"Aaaaaaarrrrgggghhhhh!"

Cassia screamed as she fell. The door seemed to just be a door to nowhere, as one by one, all eight of them ran through it and fell down into the depths of wherever the hell they were goi-

But before they could fall to their deaths, a spell stopped them about a foot from the ground, stopping their momentum before safely landing them.

The ground was rough, and rocky. It was slightly warm, though, and Cassia welcomed the feeling of lying down more than the one of running about like crazy.

"Department of Mysteries," Ron rolled his eyes. "Got that bit right, didn't they?"

Cassia grunted as she got up, her jaw already bruised and swollen. She knew Harry was looking at her but she ignored him as she looked around.

They were in a circular room with the same black tiles on the wall. The door they had fallen in from was way up. However, this room was different. Because the rocky floor was sloped all the way round, and on the peak of the floor, was a veil.

It was a weird thing. It was a huge stone arch, with some weird smoky thing floating inside it.

And Harry was looking at it too.

"The voices," he said. "Can you tell what they're saying?"

He advanced towards the veil, Hermione frowning as he did. "There aren't any voices, Harry."

And Cassia thought the same, as she got further up the slope. As much as she wanted to believe Harry, she couldn't hear any voices.

"Let's get out of here, come on," Cassia warily. "Harry, come on."

"I hear them too," Luna decided to say, stepping up next to Harry.

"You alright, girl?" Poppy decided to ask Cassia, leaning in close to her.

Cassia looked at her, nodding gently, her lips quirking up. "Yeah," she murmured. "Thanks for being here."

Poppy took her hand and squeezed it. "I'll always be here."

"Harry..." Hermione's voice rung out and silenced the two best friends. "It's just an empty archway. Please, Harry!"

But Harry wasn't thinking about that. He was looking up now, not at the veil, and clutching the prophecy tight. He raised his wand at the ceiling and shouted. "Get behind me!"

And they did. They all did, Cassia right behind him with her wand held in her shaky hand. Then she saw them.

Trails of black smoke were raining from the ceiling, circling in past the veil and coming round.

"Urgh!" Grunts were heard as they all dropped to the ground, going low to avoid the smoke-

But it didn't work that way.

Next thing Cassia knew, she was getting hauled up by a trail of smoke, which she prayed wasn't her father, and held by the human it turned into.

She wasn't actually sure what was happening, considering the fact her surroundings were still blurred by all the black smoke. However, when it cleared, she knew instantly what had happened.

All around the veil, death eaters held her, Poppy, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Neville and Luna. Harry, meanwhile, was still in the middle, before the veil, clutching the prophecy.

Cassia wanted to run to him, to scream at him and tell him to get out, but she couldn't do that because of the stupid death eater holding her.

"Argh-" she grunted, squirming to try and get away from him. "Let me go-"

"Ah, she's a feisty little bird, is she?" The man hissed in her ear, his voice making her skin crawl. Then he grabbed her hip, his fingers digging right into her skin and making her disgusted. "Stay. Quiet."

Cassia continued trying to get away, as Harry stood up, looking around him. Cassia took a chance to do so herself. Even though the other death eaters had their masks off now, she didn't recognise any of them except Bellatrix, who was holding Neville. Her father was not present.

Harry looked round, eyes meeting Cassia and instantly starting forward.

"No!" Cassia mouthed furiously. "No! Stay there!"

Harry reluctantly followed her order, stopping and turning to where someone has just started to chuckle.

Cassia fought to turn herself round, the disgusting man's hand still digging into her hip, as her father appeared, chuckling sarcastically and slowly climbing up the slope towards Harry

"Did you actually believe... or were you truly naive enough to think... that children, stood a chance... against us?" He asked, approaching Harry, his cane banging on the rock. He stood above him, leering over, holding his hand out.

"I'll make this... simple for you, Potter. Give me the prophecy... or watch your friends, and my miserable excuse of a daughter... die."

Cassia fought against the man holding her as Harry looked around the room, trying to work out if he should do it or not.

"Don't give it to him!" Neville yelled, only to have Bellatrix hiss something in his ear and drag her wand along his throat.

But Harry was looking around at his friends, weighing up their lives against the glass orb Voldemort was so interested in getting that he'd attacked Pippa, and had planted Sirius in Harry's head...

Then, slowly, Harry put the prophecy in Lucius' hand.

Fuck, no, should've let us die, Potter-

Her father gasped, gazing at the prophecy in shock before holding it up, a stupid look of concentration on his face.

Then, low and behold, a trail of white smoke flew into the room, and a man materialised just behind Lucius.

"Get away from my godson."

OH FUCK YES! DRAG HIS ASS! Cassia screamed inside her head as Sirius Black punched Lucius Malfoy right in the face, causing him to fall to the ground with a grunt, dropping the prophecy in a puff of mist-

And then more white smoke trails were landing, and all round the room Order members were materialising. Pippa, Tonks, Moody, Kingsley, Lupin, suddenly they were all there.

"ARGH!" Cassia threw herself from the man holding her, grabbing her wand and yelling. "Petrificus Totalus!" As the man went ridgid and fell back, she screeched. "That's what you get you fucking creep!"

As she ran to where Harry and Sirius were, she saw Bellatrix and Tonks duelling, Moody cursing death eaters here and there, Pippa absolutely owning a duel with one of them, and Lupin stunning one.

"CASSIA!" Tonks yelled, grabbing Cassia's arm and pulling her down to where Ginny and Luna were, taking cover behind a huge bit of rubble.

"No-" Cassia growled, trying to get away. "No, I need to- find Harry-"

"Sirius has Harry, he's fine! We need to get you out-"

She looked up, watching as her father and another death eater engaged in a duel with Harry and Sirius. And they were fighting back, they were doing good, but her stomach was stirring hard-

Bellatrix and Tonks were flying above them now, a streak of smoke, both black and white.

"Stupefy!" A shout from Sirius made Cassia's head flip back to their duel. Her father's partner was down now, and it was just him-

"Expelliarmus!" Harry yelled at Lucius, a look of anger and resentment all over him. "Stupefy!"

His pure anger at Lucius (and his spell, of course) sent the man flying back into the wall, bashing his head.

And it was over, it was done. Lucius was gone, and so was the prophecy-

But her Aunt Bellatrix was materialising out of the black smoke, standing on the rock just behind Sirius-

"Avada Kedavra!"

And Cassia saw the bright green light.

She saw who it was aimed at.

She saw who it hit.

But it didn't make it any less heartbreaking.

As the light hit Sirius squarely in the chest, Harry seemed to not believe it, still smiling slightly over the victory against Lucius, still grinning.

Then he turned to look at Bellatrix.

And his face fell.

Cassia shook her head, grief starting to pull at her chest.

Because just as she managed to get her body out of her hiding place, trying to hobble towards Harry, Sirius fell backwards into the veil's smoky centre. He was lifted up into it, and carried away.

And that's when the dam broke.

As Bellatrix disappeared from the scene, both Pippa and Cassia ran towards the veil. Lupin, too, ran towards it, but that was to grab Harry.

"NO!" Harry screamed, fighting against Lupin's grip. "NO! AAAAAAARRRRRRRGGGG-
GGHHHH!"

"NO! SIRIUS! SIRI, COME BACK!" Pippa, too, was filled with grief. "SIRI, PLEASE!"

And Harry was crying and screaming in Lupin's arms, yelling out all his grief, sobbing and helpless.

And Cassia turned to watch Poppy as she also started to sob, seeing how heartbroken her mum was and knowing that things would never be the same.

"Harry-" Cassia sobbed slightly, running towards him. "Harry-"

But Harry wasn't paying attention to her. He was getting Lupin's arms off him and running, sprinting out the room, out the door Bellatrix left through, and Cassia was running after him-

"NO!" Cassia screamed as Lupin grabbed her, holding her back. "NO! I HAVE TO- GET TO HI-"

"It's too dangerous, Cassia!" Lupin yelled. "You have to wa-"

"NO! LET- ME- GO!" Cassia shrieked, fighting.

"No, we have backup comi-!"

"I DON'T- CARE!"

And with that, Cassia broke down crying in Lupin's arms, sobbing her heart out.

How would they come back from this?

❦︎❦︎❦︎

By the time all the DA and Order members came flooding into the Atrium, a lot had clearly happened.

The floor was covered in glass, and banners of the minister up above were smoking. The whole place was rubbly and smoky, and it was all absolutely destroyed.

Then Cassia noticed the people.

Bellatrix was gone, and Dumbledore had appeared, kneeling next to a convulsing Harry on the floor.

But someone else was also there.

Voldemort.

Cassia's heart jumped into her mouth.

What the f-?

He was every bit as terrifying as she had been told. His face was gaunt white, his eyes almost black, his nose non existent. His robes were black and his wand just as pearly white as his skin.

"You're a fool, Harry Potter," she hears Voldemort hiss. "And you will lose... everything."

No-

But before Cassia could even form coherent thoughts, the fires down the side of the atrium were blistering with life, sparking up as ministry employees entered the building.

Fudge was among them, and as he came face to face with the scene, he stumbled back. Of course, Voldemort vanished quickly, apparating away as soon as he saw Fudge, but the minister had still seen him.

The immovable, irrefutable proof.

And even though he only hissed it, even though he only said it in disbelief, Cassia heard it.

"He's back."

And it wasn't a victory, by any means.

It wasn't good, or happy.

But they had certainly proven something that night.

And a part of Cassia would forever remain imprinted there.