Star Girl | Cedric Diggory

|*| One Hundred One |*|

Once the group was situated on their Thestrals and Aquila had switched to her eagle form, they set off towards the Department of Mysteries. The flight took ages, and when they landed, Aquila wished she would've just ridden on the Thestrals like the others.

The group entered the silent Department with their wands raised and their guard up. The silence was beginning to scare Aquila, so she switched back into her Animagus form and flew above the room, searching for signs of danger. An endless sea of shelves with glowing crystal balls met her eyes, and she flew in between rows, keeping her eyes peeled for anything out of the ordinary.

The group below her had found something, and their sudden chatter filled the room with sound. But theirs wasn't the only sounds she heard. She looked back at the group and let out a caw of warning; Death Eaters were surrounding them.

The sudden bird's noice startled the Death Eaters, giving the group enough time to react to their situation. Using the cover of darkness, Aquila flew down lower to eavesdrop on the conversation. She saw Lucius Malfoy and Bellatrix Lestrange walking closer and closer to Harry, who held the glowing sphere in his hands.

"Give it to me," Lucius said, extending his hand to Harry.

"Listen to him, boy," Bellatrix jeered.

Aquila didn't catch Harry's response, but she heard him yell out "Now!" to the group, and spells began to fire. Aquila swooped in and clawed the Death Eater closest to Neville, who was fumbling with his wand, and he nodded to her as a thank you. She then set out to help Luna, who had found herself cornered.

The shelves of prophesies began falling down, and the group sprinted for the exit. Luckily, they all made it out alive, and they found themselves in a room with nothing but a veil. It was soundless.

"I hear voices," Harry said.

"I hear them too," Luna added.

Aquila landed on the ground beside Hermione, switching back instantly. "It's too quiet," she said as she pulled her cloak over her eyes.

"What are you doing that for?" Ron asked. "How can you see with your hood over your eyes?"

"The Death Eaters will recognize me," she explained. "I can't let them know I'm working with you."

"Aren't you just the double agent," Ron muttered, rolling his eyes.

"I'm not about to explain the complexity of my life to you, so just deal with it," she told him. "They'll be here any second now."

And they were. Dust rose off the ground, and the students were each grabbed by a masked Death Eater; each except for Harry. Thankfully, the hood was still covering Aquila's face, and the Death Eater covering her didn't try and remove it.

Aquila looked over at Neville, who was practically being strangled by Bellatrix. She felt an odd sensation rise up inside her. The woman holding Neville in a bind was not the same one who played with her as a child.

As Lucius and Harry exchanged threats, the Death Eater holding her hostage whispered in her ear, "You shouldn't have come here."

The voice was unmistakable-Nash. "I did what I thought was right," she whispered back.

"You need to get out of here before someone recognizes you," he told her. "Don't move until my signal, then run to the darkness, and fly out of here without a second glance."

"I can't leave my friends," she protested.

"If you stay, once you graduate school, the Death Eaters will come for you and kill you."

"Only if I'm spotted."

"You will be spotted if you stay. You have to get to the cover of darkness and get out. On my signal."

"I'm not leaving," she told him again.

"Yes you are," he said. "If you don't, I'll have no choice."

"I'd like to see what you're made of," she whispered challengingly.

"This is serious," Nash whispered harshly.

"No," Aquila said. "That is Sirius."

Sirius Black appeared from out of nowhere with the other members of the Order of the Phoenix, and a fight broke out between the two sides. Aquila swiveled to face Nash, and they both rose their wands. "Don't hold back," she told him.

"Leave now!" he commanded.

"Not a chance!" she told him. And she fired the first spell, which Nash deflected with ease. A duel followed, with every spell, Nash pushed Aquila farther and farther away from the commotion, and she noticed this. After a series of fast, green-lit spells, she transformed into the eagle and swooped into the battle, clawing at the Death Eater who was attacking Luna and Ginny, giving them a chance to escape. Soon, every Death Eater except for Lucius and Bellatrix were knocked down, and everyone except Harry and Sirius were safely hidden, watching the fight.

It seemed to be going in Harry's favor until Bellatrix cast a particularly nasty spell with an excellent aim. The spell hit Sirius in the chest, and his body froze in place. The entire room fell silent as the body of Sirius Black floated into the air and through the veil. Gone.

So many things happened at once. First, Remus Lupin ran to comfort Harry; second, Aquila changed forms and snatched the prophecy from Lucius Malfoy using her talons; third, the members of the Order of the Phoenix got Ginny, Luna, Neville, Ron, and Hermione out of the Department of Mysteries; and lastly, Aquila dropped the prophecy onto the ground right in front of Lucius.

With a defiant "caw," the eagle with the green feathers flew out of the Department of Mysteries and back to the grounds of Hogwarts, just in time to find the centaurs tearing up Dolores Umbridge in the middle of the forest.