▬▬▬ CHAPTER TWENTY NINE ▬▬▬

✨SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT✨: I was given yet another request for a Reading the Books fic on my series! So go check out NerdyandQu1rky's new book: Reading Aletheia!

Also I read the fic the Lorenzo Berkshire dude came from........ I regret everything 🙃 So I published this chapter as punishment (and you'll see why later)

THIS IS 10,000+ WORDS OMG 😩

I hope you guys... enjoy it 😇

Muahahahahaha!

(but tbh, I hate how this chapter was written so I'm sorry guys)

WHEN ESMERELDA FELT A HAND on her shoulder she nearly whipped out her knife and stabbed the person.

She shot up with a gasp, her senses immediately taking in the familiar scent of parchment paper and wood and her eyes catching sight of the familiar classroom interior. She was back in Hogwarts now and Pasiphaë was nowhere to be found.

"Essie?" Hannah said. "Um, history's over now. You fell asleep."

"I need to go," Esmerelda breathed out, scrambling out of her chair and rushing out of the room. She didn't even bother to grab her things and ignored Hannah's concerned calls. She quickly ducked away into an empty hallway and Mist traveled back to Grimmauld Place.

"Sirius! Sirius!" She shouted.

The living room she ended up in was empty and her shouts had woken up all the paintings. She could hear some of them grumbling in annoyance followed by her grandmother's ear-piercing shrieks.

Where is he?! Her heart was racing as she searched through the kitchen and the dining room, but Sirius was nowhere to be found.

"SIRIUS!" She shouted even louder.

Pasiphaë's words were ringing in her ears. Gaea was going to kill everyone who was a part of the Nine, that was for sure, but she was going to ruin their lives before doing it. Break them down. Destroy them from the inside. And for Esmerelda, the best way to do that was to kill the people closest to her.

She thought back to the Fates, the memory of them snipping the string flashing by in her eyes. She had been right all along, it was Sirius' string they had cut and this was what they had foretold.

There was no way to fight against fate, but she would damned if she didn't try.

The sound of footsteps caught her attention. She rushed back to the foyer where she spotted Sirius and Remus sprinting down the staircase. When both men spotted her, their eyes went wide with surprise.

"Essie!" Remus exclaimed. "What are you doing here? Did you leave school?"

"Something came up," she said quickly. "Sirius—you're in danger. Remember when the Fates cut that string before the school year started? That was your string and I was just given a dream from a psychotic immortal sorceress practically confirming it!"

"What—what are you talking about?" Sirius looked at her in pure confusion.

Oh. Right. He was completely out of the loop.

"There's an evil primordial goddess who's trying to rise to power and take over the world—her name's Gaea by the way—and this sorceress, Pasiphaë, is working with her. She visited me in my dreams and gave me the option to offer myself up because I'm one of the nine demigods that's been prophesized to take her down. I said 'no', and now she's planning on killing you to get to me," she explained in one breath.

Sirius turned slightly pale at that and so did Remus.

"But... but it was just a dream, wasn't it?" Remus said feebly. "It couldn't have actually happened."

She shook her head. "Demigod dreams are very much real and they work a lot different than mortal dreams. Pasiphaë is serious about this threat, and it doesn't help that the Fates showed themselves to you months ago and cut your own string. Uncle, please, let me take you to New York. We can hide you there and I can keep you safe—"

Her words died out when a brilliant white glow appeared in the room. Thinking it was an enemy that had intruded, Esmerelda unpinned her brooch and whirled around, labrys out at the ready.

But it wasn't a threat. Instead, it was a Patronus. A glowing white doe galloped into the room, somehow able to bypass the hundreds of protective spells that surrounded the house.

"Potter was tricked by the Dark Lord," came Snape's clipped voice. "He's under the impression that Sirius Black is being tortured in the Department of Mysteries and has left the premises with a group of other students."

The Patronus dispersed after that.

Esmerelda stared at the space it was occupied, her mind going crazy. Harry left the school too? It couldn't be a coincidence, him leaving and her getting that dream had to be connected somehow.

"I have to go," Sirius said immediately and she snapped her head back to him.

"No!" She cried out. "Didn't you hear a single thing I just said?! Sirius, your life is in danger!"

"And so is my godson's!" He roared back. "Remus we have to go, NOW!"

Remus nodded his head and had apparated away. Before Sirius could do the same thing, she grabbed his wrist to stop him.

"Listen to me! It's a trap!" She tried to make him see reason.

"Of course it is! A trap for Harry! I need to go!" He tried to pull himself free but she held on tighter.

"Wait," she said desperately. "Sirius, please, I made a spell—just let me—"

Sirius finally managed to wrench his hand free. "I have to go, Esmerelda!

He grabbed his wand and disappeared with a loud SNAP!

"Gods dammit!" She shouted out loud, nearly ripping her hair out.

Too many things were happening all at once and it left her head spinning.

She was certain that whatever trickery Voldemort had done to Harry came in the form of another vision, and she cursed the boy for not taking his Occlumency lessons seriously enough and Snape for being a shit teacher. Whatever trap Harry had fallen for was not only going to put him and a bunch of other kids in danger, but her uncle too.

The doe said they were all at the Department of Mysteries, right? Wasn't that in the Ministry building?

She had only been there once, but she pictured the interior of the building as much as she could before Mist traveling there.

Hopefully she wouldn't be too late.

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Harry had made a lot of mistakes in his life, but this was by far the worst and deadliest mistake he had ever made.

He had received a vision of Sirius being tortured in the Department of Mysteries and after failing to contact him, he had been certain that the vision was real.

But now with him, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Luna, Neville, and Cedric surrounded by Death Eaters, he was starting to realize that perhaps the vision had been fake all along.

"To me, Potter," Lucius Malfoy drawled, stepping forward. He had his wand aimed at them and the other hand reaching out with his palm up.

Harry's grip on the prophecy tightened.

"To me," Lucius said yet again.

"Where's Sirius?" Harry asked.

Several of the Death Eaters laughed. A harsh female voice from the midst of the shadowy figures to Harry's left said triumphantly, "The Dark Lord always knows!"

"Always," Lucius echoed softly. "Now, give me the prophecy, Potter."

"I want to know where Sirius is!"

"I want to know where Sirius is!" The woman mimicked. She and her fellow Death Eaters had closed in so that they were mere feet away from Harry and the others, the light from their wands dazzling his eyes.

"Bellatrix Black..." Neville voice shook beside him and that was when Harry turned his attention back to the woman.

Harry could see her clearly now, and he recognized the woman immediately. Bellatrix Black, Sirius' deranged cousin and Esmerelda's aunt.

Bellatrix's eyes lit up at the mention of her name, her dark eyes glinting with sadistic delight as she looked Neville over.

"Ohhh, I remember you! You were a little baby when we first met!" Bellatrix exclaimed, her voice wicked. "Yes, yes, Longbottom is it? I tortured your mummy and daddy! How are they, dear? I heard they've spent their lives stuck on that hospital bed for as long as I've been in my cell!"

Neville didn't reply, but his breathing grew harsh. Harry had no idea if he was feeling afraid or angry, maybe even both.

Bellatrix clicked her tongue in disappointment at the silence that followed her question. Her hooded eyes scanned the students and she made a small noise in the back of her throat.

"What a shame... I was expecting my niece to be here, I heard the two of you are quite close, Potter." She simpered. "I've heard lots about her. Esmerelda Black was it? Sirius' daughter? Oh, I've seen her pictures. Quite a dainty little thing, she reminds me more of Reggie."

"Hmm," Lucius hummed, looking around the group as well. "Yes, I'm surprised the girl isn't here. I would've thought she would want to 'save' her father."

"Where is he!" Harry demanded, ignoring the rising panic in his chest, the dread he had been fighting since they had first entered the ninety-seventh row. "He's here. I know he is."

"The little baby woke up fwightened and fort what it dweamed was twoo," Bellatrix said in a horrible, mock-baby voice. Harry felt Ron stir beside him.

"Don't do anything," he muttered. "Not yet—"

Bellatrix let out a raucous scream of laughter. "You hear him? You hear him? Giving instructions to the other children as though he thinks of fighting us!"

"Oh, you don't know Potter as I do, Bellatrix," Lucius said softly. "He has a great weakness for heroics; the Dark Lord understands this about him. Now give me the prophecy, Potter."

"I know Sirius is here," Harry said firmly. "I know you've got him!"

More of the Death Eaters laughed, though Bellatrix laughed the loudest of all.

"It's time you learned the difference between life and dreams, Potter," Lucius said, and Harry felt something sink to his stomach. "Now give me the prophecy, or we start using wands."

"Go on, then," he challenged, bringing his own wand up.

As he did so, the six wands of Ron, Hermione, Neville, Ginny, Luna, and Cedric rose on either side of him. The knot in Harry's stomach tightened. If Sirius really wasn't here, he had led his friends to their deaths for no reason at all...

But the Death Eaters did not strike.

"Hand over the prophecy and no one need get hurt," Lucius said coolly.

"Yeah, right!" Harry nearly laughed. "I give you this—prophecy, is it? And you'll just let us skip off home, will you?"

The words were hardly out of his mouth when Bellatrix shrieked, "Accio Proph—"

"—Protego!" He shouted before she could finish the spell. He managed to cling onto the prophecy.

"Oh, he knows how to play, little bitty baby Potter," she said, her mad eyes staring through the slits in her hood. "Very well, then—"

"—I TOLD YOU, NO!" Lucius roared at her. "If you smash it—!"

They need the prophecy, Harry realized. Maybe he could use it against them?

Bellatrix ripped the hood off of her head.

"You need more persuasion?" She said, her chest rising and falling rapidly. "Very well—take the smallest one," she ordered the Death Eaters beside her. "Let him watch while we torture the little girl. I'll do it."

Harry felt the others close in around Ginny. He stepped sideways so that he was right in front of her, the prophecy held up to his chest.

"You'll have to smash this if you want to attack any of us," he told Bellatrix. "I don't think your boss will be too pleased if you come back without it, will he?"

She stared at him, her eyes maddening.

"So," he continued. "What kind of prophecy are we talking about anyway?"

All he could do was stall at this point, hoping that the others could think of a way to get them out of this because his mind was blank.

"What kind of prophecy?" Bellatrix repeated, the grin fading from her face. "You jest, Harry Potter."

"Nope, not jesting," he replied, his eyes darting around for an escape route. "How come Voldemort wants it?"

Several of the Death Eaters let out low hisses.

"You dare speak his name?" She whispered.

"Yeah," he said. "Yeah, I've got no problem saying Vol—"

"—Shut your mouth!" Bellatrix shrieked. "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 recklessly.

He heard Hermione groan in despair, but he didn't stop.

"Voldemort? Yeah, his mother was a witch but his dad was a Muggle—or has he been telling you lot he's pureblood?"

"STUPEF—"

"—NO!"

A jet of red light had shot from the end of Bellatrix's wand, but Lucius had deflected it. His spell caused hers to hit the shelf a foot to the left of Harry and several of the glass orbs there shattered.

Two figures, pearly white as ghosts, fluid as smoke, unfurled themselves from the fragments of broken glass upon the floor and each began to speak. Their voices vied with each other, so that only fragments of what they were saying could be heard over Lucius and Bellatrix's shouts.

"...at the Solstice will come a new..." Said the figure of an old, bearded man.

"DO NOT ATTACK! WE NEED THE PROPHECY!"

"He dared—he dares—" Bellatrix shrieked incoherently. "—He stands there—filthy half-blood—"

"—WAIT UNTIL WE'VE GOT THE PROPHECY!" Lucius roared.

As they screamed at each other, Harry watched the glowing white figures, an idea sparking in his mind.

"You haven't told me what's so special about this prophecy I'm supposed to be handing over," he said, playing for time.

"Do not play games with us, Potter," Lucius said.

"I'm not playing games," he replied, discreetly stepping on someone's foot.

"What?" Hermione whispered beside him.

"Dumbledore never told you that the reason you bear that scar was hidden in the bowels of the Department of Mysteries?" Lucius sneered.

"I—what?" Harry momentarily forgot about his plan. "What about my scar?"

"What?" Hermione whispered more urgently.

"Can this be?" Lucius sounded maliciously delighted and some of the other Death Eaters laughed.

Harry used this chance to hiss out, "Smash shelves—"

"—Dumbledore never told you?" Lucius repeated. "Well, this explains why you didn't come earlier, Potter, the Dark Lord wondered why—"

"—when I say go—"

"—you didn't come running when he showed you the place where it was hidden in your dreams. He thought natural curiosity would make you want to hear the exact wording..."

"Did he?" Harry returned to the conversation. He could hear Hermione quietly passing on the message to the others and he kept talking to distract the Death Eaters. "So he wanted me to come and get it, did he? Why?"

"Why?" Lucius chuckled. "Because the only people who are permitted to retrieve a prophecy from the Department of Mysteries, Potter, are those about whom it was made, as the Dark Lord discovered when he attempted to use others to steal it for him."

"And why did he want to steal a prophecy about me?"

"About both of you, Potter, about both of you... Haven't you ever wondered why the Dark Lord tried to kill you as a baby?"

"Someone made a prophecy about Voldemort and me?" He said quietly. "And he's made me come and get it for him? Why couldn't he come and get it himself?"

"Get it himself?" Bellatrix cackled. "The Dark Lord, walk into the Ministry of Magic, when they are so sweetly ignoring his return? The Dark Lord, reveal himself to the Aurors, when at the moment they are wasting their time on my dear cousin?"

"So he's got you doing his dirty work for him, has he?" Harry shot. "Like he tried to get Sturgis to steal it—and Bode?"

"Very good, Potter, very good..." Lucius said slowly. "But the Dark Lord knows you are not unintell—"

"—NOW!" Harry yelled.

Six different voices behind him bellowed "REDUCTO!"

Six curses flew in different directions, all aiming for the shelves. They exploded as they hit, the towering structures swaying as a hundred glass spheres burst apart.

"RUN!" Harry yelled out next as more glass spheres began to rain on them. He grabbed the closest person to him and started dragging them away.

They were all yelling, there were cries of pain, thunderous crashes as the shelves collapsed upon themselves, weirdly echoing fragments of the Seers unleashed from their spheres.

Cedric stumbled into him and Harry pulled him up and shouted at him to follow. They made it passed the row and found the familiar door leading to the outside. They burst through it and Hermione—the person he had grabbed—magically sealed the door shut.

Harry looked around, nearly collapsing.

"Where—where are the others?" Harry asked, looking around. Everyone else was nowhere to be found.

"They must have gone the wrong way!" Hermione realized.

"We have to go back for them!" Cedric said quickly, only to freeze up.

Harry and Hermione froze up too, because the room had suddenly turned about fifty degrees colder.

Dark spots started to appear in his vision, but Harry suddenly realized that those dots were shadows. It was as if all the light and warmth in the building had been sucked away. At the far side of the room, he could see two figures.

The first one was a woman, breathtakingly beautiful, but her eyes held a madness that exceeded Bellatrix Lestrange's. Beside her was a much terrifying figure that was taller than even Hagrid. There was dark smoke pouring from his body, pooling around his feet, which were shaped like a dragon's with ash-colored scales. His upper body was covered in black armor like he was some sort of ancient warrior, and his braided hair seemed to be made of smoke. He had a dark complexion with cold blue eyes, and somehow that was more frightening that the woman's madness.

But it wasn't their startling appearances that kept the three of them speechless.

They radiated with power. It was like the first time Harry visited the Ollivanders, where he could sense the magic in the air coming from the wands. But this was different. The power they exuded was sinister and pouring out in massive amounts.

Harry dropped to his knees, as did Hermione and Cedric. As he fell, the glass sphere containing the prophecy shattered to the floor. A glowing white figure rose, whispering the words of his prophecy, but the ringing in his ears prevented him from hearing it.

His whole body was trembling. These people scared him more than Voldemort. He wasn't even sure if he was breathing anymore, but he could feel as if... as if something was being sapped away from him.

The woman's vicious dark eyes landed on the three of them and she tilted her head.

"She's not here," she said to the man, her voice velvety smooth. The man remained silent, but she didn't seem to mind. "This is fine. There's more people to use. Their deaths are bound to devastate her. Her uncle should be coming soon too."

Smoky black tendrils slithered from the man and wrapped itself around Cedric. Harry wanted to shout and do something to save him, but he was too frozen in fear.

Cedric started clutching at his throat like he couldn't breathe. When he stopped struggling, his mouth opened but it wasn't his voice speaking.

"Perhaps Hecate will show herself at last," he spoke in a deep, chilling voice. "I wonder how many wizards we need to kill in order for that to happen."

"Hecate should've been here the second we came, but I guess she doesn't care for her wizards," the woman said, looking furious. "No. The only one coming for their rescue will be the girl, but she will ultimately fail. Perhaps Hecate will try to save her..." 

The smoke left Cedric alone and the boy fell down, gasping for air and looking much paler than usual.

Harry wanted to ask if he was okay, but the room started to change before their eyes. The elaborate walls of the Ministry building turned to stone and massive structures shimmered into existence. The woman and man disappeared, hidden behind the hundreds of walls that surrounded them. The only sources of light came from the torches that had suddenly appeared.

Harry felt like he could breath again. He keeled over, grasping for air, his body weak as if he had ran a marathon. Beside him, he could hear Hermione sobbing and Cedric retching.

"What—what's happening...?!" Hermione's voice trembled.

They all struggled to stand. Harry could still feel the oppressive magic in the air as he looked around. It was as if they had been transported to an entirely different place. He could even smell mildew, which hadn't been there before.

Harry tried to help Cedric up, but it looked like the boy was several seconds away from passing out.

"Cedric," he said. "Are you alright?"

"Feel... weak," he struggled to say. "That smoke... don't touch it."

Harry decided to take that warning seriously, since Cedric looked as if his life force had been sapped away.

"W-where are we?" Hermione stammered, looking scared out of her mind. "Are we still at the Ministry?"

"I don't know," Harry swallowed thickly.

And then they heard the sound of heavy clacking, like a pair of hooves. They whirled around, wands raised as the figure rounded the corner. A beast more terrifying than anything Harry had ever seen appeared; a massive bull with sharp, thick, horns turned to face them. In its hands was a huge battle axe coated in blood.

Hermione reacted first. "Reducto!" She yelled, but nothing came out of her wand.

She looked at it in horror. "What?"

Harry tried it next. "Expelliarmus!" But no bright light shot out of his wand either.

The bull-like creature huffed out of his nostrils and let out a terrifying noise before running at them.

"Go! Hurry!" Hermione shouted at them before sprinting down the stony corridor. Harry, trying to support Cedric as much as he could, followed suit, hearing the creature's mighty roar followed by it's thunderous footsteps.

"This way!" Hermione darted left and they followed. They found another hallway onto freeze up at who they saw.

It was Voldemort, as if things couldn't get any worse. He was running towards them, but his head was directed back as a flurry of arrows shot at him from the sides. He was waving his wand to and fro, like he was trying to cast a spell to protect himself, but nothing was happening.

And then he turned forward, his snake-like eyes widening when he saw who was in front of him.

"POTTER!" He roared, his pace quickening.

"Run, run, run!" Harry shouted and they sprinted away.

He could hear Voldemort's angry shouts mixing in with the Minotaur's monstrous cries and he shuddered in response. There were too many things against them. Voldemort and his Death Eaters, the monster chasing after him and more terrifying, the two mysterious people who nearly rendered him immobile with just their presence alone.

It was a mistake coming here. They had no chance of winning. No chance of surviving.

Someone, Harry thought desperately. Someone get us out of here!

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The rest of the Order was already at the Ministry when Esmerelda got there. But the Ministry looked nothing like the last time she visited.

No, Esmerelda thought, pain squeezing around her heart as she recognized the familiar walls of the Labyrinth. No, no, no, please not this place again...!

But she knew it wasn't real. She could feel the Mist trying to twist her mind, trying to force her to see a different reality that she knew wasn't real. This was just an illusion, but of all the illusions the caster had to choose...

"What is this place?" Tonks wondered aloud, doing a 360. "This can't be the Ministry..."

"Esmerelda, what are you doing here?!" Sirius fretted, running over to her side. "Merlin, you should've stayed back at the house—"

"—Shut up, just shut up," she said, her voice hitched an octave higher and her breath quickening as panic seized her veins. She clenched her eyes shut, trying to push away the haunted memories of the Labyrinth from several years ago.

She could see flashes of tears spilling down Luke's blue eyes, Ethan's desperate voice begging her to leave, and Alabaster's shaking hands as he tried to free her from her binds. The onslaught of memories felt like a hand wrapped around her throat, keeping her from breathing.

"Constant vigilance, Black!" Moody's barking voice snapped her back to reality. "Esmerelda, do you know what's going on here?"

She managed a shaky nod. "It's the Mist—everything you're seeing right now is just an illusion."

She almost forgot that Moody had no idea about the demigod world, but he just nodded and motioned for her to continue on.

"This place isn't safe for you all to be here," she said hurriedly. "Something big is going on—bigger than Voldemort and the Death Eaters. You all need to leave right now."

All of them were about to protest until a dark, chilling voice spoke up: "You can't leave just yet, witch."

She turned around, her blood running cold when she met Ginny's watering eyes. There was smoke encasing a majority of her stiffened body, and the voice leaving her lips didn't belong to her.

"Ginny!" Esmerelda ran for her, but a stony wall appeared and she ended up slamming her head onto it.

She fell back with a cry, only to realize that more walls had erected and separated her from the rest of the Order.

"No," she whimpered, rising to her feet. "SIRIUS! TONKS! ANYBODY!"

All she heard were a bunch of guttural shrieks that pierced the air. She hoped those were just parts of the illusion too.

A figure shimmered before her.

"See how much easier it would've been if you just gave in?" Pasiphaë tutted. "Now your friends shall wander the walls of the Labyrinth until they die or lose their minds, and you only have yourself to thank for that."

"How are you doing this?" Esmerelda asked. "The Labyrinth—Minos was the one who—"

"—Don't speak of his name!" She spat. "His version of the Labyrinth was nothing impressive, you've seen it yourself, haven't you? It was quite boring, not much magic in it. Mine is far more superior, don't you think?"

"This—this isn't real," she rasped, shaking her head.

"This illusion will solidify itself to reality," Pasiphaë said. "Beginning in the wizarding world your mother once cherished. And it will swallow your loved ones whole until they lose themselves to madness or perish." 

"Then I'll go!" Esmerelda cried out desperately. "I'll go, alright?! I'll let you take me to Gaea! Please, please don't kill them!"

"It's much too late for that," the immortal sorceress shook her head. "Now have fun roaming around, daughter of Hecate. I've decided to let you stay and watch your loved ones succumb to their fates before whisking you away to face yours."

Pasiphaë disappeared, leaving Esmerelda alone.

She could barely breathe right at this point. This was an illusion, she knew it, but it looked and felt so painfully real. Pasiphaë was probably watching her roam around in sick amusement, and everyone she loved was probably being tortured now too.

This isn't real, she told herself, feeling her own Mist seep out of her body to fight against Pasiphaë's. This isn't real!

The wall beside her started to wither away, revealing the familiar walls of the Ministry. It was working. She was breaking the illusion apart.

She dashed down the corridor, her green Mist spreading out and destroying anything it could touch. The smell of mildew started to fade away and walls started to disappear one by one.

As she turned the corner, she nearly crashed into a familiar brunette.

"Hermione!" She gasped.

"Essie, run!" Her eyes were wide with terror. Harry and Cedric were behind him, screaming as a figure approached. It was an axe-wielding Minotaur.

Quickly, she shoved the three of them behind her and stuck an arm out, green Mist wrapping itself around the monster and dissipating it.

Harry stared at her. "How did you—"

"—None of this is real! This whole Labyrinth is just an illusion for now, and I'm trying to get rid of it but it's hard," she winced. "It's like something's making me weaker."

"Our magic isn't working!" Hermione whimpered. "We—we tried to attack that t-thing but our magic's completely gone!"

Now that certainly wasn't right. If their spells didn't work on the Minotaur then that would make sense, but for their spells to not show? Could Pasiphaë be the cause of that?

Esmerelda pushed that concern to the back of her head. There were more important matters to focus on.

"The rest of the Order's here, but I can't find them. You all stick with me, we have to find everyone else," she ordered them as they ducked into another corridor, her magic destroying the towering walls surrounding them.

"We lost Ron, Ginny, Luna, and Neville," Harry told her. "And—and there's Death Eaters here, Voldemort as well."

She gave him a sharp look at that.

"One of the Death Eaters must have summoned him before... before this happened. We almost ran into him," he mumbled. "There was this trap and well, he was more occupied with that."

"He couldn't have done this," Hermione whispered. "Even he looked confused. His magic wasn't working either."

"Essie, do you know what's going on?" Cedric asked her, looking ill.

She didn't reply, too busy on channeling as much Mist as she could to get rid of the illusion.

Someone ended up falling through one of the walls that dissipated. It was Ron, and Neville, trying to support a weakened Ginny with Luna hurried to bring him up to his feet.

"Ron!" Hermione hurried forward. "Oh Merlin, you guys are okay!"

"Death Eater!" Ron rasped. "Behind us!"

Running after them was a bloody looking Death Eater. The hallway he was in was rapidly shrinking in on him with spikes attached to the walls, but Esmerelda quickly dissipated that too before throwing her labrys straight into his chest.

Some of them made noises of horror at the murder, but Esmerelda couldn't care less. She looked around, noticing that she managed to disillusion a good chunk of the room they were trapped in.

She could see highly polished dark wooden floors, a peacock-blue ceiling inlaid with moving golden symbols, and a part of the huge fountain they had.

She remembered this place. It was the Atrium of the Ministry, one of its biggest rooms. No wonder Pasiphaë used this to remake the Labyrinth, it was certainly large enough to create a mini death maze.

But she only managed to restore a quarter of it, there was still 75% of the room to go. She had a feeling that Pasiphaë was allowing her to destroy her illusion though. She was thousands of years old, her power levels definitely exceeded a sixteen year old girl's.

She's toying with me, she thought, her head pounding. She's letting me do this, so there must be something else she has planned...

She thought of her uncle, and the foreboding message Pasiphaë gave her about fatal flaws.

Sirius, she realized.

Oh she was going to be sick. Whatever Pasiphaë was going to do to him was going to be horrible, a thousand times worse than leaving him to fend for himself in the Labyrinth.

She needed to find him quickly.

"This way," she urged everyone to follow her as she went deeper into the Labyrinth, her Mist expanding and causing more of it to disappear. Almost half of the Labyrinth was gone now, and as parts of Atrium shimmered back into existence, she spotted several Death Eaters. Some were dead, having fallen victim to the traps or were viciously killed by the monsters.

Cedric shuddered when they passed by a dead body. "I don't get it. I thought you said this was an illusion, how are they...?"

"Some illusions can be so real they make an impact on reality," she explained vaguely. "So yes, while most of the Labyrinth isn't real for now, you can still die here."

Everyone fell silent, not understanding her explanation.

"What happened to Ginny?" Harry asked in concern, changing the subject.

"We don't know," Luna answered, her once light and airy voice now heavy with fear. "We found her like this on the ground. There was a dark smoke surrounding her body, but it went away when we got closer."

Hermione sucked in a breath. "Is she—?"

"She's alive," Neville confirmed.

"We need to get out of here," Luna whispered, looking down at Ginny worriedly. "She needs help. We could escape through the floo."

"The fireplaces?" Esmerelda asked. Her head darted to the left side of the long hallway, where a row of gilded fireplaces were stationed against the wall.

Cedric noticed where she was looking at and shook his head weakly.

"No," he rasped. "The ones on the left only allow people to enter the Atrium. The fireplaces on the right is the exit way. We have to use those."

Esmerelda turned to the right, where a majority of Labyrinth still laid intact.

There was a chance all exits were sealed off, but she had to take the risk. She didn't have enough power in her to even Mist travel away, let alone get everyone out. Whatever Pasiphaë was doing to sap her of her magic was working good. Escaping through the floo was the only chance they had. They were all out of options after all.

"Then we head right," she decided, redirecting herself as her Mist followed. "We still need to find everyone too."

"Do you know them?" Harry asked her. "Those two guys?"

"No—wait, two?" She whirled around to face him, her eyes wide.

"There's two other people here," Harry explained. "They're not Death Eaters though, but they're the ones who did this. I've never seen them before... and their power, it's—"

"—What did they look like?" She asked quickly.

"One was a woman, she was in this Ancient Greek dress. The other was... was a man, I think. He didn't look human... He was terrifying. His legs looked like a dragon's, and there was smoke coming out of his body. He was also really really tall." He tried to describe.

"How tall?" She was almost afraid of the answer.

"Much taller than Hagrid, and he's half giant," he said.

"He had to have been five meters tall or something," Cedric added.

Esmerelda felt like she was going to throw up as she put all the pieces together.

Pasiphaë had to have been working with one of the Gigantes, and she recalled one of them being the Bane of Hecate. Clytius. That must have been the man they saw. As Hecate's bane, he had the ability to absorb and defeat all of Hecate's magic. That was why none of the wizard's magic was working and that was why hers was so weak.

He was only defeated through the combined efforts of Hercules, Dionysus (who had been a demigod at the time), and Hecate. Her mother had finished him off by setting him alight with her twin torches.

So fire was his main weakness, except she wasn't exactly stellar at using fire spells. She doubted incendio would be strong enough to destroy him. There was bombarda, but she had doubts about that too. She'd probably have to spam it a hundred times to make a sizable dent on him.

Fighting would be futile especially since she was the only demigod around and there was no god to help them.

They were doomed. They were so so doomed.

But maybe things were looking up for them.

After several more minutes, the Atrium of the Ministry was finally restored and all remnants of the Labyrinth was gone. The stony walls and floors were gone, and the true Atrium was back. Bodies littered the floor, dead or alive, Order members or Death Eaters. She spotted Moody yanking Tonks back up to her feet, Bellatrix shrieking for the Dark Lord, and then—

"No!" Cedric cried out. "It's—it's that smoke again!"

Smoke was spreading towards them from the other end of the room. It swallowed up the half of the Atrium, rapidly flooding towards them. Lucius had long been trapped by it, and Bellatrix, who was trying to reach Voldemort,  become victim to it next, and once the others realized that they weren't coming back out, they started to panic and back away from the smoke.

No, wait. It wasn't smoke. It was dark Mist.

Suddenly Esmerelda realized what had happened to Ginny. Clytius' dark Mist could make demigods and mortals faint upon contact if they stayed for too long, and the longer they stayed in contact with the Mist the more of their life force would be sapped away. That was why Ginny was out cold and why Cedric looked so weak.

"Go!" Esmerelda said urgently, pushing Neville and Luna towards the right-side fireplaces. "Go! Grab someone and go!"

Luna and Neville hurriedly dragged Ginny to the fireplaces while Harry did the same with Cedric. Esmerelda, Ron, and Hermione were sprinting for the other Order members to get them back up. Some of the Death Eaters realized what the kids were doing and started sprinting for it too.

It was a race for the remaining exits. The amount of fireplaces were dwindling fast with the dark Mist gettng closer to their side of the room. Death Eaters was shoving each around, some even yanked the kids out of the fireplaces to take it instead. One Death Eater, after pulling Harry and Cedric out of the fireplace, was the first to leave.

Esmerelda hurriedly went over to Remus, very well aware of the chaos going on at the fireplaces. Ron got Tonks and Moody while Hermione got Kingsley.

"We got to get to the fireplaces!" She told the dazed wizard, who managed a nod. She pulled him up to his feet and dragged him to the only exit ways left.

But there was still one person missing.

Where's Sirius?!

Rather than joining Remus inside the fireplace, she stepped back and said, "Hurry and leave! Go to Hogwarts or back to the base!"

"Esmerelda, you have to come with me!" He told her.

She shook her. "No, I can't! Just go!"

Remus, through gritted teeth, shouted "Grimmauld Place!" And disappeared in a burst of green flames.

One by one, the other fireplaces followed. But Harry, at the last second, cried out, "Sirius!"

He leapt out of the fireplace just as it burst into green flames and transported Cedric away. Esmerelda snapped her head to his direction and saw what he was looking at.

She spotted Sirius face down on the floor, at the very center of what was left of the room.

What? She thought. He hadn't been there before...!

"Harry, wait!"

But he didn't listen, so she ran after him.

"Sirius!" She called out, dropping to her knees in front of him as Harry did the same. She turned him over to see blood trickling down from his head, but his breathing was heavy. He was alive.

Sirius let out a haggard groan before his grey eyes fluttered open, dazed and weak.

"Essie, Harry," he croaked, trying to sit back up. "There was... a monster and—"

"—Not now, we have to get out of here! Come on, get up!" She said hastily.

Sirius grabbed his wand and staggered up to his feet.

"No," Harry whimpered as they looked around. "They're gone."

The exits were gone now. The dark Mist circled around them in a twenty foot radius but didn't get any closer. They were trapped.

"You took forever," Pasiphaë drawled, appearing before them. "I was beginning to think you were never going to get out of there."

Esmerelda would've replied, but her eyes were glued onto the figure standing behind her. It was a herculean man, terrifying, and humongous just like Harry described. Her throat ran dry when she locked eyes with him. 

Cold blue eyes that glinted like diamonds. 

She had seen those eyes before. Months ago, back in the dream she had while she was on the way back to Hogwarts. She remembered how weak she had become, how easily he controlled her body like a puppet... 

She had been dreaming of Clytius that day. 

He was a lot more terrifying to meet in person, and he was mostly obscured by his Mist. He had no weapon on him, but she doubted he would need it. Her magic wouldn't give him so much as a scratch and he could easily run at her and snap her neck with his bare hands.

She didn't know what to do. There was no way she could fight off Pasiphaë and Clytius while trying to protect Sirius and Harry. There was also the fact that they were surrounded by a dark Mist that would literally drain them of their life force if they touched it. She had to do something now, but what could she do?

Pasiphaë saw the terror in her eyes and gave her a blood curdling smile. "Having fun, Esmerelda?"

"Let them go, Pasiphaë," she said, her voice trembling. "I'll let you kill me, just let them go."

The sorceress just chuckled, as if she had said a funny joke.

"That wouldn't be much fun," she said, shaking her head. "Besides, I'm not here to kill you just yet, but don't worry, you'll get your wish soon once we're done here. Unfortunately, Gaea needs you alive for now, but that doesn't mean we can't break your spirits down."

Well they were certainly doing a fine job of breaking her spirits down. Esmerelda had never felt so much despair in her whole life. She was cornered, these guys were gonna send her away somewhere to kill her, and her uncle was soon to follow a more painful fate. As for Harry, well, they were probably going to kill him too.

"I wasn't expecting you to stay though," Pasiphaë addressed Harry. "You're not really the main objective here, though I thank you for being fooled so easily. My original goal was just to torture Sirius a little bit and have Esmerelda come running to save him, but your Dark Lord already had something similar to that so I just sat back and let him do all the work for me. I knew you would be tricked, I knew Sirius would come to save you, and I knew Esmerelda would come to save him. So really, thank you. None of this couldn't have happened if it weren't for your participation."

She finished it off with a mock curtsy and Harry's breathing turned hard.

"I didn't know," he told Sirius and Esmerelda shakily, his eyes already welling with tears. "I shouldn't have—I'm sorry—"

"—It's alright, Harry," Sirius reassured him. "This isn't your fault."

Pasiphaë's dark eyes drifted over to him and she let out an almost dreamy sigh. "You truly are very handsome, you know that? Much more preferable than my wretched husband. It's such a shame that we'll have to kill you."

Sirius gulped at that. He stepped a little closer to Esmerelda to whisper, "Please tell me you've got a plan."

"I don't," she whispered back, her eyes darted around the dark Mist that surrounded them. How fast did it work? Were all the Death Eaters inside dead already?

"Though you're not very bright, are you?" Pasiphaë continued, her lips curling upwards. "You really should've listened to your niece when she said it was a trap. I guess you can consider this a double trap though. None of you were expecting us, but Clytius and I figured we'd be killing two birds with one stone: we get to torture Hecate's daughter and kill off her precious wizards at the same time. Pity she didn't come. I would've loved to destroy her."

Mother, Esmerelda prayed desperately. Please, please help us!

But she knew deep down that Hecate wasn't going to come, not when the gods were given strict orders to stay away and stop interfering.

Clytius rapped his knuckles against the wall, creating a sound akin to a building breaking down.

A sneering look crawled over Pasiphaë's face. "Excuse him, he's just getting impatient," she said, shooting the giant a cutting look over her shoulder. "I'll get things started now. Harry, since you've been such a great help, I've decided to spare you and give you front row seats to the show."

Before Harry could say anything to that, she snapped her fingers and the floor underneath him grew hands, grabbing onto his feet and ankles in order to keep him still.

"What the—?!" He almost fell forward when he tried to pry his legs free. Esmerelda and Sirius were at his side at an instant, trying to free him.

Esmerelda wanted to hack at it with her labrys until she realized that she left it still attached to that Death Eater's chest when she killed him. She mentally cursed. Usually she would never be that careless, but being in this sort of situation—with all her mortal loved ones in danger—left her distracted.

She used one of her knives instead to try and chip away at it. The floors were made of rich wood, so his 'shackles' were also made of the same material. Or at least they should've. Pasiphaë must have added an extra enchantment on them because they were as hard as a brick.

"I would've done the same for Voldemort since he did do all the work for me," Pasiphaë drawled. "But he's hideous so I'd rather he die out. I give him, hmm... five more minutes?"

Sirius would've laughed at her casual dismissal of possibly the Darkest Wizard ever created, but he felt like throwing up instead. He had never felt so scared before. It was the same fear he felt when he realized he was going to waste away in Azkaban for life, except in this situation, he, his godson, and his niece were all about to die.

"As for you Esmerelda," Pasiphaë smiled at her. "Say goodbye to your uncle. Because you'll be the one to kill him."

The words took her by surprise and it was at that moment she felt her mind being invaded. Pasiphaë's orders echoed in her ears as she turned stiffly rose to her feet and stepped away from Harry, her hand tightening around her knife.

Sirius stumbled back when he noticed her brandishing her knife.

"E-Esmerelda?" His terrified eyes met hers. "Esmerelda, what are you—what are you doing?!"

She took a step forward, her legs trembling and her arms shaking as she tried to lift up the blade. Stop! She yelled at herself. STOP!

"ESSIE STOP!" Harry yelled out hoarsely. His eyes were wide in terror. What was she doing?!

"Essie...!" Sirius called out, swallowing thickly. "Essie..."

Realization sunk into her. The way he was calling out to her at this very moment, reminded her of her dream. The only difference was that there wasn't any blood spilling down his lips.

No, she thought with dread. Her dream was coming true. It was her knife that had stabbed him because she was the one who was going to kill him.

She was his murderer all along.

"She's controlling you," Sirius said shakily. "It's ch-charmspeak. You know how to fight against it. You can fight against it."

She could. She had done it before countless of times, but never against an immortal sorceress.

But she continued to try. She thought back to her dream, determined to never let it happen. She would not be Sirius' killer. Sirius would not die tonight—by her hand or anyone else's.

Her limbs stiffened to a halt.

"She's fighting back," she heard Pasiphaë say to Clytius.

Just when she was starting to have better control of her body, the next worse thing happened: more dark Mist poured out from Clytius' body and slithered over to her. They pooled around her legs before trailing up, coiling around her limbs and neck. She shivered, this sort of Mist was more different than she thought. It felt almost solid, like a snake wrapping itself around her. She recalled her other dream about him. He had controlled her though the dark Mist too. 

She could feel her energy being sucked away from the contact, and dark spots danced around her vision. She was too weak to fight back when the Mist forced her to move forward.

Harry, realizing that it was hopeless, shouted at Sirius, "Run!"

Sirius backed away, dashing towards the edge of the circle only to freeze when a dark voice called out to him through Esmerelda's lips.

"There is no escape," Clytius' voice spoke chillingly as tears poured down Esmerelda's face. "You are trapped and surrounded. It's futile to run away from your fate."

As if to prove his point, the circle of dark Mist started to shrink, forcing Sirius to back away from it and get closer to Esmerelda.

She lunged at him, knife raised.

"NOO!" Harry screamed.

Sirius brought his arms up and grabbed at her wrists, trying to push her back, but it was almost impossible. He was starting to realize just how physically strong demigods were compared to mortals, because his teenage niece was forcing her arms forward with ease to the point that he was nearly bending back.

The tip of knife was getting dangerously close to his face, and he quickly brought his leg up to kick her away. It worked, but only for a short amount of time. She lunged at him again, this time managing to tackle him to the floor.

"AH!" He yelped when she stabbed down, the blade just skimming his head when he turned away.

"Esmerelda, stop it please!" He begged, grabbing her arms again and trying to pry her off of him. He could feel her knife cut at his hands, but he was too desperate to care. "Break free!"

He looked up at her, his hopes sinking when he saw the almost lifeless look in her eyes. The dark Mist was nearly draining her and her body was closer to becoming a puppet than a living human.

And then he heard her:

"N... no..." She struggled to say, her eyes watering once more. She tried to pull back from him and toss the knife away, but Clytius' Mist grew stronger. It tightened it's grasp around her and fought back.

There was a loud SNAP coming from Esmerelda's wrist as the Mist broke through the bone before forcing her to bring the knife down.

Broken, pained sobs escaped Esmerelda's lips as Clytius continued to break more of her body in order to make it more malleable to his commands. Suddenly she could feel his heavy footsteps approaching them and a heavy weight on her back.

More Mist had piled onto her, forcing her to stay in place and keeping her and Sirius even more trapped.

The knife was underneath her, just inches away from piercing Sirius' abdomen. Burning pain coursed through her body the more she tried to fight back against his control. Her body was much too broken at this point, but she still tried to struggle against her restraints.

Clytius's Mist pushed her down even further and her blade drew closer to Sirius. The dark Mist wrapped around her arm tried to force the knife down but she tried to turn her hand away. She could feel her control slipping away. She knew any second now her body would finally succumb to the pain and she would go back to being his puppet—to being Sirius' killer. She was running out of time and options. She did the only thing she could: turn the knife towards herself.

She would not kill her uncle. And Gaea was not going to use her for her plans to take over the world. She would die before any of that could happen.

Sirius realized what was happening because his eyes widened in terror.

"No!" He cried out. "NO, STOP!"

Clytius pressed down harder and her body finally gave way. She fell flat against her uncle's thrashing body, the blade of her knife stabbing deep inside her stomach.

Her body registered it instantly. She sucked in a deep breath, pain traveling throughout her abdomen. She could hear Sirius screaming and could feel the heavy weight leave her back.

"Oh gods!" Pasiphaë gasped. "No! You idiot! You killed her! We needed her alive! Her blood won't be fresh anymore!"

Clytius was too panicked to even use anyone's voice to reply.

There was an oppressive tension in the air, as if Gaea had showed up. Pasiphaë must have sensed it too because she let out a shiver.

"We're leaving...!" She ordered and the pair of them disappeared in a poof, the dark Mist leaving with them.

Harry was finally freed. He stumbled forward, nearly falling once more. He dropped to his knees and crawled towards the two Blacks, choking on his sobs.

"Essie...! Essie!" He cried out.

"No...!" Sirius moaned in pain, his eyes clenched shut as if to avoid facing the truth. But he could feel it. Esmerelda's body was slowly becoming heavier and he could feel her blood pouring down on his front. He could feel the hilt of her knife pressing against his stomach and fell into sobs once more.

Slowly he sat back up, Esmerelda nearly slipping off until he caught her. He laid her on the floor, his eyes taking in her dying form.

Harry placed his hands around the knife, trying to keep the blood in, but it would be futile.

"Why, why, why?!" Sirius wailed. "Esmerelda, why would you...?"

"I'm sorry," she choked out, her voice small and feeble. "I couldn't let you—"

"—You should've let me die!" He shouted at her, his body racked with emotions.

She tried to shake her head.

"You deserve..." her breathing was becoming haggard and slow. "Good things." She rasped, a trail of blood dripping down her lips.

He shook his head feebly, whimpering, "No, no, no..." on repeat.

He grabbed his wand from the floor and muttered as many healing spells as he could, but nothing happened. He didn't even remember that his magic could never affect her until he watched it fizzle around her body.

He knew the spell to heal the wound, he knew the spell to bandage it, he knew all the fucking spells that could save her.

But they would never work on her.

He couldn't save her. Nothing could save her.

She reached out with her broken hand, grasping his as tightly as she could. He squeezed it back like it was a lifeline. With her other hand, she reached out to gingerly touch her stomach, and Harry slowly pulled away, realizing that nothing could be done.

"It doesn't hurt anymore..." she whispered, her voice soft and her eyes staring up at Sirius like she didn't even know it was there anymore. She looked like she could cry tears of joy. "The pain... it's all gone."

And Esmerelda continued to stare at him, her eyes unblinking and her chest no longer moving.

(Thousands of miles away, the son of Hades collapsed to his knees, sensing the last of his family disappear from the world of the living.)

Sirius felt like he couldn't breathe anymore as he continued to stare back at her unblinking eyes. Harry's cries sounded like he was miles away and his hand felt numb as he clutched her cold one.

He didn't even have a moment to grieve when noise erupted all around him.

He could vaguely register Bellatrix recovering from the dark Mist and shrieking out for her Dark Lord, and the fwoosh sound as people arrived to the Atrium through the fireplaces.

"You-Know-Who!" Someone screamed, pointing at the distance.

"MASTER! MASTER, GET UP! PLEASE!" Bellatrix shrieked, trying to pull Voldemort up and drag him to the closes fireplace.

"Bellatrix Lestrange!" Another wizard cried out in a quivering voice.

The Ministry wizards were too busy panicking to themselves to stop her from reaching the escape route. She carried Voldemort as she stepped in. But before they left, she gave Harry and Sirius one last deranged look.

"Curse you, Harry Potter! And curse you, Sirius Black!"

It was like a dam broke.

Sirius felt a rope magically tie itself around him and he finally snapped out of it.

"NO!" He roared savagely, trying to break free. "NOOOOO!"

"STOP IT!" Harry screamed. He tried to run forward, but Dumbledore held him back. "LET ME GO! LET HIM GO! STOP IT, HE'S INNOCENT!"

Wizards began dragging Sirius even further away from his niece, who's body remained still as more wizards began surrounding her.

"Oh Merlin, is that a student?!"

"She's dead! She's dead!"

"That's Esmerelda Black! Did—did he kill her?"

Sirius continued to scream out hoarsely until a stunner hit him in the back.

Let this be a dream, he prayed as he began to lose consciousness. Let this all be a terrible dream.

But it wasn't a dream. He knew it. His own niece had sacrificed herself for him and now she was dead. When he woke up, he would be locked up behind bars once more and Esmerelda Black was going to be nothing but a memory.

— author's note —

Essie's dead, yaaaay!

🥳 🥳 🥳

To those who asked for her death, you're welcome!!! 😊

So my initial plan was to have Harry escape with the rest of them, but in the books he was there to witness the pain of Sirius' death so I felt like he should've stayed to witness Essie's death too 🤗

Also, yes Harry and co. still rode thestrals to the Ministry even though he didn't see Cedric die. I like the image of them riding up in invisible horses and looking funny and shit 😂Plus didn't he kill Quirrell with his love disease hands??? He witnessed his death so he should've been able to see thestrals since then, right?

Oh and for everyone wondering why I had Bellatrix be the first to recover and drag Voldemort to safety instead of, you know, Voldemort himself, well...

Bellatrix > Voldemort DUH 😌💅

Anyways, I figured some of you guys might need some cheering up so I made a bunch of cute lil memes for you all!

-ophee IS AT IT AGAIN GUYS :D (ignore the birth years tho):

From Dragon Queen: 

This beauty was made by Stink (from Quotev). In the last chapter, we were talking about a Youtuber AU of my characters and Stink gave birth to this masterpiece:

(Look at the fucking ad breaks that boy has 😂😂😂 And Alabaster's comment at the bottom too XD)

(Also, that one dislike is either from Alabaster or Maxence)

(Oh and Stink used James Charles' apology video as a template 💀)

Hope you enjoyed! ❤️