Chapter 52 - Order of the Phoenix

        "Harry, Ella, are you sure?" Hermione asked as she, Ron and Eric chased after me and Harry up the stairs.

"We saw it," Harry answered, "It's just like with Mr Weasley. It's the door we've been dreaming about only we couldn't remember where we'd seen it before."

"Sirius said Voldemort was after something," I continued, following after my brother up the stairs, "Something he didn't have the last time, and it's in the Department of Mysteries."

"Harry, Ella, please, just listen," Hermione begged, making us pause and turn to her as she spoke softly but sternly, "What if Voldemort meant for you to see this? What if he's only hurting Sirius because he's trying to get to you?"

"What if he is? We're supposed to just let him die?" Harry questioned before I added, desperate,

"Hermione, he's the only family we've got left."

Hermione, Ron and Eric turned to each other before Eric asked me and my brother,

"What do we do?"

Thankful for our friends' help, Harry replied, continuing up the stairs,

"We'll have to use the Floo Network."

"But Umbridge has the chimneys under surveillance," Hermione reminded us, but Harry and I knew that wasn't true,

"Not all of them."

With that, we led our friends up to Umbridge's office, and I was quick to unlock the door,

"Alohomora."

Cautiously but quickly, the five of us filed in and closed the door before Harry quickly prepared the magic fireplace and instructed our friends,

"Alert the Order if you can."

"Are you mental? We're going with you," Ron demanded.

"It's too dangerous."

Kneeling beside us, Hermione looked between Harry and me with a stern look as she assured us,

"When are you going to get it into your heads? We're in this together."

Before we could reply, we all whipped our heads around at the sound of Umbridge's voice,

"That. You. Are."

Umbridge was standing in the doorway, covered in soot and ash from Fred and George's fireworks. Goyle and Crabbe filed into the office with Luna and Ginny before the pink toad instructed them to grab Hermione, Eric and Ron before she used her wand to sit Harry and me in two chairs in front of the desk. Draco then came in, pulling Neville with him,

"Caught this one trying to help the Weasley girl."

Apparently, Ginny, Luna and Neville had followed me, Harry, Ron, Eric and Hermione and were trying to make sure know one followed us into Umbridge's office. Draco and I subtle shared a look before Umbridge questioned me and my twin,

"You were going to Dumbledore, weren't you?"

"No," Harry answered truthfully, but Umbridge didn't believe him, slapping him across the face,

"Liar."

I flinched at the action, becoming more fearful of the woman when Snape suddenly appeared in the doorway of her office,

"You sent for me, Headmistress?"

"Snape, yes. The time has come for answers, whether they want to give them to me or not. Have you brought the Veritaserum?"

"I'm afraid you've used up all my stores interrogating students. The last of it on Miss Chang..."

Hearing that Cho had been forced into telling the truth made Harry and I share a look as guilt filled us for how we had all treated her. "Unless you wish to poison them... And I assure you, I would have the greatest sympathy if you did. ...I cannot help you."

Umbridge pouted, clearly very irritated, but as Snape started to turn away, I decided to take the chance, speaking up to Snape,

"He's got Padfoot. He's got Padfoot at the place where it's hidden."

"Padfoot? What is Padfoot? Where what is hidden? What is she talking about, Snape?" Umbridge questioned, but I kept my eyes on Snape as he turned to me. I silently pleaded with him, hoping he understood and would get help. After a moment, Snape looked over to Umbridge before casually answering,

"No idea."

With that, Snape walked away in a hurry. Harry and I shared a look, only hoping that Snape understood and would alert the Order for help.

"Very well," Umbridge said, eerily calm, "You give me no choice, Potters. As this is an issue of Ministry security... you leave me with... no alternative. The Cruciatus Curse ought to loosen your tongues."

"That's illegal," Hermione protested as Crabbe held onto her, but even he and Goyle seemed unsure about what Umbridge suggested. Umbridge simply placed her picture of Fudge face-down on her desk as she spoke,

"What Cornelius doesn't know won't hurt him. Shall we start with you, dear?"

I felt the blood drain from my face as Umbridge turned to me, already knowing what this curse felt like and being terrified of experiencing it again. As Umbridge slowly approached me, wand raised, I could see Harry struggle against the magical restraints in his chair. As I braced myself for the pain, I noticed Draco looked as though he was ready to jump out to stop what was about to happen. But before anyone could do anything, Hermione shouted with desperation,

"Tell her, Harry!"

We all turned to the brilliant girl, and I let out a shaky breath of relief as Umbridge questioned her,

"Tell me what?"

"Well, if you won't tell her where it is... I will."

Harry and I shared a look, very confused but thankful for whatever Hermione had come up with.

"Where what is?"

"Dumbledore's secret weapon."

"Well then," Umbridge spoke gently, lowering her wand, "You are going to show me where it is then. Hm?"

Hermione nodded, walking over to the woman who pulled my brother up to stand by his shirt, "And you're coming with us."

Harry nodded, not wanting to anger Umbridge any more than she already was. Umrbdieg then pulled me up by my shirt and roughly shoved me over to Draco, who made sure I didn't fall as Umbridge instructed,

"Keep her here with the others." She then turned to my brother and Hermione, raising her wand at them to lead, "Let's go then. Now!"

I watched the three of them leave the office and close the door before looking up at Draco worriedly. The blond looked concerned but relieved that I hadn't suffered from the Cruiatus Curse.

We were all silent for a few minutes, having no idea what to say or do until Ron randomly said he was hungry and pulled a bag of sweets out of his pocket. We all raised our brows at him in shock and confusion except Crabbe and Goyle, who demanded,

"As if!"

"Give it here!"

The two Slytherins started stuffing their faces with the sweets while Draco scoffed at his friends, having been secretly holding my hand and rubbing my back for comfort. After a moment, Goyle and Crabbe suddenly looked green in the face and started gagging until they finally puked all over the floor, Ron, Luna, Eric and Ginny quickly getting out of the way. Knowing it was our chance to leave, I quickly pulled out my wand and turned to point it at Draco, urging my friends to start after Harry and Hermione,

"Go, I'm right behind you."

My friends all nodded and started running down the corridor as I turned toward Draco with a frown.

"I'm sorry," I whispered so the puking boys wouldn't hear, to which Draco lightly smiled,

"I know, love."

With that, I hexed Draco with bat bogeys before running after and catching up with my friends, making sure to tell Ron how brilliant his plan was.

Figuring that Hermione would have taken Umbridge to somewhere like the Dark Forest, we made our way across the Covered Bridge before we ran into Harry and Hermione running toward us.

"How'd you get away?" Hermione questioned, to which Ginny answered with a smile,

"Puking Pastilles."

"It wasn't pretty," I added before Ron handed Harry and Hermione their wands as he explained,

"Told them I was hungry, wanted some sweets. They told me to bugger off and ate the lot themselves."

Surprised, Hermione smiled,

"That was clever, Ron."

"Has been known to happen," Ron sheepishly replied before Eric insisted,

"It was brilliant."

Getting back to the important issue at hand, Neville asked,

"So how are we getting to London?"

Harry and I shared a look before my twin spoke for the both of us,

"Look, it's not that we don't appreciate everything you've done, all of you... but we've got you into enough trouble as it is."

Taking each other's hand, Harry and I passed our friends to try and find a way to save Sirius. But Neville argued, making us stop,

"Dumbledore's Army's supposed to be about doing something real. Or was that all just words to you?"

"Maybe you don't have to do this all by yourselves, mates," Eric added. I turned to my brother, knowing we thought the same thing: we were stronger with friends. Turning to our friends, Harry asked,

"So how are we going to get to London?"

"We fly, of course," Luna smiled before explaining and leading us to find the thestrals. It was hard to help the others who couldn't see the creatures, but we managed and soon made it to London and the Ministry of Magic. We raced through the empty halls to the lifts hopping in one before waiting for it to take us down to the right floor.

"Department of Mysteries," the elevator announced as the gate opened. We all stared down the ominous corridor. Harry and I shared a look, knowing this was for sure the same place from our dreams and visions.

"This is it," Harry and I assured our friends, leading the way. We were cautious, making our way towards the door before opening it to reveal the dark room lined with shelves upon shelves carrying thousands of crystal balls. Using our wands to see better, the eight of us slowly checked our surroundings, knowing we had no idea what to expect but finding Sirius and Voldemort somewhere in the shadowy room. Luna and I quietly gasped at the sound of the door we had just walked through moving away from us, filling everyone with dread before we got the courage to search for Harry's and my godfather. Leading the way, my brother counted out loud as he looked at the numbers on the shelves until we finally got to the one we had seen in our vision,

"Ninety-two. Ninety-three. Ninety-four. Ninety-five."

Looking around at the floor, dread and confusion pumped through me at seeing no sign of Sirius. "He should be here," Harry said to our friends, concern evident in his voice. It didn't make sense. We had seen Sirius right here being tortured by Voldemort. Where could they have gone? Why weren't they here?

"Harry, Ella," Neville suddenly spoke, pointing at one of the crystal balls, "It's got your names on it."

With furrowed brows, Harry and I walked over to take a look at the crustal ball Neville had been looking at. As the two of us got closer, fog started swirling inside it before it gained a light glow. It was mesmerising but also frightening. Unsure about what to do, Harry and I shared a look before turning our friends for guidance as I reached a hand toward the ball. No one seemed to have any protests, so with another shared look with my twin, I grabbed the crystal ball off of its stand and held it between us. After a moment, a hoarse voice started speaking,

"The ones with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches. And the Dark Lord shall mark them as his equal... but they shall have power the Dark Lord knows not. For neither can live while the other survives."

The voice's words repeated in my head as I processed the prophecy it had recited. The fog was still mesmerising as I realised that, in the end, it was going to be either Voldemort or me and my brother...

"Harry. Ella," Hermione quickly spoke, panic in her voice, causing me and my brother to turn and see a Death Eater in their black cloak and silver mask slowly coming toward us.

"Where's Sirius?" Harry demanded as he and I took our place in front of our friends to protect them.

"You know, you really should learn to tell the difference between dreams..." the Death Eater spoke, taking their wand out to magically take off their mask, revealing Lucius Malfoy. "And reality."

Instinctively, I held the crystal ball close to my chest and held my wand a little tighter as Mr Malfoy explained why our godfather was not where we had believed him to be, "You saw only what the Dark Lord wanted you to see. Now, hand me the prophecy."

"If you do anything to us, I'll break it," I threatened, narrowing my eyes at the horrid man. Suddenly there was laughing echoing around the room before Bellatrix Lestrange emerged from the shadows,

"She knows how to play. Itty, bitty Baby Potter."

"Bellatrix Lestrange," Neville spoke up, stepping up beside me.

"Neville Longbottom, is it? How's Mum and Dad?"

"Better, now they're about to be avenged."

Neville raised his wand, ready to curse the woman, but Harry held him back. Lestrange had raised her wand in retaliation, but Mr Malfoy raised his hands and calmly spoke,

"Now, let's everybody just calm down... shall we? All we want is that prophecy."

"Why did Voldemort need us to come and get this?" Harry questioned, as I kept the crystal ball against my chest.

"You dare speak his name?" Bellatrix questioned, surprised, before yelling her insult, "You filthy half-blood!"

"It's all right," Mr Malfoy said, attempting to keep Bellatrix tame before answering Harry's question, "He's just a curious lad, aren't you? Prophecies can only be retrieved by those about whom they are made. Which is lucky for you, really. Haven't you always wondered... what was the reason for the connection between you and the Dark Lord? Why he was unable to kill you... when you were just infants? Don't you want to know the secret of your scars?"

Harry and I shared a quick, subtle look as we continued to listen to Mr Malfoy's offer as he walked closer to us, "All the answers are there, Potters, in your hand. All you have to do... is give it to me. Then I can show you everything."

Mr Malfoy stood in front of me and my brother, holding out his hand for me to hand him the crystal ball. I knew what my decision was already, but to make sure Harry was on board with my plan, I turned to him and spoke, giving him a subtle look,

"We've waited fourteen years."

Harry shared my expression as we silently communicated. Mr Malfoy spoke with false sincerity,

"I know."

We knew there were Death Eaters surrounding us, our friends facing them with wands raised. Our decision was made. With a small nod from me, Harry made the next move,

"I guess we can wait a little longer. Now! Stupefy!"

"Stupefy!" everyone cast at a Death Eater, leading the cloaked wizards and/or witches to fly off. The eight of us made a run for it, turning a corner only to be met with Mr Malfoy holding out his hand for the crystal ball I still held in my hand. We tried another way, getting separated as we searched for the door to escape. Harry and I stayed together, moving swiftly between shelves, eventually meeting Hermione and Ron in an aisle. Hermione and I gasped as three Death Eaters appeared on our left and right.

"Stupefy!" Harry and I cast at the two Death Eaters closer to us, sending them away so Harry, Ron, Hermione, and I could take off down the aisle away from the third Death Eater. Harry and I led the way, searching for the door while our two friends defended against the Death Eater that followed,

"Stupefy!"

"Stupefy."

As we ran, a Death Eater flew up beside me, grabbing my arm that held the crystal ball. I struggled, trying to get him off me before raising my wand at him,

"Stupefy!"

At the end of the aisle, Eric and Ginny, Neville and Luna, and me, Harry, Ron and Hermione all found each other, relieved we at least were all back together. We suddenly turned at the sound of the Death Eaters flying toward us, appearing as black smoke. Ginny was quick to raise her wand in defence,

"Reducto!"

The aisle was lit up with a bright light, and a gust of wind rushed toward us, blowing my hair completely away from my face. As soon as the light dissipated, the crystal balls slowly started to fall off the shelves furthest from us, making their way to where we were standing. Neville was quick to grab Luna's hand and pull her away from the number of cascading crystal balls that were heading toward us as the eight of us started running as quickly as we could.

"Get back to the door!" I instructed, following my brother in what we hoped was the right direction. The lines of shelves were being completely knocked over, catching up with us as we turned a corner to escape and find the door. Eventually, we finally found the door, rushing through it only to fall over an edge. Right before we hit the floor, a spell caught us, suspending us in the air for a few seconds before dropping us. I had been careful not to drop the crystal ball that I was still holding on to and made sure it was alright as we all got up on our feet, taking deep breaths to calm the adrenaline rushing through us.

"Department of Mysteries. They got that bit right, didn't they?" Ron sarcastically commented when I suddenly noticed a stone archway filled with glistening fog. I could hear whispers and tried to hear what they were saying as I started to question my friends, feeling mildly distracted and enchanted by the archway,

"The voices..."

"Can you tell what they're saying?" my twin asked, stepping up beside me, the archway having the same effect on him as it did on me. With concern lacing her voice, Hermione replied,

"There aren't any voices, Ella and Harry."

"Let's get out of here," Eric added, almost pleading, but I couldn't seem to look away. Starting to wonder if Harry and I were possibly going mad, Luna spoke up,

"I hear them, too."

"Ella, Harry, it's just an empty archway."

"Please, Harry," Hermione begged. I still couldn't bring myself to listen until Harry suddenly shouted, raising his wand,

"Get behind me."

We all raised our wands, moving to stand behind Harry as the clouds of black smoke flew toward us. As the Death Eaters flew around us, it became dark as we all covered our heads and cringed at the uncomfortable and horrifying feeling. I could hear some of my friends groaning, trying to wave the Death Eaters away before I was knocked to the ground, feeling Harry protectively wrap his arm around me.

After a moment, the black smoke of the Death Eaters was gone. Only Harry and I were the only ones still in the middle of the room we were in. As my twin and I helped each other up, the crystal ball still safely in my hand, we looked around to see our six friends, each being held by a Death Eater, wands raised toward them. They all struggled in the Death Eaters' grasp to no avail when Mr Malfoy suddenly laughed, making his way toward me and Harry,

"Did you actually believe... or were you truly naive enough to think... that children stood a chance against us?"

Harry took a protective stance in front of me as Mr Malfoy walked around us before swiftly turning to stand in our direction, glaring at me, "I'll make this simple for you, Potter. Give me the prophecy now... or watch your friends die."

My heart broke at the thought of my friends being killed, taking a look around at Eric, Neville, Ginny, Luna, Ron, and Hermione. They all tried to look brave, but I could see the fear in their eyes.

"Don't give it to him, Ella!" Neville struggled in Bellatrix's arms before she smacked her wand against his neck,

"Shush!"

I knew what it would mean if I gave up the prophecy to Mr Malfoy for Voldemort, but I couldn't let my friends die for it. Sharing a quick look with my brother, he moved out of my way for me to slowly hand the crystal ball to the horrid man in front of me. It Mr Malfoy's hands, the glowing fog ceased, along with my hope of beating Voldemort.

All of a sudden, there was a flash of light behind Mr Malfoy before I saw Sirius and disbelief crossed my face. At seeing Harry's and my expressions, Mr Malfoy turned to see our godfather, who glared,

"Get away from my godchildren."

With that, Sirius sent his fist straight into Mr Malfoy's jaw, knocking him to the ground. Harry and I gasped. My brother took my hand as a bunch of light swirled around the room, scaring the Death Eaters that held our friends away. As Sirius pulled me and Harry down to take cover behind a large rock, I watched as Mr Malfoy dropped and broke the crystal ball. The Order of the Phoenix had come to help us. Relief flooded me at the sight of Tonks, Shacklebolt, Professor Lupin, and Mad-Eye arriving to help my friends. One of the Death Eaters suddenly sent a spell toward us while Harry and I were distracted by the chaos, but Sirius blocked it before pulling us with him to the other side of the rock for better cover. I could hear more spells being sent all around the room when Sirius turned to me and Harry,

"Now, listen to me. I want you to take the others and get out of here."

"What?" I questioned, not wanting to leave our godfather after believing he was being tortured, "No, we're staying with you."

Harry nodded beside me, the same desperate look on his face, but Sirius shook his head, speaking gently,

"You've done beautifully. Now, let me take it from here."

Before we could decide and reply, another set of spells was sent toward us, missing but shocking us nonetheless.

"Black," Mr Malfoy suddenly called, pulling out his wand out from his cane. Another Death Eater joined the blond man, and having no choice, Sirius, Harry and I quickly pulled out our wands and stood, ready to fight. The second Death Eater sent a spell toward me, Sirius quickly blocked it before Harry and I, with our godfather, started fighting back. The Death Eaters blocked our spells at the same rate that we blocked theirs. I could hear Bellatrix's laugh echo throughout the room as the chaotic battle continued.

Eventually, Sirius got the upper hand on the Death Eater I didn't know the name of, knocking him down. Shocked, Mr Malfoy got distracted, allowing Harry to knock one of the wands he held out of his hand,

"Expelliarmus!"

"Nice one, James," Sirius called out, making Harry and I pause as we processed what he had said. As Sirius sent constant spells at Mr Malfoy, his words from Snape's memory replayed in my head, but I shook it away as I watched my godfather get the upper hand and send Mr Malfoy flying back. Sirius, Harry and I shared a smile when Bellatrix suddenly cast,

"Avada Kedavra."

Before any of us could react, I watched as the green forbidden curse hit my godfather, making his smile disappear. My face fell and my heart dropped as I realised what had happened. Time seemed to slow as I watched as Sirius fell back into the archway of magical fog and disappeared. I barely registered my eyes watering as I felt part of me die.

"No. No," Harry and I cried, fully processing what had happened and about to run at the archway in hopes of somehow saving Sirius. But we were both grabbed by someone, holding us back. I cried, screaming as I tried to fight back, my heart breaking even more as I heard Harry do the same. It hurt. It hurt so much, and it wouldn't stop hurting. I stopped struggling and just kept crying, going still until I saw Harry take notice of the woman who was responsible for our loss: Bellatrix Lestrange. The sad pain turned into a flame, starting the fire of anger that had been lowly burning all year. I didn't stop to think as I raced after my brother, chasing the evil woman who killed our godfather down the halls of the ministry.

"I killed Sirius Black," she sang, fueling my uncontrollable rage, until we reached the hall with the magic fireplaces. "You coming to get me?" Bellatrix cackled as we chased her. My skin felt burning hot, and my anger was so strong that I didn't even flinch or question my brother when he sent the unforgivable curse her way, knocking her down,

"Crucio!"

Bellatrix cried out for a moment before quickly turning to face us with fear on her face. Harry held up his wand but paused as we both seemed to start to actually think about what we were doing. Suddenly, I felt an uncomfortable chill as I heard Voldemort tempt us,

"You've got to mean it, Harry. She killed him. She deserves it."

I could feel the anger and hate fueling the thoughts of torturing the woman for killing my godfather. Subconsciously, I raised my wand with my twin, wanting to do it but knowing it was wrong. "You know the spell, Ella," Voldemort whispered, and I cringed, fighting my anger to try and think clearly. Bellatrix laughed as I felt the same feeling I had when the Death Eaters had flown around us as black smoke. "Do it."

At hearing his voice so clearly behind us, Harry and I whipped around to see Voldemort before he knocked our wands away with a wave of his hand. He groaned in irritation as he spat, "So weak."

I glared at the evil, snake-like man, hating him so much I barely feared what would happen until I heard the crackle of one of the fireplaces, turning to see Dumbledore had arrived. He didn't look at me and Harry, focusing on Voldemort as he spoke,

"It was foolish of you to come here tonight, Tom. The Aurors are on their way."

Turning to face his old professor, Voldemort smiled confidently,

"By which time I shall be gone, and you... shall be dead."

Within seconds, Dumbledore had magically shoved Harry and me out of the way as a duel commenced between the two wizards. Bellatrix had taken the chance to escape through the magical fireplace. Harry protectively held onto me as we watched the two wizards fight with their connected streams of magic. Harry covered my head and his own as magic rebounded toward his, sending pieces of the wall flying everywhere. When the streams of magic broke between the wizards' wands, I watched with wide eyes as Voldemort used some sort of fire magic to create a snake of fire. Dumbledore was quick to defeat it before swiftly countering with the water from the Ministry's fountain, trapping Voldemort in a ball with the water. Assuming Dumbledore had it under control, Harry and I stood, following our headmaster and watching closely before we were suddenly pushed out of the way again, not a moment before Voldemort escaped and sent a spell in Dumbledore's direction. Dumbledore once again countered with another spell, but Voldemort seemed to absorb it to send it back with a blast of wind, breaking all of the glass windows around us. Already on the floor, Harry wrapped his arm around me as we hid our faces from the glass. When I felt the wind stop, my twin and I looked up to see Voldemort sending the shards of glass at us and Dumbledore. Harry quickly forced me to turn my head to hide my face as Dumbledore raised his wand to protect us. I felt dust fly past me and brother before it stopped. Harry and I quickly helped each other stand behind Dumbledore, waiting for Voldemort to make the next move. But rather than casting another spell at us, Voldemort turned to smoke and disappeared. My hair was blown past my face as the dust from the glass shards went up in the air. For a moment, nothing happened... until I suddenly felt a sharp pain.

Dumbledore turned to me, a confused and cautious look on his face as I fell to the floor, but Harry knelt beside me with a worried expression, knowing what was happening because he could feel it. Voldemort invaded my mind as I struggled, trying to fight it, but he was too strong. Realising what was happening, Dumbledore knelt beside me as Voldemort took control of me to speak to him,

"You've lost, old man."

It was my voice coming from my lips, but they weren't my words.

"Ella..." I heard Dumbledore say before I cried out in pain as I attempted to push Voldemort out of my head.

"So vulnerable," he taunted, sifting through the more painful memories: Mum and Dad's death, Cedric's death, the dementor attack, Mr Weasley's attack, Sirius's death... Making sure to hide anything of Draco to protect him immediately, I did as he had taught me, focusing on the memories with pure joy from being with my friends, with my brother, and being in class learning new spells successfully. I screamed in pain as I kept bombarding Voldemort with happy memories, feeling so much more pain than when Draco or even Snape ever invaded my mind. It felt like Voldemort was trying to tear my mind in half. Finally, I let out one last cry before shoving him out, only for him to move on to Harry's mind. I could barely move from exhaustion as I heard my twin cringe in pain from Voldemort invading his thoughts and memories. Tears that I hadn't even noticed before were streaming down my face as I reached out to grab my brother's hand to try and give him encouragement while Dumbledore spoke softly,

"Harry. Look at me. Harry, it isn't how you are alike. It's how you are not."

Again, Harry cringed in pain as we saw our friends run into the room. They all looked worried, but I squeezed my brother's hand with the strength I had left to silently tell him that he could beat Voldemort. Squeezing my hand in return, Harry spoke to Voldemort in his head,

"You're the weak one... and you'll never know love or friendship. And I feel sorry for you."

With that, Voldemort left Harry's mind, making me feel as though a huge weight had been lifted off of us. Suddenly standing over us, Voldemort gave an evil but irritated smile,

"You're fools, Harry and Ella Potter. And you will lose everything."

Before either of us could respond or wait to see what Voldemort would do next, we heard the crackle of a bunch of fireplaces as Aurora and Fudge entered the room, stopping at the sight of Voldemort.

"He's back," Fudge said in disbelief as Dumbledore quickly ensured Harry and I were ok. After a few moments, Harry and I had enough strength to stand before we were bombarded with camera flashes as the press demanded answers about what had happened. Dumbledore kept his arm around me and my brother, telling everyone there would be no comments while Harry and I stood there, processing everything that had happened. Including the death of our godfather. We had lost the only family we had left. As Dumbledore guided us away, I didn't feel angry or sad... I just felt numb.

It had been a few days since Sirius had died. All of the Death Eaters that had been at the Ministry were arrested, except for Bellatrix, who had gotten away. Draco had been avoiding me, I hadn't seen him since I had given him bat bogeys in Umbridge's office. I couldn't help but suspect it had something to do with the fact that his father had been sent to Azkaban. Maybe it also had something to do with his aunt. I felt bad that Draco had to deal with his father being sent away, but I also wondered what it would mean for him now. He now knew what his father was. So what would happen between us? I didn't want to think about it. It was too hard and it hurt too much.

Harry and I had helped each other pack our trunks, doing mine first. We had barely left each other's side, seeing as we were all we had left. As I helped Harry fold his clothes to put into his trunk, he came upon the jumper he had been wearing the day Sirius died. We both paused, staring at the article of clothing as Harry plucked a piece of glass from the material. As the memories replayed in my head, I felt sad before Harry finally tucked the jumper away and closed the lid of his trunk. My twin took a seat beside me, neither of us saying unless before I quietly spoke up,

"We should talk to him about it."

"I know," Harry nodded, knowing what I was talking about. So, the two of us made our way to Dumbledore's office to talk to him about the prophecy.

When we arrived, we knocked on the large door before slowly opening it. Dumbledore looked busy with some papers, and already feeling shy about going to see him, we hesitated to go in. But Dumbledore was quick to wave us inside,

"Harry. Ella. Come here. Come on."

My twin and I sat down in the chairs Professor Dumbledore had gestured to, still feeling sad and empty. We were silent, not sure what to say, until Dumbledore gently spoke, "I know how you feel, Ella and Harry."

"No, you don't," Harry shook his head before I added, feeling my heart break a little more,

"It's our fault."

Dumbledore frowned, trying to assure us,

"No, the fault is mine. I knew it was only a matter of time before Voldemort made the connection between you. I thought by distancing myself from you, as I have done all year... he'd be less tempted, and therefore you might be more protected."

I nodded, understanding but not feeling any better. Wanting to get to the important topic, Harry told Dumbledore,

"The prophecy said: 'Neither one can live while the other one survives.'

"It means one of us is going to have to kill the other, in the end..." I added, trailing off as we had been unsure if that was what the prophecy meant. But Dumbledore confirmed our guess with a firm nod.

"Yes."

"Why didn't you tell us?" I questioned.

"For the same reason you tried to save Sirius. The same reason your friends saved you. After all these years, after all you've suffered... I didn't want to cause you any more pain. I care too much about you."

My twin and I shared a quick look before nodding and being sent down to dinner.

Filch had just about finished returning all of the magical paintings back to the walls of the moving staircases, and it was nice to see. as Harry and I made our way to the Great Hall, we saw Luna down one of the corridors putting up papers. Curious, we walked over to her, Harry questioning,

"How come you're not at the feast?"

Luna smiled kindly when she saw us, gesturing to her flyers as she replied,

"Lost all my possessions. Apparently, people have been hiding them."

"That's awful," I frowned, feeling bad for my friend.

"Oh, it's all good fun. But as it's the last night, I really do need them back."

"Do you want any help finding them?"

Luna shook her head with a smile before it dimmed a little as she took Harry's and my hands in hers,

"I'm sorry about your godfather, Ella and Harry."

Not wanting to think about our lost godfather, Harry changed the subject

"Are you sure you don't want any help looking?"

"That's all right. Anyway, my mum always said... the things we lose have a way of coming back to us in the end." Luna suddenly looked up toward the ceiling, and following her gaze, I saw a pair of runners hanging over one of the support beams as Luna continued, "If not always in the way we expect. Think I'll just go have some pudding." With that, and a small wave, Luna skipped down the corridor to the Great Hall while Harry and I contemplated her words. Luna was wiser than people gave her credit for.

The next morning, Harry and I were going to the Hogwarts Express with our friends. After stepping off of the carriages, pulled by the thestrals, as we walked, Harry and I shared a thought as he started,

"We've been thinking about something Dumbledore said to us."

"What's that?" Hermione smiled, and I finished,

"That even though we've got a fight ahead of us... we've got one thing that Voldemort doesn't have."

Ron and Eric questioned,

"Yeah?"

"Something worth fighting for," Harry and I said simultaneously, leading our friends to the Hogwarts Express to go home for the summer.