Second Author's note: I have re-uploaded this chapter since chapter 50 was missing. I hope that it didn't confuse too many readers.
A/N: Okay, now that I have pulled you in, hang on! We are in for a ride! Thanks to all of you that have been staying with me. I know that it has been a long haul. I hope you continue to enjoy this story. Many thanks to my Beta, Dementor149 for all of his words of wisdom and encouragement. Now, on with the show!
I do not own these characters, but I like to see what they will do when I put them in situations that another author did not. It's been interesting so far…
Chapter 51
Attack at the Ministry
"The ward is down! We're under attack!" someone screamed, and the two wizards accompanying Scrimgeour ran towards the confusion, wands drawn. Scrimgeour spun around to see who was coming, and Harry scanned the seemingly endless numbers of Death Eaters that were arriving. There was only one thing on his mind. Where was Voldemort?
Harry and Neville dashed around the back of the fountain, away from the melee, and Scrimgeour followed.
"Look at this!" Scrimgeour yelled. "This is what happens when you interfere and don't let trained professionals do their jobs!"
"I had nothing to do with this!" Harry said.
"Of course you would say that!" Scrimgeour screamed. "What did Sandhill know? Did those Death Eaters follow you?"
"Harry had nothing to do with this!" Neville yelled over the noise. "He was only accompanying me to hear my Gran's will!"
"What a coincidence!" Scrimgeour sneered.
As soon as Neville had begun arguing with Scrimgeour, Harry went back to scanning the battle, looking for Voldemort. It was hard to recognize anyone with so much fighting going on, but he figured Voldemort would stand out.
Suddenly, there was a Death Eater standing right behind Scrimgeour and Harry reacted.
"Move!" he yelled as he pushed the Minister aside. "Expelliarmus!"
The Death Eater's wand went flying, and he turned to flee.
"Petrificus Totalus!" Harry yelled, and the Death Eater went down with a thump.
Neville helped Scrimgeour up, while Harry scanned for more attackers. Scrimgeour looked shaken, as he brushed himself off.
"I suppose I should thank you," Scrimgeour said gruffly as he held out his hand to Harry.
Harry looked at him for a moment, and then shook it reluctantly.
"Look, I know we don't agree on everything, but we are on the same side. I'm not trying to interfere or take over, or anything like that. I've got a job to do and so do you. Can we just leave it at that?" Harry asked.
"Minister! Are you okay?"
Four Aurors were running towards the group, and Scrimgeour turned to greet them.
"Fine, fine," he said gruffly. "No thanks to you. It was a good thing these young men were here."
The Aurors looked past Scrimgeour, but there was no one there. Harry and Neville had slipped out as soon as Scrimgeour's back was turned, and were heading back towards the lifts.
"Take the stairs," Harry called to Neville. They ran down to the ninth floor and ran the length of the hall to the Department of Mysteries.
"Room of Enchantment," Harry panted as soon as they got inside.
The door stopped, and Harry unlocked it and went inside, closing the door behind them. Harry went to the bookshelf and began to pull the books out as quickly as he could. Nothing happened.
"Try the key," Neville suggested, pointing to one book with a keyhole in it.
Harry inserted the key and the bookshelf opened. They rushed into the room to find Mr. Ollivander working quietly, completely oblivious to the happenings upstairs.
"You're early," he said without looking up.
"I'm sorry sir, but there's been an attack upstairs," Harry explained. "You should probably leave."
"I'm not going anywhere until this is complete. This is precise work, so sit down and wait."
Neville went and sat down, but Harry felt too anxious to sit. He hadn't seen Voldemort, and he suddenly had a sinking feeling as to why. He had to be at Hogwarts, and every moment spent here was a moment longer that Ron and Hermione might be facing him. The thought of Hermione in that man's clutches made him sick. He needed to get back to Hogwarts.
Neville looked up and saw the worry on Harry's face.
"Not yet," Mr. Ollivander said, as if reading his thoughts, "be patient."
"They'll be okay, Harry," Neville said.
Harry turned and went back out into the Room of Enchantment, and Neville followed. Harry ran his hand through his hair as he paced. He was so afraid of losing Hermione that it was eating him inside. He stopped in front of the pendant, and let the music try and sooth him.
Neville came and put his hand on Harry's shoulder.
"They'll be okay," he said quietly.
"I hope so," Harry sighed as he stared at the pendant. "Neville, can you feel it?" he said after a moment.
Neville looked around. "Feel what?" he asked.
"The pendant. It's almost like it's calling me," Harry said.
He reached out and gently touched the red ruby with his finger. He could feel the energy crackling from it.
Neville reached out to touch it, but felt nothing but the red stone. "I don't feel anything," he said.
Harry very carefully reached out and picked the chain up, letting the pendant hang in front of his face. He suddenly knew he was meant to have it.
"Accio Book," he said and then caught the book that came sailing towards him. He transfigured it into a copy of the pendant and placed it on the pedestal. He then, very carefully, put the original pendant in the velvet bag he had kept from Hermione's ring.
"Harry, what?" Neville asked.
"Done!" Mr. Ollivander said.
The door back to the Department of Mysteries shook.
"Go! Go!" Harry said as the door shook again.
Once they were back in Mr. Ollivander's apartment, Mr. Ollivander pushed a button and the wall slid shut with a `click'.
They could feel the rumble as the outer door finally gave way.
"Here," Mr. Ollivander pointed, and Harry looked through a small peephole, back into the Room of Enchantment. What he saw chilled him; Greyback was there, surrounded by several masked Death Eaters.
"It's Greyback," he whispered to the others.
"Oh dear," muttered Mr. Ollivander.
Harry watched as they searched through the rubble. He saw Greyback pick up the knife and test the blade with a grin.
"Here!" one of the Death Eater's said as he held up the pendant.
"Give it to me," growled Greyback, and he placed it in his pouch.
The other Death Eaters made for the door, and Greyback began to follow, when he stopped, stood up straighter, and sniffed. Harry watched as he scanned the room, his eyes falling on the bookcase. He slowly came over, sniffing as he moved, searching for his prey. He clawed the books off of the shelf, letting them land haphazardly around the room.
Harry pulled his wand out as he watched, fearing a confrontation with the werewolf, and realizing something was happening, Neville did the same, watching the wall intently. Greyback began to claw at the bookshelf itself, when there was a shout and a spell shot by. He turned, and ran to attack the aurors in the doorway. One of them made a pedestal fly at him, and he battered it out of the way, letting it crash against the bookshelf he was just attacking. He followed the aurors out into the main room, snarling as he attacked them. Harry sighed in relief at how close they had come to being found. He watched for a moment to see if he would return, but obviously something else had caught his fancy.
"Well," said Mr. Ollivander. "If you have quite finished with the theatrics, your wand is ready."
He moved back towards his workbench, and Harry followed.
"Eleven and three-quarters, Holly, phoenix feather core. It seems that you suit the holly wood."
Harry looked at the intricately carved wood, remembering back to the first time he had entered Ollivander's shop. He reached out and gently picked up the wand. He could feel the energy crackling from the wand, making his hair stand on end. There seemed to be a magical excitement that Harry could feel coming from the wand as it recognized him.
"Go on, give it a try," Mr. Ollivander said, pleased with the reaction.
Harry pointed the wand at the overstuffed chair and thought "Wingardium Leviosa,"
The chair gently floated up, and Harry was amazed at the ease in which he did it.
"Well done!" clapped Mr. Ollivander.
"So, do I give my other wand back to you?" Harry asked as he gently set the chair down.
"Oh, heavens, no," Mr. Ollivander said. "It wouldn't be any good for anyone else."
"Thank-you," Harry said as he pocketed the new wand.
"I really think we should be going. Will you come with us?" Harry asked.
Mr. Ollivander snorted. "Whatever for? I am quite comfortable and safe here until I can return to my shop."
Harry didn't have the patience to argue with him. He wanted to get back to Hermione.
"It's all clear," Neville said after checking the peephole.
"Thanks again," Harry said as he pressed the button on the wall.
The wall began to slide open, but then stopped after about six inches. Harry looked out to see the pedestal wedged up against the bookshelf.
"It's jammed," he said as he tried to wrench the shelf open. "Is there another way out?"
"Of course," Mr. Ollivander said, and he pushed a button under his workbench. "Go to your right."
"Figures," Neville muttered as they headed towards the opening. "I wonder if there are any rooms in this building that don't have a secret exit."
"I doubt it, you're dealing with a large number of paranoid people," Harry said.
They jogged the short hallway and came to another door that led them back to the rotating room.
"I'm really beginning to hate this place," Harry muttered as they quietly entered the circular room.
Several of the doors had large holes in them, and they could hear the walls trying to rotate, to no avail. They could see several bodies lying on the floor.
"Come on," Harry said as he saw the hallway from the Ministry.
They climbed through the door into the eerily quiet hall. There were several bodies here as well, and it looked like Greyback had been responsible for their deaths too. They slowly climbed the stairs, listening carefully as they went. They got to the top and sidled around the elevators. The battle was still in full swing, and to Harry it seemed that there were more Death Eaters than aurors.
"There's no way we're going to be able to use the floo," Neville said, nodding towards the fireplace. "Too bad we can't Apparate."
Harry looked at Neville, and then banged his head against the wall.
"Stupid, Potter," he muttered. "Why didn't you think of it sooner?" he said to Neville as he dug into his invisipouch and pulled out the Hogwarts badge that Hermione had designed.
Neville had the grace to look sheepish.
"Mine's at school still," Neville said.
"Hold on to my arm," Harry sighed as he gave the badge a twist. "Hogwarts," he said.
****** ****** ****** ******
Hermione, Ron and Ginny stood frozen in place as the last of the students in the Great Hall slumped to the floor.
"The food," Hermione said horrified. "It must have been tampered with."
"Are they…are they dead?" whispered Ginny fearfully.
Ron reached over and checked Seamus.
"No," he said with relief. "Just sleeping it seems."
"Well, well, what have we here? Were you not hungry tonight, itty-bitty Gryffindors?"
The three whirled to see Bellatrix standing in the doorway of the Great Hall, several Death Eaters behind her, including Snape.
"Wha' are ye doin' here!" Hagrid slurred as he staggered to his feet. "Stop where ye' are!"
The three whirled back to watch as Hagrid stumbled around the table, shaking his head and trying to get rid of the fog that seemed to be there. Bellatrix laughed as she and several of the Death Eaters pointed their wands at the giant and yelled "Stupify!"
Hagrid seemed to totter for a moment, before falling backwards with a loud thump.
"Are you happy, Severus?" Bellatrix sneered in a singsong voice. "I didn't kill him."
Severus looked down at her with indifference.
"The Dark Lord wanted as many hostages as possible," he said. "That means they have to be alive."
"Are you sure you're not going soft?" she asked, coming face to face with him.
"You may do with them whatever you wish," Snape sniffed. "I don't care a whit. However, Lord Voldemort did give us orders."
Bellatrix tried to stare him down for another moment, before finally giving an unlady-like snort and turning her back on him in a huff.
While all this was going on, Hermione, her back to the Death Eaters, twisted her pin to the right and whispered "Safety."
She then turned slowly towards the group in the doorway.
Bellatrix clapped her hands in glee as she sauntered into the Great Hall.
"What a lovely treasure trove we have here," she laughed as she spread her arms wide and spun in place.
She stopped as she faced the trio, and suddenly, almost every student in the hall disappeared. Hermione noticed that it was mainly members of the DA and a few Slytherins that they didn't trust, which were left. She sighed gratefully as she thought of all those constant reminders.
"WHAT!" Bellatrix shrieked as she spun around, wide-eyed to face Snape. "THEY'RE GONE!"
"Obviously," Snape said as he came closer and glared at the three standing defiantly against their attackers.
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