Rosabella Black |Daughter Of Sirius Black| (Book 5)

The Only One He Ever Feared

Michael Point of View:
    "He hasn't gone!" I heard Harry yell.
After I heard Rosabella scream in more pain they I had ever thought possible, I knew the worst had happened. Someone was gone. I frantically looked around and realised . . . Dad was nowhere to found. I couldn't stop the tears that filled my eyes and I felt my knees buckle under me and I fell to the ground and sobs escaped my mouth before I could stop them.
    "SIRIUS! SIRIUS!" Harry bellowed.
    "He can't come back, Harry,' said Lupin, his voice breaking as he struggled to contain Harry. 'He can't come back, because he's d-" I heard Remus say, his voice breaking.
I looked over at them and saw Remus struggling to hold Harry back.
   "HE - IS - NOT - DEAD! SIRIUS!" Harry roared.
There was movement going on around me, pointless bustling, the flashes of more spells. Meaningless noise.
Remus was now dragging Harry away from the dais as Lucas held a devastated and sobbing Rosabella. She looked more devasted then I had ever seen her. Lucas had tears rolling down his face as he stared at the archway, that soundly had some sort of veil. Harry still fought to break free from Remus but I could see the realisation forming in Harry's eyes.
Dumbledore had most of the remaining Death Eaters grouped in the middle of the room, seemingly immobilised by invisible ropes. Mad-Eye Moody had crawled across the room to where Tonks lay, and was attempting to revive her. Behind the dais there were still flashes of light, grunts and cries. Kingsley had run forward to continue Dad's duel with Bellatrix.
    "Where are the others?" I heard Remus ask and  as everybody seemed to cause him more pain.
I then remembered that Jason and Jacob were still dueling Rodolphus and Rabastan Lestrange. I looked at Remus's now pale face.
     "Remus! Jay and Jake are dueling the Lestrange brothers in the Brain Room over there!" I said as the tears still flowed down my face and I pointed in the direction of the room.
There was a loud bang and a yell from behind the dais. I saw Kingsley hit the ground yelling in pain. Lucas pulled a grief striken Rosabella to her feet and started to drag her over to Remus. Bellatrix Lestrange turned tail and ran as Dumbledore whipped around. He aimed a spell at her but she deflected it. she was halfway up the steps now.
   "Harry--no!' I heard Remus cry, but Harry had already ripped his arm from Remus's slackened grip.
   "SHE KILLED SIRIUS! SHE KILLED HIM! I'LL KILL HER!" Harry bellowed and he was off, scrambling up the stone benches.
     "HARRY!" We all shouted after him.
Lucas pushed Rosabella over to Remus.
    "Get all the others I'll get Harry!" Lucas shouted and he chased after Harry.

Lucas's Point of View:
I was halfway up the stone steps when Harry and Bellatrix disappeared out the room. I ran as fast as I could. I entered the brain room to find Rodolphus and Rabastan bloody, bruised and motionless on the floor but we're still breathing. Jason and Jacob were sitting against a wall, also bloody and bruised, they looked exhausted. They were staring at the door on the otherside of the room looking shocked.
     "Are you both OK?" I asked panicked.
     "You should see the other guys, Lu." Jacob said and he gestured to the defeated Death Eaters.
     "Lu, Harry and Bellatrix's just ran out that door. What happened? I've never seen Harry that angry." Jason said as he tried to get to his feet but fell back to his feet.
    "Hold tight! The others are on their way!" I said and ran after Harry through the door Jason had pointed to.
I ended up in a circular black hall. I saw Harry run out of the door to the corridor that led to the lifts. Thankfully, Harry didn't close the door so I didn't have to waste time trying to find the door again.
     "HARRY!" I yelled but he ignored me and kept running. I was halfway down the corridor when Harry started to go up in the second lift.
     "SHIT!" I said as I frantically hit the button on the other lift.
When the lift finally came and I finally made it to the main floor, I found Harry ducking behind the golden fountain. Thankfully he didn't look hurt. I hid behind a column, debating what the next best move should be.
   "Come out, come out, little Harry!" Bellatrix called in her mock baby voice, which echoed off the polished wooden floors.
  "What did you come after me for then? I thought you were here to avenge my dear cousin!" Bellatrix taunted.
  "I am!" Harry shouted, and a score of ghostly Harry's seemed to chorus I am! I am! I am! all around the room.
   "Aaaaaah . . . did you love him, little baby Potter?" Bellatrix said in her shrill voice.
Harry flung himself out from behind the fountain and bellowed, 'Crucio!'
I stared wide eyed as Bellatrix screamed. The spell had knocked her off her feet, but she did not writhe and shriek with pain. As she was getting  back on her feet, I sprinted towards Harry and pushed him back behind the fountain. Bellatrix was now back on her feet, breathless and no longer laughing. Her counter-spell hit the head of the handsome wizard, which was blown off and landed twenty feet away, gouging long scratches into the wooden floor.
    "Never used an Unforgivable Curse before, have you, boy?" Bellatrix yelled, she had abandoned her baby voice now.
    "I bloody hope not!" I hissed at him.
I had my hand on his shoulder and made sure I had a decent grip on him, ready to push or pull him out the way if needed.
   "You need to mean them, Potter! You need to really want to cause pain - to enjoy it - righteous anger won't hurt me for long - I'll show you how it is done, shall I? I'll give you a lesson-" Bellatrix said.
    "Touch him and I'll kill you!" I yelled and shot a Stunning Spell at her.
She blocked it and screamed "Crucio!"
I moved my hand to Harry's head and forced him to duck and I ducked with him, bringing his head close to me so my body could protect it.
Bellatrix's spell hit the centaur's arm, holding its bow, span off and landed with a crash on the floor a short distance from the golden wizard's head.
   "Cygnus? Well now I've met all of you. I'm disappointed to see how insolent you and your siblings are . . . but what can you expect when you were  raised by a half breed! I'm here to rectify that, so you can reclaim your birth right as the heirs to The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black! You cannot win against me, Cygnus!" Bellatix cried.
I could hear her moving to the right, trying to get a clear shot of us. I grabbed the shoulder of Harry's robes and we backed around the statue away from her, crouching behind the centaur's legs. Our head level with the house-elf's.
   "I was and am the Dark Lord's most loyal servant. I learned the Dark Arts from him, and I know spells of such power that you, pathetic little boys, can never hope to compete- " Bellatrix said, triumphantly.
    "Stupefy!" Harry yelled.
Harry had edged right around to where the goblin stood beaming up at the now headless wizard and taken aim at her back as she peered around the fountain. Bellatrix reacted so fast he barely had time to duck.
   "Protego!" Bellatrix yelled.
The jet of red light, Harry's own Stunning Spell, bounced back at him. I scrambled to pull Harry back behind the fountain and one of the goblin's ears went flying across the room.
   "Potter, I'm going to give you one chance! Give me the prophecy - roll it out towards me now - and I may spare your life!" Bellatrix shouted.
   "Well, you're going to have to kill me, because it's gone! And he knows! Your dear old mate Voldemort knows it's gone! He's not going to be happy with you, is he?" Harry roared with a mad laugh of his own to match Bellatrix. 
   "What? What do you mean?" Bellatrix cried, and for the first time there was fear in her voice.
I smirked at that. It was a nice change from her usual shrieking.
   "The prophecy smashed when I was trying to get Neville up the steps! What do you think Voldemort'll say about that, then?" Harry yelled.
    "LIAR!" Bellatrix shrieked, but I could hear the terror behind the anger now.
I closed my eyes and groaned.
     "Abd we're back to the shrieking." I mumbled loud enough for Harry to hear and he gave a weak chuckle as we both shot small smirks at each other.
   "YOU'VE GOT IT, POTTER, AND YOU WILL GIVE IT TO ME! Accio prophecy! ACCIO PROPHECY!" Bellatrix shrieked desperately.
Harry laughed again because and he waved his empty hand from behind the one-eared goblin and withdrew it quickly as she sent another jet of green light flying at him.
   "Nothing there! Nothing to summon! It smashed and nobody heard what it said, tell your boss that!" Harry shouted.
   "No! It isn't true, you're lying! MASTER, I TRIED, I TRIED - DO NOT PUNISH ME-" Bellatrix screamed.
   "Don't waste your breath! He can't hear you from here!" Harry yelled, his eyes screwed up as if he were in pain.
   "Can't I, Potter?" said a high, cold voice.
Harry opened his eyes and we both looked at each other. Our eyes then slowly and hesitantly moved to look at a tall, thin and black-hooded figure. He had a terrible snake-like face  that was white and gaunt. He had scarlet, slit - pupilled eyes that were focused on Harry.
Lord Voldemort had appeared in the middle of the hall, his wand pointing at Harry, who stood frozen quite unable to move.
   "So, you smashed my prophecy? No, Bella, he is not lying . . . I see the truth looking at me from within his worthless mind. . . months of preparation, months of effort . . . and my Death Eaters have let Harry Potter thwart me again . . ." Voldemort said softly, staring at Harry with those pitiless red eyes.
   "Master, I am sorry, I knew not, I was fighting the Animagus Black! Master, you should know-" Bellatrix sobbed, flinging herself down at Voldemort's feet as he paced slowly nearer.
   "Be quiet, Bella. I shall deal with you in a moment. Do you think I have entered the Ministry of Magic to hear your snivelling apologies?" Voldemort said dangerously.
   "But Master - he is here - he is below-" Bellatrix tried to say but Voldemort paid no attention.
   "I have nothing more to say to you, Potter. You have irked me too often, for too long." Voldemort said quietly.
My grip on Harry's shoulder tightened.
    "AVADA KEDAVRA!" Voldemort screamed.
I barely had opened my mouth to desperately try and say a spell that would deflect this Curse, but before I couldd, the headless golden statue of the wizard in the fountain had sprung alive. It leapt from its plinth to land with a crash on the floor between Voldemort, Harry and I. The spell merely glanced off its chest as the statue flung out its arms to protect Harry.
   "What-?" Voldemort cried, staring around.
   "Dumbledore!" Voldemort breathed.
Harry and I looked behind, my heart pounding. Dumbledore was standing in front of the golden gates.
     "I've never been happier to see someone in all my life." I whispered to Harry.
     "Tell me about it." Harry whispered back.
Voldemort raised his wand and another jet of green light streaked at  Dumbledore, who turned and was gone in a whirling of his cloak. Next second, he had reappeared behind Voldemort and waved his wand towards the remnants of the fountain. The other statues sprang to life. The statue of the witch ran at Bellatrix, who screamed and sent spells streaming uselessly off its chest, before it dived at her, pinning her to the floor. Meanwhile, the goblin and the house-elf scuttled towards the fireplaces set along the wall and the one-armed centaur galloped at Voldemort, who vanished and reappeared beside the pool.
Dumbledore has got to teach me this spell.
The headless statue thrust Harry and I backwards, away from the fight, as Dumbledore advanced on Voldemort and the golden centaur cantered around them both.
   "It was foolish to come here tonight, Tom. The Aurors are on their way-" Dumbledore said calmly.
   "By which time I shall be gone, and you will be dead!" Voldemort spat.
He sent another killing curse at Dumbledore but missed, instead hitting the security guard's desk, which burst into flame.
Dumbledore flicked his own wand. Voldemort was forced to conjure a shining silver shield out of thin air to deflect it. The spell, whatever it was, caused no visible damage to the shield, though a deep, gong-like note reverberated from it. An oddly chilling sound.
    "You do not seek to kill me, Dumbledore? Above such brutality, are you?" Voldemort called, his scarlet eyes narrowed over the top of the shield.
   "We both know that there are other ways of destroying a man, Tom. Merely taking your life would not satisfy me, I admit-" Dumbledore said calmly, continuing to walk towards Voldemort as though he had not a fear in the world.
   "There is nothing worse than death, Dumbledore!" Voldemort snarled.
   "You are quite wrong. Indeed, your failure to understand that there are things much worse than death has always been your greatest weakness-"
Dumbledore said, still closing in upon Voldemort and speaking as lightly as though they were discussing the matter over drinks.
Harry and I felt scared to see him walking along, undefended, shieldless. We looked at each other fearfully. We wanted to warn Dumbledore but the headless guard kept shunting us backwards towards the wall, blocking our every attempt to get out from behind it.
Another jet of green light flew from behind the silver shield. This time it was the one-armed centaur, galloping in front of Dumbledore, that took the blast and shattered into a hundred pieces. Before the fragments had even hit the floor, Dumbledore had drawn back his wand and waved it as though brandishing a whip. A long thin flame flew from the tip. It wrapped itself around Voldemort, shield and all. For a moment it seemed Dumbledore had won, but then the fiery rope became a serpent, which relinquished its hold on Voldemort at once and turned, hissing furiously, to face Dumbledore. Voldemort vanished. The snake reared from the floor, ready to strike.
There was a burst of flame in midair above Dumbledore just as Voldemort reappeared, standing on the plinth in the middle of the pool where so recently the five statues had stood.
  "Look out!" Harry and I yelled.
But even as we shouted, another jet of green light flew at Dumbledore from Voldemort's wand and the snake struck.
Fawkes swooped down in front of Dumbledore, opened his beak wide and swallowed the jet of green light whole. He burst into flame and fell to the floor, small, wrinkled and flightless. At the same moment, Dumbledore brandished his wand in one long, fluid movement. The snake, which had been an instant from sinking its fangs into him, flew high into the air and vanished in a wisp of dark smoke and the water in the pool rose up and covered Voldemort like a cocoon of molten glass.
    "Accio Phoenix!" I yelled and pointed my wand at the baby Phoenix.
Baby Fawkes soared into my hand, away from the battle.
For a few seconds Voldemort was visible only as a dark, rippling, faceless figure, shimmering and indistinct upon the plinth, clearly struggling to throw off the suffocating mass.
Then he was gone and the water fell with a crash back into its pool, slopping wildly over the sides, drenching the polished floor.
  "MASTER!" Bellatrix screamed.
Sure it was over, sure Voldemort had decided to flee, Harry and I made to run out from behind our statue guard, but Dumbledore bellowed: "Stay where you are, both of you!"
For the first time, Dumbledore sounded frightened. I put the baby Fawkes on my shoulder, where it nestled against my neck, and I placed a restraining hand in front of Harry to hold him back. Since Dumbledore seemed to be frightened, I kept my guard up. I raised my wand and scanned around the room, looking for Voldemort.
The hall was quite empty but for ouselves, the sobbing Bellatrix still trapped under the witch statue, and the baby phoenix Fawkes croaking feebly on my shoulder.
Harry suddenly screamed in pain and dropped to the floor.
     "HARRY!" I yelled and dropped down next to him.
I reached out to grasp him so I could look him over for the cause of the pain but before I could touch him I felt myself being dragged across the room and landed by Dumbledore, Fawkes still safely on my shoulder. I got up and stared at Dumbledore in panic. I then frantically looked back at Harry.
   "Kill me now, Dumbledore . . ." Harry said but it didn't sound like Harry.
It may have been his voice but the way it was said was not Harry. Every bit of Harry's face screamed that he was in agony.
   "If death is nothing, Dumbledore, kill the boy . . ."
The Minister of Magic and many Aurors  and people from Wizarding Gambet arrived just as Voldemort reappeared looking to be in great pain. Harry stopped writhing in pain. Dumbledore and I were across the room in moments kneeling by Harry as Voldemort and Bellatrix disappeared once more.
Harry opened his eyes, his glasses were lying by the heel of the headless statue that had been guarding him, but which now lay flat on its back, cracked and immobile. I passed Harry his glasses and he put them on and raised his head a little.
"Are you all right, Harry?" Dumbledore asked.
   "Yes. Yeah, I'm - where's Voldemort, where - who are all these - what's-" Harry said shaking violently.
As Dumbledore pulled Harry back to his feet, I saw the tiny gold statues of the house - elf and the goblin, leading a stunned - looking Cornelius Fudge forward.
   "He was there! I saw him, Mr. Fudge, I swear it was You - Know - Who, he grabbed a woman and Disapparated!" shouted a scarlet-robed man with a ponytail, who was pointing at a pile of golden rubble on the other side of the hall, where Bellatrix had lain trapped only moments before.
   "I know, Williamson, I know, I saw him too! Merlin's beard - here - here! – in the Ministry of Magic!- great heavens above - it doesn't seem possible - my word - how can this be -?" Fudge gibbered, who was wearing pyjamas under his pinstriped cloak and was gasping as though he had just run miles.
    "Well, they've only been telling you this for the past year!" I yelled furiously.
   "If you proceed downstairs into the Department of Mysteries, Cornelius, you will find several escaped Death Eaters contained in the Death Chamber, bound by an Anti-Disapparation Jinx and awaiting your decision as to what to do with them." Dumbledore said, apparently satisfied that Harry was all right and walking forwards so that the newcomers realised he was there for the first time.
I wrapped my arm protectively around Harry's shoulders.
A few of Ministry members raised their wands at Dumbledore. Others simply looked amazed. The statues of the elf and goblin applauded and Fudge jumped so much that his slipper-clad feet left the floor.
   "Dumbledore! You - here - I - I-" Fudge gasped, beside himself with amazement.
Fudge looked wildly around at the Aurors he had brought with him and it could not have been clearer that he was in half a mind to cry, "Seize him!"
   "Cornelius, I am ready to fight your men and win, again! But a few minutes ago you saw proof, with your own eyes, that I have been telling you the truth for a year. Lord Voldemort has returned, you have been chasing the wrong man for twelve months, and it is time you listened to sense!"Dumbledore said in a thunderous voice.
   "I - don't - well -" Fudhe blustered, looking around as though hoping somebody was going to tell him what to do. When nobody did, he said:
   "Very well - Dawlish! Williamson! Go down to the Department of Mysteries and see . . . Dumbledore, you - you will need to tell me exactly - the Fountain of Magical Brethren ‐ what happened?" Fudge said in a kind of whimper, staring around at the floor, where the remains of the statues of the witch, wizard and centaur now lay scattered.
   "We can discuss that after I have sent Harry back to Hogwarts." Dumbledore said.
   "Harry – Harry Potter?" Fudge and he wheeled around and stared at Harry.
I tightened my arm around Harry and glared at Fudge.
   "He - here? Why - what's all this about?" Fudge said, goggling at Harry.
   "I shall explain everything, when Harry is back at school." Dumbledore repeated and he walked away from the pool to the place where the golden wizard's head lay on the floor.
Dumbledore pointed his wand at it and muttered, 'Portus.' The head glowed blue and trembled noisily against the wooden floor for a few seconds, then became still once more. It was now a Portkey.
    "Now see here, Dumbledore! You haven't got authorisation for that Portkey! You can't do things like that right in front of the Minister for Magic, you - you -" Fudge said, as Dumbledore picked up the head and walked back to Harry carrying it.
His voice faltered as Dumbledore surveyed him magisterially over his half-moon spectacles.
   "You will give the order to remove Dolores Umbridge from Hogwarts. You will tell your Aurors to stop searching for my Care of Magical Creatures teacher so that he can return to work. I will give you . . ." Dumbledore said and he pulled a watch with twelve hands from his pocket and surveyed it. . . "half an hour of my time tonight, in which I think we shall be more than able to cover the important points of what has happened here. After that, I shall need to return to my school. If you need more help from me you are, of course, more than welcome to contact me at Hogwarts. Letters addressed to the Headmaster will find me." Dumbledore finished.
Fudge goggled worse than ever. His mouth was open and his round face grew pinker under his rumpled grey hair.
   "I - you -" Fudge stammered.
Dumbledore turned his back on him.
   "Take this Portkey, Harry. The others who accompanied you have already returned and taken to the hospital wing." Dumbledore said, softly to Harry.
He held out the golden head of the statue and Harry placed his hand on it.
   "I shall see you in half an hour. Lucas help your uncle get the injured Order members to Fiona at Saint Mungo's."  Dumbledore said quietly.
I nodded, squeaked Harry's shoulders before I left to go help the Order members.