"Well. Well. Well..." A sharp male voice began and Y/n's body went rigid. "Look who it is dearest..." He said turning his head to a smaller figure standing beside him. "Little Y/n...all grown up. A shame he has turned into such a blood traitor."
Y/n recognized the man who had just spoken as Ivan Grindelwald, his father.
The smaller figure raised her wand towards Y/n. "Cruico!" A female's voice cries out with disdain.
Y/n let out a painful cry as he fell to the ground twitching in agony.
"NO!" Hermione and the others gasped slightly raising their wands.
"Now, Now, that will be enough Priscilla." Lucius Malfoy said. "For now at least."
"No blood traitor who refuses the Dark Lord is a son of ours..." She said coldly releasing the spell. "Had I known he would turn out like this I would have drowned him as a baby."
Despite his hatred for his parents, these words stung Y/n sharply and he pushed himself up with Hermione helping him back to his feet, he could hear her sniffling slightly.
"Such a touching family reunion... Now, to me, Potter." repeated the drawling voice of Lucius Malfoy as he held out his hand, palm up.
Y/n grip on his wand tightened. They were trapped, and outnumbered two to one, worst of all these were not simple death eaters, if his parent and Malfoy were here then certainly there would be other powerful dark wizards amongst them.
"To me." said Malfoy to Harry yet again.
"Where's Sirius?" Harry said.
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." echoed Malfoy softly. "Now, give me the prophecy, Potter."
"I want to know where Sirius is!" Harry said.
"I want to know where Sirius is!" mimicked the woman to his left.
She and her fellow Death Eaters had closed in so that they were mere feet away from the others, the light from their wands dazzling Y/n's eyes.
"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. Y/n felt Ron stir beside him.
"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? 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."
"I know Sirius is here." said Harry. "I know you've got him!"
More of the Death Eaters laughed, though the woman laughed loudest of all.
"They do not have Sirius Harry...this was a trap..." Y/n said working it out now.
"Very good Grindelwald...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.
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 the female Death Eater 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, this one knows how to play too, 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 at the woman. "If you smash it...!"
The woman stepped forward now, 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.
"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."
Y/n and the others moved to close in around Ginny and Harry 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 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?"
He could not think what to do but to keep talking. Neville's arm was pressed against his, and he could feel him shaking, he could feel one of the others' quickened breath on the back of his head. He was hoping they were all thinking hard about ways to get out of this, because his mind was blank.
"What kind of prophecy?" repeated Bellatrix, the grin fading from her face. "You jest, Harry Potter."
"Nope, not jesting." said Harry, his eyes flicking from Death Eater to Death Eater, looking for a weak link, a space through which they 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 with 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.
This was not the time to antagonize them thought Y/n and it seemed Hermione agreed with him as he heard her give out a little moan in his ear.
"Voldemort? Yeah, his mother was a witch but his dad was a Muggle...or has he been telling you lot he's pure-blood?"
"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.
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. They had, however, given Harry an idea. The problem was going to be conveying it to the others. "You haven't told me what's so special about this prophecy I'm supposed to be handing over." he said, playing for time. He moved his foot slowly sideways, feeling around for someone else's.
"Do not play games with us, Potter." said Malfoy.
"I'm not playing games." said Harry, half his mind on the conversation, half on his wandering foot. And then he found someone's toes and pressed down upon them. A sharp intake of breath behind him told him they were Y/n's.
"What do you need?" Y/n whispered.
"Dumbledore never told you the reason you bear that scar was hidden in the bowels of the Department of Mysteries?" Malfoy sneered.
"I...what?" said Harry. And for a moment he quite forgot his plan. "What about my scar?"
"Harry what do you need me to do?" whispered Y/n more urgently now.
"Can this be?" said Malfoy, sounding maliciously delighted, some of the Death Eaters were laughing again.
Under cover of their laughter, Harry hissed to Y/n, 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 now..."
Y/n moved his leg ever so slightly to get Hermione's attention now as Lucius continued to talk.
"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..."
"When Harry says 'Now' we are to smash the shelves." Y/n said to Hermione as quietly as possible.
"Did he?" said Harry. Behind him he heard Hermione passing his message to the others and he sought to keep talking, to distract the Death Eaters. "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?" Harry asked.
"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?"
Harry stared into the slitted eye-holes through which Malfoy's grey eyes were gleaming. Was this prophecy the reason Harry's parents had died, the reason he carried his lightning-bolt scar? Was the answer to all of this clutched in his hand?
"Someone made a prophecy about Voldemort and me?" he said quietly, gazing at Lucius Malfoy, his fingers tightening over the warm glass sphere in his hand. It was hardly larger than a Snitch and still gritty with dust. "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, over 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.
This was the signal Y/n and the others had been waiting for and immediately he turned his wand to the nearest shelf. "Reducto!" He cried and could hear the others casting the same to other shelves.
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, their voices echoing from who knew what long-dead past amid the torrent of crashing glass and splintered wood now raining down upon the floor.
"RUN!" Harry yelled, as the shelves swayed precariously and more glass spheres began to fall from above.
Y/n seized Hermione's hand and dragged her forward with him, holding one arm over his head as chunks of shelf and shards of glass thundered down upon them.
"Kill the boy!" Y/n could hear his mother cry behind them.
A Death Eater lunged forward through the cloud of dust and Harry elbowed him hard in the masked face, they were all yelling, there were cries of pain, and thunderous crashes as the shelves collapsed upon themselves, weirdly echoing fragments of the Seers unleashed from their spheres.
The way up ahead was clear as Harry, Y/n, Hermione, Ron, Ginny, Neville and Luna kept running, their arms over their heads, something heavy struck Y/n on the side of the face but he merely ducked his head and sprinted onwards, a hand caught Harry by the shoulder however.
"Stupefy!" Hermione cried holding her wand out and the hand released Harry at once.
Ron, Ginny and Luna sped past them as Y/n, Hermione and Neville pushed Harry forward and they started into a run again.
They were at the end of row ninety-seven, Harry turned right and began to sprint in earnest. He could hear footsteps right behind him and Hermione's voice urging Neville on, straight ahead, the door through which they had come was ajar. Harry could see the glittering light of the bell jar, he pelted through the doorway, the prophecy still clutched tight and safe in his hand, and waited for the others to hurtle over the threshold before slamming the door behind them.
"Lock it." Y/n quickly said.
"Colloportus!" gasped Hermione pointing her wand at the door and the door sealed itself with an odd squelching noise.
"Where...where are the others?" gasped Harry.
Y/n had thought Ron, Luna and Ginny were ahead of them, that they would be waiting in this room, but there was nobody there.
"They must have gone the wrong way!" whispered Hermione, terror in her face.
"Listen!" whispered Neville.
Footsteps and shouts echoed from behind the door they had just sealed, Harry put his ear close to the door to listen and heard Lucius Malfoy roar. "Leave Nott, leave him I say... his injuries will be nothing to the Dark Lord compared to losing that prophecy. Jugson, come back here, we need to organise! We'll split into pairs and search, and don't forget, be gentle with Potter until we've got the prophecy, you can kill the others if necessary. Bellatrix, Rodolphus, you take the left, Grindelwald's, go right...Jugson, Dolohov, the door straight ahead...Macnair and Avery, through here, Rookwood, over there...Mulciber, come with me!"
"What do we do?" Hermione asked Y/n, trembling from head to foot.
"We need to keep moving, try to find the others and get out of here." Y/n said. "Harry, they really want that Prophecy so do not let them have it...It is our only bargaining chip. Come on, Let us keep moving forward."
They ran as quietly as they could, past the shimmering bell jar where the tiny egg was hatching and unhatching, towards the exit into the circular hallway at the far end of the room. They were almost there when Harry heard something large and heavy collide with the door Hermione had charmed shut.
"Stand aside!" said a rough voice. "Alohomora!"
As the door flew open, Harry, Y/n, Hermione and Neville dived under desks. They could see the bottom of the two Death Eaters' robes drawing nearer, their feet moving rapidly.
"They might've run straight through to the hall." said the rough voice.
"Check under the desks." said another.
Harry saw the knees of the Death Eaters bend, poking his wand out from under the desk, he shouted. "STUPEFY!"
A jet of red light hit the nearest Death Eater, he fell backwards into a grandfather clock and knocked it over, the second Death Eater, however, had leapt aside to avoid Harry's spell and was pointing his own wand at Hermione, who was crawling out from under the desk to get a better aim.
"Avada..."
Y/n quickly pulled Hermione back out of the way while Harry launched himself across the floor and grabbed the Death Eater around the knees, causing him to topple and his aim to go awry.
"Do not put yourself in such plain sight Hermione!" Y/n said glad she was alright. "You could have died there..."
"I was trying to save Harry." Hermione said.
"I know, I know but please do not sacrifice your own safety to do so..." Y/n said to her.
Neville overturned a desk in his anxiety to help, and pointing his wand wildly at the struggling pair, he cried. "EXPELLIARMUS!"
Both Harry's and the Death Eater's wands flew out of their hands and soared back towards the entrance to the Hall of Prophecy, both scrambled to their feet and charged after them, the Death Eater in front, Harry hot on his heels, and Neville bringing up the rear, plainly horrorstruck by what he had done.
"Get out of the way, Harry!" yelled Neville, clearly determined to repair the damage.
Harry flung himself sideways as Neville took aim again and shouted. "STUPEFY!"
The jet of red light flew right over the Death Eaters shoulder and hit a glass-fronted cabinet on the wall full of variously shaped hour-glasses, the cabinet fell to the floor and burst apart, glass flying everywhere, sprang back up on to the wall, fully mended, then fell down again, and shattered...
The Death Eater had snatched up his wand, which lay on the floor beside the glittering bell jar. Harry ducked down behind another desk as the man turned, his mask had slipped so that he couldn't see. He ripped it off with his free hand and shouted. "STUP..."
"STUPEFY!" shouted Y/n, as he and Hermione had just caught up with them. The jet of red light hit the Death Eater in the middle of his chest, he froze, his arm still raised, his wand fell to the floor with a flatter and he collapsed backwards towards the bell jar.
Y/n expected to hear a clunk, for the man to hit solid glass and slide off the jar onto the floor, but instead, his head sank through the surface of the bell jar as though it were nothing but a soap bubble and he came to rest, sprawled on his back on the table, with his head lying inside the jar full of glittering wind.
"Accio wand!" cried Hermione. Harry's wand flew from a dark corner into her hand and she threw it to him.
"Thanks you three." he said. "Right, let's get out of..."
"Look out!" said Neville, horrified. He was staring at the Death Eater's head in the bell jar.
All four of them raised their wands again, but none of them struck, they were all gazing, open-mouthed, appalled, at what was happening to the man's head.
It was shrinking very fast, growing balder and balder, the black hair and stubble retracting into his skull, his cheeks becoming smooth, his skull round and covered with a peachlike fuzz...
A baby's head now sat grotesquely on top of the thick, muscled neck of the Death Eater as he struggled to get up again, but even as they watched, their mouths open, the head began to swell to its previous proportions again, thick black hair was sprouting from the pate and chin.
"It's Time." said Hermione in an awestruck voice. "Time..."
"Something we are running out of if we do not move." Y/n quickly said.
The Death Eater shook his ugly head again, trying to clear it, but before he could pull himself together it began to shrink back to babyhood once more.
There was a shout from a room nearby, then a crash and a scream.
"RON?" Harry yelled, turning quickly from the monstrous transformation taking place before them. "GINNY? LUNA?"
"Harry!" Hermione screamed.
The Death Eater had pulled his head out of the bell jar. His appearance was utterly bizarre, his tiny baby's head bawling loudly while his thick arms flailed dangerously in all directions, narrowly missing Harry, who had ducked. Harry raised his wand but to his amazement Hermione seized his arm.
"You can't hurt a baby!"
There was no time to argue the point, Harry could hear more footsteps growing louder from the Hall of Prophecy and knew, too late, that he ought not to have shouted and given away their position.
"Come on!" he said, and leaving the ugly baby-headed Death Eater staggering behind them they took off for the door that stood open at the other end of the room, leading back into the black hallway.
They had run halfway towards it when Y/n saw through the open door two more Death Eaters running across the black room towards them, veering left, he burst instead into a small, dark, cluttered office and slammed the door behind them.
"Collo..." began Hermione, but before she could complete the spell the door had burst open and the two Death Eaters had come hurtling inside.
With a cry of triumph, both yelled. "IMPEDIMENTA!"
Harry, Y/n, Hermione and Neville were all knocked backwards off their feet. Neville was thrown over the desk and disappeared from view, Y/n and Hermione were smashed into a bookcase as they were deluged in a cascade of heavy books, the back of Harry's head slammed into the stone wall behind him, tiny lights burst in front of his eyes and for a moment he was too dizzy and bewildered to react.
"WE'VE GOT HIM!" yelled the Death Eater nearest Harry. "IN AN OFFICE OFF..."
"Silencio!" cried Hermione and the man's voice was extinguished. He continued to mouth through the hole in his mask, but no sound came out. He was thrust aside by his fellow Death Eater.
"Petrificus Totalus!" shouted Y/n popping up beside Hermione now, as the second Death Eater raised his wand. His arms and legs snapped together and he fell forwards, face down onto the rug at Harry's feet, stiff as a board and unable to move.
"Well done, Y/n!"
But the Death Eater Hermione had just struck dumb made a sudden slashing movement with his wand, a streak of what looked like purple flame passed right across Hermione's chest. She gave a tiny "Oh!" as though of surprise and crumpled onto the floor, where she lay motionless.
"HERMIONE!" Y/n fell to his knees beside her as Neville crawled rapidly towards them 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. Harry twisted around, his own wand held high, and saw that the Death Eater had ripped off his mask and was pointing his wand directly at Harry, who recognized the long, pale, twisted face from the Daily Prophet, Antonin Dolohov, the wizard who had murdered the Prewetts.
Dolohov 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 anyway, the moment I hand it over!" said Harry.
Panic was spreading throughout Y/n's body as he held Hermione who was still warm close to his chest, yet he did not dare look at her properly. 'Do not let her be dead, please...do not let her be dead...'
"Whaddever you do, Harry." Y/n could hear Neville say 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. Harry seized his chance.
"PETRIFICUS TOTALUS!"
The spell hit Dolohov before he could block it and he toppled forwards across his comrade, both of them rigid as boards and unable to move an inch.
"Hermione." Harry could hear Y/n say and he turned his head to them at once, as the baby-headed Death Eater blundered out of sight again. "Hermione, please wake up..."
"Whaddid he do to her?" said Neville, crawling out from under the desk to kneel at her other side, blood streaming from his rapidly swelling nose.
"He has used a curse of sorts..." Said Y/n sounding stressed. "But I do not recognize it at all..."
Neville groped for Hermione's wrist. "Dat's a pulse, Y/n, I'b sure id is."
Such a powerful wave of relief swept through Y/n that for a moment he felt light-headed. "She is alive?"
"Yeah, I dink so." Neville said.
"Then we need to get her out of here immediately she needs medical attention." Y/n said "Urgently!"
There was a pause in which Harry listened hard for the sound of more footsteps, but all he could hear were the whimpers and blunderings of the baby-headed Death Eater in the next room.
"Y/n, 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..."
"And whad are you going 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..." Y/n began.
"We'll dake her wid us." said Neville firmly. "I'll carry her for you, you dew are bedder at fighding dem dan I ab..."
He stood up and seized one of Hermione's arms, glaring at Y/n, who hesitated for a moment, then grabbed the other and helped hoist Hermione's limp form over Neville's shoulders.
"Protect her with your life Neville Longbottom, for it shall not be worth living if you fail." Y/n warned him and Neville nodded seriously.
"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 towards 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."
Y/n held out his wand towards Neville now. "Hold still and do not make a noise." He said. "Episkey."
Neville let out small painful groan as his nose fitted back into place. "Twanks Y/n." Neville said still bloodied and in pain.
"Let us move." Y/n said determined to get Hermione out of here now.
Harry stuck his head out of the door and looked around cautiously. The baby-headed Death Eater was screaming and banging into things, toppling grandfather clocks and overturning desks, bawling and confused, while the glass-fronted cabinet that Harry now suspected had contained Time-Turners continued to fall, shatter and repair itself on the wall behind them. "He's never going to notice us." he whispered. "C'mon...keep close behind me..."
They crept out of the office and back towards the door into the black hallway, which now seemed completely deserted. They walked a few steps forwards, Neville tottering slightly due to Hermione's weight, the door of the Time Room swung shut behind them and the walls began to rotate once more. The recent attack on Hermione had ignited an angry fire within Y/n now as he saw that Hermione's fiery crosses had faded from the doors.
"So which way d'you reck..."
But before they could make a decision as to which way to try, a door to their right sprang open and three people fell out of it.
"Ron!" croaked Harry, dashing towards them. "Ginny...are you all..."
"Harry." said Ron, giggling weakly, lurching forwards, 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, Y/n, we saw Uranus up close!" said Ron, still giggling feebly. "Get it? 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.
Y/n moved to crouch in front to Ginny now and looked at her ankle which looked to be in bad shape. "We need Madam Pomfrey to heal this...but I can do for her what I did Neville." He said pointing his wand towards her ankle. "Episkey."
Ginny eye's scrunched up for a moment before they relaxed and she opened them slightly.
"That ankle is still broken but that should make the pain slightly more bearable for now." Y/n told her.
"Thanks." Ginny said sounding exhausted.
"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..."
"We've got to get out of here." said Harry firmly.
"Luna, can you help Ginny?" Y/n asked her. "Harry and I will lead the way.
"Yes." said Luna, sticking her wand behind her ear for safekeeping, then 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 collapsed sideways and grabbed Luna for support.
"I told you it is still broken Ginny! You need Luna's help." Y/n said.
Harry pulled Ron's arm over his shoulder just as, so many months ago, he had pulled Dudley's.
"Which door do you think we should choose?" Y/n asked Harry looking at them all, they had a one in twelve chance of getting the exit right first time...
Harry heaved Ron towards a door, they were within a few feet of it when another door across the hall burst open and three Death Eaters sped in, led by Bellatrix Lestrange.
"There they are!" she shrieked.
"Go!" Y/n shouted to them raising his wand. "STUPEFY!" He quickly cast.
Stunning Spells shot across the room as Harry smashed his way through the door ahead, flung Ron unceremoniously from him and ducked back to help Neville in with Hermione. Y/n was still firing spells back at the Death eaters as he crossed over the threshold just in time to slam the door against Bellatrix.
"Colloportus!" shouted Y/n using Hermione's spell on the door, and he 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!"
Y/n span around, they were back in the Brain Room and, sure enough, there were doors all around the walls. He could hear footsteps in the hall behind them as more Death Eaters came running to join the first.
Harry crashed into a table and rolled over the top of it in his haste to reach the next door: "Luna...Neville...help us!"
The four of them tore around the room, sealing the doors as they went.
"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 to Y/n and Harry who reached the very top of the room, the heard Luna cry.
"Collo...aaaaaaaaargh..."
They 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, he dodged her and sprinted back up the room, he was safe as long as they thought they might hit the prophecy...
"Hey!" said Ron, who had staggered to his feet and was now tottering drunkenly towards 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, Y/n, 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 towards Ron, spinning as it came, and what looked like ribbons of moving images flew from it, unravelling 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!" Y/n shouted he did not know what would happen if Ron touched the tentacles of thought now flying behind the brain, but he was sure it would not be anything good. He darted forward but Ron had already caught the brain in his outstretched hands.
The moment they made contact with his skin, the tentacles began wrapping themselves around Ron's arms like ropes.
"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.
"Y/n, it'll suffocate him!" screamed Ginny, immobilised 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, Y/n and Neville were now the only three left fighting the Death Eaters, two of whom sent off streams of silver light like arrows which missed but left craters in the wall behind them.
"STUPEFY!" Y/n cast and managed to hit one of the Death eaters.
"Filthy little blood traitor!" Bellatrix screamed.
"Leave him to us Bella..." Ivan said removing his mask now to reveal his sunken face. The years of Azkaban had not been kind to the man.
Priscilla stood beside him removed her own mask now and Y/n could see she was in the same condition, Her once blond hair was now greyish and white from lack of care, her eyes cold and icy never left Y/n. "I've been wanting to slaughter this lost puppy since I heard what a traitor he was." She snarled.
"We'll have some fun with him first won't we dear." Ivan grinned through yellow rotting teeth. "Imperio!" He cast towards Y/n.
Y/n felt the spell trying to break through his mind, it was far stronger than the time Barty Crouch Jr had tried using on him last year
'You will kill you're filthy friends.' A voice suggested to him.
'No!' Y/n resisted and began to use Occlumency to block off his mind entirely.
"This one is putting up some fight. I will like it when they fight back, makes it more satisfying when they break." Y/n could hear his father say.
"Go Harry!" Y/n said holding up his wand now. "They are my burden to bare."
Priscilla began to let out a nasty laugh. "Look Ivan, the fool thinks he will be able to take us together. You were right, it will be fun to break him first."
Harry ran for it as Bellatrix Lestrange raced right at him, holding the prophecy high above his head, he sprinted back up the room, all he could think of doing was to draw the Death Eaters away from the others and it worked as Y/n was left alone with his parents, Neville, the passed out Hermione, Luna, Ginny and the struggling Ron.
"Neville...help Ron." Y/n said not taking his eyes off his parents who in turn did not take their eyes off of him.
In silent unison all three of them raised their wands now.
"Let's see what you know boy...STUPEFY!" Ivan chanted a stunner at him.
"Protego!" Y/n deflected it.
And so began a barrage of spells being cast towards each other and Y/n was having to work harder than he had ever had to in his life. Dueling two people was bad enough but considering that these two people were both highly skilled dark Witch and Wizard who had killed dozens if not hundreds of witches and wizards in their time made it all that much harder, one mistake and it would not cost only his own life but possibly that of his friends as well.
"You are weak...boy." Ivan began as his wife continued to cast and Y/n deflected her spells.
But Y/n gave them no satisfaction of a reply. He was focusing hard. One on keeping up his occlumency to keep both of them out of his head and from reading his moves. And secondly, he was trying to think of anything that could give him a slight edge in this battle, if not to overpower them then to at least halt them for as long as possible.
"Diffindo!" He heard Priscilla cry out and without even thinking Y/n slashed his wand as he wordlessly cast a shield charm to block her spell.
"Now that is interesting..." Ivan grinned. "Maybe we should step it up a notch dear."
The Death Eaters streaked after Harry, knocking chairs and tables flying but not daring to bewitch him in case they hurt the prophecy, and he dashed through the only door still open, the one through which the Death Eaters themselves had come; inwardly praying that Neville would stay with Ron and find some way of releasing him. He ran a few feet into the new room and felt the floor vanish...
He was falling down steep stone step after steep stone step, bouncing on every tier until at last, with a crash that knocked all the breath out of his body, he landed flat on his back in the sunken pit where the stone archway stood on its dais. The whole room was ringing with the Death Eater's laughter, he looked up and saw the five who had been in the Brain Room descending towards him, while as many more emerged through other doorways and began leaping from bench to bench towards him. Harry got to his feet though his legs were trembling so badly they barely supported him, the prophecy was still miraculously unbroken in his left hand, his wand clutched tightly in his right. He backed away, looking around, trying to keep all the Death Eaters within his sight. The back of his legs hit something solid: he had reached the dais where the archway stood. He climbed backwards onto it.
The Death Eaters all halted, gazing at him. Some were panting as hard as he was. One was bleeding badly, Dolohov, freed of the Body-Bind Curse, was leering, his wand pointing straight at Harry's face.
"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 twelve 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 above them. "He's still god me!"
Harry's heart sank, Neville was scrambling down the stone benches towards them, Hermione's wand held fast in his trembling hand.
"Neville...no go back to Y/n... 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, his legs drawn up to his chest so that the Death Eater holding him was momentarily holding him off the ground. The Death Eater dropped him and he fell to the floor, twitching and screaming in agony.
"That was just a taster!" said Bellatrix lifting her wand now, She turned and gazed up at Harry. "Now, Potter, either give us the prophecy, or watch your little friend die the hard way!"
Harry did not have to think, there was no choice. The prophecy was hot with the heat of 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.
Y/n was still struggling against Ivan and Priscilla. He had managed to throw a few stunning spells and hexes in their direction but both were able to deflect his spells like they were nothing. He wished now more than ever that he had practiced wordless magic harder now, it would have given him a much-needed edge.
"The boy shows a good fight, but this is growing tiresome don't you agree Priscilla darling?" Ivan called out to her.
"I do!" She called back.
"I believe it is time for us to show why age and numbers are everything."
"Avada..." Priscilla began to cast but she was suddenly hit with a spell in her chest that knocked her backwards.
Ivan's eyes widened as Y/n looked to be surprised as well.
"You..." Ivan said angrily now as a figure came to stand beside Y/n with their wand drawn and Y/n turned his head to see who it was.
"Grandmother..." Y/n saved feeling a wave of relief wash over him as he saw her.
"If age is everything Ivan, then I believe you are now quite out of your depth." Frieda said with a furrowed brow. "How dare you show your face to the world after all that you have done."
"14 years we spent in Azkaban because of that foolish oaf's sacrifice...Stupefy!" Ivan quickly cast but Frieda waved her wand blocking the spell before wordlessly casting her own spell to knock Ivan back towards his wife.
"That 'oaf' was your father...and he gave his life to stop you and protect his grandchildren." Frieda said.
Using the moment of their absence Frieda turned to Y/n now. "Go."
"But Grandmother..." Y/n began to protest.
"Your friends need your attention more, someone needs to get them to safety." She began and Y/n turned his head to see Neville was gone. "You have done so well here today Y/n and I am proud of you for being so strong, but this is something I must finish. It is time to put my shameful son and his bastard wife in their place...Now go, take them back to the ground floor we have ministry officials on the way as well as Dumbledore. You are their only chance of survival."
Y/n did not like the idea of leaving his grandmother to fight alone but she was right, he needed to get the others to safety. Hermione quickly needed medical attention and he was certain Ron would too.
"Please, be safe Grandmother." Y/n said to her.
"And you be safe Y/n...You are the only Grindelwald left that I can be proud of." Frieda said turning towards Ivan and Priscilla who were beginning to push themselves up now. Frieda began to walk forward and waved her wand forcing Y/n and others backward before she waved her wand again and a wall began to rise up between them separating Y/n and others from Frieda, Ivan and Priscilla.
Y/n heart felt heavy with worry but if there was anything he did not doubt about his grandmother it was how talented a witch she was. She would be alright, she would survive...slapping his hands to his cheeks Y/n refocused himself. He looked around at the others and assessed their conditions, he knew straight away that he would be taking Hermione first not only for the fact she was his girlfriend but because of how serious her injuries could be. Ron would be next followed by Ginny and Luna.
"Luna..." Y/n found himself saying and he quickly turned his wand toward her. "Ennervate." He cast and a groggy Luna immediately began to wake.
"Hmm...Where are we?" She asked sitting up as if nothing had happened to her.
"Miss Lovegood, Are you alright?" Y/n asked her.
"Yes, I'm okay. Did we get away in the end?" Luna asked him.
"Not quite yet I am afraid." Y/n said raising this wand now. "Accio wand." He cast in the hopes that Luna's wand was still on this side of the newly formed wall, to his luck it was and he caught it before handing it back to her.
"Miss Lovegood, Luna. Can you protect Ron and Ginny while I take Hermione to safety, I will then return to help you and them out of here." Y/n asks her.
"I think so." Luna said getting to her feet. "But where is Harry Potter and Neville?" She asked.
"With any luck, with help." Y/n said moving over to Hermione now and lifting her into his arms. "I will return as quick as I can." he said turning Luna with Hermione in his arms and wand still in hand as difficult as it was.
"I know you will Y/n Grindelwald." Luna Lovegood nodded.
Y/n nodded his head and turned towards the door now walking as quickly as he could with Hermione. As he exited the room he cast a firey x upon the door and made a mental note to remember every twist and turn he would make so he could find his way back to Luna and the others.
Without being chased by Death eaters or having to rush to save Sirius Y/n found it was easier to navigate the rooms. They all seemed to lay empty save for the destruction that had taken place in them tonight. Harry had done a good job at getting the Death Eater's attentions and it allowed Y/n to find his way back to the door they had all used less than half an hour ago to enter the Department of Mysteries.
Peaking his head out he looked to see if there were any Death eaters lurking around in the hallways but was relieved to see none were. He moved now and carried Hermione back to the elevator. Once inside he pressed the button for the main floor and waited as the elevator soon began to rise.
"I am going to get you out of this safely...so you had better pull through." Y/n said quietly as he kissed her forehead.
The elevator continued to rise for a minute before finally coming to a stop at the top floor.
"A break in at the Ministry? At these hours? Ridiculous." Y/n could hear a voice that undeniably belonged to Fudge saying.
"Minister there's a boy!" another voice said and Y/n could see they had taken notice of him now and drawn their wands.
"It's Grindelwald..." Fudge said with an annoyed look. "So...you are respons..."
"You need to hurry." Y/n stopped him. "There are twelve Death Eaters currently down there."
"Death Eaters? Here in the ministry, my boy you are talking nonse..."
"Do I look as if I am joking Cornelius Fudge!" Y/n said angrily cutting him off.
"W...Well I say!" Fudge started angrily.
"I stand before you carrying my cursed girlfriend in my arms, I have five more friends stuck down in the Department of Mysteries, three of which are injured, two may even possibly be dead because as right now there are twelve Death eaters on the loose in your very own Ministry, Several of which are the recent escapees of Azkaban prison. So if you are done standing there in your pajamas telling me it is impossible then you had better think again Fudge because this situation is entirely your fault! You have spent the past year trying to deny Voldemort's return! Now are you just going to stand there or are you going to deal with the mess that is now on your front doorstep because you were too desperate to cling onto power!?"
There was a few moments of silence as Y/n breathed heavily and stared at Fudge who stared back at him.
"Minister..." One of the Aurors began.
"Fine. Fine!" Fudge roared out. "We shall go down and see what this nonsense is all about but you one of you shall remain here with Grindelwald..."
"I shall sir." A witch said.
"Right, come on then..." Fudge said to the others begrudgingly and they headed to the lift.
Y/n turned to the witch who had stayed behind. "Can you help her?" He asked indicating Hermione still in his arms. "She has been hit with a curse that I do not recognise at all."
"Set her down and I shall take a look the best I can." The witch instructed and Y/n did so carefully lying Hermione down on the cold floor.
The Witch began to examine Hermione's condition. "She's been hit with a curse alright...a nasty one too."
"Can you do anything to help her?" Y/n asked looking down at Hermione.
"There is very little I can do as of right now, She needs to be taken to a medical professional instead to see how serious the curse is." The Witch said.
"Madam Pomfrey..." Y/n uttered.
"I'm sorry?" The witch asked.
"Take her to Madam Pomfrey at Hogwarts, She will know what to do." Y/n said urgently.
"I can't just leave here for Hogwarts...The Minister..."
"Then are you just going to allow her to die!?" Y/n challenged her. "As an Auror is it not your job to protect people?"
"I..." The witch stuttered. "But I cannot apperate to Hogwarts."
"Then use the floo powder network." Y/n told her. "Take her to the hospital wing of Hogwarts."
"...Alright." The witch conceded. "I shall take her quickly then return."
"I am going back down." Y/n told her.
"You were told to stay here..." The witch began.
"My friends are still stuck down there and only I know where they are. I have to go back and help them!" Y/n shouted as he broke into a sprint towards the lift and pressed the button to call it. As he waited he could hear the flames of a fireplace roaring then die out. He knew Hermione was to safety now and he let out a deep sigh of relief before refocusing. He still had the others to reach.
The lift arrived a minute later and Y/n impatiently rode in it back down to the Department of Mysteries.
Running down the memorized path he found his way back to Luna who had managed to wake Ginny up.
"Y/n." Ginny said pushing herself up. "Where's Harry and Neville?" she asked.
"With Help, I think. I have just gotten Hermione back to Hogwarts, Luna can you help?" Y/n said crouching down to move Ron onto his back. Luna helped move Ron's arms and Legs and then when Y/n was back on his feet carrying Ron on his back, Luna helped Ginny to her own feet supporting her as she walked gingerly.
It was a slow return to the surface but when they returned Y/n set Ron down and Ginny sat down beside him.
"You should go." She told Y/n. "Try find Harry and Neville."
Y/n just nodded. "You fought brilliantly tonight, all of you." He told her and Luna before he started to take off, he was going to head back to see if he try help his Grandmother. But the sound of lift arriving echoed through the room and soon Y/n could see members of the order looking battle-worn exiting the lift.
Y/n rushed up to them. "Where is my Grandmother?" He asked them but Lupin was the first to step forward with a grave face as he produced a wand that Y/n recognized as his grandmother's.
"I'm sorry Y/n..." Lupin began as he put his hand on Y/n's shoulder. "Frieda...put up an incredible fight but Ivan and Priscilla..."
"No..." Y/n cut him off as he sank to his knees looking broken and tears began to pool in his eyes. It felt like the Hogwarts Express had just rammed through him, he couldn't move any part of his body as he just knelt there.
Lupin just crouched down as she slowly began to hold Y/n and let the boy couldn't hold back any longer as the tears began to leak from his eyes.
HE WHO MUST NOT BE NAMED RETURNS
"In a brief statement on Friday night, Minister for Magic Cornelius Fudge confirmed that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named has returned to this country and is once more active."
"'It is with great regret that I must confirm that the wizard styling himself Lord...well, you know who I mean...is alive and among us again.' said Fudge, looking tired and flustered as he addressed reporters. 'It is with almost equal regret that we report the mass revolt of the dementors of Azkaban, who have shown themselves averse to continuing in the Ministry's employ. We believe the dementors are currently taking direction from Lord...Thingy.'"
"'We urge the magician population to remain vigilant. The Ministry is currently publishing guides to elementary home and personal defense which will be delivered free to all wizarding homes within the coming month.'"
"The Minister's statement was met with dismay and alarm from the wizarding community, which as recently as last Wednesday was receiving Ministry assurances that there was 'no truth whatsoever in these persistent rumours that You-Know-Who is operating amongst us once more.'"
"Details of the events that led to the Ministry turnaround are still hazy, though it is believed that He Who Must Not Be Named and a select band of followers (known as Death Eaters) gained entry to the Ministry of Magic itself on Thursday evening."
"Albus Dumbledore, newly reinstated Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, reinstated member of the International Confederation of Wizards and reinstated Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, has so far been unavailable for comment. He has insisted over the past year that You-Know-Who is not dead, as was widely hoped and believed, but is recruiting followers once more for afresh attempt to seize power. Meanwhile, the 'Boy Who Lived'..."
"There you are, Harry, I knew they'd drag you into it somehow." said Hermione, looking over the top of the paper at him.
They were in the hospital wing. Harry was sitting on the end of Ron's bed and they were both listening to Hermione read the front page of the Sunday Prophet. Ginny, whose ankle had been mended in a trice by Madam Pomfrey, was curled up at the foot of Hermione's bed. Neville, whose nose had likewise been returned to its normal size and shape, was in a chair between the two beds while Luna, had dropped in to visit, clutching the latest edition of The Quibbler, was reading the magazine upside-down and apparently not taking in a word Hermione was saying.
Y/n was sat in a chair on the other side of Hermione's bed. His eyes were void and lifeless as dark shadows sat underneath them. He had not uttered a single word to anyone since returning to Hogwarts no matter how hard they had tried to get him to talk.
Dumbledore had dropped into the ward on the first night when Y/n had been given a potion for sleep to inform them all as to what had happened to Frieda, it had broken Hermione's heart to learn not only of her passing but that it had been Y/n's very own parents who had killed her.
It had very quickly become an unspoken rule not to mention Y/n's grandmother's death nor the escape of his parents.
"He's the 'boy who lived' again now, though, isn't he?" said Ron darkly. "Not such a deluded show-off any more, eh?" He helped himself to a handful of Chocolate Frogs from the immense pile on his bedside cabinet, threw a few to Harry, Ginny and Neville and ripped off the wrapper of his own with his teeth. There were still deep welts on his forearms where the brain's tentacles had wrapped around him. According to Madam Pomfrey, thoughts could leave deeper scarring than almost anything else, though since she had started applying copious amounts of Dr. Ubbly's Oblivious Unction there seemed to have been some improvement.
"Yes, they're very complimentary about you Harry now." said Hermione, scanning down the article. "'A lone voice of truth...perceived as unbalanced, yet never wavered in his story...forced to bear ridicule and slander...' Hmmm."' she said, frowning. I notice they have not mentioned Y/n's name as someone who was also slandered, nor do they mention the fact that it was them doing all the ridiculing and slandering in the Prophet..."
She winced slightly and put a hand to her ribs as Y/n gave a minute twitch in his fingers at the sound of her in discomfort but did not move.
The curse Dolohov had used on her, though less effective than it would have been had he been able to say the incantation aloud, had nevertheless caused, in Madam Pomfrey's words, 'quite enough damage to be going on with'. Hermione was having to take ten different types of potion every day, was improving greatly, and was already bored with the hospital wing.
"You-Know-Who's Last Attempt to Take Over, pages two to four, What the Ministry Should Have Told Us, page five, Why Nobody Listened to Albus Dumbledore, pages six to eight, Exclusive Interview with Harry Potter, page nine...Well..." said Hermione, folding up the newspaper and throwing it aside. "It's certainly given them lots to write about. And that interview with Harry isn't exclusive, it's the one including Y/n that was in The Quibbler months ago."
"Daddy sold it to them." said Luna vaguely, turning a page of The Quibbler. "He got a very good price for it, too, so we're going to go on an expedition to Sweden this summer to see if we can catch a Crumple-Horned Snorkack."
Hermione seemed to struggle with herself for a moment, then said. "That sounds lovely."
Ginny caught Harry's eye and looked away quickly, grinning.
"So, anyways." said Hermione changing the topic, sitting up a little straighter and wincing again. "What's going on in school?"
"Well, Flitwick's got rid of Fred and George's swamp." said Ginny. "He did it in about three seconds. But he left a tiny patch under the window and he's roped it off..."
"Why?" said Hermione, looking startled.
"Oh, he just says it was a really good bit of magic." said Ginny, shrugging.
"I think he left it as a monument to Fred and George." said Ron, through a mouthful of chocolate. "They sent me all these, you know." he told Harry, pointing at the small mountain of Frogs beside him. "Must be doing all right out of that joke shop, eh?"
Hermione looked rather disapproving and asked. "So has all the trouble stopped now Dumbledore's back?"
"Yes." said Neville. "Everything's settled right back to normal."
"I s'pose Filch is happy, is he?" asked Ron, propping a Chocolate Frog Card featuring Dumbledore against his water jug.
"Not at all." said Ginny. "He's really, really miserable, actually..." She lowered her voice to a whisper. "He keeps saying Umbridge was the best thing that ever happened to Hogwarts."
All six of them looked around. Professor Umbridge was lying in a bed opposite them, gazing up at the ceiling. Dumbledore had strode alone into the Forest to rescue her from the centaurs, how he had emerged from the trees supporting Professor Umbridge without so much as a scratch on him nobody knew, and Umbridge was certainly not telling. Since she had returned to the castle she had not, as far as any of them knew, uttered a single word. Nobody really knew what was wrong with her, either. Her usually neat mousy hair was very untidy and there were still bits of twigs and leaves in it, but otherwise she seemed to be quite unscathed.
"Madam Pomfrey says she's just in shock." whispered Hermione.
"Sulking, more like." said Ginny.
"Yeah, she shows signs of life if you do this." said Ron, and with his tongue he made soft clip-clopping noises. Umbridge sat bolt upright, looking around wildly.
"Anything wrong, Professor?" called Madam Pomfrey, poking her head around her office door.
"No...no..." said Umbridge, sinking back into her pillows. "No, I must have been dreaming..."
Hermione and Ginny muffled their laughter in the bedclothes.
"Speaking of centaurs." said Hermione, when she had recovered a little. "Who's Divination teacher now? Is Firenze staying?"
"He's got to." said Harry. "The other centaurs won't take him back, will they?"
"It looks like he and Trelawney are both going to teach." said Ginny.
"Bet Dumbledore wishes he could've got rid of Trelawney for good." said Ron, now munching on his fourteenth Frog. "Mind you, the whole subject's useless if you ask me, Firenze isn't a lot better..."
"How can you say that?" Hermione demanded. "After we've just found out that there are real prophecies?"
Harry's heart began to race. He had not told Ron, Y/n, Hermione or anyone else what the prophecy had contained. He was not ready to see their expressions when he told them that he must be either murderer or victim, there was no other way...
"It is a pity it broke." said Hermione quietly, shaking her head.
"Yeah, it is." said Ron. "Still, at least You-Know-Who never found out what was in it either...where are you going?" he added, looking both surprised and disappointed as Harry stood up.
"Er...Hagrid's." said Harry. "You know, he just got back and I promised I'd go down and see him and tell him how you two are."
"Oh, all right then." said Ron grumpily, looking out of the dormitory window at the patch of bright blue sky beyond. "Wish we could come."
"Say hello to him for us!" called Hermione, as Harry proceeded down the ward. "And ask him what's happening about...about his little friend!"
Harry gave a wave of his hand to show he had heard and understood as he left for Hagrid's.
With Harry gone Hermione shot Ginny a look and Ginny nodded getting up from the foot of Hermione's bed and moving over to Ron's to give Hermione a moment alone with Y/n. She had managed to get Ron to talk about the Quidditch match again as their conversation filled the room.
Hermione turned her head to look at Y/n now as she tried to get his attention. "Mum and Dad are looking forward to having you for the summer again Y/n, I know they really enjoyed spending time with you last time." She tried to say to him.
Y/n just lay his head down on Hermione's bed however, not saying anything as the others all looked at one another concerned by his response.
"It's going to be alright Y/n." Hermione said as her eyes began to tear up and she slowly ran her fingers through his hair.
Ron and Hermione left the hospital wing completely cured three days before the end of term and Professor Umbridge left Hogwarts the day before the end of term. It seemed she had crept out of the hospital wing during dinnertime, evidently hoping to depart undetected, but unfortunately for her, she met Peeves on the way, who seized his last chance to do as Fred had instructed, and chased her gleefully from the premises whacking her alternately with a walking stick and a sock full of chalk. Many students ran out into the Entrance Hall to watch her running away down the path and the Heads of Houses tried only half-heartedly to restrain them. Indeed, Professor McGonagall who had returned sank back into her chair at the staff table after a few feeble remonstrances and was clearly heard to express a regret that she could not run cheering after Umbridge herself, because Peeves had borrowed her walking stick.
Their last evening at school arrived, most people had finished packing and were already heading down to the end-of-term leaving feast, but both Y/n nor Harry had even started.
"Just do it tomorrow!" said Ron, who was waiting by the door of their dormitory. "Come on, I'm starving."
"I won't be long...look, you go ahead..." Harry told him.
But when the dormitory door closed behind Ron, Harry made no effort to speed up his packing. The very last thing he wanted to do was to attend the Leaving Feast. He was worried that Dumbledore would make some reference to him in his speech. He was sure to mention Voldemort's return, he had talked to them about it last year, after all.
The journey home on the Hogwarts Express the next day was eventful in several ways. Firstly, Malfoy, Atticus, Crabbe and Goyle, who had clearly been waiting all week for the opportunity to strike without teacher witnesses, attempted to ambush Harry halfway down the train as he made his way back from the toilet. The attack might have succeeded had it not been for the fact that they unwittingly chose to stage the attack right outside a compartment full of DA members, who saw what was happening through the glass and rose as one to rush to Harry's aid. By the time Ernie Macmillan, Hannah Abbott, Susan Bones, Justin Finch-Fletchley, Anthony Goldstein and Terry Boot, had finished using a wide variety of the hexes and jinxes Y/n and Harry had taught them, Malfoy, Atticus, Crabbe and Goyle resembled nothing so much as four gigantic slugs squeezed into Hogwarts uniform as Harry, Ernie and Justin hoisted them into the luggage rack and left them there to ooze.
"I must say, I'm looking forward to seeing Malfoy's mother's face when he gets off the train." said Ernie, with some satisfaction, as he watched Malfoy squirm above him. Ernie had never quite got over the indignity of Malfoy docking points from Hufflepuff during his brief spell as a member of the Inquisitorial Squad.
"Goyle's mum'll be really pleased, though." said Ron, who had come to investigate the source of the commotion. "He's loads better-looking now...anyway, Harry, the food trolley's just stopped if you want anything."
Harry thanked the others and accompanied Ron back to their compartment, where he bought a large pile of cauldron cakes and pumpkin pasties. As they entered they could see Y/n was lying down with his head in Hermione's lap facing away from everyone as she gently ran her fingers through his hair to soothe him.
"Is he alright?" Ron asked her.
"Shh..." Hermione said quietly. "It's the first time he's properly fallen asleep in days."
"Let's just let him rest." Harry said taking his seat between Ginny and Ron.
Ginny was doing a quiz in The Quibbler and Neville was stroking his Mimbulus mimbletonia, which had grown a great deal over the year and now made odd crooning noises when touched.
Harry and Ron whiled away most of the journey playing wizard chess while Hermione now read out snippets from the Prophet as Y/n slept on her lap. It was now full of articles about how to repel dementors, attempts by the Ministry to track down Death Eaters and hysterical letters claiming that the writer had seen Lord Voldemort walking past their house that very morning.
"It hasn't really started yet." sighed Hermione gloomily, folding up the newspaper again. "But it won't be long now..."
"Hey, Harry." said Ron softly, nodding towards the glass window on to the corridor.
Harry looked around. Cho was passing, accompanied by Marietta Edgecombe, who was wearing a balaclava. His and Cho's eyes met for a moment. Cho blushed and kept walking. Harry looked back down at the chessboard just in time to see one of his pawns chased off its square by Ron's knight.
"What's...er...going on with you and her, anyway?" Ron asked quietly.
"Nothing." said Harry truthfully.
"I...um...heard she's going out with someone else now." said Hermione tentatively.
Harry was surprised to find that this information did not hurt at all. Wanting to impress Cho seemed to belong to a past that was no longer quite connected with him, so much of what he had wanted before Sirius and Frieda's death felt that way these days... the week that had elapsed since he had last seen Sirius seemed to have lasted much, much longer, it stretched across two universes, the one with Sirius in it, and the one without.
"You're well out of it, mate." said Ron forcefully. "I mean, she's quite good-looking and all that, but you want someone a bit more cheerful."
"She's probably cheerful enough with someone else." said Harry, shrugging.
"Who's she with now, anyway?" Ron asked Hermione, but it was Ginny who answered.
"Michael Corner." she said.
"Michael...but..." said Ron, craning around in his seat to state at her. "But you were going out with him!"
"Be quiet Ron!" Hermione whisper shouted at him as she felt Y/n's head stir slightly in her lap.
"Not any more." said Ginny resolutely. "He didn't like Gryffindor beating Ravenclaw at Quidditch, and got really sulky, so I ditched him and he ran off to comfort Cho instead." She scratched her nose absently with the end of her quill, turned The Quibbler upside-down and began marking her answers.
Ron looked highly delighted. "Well, I always thought he was a bit of an idiot." he said, prodding his queen forwards towards Harry's quivering castle. "Good for you. Just choose someone...better...next time."
He cast Harry an oddly furtive look as he said it.
"Well, I've chosen Dean Thomas, would you say he's better?" asked Ginny vaguely.
"WHAT?" shouted Ron, upending the chessboard. Crookshanks went plunging after the pieces and Hedwig and Pigwidgeon twittered and hooted angrily from overhead. Only Noctis seemed unphased as she sat on the floor looking up at Y/n whose eyes slowly opened as his head slowly rose.
"Well done Ronald..." Hermione said annoyed that he had awoken Y/n.
As the train slowed down in the approach to King's Cross, Harry thought he had never wanted to leave it less. He even wondered fleetingly what would happen if he simply refused to get off, but remained stubbornly sitting there until the first of September, when it would take him back to Hogwarts. When it finally puffed to a standstill, however, he lifted down Hedwig's cage and prepared to drag his trunk from the train as usual.
When the ticket inspector signalled to Harry, Ron, Y/n and Hermione that it was safe to walk through the magical barrier between platforms nine and ten, however, they found a surprise awaiting them on the other side, a group of people standing there to greet Harry who he had not expected at all.
There was Mad-Eye Moody, looking quite as sinister with his bowler hat pulled low over his magical eye as he would have done without it, his gnarled hands clutching a long staff, his body wrapped in a voluminous travelling cloak. Tonks stood just behind him, her bright bubble-gum-pink hair gleaming in the sunlight filtering through the dirty glass of the station ceiling, wearing heavily patched jeans and a bright purple T-shirt bearing the legend The Weird Sisters. Next to Tonks was Lupin, his face pale, his hair greying, a long and threadbare overcoat covering a shabby jumper and trousers. At the front of the group stood Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, dressed in their Muggle best, and Fred and George, who were both wearing brand-new jackets in some lurid green, scaly material.
"Ron, Ginny!" called Mrs. Weasley, hurrying forwards and hugging her children tightly. "Oh, and Harry dear how are you?'
"Fine." lied Harry, as she pulled him into a tight embrace. Over her shoulder he saw Ron goggling at the twins' new clothes.
"What are they supposed to be?" he asked, pointing at the jackets.
"Finest dragonskin, little bro." said Fred, giving his zip a little tweak. "Business is booming and we thought we'd treat ourselves."
"Hello, Harry." said Lupin, as Mrs. Weasley let go of Harry and turned to greet Hermione and Y/n.
"Oh Y/n..." Mrs Weasley cooed sympatheticly as she brought the boy into a hug. "It's going to be alright dear."
Y/n just stood there as he let Mrs Weasey hug him.
Hermione turned her head to see her parents were approaching them. "Mum, Dad."
"Hi Honey." Hermione's mother greeted her warmly before her and her husband's attention turned to Y/n who was still being comforted by Mrs Weasley. 'How is he?' Hermione's mother mouthed to her.
Hermione just shook her head solemnly indicating he was not doing good. Mrs Granger heart broke for the young boy and even Mr Granger looked at Y/n with some concern for him.
"Hi." said Harry to everyone else. "I didn't expect...what are you all doing here?"
"Well." said Lupin with a slight smile. "We thought we might check up on Y/n and have a little chat with your aunt and uncle before letting them take you home."
"I dunno if that's a good idea." said Harry at once.
"Oh, I think it is." growled Moody, who had limped a little closer. "That'll be them, will it, Potter?"
He pointed with his thumb over his shoulder, his magical eye was evidently peering through the back of his head and his bowler hat. Harry leaned an inch or so to the left to see where Mad-Eye was pointing and there, sure enough, were the three Dursleys, who looked positively appalled to see Harry's reception committee.
"Ah, Harry!" said Mr. Weasley, turning from Hermione's parents, who he had just greeted enthusiastically. "Well, shall we do it, then?"
"Yeah, I reckon so, Arthur." said Moody.
"Right." Mrs Weasley said letting of Y/n now.
"Mum, Dad. Could you stay with Y/n for a moment while we quickly talk to Harry's relatives?" Hermione asked her parents. Her parents just nodded as both put a hand on each of Y/n's shoulders.
"We'll be back in a moment Y/n." Lupin told him and Hermione nodded.
Moody and Mr. Weasley took the lead across the station towards the Dursleys, who were apparently rooted to the floor.
"Good afternoon." said Mr. Weasley pleasantly to Uncle Vernon as he came to a halt right in front of him. "You might remember me, my name's Arthur Weasley."
As Mr. Weasley had single-handedly demolished most of the Dursleys' living room two years previously, Harry would have been very surprised if Uncle Vernon had forgotten him. Sure enough, Uncle Vernon turned a deeper shade of puce and glared at Mr. Weasley, but chose not to say anything, partly, perhaps, because the Dursleys were outnumbered two to one. Aunt Petunia looked both frightened and embarrassed, she kept glancing around, as though terrified somebody she knew would see her in such company. Dudley, meanwhile, seemed to be trying to look small and insignificant, a feat at which he was failing extravagantly.
"We thought we'd just have a few words with you about Harry." said Mr. Weasley, still smiling.
"Yeah." growled Moody. "About how he's treated when he's at your place."
Uncle Vernon's moustache seemed to bristle with indignation. Possibly because the bowler hat gave him the entirely mistaken impression that he was dealing with a kindred spirit, he addressed himself to Moody. "I am not aware that it is any of your business what goes on in my house..."
"I expect what you're not aware of would fill several books, Dursley." growled Moody.
"Anyway, that's not the point." interjected Tonks, whose pink hair seemed to offend Aunt Petunia more than all the rest put together, for she closed her eyes rather than look at her. "The point is, if we find out you've been horrible to Harry..."
"And make no mistake, we'll hear about it." added Lupin pleasantly.
"Yes." said Mr Weasley. "Even if you won't let Harry use the felly-tone..."
"Telephone." whispered Hermione.
"Yeah, if we get any hint that Potter's been mistreated in any way, you'll have us to answer to." said Moody.
Uncle Vernon swelled ominously. His sense of outrage seemed to outweigh even his fear of this bunch of oddballs.
"Are you threatening me, sir?" he said, so loudly that passers-by actually turned to stare.
"Yes, I am." said Mad-Eye, who seemed rather pleased that Uncle Vernon had grasped this fact so quickly.
"And do I look like the kind of man who can be intimidated?" barked Uncle Vernon.
"Well..." said Moody, pushing back his bowler hat to reveal his sinisterly revolving magical eye. Uncle Vernon leapt backwards in horror and collided painfully with a luggage trolley. "Yes, I'd have to say you do, Dursley."
He turned away from Uncle Vernon to survey Harry.
"So, Potter...give us a shout if you need us. If we don't hear from you for three days in a row, we'll send someone along..."
Aunt Petunia whimpered piteously. It could not have been plainer that she was thinking of what the neighbours would say if they caught sight of these people marching up the garden path.
"Bye, then, Potter." said Moody, grasping Harry's shoulder for a moment with a gnarled hand.
"Take care, Harry." said Lupin quietly. "Keep in touch."
"Harry, we'll have you away from there as soon as we can." Mrs. Weasley whispered, hugging him again.
"We'll see you soon, mate." said Ron anxiously, shaking Harry's hand.
"Really soon, Harry." said Hermione earnestly. "We promise."
Harry nodded. He somehow could not find words to tell them what it meant to him, to see them all ranged there, on his side. Instead, he smiled, raised a hand in farewell, turned around and led the way out of the station towards the sunlit street, with Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia and Dudley hurrying along in his wake.