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The Duelist by Hawkins
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The Duelist

Hawkins

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

Chapter 30: Phoenix Rampant

April 1

Coming into the Great Hall for breakfast and seeing Umbridge sitting in the Headmaster's…or rather Headmistress' chair was almost enough to make Harry cry. Hermione squeezed his hand in support and they silently took their places, although neither felt very hungry.

"Funny April Fool's joke of Dumbledore's, eh?" Fred asked.

"Poor taste, maybe, but funny in a ridiculous kind of way." George continued.

"Wait…why are you looking so down, Harry?" Fred asked.

"It's no joke." Harry said, "You missed the end of last night's action. After we all fled, Dennis was captured. I rescued him, but Umbridge took me to the Headmaster's office, where Fudge was waiting. She wanted me to go to Azkaban. Marietta had betrayed us, including giving the roster to Umbridge. Dumbledore took the blame and here we are."

Everyone at the table looked stunned, although some of them had been in the common room waiting for Harry and already knew the bad news. Even hearing it again, though, combined with seeing the pink toad sitting in Dumbledore's seat was enough to lower spirits.

"What are we going to do, Mate?" Ron asked.

"Lay low." Harry said, "Study for our OWLs, keep training… there's nothing else we can do."

Harry and Hermione were preparing to leave the Great Hall to do a little extra last-minute studying before potions, when Umbridge called Harry's name.

"Hem, hem." Umbridge loudly cleared her throat, then when everyone ignored her attempt to get their attention, she shouted across the room, "Mr. Potter, come here."

Harry stood up and walked to the Head Table.

"I suppose you've become used to morning trips to the Headmaster's Office, haven't you?" Umbridge said in her saccharine voice, "So it won't be any bother to come by my office this morning, will it?"

"Well, Professor…" Harry started.

"Headmistress, Mr. Potter." Umbridge said smugly.

"Headmistress, I am afraid I really should be studying for potions." Harry said, "I'm already taking remedial potions and I should try to do well so I can apply for the auror academy after graduation."

"I hardly think you're a suitable candidate, Mr. Potter." Umbridge said dismissively, "You will come to my office. I can even show you something about potions."

Harry just nodded. As he started to turn away from the table, Snape caught his eye. His black eyes seemed to give a warning. Harry relaxed his occlumency shields the tiniest amount to let the Potion Master read his understanding. This was not to be a meeting with Umbridge. It was to be an interrogation.

"Oh, Mr. Potter?" Umbridge caught his attention, "I am still in the Defense Professor's office. It will serve as the Headmistress' office in the interim."

Harry turned away before she saw his smile. If the toad wasn't using Dumbledore's office, it was because she couldn't get in, which was a relief. All of the Headmaster's devices and private library were secure.

Harry caught up to Hermione in the hall. She already knew what Umbridge had wanted, had in fact predicted something similar before they'd gone to sleep the night before.

"So how are you going to deal with it?" Hermione asked.

"Like we discussed…" Harry said, "having mastered the non-verbal vanishing charm will make it much easier. If not, I'll try to just dump it. If not, I'll see if occlumency can block veritaserum. There are rumors."

"There are." Hermione confirmed, "That doesn't mean I want you to test them! Luckily, if she stays on what she cares about, which is her imagined plot against the Ministry, you'll be pretty safe anyway, since there is no such plot. It's only if she starts quizzing you on Voldemort that things get dangerous. We can't afford to let that information slip out."

Non-verbally she told him she'd back him up. He passed her the invisibility cloak as they walked up the stairs. Quickly they walked up to the fifth floor, where they slipped into the Prefect's Bath.

"Do be careful, Harry." Hermione urged, drawing him down for a prolonged kiss.

"You'll be right there, Hermione!" Harry answered, smiling after the kiss, "Nothing to worry about!"

"Oh, I know." Hermione said, "I still worry. It's always something with you. If things go wrong-side up, there could be blood..."

"There could." Harry agreed, "You know it wouldn't be ours."

"That could be even worse." Hermione said, "We can't attend school if we're fugitives from the Ministry."

"We could be killed or even worse…" Harry said, starting a familiar tease.

"Expelled!" they both said together.

"I'm never going to live that down, am I?" Hermione said, blushing.

Hermione wrapped herself in the invisibility cloak and they left the Prefect's Bathroom. They'd grown accustomed enough to the bond that Hermione could walk almost on Harry's shadow without ever bumping into him. She planned on slipping into the office right behind him and then hiding in a corner. Harry walked to the Defense Professor's office and knocked on the door. Umbridge, having had time to return to her office from the Great Hall, opened the door.

"Ah, Mr. Potter." Umbridge said sweetly, "Good of you to be prompt."

She opened the door wide and Harry was again sickened by how she'd decorated the office. The room, which had been filled with Defense paraphernalia under Moody's tenure, was now painted pink. Every surface was draped in lacy covers and cloths. One wall had a collection of decorative plates each with a picture of a kitten. He stepped inside, holding his hand in the way of the door long enough to give Hermione time to slip in behind him.

"Have a seat, Mr. Potter." Umbridge said, sitting down herself, "I brought you here for a little discussion. I think we may have gotten off to a bad start and perhaps it's best if we start over. Pardon my manners, have a cup of tea."

She poured tea from a silver tea service into a pink overly feminine cup with matching saucer and pushed it to Harry.

"So you want to be an auror?" Umbridge asked.

"Yes, ma'am." Harry said. He hated being so polite to her, but his goal was to get out of her office without having to duel. In any duel now, he had to win. If he won, he would be a fugitive from the Ministry and maybe a killer. Unless…he needed to learn to obliviate and soon.

"Why would you want that?" Umbridge said, "Aurors work for the Ministry and you don't seem the type."

Harry toyed with the tea cup on the saucer.

"I want to oppose Dark wizards wherever they raise their heads." He said honestly, "I feel like it's something of a calling for me."

"Oh, dear, I forgot to offer…milk or sugar?" Umbridge asked.

"A bit of lemon if you have it?" Harry asked, suddenly trying to remember if acid could ruin veritaserum.

She placed a wedge of lemon on his tea saucer. Harry squeezed it into his tea, trying to express as much of the juice as he possibly could.

"How is it?" Umbridge asked.

Harry felt like he had used up as much time as he dared with conversation. He looked into the tea cup and focused, casting a wandless vanishing spell on the tea. It disappeared. He pantomimed drinking the entire cup of tea despite the fact that the inside was as dry as if it had just come from the shelf.

"Ah, very good." Harry said, then raised his occlumency shields as high as he could, trying to let the flatness of occlumency substitute for the flat affect of the target of veritaserum, "The tea tastes good."

"Wonderful, Mr. Potter." Umbridge said, smiling, "Where is Dumbledore?"

"I don't know. He didn't tell me where he was going." Harry answered honestly.

"What was he planning?" Umbridge asked.

"He doesn't share all his plans with me." Harry said, "He teaches me. He planned to keep teaching me."

Umbridge looked frustrated at this.

"How did he plan to overthrow the Ministry?" she asked impatiently.

"He didn't tell me of any plans to overthrow the ministry." Harry said, again truthfully.

"Who does Dumbledore work with?" Umbridge asked.

Harry decided this was one he could have fun with and burn up some time, "Dumbledore works with Professor McGonagall, the Deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts. He works with Professor Flitwick, the Charms Professor. He works with Professor Snape, the Potions Professor. He works with Professor Umbridge, the Defense against the Dark Arts Professor…."

"Stop!" Umbridge commanded, "I mean who does he work with in his plans to overthrow the Ministry?"

"He didn't tell me of any plans to overthrow the ministry." Harry repeated.

Umbridge was pacing. "The veritaserum must have worn off. Or maybe it didn't work in the first place. I must have more."

She went to the floo and called the Potion Master's office. Professor Snape answered.

"Yes, may I help you?" he asked flatly.

"Yes, I need you to bring more veritaserum to my office." Umbridge demanded.

"I'm afraid you've used my entire supply." Snape answered silkily, "I should have time to brew more this weekend, but it is a very complicated potion. It needs a full lunar cycle to mature."

"That's not good enough!" Umbridge protested.

"I'm sorry, Headmistress." Snape answered, "It's the best I can do. Unless of course you want to poison Mr. Potter, which I would not object to."

Umbridge turned to Harry. "Get out of my office. You're dismissed."

Harry nodded and slowly rose from his chair, giving Hermione time to quietly move nearer. He then opened the door and left slowly, allowing her time to follow him out. He then walked towards the Dungeon, darting into a broom closet as he passed. Hermione whipped off the invisibility cloak.

"You did brilliantly, Harry!" she gushed, "I knew you could do it!"

"Who knew that learning to cast the vanishing charm non-verbally would come in so handy!" Harry said, "I learned it because I was mad at McGonagall because she didn't stick up for me with Umbridge."

"Well, it worked." Hermione smiled, "I noticed the trick with the lemon, by the way. That wouldn't have worked. Think about it…your stomach is full of acid."

"Oh, right." Harry said, "Well, lucky the vanishing charm worked, then."

They went to potions and Snape actually seemed happy to see them, which in him simply meant that he was less demeaning than normal. Apparently seeing Umbridge balked was enough to brighten his day.

While they were all quietly brewing potions, a tiny sparkler slipped in under the door, shooting around the room in corkscrew patterns. Snape watched it for a few moments, then waved his wand in a vanishing charm. The spell hit the tiny sparkler and it exploded into a dragon, roaring around the room. Snape leaped out of his chair and chased it out the door with expertly aimed hexes, slamming the door behind it.

"I sent it up to the second floor." Snape said drily, "I thought the Headmistress should deal with it."

He thought a moment. "Potter, Granger, you appear to be done with your potions. Perhaps you could go alert the Headmistress to our little firework problem?"

They nodded, grabbing their books and hurrying out. They ran up the stairs, hoping to see other examples. They ran to the Transfiguration classroom. The door was open and they could easily see a firework dragon, whether the same one or another just like it, flying around the classroom emitting loud bangs and exhaling flame. Professor McGonagall was watching it. She caught Hermione's eye and winked.

"Ah, Miss Granger! Please, could you run along and tell the Headmistress we have an escaped firework in our classroom?"

Hermione nodded and they ran up the stairs back to the DADA Professor's office. Harry knocked quite loudly, hoping he would make Umbridge spill her tea.

"Who is banging on my door?" Umbridge said as she opened it, "Mr. Potter? I thought you said you were very intent on potions earlier? Shouldn't you be in class?"

"Professor Snape sent us." Harry said, "There was a firework dragon in our classroom!"

One of the dragons, likely the one Snape had herded towards her office, flew in the door. The students ducked as it sizzled overhead.

"There it is." Hermione said helpfully.

Umbridge pointed her wand and cast a vanishing charm. The dragon seemed to grow ten times larger and roared, knocking all the plates off Umbridge's wall. The toad-like woman screamed and ran out of her office, slamming the door behind her, shutting the dragon inside.

"What was that?" she asked.

"Fireworks apparently, Headmistress." Harry said.

"Oh, I almost forgot to tell you, Professor McGonagall asked if we could tell you there's one in her class, too. She wondered whether you could help get rid of it?" Hermione said sweetly.

"Ummmm…." Umbridge stalled, "Perhaps I'll go get Professor Flitwick. This seems like a Charms problem. Come with me."

Umbridge looked like she thought she would be able to duck behind them if another dragon presented itself. They walked down another set of stairs towards the Charms classroom. A giant Catherine Wheel flew overhead, emitting a whistling sound and showers of golden sparks.

"Oooh, pretty." Hermione said, "I like that gold color."

They reached the Charms classroom where Flitwick was standing on a box, watching sparklers race around the room.

"Ah, Headmistress Umbridge." Professor Flitwick said, "I'm glad you came. I didn't think the student I sent would reach you this quickly. I hoped you might help remove these sparklers?"

Her eyes wide, Umbridge again pulled out her wand. She waited until the sparklers were in front of a window and then banished them through, watching as they shot out. She released a tightly held breath in relief she'd actually managed to get rid of some.

"Thank you so much, Professor!" Flitwick squeaked, "I could have gotten rid of them myself, of course, but I wasn't sure whether I had the authority." Smiling, he slammed the door in the toad-woman's face.

Umbridge stamped her foot. She'd been hoping she could set him to ridding the castle of all the fireworks.

They walked together to the Transfiguration classroom, where McGonagall was casting spells on the dragon, still in her classroom. Each time she cast, the dragon split into two equally large dragons. She continued to cast the same spell over and over. Dragons were crowding the classroom and escaping down the halls.

"Ah, thank heavens you're here, Headmistress." McGonagall said with a trace of her burr, "Somehow nothing I do seems to help."

"Stop that, this instant!" Umbridge said as McGonagall forced the fireworks creature to split yet again.

"Pardon?" McGonagall said, "I'm sure it will work one of these times. I think I have the motion off a bit."

Umbridge stomped off.

"You two, return to your class. I'm going to get Filch." Umbridge said.

Harry had to stifle a laugh at that. The squib caretaker wasn't going to be able to do much at all. This was a brilliant prank and seemed to be driving Umbridge even battier.

Harry and Hermione reached the Potions classroom just in time for class to be dismissed. They grabbed Ron and Neville and walked to lunch, smiling. The fireworks prank had brightened what would otherwise have been a very dismal day.

Throughout lunch the fireworks seemed to parade themselves through the Great Hall as if showing off for the assembled students. Hermione was examining them using spells and auramancy.

"They seem to be set to prefer groups of people." Hermione mused, "Brilliant idea, you don't want your fireworks going away from the audience, but explains why they keep going into classrooms."

"So you like them?" George said, sitting next to Hermione.

"Want to help us make them better?" Fred asked.

"Everyone says you're a bright one." George continued.

"We have room in our R&D department for someone like you." Fred said, smiling at the young Witch.

Hermione put her hands on her hips and cocked her head at them.

"Really you two. I am a prefect." Hermione snapped.

"And?" George said, "Does that mean you can't have a sense of humor?"

"You'll only make your fiancee's profits higher." Fred said, "Besides contributing to Delores' misery."

"I'm in." Hermione said quietly, "On the DL of course."

"We're the soul of discretion." The twins said in unison.

That night, after a combined occlumency and potion revision session with Snape, Harry was able to watch the Voldemort sent vision progress even further. He opened the door into a circular room and then walked straight across to another door, which swung inward. He was in a long rectangular room full of mechanical ticking with a door at the far end, which also opened at his touch. In a dimly lit room, with high ceiling and wide expanse like a warehouse, he saw rows and rows of towering shelves. Each was full of small, dusty spun-glass spheres.

He awoke with a BANG! Two of the twins' fireworks had collided, mating to produce flying pigs. He watched them with the rest of the fifth year boys until they finally faded.

H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr

April 5th

Harry's weekend had been full of revising with Hermione and dueling practice. He was becoming convinced that Hermione had decided to skip OWLs and jump straight to NEWTs. Every book he could find on what to expect for OWLs showed they were already over prepared and he feared she was just gearing up. No matter how much he loved her, he sometimes agreed with Ron's early assessment that she was completely mental, particularly around exam time.

He'd been working hard lately to pay attention in history of magic. It meant a lot to her that he tried, despite the fact that Binns' obsession with the Goblin Wars didn't match the priorities of the revising schedule she's created. In fact, what Binns taught was less than ten percent of what she'd planned for them to learn while revising and Harry had quickly learned that reading the textbook was a much faster way of learning the material. However, if it hadn't been for the weekend of non-stop revising he didn't think he would have fallen asleep in class.

Having fallen asleep he dropped straight into his recurrent vision, sent as to seem like a dream. Seen through the occlumency shields it was very clear that it wasn't, but some of the attached emotional weight came through despite his shields and the whole thing felt very uneasy. He quickly passed through the first door, through the circular room, through the ticking room, and into the warehouse room full of spheres. He reached the shelf labeled with ninety-seven and turned down it. There was a shape on the ground, curled around itself like an animal. His own hand, pale and almost-skeletal rose with a bone-white wand in his hand.

"Take it down for me, you can touch it, but I can't." Voldemort's voice hissed out at the unknown person on the ground, "Do it, now! No? Your resistance can be broken… Crucio!"

The person on the ground writhed in agony and Harry saw through Voldemort's eyes exactly who he was torturing. It was Sirius, his Godfather!

"No, I won't do it!" Sirius grunted, "You'll have to kill me first!"

"Undoubtedly I will in the end, but you will get it for me, first." Voldemort said, "You only think you have felt pain thus far. We have hours and you will get it for me."

Harry heard a scream and felt an impact. He realized it was him and he'd fallen out of his chair to the floor. Hermione was cradling his head.

"Reinforce your shields, Harry." She was murmuring as she stroked his head, "Strengthen them. Block him."

Harry did as she said and the emotions that had been tied to the vision decreased, but he was still uneasy.

"Voldemort has Sirius!" he exclaimed, pitched for Hermione's ears only.

Binns was still talking, probably hadn't even noticed one of his students had fallen to the floor. Harry's classmates were looking at him uneasily.

"I'm going to take Harry to the infirmary, Professor Binns." Hermione said, "Ron, do you think you can help me carry him?"

Ron nodded and between the two of them they helped Harry out of the room.

"I don't want to go to the infirmary!" Harry said, "I need to tell you what I saw!"

"I know, Harry!" Hermione said forcefully, "I just said that to get us out of class. Let's go to the Room of Requirement. Check your map that the coast is clear."

Harry glanced at it and saw it was. They held onto Ron and apparated to the seventh floor corridor and were quickly in the Room of Requirement. Hermione called Winky to bring them refreshments and they quickly had Harry calmed down enough to tell the story.

"It sounds like Voldemort wants you to think he has Sirius in the Department of Mysteries." Hermione summarized when he was finished, "What he doesn't know is how many ways you have now to confirm exactly where Sirius is. I'd say you could grab your mirror, but I think we'd all be more settled if we actually saw Sirius. Why don't we go visit?"

Harry nodded. They looked at Ron.

"Yeah, I want to go, too." Ron said, "You're not going to get away from me that easily!"

They grabbed Ron and in a flash of green and gold flame were suddenly in the entryway to Grimmauld Place.

"Young Master comes to visit unexpectedly." Kreacher said appearing in front of them, "Master Black will be pleased."

Hermione knelt in front of the ragged looking House Elf.

"Kreacher, do you remember the locket you gave us to destroy?" she said gently.

"Master Regulus' locket?" Kreacher asked hopefully, "The locket he ordered Kreacher to destroy?"

"Yes." Hermione said, pulling out the shattered locket, "This is all that remains."

Kreacher took it reverently in his hands, tears dripping down his face.

"My orders have been fulfilled." He said, his voice broken, "Master Regulus' last orders to Kreacher have been done."

"Yes, Kreacher, you completed your orders." Hermione said.

Kreacher snapped his fingers and the locket was in one piece, but the cracks where it had shattered were very obvious, left by the House Elf purposefully. He hung the locket over his neck and stood straighter.

"I will tell Master you are here." Kreacher said and popped away.

Moments later, they heard footsteps coming down the stairs. Sirius quickly came into view in one of his signature dressing gowns.

"Hey, pup, I didn't know you were coming today, or I would have had food ready." Sirius said, surprised, "Aren't you supposed to be in school? I thought Easter holiday wasn't for a few days yet."

Harry sank to a sitting position on a couch. The relief on his face was enormous, but he couldn't quite bring himself to speak right away.

"Pup, you're scaring me. Why do you look like you saw a ghost?" Sirius asked, alarmed.

Harry finally got out the story about the visions that he'd seen through his shields, watching to see if they brought him any new information. He told of the visions that morning that were the most extensive and realistic so far. Even though he'd had his shields between him and the sending, they carried such an emotional weight that he hadn't been able to completely discount them. He couldn't imagine how irrational he would have been had he not had occlumency barriers between him and the sending.

"I thought you were captured!" Harry almost sobbed.

"I'm fine, pup." Sirius said with a smile, "It would take a lot to capture this old dog."

The two hugged.

"So we know you're safe, but what does it mean?" Hermione asked.

"He wanted me there." Harry said, putting the pieces together, "He knew I'd try to rescue Sirius. He could have used you as the bait, but he knows you're at Hogwarts with me, so that would be no good. He knew I wouldn't be able to floo you, Sirius, because Umbridge has the floo system locked down. He could have forced me to come to try to rescue you."

Hermione nodded. Harry's conclusion made sense.

"Let me call the order together." Sirius said, "We'll decide what to do. Why don't you go back to school, keep doing whatever you would have done. Try to look anxious and worried, but just keep going to class until we figure out how to use this information."

"Ok," Harry said, "let me leave my memory of the vision with you, though. You can show it to the order in case they need to know what he sent."

Sirius agreed with Harry's addition. They captured the memory in a crystal vial and carefully capped it. Harry, Hermione, and Ron returned to the Room of Requirement while Sirius summoned the Order of the Phoenix.

The three went to Potions but found a note from Professor Snape saying Potions was cancelled, likely because he had received the summons to Grimmauld place. They grabbed Neville and returned to the Room of Requirement to talk about the vision.

"So, Harry, what are we going to do?" Neville asked excitedly.

"What do you mean, what are we going to do?" Harry answered, confused.

"Dumbledore's Army!" Neville replied, "What are we going to do?"

Harry looked shocked. "Nothing, Neville! We didn't train just so I could get us all killed doing something stupid! The point was to replace the training Umbridge was denying us."

"I thought it was more than that." Neville said, disappointed, "We've learned so much. I thought we'd be able to do something useful."

Harry sighed. He didn't disagree with Neville, but since the encounter in Diagon Alley, he didn't want to get any of his friends hurt.

"Nev, if I hadn't been able to talk to Sirius…" Harry said, "if I thought he was really captured and there was no way I could alert the Order, then I would have asked you to go with me to rescue him. He's not in danger, though, and I was able to alert the Order of the Phoenix. They'll take care of it."

"Ok, Harry." Neville said, "If you'd called, I would have been there."

"I know you would have been." Harry replied, thumping Neville's back, "You always have been."

They ate lunch after filling Luna and Ginny in. Harry strove to look as anxious as he knew he would have felt if he'd seen the vision without the benefit of his shields and without the ability to check on Sirius. He wasn't sure he could ever duplicate the level of terror he would have felt in that circumstance, though.

After lunch, he and Hermione went to Ancient Runes while Ron went to Divination. They rejoined at Defense against the Dark Arts. They received their most recent essays back. Harry was surprised at the rage he felt over the bond. He looked at Hermione's essay and saw a 'P', which unfortunately stood for 'Poor'. He patted her hand and she gave him a look that he thought might have made Voldemort quake in terror.

"Not now." Harry whispered, "We can deal with her later."

Hermione nodded, her eyes shining but with no tears. Harry feared for Umbridge's life if the toad-woman continued along this dangerous path. 'Headmistress' Umbridge assigned them a foot on the chapter they were covering in Defensive Magical Theory. She didn't even assign essays on actual topics, but rather on chapters in the horrid book she'd selected.

After they were released, Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Neville all hurried to the Room of Requirement, where they met Ginny and Luna. They all flame traveled to Grimmauld Place, to check with Sirius what the Order had decided.

The Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix was chaos. Members were rushing around. The students were quickly seen and sent into the kitchen, where Sirius and Albus were talking.

"Ah, Harry my boy!" Dumbledore said, his eyes twinkling, "So good to see you again!"

"It's good to see you, too, Headmaster." Harry said, smiling.

"I had heard I was deposed from that position?" Dumbledore asked, his eyes still twinkling.

"Not to those of us who know better." Harry said.

"The castle doesn't even let her in the Headmaster's Office." Hermione offered, "Hogwarts knows who her Headmaster is."

"She does indeed." Albus said, "Now we've been discussing what to do about your vision, Harry. Professor Snape provided us some information after he was summoned to a meeting with Voldemort. It turns out that this is indeed a plot to have you access the prophecy. I have decided that it is time to try to turn the tables on Tom Riddle. You are ready and this is a unique opportunity to strike."

Harry grinned a feral grin, "Just tell me where, sir."

"He thinks you'll go and try to save your Godfather. Severus has convinced him that not knowing how else to get there, you've taken Thestrals to fly to the Ministry. I don't know how Tom believes that makes any sense, given it would leave your Godfather under torture for hours, but sometimes I think splitting his soul drove Riddle mad. I have had Hagrid send a number of thestrals to the Ministry to cover this story."

Harry nodded. There's no way he would have taken such a slow method of travel when his Godfather's life was at stake.

"So Riddle's not expecting you for some hours." Dumbledore continued, "Answer me with the first thought that crosses your mind…if you hadn't been able to tell any adults, who would have gone with you?"

Harry just gestured at his friends that were already with him.

Dumbledore nodded. "That is what I thought. So we'll send you six in, as if Harry was reacting to the vision. Go; do whatever it is you would have done. Meanwhile, the Order will be prepared to close the trap. I will alert the aurors once it is too late for any of Voldemort's agents to give the trap away."

Harry looked around at his friends. They all looked nervous, but ready.

"Take these." Dumbledore said, giving each of them a blown glass sphere, "They are each identical to the one in the Department of Mysteries. Destroy that one at your first opportunity, but without being seen. Then you can use these to confuse the Death Eaters. If they truly want the prophecy as much as it seems they do, they may hold back so long as you have these."

Dumbledore took a length of rope and touched it with his wand, "Portus."

"Take this. It will take you to an alleyway. In the alleyway is a phone box. Dial 6-2-4-4-2."

"Wait, that's insane." Hermione said, "How would Harry have known to do any of that?"

"I really have no idea." Dumbledore said, "Perhaps he assumed Ronald would know, since Arthur works at the Ministry, but I am afraid it is another sign of Riddle's mental instability."

Harry and Hermione gave each other a look, then just shook their heads. There was no explaining Tom Riddle, although his fractured soul was the best explanation so far.

"Remember, your mission is to stay safe." Dumbledore said, "If you see Nagini, destroy her. If you see Voldemort, but have not destroyed the snake, I am unable to tell you whether to attack him or not. If you killed him, he would come back. It might give us time, besides being demoralizing for the Death Eaters. However, when he comes back we might be surprised by how or where."

"What if we were able to capture him?" Harry asked, thinking of a conversation he and Sirius had one night back on the island.

"I doubt anyone would be able to capture Voldemort, but if you are able, then do so." Dumbledore said, "Remember we will be there. Just hold on while we position our forces. The surprise will be total."

"Engage people with what they expect; it is what they are able to discern and confirms their projections. It settles them into predictable patterns of response, occupying their minds while you wait for the extraordinary moment - that which they cannot anticipate." Ron said, clearly quoting someone else.

"Exactly, Ronald." Dumbledore said, "Remember, what we have today is surprise. Voldemort does not know your new capabilities, but I do not doubt he has concerns after hearing Bellatrix's report of your confrontation in Diagon Alley. This will be the last chance you have to attack with total surprise. Use it well."

Harry slowly nodded. He gave one last look at his friends.

"Once upon a time, I would have encouraged you to let me go alone." He started. His friends faces quickly settled into argumentative looks, but Harry's look quelled them. "That was before I learned what I know now: that without my friends, I don't stand a chance against Voldemort. You're the strongest, the bravest, the best friends anyone could ever have. Please, stay safe."

They smiled at him. The looks on their faces reflected a readiness to follow Harry wherever he went, even unto the gates of Hell.

"Wands out!" Harry said. Six wands flashed into hands. Harry touched the portkey with the Elder Wand and they disappeared.

They reappeared in an alleyway. There was a garbage bin, full of rotten refuse. Harry felt some magical creatures near it and could see the refuse being stirred, but couldn't see what was doing it.

"Thestrals." Luna said dreamily, "They're there."

"Can you guide us around them?" Harry asked, "I don't fancy getting kicked, but I see the phone booth Dumbledore mentioned, I think."

"Yeah, that's it Mate." Ron said, "I've come this way with my Dad before."

They edged past the invisible flying horses and entered the phone booth. All six of them crammed into the phone booth was interesting. Harry was wedged against a rounded bum. He hoped it was Hermione's, but Luna giggled and he wondered.

"Whoever's closest needs to dial." He said.

"What was the number?" Ginny asked.

"Six-two-four-four-two." Hermione said.

A cool female voice sounded through the box, saying "Welcome to the Ministry of Magic. Please state your name and business."

Harry thought about it. He was tempted to say they were there to kick Voldemort's arse, but he wasn't sure whether Riddle had access to the system. Sticking to the story was safer.

"Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley, Ginny Weasley, Neville Longbottom, Luna Lovegood…we're all here to rescue somebody!"

"Thank you." Said the voice, "Visitors please take the visitor badges and attach them to the front of your robes."

Ginny, closest to the telephone, passed out a half dozen visitor badges. Harry glanced at his. It said, 'Harry Potter, Rescue Mission'. He pinned it to his school robes.

"Visitors, you are required to report to the security desk to have your wands examined. Have a nice visit!"

The glass box sank into the ground. They were immersed in complete darkness until a thin sliver of golden light shone into the box from the bottom. Harry knelt, looking around to see if there would be an ambush as they came into the Ministry. Thankfully, the atrium was empty. As the box came to a stop, they spilled out. Had there been an ambush, it would have been embarrassing.

They crept around the security desk. Harry was sure the lack of any guard was a bad omen.

"Ron, do you know where we're going?" Harry whispered.

"No, I've never been to the Department of Mysteries. Don't you know?" Ron asked.

"No, the visions never started this far out." Harry whispered back.

Luna said, "Here it is. The guard's desk has a guide. Department of Mysteries, ninth floor…"

They continued to the lifts and took them down to the ninth floor. Harry could feel his heartbeat thudding in his ears. He let the rhythmic sound drop him deeper into his meditation, bringing out the Machine. This could be it. It could be the final confrontation. He could feel Hermione, cueing off his tension centering herself in her own way.

The door opened and the same recorded female voice said, "Welcome to the Department of Mysteries." Ahead of them lay a long corridor, lit only by torches. Harry faced the plain door, the door from his visions. He submerged himself even further. Time seemed to slow. He approached the door and it slid open, revealing the circular room of his visions. They all entered. Neville, in the rear, swung the door shut. The torches burned a strange electric blue color. Somehow the room began rotating. Not the floor, but the walls, the blue torches turning into a single neon-ring of light. Eventually it stopped.

"What was that about?" Ron asked.

"I think it's to keep us from knowing which door we came out of." Ginny whispered.

"How are we going to get back out?" Neville asked.

"Well, that doesn't matter right now." Harry said, "We won't need to go back out until…until we've faced what we've come here to do. Let's pick a door. The next door is supposed to lead into a room that kind of glitters and has a ticking noise. I'll know it when I see it."

They opened the first door and saw tanks. Luna initially thought they were Aquavirius Maggots, but Hermione saw that they were giant brains. They returned to the circular room and Hermione marked the door to the wrong room with a flaming 'X'.

The second room was rectangular, with stepped tiers going down to a sunken floor, like a stadium or theatre. In the middle was a dais with an archway in the center. The archway was ancient appearing, stone that was cracked and crumbling. It was hung with a black curtain or veil that fluttered despite the utter stillness of the air in the room. Harry felt drawn to the arch. He walked closer, getting the sense that something was watching from the other side. He thought he heard a faint whispering sound through the archway.

"What are you saying?" he asked.

"I hear them too." Hermione said.

"Me, too." Luna said, "There are people in there."

Harry felt drawn to walk through the arch, but he resisted. Raising his occlumency shields even higher, he felt the urge subside.

"We should get away from here." Harry said, "Whatever that arch is, I don't think it would be good to walk through."

They went back to the circular room and marked the door with a flaming 'X'.

The next door was locked. Harry knew the door in his vision wasn't locked and the Death Eaters wouldn't have left the door locked, so they marked that room with an 'X'. Finally, the next time around, the door opened to a room full of little glimmers of light and a ticking noise.

"This is it." Harry said quietly, "Wands up."

The room was filled with tables, desks, and shelves. Each flat surface was filled with clocks of all sizes, from watches to giant grandfather clocks. The diamond-like glimmering was coming from a large bell shaped glass at the far end of the room. They walked towards it. Inside the bell jar was a tiny brightly colored egg. It rose in the jar and cracked open, releasing a hummingbird. As the bird reached the top of the jar, it was caught in an air current that pushed it down. As it went down, it seemed to reverse, feathers growing wet and egg reforming around it.

"Oooh." Ginny said, watching.

"It's like time recycles inside." Hermione wondered.

"Let's keep going." Harry said.

"You dawdled long enough by that old arch!" Ginny protested, but let herself be led out.

"This is it." Harry said, looking around at the warehouse like room with endless shelves stretching to the barely glimpsed ceiling. It was like a library. The shelves were covered in dust, as were the glass spheres. Silently they moved to the right, following the numbers.

"Ninety-seven." Hermione whispered.

They crept along, sight limited in the dim room. Harry and Hermione could see auras of magic, sometimes quite powerful around the prophecies. They could sense others hiding just out of sight. They warned their friends to be ready. The tension was so high it could be cut with a knife. Harry wasn't sure what would trigger the Death Eaters to attack. He led his friends to the point where he'd seen Sirius in his dream.

"Where is he?" He asked, staying in character.

"Harry, I don't think he's here." Hermione said.

"Have you seen this, though?" Ron asked, pointing at one of the spheres with a label he was examining, "It's got your name on it."

The label read, 'S.P.T. to A.P.W.B.D. Dark Lord and (?) Harry Potter.

Harry nodded. He made brief movements with his chin and his friends rearranged themselves around him, blocking him from view. He quickly took the sphere and vanished it, substituting the sphere Dumbledore had given him.

"Very good, Potter." Came a drawling voice that sounded almost familiar, "Now turn around, nice and slowly, and give that to me."

Harry looked around. Black robed figures were appearing out of nowhere, hemming them in. Lit wand tips were pointed at their hearts. There were twelve he could see now, but he sensed even more. Thinking of Ron's quote, he decided to follow its guidance.

"Where's Sirius." Harry asked, his voice filled with desperation.

"Give it to me, Potter." Lucius Malfoy drawled.

"Where's Sirius!" Harry shouted.

Some of the Death Eaters laughed. A harsh female voice rang out, "The Dark Lord always knows!"

"Always." Malfoy quietly agreed, "Now give the prophecy to me, Potter."

"I want to know where Sirius is!" Harry shouted.

"I want to know where Sirius is!" the harsh female voice cackled in a sing-song, mocking him.

"You've got him." Harry said.

"The little baby woke up fwightened and fought what he dweamed was twoo!" Bellatrix cackled.

Harry looked around at his friends. They were again rearranging themselves to put space between, to make it less likely two would get caught by the same spell and to give themselves room to dodge. They did it slowly, hesitantly, as if they were nervous, but Harry could see very little nervousness. They were ready. Long hours in the Room of Requirement had led to this. It was another practice session. Until the first unforgiveable was thrown or someone was killed, then Harry knew it would become very real. There was no training for that feeling.

"Don't do anything…yet." He said.

"Do you hear that?" Bellatrix mocked, "Little Potter is giving the other directions."

"You don't know him as I do." Lucius said, "Potter is given to heroics. Come, boy. Give us the prophecy and nobody will be hurt."

"I know you've got Sirius!" Harry cried out, "Let him go!"

"You need to learn the difference between dreams and reality, boy." Lucius drawled, "Hand over the prophecy."

"If I give this to you, you'll just let us all go?" Harry asked, stalling for time as his friends improved their position.

"Of course." Lucius lied smoothly.

"Accio, prophecy!" Bellatrix snapped.

Harry, anticipating such a move, blocked it, only remembering at the last second to say, "Protego!" to hide his true abilities.

"Oh, he knows how to play!" Bellatrix crooned, "Itty bitty baby Potter…very well then…"

"No!" Lucius shouted, trying to regain control from the insane Bellatrix.

Harry saw the moment when Lucius and Bellatrix distracted one another. He shouted, "Now!" and all six of them unleashed reductor curses against the shelves around them. Glass exploded outward and the shelves began to fall. The six friends burst apart, naturally dividing into three pairs. The Death Eaters, surprised, were slow to react. One managed to jump in front of Harry and Hermione, but Harry leapt up in a jumping front kick, smashing him to the ground. They burst down the aisle back the way they'd come. Another grabbed at Harry, but Hermione stunned him and they ran on. They ran through the door to the bell jar room and each put their back to one side of the room, waiting on their friends or the next Death Eater through the door, whichever came first.

The first through were a pair of Death Eaters. They ran through with no attention to where they were going. Harry and Hermione each cast a stunner, knocking both out. They quickly levitated them to a corner of the room. Ron, Luna, Neville, and Ginny ran through next. Ginny ducked below a red bolt, dodging the stunner one of the Death Eaters cast her way. Neville hit that one with stunner and the Death Eater fell backwards, looking like he'd hit his head on the bell jar. His head went right through it like it was soap bubble. Lying flat with just his head in the jar, the Death Eater started changing. His head shrunk, his hair first emerging from his previously bald pate and then disappearing as his head morphed into an infants. The Death Eater's head cycled from adult to infant and back as he tried to stand. Eventually he got his feet underneath him and stood, but his head was frozen into an infant's as he pulled it out of the bell jar. He stumbled around, swinging his arms wildly, but with the coordination of a baby, looking like he would fall to the ground at any time.

Luna stunned the other without difficulty.

"How many doors out did the arch room have?" Harry asked.

"None." Hermione answered, her memory still the best among them.

"We make our stand there, then." Harry said, "Hermione and I will cover. The rest of you head for the circular room, then to the arch room."

They all agreed. Ron and Luna went first, quickly entering the circular room and were gone. Then Neville and Ginny went. Hermione was taking a quick look around the room they were in.

"Time turners!" she called out to Harry, "This room has a shelf full of time turners!"

"Grab one!" he replied, watching her and then darting his eyes to the door. He saw the Death Eaters coming and told her over the bond. They disillusioned themselves and waited.

The Death Eaters had reinforced themselves. Harry had felt more in the prophecy room than they'd seen. Lucius had sent in a dozen visible, thinking that would be enough to intimidate the teens, but he'd kept more back in reserve. How many more, Harry wasn't sure, but the room soon filled up with at least twenty, but neither Lucius nor Bellatrix were with them. A quick mental trigger and Hermione cast a darkness spell on the room while Harry hit two of the Death Eaters with quick stunners.

The room lit up like a strobe as the Death Eaters started blindly firing off stunners. Harry and Hermione knew exactly where the other was and they both dropped to the floor, watching the chaos as their opponents were firing without being able to see. Harry fired a non-verbal stunner and rolled away before a Death Eater could target the flash his wand made. Hermione slid behind a desk and fired off two stunners, dropping two Death Eaters. Harry silently created cables out of the broken glass and wrapped two of the active Death Eaters. They could have broken the restraints, but as soon as they struggled, the jagged glass cut into them and they stopped.

More rushed into the room. Harry and Hermione met in the middle. He pulled his holly wand and she pulled her ebony wand. They almost seemed to run into each other, but Harry extended both wands over Hermione's shoulders, firing off stunners from both. She dropped hers around his waist, doing the same. The Death Eaters that weren't stunned had zeroed in on the center of the room where constant flashes were shooting from the teens wands. Harry dropped to his back, Hermione falling atop him. She tensed her abs and he straightened his legs, sending her flying over the heads of the oncoming attackers, firing all the time. Death Eater attacks flew over Harry and under Hermione, while they were caught in a vertical crossfire. Hermione let her momentum carry her to the other side of the room, where she rolled out of the door into the circular room, while Harry locked both doors into the time room, transfigured all the debris into poisonous vipers, and silently apparated to Hermione.

The circular room spun, the blue torches making the neon line around the circumference. The first door they chose led into the brain room. They almost closed the door, but realized there was already a firefight going on inside. They ran inside, then separated, Harry going left and Hermione going right. They again disillusioned themselves and as soon as they stopped moving, disappeared from view.

Harry had no idea there were this many Death Eaters in the building. His four friends were firing as fast as they could, between dodging and shielding. It was like a DA drill gone wild. Harry and Hermione got involved, disillusioned and away from the main fight, sniping into it like shooting fish in a barrel.

"Accio, brain!" Ron shouted. One of the giant brains burst from the tank trailing long streamers of what looked like thin ribbons. As soon as it was about halfway to him, Ron banished it at one of the Death Eaters. It hit him with a wet plop, the ribbons quickly winding themselves around his black robed body.

Luna guarded Ron, deflecting a handful of stunners shooting his way.

"Show them the spheres!" Harry yelled, shooting stunners at every Death Eater that moved. At least half of them were on the floor stunned already. A few of the waking ones were wasting time trying to revive their comrades, leaving them open to be stunned.

At Harry's yell, they each pulled a matching sphere out of their robes with their left hands.

"How happy is your Dark Lord going to be if you destroy the prophecy?" Harry shouted, "Better watch where you're aiming!"

There was a sudden cessation of spellfire as the Death Eaters contemplated being put under the Cruciatus Curse or worse if they were the one who destroyed the prophecy he'd been seeking all year. The lull allowed the students to mop up, stunning the last of the Death Eaters in the room.

"Let's get to the arch room." Harry said, glancing at Ron. Ron nodded. He agreed it would be the most defensible room they'd come across.

They ran into the circular room and closed the door. The room spun and they opened the door into the archway room. Harry didn't like this room any more. Once he'd realized the voices were blocked by occlumency, he was disturbed. They seemed evil, like they wanted to tempt living beings into the arch.

The six students took up positions crouched in the deep shadows of the room, disillusioned. Where was Dumbledore? Where was the Order?

Harry was unhappily shocked when other doors around the circumference of the room opened and Death Eaters walked in. The doors were so carefully inset that barely a crack showed until they were open and in the darkness of the room, they hadn't seen them. No matter how well they fought, Harry couldn't see them fighting their way out of this room. There were just too many Death Eaters. Despite the hopelessness, he started animating Death Eaters robes into tentacles like the brains in the other room. He got three before he had to spin away to avoid a hail of spellfire. Hermione took his idea and ran with it, transfiguring several of the silver masks into a creature she'd seen in a Ridley Scott movie. He heard Ron groan as the spider-like creatures fastened themselves to Death Eater faces.

Dodging, shielding, and always casting stunner after stunner, Harry leapt from tier to tier. Once he landed on a stunned Death Eater and went down, but rolled and avoided any real injury while several spells flashed over his head.

Ginny was fast, but had drawn Bellatrix's attention. While she focused on Bellatrix, she was soon hit by another Death Eater's stunner and slumped, unconscious. Neville managed to stun her attacker and almost managed to innervate Ginny when one of the Death Eaters jumped off a higher tier and kicked him in the face, breaking his nose. Hermione engaged the Death Eater, stunning two others on her way to defend Neville.

"Stupefy!" the Death Eater who'd kicked Neville shouted. Hermione dodged out of the way, firing back her own stunning spell, which he shielded. He was clearly a better duelist than the faceless minions they'd been facing.

Harry moved towards that conflict. Lucius Malfoy stepped in front of him, holding out his left hand.

"Give me the prophecy, Potter. Can't you see you have lost?"

Harry stunned him, barely noticing as Malfoy fell. He moved closer to his bondmate, but had to quickly dodge as Bellatrix attacked him from the side.

"Crucio!" she cried, cackling, "Let's see how itty bitty Potter really plays!"

Harry dodged the sickly yellow bolt, firing a chain of stunning spells back at Bellatrix, which she shielded fluidly.

"You have some tricks, don't you Potter!" she cackled before chaining together five reductor curses. Harry flicked his wand, sending them all flying across the room, one of them shooting right through a Death Eater that was drawing closer to injured Neville, bursting through him leaving behind only red ruin.

Harry saw Luna almost dancing her way between a crowd of Death Eaters, her wand singing as she cast every inventive hex imaginable. She never moved away from a certain point, though, and Harry noticed she was hovering over Ron, trying to protect him. Harry glanced back at Hermione. She silenced the Death Eater who'd kicked Neville. She smiled at Harry, proud of how she'd handled the Death Eater and preparing to engage the next one.

With a slash of his wand, the Death Eater who'd kicked Neville sent an arc of violet colored fire at Hermione. Harry tried to shield her, but it was too late. The fire passed right through her back.

"Oh." Hermione said, almost casually, and fell. Harry watched her fall as if in slow motion, seeing every instant despite the fight going on around him. He watched as she bounced slightly after hitting the stone floor, every muscle slack, not breaking her fall at all. His mind quickly sought hers along the bond and there was only silence.

Hermione was down, her mind silent. Harry knew her death brought his own. He had only hours left no matter what else happened. In the millisecond between her fall and her first bounce, he resolved to make that time count. He buried himself so deeply in his occlumency, he planned never to come out. He let the Machine take over to an extent he'd never surrendered control before.

Harry's magic was raging out against the room and then suddenly went still as an icy calm settled over him. He didn't notice, but Bellatrix sent another Cruciatus Curse against him. His aura simply absorbed it. Bellatrix stopped, even her insanity recognizing danger.

Silence reined over the room for an instant, feeling like the seconds of calm while in the eye of a tornado. The Machine looked up at the Death Eater that had attacked Hermione. Somewhere in the fight his mask had been dislodged and Harry recognized Dolohov from a picture he'd seen in the Daily Prophet. The Prewett's killer grinned at Harry silently. Harry looked back, equally silently. A wave of pure magic lashed out and Dolohov's head exploded. Blood fountained from the headless body like sparks from a Roman candle. The flow slowed and the body toppled to the ground.

Harry met Bellatrix's eyes and she began to run. Harry walked after her. He glanced around the room, seeing the handful of Death Eaters left standing, none of whom appeared to be part of Voldemort's inner circle. He stopped for an instant, his magic pulsed, and suddenly there were five more fountains of blood. He started walking faster and broke into a run. Bellatrix would die.

"Harry!" Neville tried to shout, but Harry didn't hear him. He was in a full run, chasing Bellatrix. The Machine knew time was limited. The only remaining objective was to kill as many Death Eaters as he could and hopefully find Voldemort before he died.

He ran through one of the doors they hadn't tried and back into the brain room after Bellatrix. She flicked her wand and the tank of brains dumped itself over on Harry. He continued to run as the brains tried to latch onto him, but fell away, bursting into green flame. She reached the circular room ahead of him and slammed the door. Harry ran into it after her, but the room started to turn. Harry's thought, 'Open the door she ran through.' apparently served as a command to the circular room and the door to the hall leading to the lifts opened. She ran into one and the doors managed to close before Harry could slide in behind her. He apparated above, beating her to the atrium. He stood by the fountain, waiting for Bellatrix to come into the atrium, waiting for her death.

The lift door opened and Bellatrix ran into the atrium. Harry hit her with a bludgeoning hex from the Elder Wand, knocking her across the slick marble floor.

She screamed. The spell knocked her off her feet, but she stood quickly back up.

"I am the Dark Lord's favorite student, Potter!" Bellatrix called, abandoning her baby voice and sounding very serious indeed, "I know dark spells you could not fathom. Give me the prophecy and I might let you live."

Harry chuckled with no real humor. He held up the glass sphere.

"You want this, Bellatrix?"

He banished it at her, smashing her in the face. It shattered, small bits of glass cutting her skin.

He felt pain surge through his scar, his occlumency shields growing even stronger in response. He was near! His destiny was near. Maybe he could fulfill it before he died.

"It's broken, now, Bellatrix." Harry said coldly, "Your master knows. He's not going to be happy with you!"

"What do you mean?" Bellatrix asked, firing a Killing Curse at Harry. Harry sidestepped casually. The green jet knocked the head off the wizard in the fountain.

"Your master knows his Death Eaters were once again beaten by schoolchildren." Harry said, "What do you think he'll do to you?"

Bellatrix sobbed in fear, "That's not true, that's not true! Accio prophecy!"

"There's nothing to summon." Harry said.

"I'm sorry, Master, I'm sorry!" Bellatrix sobbed.

"Save your breath." Harry said, "He can't hear you."

"Can't I?" came a hissing voice.

Harry turned and instantly summoned the golden head to block Voldemort's Killing Curse. It exploded in fragments of gold, dissipating the powerful curse.

Bellatrix, having seen enough, disappeared into one of the floos and was gone in a burst of green fire.

If it could, the Machine would have rejoiced. However, there was no emotion from the Machine. He flicked the Elder Wand and a chain of SPEARs flew towards Voldemort. Voldemort made a negligent gesture, raising a silver shield. It blocked three of the powerful curses without apparent effort, ringing with a loud gong sound each time one bounced off, but the fourth made it glow with a rainbow of light pulsating along the wavering shield. The fifth shattered it, sending Voldemort sliding along the marble tile.

Red eyes narrowed to slits, shocked. Never had one of his shields fallen.

"Avada kedavra!" Voldemort shouted. Harry sidestepped calmly, waving the Elder Wand in a complicated pattern. The figures comprising the magical brethren came to life. The House Elf dived between Harry and Voldemort, absorbing the next Killing Curse.

"You think you can stand against me, boy?" Voldemort hissed, "You stand no chance."

"I stood no chance when you killed my parents," Harry said flatly, "but here I stand. I stood no chance in the graveyard, but here I stand."

Voldemort held his bone white yew wand in a delicate overhand grip. He cast spell after spell at Harry nonverbally. Harry sensed that most were unforgiveables, but many were dark spells that he had never seen or read about before. Harry dodged, shielded, and summoned debris into the way, but Voldemort continued to pour spell fire at Harry. A yellow curse clipped his leg, barely hitting him, but the agony that washed over Harry was unfathomable. There could be no pain worse than this. The Dursleys had never managed to inflict even a portion of the pain Harry felt. He writhed on the tile floor, seeking to escape the pain somehow.

"Ah, Harry, you have never experienced the Cruciatus, have you?" Voldemort asked in an almost friendly manner, "I would like nothing more than to break your mind, to torture you to insanity…crucio!"

Voldemort reapplied the curse, striking him dead center this time. The pain was, if possible, worse. Deep inside Harry longed for death. The Machine just gathered willpower to fight back. The chance came when Voldemort ended it to taunt him again.

"Maybe now you understand the folly of opposing me, Harry Potter. Perhaps now you will beg to serve me?"

Harry gathered his energy and stabbed at Voldemort with the Elder Wand, putting an incredible amount of magical power behind the gesture. A tiny pea of darkness flew at Voldemort, who negligently flicked his wand, thinking to banish the attack. He was shocked when far from being banished, the tiny kernel of nothingness seemed to warp reality as it came closer. The tiles in the floor were ripped up in a line as the nugget flew at Voldemort and the support beams holding the entire floor up groaned. Voldemort panicked, moving his wand in an exceedingly complicated pattern. A rip appeared immediately in front of him, swallowing the tiny pea. As the two dimensional rifts came together, the entire room flexed, before some tiny portion of the energy released exploded outward. Both wizards were knocked back and all the glass above them shattered.

Voldemort gestured, his arms upraised, and the glass came together in a column, flying at Harry like the cables of glass he'd transfigured in the time room, only a hundred times greater in size. Harry quickly transfigured the glass into component elements, a fine silica dust blowing over him. He squinted as the dust covered him.

Harry pointed his wand at each torch in the room in turn. Each fired off a ball of fire at Voldemort, blue flames shooting at the skeletal wizard. Voldemort looked contemptuous, gathering all the fire into a single ball and converting it to Fiendfyre. The Fiendfyre shot at Harry, turning into a giant serpent of flame. Harry watched it come, waiting for the perfect time for the flame to cloak his actions. An instant before the flames hit, he flame traveled straight up, then again to appear behind Voldemort, swiveling into the same sweep to the knee he'd done to Dumbledore. Voldemort went down with a thud, surprise echoed throughout his body language. Harry lifted his leg again and axe kicked Voldemort in the face, drawing blood. Riddle gestured, flinging Harry away with a powerful banishing spell. Harry went with it, knowing how to react when his opponent gave him the gift of momentum.

Harry fired a chain of SPEARs, ignoring his motion as he rocketed towards one of the skeletal window frames that hid many of the Ministry's offices. Voldemort had to pull himself to his feet and dodge, knowing his most powerful shield couldn't take very many of these frighteningly powerful attacks. As he dodged, he stopped worrying about Harry, knowing it would take the boy time to pick his way out of the offices above. Harry flame traveled to the other side of the atrium, retaining every bit of his momentum. He launched another chain of SPEARs as Voldemort dodged the first set, the dark wizard not even seeing the second set until it was almost too late. However, there was a reason the evil wizard had been the most feared in recent history. He managed to shield and dodge, launching himself in the air to escape the destruction raining down from above. Voldemort streaked towards Harry, a black void appearing in his hand in the shape of a sword. Harry didn't change his vector, continuing to fly towards Voldemort and what appeared to be certain destruction. Riddle swung the sword, a two dimensional plane of negative energy that would carve through any substance. Just as he had avoided the Fiendfyre earlier, Harry flame traveled before the dark sword struck. He'd used his own body to mask his real attack - the Fiendfyre had been left unattended and Harry had harnessed it, compressing it into a ball flying behind him. When he disappeared in flash of fire, Voldemort had a split second to see what was behind Harry.

Voldemort instantly turned the sword and expanded it with a gesture, swallowing the Fiendfyre whole. Both sword and fire disappeared with another explosion, knocking Voldemort to the ground.

He stood slowly, seeing Harry walking towards him. He smiled, deciding to use his final weapon. Harry felt his scar burst open. He felt pain beyond imagining, pain that made the incomprehensible pain from the Cruciatus feel like a minor ache. Surely this was death. Harry tried to maximize his occlumency shields, but nothing could stop this pain that seemed to come from inside. His eyes locked with the Voldemort's red eyes, the two linked together by this unimaginable pain, there was no escape…

H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr

Earlier…

"Harry!" Neville tried to shout, but Harry didn't hear him, "I feel a pulse!"

Neville concentrated on the almost undetectable flutter against his finger as he held it to Hermione's wrist. Ron was stunned, Ginny was stunned, Luna was slumped over Ron's body alive and unharmed but exhausted.

Inside, Hermione began to come out of unconsciousness, but too slowly. She sensed her bondmate was in terrible danger. She couldn't feel his mind well, the mental connection had obviously been interrupted while she was unconscious and now Harry's occlumency shields were stronger than she'd ever felt them before. She somehow could tell she would heal very quickly, but quickly was not enough. She had to heal instantly.

Neville was startled as Hermione disappeared and a green, brown, and gold phoenix lay in her place. The phoenix looked decrepit, feathers falling out. The disgraceful looking phoenix burst into golden flames and suddenly there was chick sitting in a pile of ash. Neville went to gather the chick up, when it transformed back into a very conscious Hermione.

"Neville." Hermione said, "Where's Harry?"

"He chased Bellatrix through that door." Neville said, his voice still muffled by his broken nose.

"Episkey." Hermione said, fixing Neville's nose, "Wake Ron and Ginny. Bring all of them to the atrium. I can tell that's where Harry is. He needs us."

Hermione concentrated on Harry, focused on her oath to him, and apparated to his side. She'd sacrificed her ability to flame travel for the moment, having forced herself through a burning day to heal her wounds. She would always be able to travel to Harry, though.

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Harry was in the midst of pain so great he thought he must be on fire, a fire that started in his scar and spread throughout the rest of his body. He felt like his scar had split open, like it was a trench the size of the split in the tile floor. He must surely die from this pain. He barely noticed as Dumbledore strode into the atrium.

The creature spoke with his voice, even through his agony he felt his jaw being moved by someone outside himself.

"Kill me now, Dumbledore."

"Let him go, Tom." Dumbledore said.

Dying, Harry screamed silently for release from this pain.

"I will never let him go, old man." Voldemort said through Harry's mouth, "If death is nothing, then kill him and have done with it."

Harry didn't hear Hermione pop into existence next to him, but he felt it as she grasped his head and turned it towards her, her hands caressing his scar where it had burst open and was bleeding. The full bond snapped back into existence with an almost audible crack. To auramancy, it looked like a spark had leaped from one highly charged surface to another and then remained, a twisting ribbon of glowing light connecting the two bondmates. Voldemort tried to turn Harry's wand on Hermione, but Harry felt Riddle's grip loosen as love for Hermione drove him out. Harry heard a scream, which he thought at first was his, but he realized as he came to his senses was Voldemort. The dark wizard staggered back as he was thrust forcibly out of Harry's mind and body. Voldemort was screaming, writhing in pain and holding his head.

Green fire was reflected in what remained of the marble tiles as the floos all along one wall started disgorging wizards and witches into the atrium. Cornelius Fudge ran towards them, but stopped, staring. Sirius, Remus, Tonks, and Moody exited a lift with Ron, Luna, Neville, and Ginny. They all pointed their wands for a split second before Voldemort disappeared, but not before everyone had seen him.

"He was there!" a scarlet robed man with a ponytail yelled, running towards them and pointing unnecessarily where Voldemort had just disappeared, "I saw him, Mr. Fudge, I swear, it was You-Know-Who!"

"I know, I saw him, too." Fudge said as he walked towards them in his pinstriped cloak over pajamas. "Merlin's beard, how could it be? But it was, it was You-Know-Who."

"If you proceed down into the Department of Mysteries." Dumbledore said, "You will find a large number of his Death Eaters secured there awaiting your decision on what to do with them."

"You!" Fudge exclaimed, "What are you… aurors, seize him!"

"Cornelius, I am ready to fight your men…and win again!" Dumbledore said in a thunderous voice, "But a few minutes ago you saw proof with your own eyes that I have been telling the truth. Voldemort is back. You must face facts and finally listen to reason."

Harry stirred, although his entire body ached as if it had been burnt almost to ashes and somehow miraculously held together. Hermione cradled him in her arms and help him rise to a sitting and eventually standing position.

"Harry Potter again faced him and drove him off." Dumbledore said, a look of pride on his face.

"Harry…Harry Potter?" Fudge asked, dumfounded, "What is he doing here? Faced You-Know-Who you say?"

"Yes, faced him." Harry said, his voice hoarse and his vocal cords feeling as if he'd tried to scream himself to death, which he had, "Faced him and drove him off, thanks to Hermione."

Hermione smiled at him, giving him support as he stood.

"Headmaster, will we see you back at school?" Harry asked.

"Yes, you will." Dumbledore said with his eyes twinkling.

"See you there, then." Harry said, before the two of them disappeared.

"Wait!" Fudge yelled after seeing the two disappear, "We need to question them. Where did they go?"

"Back to school." Dumbledore said calmly, "They are students after all and exams are coming up. I can answer all your questions."

Neither noticed as a small beetle settled onto Dumbledore's robes, having been there for the whole thing.

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A/N: I had to end there. There are definitely still a lot of outstanding questions from this chapter, including the question of why it took the Order so long to get there. These questions will be answered to some extent in the next chapters, but this one was growing long.

The next few chapters should be very fast paced. I have a lot to do before this school year ends!

Please read and review. It really motivates me to keep working.