Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter sadly, not even a little bit.

Author's Notes at the end.

"Harry," Remus said, breathless, "round up the others and GO!"

Harry seized Neville by the shoulder of his robes and lifted him bodily onto the first tier of the stone steps. Neville's legs twitched and jerked and would not support his weight. Harry heaved again with all the strength he possessed and they climbed another step –

A spell hit the stone bench at Harry's heel; it crumbled away and he fell back to the step below. Neville sank to the ground, his legs still jerking and thrashing, and he thrust the prophecy into his pocket.

"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, untouched 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-"

"Dumbledore!" said Neville, his sweaty face suddenly transported, staring over Harry's shoulder.

"What?"

"DUMBLEDORE!"

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.

Dumbledore sped down the steps past Neville and Harry, who had no more thoughts of leaving. Dumbledore was already at the foot of the steps when the Death Eaters nearest realised he was there and yelled to the others. One of the Death Eaters ran for it, scrabbling like a monkey up the stone steps opposite. Dumbledore's spell him back easily and effortlessly as though he had hooked him with an invisible line –

One pair were still battling, apparently unware of the new arrival. Harry saw Sirius duck Bellatrix's jet of red light: he was laughing at her.

"Is that all you've got, Trixie?" he yelled, his voice echoing around the cavernous room. "Come on, you can do better than that!"

Bellatrix made an angry, federal sound, her dark eyes flashing with undisguised distain, but it only made Sirius laugh harder. A second jet of red light shot out from her wand, almost hitting Harry's godfather straight in the chest, but it bounced off the stone arch as Sirius twisted away at the last moment.

With a whip-like movement, Sirius pointed his wand back at the female Death Eater and colourless light shot from its tip, sending her sprawling from the high dais.

For a moment it looked as if she was unconscious, then her leg twitched and Bellatrix rolled into a crouch, sending off a blur of curses that bounded of the edges of the archway with brilliant sparks of light, making the grey curtain ripple. She was knocked back again as Sirius sent a spell spinning in her direction, hitting her in the shoulder.

She scrambled to her feet, turned tail and ran. Sirius aimed another spell at her but she deflected it, reaching the doorway at the stop of the steps.

Sirius said nothing more, the smile slipping from his wasted, once-hansom face, surveying his mad cousin's escaping figure darkly.

Dumbledore had most of the remaining Death Eaters grouped in the middle of the room, seeming immobilised by invisible ropes; Mad-Eye Moody had crawled across the room to where Tonks lay sprawled on the floor, and was attempting to revive her; behind the dais there were still flashes of light, grunts and cries – Kingsley was finishing off the last remaining cloaked figures with apparent ease.

"Harry?"

Neville slid down the stone bench to where Harry had remained stationary since Dumbledore had arrived.

"Harry?" Neville asked cautiously. "Shouldn't be go and bind the others?"

Harry turned and stared at the blond boy vacuously.

Remus appeared beside them. "Here," he said quietly, and pointing his wand at Neville's legs he said, "Finite." The spell was lifted. Neville's legs fell back to the floor and remained still. "Let's go find the others – Sirius, get over here. Where are they all, Neville?"

"Dey're all back dere," said Neville. "A brain addacked Ron bud I dink he's alright – and Herbinone's unconscious, bud we could feel a bulse…"

"Come on, we need to go." Harry felt himself being pulled to his feet by a firm hand on his elbow. He stumbled clumsily up the steps behind his Godfather, listening mutely as Sirius spoke to is greying friend: "… Kingsley and Moody can take care of the others, we just need to find the children and Floo them back to Hogwarts. Minerva's waiting there…"

They made it to the Brain Room where Luna lay sprawled across the floor groaning. Ginny sat next to her, leaning heavily against the wall, clutching her ankle tightly with an expression of pain pinching her face. Ron was rocking back and forth on the floor, gigging feebly, and Hermione was still unconscious.

"Sirius, you go on," Remus said, already striding over to Ginny and Luna. "Get Harry out of here."

He saw Sirius nod in return.

The hand on his elbow gave him a little push forward to the door on the other side of the room and they were jogging towards the spinning room. Bellatrix had closed exit door behind her and the walls were already rotating. Once more, Harry found he was surrounded by streaks of blue light from the whirling candelabra.

"Show me the exit," Sirius said calmly from beside him.

The room seemed to have been waiting for one of them to ask. The door to the right behind him flew open and the corridor towards the lifts stretched out before them, yellow light reflecting off the titled walls. They were moving again…

Harry heard a lift clattering ahead. He quickened his pace up the passageway, swinging around the corner and Sirius slammed his fist onto the button to hail the passing lift. It jangled and banged, getting lower and lower. The grills slid open and Harry found himself being pushed inside first. The golden gate shut with a loud clash and the lift ascended slowly, chains rattling. Finally the same cool voice Harry had heard in both the telephone box and lift on the day of his Disciplinary Hearing rang out:

"Level Eight, the Atrium."

Harry stepped out of the lift and into the long hall, surveying the stretch of the panelled walls – even though he had only seen the Atrium once, it was odd to see the room so empty. He stood numbly by the Fountain of Magical Brethren as Sirius inspected the golden fireplaces.

Then he saw something.

"Harry – Harry?"

It was Bellatrix. She was almost at the red telephone lift at the other end of the hall. She glanced over her shoulder and he caught her gaze, suddenly feeling an uncontrollable, unfamiliar rage fill up inside of his chest. He wanted to hex her, hurt her.

Do it, said a cold voice inside of his head. You know you want too.

She almost killed Sirius, thought Harry bitterly.

She failed me, the cold voice hissed.

Harry flung himself forward, without really knowing why, and bellowed, "Crucio!"

Bellatrix screamed. The spell knocked her off her feet, but she did not writhe and shriek as Neville had only moments before – she was already back on her feet, breathless, no longer laughing.

She levelled her want at his face and sent a curse spinning in his direction. Harry dodged behind golden statue. Her counter-spell hit the head of the handsome wizard, which was blown off and landed some twenty feet away, gouging long scratches into the wooden floor.

"Never used an Unforgivable Curse before, have you, boy?" she yelled, her baby voice long forgotten. "You need to mean them, Potter! You need to really want to cause pain – to enjoy it – righteous anger won't hurt me for long – I'll show you how it is done, shall I? I'll give you a lesson-"

Harry was still edging around the fountain on the other side when she screamed, "Crucio!"

Suddenly he was sent sprawling off to one side as a body slammed into his and pushed him out of the way. The jet of red light that had been aimed for him hit Sirius straight in the chest and the older man doubled over, dropping to his knees, but made no sound. Dark hair covered his Godfather's face but Harry could still see a strip of pale skin as it drained from blood.

Suddenly, even though his arm was shaking vigorously under the pressure and pain of Bellatrix's hex, Sirius' wand came up. A burst of energy bolted out of the dark tip, hitting the edge of the fountain and spraying the female Death Eater with rubble and water.

Distracted, the hold on her curse ended and Sirius managed to roll to his feet. He stood silently for a moment watching his cousin squirm, a cold look flashing across his face.

"Pathetic," Sirius called.

Bellatrix's eyes flashed and she made a grab for her wand which had fallen meters away from her, but her cousin moved first.

"Alarte Ascendare!"

Bellatrix flew ten feet into the air and fell back onto the floor with a loud smack and emitted a slow whimper, like a kicked puppy. Her wand rolled away, landing at Sirius' feet with a clatter.

"You know," Sirius said, stepping closer to Harry, "for Voldemort's 'most loyal servant', you really are-"

"Don't say his name!" she screeched, sitting up with a grunt of pain. "You fifthly blood-traitor! Aunt Walburga should have killed you when she had the chance!" She glanced over them calculatedly before tugging up her sleeve and resting her thin fingers on the Dark Mark edged onto her pale skin. "Now, Potter, give me the prophecy – roll it towards me now – or I will call him!"

"Call him then," Harry shouted, and as his voice echoed around the room, pain seared across his forehead. His scar was on fire again, and he felt another strange surge of fury that was quite unconnected with his own. "It's gone – it smashed. And he knows!" said Harry, throwing his head back and laughing. "Your dear old mate Voldemort knows it's gone! He's not going to be very happy with you, is he?"

"What?" she cried, attempting to stand, but Sirius' wand was still pointed at her threateningly, and she grimaced. "What do you mean?" Harry heard real fear in her voice this time.

"The prophecy smashed when I was trying to get Neville up the steps! What do you think Voldemort'll say about that, then?"

His scar seared and burned… the pain of it was making his eyes stream…

"LIAR," she shrieked, but he could hear the terror behind her anger plain and clear now. "YOU'VE GOT IT, POTTER, AND YOU WILL GIVE IT TO ME!"

She scrambled forward in a vain, second attempt to grab her wand but it shot into Sirius' hand as he summoned it silently.

Harry laughed again, but the pain was building up inside his head so badly that he thought his skull might burst open.

He felt someone's hands on his shoulders. "Harry, listen to me," Sirius said worriedly, concern making his voice thick, "Harry-" But whatever Sirius had been about the say was drowned out by Bellatrix's shrieking from the floor.

"No!" she screamed. "It isn't true, you're lying. MASTER, I TRIED, I TRIED – DO NOT PUNISH ME-"

As Sirius snapped, "Shut up!" finally losing his temper, Harry yelled, "Don't waste your breath! He can't hear you from here!"

"Can't I, Potter?" asked a high, cold voice.

Tall, thin and black-hooded, his terrible snakelike face white and gaunt, his scarlet, slit-like eyes staring… Lord Voldemort had appeared in the middle of the hall, his wand pointing at Harry who once again found himself being pushed away as Sirius stepped in front of him.

"So, you smashed my prophecy?" said Voldemort softly, staring at Harry as though his Godfather didn't exist between them. "No Bella, he is not lying… I see the truth looking at me from within his worthless mind… months of preparation, months of effort… and my Death Eaters have let Harry Potter thwart me again…"

"Master, I am sorry-"

"Be quiet Bella," said Voldemort dangerously. "I shall deal with you later. Do you think I have enter the Ministry of Magic to hear your snivelling apologies?"

"But Master – he is here – he is below-"

Voldemort paid her no attention.

"I have nothing more to say to you, Potter," he said quietly. "You have irked me too often, for too long. AVADA KEDAVRA!"

Harry had not even opened his mouth to resist. His mind was blank and his wand was pointing uselessly at the floor. Sirius dropped down to a crouch, pulling Harry down with him and the curse sailed harmlessly over their heads, hitting one of the empty fireplaces behind them.

Harry pushed against the hand that was still firmly planted on his shoulder. "Sirius-"

"Stay behind me," his Godfather commanded, and waved his wand saying, "Protego Duo!" and a shield erected around Harry, sheltering and trapping him in blue light.

Harry was momentarily blinded by the brightness of the shield, but by the time he looked up Sirius was standing again, wand level. Voldemort, finally forced to acknowledge Sirius' presence, did not laugh.

"Black."

"Voldemort," Harry's Godfather replied calmly, but Harry could see the nervous energy that seemed to rattle through Sirius's body. "You've got uglier."

"Move aside Black! Move aside now!"

Sirius' eyes remained on the robed figure before him. "I don't think so."

Voldemort's red eyes flared momentarily in annoyance and Harry felt panic rise inside of him

"Avada Kedavra!"

A flash of green light burst out of Voldemort's wand, but Sirius had been ready for it. He stepped aside and the curse streaked past him, the force slamming into a wall behind Harry which would have surely hit him if it weren't from the shield around him.

"Expulso!" Sirius yelled, and the spell bounced off the floor where Voldemort had been standing only seconds ago. He turned quickly, sending off another spell in Voldemort's new direction. "Confringo!"

Voldemort send of another quick procession of spells, all of which Sirius dodged, not even attempting to block them. Then Voldemort hissed, "Mucus Adnauseam Tria!"

The spell hit Sirius as he turned again and Harry saw his grey eyes widen in shock. He fought against the shield that was still trapping him as Sirius' body dropped to the floor like a marionette whose strings had just been severed, completely lifeless, as if all the strength had been tugged from his limbs. But the spell was relentless and he could do nothing but watch as the hooded monster stepped closer to his father's best-friend, his Godfather, and the only real person he had ever considered as a father-figure.

"Sirius!" Harry all but screamed. "Sirius!"

"Weak," Voldemort noted, pressing the toe of his shoe into Sirius' thin face. "Just like your worthless, traitor brother. Crucio!"

Unlike Bellatrix's curse, Voldemort's curse made Sirius writhe. Harry saw the sheer power the red-eyed monster displayed. His Godfather's upper body was trembling and his arms and legs jerking and spasming like a flaying animal. Harry saw that this time Sirius had slammed his teeth down on his lip to stop himself from crying out in pain, his eyes were still open and focused on the red eyes venomously.

His hand raised off the ground an inch and Harry though he was about to send Voldemort reeling like he had made Bellatrix, but the wand was knocked from his fingers by a foot treading carefully onto his thin fingers. Harry winced when he heard four loud cracks.

It seemed like hours but Harry new it had only been minutes before Voldemort dragged his wand away, ending the curse. By that time Sirius had closed his eyes and began letting out short whimper-like-screams though his nose.

"Defiance is futile, Sirius Black. Even your brother knew that." Voldemort bent lower, his eyes flashing quickly over to Harry. "Take down that shield."

Despite the obvious pain he was in, Sirius smiled. "Or what?" he gasped. "What are you going to do snake-face?"

Voldemort sneered. "Avada Kedav-"

The headless golden statue of the wizard in the fountain sprung alive, leaping from its plinth to land with a crash on the floor between Sirius and Voldemort. The spell merely glanced off its chest as the statue flung out its arms to protect his unarmed Godfather, much to Harry's relief.

"What-?" cried Voldemort, glancing around. And then he breathed, "Dumbledore!"

Harry looked up from the prone figure of Sirius, his heart pounding.

Dumbledore was standing in front of the golden grills of the lift.

Voldemort raised his wand and another jet of green light streaked at Dumbledore, who turned and was gone in whirl of his cloak. A second later he had reappeared behind Voldemort and waved his wand towards the remnants of the fountain. Another of the statues sprang to life.

The statue of the witch ran to Bellatrix who was still sobbing. She screamed as it dived at her, pinning her to the floor.

"It was foolish to come here tonight, Tom," said Dumbledore calmly. "The Aurors are on their way-"

"By which time I shall be gone, and you will be dead!" spat Voldemort. He send another killing curse at Dumbledore but missed, instead hitting the security guard's desk, which burst into flames.

Dumbledore flicked his own wand: the force of the spell that emanated from it was such that Harry, although still shielded by Sirius' spell, felt his hair stand on end. Voldemort was forced to conjure a shining silver shield out of thin air. The spell, whatever it was, causing no visible damage to the shield, though a deep gong-like note reverberated from it – an oddly chilling sound.

"You do not seek to kill me, Dumbledore?" called Voldemort. "Above such brutality, are you?"

"We both know that there are other ways of destroying a man, Tom," Dumbledore replied calmly. "Though, merely taking your life would not satisfy me, I admit-"

"There is nothing worse than death, Dumbledore!" snarled Voldemort, but his eyes flickered over to Harry and it seemed, by pure strength of mind, the shield that had been protecting him burst into a thousand pieces dropping to the ground like black dust. His scar burst open and he felt like he was dead – he knew he was dead. The pain was beyond all imagining, pain past endurance –

He was gone from the hall, he was locked in the coils of the monster with red eyes, so tightly that Harry did not know where his body ended and the monster's began. They were fused together, bound by pain, and there was no escape –

"Kill me now, Dumbledore…"

Harry found himself saying, blinded and dying.

"If death is nothing, Dumbledore, kill the boy…"

Let it stop, thought Harry, let the pain stop… let the pain kill us.

I'll see my parents.

But no. He couldn't leave. Not without saying goodbye. He couldn't leave Sirius, Ron and Hermione. Or Ginny, Neville and Luna… He couldn't leave when the fighting had only really begun.

Harry's heart filled with emotion and the monster's coils loosened. The pain was gone instantly, like it had never been there in the first place. As he opened his eyes, Harry found that his glasses were gone, but he could gorge that he was lying face down on the floor that felt more like ice than wood, surrounded by a circle of silver-blue dust that had been Sirius' shield.

His attention was drawn to a glinting out of the corner of his eye and he scrambled towards his glasses which were lying inches feet away. He slipped them on and raised his head to find Dumbledore's crooked nose inches away from his own.

"Are you alright, Harry?"

"Yes," Harry said shakily, attempting to sit up properly. "Yeah, I'm – where's Voldemort, where's Sirius – who are all these – what's happening-?"

The Atrium was flooding with people; the floor was reflecting the emerald green flames that had burst into life along one wall, and streams of witches and wizards were emerging from them. As the ancient Headmaster helped Harry to his feet, he saw Cornelius Fudge pushing his way forward with a stunned expression.

"He was there!" shouted someone from deep within the crowd. "I saw him, Mr Fudge, I swear it was You-Know-Who, he grabbed a woman and Disapparated!"

"I know Williamson, I know, I saw him too!" Fudge gibbered. He was wearing pyjamas under his pinstriped cloak and was breathing heavily, like he had just run ten miles. "Merlin's beard – here – here! – in the Ministry of Magic – great heavens above – it doesn't seem possible – my word – how can this be-?"

"If you proceed downstairs into the Department of Mysteries, Cornelius," Dumbledore said, stepping forward, now apparently satisfied that Harry really was alright. A few people in the crowd raised their wands, other's just stood jaw-slack and staring, "you may find several escaped Death Eaters contained in the Death Chamber, bound by an Anti-Disapparation Jinx and waiting your decision as to what to do with them."

"Dumbledore!" Fudge gasped, beside himself. "You – here – I – I don't know what to say-"

But he was cut off by someone screaming.

"Sirius Black! That's Sirius Black! Here – in the Ministry!"

Harry whipped around, first to the speaker who he could not see through the mass of pyjama clad Ministry workers and reporters, and then to his Godfather who was attempting to sit up without much luck.

Fudge looked around wildly at the Aurors he had brought with him – and it could not have been clearer that he was in half a mind to cry, "Seize him!"

His voice had took on a blustering tone, almost as though he was waiting for someone else to tell him what to do. "I – don't – well – Dawlish! Williamson! Shacklebolt – where is that man?" he called finally, struggling to look in command.

"Here, Minister."

Harry looked around at the sound of Kingsley's voice. The Auror had just stepped out of a golden lift; the cool voice of the lady could be heard saying, "… Eight, the Atrium…"

"Well – I – You will escort B-Black, down to the Department of Law Enforcement, where he will sent to Azkaban to await the Dememtor's Kiss."

"NO!"

Harry stumbled unsteadily to his feet.

"No," he said more firmly this time. "No, you can't do that. Professor-"

But Dumbledore glanced at him over the top of his glasses with an expression that made harry fall silent and his sentence died only half way out of his mouth.

The Minister seemed to be attempting to look anywhere but the old Headmaster.

"As Harry just said, Cornelius, I really don't think-"

"Harry – as in Harry Potter?"

Fudge spun around and stared at Harry, who was standing only a little behind Dumbledore by the headless golden statue of the wizard that had protected Sirius during Dumbledore and Voldemort's duel, Sirius momentarily forgotten.

"He – here?" Fudge blinked stupidly. "Why – what's all this about?"

"I shall explain everything," Dumbledore told the Minister, "once Harry has returned to school."

His first thought was to argue with the old Headmaster. He wasn't about to leave, not then his friends were injured and still in the Department of Mysteries, not when there were Death Eaters to deal with, not when his Godfather was about to be arrested again for a crime he had never committed.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Kingsley helping Sirius to his feet, who seemed far too content leaning upon the dark-skinned Auror.

"But – You-Know-Who – I – and Black-"

"As I said, I will explain everything-"

"I – I demand that you hand him over at once," Fudge said, pointing a shaking finger at Sirius as if doing even that would blow him up like Harry's Godfather had apparently blown up Wormtail. "Two years, Dumbledore, two years he has been at large. And you – hiding him and conspiring with him. I want you arrested-"

Dumbledore ignored him, summoning the golden wizard's head that they on the floor. He pointed his wand at it and muttered, "Portus." The head glowed blue and trembled noisily against the wooden floor for a few seconds, then became still once more.

"N-now see here, Dumbledore!" said Fudge, as Dumbledore picked up the head. "You haven't got the authorisation for that Portkey! You can't do things like that right in front of the Minister for Magic, you – you-"

Harry had to quench the urge to shout at the blustering fool to shut up. Fudge faltered as Dumbledore surveyed him over his half-moon spectacles.

"You will give the order to remove Delores Umbridge from Hogwarts," Dumbledore said. "You will tell your Aurors to stop searching for my Care of Magical Creatures teacher so that he can return to work. I will give you…" Dumbledore pulled out a watch with twelve hands from his pocket and glanced at it "… half an hour of my time tonight, in which I think we shall be more than able to cover the important points of what has happened here and the situation concerning Mr Black. After that I shall return to my school. If you need any more help from me you are, of course, more than welcome to contact me at Hogwarts. Letters address to the Headmaster will fine me."

Fudge's mouth, if anything, dropped even wider and his round face grew pinker under his rumpled grey hair.

"I – you-"

Dumbledore turned to Harry.

"Take this Portkey, Harry." The old Headmaster placed the wizard's head into his own hands. "I shall see you in half an hour," Dumbledore said quietly. "One… Two… Three…"

Author's Note: All you hp book nerds could probably tell that I "borrowed" quite a bit from the Order of the Phoenix for this chapter.

Also, this was not at all beta read. If you have spotted any mistakes, please tell me and I'll change them.

And go ahead: review; tell me what you thought!