Prologue: Foreboding

"Come on!" said Harry desperately, hauling at Neville's robes. 'Just try and push with your legs -"

He gave another stupendous heave and Neville's robes tore all along the left seam - the small spun-glass ball dropped from his pocket and, before either of them could catch it, one of Neville's floundering feet kicked it: it flew some ten feet to their right and smashed on the step beneath them. As both of them stared at the place where it had broken, appalled at what had happened, a pearly-white figure with hugely magnified eyes rose into the air, unnoticed by any but them. Harry could see its mouth moving, but in all the crashes and screams and yells surrounding them, not one word of the prophecy could he hear. The figure stopped speaking and dissolved into nothingness.

"Harry, I'b sorry!" cried Neville, his face anguished as his legs continued to flounder. "I'b so sorry, Harry, I didn'd bean do -"

"It doesn't matter!' Harry shouted. 'Just try and stand, let's get out of -"

"Dubbledore!" said Neville, staring over Harry's shoulder.

"What?"

"DUBBLEDORE!"

Harry turned to look where Neville was staring. Directly above them, framed in the doorway from the Brain Room, stood Albus Dumbledore, his wand aloft, his face white and furious. Harry felt a kind of electric charge surge through every particle of his body - they were saved.

Hope restored, Harry whirled back around to face the battling Order members and Death Eaters, only to find that most of the enemy had begun to flee at the sight of Albus Dumbledore. Only one pair of duellers seemed unaffected; Bellatrix Lestrange was furiously firing spells at Sirius, who was laughing and dodging, seemingly without a care in the world. Oddly, neither of them were using lethal or even Dark spells - Stunners seemed to be the chosen weapon for each side.

As Sirius danced around, dodging spell after spell, he was slowly forced back, until he stood on the dais, directly in front of the odd archway with the ragged veil. Harry felt an odd surge of foreboding, the world suddenly slowing down around him as he gripped his wand.

"Come on, you can do better than that!" Sirius's voice echoed around the room.

A red light struck him in the chest.

The laughter had not yet died from his face, but his eyes widened in shock. He seemed to fall endlessly, his back arching as he sank backwards toward the veil -

"ACCIO SIRIUS!"

And thus, the universe shifted.

A/N: Super short prologue while I get Chapter 1 ready! This story will be updated infrequently and feature Dumbledore-bashing, a very much alive Sirius, and some very tame Harmony action. Don't like the sound of that? The door is over there, right by the big sign proclaiming my non-ownership of Harry Potter.