Almost done. I think two or three chapters after this one!

Disclaimer: I disclaim.

Chapter 30

"Remember the mission, Lucius," Bella hissed. A woman stirred beside her, as I saw the blonde hair trailing down her back, I knew that Narcissa had come along. But she wasn't supposed to be here. Why had that changed?

"I'm simply greeting her, Bella." His eyes lingered on me as he spoke.

"Do you or do you not have Sirius Black?" I said.

Bella cackled. "I haven't seen my cousin in quite some time."

Bile rose up in my throat. I'd known Harry could be duped. I'd even known he probably would be. But I was a Seer. I was responsible for this mess. How did Voldemort trick me? When did I become so egotistic to believe that Voldemort couldn't trick me? The knowledge that he'd gotten into my head made my stomach turn.

Then I saw Harry whisper something to Ginny. Whether or not Sirius was at the ministry, we needed to get out of this mess, and soon. I cleared my throat. "So, so he's not here?" It sounded extra pathetic. Good.

Lucius shook his head, sneering. "We had to do something to get Potter out of that castle."

"The Dark Lord is most cunning," Bella said.

I narrowed my eyes. "You tricked a fifteen year old by threatening a loved one. That's not cunning. That's cowardice."

As I fell to the floor, I knew I would never be used to the Cruciatus curse. Pain ran through me, all types at the same time. My nails were torn off as hot pokers stabbed through my eyes. At least, that's what it felt like. And it didn't matter what type of pain, because it was all too much to handle, and I would die if I had to endure another second.

And just like that, it stopped.

Something crashed around me, and Ron grabbed my hand. "Get up," he said.

Harry grabbed my other hand. "Get up now. RUN!"

Ron supported me as I half ran, half limped after the rest of them, and we barely managed to get out of the Hall of Prophecies before we were consumed by the ghosts of seers bestowing their fate in monotone voices. The door slammed behind us and started to spin.

"Are you ok?" Ron said.

I didn't have a chance to answer as the door opened again. Masked figures poured in from the Hall of Prophecies and we scattered, yanking open the door closest to us. Ron threw all of his weight against the door as I tried to keep from tripping over myself.

"Are you ok?" he repeated, gasping.

I took a deep breath and shook my head. Then I nodded. I had to be fine. I didn't have a choice.

"Are you—"

"I'm fine, Ron. Let's just… keep moving."

He followed me down an aisle and I realized that an aquarium stood in the center of the room. It was filled with tentacles and brains. I frowned.

"Fred made me promise to take care of you," Ron muttered. "So try to stay alive. He'll kill me if anything happens to you."

I smiled a little. "Will do. By the way, whatever you do, stay away from that aquarium. Those things are dangerous as hell, and Fred would kill me if anything happened to you."

The door swung open and three death eaters stormed in. We broke into a run, dodging a curse. The only way out was blocked by all three death eaters, so we ducked behind a shelf.

"On three," I whispered. Ron nodded. "One. Two. Th—"

A curse nearly hit Ron right between the eyes, but even as I waved my wand, he deflected it and it went straight back at the death eater who cast it.

"One down, two to go," he muttered.

I stared for a moment, then nodded. Everyone underestimated Ron. I should have known that by now. We charged together. My curse sent one death eater bounding into the aquarium, while Ron's held the other death eater frozen, but aware.

"Nice," I said, brushing myself off.

He smiled. "You weren't too bad, yourself."

We entered the circular room for the third time and ran into another room. Hermione, Harry, and Neville faced four death eaters. They were barely able to hold their own in each duel. Ron and I intervened as one nearly cursed Neville into oblivion. I turned around just in time to see Hermione silence a death eater. His name rang somewhere in the back of my mind. Dolohov.

I raised my wand, but not in time to stop his curse from hitting her. She fell to the floor as Ginny stunned the last death eater.

"Hermione!" Ron reached her first, and Neville checked her pulse.

"She's alive."

"We have to move," I said. "Sirius isn't here. Let's find Luna and Ginny and get the hell out of here."

Finally, Harry nodded. "What about Hermione?"

Neville shook his head. "We can't move her. It's like he cut through her with magic."

"I'll stay with her," Ron said.

I sighed. "That's not a—"

"I'm staying." He didn't bother looking at me.

"Fine. Luna. Ginny. Now."

Harry and Neville followed me back to the main room, and we picked another door, hoping the room it led to wouldn't be filled with death eaters.

We found Luna and Ginny in the midst of a duel with another five death eaters, Lucius among them. The fact that they had survived this far was a wonder, but even when we tried to help, they had the upper hand. We managed to get two death eaters down, but Lucius sent Luna into a wall.

Then they turned to us.

Guilt swelled within me as I yanked Harry, Ginny, and Neville to run.

Harry was the last one in the room, and as he shut it, I realized that we were in the exact place we needed to avoid. The stone room was shaped like an old roman theater. At the bottom, in the center, stood an archway. It was covered by a sheer sheet. Or maybe it was just light. I couldn't be sure, but I knew one thing.

"We have to leave," I said.

Harry frowned; they had already gone down a few steps. "We don't have a choice."

"No," I said. "We have to leave this room. Now." Something hard poked the back of my neck, and I closed my eyes. Too late.

"Drop your wands!" Bella sounded gleeful as Harry's face fell.

"Shit," I muttered. Bella grabbed my arm and dragged me downstairs as Lucius, Narcissa, and three other death eaters came in.

"Now," Lucius said, as each of my friends was grabbed and held at wandpoint one by one, "Hand over the prophecy!" He brandished his wand at Harry, but Harry shook his head.

"No. There's nothing you can do to make me give it to you."

Bella smiled, removing her wand from my neck. "Is that so?"

Neville's screams cut through the air and I winced. Harry did too.

"Stop!" he shouted.

"Don't do it Harry," Neville said, gasping for breath. His face was still screwed up in a silent scream, as if he didn't believe he could feel so much pain at once. "Don't gib it to them!"

As Bella raised her wand again, I saw Harry hesitate.

"Do not," I muttered. "Do not give him that prophecy."

Then Bella turned her wand on Ginny.

"Ok!" Harry shouted. "Leave her alone. You can have the prophecy."

I clenched my fists. "Harry! No!" I tackled Lucius before he could step forward, and chaos broke loose. Pops erupted and I knew the Order had finally arrived. I just hoped that one of them had stayed home where he belonged.

Lucius cursed me, and I rolled to dodge it. I noticed he'd dropped the wands, and I grabbed mine from the floor just in time to block another curse. I chanced a look around to see Lupin, Tonks, Mad-Eye, and Sirius. My heart sank. Something smashed into my chest and I fell to the ground; the moment of hesitation had cost me dearly, and Lucius had knocked the wind out of me with a simple curse. He walked up to me, a sneer firm on his face.

"That was quite entertaining," he said, "but perhaps you need a bit more practice before you try dueling with adults." He kicked my wand away and knelt by my side. "If you want to learn from someone more experienced, I might be persuaded to help."

I tried to get my breath back as he leaned down lower. My chest felt like a semi was resting on it, concentrated in one small area. Each breath sent pain down my ribs. But I could still move my arms.

My palm collided with his nose and I rolled to grab my wand. "I have no interest in your experience," I said, disgusted. Then I stupefied him, standing to look around. "Where is that stupid mutt?"

Sirius stood dangerously close to the arch, dueling Bella and Narcissa at the same time. It seemed to happen in slow motion as the battle raged around us; Bella's curse hit him, just a simple body bind, but Sirius tripped at precisely the wrong moment.

My feet moved of their own accord, and I threw all my weight into him before his body crossed through the veil. We landed on the ground and I removed the jinx. Sirius gasped as I helped him up.

He stared at me a moment, and then to Bella and Narcissa, who were now occupied by Tonks and Ginny.

"That was you almost dying, just in case you wanted to know."

He stared a moment longer, then nodded. "Thank you."

I glared. "You should have stayed at home." Then I hugged him. "But I'm so glad you're alive."

He laughed, but stopped abruptly. I backed away to see Sirius frowning at something behind me. I turned around just as Ginny let out a distressed cry. Narcissa had cursed her, and she was trapped between the angry witch and the veil. I cursed the woman without a second thought, grabbing Ginny's wrist and dragging her out of the way.

Narcissa fell through the veil like I'd seen Sirius do in so many dreams, and I realized the hall was silent. Then someone screamed out, a wordless scream full of anguish and fury.

Bella.

I took a step away from her before I realized what I was doing, and she charged. Wand raised, she looked even more like a madwoman than normal. Sirius jumped between us and she threw three curses in quick succession. He fell to the ground with a thud. Bella disarmed me easily, eyes wide and manic. I pushed Ginny away from me and turned toward the first hallway I saw, hoping that someone would stop Bella.

My muscles burned as I sprinted down the corridor, dodging Bella's curses.

"Kat!" I frowned at Harry's voice. "Kat!"

"Kat!" Someone else. Lupin. "Kat! Harry! Stop!"

Panic filled me. They needed to stay in the main chamber. Too much could happen, and Bella was on a rampage. "Go back!" I screamed.

I fell as Bella caught me with a whip spell. My feet were tied together as my nose slammed against the marble, spewing blood everywhere. Bella walked up to me then, raising her wand. Air seemed to push in on my body, restricting my breath and any movement. She moved me to face her.

"That was my sister," she said, quietly. It sounded more like a hiss than anything else. A terrible, desperate hiss. "That was my sister you killed."

"How many sisters have you killed?" I wanted to say. But I couldn't draw the breath to say it, so I stayed silent.

Harry threw a curse at her, and she deflected it without taking her eyes from mine. She cursed Harry until he lie gasping in a heap. Lupin stumbled in, out of breath, and attacked Bella quickly. For a moment I thought he might have the fight, until Bella caught him in the chest with a blue charm I couldn't identify. He was frozen, eyes wide in pain.

"Don't," he gasped as she turned back to me. I felt a wave of guilt as I realized he was talking about me, not the curse on himself.

Bella looked up at him. "I'm going to kill her. But I'm going to make her beg for it first." Then she muttered a word I was truly beginning to fear. "Crucio!"

The cruciatus was beginning to gnaw at my head, like white-hot chisels attacking my skull from the inside. I clawed at my scalp until my nails drew blood, trying to make it stop.

"Please," I heard myself cry. "Please, please."

Her eyes were wide, but she stopped, a wide smile replacing her frown. "Let's give you some more tattoos, darling." She ripped off my shirt so I only had a tank top, and knelt over me. Then she turned me onto my stomach and pressed her wand to my left shoulder. It burned more than it had before, and though I tried to keep quiet, a moan of pain escaped me.

"Blood whore," she said, bile in her words. They provoked an anger in me like nothing had so far. Maybe it was anger on behalf of Sirius, or a late surge of adrenaline, but I felt defiance again.

I yanked her hair until she lost her balance and punched her in the face. When she was down, I stood and kicked her twice, hard. I grabbed her wand and mine as she started bleeding, and some part of me felt satisfied. "Crazy bitch," I muttered, standing clear of her as she tried to get up. I ran to Harry and woke him up, and left him try to free Lupin as I kept my wand aimed at Bella's head.

She turned over, pale face covered with dark red blood. Her breathing sounded like liquid, but there was no panic in her eyes, no pain. Just fury. "I will make you regret killing my sister," she breathed.

Goose bumps ran up and down my arms, but I forced out a laugh. "I seriously doubt that."

I raised my wand.

"Stop." Lucius had my wand in his hand within moments; I hadn't even heard him approach. He slashed in a downward motion and I felt flames cut through my chest. He slashed again and the flames seared in my legs. I fell to the floor and he walked towards me, slashing once more. My head exploded in pain and I let out a low moan.

"She's dead." It was just a whisper, but his words echoed in the otherwise silent hall.

I swallowed. "I—I didn't mean to—"

"She's DEAD!" His scream was raw, and he waved his wand again.

"Enough, Lucius."

We both looked over to see pale feet, black robes, and red eyes. My blood went cold.

"My Lord!" Bella said, kneeling on the ground in front of him. "My Lord, your presence is a most wonderful surprise!"

OOO

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