Harry's day went from bad to worse. First of all he had his History of Magic exam that afternoon (not something to look forward to). Then he received the news that that very morning his friends had disappeared to fight Voldemort and would probably never return. And thirdly, the visions had gotten so bad he hadn't had any sleep, so naturally when he was half-way through his exam, tapping his quill on the table and making blotches of ink on the wood, he wasn't in a good mood. His mood got worse when he collapsed.
The Ministry of Magic appeared in front of him, black tiles lining the walls, crystal balls lining the shelves of thousands of bookshelves. And there, on his knees, beaten and bloody, Sirius.
"Where is it?" A voice hissed.
"You'll have to kill me." Sirius grunted in reply.
"Oh I will, but first you have to give me what I want."
"Never."
"Crucio." Sirius screamed as the wand bent towards him, the pain rippling through his body "Crucio." Sirius was dying, writhing in pain on the floor, and still Voldemort sent curses flying at him, breaking him. The image of an orb broke the vision, and Harry woke. He was on the ground, someone holding him, trying to wake him up, shaking him slightly. He groaned and opened his eyes. Every head in the room was directed at him, every eye gazing in either concern or amusement at him. One of the examiners was the one holding him.
"Ok, we need to take him to the hospital wing. Mr Potter, can you hear me?"
"Yes," He mumbled.
"Good. We'll bring him back later to finish the exam."
"I was already finished." Harry muttered, despite there being much less written on his paper that anyone else's. A shiver ran down his spine as Sirius's screams echoed in his ears. The examiner put Harry's arm over his shoulder and lifted him to his feet, half carrying half dragging him out of the hall to the hospital wing.
As soon as he reached the bed he wanted to throw up. He remembered the room Sirius had been in – he knew where it was. And Sirius was dying there, with no one to help him. He was the only family Harry had left. He had to get to him. Madam Pomfrey gave him a potion of some sort that he drank quickly before he left in a rush. The exam had just finished by the time he got there. He ran into Hermione and Ron immediately.
"Harry!"
"What happened mate? Are you ok?"
"It's Sirius. He has Sirius, in the Department of Mysteries. We have to get to him." Harry blurted as soon as they were close. Hermione glanced at Ron who glanced back.
"Harry, are you sure?"
"I'm positive."
"Didn't Dumbledore say it could be a trap? These visions?" Ron asked.
"Maybe he's showing you what he wants you to see." Hermione said.
"So what if he is? Hermione, Sirius is the only family I have left. I'm not going to let him die." Hermione looked at his face, and knew he was serious.
"Why don't we send him a message, to make sure it's not a trick?" Ron suggested.
"We can't. A letter would take too long, and Umbridge is watching all the chimneys." Hermione said, and a light bulb might as well have appeared over Harry's head.
"Not all of them." He said, and took off running.
The plan had been going well until Umbridge stormed in. Luna and Ginny were supposed to be making a distraction, and Harry was about to kick himself for sending them when they were dragged in behind her by Malfoy. Neville was with them too, with what looked like a broken nose.
"Caught this one trying to help the Weasley girl."Malfoy sneered. Harry's heart sank. They hadn't been able to contact Sirius. He was in the Department of Mysteries being tortured out of his mind, and there was nothing Harry could do about it.
He was strapped to a chair by the wrists as Umbridge leant over him, Ron and Hermione were restrained behind the desk along with Luna, Ginny and Neville.
"You were going to Dumbledore weren't you." Umbridge said, more of a statement than a question, in that sickly sweet voice of hers.
"No." Harry responded immediately. Before he could blink Umbridge's hand struck his face in a hard smack.
"Don't. Lie. To me." She hissed, a snarl crossing her podgy face. Harry looked up at her, a mixture of hate and horror burning into him. He hated her more than he'd hated anything at Hogwarts before, even more than Malfoy, but he'd never been so terrified. Not terrified of her – although her face was scarily ugly – but terrified because his God-father was about to die, and this old hag was blocking his way. He couldn't tell her to move, he couldn't push her out of the way. He was powerless. That was when Snape walked through the door. He glanced at Harry, then Umbridge who had stood straight the moment he walked in the door, and then he looked at the captured students behind them.
"You wished to see me." He said slowly, directed at Umbridge.
"Indeed, I need information from these students immediately. Have you brought the verateserum?"
"I'm afraid you've depleted my stocks down to nothing, the last of which was used on Miss Chang." Harry's heart sank even further as a fresh wave of horror swept over him, only this time it was directed at himself. How could he have been so blind? He had treated Cho like an outcast for something she had no control over. He hoped his cheeks hadn't blushed red with shame.
"Unless you wish to poison them, and I'd have the greatest sympathy if you did, I can't help you." Snape finished in that slow droning voice of his. Umbridge seemed to debate within herself for a moment.
"Very well. You may go." Harry panicked.
"He's got Padfoot!" Harry blurted, and every eye turned to him "He's got Padfoot, in the place where it's hidden."
"Padfoot? What is padfoot? What is he talking about Snape." Snape looked at him.
"I have no idea." He said slowly, but something in his eyes seemed to tell Harry he knew exactly what he was talking about. But Snape had always hated Sirius, what if, even though he knew, he did nothing about it? Snape was gone before another word could be exchanged.
"Well," Umbridge said, a sad, small smile on her face "It seems I'm left with, no other choice. The Cruciatus Curse ought to loosen your tongue a little."
"That's illegal." Hermione said instantly.
"What Cornelius doesn't know, won't hurt him." Umbridge picked up a small moving photograph of Fudge and placed it face down on the table. They were alone. Umbridge drew her wand, and pointed it at him.
"Tell her Harry! Tell her where it is!" Hermione squealed. They both looked to her.
"Tell me what? Where what is?" Umbridge asked impatiently, almost as if she wanted to put Harry through unbearable pain (secretly he thought she did). Hermione looked the old crone in the eye and shivered, taking deep breaths. Harry had no idea what she was doing, but couldn't help admiring her acting skills.
"Dumbledore's secret weapon."
It had been going well, mostly, until the door was opened. The scrawny, dirty looking man that answered it might have been perfectly pleasant had he not tried to kill them – but that was usually the case.
A jet of green light shot out from his wand as the pair dodged, Valkyrie moving back out of the house, Skulduggery going in. There was a slight snapping sound, and a muffled howl before a dull 'thud'. Valkyrie peered over the corner. The man was bleeding, unconscious, and his arm looked to be broken. But he had friends.
Wizards surged into the corridors, ducking behind quickly overturned tables and hiding behind banisters as they fired curses, whilst Valkyrie and Skulduggery were left in the open, both trying to shoot and avoid being killed.
'Honestly' Valkyrie thought to herself as jet of green light sped past her left ear 'that's so not fair'.
They didn't make it very far before the wizards were on them, and this was where they had the slight advantage – up close they could punch and shoot with more accuracy. Unfortunately, so could Voldemort's followers. One shot a beam of red towards her that rebounded from her clothes. She wondered if without Ghastly's specially-made clothes she would be dead. slammed an elbow into someone's face, pushed her palm under the chin of another that drove his to his knees so she could kick up with her boot. She snapped one's wand and heard him cry in outrage before lunging at her. Two bullets rendered him unconscious pretty quickly. She spotted Skulduggery manipulating the air into a shield without even using his hands.
"Show off," Valkyrie muttered under her breath. The air was thick with the smell of blood and the sound of gunfire, but the wizards were gradually being broken down, joining their friends, unconscious on the floor, until a horde more joined the fight. One managed to land a punch on Valkyrie's cheek in the confusion that sent her stumbling. He was bigger than she was by a long way, hairy with a grotesque face. There was something about him that seemed oddly familiar and yet still managed to be completely mysterious. Instead of pondering, she settled for kicking him in the groin. He buckled slightly but then stood again and lunged forwards, oddly with his teeth rather than his hands. Valkyrie dodged out of the way but lost her footing on the leg of one of the unconscious and stumbled. He lunged again, and if it hadn't been for a bullet shooting through his shoulder, she had no doubt she would have been dead. As he roared in outrage, Valkyrie realised where she'd seen the face before. As she dodged and swung, she knew it wasn't exactly his face she remembered, but the same kind of face. Except, the first had been full of pain. This guy was just enjoying himself. Werewolf.
Her hand drifted across an umbrella stand and she slid one into her grasp before swinging. The not-exactly-an-umbrella hit him square in the jaw as Valkyrie pushed at the air with her other hand, sending him flying back towards the banister and knocking down several more wizards.
'I should be a professional bowler.' She thought to herself again, before jumping back into the fight, using the not-exactly-an-umbrella as a weapon and hitting everyone who came across her over the head. A curse slammed into her side, the sheer shock of it dissipating across her clothes sending a shiver down her spine as she turned to see who had fired it. It was a woman with crazed dark eyes and long curly brown hair. She sneered, the only female Death Eater. Valkyrie flipped the not-exactly-an-umbrella over so she was holding the other end, and swung. The sound of metal on flesh was almost wretch-worthy as the woman screamed and swore. Valkyrie slammed a foot into her knee, but the woman dodged, becoming whispy like smoke. Valkyrie felt her Necromancy ring tingle and latched the shadows onto the woman, throwing her back into the fight. She looked at her with a cold snarl. Valkyrie ducked under a curse, hearing gunfire behind her from Skulduggery, and then lunged into the fight. But the woman was ready. She slammed a fist into Valkyrie's side a pulled a dagger from her dress, trying to slit Valkyrie's throat as she grabbed her wrists. Valkyrie dropped and rolled but the woman hung on, pressing the knife further in towards Valkyrie's jugular. Valkyrie kneed her in the crotch, and the woman howled, but still she didn't fully let go, instead choosing to let go of one hand and punch Valkyrie in the face and returning it to grab Valkyrie's wrist – but she was ready. She grabbed the woman's hand and twisted, not stopping until she heard a snap and a scream, and the woman was off of her, backing up, holding her wrist close to her body. She snarled, and raised the dagger to fight again as Valkyrie glanced around her. There were far too many of them. She was fighting one person. Skulduggery had at least three on him, and he was managing to hold up a shield. Even as she looked, the last few seemed to appear, seeping through the walls like smoke, sneering with crooked ugly teeth. She turned back to the woman,
felt for her gun in its holster and realised it wasn't there – she had dropped it when she picked up the not-exactly-an-umbrella, which she also didn't have anymore. She pulled her fists up in a boxing stance, ready, before a chill came over the room. The woman paused, looking up. The gunfire ceased. The screaming stopped. Then there was a rush of air and they burst into shadows, jumping up and crashing through the ceiling. Every one of them had gone. Skulduggery looked to her. His shirt was slightly torn, his tie crooked.
"What happened?" She asked. The bad guys didn't just disappear when they were winning a fight, that wasn't how it worked.
"They must've been called." Skulduggery murmured, almost more to himself than to her.
"Why would they have been called?" Valkyrie moved to the corridor and spotted her gun on the floor. She picked it up as Skulduggery answered.
"There's only one reason. Voldemort needs them. To take down his biggest enemy."
"What?"
"They've gone after Harry."
