The Princess of Light

Chapter 5.38 (Battle of the veil)

They had run halfway towards it when Harry saw through the open door two more Death Eaters running across the black room towards them. Veering left, he burst instead into a small, dark, cluttered office and slammed the door behind them.

"Collo-" began Hermione, but before she could complete the spell the door had burst open and the two Death Eatrrs had come hurtling inside. With a cry of triumph, both yelled: "IMPEDIMENTA!"

Harry, Hermione and Neville were all knocked backwards off their feet. Neville was thrown over the desk and disappeared from view. Hermione smashed into a bookcase and was promptly deluged in a cascade of heavy books. The back of Harry's head slammed into the stone wall behind him, tiny lights burst in front of his eyes and for a moment he was too dizzy and bewildered to react.

"WE'VE GOT HIM!" Yelled the Death Eater nearest Harry. "IN AN OFFICE OFF-"

"Silencio!" Cried Hermione and the man's voice was extinguished. He was thrust aside by his fellow Death Eater.

"Petrificus Totalus!" Shouted Harry, as the second Death Eater raised his wand. His arms and legs snapped together and he fell forwards, face-down on to the rug at Harry's feet, stiff as a board and unable to move.

"Well done, Ha-"

But the Death Eater Hermione had just struck dumb made a sudden slashing movement with his wand. A streak of what looked like purple flame passed right across Hermione's chest. She gave a tiny "Oh!" as though of surprise and crumpled on to the floor, where she lay motionless.

"HERMIONE!" Harry fell to his knees beside her as Neville crawled rapidly towards her from under the desk, his wand held up in front of him. The Death Eater kicked out hard at Neville's head as he emerged - his foot broke Neville's wand in two and connected with his face. Neville gave a howl of pain and recoiled, clutching his mouth and nose. Hary twisted around, his own wand held high, and saw the Death Earer had ripped off his mask and was pointing his wand directly at Harry, who recognised the long, pale, twisted face from the Daily Prophet: Antonin Dolohov, the wizard who had murdered the Prewetts.

Dolohov grinned. With his free hand, he pointed from the prophecy still clutched in Harry's hand, to himself, then at Hermione. Though he could no longer speak, his meaning could not have been clearer. Give me the prophecy, or you get the same as her...

"Like you won't kill us all anyway, the moment I hand it over!" Said Harry.

A whine of panic inside his head was preventing him thinking properly: he had one hand on Hermione's shoulder, which was still warm, yet did not dare to look at her properly. Don't let her be dead, don't let her be dead, it's my fault if she's dead.

"Whaddever you do, Harry." Said Neville fiercely from under the desk, lowering his hands to show a clearly broken nose and blood pouring down his mouth and chin, "don'd gib it to him!"

Then there was a crash outside the door and Dolohov looked over his shoulder - the baby-headed Death eater had appeared in the doorway, his head bawling, his great fists still flailing uncontrollably at everything around him.

Harry seized his chance: "PETRIFICUS TOTALUS!"

The spell hid Dolohov before he could block it and he topled forwards across his comrade, both of them rigid as boards and unable to move an inch.

"Hermione," Harry said at once, shaking her as the baby-headed Death Eater blundered out of sight again. "Hermione, wake up..."

"Whaddid he do to her?" Said Neville, crawling from under the desk to kneel at her other side, blood streaming from his rapidly swelling nose.