Chapter 1: Mayhem at the Ministry

Heart pounding madly, Sirius hurtled through the corridors of the Department of Mysteries; Kingsley, Moody, Remus and Tonks were close behind him. He wrenched open the door, causing it to hit the adjacent wall with a crash that echoed around the room. Glancing around to gain his bearings, Sirius immediately caught sight of the main focus of his concern: Harry.

His godson was standing on a dais in front of an archway, surrounded by Death Eaters. In his outstretched hand was –

"Oh no," Sirius muttered as he jumped from step to step toward the sunken floor.

He heard the voices of Tonks and Remus firing spells as he let loose several of his own. To his intense relief, he saw Harry throw himself off the dais and away from the fight. Encouraged now his godson was out of immediate danger, Sirius leapt in front of a Death Eater and engaged him in combat. In his peripheral vision, he was aware of his companions doing the same.

"Stupefy!"

"Petrificus totalus!"

"Impedimenta!"

"Crucio!"

"Stupefy!"

As he dodged the Unforgivable, Sirius heard the satisfying sound of the Death Eater's unconscious body hitting the floor.

"Harry!"

Sirius spun around at a boy's panicked cry. Neville was fighting against the tight grip of a Death Eater; however, as Sirius followed his gaze he saw there was another reason for Neville's shout. Some ten feet away, a second Death Eater had Harry by the throat, holding the lightweight boy so his feet barely scraped the floor. Even as he raced toward the two figures, past duelling witches and wizards, dodging stray curses, Sirius could see his godson's struggles weakening. Harry suddenly went limp in his assailant's grip; the prophecy fell from his hand and smashed. A smoky opaline figure rose into the air, her voice lost amongst the crashes and screams and yells resonating around the room. The ghostly figure grew still as she finished reciting the prophecy and gradually faded into nothingness.

To his horror, no less than three spells hit Harry's unconscious body in quick succession. Without pausing in his mad dash, Sirius glanced in the direction they had come from. He caught sight of Bellatrix, his estranged cousin, standing with her wand pointing at Harry, her lips already forming the beginning of a fourth spell. Before he could retaliate, Tonks leapt forward to distract her vile aunt; Remus was running to Tonks' aid, having just felled another opponent himself. Sirius turned back to the Death Eater holding Harry; the masked man tossed the boy roughly aside, causing a murderous gleam to appear in Sirius' Azkaban-haunted eyes.

"Cru – "

"STUPEFY!"

The Death Eater didn't have time to finish the curse before he was hit with a Stunning Spell so powerful it knocked him three metres backward. Sirius aimed a hurried combination of hexes toward Neville's captor while he sprinted the last few steps to the motionless form of his godson.

Screams and explosions reverberated around the cavernous room; Sirius was oblivious to the chaos as he fell to his knees at Harry's side, his shaking hands already feeling for a pulse. After a few seemingly interminable moments he felt it: a feeble and slightly erratic pulse.

"Harry… Harry! Can you hear me?" he said, shaking the boys' shoulders gently. Numerous small cuts and grazes on his face stood out in stark comparison with his pale complexion, his dark hair only emphasising his pallor.

"Id he alrighd?"

Glancing up briefly, Sirius saw Neville crawling toward him, a hand to his face to staunch the flow of blood from his battered nose.

"I… I don't know," the worried man answered helplessly.

Oblivious to the beam of green light that hit the ground barely inches away, Sirius began checking Harry for any injuries that he was capable of healing.

"Sirius!"

Remus was running toward them; the battle seemed to be over. At some stage during the fight, Dumbledore had arrived and was now standing with Moody as they secured the Death Eaters. On the other side of the room Kingsley was helping Tonks to her feet; it was unclear whether she had been knocked over in the battle or had just tripped.

"Sirius, what happened?" Remus demanded anxiously as he took in the sight of Harry lying unnaturally still on the ground.

"A Death Eater tried to s-strangle him. Then he was h-hit with a number of spells." Sirius whispered haltingly. "Bellatrix – she – I'm not sure what curses she used… they all hit him… his pulse is weak and he looks so pale…"

Remus put a hand on his friend's shoulder. "I'll get Tonks, she knows a decent amount about healing." He jogged across the room to the young Auror; Sirius saw him gesture toward them as he spoke with her. Returning with Tonks in tow, Remus turned to Neville, "Neville, I need you to show me where the others are. There's nothing you can do for Harry. Tonks knows what she's doing."

"Okay." Neville replied. With one last worried look at his unconscious friend, he stood up and led Remus toward the room where he had left his other companions.

Sirius waited impatiently while Tonks examined Harry, her brow crinkled in concentration as she muttered a few spells.

"Nymphadora?"

It was a mark of how serious the situation was that Tonks barely reacted to Dumbledore's use of her despised first name.

"He needs to get to the hospital wing, Professor," Tonks said without looking up.

Dumbledore nodded sagely. He reached into his robes and pulled out a simple quill. Pointing his wand at it he muttered, "Portus."

The quill glowed blue before assuming its normal colour.

"Sirius, take this Portkey. Please inform Madam Pomfrey that she can expect to receive more patients within the next half hour." Dumbledore said as he held out the quill.

Sirius eased one arm under Harry's shoulders and pulled him to lean against his chest. With his free hand he reached out to grab the Portkey. He immediately felt the uncomfortable sensation of a hook being jerked around his midriff; the partially destroyed room, Tonks and Dumbledore vanished in a whirlwind of colour and sound…