I had heard whispers in Gryffindor Tower from the Weasley twins about some kind of grand escape, but I never thought that they would take the opportunity to bring the OWLs to a halt, enrage Umbridge, and practically destroy the Great Hall with fireworks in the process. I have never been so proud. We all stood in the courtyard watching and cheering, and I saluted them proudly as they flew off into the cloudy sky, their legacy forever cemented as the greatest tricksters to ever attend Hogwarts.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Harry begin to sway and I barely made it over to him before he collapsed on the ground. I grabbed Harry's hand and gasped as images flooded my mind.
Sirius standing in a dimly lit room, and a snake-like man circling him. I knew immediately that it was Voldemort. "I need that prophecy." He said in a voice barely above a whisper. Sirius smirked, shaking his head. "You'll have to kill me." He said, and Voldemort gave him a cold, lipless smile. "Oh, I will. But first, you will fetch it for me." He hissed, raising his wand. "Crucio! Crucio!" He cried, making Sirius cry out in agony. The vision ended abruptly and I saw Hermione join Harry and me on the ground, her face concerned. "Sirius." We said at the same time, and Harry looked at me in confusion. "You saw it too?" I nodded, fearful. "I don't know how, but we don't have time to worry about that. If what we saw it true, he's got Sirius."
We quickly found Ron, following Harry as he hurried towards the only office with a working Floo system - Umbridge's. The fleeting thought of "she's the headmistress, you'll get expelled" crossed my mind, but it was quickly pushed out of sight when I thought about Sirius being at the mercy of Voldemort. "Alert the Order, if you can." Harry said, throwing a fistful of powder into the fireplace and it sprang to life in a roar of emerald green flames. "Are you mental? We're going with you!" Ron protested loudly. Harry shook his head firmly. "It's too dangerous."
I stared at him in disbelief. "When have we ever been ones to run from danger?" I asked, and Hermione nodded in agreement. "When are you going to get it into your head? We're in this together."
A crazed, shrilly voice resounded behind us, making all four of us freeze in fear. "That you are!" We turned to see Umbridge standing there, covered in soot from the fireworks, a manic smile on her face.
In almost no time, Umbridge had the leaders of Dumbledore's Army assembled in her office, all of us being held in place by members of the Inquisitorial Squad. Draco avoided my eyes, which were fixed on him in a hard glare. I knew this wasn't his fault, but it was hard to not be mad at him when he proudly wore that stupid silver badge and manhandled my friends, all under the command of the toad Headmistress Umbridge.
Harry was sat on a chair in front of Umbridge's desk and she loomed over him, her voice deadly calm when she spoke. "You were going to Dumbledore, weren't you?" Harry shook his head and tried to speak, but Umbridge slapped him hard. "LIAR!" She yelled. I fought against the Goon Squad member who was holding me, but his grip was too strong.
Dad walked through the door and my eyes widened, hoping that he was here to set Umbridge straight. "You sent for me, Headmistress?" He said in a bored voice, killing my hope. "Snape, yes. The time has come for answers, whether they want to give them or not. Have you brought the Veritaserum?" Umbridge asked, staring at Harry smugly. "I'm afraid you used up all my stores, interrogating students. The last of it on Miss Chang. Unless you wish to poison him - and I assure you I would have the greatest sympathy if you did - I cannot help you." Dad said, and my heart dropped - Cho was telling the truth all along, and we had completely alienated her.
Dad turned to leave, and I opened my mouth to beg him to help, but Harry beat me to it. "He's got Padfoot! He's got Padfoot at the place where it's hidden!" This made Dad stop, and I knew that he knew what Harry was talking about. His eyes met my pleading gaze, begging him to help us rescue Sirius.
"Padfoot? What is Padfoot? Where what is hidden? What is he talking about Snape?" Umbridge asked, looking from Harry to Dad in annoyance. "No idea," Dad said, sweeping from the room without so much as a second glance at me, effectively killing any hope I had of him taking action against Umbridge and helping us. He was really going to abandon us.
Umbridge stared into space for a second, almost like she was deciding something. "Very well. You give me no choice, Potter. As this is a matter of Ministry Security, you leave me with... no other alternative. The Cruiciatus Curse ought to loosen your tongue." Her words made everyone in the room tense up, and I began to struggle harder against my captor, desperate to fight her. "That's illegal," Hermione said, her voice steady but laced with frantic fear.
"What Cornelius doesn't know won't hurt him," Umbridge said, putting her framed photo of the Minister face-down on her desk, raising her wand and preparing to curse Harry. She opened her mouth but was interrupted by Hermione screaming "Tell her, Harry!"
Umbridge glanced over at Hermione, clearly annoyed at her interference. "Tell me what?" She said, and Hermione looked at Harry, nervous. "Well, if you won't tell her where it is, I will," Hermione said, and Umbridge looked like she was teetering on the edge of insanity now. "Where WHAT is?" Hermione paused before responding, and her words made Umbridge's toad-like face light up. "Dumbledore's secret weapon."
-----
Umbridge left us in her office, guarded by the Goon Squad, while she let Hermione and Harry lead her to whatever rouse Hermione had concocted in her head and dubbed "Dumbledore's secret weapon". I looked around at my friends, and knew that we were all thinking the same thing - we have to get out of here. We have to get to the Ministry. Lots of desperate eye contact and covert mouthing-of-words ensued until Ron spoke up suddenly.
"Look, mate, it's been a long bloody day, I haven't eaten, and I've got a bag of sweets in my pocket. You mind if I have a few?" We stared at him, knowing full well it was a bag of prank sweets from Fred and George's private stores that he had nicked until it hit us. He was trying to trick the Goon Squad into eating the foul candy so we could escape. I looked over at Draco, begging him silently to play along.
Draco stared at me for a split second before strolling over to Ron, smirking. "That's a fine idea, Weasley. What do you say, boys? Shall we have a few sweets?" He said, snatching the bag from Ron's pocket and passing it around to his mates. He looked over at me for a second and winked quickly, popping one of the little caramel candies into his mouth.
It took less than 15 seconds before complete, utterly disgusting madness ensued. Every member of the Goon Squad became violently sick, holding their stomachs and wretching. We quickly broke away from them, dashing towards the door and running out of the castle.
We met Hermione and Harry halfway across the bridge, both of them looking equal parts relieved and horrified. Once we all explained how we had escaped the wrath of the Goon Squad, we were left with the impossible question - how do we get to London? Luna was the one to answer, surprisingly. "We fly, of course."
-----
It was my very first visit to the Ministry of Magic, and if I had anything to say about it, it would be my very last. Running through the shelves of the Hall of Prophecy, firing spells left and right at masked figures that Harry explained frantically were known as Death Eaters, I was beyond terrified. Harry clutched on tightly to the glass ball of swirling mist - his prophecy, that described the fate he would face in the battle against Voldemort. Sirius wasn't where he had been in the vision, so we were on a desperate chase to find him and stay alive.
At the end of the hall, we found a lone door, but it opened to nothing. Just a black, all-encompassing empty space that went on seemingly forever. But with the Death Eaters closing in, we had no choice - one after another, we jumped. I could hear my friends screams over my own as we fell, the air rushing rapidly around us as we descended into darkness. Abruptly and painfully, we were stopped by some invisible force field, suspended in mid-air a few inches above the ground until we were suddenly dropped onto the solid surface, groaning. We got up quickly, taking in our surroundings. It was a huge room, with a platform in the middle that held two stone columns with what looked like opaque, silver water floating between them in a sheet, but you could barely see to the other side - it was almost like a veil.
I looked around for Harry, who was nowhere to be seen. Before I could find him, I was roughly grabbed by someone much bigger and stronger than me, and I screamed loudly, kicking and fighting back against their vice grip. We backed up against the wall and he grabbed the hair on top of my head, forcing me to tilt my head back as he pressed his wand into my neck, staying silent. I saw that my friends had encountered the same fate, all of them standing with their captors against the wall, terrified of the silent threat of a wand at their throats. A few moments later, Harry appeared on the platform, looking around and his eyes became wide when he saw the position his friends and his sister were in. A man with long blonde hair stepped forward from the shadows, and I couldn't help but notice he bore a frightening resemblance to Draco.
"Did you actually believe, or were you truly naive enough to think that children stood a chance, against us? I'll make this simple for you, Potter. Give me the prophecy now, or watch your friends and your sister die." The man said, holding out his hand. "Don't give it to him, Harry!!" Neville shouted, and was quickly silenced by the woman holding him. I couldn't stop myself from trying to get to Harry when he began to hand the prophecy to the man, but I gasped with joy when I saw Sirius come onto the platform. "Get away from my godson," Sirius said simply and punched the blonde man in the face.
The Death Eaters released us as they swarmed towards the platform, and we took the opportunity to begin to stun them, ready for the inevitable fight. I fought with more and more confidence as members of the Order began to apparate into the room, launching into battle. Our DA training was on full display as we fought alongside the Order, matching their skill spell for spell. The fighting ceased, however, when a yell from the platform made us all stop dead to look towards it. The crazed woman who had been holding Neville had jumped onto the platform, pushing the blonde man aside and pointing her wand at Sirius. "Avada Kedavra!!" She screeched, and the spell hit him dead on.
Everything moved in slow motion. Sirius staggered backward, the life beginning to drain from him. He looked at Harry once, a hint of a smile on his face, before he fell back into the shimmering veil, his body drifting away and disappearing into nothingness. I felt the scream leave my chest as I rushed forward, but I was caught and held back by Ron and Neville. Harry was grabbed by Professor Lupin before he could run after Sirius, and he was screaming and fighting against his human bonds just like me. I wept bitterly as the reality hit me over and over that my godfather, my last real link to the family that had been taken from me 14 years ago, was gone. He had been murdered.
I saw Harry break away from Lupin and run after the woman, who was slinking away from the scene and laughing madly, "I killed Sirius Black!". I heard Harry scream, "Crucio!" from the next room over and that snapped me out of my painful trance - Harry had just used an Unforgivable Curse. I looked around at the other Order members, who seemed just as shocked as I felt. As I looked around the room, I could see that we were the only ones in the dark, cavernous space. For some reason, the Death Eaters had fled the scene and instead of feeling relieved, I felt even more nervous than before.
Fear coursed through me when I heard a voice in my head, the same raspy voice from the vision - Voldemort's voice. "You've got to mean it, Harry. She killed him. She deserves it. You know the spell, Harry." I followed the path that Harry had taken into the hall, despite the protests of the others, and peeked around the corner of the doorway. I immediately wished that I hadn't. Sheer, icy terror gripped my heart when I saw Voldemort standing behind my brother.
Before I could open my mouth to warn him, Voldemort yelled: "DO IT!" Harry whipped around and was quickly disarmed by him, a sneer on Voldemort's face. "So weak!" He mocked, his wand pointed at Harry. He was interrupted, though, by a roar of green flames a few grates down from where Harry lay on the ground. Dumbledore emerged from the fire, his face stony. "It was foolish of you to come here tonight, Tom. The Aurors are on their way." Voldemort stepped away from Harry, his face twisting into a cruel smile. "By which time I shall be gone. And you... shall be dead." At his words, he fired a curse at Dumbledore, and the battle began.
It was incredible and terrifying to watch, seeing the true Headmaster of Hogwarts battle the most terrifying villain the Wizarding World has ever know. By now, the others had joined me in watching at the edge of the hall, not daring to help - we would surely be killed. The fight raged on, practically destroying the entire room until Voldemort seemed to have finally had enough and turned his attention towards Harry. He practically flew to him, disappearing once he reached Harry. I was confused for a moment, but when Harry's body began to contort slightly and his breathing and voice changed, I became horrified - Voldemort had possessed him. Dumbledore rushed over, dropping to his knees beside Harry. "You... you've lost, old man," Harry said, but in Voldemort's voice. "Harry," Dumbledore said in a hushed voice, astonished and broken.
Tears fell down my face as I realized the gravity of the situation - Voldemort was capable of entering my brother's body and controlling him. The tears fell faster as Harry tried to fight back, yells of pain echoing around the room. "Harry, it isn't how you are alike. It's how you are not!" Dumbledore said, trying to coax Harry back to reality, convincing him to be strong and fight back. We began to move closer towards them, and when Harry caught sight of us, his eyes began to flash back to green for a moment, instead of Voldemort's demonic shade of red. "...You're the weak one. And you'll never know love or friendship. And I feel sorry for you." Harry choked out, and we saw Voldemort physically expelled from Harry's body.
Dumbledore was thrown backward, and Voldemort encased Harry and himself in a bubble, seemingly impenetrable to outsiders. Even if we wanted to move, there was no way we could have - everything around us froze the moment Voldemort trapped himself with Harry in the bubble. "You're a fool, Harry Potter. And you will lose everything." He said softly, standing over Harry menacingly. Before he could harm Harry, the Aurors and the Minister appeared in the hall. Voldemort's head snapped up, and he stayed long enough to let Minister Fudge get a good look at him before apparating away, the bubble disappearing nearly as fast as Voldemort had. "He's back." Fudge said in shock.
-----
"I'm really sorry, about Sirius." Draco said, rubbing my back as we stood in an abandoned classroom, our trunks and rucksacks strewed around us. We always snuck off on the last day of term to say our goodbyes, never certain if we were going to see each other over the holidays. I held back my tears at the mention of my godfather, still grieving. "Thanks, Draco," I said, looking up at him. For a moment, I wanted to mention the blonde man I had seen at the Ministry, but I decided to let it lie. "Do you really want me to come and see you this summer? I mean, do you think it would be safe?" I said uncertainly, biting my lip.
Draco nodded, smiling at me. "I really do, Isa. I want you to see where I live, everything." I thought it was a little suspicious that he didn't mention his family in that sentence, but my mind went blank when he pressed his lips to mine, my hands automatically sliding up his arms to twist into his hair. "I love you. Always." He murmured when we broke apart, and I smiled softly. "Forever." I agreed, wrapping my arms around his neck and hugging him tightly, burying my face in the crook of his neck. "Write to me, please," I said and Draco nodded, pressing a small kiss to my neck and holding me close.
We shared one last, long kiss before leaving the classroom quickly, going our separate ways. I caught up to Harry and the gang quickly outside the castle, making our way down to the train. It had been arranged that I would arrive home before Dad, as he had a few things to tend to at school that would keep him here a few days after the end of the term. Honestly, I didn't mind - after his dismissal of Harry's pleas in Umbridge's office, I could care less if he came home at all.
"I've been thinking about something Dumbledore said to me." Harry said suddenly, and we all turned to look at him. "What's that?" Hermione said. "That even though we got a fight ahead of us, we've got one thing that Voldemort doesn't have." Harry said and Ron looked at him curiously. "Yeah?" He asked, and Harry smiled. "Something worth fighting for." I smiled and grabbed his free hand, squeezing it and looking around at my friends. We really did have something worth fighting for here, and I knew that with them by my side, I would fight to protect it with my dying breath. This love, this friendship, it was too precious to lose. It was something that Voldemort could never have, and that was enough for us.
(A/n: This whole chapter hurt really, really bad, I won't lie to y'all. But that's the end of the Order of the Phoenix! Next up: the Half-Blood Prince! And goddamn, does it get dramatic from here on out - this book was just a teaser of the emotional roller coaster that is to come. Thank you so, so much for reading, my lovelies! I hope you enjoyed this chapter and if you did, make sure you subscribe/add this story to your reading list/library to get notified every time I update - Mondays and Thursdays, and I really do try to adhere to that schedule! Feel free to leave feedback/votes! Love y'all!! - H xx )