Lost Memories

xlii. missed

Before Lucius could curse me, Tonks had already thrown a Stunning Spell at him. Grabbing my hand, Harry dove off the dais out of the way. Through the darting bodies, the flashes of light, I could see Neville crawling along. Dodging another jet of red light, I flung Harry and myself flat on the group and crawled to Neville.

"Are you okay?" Harry yelled as another spell soared inches over our heads.

"Yes," said Neville, trying to pull himself up.

"And Ron?"

"I dink he's all right — he was still fighding the brain when I left —"

The stone floor between them exploded as a spell hit it, leaving a crater right where Neville's hand had been seconds before. We scrambled away from the spot, then a thick arm came out of nowhere, seized Harry around the neck and pulled him upright so that his toes were barely touching the floor.

"Give it to me," growled a voice in his ear, "give me the prophecy —"

With all my might, I took my fists and slammed them against the arm, trying to get him the let Harry go. The man screamed in pain. Neville had come lunging out of nowhere: Unable to articulate a spell, he had jabbed Hermione's wand hard into the eyehole of the Death Eater's mask and pulling it out hard. The man relinquished Harry at once with a howl of pain and Harry whirled around to face him and gasped, "STUPEFY!"

"Thanks!" Harry said to Neville and me.

Quickly looking around, I saw Sirius and his Death Eater lurched past, duelling so fiercely that their wands were blurs. Then my foot made contact with something round and hard and I slipped — for a moment I thought Harry had dropped the prophecy, then saw Moody's magic eye spinning away across the floor.

Its owner was lying on his side, bleeding from the head, and his attacker was now bearing down upon Harry, Neville, and me: A man's long pale face twisted with glee. I felt my body go rigid as someone had jinxed so.

"Now, Potter—"

He made the same slashing movement with his wand that he had used on Hermione just as Harry yelled, "Protego!"

I groaned, trying to move from my frozen position as Harry fell over Neville's jerking legs. His Shield Charm had stopped the worst of the spell. With much force, I felt my hand twitch as I started to regain movement in my body.

The man raised his wand again. "Accio Proph —"

Sirius hurtled out of nowhere, rammed the man with his shoulder, and sent him flying out of the way. The prophecy had again flown to the tips of Harry's fingers but he had managed to cling to it. Now Sirius and the man were duelling, their wands flashing like swords, sparks flying from their wand tips —

He drew back his wand to make the same slashing movement he had used on Harry and Hermione. Springing up, Harry yelled, "Petrificus Totalus!" Once again, Dolohov's arms and legs snapped together and he keeled over backwards, landing with a crash on his back.

"Nice one!" shouted Sirius, forcing Harry's head down as a pair of Stunning Spells flew toward them. "Now I want you to get out of —"

A jet of green light had narrowly missed Sirius; across the room, Harry saw Tonks fall from halfway up the stone steps, her limp form toppling from stone seat to stone seat, and Bellatrix, triumphant, running back toward the fray.

Green light. Death. Sirius. NO!

"Harry, take the prophecy, grab Neville and Charlotte, and run!" Sirius yelled, running to fight off another Death Eater.