"Row ninety seven!" Hermione whispered as they approached the row.
Sirius was bound to be here, Ginny thought nervously. Otherwise they just went all that way for nothing...
"He's right down at the end," Harry croaked. "You can't see properly from here..."
They began their crawl past the rows and rows of glass balls.
They reached the end.
No one was there.
"Harry," said Hermione softly.
Harry didn't speak but a slight increase of breath told Ginny he was probably silently hyperventilating.
"Harry," said Hermione again.
Harry began to run down the length of the corridors, staring down each row earnestly, still without a sound, then the other way, faster and faster...
"Harry," said Hermione. "I don't think Sirius is here."
Still, nobody spoke. Harry stood still at the end of what was probably row one hundred four, staring into its empty depths.
This time, it was Ron who said, "Harry."
"What?" Harry snapped acidly.
"Have you seen this?"
"What?"
Harry sprinted back to their row, eager to see what Ron was staring at, but it was nothing but another glass orb.
"What?" Harry said glumly.
"It's got your name on it."
The hairs on Ginny's arm rose and she glanced at Hermione nervously to see if she noticed, but the older girl was entranced by the orb that captivated Ron and Harry's attention as well. "It must be nice to be tall," she muttered sourly as she tried to stand on her toes to see.
Ignoring her, Harry slowly reached for the orb. A thin veil of dust fluttered off as it moved.
Then suddenly, a sneering and all too familiar voice said, "Very good, Potter. Now turn around, nice and slowly, and give that to me."
>>>•Luna•<<<
Mist swirled around the floor like snakes, thick and coiling and all flowing towards the heart of the room. The deeper she went, the louder they whispered.
"At the break of dawn the oath of blood and fire..."
"The fall of the Majesty by the one who hides in plain sight..."
"Go to Alaska, find Thanatos and free him, come back by June twenty-fourth or die..."
The whispering grew louder and louder.
"Eighteen days hence, the light of the sea will fly..."
"The forge and the dove shall break the cage..."
"I know Sirius is here—"
The mysterious mist moved sluggishly, like it was freezing. Or arriving at its destination...
" —I know you've got him!"
"It's time you learned the difference between life and dreams..."
Luna froze and the whispering ceased. These weren't the hiddlebips in the orbs...
"... Give me the prophecy, or we start using wands."
"Go on then." There was a fierce determination in the speaker's voice that made it clear to Luna that it was Harry speaking.
"Give us the prophecy and no one has to get hurt. We'll tell Tremene to spare your friends."
Luna crept around the side of the shelves.
"You have Annabeth?" Ginny demanded fiercely.
"Give us the prophecy and they live," the Death Eater said softly.
There was a tense silence.
Piper and Jason, Luna thought. Percy, Nico, Thalia, Annabeth...
"Why does Voldemort want the prophecy anyway?"
"Shut your mouth!" a female voice screeched. "You dare speak his name with your unworthy lips, you dare besmirch it with your half-blood's tongue, you dare—"
"Did you know he's a half blood too?" Harry said loudly. "Voldemort? Yeah, his mother was a witch but his dad was a Muggle — or has he been telling you he's pureblood?"
"STUPEFY!"
"PROTEGO!"
"BOMBARDA MAXIMA!"
Three jets of light shot from three different wands. The Death Eater who fired the red stunning spell screeched in anger as it bounced off of Hermione's shield, but it was a cry cut short as the shelf behind them erupted into splinters of wood and glass.
"RUN!" Harry bellowed as he fired a jet of light towards the particularly chatty Death Eater. Figures barrelled past Luna, who stood stock still with her wand outstretched and a dazed look frozen on her face. "RUN!"
Someone seized Luna's robes and she thrashed on instinct, her wand stabbing the attacker in the ear. He roared in pain and let go — Luna fired another spell and followed the snakes of mist once again. She ducked and wove through gaps in the shelves until the mist began to slow again.
"Luna!" someone hissed. Luna whirled around and came face to face with a clammy-skinned Ginny.
"Ginny!" Luna exclaimed quietly. "Where's Hermione? Where's Ron and Harry?"
"I don't know," said Ginny. Her jaw trembled from the amount of force she was grinding her teeth with. "Where did you come from? Where's Jason and Piper?"
"Oh, the biddlebugs will lead them," Luna assured her friend. "We need to find Annabeth and Thalia and Percy and Nico. They're in trouble."
Ginny stared at Luna. "Okay," she said in a low voice. "Where could they be though? I don't know if you've noticed but the Department of Mysteries is huge."
"Back to the spin," Luna said. She seized Ginny's hand and double checked the direction of the mist before sprinting along the rows.
"Luna," Ginny hissed. "Do you know where you're going?"
"Just follow the hiddlebips," Luna exclaimed. She picked up speed, turned the corner, and ran headfirst into a figure cloaked in black.
In one fluid motion, Nico had dropped to one knee and kicked Luna's legs out from underneath her. The two girls spilled to the ground.
"Oh gods, Luna? Ginny?"
Annabeth hurried up to them and helped them up with a dirty look at Nico. "Why are you here alone? Where are the others?"
"Annabeth!" Ginny exclaimed and embraced her. "Thank the gods!"
"Glad you're not dead too, where are the others?" Thalia asked sharply. Her eyes were unnaturally dull and her skin looked pale.
"Piper and Jason are with the biddlebugs," Luna explained serenely. "And Harry and Ron and Hermione and Neville are somewhere else."
"Are they in here as well?" Percy asked. "There are Death Eaters, and did Sirius—"
"Sirius isn't here," Ginny whispered. "And the others are in here, we ran into the Death Eaters, except I don't know where Piper and Jason are."
"We've got to find them," Annabeth said in a low voice. "Now. Which way to the main room?"
"Follow the hiddlebips," Luna advised, and she took off down the corridor.