Percy Jackson and the Department of Mysteries [Book 5]

159) Death In Hot Pink

We were all freaking out about our missing friends. Luckily Neville was playing sane, and hissed, "Listen!"

From behind the door I could hear footsteps and shouts. Stepping closer and leaning up against the door, Lucius, muffled, was yelling, "Leave Nott, leave him, I say, the Dark Lord will not care for Nott's injuries as much as losing that prophecy — Jugson, come back here, we need to organize! We'll split into pairs and search, and don't forget, be gentle with Potter until we've got the prophecy, you can kill the others if necessary — and the Crooked One wants the Mudblood boy dead. Bellatrix, Rodolphus, you take the left, Crabbe, Rabastan, go right — Jugson, Dolohov, the door straight ahead — Macnair and Avery, through here — Mulciber, come with me!"

"What do we do?" Hermione was shaking all over.

"Not stand around and wait for them to find us, probably," I said. "Come on, let's go..." I led them toward the exit to the spinning room, every tick of the clocks around us reminding me that we were running out of time.

"Stand aside," a rough voice called from behind the door Hermione had charmed shut. "Alohamora!"

"Desks!" I hissed, hoping my friends got the message and dove behind them. Thankfully, when I peered out at the main floor from my new hiding spot, I couldn't see any of their feet, so either they had suddenly gained the ability to float, or they had hid. Maybe Harry inherited it from his aunt, Marge, but I wasn't too sure about Neville and Hermione.

Death Eaters all wore ridiculous shoes that clicked loudly every time they walked. They were dramatic, sure, and added to the imposing vibe, but it was also ridiculous, especially since I could hear their steps into the room over the clocks. After hearing them get closer, I could see them, too, with their black cloaks that swished about their legs. I think those cloaks might have been the reason Snape joined them all those years ago, they're definitely his style.

"They might've run straight through to the hall," the same rough voice said.

"Check under the desks," said the other Death Eater, immediately ruining everything.

"What's the plan, Harry?" I whispered loudly, grinning as their feet turned toward my desk. "Hey — get your hand off my — oh, right." Harry was not under the same desk as me, but the Death Eaters sure thought he was, so they started sneakily clicking their way over to my spot.

Hopefully one of the others would get the memo.

"STUPEFY!" Harry shouted, and I darted out from under my desk just in time to see one of the Death Eaters slam into one of the grandfather clocks, toppling it.

The other Death Eater was proving to be a problem, wand pointed at Hermione, who had stepped out once the commotion began, saying, "Avada —"

I genuinely have no idea what I said when I heard the start of the spell. Probably a lot of cursing, maybe a little bit of sobbing, and definitely some dramatic battle cry. I swung Riptide like a baseball bat, slamming the flat of my blade into the backs of his knees. He fell, spell hitting the desk in front of Hermione, thank the gods, though it did get shoved harshly into her, knocking her down.

Harry was rushing at the Death Eater, wand raised, ready to fight, so I hurried over to Hermione, not liking the panic in my voice as I demanded, "Are you okay?!"

"Yeah," she said lightly, grimacing as I helped her up. "I — it missed. You saved me. Thank you."

"Don't ever thank me for that, 'Mione," I turned toward the fight.

The two were closer than I had expected, which was definitely the cause of the problem when Neville cried, "EXPELLIARMUS!" The Death Eater lost his wand, which was great, but Harry's also rocketed away, which was bad.