Adventures at Hogwarts

Chapter 34: The Department of Mysteries

Once the group arrived at the Ministry, they immediately headed for the Department of Mysteries. Harry saw the door that he had been dreaming about, but once they walked through it, they all knew the search for Sirius and the prophecy would be a lot harder than they originally thought. Harry and Meg headed towards the shelves that were where Sirius and Voldemort stood in his vision. He urged the group to start looking. Neville was the only one successful, "Harry, Meg, it has your names on it." Meg and Harry walked towards the shelf where Neville was and hesitated to grab the orb. Meg spoke, "On the count of three, we'll take it together. One...two...three." They both grabbed the orb and it began to speak. "The ones that possess the power to destroy the Dark Lord approach. The two the Dark Lord marked as his equals, but they will possess power the Dark Lord knows none of. For one cannot live while the other two survive." Before either Meg or Harry could react, Neville called for them again. As soon as they both turned around and headed in front of the group, they both saw a shadowy figure with a mask head towards them. Harry spoke first, "Where's Sirius?" The figure answered him while revealing himself, "You know, you should learn how to tell the difference between dreams and reality." As soon as his mask was off, Meg whispered, "Lucius Malfoy." He continued, "You saw only what the Dark Lord wanted you to see. Now hand me the prophecy!" Harry responded, "You do anything to us, and I'll break it!" Another figure came up behind Lucius, but it was a woman; she began to laugh. "He knows how to play! Itty bitty Potter." Neville recognized her instantly. "Bellatrix Lestrange!" She responded, "Neville Longbottom, is it? How's mom and dad?" "Better now that they're about to be avenged." He began to charge for her, but Meg and Harry restrained him and kept their wands pointed at the two death eaters. Lucius spoke again, "Let's everybody just calm down. Children all we want is that prophecy." Harry asked, "Why did Voldemort need me and Meg to come and get this?" Bellatrix spoke up, "You dare speak his name, YOU FILTY HALF-BLOOD!" Lucius stopped her, "It's alright, he's just a curious lad, aren't you? Prophecies can only be retrieve by those about whom they are named, which is lucky for you, really. Don't you ever wonder what was the reason for the connection between you and the Dark Lord? Why he was unable to kill you when you were just an infant, and the same for you, Christine when you were seven years old. Don't you want to know the secret on your scar? All the answers are there, Potter, in your hand. All you have to do is give it to me, and I can show you." Harry hesitated; death eaters began to surround the group and Lucius and Bellatrix got closer and closer. Harry finally spoke, "I've waited fourteen years. I guess I can wait a little longer. NOW! STUPEFY!" The group shot stunning spells at the surrounding death eaters and ran the opposite direction. As they were being chased, Hermione knocked down several shelves containing prophecies into the death eaters, but barely being able to doge them. After several minutes of running, they made it through the door, however, it took them to a lower level of the department that contained an archway of some sort.

Once they all landed Ron broke the tension. "Department of Mysteries, they got that right, didn't they?" Harry and Meg were almost immediately drawn to the archway. He asked Meg, "The voices, can you tell what they're saying?" Meg replied, "No." Hermione tried to talk some sense in both of them. "There aren't any voices, you two. Let's get out of here. Please, guys!" Not a few minutes into gazing at the archway, both Meg and Harry turned around and saw the death eaters coming down to get them. Harry urged the group to get behind them, but it was no use. Each death eater took a member of the group. Within twenty seconds, all of the group, except Harry, were being held captive by a death eater. As he looked around the room at his friends, he saw all of them except one. Lucius came walking in with Meg held against her will. Her back was pressed against his chest and her head rested on her shoulder with his wand pointed at her neck. He began to taunt Harry, "Did you actually believe, were you truly naïve enough, to think that children stood a chance against us. He faced Harry head on with Meg still in his grasp. "I'll make this simple for you, Potter, give me the prophecy now, or watch your friends die." Meg immediately protested, "Lucius, you do anything to me, and I can assure you, Draco will make you suffer tremendously." She was barely able to finish her threat when he tightened his grip on her and forced his wand further into her neck. "I can assure you, Christine, Draco would be dead before he tried anything against me. What's it going to be, Potter?" Meg began to silently cry out of fear, and Neville began to protest. "Don't give it to him Harry!" Harry took a long look at Meg with tears in his eyes. He didn't want to be the reason for her death. He may have hated her relationship with Draco, but he couldn't live with that guilt for the rest of his life. He said through tears, "I can't watch you die." He reluctantly handed the prophecy to Lucius. Lucius let Meg go and Harry embraced her tightly. A few seconds later, Sirius appeared behind Lucius and said, "Get away from my godson," and slapped him. Suddenly, Order of the Phoenix members appeared all over the room releasing the students. Lucius, out of shock, dropped the prophecy and watched it break into several pieces. Meanwhile, Sirius was giving Harry and Meg the pep talk of their lives. "I want you to take the others and get out of here." Harry protested, "No, I'm staying with you!" "You've done beautifully. Now let me take it from here." Meg knew what to do, so she flew off like the other order members and fought Bellatrix face to face while Harry and Sirius dueled Lucius and another death eater. After several long minutes of fighting, Meg returned to her friends and Harry and Sirius finished off Lucius Malfoy. Unbeknownst to them, Bellatrix shouted the killing curse and hit Sirius. Harry went into shock and fear, and Meg screamed. Sirius fell back into the veil and Harry almost ran after him, but Remus Lupin stopped him. Meg wanted to get up to Harry, but both Ron and Neville had to restrain her. They were both screaming bloody murder at the top of their lungs. Once Harry saw Bellatrix leave, he ran after her to kill her. Neville and Ron had to drag Meg to safety out of the room to get her to breathe again.

After several long hours of finding their way back to the main entrance to the Ministry of Magic, Dumbledore's Army found Harry and Dumbledore standing in the middle by a fountain, but Harry was different. It seemed like he had been reacting to the Cruciatus Curse, but in reality, Voldemort was entering his mind and torturing him from within. Meg, with tears still in her eyes and running down her face, ran towards Harry, but was stopped again by Neville and Ron. Harry looked at Meg, Ron, and Hermione, and saw so many good memories of their adventures, and caused Voldemort to leave his body. Within a few minutes, Cornelius Fudge and his entourage entered the foyer of the Ministry and was dumbfounded by Voldemort standing above Harry's body. As soon as Voldemort disappeared, Meg immediately ran for Harry to comfort and help him.