...
It was May that was bringing the DA the most difficulties, Harry himself included.
Exams were close upon the fifth years and Hermione spent most of her time organizing multiple study groups so that DA members weren't seen studying with other DA members who needed to avoid suspicion. The Slytherins, for example, could mix with some Ravenclaws but never a Gryffindor or Hufflepuff.
Harry was also the victim of constant headaches that he normally only suffered from late at night or just after waking up. His scar tingled faintly but it didn't feel the same as Voldemort's normal attacks.
Chie Shinohara, a Japanese alumni who had been a seventh year Gryffindor in Harry's first year, had returned to Britain and gotten in contact with Katie Bell. She'd been learning legilimency and teaching Occlumency in Japan and those talents had been quickly utilized by the DA.
Harry had met her over Christmas break and beginning in January she'd begun tutoring nearly every member of the DA in Occlumency. All of them now had very rudimentary shields though some students advanced easier than others.
She was familiar enough that, late one night after a meeting had ran over the allotted time, Harry had no problem approaching her when the splitting headache began.
"Are you alright, Harry?" she asked, brushing back her dark hair. "You look really pale."
"I'm having a headache. I've been getting them at night and waking up with them."
"Have you seen Madam Pomfrey?"
"No," he answered. "I'm afraid it might be more magical in nature."
Hermione, by his side, spoke up. "In that past, Harry has proved to have some sort of connection with the Dark Lord via his scar. He's seen through the Dark Lord's eyes on more than one occasion and has admitted to feeling pain during times of emotional highs for Voldemort."
Muttering something in Japanese, she stared at the famous scar in new light. "I would have thought someone examined your scar already. Wouldn't they have detected that kind of connection?"
"I was taken from the wreckage of my parents house directly to my muggle aunt and uncle. As far as I know, I never saw a healer."
"That is-" she muttered something under her breath again. "Disgraceful. Tell me about this headache."
"It's just a really bad headache and my scar tingles faintly."
"And you said your visions involving the Dark Lord are in the past?"
"Well, I haven't had any since the end of my third year I guess. Right around the time I began meditation and Occlumency."
She cast a few diagnostic charms and her wand tip glowed black and then white, alternating between the two.
"That is very strange."
"What does it mean?" Hermione asked.
"The white light means there's soul magic centered around that scar. The black means it's dark magic, nasty magic. I have an auntie in the Saga prefecture. You should meet with her this summer. She knows this magic and if it can be purged, she'll know how."
"I'll talk to you about that this summer. I'm more than willing to if she is."
"I'll start writing her," she agreed before giving Harry a thoughtful look. "But your headache…well, I have an idea. I'm going to cast legilimency; you must not push me out. Instead, you must visualize your consciousness, not your body, and project it out of your shield."
"Okay," Harry said, taking a deep breath as Chie raised her wand.
"Legilimens."
He felt the probe at the edges of his shield but felt her holding steady. Doing as she'd instructed, he imagined himself inside of his shields and then stepped through them.
"Very good," he sort of heard her voice. "Now, focus upwards."
Above them, assaulting his shields subtly, was a swirling mass of undulating magic, grey misty fingers almost stroking his shields.
"That is the work of very advanced mind magics; it's a created memory, of sorts. I believe it's supposed to seem like a dream."
"Like a dream?" Harry asked. "Someone's sending me a dream and giving me nightmares?"
"It seems like it. And it would take a lot of power and, yes, a direct connection to you for someone to be able to do it."
"So it's him then."
"It must be."
Harry reached out with his magic, trying to feel out the swirling mass of grey. As soon as he made contact, the grey magic began funneling inwards, into him. After a momentary head rush and a moment of dazed confusion, the new memory settling into place. If he hadn't known better, he would have thought the memory was his own.
Chie ended the connection and both she and Harry came to.
"This is-" he took a deep breath, shaking his head. "I saw what the Dark Lord wanted me to see, and the headache's gone. You said this memory is fake?"
"A real memory would be the color of his magic — whatever that may be, it's not a neutral. Meaning no grey, white, or black. Grey is mind magic and that memory was created entirely by it."
"What was it?"
"A black granite hallway in the ministry," he answered, brow furrowing as he examined the memory. "But it seemed deeper underground somehow. I felt like I was right on the edge of discovering something life changing. I was curious, pulled to the door. I wanted to open it."
"Voldemort wanted you to open it," Chie corrected in a way that made the importance of the distinction clear.
"Yes," Harry agreed. "But the memory — it's like it's mine. I know it's from him but I want to trust it. I don't, of course."
"That's the mark of a master legilimens." Chie agreed. "I would be very careful, Harry, about lowering your shields or leaving your consciousness invulnerable outside of them. Next time you need to view a memory like that, envision reaching an arm through your shields and touching it. That should be enough."
She gathered up her bag. "If you ever have a memory in your mind that you doubt or you're not sure of, let me know."
"Thanks, Chie."
"Now, I've got to get going."
Hermione smiled and shook the woman's hand. Chie stood in the designated circle and apparated out. The spot was the only spot anyone could apparate out of and it had been difficult enough to convince the wards to let him create the tiny hole. There was still no way to apparate into Hogwarts; you had to use one of the DA jewelry portkeys instead.
Hermione shooed off Sally-Anne and Sally Smith, following them out of the portrait hole. The Cathedral was empty now and the chandelier and wall torches automatically dwindled in response. Someone would be back in soon enough, however; the room was never empty for long.
…
It was the middle of June — the 16th, to be precise — when Harry shot up out of his seat on the upper level of the Cathedral. He could see twenty or so odd students studying down below in circles on the blue mats or at the dining table that had retired to the well used DA room after dinner. It was just after seven.
"Hermione," he cried out, jerking the revising girl out of her studies. "I know why Voldemort's sending me the dreams."
"We already know it's the Department of Mysteries."
"Yes but, more specifically, it's a prophecy — on row 97 in the Hall of Prophecy in the DoM."
"He gave you a more specific dream?"
"It's a trap — he thinks I don't know he's sending the dreams. Apparently, he's torturing Sirius right now."
Both Harry and Hermione looked down at Sirius Black who was holed up in the corner of the room poring over potions journals with the twins.
"Summon the DA."
Harry tapped his ring with his wand four times. Immediately, every head in the room turned to look up at Harry. Ron and the Weasleys were the first through the door, making it in just as Hermione and Harry got off of the stairs.
Slippy, the house-elf Harry had bought that maintained the DA room, was already clearing the blue mats and conjuring about thirty beanbags off to the side. Other members, the house-elf had learned, preferred the dining benches or sofas.
Eventually, the entire room was full of students.
Sirius and the core group were standing, whispering quietly at the edge of the dueling platform. Casting a very mild charm to amplify his voice, Harry began speaking.
"I know it's late and I'm sorry. Voldemort has laid his trap."
There was a long moment of silence before exclamations of shock broke out.
Immediately, 12 people, many of them Slytherins, jumped up and made their way to the back of the room. Sally-Anne Perks, Sally Smith, and Gareth Pewsey (the three Harry had come to see as Ron's tactical team) joined them.
The larger group were those in charge of the press; Voldemort laying his trap meant the DA would be laying theirs. They just needed to know when and where to direct the press. The press squad, as they jokingly referred to themselves as, were already drafting letters.
"Quiet, please," Harry called, the students listening immediately. "Press squad; we need reporters and cameras in the Ministry atrium in an hour in a half. Send summons to the most influential Wizengamot members and the Minister's staff; not Fudge directly."
"We're on it," Zara spoke up from the back. Zacharias Smith nodded in agreement, already opening the cabinets to the right of the door and withdrawing the proper parchment and quills.
"Voldemort sent me another vision; he and a large group of Death Eaters were torturing Sirius in the Hall of Prophecy near row 97 — Sally-Anne, as far as I could tell it was the northeastern corner of the room."
Said girl was pulling down the DoM blueprints Harry had bought from the goblins for a more than modest sum. The rooms were unmarked so it didn't account for furniture or magical protections but it did give them a clear picture of the architecture.
"How many do we estimate he has?" Neville asked from the crowd of students; all of them were attentive, waiting to hear their part, if any.
"Based on the memories from Susan, for a job like this where he's setting a trap he normally sends around ten underlings. I expect as many as 15."
"Hannah," Harry called out. "Take the portkey we prepared and a Hogwarts owl; send a letter to Madam Bones, anonymously, reporting the attack on the Ministry. Seamus, I need you to tell McGonagall that Ron, Neville and I rushed out of the portrait hole an hour ago and were all carrying brooms. Tell her you weren't worried until it got dark and we weren't back."
They nodded, leaving the room together to do what they'd been asked.
"Fred, George — I want you two on brooms twenty paces behind me at all times. When I throw off a sun-fire spell, deploy your flash-bangs and ropers then start picking them off. We want as many of them down as possible."
"Neville, Luna, Ginny, Ron, Hermione — get your kit from the twins. Graham, you're the best and the oldest healer we've got. Are you up for this?"
"You've been busting our arses all year, Potter," Graham Romsey, sixth year puff spoke up. "You better believe I am."
"Good, then you'll need a broom. Katie," Harry called out, spotting the Gryffindor chaser when she waved her hand. "The twins have got that project we talked about; Alicia, Angelina — grab your brooms too, and the twins'. They'll have their hands full."
"Everyone else," he spoke up. "Tonight, we're going to be tagging as many of them as we can with the tracking spell Hermione and Chie developed. If any of them get away and come into contact with another Dark Mark, the tracking spell should spread to them. Eventually we should have one big map of Death Eaters."
"You think it'll work?" Justin Finch-Fletchley asked.
The tracking spell was actually paired with a protean potion and there had been much speculation within the Cathedral about whether or not it would succeed.
"We hit Snape with it last week but he hasn't left the castle," Ron admitted. "This is another test; we know it works as a tracker but we don't know if it spreads."
"Point is," Harry continued. "We might have some new faces to add to the boards. If any of you want to leave, you're free to. Padma is going to keep updates coming in the journals. We might need a hand but I doubt we need everyone."
"So what, exactly, is the plan, Harry?" Katie asked as she, Alicia, Angelina, Graham, Fred, George, Ginny, Luna, Neville, Ron, Hermione and Sirius gathered at the back of the room near the maps.
"Well…"
…
Alicia, Angelina, and the twins could all apparate and side-along apparate so it was with a multitude of pops that the group appeared. Sirius had reluctantly stayed behind to monitor the DA room, refusing to go back to Grimmauld Place.
All of the students were unrecognizable. They were covered from head to toe in crimson auror robes with hoods drawn up.
"Remember, the portkeys only work in the elevators or the atrium," Harry reminded quietly. "Twins, chasers, Graham, when we cast the second sun-fire spell, you all need to turn tail and be out of here before we get to the elevators. If anyone is injured, you bring them with you. Twins, you've got your brooms?"
"Yeah," they agreed quietly.
"We're going to lose some of them; as soon as we've launched our attack, we have to head back for the atrium," he reminded. "We need them to follow us."
"You sure he'll show?" Graham asked, referring to Voldemort.
"I'll be out in the open with the prophecy he wants so badly," the emerald-eyed young man answered surely. "He'll show."
The group proceeded in silence after that. Harry knew the guard on duty had been incapacitated by the Death Eaters already, as had most of the protections on the DoM.
The elevator was a very tight squeeze but none of them were willing to separate. As soon as the elevator doors opened to the hallway Voldemort had been sending him dreams of, the six broom-riders were casting well-practiced disillusionment charms. Fred and George handed the three girls (Gryffindor's flying foxes, as Lee Jordan liked to call them) a pouch with the potions they needed to pair with the tracker as well as some other goodies.
With silent hand signals, everyone agreed that they were ready and pushed open the heavy black door.
They found themselves in a circular room. Already prepared for this eventuality, they marked the exit with a green circle and opened every door and marked the incorrect ones with red. Each time, the room spun and the doors were in a new place but the red marks remained.
With only two doors left, they all stepped into the hall of prophecy.
Immediately, they could hear Katie, Angelina, Alicia, and Graham rise into the air.
Harry spread out his magical awareness as much as he could, probably about forty feet in either direction, and couldn't feel anything. Still, he knew there were Death Eaters lurking somewhere in the shadowy hall.
They weren't the only ones who could lurk though.
While the main group made their way on foot, the twins and Graham close behind and above them, the chasers made their way to the north east and west corners and carefully spotted the Death Eaters.
Counting them, Katie tapped her wand to her to signal their number.
"Twelve," Harry whispered, seeing Hermione nod. "Looks like air support came through."
A few minutes later, they were walking slowly down row 97.
Harry was at the front, Ron and Hermione flanking him. Ginny and Luna flanked them and Neville brought up the back, knowing the Weasley twins were close behind. Ginny, Luna, and Neville were prepared to throw up non-verbal shields in less than a second.
Finally, Harry stopped in front of one prophecy.
It held a slew of initials, one of them Dumbledore's.
"S.P.T. to A.P.W.B.D.
Dark Lord
and (?) Harry Potter"
Knowing that as soon as he picked it up the Death Eaters would appear, Harry double checked to make sure all of his friends had their wands at the ready. His hood was the only one down.
With bated breath, Harry picked up the prophecy. Holding it only for a moment, he observed no change. Then there was a brief flicker and he felt a minute shift in the prophecy sphere. He shot a look at Hermione; the real prophecy was now in Graham's pocket. Her switching spell was still the best in the DA.
"Very good, Potter," they heard the unmistakable drawl of Lucius Malfoy from behind them. "Now turn around, nice and slowly, and give that to me."
"To me," he insisted silkily again as Harry slowly took in the Death Eaters that emerged all around them. As the girls up above had counted, there were only twelve.
Coordinating with Graham, the three chasers all aimed their wands at a Death Eater while holding one of the twins tracker potions. Graham was doing the same. They had all chosen different targets, mostly those to the side of the group.
"Did the little baby Potter come to save his godfather?" the horribly childish voice of Bellatrix LeStrange cooed mockingly.
The voice alone was enough to test Neville's control.
"Don't do anything," he muttered. "Not yet-"
The mocking woman let out a raucous giggle-scream of insanity.
"You hear him? You hear him?" she mocked. "Giving instructions to the other children as though he thinks of fighting us."
"Oh you don't know Potter as I do, Bellatrix," Malfoy said softly. "He has a great weakness for heroics; the Dark Lord understands this about him. Now give me the prophecy, Potter."
"Give you the prophecy, Lucy?" Harry asked, cocking his head as he mockingly matched Bellatrix's cocked head. "Just hand it over?"
"Just hand it over Potter and maybe we'll let your little friends go."
"Just hand it over?" he reiterated again. "I guess I could. But you know what that would mean, wouldn't you?"
The Death Eaters were all frozen, attention focused on the glass sphere Harry was gently waving back and forth.
"That would mean spending even more time in your proximity — I already spend enough time around your slimy, disgusting peon of a son."
Before Lucius could draw up any sort of indignant anger, Harry's wand released a brilliant flash of light that pulsed twice.
From above, the twin's flash bombs were dropped and activated. It provided the time the other broom-bound students needed to drop their protean potions while casting the tracking charm.
Then, they went about raining hell down on the Death Eaters.
Two of them were stunned with an archaic version of the popular stupefy while another was bound in sturdy ropes.
Lucius, Bellatrix, and four others had already dove for cover, hearing and seeing the surprisingly strong waves of concussive magic the teenagers had cast with perfect unity. Unlike the Death Eaters, their vision was unimpeded by the initial sun-flare spell or the following flash bombs.
The twins, after carefully targeting Bellatrix and Lucius with the trackers, were tossing the last of their supplies and moving forward to provide cover fire once the ground group started running for the exit.
Most of the Death Eaters were still confused about the multitude of colors and bright flashes and something wet being dropped on them. Lucius and Bellatrix were the only two with the forethought to cast blindly towards the group of teens last direction.
A wide-area blasting spell put a stop to that. It also started a sort of domino effect with the towering shelves stocked full of prophecies.
In the confusion, Harry and his five friends followed the plan and began running quickly for the exit.
The falling of the shelves behind them only spurred their pace. Luna, Ginny, and Neville were using the DA's squad formation to maintain three opaque but clearly formidable shields that moved with them as they ran and covered every member from the debris and poorly aimed spells. They'd trained to move like this; their paces were matched so none of the individual shields left openings big enough for a spell.
They could hear the Death Eaters behind them and Graham decided to put some of the multi-use construction spells he'd learned to good use.
Using a spell meant to pack the earth before laying a foundation, the creative sixth year felled four of the towering prophecy shelves that had yet to be reached by the others without slowing down.
His group was right ahead of the chaos but the Death Eaters had to concentrate on deflecting even more of the rapidly falling orbs.
Graham and the twins lagged back slightly, making sure they kept overhead of the largest group. The three chasers had gone ahead and made sure the doors through the circular chamber were open.
They were waiting in the main hallway.
"Alicia, Angie, go now," Katie directed, using hand signals to make sure they understood over the din.
It only took a second for the two girls to share a concerned look before agreeing and flying into the elevator. Their portkeys activated seconds later. Katie was the squad five leader; air support. If she told them to go, they go.
The twins were the next two through the door on their brooms, Graham close behind them.
Katie threw the remaining bag of the twin's creations at Harry, knowing he would catch it, before she spun around and entered the elevator herself.
"We need to go," she said to their designated healer.
"You go, I'm staying until they reach the atrium."
Grimly, Katie nodded.
The last thing Katie saw was Harry activating another of the twin's devices and throwing it through the door they'd just come through. The last thing she heard was Hermione sealing the door with a barricade spell; it'd hold for less than thirty seconds but that's all they needed.
…
Wind was whipping through her hair. In the air, there was the faintest hint of the sea.
While her friends were in the hall of prophecies running and fighting for their lives, she was standing on the outskirts of a muggle village. It was the closest one to Bones manor.
The nondescript owl was already carrying the letter it needed to deliver. Said letter had been written with a dicta-quill and scrubbed clean of all magical residue. Amelia wouldn't be able to trace the anonymous tip.
Letting the owl fly free, Hannah returned to Hogwarts where she'd wait, impatiently, for news. With a little luck, the aurors would show up in time to help her friends.
…
Seamus was sitting next to Sirius, attention focused on the communications coming through from the Ministry.
He'd had a part to play tonight as well but it was already done. He'd gotten the message to McGonagall before the group even made it to the Hall of Prophecy.
He felt assured, despite the Professor's lack of outward reaction, that she would bring it to Dumbledore.
…
The Hogwarts students had taken up positions in the Ministry atrium.
Harry was hiding rather obviously behind the statue.
Luna was pressed in a corner against the wall and the side of one of the tall fireplaces under the cover a camouflage charm. She was doing her best to keep small and maintain her vantage point.
Neville and Ginny were crouched low with their backs pressed to the help-desk.
Ron and Hermione were standing directly to the right and left of the half-circle elevator bay, backs pressed against the pillars. They'd be closest, within spitting distance once the Death Eaters made their second appearance.
According to plan, Graham had portkeyed out once they were all in the elevator.
"We only need to wait for reinforcements," Harry reminded himself.
Around the room, his friends did the same thing when they heard the elevator doors slide open.
A few terse moments later, they could vaguely hear the Death Eaters shuffling. The attackers knew the students were in the atrium, hiding, so they spread out within the elevator bay and assessed the room carefully.
Luna was watching them all carefully; none of them even tried to hide. For the moment, the DA had the advantage. Carefully, Luna made sure one of her hands was visible and began signaling her friends.
Neville was the only one with a clear view of Luna and her one unhidden hand. He was able to flash the hand sign for 9 targets at Ron and Hermione without compromising his hiding place.
Hermione and Ron expected about that many targets though they'd hoped for less. Still, they were ready. Silently, they cast super-sensory spells on their ears. The spell only last thirty seconds but they'd know exactly when they needed to move.
Ron waved him arm in a sweeping motion then pointed from his and Hermione's current position to Neville and Ginny's.
Luna relayed the message to Harry and Neville; Hermione and Ron were going to swing out from around the columns — they'd end up within reaching distance of the Death Eaters. They'd take down as many as they could and then dive left; the other four would provide cover fire to allow Hermione and Ron to group up with Ginny and Neville.
Hermione and Ron shared a hard look. By mutual signal, they raised their wands and spun inwards; the group of nine Death Eaters, still relatively close together, hadn't expected them to be that close.
Wordlessly, two wide-area blasting curses shot out of their wands before the Death Eaters even had time to process.
Ron's hit dead on, catching one of them in the gut and sending him flying into the elevator grill. Hermione's was targeted lower but just as efficiently; she'd broken at least three ankles belonging to different people. Four Death Eaters down, though they still needed to be watched. Neither one of them stopped to judge the effects of their spells, leaping and diving to the left.
As soon as Harry heard their movement, he raised his wand and focused his magic intently.
"Expecto Patronum," he said lowly.
The volume of his spell didn't matter; Prongs leapt from his wand and galloped across the atrium. He was bright enough to temporarily blind the Death Eaters at such close range and corporeal enough to alarm them with his solidity.
Ginny and Neville hadn't hesitated either; while the Death Eaters were confused and scrambling, Ginny had raised a perfect bunker shield that covered Neville as he twirled and spun his wand in the quickest spell chains he knew.
Neville's cutting curses and splintering hexes were gouging the columns Hermione and Ron had been hiding behind. The marble couldn't withstand the wide-area effects of Neville's damaging assault and was sending fine bits of dust and sharp pieces of stone at the dark followers.
Hermione and Ron were behind Ginny's bunker shield by the time the dust settled.
When the Death Eaters began returning fire, they'd already taken cover behind the greater portion of the reception desk.
Lucius, Bellatrix, Dolohov, and two of the other stronger Death Eaters were still moving. They were stalking along the right side of the room as Bellatrix began cackling.
"My my, itty baby Potter," she giggled, as if she were merely playing a child's game. "Come out, come out, where ever you are. Maybe we'll let your wee little friends go."
Harry cast a spell on his throat before speaking.
Warily, he kept a careful eye on the blurry form of Ginny. He could see her because of one of the rings unique enchantments — she was under a camouflage charm now and was making her way to stand on the other side of the Death Eaters to mirror Luna.
"Why Bellatrix, they seem to be taking care of you just fine," Harry said; his voice seemed to come from everywhere at once. "You've made displaying incompetence an art form. Can't even beat a bunch of Hogwarts students?"
The insane woman looked around madly, spinning. The other Death Eaters were more alert, though Lucius did follow her gaze in case she managed to spot him.
That's when Harry struck — it was too good of an opportunity not to. He only needed a second to aim his wand and cast the spell.
The sickly yellow bone-breaker hit Lucius Malfoy right on his hip; the man crumbled to the ground. The spell was high level and Harry hadn't practiced it non-verbally as much as he'd wished. It'd taken a lot out of him and so had the patronus. Regardless, he refused to waver now.
Ginny and Luna both were ready to act as soon as Lucius dropped. They felled a Death Eater each; Ginny had used her favored reducto to blast one of them into another.
Luna had used a complicated medical spell that paralyzed and forced a victim to sleep instantaneously. It took time to cast and it took even more time to reverse — luckily, standing camouflaged for as long as she had, Luna had plenty of time to weave her wand through the motions.
Dolohov and Bellatrix were still standing.
Harry engaged with Bellatrix directly, knowing that she would be the largest threat. He trusted his friends to provide cover fire and none of them let him down.
"Going to fight me, Potty?" she mocked as she strode forwards, arm waving this way and that to deflect Harry's constant spells — the time for talking was over.
It was furious, the fight between the two, and it had just begun. Neither of them were verbalizing and Harry was a constant blur of movement, avoiding shields since they would be too draining in such close quarters.
Each spell he sent was parried masterfully; crazy or not, the skills of Bellatrix LeStrange were legendary. Her control of her wand was fluid, her spells singing with dark energy. His weaker spells she deflected with her wand and his stronger ones she ducked.
The other students were having just as much luck against their own targets.
Dolohov was shamelessly using the paralyzed Death Eater as a shield while he withdrew back to the elevators; it was the closest thing to a defensible position that he had. Once he was protected on one side by the damaged columns, he upped the ante of his spells. Killing curses were flying through the air leaving acidic green streaks. Bellatrix, at least, was refraining from spewing that particular curse at him. He assumed that was on Voldemort's orders.
The students decided it was time to retreat.
"Where the bloody hell are the aurors?" Ron asked Hermione.
"Or the Order, at least," she agreed in a harried tone, face streaked with sweat and dirt.
The stray Unforgivables were tearing chunks out the golden statue and the marble walls — the situation was becoming much too hazardous. Their formation was too broken to put up an insurmountable defense and they were all bordering on exhausted; conjuring stone or metal to block every curse was no longer an option.
Harry had just hit Bellatrix with a tripping jinx when he saw, in slow motion, the beginnings of a distinctive green light forming at the tip of Dolohov's wand — Neville wouldn't get clear of it.
"Neville!"
Hermione had screamed the warning but the boy had heard it too late — Harry hadn't. By the time the last syllable of his name left her mouth, Harry had pulled the constricting red auror cloak off of his shoulders and flung it across the atrium.
Guided by his magic, the cloak moved into the path of the spell quicker than a gust of wind. In mid air, Harry hit it with a transfiguration charm; the fabric formed into wood and wood could absorb the killing curse.
Absorb wasn't the best terminology; explode was better. Neville was taken to his feet by the shockwave and had been caught by multiple small, splintery fragments of the transfigured cloak. Hermione and Ron were quick to pull Neville towards them and behind the reception desk. Ginny was moving to stand with Luna, both under invisibility or camouflaging spells.
Harry had paid for the distraction though; his side was ripped open with enough force to spin him around. The pain was disorienting and the gush of blood was more so.
It didn't stop his wand though. He was working through a spell chain while doing his best to keep up with Bellatrix LeStrange. She was quicker than him by a long shot with a spell arsenal twice the size and lethality. He had the edge of youth but he lost that with the wound.
He hadn't lost every edge though; half of the centaur from the statue had landed off to Bellatrix's right. It was the human, bow wielding half. If he could transfigure and animate it…the NEWT level magic would take the last out of him but it was probably the best option he had against the formidable dark witch.
'Here goes nothing…' he thought to himself.
He'd just started gathering the magic needed for the spell when he heard the fireplaces whoosh. He wouldn't stop now though; he finished casting the spell with a complicated motion and a flourish of his wand. The metal centaur lifted its arms and bow, taking aim and releasing the only arrow it had. The golden projected soared through the air.
Inches from her breastbone, it stopped.
Everything else stopped too except for the fireplaces admitting aurors and ministry personnel. It was as if Harry and Bellatrix and Dolohov had become part of a play and they were on pause while the audience got situated.
Then, Harry's scar exploded in pain. The arrow dropped. The crowd gasped, then screamed. Dumbstruck, none of the aurors moved.
The Dark Lord had arrived.
It only took a few seconds for Harry to force the pain beyond his Occlumency shields. In those seconds, Voldemort seemed to blink across the atrium in some form of short-range apparation until Dolohov's upper arm was wrapped tightly in his grip. In three magical strides, he was standing behind Bellatrix and leering at Harry with piercing crimson eyes.
Aware of the audience, Harry didn't give the man the first word.
"I won this round," the emerald-eyed man said quietly; though they desperately wished to, the watchers couldn't hear. "Who walked into a trap this time?"
They definitely could see though. When Harry spat at the ground in front of the Dark Lord to punctuate his final statement, his actions spoke loud and clear.
Faster than Harry had expected, Voldemort had shot a motley grey spell at him. Harry was barely able to deflect it with a jerk of his wand — he couldn't dodge or deflect the next one.
"Crucio!"
Harry hit the ground immediately, unable to stop from writhing as his side injury was aggravated. Fuck him if Voldemort thought he'd scream for him though.
"Just wait, Potter. I will see you bleed out at my feet," Voldemort promised. The sibilant, snake like hisses seemed to reach every corner of the room.
The torture curse ended but Harry didn't try to stand; he'd definitely lost too much blood.
"You keep trying and it never works out — some Dark Lord you are," he hissed through gritted teeth.
Again, Harry spat at his feet. The Dark Lord looked incensed but the sudden arrival of Dumbledore ended their encounter. Wasting no more time, the Voldemort and his three followers left the ministry in an impressive if not smokey display.
Minister Fudge's voice was the first to ring out in dumb shock followed by Madam Bones' concise orders to secure the Death Eaters. After that, he vaguely remembered hearing five dull pops just before the cacophony of noise erupted; his friends were out and safe. That's all he needed to know.
For Harry, everything else faded into blackness.
…