A/N: Uhhh, it's still Friday? Sorry! I don't even have an excuse; I just clean forgot what day it was. Anyway, enjoy!
Link leaped off his thestral, staring in awe at the enormous city the others had called London. It was a massive, sprawling thing of metal and brick and glass, and had long ago choked the life out of the earth. Only sparse trees and grass grew where permitted to do so. The rest was covered solidly by buildings and roads that seemed nearly senseless in their number and organization.
He wondered how the people of Earth lived like this.
"Over here," Ron waved at them. The nine soon found themselves crammed so tightly in a metal and glass box they could hardly move an inch, thestrals left to fend for themselves. "What was it again...?" Ron muttered.
"Six, two, four, four, two," George wheezed out from where he was pinned in place with an unfortunate elbow to the gut, courtesy of Luna.
A disembodied voice asked the reason for their visit and Harry choked out their names and a vague explanation that they were there to save his godfather. There was a little series of clinks as something fell, but Link didn't get to ask what it was before they were falling, the ground rising up past the windows that surrounded the metal box.
They tumbled out as soon as they stopped moving, those closest to the doors nearly falling on their faces as they spilled into the Atrium. The building was silent and empty. No security came to greet them, no witches or wizards going about their business passed by. The only sound was the trickling of water from a large golden fountain in the center of the room.
"Well this isn't ominous at all," Fred drawled, slipping his wand out of his pocket. Link shucked his robes, stuffing them into his pack. Hogwarts students' uniforms weren't especially maneuverable, but it was better than being caught up in billowing fabric.
"The giants were a pretty blatant diversion," Link returned curtly. "Wands out at all times. If you're distracted, you're dead." Hopefully help would arrive soon. Talented though they might be, no one here could be said to be a master witch or wizard. They were squires walking into a next of gold bokos. Until the Order arrived, if they arrived, it was Link's job to keep them alive.
Ron went a little pale. "Not helping, mate," he muttered, but readied his wand nonetheless. The others quickly followed suit.
"Let's head to the lifts," Ginny said, and they did just that. "What floor?"
"Down," Harry said at once. "Level nine." Perhaps this was information also found in his dreams. It was certainly all laid out very neatly.
Harry led the way, a lone door at the end of a long corridor swinging open without a touch. They stepped beyond into a dark, circular room. Candles flickered against the ebon walls that rapidly started to spin.
This... complicated things. Every door in the circular room was identical, and now they had no way to know where they had come from or where they were headed. As a security measure, it was undoubtedly ingenious. Had they functioning security, any intruders would have been caught before they could get themselves back on track.
There was nothing to do but check the doors one by one. Harry was certain he would recognize the correct pathway as soon as he saw it, and Hermione at least had the good sense to mark the incorrect ones. They opened a few into some truly bizarre spaces, one filled with floating brains, another with what had at first appeared to be shooting stars flashing across narrow pathways. Each they backed out of and marked with a burning cross-mark.
"Harry," George said quietly, when the next door opened into a glittering room filled with clocks, "we need to find the way back out first."
"This is the right way," Harry insisted. "We need to hurry."
"Always have an exit strategy," Fred said sagely. There was no hint of humor in his voice, and George and even Ginny nodded along seriously.
"If we're saving Sirius from Death Eaters, every second longer we take to get away from them is a second wasted," Link added softly.
Harry cursed but nodded. Hermione flicked her wand, green flames striking the door and sticking there in a large circle.
The next door they opened led not to the lifts, but to an empty stone room with a single archway, tattered curtains fluttering in a nonexistent wind. There was nothing but that motion that should have marked it unusual, but Link felt his breath stop as he took it in. He felt, for the first time in months, the Master Sword pulse through the leather of his pack.
"The gateway," he breathed, and Hermione cast him a sharp look. This was where Magorian had meant; it had to be. Home was just a few yards away.
"Let's go," Harry said, voice distant, and reality returned in a rush. He cast one last longing look at the pointed arch, Master Sword pulsing faintly, and backed through the open doorway.
Link forced himself to turn around. His friends needed his help. They would rescue Sirius. The students would get out of the Ministry. And then he would go. He slid his hand into his back, where the Master Sword's warm hilt met his palm. He slid it slowly out, shifting it to wield in his left, blackthorn wand clutched in his right. Neville loosed a startled little squeak, while Luna hummed in time with the Blade's pulses of light. The Sword felt only a little strange in his off-hand - he'd practiced long hours to use both with near equal skill.
It took two more doors to find the one back to the lifts, and Hermione quickly marked it with a yellow circle. They closed the door and the room spun again. It was the work of a bare second to find the correct door, and the passed through the green marked path into the room filled with clocks.
Time seemed to move strangely here, and Ginny's gaze was caught by a tiny bird being born, aging, and dying all in the span of a few seconds. Harry urged them forward, and they passed through another door. Thankfully, the walls did not start to spin and they were let through undisturbed.
"This is it," Harry whispered. "Row ninety-seven. Come on."
They passed rows and rows full of shelves containing nothing but glass orbs. There was nothing to mark them as unusual; just tiny, hand-written labels filled with meaningless letters and names.
The further they went, the more anxious Harry grew. "He should be here. Sirius should be here," he muttered lowly. But there was nothing. Not a sound outside their own footsteps could be heard. There were no Death Eaters, no voices or cries of pain. They turned down row ninety-seven.
Sirus was not there.
"I don't understand," Harry whispered. "He was right here..."
The others shifted nervously, wands up and ready. All save for Ron, whose gaze was locked on one of the little glass orbs. Blue torchlight flickered, casting a pale glow over its label.
"Why..." Harry murmured involuntarily, hand reaching for the little sphere.
"Harry, don't!" Hermione hissed.
Link froze, long ears twitching. He raised the Master Sword in a loose guard. Harry's hand closed around the orb, and the hylian's right hand lashed out.
"Reducto," he snarled, the eight other students jumping at the flash of light.
A black robed figure became visible in the spellfire, wand snapping out a hasty shield. Link's spell splashed harmlessly against the barrier, and the figure strode forward, voice hissing in a familiar drawl, "Your guard dog has fangs, Potter. It's too bad he wasn't smart enough to stop you from coming. Still, that works out nicely for us. Now, hand me the prophecy."
It was too late; they were surrounded, the nine of them pinned between the shelves with Death Eaters at either end of the aisle. Link cursed himself for his lack of attention. He could have paid attention to their positions, could have listened for their enemies, audible to his hylian ears. But he hadn't noticed, too distracted by the veil a scant few rooms away.
Link counted out a dozen or so Death Eaters, black cloaks blending in the night-dark room, vague outlines only just visible in the weak blue torchlight. He suspected many of them were the prisoners that had broken out of Azkaban earlier that year; easy troops for the dark lord.
All the while Harry kept talking, sending quiet signals between indignant snarls at the man in lead of the Death Eaters. They ate it up, circling slowly but unable to risk firing more curses without risking the prophecy clutched in Harry's hand. The Death Eaters watched the Boy-Who-Lived like circling carrion birds, waiting, until -
"GO!" the green-eyed wizard bellowed, wand sparking with spellfire.
Arcs of light blitzed from the wands of all the students, plowing into shelves filled with delicate artifacts. Glass spheres rained down, shattering as they impacted indiscriminately with the floor and over Death Eater's heads. The students ducked and scattered, shoving their way out either end of the aisle and tossing curses over their shoulders. They bee-lined toward the room filled with clocks, Link ducking back and waiting until the last of them had passed through the door before leaving himself.
Hermione fired a quick spell that sealed the door just before the sounds of angry shouting and sharp footsteps met their ears.
Fred and George were twirling their wands rapidly, throwing things from their pockets and transfiguring them into... little glass orbs.
"That's brilliant!" Neville whispered, taking hold of one of the spheres. Fred nodded, face pale. George passed out more orbs until they all had one, and Link did a rapid head-count. They were all there, all now clutching a "prophecy" but the room was cramped full of desks and tables and little timekeeping instruments. "There's not enough room to fight in here," he hissed. "Get to the-"
A loud crash resounded through the room and the students bolted, diving under and behind furniture as the door Hermione had sealed smashed apart. Link leapt without hesitation at the noise, and drove the Master Sword into the first cloaked figure hilt-deep. The Death Eater let out a little gurgle, body jerking once before slumping as dead weight over the Blade. Link tilted the Sword and the body slid off with an ugly squelch.
Hermione screamed.
"Y-you just..." Ron choked out.
Neville was the only one who didn't lose his head. He stood, brandishing his wand at the second Death Eater as she screamed "Avada-"
"STUPEFY!" Neville bellowed. The Death Eater ducked, green sparks sputtering into nonexistence at the tip of her wand.
"DON'T HESITATE!" Link roared. "THEY'RE TRYING TO KILL YOU!"
Harry snapped abruptly back to his senses. "Expelliarmus!" he snapped out, just as Neville threw another stunner. The Death Eater cackled and blocked the spells with a bright shield. Hermione, Fred, George, Ginny, and Ron added to the barrage, but the witch must have been powerful. The shield didn't so much as waver. Not until little Luna Lovegood took her out at the knees.
The witch went down, Luna rolling gracefully out of her tackle and to her feet. Six stunners gave the Death Eater no time at all to recover, and three disarming spells tore her wand from her grip. The enemy must have split up to search for them in the chaos, as no more came after them.
Harry turned wide green eyes at Link. "You killed him!" he gasped.
"Why are you so surprised?" the hylian demanded. When someone or something tried to kill you, you killed it first or got away. That was just common sense.
And when you were guarding another, you eliminated the threat. No questions.
Ginny burst out, indignant, "You can't just-"
"THEY'RE OVER HERE!" More shouts interrupted the young witch.
Fred cursed. "We need to get out of here!" he hollered.
George waved them over to the door, pushing into the circular room. They slammed the door shut, Hermione locking it with a quick "Colloportus!"
The room spun and they waited tensely for it to stop, eyes grimly picking out the yellow blur that marked the exit to the lifts.
The walls ground to a halt and the students bolted toward the yellow flame, only for another loud crash to signal the green-marked door bursting open. Link spun and swung the Master Sword in a gleaming arc. It flashed palely in the dark room, a scythe of holy energy screaming from its razor-sharp edge.
Death Eaters shouted, half a dozen voices erecting shields of pulsing magical energy. Not all of them had made it out of the clock room yet, and they hid behind the shields their cohorts had raised. One was not so lucky however, and a thick gash opened in the dark wizard's chest where the light struck. He fell and did not move again.
Another of the cloaked wizards cursed, spitting out a spell that splashed against the doors one after another in a chain that dissolved the markings Hermione had left. Red crosses vanished one by one and the last of the Death Eaters ran into the room. The door slammed shut behind him, and the walls began to spin.
Wands raised threateningly on either side. "Stop!" Harry shouted, raising his sphere. As if on cue, everyone brought out an identical orb. Link gripped his wand and Sword both in a single hand, holding his "prophecy" aloft in the other.
"You want the prophecy, right?" the Boy-Who-Lived called out, ever so slightly out of breath. "Then you'd better make sure you have the right one!" The Death Eaters shifted, wands sparking threateningly. But they would not risk smashing the prophecy, and right now, they all had one.
"Where's the last guy?" George hissed under his breath. "I'm counting nine. We got two in the other room, but one's not here."
Link counted out the dark cloaks and nearly cursed aloud, eyes flicking over the once-more identical doors. They had no way of knowing which one the Death Eater would come through. "Circle around," Link murmured back, pocketing his "prophecy." It was enough that they knew he had it. "Leave no one's back open."
But he was just a second too late. The door behind the students burst open, revealing the clock room they had just come through. The final Death eater streamed through it with the sole witch at his side, and Link realized with horror that she had only been stunned and disarmed. Had no one grabbed her wand at least?
As it turned out, no one had. The witch cackled, and the students were just turning to face the new threat when a violent spell burst from her wand. Half a dozen thick spikes screamed forward. Link managed to knock one aside with the Sword, but another struck Ginny in her thigh. She went down with a yell. "Ginny!" Ron howled, diving at his sister, a shield sparking from his wand.
The others fared slightly better, and either dodged cleanly or were struck with mere glancing blows.
"Bellatrix!" the first Death Eater shouted. "NO! We must retrieve the prophecy!"
'Bellatrix' didn't seem to care. Neville went white at her name and turned to face her, shaking with fury. "REDUCTO!" he screamed, and a jet of light flashed toward the woman. She merely cackled again, twisting out of the way like a snake and sending a lash of black flame at the boy. Neville shouted as he went down, a thick burn blistering from shoulder to knee. His orb dropped from his hand, shattering into hundreds of tiny pieces.
"LINK!" Harry screamed. "DO SOMETHING!"
The hylian knew exactly what the wizard wanted him to do, but Link could not fight and heal at the same time. He dove toward Neville regardless. "Get over here!" he hollered. George levitated his sister over and the students crouched in a circle, spheres and wands out.
Meanwhile the Death Eaters had not been idle. Fortunately, they were too distracted by one of their own. "Bellatrix!" the first roared, "Stand down! If the true prophecy breaks-"
Link tuned out the noise, snatching Neville's wrist. "He's alive," he said quietly. The pulse was strong. It was likely the pain that had caused him to pass out rather than anything more serious. The burn had blistered and blackened the skin, and looked truly horrendous. "Give me Ginny."
Thick rivulets of blood were spilling down her thigh. The spike had dissolved, leaving nothing to stop the bleeding Luna was pasty white as she hovered over the other girl. The hylian reached out, hands glowing softly with Mipha's Grace. He could heal the worst of the damage, but no more than that. There wasn't time.
"I'm learning healing spells as soon as we get back," Hermione fretted. Ron looked at her incredulously. "Now, Hermione, really?"
Harry had turned back to the Death Eaters, flanked by the twins. "Let us go or we'll smash all of them," he said seriously.
"You wouldn't dare, Potter!" was shouted back. "You want to know what it says just as much!"
Link took his hands from Ginny's leg, which was not totally healed, but at least no longer bleeding, whispering urgently. "Stay close as you can and cast shields as soon as I give the signal. As close as possible," he hissed. Hermione startled and nodded. She pulled the boys a little closer.
The hylian closed his eyes and focused. Of all his friends' gifts, hers was the hardest to use. Compared to the other three he had little control over it, but in a room this size, so long as the others followed his instructions precisely there would be no problem.
Blue eyes snapped open, bright gold with vicious energy. "Now!" he hollered, and the students shrunk back with a chorus of "protego!"
Ubrosa's Fury unleashed, arcs of golden lightning screaming from the ceiling. An unfortunate Death Eater was struck directly by thousands upon thousands of volts of electricity. He fell to the floor in a smoking heap.
Shields sprang up around the sharper dark wizards. Bellatrix, who had retreated to stand with her fellows, was covering herself and a companion with a purple shield that glowed brightly with each flash of lightning. As soon as the thunder faded from their ears, she turned the shield at the group of students.
"NO!" the first Death Eater shouted again.
Bellatrix's shield had absorbed the lightning. Fierce gold energy spat back at Link, and he was forced to use Daruk's Protection to block the sparking beam of electricity. The madwoman showed no signs of stopping despite her comrade's protests. "Avada Kedavra!" she spat, acid-green light just barely missing Luna.
"RUN!" Harry screamed. The twins scrambled to collect their downed friends and bolted to the nearest door. The group ran through, darting around the walls to give themselves some cover. The Death Eaters charged in after.
And that was when the Order arrived.
Sirius himself led the charge, closely followed by four others. Lupin and Moody were easily recognizable, but Link had barely spoken with. Tonks and Kingsley, he thought.
From there it was chaos. Spellfire flew every which way, the students adding their own stunners to the rainbow mix of curses and hexes jetting about the room.
Sirius' eyes panned briefly around the room, taking in the multitude of orbs with raised brows. "Take those and get out!" he hollered, ducking under a vicious hex.
The battle raged. Link ducked a curse that shattered a sizable chunk of stone from the raised dais the arch sat upon, flinging another ray of holy energy from the Master Sword. A firm "Reducto," spat from his wand a heartbeat later, catching a Death Eater in the ankle. His foot shattered with a thick crunch and he fell hard.
Too many allies were to spread thin to use Urbosa's Fury again. Link crouched, leaping at an angle from the floor, aided by Revali's Gale. He flung curses from his blackthorn wand overhead, causing more distraction then damage, but the ensuing chaos allowed one of Moody's spells to slip by a Death Eater's guard. He fell to the ground, stunned and bound tightly in thick ropes.
Where was Harry?
Link's question was answered a mere second later. The younger wizard screamed and the hylian spun just in time to catch sight of Sirius falling through the gateway, trailed by red spellfire. Bellatrix cackled madly, darting away from the arch even as Harry surged towards it.
"SIRIUS!" Harry howled. "SIRIUS!" Lupin was holding him back, and suddenly Dumbledore was there. The spells spinning from the elder wizard's wand were amazing, and Link stared in awe as their opponents were rounded up in what seemed to be no time at all.
"He's not dead..." Harry choked out. "He's not! He just fell, he's right there!"
"Harry," Lupin whispered. "Harry, I'm sorry. Sirius is gone!"
The Master Sword pulsed, and an urge so powerful overtook Link that he was by the arch before he realized he was moving.
"Link!" Lupin yelled, alarmed. "What are you doing?!"
The hylian vaguely realized he was still carrying Harry's things and pulled them out one by one, dropping them to the floor. Map, cloak, knife. And a little box. That finished, he glanced around. The Order was just finishing binding and disarming the Death Eaters, his charge surrounded by close friends and allies.
"This is the way..." he breathed distantly. The Blade of Evil's Bane pulsed again, more brightly than it had since his battle with Ganon. "It's time."
Think cracks in the arch lit up with pale blue light, thrumming with energy. They beat in time with the Master Sword, like the pulsing of a massive heart. Dreamlike, he stepped forward.
"LINK, STOP!" Harry cried desperately, but the hylian barely heard it. It was like the boy was underwater, only vague ripples reaching him where words should have been.
The sounds of his friends reached only deaf ears. Link took another step, then another, and fell through the veil.