Chapter 43: Department of Mysteries
Dawn and Harry stepped out of the portal into Buffy's suite. Dawn ran over to the mirror that Buffy had laid on a table and picked it up. "Faith?"
Faith appeared in the mirror. "Hey, Little D."
"Is Sirius there?"
"Yeah, he came back a few minutes ago," Faith said. "Hey, Sirius, it's Dawn."
"Dawn?" Sirius said as he appeared next to Faith in the mirror.
"Harry had another vision," Dawn said as Harry moved beside her so Faith and Sirius could see him.
"I saw you being tortured in the Department of Mysteries, Sirius. We called earlier but Faith had said you had gone to Grimmauld Place. So, Buffy had Dawn portal us there and we asked Kreacher who said you had left. To be on the safe side Buffy went to the Ministry while she sent us back to Hogwarts," Harry explained.
"Dawn," Sirius said. "I am going to contact Dumbledore. I need you to portal here so you can portal us to the Ministry."
"We're coming with you," Harry said.
"I agree," Dawn said. "Buffy rescued me enough times, it's time I return the favor. And Sirius neither Harry or I are taking no for an answer. You can apparate, Faith can't. So, we go with you or Faith gets to sit this one out."
Sirius looked toward Faith.
"I don't like it any more than you do, Sirius," Faith said. "But Little D is right. For them this is family. I learned that lesson the hard way back when I went bad and kidnapped both Little D and Mrs. S."
Sirius looked back at Dawn and Harry and sighed resignedly. "Alright."
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
"What is Harry's name doing here?" Willow asked.
Buffy glanced around looking at the other orbs. She saw no other names she recognized. She went back to the orb with Harry's name. She reached up …
Willow grabbed Buffy's hand stopping her. "What if there are protections that only the people whose name…"
"Willow," Buffy said. "It's about blood."
February 6, 2001
"Are you all right?! Did she hurt you?" Buffy asked as she knelt on the floor of the hospital next to Dawn.
"Why do you care?" Dawn asked angrily.
"Because I love you," Buffy answered. "You're my sister."
"No, I'm not."
"Yes, you are. Look," Buffy said as she took Dawn's hand and held it up to show Dawn the cut on her own hand. "Blood. Summers' blood." She took her own hand, smeared blood on it from a wound on her shoulder and held it up so Dawn could see it. "Just like mine."
June 20, 2003
"I realized that when Glory had Dawn in that hospital room. You know when you apparated Glory," Buffy explained. "I knew at that moment that Dawn was my sister because we shared the same blood. I also knew right then if it came down to it and the portal had been opened during Glory's ritual that my blood would close it. Like Spike said that day after Glory took Dawn it's always about blood."
Buffy stretched out her hand and closed her fingers around the dusty ball's surface. She looked at the orb wondering if anything would happen. Nothing whatsoever happened.
And then, from right behind them, a drawling voice said, "Very good, Potter. Now turn around, nice and slowly, and give that to me."
Black shapes were emerging out of thin air all around Buffy and Willow, blocking their way left and right; eyes glinted through slits in hoods, a dozen lit wand tips were pointing directly at their hearts.
"To me, Potter," repeated the drawling voice of Lucius Malfoy as he held out his hand, palm up.
Buffy and Willow glanced at each other. Without Dawn to open a portal they were trapped.
"To me," said Malfoy yet again. "Give me the prophecy, Potter."
Buffy looked down at the orb in realization. This was the prophecy that Dumbledore had told her, Harry and Dawn last year. "I think not. Will."
"Enemies, fly and fall... Circling arms raise a wall!" Willow said as a shimmering wall of energy formed around her and Buffy.
A female Death Eater shrieked, "Accio Prophecy!"
The orb didn't even so much as rattle in Buffy's hand.
The woman stepped forward, away from her fellows, and pulled off her hood. Azkaban had hollowed Bellatrix Lestrange's face, making it gaunt and skull-like, but it was alive with a feverish, fanatical glow. "You need more persuasion?" she said, her chest rising and falling rapidly. "Very well—take Wiccan," she ordered the Death Eaters beside her. "Let Potter watch while we torture her. I'll do it."
"The shield will protect us long enough for reinforcements to arrive," Willow said hoping that Dawn and Harry had contacted Sirius and let him know they might need help.
"So, Voldemort wants to know what Sybill foretold," Buffy said.
"You dare speak his name?" whispered Bellatrix.
"Yeah," said Buffy. "Yeah, I've got no problem saying Vol—"
"Shut your mouth!" Bellatrix shrieked. "You dare speak his name with your unworthy lips, you dare besmirch it with your half-blood's tongue, you dare—"
"Did you know he's a half-blood too?" said Buffy remembering what Harry had told her of his second year of Hogwarts. "Voldemort? Yeah, his mother was a witch but his dad was a Muggle—or has he been telling you all he's pureblood?"
"STUPEFY!"
A jet of red light had shot from the end of Bellatrix Lestrange's wand and hit the shield and was deflected off to hit the shelf a foot to the left of Buffy and Willow. Several of the glass orbs there shattered.
"DO NOT ATTACK! WE NEED THE PROPHECY!" yelled Malfoy.
"She dared—she dares—" shrieked Bellatrix incoherently. "—She stands there—filthy half-blood—"
"WAIT UNTIL WE'VE GOT THE PROPHECY!" bawled Malfoy. "Do not play games with us, Potter. The Wiccan witch's shield will not last forever."
"I'm not playing games," said Buffy.
"Dumbledore never told you that the reason your brother bears the scar was hidden in the bowels of the Department of Mysteries?" said Malfoy sneeringly.
"Actually, we've known about the prophecy for a year," Buffy said. "Did we know about the orb, no."
"Well, this explains why neither you, your brother or your sister came earlier, Potter, the Dark Lord wondered why none of you came running when he showed your brother the place where it was hidden in his dreams. He thought natural curiosity would make him or you want to hear the exact wording…"
"I take it he wanted it because he couldn't get it himself," Buffy said.
"It is puzzling though. Only people who are permitted to retrieve a prophecy from the Department of Mysteries, Potter, are those about whom it was made, as the Dark Lord discovered when he attempted to use others to steal it for him. But you, you are Harry Potter's sister. How did you manage to retrieve it when no one else could?"
"It has to do about blood," Buffy answered. "Potter blood. It's the same reason I was able to fool the binding magical contract for the Triwizard Tournament last year. It seems no one had the foresight to ward against blood relations being able to do things for their brothers and sisters. So why didn't Voldemort come and get it himself?"
"Get it himself?" shrieked Bellatrix on a cackle of mad laughter. "The Dark Lord, walk into the Ministry of Magic, when they are so sweetly ignoring his return? The Dark Lord, reveal himself to the Aurors?"
"Why not? There are charms that can change your appearance," Buffy said. "Potions too."
"Very good, Potter, very good…" said Malfoy slowly. "But the Dark Lord knows you are not unintell—"
"Will!" Buffy said as she and Willow moved back to back.
Suddenly the shield dropped and Willow shouted, "REDUCTO!"
Willow using her wiccan magic instead of her wand had managed to fire off five curses at once in five different directions and the shelves opposite them exploded as they hit. The towering structure swayed as a hundred glass spheres burst apart, pearly-white figures unfurled into the air and floated there
"Go, Will!" Buffy said as she turned and followed her redheaded girlfriend.
A Death Eater lunged forward through the cloud of dust and Buffy elbowed him hard in the masked face. They were all yelling, there were cries of pain, thunderous crashes as the shelves collapsed upon themselves.
Buffy and Willow found the way ahead clear as they sprint down the alley. Something heavy struck Buffy on the side of the face but she merely ducked her head and sprinted onward; a hand caught Willow by the shoulder and Willow shouted, "Stupefy!" and the hand released her at once.
They reached the end of row ninety-seven; they turned and headed for the door. They could hear footsteps behind them. The door through which they had come was ajar straight ahead, Buffy slammed the door shut behind them.
"Colloportus!" said Willow and the door sealed itself with an odd squelching noise.
Footsteps and shouts echoed from behind the door Willow had just sealed.
"You know I hate running away," Buffy said. "But in this instance with multiple wands and no reinforcements in sight yet. It was this or …"
"I know," Willow said as they ran toward the exit into the circular hallway at the far end of the room. They were almost there when the door suddenly flew open.
"Stupefy!" Buffy said as she spun around her wand held pointing at the Death Eaters. A jet of red light hit the nearest Death Eater; he fell backward into a grandfather clock and knocked it over. The second Death Eater, however, had leapt aside to avoid Buffy's spell and now pointed his own wand at Willow.
"Avada—"
Buffy launched herself across the floor and spun the Death Eater, causing him to topple and his aim to go awry.
"EXPELLIARMUS!" Willow shouted and both Buffy's and the Death Eater's wands flew out of their hands and soared back toward the entrance to the Hall of Prophecy; both scrambled to their feet and charged after them, Buffy in front and the Death Eater hot on her heels.
Buffy snatched up her wand, which lay on the floor beside a glittering bell jar. She spun around, "STUPEFY!"
The Death Eater froze and he collapsed backward toward the bell jar. Buffy and Willow expected to hear a clunk, for the man to hit solid glass and slide off the jar onto the floor, but instead, his head sank through the surface of the bell jar as though it was nothing but a soap bubble and he came to rest, sprawled on his back on the table, with his head lying inside the jar full of glittering wind.
"What is happening to his head?" Willow asked as she and Buffy watched as the Death Eater's head shrank very fast, growing balder and balder, the black hair and stubble retracting into his skull, his cheeks smooth, his skull round and covered with a peachlike fuzz…
A baby's head now sat grotesquely on top of the thick, muscled neck of the Death Eater as he struggled to get up again.
"Time," Willow said with realization. "Time is flowing back and forth inside that jar."
The Death Eater pulled his head out of the bell jar. His appearance was utterly bizarre, his tiny baby's head bawling loudly while his thick arms flailed dangerously in all directions.
"Let's go," Buffy said as she heard more footsteps growing louder from the Hall of Prophecy they had just left. They took off for the door that stood ajar at the other end of the room, leading back into the black hallway.
They had run halfway toward it when Buffy saw through the open door two more Death Eaters running across the black room toward them. The Death Eaters had come hurtling inside.
With a cry of triumph, both yelled, "IMPEDIMENTA!"
Buffy and Willow were knocked backward off their feet. Willow smashed into a bookcase and was promptly deluged in a cascade of heavy books; the back of Buffy's head slammed into the stone wall behind her.
"WE'VE GOT HER!" yelled the Death Eater nearest Buffy.
"Silencio!" cried Willow, and the man's voice was extinguished. He continued to mouth through the hole in his mask, but no sound came out; he was thrust aside by his fellow.
"Petrificus Totalus!" shouted Buffy, as the second Death Eater raised his wand. His arms and legs snapped together and he fell forward, facedown stiff as a board and unable to move at all.
The Death Eater Willow had just struck dumb made a sudden slashing movement with his wand from which flew a streak of what looked like purple flame. It passed right across Willow's chest; she gave a tiny "oh!" as though of surprise and then crumpled onto the floor where she lay motionless.
"WILLOW!" Buffy fell to her knees next to Willow. She saw that the Death Eater had ripped off his mask and was pointing his wand directly at Buffy, who recognized the long, pale, twisted face: Antonin Dolohov, one of the escaped prisoners from Askaban.
Dolohov grinned. With his free hand, he pointed from the prophecy still clutched in Buffy's hand, to himself, then at Willow. Though he could no longer speak his meaning could not have been clearer: Give me the prophecy, or you get the same as her…
Buffy stood as she looked at him, fire burning in her eyes. "I think not," she said as she reached under her robes and pulled out her dagger from her garter holster. "If she is dead, so are you."
Then there was a crash outside the door, and Dolohov looked over his shoulder—the baby-headed Death Eater had appeared in the doorway, his head bawling, his great fists still flailing uncontrollably at everything around him.
Buffy seized his chance: "PETRIFICUS TOTALUS!"
The spell hit Dolohov before he could block it, and he toppled forward across his comrade, both of them rigid as boards and unable to move an inch.
"Willow," Buffy said at once, shaking her as the baby-headed Death Eater blundered out of sight again. "Willow, wake up…" She checked for Willow's pulse and smiled; Willow was still alive. "Thank God."
Buffy picked up Willow and slung her over her shoulder. "Hang on, baby." She stuck her head out of the door and looked around cautiously. She stepped through and the door of the Time Room swung shut behind them, and the walls began to rotate.
"Wonder why it didn't do that before?" Buffy wondered.
A door to their right sprang open and two people fell out of it.
"Dawn, Harry," Buffy said relieved that someone had come. "Is it just you two?"
"No," Harry answered. "Sirius and Faith are here somewhere. We got separated. And Sirius put out a call to Dumbledore, so he and some more of the Order might be here somewhere also."
"Buffy?" Dawn said noticing that Willow was unconscious. "Is Willow all right?"
"I think so, I don't know," Buffy said as she sat Willow down. "Dawn, first of all a portal. Send Willow to Grimmauld Place."
Dawn nodded and opened a portal below Willow.
"Now let's find Sirius and Faith," Buffy said. She looked around at the doors. They had a one-in-twelve chance of getting the right door that would lead them to Sirius and Faith. "Pick one."
Before Dawn or Harry could pick one another door across the hall burst open and three Death Eaters sped into the hall, led by Bellatrix Lestrange.
"There they are!" she shrieked.
Stunning Spells shot across the room: Buffy smashed her way through the door ahead, and turned back as she leveled her wand at the opening. Harry and Dawn dove through and Buffy slammed the door shut against Bellatrix.
"Colloportus!" shouted Harry, and they heard three bodies slam into the door on the other side.
"It doesn't matter!" said a man's voice. "There are other ways in—WE'VE GOT THEM, THEY'RE HERE!"
Buffy, Harry and Dawn spun around. They were in a room filled with brains and, sure enough, there were doors all around the walls. They could hear footsteps in the hall behind them as more Death Eaters came running to join the first.
Buffy, Dawn and Harry crashed rushed around the room sealing doors. "Colloportus!" they shouted.
There were footsteps running along behind the doors; every now and then another heavy body would launch itself against one, so it creaked and shuddered.
Suddenly Harry went flying through the air. Five Death Eaters were surging into the room through the door he had not reached in time; Harry hit a desk, slid over its surface and onto the floor on the other side where he lay sprawled, as still as Willow.
"Get Potter!" shrieked Bellatrix, and she ran at Buffy.
"Dawn!" Buffy shouted motioning toward Harry.
Dawn nodded and opened a portal beneath Harry and sent him to Grimmauld Place.
One of the Death Eaters shot a stunning spell at Dawn; it missed her by inches.
"We have to get out of this room before they trap us in, Dawn," Buffy said she said as she and Dawn ran for it.
The Death Eaters streaked after them, knocking chairs and tables flying but not daring to bewitch Buffy in case they hurt the prophecy, and Buffy and Dawn dashed through the only door still open, the one through which the Death Eaters themselves had come. They ran a few feet into the new room and felt the floor vanish—
Buffy and Dawn were falling down steep stone step after steep stone step, bouncing on every tier until at last they landed in a sunken pit where a stone archway stood on its dais. The whole room was ringing with the Death Eaters' laughter.
Buffy and Dawn looked up and saw the five who had been in the Brain Room descending toward them, while as many more emerged through other doorways and began leaping from bench to bench toward them. The sisters got to their feet.
The prophecy was still miraculously unbroken in Buffy's left hand, her wand clutched tightly in her right. She and Dawn backed away, looking around, trying to keep all the Death Eaters within their sights. The
They hit something solid; they had reached the dais where the archway stood.
The Death Eaters all halted, gazing at Buffy and Dawn.
"Potter, your race is run," drawled Lucius Malfoy, pulling off his mask. "Now hand me the prophecy like a good girl…"
"I think not," Buffy said.
"You are not in a position to do much, Potter," said Lucius Malfoy, his pale face flushed with pleasure. "You see, there are ten of us and only two of you."
"No, let's see how long the younger Potter lasts before she cracks … Unless the elder Potter wants to give us the prophecy—" Bellatrix said. She raised her wand. "Crucio!"
Dawn screamed and she fell to the floor, twitching and screaming in agony.
"That was just a taster!" said Bellatrix, raising her wand so that Dawn's screams stopped and she lay sobbing. Bellatrix turned and gazed at Buffy. "Now, Potter, either give us the prophecy, or watch your sister die the hard way!"
Buffy did not have to think; there was no choice, she held it out. Malfoy jumped forward to take it.
Then, high above them, two more doors burst open and six more people sprinted into the room: Faith, Sirius, Lupin, Moody, Tonks, and Kingsley.
Malfoy turned and raised his wand, but Tonks had already sent a Stunning Spell right at him. The Death Eaters were completely distracted by the appearance of the members of the Order, who were now raining spells down upon them as they jumped from step to step toward the sunken floor.
Faith came down and knelt next to Dawn. "Hey, Little D, are you okay?"
"Yes," Dawn said. "Though I have to admit I never want to have to experience that again."
"I know the feeling," Buffy said remembering when she had the Cruciatus curse cast on her last year.
"Where's H and Red?" Faith asked.
"Grimmauld Place," Buffy said. "One of them cast a spell on Willow. Rendered her unconscious. Harry fell hard when a door hit him sending him flying backwards. He too is unconscious. Help Dawn."
Faith nodded as she helped Dawn to her feet and away from the action. Buffy's foot made contact with something round and hard and she slipped—for a moment she thought she had dropped the prophecy, then saw Moody's magic eye spinning away across the floor.
Its owner was lying on his side, bleeding from the head, and his attacker was now bearing down upon Buffy. "Now, Potter—" He made the same slashing movement with his wand that he had used on Willow just as Buffy yelled, "Protego!"
Buffy felt something streak across her face like a blunt knife but the force of it knocked her sideways, but the Shield Charm had stopped the worst of the spell.
Dolohov raised his wand again. "Accio Proph—"
Sirius hurtled out of nowhere, rammed Dolohov with his shoulder, and sent him flying out of the way. The prophecy had flown to the tips of Buffy's fingers but she had managed to cling to it. Now Sirius and Dolohov were dueling, their wands flashing like swords, sparks flying from their wand tips—
Dolohov drew back his wand to make the same slashing movement he had used on Buffy and Willow. Springing up, Buffy yelled, "Petrificus Totalus!" Once again, Dolohov's arms and legs snapped together and he keeled over backward, landing with a crash on his back.
"Nice one!" shouted Sirius. "Now I want you take the prophecy and Dawn and get out of here!" He dashed to meet Bellatrix.
Buffy looked at the orb in her hand. She knew what it said as Dumbledore had told her, Dawn and Harry the year before. She could not let Voldemort get the prophecy. She held her hand high and then with the strength of a Slayer she threw the orb to the ground shattering it.
"Dumbledore!" shouted Dawn.
Buffy turned to look where her sister was staring. Directly above them, framed in the doorway from the Brain Room, stood Dumbledore, his wand aloft, his face white and furious.
Dumbledore sped down the steps past Buffy. He was already at the foot of the steps when the Death Eaters nearest realized he was there. There were yells; one of the Death Eaters ran for it, scrabbling like a monkey up the stone steps opposite. Dumbledore's spell pulled him back as easily and effortlessly as though he had hooked him with an invisible line—
Only one couple were still battling, apparently unaware of the new arrival. Buffy saw Sirius duck Bellatrix's jet of red light: He was laughing at her. "Come on, you can do better than that!" he yelled, his voice echoing around the cavernous room.
The second jet of light hit him squarely on the chest. The laughter had not quite died from his face, but his eyes widened in shock.
It seemed to take Sirius an age to fall. His body curved in a graceful arc as he sank backward through the ragged veil hanging from the arch…
Dawn broke from Faith and ran toward her godfather as he fell through the ancient doorway and disappeared behind the veil.
"Dawn!" Buffy shouted as Dawn dove through the veil after Sirius. She rushed toward the veil and felt someone pull her back. She looked at Lupin, who had grabbed her around the chest. "Let me go!"
"There's nothing you can do, Buffy—It's too late. There's nothing you can do… nothing… They're gone."