Return Of The Father (Harry Potter fanfiction) **COMPLETED**

:: Chapter 37: Safe ::

Sirius was struggling to right his balance. He didn't seem to realise what he was falling towards, and didn't put much of an effort to propel himself away. He could see his fellow marauders dashing down the stone steps with mirrored looks of horror while Harry was ahead of them-yelling and screaming something about watching out-

"Sirius!" yelled Harry as he rushed forward in an attempt at reaching his godfather. "Sirius!"

"Harry, no!" cried out Remus. He ran forward and directed his attention at the teenager instead, jumping forward and grabbing Harry before he ran too close to the veil. Harry fought savagely against the werewolf that was holding him back, who was preventing him from reaching and saving Sirius. Harry screamed and thrashed against Remus's grip, strong even though he always looked tired and worn out-

"Harry, there's nothing you can do-"

Remus had wanted nothing more than to rush over and help in some way-any way-but he couldn't, not with Harry trying to do the exact same thing.

"NO!"

Harry thrashed again, trying to position himself such that he could see what had happened, but Remus was holding him away. He yelled again.

Harry's yells were so loud that they had missed the spells that James was shooting.

"LET ME GO REMUS!"

"Harry, there's nothing you can do-he's d-"

"HE-IS-NOT-DEAD!" roared Harry. "SIRIUS!"

Bellatrix had been watching Harry struggle with an expression of glee, lurking in the sidelines before she disappeared out of the room. Harry noticed her, and with a huge burst of energy, broke free from Remus's and bolted. Remus did not catch what Harry was running towards, his eyes had been glued at James and Sirius, his mouth hanging.

James had dashed forward, and knowing that Sirius had been too far to reach, had raised his arm and frozen Sirius mid-fall.

"Mobilicorpus!" James had cried, wrenching his arm forward such that the momentum of the fall had been changed, and had instead, begun propelling forwards, away from the veil.

Remus's arms had slackened in relief, and he barely noticed Harry escaping. Sirius was safe.

"Sirius, you okay?" panted James.

Sirius nodded shakily, glancing at the veil and shuddering.

"I owe you one."

James let out a half-hearted, rickety laugh as he tried to control his searing breaths. He did not want to think about what would have happened had he not been able to cast the spells on time.

"Dumbledore and the others had been rounding up the Death Eaters," said Remus to Sirius. He then noticed James's expression.

"James, what's wrong?"

"Where's Harry?" asked James, looking anxious.

"He broke free, he suddenly ran off-" realization dawned in his eyes. "-as if after someone or something."

James could feel his stomach plummet. "You don't think he went after-?"

Sirius and Remus now had identical looks of horror on their faces.

Bellatrix.

Without missing a beat, James was now barreling out of the room, closely followed by Remus and Sirius.

Harry had missed seeing Sirius floating out of harms way, he must have assumed that he was dead-

"Harry!" bellowed James, trying out random doors, Sirius and Remus doing the same in frantically. "HARRY!"