Tonks's POV

It was a beautiful evening. This spring had gone by so fast, and it was wonderful. Sirius had invited Remus, Kingsley, Mad-Eye, and me over to hang out with him. He gets lonely a lot, but school was almost over, so the kids would be back soon.

Remus and me entered headquarters and went straight to the kitchen. Everyone else was there, except for Sirius. We waited for 5 minutes, until Sirius entered.

"Sorry, Buckbeak was injured," said Sirius.

"Oh, how?" I asked, concerned.

Sirius shrugged. "Don't worry, Buckbeak's fine now."

The conversation steered away from hippogriffs, and towards other things. We were trading jokes when Sirius mentioned how Severus had contacted him earlier.

"Harry said You-Know-Who had Sirius captured in the Department of Mysteries," Sirius said. "Severus said he'll contact us if they leave Hogwarts to go the ministry."

Remus frowned. "Voldemort must have planted that. Where is Harry now?"

"With Umbridge," said Sirius, "Harry wouldn't go—" began Sirius, but I cut him off.

"Of course he would! Let's just hope they keep the kids at Hogwarts. Besides, how will they even get to the Ministry?"

"Still, let's be prepared," said Remus. We all nodded.

The wait felt so long. We didn't say anything, just glanced at the clock once in a while. What I didn't understand was why Harry didn't check headquarters. But he probably couldn't, due to security.

Then, Severus contacted us.

Potter hasn't returned. I fear he, Granger, the two Weasleys, Longbottom, and Lovegood have gone to the Ministry. Dumbledore will be arriving to headwuarters shortly. I shall search the forest for them. I recommend Black stays here when Dumbledore gets here.

We all stood up, including Sirius.

"I am not about to just abandon my godson!" He said, "Kreacher will tell Dumbledore."

We weren't going to waste time arguing with him, so we just nodded and Apparated to the Ministry. Kingsley led the way to the Department of Mysteries. We entered, and found the correct door. We sprinted through, wands ready.

I quickly shot a stunning spell at Lucius Malfoy. We had the element of surprise, which was nice. The battle kicked up, as we dueled and fought with the Death Eaters. I was halfway down the steps, when Bellatrix started fighting me. It was a tough duel, but my hatred helped my reflexes. Bellatrix, however, had had years of practice. She was just too quick for me, as one of her spells hit me. There was a sharp pain, and I blacked out.

Remus's POV

I dueled with various Death Eaters, as the fighter in me was awakened. I had seen Mad-Eye fall from across the room, but couldn't help out due to a large Death Eater in my way. And then I had seen Nymphadora fall. All I could do was pray that she wasn't dead. Sirius and Bellatrix were dueling. Lucius Malfoy was about to shoot a spell at Harry, when I jumped in between them and blocked it.

"Harry, round up the others and GO!"

Luckily, Dumbledore arrived almost immediately. He quickly rounded up all the Death Eaters. The only duelers left were Sirius and Bellatrix. I watched wearily, wanting Sirius to be more careful.

Sirius was laughing, "Come on, you can do better than that!" He wasn't done laughing when the spell hit him in the chest. And somehow, somewhere I knew it was fatal.

Everything seemed to stand still. Sirius slowly fell through the veil, gone for good. Harry's scream of "SIRIUS! SIRIUS!" brought me back to reality.

Harry couldn't go through the veil, he'll disappear. I grabbed him around the chest to stop him.

"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—"

"There's nothing you can do, Harry . . . nothing . . . He's gone." I tried to keep it together, Harry still needed me.

"He hasn't gone! SIRIUS! SIRIUS!" Harry surged forwards, and it took all of my strength to contain him.

I finally broke. "He can't come back, Harry. He can't come back, because he's d—"

"HE—IS—NOT—DEAD! SIRIUS!"

I dragged Harry away from the veil. I could see Mad-Eye had crawled over to Nymphadora and was trying to revive her. The battle was basically over. Kingsley dueled with Bellatrix.

Harry stopped struggling, but I still kept a precautionary grip on his arm. Neville had managed his way over to Harry.

"Harry? Harry . . . I'b really sorry . . . was dat man—was Sirius Black a –a friend of yours?"

Harry nodded.

"Here," I said, fixing Neville's curse with a simple, "Finite." I took a deep breath. "Let's—let's find the others. Where are they all, Neville?" I turned away from the veil, trying to focus on the present.

"Dey're all back dere. A brain addacked Ron bud I dink he'ss all righd—and Herbione's unconscious, bud we could feel a bulse—"

He was cut off by Kingsley falling from Bellatrix's hand. Dumbledore shot a spell at her, but she deflected it. Harry ran after her.

"Harry—no!" I yelled, but he was already nearly out of the room. I could hear him yell. "SHE KILLED SIRIUS! SHE KILLED HIM—I'LL KILL HER!"

Dumbledore finished up tying the remaining Death Eaters, and went after Harry. The standing Order members helped heal what we could. St Mungos took Nymphadora away, assuring us that it wasn't too bad. Mad-Eye and Kingsley were all fine once they were patched up.

Even though I wasn't physically hurt, I felt like someone ripped out a piece of my heart. My best friend was gone, forever. First James and now Sirius, I walked away from the battle, depressed.