This is a work of fan fiction using characters from the Harry Potter universe, which are trademarked by J.K. Rowling. I do not claim ownership of these characters nor the locations such as Hogwarts, Hogsmeade, etc. that are Rowling's creations. This work also includes Pokémon, which belong to the Pokémon Company, and I again claim no ownership of these characters.
I thank both Rowling and the Pokémon Company for the universes they have created that allows me to do something like this for my own entertainment and, hopefully, the entertainment of the readers.
"Step away, Potter." The rhythmic tapping of shoes on stone sounded and Harry, Hermione and Neville whipped around.
Lucius Malfoy was descending the steps behind them and he was in some state. His clothes were grubby and ripped, his face littered with scratch marks, and his hair was a dirty blond mess. Yet he was walking towards them without difficulty and three Pokéballs were displayed proudly on his belt.
"Seriously, Potter, neither you nor I want you to step through the Veil." Harry's eyes widened and he immediately stepped away from the arch, even though it took him closer to Malfoy. All of a sudden the innocently hanging curtain took on a much more menacing presence.
"So I see you are not completely stupid," Malfoy commented dryly. "Though I would have thought you'd have known better than to hang around."
Harry was thinking fast. Obviously this was a horrible position to be in. Malfoy was undoubtably among the strongest of all Death Eaters but, even so, he was alone. And he only had three Pokémon.
"Don't even think about it," Malfoy drawled, noticing the way Harry's eyes shifted to his belt. "I am more than a match for three Hogwarts students."
"Oh yeah," Harry challenged. Malfoy was strong but they had over a dozen Pokémon to work with.
"Yes," Malfoy said simply. "I know each and every Pokémon you and your friends possess, Potter, and I can assure you not one can take on my team."
"But all of them together can," Neville said bravely, stepping forward. "You can't beat us all."
In response Malfoy opened one of his Pokéballs and on instinct Harry, Hermione and Neville drew back as Malfoy's uniquely marked Serperior faded into being, curling around Malfoy's figure.
"You should watch yourself, Longbottom, you are in no position to make threats," Malfoy told him and his eyes flitted past the three of them and to the archway beyond. "Once through the Veil no one has ever returned. You don't have as many bargaining chips as you think." A loud bang sounded and Malfoy looked up, a soft smirk settling over his features. "And now you have one fewer."
Death Eaters poured into the chamber from high above, spilling out of one of the many doorways and spreading out around the room, cutting off all exits they could have used to escape. They'd been found and it appeared as though every Death Eater, those who had survived the chase at any rate, was present in the room.
They were trapped.
Lucius Malfoy smirked. "So, here we are, back where we started," he commented. "You've led us on a merry chase but time is up. So, Potter, kindly hand over that prophecy, and then your Pokémon."
Harry looked down at the glowing blue time plant in his hand, shockingly intact after all the drama that had led them there. What secrets it contained, the prophecy supposedly about him and Voldemort, Harry did not know, but if Voldemort wanted it so bad then Harry could not give it up.
Even so Harry stretched out his arm, time plant visible resting in the palm of his hand. He had no choice. There was no escape.
"You still ready to make a deal?" He asked. Tittering laughter echoed around the room.
Malfoy chuckled. "Why would I?" He questioned in amusement. "You made a run for it last time you came to me with an offer."
"Because you gave me the chance," Harry countered. "I know you won't do the same again. Make the deal."
"But why?" Malfoy asked. "You are surrounded, outnumbered and outgunned. Just what bargaining chip do you think you have?"
Harry dropped the time plant to the floor. It landed with a muffled thump at his feet.
"Let Hermione and Neville go," Harry told them and he raised his foot and gently rested it on the time plant. A soft rustle of the delicate plant caused the Death Eaters to shift nervously. "Let them leave in peace and I will give you the prophecy."
"Scum!" Bellatrix shouted down from up high but Malfoy raised a hand to silence her. He favoured Harry a considering look.
"Very well," Malfoy said coolly. "But if I were to let Granger and Longbottom go I'd need some sort of guarantee that you yourself will not try and escape in some heroic blaze of glory." Harry nodded.
"My Pokémon," Harry said, ignoring Hermione's moan of protest and Neville's shocked gasp. He unhooked his belt. "If you agree to let Hermione and Neville go I will send them away with my Pokémon. Once they leave I'll be alone. I won't be able to fight."
Malfoy considered the offer. "Deal."
Harry began to pull his belt loose. "How do they get out?" He asked.
"Harry, no," Hermione moaned but no one payed her any attention.
"The door over there," Malfoy gestured, and the Death Eater standing guard over it moved aside. "Follow the corridor beyond and you will find yourself in a room with a tank of Magikarp. One of the doors there leads directly to the entrance, and your way out." Harry hesitated.
"How do I know you are telling the truth?" He challenged. "Do you even know your way around?" Annoyance flashed across Malfoy's face. He scoffed.
"Of course I do, Potter," he told him. "Do you really think I would come here, to the Department of Mysteries, without first memorising the layout?" Harry still didn't look convinced. Malfoy sighed.
"This is called the Death Chamber," he told him in a monotonous drone. "Our battle earlier took us through the Hall of Prophecies, the Invisible Room, the Chamber of the Unown, and the office of Broderick Bode. And if that will not convince you that I know what I'm talking about then nothing will."
Harry considered him. He could be making things up, it wasn't like Harry knew the names of the rooms to fact check him, but given the nature of where they were, the Department of Mysteries, apparently, it seemed quite unusual for Malfoy to claim the room where they'd found Nidoking to be an office, especially since he'd never even entered it himself. Yet there had been a desk and a bookcase. Plus all the Death Eaters seemed to have had a good idea as to how to cut them off.
Harry turned to his friends.
"Go," he told them, holding out his belt. "Go now and get out of here."
"I'm not going anywhere," Hermione said crossly, pointedly refusing to accept the belt Harry stuck under her nose. "We're staying with you."
"Don't," Harry told her. "Please, just… just get out of here. Get safe. Try to find the others if you can, just go."
Hermione wasn't going to give up, looking ready to fight Harry on this to her dying breath, but she was distracted by a shifting figure in her line of sight. Bellatrix's Banette appeared before her, looking her hauntingly in the eye, and slowly Hermione's eyelids started to droop.
"Stop it!" Neville shouted, running forward and practically shooing Banette away, the Pokémon chittering with laughter as it retreated up the steps.
Hermione swayed unsteadily on the spot.
"Bella," Lucius said warningly, fixing a stern gaze to where the dark haired trainer stood, Banette now back at her side.
"What?" She said petulantly. "She wasn't going, was she."
Harry hated Bellatrix, hated just the idea of what Banette had done to Hermione, but on this occasion he couldn't deny that it helped him out enormously. He turned to Neville.
"You're in charge now," he told him, seeing both the fear and the determination in Neville's eyes as he shoved his belt towards him. Unlike Hermione Neville accepted it automatically. "Get Hermione out of here and get her safe."
"And what about you?" Neville asked. Harry hesitated.
"I'll see you later," he told him. He had no idea how he was going to do so, didn't see any sort of trick or stunt that he could pull to escape once Hermione and Neville were gone, but he wasn't quite ready to throw in the towel yet.
Neville seemed to realise that and it was exactly what he needed to hear. He hurried over to the barely conscious Hermione, supporting her weight as he started to make the long, laborious journey up the stone stairs.
A shuffling sound caught Harry's attention.
"Stop," he commanded and Neville did, though he wasn't the one Harry had been speaking to. Up somewhere behind him two Death Eaters had been making an attempt to unobtrusively leave the room, undoubtedly to try and ambush Hermione and Neville up ahead.
"You all must stay," Harry told them firmly. "Every Death Eater must remain in this room or the deal's off." He put some extra weight down on the time plant, the crackling sound echoing around the room.
Mr Malfoy gestured the Death Eaters back.
Harry felt sick. Every eye in the room was focused on him, waiting expectantly, and when Harry turned to Neville his voice shook slightly despite his efforts to keep it steady.
"Go," he instructed, looking his friend in the eye. Neville was pale, almost ghostly, and looked as though the last thing he wanted to do was leave Harry right now. But he knew he had to, Harry had instructed him to protect Hermione, and so, torturously, he turned and continued his journey up the stone steps.
And then two figures appeared, as if from nowhere, and no one quite seemed able to react. Lucius Malfoy, not able to see these new arrivals but noticing there was something most definitely off, turned, a frown on his face.
"Get away from my godson." And Sirius Black punched him straight in the mouth.
All hell broke loose. Even as Lucius Malfoy folded, collapsing to the ground in shock, and his Serperior hissed upon realising its trainer was under attack, the doors around the chamber burst open and in strode Mad-Eye Moody, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Remus Lupin and Tonks. And as they released their Pokémon the room erupted into pure chaos.
In amongst the sudden frenzy Harry threw himself forward, trying to put distance between himself and the Veil as he stood helpless in the middle of a terrible battle. Malfoy had recovered enough to fight back against Sirius, Serperior in mortal combat with Sirius's Gallade, and as the two men tussled Harry crawled along the ground in the vague direction of Neville, hoping he could reach him and join in the fight himself.
But even as Harry hurried along on all fours, trying to avoid attention, he found himself bowled over, knocked away by a large body that pinned him to the ground.
"Got you, Potter," the Death Eater snarled in Harry's ear and Harry tried to lash out, his arms trapped beneath his chest but his legs free, flinging out wildly as the much larger man struggled to keep him down.
As Harry fought he started to feel himself go faint. The man's incredible weight was pressing Harry into the ground and he could not breath, his ribcage meshed up against the stone floor. His resistance started to ebb away, darkness starting to creep into his vision and he fought desperately until, quite suddenly, the weight was gone and Harry flipped over onto his back, gasping gratefully for breath.
Trevor the Toxicroak stood over him, his dangerously sharp claw embedded into the Death Eater's gut, who gasped in pain. Trevor stared unblinkingly down at Harry.
"Harry!" Neville's voice caught his attention and Harry looked up in relief to see Neville standing nearby, still half supporting a dazed Hermione, his Venusaur standing guard and Harry's belt clutched in his free hand. "Catch!"
Neville's throw was awkward, unbalanced by Hermione's weight and the uneven steps he straddled, and Harry scrambled forward as his belt hung in the air between them. He couldn't reach it, Neville's throw was short, and so he threw himself forwards. Time seemed to slow down as he hung in the air, weightless, before his outstretched fingers caught hold of his belt strap triumphantly.
He hit the ground hard, the air knocked out of him, and his belt, too, clattered against the stone floor and, to his horror, one of his Pokéballs fell loose. He reached out to catch it, the Pokéball popping up in the air before him, but his fingertips could only brush agonisingly against the surface as the Pokéball, still minimised, bounced away through the chaos.
"Pikachu!" Harry shouted, for that's who it was trapped inside the Pokéball that was quickly spinning out of sight. He scrambled after it, crawling through the chaos on his hands and knees, relying on the distraction of the pitched battle to keep him safe as he hunted down Pikachu's Pokéball feverishly.
It was not easy and more than once Harry nearly came to a sudden end. A Serperior Vine Whip struck the ground before him, inches away from taking off his hand, and a belch of fire blew overhead, singing the hairs down the back of Harry's neck. He rolled to the right, dodging a falling rock from the ceiling above, and when he pulled himself up again he found himself face to face with Banette.
Fear froze Harry in place and the ghost type chittered down at him in what Harry could only describe as glee. He tried to move, to flee, but after only a second of meeting Banette's haunting gaze he started to become drowsy.
"Murk!
Harry blinked, an explosion nearby shifting some of the fog that had been filling his brain, and he looked up at the scene before him.
Murk the Murkrow, Mad-Eye's ever present companion, was fluttering overhead and as Harry watched he fired down another Night Shade attack, Banette skittering backwards defensively.
"Pikachu," Harry muttered, remembering just why he'd been down here in the first place. "Pikachu!"
"I've got him, Potter!" Moody's yell sounded over the chaos and Harry looked over to see the veteran auror in battle, standing back to back with his Conkeldurr and taking on three Pokémon at once. "Now stop lounging around and get into battle. Longbottom, on your six."
Straightening up, Harry surveyed the room.
It was an absolute mess. The stone steps that ran in rings around the room, once smooth and unblemished, were now chipped and damaged, in some places so much so that they were simply unusable. The walls were littered with burns and scratch marks and even the archway had taken some hits, though no one seemed willing to battle too close to it. All around people were engaged in battle, Death Eater versus Legion member, and somehow no one seemed to be paying him any attention at all.
Should he run, Harry wondered, and try to find the others? Hermione and Neville were fighting, though Hermione was still out of it. But surely Ron, Ginny and Luna must have been the ones to alert the Legion in the first place.
Then a glint of blue caught Harry's eye. The time plant holding the prophecy lay exactly where Harry had left it when the Legion arrived, completely undisturbed and, as Harry looked, no one seemed to notice it sitting there, ready for the taking.
"Talonflame, go!" Harry instructed, releasing his Quidditch partner who soared with practiced ease towards the time plant.
A blast of electricity cut him off, though this time Talonflame was ready for it, swerving to avoid the attack and swooping round to face off against his attacker. Malfoy's Eelektross slithered forward.
"Get the prophecy!" Malfoy commanded, unable to do so himself as he remained stuck in battle with Sirius, Gallade and Serperior proving worthy opponents for each other.
Eelektross shot forward and though Talonflame spat embers down from above a shocking jolt of electricity forced the flying type to dodge, unable to take Eelektross's attacks. And with Charizard also sharing that weakness Harry did not see how he was going to be able to stop Eelektross taking the prophecy.
A gust of wind rattled through the room, sand skittering as it went, and Harry flinched as Flygon shot past him, crying out as he bore down on Eelektross. Harry did not know if Hermione had come to, or if Neville had released the ground and dragon type, but he was grateful for his appearance as Eelektross recoiled, having no way to fight back against the Pokémon with such an overwhelming advantage.
"The prophecy!" The panicked screech caused Harry to jump and he looked around to realise why.
From the strength of Flygon's entrance a gust of air had rippled through the area around the archway and the prophecy, ostensibly light, had been picked up in the wind and was now spinning dangerously in the direction of the Veil.
Harry ran towards it. "Talonflame!" He shouted but even as Talonflame swooped towards the prophecy he was blocked off by the appearance of a Rhydon, forced to abandon his pursuit in the face of flying rocks and Harry, sprinting towards the spinning time plant, was flattened by Rhydon's trainer.
"Oof!" He gasped, surprised as he was knocked off his feet, eyes focused so much on the prophecy that he hadn't seen the Death Eater approach. The man grunted behind his mask, regaining his balance after the collision, and quickly Harry threw himself at his ankles to stop him.
Meanwhile the time plant spun ever closer to the Veil.
"Catch it!" Malfoy cried wildly and the Death Eater in Harry's grip lashed out. A solid boot smashed into Harry's face and Harry let go instinctively as his neck snapped backwards, stars dancing before his eyes as he tried to blink them away and clamber after his target.
The Death Eater was far ahead of Harry, there was no way he could catch him, but the prophecy was spinning tantalising next to the edge of the Veil. The Death Eater threw himself forward, one muscular hand wrapping around the prophecy in triumph, before his eyes widened in horror as his body slid across the smooth stone surface of the chamber.
Both he and the prophecy flew through the Veil and vanished from sight.
"No!" Bellatrix's screech was unholy and Harry could only watch in dismay as she pointed angrily down at him from on high, her eyes wild. "Banette, Curse!"
Harry stood and watched in horror as a sickly dark energy started to gather around Banette, seeming to suck in the surrounding light. The Pokémon looked pained, chittering non-stop, but then it focused its gaze on Harry and Harry felt true fear as the dark energy flew towards him.
At the last moment Harry was jerked to the side, the attack flying past, making him shiver as it struck the stone steps behind him sending stone shrapnel everywhere.
"Got ya," Sirius grinned and in a moment Harry allowed himself to forget the battle around him. Then Sirius looked up.
"Okay, so my psycho cousin wants to kill us," Sirius noted casually, his Gallade stepping in front of them protectively. "Nothing new there. And we've got Malfoy on the other side." Lucius Malfoy's Serperior had been left as the lesser threat and was now approaching unencumbered. "Where's Remus when you need him?"
Remus Lupin actually wasn't that far away, battling back to back with Tonks and supported by two Aggron, one of which Harry assumed had to be Tonks's Ditto transformed. Further away Neville continued to prop up Hermione, Venusaur, Trevor and Flygon protecting them, and not far from him Mad-Eye seemed to be closing in on the two Hogwarts students as Conkeldurr blasted through all that stood in his way. Up by the doors stood Kingsley, guarding the exit with his Slowking, fending off three Death Eaters at a time.
"I've got it," Harry said and, turning and allowing Sirius to focus all his attention on Bellatrix and Banette, he released Charizard.
Charizard appeared with the manner of a Pokémon having waited impatiently for so long, bursting free from his Pokéball with a roar that caught the attention of all and spewing fire at any who dared oppose him.
The battle raged on. Harry conducted Charizard and Talonflame in battle with Malfoy, the blonde trainer in a difficult position. His Eelektross had been unable to pull itself out of battle with Flygon, but instead Malfoy's Serperior was aided by the fallen Death Eater's Rhydon, the rock type looking confused but providing a stern test for Harry's two flying and fire types.
On the other side Sirius and Bellatrix were sparring back and forth.
"You can do better than that?" Sirius laughed as another attack was deftly countered by Gallade. "I think you've rather lost it, Bella. Come on, you weren't in Azkaban that much longer than me."
"Banette, Shadow Sneak!"
Sirius's demeanour changed in an instant.
"Gallade, no!"
Harry whirled around at Sirius's cry, and looked on in horror at the scene. Gallade had been struck, caught out by the priority attack, and, losing his balance, he started to fall.
It all seemed to pass in slow motion. Harry watched as Gallade's legs gave way, the fighting and psychic type staggering and tipping inexorably towards the ratty dark curtain hanging in the archway.
"Gallade!" Sirius cried and he threw himself forward as though to break the Pokémon's fall, though they never hit the ground. Sirius and Gallade fell through the archway and disappeared from view.
A/N: Thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed the chapter.
To Aoi Usa: I suppose this chapter clears up what happened to Lucius. Crabbe and Goyle, however, nobody knows what happened to them, but I doubt it is anything good or that we'll be seeing them again. Nott is quite simply dead.
Thanks for the suggestions for tests you could make in the Pokémon world. I like the teleportation one, though I think it would need to have some way for you to be able to escape if you knew what you were doing.
This chapter's question of the day is going to be a big one.
QOTD: Which death in the Harry Potter series did you care about most?
For me it would be Sirius, although Dobby is a close second. I think it is probably because you get to see the effect they had on Harry that made them feel more real while a lot of the others, particularly the ones that happened during the battle of Hogwarts, happened pretty much right at the end with no time for the characters to deal with the loss.
That said I also feel really sad that Remus died. Considering how he lost all his friends over the years and always struggled making a life for himself I feel like his death was perhaps even more tragic than Sirius's since it came right as the war was about to be over and he was so close to having the life he wanted with Tonks and Teddy only for it to be snatched away.
Anyway, now that I've made myself feel sad, what was the death that affected you the most? Leave your answers in the reviews.