Beyond the Veil
Black figures emerged out of thin air all around them, blocking their way left and right, eyes glinting through slits in hoods and masks, a dozen lit wand tips pointed directly at all their hearts; Mary made a gasp of horror.
"To me, Pendergast." Lucius Malfoy's drawling voice repeated as he held his hand out, palm up.
Arthur's rage and fury filled his entire being, seeing that they were now trapped, outnumbered two to one.
"To me." Lucius said again.
"You don't get to tell me what to do." Arthur spat.
This caused several Death Eaters to laugh in amusement; a harsh female voice from the midst of the shadowy figures to Arthur's left being the most noticeable.
"Give me the prophecy, Pendergast."
"I said you don't get to tell me what to do." Arthur spat again.
David stirred beside Arthur.
"Don't do anything yet." Arthur muttered to him.
The woman made 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 Pendergast as I do, Bellatrix." Lucius said softly. "He has a great weakness for heroics; the Dark Lord understands this about him. Now give me the prophecy, Pendergast."
"If you so desperately want it, you can come get it yourself, you lazy bastard! Otherwise I'll destroy this thing and make your master really angry!" Arthur growled at him.
"Now, come on, boy, give me the prophecy, or we start using wands." Lucius warned him.
"Go on, then, scared of facing us?" Arthur taunted as he raised his wand to chest height. Mike, David, Chrys, Mary, Neville and Luna did the same.
The Death Eaters didn't strike, clearly because they couldn't risk the prophecy being destroyed.
"Hand over the prophecy and no one need get hurt." Lucius said coolly.
This made Arthur laugh.
"Yeah right, you'll just kill us if I do hand it to you!"
The words were hardly out of his mouth with Bellatrix shrieked "Accio proph -"
Arthur was prepared for her: he shouted "Protego!" before she finished her spell and the glass ball stayed in his hand.
"Oh, he knows how to play, little bitty baby Pendergast." She said, her mad eyes staring through the slits in her hood. "Very well, then -"
"I TOLD YOU, NO!" Lucius roared at her. "If you smash it -!"
He just confirmed Arthur's suspicion that they're all after the prophecy. He didn't care for it, heck, he could destroy it right now, but they'd all kill and the others instantly. He had to think of a way to get out of this alive.
Bellatrix then stepped forward, away from her fellow Death Eaters and pulled off her hood. It was clear how much Azkaban hollowed out her face, making it gaunt and skull-like, yet it was alive with a feverish, fanatical glow.
"You need persuasion?" She said, her chest rising and falling rapidly. "Very well - take the smallest one." She ordered the Death Eater beside her. "Like him watch while we torture the little girl. I'll do it."
Arthur and the others all closed in around Mary, he himself being in front of her, the prophecy held up to his chest.
"You'll just have to smash it if you want to attack any of us!" Arthur told Bellatrix. "Your precious master would be mad at you if you failed your mission, wouldn't he?"
Bellatrix didn't move, merely staring at him, the tip of her tongue moistening her thin mouth.
"What's the deal with this prophecy?" Arthur decided to ask so that he can have more time to think of a plan to get out of this current situation.
He felt Mike's arm pressed against his. Among that were quivering breaths from the others.
"You jest, Arthur Pendergast." Bellatrix said, her grin fading from her face.
"I'm not." Arthur said, his eyes looking at one Death Eater to another, looking for any weak link, a space to use as an escape. "Why would Voldemort want it?"
Several Death Eaters let out low hisses.
"You dare speak his name?" Bellatrix whispered.
"It's nothing but a stupid name of an egotistical madman!" Arthur spat with contempt, his grip on the glass ball tighter than ever. "I have no problem saying Vol -"
"Shut your mouth!" Bellatrix shrieked. "You dare speak his name with your unworthy lips, you dare besmirch it with your half-blood's tongue, you dare -"
"YOU'RE PRECIOUS MASTER'S A HALF-BLOOD, TOO!" Arthur roared back at her. "ALL THANKS TO HIS MUGGLE FATHER! AND HE PROBABLY TOLD YOU ALL HE'S A PURE-BLOOD!"
"STUPEF -"
"NO!"
A jet of red light shot from Bellatrix's wand, but Lucius deflected it; his spell caused hers to hit the shelf a foot to the left of Arthur and several glass orbs shattered.
Two figures, pearly white as ghosts, fluid as smoke, unfurled themselves from the fragments of broken glass upon the floor and each started speaking; their voices vied with each other, so that only fragments of what they were saying could be heard over the shouting from Lucius and Bellatrix.
"...at the solstice will come a new…." The figure of an old bearded man said.
"DO NOT ATTACK! WE NEED THE PROPHECY!"
"He dared - he dares -" Bellatrix shrieked incoherently. " - he stands there - filthy half-blood -"
"WAIT UNTIL WE'VE GOT THE PROPHECY!" Lucius bawled.
"...and none will come after…." The figure of a young woman said.
The two figures that burst from the shattered orbs then melted into thin air. Nothing had remained of them or their erstwhile homes but fragments of glass upon the floor.
This gave Arthur the idea he needed, he just had to try and convey it to the others.
"You still haven't told me what's so special about this prophecy that I'm apparently supposed to hand over." He then said, playing for time, moving his foot slowly sideways, feeling for whoever.
"Don't play games with me, Pendergast." Lucius said.
"I'm not." Arthur said, still moving his foot. Eventually, he found someone's toes and pressed down on them. A sharp intake of breath behind him told that it was Chrys.
"What?" She whispered.
"Dumbledore never told you the reason you bear that scar was hidden in the bowels of the Department of Mysteries?" Lucius sneered.
"What about my scar?" Arthur asked.
"What?" Chrys whispered more urgently behind him.
"Can this be?" Lucius said with malicious delight as some of the Death Eaters laughed again.
As they laughed, Arthur hissed to Chrys, keeping his lips as still as possible "Smash the shelves -"
"Dumbledore never told you?" Lucius repeated. "Well, this explains why you didn't come earlier, Pendergast, the Dark Lord wondered why -"
" - when I say now -"
" - you didn't come running when he showed you the place where it was hidden in your dreams. He thought natural curiosity would make you want to hear the exact wording…."
"Is that so?" Arthur said. Behind him, he felt instead of heard Chrys passing the message on to the others and decided to just keep talking to distract the Death Eaters. "So he wanted me to come get it, what's wrong, is he too lazy to do it himself?"
"Because the only people who are permitted to retrieve a prophecy from the Department of Mysteries, Pendergast, are those about whom it was made, as the Dark Lord discovered when he attempted to use others to steal it for him."
"Why would he want to steal a prophecy about me and him?"
"Haven't you ever wondered why the Dark Lord tried to kill you as a baby?"
Arthur stared into the slitted eye holes through which Lucius' grey eyes gleamed. This prophecy could explain how and why he and Voldemort are fated together, why his parents were killed and why he has the scar on his forehead?
"Again, why couldn't your master get it himself?" Arthur asked
"Get it himself?" Bellatrix shrieked over a cackle of mad laughter. "The Dark Lord, walk into the Ministry of Magic, when they are so sweetly ignoring his return? The Dark Lord, reveal himself to the Aurors, when at the moment they are wasting their time on my dear cousin?"
"So he has you and others to do his dirty work for him, just Sturgis and Bode." Arthur hissed.
"Very good, Pendergast, very good…." Lucius said slowly. "But the Dark Lord knows you are not unintell -"
"NOW!" Arthur yelled.
Six different voices behind him all bellowed "REDUCTO!".
Six curses flew in six different directions and the shelves them exploded as they hit; the towering structure swayed with a hundred glass spheres bursting apart, pearly white figures unfurled into the air and floated there, their voices echoing from whoever had long since died amid the torrent of crashing glass and splintered wood that now rained down upon the floor -
"RUN!" Arthur yelled as the shelves swayed precariously and more glass spheres fell from above.
He seized Mike's cardigan and dragged him forwards, holding one arm over his head as chunks of shelves and shards of glass thundered down upon them all.
A Death Eater lunged forwards through the cloud of dust and Arthur elbowed him right in the masked face; they were all yelling, there were numerous cries of pain, thunderous crashes as the shelves collapsed upon themselves, weirdly echoing fragments of the Seers unleashed from their spheres -
Arthur found the way ahead clear and saw David, Mary and Luna sprint past him, their arms over their heads as well.
Something heavy struck the side of his face, but he just ducked his head and sprinted onwards; a hand then caught him by the shoulder; he heard Mike's enraged voice shouting "STUPEFY!" and the hand released him.
They were now at the end of row Ninety Seven, Arthur turned right and sprinted as fast as he could, hearing footsteps right behind him and Chrys's voice urging Neville on.
Straight ahead was the door that they came through, which was ajar; Arthur the glittering light of the bell jar and pelthing through the doorway, the prophecy still clutched tightly in his hand, waiting for the others to hurtle through the threshold before slamming the door behind them -
"Colloportus!" Chrys gasped and the door was sealed by itself with an odd squelching sound.
"Where are the others?" Arthur gasped.
He thought that David, Mary and Luna were ahead of them, that they were waiting for them in this room, yet they're not here.
"They had to have gone the wrong way!" Mike replied.
"Listen!" Neville whispered.
All four of them heard footsteps and shouting echo from behind the door they just sealed.
Arthur put his ear close to the door to listen and he heard Lucius roaring at his fellow Death Eaters.
"Leave Nott, leave him, I say - his injuries will be nothing to the Dark Lord compared to losing that prophecy. Jugson, come back here, we need to organise! We'll split into pairs and search, and don't forget, be gentle with Pendergast until we've got the prophecy, you can kill the others if necessary - Bellatrix, Rodolphus, you take the left; Crabbe, Rabastan, go right - Jugson, Dolohov, the door straight ahead - Macnair and Avery, through here - Rookwood, over there - Mulciber, come with me!"
"What do we do?" Chrys asked, trembling slightly.
"We don't stand here waiting for them to find us, for one thing!" Arthur whispered. "Get away from the door."
They all ran as quietly as they could, past the shimmering bell jar where the egg hatched and unhatched, towards the exit to the circular room. They were almost there when Arthur heard something large and heavy collide with the door that Chrys charmed shut.
"Stand aside!" A rough voice said. "Alohomora!"
The door flew open and Arthur, Mike, Chrys and Neville all dived for cover under the desks.
They saw the bottom of the two Death Eaters' robes drawing nearer, their feet moving rapidly.
"Check under the desks." Another voice said.
When Arthur saw the knees of the Death Eaters bend, he poked his wand out from under the desk and shouted "STUPEFY!"
A jet of red light hit the nearest Death Eater, making him fall backwards into a grandfather clock, which made it knock over; the second Death Eater, though, leapt aside to avoid Arthur's spell and pointed his wand at Chrys, who crawled out from under the desk to get a better aim.
"Avada -"
"STUPEFY!" Mike and Arthur shouted, hitting the Death Eater in the face and chest, causing him to hover for a bit before slamming onto the ground.
All four got out from under their desks and gathered together right when they heard shouting, crashing and a scream from a room nearby.
"DAVID?" Arthur yelled. "MARY? LUNA?"
"Arthur, we got to go!" Chrys said as more footsteps grew louder from the Hall of Prophecies, and Arthur felt stupid for giving away their position.
"Move!" He said and they all took off for the door that stood open at the other end of the room, leading back to the circular room.
They ran halfway towards it when Arthur saw through the open door that two more Death Eaters ran across the room towards them; veering left, he burst into a small, dark, cluttered office, slamming the door shut.
"Collo -" Chrys began, but before she completed the spell, the door burst open and the two Death Eaters hurtled inside.
"IMPEDIMENTA!"
Arthur, Mike, Chrys and Neville all got knocked backwards off their feet; Neville was thrown over the desk and disappeared from view; Chrys smashed into a bookcase and was deluged in a cascade of heavy books; MIke slid across the floor and slammed against the wall; the back of Arthur's head slammed into the stone wall behind him, making tiny lights burst in front of his eyes and was dizzy for a moment.
"WE'VE GOT HIM!" The Death Eater nearest to Arthur yelled. "IN AN OFFICE OFF -"
"Silencio!" Chrys cried, making the man's voice go extinguished. He continued mouthing through the hole in his mask yet no sound came out. He got thrust aside by his fellow Death Eater.
"Petrificus Totalus!" Arthur shouted, just as the second Death Eater raised his wand. His arms and legs snapped together and he fell forwards, face down onto the rug at Arthur's feet, stiff as a board and unable to move.
"Stupefy!" Mike shouted, his spell hitting the silent Death Eater. The spell actually ripped his mask off and Arthur saw from his long, pale, twisted face that it was Dolohov, who murdered Martha's brothers.
"Come on, we need to get moving." Arthur then said as everyone got up. Chrys' nose was bleeding from being hit by a heavy book, so was Neville's and Mike got a cut on his cheek.
Neville moaned as it turns out his wand was snapped in two.
"My gran's going to kill me." He said as he threw the fragments aside. "That was my dad's old wand."
Arthur stuck his head out the door and looked cautiously.
"Keep close." He told the others and they crept out of the office and to the door to the circular room and found it to be completely empty.
The door to the Time Room swung shut behind them and the walls rotated again. The recent blow to the back of Arthur's head unsteadied him; he narrowed his eyes, swaying a bit until the walls stopped moving.
Arthur's heart sank seeing that Chrys' fiery crosses had faded.
"Which way do we -?"
Before they made a decision on which way to try, a door to their right opened up and three people fell out of it.
"David!" Arthur croaked as he dashed towards them. "Guys, are you -?"
"We're alright." David groaned as he held his left arm, which had a gash mark. His face was also white and blood came from the corner of his mouth.
"Mary, what happened?" Mike asked as he got to her, seeing that she was sitting against the wall and holding her ankle.
"I think her ankle's broken, I heard something crack." Luna whispered, who also bent over her and was the only one to be unhurt it seemed. "Four of them chased us into a dark room full of planets, it was a very odd place, some of the time we were just floating in the dark -"
"It was like we were actually in space." David hissed through the pain.
" - anyway, one of them grabbed Mary's foot, I used the Reductor Curse and blew up Pluto in his face, but…." Luna gestured hopelessly at Mary, who now breathed shallowly, her eyes closed.
"We need to get out of here." Arthur said firmly. "Luna, can you help Mary?"
"Yes." Luna replied, sticking her wand behind her ear for safekeeping and then put an arm around Mary's waist, pulling her up.
"It's only my ankle, I can do it myself!" Mary said impatiently, but she collapsed sideways and grabbed Luna for support.
David got to his feet and they all headed for a random door.
They were only within a few feet from it when another door across the room burst open and three Death Eaters sped in, led by Bellatrix.
"There they are!" She shrieked.
Stunning Spells shot across the room: Arthur smashed his way through the door ahead and everyone flung in unceremoniously and ducked to let Neville and Chrys in. Once everyone was over the threshold, they slammed the door against Bellatrix.
"Colloportus!" Arthur shouted right before hearing three bodies slam into the door on the other side.
"It doesn't matter!" A man's voice said. "There are other ways in - WE'VE GOT THEM, THEY'RE HERE!"
Arthur spun and saw that they were in the Brain Room and saw that there were other doors around the walls. He could hear footsteps in the circular room as more Death Eaters ran to join the first.
"Guys, the doors!" He ordered and they tore around the room, sealing the doors as they went, with Arthur rolling over a table to reach the next door: "Colloportus!"
There were footsteps running along behind the doors, every now and then another heavy body would launch itself against one, making it creak and shudder; Mike and Luna bewitched the doors along the opposite wall. When David shut the other door on Arthur's side of the room, Luna cried.
"Collo - aaaaaaaargh…."
He turned to see her flying through the air; five Death Eaters surged into the room through the door she didn't reach in time; Luna hit a desk, slid over its surface and onto the floor on the other side where she lay sprawled.
"Get Pendergast!" Bellatrix shrieked, running at him; he dodged her and sprinted back up the room. He was safe as long as they thought they could hit the prophecy.
David used a spell to levitate one of the brains in the tank and launched it at one of the Death Eaters and it had tendrils that moved and wrapped tightly around the Death Eater, who thrashed against his bonds.
A jet of red light then flew from a Death Eater's wand and hit Mary in the face, making her keel over and lay unconscious.
"YOU BASTARD!" David roared as he shot a Stunning Spell at the Death Eater responsible, which narrowly missed.
In the chaos, Chrys was knocked unconscious and Neville used her wand. He tried casting spells, but because of the blood from his nose, he couldn't say the incantation properly.
A Death Eater shot a Stunning Spell at Neville, which missed him by inches.
Mike and David were busy facing off against some of the other Death Eaters.
It was just them, Arthur and Neville left fighting against the four Death Eaters left, two of them sent streams of silver light like arrows that missed yet left craters in the wall behind them.
Arthur just ran for it as Bellatrix raced after him: he held the prophecy over his head as he sprinted back up the room; he had to draw the Death Eaters away from the others.
It seemed to have worked as they streaked after him, knocking chairs and tables flying yet not daring to bewitch him just in case they hit the prophecy.
Arthur dashed through the only door that was still open, the one that the Death Eaters came through; Arthur hoped that Mike, David and Neville would stay to keep the girls safe.
He ran a few feet into the new room and felt the floor vanish.
He fell down steep stone steps, bouncing on every tier until, with a crash that knocked the breath from his body, he landed flat on his back in the sunken put where the stone archway stood on the dais.
The whole room ringed with the Death Eaters' laughter: he looked up and saw the five who were in the Brain Room descending towards him, just as many more emerged from other doorways and leapt from bench to bench towards him.
Arthur got to his feet even though every fibre of his body was sore with pain and his legs barely supported him. The prophecy was still miraculously unbroken in his hand, his wand clutched tightly in his right.
He backed off, trying to keep all the Death Eaters within his sight. But then the back of his legs hit something solid: he had reached the dais where the archway stood and so he climbed backwards onto it.
All the Death Eaters halted, gazing at him. Some were panting as hard as he was. One was bleeding badly and Dolohov, who was woken back up, leered at Arthur, his wand pointing right at Arthur's face.
"Pendergast, your race is run." Lucius drawled, pulling off his mask. "Now hand me the prophecy like a good boy."
"I'm not some servant, you incest spawn." Arthur spat. "One more against me, I'll smash this stupid prophecy!"
"Really? There are ten of us and only one of you… hasn't Dumbledore ever taught you how to count?"
"He'd dot alone!" A voice shouted from above. "He's still god be!"
Arthur's heart sank as Neville scrambled down the stone benches towards them, Chrys's wand held fast in his trembling hand.
"Neville, no! Go back to David and Mike -"
"STUBEFY!" Neville shouted again, pointing his wand at each Death Eater in turn. "STUBEFY! STUBE -"
One of the largest Death Eaters seized Neville from behind, pinning his arms to his sides. He struggled and kicked, making several Death Eaters laugh.
"It's Longbottom, isn't it?" Lucius sneered. "Well, your grandmother is used to losing family members to our cause… your death will not come as a great shock."
"Longbottom?" Bellatrix repeated as a truly evil smile lit her gaunt face. "Why, I have had the pleasure of meeting your parents, boy."
"I DOE YOU HAB!" Neville roared at him, fighting so hard against his captor's encircling grip that the Death Eater shouted "Someone Stun him!"
"No, no, no." Bellatrix said, looking alive with excitement as she glanced at a glaring Arthur, then back to Neville. "No, let's see how long Longbottom lasts before he cracks like his parents… unless Pendergast wants to give us the prophecy."
"DON'B GIB ID DO DEM!" Neville roared, who was beside himself, kicking and writhing as Bellatrix drew nearer to him and his captor, wand raised. "DON'D GIB ID DO DEM, ARBUR!"
Bellatrix then raised her wand.
"Crucio!"
Neville screamed, his legs drawn up to his chest making the Death Eater holding him momentarily hold him off the ground. The Death Eater then dropped him and Neville fell to the floor, twitching and screaming in agony.
"That was just a taster!" Bellatrix saint, raising her wand so that Neville's screams stopped and he lay sobbing at her feet. She then turned and gazed at Arthur. "Now, Pendergast, either give us the prophecy, or watch your little friend die the hard way!"
Arthur thought about it: He can't let Voldemort have the prophecy, yet he can't have Neville die…. It had to be the hardest choice of his life to date.
But thankfully, he didn't have to make a choice because two more doors burst open and six people sprinted into the room: Sirius, Lupin, Moody, Tonks, Ben and Kingsley,
Lucius turned and raised his wand, but Sirius sent a Stunning Spell right at him.
Arthur instantly dived off the dais out of the way. With the Death Eaters being completely distracted by the appearance of several Order members, Arthur took this chance to smash the prophecy, which caused a pearly white figure with hugely magnified eyes to rise into the air, unnoticed by anyone, it's mouth was moving but the screams and yells made it inaudible and then it stopped speaking and dissolved into nothingness.
The Order members were raining down spells upon the Death Eaters as they jumped from step to step towards the sunken floor.
Through the darting bodies and flashes of light, Arthur saw Neville crawling along. Arthur dodged another jet of red light and flung himself flat to the ground to reach Neville.
"You alright?" He yelled as another spell soared inches over their heads.
"Yes." Neville said, trying to pull himself up.
"The others?"
"Dair alrighd."
The stone floor between them then exploded as a spell hit it, leaving a crater right Neville's head was only seconds before; they scrambled away from the spot when a thick arm came out of nowhere and seized Arthur around his neck, pulling him upright, making his toes barely touch the floor.
"Give it to me." A voice growled in his ear. "Give me the prophecy -"
The man pressed so tightly around Arthur's windpipe that he couldn't breathe.
Through his watering eyes, Arthur saw Sirius duelling with a Death Eater ten feet away; both Ben and Kingsley fought four together; Tonks, still halfway up the tiered seats, fired spells down at Bellatrix - none of them realised that Arthur was being choked to death.
"AARGH!"
Neville lunged out of nowhere; unable to articulate a spell. He just jabbed Chrys' wand hard into the eyehole of the Death Eater's mask, which made him relinquish Arthur instantly with a howl of pain. Arthur then whirled around and gasped: "STUPEFY!"
The Death Eater keeled over backwards and his mask slipped off, revealing it was Macnair, Buckbeak's would be killer, one eye now swollen and bloodshot.
"Thanks!" He said to Neville, pulling him aside as Sirius and his Death Eater lurched past, duelling so fiercely that their wands were blurs.
Arthur looked over and saw that Moody's magical eye was spinning across the floor. Its owner was lying on his side, bleeding from the head, his attacker now bearing down on Arthur and Neville: Dolohov, whose long pale face was twisted with glee.
"Tarantallegra!" He shouted, his wand pointed at Neville, whose legs now went into a frenzied tap dance, making him unbalanced and fall to the floor again. "Now, Pendergast -"
He made a slashing movement with his wand, but Arthur yelled "Protego!"
His Shield Charm was so strong that the spell rebounded on Dolohov and was hit by purple flames.
Sirius then hurtled out of nowhere and rammed Dolohov with his shoulder, making him fly out of the way before they started duelling, their wands flashing like swords, sparks flying from their wand tips -
Dolohov drew back his wand to make the same slashing movement again but Arthur shouted "Petrificus Totalus!" in time, making Dolohov's arms and legs snap together and keel over backwards, landing with a crash on his back.
"Nice one!" Sirius shouted, forcing Arthur's head down as a pair of Stunning Spells flew towards them. "Now I want you to get out of -"
They both ducked again as a jet of green light narrowly missed Sirius.
Arthur looked across the room to see that Tonks had fallen from halfway up the stone steps, her limp body toppoling from one stone seat to another with Bellatrix, looking triumphant, running back towards the fray.
"Arthur, just take the prophecy, grab Neville and run!" Sirius yelled, dashing over to meet Bellatrix.
Arthur didn't see what happened next. Kingsley now swayed across his field of vision as he battled with Rookwood.
Another jet of green light flew over Arthur's head as he launched himself towards Neville -
"Can you stand?" He bellowed into Neville's ear as his legs jerked and twitched uncontrollably. "Just put your arm around my neck -"
Neville did so - Arthur heaved - Neville's legs still flew in every direction, meaning they couldn't support him. But then out of nowhere, a man lunged at them: both fell backwards, Neville's legs still waving wildly like some overturned beetle.
"The prophecy, give me the prophecy, Pendergast!" Lucius snarled in his ear, Arthur feeling the tip of Lucius' wand pressing hard between his ribs.
Arthur turned into his Animagus form and threw him off, swiping at him with one of his paws, his claws actually piercing his robes and skin, making him bleed.
Arthur then turned back into his human form and pointed his wand at him "Impedimenta!"
Arthur looked over at the dais, seeing that Sirius was duelling Bellatrix there.
"Arthur, go round the others up and GET OUT OF HERE!" Ben shouted.
Arthur seized Neville by the shoulder and lifted him bodily onto the first tier of stone steps since Neville's legs still twitched and jerked.
Arthur used all his strength to heave Neville up as they climbed another step.
A spell then hit the stone bench at Arthur's heel, making it crumble away and Arthur fell back to the step below. Neville sank onto the bench above.
"Try to push with your legs!" Arthur said desperately, hauling at Neville's clothes.
He then gave another stupendous heave and he got up another step.
"Dubbledore!" Neville suddenly said, his sweaty face staring over Arthur's shoulder.
Arthur turned and directly above them, framed in the doorway from the Brain Room was Albus Dumbledore, his wand aloft and with a white and furious face.
Arthur for the first time felt joy upon seeing Dumbledore, they were saved.
Dumbledore sped past Arthur and Neville as the Death Eaters realised he just arrived, yelling to the others.
One Death Eater ran for it, scrabbling like a wild monkey up the stone steps opposite.
Dumbledore shot a spell that pulled him back as effortlessly and easily as though he hooked him with an invisible line.
There was only one pair that was still battling, unaware of the new arrival. Arthur saw Sirius duck Bellatrix's jet of red light, laughing at her.
"Come on, you can do better than that!" He yelled, his voice echoing around the cavernous room.
A second jet of light hit him squarely on his chest.
The laughter didn't quite die from his face, but his eyes widened in shock.
Arthur now released Neville and jumped to the ground with his wand in his hand, like Dumbledore, turning towards the dais.
It seemed to take Sirius a while to fall: his body curved in a graceful arc as he sank backwards through the ragged veil hanging from the arch.
Arthur saw the mingled fear and surprise on his godfather's face as he fell through the ancient doorway and disappeared behind the veil, which fluttered for a moment like there was a high wind before it fell back into place.
As Bellatrix released a triumphant scream, Arthur's body froze. He fell to his knees with his eyes welling up with tears.
He knew there was no hope of saving Sirius… he was gone.
Arthur's about to be at his most furious and enraged state possible.
Btw, I actually ended up starting HBO's The Last of Us, I've watched the first four episodes so far and loving it. I just might actually continue this series right as I'm done with this story.