THE HIGH PRICE

by peverell.magic

The ash began to bury his legs, enveloping him in its soft, warm embrace. Harry wrapped his arms around his knees and buried his face in them, allowing the world to drift into the distance.

61. CHAPTER 61: THE DECEPTIVE QUEEN

CHAPTER 61: THE DECEPTIVE QUEEN

The veil trembled, its ethereal surface rippling as if it had a life of its own. It reached out and brushed against Sirius's back as he crumpled to the cold stone floor, his mouth contorted in a soundless scream. He lay there, shivering, the fabric of his robes rustling softly in the eerie stillness of the room.

Bellatrix Lestrange, ever the sadistic antagonist, couldn't contain her cruel delight. With a mad gleam in her eyes, she twirled upon the top of the bench, her voice high-pitched with glee. "I win!" She cheered, her voice echoing through the chamber. "I win, you mangy mutt! That'll teach you to sneak out of Azkaban without saying goodbye to me!"

Harry's heart constricted with a mixture of anger and fear. Bellatrix, that madwoman, had taken joy in torturing his godfather. Without hesitation, he directed his rage into action, conjuring a trio of banishing spells with an intensity that matched the anger in his heart.

The first spell shattered the bench, sending its splintered remnants flying in all directions. Bellatrix was not spared; the second spell struck her with force, hurling her through the air before she collided violently with the chamber wall. The third spell followed her, the bench transformed into a weapon that crashed into her with an unsettling thud.

"SIRIUS!" Harry's voice rang out with desperation, the worry for his godfather's well-being consuming him.

Sirius groaned, pain etched on his face as he crawled weakly across the cold stone floor toward his wand. His strength waned, and he slumped onto his face, disoriented and battered. In a frantic burst of determination, Harry summoned his godfather with one hand, struggling to drag Sirius with him as he leaped up the stone steps and sprinted for the lift.

Bellatrix and Malfoy, unwilling to let their prey escape, continued their relentless pursuit. Harry hurled curses at them with a fury matched only by his love for Sirius, a storm of colorful lights and destructive magic filling the chamber.

A barrage of yellow curses sprayed past him, shattering the tiles and ripping ragged holes into the walls around the lift. Harry fought back, his mind racing to deflect any spells he recognized, his movements fluid and calculated. He jabbed his elbow into the button to call the lift until the doors finally slid open.

And then, the cruel voice of Lucius Malfoy, his weeping and ruined face twisted into a vicious sneer, echoed in the chamber. "Avada Kedavra!" he hissed, green light flashing from his wand.

Harry reacted swiftly, his heart pounding, his lips forming an incantation in a whispered breath. "Papilionis.

A single, delicate butterfly, its wings painted with vibrant hues, suddenly darted into the path of the deadly curse, sacrificing itself as it burst into a wisp of smoke. Its noble act saved Harry and Sirius from the Avada Kedavra's deadly touch.

With adrenaline pumping, Harry managed to haul Sirius into the lift, his breath coming in ragged gasps. He mashed the button for the atrium, desperate to put as much distance between them and the pursuing Death Eaters as possible. Bellatrix's vivid pink curses continued to splatter against the back of the lift, her maniacal laughter echoing through the chamber.

Determined to counter the assault, Harry transfigured the pieces of broken tile and masonry into sharp glass shards and banished them down the corridor, creating a temporary barrier. However, Bellatrix was relentless. She shrieked, and a powerful surge of magic swept the glass shards away, leaving the path clear.

"Osassula!" Harry shot one last curse through the doors as the lift began its ascent, then he sagged against the wall, gasping for breath. A deep ache throbbed in his wand arm, and a cold weariness crept into his limbs.

The lift jerked upward, and then disaster struck. The lower half of the doors exploded, sending fragments of metal flying. Hot lines of pain etched across Harry's legs and abdomen as steel shards embedded themselves into his flesh. Gritting his teeth, he tugged the shards out and tossed them away.

"Rennervate," he whispered, jabbing his wand at Sirius. His godfather's eyes snapped open, his chest heaving as he regained consciousness.

Sirius quickly assessed his injuries and began extracting the pieces of the lift door embedded in his left side. "Any particular reason I feel like a pincushion?"

"They destroyed the door," Harry explained, gesturing to the gaping hole in the lift's entrance. "I doubt we've seen the last of them."

"They'll come up the shaft once we're out of the way," Sirius pointed out. "We're not out of this yet."

Concern etched on his face, Harry said, "You should get out. Without a wand, you'll be an easy target. I'll cover our backs as we go."

Sirius's resolve was unwavering. "I'm not leaving you. I don't run away. I'm not a coward. The Order will be here soon, anyway."

But Harry, his trust in the Order's swift response wavering, couldn't help but frown. He cast a quick tempus and shook his head. "It's been almost half an hour. Where are they?"

"Are you sure they got your message?" he asked, his voice tinged with uncertainty.

"They got it," Sirius affirmed. "They should be here by now."

The seconds stretched into minutes, the silence in the lift growing heavier as they waited, their fates hanging in the balance.

Vulnera sanentur,' Harry whispered, his wand flicking toward Sirius, who bore the slim lacerations from the metal shards embedded in his side. The wounds obediently crept closed. "There you go."

Sirius, still incredulous, poked his finger through the holes in his robes. "How did you come away unscathed?"

"Luck," Harry admitted, casting a fleeting glance at the faint, pink lines beneath the tears in his clothes. "Mostly."

A hint of nostalgia danced in Sirius's eyes as he grinned. "You're worse than James. He always came out of scrapes like this without so much as a scratch."

The dispassionate female voice interrupted their brief respite. "Atrium," it announced as the lift came to a halt.

Harry stepped out, and Sirius staggered after him. The lift shuddered, then crumpled like a crushed can and collapsed back into the dark shaft, a stark reminder of their narrow escape.

"Go," Harry snapped, urgency in his tone. The atrium provided a larger, more open battleground, allowing him to wield more powerful spells without risking the building's structural integrity.

At least I can use more powerful spells here without bringing the building down, Harry thought as he prepared for the impending confrontation.

Sirius threw himself against the wall near the lift entrance and shot Harry a thumbs up, silently conveying his readiness for the battle.

But the tranquility was short-lived. Bellatrix emerged from the empty lift shaft with a maniacal giggle, her dark presence casting a shadow over the atrium. "Clever little Potter thought he'd escaped," she taunted. "But you'll have to do more than that to beat me. Only the Dark Lord ever beats me."

Malfoy, on the other hand, was less amused and more focused on revenge. He pressed his leather-gloved fingertips against the burnt half of his face.

Bellatrix laughed and shook her dark curls, a stark contrast to her malevolence. "It's all games," she cooed, her violet eyes shining like stars. "And we all lose in the end."

Sirius, driven by a surge of rage, hurled himself at Malfoy. His fist collided with Malfoy's wounded ribs, and he hammered his elbow into the burnt side of Malfoy's face. Their struggle sent Malfoy's wand snapping beneath them as they rolled across the floor.

"I guess I'll play with cousin Sirius later," Bellatrix mused as she watched them wrestle on the floor. "It will be fun! Sirius is good, he won't be boring."

Harry, his resolve unwavering, couldn't let her sinister intentions come to fruition. "You won't touch him or anyone else."

With a determined slash of his wand, the faint form of the basilisk materialized, its massive presence tearing the floor asunder as it swept through the atrium.

Bellatrix rolled her eyes with a dramatic sigh. "Confringo." Her spell dissipated, and she was flung across the floor with a surprised squeak. The basilisk hammered into the lift entrance, obliterating the golden gates and the wall behind. Masonry and metal rained down on Sirius and Malfoy as they grappled.

"Potter knows how to play," Bellatrix whispered, a shiver running through her. Purple light danced in her eyes as she raised her wand, and a colorful array of curses sliced through the air.

Harry's reflexes were razor-sharp as he flicked the curses away, sending them curving back toward Bellatrix. The spells spiraled around one another in a mesmerizing dance in the center of the atrium.

Meanwhile, Sirius continued his relentless assault on Malfoy, his anger palpable with each punishing blow. "You. Worthless. Fuck." He lifted Malfoy's head and smashed it against the floor. "Cissy. Deserved. Better!"

Bellatrix, unfazed by the chaos around her, cocked her head and glanced behind her. "You tell him, cousin Sirius! He made itty bitty baby Cissy all sad!"

The atrium became a battleground, a clash of emotions and magic, as the tension between the combatants continued to escalate. Harry, Sirius, Bellatrix, and Malfoy were locked in a deadly dance with consequences that would shape their fates.

'Lacero,' Harry whispered, his wand motion seamlessly melding into a small string of other spells. He pushed himself as fast as he could go, launching a relentless barrage of magic at Bellatrix.

Bellatrix, with her wicked prowess, managed to deflect a few of Harry's spells, but she soon realized she was outmatched. In a desperate move, she conjured a faint, glowing bubble of white magic as a shield. Harry's spells tore through it with ferocity, slicing her cheek open to the bone.

"You got me!" She giggled, an eerie mix of pain and delight in her voice. She shuddered and pressed a finger to the gory wound, licking her own blood from the tip. "I never could understand shielding," she sighed. "Why hide and be boring when you can just attack?"

As if the fun of their battle had been reignited, Bellatrix unleashed a fresh volley of bright, yellow spells from the tip of her wand.

Harry, taking a page from Sirius's book, deflected her spells with precision. He sent all five of her spells hissing back at her. The first three splattered into the floor, leaving deep, scorched craters at Bellatrix's feet. However, Bellatrix deftly evaded the other two, which arced past her hip and shoulder, striking Sirius in the back. He slumped over Malfoy's prone figure.

"Ooops!" Bellatrix giggled, her tone almost innocent. "Were you expecting me to deflect them back? This is the most fun I've had in years!"

Harry's icy resolve tightened within him. "Fun," he thought. "I'll show you fun."

Fiendfyre, the most destructive and uncontrollable magical fire, swirled past Bellatrix, forcing her to the edge of the fountain. She unleashed her own magical fire against Harry's, and the inferno gushed across the floor, consuming the ground between them as it seared toward Sirius and Malfoy.

With a grimace of effort, Harry extinguished both Fiendfyres, extinguishing the deadly flames. He couldn't help but acknowledge the cleverness of Bellatrix's tactics.

But Bellatrix, in her twisted sense of amusement, was not done. "Don't worry, little cousin Harry," she laughed. "We'll be nice to Sirius, won't we, Bell! Just give us the prophecy. Accept defeat. We'll only play with Sirius a little bit. Tormenting people after they've lost gets boring, like pulling the wings off caged butterflies."

Determined to turn the tide, Harry wrapped his magic around the golden centaur in the fountain. It shuddered, then drove its arrow through the back of Bellatrix's knee.

She hissed in pain and unleashed her wrath, shattering every statue in the atrium with a single swing of her wand. "Crucio," she shrieked, sending a crackling red beam of the Cruciatus Curse directly at Harry.

Harry, however, was not defenseless. In a moment of resolve and determination, a butterfly burst forth from his wand, swallowing the red curse in a wisp of dark mist. He retaliated with a whispered incantation, "Osassula."

The battle raged on, with Harry and Bellatrix locked in a deadly dance of magic and willpower, each determined to prevail at any cost.

The curse tore through Bellatrix's desperate shield, striking her fingers and sending her wand spinning into the water behind her. Harry wasted no time in summoning her wand and snapping it in front of her.

Bellatrix screeched, her uncontrolled magic lashing out in retaliation. A wave of violet flame crashed against Harry's shield, knocking him back with a force that drove the wind out of him. The magical onslaught guttered out, and shattered glass spilled from his pocket onto the atrium floor.

Amid the chaos, a rasping voice echoed through the atrium, reciting the prophecy. 'The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches... Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies... And the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not... And either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives... The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies…'

"Equal?" Bellatrix exclaimed, bouncing on her feet. "The Dark Lord has no equals, he's the best player in the game. But better safe than sorry, better to still be playing than to lose, better to play than to be dead, so no more little Potter, and no more little Longbottom either. Bella saw to that." She giggled. "That was a fun game. They clung on for ages."

Cold fury coursed through Harry's veins. He spat, "Crucio."

A pale, red beam dissipated on the severed torso of the centaur.

"You've got to mean it, little cousin Harry," Bellatrix taunted, cocking her head. "If you want to beat Voldemort, then you'll need to mean it. He always wins. Always."

Harry was beginning to grasp the twisted nature of their game. He whispered, "Crucio."

Bellatrix flopped and thrashed in the water of the fountain. Her eyes smoldered, and her lips quivered as she clawed her way back to her feet, licking her lips. "That burnt so good."

"You're mad," Harry breathed, the realization dawning. "No wonder Voldemort likes you. He just winds you up, then points you in the right direction and lets you go."

Bellatrix, her mind unraveling, offered a strange proposition. "You shouldn't try to beat him. We're going to get rid of all the boring creatures. The ones who've got no magic and just lumber around in their awful world of clay and dirt." She extended her hand toward Harry. "Come and play with us! You're fun! Andi wouldn't play with us. Andi died. Cissy's all sad and boring, like a little caged bird. But you're family, too! You can play with me instead! And we'll never be bored or sad or lonely again!"

Harry's stomach wrenched as he grappled with the twisted reality of her offer, his heart heavy with the weight of loneliness.

The battle had taken a strange turn, delving into the depths of madness and despair as Harry faced the embodiment of Bellatrix's chaotic, unpredictable nature.

'Voldemort,' Bellatrix breathed, her last words barely escaping her lips.

Harry spun, half-crouching in front of the tall, pale figure that embodied his nightmares.

'Bella's sorry,' she mumbled, her voice broken. She waved her shattered fingers in the air. 'Bella lost. Little cousin Harry was better than Bella, and he doesn't want to come and play with us yet, but Bella heard the prophecy—'

'Avada Kedavra,' Harry whispered.

A brilliant flash of green light erupted from his wand, snuffing out the violet glow in Bellatrix's eyes.

'Harry.' Voldemort's crimson eyes watched Bellatrix's lifeless body sink into the fountain. 'Bella was one of my most useful servants.'

'Not anymore,' Harry retorted, his gaze flicking to the exit. 'She lost.'

'Yes.' Voldemort's lips curled back in a cold grin. 'She lost her never-ending game at last, but I'm sure she enjoyed every moment.' He surveyed the ruins of the room, the aftermath of their battle, the spell marks around the atrium, the shattered statues, and the scorch marks.

'What was so important about the prophecy?' Harry inquired, keeping a close eye on Sirius out of the corner of his own.

'The wards are still up,' Voldemort replied, a sinister chuckle punctuating his words. 'The only way out is past me, I'm afraid, and your chance of escape would be small enough if you were fresh to the fight.' He spun his wand on his palm. 'But I will humor you. The prophecy tells of a child born with the strength to eclipse me, a wizard I can't allow to live because he will always be a threat.'

'Me,' Harry said.

'Perhaps,' Voldemort whispered, his crimson eyes locked onto Harry's. 'But I never heard the entire thing, and now I know you; I wonder if there isn't more to this prediction than I originally thought.'

The pale, yew wand snapped into Voldemort's hand, and a trio of curses flashed at Harry, slamming into the floor and showering his feet in fragments of stone.

'Avada Kedavra,' Voldemort murmured, his wand directed at Harry, as the ultimate battle between light and darkness reached its climax.

Harry's butterflies swarmed in defense, a desperate attempt to intercept Voldemort's curses. Voldemort smiled as his curses tore through the swarm, creating great, gaping holes. Harry managed to deflect back some of the curses, but others slipped through, carving long, deep gouges in the floor.

Frustration and determination fueled Harry's thoughts. He needed to turn the tide of this battle so he could find a way to escape. Circling past the fountain, he retreated, contemplating his next move.

The golden statues, once decorative, transformed and flowed across the floor, coalescing into the shape of a vast serpent. It coiled before the entrance, blocking any escape route.

Harry needed to change the situation. 'Ardens flagello,' he hissed.

A vast swathe of purple-edged, ebony flames lashed from the tip of his wand, melting the golden serpent as if it were butter. In response, Voldemort conjured a swirling shield of silver snakes and unleashed a torrent of red, raging tongues of Fiendfyre. They swept across the atrium from floor to ceiling, obliterating the elegant golden runes and gleaming green tiles.

Harry clenched his jaw and slashed his wand forward. The Fiendfyre, now under his control, swirled and transformed into the form of the basilisk, surging back down the atrium with its maw agape.

Voldemort laughed, a chilling sound filled with genuine delight. Then, the floor shuddered, and vast spires of stone burst forth, nailing the basilisk to the ceiling. The flames guttered out, leaving only hissing droplets of glowing, molten rock.

'Ever you surpass my expectations, Harry,' Voldemort praised. He leveled the tip of his pale wand at Harry's forehead. 'Legilimens.'

Harry was ready. He dragged the emptiness up from the depths of his being and allowed the hollow, icy void to shield his thoughts, blocking every flash and flicker of feeling.

Voldemort lowered his wand, a fascinated smile playing on his lipless mouth. 'Interesting. Even I cannot claim to exceed your gift for Occlumency, not when you defend your mind as perfectly as I guard my own.'

He still wants the prophecy. Harry was aware of Voldemort's unyielding desire for the prophecy's knowledge.

'Then you know that the knowledge of the prophecy dies with me,' Harry responded, his voice steady.

'If you die, I will have no need to fear it.' Voldemort's wand flicked back up, tracing a small semi-circle in the air. 'Contusio.'

The battle continued, a relentless clash between the two wizards, each determined to outmaneuver the other in the quest for supremacy and survival.

A scatter of bright, silver pinpricks flared from Voldemort's wand, soaring through the air. Harry mustered the dregs of his magic, sweeping the water from the fountain across the atrium to shield himself.

Explosions tore through the air, hammering at his ears as the delicate, silver drops of light exploded against the veil of water, spraying Harry with scalding liquid. Green flames flared in all the fireplaces, and the Order of the Phoenix seemed to arrive at last.

'What if I told you the prophecy?' Harry watched the emerald flames flicker. 'That's why you came, right?'

Voldemort watched the emerald flames too. 'I wouldn't need you alive.'

'You would have no reason to kill me.'

'The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord,' Voldemort echoed, reforming the golden serpent Harry's fire had destroyed and sending it careening down the atrium, smashing through the fireplaces on the opposite wall.

'Power's directed by intent,' Harry asserted, drawing himself up and burying the dull throb and the ache in his limbs. The weight of his life hung on his tongue.

'I should trust in your intent, then?' Voldemort laughed. 'A foolish risk to take; those who trust are betrayed, aren't they, Harry? Lord Voldemort doesn't forget his mistakes; he learns from them.'

'A trade, then,' Harry proposed as the fireplaces' emerald flames billowed and the Floo network flared to life. 'I'll take Sirius Black and leave, you'll learn the last line of the prophecy.'

'Tempting,' Voldemort mused. 'You are interesting.' He twirled his wand in his fingers, just as the shade of Tom Riddle had in the chamber. Silver sparks trailed from its tip and fountained down onto the ruined floor, then the wand vanished into his sleeve. 'I accept.'

Harry flicked his wand back into its holster and summoned Sirius to him. The last dregs of his magic tugged Sirius across the floor in slow jerks.

'The prophecy, Harry,' Voldemort said.

As if I'd give you all of it. I'd be dead the moment you heard it. 'And the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal,' Harry said. 'But he will have power the Dark Lord knows not.'

'Interesting. It does not say if you're able to defeat me.'

'No,' Harry lied. 'It doesn't, though I do wonder what the power you know not is.'

Voldemort's wand appeared in his hand, and Harry tensed, raising his own.

The tension in the atrium was palpable, as the two adversaries faced each other, both keenly aware that the outcome of this encounter would have far-reaching consequences for the wizarding world.

'I was going to kill you anyway,' Voldemort declared. 'But I'm curious, Harry, to see what you'll become. Someone once told me I should find an equal, though I never really believed it would come true. I wonder, though, if there might have been a chance after all.'

Salazar... Harry kept a straight face.

'You did mark me as an equal,' he said, running his forefinger along his faded scar.

'Self-fulfilling prophecy,' Voldemort murmured. 'And now there is this power I know not. Until next time we meet, and I'm sure our paths will cross again, Dumbledore will insist upon it. He is the only other who knows the full prophecy.'

Especially if he knows the whole thing. Harry smothered a grimace. Either must die at the hand of the other... No wonder he wants to make a martyr of me.

A pair of soft snaps echoed through the atrium. Voldemort flickered from one side of the room to where Malfoy lay, then vanished, ripping through the anti-Apparition wards like wet paper.

Harry glanced around. A thick silence hung over the ruined room, and Bellatrix's pale body floated among the shattered statues and rubble in the fountain.

If this doesn't convince the Ministry something's going on, then there's no point in continuing to try.

He took a firm grip on Sirius, then focused on the Chamber of Secrets and twisted the world back away from him. A flash of phoenix-red flame seared his eyes, and Dumbledore's soft sigh echoed through the atrium as he vanished with a soft snap.

Harry staggered across the smooth stone of the chamber and dropped Sirius's body on the floor. Ragged gasps tore from his throat, and he pressed his forehead into the cold stone wall. The Order of the Phoenix never came. Another of Dumbledore's attempts to make a martyr of me, no doubt.

'Don't say anything, Salazar!' Harry clawed a little magic up from within and forced the tongue bridge to sink into the pool, and the study's door to close. 'Rennervate.'

'What hit me this time?' Sirius shot him a weak grin.

'Bellatrix tricked me. She maneuvered herself between us, and when I sent her spells back at her, she let them go on to strike you.'

'She was always dangerous,' Sirius said. 'What about the prophecy? And the Order?' He glanced around. 'This isn't Grimmauld Place, either.'

'I'll tell you the story from when you started your impromptu nap,' Harry quipped, sagging down against one of the serpent effigies. He tried to blot out the deep ache and the weight tugging at his eyelids. 'If I can keep my eyes open.'

'Go ahead,' Sirius replied, rolling over onto his back. 'I might fall asleep, too.'

'After you were knocked out, I dueled Bellatrix in the atrium and disarmed her, but the orb containing the prophecy was broken, and we both heard the words.'

'So Voldemort will know what it says,' Sirius said. 'What did it say?'

Harry took a deep breath and began to recount the prophecy, his voice steady, revealing the mysterious and fateful words that had been a source of fascination and dread for so long.

'The birth of the one with the power to defeat Voldemort. My birth. And then, either must die at the hand of the other, for neither can live while the other survives,' Harry recited, the words echoing in the chamber. 'Bellatrix heard the whole thing, but when Voldemort turned up, I killed her before she could tell him.'

Sirius flinched. 'You killed her.'

'She deserved to die, if not worse.'

Sirius's grey eyes darkened. 'My favorite cousin died a very long time ago, I just didn't expect you to be capable of it. James and Lily never were.'

'What choice was there?' Harry shrugged. 'If I let her live, she might've cost me something much more important later.'

'So what happened then?' Sirius asked.

'We dueled again in the atrium, made a bit of a mess of it, actually.' Harry grinned. 'Somehow he knew the first lines of it already, but I told him most of the rest in return for being able to leave with you. The Order of the Phoenix didn't turn up, though I'm sure I saw Dumbledore just as I apparated us away.'

'I sent the warning,' Sirius muttered. 'They should've come, they all know what it means.'

'The last line of the prophecy,' Harry murmured. 'That's why they didn't come. Either must die at the hand of the other…'

'But Dumbledore must know you're not ready to face Voldemort alone and kill him yet!'

'That's not very pure of heart,' Harry whispered. 'Surely a martyr's death to ensure Voldemort's end is preferable. A noble sacrifice, just like my mother's...'

Sirius's grey eyes flashed. 'That absolute cunt! That's why he won't let me take custody of you, that's why he sends you back to your relatives, why he pushes you into acts of heroism and pretends you risking your life for others is the best you could ever hope to do!'

'He wants a malleable, naive child to throw into Voldemort's path,' Harry said. 'No doubt he believes that the power the Dark Lord knows not is something abstract, pure-hearted, and perfectly heroic.'

The revelation of Dumbledore's true intentions left a bitter taste in the air. The web of manipulations and sacrifices had been intricately woven, and Harry couldn't help but feel like a pawn in a game far larger and more complex than he had ever imagined.

'Love,' Sirius snapped. 'He has often made reference to your ability to love and risk yourself for others. He expects you to die like Lily did, only with a more permanent effect.'

'I have no intention of dying.'

If I die, I'll never see Fleur again. He shuddered. And the emptiness will have me forever.

'I'm going to tear that wrinkled shit-stain apart with my bare hands. I'm done with his Order of the Phoenix. I bet Snape knew about the attack tonight, and poor Mundungus was just another sacrifice.'

'No.' Harry shook his head. 'We need to know what he's doing if he intends to make a martyr of me.'

'So I should stay and spy.' Sirius took several long, deep breaths. 'Like Snape.'

'I don't trust Dumbledore or his Order, and I don't need them, either,' Harry said. 'I was strong enough to defeat Bellatrix. I've survived Voldemort alone twice. We'll be fine without him.'

'You can't stay with your relatives or come to Grimmauld. He'll be able to find you.' Sirius glanced around. 'What about here?'

'The Chamber of Secrets?' Harry chuckled at Sirius's gobsmacked expression. 'It's one of two rooms in this castle not on the Marauders' Map and my backdoor in and out of the castle, but it's not very comfortable.'

I promised Fleur, but I'm not telling him unless I have to. The longer nobody knows, the safer Fleur is.

'I'll sort something out,' he said.

'Do you promise?' Sirius asked.

'I promise. I won't spend a single night with the Dursleys.'

With a promise made and a new understanding between them, Harry and Sirius faced the uncertain path that lay ahead. The weight of the prophecy and the dark forces surrounding them were formidable, but their determination to defy Dumbledore's manipulations and confront Voldemort head-on burned brighter than ever.

'I guess I should go back to Grimmauld Place, then.' Sirius sighed. 'What do I tell Dumbledore?'

'Tell him as little as possible about what really happened. It helps that you were unconscious.'

'I'll tell him that I felt something was wrong, snuck in, and destroyed the prophecy when I found Voldemort coming to take it,' Sirius decided. 'Will he know you were there?'

'He will. If Voldemort didn't take the prophecy, it must've been me. Lie to him, though. He won't be surprised you're defending me, and I can answer his questions myself when he comes to me.'

'I'll say nothing I don't know he already knows.' Sirius grinned. 'It's like trying to avoid detention with McGonagall.'

Harry laughed. 'Only you would compare getting out of detention to lying to the strongest wizard alive.'

'They're not that different when you get right down to it.' Sirius struggled to his feet. 'I should go. This Chamber of Secrets of yours is creepy, it's the sort of place my mother would dream about. You should go to bed,' he quipped. 'Don't you have exams this year?'

I actually do. Brief amusement flickered through Harry's tired body. And I better beat Fleur, or she'll never let me forget it.

Sirius stuck out a foot and closed his eyes. 'What the…?'

'You can't apparate out of here.' Harry chuckled. 'You'll have to sneak out via Hogsmeade in your animagus form. I'll open the entrance into the castle for you, follow me.'

With a plan in place, Sirius and Harry prepared to part ways for the time being. The uncertain future loomed, but they were both determined to defy the odds and face whatever challenges lay ahead.

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