They stumbled out of the Floo system, dusty and dingy.
"There you are!" Finn said, helping them up. Seamus was about to ask how she could tell it was them until he realized they were covered in ashes. It outlined them like the coolest Halloween costumes ever. "Sick spell; I'd keep it on. This all?"
"Yes."
"Brill." She closed down Percy's Floo, and then for good measure shoved a chaise lounge in front of it.
"Won't…this get you fired?" Neville spoke up, his voice quivering. Finn snorted.
"Merlin, I hope so." She turned around, her hair frizzy, and shoved her wand in her top knot, "Well, let's go! My poor date will realize all too soon I have his certification card," She said, waving around a little key.
Hermione used her wand to blow off the dust from their group and the invisible troup followed Finn through the darkened halls of the Ministry. Seamus jogged up by his sister; unseen, but close.
Finn put them all in an elevator and used her key to bring them down. The elevator musak was absurdly juxtaposed with the nerves that were flying everywhere. It binged and with a pleasant voice announced 'Department of Mysteryes'.
Everyone stumbled out to a plain, unassuming black door.
"Thanks, Finn," Seamus hugged her, "I'll write you after-,"
"Oh, ho, ho!" Finn held up her hand, "I'm going with you all."
"That's not necessary-," Harry tried to protest in frustration. He'd accepted this group, but adding a new person caused him stress.
"I cannot let a group of underage witches and wizards go off to do Merlin knows what. Mam would kill me!" Finn said firmly, "Besides, maybe I want some of the glory. Finniola Finnegan, early hero in defeating that piece of shit scumbag."
Neville laughed nervously at her language.
"Fine!" Harry relented, "But we have to go. Now."
Finn pushed the door open, "After you."
They were standing in a large, circular room. Everything in here was black including the floor and ceiling — identical, unmarked, handle-less black doors were set at intervals all around the black walls, interspersed with branches of candles whose flames burned blue, their cool, shimmering light reflected in the shining marble floor so that it looked as though there was dark water underfoot.
"Someone shut the door," Harry muttered. He regretted giving this order the moment Neville had obeyed it. Without the long chink of light from the torch-lit corridor behind them, the place became so dark that for a moment the only things they could see were the bunches of shivering blue flames on the walls and their ghostly reflections in the floor below.
Seamus watched Harry examine the doors, trying to decide which one was right. Just as he began to move, there was a great rumbling noise and the candles began to move sideways.
The circular wall was rotating. Hermione grabbed Seamus' arm as though frightened the floor might move too, but it did not. For a few seconds, the blue flames around them were blurred to resemble neon lines as the wall sped around and then, quite as suddenly as it had started, the rumbling stopped and everything became stationary once again.
"What was that about?" whispered Ron fearfully.
"I think it was to stop us knowing which door we came in from," said Ginny in a hushed voice.
"Department of Mysteries…." Seamus muttered, "What a joke! It's a mystery which door to take, innit?" He, in reality, had no idea which one they had come in through.
"How will we get back out?" Neville asked, eyes wide.
"That's what the key is for; stops the room and illuminates the exit," Finn said.
"I thought it was to get down to here via the elevator?" Ginny asked. Finn laughed.
"Anyone can get down here. Not everyone can get back out again."
"Where do we go, then, Harry?" Ron asked. "I don't —" Harry began. He swallowed. "In the dreams, I went through the door at the end of the corridor from the lifts into a dark room — that's this one — and then I went through another door into a room that kind of . . . glitters. We should try a few doors," he said hastily. "I'll know the right way when I see it. C'mon."
As he walked with purpose through a dark door, and the rest followed, Finn grasped Seamus' arm, holding him back. How she knew which one was him…
"I can see your aura, silly," She said, almost comfortingly, "And feel you. I'd know my brother's magic anywhere."
"Empath," Both Seamus and Finn said together.
"Are you okay?" Finn asked nervously.
"...About?"
"Your…fire…" Finn asked in a hushed whisper, "It's…you know…" She blinked at him, awaiting him to jump on and finish.
"It's what?" Seamus repeated, confused.
"Beltain," Finn said meaningfully. Seamus felt a smidge taken aback. He wasn't the best with dates but how had he missed that one?
He wrenched his grip out, swallowing, "Peachy, Finn. Swear it."
"Should you really be here?" Finn tensed even more, refusing to let go.
"Yes," Seamus wriggled his wrist out of her fingers, "Now I don't want to get left behind in this bloody maze."
But Finn still seemed nervous.
Seamus tried to shake the fear she'd put in his bones.
XXX
The Depart of Mysteries was for sure a…mystery.
The rooms were odd, to say the least.
They had passed through a room with brains, a room with a strange dais, and attempted a room that was locked tightly. Due to Hermione's quick thinking, they were able to tell which doors they'd attempted and which they hadn't.
The room with brains had been just plain creepy.
The ever-locked room wasn't something Seamus wasn't to fuss with.
But the dais room?
Harry and Luna had heard voices, and Seamus's skin had crawled as though bugs had burrowed underneath. He thought they were barmy until he heard the faintest whisper too…
"Finn," He said, grasping her arm tightly, "It's Nathair!"
Finn stared at Seamus, confused, "What the hell are you on about?" She demanded, rattled.
"I can hear him, can't you?" Excitement pulled in his chest, "Did you call him and Dilane?" Having his brothers here would only be a help. Finn's eyes were wide.
"I didn't call anyone, Sea."
Harry was going on about people just behind the curtained structure, walking toward it. Was this some sort of portkey? Was Seamus thinking of Nathair so much it was drawing them together?
"Harry, we are supposed to be here for the prophecy!" Hermione reminded shrilly, grasping Harry's arm and yanking him back, "Let's go!"
"What d'you reckon that arch was?" Harry asked Hermione as they regained the dark circular room.
It was Finn who replied. "I don't know, but whatever it was, it was dangerous." She seemed rattled.
"Your date was tightlipped?" Ron snorted.
"They have to be, they're under the Fidelius," Finn explained to him, "But trust me, I tried."
They tried a fourth door; at first, Seamus was sure it was a dud until Harry began to vibrate with excitement.
"It's through here! It's here!" He insisted firmly, "This way!"
A renewed sense of excitement rippled through the group. Though this room was filled with the most peculiar and interesting of things, the nine trampled toward the other end to…
"Woah."
They'd found it.
They were there, they had found the place: high as a church and full of nothing but towering shelves covered in small, dusty, glass orbs. They glimmered dully in the light issuing from more candle brackets set at intervals along the shelves. Like those in the circular room behind them, their flames were burning blue. The room was very cold, even for Seamus, who often felt warm and toasty.
"Okay, Harry…where…uh…is it?" Ron asked.
"My dreams never told me that!" Harry hissed back.
"Well, that's not very helpful, is it?" Colin snorted, "Ow!" Ginny had elbowed him.
"We just need some good old elbow grease," Hermione said, trying to keep her bright mindset, "Fan out! Send your Patronus if you find it!"
"Patronus, huh?" Finn asked to Seamus with a grin, "I'll just have to stick with one of you. Never mastered that one. What's yours?" she asked in the annoying way siblings bothered other siblings, never shutting up.
"A fox," Seamus said shortly, "Now search, Finn!"
He and Hermione exchanged smiles as they passed each other in the aisles; it was too large, too grand to stick closely together right now, and he already had Finn latched to his side. They needed to get out fast.
Plus, Hermione could more than ever handle herself.
The silence, and the chill of the room, settled on Seamus like a thin film of worry. With each row, he was more convinced that this was all a wild goose chase, that they were in an elaborate trap, that no one would walk out of this alive-
There was a yapping and an energetic terrier exploded down the halls. Seamus relaxed.
"Ron's found it!" He said, running after the little ghostly dog, and meeting up with the others.
94…95…96…
Seamus tried to keep a semblance of a map in his head as he passed the tall shelves, all the way down to 97, where Ron was staring open-jawed at a glowing orb.
Seamus was the farthest down and the last to make it over. Hermione was already reading what the little plaque said.
"S. P. T. to A. P. W. B. D. Dark Lord and - question mark in parentheses - Harry Potter."
There was a silence, no one daring to move, certainly not Harry.
"Well," Hermione finally said, "APWBD - that's Dumbledore."
"Is it?" Ron raised his eyebrows.
"Yes," Hermione said tiredly, "Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore. It's his full name."
"What a mouthful!" Finn said, "I never knew that."
"Who said it to him?" Colin asked, scratching his head.
"It doesn't matter; Harry. Grab it," Hermione said shortly, "Let's go home…before something bad happens."
"Right, yes…" Harry reached on his tiptoes for it, and the moment that his fingers grasped the orb, Finn made a shriek of sorts. Seamus turned, but as she tried to warn them, two spells came fast as a dart. The first broke their invisibly off of them, and the second was a streak of green hurled toward the group. Seamus and Colin together threw up his shield inches from Finn's face; he knew from the dark crawling of it, how it exploded against his magic, the second had been a killing curse. Seamus looked at Colin and gave a nod of appreciation; between the two of them, they'd managed to cast quite the strong spell.
Finn looked startled, staring at Seamus in awe, unable to stutter out anything.
There was the sound of footsteps as someone's lone shoe clicked against the reflective black floor.
"Very good, Potter. Now turn around, nice and slowly, and give that to me."
Black shapes were emerging out of thin air all around them, blocking their way left and right; eyes glinted through slits in hoods, and a dozen lit wand tips were pointing directly at their hearts. Ginny gave a gasp of horror.
"To me, Potter," repeated the drawling voice of Lucius Malfoy as he held out his hand, palm up.
Seamus felt his despair spiral; they were outnumbered…two to one. Even if it had been one-to-one, these were Death Eaters in their metal masks, aged with a gory history of murder, and they were just students.
Finn was shaking hard, looking like she wished she'd stayed home. She grasped for her brother's hand, holding it tightly, face as white as a ghost.
"Give it to me, I won't ask again," Malfoy snarled, face contorting in fury. Harry kept it to his chest, glaring. Malfoy gave a noisy sigh.
"Now give me the prophecy, or we start using wands."
"I think that was you asking again," Seamus laughed out loud and Finn shot him a 'shut the hell up' sort of look, but he was glad to see Ginny hiding a snicker.
Malfoy looked deeply displeased.
"Well, go on then," Harry said casually, raising his wand. The rest of his friends followed suit; even Finn, her hand shaking so badly that any spell would be nearly useless.
But the Death Eaters did not strike.
So they draw the line at killing teens? A baby's fine, but oh, no, not teenagers!
"Hand over the prophecy and no one need get hurt," said Malfoy coolly.
It was Harry's turn to laugh. "Yeah, right!" he said. "I give you this — prophecy, is it? And you'll just let us skip off home, will you?" The words were hardly out of his mouth when the female Death Eater shrieked,
"Accio Proph —" Harry was just ready for her.
He shouted "Protego!" before she had finished her spell, and though the glass sphere slipped to the tips of his fingers he managed to cling on to it.
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.
Next to them, Neville's grip tightened, his expression like two twin fires.
"You need more persuasion?" she said, her chest rising and falling rapidly. "Very well — take the smallest one," she ordered the Death Eaters beside her. "Let him watch while we torture the little girl. I'll do it."
Harry watched the others close in around Ginny. Seamus was right in front of her and shoved her back, next to Finn. The two ginger girls stayed close to each other.
Harry stepped sideways so that he was right in front of the whole group, the prophecy held up to his chest. "You'll have to smash this if you want to attack any of us," he told Bellatrix. "I don't think your boss will be too pleased if you come back without it, will he?"
She did not move; she merely stared at him, the tip of her tongue moistening her thin mouth. "So," said Harry, "what kind of prophecy are we talking about anyway?"
"What kind of prophecy?" repeated Bellatrix, the grin fading from her face. "You jest, Harry Potter."
"Nope, not jesting," said Harry, his eyes flicking from Death Eater to Death Eater, looking for a weak link, a space through which they could escape. "How come Voldemort wants it?"
Several of the Death Eaters let out low hisses. "You dare speak his name?" whispered Bellatrix.
"Yeah," said Harry, maintaining his tight grip on the glass ball, expecting another attempt to bewitch it from him. "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 Harry recklessly. Hermione gave a little moan, but Seamus had never seen this side of Harry and he was eating it up! "Voldemort? Yeah, his mother was a witch but his dad was a Muggle — or has he been telling you lot he's pureblood?"
"STUPEF —"
"NO!"
A jet of red light had shot from the end of Bellatrix Lestrange's wand, but Malfoy had deflected it. His spell caused hers to hit the shelf a foot to the left of Harry and several of the glass orbs there shattered. Seamus flinched, waving his wand in a spell over all of them to keep tiny glass debris from raining down over their heads.
Two figures, pearly white as ghosts, fluid as smoke, unfurled themselves from the fragments of broken glass upon the floor and each began to speak. Their voices vied with each other so that only fragments of what they were saying could be heard over Malfoy and Bellatrix's shouts.
". . . at the Solstice will come a new . . ." said the figure of an old, bearded man.
"DO NOT ATTACK! WE NEED THE PROPHECY!"
"He dared — he dares —" shrieked Bellatrix incoherently. "— He stands there — filthy half-blood —"
"WAIT UNTIL WE'VE GOT THE PROPHECY!" bawled Malfoy.
". . . and none will come after . . ." said the figure of a young woman.
In their infighting, Harry exchanged looks with everyone; their mission was clear.
Get the prophecy - and Harry - the hell out of here, by whatever means necessary.
"NOW!" yelled Harry. Seve different voices behind him bellowed "REDUCTO!" Seven curses flew in seven 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, their voices echoing from long-dead pasts amid the torrent of crashing glass and splintered wood now raining down upon the floor —
"Kill the rest!" Malfoy screamed, "But get Potter and get that prophecy!"
"RUN!" Harry yelled, and as the shelves swayed precariously and more glass spheres began to pour from above, he seized a handful of Hermione's robes and dragged her forward, one arm over his head as chunks of shelf and shards of glass thundered down upon them.
Seamus grabbed Finn, still speechless, and dove through the teetering shelves.
One of the Death Eaters followed them and Seamus spun in place, planting his feet.
Nathair's advice floated through his mind as he picked up all the shattered pieces of glass and refigured them into pinpointed arrows, sending them back at his attacker. It was flung with such a crack that Seamus' fingers ached.
A bad wizard knows only a few spells, a good wizard knows only the spells he's been taught, and a great wizard adapts the spells he knows to use the world around him.
It had seemed stupid at first; when would Seamus get a chance to use that? He'd imagined himself in Hogwarts, pulling dust bunnies from the hallway or using all his energy to coax chunks or rocks from the walls and it had seemed like a stupid lesson. But Nathair had driven him again and again and again; no spell he slung was allowed to be the straight Hogwarts taught way. He made Seamus pull sand and harden it from the earth, use the sea to trap his opponents in a bubble and drown them, twist the trunks of trees around the ankles of his opponents, and pull the air to form tornadoes.
Now, Seamus was glad of the teaching, especially with the sort of awed expression Finn was giving him. It had been hard with Nathair, but this had felt easy . Natural; like thousands of years of magic was coursing through him, bending the world to his will.
The Death Eather behind him made a choked sort of sound, thousands of tiny pinpricks going right through him. Seamus watched the blood pool out and drizzle onto the ground.
"Is he dead?" Finn gasped, clutching her chest. Her expression was like a fawn caught in headlights, staring at Seamus in horror.
Is he?
Was this it? The moment Seamus killed his first enemy in the early days of the Second Wizarding War? Would it matter? Would it leave a blackened stain on his soul, even if it was in defense, or would he remember how the magic had just exploded from him, and how it ought to have been harder but it wasn't?
He didn't linger long; he saw Harry running parallel to him and grasped Finn's hand, pulling her along. Besides, in the midst of all of this, there was no time to wait for the Death Eater to stir or contemplate his damned soul for what he may have just done.
But Merlin; he had a feeling Nathair would be so relieved if he knew that he had helped save Seamus. Without his training, well, Seamus may not have been bold to come at all!
"Come on!"
Harry saw the pair and pointed ahead at a glittering door; it had to be the bell-jar door, right?
Seamus slammed through it with his shoulder, and all at once, they were in a very different place.
Seamus coughed up dust and smoke and as his eyes adjusted…he realized he was not in the Department of Mysteries anymore.
It was too bright out, too warm and sunny. The chill from the prophecy hall abated as something like a sunburn etched into his skin.
"What the hell-,"
A spell shot out through the dust storm as he gathered his bearings. Seamus couldn't pull up his shield in time and tensed waiting for the sting of something nasty.
But it never came.
He watched, confused, as another one harmlessly sailed through him, hitting someone behind him with a dull 'uff'.
And then a person ran right through him like he wasn't even there.
It was like…it was like he was a ghost.
Seamus' eyes managed to adjust and he found himself on a beach somewhere, with tall rocky bluffs high above his head.
The beach was in peril, but it was no one he recognized and far too many people to have come from the Ministry battle. Was he booted to where something else, something more dangerous was going on?
If so, if it was a port key, why was it like he wasn't here?
He saw a flash of red hair out of the corner of his eye and relief settled in his bones.
"Finn! Where do you think we are?" He asked, stumbling over the terrain. Screams of battle echoed around him and jets of spells were thrown like someone was trying to make a woven blanket of dangerous ways to kill.
"Finn! Hello?" He said, waving a hand in front of his sister's face. She turned, not like she was recognizing him, but looked right through him. He stumbled back, tripping over his own feet and falling to the ground as he stared up in confusion and growing dread.
It wasn't Finn.
But you'd excuse him for thinking so; a woman of the same lithe build, same speckled cheeks, same bright red hair stared back at him. She even had Finn's grin, but her hair was curlier and her eyes were different.
Seamus recognized this woman; her photo sat on a bedside table in his grandmother's house that he'd seen a million times.
It was his mother.
"Mam?" He asked, staring uncomprehendingly at the girl in front of him. She had to be young; not more than a few years past her Hogwarts days, he reckoned. There was that same look of stern determination he knew so well, but her eyes glimmered with a fire he didn't think he'd ever seen.
She was heading toward someone lying on the ground, moaning pathetically, an entire leg blown off and hanging together by just the sinews.
"Protego!" She screamed as someone shot some dark and nasty their way, managing an impressive shield around the two people, catching the attention of someone else stumbling past, "McLaggen; hold this up while I tend to Xen."
"Got it, Ros," A young man screamed back, the spitting image of Cormac, and put up his shield, looking back at her.
The man on the ground, someone with stark white hair, screamed out as his Mam used her wand to clear the blood.
The exact same order of steps Nathair had taught him.
Seamus watched, entranced, reaching out for his mother, but his touch never connected with flesh.
"So, about that date-," McLaggen tried to start as he kicked a Death Eater, keeping the protective shield up.
"Not now, Ian."
"Oh, c'mon, we might die today!"
"Ian," His mother pressed her fingers to the bridge of her nose. It was so strange to see her expressions on his Mam's face, but so much younger. It boggled his brain, "I know you heard from Anita what you're ignoring like an idiot."
"So it's true?" Ian groaned, "You really married that muggle?"
Seamus caught a glint of a ring on a chain underneath his Mam's torn neckline as she leaned forward, trying to soothe the man underneath her fingers.
"Da?" Seamus whispered, eyes wide.
"Yes, now shut up so Lovegood can survive this," Mam snapped furiously, "And remember I know hexes that would make your skin slough off if you try to ask me out again."
"Shit…" Ian's eyes were wide, "Well, you haven't told him-,"
"About this?" His Mam took her focus away, "Of course not! He thinks I'm visiting my Mam for the summer. He doesn't need to know."
"We're glad she's here!" A woman with brownish hair yelled as she ran by, "She's the best medic we got!"
"Wotcher back, Anita!" Cormac warned.
"I need to get him back to basecamp," Roisin said, sitting back on her haunches, fingers playing with her wedding ring, deep in thought, "He'll lose a leg out here if we don't."
"Alright, what do you need?"
"Get me to the portkey; now!" Roisin demanded, helping Xeno stand, looping his pale arms over her shoulders.
"You got it; Anita! Help here!" Ian waved over his Mam's friend; a woman Seamus had never seen or heard her talk about.
"Xeno will surely thank you," Anita said, eyes going wide at his leg, "Anyone else and he'd lose that."
"I am the best," His Mam echoed Anita's words back with a sly grin, "Hopefully I can stay out of the fray for the rest of the summer, fixing you idiots," She said, winking at her friend, his Mam's free hand pressing against her stomach meaningfully, "It may not be the time, but we've been a bit busy lately. I've already told Dumbledore. I only found out last week!"
Seamus felt his head swim.
Was this the twins?
Anita gasped, her excitement making her drop her shield.
"Holy shit, Ro! What the fuck are you doing out here?" She blabbered, bouncing, "You-,"
"Watch out!" Ian screamed, jumping and pushing Roisin and Xeno to the ground. A blast of lime green passed right over his ear, just narrowly knicking it as they went down. The spell hit Anita squarely in the chest.
She only had a moment to widen her eyes as she fell backward, her wand rolling from her fingers.
"Anita!" His mother screamed, scrambling over Ian, "No, no, no!" She grasped her friend's fingers, holding them tightly, "It's fine, it's fine, I can fix it, I can-," She blabbered incoherently. Shell-shocked, she grasped Anita, trying to pull her out of the way as Ian grasped Xeno and helped him up.
"Ros, leave her!" Xeno cried, "She's gone!"
Before anyone could push her away, another spell came flung from the war zone. This one passed through Seamus and he felt it. It was something so dark that Seamus wanted to vomit; the way it curled through him, seeking his ghostly presence in this time long ago. He watched helplessly as it hit his mother, attaching itself to the side of her ribs and rippling out like a rock thrown in a pond.
She screamed, grasping her stomach.
"What's happening, what's happening?" She demanded, fingers clawing at her shirt. Seamus felt sick to his stomach as he watched her wrangle the fabric out of the way and reveal dark, menacing claws of black digging into her skin, spreading like a virus across her skin.
"Ros! What's going on?" Ian yelled, but Roisin convulsed in pain, her screams mixing with the echo of Lavender's, confusing him.
"It's killing it, it's killing it," Rosion sobbed, her fingernails bloody as she grasped at her blackened skin, deliriously trying to dig the spell out.
"Mam!" Seamus yelled, but just as he reached for her, a hand grasped his shoulder from the darkness, something firm and real.
Seamus plunged into darkness.
"Seamus, wake up!"
Someone slapped his face and poured water over him. Seamus coughed up liquid, staring back at Harry.
"She was there…I saw it…I saw…" Seamus gasped for breath, realizing that half the water on his face was tears.
It didn't make sense . His brothers had been born just fine. Was that a memory of a nightmare he'd witnessed?
"Seamus, we're in the wrong room. You got in here and just started screaming." Finn said, eyes concerned.
"You…didn't…see her?"
"See who?" Finn was deeply confused, "There's nothing in here."
"But…" Seamus couldn't get his wits about him, "But…"
"C'mon, we have to get the others!" Harry said. Faintly, Seamus could still hear the sounds of another battle, right behind a door. It seemed like the fight had been taken out of the Prophecy room; the yelling of spells wrapping around him like a noose, too much…to much…
He felt the burning again, pulsating through him, the most dangerous it had ever been.
A voice pulled him through, quiet but firm.
Hermione…
Yes, he had to make sure she made it out okay.
Shakily he stood, knuckles white as he grasped his wand.
"They're this way!" Harry yelled, pointing backward through another door. They slammed through the bell-jar room, where a Death Eather was in the strangest transition of life. Seamus didn't get a good look but kept running, his only thought was that he needed to get Hermione out of here. This was altogether too dangerous and they ought to get out as soon as possible.
Every time he closed his eyes, his Mam was against the back of his eyelids, screaming as she ripped the skin, trying to claw out that odious spell.
It made him nauseated to think of it; somewhere he knew it wasn't just a nightmare. It had happened.
"Expellarimus!"
"Stupefy!"
"Impedimenta!"
Seamus' mind was waterlogged with the spells being shouted around him. He turned and couldn't find Finn; she was gone.
"Finn?" He echoed, confused, "Finn!" His voice was hardly enough to break the din of noise.
Harry pulled Seamus through the space, and Neville almost exploded them as they stumbled into an office. Hermione was behind him, peering around him. Her face was cut up, but nothing too damaging. Relief and frustration pooled together.
"Watch where you're spelling!" Seamus snapped, twitchy.
"There you are, thank Merlin!" Neville dropped his fighting stance.
A Death Eater broke through the other side, "I've got 'em! They're here! They're-,"
"Oh, shut up!" Hermione snarled, slashing a spell right at him, "Silencio!"
"Hermione!" Seamus called, still unsure of himself or what he'd seen or what was currently going on, but all he knew was that he was so glad to see her. Through everything, she was his constant, like the North Star. Just seeing her alive put some restless part of his mind to rest, and cleared the way to try to put himself back onto the analytical track to get them the hell out of here.
"Seamus!" Hermione yelled, relief sagging in her bones, "We're nearly out! We just have a few more rooms to get through!"
"Stupefy!" Colin threw a spell at another Death Eater coming through the door.
"Good one!" Ginny high-fived him.
"This way, I think?" Ron said, but as he spoke, the wall next to them all blew out.
Seamus felt his body picked up and thrown into another room. There was a low hum in his ears, and Seamus coughed. Blood came out of his lips, splattering on the ground below him.
That's not good.
He struggled underneath the heavy stones on top of him. Hermione was getting up and rushed to his side, "Help! He's underneath these rocks! Help!" She screamed back, shoving.
Seamus' lips couldn't form words. He felt like someone had cut his tongue out and he wasn't able to twist his lips enough to push the sounds from underneath his tongue.
Seamus; you're probably in shock.
"W…w…w..waa…"
It was like trying to pull out his words on a long string, with an anchor buried deep in mud. Frustration spiked out; talking was easy! He shouldn't be having trouble with someone everyone learned when they were a baby!
God-fucking-damit, Seamus, pull it together. Watch out, Hermione!
She gasped, spinning around as he had the thought like she was reading his mind. The wizard she'd silenced was advancing on the pair and flung something at her, hitting her squarely on.
Hermione screamed, falling. He saw blood spray as her shirt was ripped to threads by the spell, and watched helplessly as she hit the ground with a sickening thud, eyes turned toward Seamus, fogging up in unimaginable pain.
He shoved against the rock trapping his leg, Hermione just hardly out of reach of his fingers. Words zapped back into his mind, his senses all pulled to her aid. The pain from his own injury faded away.
"Hermione! Stay alive, c'mon, stay awake!" He yelled. He saw the same wizard take two steps forward to finish the job and kicked with all his might.
"Oi! Fucker!"
The Death Eather looked up to see Harry waving his arms, the prophecy in his hands.
"Yeah, over here, dumbass!"
The Death Eater took off after Harry.
The dust had begun to settle, the fight continuing in different rooms far away.
Hermione's breathing was shallow; she looked at Seamus, unspoken words swimming in her expression. Her lips moved but no sound came out. He watched as a single drop of blood trekked over her lip and splattered below her head.
He watched for a few moments, until her repeated phrase clicked, even without sound.
Help me...
She was so afraid. He'd never seen that look on her before.
With a herculean effort, Seamus tore himself from his cinderblock prison, crawling over to Hermione. His leg hurt like nothing he'd ever felt, but he took the agonizing few feet to reach her.
"Her…Hermione…" Seamus' eyes were wide, "You're fine, you're…" His promises choked in his throat as he stared at her, his tears splattering onto her cheeks, "I'mma fix you. I will."
His fingers only hesitated for a second before he ripped what remained of her shirt in two to see the ugly, nasty scar on her stomach, blood pooling still.
"It's fine, It's fine," He muttered deliriously, grasping his wand and doing shaky medic work.
Hermione made a gurgling sound, and something flashed in her eyes as they widened.
"Shh…shh…don't talk," Seamus begged, "I'm here, I got you…" He promised, body wracking as he tried to hold himself together.
A bloodied, long finger lifted and at first, he thought she was trying to touch his face. It passed him, though, pointing behind him.
Seamus only had a moment to spin, pulling Hermione's body against his chest, to see a Death Eater running toward them, wand raised.
This is it, a voice whispered in the back of his mind, This is how you both die, Seamus.
It was the same cloying feeling, thick and metallic, like his dream.
But where…where was that unrelenting fire? The burn?
Seamus felt his fear ooze out of him as he grasped Hermione tightly.
I don't want to die today!
As though summoning the wish into being, he felt his anxiety push up against his skin in a way it never had. The worst of his bouts, the worst of the burning, had never felt as scalding as it did right now.
He was in agony, like something was tearing out of his skin, digging itself to the surface.
That light, brilliant and white and too hot for anyone to ever humanly acknowledge, curled around Seamus.
He'd never felt a pain like this before, but simultaneously never felt the sweetest of solaces, like someone was draining that pressure on every inch of his skin, the pull of the invisible knife through the most addictive agony, bloodletting every crinkle of his flesh with such a godly precision.
Hermione groaned weakly beneath him, still alive as the light encapsulated her too. It didn't hurt her; the thought seemed silly to him. It wouldn't hurt her, of course not.
Still alive…
That was Seamus' last echoing thought. Utter relief. And then, there was just cold, comforting darkness.
XXX
Fionnuala Finnegan squealed around corners, barefoot, barreling towards Percy Weasley's office. If anyone were to see her, they'd think she'd gone mad. She'd lost one shoe long ago, the other was strapped around her wrist. Her perfectly done-up curls were hanging loosely and sadly around her face, thrown in a messy bun to keep out of her eyes. And she wished she'd had the forethought to wear maximum anti-streak mascara, but she didn't think she'd be blubbering through tears tonight!
Finn slammed against the wall of her destination, her fingers shaking as she shoved her wand into the security scanner. Percy, ever paranoid, had it installed soon after he'd taken this location.
"C'mon, c'mon!" She urged the machine and it pinged green, the door to her left sliding open.
Finn threw herself on the carpet next to Percy's fireplace, using all her adrenaline left to shove the chaise lounge away. It scratched against the hardwood, making a loud shriek, and she was sure she'd be reamed out for the scarring it had done to the flooring...if she survived the night, that is.
She wasn't proud of it, but the first chance she'd gotten - army crawling underneath debris- she'd run. Not to save herself, but to save her brother and his idiot Gryffindor friends.
Hermione had assured her it was 'easy-in, easy-out'. She'd never imagined they'd have to put up a fight like this! But Finn didn't blame Hermione. No, she blamed herself. These were all children, she was the adult here! The Ministry had installed Umbridge to watch Hogwarts, so why had it never crossed Finn's mind that someone may be watching the Ministry, namely Death Eaters?
Great Merlin, had they just waltzed into Voldemort's trap, as dumb as mooncalfs?
If it was Finn's fault they all died…well…no, Finn needed to get help.
She wasn't a brave Gryffindor, willing to spin around and stand her ground until the bitter end. She wasn't even a logical Ravneeclaw or a pragmatic Slytherin. She was a Hufflepuff. They knew when they were outnumbered and in danger. They burrowed at the first sign of trouble.
And oh boy, was everyone in trouble.
Fingers shaking, Finn threw them into Percy's Floo.
"Albus Dumbledore!" She cried, sticking her face into the green flames. She was spat back out though, skipping across the waxed floor of Percy's office as an infuriatingly cheery voice sing-songed 'Access Denied!'
Finn grabbed another handful. Maybe she needed to be clearer.
"Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore!" She tried again, but same as before, she couldn't get through.
"Just. Give. Me. Professor. Dumbledore!" Finn screamed, using both of her hands to grasp the boot of her heel and smash it in frustration against the metal grating, as though the Ministry may be able to sense her aggravation.
"Access Denied!"
"Arg!" Finn threw her single heel into the flames, shoving herself up.
Okay, Finn, be serious. It would be bloody dangerous for Dumbledore to be connected to every Floo system, right? So he's probably connected to anyone who he needs to talk to here.
No surprise Percy wasn't on that short-list. This meant that if she wanted direct access, she'd have to go to the office of someone who mattered…like the Minister for Magic, or someone right below him.
…But this meant their doors would probably be full of anti-theft magical locks far above her ability.
"No…that would take too long to break any!" Finn told herself. Damnit, why couldn't she have been born a Ravenclaw, with a special interest in Military issue locks?
And, her inner voice reminded, mildly affronted, You'd not only be fired but likely sent to Azkaban! Your face would be all over the Prophet and Mam would cry.
Okay, she needed a new, different plan.
She couldn't apparate into Hogwarts, so that idea was flung from her mind. She could probably apparate outside Hogsmeade and pray someone was awake and willing to help.
She slammed herself into her desk, screaming into the dark, empty office.
Wait. Her desk. Because she was Percy's secretary!
Most Floo fireplaces were hooked up to every other fireplace in the system. But Ministry ones were different; it was a safety concern for anyone to be able to Floo into any politician's office, so all Floo connections needed to be vetted and approved. And once they were approved, they needed to be magically added in, which was a long and tedious task.
When Finn had been hired, he'd just gotten his approved list back. As he said he had 'too many other more important things to be doing with his time', which meant Finn had spent her first three weeks here just doing rote Floo maintenance magic!
She knew his entire Rolodex of contacts!
"Okay, who does he talk to, think, Finn!" She paced back and forth. His most often fireplace calls were with others in the Ministry, but, that wouldn't help. He next most often had calls from his school chums. But…none of them had siblings currently in peril, and probably wouldn't care if she got a hold of them. Or they wouldn't believe her. Right, sure, not them.
Did he talk to any professors? Any mentors who could get a hold of Dumbledore?
If Finn could just get ahold of Professor Sproat, who she trusted…Finn should have just put her in at the time. Percy wouldn't have even noticed. But she wasn't great at Divination and had no idea she'd need this connection in the future!
"Think back, Finn. There has to be someone helpful he just hasn't had to call on recently!" She encouraged herself.
Well…he'd added his parents.
At the time, she hadn't thought anything of it, having no clue they were estranged. And when she'd learned, she hadn't asked if he wanted it removed, because it wasn't her place. Even if she'd thought his family were traitors, like Percy thought, it wasn't her job to decide who he should and shouldn't have as an open connection.
So, she reasoned, if he was so anti-Voldemort and thought his family was insane, there was a good chance they were…well, not pro-Voldemort, but more pro-Voldemort-Has-Returned.
And they could get a hold of Dumbledore!
"Good job, Finn!" She whispered, grasping another handful of floo powder, "The Weasley's Burrow!"
She almost cried in relief when she blinked open to see herself in a cozy sort of kitchen; the sort with things hanging from the ceiling in a variety from herbs to pans to dish-rags. In the corner, a strange clock was going haywire; it was blaring, trying to get someone's attention, but Finn was too far away to see what it was meant to convey.
A woman hustled into the kitchen. In many ways, she reminded Finn of her own mother; they had the same stocky build, the same curly red hair, and the same spattering of freckles. Her mother wore less patchwork, though, opting for simple embroidered sets.
"Mrs. Weasley!" Finn called, praying that was Percy's mother and not just a random aunt or cousin.
Mrs. Wealsy jumped around, grasping her heart and inhaling hard.
"Good Gyrrindor, you gave me a fright!" She came over to the hearth, "I'm sorry, dearie, I think maybe you have the wrong house-,"
"Who is it?" A man called, and who Finn had to assume was Percy's father walked through, "Is it Hogwarts again, telling us another child has been expelled?" He asked sarcastically, looking very weary. As he approached, he laughed, "Huh? Niece of yours, Molls?"
"No, you don't know me but wait-," Finn cried as Mrs. Wealsy went to grab a pitcher of water to end the conversation, "I work with Percy! I'm Fionnuala Finnegan; his secretary!"
Mrs. Wealsy's fingers dropped the bucket and it clattered to the ground, "Is he alright? Merlin; Arthur, check the clock!"
"I don't know where Percy is, actually," Finn admitted, "Probably a home. I'm getting of track…" She swallowed, trying to soothe her still rapidly beating heart, "It's-"
"Holy Dragons! Ginny and Ron are in danger!" Arthur called from the strange clock in the corner.
"Thats…what…I'm…trying…to…tell you!" Finn could hardly get the words out, now nearly sobbing so hard it was difficult to communicate, "We're at the Ministry! Death Eaters are here and they're all gunna die unless someone comes to help!"
Suddenly she was being pulled through the Floo onto the Weasley's cobblestone floor.
"Dearie, you're going to give yourself a heart attack. Take a deep breath and then tell me who is in danger."
"Harry…Ron…Hermione…Seamus… there are a few others with them I don't know…they were ambushed…I…I…I tried to get ahold of Dumbldore but I couldn't and I thought maybe you could and maybe I'm too late and-,"
"Shh…shh…" Molly rubbed her back comfortingly, "You did the right thing, shh…" The Weasley matriarch met Aurthur's eye, "We need to send someone over there, now!"
"On it," Arthur nodded and waved his wand. A silvery weasel burst out of his tip. It waited patiently for him as he spoke, "The kids are at the Ministry. Death Eaters there now; send help immediately!" He shooed, "Go! Now!" The weasel nodded and jumped into thin air, vanishing in front of them.
"My brother's patronus is a fox. Wish I could do one," Finn sniffled, now feeling like maybe she'd managed it. Maybe she did the right thing.
"It's very advanced magic. I didn't learn it until I was nearly 25," Arthur assured, "Would you like a cup of tea?"
Finn nodded miserably, "Please."
No sooner had Mr. Weasley put the kettle on than a beautiful silver phoenix swooped into their kitchen.
We're on our way with the Order.
It was Dumbledore's voice!
Holy shit; Finn had done it! She felt dizzy with the sense of success that she hadn't imagined she'd manage.
She hoped they got there in time…
"Do you need anything else?" Mrs. Weasley asked, putting a blanket on her shoulders, "Food? Do you need to lie down? Are you hurt at all?"
Finn wiped her nose with the back of her hand, "Can I get some more floo-poweder? I think I need to call my Mam."