Harry rechecked his watch as he sat in the Great Hall, having abandoned his breakfast a long time ago. 8:28.

"Why are you so nervous?" Ginny demanded with a snort. "You've only been dating a year."

"I know," Harry argued with a sheepish blush "but… well we've never been on a real date before… what if I muck it all up?" Ginny rolled her eyes before Astoria walked up with Luna.

"Hey, Gin! You ready?"

"Sure am!" Ginny cried happily before running off with her friends, abandoning Harry who gave a little whine. Then he rechecked his watch yet again. 8:30. He dropped his head to the table in defeat.

"Goodness, are you alright dear?" Emmeline called to him as she walked up, wrapping a scarf around her neck.

"Hey mum, I'm just feeling anxious about my date with Tracey," Harry admitted sheepishly. Then he ground. "Are you heading down to the village as well?"

"Yes, your father and I are both heading down for lunch. Then we each have some shopping we'd like to get done."

"I guess I'll see you there then."

"Indeed," Emmeline agreed with a chuckle. "and Harry darling, don't worry about your date. Just be yourself, it's who Tracey fell for after all."

"Right… sure." Harry agreed, still looking nervous. Emmeline sighed and shook her head indulgently before heading out to the courtyard. When she did she blinked, Severus was chatting with Rolanda and Remus.

"I thought charity and filius were chaperoning." She questioned. Rolanda made an irritated grunt which made Remus chuckle.

"Rolanda owed charity a favour. And Filius is in the hospital wing with a bad cold, so I offered."

"How was I supposed to know she'd ask me to do this? I'd much rather be running drills with my spare time." Rolanda argued with a scowl.

"You can always pop into Henson's broom shop while you're in the village." Severus countered. Rolanda snorted.

"Well well well. Never thought I'd see the day where Severus Snape encouraged others to break the rules."

"Ha ha," Severus responded tonelessly with a scowl. Remus chuckled.

"Well, I'm glad nothing changed while I was gone."

"It did for a bit, but we made sure to change everything back just for you."

"Oh good." Remus said with a smile "I am nothing if not a creature of habit."

"So is Severus,"

"Just because we are going down to the village together does not give you the right to pick on me Rolanda!"

"But you're so easy to pick on!" the flying instructor countered with a cheeky grin. Remus and Emmeline both burst into laughter even as Severus started hurling insults at the yellow-eyed witch, who barely batted an eyelash.

Harry had a bit of a goofy grin on his face as he walked down the main street hand in hand with Tracey. In fact, she'd been holding his hand nearly all day. She'd only released it when they arrived at the apothecary. Which was ultimately the source of that goofy expression. He'd got to see her 'in action' as it were. He knew of course that she could be fierce and that her business sense was razor sharp, but watching her haggle with the shopkeeper with an almost viscous fervour made his insides feel all squiggly.

"What are you smiling about?" She suddenly asked him with a curious frown.

"You're amazing." Harry declared with a dreamy tone. "I'm so glad we're dating." Tracey snorted and shook her head at him indulgently before he passed her m the bag of reagents and scooper her arm around his.

"Let's go get lunch."

"Right," Harry agreed with a grin. When the pair walked into the three broomstick a little cheer rose from the four tables that scam was occupying.

"My lord and lady!" Seamus cried with a genuflecting bow. "Please! Take my seat!"

"Shut it, Finnegan," Blaise complained from the corner he was sharing with Millicent Bullstrode and the Greengrass siblings, even as he vacated his own chair and dragged it over for Harry to take before he squeezed back into the booth. Harry grinned as a butter beer was passed into his hand. He looked around and frowned.

"Where are the twins."

"They're trying to start a business deal with Zonkos," Hermione complained. Tracey's eyes lit up with that little spark they always got when she heard of an excellent business opportunity and she grinned.

"Do you think they would take me on as a partner?"

"Davies," Daphne piped up with a snort "if you diversify your portfolio anymore you'll stretch your family's fortune thin."

"The keyword in prudent investment miss Greengrass if prudent," Tracey argued with a self-satisfied smirk.

"how about You make Harry melt," Ginny argued with a snicker at Harry's dreamy face. Everyone laughed as Harry's face burned crimson. Tracey smirked a little wider then.

"Maybe I want him to melt." She replied salatiously. That rose even more laughter as Harry grew even more embarrassed. Ron let out a wolf whistle and gave him a saucy wink when ch h responded immediately with a scowl and a punch in the arm.

"Enough!" He barked out to the rest of the table.

"Oh," Seamus cried with a soft sigh. "Fun over. Professor Snape's arrived."

"Dad?" Harry asked with confusion as he looked around.

"He meant you, idiot! You look way too much like your dad when you scowl." Katie responded with a snicker. That turned the majority of his ire (and therefore the affirmation scowl) to the Irish teen who just snorted and shook his head.

"Ease off and drink your butterbeer!" Dean complained from beside his boyfriend. Harry huffed but complied. He let the conversation flow around him, feeling it ebb and flow. It was… almost like occlumency! He was momentarily stunned at the realization as he watched his friend tilt their heads back and laugh. Only his ear… could hear it? Tracey turned to face smiling so carefree then slowly fell to worry. He saw her open her mouth, a frown plastered across her face but no sound could be heard over the loud ringing that filled his ears. Then suddenly the room swam before his eyes.

It was … bright. And sharp. He was in an endless hall of mirrors sliding against their surface. Then suddenly he was in front of a door. The longer he stared the more anticipation filled him. Then suddenly it flew open. And he was racing through it into the darkness faster and faster when suddenly a familiar figure stepped into a cone of light.

"Hello?" Arthur Weasley called out. Harry blinked and tilted his head. Why was he thinking of Mr. Weasley of all people? The man squinted in the darkness, then neither seeing more feeling Harry's presence apparently, turned away.

" -" Harry began before suddenly he rushed forward. The man suddenly collapsed, groaning in pain and bleeding profusely from a myriad of wounds. Harry stared horror overtaking every fibre of his being as suddenly Voldemort came from behind him with a few scolding tsks.

"Just look at what you've done… how terribly foolish." The vile wizard purred. Harry turned to this monster from his nightmares with wide eyes. The red pools peered back, bloody malice given vile form. "Hurry now. He'll not be long for this world now. Not with me at least." The man let out a cruel laugh that shattered Harry's mind with its iciness before the dark wizard turned his wand to the dying patriarch "Crucio!"

Harry screamed.

"Harry!" Ron's voice cried out as he shook his friend. Harry gasped and looked up into the sea of faces.

"Bloody hell mate are you alright?! You started having a fit or something!" Seamus cried worriedly.

"Ron!" Harry croaked out, voice hoarse from screaming. "Ron! Your dad!"

"My dad? What about my dad?"

"Voldemort!"

"Mate… you're not making any sense," Dean said worriedly.

"Give him some water!" Neville suddenly piped up, before he was hurriedly passed a cup, but Harry batted it away and grabbed the redhead's shoulders.

"Voldemort has you Dad!" Ron was pale as milk.

"What?!" He whispered in horror.

"He… he attacked him." Harry decided. Because that was the only thing that made sense. Voldemort had made it seem like he had down it, but he'd been right here the whole time! "He's got him and he's torturing him! I-i don't even know why!"

"Fuck…" Ron muttered in horror.

"Come on!" Harry cried in exasperation as he tried to will his shaky legs to support his weight and lift his shocked friend at the same time. "We've got to go!"

"Go?! Go where?!" Hermione cried in horror "Harry slow down!" Katie agreed with a look of worry "How on earth do you know this anyway?"

"My scar," Harry quickly explained. "Gives me a kind of… psychic link to Voldemort, yeah I know not exactly a walk through a field of roses." He muttered with a roll of his eyes at the carrying looks of horror and fear among his friends. "Sometimes I see little… glimpses into what he's doing at any given time, usually when I sleep, hence those wicked nightmares you've been complaining about all year." He said that last bit at Seamus, who already looked sick and now had a contrite grimace as well. "And now he's got Mr. Weasley and he hurt pretty bad and we've got to go!"

"Of course. I'll go get Professor Hooch and Lupin." Blaise agreed.

"What?! No! We need to go right now! We have to save him!" Harry argued.

"What?!" Hermione bellowed in shock.

"We don't have time for this!" Harry complained.

"Harry's right!" Ron suddenly bellowed. "if you know who has my dad we need to move now!"

"Harry please!" Hermione suddenly cried. "Think for a moment! Doesn't this all seem terribly convenient? It's the first time we've been off the ground all year, with almost no supervision, and you suddenly get a vision, which you yourself said you only typically get while asleep, which just so happens to be about your best friend's dad getting tortured?"

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that this is clearly a trap, and we need to think this through."

"Granger is right Potter," Blaise insisted with a scowl. "use your head."

"I'm not got take advice from someone who couldn't care less about their dad zabini!" Ron parried with a scowl.

"I'm sorry Hermione but even if it is a trap I'm not going to just let Mr. Weasley die," Harry argued. "I'm going to save him!"

"Me too!" Ron cried.

"If Ron's going, I'm going!" Ginny argued.

"Us too!" Seamus and Dean agreed.

"You all being idiots!" Blaise barked coldly. "Davies, tell them!" Harry turned to Tracey. She looked concerned before she sighed and shook her head.

"All the more reason for us to go zabini. You know how hopeless Gryffindors are."

"Fine," Hermione finally caved. Blaise turned to her and shook his head.

"I thought better of you Granger." Then he stared at the group that was standing around Harry and shook his head. "Fine. Go. Get yourselves killed."

"Fine. Find us when you find some fucking empathy." Harry spat before he left the group out of the bar. Several onlookers had been craning their necks to see the spectacle and were already whispering amongst themselves.

"Fools," Daphne declared Cooley "the lot of them." Then Blaise stood. "Where are you going?"

"To save their bloody necks," Blaise complained before he dashed for the door. But rather than follow the retreating group he turned and searched the crowds for the only two people who might actually be able to talk some sense into Potter.

"How do you know it's the ministry again?" Harry asked Tracey from the center of the small huddle of students currently being jostled around at the back of the knight bus ("Well, it was technically the day bus but that's what my gran always calls it" Neville had explained)

"The way you described it. Mirror shine black tiling? That's the ministry from magic. The floors are all polished black too. That door though…"

"Describe it again Harry?" Katie asked with a frown.

"It's really wide with a really ornate silver disk on the front and a big gold knob in the middle." Luna's eyes suddenly lit up.

"The department of mysteries." She declared.

"Huh?"

"It's the door to the department of mysteries. My daddy did an interview with an unspeakable about the fall in hummer-bing populations in front of it a while back and snapped a photo."

"That's why it sounded familiar!" Millicent declared excitedly "My grandfather is in the wisengamot, as you know, and he's taken me to see his work loads of times. I must have passed that door a hundred times just this summer!"

"You know where it is then?!" Harry asked excitedly.

"Could probably get there with my eyes closed." the burly girl insisted with a grin.

"Brilliant!"

"Harry!" Hermione suddenly whined. "Remember what I said about this being a trap?"

"Hermione, we don't have time to worry about that. Well just stick to the plan. Neville and Luna will have a smock screen. Katie and Millicent with muffle our steps, then Ron and I will run in, grab Mr. Weasley and get out while you, Tracey, Ginny, Seamus, and Dean cover our escape. In, out, ten minutes tops."

"It seems incredibly risky Harry."

"Of course it is!" Harry cried in exasperation. "But what choice do we have? The longer this takes the worse things could be getting!" Suddenly the bus lurched forward, sending the teens into a gangly limbed pile.

"Here we are!" Stan Shunpike barked. "Ministry from magic, visitors entrance."

"T-thanks," Harry said shakily as he and the others wobbled off the bus.

"Didn't you all say a professor would be waiting for ya?"

"Well, obviously they're waiting inside." Tracey argued with a roll of her eyes "but conspicuous would it be, a wizard casually leaning against the wall in full robes?"

"Right," Stan agreed "course! Well! Enjoy yer trip then!"

"Thank you!" Katie responded happily with a little wave before the bus sped off. "Blimey, he's thick."

"Never be afraid to use the stupidity of others to your advantage, Bell," Tracey argued with a smirk.

"Yes ma'am," Katie promised with a snort and a salute.

"What's the code again?" Ron asked Ginny.

"Oh for goodness sake Ron!" Ginny cried as she climbed in with Seamus, Dean, Neville, and Luna. "62442!" Then suddenly the phone booth started sliding down, which made Seamus and Dean jump a bit. Tracey watched with slight intrigue before the booth was replaced.

"Neat." She muttered.

"You've never gone this way?"

"No. I've only ever floo-ed in."

"Same." Millicent agreed.

"Well come on," Ron argued as he glanced at his watch before he opened the door and ordered everyone to squeeze in. It was a tight fit. Millicent winced as she pulled the door closed.

"S-sorry." She murmured nervously.

"You're fine," Ron argued even as he strained to put in the desired code. The phone worked though. As the booth decended a voice crackled through the receiver.

"Hello, and welcome to the Ministry of Magic. What is your purpose for visiting today?"

"Saving someone!" Harry cried in exasperation. Suddenly, the little change clot spat out six little badges that all said 'rescue mission' on them. "Please present your wands to the security before proceeding to your destination. Thank you, and have a wonderful day." Then suddenly, the doors opened, and they all came tumbling out. Harry groaned and picked himself up off the floor. It was then that he noticed how eerily quiet it was.

"Uh…"

"Shh!" Ginny hissed coldly before giving Harry a weary look.

"She's right," Tracey whispered. "Something is definitely wrong."

"I'll say!" Millicent hissed. "It's 2 pm on a Saturday! Where the heck is everyone?"

"Come on!" Ron insisted. "We keep low and quiet and get where we need to go. Like Harry said. In, out, ten minutes tops." The group nodded then Millicent held a finger to her lips and Katie agreed with a nod. With that, the two stagehands waved their wands and the group's steps were instantly muffled a little buz flew into Harry's ear.

"Just like a rehearsal." The surprisingly comforting voice of Katie Bell muttered to his left ear. And it was a strange sort of relief to hear the girl who had been appointed left stage head mutter the way always did on those Thursday afternoons which seemed so far away in this sinister quiet. Harry swallowed then drew the tip of his wand from the tip of his chin, down his throat then around his own jaw to his ear and whispered sonorius.

"Alright Millicent," he muttered, noticing instantly the moment the girl heard his message. "Lead on." The burly Slytherin nodded and shuffled to the front of the group and began to lead the way.

Getting down to the Department of Mysteries was extremely harrowing. The lifts just seemed so loud in the utter silence.

"Level 2. Courtrooms 1 through 14, department of mysteries." The pe announced as the lift screeched to a halt at the destination.

"So much for stealth." Ron lamented softly.

"Come on," Millicent murmured as she led the way around a few corners. Suddenly they turned a corner and Harry froze.

"Dammit." He hissed with a sigh. " It happened again."

"What did?"

"I knew I'd seen that door before this afternoon. I've been dreaming about it for weeks! This is just like what happened over the summer! I was having premonitions! Dammit! I should have told someone! Ugh…"

"Well it's too late now," Ginny muttered with a frown. "We need to focus! Remember the plan."

"Right, let go!" Harry agreed before he left the way towards the door. He hesitated for a moment before he pushed it open.

"That definitely should have been locked…" Hermione argued with a whine.

"Shh!" Dean hissed nervously.

"Thomas is right," Millicent whispered. "from now on, no talking." As soon as Katie stepped into the room a bright light went on above them and the door slammed shut behind them. Then the wall of the circular room started to spin, and the entrance door multiplied into a dozen. Harry swallowed roughly.

"We're looking for a dark room filled with glass spheres of some kind." He murmured. Hermione lifted a hand, stepped forward, and waved her wand. A big red x appeared on the door in front of her in what looked vaguely like the tape they used to mark places on the stage before she pulled it open. Inside was a giant potion lab with row upon row of tables covered in potion experiments Harry couldn't even begin to understand. Hermione closed the door and sure enough, the room started to spin again. However, the door with the x remained.

"The spell is called markus cospicuim," Katie muttered into everyone's ear. "Then you draw whichever shape you want."

"It's our stage markings!" Harry cried in awe.

"See! Told you the acting classes would come in handy," Tracey argued with a cheeky grin.

"Let's hurry!" Ron insisted with a huff. Harry nodded and they each picked a door. Harry opened to some kind of planetarium, complete with planets and comets orbiting around.

"Found it!" Neville cried excitedly. Everyone turned and rushed through the door before the room could start spinning again. As Neville closed it they were plunged into total darkness.

"Felinus Nocturn." Katie's voice hissed in his ear. Suddenly the room was extremely bright, as if someone had turned on all the lights.

"Woah…" Seamus murmured in shock. "look at our eyes!" Harry blinked and looked over. Everyone's eyes had changed to accommodate wide feline pupils.

"The spell only lasts 10 minutes." Katie explained frantically "So let's hurry!"

"This way!" Harry assented as he rushed down the path between the shelves, careful to check the numbers as he did. Everyone was periodically weaving around a shelf and straining their ears to try and hear any sound that the injured Weasley patriarch could be making. But all was an eerie silence. At last, they came to the number that had been flashing in his head over and over for months now. But there was nothing.

"I… I don't understand…" Harry murmured in horror. "He was right here…"

"Look!" Ginny cried before she dashed to pick up a bit of rubbish on the ground.

"Is that-" Tracey began with a raised eyebrow.

"Skittles!" Ginny cried excitedly, showing off the crumpled wrapper.

"Dad was definitely here," Ron agreed. "He's been obsessed with those for months. Ever since Dumbledore introduced them to him."

"There's no sign of a struggle though…" Tracey pointed out.

"Harry… we should go. This is bad." Hermione insisted worriedly.

"Hermione's right. Our spells are gonna wear off soon anyway." Dean agreed.

"Hey Harry…" Neville suddenly piped up "You should come take a look at this."

"One of the spheres has your name on it." Luna pointed out.

"What?" Harry questioned in awe. Sure enough, he came to stand by the pair and blinked in confusion.

S.P.T to A.P.W.B.D

Dark Lord and

(?)

Was written in a fine loopy, but clear hand in black ink. Underneath someone had come in with red and far more fancy and somehow vaguely familiar hand added

Harry Potter

Harry stared for a minute before reaching out for it. Tracey grabbed his wrist.

"Don't!" She hissed fearfully. "Someone's coming!"

"Shit!" Harry cursed fearfully before motioning everyone to hide amongst the shelves. They all held their breath as the heavy boot fall of a small group of people approached them.

"Ack… what's taking so long!" One voice complained.

"I thought the dark lord said he'd be here by now!" another responded.

"He is." A third voice murmured softly and Harry's hair immediately stood on end.

Barty Crouch Jr.

Suddenly a bright ball of light filled the space, illuminating the death eater, surrounded by five others, all wearing sinister masks. Barty's was different though, as it only covered the top half of his face, leaving his tongue free to twitch in his madness. "Come on out Potter! I know you're here! Come out and we'll make this quick. You know what we want… hand it over, and I can take you to that snivelling little blood traitor!" Harry caught Tracey's eye as she sent him a very obvious 'see?!' look. Suddenly Neville slipped something into his hand before he pointed to Luna. The girl met his eyes before they lit up in understanding and she smiled at Harry, then made a motion as if she was pulling a hood over her face. Harry understood.

"Listen, everyone," he hissed, knowing the spell would let everyone hear him. "We're gonna put on a performance of the three brothers."

"What?" Katie whispered back in hoarse confusion.

"I'll be Death," Harry continued. "Crouch will be the first brother. Neville is the second and Luna is going to be the third."

"What do you need from the rest of us?" Katie asked in a huff.

"Special effects." Harry finally replied before he stood up and walked out into the open.

"Alright crouch," Harry murmured with a slight scowl. "You caught me… now… explain what you want."

" You know what I want, boy." Crouch spat with a scowl. "Hand it over."

"Yeah, you're gonna have to be more specific than that," Harry complained. He was just stalling right now, making sure everyone could get into more advantageous positions before he made his move.

"Don't play games with me, boy!" Then he smirked. "Don't forget, every second you waste my time is another that Nagini gets to play with her food." Harry paused then he smiled

"Alright!" He said with a bright smile. "Catch!"

"Wha-" Crouch began before Harry threw something in a big arc behind them. He turned with a scramble to see what it was when suddenly the group of death eaters was wreathed in a cloud of bright white fog.

"Now!" Harry shouted as the room exploded in a flurry of spells flying every which way. Death eaters were stumbling out of the fog, coughing and disoriented only to be set upon by Neville and his rose bushes. Hermione and Tracey had one chased off by a flock of very angry birds. Millicent had turned the floor to quicksand, and one death eater was panicking as he struggled to free himself.

"Enough!" Barty's voice suddenly cut through and the teens were thrown back by a small shock wave, which banished the fog. The teens all scrambled back to their feet and regrouped several steps from the death eaters, sunken into attack position. The death eaters that hadn't panicked were already freeing their trapped comrades. Barty had a little smile on his face.

"I'm so glad you little kiddie fought back," he purred before his wand suddenly slipped into his hand from his sleeve. "Now we get to do this the hard way."

"Oh good!" Came a shout from behind the group. Barty turned around to see they were now surrounded by several members of The Order of the Phoenix with a very smug Sirius Black in the forefront. "I've been getting really bored with all your snivelling cowardly tactics." Sirius expression turned cold. "Ready to go back to Azkaban Crouch?"

"You first, Black." Barty spat. Then one of the Order members fired a hex and everything descended into chaos. The teens screamed and tried to dodge out of the worst of the fighting, but the chaos was hard to predict and the shelves all seemed to be the same in the fighting.

"Someone get Potter!" Crouch suddenly roared over the din of battle.

"Oh fuck." Harry cursed.

"Back to the entrance!" Ron cried in a panic.

"Which way is it?!" Seamus demanded. Harry looked around before he remembered the numbers.

"This way!" He cried before leading the way through towering shelves. They had to skid around a few extra turns every so often when a pair of duelling wizards crashed down or flew by, spells sparking through the air.

"Oh right! Thanks, and sorry about your remembrall Neville!" Harry cried with a wince.

"It's fine! I'll just tell my gran I used it to fight death eaters! She'll probably buy me a hundred more!" Neville joked. As Harry rushed around yet another corner a hand grabbed him. He turned his wand and fired a blasting spell which missed his father's face by less than an inch, singeing a few of the man's hairs.

"Dad!" Harry cried in horror. "S-sorry!"

"No, I really should have expected that," Severus cried even as he ushered the students past him with waving hands. "Now follow Zabini. He knows the way out."

"Blaise?" Harry demanded with a blink.

"Come on Potter!" Blaise shouted from the trail of his friends.

"Go!" Severus insisted as he shoved him toward his classmates.

"But-"

"Come on!" Blaise repeated before he grabbed Harry's arm and dragged him back down the hall.

"What are you doing here?!" Ron demanded as he ran beside the teen. "Thought you chickened out!"

"I lied." Blaise suddenly blurted out.

"Huh?"

"I lied… about my mother I mean… It does bother me. But I always felt so powerless to stop her…"

"Not anymore?" Harry demanded.

"Not anymore," Blaise confirmed. Ron suddenly pulled them to a halt and turned to the Slytherin.

"What?! We don't have time for whatever it is you think you need!"

"Welcome to the friend group Blaise." Ron blurted out before giving the bewildered teen a handshake.

"Thanks?" He muttered in confusion. Suddenly an explosion sounded behind them "Oh right! Running!" Ron cried in panic.

"R-right! This way!" Blaise cried as he ran to the front of the group again and turned around the corner. Then he left them through a doorway and suddenly they were in a train-car-like hallway, with doors leading to all sorts of fantastical rooms on either side.

"There's a shortcut to the atrium just at the end of this hallway!" Blaise explained. But as they turned the corner and rushed towards it something seemed wrong to Harry. Blaise tried to skid to a halt, but it was too late, and what's more a strong wind seemed to be sucking them in so that they all tumbled through the doorway and down into the darkness below. Harry was the first to come to. He blinked as he looked up to try and see the doorway, but all he saw was darkness.

"Bloody hell Blaise," Seamus moaned as he rolled over. "Coulda warned us."

"I swear the floor was level when we came in this way!" Blaise insisted even as he touched a slam gash he now had on his forehead.

"It's amazing we're not more hurt than we are…" Hermione pointed out in awe.

"Got to be some kind of spell." Ginny reasoned. Harry frowned and turned around. He could hear something… it sounded like… humming? Maybe mumbling?

"Can you hear that?" He asked softly.

"Here what?" Dean asked.

"Those… voices…" Harry muttered quietly, trying to find them.

"Ah bloody hell! Look around for snakes!" Ron whined worriedly.

"No," Luna murmured. "I can hear them too…"

"Yeah…" Millicent murmured. Harry turned and instantly knew where the voices were coming from. The ominous stone archway in the centre of the room. There seemed to be something in the archway. Some kind of force or entity. The longer Harry stared the more he felt the urge to step towards it and the louder the humming became. He still just couldn't quite make out what the voices were saying. Maybe if he got closer. Maybe if he just pulled back the-

"Harry!" Tracey cried in fear. Harry blinked and turned around. Both Neville and Hermione were holding back Luna, while Seamus and Dean had Millicent. Tracey had a hand around his wrist and was also pulling him back.

"What… what happened?"

"All three of you went into some kind of trance! It was like you couldn't see or hear us!" Ginny cried worriedly. Harry shook himself before he cleared his throat.

"Forget about all that. Let's get out of here."

"Right!" The group responded when suddenly they were bowled over by a stream of black smoke. When it cleared Crouch was on top of Harry, holding him down with his iron hand with wild crazy eyes.

"Where is it, Potter?! Give it to me!"

"Get off him!" Blaise shouted furiously as he rushed at the death eater. Then suddenly Sirius, disguised as his big black dog body checked the pair, sending both Blaise and Barry tumbling down the craggy rocks.

"Blaise!" Millicent cried in worry before she drew her wand and jumped down after the teen. Suddenly more sparks flew overhead as more of the fighting spilled out into the cavernous room. Everyone drew their wands and started firing spells into the crowd. Harry looked around, unsure what to do when suddenly a spell nearly hit him until Tracey tackled him.

"Focus Harry!" She cried in exasperation when suddenly a spell struck the arch behind them. Both teens whipped around to see that Barry and Sirius were now viciously duelling, with stray spells flying in every direction, hitting friend and foe alike.

"Harry!" Severus suddenly shouted from across the space. Then Sirius let out a yell as he was flung aside.

"Harry!" Tracey screamed before she shoved him to the ground. Harry turned and watched, horrified, as Barty's spell struck the girl. Sinister black ropes wrapped all around her and she stumbled back, trying to wriggle free before she lost her footing and fell.

"Tracey!" Harry cried as the girl's shoulder touched the strange fluttering veil that stretched across the archway. She let out a gasp, eyes going wide before she was sucked through, disappearing with a breeze.