Chapter Fifty Nine
Bellatrix dropped to the floor, cutting her fingers trying to piece together the shattered orb, and catch the ghost of the prophecy. Once the ghost of the prophecy had cleared fully Harry stopped screaming, his throat burning from the effort.
The Death Eaters around them were too stunned to know what to do. Harry took a couple of steps backwards and grabbed his wand.
"You… you!" Bellatrix screamed, digging her nails into her hair and leaving little blood prints on her face, making her look even more insane, "How the… why on earth… how could you?!"
"As you said, better to go quickly." Harry spat, towering over her crouched form.
"You will suffer, Potter!" She hissed, "Do not think for one second you will not die screaming!" she raised her wand which quickly flew from her hand, leaving her hand red and blistered from the contact from the spell.
Harry looked towards the door to see who was there.
"Stay the hell away from my baby!" Lily yelled, still pointing her wand at Bellatrix.
Harry was not proud of his next words. They would be told at him, normally with someone laughing at him, for years to come and they certainly didn't show the level of gratitude he felt seeing his mother and family bursting though the door to his rescue.
He was, however, not thinking entirely clearly.
"I'm not a baby!" he huffed at Lily, earning him a stern glare.
Bellatrix backed away, her wand pointed at Lily, "This doesn't concern you."
Lily let out a bark of laughter, "Really? You're here to kill my son and it has nothing to do with me? Try again."
"I will kill you all!" Bellatrix yelled, giving her husband a shove into action.
"You can try." Nikka hissed throwing a curse towards Bellatrix.
Harry tried to keep up with what was happening, there were at least three people he didn't recognise, about the same age as Nikka and Tonks, who were battling fearlessly with Rodolphus and Rabastan. He quickly realised that it was not safe to stay where they were.
Harry grabbed Cho's hand and dived off the platform as spells whizzed over head. Draco, William Daphne, Luna and Ginny followed, Draco dragging Neville with him.
Harry peered back up from his small shelter and rushed over to Pansy.
"No don't!" Pansy screamed as Harry tried to move her.
Harry ignored her pleading and managed to half carry and half drag her to the edge of the platform where William lowered her to the ground.
"Sorry, we have to get out of the way." Harry said, feeling guilty at her tear stained face.
Draco jumped up to help him and they managed to carry Hermione down between them, having to drop her only once when they were forced to dive for cover as Mulciber tried to stun them.
Harry pressed against the stone, trying to work out who was winning from sound alone. Alice and Frank, Neville's parents, jumped down and pulled their son into a hug.
"What happened?" Frank asked, checking over his son while Alice fired off enough spells to insure they were left alone.
"There was a brain thing." Harry said quickly waving his arms around like the tentacles, it sounded insane but there was no other way to describe it, after all, it was not like the tank had a convenient label on it.
Frank seemed to know what it was though and muttered several spells, gently moving his wand over Neville.
"Neville?" Frank asked, looking into Neville's eyes.
"Gods I'm tired." Neville said, looking around, "Where are we?"
"What's the last thing you remember?" Frank asked.
Neville rubbed his head and though for a moment, "Umm… we'd just left the prophecy room."
"Not too much lost then?" Frank smiled.
Harry nodded, "Yeah, that was just before he was attacked, maybe five minutes or so."
Frank patted Neville on the shoulder, "Not too bad under the circumstances. We'll talk about you being here at all later."
Neville gave a half smile, "Don't suppose 'sorry' is going to cover it?"
"Not a chance!" Alice laughed, "Now who's next?"
"Hermione is out cold, Harry has a nasty burn on his arm," Luna said, peaking over the edge of the platform to watch, "and Pansy has a broken leg."
"Can't fix your leg but we will strap it up." Frank offered.
Pansy nodded and gritted her teeth and Frank conjured two strong bits of wood and a long length of bandage and began to strap her leg up.
"You're hurting her!" William hissed, holding onto Pansy as she tried not to scream.
"I know, nothing that can be done about that now." Frank said, his voice tight, "Nearly done. Feel any better?"
Pansy nodded. Harry walked over, to help her try and stand when there was the noise of something heavy flying over head, Harry looked over and felt a scream escape his lungs.
Lily had been knocked off the platform, hitting the steps and landing in a heap not far from where Harry was.
"She's bleeding!" Ginny said, using her sleeve to try and mop up some of the blood that was leaking from Lily's head.
Harry felt anger burn inside him, and for the first time in nearly a year, this anger was completely his own.
"Harry! Stop!" Frank yelled to his back, as Harry jumped back you onto the platform and began to fire off spells at the Death Eaters.
Back up on the platform is was easier to see what was going on, several of the Death Eaters were down, but over half still standing.
Kingsley was struggling, clutching an arm to his chest that was slowly dripping blood onto the floor, Tonks was down, Nikka standing over her to protect her from Rodolphus's seemingly never ending run of curses.
Sirius was battling Bellatrix, laughingly blocking her spells, a large grin on his face which was making her more and more annoyed.
Fleur was doing an impressive job of holding her own against a couple of death eaters Harry didn't know by name.
The three Harry didn't recognise were also all up still, the two taller, brown haired ones, one male and one female seemed to be used to fighting with each other at least, while one was attacking the other would be defending, swapping roles without having to say a word to one another.
The blonde boy was also incredibly good, ducking and moving out of the way as though he was walking on air.
'Severus fights like that' Harry thought to himself, before realising that the three unknown ones were almost certainly, Lucius, Narcissa and Severus under the effects of Polyjuice potion to keep their cover.
Nikka let out a gasp and crumpled on top of Tonks. Rodolphus raised his wand at the pile of unconscious girls, a wild grin on his face.
"Expelliarmus!" Harry yelled, sending Rodolphus's wand flying.
Rodolphus looked furiously over at him and rushed over, wrapping his hands around Harry's neck. Harry let out a pain gasp for breath as he could feel his brain, screaming for air.
Harry kneed him in the groin, it was the only bit he could reach and Rodolphus doubled over in pain. Harry gave him an extra kick for good measure.
Sirius glanced over, "Get yourselves-"
Harry's eyes widened as Bellatrix got off two shots, hitting Sirius directly in the chest. The smile seemed frozen in place on Sirius's face as he managed to stumble back a couple of steps before slowly falling towards the veil.
Harry felt like it was happening in slow motion, he went to run, to catch Sirius but he was too far away. Sirius was falling into the veil, his head and chest disappearing when he stopped, just for a second before being jerked forwards and landing on the cold stone of this world.
The blonde boy let go of Sirius's arm, he had managed to grab hold, stopping Sirius from being lost forever.
Harry could hardly breath for the relief that flooded through him, falling to the floor.
"Are you hit?" Remus asked, pulling Harry up.
Harry shook his head and rushed towards Sirius, Remus shielding him from the spells Bellatrix was sending his way, while she was also battling with the blonde boy.
"Sirius!" Harry said, shaking his shoulders, "SIRIUS!"
There was no response, Sirius just lay there, staring up at the ceiling. His heart was beating though, slowly, very slowly and without much power but at least it was still beating… for now.
The door above them burst open again and Dumbledore stood there, quickly surveying the scene before him.
He ran down the steps with remarkable speed and elegance for someone as old as he was and raised his wand, taking down a Death Eater without thinking.
"RUN!" Rabastan yelled, shooting a killing curse towards Dumbledore who moved out of the way without breaking stride.
Bellatrix didn't need telling twice and rushed passed Dumbledore towards the exit. Harry couldn't help himself but run after her.
He pushed his legs, he was almost certainly more in shape than she was, even after nearly a year not playing Quidditch but her legs were a good few inches longer, meaning at although he wasn't losing ground, he wasn't gaining it either.
"Stupefy!" Harry yelled, missing her as she easily moved out of the way.
They were back in the room of doors now, Harry saw her throw open the door opposite them, showing the long corridor back to the lifts, he knew that he wouldn't make it in time but he had to try, forcing more speed from his already aching legs.
Bellatrix sneered at him and slammed the door shut.
"NO!" Harry yelled as the room began to spin again, "Which door? WHICH DOOR IS IT!" he yelled again, running his hand through his head.
The room seemed to be waiting for him to ask, and slowly moved to a stop, the correct door opening just in front of him.
"It can't of been that easy!" Harry sighed, thinking of them running through the doors at random.
He took off again, sprinting towards the lifts and punching the button that would take him to the atrium.
There was no one following him, Harry was sure of that. He imagined, correctly, that they were gathering up the Death Eaters, Bellatrix being the only one to who had escaped, before coming to find Harry.
The Death Eaters had been so afraid of Dumbledore, Harry was sure that they wouldn't be able to win now; he just wished that Dumbledore had arrived in time to save Sirius as well.
The lift had arrived at the atrium now, Harry forcing his leg into yet another run. Bellatrix was throwing the odd curse over her shoulder, she was nearly at the visitors entrance/exit to the Ministry now and from there she could go anywhere.
Harry dived behind the golden statue to miss a killing curse that she send flying towards him.
"I will kill you!" Harry yelled, feeling very unbrave at this point, his heart racing and his face stained with tears.
Bellatrix stopped running and laughed, taking a couple of steps back towards him, "Will you now… well come on then little Potter… I'm right here!"
Harry forced himself to his feet, "I stood down your 'Dark Lord'." he said sarcastically, "You are nothing."
Bellatrix smirked, "Brave little Potter, they should have put you in Gryffindor, that's where all the stupid ones end up!"
"My Mother is not stupid!" Harry hissed, "Neither was James."
Bellatrix laughed, "She nearly died and he did! And now she might be dead again, that sounds stupid to me, leaving poor baby Potter all alone…"
"I've never been alone." Harry said firmly, "Unlike you, I have people who love me, who will always be there."
Bellatrix's face fell, "Watch your tone, Potter. Crucio!"
Harry dived out of the way, catching just the edge of the spell, sending a bolt of pain through him. He landed on the floor winded and gripped just below his still badly burnt arm.
"You are weak Harry, you always have been… how long do you think I have to kill you? Doesn't matter, I can make every second feel like a lifetime…" Bellatrix said, standing over him.
"Fuck you. Stupefy!" Harry yelled, Bellatrix blocked the spell, sending it shooting off to the lift where it rang off the golden gate loudly.
Harry pulled himself to his feet, "He was your cousin!"
Bellatrix rolled her eyes, "Yes, I am aware. He was nothing, however."
"How can you say that?" Harry snapped, holding his wand out still, Bellatrix and he moving in a circle, not willing to look away for a second.
"He was a blood traitor, letting you and your mudblood mother stay, fighting against the Dark Lord!" Bellatrix hissed, hated burning in her eyes, "I'm glad he's dead, even more glad I was the one who managed to kill him."
"He's not dead." Harry told her, before thinking it might not be the best idea to annoy her further, loosing the prophecy already seemed to have sent her into some strange insane state of mind.
Bellatrix looked horrified at him, "You lie."
Harry shook his head, "Nope, you'll have to go back to Voldemort and say you not only lost the prophecy, you didn't even manage to kill anyone, poor show, poor show." he smirked.
Bellatrix grabbed a handful of her wild hair and gave it a sharp pull, "I… I … I can still kill you." she hissed, breathing deeply and raising her wand.
"It seems…" Voldemort's cool voice cut through the air, "you have failed me Bella…"