Once Hermione returned to school after Easter she immediately noticed her father upping the ante with Harry. Almost every morning Harry was tired and restless, complaining about the dreams that haunted his night. Ron had asked about why the lessons with Snape weren't helping the dreams fade, but Harry just claimed that Snape wasn't even trying to help him.
Just over a week after their return to school, Hermione and Ron were sitting in the common room doing some revision. Due to his lack of sleep, Harry had gone off for an afternoon nap. Hermione was just explaining to Ron how to make a strong sleeping potion when Harry came flying down the stairs and sprinted over to them.
"He's got Sirius." Harry panted. "We have to go and save him. Now."
"Slow down mate." Ron said soothingly. "Who's got Sirius?"
"Voldemort." Harry hissed, lowering his voice. "I've just seen him in my dreams. Voldemort had Sirius in the place I've been dreaming about."
"How are we supposed to find him?" Hermione questioned. "You don't even know where you've been dreaming about."
"I do now." Harry proclaimed triumphantly. "Voldemort mentioned a prophecy. He's looking for a prophecy."
"How does that help us?" Hermione asked.
"Because we know where they keep recordings of prophecies." Ron grinned. "Over Easter we heard Sirius and Lupin talking about it. That's what the Order have been guarding all year. That's where dad was hurt, at the Ministry, down in the Department of Mysteries."
"Sirius must have been on guard duty and Voldemort's got to him." Harry said. "Come on, we need to go."
"Hold on, Harry. How can we even trust this dream?" Hermione asked. She knew her arguments wouldn't sway Harry from leaving but she knew as the sensible one in their trio she would be expected to be the cautious one.
"The dreams haven't lied before." Harry pointed out. "It was my dream that saved Arthur."
"Yeah, dad would have died if Harry hadn't warned Dumbledore." Ron said.
"And since Dumbledore isn't here to go to for help, we have to go ourselves." Harry said, bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet, clearly anxious to be moving.
"How are we going to get to the Ministry?" Hermione asked. "In case you haven't realised, we're up in Scotland and the Ministry is in London. That's a long journey and we don't exactly have access to a floo network or a portkey."
"We're going to fly." Harry announced.
"Fly?" Hermione squealed, her eyes widening in panic. She absolutely hated flying and the thought of flying all the way to London was terrifying.
"I know you don't like it, Hermione, but it's the quickest way." Harry said. "Besides we're not travelling by broom."
"How are we travelling then?" Ron asked.
"I'll explain on the way." Harry said, his patience snapping as he headed for the doors. "Come on."
Hermione and Ron shared a quick look before gathering their wands and racing after Harry. As they headed out of the castle Harry explained his idea of using Thestrals to fly to London. Hagrid had taught a Care of Magical Creatures lesson on the beasts so Hermione and Ron knew they could fly. Harry had apparently also spent some time with Luna, who'd taught him about Thestrals as she went to visit them to bring them food.
"I'm not sure I want to mount an invisible skeleton horse." Ron muttered as they left the school and headed for the Forbidden Forest, where the Thestrals lived.
"Then don't come." Harry snapped at his friend as they entered the clearing where the Thestrals were most often found.
"Come where?" A voice asked from the right of the trio.
Hermione, Harry and Ron spun round to find Ginny sitting on a tree stump. Shortly after spotting the presence of Ron's little sister they spotted Luna and Neville standing patting a baby Thestral. Or at least Hermione and Ron guessed it was a Thestral as they couldn't actually see anything.
"What are you doing here?" Ron asked his sister.
"Neville and I are helping Luna feed the Thestrals. Or rather Neville's helping her, since I can't see them." Ginny answered. "And you three never answered my question, where are you going?"
"We're off to London to save Sirius." Harry replied, briefly giving the three students a run-down of the situation.
"We'll come." Ginny announced, quickly jumping up off her tree stump.
"No you will not." Ron declared firmly. "It's dangerous, so you're not coming."
"You can't stop me Ron." Ginny glared at her brother. "I want to help."
"Will the pair of you stop it?" Harry yelled. "Sirius is in danger, we don't have time to argue. I don't care who comes, but anyone who is coming needs to grab a Thestral so we can go."
"There might be a bit of a problem there, Harry." Hermione said. "We can't all see them."
"We'll help you mount them." Neville volunteered. "The people who can see them can help the others."
Harry quickly announced his appreciation and the group set about mounting the Thestrals. Hermione was not happy to climb onto something she couldn't see and she gripped the creature tightly once she was sitting atop of it. Once everyone was set Luna whispered something to the Thestral she was on and the group took off into the air.
"How do we know we're going the right way?" Ron asked, as they flew over Hogwarts.
"The Thestrals are magical, they knew where we want to go." Luna replied. "Plus, I told mine where we're going."
"Great, talking to invisible horses. That seems a safe way to get to the right place." Ron muttered.
Hermione smiled at Ron's sarcasm, but she didn't dare look over at him. She was currently clinging onto the Thestral for dear life and her eyes were tightly shut. The journey couldn't pass quick enough for Hermione and she was trying to keep her mind on other things. As they flew Hermione went over the plan for the night in her head, making sure she knew her small role in proceedings.
Even with the distraction the flight still seemed to take forever and it was dark before Hermione felt the Thestral she was riding on head towards the ground. Once she was sure she was on the ground, Hermione opened her eyes. The Thestrals had landed in a back alleyway somewhere she presumed was London.
"The Ministry's around the corner." Harry announced as the group slid off the Thestrals.
As Harry led the way to the visitor entrance to the Ministry, Hermione slipped to the back of the group. Clearing her mind she thought of Lucius, followed by the dark mark. Putting the two images together in her mind she felt a jolt of power run through her as she sent a quick message to the blond man. The message was just his mark stinging slightly, but it was to let him know they'd arrived at the Ministry.
Once at the visitor's entrance Harry squeezed them all into a muggle phone box and activated the entrance. A tinny voice inquired as to their identity's and purpose of visit, to which Harry rattled off their names and claimed they were on a rescue mission. Hermione was surprised when Harry's claim worked and the phone box began to descend into the ground. When the box jolted to a stop in the Ministry's Atrium, six visitor tags tumbled from a box at the side along with instructions to put them on.
As they raced out of the box, no-one bothered to put their tags on but they did all pick them up. Due to the time of night it was, and the fact it was a weekend, the Atrium was deserted as Harry led the way towards the lifts. Tumbling inside the lift Harry pressed the button that took them down into the Department of Mysteries. The same tinny female voice announced each floor as they passed, until the doors sprung open on the Department of Mysteries. The Department of Mysteries was a circular room with dozens of identical doors.
"Where now?" Hermione asked, looking around. From here on in she had no idea what her father and Lucius were planning, she just knew when the Death Eaters appeared she was to be careful.
"I don't know." Harry admitted. "This isn't like the place I've been dreaming about. The place I've been dreaming about is a room with rows of shining balls, which I'm assuming are prophecies."
"Let's start checking doors." Hermione said, walking into the room and heading for the nearest door.
Pulling the door open Hermione was faced with a room full of time turners. She knew all about time turners from her third year, and knew that wasn't a room they wanted to enter. One accident with a time turner could be catastrophic. Hermione shut the door and just as she was about to head for another door the room seemed to spin.
"What was that?" Ron asked. "What happened?"
Instead of answering, Hermione opened the door she was standing in front of. Instead of the room of time turners she found a room containing what looked like glass aquariums, only instead of fish they contained brains. Shuddering Hermione turned away from the door, but didn't close it.
"Every time you shut a door the room spins." Hermione said. "We need to mark the doors we're checking."
Hermione pulled out her wand and traced a red X on the door, before shutting it. Once again the room span, but this time one door had a blazing red cross to indicate it had been searched.
"Okay, everyone get a door." Harry announced. "Open it and if it isn't the prophecy room, mark it. Do not shut your door, until we're all done."
Following Harry's instructions the six teenagers all stood in front of a door. On Harry's instructions they opened their door and checked what was inside. The first round revealed six rooms they didn't need, but on the second try Neville hit lucky. Once Harry confirmed the room Neville had revealed was indeed the room he'd been dreaming of they all entered it.
Hermione was the last to enter the room and as soon as she was inside the door slammed shut. Whirling round, Hermione caught sight of a familiar pair of grey eyes in the shadows. Smirking at Lucius she turned back around and followed Harry and the others through the small corridors packed with crystal balls. As they moved through the room, Hermione was very aware of the presence of her father's Death Eaters. She could feel hostile eyes following their every move.
"Well, where is he?" Ron hissed to Harry. "There's no sign of Sirius."
"Keep looking." Harry ordered. "He's in here."
"No, he's not." Lucius's cold voice drawled as he stepped from the shadows. Despite the fact he was now wearing his mask Hermione still recognised the voice and she would bet that Harry and possibly Ron could identify it as well so they knew exactly who they were dealing with. "No-one's here, but us."
As he spoke several other Death Eaters emerged from the shadows, surrounding the teenagers. The group moved closer together as they all grabbed their wands and pointed them at the Death Eaters.
"What do you want?" Harry asked.
"The prophecy." Lucius answered. "Only the people it's about can take it from the shelf. You're going to get it for The Dark Lord."
"No." Harry shouted, his eyes darting from side to side as he looked for an escape route.
Lucius smirked at Harry before apparating away with a crack. A second crack sounded almost immediately and before she could react Hermione found a wand pointing at her throat and a strong arm around her waist.
"How about now?" Lucius asked from behind Hermione. "Get me the prophecy or the mudblood gets it."
Harry looked at Hermione, clearly unsure about what to do. Ron however seemed to be in no doubt as he told Harry to just get the prophecy. Following Lucius's directions, Harry found the prophecy at the top of a nearby shelf and proceeded to get it down.
"Hand Hermione over, and you can have the prophecy." Harry said, stopping in front of Lucius.
"Hand the prophecy over and you can have the mudblood." Lucius retorted.
"No." Harry shook his head. "I want Hermione to be safe before you get this."
"You're in no position to bargain, Potter." Lucius hissed. "You've got five minutes to get up to the Atrium and hand me the prophecy or you'll find a dead mudblood waiting for you."
Before anyone had time to digest Lucius's words he apparated away, taking Hermione with him. Once Lucius had gone the rest of the Death Eaters followed, leaving five stunned teenagers behind.
"Let's go." Harry cried, barrelling towards the door.
The five teenagers flew through the Department of Mysteries and hurriedly got into the lift that would take them to the Atrium. Upon arrival in the Atrium they found no sign of Lucius or Hermione. The group looked around frantically, before Ron spotted Hermione lying beside the row of fires.
"Over there." He cried, racing off towards her.
The group all raced over to Hermione, where they found she was breathing but seemed to be unconscious. While Neville and Luna used the fire to floo for help, Ginny and Ron tried to wake Hermione. Harry meanwhile had started looking around for Lucius. He'd just reached the centre of the room and was standing beside the fountain when a shadowy figure appeared out of thin air.
"You." Harry hissed when he spotted Voldemort. "You're not getting the prophecy."
As he spoke Harry hurled the crystal ball to the marble floor, causing it to smash on impact. He had thought Voldemort's reaction would give him time to get away, but The Dark Lord didn't even blink as the prophecy broke. Instead Voldemort raised his wand and shot a curse at Harry.
As the duel began between Voldemort and Harry, Ron and Ginny became aware of what was happening. The two Weasley's were torn between going and helping Harry and staying with Hermione. Hermione had just started to stir and was slowly waking up.
"What's going on?" Hermione asked groggily. She'd been awake the entire time, but wanted it to appear as though she was just coming to.
"You Know Who is here." Ron hissed. "Neville and Luna have gone for help, they should be back soon."
"Harry might not need it." Ginny commented. "Look, Voldemort's just tripped over the fountain."
Hermione and Ron looked to find Voldemort on the floor, Harry hovering over him. Voldemort still had his wand and was fighting back, but Harry had him on the ropes and wouldn't let him get back to his feet. As Hermione, Ron and Ginny watched in fascination the floo network sounded behind them and Sirius and Remus stepped out. Moments later the other fires in the Ministry activated and a lot more of the Order arrived, including Dumbledore. Alongside Dumbledore was the Minister for Magic, who nearly jumped out of his skin as he spotted Voldemort on the floor.
"This is for my parents!" Harry suddenly bellowed, before a red jet of light left his wand.
Everyone on the room watched as the spell hit Voldemort directly in the chest, sending him slumping to the floor. Hermione's heart stopped when she saw her father fall, but a second later when a light surrounded him and he seemingly turned to dust she breathed a sigh of relief. So far everything looked to have worked, she just needed a sign to say her father was safely at home.
"What happened?" Harry asked in a panic. "I meant to stun him."
"I think you killed him." Dumbledore said, stepping forward. "From the way he's disintegrated I would say he's been messing with magic too powerful for him to handle. Even a simple spell aimed right at him was enough to finish him off."
Everyone remained in silence for several minutes before the Order bustled into action, checking everyone was okay and dealing with what had happened. In the midst of the aftermath Hermione received her sign from her father, via her locket burning. Since Hermione was being checked over by Lupin at the time she couldn't look at the message, but when she was able to check it later that night she was pleased to find the words 'I'm okay' on the back of her locket.