Redemption For A Monster (Marauder fanfic) Book Three

38- The First To Fall

After hearing what Harry thought of his father and his friends, after seeing how they acted in their youth, Sara felt embarrased, and ashamed of her teenage self. She could also tell that Sirius and Remus felt rather guilty too, over the next few days as well.
Sara had known that James had been a bit of an arrogant show off, when they were kids, but back then she hadn't really minded. However, looking back, she could see the mistakes that her and the other Marauders had made. And how, in some eyes, they might have been percieved as bullies, and she could completely understand why Lily had refused to be friends with her, during their first few years at Hogwarts.
These thoughts corrupted her mind for weeks, and caused her focus to shift during Order meetings.

During one of these meetings, while waiting for Dumbledore to arrive, Sara was thinking about how badly they had all treated Snape as kids, and how it was no wonder that he hated them in return.
It was at that moment that a doe Patronus suddenly entered the kitchen, where her, Remus, Sirius, Tonks, Kingsley and Moody were sitting.
Everyone immediately jumped out of their seats, and withdrew their wands, as the Patronus spoke to them, with Snape's voice.
"Potter is in danger. He has left Hogwarts, in search for Sara and Sirius, who he believes are being tortured in the Department of Mysteries by Lord Voldemort. This is because of an image he has been shown in his mind, by the Dark Lord. So Potter is now no doubt, walking into a trap" revealed the Doe, before fading into nothing.

"We have to get to the Ministry" announced Sirius quickly.
"Yes. Time is of the essence. You and Sara will have to tell Dumbledore what has happened when he arrives, while the rest of us go after Potter" instructed Kingsley.
"No way are me and Sirius staying behind" snapped Sara.
"But you are both wanted criminals, you can't go storming into the Ministry of Magic" reminded Remus.
"No one will be there right now, they will have all gone home for the night. Which is why Tonks, Kingsley and Moody are here right now" replied Sara.
"She's right, and you'll need us. You can't take on all the Death Eaters who will be there to get the prophecy from Harry, by yourselves" added Sirius.

"Well we still need someone to stay behind and tell Dumbledore. Then once he knows what is going on, I guess you can both come to the Ministry with him" sighed Kingsley.
"What part of, we are not staying behind, don't you understand? He's our godson Kingsley, and we are not going to hang around here, while he is in danger" replied Sara angrily.
"Then who will tell Dumbledore-" started Kingsley.
"Kreacher. Kreacher can tell him what is going on, when he gets here" interupted Sirius.
"Fine. But we'd better hurry, before Potter gets himself into serious trouble".
Sirius quickly summoned Kreacher, who had been listening outside the door, and told him what to tell Dumbledore where they had all gone, when he arrived.
The group then left Grimmauld Place, and Apparated as close to the Ministry as they could get. They then entered the government building, using the Ministry toilets, which took them directly into the Atrium of the Ministry of Magic.

Sara and Sirius didn't have time to be excited about leaving the house, for the first time in months, as they were on a serious mission.
Neither of them felt particularly comfortable either, as they charged through the Ministry. As it felt rather like they were tresspassing on enemy territory, since those who worked there, wanted them both dead.
Since Sara didn't actually know where she was going, she obediently followed the others through the dark corridors, until they reached their destination.
The sound of someone screaming, ended up pointed them in the right direction, when they reached the right place. And Sara just prayed that is was not Harry's screams they could hear.
The group followed the sounds, until they entered a large room, filled with Death Eaters, who were all surrounding Harry.

Lucius Malfoy stood in the centre, and he attempted to raise his wand at Order, when he saw them coming, but Sara was faster.
"Stupefy!" She yelled, sending a Stunning spell straight at him, giving Harry the chance to run away, pulling one of his friends, who had been writhing on the floor, with him.
Sara could see Hermione and Ginny, lying unconscious on the ground, but she couldn't see Ron, which troubled her, as she assumed that he too, was somewhere in the building, since he was unlikely to allow his friends to go without him.
But right then, Sara's focus was on trying to get to Harry, and she could see Sirius in the corner of her eye, doing the same thing. As the pair of them fought their way across the room, towards their godson.
Although Sara saw Moody fall, on the otherside of the room, she didn't have time to stop and help him, as reaching Harry was the only thing that mattered to her.

When Sara and Sirius finally reached Harry, Dolohov suddenly came out of nowhere, but luckily Harry had their backs.
"Petrificus Totalus" shouted Harry, causing Dolohov to fall backwards with a loud thud.
"Nice one James" complimented Sirius without thinking.
Sara smiled painfully, as she thought James, but she quickly shook her head, reminding herself that she was in a battle.
"Harry, take the Prophecy and run!" Instructed Sara, when she saw the glass ball Harry was holding in his hand, since she knew how important it was to keep away from Voldemort.
"I'm not leaving you" announced Harry.
"You've done beautifully so far Harry, but why don't you let us take over now?" Suggested Sirius, before running off after his cousin Bellatrix, who had shot a spell rather too close to them.
Rather begrudgingly, Harry agreed, and helped his friend off the floor, as the two hobbled out of harms way. Which allowed Sara to focus all her attention on the fight happening around her.

It had been years since she had been in a proper battle, but luckily all of Sara's training in the past suddenly came to the forefront of her mind, allowing her to fight off the Death Eaters attacks, one by one.
However, since the Order was vastly outnumbered, they were not fairing so well in the fight. And Tonks and Moody had been injured quite early on, making the odds even worse.
But suddenly some of the Death Eaters began retreating, and Sara couldn't understand why, until she turned around and saw that Dumbledore had entered the room.
He flew into the room, with his wand moving faster than Sara thought humanly possible.
And very soon, Dumbledore had broken up nearly all the fights in the room, trying up and immobilising all of the Death Eaters, with ease. Only one fight remained, which was between Sirius and Bellatrix, neither of which seemed to have noticed Dumbledore's arrival.
"Come on, you can do better than that" laughed Sirius, as he easily deflected one of Bellatrix's spells.

Suddenly Bellatrix sent another spell at Sirius, so fast, that he did not have time to react.
The spell hit him squarely in the chest, sending him slowly backwards, before falling into a strange archway in the centre of the room, that Sara hadn't noticed before then.
As Sirius disappeared from view, Sara sank to her knees, and screamed loudly, her voice echoing through the room.
"NO!".
Harry too, was shouting, a few feet away from where she was standing.
"Sirius! SIRIUS!" Yelled Harry desperately.
Sara screamed again, as tears began falling down her cheeks.
"NOO!".
She didn't understand how things could have gone so wrong, so fast. One minute Sirius was standing in front of her, laughing at dodging his cousins spells, and the next minute, he was gone, forever.