Wisdom and Victory {Fred Weasley}

Chapter 24

This may or may not be a coincidence, but in the seventies, your house/apartment was referred to as your 'pad'. So, what if pad-foot, means Sirius was homeless...?

The group of seven hurried through the endless prophecy lined walls, with Harry up ahead, looking and counting. "You're saying you had a vision?" asked Victoria for the umpteenth time. "And it showed you the exact location, right down to the aisle number?" Hermione turned round nervously, her face paled by the eerie glow of the place.

"It was supposed to be here!" said Harry, looking genuinely confused. "Maybe..." Victoria looked down the empty corridor. There was nothing, not even a sign of a scuffle. Just a heavy layer of dust.

"We're leaving," she said firmly, waving her arms to herd them away.

"What?" said Harry. "No...Sirius!"

"Is there any possibility - any at all - that that vision was put in your head deliberately?" asked Victoria. He didn't answer, just opened his mouth slightly. "Right," said Victoria again, looking around for any signs of a trap. "Come on." She placed her hands on the backs of Ginny and Neville and gave them a gentle push.

"Have you seen this Harry?" asked Ron with a frown. "It's got your name on it."

Victoria's curiosity and gut instinct screamed loudly at the same time. She stepped over to it, only recognising three names of the four. Harry Potter, Dark Lord, and A.P.W.B.D. Also known as Dumbledore. He'd heard this prophecy? "Let's go," she urged. But Harry had already picked up the crystal ball.

"Very good, Potter," said the voice of Mr Malfoy. Victoria swore, very loudly, in her head. "Now hand it over."

*****

Victoria ran through the smashing prophecies around her, the six children all up ahead, darting their separate ways. She gasped as a stinging hex just skimmed her ear, before she tumbled into through a door after Hermione, Neville, and Harry. "What do we do?" hissed Hermione. "What about the others?"

"I'll deal with the others," said Victoria quietly, listening to the orders Malfoy was shouting. "You go for backup." She wanted nothing more than to go with them, but there were still three of them trapped in a room full of Death Eaters.

"We're backup," said Neville angrily.

"You're kids," hissed Victoria, pressing her ear to the door and listening.

"Didn't it piss you off when Dumbledore said that to you?" demanded Harry, looking furious. Victoria let out a small whine. Why, right now, was she being emotionally blackmailed?

"Fine," she muttered. "I'm going to blast this door, and you can come with me. That bloody prophecy might protect us anyway."

She pressed her ear towards the door once more, and when she was satisfied, stood back, wand poised. A great reductor curse burst from her wand and the four of them flew into a room full of desks and cabinets full of strange things. "Through here!"

She shoved Neville and Hermione hastily under a desk, and Harry followed suit, before concealing herself behind a cabinet. In burst two Death Eaters, the first she stunned silently, and the second she hit with a full body bind. "Come on," she muttered, pulling Hermione out from under the desk, who had a faint look of awe on her face. Victoria smiled warmly - was she Hermione's Ava?

"Dolohov?" called another voice, and in came another, wand poised. Victoria pushed Hermione aside, exposing herself in doing so and receiving a harsh knock back jinx, feeling like she'd been winded with a bludger.

"Shit!" she exclaimed, raising her wand and blocking a stunning spell. The Death Eater slashed through the air at Hermione, who crumbled, blood staining her school robes. With a great roar, Victoria cried, "CONFRINGO!" and the Death Eater caught alight.

"In there!" This was followed by the scream of a girl a few rooms over.

Victoria blasted open a side door, ushering Neville through, carrying Hermione, while Harry slammed the other two closed with a shout of, "Colloportus!"

"Nice touch," said Victoria, before pushing him through too.

At the very same moment, the other three burst through the opposite door, looking just as battle worn. "Come on, shut the doors," she said quickly, and she, Harry, Luna and Neville sprung into action.

They were almost done when Bellatrix Lestrange tore through, looking crazed and thirsty for blood. "Traitor!" she cried at Victoria, who hastily blocked the endless curses thrown her way, ducking to avoid the flashes of green.

"Harry, it'll suffocate him!" cried Ginny's voice. She saw out the corner of her eye as Harry darted from the room, prophecy held high and followed by the Death Eaters. Ron was squirming on the floor, some odd brain around his neck. Victoria flicked her wand at it and the brain dropped to the floor next to him, still.

"Relashio," she said to the remaining conscious people. "Useful little spell. Right, I can't seal Hermione's wound, I might not do it properly. Is everyone alright?"

"What about Harry?" asked Neville quickly.

"I'll go after him next," Victoria dismissed. "Ginny, what happened to your ankle?"

"Broken," she muttered. Victoria nodded and tapped her wand against it, watching Ginny flinch violently as everything jumped back into place.

"It'll be stiff," warned Victoria. "I'm not well-practiced..." She trailed off, looking round. "Where's Neville?" There was a scream of pain from the door Harry had gone through, and without another word Victoria sprinted through, ponytail and robes billowing, wand raised.