Heart of Yours | Harry Potter

XXX.

Harry and Lalia were running, pushing students out of the way, oblivious to their angry protests and shouts. Harry sprinted back down two floors, leading Lalia with a tight grip on her hand, and was at the top of the marble staircase when he saw his two friends hurrying toward them. 

"Harry!" said Hermione at once, looking very frightened? Are you all right? Are you ill? Did you have another vision, Lalia?"

"Where have you both been?" demanded Ron. 

"Come with me," said Harry quickly. "Come on, I've got to tell you something. ..."

He led them along the first-floor corridor, peering through doorways, and at last found an empty classroom into which he dived, closing the door behind his friends once they were inside and leaning against it, facing them. 

"Voldemort's got Sirius."

"What?" 

"How d'you-?" 

"Saw it. Just now. When I fell asleep in the exam and made Lalia See." 

"But- but where? How?" said Hermione, whose face was white. 

"I dunno how," said Harry. "But I know exactly where. There's a room in the Department of Mysteries full of shelves covered in these little glass balls, and they're at the end of row ninety-seven ... He's trying to use Sirius to get whatever it is he wants from in there. ... He's torturing him. ... Says he'll end by killing him ..." 

Lalia swallowed the knot in her throat and rubbed her hands as she looked between her friends. She noticed her stomach was twisting on itself and she couldn't settle the eerie feeling creeping up her back. 

"How're we going to get there?" he asked them. 

There was a moment's silence. Then Ron said, "G-get there?" 

"Get to the Department of Mysteries, so we can rescue Sirius!" Harry said loudly. 

"But - Harry..." said Ron weakly. 

"What? What?" said Harry.

"Harry," said Hermione in a rather frightened voice, "er ... how ... how did Voldemort get into the Ministry of Magic without anybody realizing he was there?" 

"How do I know?" bellowed Harry. "The question is how we're going to get in there?"

"But ... Harry, think about this," said Hermione, taking a step toward him," "it's five o'clock in the afternoon. ... The Ministry of Magic must be full of workers. ... How would Voldemort and Sirius have got in without being seen? Harry... they're probably the two most wanted wizards in the world. ... You think they could get into a building full of Aurors undetected?" 

"She has a point, Har," Lalia said softly. 

"I dunno, Voldemort used an Invisibility Cloak or something!" Harry shouted. "Anyway, the Department of Mysteries has always been completely empty whenever I've been -" 

"You've never been there, Harry," said Hermione quietly. "You've dreamed about the place, that's all." 

"They're not normal dreams! Harry shouted in her face, standing up and taking a step closer to in turn. He wanted to shake her. "How d'you explain Ron's dad then, what was all that about, how come I knew what had happened to him?" 

"He's got a point," said Ron quietly, looking at Hermione.

"But this is just - just so unlikely!" said Hermione desperately. "Harry, how on earth could Voldemort have got hold of Sirius when he's been in Grimmauld Place all the time?"