Shifted: Book Two

Chapter Fourty One - Death Eaters vs The Order

The shrieks and yells, that escaped out of the open mouths of the army, bounced off the walls as they ran through the door, falling to the ground, quite deep, below them. They floated just a few inches from the ground, for a moment or two, before thudding to the hard, cold ground. The seven slowly picked themselves up and dusted themselves down, catching their breath back.

"Department of Mysteries. They got that bit right, didn't they?", Ron said lightly, softly grabbing Hermione's arm, seeing if she's all right.

Harry inspected the prophecy that he kept warm in his sweaty palms, he noticed a cerulean storm pick up inside the glass ball; white murk aggressively danced with the sapphire fog, it twisted and shuffled and intermingled into one, creating a great cloud of smoke.

Hazel straightened her posture, and picked up her wand that had dropped to the ground in case of any more unexpected attacks. Without warning, Hazel lost her balance, only a little, but she lost her sense of control too. The scenery that caved her in flashed, to-and-fro with her memories she had forgotten she had. All she saw was a mysterious archway, with specks of green and red and blue and purple reflecting off it. Her vision then flashed back to normal, where she was surrounded by her friends. Then, it was lost again. This time, she saw a very faint, translucent body vanish into the water-like substance that was sandwiched between the two, crumbling stone slabs that created the archway. The body was almost invisible, she could only see from the torso, down to the feet, and it was only an image she saw for a brief couple of seconds. Her mind resumed back to reality after those few, draining moments.

"We can't be here", Hazel warned, rubbing her head and scanning the room, looking for a way out, but it was too dark and foggy to identify any exits.

"Hazel, what's wrong?", Ginny asked, taking ahold of her arms and gazing into her concerned eyes.

"The voices. Can you tell what they're saying", Harry asked, slowly walking towards the mysterious archway, as quiet, timid voices whispered from within.

"There aren't any voices, Harry", Hermione insisted, turning around to her friends with worry.

Harry continued to gradually walk towards the archway, as the voices got a little louder, though still muffled, and not quite clear enough to distinguish who they belonged to or what they were saying.

"Let's get out of here", Ron suggested, also searching for a way out.

Luna trailed behind Harry, and began to hear the whispers Harry was hearing. They stood before the archway, as a soft but mighty breeze picked up. The chalky haze that circled the army in became a little thicker, and the room grew to a suspicious, chilly temperature.

"I hear them too", Luna said, standing just a little behind Harry, admiring the archway.

"Harry, it's just an empty archway. We need to leave", Hazel protested, slightly tugging his arm and trying to move him away to guide everyone out; she had a dreadful gut feeling that something was going to go wrong, but she couldn't quite put her finger on what that wrongdoing would be.

A deep, though rather muted, howl emerged from the top corner of the room, and a bewildering black smoke quickly entered. The room grew colder, not just in temperature, but in a sense of unsettlement too.

"Get behind me", Harry yelled, whipping out his wand and pointing it at the murky substance, meanwhile everyone huddled behind his extended arms whilst pointing their wands; Hazel stood beside Harry, pointing her wand out too, though she admired Harry's chivalry, her actions reminded and reassured him that he wasn't alone in this fight.

Unexpectedly, several streaks of raven-black mist shot down to the ground behind Harry, creating an opaque clump of fog where vision was suddenly taken away. Harry collapsed to the ground, unable to see his friends, but he kept his prophecy tightly close to his chest, waiting for the dramatic attack to be over. The streaks howled and swooped, before taking their place around the outskirts of the room in a circle, then revealing their haunting, sooty figures as death eaters.