"When your teammate's in trouble, you go! Not caring what dangers you may face, you go!
Not knowing if you're coming back dead or alive…you go!"
-Rhino (Bolt)
"He should be right here," Harry said, turning in a circle and holding his illuminated wand in the air.
They had made it inside the Ministry with surprisingly no trouble at all and worked their way through room after room of the Department of Mysteries. Scarlett had only been there for ten minutes and she had easily come to the conclusion that this place was one of the strangest she'd ever been in.
Nobody said anything in response to Harry's statement. Scarlett shivered slightly as she gazed around the room. It was huge and filled with floor to ceiling shelves that contained thousands of small glass balls.
"Hey, Harry, this one has your name on it," Neville said from behind Scarlett. She turned and followed his gaze to a shelf a few above her head.
"He's right," she said in surprise.
Harry made his way past them and looked at the label under the glass ball, frowning slightly.
"Do you know what it means, Harry?" Ron asked. "Do you know what it is?"
Harry shook his head as he reached out to grab the smooth, round object.
"Don't, Harry," Hermione warned. "It could be dangerous."
Harry paused, but only for a second. In the end, he chose to ignore Hermione's warning.
Scarlett let out a breath she hadn't realized she had been holding. She didn't know what she expected to happen, but everything remained still as Harry pulled the ball off the shelf. That is, until a quiet voice spoke from behind them.
"Very good, Potter, now give that to me."
The man standing behind them was dressed in dark clothing and a mask. He slid the mask off of his face and Scarlett recognized him at once. As if she hadn't seen enough of the Malfoy family for one day, Lucius Malfoy stood in front of them, holding out his hand and waiting for Harry to hand over the object clasped in his fingers.
"Where's Sirius?" Harry asked.
Malfoy chuckled. "You know, Potter, you should learn to not believe everything you see."
"What are you talking about?" Harry asked.
Malfoy shook his head and smirked. "The Dark Lord needed you here, Potter. He needed you to come get that prophecy."
"Oh, so that's what this is?" Harry said. He tossed the prophecy a few inches into the air before catching it again. Scarlett could see Malfoy's eyes following it. "What's this prophecy say?" Harry asked.
"You mean you don't know?" Malfoy asked, smirking again. "Have you ever wondered why the Dark Lord killed your parents? Have you ever wanted to know the story behind your scar?"
Harry didn't answer, but he gazed down at the prophecy in his hand. More Death Eaters began to close in on them in the silence, blocking every direction.
"If you just hand it over, you can find out the answers to those questions," Malfoy continued.
As he had been talking, Scarlett saw Harry mutter something to Hermione, barely moving his lips. A second later, she turned to Scarlett.
"When Harry says to, start sending Stunners everywhere."
"If you do anything to us, I'll break it," Harry said to Malfoy as Scarlett passed the message on to Neville.
Suddenly, a high pitched laugh came from behind Malfoy. A woman appeared just over his shoulder.
"He knows how to play!" she cackled.
"Bellatrix Lestrange," Neville whispered.
"Neville Longbottom!" Bellatrix laughed. "How're mum and dad doing?"
"Better now that they're about to be avenged," Neville said, raising his wand at the same time Bellatrix raised hers. Harry forced Neville's arm down.
"Now, now, Bella," Malfoy said gently. "We don't want to start trouble. We just want that prophecy."
"I've waited fourteen years for answers," Harry said slowly.
"I know," Malfoy said, trying to be sympathetic.
"But," Harry continued, "I think I can wait a little bit longer. Now!"
Seven Stunner spells shot out in all different directions, but the Death Eaters were quick. They began to disappear and everyone knew that it wasn't for good.
Scarlett picked a direction and ran. She didn't think any of the others were around her and that made her nervous. What if something happened to them?
Scarlett's path was suddenly cut off by a Death Eater. As he advanced towards her, she backed up a few steps before trying to Stun him. He ducked and the spell hit one of the shelves just over his head.
Glass, dust and debris rained down on them, but Scarlett shot another Stunner spell in the direction of the Death Eater. She must have missed again, because as the dust cleared slightly, she could see him moving towards her again, firing spells rapidly. Scarlett mentally cursed. This wasn't going so well.
Not quite sure how she was doing it, Scarlett managed to dodge every spell the Death Eater sent her way. She backed up a few more steps and walked right into someone. Whirling around, she saw it was another Death Eater. He spun her around and grabbed one of her arms, pulling it roughly behind her as she cried out in pain. He threw his other arm around her neck, pulling her head against his shoulder and practically choking her.
"Hold still," he said, and Scarlett knew he was smirking. "It's easier to hit you if you stop moving."
"Not going to happen," Scarlett managed to choke out, struggling against him.
The first Death Eater started firing more spells, but since Scarlett was still moving and struggling, one of the spells hit the Death Eater behind her. He fell to the ground, freeing Scarlett from his grip. She shot another Stunner at the Death Eater in front of her as she gasped for breath. This time it hit him and he flew backwards into a shelf. Even more glass and dust were thrown into the air. One shard cut into Scarlett's cheek and the pain seemed to snap her into motion. She turned and ran the other way, hoping to run into someone soon—someone who wasn't a Death Eater.
After a moment, she rounded a corner and saw Neville and Luna fighting a Death Eater not too far away.
"Stupefy!" Neville yelled. The spell was very well aimed and hit the Death Eater right in the chest.
"Well done, Neville," Luna said, grabbing his hand and pulling him away. Scarlett caught up to them just as they turned around.
"Have you seen any of the others?" she asked, brushing her cheek with the back of her hand. She hardly noticed the blood that wiped off.
"No," Luna said, shaking her head, "but I think it would be best if we went to find them, don't you agree?"
Scarlett nodded and the three of them began running, almost aimlessly, trying to find the others.
After a few minutes, they managed to catch up with Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny, who were luckily all unharmed.
"We need to get out of here," Harry said. "We should blast all of the shelves and that should hopefully distract the Death Eaters, if not get rid of them completely. Then we'll run for the door."
"Which way would that be?" Ron asked.
Harry paused. "That way," he finally said, pointing. He took a breath. "Ready?"
"Which one of us should do it?" Hermione asked, gazing at the shelves.
Nobody answered for a moment, but then Ginny spoke up. "I'll do it." She raised her wand. "Reducto!"
The shelves at the far end of the room started to collapse. Without hesitation, the seven of them turned and ran.
Harry's idea to get rid of the Death Eaters didn't exactly work, though. They heard the commotion and began to appear from all angles.
"We're not going to make it, are we?" Scarlett yelled.
"Just run!" Harry answered.
Scarlett ran as fast as she could. She was not going to die. She didn't want to die for one thing, and for another, if she died, Fred died. She was stupid to come here in the first place. She and Fred had to be careful until they were married and the vow was fulfilled. Then again, she had agreed to come along for Harry and for Sirius and because Neville had been right; this was what Dumbledore's Army had been all about. Choosing to stay at Hogwarts would have been safer, but she would have felt terribly guilty. Now she was just going to have to fight for her life, and of course, Fred's.
Scarlett could now see the door and she ran even faster. She hoped it was her imagination, but she almost thought the falling shelves and the Death Eaters were gaining on them.
A few seconds later, they finally raced through the door and slammed it shut against the Death Eaters.
"There are other ways in!" Malfoy yelled from the other side.
"Lock the other doors," Harry ordered.
Scarlett turned and saw that they were back in the circular room that they had come through earlier. She hurried to a door and was just about to lock it when it was flung open, throwing Scarlett to the ground.
"They're in here!" Bellatrix yelled. "Get them!"
Scarlett jumped to her feet and the first people her eyes fell on were Ron, Ginny and Luna. She raced after them and followed them into another room. She slammed the door behind her and locked it at once. Turning around, she nearly gasped. They were floating in a dark room full of planets.
"What is this room?" Ginny asked quietly.
"No idea," Scarlett shrugged. She could hear the Death Eaters banging on the door, but they hadn't gotten through yet. "We should get out of here," Scarlett continued, pointing at the door on the other side of the room.
The others agreed and they began making their way across the room. It was slow going, though. They had to move their arms and legs frantically to even move at all. It felt like trying to swim through molasses.
Halfway across the room, the door behind them burst open and a group of Death Eaters barged in, led by Bellatrix Lestrange.
Scarlett tried to move faster, but it was difficult. A jet of light soared over her shoulder and she managed to duck just in time. Ron, however, wasn't so lucky. The spell hit him and he stopped right where he was, looking around dazedly.
"Ron!" Ginny screamed. She struggled through the air towards him and shook his shoulders. Ron laughed as if she had done something funny. "What do you think they did to him?" Ginny asked.
"I don't know," Scarlett answered, "but we don't have time to figure it out now. We have to get out of here; they're gaining on us." She glanced back at the Death Eaters.
Ginny and Scarlett each grabbed one of Ron's arms and fought their way towards the door. It was even slower going than before since they could no longer use their arms to propel themselves forward.
Luna made it to the door first and pulled it open, holding it in place for Ginny, Scarlett and Ron. The two girls shoved Ron through before clambering through themselves. Luna followed and shut the door behind her, locking it just as the Death Eaters reached it.
"That was close," Ginny sighed.
Scarlett looked around. The room was nearly completely dark. She could hardly see a thing.
"Where is everyone?" Ron whined. "Where did everyone go?"
"We're here, Ron," Ginny said, sighing again.
"Oh, good," Ron said. He let out a small giggle. "That planet room was cool, wasn't it? We saw Uranus up close! Get it?" He laughed again.
"Always the classy one, Ron," Scarlett sighed, rolling her eyes. As much as she didn't want to, she found herself smiling slightly. She lit her wand and looked around the room as Ginny and Luna did the same. The room was very cluttered. It looked like a room full of unused junk, but who knew exactly what it was. They were in the Department of Mysteries after all.
"There's a door over there!" Luna pointed.
She was right. Across the room, just barely in the range of their lit wands, was another wooden door.
"Come on, let's go," Scarlett said determinedly.
"Luna and I will get Ron," Ginny offered.
Scarlett nodded and began picking her way across the room. "There's a lot of stuff on the ground, so be careful not to trip," she warned.
The words were barely out of her mouth when there was a crash from behind her. She whirled around to see Ron and Ginny on the ground and Luna teetering on her tiptoes, trying to keep her balance as Ron still clung to her arm.
"What happened?" Scarlett asked.
"Ron fell," Luna said simply, "and took Ginny with him."
"Are you two okay?" Scarlett asked with a sigh.
Ron was laughing goofily and didn't answer. At least someone thought the fall was amusing.
"He seems fine," Luna observed.
"Ginny?" Scarlett asked.
"I think my ankle is broken," Ginny answered through gritted teeth. It was then that Scarlett noticed the large box that had fallen on top of Ginny's leg. She quickly levitated it off and knelt down.
"Yeah," she said, "it definitely looks broken."
"Hey, Scarlett," Ron suddenly laughed, tugging on her sleeve. "You're a Healer, aren't you? You can fix her ankle!"
"Well, no, I'm not a Healer yet," Scarlett said. I might not even get to be one at all if Umbridge has her way, she thought.
"But once you leave Hogwarts you'll be able to start training!" Ginny jumped in.
"Ginny, I might not-,"
"Forget about Umbridge. She's lying. We all know it. You have the skills to become a Healer and I know you must be able to mend bones by now."
"I don't—I haven't mended many yet. I've only learned the concept and practiced only a few times. There aren't many people I know who have broken bones and I can't go breaking bones on purpose for the sake of practicing. It's-,"
"Scarlett, just shut up," Ginny said with a grimace. "I trust you, so give it a go. Please."
Scarlett took a deep breath and nodded. She raised her wand and was about to cast the spell when the Death Eaters burst into the room. Scarlett let out a few curse words and stood up. She aimed her wand at a pile of stuff on a table, causing it to fall over and slow the Death Eaters down.
"Luna, you help Ginny," Scarlett said. "I'll grab Ron."
As Luna helped Ginny to her feet, Scarlett grabbed Ron's arm and pulled him to a standing position. She tugged on his arm until he moved and dragged him towards the door, not allowing him to stop, even though he kept trying to. Finally reaching the door, she gently pushed Ron through it before turning to help Luna with Ginny. Once again, they managed to get through and slam the door in the Death Eaters faces.
"We're back here again?" Ginny asked perplexedly as she slid down the wall to the floor.
Scarlett turned around. They were back in the circular room with multiple doors. "Is there no way out?" she sighed.
"Well, there has to be, seeing as there was a way in," Luna shrugged. Nobody said anything in response. They didn't know what to say. Luna was right, of course, but they didn't know where they had come in from in the first place. Besides, they had no idea where Harry, Hermione and Neville were.
Just then, one of the doors flew open. Scarlett and Luna raised their wands and so did Ginny, even though she was on the floor. Ron just stared at the ceiling.
Scarlett sighed with relief when she saw it was only Harry, Hermione and Neville, but she was worried all over again when she registered that Neville's nose was crooked and bleeding and he was carrying an unconscious Hermione.
"What happened?" Harry asked.
"We could ask you the same question," Scarlett replied.
"We don't know what they hit Hermione with. She's unconscious, but she has a pulse. And Neville's nose is broken."
"Ginny broke her ankle and Ron was hit with something….We don't know what it is, but he's gone a bit funny," Luna said.
As if to prove her point, Ron staggered forward and latched onto Harry's arm. "Harry, do you know who that girl is?" He pointed at Luna. "She's Looney Lovegood! Ha, ha! And guess what? We saw Uranus up close!"
"What is he talking about?" Harry asked.
"We went into a room full of planets," Scarlett explained.
"Yes, it was quite odd. We were floating in the air the whole time," Luna said. "That's where the Death Eaters hit Ron."
Harry nodded and looked around. "We should try to find the exit."
"Wait," Ginny interrupted. "Scarlett was just about to heal my ankle. She can do Neville's nose, too."
Everyone looked at Scarlett, who sighed. "Fine." She walked over to Neville and aimed her wand at his nose. "Episkey." With a crack and a whimper of pain from Neville, his nose was fixed.
"Thanks," he said, sounding relieved.
"Don't mention it." Scarlett quickly turned to Ginny, but the timing was off again because just as she took a step forward, the Death Eaters burst in on them once again.
Harry chose a door at random and shoved it open, ushering Ron through. Neville ran through next and the three girls brought up the rear, Ginny being supported by Scarlett and Luna.
"That keeps happening," Scarlett noted as Harry shut the Death Eaters out in the nick of time.
"Yeah, but oddly enough, I don't mind," Harry muttered.
Scarlett took a breath and looked around. They were back in the room with the glass container of brains.
"Come on," Harry ordered, "let's lock the other doors in here."
Luna and Scarlett sat Ginny on the floor against the wall before the two of them joined Harry and Neville in rushing to get the doors locked. They almost succeeded, too, but just as Luna was heading for the final door, Bellatrix barged through it and blasted Luna out of the way as if she were a piece of debris.
"Wonderful," Scarlett sighed as Luna was thrown to the ground, unconscious. The Death Eaters started firing spells left and right, trying to aim for Harry, Neville and Scarlett, the last three standing.
"Hey, Harry!" Ron suddenly cried. "Harry, look at these brains! Aren't they cool?"
"Leave them alone, Ron," Harry ordered, trying to keep his eye on Ron while fighting off as many Death Eaters as he could.
Scarlett tried to do the same, but it was difficult. She was distracted and she was narrowly missing the spells a big, burly Death Eater was shooting at her.
The whole entire room suddenly fell silent and froze, though, when Ron held up his wand. "Accio brain!"
One of the brains slowly rose from the container and began flying towards Ron. He caught it and began laughing, but the laughter didn't last long. The brain's tentacles began winding their way around Ron's arms.
"I don't like this. Make it stop," he whined.
"Harry, it'll suffocate him!" Ginny shouted.
Her words seemed to bring the Death Eaters back into action and they started shooting spells again. Scarlett began to feel that she wasn't going to be able to keep blocking the continuous spells much longer.
As it turned out, she was partly right. She took a glance at Ron to see him still struggling with the brain, so she shot a quick, but well aimed spell at the tentacles, which fell away immediately. In doing that, she narrowly missed a spell sent by a Death Eater and had to take a few steps backwards. As she did, her foot caught on Luna's unconscious body and Scarlett found herself tumbling to the ground. Her shoulder blade rammed into the corner of a table and when she landed on the hand she put out to break her fall, she felt pain shoot up her arm. She could tell nothing was broken, but she suspected her wrist was sprained.
The Death Eater Scarlett had been fighting let out a loud laugh and raised his wand to send another spell her way, but Bellatrix ran past him and tapped his shoulder before gesturing with her chin into the next room. Scarlett looked around and noticed that Harry wasn't there anymore. That must be why the Death Eaters were going into the next room—Harry had gone in there. Most likely to lure the Death Eaters away from Scarlett and Neville and avoid any more injuries.
"Scarlett, can you stay here and help Ginny, Ron and Luna?" Neville asked, kneeling beside her. "I'm going to go help Harry."
"Neville, wait, I'll come with you. The more people fighting, the better, right?"
Neville shook his head. "I think it'd be better if someone stayed here. Just try to get everybody healed."
"Neville," Scarlett began, but he had already stood up and disappeared. "I'm not an official Healer yet!" she called, but she was sure nobody heard. She sighed before aiming her wand at her wrist and fixing it. That was what hurt the most. Her shoulder wasn't a problem. It was just a cut. She could heal that and her cut cheek later. She crawled over to Ginny and fixed her ankle before waving her wand and causing her to wake up.
"What's going on?" Ginny asked.
"Harry and Neville are in the next room, fighting the Death Eaters. Neville told me to stay here with you, Luna and Ron. I fixed your ankle, by the way."
"Finally," Ginny sighed, rotating her ankle as loud noises came from the next room. "We should go after them."
Scarlett sighed. "As much as I want to help them, let's wait here a little bit longer. If things sound like they're getting worse in a little while, then we'll go in. Besides, Neville wants me to stay here and try to heal any injuries and I suppose it makes sense that I do so." She made her way over to Luna and waved her wand again, causing Luna to blink her eyes open. Scarlett gave her a brief summary of what was going on before sitting back on her heels and looking at Ron, who was standing silently in the middle of the room, looking around.
"What are you going to do about him?" Ginny asked.
"I don't know what they hit him with," Scarlett whispered, "so I don't know how to fix it."
"I think it's wearing off," Luna said.
"What makes you say that?" Scarlett asked.
"He's not babbling like he was before," Luna shrugged, "and he doesn't seem as dazed."
"You're right," Scarlett said. She stood up and walked over to Ron. "Hey," she whispered gently, touching his arm. "Ron? How are you feeling?"
He turned to look at her, a puzzled expression on his face.
"I don't really remember much of what happened to me," he said. "I think I acted really stupid." He let out a tiny laugh and a hiccup.
Scarlett smiled. "Yeah, maybe a little."
"My arms hurt." Ron held out his arms. Where the brain's tentacles had touched his skin were now large, red marks. "I don't really remember how they got there."
"You summoned one of those brains," Scarlett told him.
"Can you fix them?"
"I can try." Scarlett lifted her wand, but before she could do anything, there was a loud bang as the door behind them was flung open and members of the Order started pouring in.
"Harry. Where's Harry?" Sirius panted.
Scarlett wordlessly pointed into the next room. Sirius immediately headed in that direction followed by Mad-Eye, Kingsley and Lupin. Tonks stayed behind long enough to ask Scarlett if everyone was okay.
"Yeah, for the most part," Scarlett shrugged. "I fixed Ginny's ankle already, but-,"
"Great," Tonks interrupted. "I'm going to need you four to stay here. It'll be a lot safer. The Order will handle the Death Eaters. We don't need any more injuries no matter how good Scarlett is at fixing them." She gave Scarlett a small smile.
"We can't stay here!" Ginny cried.
"Just stay. We've got this under control."
As soon as Tonks was gone, Ginny got to her feet. "Come on. We need to help them."
Scarlett didn't even try to argue. Besides Ginny being right, Scarlett would feel terrible if they sat back and did nothing. They had come this far together, so it only made sense that they finish it together.
The room Harry and the Death Eaters had been in was a room they had seen earlier with an eerie, veil-covered archway in the middle. Currently, everything was in chaos. Every Order member that had arrived was fighting with a Death Eaters. Neville had been hit with a curse that was making his legs flail around uncontrollably and Harry was trying to help him up the large stone steps. Halfway there, Neville accidentally kicked the prophecy out of Harry's hand, smashing it into a million little pieces.
Scarlett darted down the steps and tried to grab Neville's ankles in the hopes of being able to pin them down, but they kept darting out of reach.
"You don't happen to know the counter curse, do you?" Harry asked through gritted teeth.
"If I knew it, I wouldn't be doing this." Scarlett lunged for Neville's ankles again to no avail. Instead, his foot collided with her cheek and she leapt back with a gasp.
"Sorry, sorry!" Neville said anxiously.
"Don't worry about it," Scarlett said, wincing as she lightly touched her cheek. "It'll just bruise."
Suddenly, Harry gasped. When Scarlett looked up, she saw that he was staring over her shoulder, his eyes wide. "Sirius," he whispered.
Scarlett turned and saw Sirius dueling Bellatrix. Even from where Scarlett was kneeling, she could see the crazy look in the dark haired witch's eyes.
"Is that the best you can do?" Sirius taunted with a laugh.
It wouldn't take a genius to know that the remark would anger Bellatrix even more. It had probably been the intention after all. That's why Scarlett knew what was going to happen before it did. And while everyone else seemed frozen in shock, she managed to actually do something about it.
"Levicorpus!" She shot the spell from across the room and it hit Bellatrix just as she aimed a killing curse at Sirius. She was instantly suspended in the air as the spell flew over Sirius' head and hit the opposite wall of the room.
"What was that for? Let me down now, you little brat!" Bellatrix screamed.
"I wasn't about to let you kill him," Scarlett said coolly. She was honestly surprised that her voice didn't shake with fear. She lifted the spell and let Bellatrix crumple to the ground.
"Perhaps I'll just kill you instead then!" Bellatrix stood and raised her wand, but the second she did, her eyes darted to a point just over Scarlett's shoulder and she froze. Scarlett desperately wanted to turn around, but she was afraid that it was all a trick so that her back would be turned and Bellatrix could kill her easily.
She knew she was wrong a second later when she heard Neville cry, "Dumbledore!"
A/N: So I kept Sirius alive...Originally I wrote this chapter with him dying, but then I thought of a way he could come back in a later chapter and do something pretty helpful for Scarlett, so I kept him alive mainly for that reason. You'll just have to stay tuned to find out what he's going to do and why!
Thanks for reading!