moment. Do you think that I have entered the Ministry of Magic to hear your snivelling apologies?"
"But Master — he is here — he is below —"
Voldemort paid no attention.
"I have nothing more to say to you, Potter," he said quietly. "You have irked me too often, for too long. AVADA KEDAVRA!"
Harry had not even opened his mouth to resist. His mind was blank, his wands pointing uselessly at the floor.
But the headless golden statue of the wizard in the fountain had sprung alive, leaping from its plinth, and landed on the floor with a crash between Harry and Voldemort. The spell merely glanced off its chest as the statue flung out its arms, protecting Harry.
"What — ?" Voldemort exclaimed, staring around. And then he breathed, "Dumbledore!"
Harry looked behind him, his heart pounding. Dumbledore was standing in front of the golden gates.
Voldemort flicked his wand at Harry again, but this time it wasn't Dumbledore who saved him. Fangs bared, Lady Godiva pounced from the lift; the slash of Voldemort's wand made her chirp as she collapsed at Harry's feet, a tiny panther cub.
Harry grabbed her into his arms as Dumbledore stepped in. "Lady G!"
She let out another tiny chirp that made him hold her closer as he attempted to get around the statue that had boxed him in, as Dumbledore approached Voldemort.
Voldemort raised his wand and sent another jet of green light at Dumbledore, who turned and was gone in a whirling of his cloak; next second he had reappeared behind Voldemort and waved his wand toward the remnants of the fountain; the other statues sprang to life too. The statue of the witch ran at Bellatrix, who screamed and sent spells streaming uselessly off its chest, before it dived at her, pinning her to the floor.
Meanwhile, the goblin and the house-elf scuttled toward the fireplaces set along the wall, and the one-armed centaur galloped at Voldemort, who vanished and reappeared beside the pool. The headless statue thrust Harry backward, away from the fight, as Dumbledore advanced on Voldemort and the golden centaur cantered around them both.
"It was foolish to come here tonight, Tom," Dumbledore said calmly. "The Aurors are on their way —"
"By which time you shall be dead!" Voldemort spat. He sent another Killing Curse at Dumbledore but missed, instead hitting the security guards desk, which burst into flame.
Dumbledore flicked his own wand. The force of the spell that emanated from it was such that Harry, though shielded by his stone guard, felt his hair stand on end as it passed, and this time Voldemort was forced to conjure a shining silver shield out of thin air to deflect it. The spell, whatever it was, caused no visible damage to the shield, though a deep, gong-like note reverberated from it, an oddly chilling sound.
"Harry!"
He spun around, eyes spotting Zee as she beckoned him forward. Her face was tear-stained. He shook his head, pointing to the fight and she crooked her finger at him. He ignored her as Lady Godiva wiggled out of his arms and ran over to her mistress and Harry turned back just as Voldemort taunted Dumbledore.
"You do not seek to kill me, Dumbledore? Above such brutality, are you?"
"We both know that there are other ways of destroying a man, Tom," Dumbledore said calmly, continuing to walk toward Voldemort as though he had not a fear in the world, as though nothing had happened to interrupt his stroll up the hall. "Merely taking your life would not satisfy me, I admit —"
"There is nothing worse than death, Dumbledore!" Voldemort snarled.
"You are quite wrong," Dumbledore said, still closing in upon Voldemort and speaking as lightly as though they were discussing the matter over drinks. Harry felt scared to see him walking along, undefended, shieldless. He wanted to cry out a warning, but his headless guard kept shunting him backward toward the wall, blocking his every attempt to get out from behind it. "Indeed, your failure to understand that there are things much worse than death has always been your greatest weakness —"
Another jet of green light flew from behind the silver shield. This time it was the one-armed centaur, galloping in front of Dumbledore, that took the blast and shattered into a hundred pieces, but before the fragments had even hit the floor, Dumbledore had drawn back his wand and waved it as though brandishing a whip. A long thin flame flew from the tip; it wrapped itself around Voldemort, shield and all. For a moment, it seemed Dumbledore had won, but then the fiery rope became a serpent, which relinquished its hold upon Voldemort at once and turned, hissing furiously, to face Dumbledore.
Voldemort vanished. The snake reared from the floor, ready to strike —
There was a burst of flame in midair above Dumbledore just as Voldemort reappeared, standing on the plinth in the middle of the pool where so recently the five statues had stood.
Zee, having crawled through the debris to him, grabbed Harry's arm. "We're getting out of here! Now!"
"But Zee —"
"Now!" Zee exclaimed, her eyes full of emotion.
"She — killed him."
Zee's eyes filled up with tears. "I know, sweetie."
She jumped at the burst of flame and they both turned in time to see Fawkes fall to the floor, small, wrinkled, and flightless.
At the same moment, Dumbledore brandished his wand in one, long, fluid movement — the snake, which had been an instant from sinking its fangs into him, flew high into the air and vanished in a wisp of dark smoke; the water in the pool rose up and covered Voldemort like a cocoon of molten glass —
For a few seconds Voldemort was visible only as a dark, rippling, faceless figure, shimmering and indistinct upon the plinth, clearly struggling to throw off the suffocating mass —
Then he was gone, and the water fell with a crash back into its pool, slopping wildly over the sides, drenching the polished floor.
"MASTER!" Bellatrix screamed.
"He's gone. We need to leave, Harry," Zee said desperately, gripping his hand tightly.
"Neither of you move," Dumbledore declared sharply.
For the first time, Dumbledore sounded frightened. Harry could not see why. The hall was quite empty but for themselves, the sobbing Bellatrix still trapped under her statue, and the tiny baby Fawkes croaking feebly on the floor. Zee gripped his hand tightly, her fingers linking with his…
And then Harry's head burst open.
He knew that he was dead: It was pain beyond imagining, pain past endurance… He was gone from the hall, he was locked in the coils of a creature with red eyes, so tightly bound that Harry did not know where his body ended and the creature's began. They were fused together, bound by pain, and there was no escape — And when the creature spoke, it used Harry's mouth, so that in his agony he felt his jaw move…
"Kill me now, Dumbledore…" Blinded and dying, every part of him screaming for release, Harry felt the creature use him again. "If death is nothing, Dumbledore, kill the boy…"
"No!" Zee gasped, pulling Harry towards her. "No! I won't let you take him!"
Let the pain stop, Harry thought. Let it end. It was worse than the Cruciatus. It was worse than anything he had ever felt. Let him kill me, he thought desperately. He couldn't bear the thought of being encompassed by this dark soul, the pain it caused. If he were dead he could see Sirius again… his parents… his grandparents… Marauder…
And as Harry's heart filled with emotion, the creature's coils loosened, the pain was gone, Harry was lying facedown on the floor, his glasses gone, shivering as though he lay upon ice, not wood. Zee tugged his head into her lap, stroking his cheek as tears poured from her eyes, sprinkling the back of Harry's neck in warm rain.
"I've got you, my darling, I've got you."
And then there were voices echoing through the hall, more voices than there should have been. Zee carefully put his glasses back on his face as Dumbledore's crooked nose bent inches from his own.
"Are you all right, Harry?"
Harry was shaking so violently that he could not hold his head up properly, thankful for Zee's arms around him, but he nodded. "Yeah, I'm — where's Voldemort, where…"
The icy cold that rushed over him was enough to make him trail off. Bellatrix was cackling as the witch statue holding her in place vanished and Harry's eyes widened as he watched ten Dementors emerge from the fire-torn wall and march towards him. His wand twitched in his hand, but he knew that he'd never be able to cast a patronus. Not now. Not with Sirius...
Zee's hands gripped his shirt desperately, struggling to get him to his feet. He swayed slightly, the pain in his head still making him tremble, but the fear he felt from the woman next to him washed over him. He couldn't lose her too, he thought. Not now. Not like this.
He remembered her words to him:
"I am not going anywhere, no matter what happens, I will always be here for you. I promise."
He glanced at her from underneath his lashes, the back of his neck heating a bit. "But what if —"
She kissed his forehead and placed a finger over his lips to silence him. "I love you and I'm not going anywhere and neither is my family. You are my family, too, and no matter what happens, even if … even if Sirius had … I will never not be here for you. I will always love you and be here whenever you need me and I'll be here even when you think that you don't need me. I promise."
Harry nodded, tears in his eyes and he hugged her tightly. "I love you, too, Zee."
It made him feel lighter; despite the pain rushing through him, his patronus burst from both of his wands. The stag, the wolf, and the dog appeared twice. All six of them charged forward and barrelled into the closest Dementor as more Order members seeped into the atrium. The Dementor made a sound so eerie, so high pitched that it echoed off the atrium walls like nails on a chalkboard before the creature disintegrated into dust and Harry's eyes landed on Voldemort, who looked shocked to see his prized creature destroyed.
He aimed his patronus again and the animals headed towards a second Dementor as more animals burst from the wands around him to help chase them off. At first Harry thought that it was working, the Dementors were being pushed back, but then the floor beneath his feet began to rumble and quake. The parts that had been destroyed by the fiendfyre were now crumbling beneath their feet.
He gripped Zee's hands in his and they ducked behind the debris of the fountain. Harry covered Zee with his body, holding her tightly as the entire left wall of the atrium caved in and three massive giants trudged inside, roaring in rage.
The first one picked up the person closest to him and broke him in half as if he were a twig off the ground and Zee gasped. Harry's eyes widened as the chest and head of Dedalus Diggle bounced on the floor before them, blood gushing from below his navel where the rest of his body was no longer present. The man's eyes were bulging in shock as blood spurted from his mouth.
"He's still alive," Harry hissed.
"No — no, he's not," Zee said darkly, buying her face in Harry's chest, as Diggle's eyes closed. "We have to get out of here! This is no longer safe — for any of us!"
Harry watched as the giant broke another area in the wall, chunks of plaster erupted around them and someone screamed as the Death Eaters that Dumbledore had rounded up in the Department of Mysteries came flying into the atrium, wands drawn with Voldemort before them.
"Selwyn, lead the giants forward," Voldemort called out. "Brax, let the Dementors feed."
More people began to appear before them, coming out of the fireplaces one after the other. The defence system, he thought, as a Dementor swooped in to kiss the wizard who had appeared in front of them. Witches and wizards began to shoot spells at the giants to no avail, trying to get past the Dementors.
The second giant stepped on Diggle's torn legs, the squelching sound causing blood to burst everywhere, covering Harry's back as he held Zee closer to the wall. Voldemort shouted something but Harry couldn't hear it over the roar of the giants. More people began to appear in the atrium. Eight wizards surrounded the first giant, shooting ropes out to hold him in place. The giant broke one rope, but the one on his feet made him sway and he came crashing to the floor with a mighty bang, his fists slamming into the marble and breaking it into pieces.
More Death Eaters started to arrive in spades. Spells were shooting in every direction and Harry could see people dodging and deflecting left and right. The second giant had wandered away from the Ministry now and headed into the streets.
Zee tugged on Harry's hands. "Harry, sweetie, please — we have to go!"
"Ginny, Ron, Hermione —" he began
"They're on their way to the hospital already," Zee interrupted. "Dumbledore sent them with portkeys. I promise you - they're safe!"
Harry only nodded, and holding onto Zee tightly, let her Apparate them away. They landed in Hogsmeade, outside of the gates of Hogwarts and Zee hugged him to her, pulling his head down to kiss his cheeks.
"It will be okay," she said, trying to reassure him. "We're going to be okay. Let's get you to the hospital wing."
Harry only nodded mutely and let her link her arm through his as she led him along. Madam Pomfrey ushered him inside immediately and Zee pushed him onto a bed as the matron examined him. He felt like he was in a daze; as if the world around him wasn't real. He drank the potions that Zee passed him without a word.
Bed curtains were closed around a few beds and Harry found himself staring blankly at them, wondering who was behind them. He drank the last potion from Zee before she gave him some privacy to change into the hospital pjs. He opened the curtain to let her back in and she sat on the side of his bed, tugging him close. She cradled his face against her breast, kissing the top of his head.
"We're going to be all right," she crooned. "We're going to be all right."
Harry didn't speak. He didn't know what to say. He felt like the bottom of his world had just dropped away and he couldn't seem to react. He wanted to cry, but the tears wouldn't come. When he closed his eyes, he saw it: The surprised look on Sirius' face, the way the curse tore through him, the blood…
Bellatrix's words echoed in his ears: It tore out his insides… he died screaming in pain…
His hands were still stained in blood, he realized, Sirius' blood. He stared at the reddish brown on his skin, rubbing his hands together as if hoping it would vanish if he did so. Zee linked her fingers through his and kissed his forehead.
"Let's get that cleaned off."
He only nodded and watched mutely as she washed his hands with the cloth and bowl of warm water Madam Pomfrey had provided next to the bed. Once every bit of blood was gone, she cradled him close again, against her breast.
Madam Pomfrey returned with some bandages. "His head needs to be checked more thoroughly. There's dried blood on the back of it. His hands and arms look as if they were burned by some kind of acid."
"I don't know what it was," he said blankly. "I ran through it and it burned," he murmured as he moved away from Zee to let the matron examine him just as McGonagall rushed into the hospital wing in her dressing gown, eyes wide.
"Poppy?"
"Mr Potter, Mr Nott, Mr Longbottom, and Miss Weasley have all been treated and should be fine by the morning. I've given them all sleeping draughts to get them through the night. Miss Lovegood is fine and on her way back to Ravenclaw Tower. I had to send Mr Weasley and Miss Granger to St Mungo's for further examination."
McGonagall paled. Her eyes fell on Zee. "What happened?"
"Voldemort brought Dementors and giants to the Ministry," Zee said quietly. "We Apparated out of there as soon as we could. The Terra Troops and the Order were still fighting. Sirius… Bellatrix killed… him." Her tears began to fall all over again and she reached over to grip Harry's hand as a sob escaped her.
"Uncle Remus?" Harry asked, speaking for the first time in over half an hour.
Zee shook her head. "Last I saw he was with Tonks. I don't know if he even knows about Sirius…"
A phoenix patronus burst through the doors of the hospital and confirmed their fears with only a few words.
"The Ministry has fallen."
Zee's hand squeezed Harry's as McGonagall spoke.
"Merlin, help us all."
End Author's Notes:
I made up an incantation for Fiendfyre meaning "fire storm" the incantation is "Turbine ignis".
Inpulsa = spell Misha taught Harry that both shocks and tasers the victim
Yes, another cliffhanger, and yes, you will have to wait for this one. I will not be posting chapter 220 for another two weeks no matter how much begging ensues. I think we all need time to take a moment and reflect on this chapter, not to mention I need more time to write and Dusk needs more time to edit.
Please don't riot.
I love you all — please review!