Harry's mind raced as he instinctively flooded it with magic to enhance his Occlumency. Sirius had been kidnapped, probably. He didn't have any method to contact Sirius quickly enough to confirm or deny this.
His power simultaneously reached out to begin gathering his allies.
He could feel Hermione already waking up at the feeling of turmoil from his soul.
He took two steps over to Neville's bed and grabbed his shoulder, his friend's eyes snapping open and flashing yellow with surprise.
"Bellatrix Lestrange has broken into the Ministry of Magic and is holding my Godfather hostage. Time to go."
Neville's smile turned decidedly sadistic as he launched himself out of bed, his pajamas already being transfigured into casual clothes.
Harry refocused on his power, looking for Luna, who was…
Already sitting and drinking tea with Albus?
Of course she was.
He connected his power with the headmaster's mind instead.
"Voldemort just invaded my dreams to tell me that Sirius has been kidnapped and is being held in the Department of Mysteries. He wants me to come and get the prophecy for him, alone. We will be at your office momentarily to discuss our next steps."
"Ah. That would explain Miss Lovegood's sudden desire for company at this hour."
Harry could feel Hermione sifting through his memories of the conversation with Voldemort and his current plans.
He felt her pull on the cloak through their connection and they entered the Dark together, flying through the walls of the ancient castle to the headmaster's office.
They arrived just as Neville sprinted up the corridor, so Harry grabbed his hand and together they slid through the gargoyle and returned to corporeal form in front of Dumbledore's desk.
There was a brief moment of silence while Harry gathered his thoughts.
"Sirius has been captured, if we take Voldemort's word. We have no way to verify if he is or not."
Dumbledore's face was grave.
"Hostage situations have no advantageous solutions," Albus said. "With an Enemy like Voldemort, there can be no reasoning or negotiating with him. It may be painful, but it is more beneficial to consider Sirius already dead from the moment that he was captured. If we can set a course that could save him, that would be a silver lining to a very dark cloud."
Harry quashed the feeling of helpless anger and nodded. "If we allow Voldemort to think that there is even the possibility that we will capitulate, we will have already lost any chance of getting Sirius out alive."
Hermione's eyes were watering and she reached out to take his hand. Despite the roiling emotions he could feel in her soul, she spoke confidently.
"We go on the offensive then. Do not give Bellatrix or Voldemort a chance to try. We attack immediately and hope that they discard any plan to kill Sirius in favor of saving their skins."
Harry hummed in agreement. "If we bring everyone from the start, there is a good chance that Bellatrix will just kill Sirius and cut her losses. But if we let them think that we can be overwhelmed…"
Hermione picked up the direction his thoughts were going. "They might decide to stay and try to weaken or outright defeat us before backup can arrive."
"Yes. Albus," Harry turned to the headmaster, "Bellatrix will run if you are present. The four of us will go. Even if Voldemort has told her about our abilities, she will be arrogant. She will think that she and the Death Eaters will be able to overcome a few children. She will be wrong, and Voldemort will be forced to intervene directly. At that point, you and the Order must arrive before the combined forces of Voldemort and his Death Eaters kill us."
"And so, the trap will close upon the hunter." Dumbledore finished worriedly. "I do not like placing you four at risk, but I agree that your plan has the highest likelihood to damage our Enemy. Very well, I will wait for your signal. Are you aware that Patronus charms can carry messages?"
Harry chuckled. "Yes, although I can't cast a Patronus."
Albus looked legitimately surprised. "Oh. Well then, Miss Granger…"
"Yes, whoever is free will send a Patronus to you. Keep an eye out for a bear, sparrow, or eagle."
Dumbledore nodded. "I will have the Order ready to respond as quickly as possible."
He walked over to the fireplace and threw a pinch of floo powder into the flames.
"Best of luck, everyone. Let us hope that we all live to see the morning."
…
Harry skidded and bounced across the atrium floor like a stone across a pond. Apparently, his issues with floo travel hadn't magically gone away.
No one was laughing at him this time, though.
He popped up as the rest of his friends stepped through the fireplace.
"Hermione and I will take you with us through the Dark. We will locate the Death Eaters and attack as quickly as we can. Luna, try and put a shield up around Sirius if you can, he's the only one who is vulnerable to direct attacks with raw magic. I have no idea how aware Bellatrix is, but she wouldn't have the reputation that she does without being formidable."
Luna nodded as she took Hermione's hand. Harry strode over and grabbed Neville.
"Alright then. Let's go hunt some Death Eaters."
…
They dropped through the ceiling of the Hall of Prophecy, invisible and intangible. Below, between twenty and thirty Death Eaters were loosely arranged around several powerful, sadistic souls and…
One decidedly less powerful, less sadistic soul. Sirius was actually here.
Shit.
Harry sent a feeling of confident affirmation to the other three, and they dropped towards their prey.
His magic exploded around him like a vengeful storm as he plummeted, Bellatrix snapping her head up as soon as they began their attack.
"They're here! Stop or I kill-"
She didn't have any more time before she was forced to dive sideways to avoid Harry and Neville crushing her.
Harry threaded his power into the Dark and liquified the three Death Eaters surrounding them who didn't have the magical awareness to defend themselves properly.
Luna put up a shining white bubble around Sirius, deflecting a killing curse that was thrown his way from one side.
Harry felt several sadistic sparks go out as Hermione brought her power to bear.
Neville lunged for Bellatrix, but she was faster than he expected. Harry felt her power condense and Neville was thrown across the room, smashing through row after row of prophecy shelves.
It was chaos. The weaker Death Eaters screamed as they tried to fight or run away from four enemies who were faster, stronger, and infinitely more powerful than them. The only reason they all weren't dead immediately was because Harry and the other Awakened needed to split their focus to defend Sirius and dodge attacks from Voldemort's inner circle.
They fought their way across the crumbling Hall of Prophecy while the Death Eater's numbers were quickly whittled away.
Bellatrix blasted a hole in the wall as they ran, the remaining Death Eaters making their way into a wide room lit by the eerie light of a ghostly archway. The walls were rough and jagged, hewn crudely from the surrounding rock. Boulders and crags of black stone dotted the edges of the room while a huge, tiered pedestal in the middle held the archway with a spectral veil within.
Only five Death Eaters remained by the time they made it to the archway, but they were all powerful souls of churning dark power.
Harry recognized them. The Lestrange brothers, Dolohov, Rookwood, and, of course, Bellatrix.
The four of them spread out and circled their enemies. Luna dropped the shield around Sirius and left him behind a rough boulder on the edge of the room as she readied herself to defend her friends.
Bellatrix's face was contorted in frustrated rage. "POTTER!" she yelled, "I'LL FLAY YOUR FILTHY FLESH FROM YOUR BONES FOR THIS! I'LL FIND YOUR LITTLE MUDBLOOD AND-"
Harry was already bored of her shrieking. Voldemort had far better pre-battle monologues.
The battle began again.
It was clear from the start that even the inner circle was outmatched. They fought savagely, watching each other's backs and Harry and his friends fought, but they were weakening.
Harry flew under a killing curse from Rudolphus as he gripped Dolohov in his power, throwing the duelist across the room and separating him from his backup even as Harry was forced to block a Cruciatus curse from Bellatrix.
Luna raised a shield just in time to stop another killing curse from hitting Hermione as she speared Rookwood through the leg with a cruel spike of ice.
Neville was forced to abandon his latest charge towards Bellatrix as Rabastan let loose black flames of deadly Dark. Neville dove sideways and instead managed to snag Rudolphus as he was focused on Harry, bodily throwing him into the far wall where he disappeared behind a crag of black stone.
In return, Harry used a blast of emerald power to shear off one of Rabastan's arms even as he dodged the next attack that he expected to come from Bellatrix…
Which never came.
"ENOUGH!"
Time seemed to freeze momentarily as everyone turned at Bellatrix's echoing scream. She stood on one of the taller rocky spires, once again holding Sirius by the throat with her wand aimed at his head as her wild eyes flew around the room.
She had her back to Neville.
"Surrender, or-"
Even with his enhanced senses, Harry barely saw Neville move.
Bellatrix sensed him coming and started to move.
Bellatrix was fast, but Neville was faster.
Even as she tried to turn, Neville caught her. From across the dark room, it looked like he wrapped one arm around her neck and braced himself against her shoulder with the other and twisted…
With a sickening snap, Bellatrix Lestrange's head was no longer attached to the rest of her body.
Everyone remained frozen as her headless corpse toppled and rolled slowly down the roughly hewn rock, leaving a rippling river of blood in her wake.
Neville stared down at the savagely severed face of his Enemy and threw it down after her body with disgust.
Sirius barked out a laugh. "Nice one-"
Blood red eyes opened in the Dark.
Harry threw his power through the nothingness within reality to try and reach Sirius in time.
He was too slow.
Sirius exploded in a horrific detonation of gore as Voldemort shredded his body from the inside.
Shit.
Hermione screamed as Harry gritted his teeth and focused on containing Voldemort's crimson fury within the Dark, the terrible power of the Dark Lord's magic attempting to rip his soul to pieces in retribution for his lost attack dog.
Voldemort descended into the room like a demonic angel, his black cloak whipping in a non-existent wind as his pale form landed in front of the archway.
He fixed Harry with a venomous glare.
"I keep my promises, Harry Potter. Now, run away before I send you into the Dark once again."
Harry clenched his jaw and forced back his violent rage at Sirius' end. He saw a silver sparrow disappear through the far wall.
"Not this time, Tom. You have spent far too long hiding in the shadows. I will drag you and your pathetic cause into the light. I will burn away everything that you are until one day, I will figure out how to end your soul."
"You will break long before you crawl high enough to challenge me, my Nemesis."
"I already have, Tom. You will not leave this place alive."
Voldemort smiled and looked like he was going to respond, but Harry was done playing with the monster who just killed his Godfather.
He detonated the black stone of the pedestal under the archway, tearing Voldemort's body to pieces as he leapt into battle once again.
The chaos restarted around them. Voldemort pulled his body back together and counterattacked, great bolts of crimson power shredding the black stone of the walls and floor around the room as he tried to catch any of the Awakened unaware. Harry brought his power to bear and blocked as many as he could, bringing forth a storm of emerald death has he targeted his Enemy.
The Death Eaters rejoined the fight, and the chamber came alight with death and destruction.
Harry twisted and looped around attacks from Dolohov and Voldemort even while he saw Hermione doing the same with one of the Lestranges. She rained deadly spears of ice and raw power onto the Dark Lord while she used her other hand to deflect a curse towards Rookwood, forcing him to duck before he was thrown to the ground by a blow to his shield from Neville for his trouble.
Harry continued his efforts to contain Voldemort within the Dark, all the while launching spikes of black stone from the floor and trying to keep his Nemesis from being able to focus on any one thing for too long. If he was able to focus on any of the others, he might be able to bring them down before anyone could stop him.
Harry spun and dodged another deadly bolt of crimson light while he deflected a deadly curse from Rabastan towards Rookwood.
Several things happened very quickly.
The curse that Harry deflected hit Rookwood, his guts exploding over the black stone.
Rookwood only took the hit because he had just fired a killing curse at Neville's back while he charged at Rudolphus.
Luna said, "I'm sorry, Hermione," as she raised a brilliant divine shield to stop the killing curse from hitting Neville.
Dolohov hit Hermione in the back with a blazing jet of purple fire while she was focused on her battle with the Dark Lord.
Harry felt her body die as all of her internal organs were liquified by the curse.
Time slowed around them.
He felt her soul start to slip into the Dark.
No.
NO!
He would not allow it.
They had dreams yet to be achieved, and he wanted none of them if they couldn't do it together. He couldn't, wouldn't do this alone.
Harry had decided, all the way back in that ruined bathroom with the troll, that Hermione Granger would not die.
His Enemy would not take his love from him.
He melded his soul with the peaceful Dark of the Shroud of Death, his constant companion from the very beginning. The first fragment of divinity that he had ever mastered, the one that had mastered him just as he had bonded with it and was inextricably wrapped around his soul.
Harry was both less and more than he had ever been as he became one with the Dark and chained his Queen's soul to his own.
Their eyes blazed with aquamarine light, and they were one, once again.
They let their magic flow and sing together in triumphant harmony.
It felt like a long time since they had shared a soul.
They refocused on the battle as they continued to contain Voldemort's power within the Dark.
They needed space. Fighting Voldemort and the four Death Eaters around the ruined archway was too chaotic.
They needed time. Albus would be here soon, but Voldemort was keeping constant pressure on them from too many sides for them to focus on the Death Eaters.
They needed to return the favor to Dolohov. How dare he try to take their love from them?
They channeled their combined might into Harry's body as they pushed off a conjured pillar of black stone and spiraled towards Voldemort.
The Dark Lord tried to dodge their sudden approach. He was blindingly fast, but together they were faster.
They caught their Enemy by his throat and turned their momentum sideways and downwards, swinging the Dark Lord's body around by his neck like a ragdoll before pivoting and launching him upwards into the stone ceiling of the vaulted chamber.
He crashed through the ceiling and several floors above that, from the sound of it. Pieces of rock and debris rained down around them.
Time to heal their other body and end Dolohov.
Hermione's corpse flew towards them with a thought as they charged Dolohov. With one hand, they caught the melted flesh and began repairing it. It was not completely atomized the way that Harry's previous body had been. It could be restored.
With their other hand, they reached into Dolohov's chest and crushed his still beating heart before torching his flesh from the inside.
He screamed as ferocious turquoise flames exploded from behind his dying eyes.
That was probably all the time that they had if they wanted to keep the Dark Lord separated from his forces.
They turned to their friends and almost laughed at Neville's shocked face and Luna's happy smile.
"Try to keep these three busy until the Order arrives. We'll handle Voldemort."
Hermione's newly repaired body jerked and pulled in a deep, shuddering breath, brilliant aquamarine light spilling from their eyes.
They took off after the broken crimson shards of Voldemort's malevolent soul.
…
Voldemort floated in the center of the ministry atrium when they arrived. He looked as great and terrible as ever, his magic thundering around him in a crimson storm, but they could see the cracks starting to form. He was losing confidence. He had never been overpowered so effortlessly before.
They felt his power expand and permeate the wide hall as they flew through the hole in the floor.
"You will NOT deprive me of my WINGS!" Voldemort screamed with unhinged fervor.
The windows of the hundreds of offices lining the atrium walls exploded outwards and filled the air with deadly shards of lacerating glass.
Their Enemy's eyes glowed brilliant red as he swung his arms like the conductor of a grand symphony and a storm of death descended upon them.
They threw their bodies in opposite directions as they brought their power to bear against the raging tempest. They flew in synchrony to circle around their enemy and attack together from either side.
They spiraled through a deadly hurricane of broken glass and crimson power, closing the distance to their enemy while Voldemort tried to back away. They wrenched the glass shards from his control even as they cornered their Nemesis.
Their Enemy dodged a blast of aquamarine power from one side but was too slow to avoid the deadly sharp panes from the other as his body was shredded by his own glass.
The cup knitted him back together as they slowly circled him, floating in the center of the grand hall.
The Holy Grail's magic was strong. They needed something that could truly damage him beyond repair. Luckily, they had spent all year preparing for this eventuality.
"Enough of this farce." Both of their mouths moved in unison as they spoke in their echoing collective voice.
"Fiendfyre."
The hall lit up with screaming aquamarine light, the cursed inferno thrashing and throwing itself against the unbreakable chains of their united will. It failed to break free even as they threaded their power deep within the cruel soul of the hellfire.
Great, blazing wings of roiling flame erupted from their backs. Twisting, endless cycles of roaring fire that begged to be allowed to rip and tear and consume the world.
Their sweeping wings curved inward in a wide arc around the Dark Lord, cutting off his escape as they pinned him with a shining, piercing stare from all of their eyes.
Voldemort looked truly off balance for the first time.
"What… what are you?"
They laughed, their voice resonating and reverberating around the atrium.
"We are the Death Walker, Bladesinger, both Knight and Queen of the Castle."
The wings of demon fire expanded further and imprisoned Voldemort with them within a sphere of infinite turquoise flame.
"We are Sovereign."
Voldemort tried to break the ministry wards and apparate away, but they enveloped and crushed his power in the vice grip of their combined strength.
"Return to the Dark, Tom Riddle."
They closed on him even as he tried to escape, one of their bodies pinning his arms behind his back while the other grabbed his jaw and forced him to look into their eyes.
"We will meet again when we have our Wings, and we will End your soul."
Blue-green hellfire flowed down their arms, hollowing out the body of their Enemy while he screamed. As his flesh was destroyed beyond even Holy Grail's ability to repair, the black ghost of his spirit leaked out and ran away.
…