"How are you here?"
Lucius froze, then his face lit up with wild joy as he shouted, "Draco, protect the prophecy, we can—"
The words stuck in his throat. He could only stare dumbly as the sphere slipped from his son's hand.
The prophecy shattered.
It shattered.
Shattered!
Shattered...?
In that moment, only Lucius and Harry saw it happen.
From the broken sphere burst a pair of enormous, magnified eyes, a milky-white phantom rising into the air.
Malfoy, as though it had been nothing of consequence, casually kicked the shards down the stone steps.
He descended slowly, his gaze sweeping the chamber before lingering briefly on his father.
"Potter," Malfoy sneered with open mockery, "you're no savior."
And then a figure leapt out from the yawning black doorway, crashing heavily down in front of Luna and the other two.
A wand in his left hand, a sword in his right.
For an instant, Hermione thought it was John.
The tall figure, like a raging lion, cut through every spell the Death Eaters cast.
Swoosh! swoosh! swoosh!
Without slowing his stride, Neville charged at them, the sword in his hand sweeping arcs of silver light.
Blood and silver gleamed together—two Death Eaters fell in the blink of an eye.
Mist rose around the four dueling atop the platform.
They froze, wary, watching as a figure slowly took shape near the archway.
"Impossible!" Kingsley cried out in shock.
That was the doorway to death itself, the place of execution.
How could anyone emerge from it?
Bellatrix struck at the figure with her spells.
But with each blow, the figure split into another form.
"Mirage."
A soft, ethereal whisper echoed all around them, the voice as unreal as mist.
"It's not real."
Suddenly, a silver stallion burst forth, slamming into a Death Eater and sending him flying.
"It's a Patronus!" one of the Death Eaters gasped, staring at the great horse in shock.
A Patronus that could actually attack.
"They're from the Constellation Society." Harry caught sight of Malfoy vanishing into the mist, glimpsing a fleeting figure within it.
The Constellation Society had arrived.
But why were they here?
Harry's thoughts were in chaos.
These Death Eaters weren't ordinary wizards; the fact that they had survived the Hunt proved it. One after another, they retaliated with vicious spells.
Yet the strange mist kept spawning illusions, trapping them deeper within it.
At times, Neville or Malfoy appeared out of nowhere, as if a new Hunt had begun.
"Don't panic, you useless trash!" Bellatrix shrieked like a madwoman.
She turned her wand on one panicked Death Eater, casting the Cruciatus Curse and dropping him in screaming agony. "Slaughter them all! Or I'll slaughter you all!"
Lucius seemed half out of his senses, his mind filled only with the image of his son moments before.
"Draco, what are you doing here?"
Fear gripped Lucius's heart. His own son had shattered the prophecy orb—Voldemort was certain to be furious.
"No… I can't let him hurt Draco." A chill ran through Lucius as the thought took hold.
...
Using the cover of the mist, the Order of the Phoenix launched their counterattack.
They didn't know exactly what was going on, but they understood this was their best chance to escape.
Sirius hurled a spell at Bellatrix, then transformed into a black dog to search for his godson.
Harry stumbled through the mist and collided headlong with Ron.
"Did you see it?" Harry grabbed Ron by the shoulders, shaking him.
Ron, his face swollen like a pig's head, blinked in confusion. "See what?"
"Malfoy. Draco Malfoy. He smashed the prophecy orb," Harry said.
"Draco Malfoy?" Ron exclaimed in shock. "That's impossible. He can't be here."
Harry couldn't make sense of it either—why Malfoy would show up in a place like this.
But he knew one thing: they had to find the others quickly.
The two of them searched blindly through the fog until they finally came across Ginny and the others.
"Did you see? Neville's here!" Hermione blurted the moment she spotted them.
"Neville?" Harry froze. "Wasn't it Draco Malfoy?"
Both sides were stunned.
"They're all here." A voice, airy and melodic like a song, drifted through the mist.
Ginny nodded quickly. "Luna and I ran into them in another room."
At that, Ron suddenly remembered the pair of eyes he had seen.
A flash of green light streaked from nowhere—Harry ducked just in time. "We need to find Sirius!" he shouted.
The big black dog leapt out of the fog, transforming into Sirius, who grabbed Harry's shoulder. "Get them out of here, now."
"But what about the Order of the Phoenix?" Harry demanded.
"Harry, leave. Quickly," Sirius said, his tone deadly serious.
Harry bristled with frustration. "Stop treating me like a child."
"Down!"
Moody's roar cut through the chaos as he appeared in front of them, wand swinging.
But a flash of light pierced past his wand and struck his slowed body—Moody collapsed to the ground.
The whirling magical eye rolled to Harry's feet, nearly crushed under his step.
It was only thanks to that eye that Moody had been able to see them in the mist.
Flashes of colored light burst through the fog, mingled with screams.
The battle was raging too fiercely.
Harry bent down, picked up the eye, and handed it to Ron.
"Who—who's talking?"
Voices echoed in his head, wave after wave.
"No one's talking, Harry," Hermione said, noticing something was off with him.
Harry suddenly snapped his gaze in one direction and bolted toward it.
Sirius, worried for his godson, dashed after him.
Hermione, torn, turned back with Ron to help lift Moody.
But from behind, a Death Eater burst into the room. His face had just twisted into a grin when a heavy kick sent him flying.
A fireball struck him midair, wringing a scream of agony.
The newcomer slowly lowered his wand, his gaze sweeping over the few who remained.
"Who are you?" Hermione shouted.
The figure stepped back and vanished into the mist.
...
"Who is it—who the hell is it?!"
Harry dodged a spell and rushed toward the source of the voice.
"Harry, come back—Harry!" Sirius caught up and shoved him down.
A shrill, maniacal laugh split the air as silver light flashed, and the hot spray of blood across his face jolted Harry awake.
He stared blankly at the torn wound carved into Sirius's shoulder.
Sirius lifted his head. Out of the mist emerged a tall woman.
"Little… baby Potter!"
Bellatrix!
She was the one who had slashed Sirius with a Severing Charm.
Rage burned through Harry, and he leapt to retaliate—only to be pushed aside by Sirius.
Bellatrix was a complete lunatic, the only one before who hadn't cared about the prophecy orb.
"You seem even madder than before."
Cousins. Former cellmates.
Sirius fired a curse back at Bellatrix.
The two of them clashed, trading spells of every color. Harry tried to join in, but two Death Eaters burst from the mist and struck at him.
From behind him, Tonks and Kingsley rushed forward to block the attack. Tonks's hair flared red as she declared boldly, "Your fight is with us!"
Kingsley's large hand clamped onto Harry's shoulder, pulling him back. In a low voice, he said, "Leave this to us."
"A brawl—ha… hahaha!" Bellatrix cackled madly.
The mist itself seemed to shape the battle, parting to form a clear path.
Out of it stepped Lucius and a Death Eater called Drogon.
Their eyes locked on Harry, full of predatory intent.
Sirius struck first, shouting, "Change of ground!"
Kingsley and Tonks understood instantly.
They cast in unison, scarlet bolts of light lancing out to merge with Sirius's spell, forming three blazing beams that blocked the incoming attacks.
But Sirius had been imprisoned too long; pain twisted across his face as he shouted, "Moony—get Harry out of here!"
"Padfoot, you'd better hold on!"
Lupin dashed forward, grabbed Harry, and pulled him into the fog.
"Sirius!" Harry shouted, but he was dragged away.
That voice in his head kept pulling him toward the dais.
His scar began to throb, a sharp pain tearing through him. He cried out, and Lupin turned back in concern. "What is it, Harry?"
Clutching his scar with his right hand, Harry kept running—only to crash into someone.
"You—?!"
Lupin's startled voice rang out, and the next instant Harry felt himself thrown aside.
Two flashes of light flared in the mist. Before he could see clearly, the fog thickened, swallowing everything whole.
Driven by instinct, Harry forced his way forward, stumbling and pushing blindly.
By some stroke of luck, no Death Eater crossed his path.
And yet… it was strange. This place wasn't that large, but it felt endless, as though he could never reach the end.
At last, the mist parted before him.
He thought he might see Sirius—or one of his other companions.
But what lay before his eyes was the dais.
The great archway loomed there, its tattered veil stirring without wind.
That voice—Harry could hear it clearly now—was coming from the archway itself.
Step by step, he began to move closer.
________
o(*￣▽￣*)ブSupport and Read 12 Chapters ahead: Patreon/Dragonel