Warning: the chapter contains a lot of gore and seriousness, with almost no comedy. It's not canon, so you don't have to read it if you are weak to horror.

Harry Potter

Coming to the Ministry was a grave mistake.

As it turned out, Sirius was never inside the Ministry. Harry's whole vision of Sirius' torture was deliberately sent to him by Voldemort to lure him out of Hogwarts and manipulate him into retrieving the prophecy from the Department of Mysteries. The Death Eaters were already there waiting for him, ready to take the prophecy from him as soon as he picked it up.

That's why Harry was currently clutching the prophecy in his hand, careful not to break it as he desperately ran toward the chamber's exit, pursued by several Death Eaters led by Lucius Malfoy. Harry wasn't the only one doing this, as he was accompanied by his friends who, like him, were trying to survive by casting various spells at their pursuers.

Harry was actually proud of their progress, knowing how far they had come since they all started training in the Room of Requirement. The only thing that kept him from praising them all sincerely was the fact that they were currently all too busy running for their lives.

Harry would however have to talk to Ginny about taking the environment into account when choosing a spell. While her Reducto was certainly flawless, easily putting one of the pursuing Death Eaters out of commission, it also shook the shelves containing the crystal balls, causing almost all of them to start falling to the floor, forcing their group to desperately sprint to the nearest exit to avoid being crushed by the falling objects.

Loud crushes came from behind them as they all leapt through the door in the Department of Mysteries, desperately trying to escape both the Death Eaters and the fallout from Ginny's spell. Finding no ground beneath their feet, the entire group began screaming, none of them prepared for the sudden fall. Given the height, they all would have died from the impact, but fortunately, some kind of spell seemed to be at work, as their fall suddenly halted just above the ground, allowing them to land safely on the floor.

Looking around the room they were in, Harry noticed a very peculiar object in the middle of the chamber. It was some sort of old stone archway, with a tattered black curtain hanging from it. The curtain slowly floated in the air, moved by some invincible wind, swirling in an almost inviting way. Harry heard some whispers coming from the archway, but they were too quiet for him to understand. Intrigued by this, he started walking toward the archway, trying...

Harry was brought back to reality when a series of loud bangs and crashes filled the room, the sound coming from behind the closed door they had just passed through.

It lasted only a few seconds, but it was enough to put everyone on guard, with everyone hastily raising their wands and pointing them toward the door. Although none of them knew what exactly had happened, whatever it was, it probably wouldn't be good for them.

"W-what was that? I-it was really loud." Neville asked in a trembling voice, his body shaking slightly from the fear he was most likely experiencing. Though Luna moved closer to him and patted him comfortingly on the back, clearly trying to calm him down, the boy didn't seem to notice, still too shaken by their previous fight with the Death Eaters.

"Actually, didn't that sound a little... familiar?" Harry said hesitantly, having a distant memory of hearing this kinds of sounds before. However, no matter how hard he tried to recall the origin of those sounds, nothing came to mind. He even looked to Hermione for help, but she only shrugged her shoulders, clearly as lost as he was.

"I think we should only think about this after we escape." Ron said nervously, having no intention of staying in the room any longer. Harry found himself agreeing with him, since they had probably already spent too much time wondering about unfamiliar sounds.

However, just as they were about to lower their wands and move on, one of the doors to the chamber slowly opened, revealing a mysterious figure. Alarmed by the new arrival, the group quickly turned around and pointed their wands at them, ready for another fight, but much to their surprise, the expected attack did not come. Instead, the figure simply entered the room at a slow pace, seemingly unconcerned about the six teenagers aiming their wands at them.

When the figure got close enough for him to recognize their identity, Harry almost dropped his wand in surprise. In front of him stood a boy about their age, dressed in a typical Hogwarts uniform, with a silver eagle clearly visible on his chest. With straight brown hair and an average height and build, Harry usually wouldn't look twice at him, as there was nothing about him that distinguished him from hundreds of other Hogwarts students. This made the fact that he was there, in the department of mysteries, that much more absurd.

What was most bizarre about the scene, however, was how calm the boy looked despite the circumstances. Even though he somehow found himself in the middle of the night in the department of mysteries, with several Death Eaters prowling about, the boy looked almost bored, watching the group with a completely indifferent expression on his face, seemingly unfazed by the situation he found himself in.

Who... who exactly was this person to walk so calmly through the Department of Mysteries?

He looked at Ron and Hermione for help, hoping that either of them would recognize the boy, but both seemed as unaware of his identity as Harry. Surprisingly, or perhaps not, given that the boy belonged to Ravenclaw, Luna seemed to recognize him as she moved next to Harry, looking at the boy with surprise on her face.

"You are... Michael Brown, aren't you?" Luna looked at the boy with hesitation, apparently as confused as the rest about his purpose there. Michael, as that was apparently the newcomer's name, did not answer directly, but he barely gave a noticeable nod in response to her question, still looking at the group with a detached look.

"Luna, do you know this guy?" asked Ron, suspicion plainly audible in his voice. It was clear that he didn't trust Michael at all, which Harry couldn't blame him for. Michael's presence at the ministry was extremely suspicious, given the circumstances.

"...I don't know him that well. He's one of the housemates from my year, but we haven't really...talked much before. He has always been a rather private person, not very interested in talking to other people." Luna said slowly, clearly trying to be nice about Michael's character. After these words, she turned to the boy, with concern evident on her face. "What are you doing here, Michael? You really should leave immediately. The Ministry is currently filled with Death Eaters."

Michael slowly blinked upon hearing these words, almost as if he had difficulty registering them. As Harry gave the boy a closer look, it became abundantly clear that something was wrong with him. The boy was deathly pale, looking more like a corpse than a living person. There were also huge bags under his eyes, a clear sign that the boy hadn't slept much for a long time. Worst of all, however, were his eyes, which were glassy and unfocused, giving the impression that he was looking at them as if through a fog.

In short, Michael Brown was simply unnerving and Harry was becoming increasingly anxious to get away from him.

"...Hmm? Yes, I suppose... you'd be worried about them, wouldn't you?". It took a moment, but Michael finally answered, his voice surprisingly quiet. Like his eyes, his tone was completely flat and devoid of any emotion, making it glaringly clear that he didn't really care much about Luna's words.

"...And you're not worried about them?" Harry asked with quiet suspicion, a red light flashing in his mind. This boy was simply too calm about the threat of the Death Eaters. Was it possible that he was cooperating with them? It was certainly possible, especially since it's not like there weren't any purebloods named Brown.

"...Not particularly, no." Michael said quietly before turning to the side, for some reason looking at the door he had just come from. For a moment Harry was surprised, but then the door opened, revealing...

Harry's blood immediately froze in his veins as he looked at the people who had entered the chamber and walked towards Michael, eventually standing right behind him. Harry's friends began to scream, horrified by the sight, but Harry was unable to register it, too absorbed in the terrifying spectacle before him.

Standing in front of him, and in some unfortunate cases, lying, were the same Death Eaters who had previously chased him and his friends through the department. Only, they could no longer be called Death Eaters. In fact, they couldn't even be called humans in their current state. No, they were something much worse.

They were walking corpses.

All of the former Death Eaters were missing entire chunks of flesh, their mangled bodies littered with countless holes and wounds. Their dark clothes, once menacing and fear-inducing, were now reduced to tattered shreds, torn and hanging uselessly from their lifeless bodies. Although a few corpses still wore masks, most had lost theirs along with most of their faces, leaving pulverized flesh where their faces should have been. Almost all of them were missing at least one limb, with a few of the corpses forced to slowly crawl behind their peers with haunting determination, clearly unconcerned about their lack of legs.

To his silent horror, Harry managed to spot Lucius Malfoy and Bellatrix Lestrange among the corpses, though it was quite difficult to identify them due to the amount of damage their bodies had received. Lucius' head was practically gone, as half of his face seemed to have been ripped out by some powerful force, allowing the brain matter in his skull to slowly drip to the ground, where it was already mixing with the blood and flesh that Lucius was dropping with each step. The owner, however, seemed not to notice this, staring at the group with his remaining eye, his "face" devoid of emotion.

Bellatrix didn't fare much better, as while her head was relatively intact, her body was in even worse shape than Lucius'. Her right arm was gone, leaving only a mangled stump, while her torso was littered with countless holes. In fact, her body was so damaged that it was only held together by the number of bloody threads of flesh connecting her parts, a few of which were snapping off every second.

As the group grew more and more panicked, clearly unprepared for the gruesome display they were forced to watch, Michael Brown began to speak, though Harry wasn't sure if he was talking to them or to himself.

"...I was hoping that killing them would cause some glitch in the simulation, but... I suppose they weren't that important to the plot," he said. Michael muttered quietly, his monotone completely at odds with the terrified screams of everyone else. He looked at the corpses with clinical detachment, unmoved by their condition. "Lucius' role was fairly negligible, and Bellatrix's only real purpose... well, it won't matter soon..."

Harry was about to ask the boy about the meaning of his cryptic words, but then Michael continued speaking, turning his blank eyes to the group, or more specifically, to Ginny.

"...I still need one of the Weasleys to gain access to Grimmuald, so I should probably..." Without any warning, Michael pointed his finger at Ginny, his intentions unknown. The move was so unexpected that the group didn't have time to react as a mysterious black tentacle suddenly emerged from the ground and grabbed Ginny, violently pulling her toward Michael. Ginny didn't even have time to scream as Michael used his wand to hit her with some unknown spell, causing her to go completely limp in the tentacle's grasp, seemingly unconscious.

Shocked by the sudden show of aggression, the rest of the group began to raise their wands, ready to fight. Before any of them could cast any spell, however, Michael snapped his fingers.

At that moment, the crystal ball in Harry's hand began to glow and Harry knew no more.

Neville Longbottom

Lying on the floor, with his whole body filled with agony, Neville desperately tried to understand what had just happened.

One moment everyone was raising their wands toward Michael, ready to save Ginny, and the next the crystal ball in Harry's hand exploded and...

Neville tried to get up, panic rising in his chest, but the pain he experienced when he tried to do so was just too much to bear, stopping him in his tracks. He felt something warm and wet form underneath him, but was unable to see what it was, his neck not responding to his commands. To his horror, he realized that he was unable to feel his limbs, forcing him to lie motionless on the ground and stare at the ceiling.

As Neville began to hyperventilate, confused and horrified by his condition, he heard a familiar voice coming from a distance.

"...It...didn't work...I was hoping that maybe with the Golden Trio gone...but the simulation is still active..." Michael's voice, though barely audible, came from somewhere behind Neville. Neville was unable to focus, overwhelmed by the pain he was experiencing, but the voice sounded almost... sad? Ignoring Neville's thoughts, the voice continued. "...Maybe I was wrong? As the main characters... they were supposed to be the pillars of the story, and yet..."

"THE DEATH OF THE CHILDREN WAS INCONSEQUENTIAL." Suddenly, another voice could be heard in the distance. Neville couldn't recognize it, but he knew it sounded wrong, almost unnatural. It sounded like it was coming from a gramophone, as impossible as it sounded. "YOU ARE REQUIRED TO COLLECT THE DEATHLY HALLOWS AND HORCRUXES. THEY ARE NECESSARY FOR YOU TO SEE THROUGH THE FABRIC OF THE REALITY OF THIS WORLD."

"...Yes, you...you are right. The whole story revolves around the Horcruxes and the deathly hallows... I... can't turn back anymore. We have to... move on. Please, follow me." Michael's voice said, previous hesitation absent. The next few seconds were filled with the sounds of multiple people moving, though Neville was unable to investigate what was really happening. "Dumbledore and Voldemort are probably in the main hall already. We need to..."

Suddenly, Michael's voice was interrupted by a second voice, its words freezing Neville to the bone.

"ONE OF THE UNNECESSARY CHILDREN IS STILL ALIVE." it said. Hearing this, Neville's breath hitched. He desperately tried to move, to escape the mad boy, but his body rejected his commands, forcing him to patiently await his fate.

"...So he is... Well... it doesn't matter. Would you kindly...?" Michael's voice was calm and detached, as if he were talking about the weather. Neville heard several footsteps approaching him from all directions. When the figures finally appeared in his field of vision, Neville felt tears running down his face.

He saw corpses. Not the Death Eaters he expected, however, but the corpses of his friends.

He saw Ron Weasley, whose left side was almost completely gone, incinerated by the explosion.

He saw Hermione Granger, whose entire front was burned beyond recognition, with Neville recognizing her only by the remnants of her clothes.

He saw Luna Lovegood, her once serene face covered with shards of glass, her pierced eyes streaming from her face like tears.

He... did not see Harry Potter, as his body was most likely obliterated by the explosion.

He saw all his friends slowly approaching him, no mercy in their dead eyes.

The last thing Neville saw was their bared teeth lashing at his throat.

Well, it was ... difficult to write, for various reasons. At least now I know that I'm better suited to comedy than horror.

Long story short, I decided (finally) to write a bad end omake that depicts the alternate path Michael would have taken had he not befriended Luna or Tom. After all, without someone to keep him grounded in reality, Michael would most likely have gone completely insane at some point, making everything much worse than it already was.

It's (sort of) a Halloween omake, so there's no need to take it too seriously. It's not exactly canon of history, although it is something that could have happened under certain circumstances. I just hope it wasn't too edgy (it probably was).

Also, I probably could have released it during Halloween proper, but...it was quite a hard chapter to write and I really want the process of creating it to be finally over.