CHAPTER 99: Children of Fate (Part 3)

Hogwarts Castle

11:05 p.m.

Blaise felt Montague jam the blade deeper into his neck, cutting just enough for a single drop of blood to trail onto his chest. His heart stopped beating, his body refusing to breathe as Montague kept raising the knife, forcing Blaise to lift his chin as far as his body would allow. The two Ravenclaws surrounded the four Slytherins, training their wands at them as Montague shoved Blaise forward, nearly impaling Blaise on the knife as he did.

"You recognise it, don't you?" Montague whispered hollowly, his voice sending a chill up Blaise's spine. "You should, after all. You all carved up my brother with it."

It wasn't me, it was Potter! Blaise wanted to say. But he knew the moment he opened his lips, he'd only encourage Montague to keep cutting at his neck.

"Put the knife down," Theo said coldly.

"I'm curious, what threats do you think you could muster, Nott?" Montague replied. And though his brother might have mocked or jeered, Elijah's words were emotionless, almost disinterested, and yet they held a harshness the younger Montague could have only hoped of achieving. "I broke down the untouchable little princess there until she was nothing more than my very own spy. I've had Potter on the verge of death, gripping onto me just to keep himself standing. What else is it going to take for you lot to realise that you are nothing more than a group of pitiful children playing at being adults?"

"My father will have your head if you touch any of us," Draco called out.

"You four, perhaps. But Zabini's mother hasn't pledged herself to the Dark Lord. Neither she nor her son have done anything to earn a reprieve from us."

"Blaise is our friend," Theo said. "We will take issue just for that."

"If you kill him, you'll only be alienating a potential ally for the Dark Lord," Pansy added. "The Zabinis are rich and powerful, much more than the Montagues have been in recent years. What will the Dark Lord say when he hears you ruined any alliance with them out of a petty squabble you have with Potter?"

"It'd be a missed opportunity, but not a great one," Montague pushed the knife further into his throat, drawing more blood from Blaise. "The Dark Lord isn't too keen on attempting to go down the political route he took in the previous war. Alessia Zabini will come begging to be allowed a place in our ranks. And even if she doesn't… her influence won't be as missed."

"But her money will," Daphne said.

"You're bluffing," Blaise whispered at Montague, silencing the entire room. "If you had known you could get away with killing me, you would have done it already. You wouldn't be here posturing."

"Maybe I can't kill you," Montague conceded. "But that doesn't mean I can't make you hurt." Quicker than Blaise would have thought possible, Montague drew back the knife from Blaise's throat before he grabbed the back of his neck with his other arm and pushed him forward. "Daphne told me you all have seen how we Montagues pay our dues." Blaise felt the knife trace a line in his back and he immediately stiffened. "So I won't posture any longer."

Blaise's world suddenly exploded in pain as Montague stabbed him right in his upper middle back before pulling the knife down. A scream tore through his throat, his knees buckled, and he would have fallen to the ground if Montague hadn't kept him standing. He was vaguely aware of the screams that filled the room, unable to actually hear them but seeing the two Ravenclaws using their bodies to force the four Slytherins back as they tried to come to his aid. He felt every move of the knife in his back, the pain doubling with every slash, and it quickly became the most painful experience he had ever had. No Cruciatus curse could ever compare to this, it felt as if his very soul was being mauled as he was left helpless to do anything but try to squirm out of Montague's grasp.

Suddenly, he felt Montague lose his grip and he quickly fell to the ground. He closed his eyes and curled himself into a ball, hearing himself sob and groan as the pain began spreading all over his back and through his entire body until he could feel it on the tips of his fingers. He couldn't hear anything, too engrossed in his own pain. And the thought of opening his eyes or picking himself back up was too much to bear. And even now, without Montague there carving at his flesh, he felt as if the very would continue to cut itself open. Over and over and over again.

He didn't know how long it took before his senses started coming back to him. The first thing that came back was his scent, managing to smell his own blood as it began pooling on his robes. Then came the sound, with the voices unintelligible at first but slowly taking form as he began recognizing the words.

"Calm yourself and speak clearly this time," someone snapped way off in the distance.

"It-it's Potter, sir," another voice sobbed. "He- He's here in the castle."

The pain started lessening, if only slightly, and Blaise chanced his eyes open only to see a Hufflepuff kneeling right in front of him. His robes were covered with blood and dust, his face grimy and shiny at the same time. He was shaking, looking behind him as if the door was suddenly going to explode. And Blaise couldn't help but notice how pale his friends behind him were.

"He can't be here," Montague uttered above him, and only then did Blaise actually grasp the boy's words. Potter was at Hogwarts. A surge of simultaneous hope and hatred surged through him right before another bout of pain that made him arch his back and cry out. "How could he have known?"

"What's wrong Elijah?" Daphne spoke up, but her voice remained slightly shaky. "Scared of a little boy?"

"Harry'll be up here soon," Theo said, a vicious glint behind his eye. "You won't last a second against him." One of the Ravenclaws suddenly struck Theo. It was a brutal blow, one that made him stagger back a few steps. But Theo quickly picked up his chin and spat blood right to the Ravenclaw's foot. "He's going to kill all of you."

Montague's head snapped towards the four Slytherins. The cold glare he gave them was chilling, but it didn't last long. Before he knew what was happening, Blaise felt as Montague grabbed him by the scruff of his robes and picked him up. "Take the other four," Montague instructed the Ravenclaws. "Potter won't dare touch us with our wands to their necks."

"Taking all of us hostage, Montague," Draco sneered as the five of them were pushed out of the infirmary and forced down the stairs of the Faculty Tower. "That's stupid, even for a peasant like you."

"You aren't leaving the castle," Montague replied, before roughly pulling his hold on Blaise. "Not all of you anyway."

"You can't leave," Pansy looked ready to roll her eyes. "Too many people saw you get here. They'll start asking questions once they realise you left as soon as the other Death Eaters did."

"And you can't stay," Blaise couldn't help but give a nasty laugh. Montague already tortured him and planned to abduct him. What else did he have to lose? "Potter will kill you if you do. You're well and truly fucked."

Montague kept his mouth shut, managing to avoid rising to their challenge as the group reached the bottom steps of the tower. "Where was Potter?" Montague asked, looking at his surroundings warily.

"T-The Entrance Hall," the Hufflepuff squeaked out. "I think he followed Lumsen to the Great Hall."

Looking ready to growl, Montague simply nodded before yanking at Blaise roughly and leading the group towards the South Wing, seeking to get as far away from the Great Hall as possible. "Harry!" Theo screamed out, the sound loud and desperate echoing across the halls. "Harry we're-" his voice abruptly cut off as Montague quickly silenced him before he could continue.

"One more word from any of you and Zabini dies," Montague threatened the group, and Blaise felt the blood drain from his face as he realised Montague was beginning to lose his patience and could very well disregard his better judgment. Harry's presence in the castle had put him on edge and made him paranoid as he looked at every corner before he continued through the castle. Thankfully, the others didn't try to make a sound. Draco and Pansy had tried to slow the group down, with Draco actively trying to resist and stand his ground while Pansy went for the more subtle approach and simply slowed down. But the Ravenclaws quickly caught on and began pushing them forward, cutting off any of their attempts before they began affecting their progress.

The group was making good progress across the castle, crossing through the South Wing and making their way up the stairs, towards the bridge that led to the Clock Tower exit. On any other occasion, that would have been the wrong move. The Hogwarts wards extended further back through the South Exit than they did to the North Exit. However, it was the quickest way out of the light of the castle. As soon as they left the lit halls of Hogwarts, they would be able to disappear into the darkness of the night, away from Potter or any Aurors that might be responding to the attack.

Every step led closer to his demise, and Blaise became consciously aware of it. He didn't know what would happen to him. Perhaps Montague wouldn't kill him, but there was no doubt he'd try to take advantage of him to get something from his mother. Loyalty? Fortune? He couldn't be sure. But what he did know is that the quick moment of torture he suffered in the infirmary would be nothing compared to what would await him if Montague managed to get away from the castle. He couldn't depend on the idiotic Aurors. And he refused to leave his life in Potter's hands. It was up to him to do anything, and Blaise would rather have Montague kill him right here and now before he was used as yet another pawn in whatever game Montague was playing.

The Hufflepuff ran through the small bridge, pushing the door to the Clock Tower open as he hurried through it. Montague roughly shoved Blaise through the threshold, having made sure the other four had already entered. It was as they reached the centre of the room, standing right in front of the large pendulum, that Blaise let his body go limp and fell to the ground. Montague let out a small growl as he tried to catch Blaise, but instead, he was only pulled down with the boy. "Get up," Montague commanded as he went to his feet and tried to pull him up. And when he didn't comply, he reached into his robes and pulled out his wand again. Blaise's eyes widened, and before he could try to dodge the spell, he found his body bound right before it was levitated.

"Stupid boy," Montague said coolly before looking at the others. "Move! Now!"

After a slight hesitation from the group, the four began walking again, looking more on edge now than ever. Blaise struggled in his magical prison, putting all his will in trying to get his body to move, but he couldn't get even his hand to shake despite it all. They had crossed through the courtyard and were about to make their way down the Covered Bridge before Blaise saw a glimpse of something right behind them. It was gone before he could fully process it, but he was sure he saw something. It left him more unnerved, and he doubled his effort to tear out of the body-bind curse. His attempts kept being as futile as ever, but he managed to give a small grunt. Or at least, he thought he did, at least until he saw Montague cry out in pain and topple on the ground.

Everyone turned to Montague, watching as he clutched his quickly bleeding side as he pulled out his wand and began launching a series of green curses all over the place. Blaise felt his heart stop, feeling incredibly lucky as they all managed to miss him and crash against the colonnades behind him. Shrapnel flew everywhere, cutting at Blaise's face right as Harry Potter tore off an invisibility cloak and launched a knife at them. Blaise felt his body shiver as he watched the first glimpse of Potter in nearly two months. He looked like hell, his face was completely red - completely covered in dry blood, as was the rest of his body. His hair, shoulder-length, was sticking all over the place, greasy and damp. There was a demented look in his eyes, one very similar to the one Blaise witnessed all those months ago on Halloween. But the most unnerving was the clear damage Harry had suffered, with a bleeding shoulder, a trembling leg, and countless small cuts and bruises all over his body. And yet he stood there seemingly unfazed, looking as determined and unbreakable as ever. He had forgotten just how unnerving it could be to see Potter when he was in his killer zone.

Montague managed to raise a shield, just barely managing to divert it into the wooden bridge, where it crashed before plummeting into the darkness below. There were sudden groans behind him, and Blaise's eyes managed to stretch far enough to watch as the other four Slytherins jumped onto the two Ravenclaws, the other Hufflepuff that had been following them nowhere in sight now. With four against two, the Slytherins managed to tackle the boys to the ground and force their wands out of their hands. Montague looked back and growled, but Harry quickly gained his attention again as Montague stood up and began hurling curses at him. Advancing, and thankfully forgetting all about Blaise as he did.

A few of the Ravenclaws began shouting curses aimlessly, with most of them crashing into the ground or walls around them. Daphne and Draco shrieked, trying to dodge the debris around them as Theo went in and pulled out a bunch of wands from deep within the robes of the Ravenclaw on the left. Pansy immediately dove for them grabbing them before being forced to move out of the way as the other Ravenclaw took advantage of the other Slytherins being spooked and began to launch curses at her.

"No. No. No!" Pansy shouted as she went through the wands in her hand. She quickly looked up from her cover before shouting Draco's name and throwing his wand at him. One of the Ravenclaws went to intercept it, but that didn't stop Draco. He jumped on the boy's back, screaming like a wild man as he tried to pry the wand out of his hand. The Ravenclaw staggered on his feet, trying to fight off the boy on his back before his ankle twisted the wrong way and the two of them fell. Saved from hitting the floor by the Ravenclaw, Draco gave an elated cry as he pulled out his wand and quickly dispelled the body-bind and levitating charm on Blaise.

Before he could react, his back crashed onto the ground, and he gave an unwilling cry of pain. "Try to soften the blow, at least!" Blaise snarled, and Draco gave a quick apology as the both of them evaded the curses sent at them.

"Confringo! Diffindo!" Theo's voice cut out into the night, and Blaise just managed to see as he began trying to attack the Ravenclaw that had attacked Draco and him while Pansy fought for her wand with the other boy behind them.

"Where's my wand?" Blaise asked.

"How am I supposed to know?" Draco snapped back.

"Pansy has it!" Theo responded between curses.

"Pansy does not have it," the girl in question retorted.

Daphne suddenly appeared beside Blaise and Daphne, throwing Blaise's wand at him right as she trained her own wand on Pansy and the Ravenclaw. "Expelliarmus!" Their struggle ended as the wand was ripped from both of their hands and Theo managed to grab it mid-air.

"Go! Go! Go!" Theo shouted at them, attacking the Ravenclaw that had grasped Pansy's leg and refusing to let her go. A blasting curse hit him in the arm, forcing him to let go of the girl and roll out of the way of Theo's attacks. The group huddled together, managing to run to the other side of the colonnade where they threw themselves to the ground, hiding behind cover right as the two Ravenclaws gathered their bearings and continued their attack on them.

"Where's Harry?" Pansy asked, casting a few shields to cover the surrounding space. Theo acted in tandem with her, sending cover fire toward the Ravenclaws, only to be quickly joined by Draco.

"I don't know!" Blaise answered.

"There!" Daphne cried out. "To the left."

Pushing himself up their cover, Blaise managed to grasp a glimpse of the fierce, one-sided duel between Harry and Montague. Harry was a demon on the battlefield, moving quicker than he'd ever seen any human move as he ducked, rolled, and sprinted away from Montague's barrage of curses. He zigzagged, jumped, and manoeuvred perfectly around each incoming curse, almost as if he had predicted all of Montague's moves minutes before he had even done them and knew just what to do. Blaise had never seen something like this before, not even in the Three Broomsticks had Harry seemed so wild and proficient at duelling an opponent without even using his wand. It made Blaise wonder if the world was even moving at normal speed for Harry.

Pushing himself up on the wall, Blaise turned around and raised his wand only for the injury on his back to blaze with pain. He threw himself on the ground, absently aware of Daphne and Theo fussing right above him as they tried to help but didn't know how. The stretch of his injury had brought an intense pain, he had almost felt like Montague had carved the knife back into him again. How the fuck had Potter dealt with this every day for years now?

The Slytherins began shouting all around him, the ground shaking as the curses kept crashing chipping at the walls protecting him. His eyes were closed, his senses slowly returning to him as the pain began ebbing away. He was useless. He wouldn't be able to do anything but depend on the others to get him out of this alive. And then, his voice pushed through the chaos around him. "What's his problem?"

Blaise opened his eyes and immediately turned his glare on Potter, who had somehow ended up hiding with them as Pansy, Theo, and Draco fought the other three off. "I got stabbed," he deadpanned.

"Huh," Harry shrugged. "That's new." Without even batting his eye, he turned away from him and focused on the battle in front of them. "Theo, the bridge. Don't let them escape!" Harry commanded. "Draco, stop fucking about and actually hit something. Pansy, for fuck's sake Montague's out of cover! Target him."

"How do I stop them?" Theo asked.

"Collapse the bridge, I don't fucking know! Just cut off the exit."

The assault on their cover faltered slightly. There were even a few seconds of peace, and then suddenly, it started again only this time the wall actually shook, the blast strong enough to throw a few of the Slytherins a foot or two away from the wall.

"Everyone down!" Harry shouted.

"No!" Montague's voice cut through the constant attacks. "No lethal curses. Not with the others there."

"But-"

"I said no!" He roared. "We can't touch them."

"Can't touch who?" Harry whispered, confused, tentatively moving his damaged shoulder and grimacing in pain.

"Us," Draco grinned, even as the Death Eaters began their non-lethal assault again.

"Oh, right," Harry's words were filled with distaste. "You guys are Death Eaters too."

"Our parents," Daphne said.

"Allegedly," Draco added.

"Give me a break," Harry rolled his eyes. Chancing a look through their cover before turning back. "Alright then, the four of you, man the wall."

Theo and Pansy nodded and immediately obeyed, turning around and trying to duel the other three from behind their cover. Draco gulped and after a slight hesitation, he joined the other two. Daphne, on the other hand, turned to Harry incredulously. "Why me?"

"They won't kill you," Harry said coldly. "They won't even harm you. What are you even getting your knickers twisted over this?"

"I'm not risking it either way," Daphne said primly.

"Oh my God," Harry looked ready to tear out his eyes.

"You pull out your wand then and help us."

"Oh, what a wonderful idea, Daphne." Harry scoffed, looking deranged as he hit his own head a tad too rough. "Why didn't I think of that before? Let me just pull out my magic unicorn from my arse, and ride him into battle!"

"Over-exerted yourself?" Pansy asked in between curses.

"Ah-duh!" Harry exclaimed ducking one of Pansy's shields was broken, and a few curses landed on the wall behind them.

They all could be awfully childish with each other, but this didn't seem to be the time.

"Daphne, just do what he said," Blaise pleaded

"Easy for you to say," she scoffed.

Harry growled before peeking again through their cover. He watched the battle for a few seconds, his eyes moving wildly from the two Ravenclaws to Montague. "Theo summon my cloak," he instructed as his head snapped back to Daphne. "The two Ravenclaws are morons. They don't know how to duel. With the four of you working together, you'll wear them down."

"You're forgetting about Montague."

"I'll deal with Montague."

"You?" Blaise sneered.

"Harry," Pansy called out to him before she threw the invisibility cloak on his lap.

"Yes, me," Harry said testily, not even acknowledging Pansy or Theo. "Those two are just your run-of-the-mill thugs. None of you could take on Montague."

"And you can?" Daphne joined in, even more disbelieving than Blaise. "You've got no wand. Do you even have any other weapons?"

Harry searched for a moment, sighing when he didn't find anything. His eyes suddenly found the castle, and he gave a weary sigh as he held onto his shoulder again. "I don't need any weapons."

"Harry…" Theo said warningly.

"I'll be fine," he snapped. "I'll deal with my one, you five deal with your two."

Before any of them could say anything else, Harry disappeared under his cloak.

Department of Mysteries

11:15 p.m.

Neville watched as the last of the Death Eaters crossed over from the portal, keenly aware of the stinging sensation covering his entire right arm. He tried not to look at it, having seen the white lines of the Unbreakable Vow etch themselves into his skin. They weren't permanent scars, not really. The magic in them would extinguish the moment Zeus completed or broke the vow, and they'd heal shortly after. Not that it mattered anyway, he doubted he would survive long after the Death Eaters took him to Voldemort. He had tried to find a way to put a loophole into the vow, but Zeus and Artemis had blocked his attempts.

He turned towards Ron and Hermione, seeing their looks of anger, betrayal, and shame and ignoring it for the moment. Yes, the Vow had been for the best. As long as they were all safe, he could die peacefully. But until then, he still had to comply with whatever the Death Eaters asked of him. It wasn't until he had handed them the orb - whatever the hell that was - and willingly left the Ministry with them that his part of the Vow would come into effect, prohibiting the Death Eaters from touching any of them. Until then, they were still fair game to be tortured and killed.

He would die before he let that happen.

"Neville," George whispered from behind him, trying to get his attention as he had been ever since he'd made the Unbreakable Vow. "Neville!" He called out again, and Neville ignored him as he had for the past few minutes.

The room they were in wasn't dissimilar to the Entrance of the Department of Mysteries, only there were no doors surrounding them. No torches. They were standing in literal darkness, it seemed to ripple beneath their feet with every step they took. The only solid object in the room was the archway from which they had entered. "What now?" Neville asked bluntly. There was something about the room that made him feel on edge. He felt invisible eyes watching him from behind the darkness. And though the space seemed to extend for miles and miles, he felt it was getting harder to breathe.

"I'm not quite sure," Zeus confessed, taking every step with a great deal of trepidation. "Unspeakables are sworn into secrecy about this matter. Their vows limit every word they can say about this place." Raising his wand, Zeus made a small motion that quickly backfired. The room was lit up in a blaze of orange light as thousands, millions, trillions of symbols appeared all around them, extending into the infinite darkness. One or two of them he recognised from Hermione's homework, another one he felt he had seen somewhere in one of his own history books. But the vast majority were completely unknown. Shapes he had never thought possible, somehow two and three-dimensional at the same time. Others were so small yet so complex Neville couldn't help but believe they were carved into the air, atom by atom.

They began to change. Shift. Shake. With every move of Neville's head, the symbols are distorted. The illusions began to turn more solid, and yet when he touched one of them it moulded into his hand, a solid and liquid blend that made his skin crawl. Suddenly, the symbols began shaking more violently. A soft-pitched sound began creeping up on him slowly. Getting louder and louder exponentially until it was unbearable. "Ah," Neville grunted, raising his hands to his ears as he tried to drown out the sound. But it didn't stop. Blood started pouring out of his ears, he felt people starting to touch his shoulders. They started pulling at him. Shoving him around. Neville cried out in pain and dropped to the ground, and then it suddenly stopped.

His ears were ringing, he could still feel the sticky trail of blood that led down to his jaw. Looking around, others had crumbled down to the ground with him as well. But most look unaffected by it all. "I believe we've got no other choice than to explore," Zeus said without a hint of concern before he roughly pulled Neville up to his feet and shoved him forward. His anger rose again and Neville felt the urge to glare back at the man. But any resistance by him at this point would be worthless.

He walked into the darkness ahead, not even taking more than a few steps before he felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. He turned behind him, and just as he'd feared, the archway was no longer there. Neville gulped, the Death Eaters, too, looked frightened at the development. Still, he squared his shoulders and kept moving forward.

"What is this orb, anyway?" Neville asked, but whether he was trying to fill the silence or trying to learn something he could use to escape, he wasn't sure. "What's so important about it?"

"The orb contains a prophecy," Zeus answered his question, surprising Neville. There was something about the flatness of his voice that made Neville think that even the Death Eater was on edge inside the Department of Mysteries. "One the Dark Lord wants."

"Then why doesn't he come get it himself?"

"You dare question him?" Artemis snarled. "Filthy blood-traitor!"

"Calm yourself, Artemis," Zeus said. "He's just a curious lad, aren't you?"

"Sure," Neville grunted non-committally.

"He could have come and got it himself, I'm sure. But he was burned by this prophecy once, you see. He's being extra cautious about this matter."

"What does the prophecy say?" Neville asked.

"I do not know. I wasn't privy to its contents. But it is about you."

Neville suddenly stopped, feeling his mouth go dry and his heart began to race. "About me?"

Zeus tilted his head, almost patronizingly, and scoffed. "Of course. You're powerful, Mister Longbottom, even the Dark Lord has never attempted to deny that. But haven't you ever wondered why you're powerful? Why your magic seem so much stronger than anyone else besides the Dark Lord and perhaps Dumbledore?"

"I was born this way." Neville shrugged.

"But why?" Zeus pressed on. "For most people, it's true. Their magical strength is completely arbitrary. It's something they can't control, and doesn't say much. Just as some people may be more academically inclined and others more physically capable than others, some people simply have stronger magical cores than others. But there are cases when the disparity between someone's magical core and the one of the average wizard is so great that it isn't just a simple case of a slight good fortune. It is a sign that the Theurgical Forces themselves have singled you out above all others and claimed you as a Children of Fate."

"That's not a real term."

"It sounds silly, I'm aware. But I can tell you, it's very true. Every great wizard since the first human civilizations has had a prophecy detailing their destiny. We are here today, Mister Longbottom, to learn about your destiny. To see if your… victory against the Dark Lord all those years ago is the full extent of your purpose on this earth, or if you truly pose any actionable threat to the Dark Lord."

"And what if I do?" Neville couldn't help but ask.

"I wouldn't worry about that. I hardly doubt that's the case." Zeus looked him up and down before shaking his head. "If someone were to pose a real threat to the Dark Lord… it'd be someone whose greatest accomplishment wasn't purely based on luck."

It was as Zeus uttered those words that some Death Eaters gasped behind them. Neville quickly turned back to see only seven of them standing there. Even Artemis was missing. His eyes immediately went to his friends, finding that George, Ron, and Hermione were suddenly missing. "No, no, where are they?" Neville demanded frantically, looking around the room and finding even fewer people in front of him. He felt a hand grip at his shoulder and when he turned around again he was surprised to find himself inside an actual room.

The room was small, half the size of a Hogwarts classroom. Its gray brick walls were damp and filthy, covered in mould. And in the centre of the room sat a glass box - an empty cage formed by four large glass panes that stretched all the way to the ceiling. Zeus was there too, gripping at his shoulder, unwilling to let go. Ginny and another two Death Eaters were the only other people inside the empty room.

"Where are the others?" Neville shrugged Zeus off and turned to glare at him.

"I can only assume somewhere in here," the man drawled. "It seems the Department of Mysteries won't let us stay together. We'll have to be careful, we don't know what other surprises this place may hold for us." He turned to the other two Death Eaters in the room. "Find us an exit."

Ginny looked paralysed. Her face had gone completely pale, and her hands were shaking. Mustering up what was left of his courage, Neville walked over to her and grabbed her shoulder. "Hey, they're still here. They'll be okay." His words were far from convincing, Neville himself knew it, but still, Ginny nodded shakily and repeated his words.

"They're still here. They're okay. They're still here. They're okay."

He gave her a small squeeze before turning back to Zeus. "There are no doors. No paths. We lost our way in. How are we all supposed to get out of here?"

"You leave the secrets of the Department of Mysteries to me, Mister Longbottom," Zeus said stiffly. "Your only focus tonight should be retrieving that orb."

Neville scoffed, turning away from the man as he went back to stare at the glass cage only to stop. His heart rose to his throat and he felt his body go still. The cage was no longer empty - had it ever been truly empty? He didn't know how he could have missed the boy that was sitting inside it, but he was there now. The boy couldn't be more than six or seven years old, only he wasn't like any other kid he'd ever seen. His skin was deadly white, eyes sunken. His face was devoid of any emotion, no thought or mental recognition behind the boy's eyes. He was looking at them, analysing them with a small tilt of his head. But besides that, he didn't move again. Neville was sure he had stared at him for a whole eternity and the boy didn't move again.

Finally, managing to tear his gaze away from it, he saw Ginny behind him, still paralysed by the boy in front of them. "Ginny," he tried calling to her, shaking her softly. But she didn't react to his touch.

"Soulless," Zeus voice broke through from beside him. It was calm, almost disinterested. Neville couldn't help but wonder what the man had seen, what he had done, that he wasn't affected at all. "A dementor must have sucked his soul out."

"Why isn't he… doing anything?" Ginny asked.

"They can't," Zeus shrugged. "They'll breathe. Maybe blink every once in a while. But that's about it."

Neville shuddered unconsciously and tore his gaze away from the glass cage. He tried to start pacing, focusing on anything other than the boy sitting only a few feet away from him. But as he walked around the cage the boy was suddenly gone, replaced by a short blond girl that looked roughly about his age. She had that same blank look behind her eyes, the same lack of emotion across her face. She didn't move, didn't acknowledge his presence, instead standing there rigidly looking at something right behind them. And yet there was something more eerie about this girl, something that wouldn't let Neville fully turn away from her.

Slowly, he began backing up, trying to see if the boy was still there on the other side of the glass. And sure enough, as he walked back and looked into the cell through the other pane, he saw the boy sitting there. Trying to see if the other pane had changed, he gave a startled cry when he saw the girl pressed up against the glass, looking right at him. Her mouth, half-open, slowly started expanding into a smile. "Hello there, Neville," the words suddenly came out of her and Neville quickly sprinted away, going to the other side of the room as he sought to get as far away from that girl as he possibly could. Zeus watched him with an odd look, Ginny was still entranced by the little boy, and the other two Death Eaters were trying to blast the walls open.

He wanted to run. To scream. To shout. But he couldn't do anything. The girl's words echoed inside his head and Neville felt his whole body tense. He wasn't even sure that had been his mind replaying the words. It was then that something in front of him caught his eye, and Neville looked up to see a corpse-like figure standing right in the middle of the cage. It looked human…ish, like a living skeleton only some parts of his body still had skin, others had muscle, and others even had pulsating organs inside. It was its face that didn't look wholly human. Neville could look past the gray empty sockets and the lack of a nose, but it was the large, gaping hole on the bottom half of its face that would haunt his nightmares.

There was something familiar about it that Neville couldn't really place. But the more he tried to think about it the more he began feeling the skeleton actually look back at him. It slowly raised one of its skeletal hands and tapped on the glass. Once. Twice. Thrice.

Hello there, Neville.

"Master Zeus," one of the Death Eaters suddenly cried out from behind him, and Neville let out a sigh of relief as he looked back and saw a door there. "It just… appeared."

Hogwarts Castle

11:20 p.m.

Elijah felt the sweat slowly trail down his forehead as he focused on the battle at hand. He had to be very careful. Death Eaters were rather proud, they took any attack on their family as a direct attack on them, which only made this situation more infuriating. He knew over a dozen curses he could use right now to overpower the kids' shields, but all of them could truly harm or potentially kill any of them. Zeus' threat echoed in his head as he realised any damage caused to them, whether it be by himself or his people, would see him on the wrong side of the powerful man. And with the Greengrass girl there, he couldn't even rely on the Knights not condemning him for his actions. The response to the girl's betrayal of the organization had been swift and harsh, and it left precedent as to what would happen to him if he consciously harmed another member of the Knights.

It was hard to control his anger and keep himself using non-lethal charms. And with Nott destroying their quickest way out and Potter right there, only a few feet away, the temptation was only growing by the minute. The Aurors would no doubt be responding soon. If he couldn't get Potter or stun the rest in the next minutes, he would have to start considering another course of action. Perhaps, if he timed it right, he could even return to the castle and get to the Aurors before Potter could. With Potter's sudden presence in the castle, it was probably his only way out of this mess. Still, he wasn't ready to give up on this latest opportunity of finally finishing off the brat that had been a thorn in his side for the past three months now.

Elijah kept slowly advancing on them until the Malfoy boy surged from his cover. Grinning, with a series of disarming, stunning, and summoning charms on his tongue, Elijah raised his wand but was stopped when he was suddenly tackled by an invisible force. He felt the cloak as he reached out with his hands and he pulled at it, revealing Potter struggling to keep Elijah pinned to the ground as both fought on the ground. Noticing the large patch of blood on his left shoulder, Elijah reached out and squeezed, causing Potter to cry out in pain. Elijah kneed him on the stomach, causing Potter to release the hold on the wand, and Elijah quickly threw him to the side before standing up and sending a bunch of curses at Potter, who somehow managed to dodge them all yet again.

"Come on, Montague," he gritted out, gripping his shoulder as he slowly began backing away. "Let's see if you're as pathetic as your brother."

Montague launched another set of curses, swapping between killing curses and general area damage curses. But Potter read his attacks, swerving between them and managing to continue retreating with an infuriating ease. Elijah turned to his last two men, seeing Potter make a run for it from the corner of his eye. "Take the Zabini boys and stun the others," he snarled.

"But, sir-"

"Stun them," he repeated, already hurrying towards Potter who had disappeared through the door that led to the castle. "Do not harm them."

Elijah was far from athletic, never having put much too much effort into his physique. He was not supposed to engage in duels or other silly activities, that was what his men were supposed to do. But like many times this past year, Potter had once again forced his hand. And even with his legs sore and his body struggling to breathe, he followed the path of dried blood and managed to catch up to Potter as he crossed the Suspension Bridge towards the Astronomy Wing. Even with his wordless casting, he must have revealed himself as Potter rolled and ducked under the curses aimed to kill him. He looked back, exhaustion written all over his face giving Elijah the push he needed.

He followed him, forcing his body to respond to his mind's command through his own tiredness as the two entered the castle once again. Elijah didn't stop his assault, branching out as he began to use his environment to attack Potter. He threw portraits and torches as he followed the boy, using the suits of armour and anything else to block his path and make him trip. And though Potter managed to avoid all his attacks, his movements were starting to slow down, and his right leg was shaking so hard it was a wonder the boy was still standing.

"Framing me for these attacks?" Potter spat, turning left and climbing up the stairs of the Defence Against the Dark Arts tower. "Whatever happened to killing me straight, Montague?"

"Your parents tore my family down," Elijah lashed out against the stairs above Potter, sending a cascade of blasting curses that made them crumble above him. Potter gasped, throwing himself out of the way and hitting his knee in the process. Undisturbed by the rubble in front of him, Elijah blasted it all away, but Potter had managed to get out of the way and keep climbing. "I'm merely returning the favour. It doesn't mean you won't die tonight."

"Funny," Potter gave a bitter laugh, climbing on the rails of the stairs once they reached the portion Montague had destroyed. Veering away from Elijah's curses, Potter threw himself onto the floor once he reached the top of the tower and continued forward. "One of your little Death Eaters said that to me too right before I ripped his throat out."

Elijah tried to follow him, having a hard time steadying himself on the railing as he climbed up the same route Potter had used. He was much slower, giving Potter an unwitting advantage as he ran across the room, reaching the bottom of the Astronomy Tower and climbing up the stairs. Still, Potter was in a much worse state than he was, and after Elijah managed to climb up the last of the demolished staircase, he quickly caught up with him again.

"Still now, so arrogant," Elijah growled up at the stairs, hearing Potter's grunts closer and closer by the second. "You don't even know where you're going. The only way back down is through me! You can't escape me now."

"Who says I'm trying to escape?"

Elijah saw a glimpse of skin and immediately reacted, casting a quick blasting curse that managed to hit Potter clear in the arm. He heard the groan of pain, and Elijah picked up his pace as he felt the boy falter in his spot. "You have no magic left," he mocked, seeing Potter push himself off the railing and rush through the door. "You've got no weapons!" He kept calling out, feeling his grin spread. "You're nothing more than a rabid animal, begging to be put down."

Reaching the top of the stairs, Elijah took his time as he checked the corners for any hiding places Potter might have used before advancing. And there he was, only a few feet from him. There was a large pool of blood under him, he was clutching at his arm, his eyes scrunched in pain as he leaned against the door. "Diffindo!" Elijah cried out in victory, watching as Potter's eyes opened right as the spell hit him right on the chest. Potter staggered backward, managing to open the door to the classroom and crawl his way into it.

The door looked like it was about to close and Elijah pushed it open before it could. Potter wasn't behind it as he'd suspected, instead, he was laid out in the middle of the classroom as blood gushed from the large cut he managed to land on his chest. As soon as he saw him, Potter began retreating on his back. Closing the door behind him, Elijah began to walk towards him, slowly, predatory, savouring how Potter's face went pale when he pulled out his family's knife.

"You really are pathetic, aren't you? Mediocre. I don't know what Ares sees in you. Nothing but a killer who knows to do little else. Did you think you could still beat me without a wand? Maybe kill me with your bare hands?"

"No," Potter coughed out, pushing himself on his shoulders. "But then again, I wasn't trying to." There was a sudden change in the boy, the very air of the room seemed to shift as Potter gave him a nasty smile, revealing his blood-covered teeth. And then, right before his eyes, the abandoned classroom around him began shifting. The walls began turning black, the room enlarging to ten times its previous size. The tables and blackboards and chairs all popped out of existence, quickly replaced by a large library, a brewing station, and a duelling arena.

"What the hell," Elijah muttered, slowly backing away. But he didn't get far as a set of chains sprung from the ceiling above, latching onto his wrists and pulling him up until he was barely standing by the tips of his toes. The knife clacked as it fell onto the ground, and he felt his own heart begin to race as he tugged and yanked at his confines.

Potter pushed himself up, struggling to fully stand up. His legs were shaking, his body still broken and bleeding all over, but his smile only broadened until he began laughing. "Oh, honey! I'm home." Tears left his eyes as he laughed even harder, uncontrollably, stretching his arms as if basking in the presence of the very room itself. If the display wasn't unsettling on its own, the sudden appearance of the cloaked figures behind him sent him over the edge.

"No, no, no, no, no," he struggled against the chains, trying to put his entire body on them, to rip his hands free from the iron shackles. But nothing worked. There were four. Eight. Sixteen cloaked figures surrounded him. He was just beginning to see them pull their wands before the first curse hit him from behind. It was a stinging hex, or something just slightly more powerful than it. And though the single strike didn't cause anything other than discomfort, that didn't last. The sixteen figures lashed out at him, each launching countless stinging hexes that hit every inch of his body. He was thrown around wildly, his wrists burning against the shackles from the friction. He heard many of his bones break, felt as teeth were knocked out of his mouth and his fingers twisted and turned violently. Even his crotch wasn't saved from the onslaught.

He didn't know when it stopped, his body still felt the force of every hex. He felt bile rise from his throat and he vomited blood onto the ground in front of him. Unable to stand, he was held up by his chained hands as Potter pulled the back of his hair and forced Elijah to face him.

"Oh, no, we're not done," Potter's voice held a cold rage behind it, one he wouldn't have attributed to the boy before tonight. There was a sudden glint as Potter raised his family's knife only a few inches away from his eyes. "We're playing my game now."

That's it for this chapter, thank you all for reading!

Welcome to the GRAND FIFTH-YEAR FINALE! Sit back and enjoy, we're going to be here a while ;)

By the time I'm posting this, I'm ELEVEN chapters ahead, and have just finished writing the first chapter of the penultimate arc of fifth-year titled Requiem for a Dream! If you are interested in learning how to get early access to them, join my discord server using the following link: discord . gg / jyPfbGqhJT

As always, thank you for reading, favouriting, and commenting! I appreciate all of you! :)