Harry felt his breath leaving his body as Sirius fell through the veil. "Sirius!" Harry yelled, hurling himself down the stairs. He had eyes for no one but Sirius – he wasn't gone. He couldn't be gone.

"Harry, no!" Lupin yelled, grabbing Harry by the waist. But Harry fought against him, desperately trying to get to his godfather. "He's gone, Harry. He's gone…" Lupin choked.

"No! He's not gone! He's still here!" Harry cried, tears running down his face as he still fought against Lupin. He just had to get to the veil – he knew if he just got to the stage….

Harry watched as Bellatrix let out a triumphant laugh and ran. A rage like never before reared up in Harry as he ripped himself out of Lupin's grasp and ran after her.

"Harry!" Lupin cried after him, but Harry continued on.

He ran after Bellatrix, who was still laughing, throwing different curses behind her, barely missing Harry. Harry threw his own curses at her, some of them barely getting her.

Harry chased her all the way to the atrium, and it wasn't until they were halfway across did Harry's spell finally hit Bellatrix in the small of the back. She stumbled forward and hit the ground hard. Harry was soon upon her, her wand pointing directly in her face. She gave a wicked smile.

"Go ahead, Potter. Go ahead and try to kill me. You don't have the guts!" Bellatrix teased.

Without even giving it a second thought, and despite it being illegal, Harry yelled, "Crucio!"

Bellatrix laughed once more as the spell was rendered useless. Harry lifted his wand to try again, but suddenly got the worse pain in his scar. He dropped to his knees, his hands flying to his face.

"You have to mean it, Harry," a voice echoed throughout the atrium, but also directly in Harry's head. "You have to mean to hurt someone…but you're too soft…too pure…like your parents…"

Harry glanced up through teary eyes as a figure materialized in front of him. It was Voldemort. Harry nearly passed out in both pain and terror. He tried lifting his wand, but Voldemort kicked it from his hand, laughing almost lazily.

"I thought we would never get you to come here….Now. Where is the prophecy, Harry?"

Harry started breathing heavily, the pain in his scar growing substantially. "I-it…It got…s-smashed…" Harry stuttered through the pain.

The look of fury on Voldemort's face was terrifying. He turned to Bellatrix, as if to confirm whether that was true or not. She looked frightened as she shook her head. "I am not sure, my lord! I was dueling with Black!"

Voldemort turned back to Harry. But before he could say anything, Dumbledore appeared. "It was foolish for you to come here tonight, Tom." Dumbledore said, pointing his wand at Voldemort, who hissed at his appearance. Voldemort turned to Bellatrix, pointed his wand at her, and she suddenly disappeared. He turned back to Dumbledore.

"I came to get what's rightfully mine, Dumbledore," Voldemort said.

"The prophecy was destroyed along with any information you seek from it." Dumbledore said, stepping closer to Voldemort. Voldemort's expression became even more furious.

It happened in a split second: Dumbledore barely had time to react as Voldemort whipped his wand in Harry's direction. Dumbledore got to Harry first and magicked him behind the big statue that stood in the middle of the atrium.

Harry couldn't see anything; every time he tried to move, the statue would move with him, blocking his view and Voldemort's access to him. He heard screams and cries; smelt fire and felt water hitting the floor. Harry tried to sit up, frantically looking for his wand. He gazed in horror as it was a mere feet from Voldemort. Harry slowly made his way towards the dueling couple, the statue blocking his view: It's like it knew what Harry needed. Harry tried going as slow as possible, not wanting to attract their attention.

Harry was near to his wand when he had the most painful experience: He let out an agonizing cry and feel flat on his back, his eyes rolling in his head. His vision want completely black and he heard himself talking, his lips moving, though it wasn't his voice at all.

"If death is nothing, Dumbledore, then go ahead and kill me. Kill me and you'll never have to worry about evil again."

It was Voldemort, and he was inside Harry's body. Harry felt as though both his chest and his scar were on fire. He felt both rage and fear; happiness and sadness; victory and defeat. Harry knew Dumbledore wasn't going to kill him, and Voldemort knew that too. But if Dumbledore didn't, the pain of whatever was happening would. The thought of being reunited was Sirius was comforting…

But leaving his best friends…leaving his boyfriend…leaving behind all those he loved…the very thought made his heart ache. Harry got sudden images of all the happy memories he shared with those he loved. And he suddenly felt a new pain – almost as if he was having a heart attack. He started writhing in pain and without warning, he completely passed out.

Harry was laying on a cold, hard surface. He was aware of dull voices, scared voices, cries…Harry slowly opened his eyes to see Dumbledore bending over him, looking scared. He breathed a sigh of relief when Harry groaned.

"Thank goodness, Harry!" Dumbledore said, reaching down to lift Harry up. Stars popped in Harry's eyes at the sudden movement of sitting up.

"W-what happened? Where's V-Voldemort?"

"He's gone, Harry. He disapperated the minute the aurors arrived." Now that Harry was awake, he turned to the prime minister, Cornelius Fudge, anbegan talking to him in a low voice. Harry gazed around the destroyed atrium; it was crawling with ministry members, taking statements from the order and surveying the damage. Dumbledore turned to Harry once more.

"Where are my friends?" Harry asked, completely exhausted.

"I have sent them back Hogwarts. They are all getting treated by Madame Pomfrey. I'm about to send you back myself." Dumbledore grabbed a piece of broken limestone and taped it with his wand. It glowed blue for a moment before becoming a hazy gray once more. Dumbledore handed it to Harry. "This portkey will take you directly into the hospital wing. I will be there within the hour."

Harry nodded dully as he held the object. He waited ten seconds before he felt the familiar tugging in his navel and was whipped away from the ministry, away from the dangerous events of the night…away from Sirius…

"Harry!"

Harry landed on the floor of the hospital wing and fell to his knees hard. But instead of standing up, he stayed kneeling on the ground and completely broke down. Harry heard bed springs and chairs scraping, and then felt a pair of familiar arms wrap around him, pulling him closer. Harry cried uncontrollably into Seamus' chest, squeezing him tightly, afraid to let go.

"It's all my fault! He's dead! He's dead because of me!" Harry cried, his body starting to shake.

"Harry, it's not –" Seamus started.

Harry pulled away from him, angrily wiping away the tears. "It is! If we hadn't gone there – if I had listened to you! I should have listened to you!" Harry covered his face with his hands.

"You did everything you could, Harry." Hermione came up on Harry's right and knelt next to him as well. "You let Snape know, we even went to Grimmauld Place and looked around for him…"

"The visions – I let them win, I let them win…" Harry started rocking back and forth, completely devastated. Nothing any of his friends said could console him. Seamus embraced him once more, holding him tightly. He looked at the others, his eyes also swimming in tears.

Madame Pomfrey stood next to Harry and put on hand on his shoulder. "You should drink this, Harry. It'll help."

Harry pulled away from Seamus once more and turned to Pomfrey. Without even questioning what it was, Harry took the steaming goblet and downed it in one go. He didn't care the potion was for…he didn't care what it did to him…he just wanted everything to end…the suffering…the constant losses…the pain…

Seamus helped Harry up and guided him to one of the beds and helped him lay down. Harry's head barely hit the pillow before he completely passed out.

Seamus sat on one sided of Harry, gently stroking his hair, watching him worriedly. He felt a few tears rolling down his cheeks, but didn't bother to wipe them away. He was exhausted from the day's events: That morning almost didn't even seem real. That morning, he had never been to the ministry of magic before…he had never used magic outside of Hogwarts…had never seen you-know-who in person. Seamus' heart rate jumped at the memory of that…the memory of the most powerful wizard in the world jumping out of his boyfriend's body…he shuddered. He watched as Harry's chest rose and fell gently…

Seamus knew what he could have been in for when he started dating Harry Potter. Knew there was a good chance he would be involved in some questionable activities…and he also knew Harry would be terrified to put him in any sort of danger. What if this was it? What if what happened that night caused Harry to want to break up with him, to save him from any sort of danger? The very thought scared Seamus. He would die for Harry, just like Harry would for him. Seamus gently took Harry's hand in his own and held it, never wanting to let go.