black and white ✰ g.w.

CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

Olivia had been to the Ministry of Magic many times, but this trip was truly a unique experience.

First of all, mounting an invisible winged horse is one thing, but actually riding said invisible winged horse all the way from Hogwarts to the Ministry is an experience in itself.

Finally, Olivia was very accustomed to the visitors' entrance at the Ministry, as that was the only way she ever entered when she went, but what she was not used to was using it at the same time as eight other people.

Once inside the Ministry, they all allowed Harry to lead the way to the Department of Mysteries as he was, of course, the only one who knew the way. As a safety precaution, Olivia had had her wand out since they got off the thestrals, and once they got on their way, the others followed her example.

The farther into the Department of Mysteries they went, the more unease Olivia felt, but she was determined to stay strong for everyone else as she was the oldest of the group.

Finally, they made it to the room Harry said he had seen Sirius being tortured in, which was filled with shelves with glowing glass spheres on them, and he led them to the exact spot only to find no one there. Olivia looked around and saw no sign of a struggle. She knew immediately they had been lured there.

"He should be here," Harry said.

Olivia opened her mouth to try and break the news to him but stopped when Neville spoke.

"Harry," he said. Olivia and the others turned and saw him staring at one of the glass spheres. "It's got your name on it."

Harry approached and Neville moved out of the way so that he could see for himself. After a moment, Harry moved his hand toward it like he was going to grab it.

"Are you sure you should be touching that?" Olivia blurted out. She had a very bad feeling about all of this.

Harry looked at her. "It's got my name on it," he said like that settled the matter.

"Well, yeah, but... oh, all right." Then, under her breath, "Not like you would have listened to me anyway."

Harry grabbed the glass sphere and took it off of the shelf. He just stood there, staring at it.

It was at that moment when Olivia heard approaching footsteps and immediately turned to see who it was. Her stomach lurched.

"Harry!" Hermione said. Harry quit staring at the orb and moved to stand in front of them all.

"Where's Sirius?" Harry asked the masked Death Eater approaching them.

"You know, you really should learn the difference between dreams," replied the Death Eater, removing his mask to reveal that he was none other than Olivia's distant relative, Lucius Malfoy, "and reality. You saw only what the Dark Lord wanted you to see. Now, hand me the prophecy."

Instinctively, Olivia pulled Faustus and Evelyn behind her.

"If you do anything to us, I'll break it," Harry threatened.

From behind Lucius came raucous laughter and Olivia felt many of her peers stiffen all around her at the sound of it.

"He knows how to play," said a woman's voice. As she came into the wand-light of the students, Olivia recognized her from the Daily Prophet. It was now Faustus's turn to pull Olivia behind him. "Itty, bitty baby... Potter."