Chapter Four
Harry waited to hear his Godfather's answering voice, but it never came. He quickly thought the worst. He pulled out his wand and started for the door. Kreacher came through just as Harry opened the door. Harry had the sudden urge to grab the House Elf and shake him while yelling at him to tell Harry where Sirius is. But just as quickly as the urge came, Harry crushed it, remembering Hermione's lectures about House Elves being in need of kindness and love.
"Kreacher, where is Sirius?" Harry tried to keep the urgency out of his voice, but knew it failed miserably.
"Master said he would not be back," Kreacher responded in his usual gravelly tones.
"Harry, you need to come back quickly," Hermione's voice carried through the fireplace. Harry whipped around to just catch her disappearing back through the flames. Harry quickly grabbed some floo powder, tossing it into the fire before jumping in himself.
Harry had barely landed when all the wind was knocked out of his lungs. Crabbe stood over him with a grin splitting his stupid toad face. Harry gasped, attempting to draw air into his bruised lungs.
"Mr. Potter! Are you contacting Dumbledore? Tell me!" Umbridge leered. She was covered in soot. Harry wanted to laugh—it was probably the doing of his wayward boyfriends. Umbridge stared at him for a moment longer before her patience ran out. Ropes shot from the end of her wand, wrapping around Harry tight enough to cut into him.
"Tell me! Are you in connections with Dumbledore?" Umbridge's voice cracked as she yelled at Harry.
"Leave him alone!" Hermione screeched. Harry craned his neck to look around Crabbe and Umbridge's hulking form to see Hermione being held by a green looking Malfoy. Ron was held by Goyle, and Neville and Luna were both being held by another Slytherin boy that no one really knew.
"Grab him and put him in that chair," Umbridge ordered Crabbe before walking over to Hermione. She leaned in and whispered into Hermione's ear. When she pulled away, Hermione looked like she was going to cry but she stayed quiet. Ron glared at Umbridge while she through floo powder into the fire place.
"Severus! Get to my office and bring the tea!" Umbridge yelled into the fire. "Now Mr. Potter, who were you trying to contact?"
"My Godfather," Harry snapped as he was forced into a chair by Crabbe.
"Don't lie!" Umbridge snapped back, slapping Harry across the cheek. Before anyone in the room could speak, Snape's looming form came into the door frame.
"You called for me?"
Harry wanted to melt at the sound of Snape's voice. 'Is Snape one of my mates?' Harry thought. After Harry had learnt about mates, he had been thinking about them a lot, maybe he could share the twins and maybe he could be happy, but still the thought had his insides twisted at the thought of melting into his mates arms late at night after a long day, and having to share that persons arms and warmth with another. The thought of Snape being the twins and thus his mate only helped to tighten that knot in his gut. Harry was lost in his own thoughts of mates when Umbridge's voice broke through his thoughts.
"Yes Severus. It's time for answers whether they want to give them or not. Do you have the Veritaserum?"
"I'm afraid you used the last of it questioning Miss Chang."
Harry briefly thought how grateful he was that he didn't drink any tea at any time near Umbridge. 'Wait, Snape's in the order, he could look for Sirius!'
"Professor! He has Padfoot in the place where it's hidden." Harry hoped Snape would understand his cryptic message. He had heard Hermione gasp, but ignored it.
"Where what is?" Umpridge snapped, whipping her head between Snape and Harry.
"I have no idea." With one last look at Harry, Snape left. Harry blinked a few times before turning back to Umbridge. He wanted to cry for some reason. But he couldn't—not now. First get rid of Umbridge. Second save Sirius. Third, kill Voldemort. When that was done, he would be able to cry. Oh, and yell at Snape for giving him a look that had said "stay". He wasn't a dog and he would not obey such a ridiculous command.
"Fine." Umbridge's voice brought Harry back to the room. She had strolled over to her desk and grabbed her wand. "A Crusiatus might loosen your tongue."
"You can't, it's against the law," Hermione said matter-of-factly.
Umbridge slowly placed her beefy fingers on Cornelius Fudge's picture before placing it face down. "What Cornelius doesn't know won't hurt him." As she slowly walked back to Harry, he could feel his body start to shiver and sweat dripped down his spine. He never wanted to feel that curse again. Just as Umbridge raised her wand, Hermione started to plead.
"Harry, tell her. Tell her or I will."
Umbridge turned to stare at Hermione, but her wand never lowered. "Tell me what?"
"Where Dumbledore hid his secret weapon," Hermione lied easily. Harry was untied quicker than he could blink. In moments, both he and Hermione were being pushed out the door with Umbridge's wand aimed at their backs.
Harry allowed Hermione to lead, not sure what she had been thinking. As they headed out the front doors of the castle, Harry began to question Hermione's sanity.
"Hermione, where are we going?" Harry whispered, hoping Umbridge wouldn't hear him.
"The Forbidden Forest."
Harry's eyes almost popped out of his head. "What? Why?" Harry could just see Hermione's face in the moonlight, and she gulped, wet her lip, and looked slightly as if she was questioning her own decision.
"I was trying to keep her away from you!" Hermione hissed, even if her worried expression didn't change. "Just play along." Harry nodded before falling back a step so he could follow.
It soon became apparent to Harry where they were going. He grabbed for Hermione, but right before he reached her, Umbridge interrupted.
"How much farther?" She sounded winded and Harry had to try not to laugh.
"Not far—it had to be in deep enough so a student wouldn't accidentally find it," Hermione quickly answered—almost as if she had rehearsed it a thousand times. Harry just stared at Hermione, not realising she had stopped until he walked right into her. He looked over Hermione's shoulder to see Grawp's rope laying on the ground.
"Well, where is it?" Umbridge panted out. Both Harry and Hermione looked too shocked to answer.
After a few moments, Hermione started to stutter. "I-it was here a moment ago, I was sure." Just as she finished, Umbridge let out a blood chilling scream that caused goosebumps to rise on Harry's arm. They both whipped around to see Grawp with Umbridge pinched between his fingers. Her wand was in half at Grawp's feet.
"Potter, tell him I mean no harm!"
"Sorry Professor. I must not tell lies." Harry's mouth finally turned up into a genuine smile for the first time in weeks. "Thanks Grawp." Harry quickly grabbed Hermione's hand, pulling her back through the forest.
They headed for Umbridge's office when they got into the castle. On the bridge, they crashed into Ron, Luna, Ginny and Neville, all of their wands drawn. Ron quickly handed Hermione and Harry their wands.
"How did you all get away?" Hermione asked, pocketing her wand.
"Told 'em I was hungry for some sweets. Too bad they were Fred and George's sweets." Ron smirked evilly. "Of course, they told me to bugger off and ate the lot themselves—except Malfoy. He just left."
"Well, we can't worry about him now. We have to get to the Ministry and save Sirius. But how? Umbridge probably blocked the floo now," Harry grumbled, cursing the stupid witch.
"We will fly," Luna suggested happily. Before anyone could ask her how, she started off to the Dark Forest. Harry was the first to catch up.
"Luna, how are we going to fly to London?"
"That's easy, Nargle King, we will fly by Thestral." She looked up to the sky to see a pack of them fly by to land in the forest. Harry just had to smile.
"What better carriage for the Nargle Queen?"
Luna giggled before skipping off again.
"Nargle King and Queen?" Ron snickered behind Harry.
"Shut it—she gave me the nickname, and it suits her. Now let's go and drop it."
They were in the air on their respective Thestrals in moments. The air was cold and bit into Harry's skin, but Harry didn't care. He just wanted to get to Sirius. They had wasted enough time as is. When London finally came into view, Harry urged his Thestral to fly faster. It neighed in protest before it bowed to Harry and sped forward.
They couldn't land fast enough or get into the Ministry fast enough for Harry to be happy. Finally, they got in and piled into an elevator.
"Harry, where are we headed?" Neville timidly asked from the corner he had been squashed into.
"Um..." Harry pulled the image he had seen in his vision to the front of his mind. "We have to go to the trial rooms." Ron, who was closest to the buttons, pressed the correct one. After a moment, they jerked into motion.
Harry couldn't help but feel his muscles tightening in anticipation. He could feel the old fear from his trial and the possibility of never going back to Hogwarts, but a new fear had also gripped Harry's stomach. He feared that Sirius would be dead when Harry finally reached him. Plus the cold feeling that he would have to fight Voldemort again. Harry wasn't sure if he was going to cry, vomit, or faint. All he could think of as he watched the yellow light move was that he wanted to crawl back into bed with Fred on one side of him and George on the other.
The sweet woman's voice broke Harry's thought, They quickly left the lift, following Harry to the door he kept seeing. When they reached the black and gold door, they noticed it was open the slightest bit. Harry almost started to hyperventilate before taking a deep breath and pushing. The room that lay in front of them was full of shelves, each with hundreds of orbs sitting on them.
"Number 93," Harry whispered, checking the number of the shelf closest to him. Number 25. Harry took off before anyone could say a thing. 29. 42. 84. 90. Harry passed them all, not slowing until he reached 90. 91 was on the left, 90 on the right. He took a deep breath, trying to calm his breathing and heart. He should have been able to see Sirius—why wasn't he here?
"Harry, look at this." Neville trembled.
Harry turned to see a small globe swirling with what looked to be fog. He could hear its whispers but not understand what it was saying. His hand reached out without his consent, his fingers curling around the cold glass that instantly heated under his touch. It started to glow a bright yellow. Trelawney's voice started to slowly drift into the tense silence. Harry didn't like the tone—it was the same one she had used when she told him about Sirius. Harry tried to shut it out but it only got louder.
A sudden crack pulled Harry away from the glowing glove. He whipped around to see two death eaters' wands raised and pointing directly at the small group.
"Mr. Potter." The voice sent a shiver down Harry's spine. It wasn't an unpleasant shiver wither, if his blood rushing south was any indication. Harry gasped as the mask was removed to reveal Lucius Malfoy. "Hand me the prophecy, and we'll be on our way."
"Why would you want the prophecy?" Harry questioned, his voice tight.
"I simply wish to return it."
"Well, it has my name on it, so it's in the rightful owner's hands."
"Oh, baby Potter knows how to play!" Bella's high voice pierced the air.
"Bellatrix," Harry hissed, raising his want a little higher to point at her head.
"Well, Mr. Potter." Lucius called Harry's attention back to him. "It may have your name on it but it is also about the Dark Lord. So if you would just hand over the prophecy, I will allow you and your friends to scamper back to Hogwarts without anyone being harmed."
"And if we refuse—or rather, I refuse?"
"Well then Mr. Potter, I guess this is the end of out civil conversation." Before Harry could blink, lights flashed from all directions.
"Duck!" Harry screamed, taking down the two next to him. He quickly sprang up, shooting jinxes at the three closest death eaters. "Get back to the door!" Harry yelled as loud as he could, no longer sure who was where. He ran down the nearest aisle. Just as he turned the corner, he came face to face with Hermione and Ron.
"Harry!" Hermione screeched, pulling her hand away from Ron's.
"Hermione, we don't have time, let's go!" Ron fumed, sending stunning spells over Harry's shoulder before grabbing Hermione's wrist and pulling her down another aisle. Harry followed, looking back every few seconds and occasionally throwing a jinx when needed.
"There's the door!" Ron yelled back to Harry who was dodging a few hexes. They ran toward it without caring who came. Just as they reached the door, three other people crashed into them. Hermione screamed along with two of the newcomers. When they finally untangled, Harry noticed it was Ginny, Neville, and Luna.
Luna had a bloody nose and split lip. Ginny seemed alright, but Neville had a line of blood running down his temple to roll off his chin. Harry quickly looked around before pushing them all through the door. Harry jumped through last and gasped when the floor vanished. They fell for what seemed like hours. When they finally saw the floor, everyone started to cast spells, byt everything fizzled.
When the floor became alarmingly close, the fall started to slow, before it stopped altogether, keeping the six of them about a foot off the floor. Harry looked over to see everyone hovering lightly until Hermione caught his eye and they dropped hard.
Each groaned as they attempted to push off the floor. Ginny just sat there holding her ankle.
"Ginny, what happened?" Ron worried.
"I-I think it's broken," Ginny whispered.
"Ron, Neville, take Ginny. We need to get out of here...what's that noise?" Harry trailed off, noticing for the first time the arch in the middle of the room.
"I hear it too." Luna stood beside Harry, both getting closer to the archway.
"Both of you stop, you're scaring me." Hermione grabbed their elbows, pulling them towards her. When a gust of wind pushed her into Harry's back, Harry shook his head, trying to free his mind of the whispering voices.
He heard a swishing and immediately snapped back to reality. "Everyone get behind me!" he commanded, watching Ron and Neville almost drag Ginny closer. A black streak shot in front of them, another shot over their heads, making them all duck. Before they could stand up, they were completely engulfed in the black as it swirled around them. When Harry could see again, he quickly looked around to see all his friends held with wands to their throats.
"Stop playing and hand over the prophecy and you will all be able to go home." Lucius slowly walked closer, as if trying to approach a wild animal.
"Don't give it to him!" Neville shouted before Bellatrix pressed her wand deeper into his throat.
Lucius ignored him and stepped closer to Harry. "Harry, give me the prophecy. I don't wish to hurt you." His voice was no louder than a whisper. Harry shivered—it wasn't uncomfortable, it was actually quite a satisfying feeling. Without really thinking about it, Harry reached out his hand, dropping the warm sphere into Lucius' grasp.
Just as it hit Lucius' hand, white streaks shot through the air, one landing right in front of Harry.
"Don't touch my Godson." Sirius quickly shot a spell at Lucius, forcing him back.
As Lucius stumbled back, the sphere fell from his hand to smash into pieces. A fog curled up around it before vanishing into thin air. Harry could hear it whispering to him.
The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches
Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies
And the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not-
Before Harry could hear the full thing, Sirius pushed him away. Harry stumbled, but before he could regain his footing, two strong arms wrapped around his waist. Panicked, Harry threw a right hook, hoping to punch his captor in the ribs. But another hand wrapped around his wrist.
"Calm down Harry, it's just us." Fred's playful voice easily calmed Harry. When George felt Harry's arm go limp, he let it go in favour of pushing Harry and Fred forward.
"Quickly, get Harry out of here. We'll distract them, so go!" Sirius demanded. Fred and George nodded, pushing Harry forward again. When they came to the door, Fred grabbed Harry and pulled him back, where George held him and watched as Fred went through first.
Harry could feel George twisting behind him. He could easily guess that George was watching the fight, to see if anyone came near them.
"George, let go. Fred's not coming back, let me go!" Harry started to panic. Why hadn't Fred come back?
"Harry, calm down. He will be back. Just give him a few minutes," George almost pleaded. But before George could get a better grip, Harry broke free and dashed through the door only to see Fred standing right beside Snape. Harry quickly shot a stupefy, but before he saw if it hit or not, a hot, sharp pain shot through his stomach, forcing him back into George, who had followed him.
"Harry!"
Harry could tell that Fred was angry. He looked up, his vision clouded slightly with tears, to see Fred clinging to Snape, who in return had his arm wrapped around Fred's waist.
"Fred, calm down, he's felt the pain. If we tell him, he will understand and won't do it again. But we can't say it here, we just have to go back," George rushed. Hus eyes were darting around, searching for signs of any other movement.
"George is right—get Harry back to Hogwarts and stay there," Snape commanded, pushing Fred closer to George and Harry. Harry was getting more confused by the minute.
"How?" It was more of a demand than anything—Harry needed to know how the twins got to the Ministry, how Snape was involved, how they were getting out. He needed to know!
'You know how, Harry. Just join me, and both on both sides will be spared.' The voice was in his head, and Harry knew it. He knew the voice very well.
"Voldemort."
"What?" Three voices instantly echoed.
"He's here."