Chapter five: Out of the Veil
"What?" Ron, Ginny and Hermione said together.
"Sirius?" Malfoy said, "as in Sirius Black?"
Neville looked at his girlfriend askance. "Sirius Black?"
Harry waved his hands. "He's innocent, and he's in trouble. I have to get him."
"Get him," Ginny demanded. "No, you don't. You have to tell the Order."
"How do you know he's in trouble," Astoria asked.
"I saw it," Harry said. "Voldemort was there. He's being tortured!"
Malfoy frowned. "The Dark Lord doesn't do things in person, he sends others to do it for him. Are you sure?"
Hermione seemed to agree. "How do you know this isn't just something he wanted you to see? Sirius has been shut inside Headquarters, how could Voldemort have gotten him?"
"Do you even know where in the Ministry they are," Lavender asked.
"Department of Mysteries," he said immediately.
They looked to Malfoy, who looked pale. "Well, I have heard Father discussing that," he told them- dropping the illusion that his father wasn't a Death Eater.
Ron spoke next. "And, it's just like Sirius to crack and go outside for some air. He hates being cooped up there."
"Harry, please," Hermione said as they entered their room. "Think about this."
Harry paced the room, the group obviously having startled Godric. Harry kicked a desk, sending it across the room. "There's nothing to think about! I have to get to him. Are you coming or not?"
Hermione swallowed the knot in her throat, not sure how to tell him that she thought he was wrong. No one could reason with Harry when he was like this. Besides, whether it was likely he was leading them to death or not, Hermione would always be there.
"Maybe you should try to Floo him," Luna said with an uncharacteristic seriousness in her tone. "Then we would know if he was alright or not. I'll go with you if we need to."
"Me too," Ginny said forcefully.
"If you're going to fight," Neville told Harry, "I'm going to be there."
Ron nodded. "I'm always with you, mate."
Lavender stammered, "I don't know what good I'd be, but okay."
Everyone looked to the Slytherins. It was Malfoy- Draco- who spoke before the other two. "I reckon my father will be there, but I suppose it's as good a time as any to tell him what side I'm on."
Daphne nodded. "My father likes to remain neutral, but wherever you go, Harry, if you'll have me, I'll go too. But, Astoria, stays here."
Harry looked like he didn't know what to say to any of them, but he nodded. "The only fireplace open to Floo is Umbridge's. We'll have to break in there. We'll need someone to put Umbridge off the actual course."
"I'll do it," Ron said. Lavender nodded that she would help.
Draco rejected the idea. "I'm part of her Inquisitorial Squad. I'll go, and she'd likely believe me before you Gryffindors."
"Then we can get Peeves and smash up the Transfiguration department or something," Ron said, not arguing with Draco. "Luna and Hermione will stand guard inside the door of her office. Neville and Ginny can stand watch down the corridor. Astoria can go with Malfoy. Daphne will be with Harry."
Harry looked to Hermione, most likely to be sure she was with him on this- as she always was. She nodded, and the groups parted ways. It didn't seem that there were any more defenses than the last time Harry was in the office. Hermione herself looked around for any, but found none. She and Luna stood on either side of the door, while Daphne and Harry went to the fireplace and Harry went into the fire.
He was only in there a few moments, before there was a commotion outside of the doors and Luna opened the door at the sound of Neville's shouts. What they saw was Neville fighting Warrington and Jefferson as the former grabbed Ginny- who was kicking and trying to fight him off herself. It took Herndon and Tawt both to put Neville in a headlock. Hermione shouted for Daphne to get Harry before pulling her wand out and throwing a jinx at the Slytherins that was deflected by Umbridge herself. Behind her, Ron and Lavender both were being pulled by other large Slytherins- and Crabbe and Goyle both seemed rather confused with what it was they were supposed to do with Draco; who had a red hand print on his face and his hair was mussed. Astoria was not with him.
"Take their wands," Umbridge said to two other students, pointing to Hermione and Luna.
Hermione took a step back, fighting off the person who came towards her. But Umbridge sent a disarming spell that hit its target and Hermione's wand was lost, handed to a Slytherin. They entered, dragged, into the office just as Harry came out of the fire to find Daphne being manhandled by a Slytherin that snuck in while Hermione was fighting the other Slytherin students.
"What are you doing in my office," Umbridge demanded.
"Trying to get my Firebolt back," Harry lied.
"Liar! You stationed look outs and your head was in my fireplace. Who were you communicating with? Was it Dumbledore? Hagrid? I would guess Minerva McGonagall, but I hear she's still too ill for visitors..."
Hermione seethed at the slight towards her favorite teacher. Umbridge grabbed Harry and threw him into a chair forcefully, his head snapping back. She could guess who it was that slapped Draco. None of them were terribly concerned about where Astoria was, knowing he wouldn't have let anything happen to her.
"That's not really any of your business."
Umbridge's face tightened and she sent Millicent Bulstrode to fetch Professor Snape. In the mean time, everyone aside from Daphne and Draco, fought their captors. Draco didn't move, though it was obvious he could have gotten away from his intimidated ex-friends. Daphne looked like a heroine, despite the bruises formed on her arms from Katerin holding her. Hermione tried to pull away from the boy who had a tight hold of her, only to be slammed into the wall for submission and threatening to cut off her air supply.
When Snape came in, his face was devoid of emotion until he narrowed his eyes at Luna- who smiled at him as though he'd come to save her on the back of a white steed. He seemed only mildly surprised to see Daphne, and curious at seeing Draco. "You wanted to see me, Headmistress?"
"Ah, Professor Snape," Umbridge said sweetly. "Yes, I would like another bottle of Veritaserum, as quick as you can, please."
Hermione locked eyes with Draco, everyone obviously having the same thought. "You took my last bottle to interrogate Potter. Surely, you haven't used it all. I said that three drops would suffice."
Umbridge went pink, as Snape didn't even have to mention the Breakfast Debacle. "You can make some more, can't you?"
"Granger!" Snape said sharply. "How long does it take to brew a batch of Veritaserum?"
Her person turned her around and shoved her towards the floor, where she skinned her palms on the carpet while catching herself. "It takes a full moon cycle to mature."
"A month?" Umbridge squawked. "I need it this evening! I have just found Potter using my fire to communicate with persons unknown!"
"That doesn't surprise me," Snape said smoothly. "Potter has never been one to follow rules. However, the situation remains the same. I have no Veritaserum and it takes a month to brew. So unless you wish to poison Potter- and I assure you I would have the greatest sympathy with you if you did- there is nothing else I can do."
Hermione tried to think of a way out of this, when Harry shouted. "He's got Padfoot! He's got Padfoot at the place where it's hidden!"
Professor Snape stopped and glanced over to Harry with a spark in his eyes. He understood, Hermione could tell even though he lied to Umbridge and left. He understood.
*
Severus raced, as soon as the door was closed, towards the dungeons. Of course he understood the boy, how could he not when he remembered very well those ridiculous pet names the Marauders liked to call themselves. Moony, Wormtail, and the like. Students gave him strange looks, but no one said anything to him until he heard someone running behind him and calling his name. One of his own students.
"Professor Snape!"
He stopped and turned around to see Astoria Greengrass. He recalled seeing her sister in the headmistress' office. "What do you want, girl?"
"It's Harry Potter, sir, and Daphne-"
"I know. Run along."
"But sir, someone's in trouble! Draco told me to find you once it was safe to leave McGonagall's office."
Severus pulled her to his office with him where he called for the headquarters. That stupid Sirius Black. Suppose he thought a stroll sounded nice, did he? Suppose he merely needed to be walked.
"Lupin!" He called, the first name that came to mind.
"Snivellous." It wasn't Lupin. It was... Black?
"Black?" He demanded. "Why does your godson think you're being held by the Dark Lord in the Department of Mysteries?"
Then Severus mentally groaned. He'd ended lessons, and rightfully so he'd thought at the time, but obviously Potter hadn't been practicing his Occlumency since. He'd been naive to think Granger would force him to. Potter was too much like his father. Just like him.
"Harry?" Black demanded.
"He's with Umbridge. Apparently he was talking to someone in her Floo. You and I both know it wouldn't have been Dumbledore. He would have tried there."
"I'm the only one that is here," Sirius insisted. "Molly and Arthur have gone back to the Burrow for a bit. Remus is asleep. Unless- Kreacher!"
*
"How did you get away?" Harry asked everyone excitedly.
They all looked worse for the wear, though obviously very proud of themselves. Even Draco wore his usual smirk, straightening his sleeves despite the tears in his clothes. Daphne smothered Harry in a hug. Ron grinned with his arm around Lavender. Ginny and Neville were in a similar position as they all explained the war that went on once Harry and Hermione left Umbridge's office.
"Hang on," Draco said. "You just happened to have a giant in the Forbidden Forest, but it's the centaurs you were worried about? You lot will never be boring, will you?"
"We have to get to London," Harry insisted.
"I've got a broom!" Ginny declared proudly.
"Yeah," Ron said, "but you're not going."
"She's got every right to go as you do," Neville defended.
Draco handed Harry and Hermione both their wands back. "We're all coming, we've already settled this. Now, how are we getting there?"
Luna interjected. "Flying, of course."
"Yes, but how-"
"Thestrals," Draco whispered, looking past them.
Hermione turned, but couldn't see them. She'd never seen anyone die. She believed them, though, when Luna, Draco, and Harry walked over to pet them. And they were off.
*
"What do you mean they're gone?!" Kingsley demanded when Snape told him what had been reported to him by another of his students. Astoria was still in his office being served tea by a house-elf and shaking in worry.
"I mean, they've left. Gone. Umbridge, it seems, has disappeared as well. They'll all be going to the Ministry."
"All?" Molly Weasley asked. "It's not just Harry, Ron, and Hermione?"
Severus shook his head. "It appears not. I'm being told that it seems Potter and Mr. Malfoy have made friends. Malfoy and Daphne Greengrass have joined them, along with Lavender Brown, Miss Weasley, Miss Lovegood, and Mr. Longbottom. They've assaulted the other Slytherins in the process."
"Did you say Daphne?" Lupin asked, walking in.
*
It was ridiculously easy to get into the Department of Mysteries, after they received their name tags and stated their business for the disembodied female voice in the telephone box. Harry walked with purpose to the door he'd been dreaming about, and Hermione walked directly behind him and Daphne in trepidation. There was a pulsing in her chest and she knew in her heart that they shouldn't be there. They marked where they went, starting with the terrifying room with the brains. Then the archway.
"Can anyone else hear that whispering?" Harry asked.
Hermione couldn't hear anything except for their breathing. She didn't think Harry even realized that he was walking closer to the archway as though in a trance. And he wasn't the only one. Luna and Draco were following, stepping up onto the dais the archway sat on. It looked old, and whatever it was, Hermione didn't like it. It felt... dangerous, while at the same time like it was trying to pull her in. Beckoning to her.
"Harry! We're here for Sirius." She could tell when he was back into himself, awareness flickering on his face.
"Right," he said. "Sirius. Let's go."
The next door was locked, and melted Sirius' unlocking knife... they decided to skip it. But the next one, Harry knew was correct, and told Hermione so, leading them to a room entirely made up of towering shelves that held dusty, swirling orbs- as though each one held a memory or a patronus.
"They're prophecies," Draco said, looking around.
"Prophecies?" Hermione asked, feeling uneasy with that word and glancing towards Harry. Draco's eyes followed her gaze and his own silver ones widened in understanding. She had the feeling, and for once hoped against anything that she was wrong, that there was a prophecy about Harry.
"You said row ninety-seven," Daphne prompted him gently, not missing Hermione and Draco's exchange.
"Right," he said.
They walked carefully, each wand glowing with lumos to light the way. They moved past the ninety mark. And ninety-three, ninety-four, ninety-five, ninety-six- but when they arrived at ninety-seven, there was no one.
"No," Harry said angrily. "He was here! I saw it!"
"Harry," Ron said. "Have you seen this?"
His wand hovered over a plaque with a spidery engraving that read: S.P.T. to A.P.W.B.D. Dark Lord and (?) Harry Potter. Hermione felt sick, looking around at the feeling of being watched but seeing no one. Draco looked uneasy as well, and when Hermione looked back, Harry was reaching for the dusty orb.
"Harry, I don't think you should touch that."
"It's got my name on it, hasn't it?" Harry asked, seeming to have forgotten why they were there.
He wrapped his hand around it, making tracks in the heavy dust, and held it to his chest to examine without chance of breaking it. Hermione watched the swirls move in it and thought that perhaps it was setting up a scene in smoke. Why, she could almost see the makings of a tremendous beard when...
"Very good, Potter," a drawling voice said from behind the group. "Now turn around, nice and slowly, and give that to me."
Everyone whipped around as black figures emerged out of the darkness, their own wands aglow as well. Lavender gasped fearfully at their silver masks and black hoods, eyes peering at them through the slits. In the middle was Lucius Malfoy.
"Where's Sirius?" Harry demanded.
A few of the Death Eaters chuckled. Hermione hated being right all the time. One woman in the back mocked him. Even Lucius Malfoy smirked.
"To me, Potter."
"You need to learn the difference between dreams and reality, Potter," the woman said, coming out to stand beside Malfoy Senior. She was frighteningly beautiful with the air of someone very mad and very dangerous.
She raised her wand to them; and at the same time Lucius Malfoy told her not to attack, his son moved from the group to stand in front of Harry- his own wand raised against the Death Eaters. The woman, Bellatrix he had called her, stopped and her eyes widened at him. Draco seemed to shake as his father faced him, at first with a smirk that turned to rage when he realized Draco was there with Harry to protect him from Lucius.
He snarled. "Back away, boy. You and I will have words later."
Draco stood taller, not looking away from Lucius. "I'm afraid, Father, that the Malfoy name just isn't doing anything for me anymore. Mind if I stick with you for a while, Harry?"
Neither boys looked at each other, both wands poised at the ready. "Not at all, Draco."
There was a furious shout from Lucius and he sent a blue jet towards his heir, that Harry deflected in time. Everyone else in the group stepped forward as well to crowd and protect.
"If you want to stand with him, Draco," Bellatrix said with a fake pout, "Then we shall kill you just the same. Lucius?"
Draco drew himself up to his full height and everyone else readied themselves to defend him if need be. The man seemed to falter, his face freezing in its anger. "No," he whispered, hurrying to explain himself when Bellatrix hissed. "Potter might drop it. We have orders. Family reckonings can wait."
"Charming," Draco mumbled, but Hermione saw Harry hold the prophecy tighter.
"Hermione, Ron," Harry whispered, "find us a way out of here."
He went on about asking what the prophecy was for and Ron and Hermione looked around for a weakness in Death Eater lines. The Death Eaters wouldn't waste time protecting each other the way Hermione and her friends would, that made them weaker.
"Didn't you know he's half-blood too?" She heard Harry ask.
"Diversion," Daphne whispered, her lips not moving. "We need a diversion so we can run."
"Brilliant," Ron said. "The shelves, Harry. A reducto ought to do it."
Hermione adjusted her grip on her wand, feeling the familiar and comforting vine beneath her skin. "One," she whispered.
"Two," Neville whispered behind her.
"NOW!" Harry yelled.
Everyone shot off their spell at the shelf opposite. The towering shelf swayed with the weight of a thousand orbs, a hundred or so of them bursting and forming misty figures with hollow voices. They began to rain down, shattering in a downpour on the stone floor.
"RUN!" Draco called.
Shelves, as it was not only the one anymore, began to splinter and sway precariously as they ran as fast as they could past each scene. The Death Eaters charged as well, with a few turning into some sort of mist to pop up in front of them. Lucius appeared with a twisted grin in front of Hermione, who screamed in surprise. Before she could react, Draco came to the rescue and punched his sire, pulling her after him to run.
The door they had come through was still open and they ran for the door. When they got there, Hermione had thought Ron, Lavender, Daphne, Ginny, and Luna were there as they had been ahead, but it was only Neville, Harry, and Draco with her. They shut the door behind them with a spell to seal it.
"The others must have gone the other way," Hermione said.
On the other side they could hear voices.
"Leave Nott, leave him, I say, the Dark Lord will care more about the prophecy. We'll split into pairs. Handle Potter carefully until we have the prophecy in hand. Kill the others if necessary, but leave my son to me. I want to be the one to deal with him."
Draco went very pale at hearing this. "We should get away from the door."
There was a loud crashing sound on the other side of the door and the four of them ran as though they were being chased again. They passed an enchanted egg with a strangely charmed bird that changed from an egg to a hatchling to a bird again. They could hear the Death Eaters following and Neville pulled her under what appeared to be a work desk. Harry and Draco ducked under another across from them, the four of them giving each other signals to stay quiet.
"Checks under the desks," they heard a Death Eater say.
Hermione nodding with Harry as two came their way. One... Two... Three...
"STUPEFY!"
The two Death Eaters flew off their feet and they ducked out from under the desks as multiple disarming spells came. There were running footsteps behind them and Hermione glanced back to throw a stunner. There was a thud and the sound of the other footsteps going around their fallen comrade.
"Good one, 'Mione!" Harry shouted. They ran through the door that lead into the hallway of doors, but the exes Hermione had made to mark their progress earlier seemed to have vanished.
They turned around to face their foes that were still there, the two of them. "WE FOUND THEM!" One of them shouted. "THEY'RE IN THE-"
"Silencio!" Hermione said clearly.
The man's voice cut off mid-word. The second pushed him aside and Harry took the chance to petrify him. Hermione turned to him to tell him good job, when the man she'd silenced made a slashing movement with his wand and something like a purple fire erupted from it, hitting Hermione in the chest. There was a startled expression on her face and she fell forward where Neville caught her easily.
Draco snarled and cast something that Harry had never heard of, and for good reason he realized as he watched the man begin to scream in a way that grown men shouldn't scream; his skin moving the way water does when boiling properly. Blood dribbled out of his facial orifices, some of it like tears, and he fell to his knees and then his front... very still.
Draco didn't look at either of the other boys, but they all dropped to examine Hermione. Her skin was still warm, but she didn't move. Neville pressed two fingers on her wrist as blood blossomed through her shirt in a long cut across her torso.
"There's a pulse," Neville said, looking to Draco. "What was that?"
"What I did or what Dolohov hit her with? Obviously I know both."
"Then tell us both," Harry said in a hard voice.
Draco stood up. "Unfortunately I wasn't lying in September when I told you my father taught me some curses. What he used is a spell he created that has never failed to kill it's target on impact. Though, I suppose he wasn't in the habit of doing it wordlessly. Uncle Severus will be able to help her if we can get her back to the school."
"You two take her," Harry said, "Sound an alarm, get her to Hogwarts."
"No way," Neville said. "We're not leaving you, and I'm not leaving Ginny. We'll take her with us."
Neville, in a feat that made Harry realize they weren't eleven anymore, pulled Hermione into his arms and lifted her with a grunt. He looked to Harry, waiting for his direction, but before they could decide what door to go through, one of the doors opened and five people fell through it.
"Daphne!" Harry called, running to them as she rolled over to her back- coughing and obviously having trouble breathing. Ginny was also breathing shallowly.
"I'm fine," she waved. "But I think Ginny broke her ankle, Luna heard something snap."
Sure enough, Ginny's ankle was poking out at an odd angle and she gasped harshly when Draco examined it. Neville looked torn between the unconscious girl in his arms and his soulmate who was obviously in distress.
"Love?" He asked.
"I'm okay," she insisted at the same time Lavender asked about Hermione.
"She'll be okay," Draco said, "if we hurry her to Hogwarts."
Luna stood up, helping Daphne at the same time Ron helped Lavender up. They all had cuts on their faces and soot as though from an explosion of sorts. Both doors burst open and there were two groups of Death Eaters.
"Through there," Ginny said, pointing to another door.
Ron stepped forward and scooped her into his arms as the Death Eaters ran at them. Lavender opened the door and the injured went through first, with Harry and Draco last. Before Harry could use Hermione's locking spell on the door, they came through.
"Impedimeta!"
Harry pulled Draco into dodging it and they ran after the others past the jars of brains again. This was the one with the archway they'd seen. The Death Eaters descended upon them as it came into view with its strange silver, whispering smoke. One called Travers hexed Ginny and Ron into toppling, Ginny crying out in pain. Another did the same to Neville and Hermione, making Hermione roll from his arms and hit hard against the archway, leaving a red smear that seemed to glow. Bellatrix was fast to grab Neville, her wand jutting harshly into his neck. He could hear startled sounds from his friends as it happened to everyone. One Death Eater had Daphne by her golden hair, jerking her by it where there were tears glistening in her eyes that he could see from the distance.
"Let them go," he stuttered as Lucius came into view. "Let everyone go, and-and I'll give it to you."
He laughed darkly. "You're no longer in the position to make demands, Potter. I'm sure you can ask my son what happens when someone displeases me."
Draco, who was still beside him, tightened and pursed his lips but said nothing.
"I'll break it," he said, lifting the orb above his head. "Then what will your master think?"
"You dare-" Bellatrix began, but at that moment; Sirius, Kingsley, Lupin, Moody, and Tonks burst through the door and began firing off curses.
Harry, Neville, and everyone standing dropped to the ground in an effort not to get hit. Harry, Draco, and Neville belly crawled to Hermione who was still unconscious. The blood coming from her was beginning to alarm them.
"We need to get her to Severus," Draco said. "If anyone can help, it's him. Well, now that Dolohov is dead."
"Yeah," Harry said absently. "Thanks for that."
"Now that my family wants to kill me? Any time."
"Give it to me!" Lucius said frantically, his eyes alight with madness and his wand aimed at them. "Give me the prophecy."
He made a figure like an eight, the same motion Draco used on Dolohov, and Draco erected a ward between them and Lucius. The spell hit the shield and exploded in brilliant color until he was ripped away by Sirius who did the same thing Draco had done earlier in Hermione's defense- punching Lucius and shoving him away with a curse.
"Are you alright?" He shouted over the noise of duelling that was going on. "Is that Hermione?"
"It was Dolohov," Draco shouted back, hoping that it would make his cousin that he'd never met understand the severity of it.
It seemed to have, as in the glow of curses flying around Sirius looked frightened- a look that Harry decided didn't belong on his face. Bellatrix sent a disarming spell towards Sirius, who dodged it easily in a move that made it look like a dance. He allowed himself to duel her for a moment in graceful steps before shouting,
"Get out of here!" He shouted to them. "The others are taken care of, get Hermione to Hogwarts!"
When he looked, the others that had been in his group were indeed gone. Most of the Death Eaters were gone, no where to be seen, though others seemed to be running away. Neville lifted Hermione again and moved towards the exit. Harry and Draco followed, until out of nowhere, Lucius Malfoy was there again and shot a red jet at his son. Draco flew twelve feet away, hitting the ground hard.
"Get Hermione out of here. Take the prophecy," Harry shouted, nudging Neville on with the orb in Hermione's lap and running to stand between the two Malfoys. "NO!"
"Step aside," Lucius demanded. "Imper-"
Harry pulled up his Shield Charm and glanced back to Draco, who seemed unconscious with something bleeding on his face from the impact. With a clap like thunder, Dumbledore stood there looking as intimidating as Harry had never seen him look before- his face dark and shaded.
"I think not," he said lowly in a commanding voice.
Lucius whirled around sharply, wand raised. Dumbledore merely waved his hand to one side, and in that direction Lucius flew. The only pair dueling still was Sirius and Bellatrix, and it seemed everyone looked towards them at once as though by some spell.
"You can do better than that!" Sirius yelled, laughing. The taunt echoed around the cavernous room as Bellatrix shot off two jets of red light at once. The first, he easily side stepped, his robes whipping around him elegantly as he did so- but the second hit him squarely in the chest.
The laughter had not quite died from his face, but his eyes widened in surprise. For a moment, even Bellatrix looked surprised. Her face fell slightly in equal surprise before the corners of her mouth curled up in a grin. Harry watched in horror, his legs pulling him into a run towards dais, his godfather stumbled and began to drift back into the veil in the archway. Someone grabbed him around the waist, Lupin, grabbing him and looking on with his own despaired expression. Harry tried to fight, as Sirius disappeared into the mist.
"NO!" Harry shouted. "I CAN GET TO HIM! LET ME GO!"
"It's too late," Lupin said hoarsely, his voice cracking slightly. "He's gone, Harry."
"NO," Harry insisted, seeing something that made him stop fighting.
Through the veil, on the other side of the mist, a man with black hair stumbled- pulling Sirius with him.
A/N: Whoa! Two chapters in less than twelve hours. I rock. Just saying. Last call for theories! Next chapter will be up soon with the reveal. Thank you all for reading. Let me know what you think in the towel section down below.
Dasvidanya, Mia.