Gryffindor Tower was silent when Harry entered; those who weren't in the exam were in class, or studying elsewhere. He sprinted straight up to his dormitory, wrenching open his bedside drawer. "Sirius Black!"
The few seconds it took for Sirius to answer the mirror felt like years.
Harry deflated in relief as his godfather's face appeared, frowning at him. "Harry? What's wrong? Shouldn't you be in an exam?"
Immediately, Harry relayed the contents of his vision; a trap, he now realised. A lure to get him to the Ministry. "They don't know I have the mirror," he pointed out. "They think I can't contact you." Voldemort and his lackeys probably thought they were very clever, choosing Harry's most beloved person outside the castle when all communication was monitored. A person who would not be missed, who was supposed to be hidden anyway; a person who was known to be reckless.
"The Order is out at the moment, anyway," Sirius said grimly. "Death Eater raid on a muggle village. Likely intentionally timed, just in case you could get a message to one of them to get to me."
Harry's heart clenched; yes, it had worked out all too well for them. Dumbledore gone, McGonagall unconscious in the hospital, no other Order members nearby.
As usual, their fatal flaw was underestimating Harry Potter.
"What do we do?" he asked, and Sirius' frown deepened.
"What do you mean? The vision was fake, there's nothing to do."
"But they're expecting me," Harry retorted. "They'll be waiting for me. Voldemort will be waiting for me." His brain was working a mile a minute, drawing conclusions that made his blood run cold. "What if they're claiming the Ministry, tonight?" It had been coming for a while, they all knew it. "Killing two birds with one stone. Distracting the Order with the raid, getting me in to take the Prophecy — then they'll kill me, take the Ministry, and they've won."
"All the more reason for you to leave well alone!"
"But I can stop them!" Harry urged. "At least long enough for the Order to show up. Long enough for the Ministry to bring back-up and finally see what's been in front of their faces the whole time!" Unless it was too late, unless the Death Eaters had killed everyone and were just waiting for Harry, but surely the Order would have heard if such bloodshed had happened. "You're fifteen," Sirius started, but Harry cut him off.
"You've been training me for things exactly like this. And I can take back-up of my own." If any of his friends were willing to go with him, willing to risk their lives like that. "I can feel it, Sirius. He's so… determined." The emotions bleeding through Harry's scar were far too intense to just be about the prophecy. "If we don't go and stop them tonight, they'll have taken the Ministry by morning." Fudge was weaker than ever these days, and the auror department wasn't much better. It was nearly five in the afternoon, the Ministry would soon be empty for the evening, and then the Death Eaters would come.
"Leave it to the Order!"
"The Order is busy, you said it yourself," Harry protested.
"You better not be doing this just because you want to hear that bloody Prophecy for yourself," Sirius growled, and Harry glared at him.
"It's not that. I don't need the Prophecy, I'm stuck in this mess regardless." Unless it gave detailed instructions on how to find and destroy all of Voldemort's horcruxes, Harry didn't care, and if it did Dumbledore would have gone and done it already himself. "Please, Sirius. We can't let them take the Ministry. It'll be all over if they do." Even if the rest of magical Britain were against the Dark, only a small fraction of them would actually be brave enough to do anything, and if Voldemort had the whole legal system behind him he could silence any protesters easily. He had already proven he was happy to Imperius as many people as it took to get the job done.
Harry could see by the look on his godfather's face that Sirius knew he was right.
"I'll try and raise the alarm with the Order," he said eventually. "We've got time. Any luck, they'll be back before you can get to London."
If the raid was meant to keep the Order distracted and out of the way, Harry wasn't too sure of that. "Take your mirror with you," Sirius continued. "I'll call when backup is on the way. I— are you sure about this, pup?"
"He's planning something big," Harry insisted. He could feel it, deep in his chest; Voldemort was far too happy to have just the Prophecy on his mind.
"Right. Fuck." Sirius' grey eyes were pained. "Be careful, alright? You know he can't die yet."
Harry nodded. "Not looking to kill him. Just to stop him getting the upper hand, and take out as many of his people as possible." "Don't go alone."
"I won't." Harry didn't know who he would take, but he would try.
"I love you."
"I love you, too. I'll see you soon." Then, before Sirius could try and talk him out of going, Harry cut the connection. He sank down onto his bed, running a hand through his hair. After one long, shaky breath, he squared his jaw and got to his feet.
He had work to do.
.-.
Harry wasn't expecting to be grabbed by Neville as soon as he stepped out of the portrait hole. "What? Nev, where are we going?" Harry had places to be!
Neville ignored him, dragging him down the corridor and into the Room of Requirement, where Harry's jaw dropped at the sight of the entire group of heirs, plus Ginny. "What the hell?"
"What did you see, Harry?" Ginny asked, brown eyes intent. Harry was taken-aback.
"I— you know I had a vision?"
Blaise scoffed. "Please, everyone knows what it means when you start screaming and clawing at your scar like it's trying to murder you," he pointed out. "What is it? What's he up to?"
Harry swallowed hard. "He's planning to take the Ministry. Tonight." They didn't need to know about the fake torture of Sirius.
Gasps rang through the room.
"There's something he wants there, something he needs me for. But I'm just the icing on the cake. He's been putting his people in place, and with Dumbledore out of the way he thinks he can take the Ministry tonight."
"So we're going to stop them, right?" To Harry's surprise it was Neville who spoke, hand clenched around his wand.
"I don't expect anyone to come with me. But I wouldn't say no to some assistance." Harry saw the uneasy glances passed around several of the heirs; it was one thing to train for some vague 'future fight', and another thing entirely to actively seek out Death Eaters. "I should be getting back-up, but I don't know how long it'll take them to be notified."
Neville and Ginny shared a look, then stepped forward. "We're coming," Ginny told him, her face daring him to argue.
"I'm coming, too," Luna agreed, kissing Daphne's cheek and moving to stand beside Ginny. When Harry looked to the rest of the group, he saw Draco step forward. "No," Harry said immediately. "I'm not letting you fight your father."
For a moment, Draco looked like he might protest, but then his shoulders slumped. "I want to keep you safe, you idiot."
Harry reached for his hand. "You can do that by staying here, where I won't be worried about you." It was far too dangerous for Draco to risk being seen at Harry's side.
"I'll keep him safe," Susan said, stepping forward with determination. "If you'll have me, Harry."
He grinned at her — she was fierce with a wand, and he wasn't going to turn that down.
"If Luna's going, I suppose I'm coming too," Daphne sighed. "They're already after my uncle anyway. Can't make it much worse."
"Daphne, you don't have to."
"No, but I'm going to," the blonde girl said before Harry could argue. "Blaise needs to stay here. He needs to be the approachable face for the neutral Slytherins; he can't be seen rushing into danger at Harry Potter's side. But I can." She smirked, and for a brief moment Harry pitied anyone who ended up on the other end of her wand that night.
No one else in the room looked eager to volunteer themselves, and Harry put them out of their misery before they felt pressured into trying. "The rest of you need to stay here and keep Umbridge distracted," he told them. "She's going to raise hell once she realises I'm gone, and if there's trouble at the Ministry things could get messy. Dumbledore and McGonagall are both gone, the school is unprotected."
"Not with us around it's not," Parvati told him, showing her Gryffindor spirit. Harry was glad; between them and the HA, any real damage would surely be mitigated.
He pushed away the small part of him that was worried the Death Eaters were planning a double-hit, Ministry and Hogwarts while they were both unguarded. They surely didn't have the numbers for that, not yet.
Still holding Draco's hand, Harry pulled him aside, and everyone pretended not to notice them the same way they didn't notice Theo with his forehead pressed to Susan's, whispering to her beseechingly.
"Tell Snape where I'm going, as soon as we've gone," Harry whispered. "The Order is elsewhere, but I've spoken to Sirius, and he's going to try and get in touch so they can follow."
"That's relying on an awful lot of hope," Draco murmured, and Harry just grinned, kissing him.
"I'm Harry Potter; blind hope tends to work out pretty well for me." Draco was not impressed, but he pulled Harry into a proper kiss, his tongue reaching into Harry's mouth like he didn't ever want to be separated. But they had to, eventually, and Harry hugged him tight. "I love you."
"I love you, too. Don't do anything stupid." Draco's sharp glare cut off any cheeky retort he might have given. "And… if my father is there… hex him for me, will you?"
Harry snorted. "Will do." One last kiss, and he was ready. He looked back at his friends, and they were ready, too.
"Be safe, all of you," Blaise said, dark eyes pausing on Daphne.
"You, too." Harry wasn't so naive to think the castle wouldn't be a dangerous place, once Umbridge got wind of what was happening. "Right, then. Let's go."
The six of them — Harry, Neville, Ginny, Luna, Daphne and Susan — hurried out of the Room and down the corridor.
"How are we getting to London?" Susan asked, and Harry grimaced.
"Hadn't exactly figured that one out, yet." He ducked into a side passage, waiting until everyone was in with him, then; "Dobby." The elf appeared instantly, green eyes as wide as always.
"How can Dobby help Harry Potter sir?"
"Dobby, I don't suppose you can take me and my friends to London, can you?" he asked hopefully. Dobby tugged at his ears, face falling.
"Elves is not able to remove students from within school wards. Dobby is sorry." He looked truly devastated, and Harry put out a placating hand before the elf could punish himself.
"No, no, it's okay! It was a long shot. I suppose even Ceri couldn't either? It's not limited to just school elves?" Again, Dobby shook his head. "Damn." Then he paused. "What if we were already outside the school wards? Say, in Hogsmeade? Could you travel with us then?"
Dobby frowned thoughtfully. "Dobby supposes… it is not in the school rules. And there is no magic to stop it."
Harry grinned, looking up at his friends. "Sounds like that's the way to do it, then." Even if Dobby couldn't through his bonds as a Hogwarts house elf, Ceri absolutely could if Harry called her from outside the school wards. "But how are we going to get to Hogsmeade? Umbridge has people crawling all over the school, we'll never get past the gates." Daphne looked skeptical, and Harry's grin widened.
"Oh, that's not as difficult as you'd expect." He looked at his watch; it was now an hour and a half since he'd had the vision in the exam. Voldemort would likely be expecting him to travel by broom or something equally reckless; he'd said they had hours before anyone came to find Sirius. "Before we go anywhere, though, we need a plan."
He might be sneaking out of school with his friends to go fight Death Eaters at the Ministry of Magic, but he wasn't going to be quite so reckless as to do so without even a vague idea of what to do when they got there.
"Susan, what time does the Ministry close up for the night?"
"Most people are out by six. Some will stay in their offices til seven or eight, but there's not many these days. There's a night-shift guard in the atrium, and I know the aurors have an on-call rotation, but I think they only usually have one or two people manning the emergency floo line and that's it."
The Ministry was probably mostly empty by now, then. Harry would bet anything that most of those still in their offices were those planning on aiding the Dark Lord's attempt however they could, even if that was just with their own silence.
"One thing I want to know, Harry," Ginny piped up, "is what You-Know-Who wants from you out of this whole thing. Considering how you're so good at upsetting the cauldron on all his other plans, surely he'd want to keep you out of the way?"
Harry's smile was a grim line. "Yes, but he also wants to kill me quite a lot," he replied, and Daphne snorted. "He needs me to get something. From the Department of Mysteries. There's… there's this Prophecy, alright? About me and him, supposedly, and he's heard the first half but not the second, and he thinks it'll tell him how he can defeat me and live forever, or something."
"You really are the Chosen One, then?" Daphne remarked dryly.
"A Prophecy is only as strong as those who believe in it," Luna said. "Often the damage done from hearing them is worse than the prophecy itself."
"Yeah, well, the damage done from him hearing the first half was going after my parents. And Neville's," he added with an apologetic glance to his friend. Neville gaped. "Child born at the end of July. Look, it's not important." Harry was getting off topic. "The point is, he expects me to meet him down in the Department of Mysteries. And I will. But not as blindly as he thinks. So. Plan."
He wasn't good at this part. Even without the compulsions rotting his brain, his idea of a 'plan' was 'start with good intentions and make the rest up as I go along'. But he had others with him now, people whose safety relied on more than just dumb luck and good timing.
He wouldn't lose any of them like he lost Cedric.
So, planning it was. Luckily, his friends were much better at that than he was.
.-.-.-.
With a plan in place, Harry and his friends hid themselves under Disillusionment charms and headed for the statue of the one-eyed witch. Harry had considered the Shrieking Shack, but it would be a much harder task to get all six of them across the grounds unnoticed. He had never snuck so many people out of Hogwarts before, but he was fairly confident in his own abilities. Most of the school was finishing up dinner by now; he had to hope the rest of his friends were doing a good job of hiding their absence from Umbridge and anyone else who might care.
Ginny just happened to have stink pellets in her pockets, so she dropped a few of them on the stairwell as a diversion. Then they were sprinting through the corridors, camouflaged by magic, and Harry skidded to a halt at the witch statue. "Dissendium," he murmured, tapping her hump with his wand. "Quickly, in here." He directed all of his friends down the tunnel, waiting until they were all gone before jumping in himself. It felt like it took hours, but the corridor remained undisturbed, and he let out a breath of relief once he was in the cramped tunnel.
"Do I keep going?" Neville asked, apparently the one at the front.
"Yeah, all the way to the end!"
"Where does this thing lead?" Daphne asked as she began crawling. Harry chuckled.
"You'll see in a minute."
They made their way down, and Harry heard Neville's shock the moment his friend poked through the trapdoor into Honeydukes' cellar.
"Did Fred and George show you this?" Ginny asked enviously. "This explains so much."
"In a way." Harry forgot she didn't know about the Map. "Okay, let's see if this works. Dobby!" A beat, and the elf appeared. He looked far too happy to be assisting them in their rule-breaking. "How many of us can you take at a time?"
Dobby eyed them all over. "Dobby is best taking two at a time, and not Harry Potter sir and his tall friend together," he said, gesturing to Neville. Harry nodded.
"Perfect. Okay, if you take Susan and Daphne first, and then Neville and Ginny, and come back for me and Luna after." If anyone found Susan and Daphne alone, they were the most likely pair to be able to talk their way out of any suspicious circumstances; and the two least connected to Harry.
"Okay. Where is Dobby takings them?"
Harry blinked. Their plan had focused more on what to do inside the Ministry, rather than how to get there.
"Um, Dobby, was it?" Susan cut in tentatively. "Do you know where the muggle entrance to the Ministry of Magic is? The phone box?"
Harry blinked incredulously at the fact that there was even a muggle entrance to begin with, but Dobby nodded, ears flapping. "Yes, Miss, Dobby knows it!"
"Perfect. Take us there, then, please." Susan held out one hand to Daphne and the other to Dobby, and the Slytherin girl hesitated only for a moment before doing the same. The three disappeared in an instant, and Harry held his breath until Dobby returned.
"Harry Potter sir's friends are in London," he confirmed brightly.
He transported Ginny and Neville, then quickly returned for Harry and Luna. Harry squeezed his eyes shut against the strange sensation of elf travel, and when he opened them he was stood in a dirty side-street somewhere in London, watching Susan walk over to a heavily vandalised telephone box.
"Can Dobby do anything else for Harry Potter and his friends?"
"Don't tell Professor Umbridge where we are, if she asks. Or anyone else, honestly." Dobby nodded eagerly, and Harry grinned. "Thanks so much for this, Dobby. I really appreciate it."
"Dobby is glad to help," the elf chirped, and then vanished.
"I never realised house elves could transport people," Daphne said, faintly surprised.
"House elves can do a lot of things people don't think about," Harry told her. Then he looked to Susan, eyebrows raised. "Where's this entrance, then?"
"Right here." The Hufflepuff patted the phone box. "It'll be a tight squeeze, so I hope you don't mind getting cosy."
It was indeed a tight squeeze, all six of them in the booth, and Susan peered out from her place trapped against the corner of the glass. "Whoever can reach the phone, dial '6-2-4-4-2'."
Harry, whose ribcage was pressed right against the phone, snorted. "Very clever." He dialled the numbers, and a cool voice spoke over an invisible speaker, asking them to state their name and business. Susan spoke before he could, declaring all six of them 'John Smith' with the business of 'Ministry Evaluation'. The badges were a surprise, clattering into the coin slot, and with a warning about needing to submit their wands for a security check, suddenly the phone box began to move. It sank below the pavement, and before long it was pitch black.
"I hate this bit," Susan muttered. Harry wasn't a fan of it either, his brain throwing up memories of being locked in his cupboard. Luckily, it didn't last long; soon golden light began to spill from the area near their feet, slowly increasing until they were no longer in a dark tunnel but instead lowering into the middle of what Harry could only assume was the Ministry atrium. There was a fountain in the centre with a large gold statue of various magical creatures being presided over by a witch and wizard, and a whole lot of marble elsewhere. It was incredibly pompous, as buildings went.
It was also completely empty.
"This isn't right," Susan murmured. "There should be a security team."
The phone box touched the ground, and they spilled out into the atrium, stretching out their aching limbs from the awkward journey.
"D'you think they're dead? Or just… gone?" Ginny asked dubiously. Harry frowned.
"Probably Dark supporters. Or just bribed to bugger off for the night." His experience of the Ministry was not one of moral integrity, for the most part.
"Well, isn't it good for us, that it's this quiet?" Daphne reasoned. "Less obstruction."
She was technically right, but it didn't make Harry feel any better about it. "Either way, we know something's certainly not right."
"Harry," Susan said suddenly. When he turned to look at her, she was pale. "Do you— I've seen the aurors, and some other people Aunt Amelia works with, do this thing with their Patronus where they send messages. Can you— do you know how to do that?" Her voice was hopeful. Harry frowned.
"In theory, yes." He'd asked Remus to show him in the summer when he'd seen the man summon Snape from his lab that way. "I've never done it very far, though. Why?"
"Aunt Amelia should know what's happening," Susan told him. "She knows who to trust. If we could get a message to her… maybe she can gather up the Ministry workers who would actually fight back. Or at the very least stop us getting arrested once we're found here."
She had a point. Harry palmed his wand, pulling together his magic. "Expecto Patronum." Prongs appeared, silver light glittering off the shiny marble floor. "Take a message to Amelia Bones. Tell her — Death Eaters are in the Ministry. I am there, so is Susan. Bring whoever you trust." The stag nodded its enormous head, and then dashed off towards a wall, disappearing from sight. A few seconds passed.
"Did it work?" Neville asked hopefully. Harry shrugged.
"No idea." Once the Patronus was gone, it was hard to tell.
"We should get moving," Luna said, voice echoing with an urgency that none of them wanted to argue with. They hurried over to the lifts, and all of them winced at the racket made when the golden grilles slid open.
"Fuck," Neville whispered, hurrying into the lift. Susan immediately pressed the button for level nine, and with more horrendous clanking, the lift began to move.
"Susan," Harry said after a beat, "I'm very glad you came with us. Because I didn't actually know where we were going."
Susan giggled, a slightly hysterical sound. "I've been down there with my auntie before," she explained. "But I'm glad I came with you, too."
Harry just hoped she didn't change her mind about that once the fighting began.
The lift ground to a thunderous halt, the cool female voice declaring that they had reached the Department of Mysteries.
Now things looked familiar.
Harry's chest felt a little tight, finally seeing the dark corridor from his dreams in person, the flickering torches and plain black door that had haunted him for so long.
A shoulder pressed against his arm, and he glanced down to see Luna stood beside him, looking up with a surprisingly determined smile. "We're with you," she said simply.
It was enough.
Harry led the way, unsurprised when the door opened easily for him. And there was the circular room with its many doors and blue-flame torches.
What he wasn't expecting was for the room to start spinning as soon as the door closed behind them.
Instantly, all six of them had their wands out, huddling close to make sure no one was left uncovered. But nothing jumped out at them. The walls span until the blue flames were just thin neon lines in Harry's vision, and eventually slowed to a halt; all the doors were completely identical, and Harry had no idea where to go. "It didn't do that in my vision," he admitted. Now, they couldn't tell which door they had come from, let alone which door led to the Hall of Prophecies.
"Aunt Amelia says the trick is just to ask," Susan whispered, fear colouring her voice. Harry frowned; it was worth a try.
"Would you show me the way to the Hall of Prophecies? Please," he added, in case the room was a stickler for manners.
Abruptly, a door off to his right flung open, and through it Harry could see the same dancing lights he'd seen in his dream. "That's the one," he confirmed, grinning as he strode towards it. "Brilliant, Susan."
The Hufflepuff blushed happily, following him into the room.
"Oh," Ginny gasped softly, once they were inside. "It's beautiful."
It took a moment for Harry's eyes to adjust to such brightness after the dark antechamber room, but when they did he realised the room was full of timepieces. Clocks in all shapes and sizes, from tiny little pocket watches on stands to a huge grandfather clock against one wall, hundreds of them, all ticking away in near-perfect unison. The light was coming from an enormous crystal bell jar at the far end of the room, and Harry found himself drawn to it curiously.
It sparkled almost painfully bright with some kind of ethereal wind — and in the very centre was a tiny, jewel-bright egg. The students watch the egg drift upwards, beginning to hatch as it moved; soon there was a beautiful hummingbird within the jar, but once it was carried all the way up to the top it began to sink slowly, feathers turning bedraggled, until soon it was an egg once more. The process was mesmerising, and it took several cycles for Harry to tear his eyes away.
Just past the jar was a shelf entirely full of tiny hourglasses. Timeturners, Harry realised, recognising the devices from his third year. Some were bigger than others, but all of them would fit neatly in the palm of Harry's hand. Or on a necklace chain. What sort of time-based magic was within this room? What did Unspeakables even do down here? The questions were endless, but there was no time to answer them.
"We need to keep going," Harry said softly. It felt like the kind of room you had to whisper in.
His words startled his friends out of their reverie watching the hummingbird, and while they looked reluctant, they followed Harry to the door.
It was definitely the right room. Shelves towered far above their heads, all full of identical dusty glass orbs, with more blue-flame candles lighting the way. Stepping into the room made a shiver crawl down his spine after the light and warmth of the time room, and they all huddled closer together.
"Where to now, Harry?" Ginny asked. Harry peered at the silver numbers on the end of the nearest row.
"Row ninety-seven." They all pulled their wands out and started walking, grouped tightly together.
This was where the plan would begin. This was the part Harry had worried about.
They reached row ninety-seven, and paused, peering into the darkness. "He's down the end," Harry said, pitching his voice a little louder than before. "He's here, I know it."
He led the way down the row, finding it entirely empty, as expected. "He's got to be here somewhere!"
"No one's here, Harry," Ginny said gently, placing a hand on his arm. Harry tore his gaze away — looking instead at the shelves of orbs, reading the names on the little labels. Most of them were dim and dull inside, but a few still glowed with a faint light. He scanned the labels, looking further down the aisle. It had to be easy to find, or Voldemort wouldn't have sent him down here.
"Harry, come here," Daphne said urgently. Harry whipped around; she was pointing at an orb on an eye-level shelf, and when he met her gaze she gave a short nod. "This one's got your name on it."
"What?" he feigned bewilderment, heading to take a look. Sure enough, the little label read;
S. P. T. to A. P. W. B. D
Dark Lord
and (?)Harry Potter
That was it. Inside that faintly glowing orb was the record of the words that had destroyed his life forever.
The words that had led to the death of his parents, and thirteen years of relative peace for the rest of the wizarding world. "Harry, don't touch it," Neville warned, but it was too late. Harry's hand was already reaching out, wrapping around the strangely warm glass. As he did, he placed a protective charm around it. Things were going to get messy, and he didn't want it cracking.
"It's got my name on it," Harry argued. "That means it's mine."
Suddenly the air shifted. Instantly, all six of them tensed.
"There are two names on that label, Potter," a cold, familiar voice drawled. Harry turned to face Lucius Malfoy, his pale hair glowing eerily in the blue light. "And the other owner would very much like that Prophecy."
Harry moved to stand in front of his friends, feeling them gather behind him, their wands out and ready. Malfoy wasn't alone; a dozen shapes suddenly loomed in the shadows, more Death Eaters surrounding Harry and his friends. Harry glared at his boyfriend's father, wishing he could hex the snot out of him, show him what he'd learned from Severus Snape. But it wasn't time yet.
"Where's Sirius?" he asked, and didn't flinch when the Death Eaters mocked him. Though when the female voice chimed in, taunting him in an exaggerated baby-voice, he felt Neville's full-boddy shudder and suddenly knew exactly who the woman was.
"Oh, and you've brought your little friends, how sweet," Malfoy remarked, his eyes trailing over the group behind Harry. "Miss Greengrass, I'm surprised to see you here. Your uncle will be most… disappointed."
"On the contrary, my uncle will be delighted I got the opportunity to tell you to go fuck yourself in person," Daphne retorted sweetly. Several Death Eaters growled, and one raised a wand, but a sharp look from Lucius held back any spell they might cast. Harry was quietly surprised; it wasn't like Death Eaters to show hesitation, even when hurting children.
"Enough of this!"
Bellatrix Lestrange tried to summon the Prophecy, but Harry was faster. It still rolled to the ends of his fingertips, and that was enough to have Malfoy turning on his companion.
"I told you, no!" he reprimanded. "If you smash it—"
Ah, so that was their concern, was it? Harry smirked. "Why does Voldemort want it so bad?" he asked boldly, and was very proud of his friends for not even twitching at the name, while all the Death Eaters shuddered and Bellatrix Lestrange began to screech about his filthy mouth defiling her lord's name.
Harry was almost tempted to inform her that his filthy mouth had also defiled her nephew, but that was a story for another time. Slowly, he shuffled one foot back. The Death Eaters were watching his hands — one holding his wand, the other holding the prophecy. They didn't notice when the heel of his shoe tapped back against the toe of Ginny's. He felt a quick tap back, and then the faint movement of a hand behind him. Harry continued to taunt Malfoy and his fellows, keeping attention firmly on him.
He kept them talking, let Malfoy do his whole villain exposition thing, let him think he was so clever leading Harry to the conclusions of what happened to Podmore and Bode. Harry had to kill as much time as possible, silently praying that Sirius was able to get hold of the Order soon. He liked his own chances against the Death Eaters — was desperate to put some of Snape's spells into practice — but he didn't want to risk his friends.
Then, faintly, he felt something go warm in his pocket.
His mirror.
Help was on the way.
"NOW!" he yelled, and all at once six wands were raised; five voices sent Reducto curses at the shelves, while the sixth — Harry's — sent a Cutting curse straight in the direction of Bellatrix Lestrange's chest. She screeched, managing to move fast enough that it caught her across the arm instead, but it was enough.
Glass orbs shattered everywhere as shelves began to topple, and Harry was running, hot on Susan's heels as they sped for the exit, destroying as much as physically possible in their wake.
The fight had begun. They just had to last long enough for assistance to arrive.