Lupin jumped through the darting bodies and the flashes of light. He leapt onto the dais, sending a Stunning curse at Rookwood as he did. Not checking to see if it made contact, Lupin stooped over the motionless girl. Her arm was still stretched towards the veil, and her fingers were a breath away from the arch.
Mad-Eye was nearby, covering for Lupin as the man bent over the girl. He turned her on her side and groaned. It was Isabella Petrroci O'Reagan, one of his best students for the brief year he had been a professor. Lupin fumbled at her wrist, trying to feel a pulse, when Mad-Eye gave a cry and fell over, bleeding from the head. His electric blue eye spun across the floor. Lupin did not have anymore time; he stood and began to duel with a masked Death Eater, leaping off the dais.
Sending his opponent away reeling, Lupin turned in time to see Lucius Malfoy being blasted through the air. He smashed into the dais near where Isabella's body lay. Sirius and Bellatrix were dueling on the other side of the archway.
Malfoy had raised his wand and aimed it at Harry, but before he could draw breath to strike, Lupin had jumped between them.
"Harry, round up the others and GO!" Lupin ordered, sending a spell at Malfoy. The jet of light hit the stone dais and the rock crumbled away. Malfoy countered and leapt to his feet. Lupin kept dueling with Malfoy until he caught sight of a familiar figure, tall and thin. Lupin broke away as Dumbledore, his face white and furious, sent a spell that wrapped around the fleeing Malfoy and pulled him into a steadily growing group of Death Eaters, tied together by invisible bonds.
Only one pair was still battling, apparently unaware of the new arrival. Lupin watched as Sirius ducked 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 hit him squarely in the chest. The laughter had not quite died from his face, but his eyes widened in shock.
It seemed to take Sirius an age to fall; his body curved in a graceful arc as he sank backwards through the ragged veil hanging from the arch.
Lupin saw the look of mingled fear and surprise on his best friend's wasted, once-handsome face as he fell through the ancient doorway and disappeared behind the veil, which fluttered for a moment as though in a high wind, then fell back into place. Lupin listened to Bellatrix's triumphant scream.
"SIRIUS!" Harry yelled. "SIRIUS!" He ran down the stairs, making for the dais. Lupin grabbed Harry around the chest, holding him back.
"There's nothing you can do, Harry -" Lupin tried to tell him, his own heart breaking.
"Get him, save him, he's only just gone through!" Harry protested, struggling against his hold.
"- it's too late, Harry," Lupin was trying to hold back his own tears in order to comfort Harry.
"We can still reach him -" Harry struggled hard and viciously, but Lupin held him tighter.
"There's nothing you can do, Harry... nothing... he's gone."
"He hasn't gone!" Harry yelled. Lupin wished Harry could believe it, for with every scream, with every denial, Lupin felt the wound in his heart tear a little more.
"SIRIUS!" Harry bellowed desperately. "SIRIUS!"
"He can't come back, Harry," said Lupin, his voice breaking as he struggled to contain Harry. "He can't come back, because he's d-"
"HE - IS - NOT - DEAD!" roared Harry. "SIRIUS!" Lupin dragged Harry away from the dais, ignoring the hurt and betrayed looks Harry occasionally threw at him in between staring at the archway. It was all Lupin could do not to stare at the veil as well, waiting for Sirius to come back... to laugh at him and call him Mooney... to joke about his furry little problem...
Dumbledore had most of the remaining Death Eaters grouped in the middle of the room, immobilized. Mad-Eye had crawled across the room to where Tonks lay and was attempting to revive her; behind the dais there were still flashes of light, grunts and cries - Kingsley had run forward to continue Sirius's duel with Bellatrix.
Harry had finally stopped struggling, and stood still, looking lost and dazed. Lupin maintained a firm grip on his arm nevertheless.
"Harry?" Neville Lonbottom, his legs twitching with some curse, slid down the steps toward them. "Harry... I'b really sorry... Was dad man - was Sirius Black a - a friend of yours?" Harry nodded.
"Here," said Lupin quietly, and pointing his wand at Neville's legs he said, "Finite." The spell was lifted: Neville's legs fell back to the floor and remained still.
"Let's - let's find the others. Where are they all, Neville?" Lupin turned from the archway as he spoke.
"Dey're all back dere," said Neville. "A brain addacked Ron, bud I dink he's all righd... Bella god id off him. Id... id she OK?"
There was a loud bang and a yell from behind the dais. Lupin saw Kingsley hit the ground yelling pain; Bellatrix Lestrange turned tail and ran as Dumbledore whipped around. He aimed a spell at her but she deflected it; she was halfway up the stairs by now.
"Harry - no!" cried Lupin as Harry ripped his arm from Lupin's slackened grasp.
"SHE KILLED SIRIUS!" bellowed Harry, taking off after Bellatrix. "SHE KILLED HIM - I'LL KILL HER!" Lupin shouted and made to follow, but Neville grabbed his sleeve and was pulling on it insistently.
"Id she dead?" Neville asked, tears in his eyes. Lupin blinked, forgetting for a moment who Neville was talking about. "Id Bella dead?"
Dumbledore had gone after Harry; there was really nothing Lupin could do there. But Isabella still lay at the foot of the archway, her hand extended in a final, desperate bid for safety.
Lupin went over to her and Kingsley, limping slightly, joined him. Kingsley picked up her limp, white wrist and waited for a moment.
"She's alive... I think," he said slowly. Lupin started slightly, astonished but pleased. He took off his long cloak and put it gently over the girl's cold body. Her eyes moved slightly beneath her eyelids.
"She needs Dumbledore," Lupin said, looking towards the door Harry had run through, Dumbledore close behind him.
Lupin carried Isabella up the stairs, still wrapped in his cloak. Neville led the members of the Order of the Phoenix back into the brain room. Hermione still lay on the floor, but Luna and Ron were stirring feebly. Ginny was fully conscious and upset.
"What happened?" Tonks asked, kneeling next to Ginny.
"I'd like to ask that myself," she said, still clutching her swollen and bruised ankle. "Harry came through not two minutes ago, chasing that Bellatrix Lestrange."
"Can you walk?" Tonks asked. Ginny shook her head, clearly frustrated.
"It's broken," she said. She caught sight of Lupin and his still burden and her face paled considerably.
"Is she...?"
"No, but we need to get her to Dumbledore," Lupin told her. "Which way did they go?" Ginny pointed back to the door that led to the circular room. Kingsley picked up Hermione while Tonks and Mad-Eye collected Ron and Luna. They could both walk, but Ginny leaned considerably on the crutch Mad-Eye conjured for her.
Their ragged and wounded group limped out into the circular room and closed the door behind them. The walls rotated swiftly and then came to a gliding stop.
"Exit?" Lupin asked in a tired voice. One of the doors swung open and they trooped out through it. Mad-Eye poked the button of the lifts viciously, as though it had caused him great personal injury. A lift clattered down to them and the golden grilles opened loudly.
Lupin looked around at their sorry group, assessing the overall damage. Mad-Eye still had a cut on his head, but if there was anything else, he wasn't saying; Tonks was still pale and she leant tiredly against the wall of the lift. Kingsley was breathing hard and limping heavily, greatly favoring his right leg; Ginny was not much better, hobbling along as best she could. Luna was pale and there was a sizable bump on the back of her skull, but she stood straight and tall. Neville's nose was about twice its normal size and swollen. Ron was slouched, still white as a sheet with the dark trickle of blood carving a line down his chin, but his giggles were subsiding gradually. Hermione had obviously received the brunt of a pretty nasty curse.
But Isabella was in the worst shape. She felt so very small and frail in Lupin's arms and her breath so quiet that he kept checking her pulse to make sure the she was still alive. According to Neville, Isabella had been running for the archway and had barely touched the veil. Lupin shivered, knowing that most people who made contact with the archway were not so lucky. In fact, all of them were dead.
"The Atrium," the cool female voice announced as the lift clattered to a halt and they climbed off. There were voices echoing through the hall, the floor reflecting the emerald green flames that had burst into life in all the fireplaces along one wall. Streams of witches and wizards were pouring from these, staring around the room. The fountain had been blasted apart, the wizard's large golden head lay on the ground at Dumbledore's feet.
Dumbledore pointed his wand at the golden head and it glowed blue for a few seconds and trembled noisily against the wooden floor, then became still once more.
Dumbledore picked up the head and walked towards Harry, who was miraculously unhurt, if still pale and dejected. Fudge was obviously flustered, speaking rapidly with his hands fluttering around him like nervous birds.
The minister's voice faltered and fell silent as Dumbledore surveyed him magisterially over his half-moon spectacles.
"I can give you..." Dumbledore pulled a watch with twelve hands out of his pocket and surveyed it "...half an hour of my time tonight, in which I think we shall be more than able to cover the important points of what had happened here. After that, I shall need to return to my school. If you need more help from me you are, of course, more than welcome to contact me at Hogwarts. Letters addressed to the Headmaster will find me."
"I - you -" Fudge spluttered, but Dumbledore turned his back on him.
"Take this Portkey, Harry." He held out the golden head of the statue and Harry placed his hand on it.
"I shall see you in half an hour," said Dumbledore quietly. "One... two... three..." Harry vanished with the golden head still held tightly to him. Dumbledore turned back to the still spluttering Fudge but before he could speak someone wailed.
A woman, tall and beautiful with thick dark hair pushed her way through the crowd. Her skin was olive-toned and her eyes dark. She wore a purple and gold dressing gown and her hair had clearly been braided back for the night.
"Questa e la mia figlia!" she wailed rushing to Lupin and pulling Isabella from his arms. She folded to the floor, rocking the girl gently, tears splashing onto Isabella's still face. "Mia Bella!" And she began to keen and wail piteously, babbling in Italian. Lupin stood awkwardly but Dumbledore's face was grave as he swooped down over Antonia Petrroci and her daughter.