Disclaimer:
Harry Potter and all of its characters belong to J.K. Rowling.
I own nothing but the original characters I make.
"Dialogue"
'Thoughts'
-Author notes-
Chapter 16: Safety
"There you are. Hey, Albus!" Minister Fudge walked towards them at a brisk pace. Only at the last moment, he seemed to spot Harry. "Harry Potter? What are you doing in here?"
Harry ignored the Minister's question. "Professor, my friends are still somewhere in here. I need to go find them."
"Who else is in here?" the Minister demanded to know. "Albus, that… 'thing'… that just flew past me. What in Merlin's name was that?"
"You know who that was, Cornelius. He may look a bit different now, but I'm sure you recognized him." Dumbledore saw the face of the Minister becoming paler. "I warned you that He was back."
The aurors who were present exchanged some worried glances.
Harry had no interest in this conversation. Hermione, Ginny, and the others could still be in danger.
"Go." He heard the Headmaster speak and turned around.
"Go find your friends, Harry. I will stay here to explain everything to the Minister," Dumbledore said.
The Minister wanted to complain, but was stopped by Dumbledore. "Cornelius, I believe we need to speak about what to do next…"
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Harry left the chamber and was making his way back to the room where he had last seen his friends.
However, before he could make it that far, he ran across his ex-professor, Alastor Moody, and Neville.
The auror had taken down two masked men and was hovering over them to make sure they didn't try anything.
"Harry!" Neville looked shocked to see him.
"Hey! You made it!" Harry was glad to find out that Neville didn't seem to be hurt.
"Mate, I got so worried when you disappeared like that…" Neville said. "What happened to you?"
"About that…" Harry scratched his head. "It's a very long story."
"Mister Potter. I am glad to see you safe." Moody's crazy eye locked onto him. "Did you happen to see any more of these masked fellows?"
"I encountered Bellatrix and the Dark Lord…" He heard Neville gasp. "But they are gone now. They ran away when they saw the Headmaster, as well as the Minister and a group of Aurors."
Moody frowned. "I see… so they have escaped." His eye was still hovering around Harry. "Did they get what they were looking for?"
"They did not," Harry responded. He did not remember exactly where he had left the orb during his stay in the Frozen World, but he was sure it was inside Hogwarts on the day when he accidentally destroyed the castle, so it was certainly gone now.
He was about to suggest going to look for the others when he saw several people approaching.
Tonks was at the front, helping Ron walk, who seemed to be in a dazed state.
Luna, Hermione, and Ginny were right behind them, and at the back of the group was the other member of the Order whom Harry had helped, Hestia Jones.
With this, all of his friends were finally accounted for.
Harry felt like a heavy weight had been lifted off his shoulders. He had prepared and planned for this eventuality, trying to calculate all variables, and he had been fairly accurate with them. Even accounting for the arrival of the Ministry agents, as well as the Order of the Phoenix.
However, now that his mission was completed, Harry was starting to feel his mind becoming clouded.
'Keep it together.' He heard the voice of his trusty companion inside his head.
"Oh, looks like they made it," Moody said.
"Guys!" Neville waved at them.
"Are you okay?" Ginny asked them.
"Why did you take off running like that?" Hermione had her arms at her waist. "Harry, that was so reckless!"
Harry didn't have anything to say. From their perspective, it must have seemed extremely reckless, but he had to make sure no one died.
This whole thing had been his fault after all. It had taken him a long time to realize that Voldemort had been manipulating him for the entire year, only so he could trick him into coming here and retrieving the Prophecy in his place.
Harry had to admit that he had been too naive back then. The Headmaster understood how dangerous that magical connection was, and that's why he had ordered Snape to teach him Occlumency.
If one of his friends had died because of his foolishness, Harry could never have forgiven himself.
'Sirius was close though…' He recalled what happened in that chamber. Bella almost managed to push Sirius through that strange door.
Harry did not have time to understand how it worked fully, but for a moment, he saw his Godfather's soul leaving his body.
Luckily, he had a great deal of knowledge in the area of souls and was able to push it back into his body before sending him away.
'He is going to have a killer headache when he wakes up, but it's better than being dead.' Harry thought.
"We should head back to the entrance," Harry suggested, not wanting to spend more time in this place. He had done enough of that already.
"Didn't you say that the Minister of Magic was here? As well as some aurors," Neville pointed out. "Won't they see us?"
"Wait… what?! The aurors are already here?" Ginny exclaimed. "Are we… like… in trouble?"
"Oh no…" Hermione went pale. "We are going to get expelled for this."
"Or arrested," Luna added.
"I don't know about expelled, but no one is getting arrested for this," Moody assured them. "Potter is right, though, we need to get going."
Harry noticed Hermione's state and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Be at ease. If Dumbledore is going to expel someone, that would be me. This was my idea, remember?" He tried to say something in the same manner as his old self.
"Harry…" Hermione glanced up at him. "What happened to you? You sound so different."
Harry flinched after failing at his attempt.
"By the way," Luna got closer. "That is a very interesting hat."
"Thank you." The hat itself was the one to answer.
"Ahh!" Hermione screamed and moved back.
"See? I knew I wasn't imagining things. The hat can talk!" Ginny exclaimed.
"Where did you get that hat?" Neville asked. "And those robes… they look like—"
"A talking hat?" Tonks glanced over at Harry with interest. "Did you steal the one at Hogwarts? How naughty."
"How curious…" Moody said.
Harry sighed, moving his eyes up. "V… did you have to complicate things by opening your mouth?"
The expression on the hat turned to one of annoyance. "Having a mouth is one of my few features. What did you expect?"
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