I worked very hard to have this chapter ready in time for a lightening visit home where I could steal some wifi. As such I apologise for any glaring errors, the editing process was a little rushed. In my defence it is quite a long chapter compared to the others in this story.
Chapter 26 Fifth Year: The Ministry
Merlin swallowed as the elevator doors opened onto the Atrium of the Ministry of Magic. The thestral ride from Hogwarts to London had been surprisingly easy, but they all knew that it was only going to get harder from here. Merlin gripped the Sidhe staff, hefting it lightly ready for any attack.
Despite Harry's assurances Merlin was sure they were more likely to meet up with Ministry security than Death Eaters. However as their little group hurried across the Atrium they didn't see a single person, it seemed that the entire Ministry shut down overnight.
Far from comforting Merlin, this only served to set him more on edge. It was looking as though Harry's dream was going to be right. If there was no one here then it was more likely that Death Eaters had managed to penetrate the Ministry's defences, bringing a hostage wouldn't be all that difficult either.
"This way." Harry whispered, leading them in the direction of the elevators. Merlin hung to the back, his grip on his staff white knuckled. This was Harry's rescue mission, but Merlin had no qualms about stepping in if it looked like any of his friends were going to be in danger.
As they crammed themselves into the elevator Merlin spoke up. "This seems too easy." He pointed out.
The fact that everyone looked equally worried told Merlin that he hadn't been the only one thinking it. Harry nodded. "I know, but don't let your guards down. If the Death Eaters are going to ambush us then they are going to be in the Department of Mysteries."
"Do you have any idea what's down there?" Hermione asked Harry quietly.
Harry shrugged and looked at Ron. The red head shook his head. "I asked Dad once, but he said the people that worked there are called Unmentionables for a reason. None of them talk about what they do and no one in the Ministry knows either."
"Great." Merlin muttered. He looked over the anxious, determined faces in front of him. "Look before we go bounding off just let me give you one little warning." He raised the Sidhe staff slightly. "If I go to hit someone with magic out of this, get out of the way. It won't be a stunning spell."
Everyone except Luna looked alarmed. The pale haired witch simply smiled and drew her own wand.
There was a soft chime and the golden lift doors opened in front of them. In the front of their group now Merlin levelled his staff in front of him. Their little group stood still for a long minute, breath held and wands at the ready. When nothing leapt out of the dim corridor to attack them Harry took the lead once again.
"Harry...I think Merlin is right, this seems too easy." Hermione whispered, in the silent corridor her voice carried sounding far too loud.
"He's here Hermione, he has to be. The Death Eaters must all be in with Voldemort." Harry insisted, reaching out his free hand to grasp the handle of the door at the end of the corridor.
Merlin hadn't pressed Dumbledore for details about where the prophecy was kept and he had spent only a minimal amount of time in the Ministry of Magic, none of it down this far. He was more than a little curious about what sort of magic they had been performing deep in the most secure parts of the Ministry.
The first room they entered was just as quiet as the rest of the Ministry had been. It was a single large circular room with identical doors set at equal intervals around the smooth walls. Ron stepped forward to grab one door, while all the others set about to do the same. Merlin rubbed his nose there was a lot of magic down here.
Then the walls started to spin. Ron gave an involuntary shout of surprise. The doors moved so fast that they blurred and when they began to slow they all realised that none of them knew even which door they had entered in.
Neville looked over at Harry. "What do we do?" He asked.
For the first time since they had left Hogwarts Harry looked uncertain. Then he gritted his teeth and grabbed the handle of the door in front of him. "We try the doors."
Ginny grabbed the handle of another door starting the rest of them off. Merlin grabbed his own door, finding himself facing the long corridor they had just departed.
"Hey Harry you said it was a room full of shelves and silver balls?" Neville called.
Harry spun, he had been halfway through his own door, but Neville's call seemed to draw him back. "Yeah, is that it?"
Everyone abandoned their doors and hurried over to Neville. Peering through everyone's heads Merlin looked around the massive hall behind the door. "This is it." Harry whispered, pointing his wand ahead and lighting the tip. "Come on, just be quiet and look out for row 97. That's where they have Sirius." The teenager set his shoulders and hurried forward into the dark room.
Walking along the rows upon rows of orb covered shelving made the hairs on the back of Merlin's neck stand on end. Aside from the lights from his companion's wand tips the eerie glow from the prophecy orbs was the only light source. While Harry read off the row numbers they rest of their little group was on the lookout for Death Eaters. As Harry whispered the number 80 every instinct Merlin had started screaming. He stopped, but the others continued forward.
Luna alone stopped with him, her pale eyes were wide and she looked as close to frightened as Merlin had ever seen her. "Is something wrong Emrys?" She asked quietly.
Merlin shrugged and looked around, rolling his staff in his fingers. He wanted to call out to the others, but they were already vanishing into the darkness. Merlin grimaced and started walking again, pushing his nerves to the back of his mind. "This is too easy. It feels like a trap." He whispered to Luna. "We should have run into at least one Death Eater by now. If Voldemort was here then surely he would have Death Eaters placed around in case any of the Ministry people came down to investigate."
Luna looked sad. "Maybe You-Know-Who is already gone." She didn't add that maybe Sirius was already dead, after all it had been a few hours since Harry's vision.
"Maybe." Merlin whispered, picking up his pace to catch up with the others.
Suddenly there was a flourish of movement ahead of them. Merlin grabbed Luna by the arm and pulled her into the shadows of the nearest shelf. Peering around the glittering orbs Merlin saw that the rest of their group was now surrounded by black robed Death Eaters. Everyone had wands out, but it was clear that Harry and his friends were seriously outnumbered. Behind him Luna leant against his side to get a good look herself.
Merlin glanced down at her and she smiled firmly up at him. She was ready when he was. Merlin hefted his staff and bent to whisper in her ear. "Circle around to the left, I'll head right, I'll get Harry's attention and when he gives the signal stun anything in black."
Luna smiled again and edged off into the darkness.
Merlin picked his way carefully through the shadow filled gloom. He could hear a low voice talking, but couldn't pick out the words from this distance. The speech was interrupted by a shrilled female voice laced with vitriol and insanity. Merlin hurriedly found a place on the edge of a nearby aisle behind the two Death Eaters talking to Harry.
Now that he could more clearly see his friend Merlin realised that Harry was holding one of the prophecy balls in his hand. "Curiosity killed the cat." Merlin muttered to himself and edged out of the shadows. Harry had obviously been planning some sort of surprise attack because the instant he met Merlin's eye his lips quirked in a faint smile.
Harry's attention was immediately drawn back to the two Death Eaters, however this time instead of just refusing to hand over the prophecy clasped in his fingers Harry's defiant glare became smug. "Stupefy!" He yelled.
Harry's spell was followed by five more and a single dazzling blast from the tip of Merlin's staff. As soon as the spells burst from the tips of their wands they were all running. In the half light of the room it was chaos. Merlin could hear the shouts and see the brilliant flashes of spell light, but he had almost immediately become separated from the others.
The sounds of fighting, the crash of shelves and the whisper of broken prophecies filled the massive hall. Above it all was the sound of Merlin's own gasping breath. Then suddenly in front of him was a masked and cloaked Death Eater.
The figure raised its wand and a flash of red light burst towards Merlin. The sorcerer threw himself to the side and the spell shattered several of the shelves beside him, raining crystal and pearly ghosts into his hair.
Merlin shoved a wall of magic at his attacker, but the Death Eater threw up a shield. Though the protection charm shattered under the onslaught of magic it protected the Death Eater from most of the spell.
Merlin threw up his own shield just in time to catch the next stunning spell sent his way. Over the years, the stunning spell had focused down to a single point spell, but it had lost none of its potency. The still healing bruise on Merlin's back was testament to that.
In the back of Merlin's mind he knew that he needed to get back to Harry and the rest of his friends. While they were capable of protecting themselves, their time in the DA held as proof, they were severely outnumbered.
However this Death Eater was determined to take Merlin down. Whipping the Sidhe staff up Merlin used the gnarled wood to deflect the next spell. He needed more than the half seconds the Death Eater was giving him to use the devastating power of the staff.
Glancing to his right Merlin gritted his teeth and mentally apologised to the person who would have to clean up their mess. Then he focused his attention on the shelving. "Fall." He cried. The staff burned in his hand as the magic knocked the shelves down.
The Death Eater, half way through another spell, looked up at the sound of breaking glass. Then the man was lost under the collapsing shelves. Merlin did little more than wait to ensure the man had been incapacitated before he stretched out in to a run. Cursing the sameness of the room Merlin became lost twice before he was able to find his way to the door back to the central room.
Signs of battles lay about him in the form of broken doors, unconscious Death Eaters and the acrid smell of magic. Many of the doors from the circular central room had been torn off so Merlin was able to simply stick his head into each room without having to wait for everything to re-align. Almost all the rooms had seen signs of violence, but after looking through six of the room's Merlin had yet to find any conscious Death Eaters or more to his relief any of his friends. As the room finally spun into place Merlin caught more sounds of battle coming from behind the door directly in front of him. Shifting his grip on the Sidhe staff Merlin hurried towards the door.
The door opened willingly to his touch and Merlin was immediately sucked into the fray.
They were standing in a large empty room. Around him Death Eaters battled the students, now backed up by members of the Order of the Phoenix. Despite the ruckus around him Merlin could not tear his eyes from the centre of the room. Sitting within a stone archway, atop a dais was a veil he had seen before.
It was not something Merlin had ever wanted to see again. Shivers ran up Merlin's spine and his fingers spasmed and locked on the staff in his hand. How had they opened up a hole in the Veil between the worlds and he hadn't known? How was it here and yet the spirits of the dead were not, more importantly if the veil between the dead and the living was torn then where was the Cailleach?
"NO!" The scream broke through Merlin's horrified daze. Harry was lunging for the veil as Sirius, a puzzled look on his face, fell slowly, gracefully back through the veil and vanished.
Merlin was too far away to stop Harry from following his godfather through to the realms of the dead. Thankfully Lupin was closer and snagged the boy around his waist, pulling him away from the torn veil and cradling the sobbing youth. "Sirius."
Merlin cursed under his breath as a high pitched cackle whipped through the air. Harry's head came up and Merlin recognised the look in his bright green eyes. Merlin had seen it before, the desire for revenge. Harry tore himself from Lupin's arms and raced after the cackling Bellatrix.
Merlin vaulted over a nearby piece of fallen masonry, with every intention of running after Harry. For all Harry's skills, determination and fury, he would be no match for the mad witch. However Merlin's plan was disrupted before he could take more than a few steps.
His way was blocked by a pair of hooded Death Eaters who sent curses spiralling his way before Merlin's feet had even touched the ground. Forced to throw himself sideways, out of the way of the two curses, Merlin hit the shattered ground with jarring force, knocking the wind out of himself. He staggered quickly to his feet throwing his free hand out to knock one of the Death Eaters flying, most of the spell missed causing the robed man to only stagger back a few steps and his companion to hesitate momentarily.
It was enough. Merlin thrust the end of his staff towards one and as the vaporising bolt of magical energy left the staff tip Merlin whipped his fingers around snagging the other Death Eater's robe and yanking him off his feet. The wizard's wand slipped from his surprised fingers and clattered to the floor.
Merlin half turned his head as he felt a big spell form behind his head. Twisting Merlin threw his entrapped Death Eater towards his comrades. Barely a moment later Dumbledore's anti-apparition spell encircled them all.
Several of the Order members were leaning on each other for support, others were caring for the students. Merlin threw a fast critical eye over his friends, Hermione appeared to be in the worst shape, currently unconscious and being treated by Lupin and Tonks, the others appeared cut and bruised, but not too badly damaged. Out of the corner of his eye Merlin saw a ripple of movement as Dumbledore hurried down the corridor that Harry had departed through.
Merlin bit his lip and looked up at the tear between the worlds. It should have disappeared with the blood sacrifice, and yet here it remained visually peaceful but standing this close without the noise of the battle around him Merlin could feel the veil whispering.
"Merlin!" Someone called. Merlin turned his head and found himself face to face with Alastor Moody. The grizzled old warrior flicked a glance towards the veil. "Something wrong boy?"
Merlin shrugged. "Yes, but I think I should follow Harry and Dumbledore. Unless you need my help here?"
Moody waved his hand, "Get moving, everything is under control here."
Merlin nodded and with a last nervous glance at the veil he ran after Dumbledore. With no real idea where he was going Merlin followed his instincts. Bellatrix would be trying to escape so the Atrium was the most logical place that she would head for. It was a long way and Merlin was gasping for breath. The Sidhe staff felt as though it weighed a thousand pounds, his shoulder ached from carrying it.
Halfway to the Atrium Merlin felt the sudden vicious pulse of a powerful magic. It was so strong it knocked the air from his lungs and made his head pound. Staggering sideways to lean against the wall Merlin took a couple of deep breaths and then restarted his run. The amount of magic in the air only increased as he approached the Atrium and as he stepped into the massive chamber Merlin saw why.
Dumbledore was engaged in an all out magical brawl with none other than Voldemort.
The Dark wizard had his back to Merlin, and Dumbledore was so invested in the battle that he didn't seem to notice Merlin duck through the archway. The two wizards were sending wave after wave of magic at each other. Merlin could see the two were well matched and while neither of them appeared touched by the others spells their battle was devastating the room around them.
Pieces of the ceiling were raining down on the two oblivious wizards and the golden statues were shattered to pieces and scattered around the room. All except one. The wizard statue was huddled over the other side of the room and peeking out from between the protective arms was Harry.
Merlin breathed an instant sigh of relief; Harry was alive, frightened and obviously exhausted, but alive. He tried to make his way over to his sheltered friend, but a blast of intense heat rippled through the air, forcing Merlin to duck out of the way behind a large piece of rubble. As the heat vanished, to be replaced by an icy wind Merlin noticed that the long golden arrow from the centaur statue lay next to his left hand. Merlin picked it up and hefted it. It was heavy and surprisingly sharp.
Memories of flying weapons flickered through Merlin's mind, but he discarded the idea. A magically propelled weapon would be lost in the waves of battle magic going on outside of his little shelter.
Bracing himself, Merlin risked a quick look at the battle again and muttered a curse under his breath. Voldemort and Dumbledore had traded places so the Dark Wizard had his back to Harry now, while Dumbledore stood only a few feet from Merlin. Though there was something to be said for getting rid of problems with a good stabbing, there was no way he could get close enough to Voldemort now.
Just as Merlin was starting to ponder how he could get to Harry, everything went wrong. Dumbledore's spell hurtled towards Voldemort, but instead blocking the spell the Dark Lord seemed to twist in on himself and vanished.
Merlin jerked out from his hiding place, staff and arrow still gripped in his hands, and looked around. At first glance Voldemort had completely vanished, but that just didn't seem like the dark wizard. A low groan sounded from the back of the room.
Dumbledore rushed past Merlin's shoulder to a pile of rubble and what remained of the golden wizard statue.
As Merlin peered over his shoulder he felt all the blood drain from his face. Harry lay on the ground, his whole body twisting and writhing in pain. He automatically reached out to touch him. Dumbledore snatched his wrist and held him back. "I do not think that would be wise."
With those words Harry began to speak, "Would it not Dumbledore, shall you kill me now? How much are you willing to sacrifice for your precious Harry Potter?" The words seemed to cause Harry immense pain, and the voice which ripped from his throat wasn't truly his. There was something horrifically serpentine about the way it seemed to echo and hiss through the air.
Dumbledore stared sadly down at Harry, still firmly holding Merlin back. "Focus Harry, you are stronger than him."
Merlin looked down at his friend, feeling hopelessly helpless. "Harry." Merlin whispered, the boy's head snapped over to focus red tinted eyes on him.
Harry spoke again in that horrible voice. "You, you have caused far too much trouble boy..." Harry's eyes flicked to the staff in Merlin's hand. "But you are as helpless as the old man. Will you sacrifice Harry Potter just to destroy me?"
Merlin set his jaw. "Focus Harry."
"He cannot..." Harry-Voldemort's voice faltered, unsure for a moment. Then his eyes began to roll in his head. Merlin stepped back, pulling Dumbledore with him. He could feel magic swelling inside Harry. Inside his friend's mind a titanic struggle was beginning. Harry was fighting back.
Merlin gripped his staff and then glanced at the arrow in his other hand. He may only have one chance at this.
Harry's lips were moving silently, his breath coming in short gasps, but Merlin and Dumbledore could do nothing but watch as Harry fought his enemy with every bit of might he had. Merlin didn't know how long Harry fought Voldemort within the confines of his mind, but to him it felt as though a thousand years had passed.
Then without warning Harry's back arched and the air began to hiss and smoke. Merlin jerked backward and then forced himself to be ready. He shoved aside his elation at Harry's victory and focused instead on the furious robed figure forming from the dust.
Merlin's eyes watered at the amount of power he could feel coming off of Voldemort as he untwined his soul from Harry's. Casting aside his Sidhe staff Merlin grasped the long arrow in both hands. With this much magic in the air even his magic would be severely compromised, sometimes the knights had the right idea. Brute force was going to be the only option here.
As Harry rolled away, Dumbledore rushed to him and Merlin stepped forward. Vaguely he was aware that there were others arriving, but they were unimportant. Merlin's entire focus was on Voldemort, the massive Atrium had narrowed down to the strip of stone floor between Merlin and Voldemort.
The Dark Lord's red eyes slid over the newcomers, but betrayed no emotion at their appearance. Fortunately that moment of distraction was just enough to allow Merlin to cover the space between them. With the words of the prophecy ringing in Merlin's ears the sorcerer swung his arm with all his might.
Voldemort, skilled in defending against magical attacks, was unprepared for the sudden physical assault on his person. The sharp point of the centaurs golden arrow went deep into his chest, Merlin felt the edge nick against a rib and twisted the shaft tearing through muscle and tissue as it went.
Responding to the magical thrust out of instinct more than skill Merlin blocked Voldemort's spell and stumbled backward a few steps. It didn't matter that he hadn't pulled the arrow from the Dark Lord's chest; humans were remarkably predictable where injuries like this were concerned. Voldemort it appeared was no different; the Dark Lord grabbed the arrow and with a single movement yanked the arrow from his own chest.
Merlin's victorious grin was wiped from his face almost immediately. Merlin knew how to deliver a killing blow, there should have been a fountain of blood following that arrow, but Voldemort simply gave the bloodied weapon a distasteful look and cast it aside.
His eyes rose and looked directly into Merlin's astonished face, then he was gone.
Behind him Merlin could suddenly hear the rising voices of the Ministry employees behind him, but they had no meaning to him. Merlin looked down at the discarded arrow, it was soaked in blood, he hadn't missed.
As sound exploded around him there was only a single word in Merlin's silent mind. How?
The next chapter should be up in a week or so. I have three chapters mostly prepared for updates, but editing them is difficult as I have to do it on an iPad.
After that I have no idea, because following these next two chapters everything starts to diverge and while I have a general overview of where things are going I don't actually have a detail plot laid out just yet.