The DA and the Death Eaters

Disclaimer: Hp belongs to Rowling.

Black shapes were emerging out of thin air all around them, blocking their way left and right; eyes glinted through slits in hoods, a dozen lit wand tips were pointing directly at their hearts; Kitty gave a gasp of horror.

'To me, Potter,' repeated the drawling voice of Lucius Malfoy as he held out his hand, palm up.

'Where's Sirius?' Harry said.

Several of the Death Eaters laughed; a harsh female voice from the midst of the shadowy figures to Harry's left said triumphantly, 'The Dark Lord always knows!'

'Always,' echoed Malfoy softly. 'Now, give me the prophecy, Potter.'

'I want to know where Sirius is!'

'I want to know where Sirius is!' mimicked the woman to his left.

She and her fellow Death Eaters had closed in so that they were mere feet away from Harry and the others. Kitty drew closer to Harry.

'You've got him,' said Harry, 'He's here. I know he is.'

'The little baby woke up fwightened and fort what it dweamed was twoo,' said the woman in a horrible, mock baby voice. Harry felt Ron stir beside him.

'Don't do anything,' Harry muttered. 'Not yet-'

The woman who had mimicked him let out a raucous scream of laughter.

'You hear him? You hear him? Giving instructions to the other children as though he thinks of fighting us!'

'Oh, you don't know Potter as I do, Bellatrix,' said Malfoy softly. 'He has a great weakness for heroics; the Dark Lord understands this about him. Now give me the prophecy, 's time you learned the difference between life and dreams, Potter. Give me the prophecy now, or we start using wands.'

'Go on, then,' said Harry, raising his own wand to chest height. As he did so, the seven wands of Kitty, Vandyll, Ron, Hermione, Neville, Ginny and Luna rose on either side of him. But the Death Eaters did not strike.

'Hand over the prophecy and no one need get hurt,' said Malfoy coolly.

'Yeah, right!' Harry said. 'I give you this-prophecy, is it? And you'll just let us skip off home, will you?'

The words were hardly out of his mouth when the female Death Eater shrieked: 'Accio proph -'

Harry was just ready for her: he shouted 'Protego' before she had finished her spell, and though the glass sphere slipped to the tips of his fingers he managed to cling on to it.

'I TOLD YOU, NO!' Lucius Malfoy roared at the woman. 'If you smash it-!'

The woman stepped forward, away from her fellows, and pulled off her hood. Azkaban had hollowed Bellatrix Lestrange's face, making it gaunt and skull-like, but it was alive with a feverish, fanatical glow.

'You need more persuasion?' she said, her chest rising and falling rapidly. 'Very well-take the smallest one,' she ordered the Death Eaters beside her. 'Let him watch while we torture the little girl. I'll do it.'

Harry felt the others close in around Kitty; he stepped sideways so that he was right in front of her, the prophecy held up to his chest.

'You'll have to smash this if you want to attack any of us,' he told Bellatrix. 'I don't think your boss will be too pleased if you come back without it, will he?'

He could not think what to do but to keep talking. Neville's arm was pressed against his, and he could feel him shaking; he could feel one of the others' quickened breath on the back of his head. He was hoping they were all thinking hard about ways to get out of this, because his mind was blank.

'How come Voldemort wants this?' said Harry.

Several of the Death Eaters let out low hisses.'You dare speak his name?' whispered Bellatrix.

'Yeah,' said Harry, maintaining his tight grip on the glass ball, expecting another attempt to bewitch it from him. 'Yeah, I've got no problem with saying Vol-

'Shut your mouth!' Bellatrix shrieked. 'You dare speak his name with your unworthy lips, you dare besmirch it with your half-blood's tongue, you dare-'

'Did you know he's a half-blood too?' said Harry recklessly. Kitty gave a little moan in his ear.'Voldemort? Yeah, his mother was a witch but his dad was a Muggle-or has he been telling you lot he's pure-blood?'

'STUPEF-'

'NO!'

A jet of red light had shot from the end of Bellatrix Lestrange's wand, but Malfoy had deflected it; his spell caused hers to hit the shelf a foot to the left of Harry and several of the glass orbs there shattered.

'DO NOT ATTACK! WE NEED THE PROPHECY!'

'He dared-he dares-' shrieked Bellatrix incoherently, 'he stands there-filthy half-blood -'

'WAIT UNTILL WE'VE GOT THE PROPHECY!' bawled Malfoy.

'You haven't told me what's so special about this prophecy I'm supposed to be handing over,' he said, playing for time. He moved his foot slowly sideways, feeling around for someone else's.

'Do not play games with us, Potter,' said Malfoy.

'I'm not playing games,' said Harry, half his mind on the conversation, half on his wandering foot. And then he found someone's toes and pressed down upon them. A sharp intake of breath behind him told him they were Kitty's.

'What?' she whispered.

'Dumbledore never told you the reason you bear that scar was hidden in the bowels of the Department of Mysteries?' Malfoy sneered.

'I-what?' said Harry. And for a moment he quite forgot his plan. 'What about my scar?'

'What?' whispered Kitty more urgently behind him.

'Can this be?' said Malfoy, sounding maliciously delighted; some of the Death Eaters were laughing again, and under cover of their laughter, Harry hissed to Kitty, moving his lips as little as possible, 'Smash shelves-'

Kitty groped about and found Vandyll's hand. When she was sure that he was listening, she whispered was Harry had said to her.

'Dumbledore never told you?' Malfoy repeated. 'Well, this explains why you didn't come earlier, Potter, the Dark Lord wondered why you didn't come running when he showed you the place where it was hidden in your dreams. He thought natural curiosity would make you want to hear the exact wording ...'

'Did he?' said Harry. Behind him he felt rather than heard Hermione passing his message to the others and he sought to keep talking, to distract the Death Eaters. 'So he wanted me to come and get it, did he? Why?'

'Why?' Malfoy sounded incredulously delighted. 'Because the only people who are permitted to retrieve a prophecy from the Department of Mysteries, Potter, are those about whom it was made, as the Dark Lord discovered when he attempted to use others to steal it for him.'

'And why did he want to steal a prophecy about me?'

'About both of you, Potter, about both of you ... haven't you ever wondered why the Dark Lord tried to kill you as a baby?'

'Someone made a prophecy about Voldemort and me?' he said quietly, gazing at Lucius Malfoy, 'And he's made me come and get it for him? Why couldn't he come and get it himself?'

'Get it himself?' shrieked Bellatrix, over a cackle of mad laughter.

'The Dark Lord, walk into the Ministry of Magic, when they are so sweetly ignoring his return? The Dark Lord, reveal himself to the Aurors, when at the moment they are wasting their time on my dear cousin?'

'So, he's got you doing his dirty work for him, has he?' said Harry.

'Very good, Potter, very good ...' said Malfoy slowly. 'But the Dark Lord knows you are not unintell-

'NOW!' yelled Harry.

Seven different voices behind him bellowed, 'REDUCTO!' Seven curses flew in seven different directions and the shelves opposite them exploded as they hit; the towering structure swayed as a hundred glass spheres burst apart, pearly-white figures unfurled into the air and floated there, their voices echoing from who knew what long-dead past amid the torrent of crashing glass and splintered wood now raining down upon the floor-

'RUN!' Harry yelled, as the shelves swayed precariously and more glass spheres began to fall from above. He seized a handful of Kitty's robes and dragged her forwards, holding one arm over his head as chunks of shelf and shards of glass thundered down upon them. A Death Eater lunged forwards through the cloud of dust and Harry elbowed him hard in the masked face; they were all yelling, there were cries of pain, and thunderous crashes as the shelves collapsed upon themselves, weirdly echoing fragments of the Seers unleashed from their spheres-

Kitty found the way ahead clear and saw Ron, Ginny, Vandyll and Luna sprint past her, their arms over their heads; she heard Hermione shout, 'Stupefy!'

They were at the end of row ninety-seven; Kitty turned right and began to sprint in earnest; she could hear footsteps right behind her and Hermione's voice urging Neville on; straight ahead, the door through which they had come was ajar; she pelted through the doorway, and waited for the others to hurtle over the threshold before slamming the door behind them-

'Colloportus!' gasped Hermione and the door sealed itself with an odd squelching noise.

'Where-where are the others?' gasped Harry.

He had thought Ron, Luna, Vandyll and Ginny were ahead of them, that they would be waiting in this room, but there was nobody there.

'Listen!' whispered Neville.

Footsteps and shouts echoed from behind the door they had just sealed; Harry put his ear close to the door to listen and heard Lucius Malfoy roar, 'Leave Nott, leave him, I say- his injuries will be nothing to the Dark Lord compared to losing that prophecy. Jugson, come back here, we need to organise! We'll split into pairs and search, and don't forget, be gentle with Potter until we've got the prophecy, you can kill the others if necessary-Bellatrix, Rodolphus, you take the left; Crabbe, Rabastan, go right-Jugson, Dolohov, the door straight ahead-Macnair and Avery, through here-Rookwood, over there- Mulciber, come with me!'

'What do we do?' Kitty asked Harry, trembling from head to foot.

'Let'sget away from this door.'

They ran as quietly as they could towards the exit into the circular hallway at the far end of the room. They were almost there when Harry heard something large and heavy collide with the door Hermione had charmed shut.

'Stand aside!' said a rough voice. 'Alohomora!'

As the door flew open, Harry, Kitty, Hermione and Neville dived under desks. They could see the bottom of the two Death Eaters' robes drawing nearer, their feet moving rapidly.

'They might've run straight through to the hall,' said the rough voice.

'Check under the desks,' said another.

Kitty saw the knees of the Death Eaters bend; poking his wand out from under the desk, she shouted, 'Petrificus Totalus!'

A jet of red light hit the nearest Death Eater; he fell backwards into a grandfather clock and knocked it over; the second Death Eater, however, had leapt aside and was pointing his own wand at Hermione, who was crawling out from under the desk to get a better aim.

'Avada-'

Harry launched himself across the floor and grabbed the Death Eater around the knees, causing him to topple and his aim to go awry. Neville overturned a desk in his anxiety to help.
'Get out of the way, Harry!' yelled Neville, clearly determined to repair the damage.

Harry flung himself sideways as Neville took aim and shouted:

'STUPEFY!'

The jet of red light flew right over the Death Eater's Death Eater had snatched up his wand and shouted: 'STUP-'

'STUPEFY!' screamed Hermione, who had just caught up with them. The jet of red light hit the Death Eater in the middle of his chest: he froze, his arm still raised and collapsed.

'Thanks,' he said, pulling Kitty from under a desk. 'Right, let's get out of here,'

There was a shout from a room nearby, then a crash and a scream.

'RON?' Harry yelled.'Come on!'

They took off for the door that stood open at the other end of the room, leading back into the black had run halfway towards it when Harry saw through the open door two more Death Eaters running across the black room towards them; veering left, he burst instead into a small, dark, cluttered office and slammed the door behind them.

'Collo-' began Hermione, but before she could complete the spell the door had burst open and the two Death Eaters had come hurtling inside.

With a cry of triumph, both yelled:

'IMPEDIMENTA!'

Harry, Hermione, Kitty and Neville were all knocked backwards off their feet; Neville was thrown over the desk and disappeared from view; Hermione smashed into a bookcase and was promptly deluged in a cascade of heavy books; Kitty hit the window behind her, which shattered all around her; the back of Harry's head slammed into the stone wall behind him, tiny lights burst in front of his eyes and for a moment he was too dizzy and bewildered to react.

'WE'VE GOT HIM!' yelled the Death Eater nearest Harry. 'IN AN OFFICE OFF-'

'Silencio!' cried Hermione and the man's voice was extinguished. He continued to mouth through the hole in his mask, but no sound came out. He was thrust aside by his fellow Death Eater.

'Petrificus Totalus!' shouted Harry, as the second Death Eater raised his wand. His arms and legs snapped together and he fell forwards, face down on to the rug at Harry's feet, stiff as a board and unable to move.

'Well done, Ha-'

But the Death Eater Hermione had just struck dumb made a sudden slashing movement with his wand; a streak of what looked like purple flame passed right across Hermione's chest. She gave a tiny 'Oh!' as though of surprise and crumpled on to the floor, where she lay motionless.

'HERMIONE!'

Harry fell to his knees beside her as Neville and Kitty crawled rapidly towards her. The Death Eater kicked out hard at Neville's head as he emerged-his foot broke Neville's wand in two and connected with his face. The mask slid off the Death Eather's face. Dolohov grinned. With his free hand, he pointed from the prophecy still clutched in Harry's hand, to himself, then at Kitty. Though he could no longer speak, his meaning could not have been clearer. Give me the prophecy, or I kill her ...

'Like you won't kill us all anyway, the moment I hand it over!' said Harry.

'Whaddever you do, Harry,' said Neville fiercely from under the desk, lowering his hands to show a clearly broken nose and blood pouring down his mouth and chin, 'don'd gib it to him!'

Then there was a crash outside the door and Dolohov looked over his shoulder. Kitty seized her chance:

'Stupefy!'

The spell hit Dolohov before he could block it and he froze in mid action, falling to the floor.

'Hermione,' Harry said at once, shaking her. 'Hermione, wake up ...'

'What did he hit her with?' said Kitty, crawling forwards, blood streaming from a gash in her head.

'I dunno ...'

Neville groped for Hermione's wrist.

'Dat's a pulse, Harry, I'b sure id is.'.'

'We're not far from the exit,' Harry whispered, 'we're right next to that circular room ... if we can just get you two across it and find the right door before any more Death Eaters come, I'll bet you can get Hermione up the corridor and into the lift ... then you could find someone ... raise the alarm ...'

'I'm not leaving you,' said Kitty at once.

'And whad are you going do do?' said Neville, mopping his bleeding nose with his sleeve and frowning at Harry.

'I've got to find the others,' said Harry.

'Well, we're going do find dem wid you,' said Neville firmly.

'But Hermione-'

'We'll dake her wid us,' said Neville firmly. 'I'll carry her-you're bedder at fighding dem dan I ab-

He stood up and seized one of Hermione's arms, glaring at Harry, who hesitated, then grabbed the other and helped hoist Hermione's limp form over Neville's shoulders.

'Wait,' said Harry, snatching up Hermione's wand from the floor and shoving it into Neville's hand, 'you'd better take this.'

Harry stuck his head out of the door and looked around cautiously. They crept out of the office and back towards the door into the black hallway, which now seemed completely deserted. They walked a few steps forwards, Neville tottering slightly due to Hermione's weight; the door of the room swung shut behind them and the walls began to rotate once more. With a sinking heart, Kitty saw that Hermione's fiery crosses had faded from the doors.

'So which way d'you reck-?'

But before they could make a decision as to which way to try, a door to their right sprang open and four people fell out of it.

Sirius's Death

Disclaimer: I don't own Hp.

'Ron!' croaked Harry, dashing towards them. 'Ginny-are you all-?'

'Harry,' said Ron, giggling weakly, lurching forwards, seizing the front of Harry's robes and gazing at him with unfocused eyes, 'there you are ... ha ha ha ... you look funny, Harry ... you're all messed up ...'

Ron's face was very white and something dark was trickling from the corner of his mouth. Next moment his knees had given way, but he still clutched the front of Harry's robes, so that Harry was pulled into a kind of bow.

'Ginny?' Harry said fearfully. 'What happened?'

But Ginny shook her head and slid down the wall into a sitting position, panting and holding her ankle. Vandyll's face was covered in blood, yet he was sporting a lop sided grin.

'I think her ankle's broken, I heard something crack,' whispered Luna, who was bending over her and who alone seemed to be unhurt. 'Four of them chased us into a dark room full of planets; it was a very odd place, some of the time we were just floating in the dark and anyway, one of them grabbed Ginny's foot, I used the Reductor Curse and blew up Pluto in his face, but ... then he hit Vandyll with a kind of orange light, and he fell on his face on some broken glass that was strewn on the floor… '

'And what about Ron?' said Harry fearfully, as Ron continued to giggle, still hanging off the front of Harry's robes.

'I don't know what they hit him with,' said Luna sadly, 'but he's gone a bit funny, I could hardly get him along at all.'

'Harry,' said Ron, pulling Harry's ear down to his mouth and still giggling weakly, 'you know who this girl is, Harry? She's Loony ... Loony Lovegood ... ha ha ha ...'

'We've got to get out of here,' said Harry firmly. 'Luna, can you help Ginny?'

'Yes,' said Luna, sticking her wand behind her ear for safekeeping, then putting an arm around Ginny's waist and pulling her up.

'It's only my ankle, I can do it myself!' said Ginny impatiently, but next moment she had collapsed sideways and grabbed Luna for support. Harry looked around: they had a one in twelve chance of getting the exit right first time-

He heaved Ron towards a door; they were within a few feet of it when another door across the hall burst open and three Death Eaters sped in, led by Bellatrix Lestrange.

'There they are!' she shrieked.

Stunning Spells shot across the room: Harry smashed his way through the door ahead, flung Ron unceremoniously from him and ducked back to help Neville in with Hermione: they were all over the threshold just in time to slam the door against Bellatrix.

'Colloportus!' shouted Harry, and he heard three bodies slam into the door on the other side.

'It doesn't matter!' said a man's voice. 'There are other ways in-WE'VE GOT THEM, THEY'RE HERE!'

Harry span around; they were back in the same room where Dolohov had attacked Hermione, and, sure enough, there were doors all around the walls. He could hear footsteps in the hall behind them as more Death Eaters came running to join the first.

'Luna-Kitty—Vandyll—Neville-help me!'

The five of them tore around the room, sealing the doors as they went; Harry crashed into a tbale and rolled over the top of it in his haste to reach the next door:

'Colloportus!'

There were footsteps running along behind the doors, every now and then another heavy body would launch itself against one, so it creaked and shuddered; Luna and Neville were bewitching the doors along the opposite wall-then, as Harry reached the very top of the room, he heard Luna cry:

'Collo-aaaaaaaaargh ...'

He turned in time to see her flying through the air; five Death Eaters were surging into the room through the door she had not reached in time; Luna hit a desk, slid over its surface and on to the floor on the other side where she lay sprawled, as still as Hermione.

'Get Potter!' shrieked Bellatrix, and she ran at him; he dodged her and sprinted back up the room; Kitty followed him.

'Hey!' said Ron, who had staggered to his feet and was now tottering drunkenly towards Harry, giggling. 'Hey, Harry, there are brains in here, ha ha ha, isn't that weird, Harry?'

'Ron, get out of the way, get down-'

But Ron had already pointed his wand at the tank.

'Honest, Harry, they're brains-look-Accio brain!'

The scene seemed momentarily frozen. Harry, Ginny, Vandyll, Kitty and Neville and each of the Death Eaters turned in spite of themselves to watch the top of the tank as a brain burst from the green liquid like a leaping fish: for a moment it seemed suspended in midair, then it soared towards Ron, spinning as it came, and what looked like ribbons of moving images flew from it, unravelling like rolls of film-

'Ha ha ha, Harry, look at it-' said Ron, watching it disgorge its gaudy innards, 'Harry, come and touch it; bet it's weird-'

'RON, NO!'

Harry did not know what would happen if Ron touched the tentacles of thought now flying behind the brain, but he was sure it would not be anything good. He darted forwards but Ron had already caught the brain in his outstretched hands.

The moment they made contact with his skin, the tentacles began wrapping themselves around Ron's arms like ropes.

'Harry, look what's happen-No-no-I don't like it-no, stop-stop-'

Vandyll was trying to pull the brain off Ron. But the thin ribbons were spinning around Ron's chest now; he tugged and tore at them as the brain was pulled tight against him like an octopus's body.

'Diffindo!' yelled Vandyll, trying to sever the feelers wrapping themselves tightly around Ron before his eyes, but they would not break.

'Relashio!' he cried. Ron fell over, still thrashing against his bonds. A Death Eater hit Vandyll with a red light, and fell over, stunned.

'Harry, it'll suffocate him!' screamed Ginny, immobilised by her broken ankle on the floor- then a jet of red light flew from one of the Death Eater's wands and hit her squarely in the face. She keeled over sideways and lay there unconscious.

'STUBEFY!' shouted Neville, wheeling around and waving Hermione's wand at the oncoming Death Eaters, 'STUBEFY, STUBEFY!'

But nothing happened.

One of the Death Eaters shot their own Stunning Spell at Neville; it missed him by inches. Harry, Kitty and Neville were now the only two left fighting the five Death Eaters, two of whom sent off streams of silver light like arrows which missed but left craters in the wall behind them. Harry and Kitty ran for it as Bellatrix Lestrange raced right at them: holding the prophecy high above his head, Harry sprinted back up the room; all he could think of doing was to draw the Death Eaters away from the others.

'Kitty, go back!' he shouted over his shoulder.

'Shut up!' shouted Kitty.

The Death Eaters streaked after them, knocking chairs and tables flying but not daring to bewitch him in case they hurt the prophecy, and he dashed through the only door still open, the one through which the Death Eaters themselves had come; inwardly praying that Neville would stay with Ron and find some way of releasing him. Kitty ran a few feet into the new room and felt the floor vanish-

They were falling down steep stone step after steep stone step, bouncing on every tier until at last, with a crash that knocked all the breath out of them, and they landed flat on their backs in the sunken pit where the stone archway stood on its dais. The whole room was ringing with the Death Eater's laughter: he looked up and saw the five who had been in the Brain Room descending towards them, while as many more emerged through other doorways and began leaping from bench to bench towards them. Harry got to his feet though his legs were trembling so badly they barely supported him: the prophecy was still miraculously unbroken in his left hand, his wand clutched tightly in his right. He backed away, Kitty clutching him, looking around, trying to keep all the Death Eaters within his sight. The back of her legs hit something solid: they had reached the dais where the archway stood. They climbed backwards onto it.

The Death Eaters all halted, gazing at Harry. One was bleeding badly; Dolohov, freed of the Body-Bind Curse, was leering, his wand pointing straight at Harry's face.

'Potter, your race is run,' drawled Lucius Malfoy, pulling off his mask, 'now hand me the prophecy like a good boy.'

'Let-let the others go, and I'll give it to you!' said Harry desperately.

A few of the Death Eaters laughed.

'You are not in a position to bargain, Potter,' said Lucius Malfoy, his pale face flushed with pleasure. 'You see, there are ten of us and only two of you ... or hasn't Dumbledore ever taught you how to count?'

'He's dot alone!' shouted a voice from above them. 'He's still god be!'

Neville was scrambling down the stone benches towards them, Hermione's wand held fast in his trembling hand.

'Neville-no- go back to Ron-'

'STUBEFY!' Neville shouted again, pointing his wand at each Death Eater in turn. 'STUBEFY! STUBE-'

A Death Eater grabbed Kitty and held her arms behind her back. Another large Death Eater seized Neville from behind, pinioning his arms to his sides. He struggled and kicked; several of the Death Eaters laughed.

'It's Longbottom, isn't it?' sneered Lucius Malfoy. 'Well, your grandmother is used to losing family members to our cause ... your death will not come as a great shock.'

'Longbottom?' repeated Bellatrix, and a truly evil smile lit her gaunt face. 'Why, I have had the pleasure of meeting your parents, boy.'

'I DOE YOU HAB!' roared Neville, and he fought so hard against his captor's encircling grip that the Death Eater shouted, 'Someone Stun him!'

'No, no, no,' said Bellatrix. She looked transported, alive with excitement as she glanced at Harry, then back at Neville. 'No, let's see how long Longbottom lasts before he cracks like his parents ... or maybe Potter's sister here wants us to persuade her brother to give us the prophecy.'

'DON'D GIB ID DO DEM!' roared Neville, who seemed beside himself, kicking and writhing as Bellatrix drew nearer to him and his captor, her wand raised. 'DON'D GIB ID DO DEM, HARRY!'

Bellatrix raised her wand. 'Crucio!'

Neville screamed, his legs drawn up to his chest so that the Death Eater holding him was momentarily holding him off the ground. The Death Eater dropped him and he fell to the floor, twitching and screaming in agony. Kitty was screaming too, staring at Neville.

'Stop it!' she shouted.

'That was just a taster!' said Bellatrix, raising her wand so that Neville's screams stopped and he lay sobbing at her feet. She turned and gazed up at Harry. 'Now, Potter, either give us the prophecy, or watch your little friend die the hard way!'

Harry did not have to think; there was no choice. The prophecy was hot with the heat of his clutching hand as he held it out. Malfoy jumped forwards to take it.

Then, high above them, two more doors burst open and five more people sprinted into the room: Sirius, Remus, Moody, Tonks and Kingsley.

Malfoy turned, and raised his wand, but Tonks had already sent a Stunning Spell right at him. The Death Eaters were completely distracted by the appearance of the members of the Order, who were now raining spells down upon them as they jumped from step to step towards the sunken floor. Kitty who had been released by the Death Eater, was running towards Harry. Neville was crawling towards them.

'Are you OK?' Harry yelled, as another spell soared inches over their heads.

'Yes,' said Neville, trying to pull himself up.

'And Ron?'

'I dink he's all righd-he was still fighding de brain when I lefd-'

A thick arm came out of nowhere, seized Harry around the neck and pulled him upright, so that his toes were barely touching the floor.

'Give it to me,' growled a voice in his ear, 'give me the prophecy-'

Kitty was trying to pound the Death Eater's back. She pointed her wand at him and shouted, 'Stupefy!'

'Thanks!' Harry said to Kitty, pulling her aside as Sirius and a Death Eater lurched past, duelling so fiercely that their wands were blurs; then Harry's foot made contact with something round and hard and he slipped. For a moment he thought he had dropped the prophecy, but then he saw Moody's magical eye spinning away across the floor.

Its owner was lying on his side, bleeding from the head, and his attacker was now bearing down upon Harry, Kitty and Neville: Dolohov, his long pale face twisted with glee.

'Tarantallegra!' he shouted, his wand pointing at Neville, whose legs went immediately into a kind of frenzied tap-dance, unbalancing him and causing him to fall to the floor again. 'Now, Potter-'

He pointed his wand at Kitty and made the same slashing movement with his wand that he had used on Hermione just as she yelled, 'Protego!'

She felt something streak across her face like a blunt knife; the force of it knocked her sideways and she fell over Neville's jerking legs, but the Shield Charm had stopped the worst of the spell.

Dolohov raised his wand again. 'Accio proph-'

Sirius had hurtled out of nowhere, rammed Dolohov with his shoulder and sent him flying out of the way. The prophecy had again flown to the tips of Harry's fingers but he had managed to cling on to it. Kitty got up and clung to Harry's arm. Now Sirius and Dolohov were duelling, their wands flashing like swords, sparks flying from their wand-tips-

Dolohov drew back his wand to make the same slashing movement he had used on Harry and Hermione. Springing up, Harry yelled, 'Petrificus Totalus!' Once again, Dolohov's arms and legs snapped together and he keeled over backwards, landing with a crash on his back.

'Nice one!' shouted Sirius, forcing Harry's head down as a pair of Stunning Spells flew towards them. Kitty ducked just in time. 'Now I want you both to get out of-'

They ducked again; a jet of green light had narrowly missed Sirius. Across the room Harry saw Tonks fall from halfway up the stone steps, her limp form toppling from stone seat to stone seat and Bellatrix, triumphant, running back towards the fray.

'Harry, take the prophecy, grab Neville and Kitty and run!' Sirius yelled, dashing to meet Bellatrix. Harry had launched himself towards Neville-

'Can you stand?' he bellowed in Neville's ear, as Neville's legs jerked and twitched uncontrollably. 'Put your arm round my neck-'

Neville did so- Harry heaved-Neville's legs were still lying in every direction, they would not support him, and then, out of nowhere, a man lunged at Kitty: and she fell backwards, Neville's legs waving wildly like an overturned beetle's, Harry with his left arm held up in the air to try to save the small glass ball from being smashed.

'The prophecy, give me the prophecy, Potter!' snarled Lucius Malfoy's voice in his ear, and Harry felt the tip of Malfoy's wand pressing hard between his ribs.

'No-get-off- me ... Kitty-catch it!'

Harry flung the prophecy across the floor, Kitty span herself around on her back and scooped the ball to her chest. Malfoy pointed the wand instead at Kitty, but Harry jabbed his own wand back over his shoulder and yelled, 'Impedimenta!'

Malfoy was blasted off his back. As Harry scrambled up again he looked around and saw Malfoy smash into the dais on which Sirius and Bellatrix were now duelling. Malfoy aimed his wand at Kitty again, but before he could draw breath to strike, Remus had jumped between them.

'Harry, take everyone and go!'

Harry seized Neville by the shoulder of his robes and lifted him bodily on to the first tier of stone steps; Neville's legs twitched and jerked and would not support his weight; Harry heaved again with all the strength he possessed and they climbed another step-' Kitty followed them, clutching the prophecy tightly in her fist.

A spell hit the stone bench at Harry's heel; it crumbled away and he fell back to the step below. Neville sank to the ground, his legs still jerking and thrashing.

'Come on!' said Harry desperately, hauling at Neville's robes. 'Just try and push with your legs-'

'Dubbledore!' said Neville, his sweaty face suddenly transported, staring over Harry's shoulder.

'What?'

'DUBBLEDORE!'

Harry and Kitty turned to look where Neville was staring. Directly above them, framed in the doorway from the Brain Room, stood Albus Dumbledore, his wand aloft, his face white and furious. Kitty felt a kind of electric charge surge through every particle of his body-they were saved.

Dumbledore sped down the steps past Neville, Kitty and Harry, who had no more thoughts of leaving. Dumbledore was already at the foot of the steps when the Death Eaters nearest realised he was there and yelled to the others. One of the Death Eaters ran for it, scrabbling like a monkey up the stone steps opposite. Dumbledore's spell pulled him back as easily and effortlessly as though he had hooked him with an invisible line-

Only one pair was still battling, apparently unaware of the new arrival. Harry saw Sirius duck 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 of light hit him squarely on the chest.

The laughter had not quite died from his face, but his eyes widened in shock.

Harry released Neville, though he was unaware of doing so. He was jumping down the steps again, pulling out his wand, as Dumbledore, too, turned towards the dais. Kitty rushed towards Sirius.

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.

Kitty saw the look of mingled fear and surprise on Sirius'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. Kitty heard Bellatrix Lestrange's triumphant scream, but knew it meant nothing-Sirius had only just fallen through the archway, he would reappear from the other side any second ...

But Sirius did not reappear.

'SIRIUS!' Harry yelled. 'SIRIUS!'

He had reached the floor, his breath coming in searing gasps. Sirius must be just behind the curtain, he, Harry, would pull him back out ...

But as he reached the ground and sprinted towards the dais, Remus grabbed Harry around the chest, holding him back.

'There's nothing you can do, Harry-'

'Get him, save him, he's only just gone through!'

'-it's too late, Harry.'

'We can still reach him-' Harry struggled hard and viciously, but Lupin would not let go ...

'There's nothing you can do, Harry ... nothing ... he's gone.'

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