Before Lucius could curse me, Tonks had already thrown a Stunning Spell at him. Grabbing my hand, Harry dove off the dais out of the way. Through the darting bodies, the flashes of light, I could see Neville crawling along. Dodging another jet of red light, I flung Harry and myself flat on the group and crawled to Neville.
"Are you okay?" Harry yelled as another spell soared inches over our heads.
"Yes," said Neville, trying to pull himself up.
"And Ron?"
"I dink he's all right — he was still fighding the brain when I left —"
The stone floor between them exploded as a spell hit it, leaving a crater right where Neville's hand had been seconds before. We scrambled away from the spot, then a thick arm came out of nowhere, seized Harry around the neck and pulled him upright so that his toes were barely touching the floor.
"Give it to me," growled a voice in his ear, "give me the prophecy —"
With all my might, I took my fists and slammed them against the arm, trying to get him the let Harry go. The man screamed in pain. Neville had come lunging out of nowhere: Unable to articulate a spell, he had jabbed Hermione's wand hard into the eyehole of the Death Eater's mask and pulling it out hard. The man relinquished Harry at once with a howl of pain and Harry whirled around to face him and gasped, "STUPEFY!"
"Thanks!" Harry said to Neville and me.
Quickly looking around, I saw Sirius and his Death Eater lurched past, duelling so fiercely that their wands were blurs. Then my foot made contact with something round and hard and I slipped — for a moment I thought Harry had dropped the prophecy, then saw Moody's magic eye spinning away across the floor.
Its owner was lying on his side, bleeding from the head, and his attacker was now bearing down upon Harry, Neville, and me: A man's long pale face twisted with glee. I felt my body go rigid as someone had jinxed so.
"Now, Potter—"
He made the same slashing movement with his wand that he had used on Hermione just as Harry yelled, "Protego!"
I groaned, trying to move from my frozen position as Harry fell over Neville's jerking legs. His Shield Charm had stopped the worst of the spell. With much force, I felt my hand twitch as I started to regain movement in my body.
The man raised his wand again. "Accio Proph —"
Sirius hurtled out of nowhere, rammed the man with his shoulder, and sent him flying out of the way. The prophecy had again flown to the tips of Harry's fingers but he had managed to cling to it. Now Sirius and the man were duelling, their wands flashing like swords, sparks flying from their wand tips —
He drew back his wand to make the same slashing movement he had used on Harry and Hermione. Springing up, Harry yelled, "Petrificus Totalus!" Once again, Dolohov's arms and legs snapped together and he keeled over backwards, landing with a crash on his back.
"Nice one!" shouted Sirius, forcing Harry's head down as a pair of Stunning Spells flew toward them. "Now I want you to get out of —"
A jet of green light had narrowly missed Sirius; across the room, Harry saw Tonks fall from halfway up the stone steps, her limp form toppling from stone seat to stone seat, and Bellatrix, triumphant, running back toward the fray.
Green light. Death. Sirius. NO!
"Harry, take the prophecy, grab Neville and Charlotte, and run!" Sirius yelled, running to fight off another Death Eater.
"N-no," I forced myself up.
Harry tried to get Neville up, but his dancing feet caused them to crash down to the ground.
"The prophecy, give me the prophecy, Potter!" snarled Lucius Malfoy's voice. I saw Malfoy's wand pressing against his ribs, threatening him.
"No — get — off — me... Neville — catch it!"
Harry flung the prophecy across the floor, Neville spun himself around on his back and scooped the ball to his chest. Lucius pointed the wand instead at Neville, but Harry jabbed his own wand back over his shoulder and yelled, "Impedimenta!"
Lucius was blasted off his back. As Harry scrambled and helped me up, I looked around and saw Lucius smash into the dais on which Sirius and Bellatrix were now duelling.
Bellatrix. Sirius.
Fear and angry bubbled in my stomach and flowed through my veins. In a quick moment, I remembered how this ends— Sirius's death. I couldn't let that happen; I need to save him.
"Harry, round up the others and GO!" I looked up to see Remus shouting as he stood in between us and Lucius. As I looked over to Harry and Neville, I watched as the prophecy flew through the air and smash directly in front of us.
"Harry, I'b sorry!" cried Neville, his face anguished as his legs continued to flounder, "I'b so sorry, Harry, I didn'd bean do —"
"It doesn't matter!" Harry shouted.
As Harry tried to give more instruction, Dumbledore joined the fight. Only one couple was still battling, apparently unaware of the new arrival. I saw Sirius duck Bellatrix's jet of red light: He was laughing at her. Quickly, I looked around and saw Hermione's discarded wand. Anxiety and angry pulsed throughout my body as I picked up the wand.
"Come on, you can do better than that!" I heard Sirius yell.
Anger, fear, power hummed through my veins; energy I'd never felt before flowed to my fingertips as I pointed the wand in my hand to Bellatrix.
Sirius kneeled in front of Bellatrix, panting and laughing at her. His taunts succeeded in making her mad.
Words flew out of my mouth as my sight narrowed at Bellatrix and Sirius. The noise around me muted as I watched the red jet of light burst out of the tip of the wand slowly make its way to the pair as a green light made its way towards Sirius.
"STUPEFY!"
"AVADA KEDAVRA!"
The laughter had not quite died from his face, but his eyes widened in shock. It seemed to take Sirius an age to fall. His body curved in a graceful arc as he sank to his right. Instead of going into the veil as he was supposed to, he fell beside it, leaving his dead body to be seen.
I missed.
"SIRIUS!" I heard Harry yell, "SIRIUS!"
I couldn't save him...
Harry and I ran down the stone benches over to Sirius's lifeless body. Bellatrix Lestrange's screamed triumphantly, happy at her kill.
Tears blurred my vision at the sight of Harry wailing over his godfather's body. I had déjà vu as I watched Remus pry Sirius out of Harry's arms. My mind flashed between the scenes of Cedric and Sirius.
"There's nothing you can do, Harry —"
"I- I can save him!" Harry cried.
"It's too late, Harry—"
Harry struggled hard and viciously, but Remus would not let go.
"I- I tried to s-save him," I cried to Harry who gave me a devilish glare– hatred present on his face.
"You knew!" Harry accused.
"I TRIED TO S-SAVE HIM," I bellowed, fat hot tears flowing down my face.
"SIRIUS!" he howled, "SIRIUS!"
"He can't come back, Harry," said Remus, his voice breaking as he struggled to contain Harry. "He can't come back, because he's d —"
"HE — IS — NOT — DEAD!" roared Harry. "SIRIUS!"
"HARRY, I'M SORRY," I yelled at him.
"I HATE YOU," he seethed, crying in Remus's arms.
My breath hiccuped in my throat at the sight before me, Hermione's wand still in my hand and the energy in my body still humming. Professor McGonagall was right.
Angry at myself, I threw Disarming Jinxes at people– hitting them square on. My anger grew into hatred for myself, why didn't it hit Bellatrix the way I intended? I missed.
Behind the dais, there were still flashes of light, grunts, and cries — Kingsley had run forward to continue Sirius's duel with Bellatrix. Neville apologized and spoke to Harry, consoling him or losing his friend. Bellatrix Lestrange turned tail and ran as Dumbledore whipped around. He aimed a spell at her but she deflected it. She was halfway up the steps now and Harry followed.
"Harry!" I screamed after him as Remus did, but following Harry up the stone benches. People yelled at us, but I didn't stop chasing Harry. The hem of Bellatrix's robes whipped out of sight ahead and they were back in the room where the brains were swimming.
She aimed a curse over her shoulder. The tank rose into the air and tipped. The brains slipped and slid over us and began spinning their long, coloured tentacles, but Harry shouted, "Wingardium Leviosa!" and they flew into the air away from us. Luna, Ginny, and Ron looked confused as we ran past them.
"Harry! Stop chasing her," I shouted.
Harry paid no mind to my screams and followed Bellatrix through the door. We ran, but she had slammed the door behind her and the walls had begun to rotate again. Once more he was surrounded by streaks of blue light from the whirling candelabra.
"Where's the exit?" he shouted desperately, as the wall rumbled to a halt again. "Where's the way out?"
"Harry, you can't chase her off, you'll get—"
"WHAT DOOR IS IT? YOU LET SIRIUS DIE! HELP ME KILL HER," bellowed Harry.
I pointed towards the door I knew Bellatrix had gone through and hiccuped at his words. He ran towards the door where the lifts were and called the second lift. It jangled and banged lower and lower; the grilles slid open, Harry and I dashed inside, now hammering the button marked Atrium. The doors slid shut and rose.
Forcing our way out of the lift before the grilles were fully opened, I saw Bellatrix was almost at the telephone lift at the other end of the hall.
"Harry, over there!" I shouted, pointing to the booth.
Bellatrix looked back and aimed another spell at us. Dodging behind the fountain of Magical Brethren, the spell zoomed past and hit the wrought gold gates at the other side of the Atrium. There were no more footsteps. She had stopped running.
"Come out, come out, little Harry!" she called in her mock-baby voice, which echoed off the polished wooden floors. "What did you come after me for, then? I thought you were here to avenge my dear cousin!"
"I am!" shouted Harry, standing up. I yanked at Harry's robes, pulling him down just as another spell whizzed by.
"Aaaaaah... did you love him, little baby Potter?"
"Crucio!" Harry yelled, flinging himself from behind the fountain.
Bellatrix screaming and flew off her feet, not writhing in pain as Neville had.
"Never used an Unforgivable Curse before, have you, boy?" she yelled. She had abandoned her baby voice now. "You need to mean them, Potter! You need to really want to cause pain — to enjoy it — righteous anger won't hurt me for long — I'll show you how it is done, shall I? I'll give you a lesson —"
My anger bubbled at her taunts. Since Harry had been edging around the fountain, she hit him screaming "Crucio!" and he groaned in pain.
Power surged through my body and I jumped up, pointing the wand at her, trying again, "Expelliarmus!"
Bellatrix fell back a bit and dropped her wand, stopping Harry's torture. I hadn't been strong enough and she grabbed her wand and stood up fast. Harry scurried behind the fountain, hiding from her as I ducked back down.
"Ahhh, bringing your little girlfriend," Bellatrix cackled. "Potter, you cannot win against me!" I could hear her moving to the right, trying to get a clear shot at us. Harry grabbed my hand and backed around the statue away from her, crouching behind the centaur's legs, my head level with the house-elf's. Harry gave me a disgusted look, but whispered, "Stupefy" in Parseltongue. "I was and am the Dark Lord's most loyal servant, I learned the Dark Arts from him, and I know spells of such power that you, pathetic little boy, can never hope to compete —"
Edging around the fountain, Harry and I yelled, "Stupefy!"
"Protego!"
The jet of red light, our Stunning Spell, bounced back at us; we scurried behind the fountain again, just as one of the goblin's ears went flying across the room.
"Potter, I am going to give you one chance!" shouted Bellatrix. "Give me the prophecy — roll it out toward me now — and I may spare your life and hers!"
"Well, you're going to have to kill me, because it's gone!" Harry roared — and shouted in pain. "And he knows!" said Harry with a mad laugh to match Bellatrix's own. "Your dear old mate Voldemort knows it's gone! He's not going to be happy with you, is he?"
"LIAR!" she shrieked, but he could hear the terror behind the anger now. "YOU'VE GOT IT, POTTER, AND YOU WILL GIVE IT TO ME — Accio Prophecy! ACCIO PROPHECY!"
Harry laughed menacingly. He waved his hand, showing the missing prophecy. Bellatrix screamed in fear and apologize profusely to Voldemort as if he were in the room.
"Don't waste your breath!" yelled Harry, his eyes screwed up against the pain of his scar. "He can't hear you from here!"
"Can't I, Potter?" said a high, cold voice.
I gasped, looking out from behind the fountain. Tall, thin, and black-hooded, his terrible snakelike face white and gaunt, his scarlet, slit-pupiled eyes staring. Lord Voldemort had appeared in the middle of the hall, his wand pointing at Harry and me who stood frozen, quite unable to move.
"So you smashed my prophecy?" said Voldemort softly, staring at Harry with those pitiless red eyes. "No, Bella, he is not lying... I see the truth looking at me from within his worthless mind... Months of preparation, months of effort... and my Death Eaters have let Harry Potter thwart me again..."
"Master, I am sorry, I knew not, I was fighting the Animagus Black!" sobbed Bellatrix, flinging herself down at Voldemort's feet as he paced slowly nearer. "Master, you should know —"
"Be quiet, Bella," said Voldemort dangerously. "I shall deal with you in a moment. And you—" his wand moved from Harry to me, a gasp stuck in my throat "— I thought I killed her."
"But Master — he is here — he is below —"
Voldemort paid no attention to her.
"Ah, her offspring... my dear cousin, such a waste in your loyalties. I have nothing more to say to you, Potter," he said quietly to Harry. "You have irked me too often, for too long; and your loyalties are skewed, cousin. AVADA KEDAVRA!"
His wand pointing straight at us, in a quick moment, the protection necklace I wore floated as I shouted, "PROTEGO!"
Along with the weak protection charm, the headless golden statue of the wizard in the fountain had sprung alive, leaping from its plinth, and landed on the floor with a crash between us and Voldemort. The spell merely glanced off its chest as the statue flung out its arms, properly protecting us.
"What— ?" said Voldemort, staring around. And then he breathed, "Dumbledore!"
Voldemort raised his wand and sent another jet of green light at Dumbledore, who turned and was gone in a whirling of his cloak; the next second he had reappeared behind Voldemort and waved his wand toward the remnants of the fountain; the other statues sprang to life too. The goblin and the house-elf scuttled toward the fireplaces set along the wall, and the one-armed centaur galloped at Voldemort, who vanished and reappeared beside the pool. The headless statue thrust us backwards, away from the fight, as Dumbledore advanced on Voldemort and the golden centaur cantered around them both.
"It was foolish to come here tonight, Tom," said Dumbledore calmly. "The Aurors are on their way—"
"By which time I shall be gone, and you: dead!" spat Voldemort. He sent another Killing Curse at Dumbledore but missed, instead, hitting the security guards desk, which burst into flame.
Dumbledore flicked his own wand. The force of the spell that emanated from it was such that I, though shielded by the stone guard, felt my hair stand on end as it passed, and this time Voldemort was forced to conjure a shining silver shield out of thin air to deflect it. The spell, whatever it was, caused no visible damage to the shield, though a deep, gong-like note reverberated from it, an oddly chilling sound.
"You do not seek to kill me, Dumbledore?" called Voldemort, his scarlet eyes narrowed over the top of the shield. "Above such brutality, are you?"
"We both know that there are other ways of destroying a man, Tom," Dumbledore said calmly, continuing to walk toward Voldemort as though he had not a fear in the world, as though nothing had happened to interrupt his stroll up the hall. "Merely taking your life would not satisfy me, I admit —"
"There is nothing worse than death, Dumbledore!" snarled Voldemort.
Voldemort and Dumbledore continued to throw spells at each other, duelling in front of Harry and me, as the stone guard protected us from the ricochets.
Voldemort vanished. The snake reared from the floor, ready to strike. For a few seconds, Voldemort was visible only as a dark, rippling, faceless figure, shimmering and indistinct upon the plinth, clearly struggling to throw off the suffocating mass —
Then he was gone, and the water fell with a crash back into its pool, slopping wildly over the sides, drenching the polished floor.
"MASTER!" screamed Bellatrix.
Dumbledore bellowed, "Stay where you two are!"
Dumbledore sounded frightened.
Form beside me, Harry howled in pain. Looking at him, I went to go reach for his hand but saw his eyes were red and cold.
"Kill me now, Dumbledore..."
Harry's voice didn't sound like his own; demonic and cold, just like Voldemort's. I crawled backwards away from him, terrified.
"If death is nothing, Dumbledore, kill the boy..."
"Let him go," I hissed at Voldemort who had possessed Harry.
I watched as a snake came out of Harry's mouth, slithering towards me and disappearing in this air. Harry dropped in an instant, slouching against the fountain wall. Quickly, I crawled back to Harry and moved his hair from his face, calling out to him and crying.
He opened his eyes and reached for his glasses next to him. There were voices echoing through the hall, more voices than before. Dumbledore crouched in front of us and looked at Harry in my arms.
"Are you all right, Harry?"
"Yes," said Harry, shaking so violently he could not hold his head up properly. "Yeah, I'm— where's Voldemort, where— who are all these— what's—"
Dumbeldore helped Harry to his feet as I supported his back, standing up as well. People rushed around the room, clamouring and asking Harry and me questions. Looking past Dumbledore, I saw the tiny gold statues of the house-elf and the goblin leading a stunned-looking Cornelius Fudge forward.
Fudge tried to have his men seize Dumbledore, but he just shook his head, "A few minutes ago you saw proof, with your own eyes, that I have been telling you the truth for a year. Lord Voldemort has returned, you have been chasing the wrong men for twelve months, and it is time you listened to sense!"
"I — don't — well —" blustered Fudge, "Dumbledore, you — you will need to tell me exactly — the Fountain of Magical Brethren — what happened?" he added in a kind of whimper, staring around at the floor, where the remains of the statues of the witch, wizard, and centaur now lay scattered.
"We can discuss that after I have sent Harry and Charlotte back to Hogwarts," said Dumbledore.
"Harry — Harry Potter?"
Fudge spun around and stared at Harry, who was still standing with me against the wall beside the fallen statue that had been guarding us during Dumbledore and Voldemort's duel.
"He-here? And a-another student?" said Fudge. "Why — what's all this about?"
"I shall explain everything," repeated Dumbledore, "when they are back at school."
Dumbledore walked over to us and charmed the golden wizard's head into a Portkey for Harry and me to use to get back to Hogwarts.
"Take this Portkey."
He held out the golden head of the statue. Harry and I placed our hands upon it.
"I shall see you two in half an hour," said Dumbledore quietly. "One... two... three..."
I felt the familiar sensation of a hook being jerked behind my navel. The polished wooden floor was gone from beneath our feet; the Atrium, Fudge, and Dumbledore had all disappeared and flew forward in a whirlwind of colour and sound.