Black shapes were emerging out of thin air all around us, blocking our way left and right; eyes glinted through slits in hoods, a dozen lit wand tips were pointing directly at their hearts.

“And this is what happens to when you don’t listen to me Harry!” I said in exasperation.

“Not really the time Willow.” Harry moaned.

“To me, Potter,” repeated the drawling voice of Lucius Malfoy as he held out his hand, palm up.

“Sorry, can you shut up for a minute Malfoy? Thanks. Harry. I want an apology.”

Silence.

“I WANT AN APOLOGY!”

“GIVE IT TO ME!” Lucius Malfoy screamed.

“I’M SPEAKING HERE!” I shouted back.

“Where’s Sirius?” Harry said.

Several of the Death Eaters laughed. A harsh female voice from the midst of the shadowy figures to my left said triumphantly, “The Dark Lord always knows!”

“Always,” echoed Malfoy softly. “Now, give me the prophecy, Potter.”

“I want to know where Sirius is!”

“I want to know where Sirius is!” mimicked the woman to my left. She and her fellow Death Eaters had closed in so that they were mere feet away from us.

“You’ve got him,” said Harry. “He’s here. I know he is.”

“The little baby woke up fwightened and fort what it dweamed was twoo,” said the woman in a horrible, mock-baby voice.

“Don’t do anything,” Harry muttered to Ron. “Not yet —”

The woman who had mimicked him 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,” said Malfoy softly.“He has a great weakness for heroics; the Dark Lord understands this about him. Now give me the prophecy, Potter.”

“You know Harry, I still haven’t had my apology. And Malfoy, did I give you permission to talk?” I said strictly.

Bellatrix let out another high-pitched laugh.

“I’m sorry Willow.” Harry said tensely.

“And you Malfoy, you need to apologise too, for talking out of line.”

“I’m- what- huh?” he said, sounding quite unlike his cool sense he normally was.

“Apowogise to the itty bitty baby.” Bella mocked.

“Thank, though you laughed out of line too, so I think you have to apologise too.”

I hope this plan is working. The plan I hadn’t thought of properly. I hoped Harry had given everyone instructions.

When he grabs my wrist to shut me up, he should have finished.

Right wrist, he figured it out.

Left wrist, he has no idea, but wants me to shut up so I don’t get killed.

“How dare you speak to me like that with your filthy half-blood tongue?”

I opened my mouth to speak, but Harry stopped me by grabbing my wrist. He pushed me behind him.

My left wrist.

Shit.

“I know Sirius is here,” said Harry. He’s a persistent little prick isn’t he? “I know you’ve got him!”

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

“It’s time you learned the difference between life and dreams, Potter,” said Malfoy. “Now give me the prophecy, or we start using wands.”

“Go on, then,” said Harry, raising his own wand to chest height. As he did so, the six of us raised our wands too.

But the Death Eaters did not strike.

“Hand over the prophecy and no one need get hurt,” said Malfoy coolly.

It was Harry’s turn to laugh.

“Yeah, right!” he said. “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 (I’m assuming that’s her name now) shrieked, “Accio Proph —”

Harry was just ready for her. He shouted “Protego!” before she had finished her spell, and though the glass sphere slipped to the tips of his fingers he managed to cling on to it.

“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 Malfoy roared. “If you smash it — !”

Harry’s mind was racing. The Death Eaters wanted this dusty spun-glass sphere. He had no interest in it. He just wanted to get them all out of this alive, make sure that none of his friends paid a terrible price for his stupidity . . .

She stepped forward, away from her fellows, and pulled off her hood. Azkaban had hollowed Bellatrix Lestrange’s face, making it gaunt and skull-like, but it was alive with a feverish, fanatical glow. Oh hey, it was her.

“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.”

I felt the others close in around Ginny and me.

Which one of us is smaller?

She seemed to be thinking the same thing, and we looked at each other and shrugged.

“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 did not move; she merely stared at him, the tip of her tongue moistening her thin mouth.

“So,” said Harry, “what kind of prophecy are we talking about anyway?”

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

“Nope, not jesting,” said Harry; My eyes flicked from Death Eater to Death Eater, looking for a weak link, a space through which we could escape. “How come Voldemort wants it?”

Several of the Death Eaters let out low hisses.

“You dare speak his name?” whispered Bellatrix.

“Yeah,” said Harry, maintaining his tight grip on the glass ball, expecting another attempt to bewitch it from him. “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?” said Harry recklessly. “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 Lestrange’s wand, but Malfoy 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.

I wish I was a ceiling fan.

Not a fan of a ceiling.

You know, one of those things that spins around and round, while being attached to the ceiling.

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 Malfoy 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 —” shrieked Bellatrix incoherently. “— He stands there — filthy half-blood —”

“WAIT UNTIL WE’VE GOT THE PROPHECY!” bawled Malfoy.

“. . . and none will come after . . .” said the figure of a young woman.

The two figures that had burst from the shattered spheres had melted into thin air. Nothing remained of them or their erstwhile homes but fragments of glass upon the floor.

Harry, I noticed, did a little hand twitch thing which he does when he gets ideas.

I swivelled him behind me, and started talking, with a great big smile on my face.

“Don’t you like it when we say Voldemort?” I asked Bellatrix

“How dare-“

“Oh, please, get some new lines. You and Voldemort always saying the same thing. All the frickin’ time.”

“SHUT UP!” she screamed.

“VOLDEMORT! VOLDEMORT! VOLDEMORT!” I screamed, and she shot a curse at me, that Lucius Malfoy deflected, he shouted something at her about the prophecy again, but I thought differently.

I’m not holding the prophecy, I could be killed, and it wouldn’t break the prophecy would it?

“Willow!” Harry shouted, and pulled me, by my right wrist, behind him.

Sweet.

“You haven’t told me what’s so special about this prophecy I’m supposed to be handing over,” he said.

“Do not play games with us, Potter,” said Malfoy.

“I’m not playing games,” said Harry, and she stood on my toes.

“What?” I breathed.

“Dumbledore never told you that the reason you bear that scar was hidden in the bowels of the Department of Mysteries?” said Malfoy sneeringly.

“I — what?” said Harry. “What about my scar?”

“What?” I whispered, desperate for the plan.

“Can this be?” said Malfoy, sounding maliciously delighted; some of the Death Eaters were laughing again, and under cover of their laughter, Harry hissed to me, moving his lips as little as possible,

“Smash shelves —”

“Dumbledore never told you?” Malfoy 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?” said Harry. “So he wanted me to come and get it, did he? Why?”

“Why?” Malfoy sounded incredulously delighted. “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?” shrieked Bellatrix on a cackle of mad laughter.

“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?” said Harry. “Like he tried to get Sturgis to steal it — and Bode?”

“Very good, Potter, very good . . .” said Malfoy slowly. “But the Dark Lord knows you are not unintell —”

“NOW!” yelled Harry.

Five different voices around me bellowed “REDUCTO!”

Our six curses flew in six different directions and the shelves opposite them exploded as they hit. The towering structure swayed as a hundred glass spheres burst apart, pearly-white figures unfurled into the air and floated there, amidst the torrent of crashing glass and splintered wood now raining down upon the floor —

“RUN!” Harry yelled, and as the shelves swayed precariously and more glass spheres began to pour from above,

I just ran.

I don’t know where, but I think there were about six billion different prophecies that hit me.

A Death Eater lunged forward through the cloud of dust and I punched him in the face, pelting Prophecies behind me like bombs.

Everyone was yelling, there were cries of pain, thunderous crashes as the shelves collapsed upon themselves, weirdly echoing fragments of the Seers unleashed from their spheres —

Oh, that was smart of me, Run somewhere so you’re completely alone.

Skills Willow, skills.

So no one seems to be after me, that’s cool Death Eaters. I know I’m unimportant, everyone makes that plain enough.

“RON? LUNA? GINNY? WILLOW?” I heard Harry’s voice shout from somewhere, and I ran towards the voice.

“WE’VE GOT HIM!” yelled a Death Eater. “IN AN OFFICE OFF —” for an unknown reason he silenced.

Well, it’s a good thing I’d already worked out where they were. I’m a genius.

I ran through the last corridor and found Harry, Neville and Hermione, along with a frozen death eater, and a silenced one.

“Willow! Thank god you’re alri--”

But the Death Eater Who was silent made a sudden slashing movement with his wand from which flew a streak of what looked like purple flame. It passed right across Hermione’s chest; she gave a tiny “oh!” as though of surprise and then crumpled onto the floor where she lay motionless.

“NO!” I shrieked

“HERMIONE!”

I fell beside her, Harry following, and Neville crawled rapidly toward her from under the desk, his wand held up in front of him. The Death Eater kicked out hard at Neville’s head as he emerged — his foot broke Neville’s wand in two and connected with his face — Neville gave a howl of pain and recoiled, clutching his mouth and nose.

The Death Eater had ripped off his mask and was pointing his wand directly at Harry. Dolohov (Who I recognised from the daily prophet) grinned. With his free hand, he pointed from the prophecy still clutched in Harry’s hand, to himself, then at Hermione. Though he could no longer speak his meaning could not have been clearer: Give me the prophecy, or you get the same as her. . . .

“Like you won’t kill us all the moment I hand it over anyway!” said Harry.

“Whaddever you do, Harry,” said Neville fiercely from under the desk, lowering his hands to show a clearly broken nose and blood pouring down his mouth and chin, “don’d gib it to him!”

Then there was a crash outside the door, and Dolohov looked over his shoulder — the baby-headed Death Eater had appeared in the doorway, his head bawling, his great fists still flailing uncontrollably at everything around him.

“STUPIFUCKIFY!” I bellowed, and a weird dark scarlet light shot out of my wand and hit the Death eater across the chest. His body raised high in the air, and flew out of the door, knocking over the baby man in the process.

“Hermione,” Harry said at once, shaking her “Hermione, wake up. . . .”

“Whaddid he do to her?” said Neville, crawling out from under the desk again to kneel at her other side, blood streaming from his rapidly swelling nose.

“I dunno. . . .”

Neville groped for Hermione’s wrist.

“Dat’s a pulse, Harry, I’b sure Id is. . . .”

Such a powerful wave of relief swept through me that for a moment I felt light-headed.

“She’s alive?” I whispered.

“Yeah, I dink so. . . .”

“Neville, we’re not far from the exit,” Harry whispered. “We’re right next to that circular room. . . . If we can just get you across it and find the right door before any more Death Eaters come, I’ll bet you can get Hermione up the corridor and into the lift. . . . Then you could find someone. . . . Raise the alarm . . .”

“I’ve raised the alarm, stupid. Snape’s assembling the order, or was. I don’t know. They’ll find us.” I said patronisingly.

“Okay.” Harry said taking a deep breath.

“And whad are we going do do?” said Neville, mopping his bleeding nose with his sleeve and frowning at Harry.

“I’ve got to find the others,” said Harry.

“Well, I’b going do find dem wid you,” said Neville firmly.

“But Hermione —”

“We’ll dake her wid us,” said Neville firmly. “I’ll carry her — you’re bedder at fighding dem dan I ab —”

He stood up and seized one of Hermione’s arms, glared at Harry, who hesitated, then grabbed the other and helped hoist Hermione’s limp form over Neville’s shoulders.

“Wait,” said Harry, snatching up Hermione’s wand from the floor and shoving it into Neville’s hand, “you’d better take this. . . .”

Neville kicked aside the broken fragments of his own wand as they walked slowly toward the door.

“My gran’s going do kill be,” said Neville thickly, blood spattering from his nose as he spoke, “dat was by dad’s old wand. . . .”

“Neville look here,” I said to him. “I don’t know if this will work, but Episkey!”

And his nose made a crack noise.

“Oh shit, whad I do?”

“I think you just stopped the bleeding, but it still looks broken.” Harry said proudly.

“Danks.” Neville smiled at me, but with an unconscious Hermione on his shoulders, and blood all over him, it looked kind of like a deranged serial killer.

I just smiled, because I’m awkward.

Harry stuck his head out of the door and looked around cautiously.

We crept out of the office and back toward the door into the black hallway, which now seemed completely deserted. We walked a few steps forward, Neville tottering slightly due to Hermione’s weight. The door of the Time Room swung shut behind us, and the walls began to rotate once more. The recent blow on the back of Harry’s head seemed to have unsteadied him, and he swayed where he stook. Hermione’s X’s had faded from the doors.

Yay.

“So which way d’you reck — ?”

But before we could make a decision as to which way to try, a door to our right sprang open and three people fell out of it.

“Luna!” I said, relieved.

“Ron!” croaked Harry, dashing toward them. “Ginny — are you all — ?”

“Harry,” said Ron, giggling weakly, lurching forward, seizing the front of Harry’s robes and gazing at him with unfocused eyes. “There you are. . . . Ha ha ha . . . You look funny, Harry. . . . You’re all messed up. . . .”

Ron’s face was very white and something dark was trickling from the corner of his mouth. Next moment his knees had given way, but he still clutched the front of Harry’s robes, so that Harry was pulled into a kind of bow.

“Ginny?” Harry said fearfully. “What happened?”

But Ginny shook her head and slid down the wall into a sitting position, panting and holding her ankle.

“I think her ankle’s broken, I heard something crack,” whispered Luna, who was bending over her and who alone seemed to be unhurt. “Four of them chased us into a dark room full of planets, it was a very odd place, some of the time we were just floating in the dark —”

“Harry, we saw Uranus up close!” said Ron, still giggling feebly. “Get it, Harry? We saw Uranus — ha ha ha —”

A bubble of blood grew at the corner of Ron’s mouth and burst.

“Anyway, one of them grabbed Ginny’s foot, I used the Reductor Curse and blew up Pluto in his face, but . . .” Luna gestured hopelessly at Ginny, who was breathing in a very shallow way, her eyes still closed.

“Try Episkey, it sort of works.” I suggested, and it seemed to look still weirdly twisted, but caused Ginny less pain.

“And what about Ron?” said Harry fearfully, as Ron continued to giggle, still hanging off the front of Harry’s robes.

“I don’t know what they hit him with,” said Luna sadly, “but he’s gone a bit funny, I could hardly get him along at all. . . .”

“Harry,” said Ron, pulling Harry’s ear down to his mouth and still giggling weakly, “you know who this girl is, Harry? She’s Loony . . . Loony Lovegood . . . ha ha ha . . .”

“Ron?” I said cautiously, walking over to him. “You okay?”

“Harry, hey Harry, there’s a pretty light Harry.” Ron was saying, still pulling Harry down and giggling.

“Where’s the light Ron?” I asked.

“...haha ha! It talks Harry! Harry! The light knows my name! hahahaha.”

“Oh, okay, I’m a ball of light now, that’s cool.” I sighed, and looked at Harry.

“We’ve got to get out of here,” said Harry firmly. “Luna, can you help Ginny?”

“Yes,” said Luna, sticking her wand behind her ear for safekeeping, putting an arm around Ginny’s waist and pulling her up.

“It’s only my ankle, I can do it myself!” said Ginny impatiently, but next moment she had collapsed sideways and grabbed Luna for support.

Harry pulled Ron’s arm over his shoulder.

“Does this mean I’m the new leader?” I asked mildly interested.

“If you want to be, then sure.” Harry said, in a strained voice.

I think he was now trying to not refuse me anything because he feels guilty.

I can live with that.

I can use that against him forever.

I looked around: We had a one-in-twelve chance of getting the exit right the first time —

“Come on.” We were within a few feet of a sexy door when another door across the hall burst open and three Death Eaters sped into the hall, led by Bellatrix Lestrange.

“There they are!” she shrieked.

“NO SHIT!” I said shaking my head.

“RUDE!” a masked Death Eater shouted back.

“WHATTA HEAD!” I yelled.

Stunning Spells shot across the room, and I made way for Harry, and shouted “INPEDIMENTIA!” I screamed, and the three shot backwards.

I let everyone get out before me, as I ran around shouting; “DISTRACTION! DISTRACTION!”

I dived out of the door when the others had gone and forward rolled into an unceremonious sitting position.

“Classy.” I remarked.

“Colloportus!” shouted Harry, as he shut the door behind me, and and I heard three bodies slam into the door on the other side.

“It doesn’t matter!” said a man’s voice. “There are other ways in —WE’VE GOT THEM, THEY’RE HERE!”

I spun around. We were back in the Brain Room and, sure enough, there were doors all around the walls. I could hear footsteps in the hall behind us as more Death Eaters came running to join the first.

“Help me!”

The four of us tore around the room, sealing the doors as they went: I crashed into a table and rolled over the top of it in my haste to reach the next door.

“Colloportus!”

There were footsteps running along behind the doors; every now and then another heavy body would launch itself against one, so it creaked and shuddered. Luna and Neville were bewitching the doors along the opposite wall — then, as I reached the very top of the room, I heard Luna cry, “Collo — aaaaaaaaargh . . .”

I turned in time to see her flying through the air. Five Death Eaters were surging into the room through the door she had not reached in time; Luna hit a desk, slid over its surface and onto the floor on the other side where she lay sprawled, as still as Hermione.

“Get Potter!” shrieked Bellatrix, and she ran at him.

“GET STUPIFIED!” I said, and the spell missed her cheek by inches.

I pulled Luna along with me as I flew down to where the others were.

Luna was surprisingly light.

Weird.

 “Hey!” said Ron, who had staggered to his feet and was now tottering drunkenly toward Harry, giggling. “Hey, Harry, there are brains in here, ha ha ha, isn’t that weird, Harry?”

“Ron, get out of the way, get down —”

But Ron had already pointed his wand at the tank.

“Honest, Harry, they’re brains — look — Accio Brain!”

The scene seemed momentarily frozen. Harry, Ginny, and Neville and each of the Death Eaters turned in spite of themselves to watch the top of the tank as a brain burst from the green liquid like a leaping fish. For a moment it seemed suspended in midair, then it soared toward Ron, spinning as it came, and what looked like ribbons of moving images flew from it, unraveling like rolls of film — “Ha ha ha, Harry, look at it —” said Ron, watching it disgorge its gaudy innards. “Harry, come and touch it, bet it’s weird —”

“RON, NO!”

I did not know what would happen if Ron touched the tentacles of thought now flying behind the brain, but I was sure it would not be anything good. The moment they made contact with his skin, the tentacles began wrapping themselves around Ron’s arms like ropes.

“Harry, look what’s happen — no — no, I don’t like it — no, stop — stop —”

But the thin ribbons were spinning around Ron’s chest now. He tugged and tore at them as the brain was pulled tight against him like an octopus’s body.

“Diffindo!” yelled Harry, trying to sever the feelers wrapping themselves tightly around Ron before his eyes, but they would not break. Ron fell over, still thrashing against his bonds.

“Harry, it’ll suffocate him!” screamed Ginny, immobilized by her broken ankle on the floor — then a jet of red light flew from one of the Death Eater’s wands and hit her squarely in the face. She keeled over sideways and lay there unconscious.

“STUBEFY !” shouted Neville, wheeling around and waving Hermione’s wand at the oncoming Death Eaters. “STUBEFY, STUBEFY !”

But nothing happened — one of the Death Eaters shot their own Stunning Spell at Neville; it missed him by inches. Harry, Neville and I were now the only two left fighting the five Death Eaters, two of whom sent streams of silver light like arrows past them that left craters in the wall behind them. Harry ran for it as Bellatrix Lestrange sprinted right at him. Holding the prophecy high above his head he sprinted back up the room.

All the death eater’s followed bar one.

“I’m too old for this shit.” He told me as he stomped after them.

“Did I just imagine that?” I asked Neville.

“Nobe.” Neville replied.

“I better go save Harry better I?” I sighed.

“Yeah, you always do.”

“But he refuses to let me help.” I shook my head, and tore after the group.

So I looked upon the scene, and saw Harry standing on that stage thing with the veil, and five death eaters closing in.

 “Potter, your race is run,” drawled Lucius Malfoy, pulling off his mask. “Now hand me the prophecy like a good boy. . . .”

“Let — let the others go, and I’ll give it to you!” said Harry desperately.

A few of the Death Eaters laughed.

“You are not in a position to bargain, Potter,” said Lucius Malfoy, his pale face flushed with pleasure. “You see, there are ten of us and only one of you . . . or hasn’t Dumbledore ever taught you how to count?”

“He’s dot alone!” shouted a voice from behind me. I ducked, to keep my position.  “He’s still god be!”

“Neville — no — go back to Ron —”

“STUBEFY !” Neville shouted again, pointing his wand at each Death Eater in turn, “STUBEFY ! STUBE —”

One of the largest Death Eaters seized Neville from behind, pinioning his arms to his sides. He struggled and kicked; several of the Death Eaters laughed.

“It’s Longbottom, isn’t it?” sneered Lucius Malfoy. “Well, your grandmother is used to losing family members to our cause. . . . Your death will not come as a great shock. . . .”

“Longbottom?” repeated Bellatrix, and a truly evil smile lit her gaunt face. “Why, I have had the pleasure of meeting your parents, boy. . . .”

“I DOE YOU HAB!” roared Neville, and he fought so hard against his captor’s encircling grip that the Death Eater shouted, “Someone Stun him!”

“No, no, no,” said Bellatrix. She looked transported, alive with excitement as she glanced at Harry, then back at Neville. “No, let’s see how long Longbottom lasts before he cracks like his parents. . . . Unless Potter wants to give us the prophecy —”

“DON’D GIB ID DO DEM!” roared Neville, who seemed beside himself, kicking and writhing as Bellatrix drew nearer to him and his captor, her wand raised. “DON’D GIB ID DO DEM, HARRY!”

Bellatrix raised her wand. “Crucio!”

Neville screamed. The Death Eater dropped him and he fell to the floor, twitching and screaming in agony.

“That was just a taster!” said Bellatrix, raising her wand so that Neville’s screams stopped and he lay sobbing at her feet. She turned and gazed up at Harry. “Now, Potter, either give us the prophecy, or watch your little friend die the hard way!”

“BOO YOU WHORE!” I screamed, throwing myself spastically from the top of the theatre-like seats. I swear to god, I flew there and kicked her in the face.

“Bitch!” Bellatrix shrieked, “AVADA KEDAVRA!”

The curse missed me, which was good, I guess.

“NO!” Harry shouted.

“Your sister, or the prophecy?” Bella asked.

The prophecy was hot with the heat from his clutching hand as he held it out. Malfoy jumped forward to take it.

Then, high above them, two more doors burst open and five more people sprinted into the room: Sirius, Lupin, Moody, Tonks, and Kingsley.

Malfoy turned and raised his wand, but Tonks had already sent a Stunning Spell right at him.

“ABOUT TIME!” I bellowed, rolling to the left to avoid another killing curse.

The Death Eaters were completely distracted by the appearance of the members of the

Order, who were now raining spells down upon them as they jumped from step to step toward the sunken floor: Through the darting bodies, the flashes of light, I could see Neville crawling along. I dodged another jet of red light and flung myself flat on the ground to reach Neville.

Harry miraculously appeared beside us.

“Are you okay?” he yelled, as another spell soared inches over ourr heads.

“Yes,” said Neville, trying to pull himself up.

“And Ron?”

“I dink he’s all right — he was still fighding the brain when I left —”

The stone floor between them exploded as a spell hit it, leaving a crater right where Neville’s hand had been seconds before. We scrambled away from the spot, then a thick arm came out of nowhere, seized Harry around the neck and pulled him upright, so that his toes were barely touching the floor.

“Give it to me,” growled a voice in his ear, “give me the prophecy —”

“VAGINA!” I yelled, pointing my wand at the evil guy.

Nothing happened.

“Disappointment.” I shook my head.

 “AARGH!” Neville had come lunging out of nowhere: Unable to articulate a spell, he had jabbed Hermione’s wand hard into the eyehole of the Death Eater’s mask. The man relinquished Harry at once with a howl of pain and Harry whirled around to face him and gasped, “STUPEFY !”

The Death Eater keeled over backward and his mask slipped off. It was Macnair, Buckbeak’s would-be killer, one of his eyes now swollen and bloodshot.

“Thanks!” Harry said to Neville, pulling him aside as Sirius and his Death Eater lurched past, dueling so fiercely that their wands were blurs.

Then my foot made contact with something round and hard and I slipped then saw Moody’s magic eye spinning away across the floor. Its owner was lying on his side, bleeding from the head, and his attacker was now bearing down upon Harry and Neville: Dolohov, his long pale face twisted with glee.

“Tarantallegra!” he shouted, his wand pointing at Neville, whose legs went immediately into a kind of frenzied tap dance, unbalancing him and causing him to fall to the floor again.

I decided I could either probably die (or not, am I immortal?) or help moody, so I scourgified his eye, and popped it creepily back in the socket, before mending his head wound.

OH HEY! MY SPELL WORKED!

BOOYEAH!

“Harry, take the prophecy, grab Neville, Willow, and run!” Sirius yelled from somewhere.

“The prophecy, give me the prophecy, Potter!” snarled Lucius Malfoy from somewhere.

“LEAVE MY BROTHER THE FUCK ALONE! WHAT’S WRONG WITH YOU?” I screamed, and sent some random spell at him, he was thrown onto the stage with the veil, where Sirius and Bellatrix were duelling.

I was knocked from my feet, and I hit my head, a bit of time passed, but I wasn’t sure how long. I stood up, trying to see what was happening at once, and the world froze in time.

A jet of green light was inches from Harry’s back; light was flying suspended in flight; Neville was frozen in mid-air with both of his legs arranged in random positions; Sirius was frozen in battle with Bellatrix; Tonks was dramatically Rolling over Lupin’s back to stun the death eater on his other side; Kingsley was lying on the ground shooting a curse at Dolohov.

I jumped through the room, and pushed Harry’s frozen form over to avoid him being hit by the spell.

Wait, why is time frozen?

How did I freeze time?

No one will believe me will they?

Time restarted as suddenly as it froze, and then, I looked directly above me, framed in the doorway from the Brain Room, stood Albus Dumbledore, his wand aloft, his face white and furious.

Dumbledore sped down the steps past our retarded student trio, who had no more thought of leaving. Dumbledore was already at the foot of the steps when the Death Eaters nearest realized he was there. There were yells; one of the Death Eaters ran for it, scrabbling like a monkey up the stone steps opposite. Dumbledore’s spell pulled him back as easily and effortlessly as though he had hooked him with an invisible line —

Only one couple were still battling, apparently unaware of the new arrival. I saw Sirius duck Bellatrix’s jet of red light: He was laughing at her. “Come on, you can do better than that!” he yelled, his voice echoing around the cavernous room.

The second jet of light hit him squarely on the chest.

It seemed to take Sirius an age to fall. His body curved in a graceful arc as he sank backward through the ragged veil hanging from the arch. . . .

He disappeared behind the veil, which fluttered for a moment as though in a high wind and then fell back into place.

Sirius had only just fallen through the archway, he would reappear from the other side any second. . . .

But Sirius did not reappear.

“SIRIUS!” Harry yelled, “SIRIUS!”

I stared in silence at the veil.

What.

What.

What.

What.

No.

What.

I forgot what emotion was.

Somewhere, in the back of my mind, a dark voice laughed:

“You didn’t really think that no one would die, did you? Cedric was the first of many. Everyone dies Willow. Everyone but you.”