You're too young.
It was the worst thing Harry could have said to her. Ginny had cut him off before he could say it, but that was what he was going to say before she reminded him that she was three years older than he was when he faced Voldemort and stopped him from taking the Sorcerer's Stone.
Ginny was riding on her thestral alongside her friends to the Ministry. Not being able to see it, she maintained a death grip on the creature's mane, keeping her eyes shut tight. The thestral was moving incredibly fast, but it didn't feel like, at least based on how little she was moving up and down on the beast's back, that the thestral was flapping its wings much. It was extremely nerve wracking and as far as she was concerned, it couldn't be over fast enough.
She knew Harry was only trying to protect her by attempting to stop her from going. He had done the same for Luna and Neville, but when he said, "You're too young" all she heard was, "You're just Ron's little sister." She was not his equal. She was not even Ron and Hermione's. He didn't try to stop them. With how he had treated her back in the classroom still fresh in her mind as well, she would have been lying if she said she wasn't a bit panicked that Harry would never take an interest in her at this point. She thought about how excited she was after she had caught Michael and Cho snogging and hoped she and Harry would be together by now. Was she stupid for hoping that? She certainly felt stupid. Perhaps it had been an unrealistic expectation. Maybe he (and her stomach squirmed unpleasantly at the thought) was still not over Cho, though Hermione seemed very certain that he was. She could have been mistaken, though. Hermione was not God. She may have thought she knew everything, but she didn't. If Ginny wasn't so determined to help save Sirius, and by extension, prove Harry wrong about her, she half-thought she may have wanted to just jump off her thestral. Wasn't this the whole reason they started the D.A.? For stuff like this? Now Harry was going to say it was all for nothing, that it was all just for show? The wind blew noisily in her ears as the thestral streaked across England, but all these thoughts drowned it out.
Somewhere along the ride Ginny remembered that Sirius, according to Harry, was being tortured by Voldemort. Not Death Eaters. Did that mean they were all going to have to duel Voldemort himself in order to rescue him? That seemed very bad if it did. Of course, Harry had faced him before and escaped, so he was obviously not afraid. But the rest of them? Ginny couldn't help but worry they were flying right into a death trap. Why hadn't she realized this sooner? Had she really been more concerned about impressing Harry and stewing about how he felt about her than possibly getting herself killed? Maybe, said a voice in her head, just maybe Harry was right to try and stop you from coming…
And yet, the others had insisted on coming too. Ginny wondered if they had any idea what they were potentially getting themselves into. Being in the D.A. didn't mean they were suddenly capable of fighting the Darkest wizard of all time, even if it was six on one. All of this notwithstanding, Ginny's mind was made up. She was going to help him save Sirius. She was going to prove to him that she was not, in fact, too young — that she was not, in fact, just Ron's little sister. She was going to win his heart or die trying. And there was also the simple fact that Sirius was someone worth saving.
She heard Hermione scream and Ginny jerked her eyes open. She felt herself falling but still had a hold of the thestral; it was merely beginning to descend. It was darker now than when she last had her eyes open. The sun had now set and lights were beginning to illuminate the city as they made a steep descent towards the entrance to the Ministry of Magic. She shut her eyes again to stop herself from throwing up. At last, the thestrals landed and Ginny slid off hers at once.
They followed Harry into the Ministry and down to the corridor leading to the Department of Mysteries. They did not encounter security guards or anyone else on the way; the Ministry was completely deserted. When they reached the end of the corridor, a plain, black door greeted them.
"Okay, listen," said Harry, stopping again within six feet of the door. "Maybe… maybe a couple of people should stay here as a — as a lookout, and —"
"And how're we going to let you know something's coming?" asked Ginny, her eyebrows raised. She knew he was going to keep doing this and was ready for it. "You could be miles away."
"We're coming with you, Harry," said Neville.
"Let's get on with it," said Ron firmly.
Harry looked like he was trying to come up with another retort, but seemingly couldn't think of one and proceeded through the door at the end of the corridor. They all followed.
They were now in a large, circular room. Everything in here was black including the floor and ceiling — identical, unmarked, handle-less black doors were set at intervals all around the black walls, interspersed with branches of candles whose flames burned blue, their cool, shimmering light reflected in the shining marble floor so that it looked as though there was dark water underfoot.
"Someone shut the door," Harry muttered.
Neville did so. The room became very dark. Now, the only thing Ginny could see were the shivering blue flames on the walls and their ghostly reflections in the floor below.
Suddenly, the wall began to rotate, but the floor remained stationary. The wall spun faster and faster until the hanging torches were nothing more than a blue blur, then came to an abrupt halt.
"What was that about?" whispered Ron fearfully.
"I think it was to stop us knowing which door we came in from," said Ginny in a hushed voice, pulling out her wand. It felt that they were all fully committed now. She thought inexplicably of the party that was no doubt in full swing now in the Gryffindor common room and had a fleeting image of Dean staring at the portrait hole, waiting for her to show. She fought back a laugh. If he could see where she was right now instead…
"How're we going to get back out?" said Neville uncomfortably.
"Well, that doesn't matter now," said Harry forcefully. He thought for a moment before suggesting that they all try a few doors until he found the right one. Starting with the door closest to him, he pushed it open, wand raised, and the others followed behind.
After the darkness of the first room, the lamps hanging low on golden chains from this ceiling gave the impression that this long rectangular room was much brighter. The place was quite empty except for a few desks and, in the very middle of the room, an enormous glass tank of deep-green water, big enough for all of them to swim in and containing a number of pearly white objects that were drifting around lazily in the liquid, which they quickly discovered were… brains.
"Let's get out of here," said Harry. "This isn't right, we need to try another door —"
"There are doors here too," said Ron, pointing around the walls. Harry looked a bit apprehensive now.
"In my dream I went through that dark room into the second one," he said. "I think we should go back and try from there."
They turned and hurried back into the circular room.
"Wait!" said Hermione sharply, as Luna made to close the door of the brain room behind them. "Flagrate!"
She drew with her wand in midair and a fiery X appeared on the door. No sooner had the door clicked shut behind them than there was a great rumbling, and once again the wall began to revolve very fast, but now there was a great red-gold blur in amongst the faint blue, and when all became still again, the fiery cross still burned, showing the door they had already tried.
"Good thinking," said Harry. "Okay, let's try this one —"
They entered the next room. This one was larger than the last, dimly lit and rectangular, and the center of it was sunken, forming a great stone pit some twenty feet below them. They were standing on the topmost tier of what seemed to be stone benches running all around the room and descending in steep steps like an amphitheater. There was a raised stone dais in the center of the lowered floor, and upon this dais stood a stone archway that looked so ancient, cracked, and crumbling that it looked like it could come down at any moment. Unsupported by any surrounding wall, the archway was hung with a tattered black curtain or veil which, despite the complete stillness of the cold surrounding air, was fluttering very slightly as though it had just been touched.
"Who's there?" said Harry, jumping down onto the bench below. Ginny thought this was an odd question to ask. There was no answering voice, but the veil continued to flutter and sway.
"Careful!" whispered Hermione.
Harry scrambled down the benches one by one until he reached the stone bottom of the sunken pit. He was staring at the veil, mesmerized, which continued to sway as though somebody had just passed through it, and the rest of them all followed down the steps towards him. Ginny watched the veil and quickly found she couldn't take her eyes off it; the fluttering and swaying was hypnotizing. When they reached the bottom of the pit, she glanced at Neville beside her: he, too, was staring at the veil and looked just as enthralled as Ginny. She heard Harry and Hermione arguing on the other side. Hermione was trying to draw Harry away from the veil while Harry seemingly wanted to investigate it further. Drawing nearer, Ginny thought she could hear voices, or rather whispers, that seemed to be coming from the other side of the veil. Unlike the voices of Harry and Hermione, however, these were soft and ghostly, and no words were decipherable. Ginny continued to watch the veil flutter and sway, and she had a strange urge to walk through it.
No sooner did this thought occur to her than Hermione grabbed her and pulled her away from the dais and back up the stone steps, and then back into the circular room.
"What d'you reckon that arch was?" Harry asked.
"I don't know, but whatever it was, it was dangerous," said Hermione firmly, again inscribing a fiery cross upon the door. Once more the wall spun and became still again. After trying and failing to open another of the doors, Hermione inscribed a fiery X on that one too and they tried another after the wall spun for a fourth time.
"This is it!" Harry exclaimed excitedly.
Ginny and the others followed Harry into the new room, which was lit by a dancing, diamond-sparkling light. The room was filled with clocks. They sat on desks, on bookcases, and the wall, and a constant, off-beat ticking sound filled the space just from the sheer number of them. The source of the dancing, diamond-bright light was a towering crystal bell jar that stood at the far end of the room that contained a billowing, glittering wind. Ginny stared at it, transfixed.
Drifting along in the sparkling current inside was a tiny, jewel-bright egg. As it rose in the jar it cracked open and a hummingbird emerged, which was carried to the very top of the jar, but as it fell on the draft, its feathers became bedraggled and damp again, and by the time it had been borne back to the bottom of the jar it had been enclosed once more in its egg.
"Oh look!" said Ginny, as they drew nearer, pointing at the very heart of the bell jar. She stopped for a second to watch the hummingbird cycle between egg and bird. It was one of the strangest things she had ever seen.
"Keep going!" said Harry sharply.
"You dawdled enough by that old arch!" she said crossly, knowing full well she had too but was feeling a touch resentful of him at the moment.
"This is it," Harry said again, indicating a door past the bell jar. "It's through here —"
Ginny's feelings were replaced by those of trepidation as reality flooded back to her. Voldemort… Voldemort was here. He had Sirius. They were going to have to fight. Ginny had been suppressing these thoughts to keep herself going, but all that came crashing down in this instant and fear flooded her. Ginny glanced around at her friends and saw the fear reflected in their faces too. They all drew their wands and Harry glanced back at them all with a look of utmost seriousness that did nothing to quell her anxiety. Then, he opened the door and walked in, and they followed quietly.
It was a large room, full of towering high shelves containing nothing but small, dusty glass orbs. They glimmered dully in the light issuing from more candle brackets set at intervals along the shelves. Like those in the circular room behind them, their flames were burning blue. The room was very cold. There was no sound; no signs of Sirius or anyone being tortured.
Harry edged forward and peered down one of the shadowy aisles between two rows of shelves.
"You said it was row ninety-seven," whispered Hermione.
"Yeah," breathed Harry, looking up at the end of the closest row.
"We need to go right, I think," whispered Hermione, squinting to the next row. Hermione was counting off the rows quietly; they were at fifty-four.
"Keep your wands out," Harry said softly. They crept forward, staring behind them as they went on down the long alleys of shelves, the farther ends of which were in near total darkness.
As they finally reached ninety-seven, they stood in a group and stared down the aisle. There was no sign of anyone.
"He's right down at the end," said Harry, who was sounding very anxious now. "You can't see properly from here…"
He led them down to the end of the row.
"He should be near here," whispered Harry. "Anywhere here… really close…"
"Harry?" said Hermione tentatively.
"Somewhere about… here…"
They had reached the end of the row and emerged into more dim candlelight. There was nobody there at all. All was echoing, dusty silence.
"He might be…" Harry whispered hoarsely, peering down the alley next door. "Or maybe…"
He hurried to look down the one beyond that.
"Harry?" said Hermione again.
"What?"
"I… I don't think Sirius is here."
Harry didn't respond but began looking frantically down each aisle. Ron, however, became preoccupied with something on one of the shelves.
"Harry?" he called in an odd-sounding voice.
"What?"
"Have you seen this?"
"What?" said Harry again, but sounding more excited this time. He hurried back and looked disappointed when he saw Ron was merely staring at one of the shelves.
"What?" he repeated glumly.
"It's — it's got your name on," said Ron.
Harry moved a little closer. Ron was pointing at one of the small glass spheres that glowed with a dull inner light, though it was very dusty and appeared not to have been touched for many years.
"My name?" said Harry blankly, looking closely at the orb Ron had indicated.
"What is it?" Ron asked, sounding unnerved. "What's your name doing down here?" He looked around at the other orbs near it. "I'm not here. None of the rest of us are here…"
"Harry, I don't think you should touch it," said Hermione sharply, as he stretched out his hand.
"Why not?" he said. "It's something to do with me, isn't it?"
"Don't, Harry," said Neville suddenly. Harry looked around at him. Neville's round face was shining slightly with sweat. He looked as though he could not take much more suspense.
"It's got my name on," said Harry, as though that settled the matter, and he swiftly took the glass ball from the shelf. The rest of them closed behind him to get a better look as Harry tried to brush the dust off.
And then, from right behind them, a drawling voice said, "Very good, Potter. Now turn around, nice and slowly, and give that to me."
Ginny gasped. No fewer than a dozen Death Eaters had appeared out of nowhere and surrounded them.
"To me, Potter," repeated Lucius Malfoy, holding his palm out.
Harry didn't move.
"To me," said Malfoy again.
Again, Harry did not hand over the glass ball but kept it tightly in his hand, demanding to know where Sirius was. He was only mocked in response.
"The little baby woke up fwightened and fort what it dweamed was twoo," said a woman to their left in a horrible, mock-baby voice. The Death Eaters closed in on them.
"Don't do anything," he muttered. "Not yet —"
The woman who had mimicked him let out a raucous scream of laughter. "You hear him? You hear him? Giving instructions to the other children as though he thinks of fighting us!"
"Oh, you don't know Potter as I do, Bellatrix," said Malfoy softly. "He has a great weakness for heroics; the Dark Lord understands this about him. Now give me the prophecy, Potter."
Ginny's heart sank as Harry demanded again to know where Sirius was. It sounded like he had been tricked, that the vision he had of Sirius being tortured was not real, and as if on cue, Lucius Malfoy said, "It's time you learned the difference between life and dreams, Potter. Now give me the prophecy, or we start using wands."
"Go on, then," said Harry, raising his own wand to chest height, and Ginny and the others raised theirs as well.
"Hand over the prophecy and no one need get hurt," said Malfoy coolly.
Harry laughed.
"Yeah, right!" he said. "I give you this — prophecy, is it? And you'll just let us skip off home, will you?"
Bellatrix reacted instantly and tried Summoning the prophecy, but Harry blocked it with a Shield Charm.
"Oh, he knows how to play, little bitty baby Potter," she snarled. "Very well, then —"
"I TOLD YOU, NO!" Lucius Malfoy roared at her. "If you smash it — !"
Bellatrix stepped forward and slid her hood off. She looked mad; there was no other way to describe it. Her face was gaunt and skull-like from the years spent in Azkaban, but there was a manic gleam in her eyes.
"You need more persuasion?" she said, her chest rising and falling rapidly. "Very well — take the smallest one," she ordered the Death Eaters beside her. "Let him watch while we torture the little girl. I'll do it."
Ginny went white as she realized she was talking about her. The others closed in, and Harry stepped directly in front of her to shield her. He was so close that his hair was blowing slightly from Ginny's quickened, panicked breaths behind him; however, the situation was much too serious for her to feel anything other than fear.
"You'll have to smash this if you want to attack any of us," said Harry, indicating the prophecy. "I don't think your boss will be too pleased if you come back without it, will he?"
Bellatrix did not answer.
"So," said Harry, clearly playing for time, "what kind of prophecy are we talking about anyway?"
Ginny tried to come up with a plan for getting themselves out of this situation, but nothing whatsoever came to mind as her brain seemed to have jammed. Harry was likely going to have to hand over the prophecy and hope for the best. He continued to stall by taunting them for a moment before Bellatrix got fed up and attempted to Stun him, but Malfoy, who was intent on not harming the prophecy, deflected the curse into one of the high shelves, causing a couple of the orbs to fall to the ground and shatter. White, misty figures rose from the broken glass and began speaking, but Ginny couldn't make out much of what they were saying over the yelling of the Death Eaters. Harry played for more time but muttered something in Hermione's ear when he got the opportunity. As inconspicuously as possible, Hermione passed along the message to her and Ron: "Smash shelves, when Harry says go."
They relayed the message to Neville and Luna.
"Reducto," whispered Neville.
Ginny agreed this was the curse to use. They learned it in the D.A. early on. Soon the five of them were all on the same page, and when Harry said, "NOW!", there were five shouts of "REDUCTO!"
Five curses flew in different directions, hitting the shelves of prophecies and raining glass and mist down on all of them.
"RUN!" shouted Harry.
They all booked it. Ron grabbed Ginny's hand and pulled her away from the collapsing shelves with Luna right beside her. They dashed past the Death Eaters, who were thrown off-guard, and sprinted as fast as they could to the door with their arms over their heads to shield them from the falling debris.
They passed Harry, Hermione, and Neville and quickly lost track of them in the chaos. Shouting from voices they didn't recognize told them there were several Death Eaters on their heels. They quickly found the door to what they thought was back into the Time Room, but when they entered, they found themselves instead in a very big, unfamiliar dark room full of round, floating objects.
"Wait, what?" said Ron, sounding panicked. "This isn't the way back! That must not have been the right door!"
"Well we can't turn around now, there are Death Eaters right outside!" said Ginny.
They ran as fast as they could across the dark room, avoiding the large, round objects floating around. They quickly found that running was not easy; they were taking long, slow strides and were not making much progress.
"It must be space!" said Luna, looking around interestedly as they ran. "And these are planets! Look!"
Sure enough, as they got close to one of the floating spheroids, they saw it was a very large model of the planet Neptune, identifiable by the shockingly vivid blue color.
They heard Malfoy shouting orders at the others and a moment later the door opened and four Death Eaters entered the room behind them.
"Over there!" one of them shouted, pointing at Ginny, Ron, and Luna. The Death Eaters sent Stunners in their direction, and they dived behind Neptune to shield themselves. The light from the spells illuminated the room briefly and they could see another door on the opposite wall from which they entered.
"Come on," hissed Ron as the Death Eaters slowly made their way through the space-like substance that filled the room.
"Stupefy!" cried Ginny, pointing her wand towards the area where the Stunners had originated. The spell missed the Death Eaters and hit the wall near the door.
"Nebulus!" said Luna, and a white mist emerged from her wand and began filling the room behind them, blocking the dark outlines of the Death Eaters from sight. They took the opportunity to move across the room towards the door without being spotted.
"Good thinking!" whispered Ginny, taking a step towards Uranus, which was directly between them and the door. She floated almost fifteen feet before taking another. Ron raised his wand and took aim at Neptune.
"Depulso!"
The planet went streaking towards the door from which they entered. There was a yell of pain that told them one of the Death Eaters had been hit.
The other Death Eaters were now sending spells in every direction. They had escaped the fog but had now lost track of Ron, Ginny, and Luna, who were moving as fast as the room would allow towards Uranus. As they finally reached it, they hid behind to organize an attack. Rather bizarrely, they were able to cling to the planet with no means of support.
They each peered around the edge of the planet at different spots and yelled, "Stupefy!".
One of the Death Eaters dodged Luna's Stunner, but another who was directly behind him did not react in time and keeled over. It seemed there were now only two Death Eaters left. Ginny took off and floated towards Pluto, Ron and Luna right beside her, all of them trying to dodge the jets of light flying through the air. A jet of white light collided with Ron as they were halfway between the two planets, and he keeled over onto the floor in slow motion. He lay still for a moment, then lifted his head up with a rather silly grin on his face.
"Hey, Ginny!" he said loudly, pointing at the planet they were floating away from. "Look! It's Uranus! Ha ha ha…"
"They're there!" shouted one of the Death Eaters. Ginny moved as fast as she could towards Pluto, trying to urge Ron forward too, but he resisted.
"Get it, Ginny? Uranus? Ha ha ha…"
Luna grabbed Ron and they pulled him along towards the smallest of the planets. Whatever the Death Eater had hit him with had debilitated him while also making sure he gave away their position every two seconds.
"Hey! It's Loony Lovegood!" Ron chortled. "Look, Ginny! Loony Lovegood!"
One of the Death Eaters was now in sight and pointed his wand at Luna.
"Incarc —"
"Stupefy!" shouted Ginny, and a jet of red light hit him in the face before he could block it, and he fell to the floor, unconscious. At last, they reached Pluto, with only one Death Eater now chasing them.
"The door's over there!" Ginny hissed. They moved as fast as they could, supporting Ron as they did so. As they passed Pluto, however, the last Death Eater grabbed Ginny around the ankle.
"I've got one!" he roared, as though on an Easter egg hunt. Whether any of his comrades heard him, however, Ginny had no way of knowing. She was pretty sure he was the only one left in the room who was still fighting. He pulled Ginny towards him just as Ron grabbed one of her arms and tried to pull her back at the same time.
"Hey! Ginny, no — where are you going?" said Ron with a comically worried look on his face. Her body stretched painfully and she started panicking.
"RON, NO — !"
The Death Eater yanked harder and pulled her ankle at a strange angle. Ginny felt and heard it snap.
"Reducto!" cried Luna, pointing her wand at Pluto. The planet exploded, and Ginny shrieked. Shrapnel flew everywhere, smashing into the ceiling and the walls, and the Death Eater howled in pain and released Ginny immediately. She thought she heard Harry calling for them from a nearby room as debris began raining down; Ginny threw her hands over her head just as she had done when they destroyed the shelves of prophecies and felt pieces of the busted planet collide with her.
"Ow! That hurt!" said Ron stupidly. "What did you do that for?"
Neither of them answered. Ginny began feeling immense pain in her ankle now as the shock and adrenaline wore off, and now felt nothing but dread as she knew it would only get worse. Luna was trying to usher Ron along at the same time she was pulling Ginny towards the door. Frustratingly, Ron was resisting and still giggling due to the strange curse that had hit him. Ginny reached down and grabbed her ankle reflexively, and as she leaned forward she spotted the Death Eater that had grabbed her lying motionless on the floor, bleeding badly.
"Hurry!" Ginny panted through the pain.
"I'm trying," gasped Luna, who was now the only one still functional and was clearly struggling to pull both her and Ron at once.
Ginny pushed off the ground with her good foot every few seconds, trying to help Luna as much as she possibly could. Luckily the lack of gravity made it easier not to lose her balance and fall on her broken ankle. It was almost like moving through water, though with less lateral resistance. Ginny shut her eyes; the pain in her ankle was now so bad she thought she might throw up.
At last Luna reached the door and pulled Ron and Ginny back into the circular room, where Harry, Neville, and Hermione already were. Ginny leaned up against the wall for support while standing on one foot, which was harder than it should have been as she had become accustomed to the lack of gravity and now her body felt like lead. Harry was still clutching the prophecy and Neville's face was covered in blood, and his nose looked like it had been broken as well. Hermione was unconscious, slouched limply against the wall. Harry and Luna appeared to be the only ones relatively unharmed. Through the pain in her ankle, Ginny felt disappointment. She had been determined to prove herself ever since Harry had made the remark about her being too young, and she had fantasized about fighting alongside him as his equal. She did not envision getting separated from him, then becoming incapacitated and turning into nothing but a burden.
"Ron!" croaked Harry, dashing toward them. "Ginny — are you all — ?"
"Harry," said Ron, still giggling weakly, lurching forward and seizing the front of Harry's. "There you are… Ha ha ha… You look funny, Harry… You're all messed up…"
"Ginny?" Harry said fearfully. "What happened?"
Ginny couldn't speak and just shook her head, sliding down the wall into a sitting position. She shut her eyes again and grabbed her now swelling ankle, taking short, shallow breaths and trying desperately not to cry.
"I think her ankle's broken, I heard something crack," whispered Luna, and she began explaining to Harry what had happened as Ron continued to act as though he were on drugs.
"We've got to get out of here," said Harry firmly. "Luna, can you help Ginny?"
"Yes," said Luna, and Ginny felt her put an arm around her waist and lift her up.
"It's only my ankle, I can do it myself!" said Ginny wildly, but when she tried putting any weight on it, she felt a sharp, searing pain and she collapsed, grabbing onto Luna for support. Harry pulled Ron's arm over his shoulder just as Luna put hers over Ginny's and helped her along. They reached the others a few feet away from one of the doors when another on the opposite end of the room burst open.
"There they are!" shrieked Bellatrix, who flew into the room followed by two more Death Eaters. Stunning Spells shot at them as Luna pulled Ginny across the threshold right before Harry helped Neville and Hermione through, still holding the prophecy and slamming the door behind him.
"Colloportus!" shouted Harry, and the door sealed itself with an odd squelching noise. Ginny heard three bodies slam into the door on the other side.
"It doesn't matter!" said a man's voice. "There are other ways in — WE'VE GOT THEM, THEY'RE HERE!"
Ginny realized they were back in the Brain Room. Harry looked around at the walls and started panicking as he realized there were at least six more doors into the room that Death Eaters could use.
"Luna — Neville — help me!"
Luna hastily but gently placed Ginny into a sitting position and helped the two boys seal all the doors. Before she could seal the last one, however, a Death Eater barged in and hit Luna with a spell that sent her flying through the air. Four more Death Eaters followed as Luna landed on a desk and slid onto the floor, motionless.
"Get Potter!" shrieked Bellatrix, and she ran at him. He dodged her and sprinted back up the room clutching the prophecy tightly in his hand.
"Hey!" said Ron, who had staggered to his feet and was now tottering drunkenly toward Harry, giggling. "Hey, Harry, there are brains in here, ha ha ha, isn't that weird, Harry?"
"Ron, get out of the way, get down —"
But Ron had already pointed his wand at the tank.
"Honest, Harry, they're brains — look — Accio Brain!"
The scene seemed momentarily frozen. Everyone, including the Death Eaters, turned in spite of themselves to watch as a brain burst like a leaping fish from the large tank in the middle of the room. For a moment it seemed suspended in midair, then it soared toward Ron, spinning as it came, and what looked like ribbons of moving images flew from it, unraveling like rolls of film —
"Ha ha ha, Harry, look at it —" said Ron, watching it disgorge its gaudy innards. "Harry, come and touch it, bet it's weird —"
"RON, NO!"
He darted forward but Ron had already caught the brain in his outstretched hands, and to Ginny's horror, the tentacles began wrapping themselves around his arms like ropes the moment they made contact with his skin.
"Harry, look what's happen — no — no, I don't like it — no, stop — stop —"
But the thin ribbons were spinning around Ron's chest now. Harry tugged and tore at them helplessly as the brain was pulled tight against him like an octopus's body.
"Diffindo!" yelled Harry, trying to sever the feelers wrapping themselves tightly around Ron before his eyes, but they would not break. Ron fell over, still thrashing against his bonds.
"Harry, it'll suffocate him!" screamed Ginny, but before she could do anything more than panic, a jet of red light hurled towards her and hit her squarely in the face.
