Figures appeared around them, blocking their path. They wore hoods, covering up their features, their wands point straight at them. They were trapped.
"To me, Potter," repeated the drawling voice of Lucius Malfoy, his hand held out, palm up.
Harry just stared at the man. Lyla could see his face become downcast as the certainty of the situation settled on him.
It wasn't like Lyla didn't feel the same. She just had the knowledge it was coming.
"To me," Malfoy repeated.
"Where's Sirius?" said Harry
The surrounding figures laughed. One of them shouting triumphantly:
"The Dark Lord always knows!"
"Always," Malfoy echoed softly. "Now, give me the prophecy, Potter."
"I want to know where Sirius is!"
"I want to know where Sirius is!" The woman to his left mimicked.
The Death Eaters slowly closed in. Escape routes becoming less seize able.
"You got him," Harry persisted. "He's here. I know he is."
"The little baby woke up fwightened and fort what it dweamed was two." The woman said in a horrible, mock baby voice.
"Don't do anything." Harry muttered quietly to the others. "Not yet-"
The woman then let out a terrible scream of laughter.
"You hear him?" she said. "You hear him? Giving instructions to the other children as through he thinks of fighting us!"
"Oh, you don't know Potter as I do, Bellatrix," Malfoy said. "He has a great weakness for heroics; the Dark Lord understands this about him. Now give me the prophecy, Potter."
" I know Sirius is here," Harry said, mustering up his courage. "I know you've got him!"
The Death Eaters laughed, Bellatrix loudest of all.
"It's time you learned the difference between life and dreams, Potter," Malfoy said. "Now give me the prophecy, or we start using wands."
"Go on, then," Harry said, his wand rising. The other followed suit, lifting their wands, Lyla's fists clenched.
The Death Eaters made no move to retaliate.
"Hand over the prophecy and no one need get hurt," Malfoy said coolly.
Harry just laughed. "Yeah right! I give you this-prophecy, is it? And you'll just let us skip home, will you?"
The words hardly left his mouth when Bellatrix shrieked: "Accio proph-"
Harry was ready. "Protego!" he shouted.
"Oh, he knows how to play, little baby Potter," she said mad eyes staring at him in slight annoyance, through the slits of her hood. "Very well, then-"
"I TOLD YOU, NO!" Malfoy roared at the woman. "If you smash it-!"
Bellatrix stepped forward leaving the ring of Death Eaters, her hood lowered. Madness had entirely consumed Bellatirx, her hair wild and tangled, her face hollow, the only emotion passing through was the madness that haunted her eyes, making them age by a years. Yet someone could never look so in their element.
"You need more persuasion?" she said and Lyla could see the gleam at the prospect. "Very well – take the smallest one," she ordered the Death Eater beside her. "Let him watch while we torture the little girl. I'll do it."
The tiny group instantly surrounded Ginny, their bodies pressed together so tightly, Lyla thought she could hear their rapid heartbeats. Harry stepped in front of Bellatrix stopping her.
"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?"
She didn't move, instead stared directly at him, seeming to way her options out.
"So," Harry said, "what kind of prophecy are we talking about, anyway?"
"What kind of prophecy?" Bellatrix repeated. "You jest, Harry Potter."
"Nope, not jesting" Harry said. "How come Voldemort wants it?"
Low hisses were heard from the surrounding Death Eaters.
"You dare speak his name?" Bellatrix whispered.
"Yeah." Harry said, confidence returning to him. "Yeah, I've got no problem with saying Vol-"
"Shut your mouth!" shrieked Bellatrix. "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?" Harry said, in Lyla's opinion, recklessly. "Voldemort? Yeah, his mother was witch but his dad was a muggle-or has he been telling you lot he's pure-blood?"
"STUPEF-"
"NO!"
Jet of fiery red light, shot out of Bellatrix's wand, only for Malfoy to deflect it. The spell hit the shelves, shattering one or two glass orbs.
Two figures unfurled themselves from the shattered orbs. Both were pearly white as any ghost, like smoke floating through the air. Fragments of what they said could just be heard above Malfoy and Bellatrix's shouts.
"…at the solstice will come a new…" the figure of an old man said.
"DO NOT ATTACK WE NEED THE PROPHECY!"
"He dared- he dares-" Bellatrix shrieked, "he stands there-filthy half-blood-"
"WAIT UNTIL WE'VE GOT THE PROPHECY!"
"…and none will come after…" the figure of the young woman said.
The two figures became nothing but wisps of smoke, melting in the air. They were gone. The only thing remaining was the fragments of glass littering the floor, of what was once their home.
"You haven't told me what's so special about this prophecy I'm supposed to be handing over." Harry said.
"Do not play games with me, Potter," Malfoy said.
"I'm not playing games," Harry said.
"Dumbledore never told you the reason you bear that scar was hidden in the bowels of the Department of Mysteries?" Malfoy sneered.
"I-what?" Harry said, surprised. "What about my scar?"
"Can this be?" Malfoy laughed, the other Death Eaters joining in. "Dumbledore never told you?" repeated Malfoy. "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 is hidden in your dreams. He thought natural curiosity would make you want to hear the exact wording…"
"Did he?" Harry said. "So he wanted me to come and get it, did he? Why?"
Hermiones whispered voice entered Lyla's ears, making Lyla strain to hear the exact words.
"Smash shelves, when Harry says now…"
Lyla nudged Hermione with her foot, telling her she had heard, then passing the message onto Luna.
"Why?" Malfoy said, sound very delighted at Harry's naïve. "Because he 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 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? And he's made me come and get it for him? Why couldn't he come and get it himself?"
"Get it himself?" Bellatrix said, over cackling 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, had he? Like he tried to get Sturgis to steal it- and Bode?" Harry said.
"Very good, Potter, very good…" Malfoy said carefully. "But the Dark Lord knows you are not unintell-"
"NOW!" Harry shouted.
Five different voices shouted "REDUCTO!" Five different spells crashed into the shelves, causing orbs to be chucked off colliding with other orbs. Lyla coped, shouting the same word, moments after the rest. Her spell exploded one of the shelves, sending glass remnants to the Death Eaters below.
"RUN!" Harry bellowed.
So she ran.
She turned on her heel and pelted down the many shelves, heading to where she knew the door would be. She could hear footsteps and panting breaths behind her, signalling the others running.
The door appeared ahead of her, she ran faster, eventually reaching the door and thrusting it open and almost falling through it.
"Colloportus!" Hermione gasped, the door sealing itself.
"Where-where are the others?" Harry panted.
He was right. Luna, Ron and Ginny hadn't come through.
"They must have gone the wrong way!" Hermione whispered.
Lyla could see the terror in her face.
"Listen!" Neville whispered.
Footsteps and shouts could be heard on the other side, they put their ears against the door to hear better.
Lucius Malfoy's bellowing voice could be heard. "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 –Malciber, come with me!"
"What do we do?" Hermione asked Harry, trembling.
"Well, we don't stand here waiting for them to find us, for a start," Harry said. "Let's get away from this door."
Lyla watched them ran through another door. It hadn't occurred to them she wasn't following.
She made her way through another door, closing it firmly and using the same spell Hermione had to close the other. She didn't want those Death Eaters following.
The reason why Lyla didn't follow was quite simple.
She didn't want to be there.
There, when Sirius would fall through the veil, after being killed by Bellatrix. She feared the guilt that would happen. The guilt of knowing it was going to happen.
What was she meant to do?
Her whole being screamed at her to not sit around doing nothing, to help the others. It wasn't her to just stand aside and let someone else do her job. No. They were her friends she had to do something. And yet the price could be ever so high…
She knew exactly what happened, the dream imprinting its self at the back of her head, ever reminding, telling her what will be.
But does it have to be?
Does Sirius have to die, just because a dream said so?
She started wishing Dumbledore were here. He would know what to do.
Opening her eyes, Lyla, took in her surroundings.
The room was huge, never ending, so in fact she couldn't see the end, just a huge blackness that engulfed everything. Yet, it didn't feel empty, but very full.
A phoenix also stood before her.
Lyla had met a phoenix before, he went by the name Fawkes. She saw him sometimes, when Dumbledore came to visit her. Fawkes had always had a subtle nature that seemed to latch on to anyone surrounding him.
But this phoenix was different.
It's plumage rippled, as if it was really on fire. It eyes were the brightest blue she had ever seen, sparkling up at her with a curiosity she had never known. It steadily walked towards her, unsure as how to react to her.
Lyla smiled down at it.
"Its alright, I won't bite." She said offering her hand.
The phoenix hesitantly looked at her hand-
-then it just let out a song that brought soft, mellow music to Lyla ears. It flew up into the blackness, becoming a small beacon of light. Lyla could only watch it, until it melted into the darkness.
Really it was all pretty strange.
Voices suddenly penetrated inside her head. She clutched it in agony, closing her eyes trying to escape their wrath. In her predicament she forced open the door, she came through, appearing on the other side.
Again she found herself in the blue lit room with the many doors. They started to spin again. This just added to her pain: feeling dizziness making fall to the ground still clutching her head.
Why won't it go away?
She painfully rose up, going through one of the doors not caring where she went. Another voice not inside her head was heard. She felt something touch her and she lashed out, trying to remove it.
"Dat hurd." A voice said.
The pain seemed to subside and she opened her eyes to find Neville kneeling down next to her. His nose looked broken, blood oozing out.
"Dis way." He said heaving Lyla up. "'Arry god Dead Eaders do chase afder hib. Everybody else is oud. We god do help."
Lyla slowly regain control of her mind, taking in what Neville was saying. Eventually Lyla was back on her own two feet.
"Cobe on." Neville said, encouragingly. "Dis way."
She followed Neville not saying a word. They went through another door, only to find themselves back at the archway.
She could see Death Eaters surrounding Harry. Harry's hand white from clutching the prophecy.
"You see, there are ten of us and only one of you…or hasn't Dumbledore ever taught you how to count?" Lucius Malfoy sneered at Harry.
"He's dot alone!" Neville shouted running towards them, Lyla keeping pace. "He's still god us!"
"Neville, Lyla-no-go back to Ron-" Harry said desperately.
Before Lyla could react, a Death Eater had grabbed her, holding her tightly against him. Her struggling was futile.
"STUBEFY!" Neville shouted, his wand pointed right at the Death Eaters. "STUBEFY! STUBE-"
Neville ended up the same fate as Lyla. He struggled and kicked, the Death Eaters only laughing.
"It's Longbottom, isn't it?" Lucius Malfoy said. " Well, your grandmother is used to losing family members to our cause…your death will not come as a great shock. And who are you, girl?"
Lyla didn't say anything.
"Quiet one…are we?" Malfoy sneered.
"Longbottom?" Bellatrix repeated, an evil smile lit her hallow face. "Why, I have had the pleasure of meeting your parents, boy."
"I DOE YOU HAB!" Neville roared. He fought harder against his captor. The Death Eater holding him shouted, "Someone Stun him!"
"No, no, no." Bellatrix said, glancing between Harry and Neville, in sheer excitement. "No, let's see how long Longbottom lasts before he cracks like his parents…unless Potter wants to give us the prophecy."
Instantly, Neville started shouting.
"DON'D GIB ID DO DEM! DON'D GIB ID DO DEM, HARRY!"
Bellatrix raised her wand. "Crucio!"
Neville screams filled the air. The Death Eater holding him, let go, so he was on the floor writhing and twitching in agony.
"That was just a taster!' Bellatrix said as she released Neville from the curse.
Lyla felt her self freeze up. She stared at Neville's curled up form. Something clicked inside her. Her hands started to burn.
"Now, Potter." Bellatrix said, "Either give us the prophecy, or watch your little friend die the hard way!" She then turned to face Lyla, licking her lips. "Then I might start on the girl."
Lyla could see Harry's defeat looking face; she could hear also the Death Eater holding her, cry out in pain.
"MY HANDS!" he cried out, letting her go.
They were scorched and burned, pulsing with blisters.
A door flew open.
And out came the Order of the Phoenix surprising the Death Eaters.
Spells rained down on the Death Eaters, whom, were trying to retaliate, sending their own spells. Lyla dived to the floor, just as a spell narrowly missed her. She crawled across the floor, towards Neville and now, Harry.
"Are you okay?" Harry yelled over the sound of explosions and yells.
"Yes," Neville said, trying to get up.
"And Ron?" Harry said. A bang was heard, followed by a yell.
"I dink he's all righd- he was fighding de brain when I lefd-"
The Stone floor beside them, exploded; leaving a small creator. They quickly scrambled away, only to have a thick arm grab Harry round the neck.
"Give it to me," the Death Eater growled. "Give me the prophecy-"
Lyla and Neville acted at the same time. While Lyla pressed her hands against his legs, burning them, Neville jabbed his wand into the Death Eaters eye.
"AARGH!" the Death Eater screamed, letting go a now, purple in the face, Harry.
Wasting no time, Harry quickly gasped, "STUPEFY!"
The Death Eaters mask fell to the floor, revealing Buckbeak's would be killer, Macnair. He fell down backwards, one of his eyes swollen and purple, his legs had also flared up with huge red blisters, marked as hand-prints.
"Thanks!" Harry said to Neville and Lyla.
They quickly moved away as Sirius, battling his own Death Eater, came through, their wands blurred.
Harry suddenly slipped. Lyla looked to down, to see Moody's magical eye, rolling across the floor.
They didn't need to look far, to see Moody. His head was bloody and his attacker stood over him, turning round to face them. Dolohov face was mad and twisted with glee as he bared down, now, at Harry, Lyla and Neville.
"Tarantallegra!" he shouted.
Neville's legs went into a immediate tap-dancing frenzy, causing him to fall to the floor once again.
"Now, Potter-" Dolohov said.
But Harry had already shouted out his own incarnation.
"Protego!"
Lyla felt something streaked pass them, moved out of the way by the shield charm.
Dolohov once again raised his wand. "Accio proph-"
Sirius came out of nowhere, ramming Dolohov with his shoulder. Both ended up dueling the other.
At the same time, Lyla found herself running.
She didn't want to be here. It was too close.
A jet of green light streaked right pass her nose, making her halt in her tracks. She looked to see Rookwood, poised, reading another spell-
Lyla thrust her hands in his direction shouting:
"STUPEFY!"
Her spell hit him squarely in the chest, sending him backwards in surprise.
Kingsley appeared, grabbing Lyla roughly by the shirt, pulling her out of harms way, just as Rookwood got back onto his feet.
Lyla, once again, found herself on the floor. She crawled away from the now battling Kingsley and Rookwood, away, as far away as she could. She couldn't bear to watch. She couldn't…she couldn't…
The guilt will be too much…
Then he was there.
Dumbledore.
He effortlessly sent spells in any direction, catching Death Eaters in surprise. She could hear them shouting, telling each other he was here. Lyla scrambled, getting up, it was getting close, she had to-
Lyla stared as she watched Sirius fall through the veil, his eyes showing their surprise. He didn't reappear from the other side.
It hit her, like a bullet to the chest. He was gone, because she was a cowered.
A cowered that feared the future, of what might happen if events don't fall to what they should be.
She started to cry.
Hopefully this extremely long chapter makes up for the absence of any chapter at all…
Lucky for you guys I've already written most of the next chapter and a couple of chapters after that. So you can count on it to be quick updating.
So review! And just tell me what think about the story so far?