Our little secret

Chapter 45

 Ophelia had lost all sense of how far they had come; all her faith was in the beast below her, still streaking purposefully through the night, barely flapping its wings as it sped ever onward. . . .

If they were too late . . .
He's still alive, he's still fighting, I can feel it. . . .
If Voldemort decided Sirius was not going to crack . . .
I'd know. . . . 

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Black shapes were emerging out of thin air all around them, blocking their way left and right; eyes glinted through slits in hoods, a dozen lit wand tips were pointing directly at their hearts. Ginny gave a gasp of horror." To me, Potters," repeated the drawling voice of Lucius Malfoy as he held out his hand, palm up. Harry's insides plummeted sickeningly. They were trapped and outnumbered two to one." To me," said Malfoy yet again."Where's Sirius?" Ophelia said. Several of the Death Eaters laughed. A harsh female voice from the midst of the shadowy figures to Harry's left said triumphantly, "The Dark Lord always knows!" "Always," echoed Malfoy softly. "Now, give me the prophecy, Potter." "I want to know where Sirius is!" Ophelia shouted louder this time "I want to know where Sirius is!" mimicked the woman to her left. She and her fellow Death Eaters had closed in so that they were mere feet away from Harry and the others, the light from their wands dazzling Ophelia's eyes. 

"You've got him," said Harry, ignoring the rising panic in his chest,the dread he had been fighting since they had first entered the ninety-seventh row. "He's here. We know he is." "The little baby woke up fwightened and fort what it dweamed wastwoo," said the woman in a horrible, mock-baby voice. Harry felt Ron stir beside him."Don't do anything," he muttered. "Not yet —"The woman who had mimicked him let out a raucous scream of laughter."You hear him? You hear him? Giving instructions to the other children as though he thinks of fighting us!" "Oh, you don't know Potter as I do, Bellatrix," said Malfoy softly."He has a great weakness for heroics; the Dark Lord understands this about him. Now give me the prophecy, Potter." "I know Sirius is here," Ophelia shouted from behind Harry stepping up in front of him, though panic was causing her chest to constrict and she felt as though she could not breathe properly."I know you've got him!"More of the Death Eaters laughed, though the woman still laughed loudest of all."It's time you learned the difference between life and dreams, Potters," said Malfoy. "Now give me the prophecy, or we start using wands." she turned back to Harry "Go on, then," said Harry, raising his own wand to chest height. As he did so, the six wands of Ophelia, Ron, Hermione, Neville, Ginny, and Luna rose on either side of him. The knot in Ophelia's stomach tightened. If Sirius really was not here, Harry had led their friends to their deaths for no reason at all she had warned him she told herself. . . .But the Death Eaters did not strike."Hand over the prophecy and no one need get hurt," said Malfoy coolly.

It was Ophelia's turn to laugh."Yeah, right!" she said. She took the prophecy from Harry's hands and looked at it for a second before looking up and meeting the eyes of Lucius Malfoy "I give you this — prophecy, is it? And you'll just let us skip off home, will you?"The words were hardly out of her mouth when the female DeathEater shrieked, "Accio Proph —" Ophelia was just ready for her. She shouted "Protego!" before she had finished her spell, and though the glass sphere slipped to the tips of her fingers she managed to cling on to it."Oh, she knows how to play, little bitty baby Potter," she said, her mad eyes staring through the slits in her hood."Very well, then —" "I TOLD YOU, NO!" Lucius Malfoy roared at the woman. "If you smash it — !" Ophelia's mind was racing. The Death Eaters wanted this dusty spun-glass sphere. She had no interest in it. She just wanted to get them all out of this alive, make sure that none of her friends paid a terrible price for Harry's stupidity . . .The woman stepped forward, away from her fellows, and pulled off her hood. Azkaban had hollowed Bellatrix Lestrange's face, making it gaunt and skull-like, but it was alive with a feverish, fanatical glow."You need more persuasion?" she said, her chest rising and falling rapidly. "Very well — take the smallest one," she ordered the DeathEaters beside her. "Let them watch while we torture the little girl. I'll do it." Ophelia felt the others close in around Ginny. Harry took the orb from Ophelia and stepped sideways so that he was right in front of Bellatrix, the prophecy held up to his chest."You'll have to smash this if you want to attack any of us," he told Bellatrix. "I don't think your boss will be too pleased if you come back without it, will he?"She did not move; she merely stared at him, the tip of her tongue moistening her thin mouth." So," said Harry, "what kind of prophecy are we talking about anyway?"