Suddenly a set of doors high above them burst open and members of the Order of the Phoenix had rushed into the room, sending stunning spells towards them as they ran. Potter ducked out of the way, and he still had the prophecy, but the threat from the Order was more important than Potter at the moment. She began to duel Tonks, her niece, but it did not matter that they were related. Tonks had chosen to support the losing side, and although Bella was not going to kill her, that didn't mean that she would not cause the girl harm. Bella was only half focused on the duel, as the feeling that had crept upon her as they had waited for Potter settled on her again. Had Tonks and Sirius chosen the losing side, or had that been her? She duelled competently despite not being fully focused on what she was doing. She had duelled so often with the Dark Lord in training that all of her movements were like a well-rehearsed dance. She knew exactly when to duck and dodge, how to guess which way Tonks would dive. The girl had been taught by Mad-Eye Moody – that was evident from the way she fought. That also made it easier for Bella – She had duelled Moody many times before he had eventually caught her, so she knew how he fought well. But still, as she duelled, there was the nagging voice which was telling her that she could have been fighting with Sirius and Tonks rather than against them. She wondered whether things would have been different if she and Sirius were more similar in age – would she have been influenced by him more? Would she have been able to finally stand up to her father and mother, and tell them that she wasn't sure that their beliefs were right rather than blindly following them, and ignoring that nagging voice inside? But it was too late to dwell on the past, and what her life might have been like. For all she knew, nothing would have changed. But she would never know. And now she had to deal with the situation she was in, which meant winning her duel with Tonks, and moving onto another Order member. She hit Tonks with a well-placed stunning spell, and turned to face the battle that was raging all around her. Sirius was talking to Potter; it looked as if he was telling him to get out. She shot Stunning Spells at the pair, but Sirius forced the boy down and they missed. Someone else shot the killing curse at them, but that had missed too. Bella was secretly glad – she may have wildly different views to her cousin, but he was still family, and in the same way that she not duelled to kill Tonks, she would not kill Sirius. She could see Potter dragging Longbottom up now – someone had hit the boy with the Tarantallegra Charm, so he could barely stand. Sirius had yelled something at Potter before rushing forward to meet her. Spells were flying all around the Death Chamber. Bella and Sirius were on the dais, and she was shooting Stunning Spell after Stunning Spell, trying to get Sirius at the right angle to fall away from the veil. She knew what would happen if he fell in. He was shooting spell after spell at her too, but she thought that he, like her, was not duelling to kill. She wondered whether this was because they were family, or just because he didn't agree with the idea of killing. She knew that he hadn't killed Pettigrew and the muggles fourteen years ago, and she wondered if he had ever killed anyone before. She had stopped concentrating on the duel so much and was simply firing spells at him, most of which missed by a fraction.
"Come on, you can do better than that!" he shouted at her, and she shot another Stunning Spell at him. She realised as soon as she had that he was now directly in front of the veil. The spell hit him straight in the chest and she knew what was going to happen next. He was going to fall through the veil. She had killed him. She felt the last shred of her sanity leave her as she watched her cousin fall through the veil. He was still smiling as he fell. If only, she thought, he had helped me leave, he might still be alive. She had supressed this thought as quickly as it arose, so it merely fleeted across her mind and she barely registered it. She faked a triumphant scream, as she realised that the room was silent around her. She looked around and saw Dumbledore – he had captured many of the other Death Eaters, so their duels had stopped.
"SIRIUS! SIRIUS!" She heard a boy shouting. It was Potter. He had seen. But then Kingsley was in front of her and she had to duel him. There was nothing good left inside her. She didn't care anymore. She had failed. She had promised herself that she would not kill her family, but she had failed. Her anger at herself exploded out of her in a spell that she did not recognise. Kingsley hit the floor, yelling in agony. It was now or never. She ran.
"Harry – no!" She heard someone shout through the fog that was clouding her mind.
"SHE KILLED SIRIUS! SHE KILLED HIM – I'LL KILL HER!" She knew without looking behind her that Potter had followed. She didn't care anymore. She heard a whizzing sound behind her and made split second decision to not give up. She turned and deflected the curse that Dumbledore had shot at her and ran. Potter was following. As she ran, she wasn't sure what had made her fight, and she wasn't entirely sure where she was going. Her attention to details, once so accurate had faded due to her time in Azkaban. She had found it hard to focus on where they were going in the Ministry, so finding her way out, whilst being pursued by Potter and potentially members of the Order of the Phoenix would be a challenge. To her surprise, the first door she opened as she fled led into the Brain Room. She knew where she was and how to get out. She ran past all the children who were lying broken on the floor. The door crashed open behind her and she knew that Potter had followed her quickly. Without thinking, she aimed her wand at the jar of brains and caused them to fly towards Potter. If she could stop him from following her, she could deal with her emotions, but she heard him shout "Wingardium Leviosa" and knew that he was still following her. She ran through the door at the far end, and into the room with blue candles, which would let her out. She closed the door behind her and said "Exit." The walls began to spin, and slow down. As they stopped and the correct door opened, Potter opened another door and ran in. She could see the fury in his eyes. It seemed that he didn't care anymore either. She ran out of the open door behind her and slammed it before Potter had reached it. She ran towards the lifts. Hopefully Potter would not know how the room worked, and would have to try the doors by trial and error. Hopefully she would be long gone by the time he had found his way to the lifts. She wasn't sure why she was suddenly so reluctant to face the boy. Was Sirius' death the one that had finally tipped her over the edge, causing her morals to take over? Did she not want to be the one responsible for hurting any more people, especially given that he was a child? She didn't know. All she knew was that she had to get out of the Ministry, and clear her head before she faced the Dark Lord. If he knew how she was currently feeling, he would never trust her again.