Harry and (Y/n) both perked up, almost doubting that Sirius was still all right in the short amount of time they had fallen out of sight.
Sirius stared at (Y/n) as though she herself had raised the stars, moon, and sun.
(Y/n) groaned in relief, bowing her head and resting it against the forearm that she placed on the bench in front of her. She heard Harry fly to his feet and leap from step to step to reach Sirius. From the sounds of it, Kingsley had picked up the duel with Bellatrix the moment she started throwing a tantrum.
"You all right?" Neville asked nasally. There was a tapping sound from which Neville's feet lightly hit the ground. (Y/n) silently pointed her wand at him, stopping his dancing feet. "Thanks..." (Y/n) half-heartedly held a thumbs up.
"I'm taking a nice, long nap after this," (Y/n) mumbled.
"That sounds real nice," Neville agreed. (Y/n) finally raised her head and twisted, cracking her back. She stretched her arms out in front of her, looking around.
Mad-Eye Moody had crawled over to the unconscious Tonks and was attempting to revive them. There were still flashes of light, grunts, and cries around the room. Alice was hurrying over to Neville, who had gotten up to meet her. Harry, James, and Remus were all with Sirius, immensely relieved that he was still alive. Remus was scolding Sirius whilst James was more hysterical over the idea of almost losing his best friend. (Y/n) had been right about Kingsley taking over the duel against Bellatrix.
For the second time since they arrived at the Ministry, (Y/n) took her hair out of the claw clip, which had loosened immensely. and combed through it. She twisted her hair and made to clip her hair back in place. She was soon to grow livid as the claw broke before she was able to do so. Angrily, she tossed the broken pieces of her clip down, not acknowledging Sirius's shout of her name until she was sure all of the plastic pieces were out of her hair. She turned her head painstakingly slow to specifically get on Sirius's nerves. Sirius, however, did not seem to care at all. (Y/n) held a peace sign up at him.
"That's three times I owe you," Sirius said. (Y/n)'s peace sign quite smoothly turned into a rather rude gesture.
"It's four," Marlene corrected.
There was a loud bang and a yell from behind Harry, James, Remus, and Sirius. Kingsley, yelling in pain, hit the ground. 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. (Y/n) just narrowly ducked a flash of green light.
"Harry— no!" Remus cried, but Harry was already pelting after Bellatrix. (Y/n) scrambled to her feet the moment Harry started leaping up the stone benches.
"This one's mine, Potter," (Y/n) said.
"In your dreams, (Y/l/n)," Harry retorted, following (Y/n) up the benches. The two of them ignored the shouts behind them. Bellatrix's robes whipped out of sight ahead and they were back in the room where the brains were swimming.
Bellatrix aimed a curse over her shoulder. The tank rose into the air and tipped. Harry was deluged in the foul-smelling potion within. The brains slipped and slid over him and began spinning their long, coloured tentacles, but Harry shouted, "Wingardium Leviosa!" and they flew into the air away from him.
Penny, Lily, Dorcas, and Frank, each of whom were caring for one of the kids, had all whipped in their direction the moment they heard running footsteps.
"Harry! (Y/n)!" the adults cried as the pair ran past them. Harry had needed to leap over the groaning Luna, who was just barely stirring, clutching her head.
"Harry— (Y/n)— what—?" Ginny tried asking as they ran past her two. Ron giggled feebly as they passed and Hermione, whom Lily was hovering over, was still unconscious. (Y/n) wrenched open the door into the circular black hall and saw Bellatrix disappearing through a door on the other side of the room— beyond her was the corridor leading back to the lifts.
They ran, but Bellatrix slammed the door behind her and the walls had begun turning again. Once more were they surrounded by streaks of blue light from the whirling candelabra.
"Where's the exit?" Harry shouted desperately as the wall rumbled to a halt again. "Where's the way out?"
"This one!" (Y/n) exclaimed, for she had been listening to Bellatrix's footsteps. As though waiting for them to ask, the door (Y/n) was heading for flew open and the corridor toward the lits stretched ahead of them, torch-lit and empty. They ran again...
The sound of a clattering lift was ahead of them. Harry sprinted up the passageway, swung around the corner, and slammed his fist onto the button to call the second lift. It jangled and banged lower and lower; the grilles slid open and the pair dashed inside, now hammering the button marked Atrium. The doors slid shut and they were rising.
"We're so dead," (Y/n) said.
"Not before Bellatrix," Harry said. (Y/n)'s lips turned up.
"Your mum's going to chew us a new one," (Y/n) said.
"Probably," Harry agreed.
The two flew out of the lift before the grilles were even fully opened. Bellatrix was almost at the telephone lift at the other end of the hall, but she looked back as Harry and (Y/n) sprinted toward her and aimed another spell at either of them. Harry dodged behind the Fountain of Magical Brethren, forcing (Y/n) along with him; The spell zoomed past them and hit the wrought gold gates at the other end of the Atrium so that they rang like bells. There were no more footsteps. She had stopped running. Harry crouched behind the statues and (Y/n) followed, listening.
"Come out, come out, little Harry and baby Whistler!" Bellatrix 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 finish my dear cousin's job!"
"I am!" shouted Harry, and a score of ghostly Harrys seemed to chorus I am! I am! I am! all around the room.
"Aaaaaah... did you love him, little baby Potter?"
Hatred rose in Harry such as he had never known before. He flung himself out from behind the fountain and bellowed "Crucio!"
Bellatrix screamed. The spell had knocked her off her feet, but she did not writhe and shriek in pain as Neville had— she was already on her feet again, breathless, no longer laughing. Harry dodged behind the golden fountain again— her counterspell hit the head of the handsome wizard, which was blown off and landed twenty feet away, gouging long scratches into the wooden floor.
"Never used an Unforgivable Curse before, have you, boy?" Bellatrix 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's done, shall I? I'll give you a lesson—"
Harry had been edging around the fountain on the other side. She screamed, "Crucio!" and he was forced to duck down again as the centaur's arm, holding its bow, spun off and landed with a crash on the floor a short distance from the golden wizard's head.
"Potter, you cannot win against me!" Bellatrix cried. She was moving right, trying to get a clear shot of one of them. Harry backed around the statue away from her, his hand not once leaving (Y/n)'s. They crouched behind the centaur's legs. "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 kids, can never hope to compete—"
"Stupefy!" yelled Harry. He had edged right around to where the goblin stood beaming up at the now headless wizard and taken aim at her back as she peered around the fountain for them. She reacted so fast he barely had time to duck.
"Protego!"
The jet of red light, Harry's own Stunning Spell, bounced back at him. He scrambled back behind the fountain and (Y/n) gave him a stern look as the goblin's ears went flying across the room. (Y/n) silently motioned for Harry to go one way whilst she would go the other and they both could get Bellatrix at the same time.
"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!"
"Well, you're going to have to kill me, because it's gone!" Harry roared— and as he shouted it, pain seared across his forehead. "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?"
"What? What do you mean?" Bellatrix cried, and for the first time, there was fear in her voice.
"The Prophecy smashed when I was trying to get Neville up the steps! What do you think Voldemort'll say about that, then?"
"LIAR!" Bellatrix shrieked, terror evident behind her anger. "YOU'VE GOT IT, POTTER, AND YOU WILL GIVE IT TO ME— Accio Prophecy! ACCIO PROPHECY!"
Harry laughed again because he knew it would incense her, the pain building in his head so badly he thought his skull might burst. He waved his empty hand from behind the one-eared goblin and withdrew it quickly as she sent another jet of green light flying at him.
"Nothing there!" Harry shouted. "Nothing to summon. It smashed and nobody other than (Y/n) heard what it said, tell your boss that—"
"Harry," (Y/n) hissed, absolutely dismayed that she was thrown under the bus. "He's here—"
"No!" Bellatrix screamed. "It isn't true, you're lying— MASTER, I TRIED, I TRIED— DO NOT PUNISH ME—"
"Don't waste your breath!" yelled Harry, his eyes screwed up against the pain in his scar, nor more terrible than ever. "He can't hear you from here!"
"Can't I, Potter?" said a high, cold voice.
Harry's eyes flew open and at once he realized why (Y/n) had been so upset.
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 (Y/n), both of whom stood frozen, 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 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. Do you think I entered the Ministry of Magic to hear your snivelling apologies?"
"But Master— he is here— he is bellow—"
Voldemort paid no attention, instead turning his eyes on (Y/n), who Harry could feel tremble. (Y/n)'s stomach dropped and she cowered back as Voldemort continued slowly striding toward the pair.
"My Death eaters have let me down," Voldemort said softly, "but you will not, will you?" Harry watched as (Y/n)'s eyes seemed to gloss over and her eyes unfocused. Her back had straightened and she had gone oddly slack, her wand fell to the floor with a clatter. "Yes, a mind as open as yours... I must thank you, Potter, for leading her right to me..."
Harry was panicking, unsure of what to do. He knew Voldemort was looking through (Y/n)'s mind and there was nothing he could do about it. He regretted, more than anything, leaving the Department of Mysteries and allowing (Y/n) to come with him.
Voldemort had stopped walking as he searched (Y/n)'s mind. There was the occasional flutter to (Y/n)'s eyes and a furrow to where Harry would have guessed Voldemort's eyebrows were whenever (Y/n) tried fighting against the assault on her mind. At length, Voldemort tilted his head, frustrated with (Y/n)'s refusal to give him the very thing he sought.
"Hand it over, girl, and I may spare your life," Voldemort demanded. (Y/n) gave no answer that Harry heard. "You stupid girl. If you do not give it over willingly," Voldemort said, "I will be taking it with force... I am giving you the option to keep your memory, do you not wish for that?"
"Do it," Harry hissed to (Y/n). "Please— just do it—" Voldemort let out a heavy sigh.
"Very well," Voldemort said calmly, pacing toward them once again. "You know, when I went to Hogwarts, Ravenclaws had to have at least some intelligence," he said condescendingly. "Something you must clearly lack, no?"
"Don't listen to him," Harry whispered. "Come on, snap out of it—"
"Though, I really must sympathize with the Sorting Hat," Voldemort continued. "I mean, there isn't a House of Mudbloods, is there? There is no place your kind belongs."
Knowing of (Y/n)'s insecurity when it came to belonging, Harry said furiously, "What, like you yourself aren't a half-blood?" Voldemort spared Harry only one small glance.
"You Muggle sympathizers are all the same," Voldemort said coolly. "You may pretend she is a witch all you want, but that does not change the fact she has no real magic."
"That isn't true!" Harry protested, mainly speaking to (Y/n). "She's got power beyond what I will know. My Muggle-born friends are the brightest of my time! You know that, (Y/n)!"
"What Muggle wouldn't be the brightest?" Voldemort laughed cruelly. "Our textbooks, I suspect, must read up like fantasy to them... Stayed up all night memorizing our work, did you? You are a thief, not a witch. Stealing a toolbox does not mean you will be able to build a thing. Mudbloods can memorize the theory all they want, but they can never apply it." As unresponsive as she was in her daze, Harry noticed tears leaving (Y/n)'s eyes.
Seeing Voldemort raise his wand, Harry grew frantic and defensive. "Don't kill her! Don't you dare!"
"Fond of her, are you?" Voldemort taunted. He paused, again looking through (Y/n)'s mind. "Yes... She's got quite the lot of people fond of her, doesn't she? Keeping her alive will be more beneficial for me. I will refrain from doing so, but I wish to prove a point." Voldemort, quite lazily, held out his wand. His outstretched arm was directly level with (Y/n)'s forehead.
"What're you doing?!" Harry bellowed, flying in front of (Y/n). Bellatrix, however, blasted Harry out of Voldemort's way.
"Taking back what is ours," Voldemort answered simply.
More tears left (Y/n)'s eyes, for she seemed plenty aware of what was going on yet she was unable to do anything. With one last effort, (Y/n) tried, really tried to shut off her mind. Everything was silent— there was no longer the rushed footsteps and frantic questions being thrown around from below; There was no rattling of the lift as it went up; There was no gentle tapping from Bellatrix, who seemed quite anxious at the time. Only Voldemort's soft whisper of, "Obliviate!" before it all went dark.