SuperPotterLock - The Order of the Phoenix

Beyond the Veil

Black shapes emerged 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 at them.

'To me, Potter,' repeated the drawling voice of Lucius Malfoy as he held out his hand, palm up. No one moved. 'To me.'

'Where's Sirius?' Harry said.

Several of the Death Eaters laughed; a harsh female voice from amidst the shadowy figures to the left said triumphantly, 'The Dark Lord always knows.'

John's wand wobbled at the sound of her voice, and he could feel visions tugging at him. His nose started to bleed again, but he daren't move to mop it up.

'Always,' echoed Malfoy softly. 'Now, give me the prophecy, Potter.'

'I want to know where Sirius is!' said Harry.

'I want to know where Sirius is!' mimicked the woman to their left.

She and her fellow Death Eaters had closed in so that they were mere feet away.

Dean was standing close behind Cas, the faint static around him showing he was resisting the urge to throw out his Shield Charm.

'You've got him,' said Harry. 'He's here. I know he is.'

'The little baby woke up frightened a fort what it dweamed was twoo,' said the woman in a horrible, mock baby voice.

Ron stirred, but Harry muttered, 'Don't do anything. 'Not yet-'

The woman who had mocked Harry 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,' said Harry. 'I know you've got him!'

More of the Death Eaters laughed, though Bellatrix laughed the loudest.

'It's time you learn the difference between life and dreams, Potter,' said Malfoy. 'Now give me the prophecy, or we start using wands.'

'Go on, then,' said Harry, raising his wand to chest height, as did everyone's around him. But the Death Eaters did not strike.

'Hand over the prophecy and no one need get hurt,' Malfoy said coolly.

It was Harry's turn to laugh. 'Yeah right!' he said. 'I give you this - prophecy, is it? And you'll just let us skip off home, will you?'

The words were hardly out of his mouth when Bellatrix shrieked: 'Accio proph-'

But Harry was ready for her: he shouted 'Protego!' before she had finished her spell, and though the glass sphere slipped to the tips of his fingers, he managed to cling on to it.

'Oh, he knows how to play, little bitty baby Potter,' said Bellatrix, her mad eyes staring through the slits in her hood. 'Very well, then - '

'I TOLD YOU, NO!' Lucius Malfoy roared at her. 'If you smash it - !'

Dean's mind was racing, eyes flicking from the ball in Harry's hand, to the rest on the shelves, to the Death Eaters' whose gazes were all firmly on Harry.

Bellatrix stepped forward, away from her fellows, and pulled off her hood. Azkaban had hollowed out her face, making it gaunt and skull-like, but it was alive with a feverish, fanatical glow.