The Ruining Properties of Prophecies

A/N: This chapter contains quotes from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, pages 770-806.

This chapter couldn't have been possible without my two Betas: fuu43 and angrymonkey. Their suggestions and comments helped significantly in making this chapter.

A huge thanks to whoever nomintated me for the The Fang Fetish Awards! I am honored and thrilled to be nominated in three catagories!

Disclaimer: I do not own Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Harry Potter. They belong to Joss Whedon and J.K. Rowling.

Timeline (not including prologue): Harry Potter starts during the fifth book, The Order of the Phoenix. To be precise, in the middle of Chapter 27, page 605 (although, depending on the book, the page number will be different) during the end of March. BTVS begins the March after the series ends.

Mein Teil

Chapter 10: The Ruining Properties of Prophecies

The sun slowly set as Faith and the Hogwarts crew flew on the backs of Thestrals to London. While on the ground it had seemed like a warm spring day, the sky was a bright clear cold that easily cut through her clothes. She tried to keep her mind focused on the task at hand, but it was a lot more fun flying on the back of a Thestral than she’d thought it’d be. It reminded her of old times, hanging tightly onto Harry while riding shotty on a broom as they twisted and turned in an attempt to evade Death Eaters. She had loved the feeling of air rushing through her hair and the exhilaration of being so high in the sky. The danger that went with it had always been what drew her to the activity. And no one could deny that it hadn’t been dangerous; after all Harry had always flown like a crazy son of a bitch.

Faith turned to see Ron riding to her right. She knew that he loved to fly as much as she did, but at the moment he looked uneasy. The slayer was fairly certain his tenseness sprang from Hermione, who clung to his waist tightly and hid her eyes in the back of Ron‘s jumper. The redness that tinted his cheeks Faith doubted was caused by the cold air. With only six Thestrals, two had had to pair up. Faith couldn’t help but smile at the discomfort poor Ronnekins was undoubtedly feeling at the moment

Faith was beginning to realize that she could read gangly sixteen year old Ron like a poorly crafted children’s book. The kid was terrible at pretending he couldn’t see the Thestrals. He had groped around blindly and then made an awful attempt at climbing onto the creature like he was as dumbstruck as Hermione, Ginny and Neville. Ron was a lot of things, but an actor he was not. Faith was sure that she hadn’t been the only one who had noticed either. Hermione had given him a befuddled look as he’d flailed around with a face that was reminiscent of a soap opera star’s ‘surprised and shocked’ look. Thank God she hadn’t said anything at that moment. Ron was having a hard enough time trying to respond to all of Harry and Hermione’s questions. His lies seemed to get lamer by the minute and she was waiting for one of his best friends to call him out on it. Most people got better at lies over time, but Ron just seemed to defy the odds. He continued to be sucked deeper and deeper into the black hole of ridiculous and clearly phony untruths. So, he had lied about seeing the Thestrals, and he had done so very badly. Faith was certain his friends, who were more than fairly intelligent, could probably guess that he could see the creatures.

The ride took a good two hours before they finally neared the Ministry. As Faith slid off of the Thestral and stretched her stiff muscles, she noted how empty the Ministry and surrounding area looked. It was almost like the citizens of London knew that trouble was in the air. The night felt tense and the back of her mouth tasted stale and dry; only drunkards, tramps and thieves seemed brave enough to wander out into the darkness, and they loitered in close knit groups. She absently heard the others dismount as she continued to scout the streets, windows and alleyways.

“So, what exactly is our plan?” Hermione asked, rubbing her arms and shivering. “Just wander around the Department of Mysteries hoping that we’ll find Sirius? Because I don’t think that will exactly work.”

“We’re not going to wander around,” Harry replied sharply, then softened his tone. “I know exactly where we are going. I only dream about it practically every night.”

“You’re missing my point Harry,” she said in an exasperated voice. A shout came from a nearby pub and she flinched at the sudden sound. Hermione glanced briefly in the direction of the noise before turning back to him. “What we need is a plan. I don’t quite fancy walking into a Death Eater trap without having some sort of escape route.”

“The Department of Mysteries is huge and practically built like a maze,” Ron answered, his cheeks finally starting to lose some of their color. “Our best bet would be to hide and ambush. Taking them on in a direct fight would be dangerous.”

“Guerrilla warfare tactics,” Faith said with a nod of her head.

“What’s that?” Neville asked. He, like the rest of the students, gathered close to one another for privacy and warmth.

“Hide and ambush,” Faith stated. Neville furrowed his eyebrows before seeming to come to some sort of conclusion on the tactic. She thought it was favorable, but Neville was surprisingly not the easiest person to read.

“The Death Eater’s won’t attack us right away,” Ron put in. He seemed calmer now that they were in front of the Ministry. Faith could see him practically shift into soldier mode as he spoke. He stood straighter, lost the befuddled teenager look, and naturally drew everyone else’s eyes to him. “First they’ll try to bargain with Harry. We can take that opportunity to attack.”

“What do you mean bargain with Harry?” Ginny asked, her hair a copper colored hair looked like a bird’s nest from the wind. “How do you even know that?”

“That doesn’t matter,” Ron replied, his tone sounding like that of a lanky teenager who didn’t feel the need to explain himself or his actions. Especially not to his snot nosed little sister.

“I think it does matter, actually,” Ginny sneered back.

Ron watched Ginny and tapped his hand in a quick rhythm against his side. Faith was unsure what was going through his head, but she could guess. How much information did he need to divulge for his sister and everyone else to be satisfied?

“You-Know-Who has been trying to get Harry here all this year,” Ron answered. Ginny looked from Ron to Harry, clearly confused. Ron watched his sister’s reaction, and Faith could see the wheels turning. He looked at Harry, almost as if he was asking permission to tell Ginny, Luna and Neville why they were there. The information they had was severely limited. To save Sirius Black or/and fight Death Eaters… or something. But none of them knew how Harry had known anything about tonight. Harry didn’t respond to Ron’s look, but whatever Ron saw in Harry’s expression was enough for him to proceed. “Harry’s been getting images of what he’s been doing all fifth year. There’s a weapon hidden somewhere in the Department of Mysteries, and he’s been thinking about constantly. Somehow it relates to Harry we think. And if the Death Eaters want Harry to do something that will help You-Know-Who, they’ll try to bargain with Harry first.”

Ginny glared at Ron, clearly frustrated by his less then forthcoming answer. It was unclear to Faith what exactly Ginny wanted, and Faith watched curiously as the redheaded girl looked away and whispered something to Luna. It was too low for Faith to hear.

“Well, if we’re all going to attack at the same time then we need to plan it out or something,” Neville said.

“Neville’s right,” Hermione agreed in a no-nonsense tone of voice. “We need a code phrase or signal.”

“How ‘bout Harry telling the Death Eaters to go to hell?” Ron’s words ran out of his mouth in a rush that seemed unplanned. The slight redness to his ears confirmed Faith’s suspicions. Freckles not only was a bad liar, he obviously had no control over his mouth as well.

Faith snorted and Harry laughed with her. Some of the heavy tension seemed to dissipate and Faith saw both Ginny, Neville and Luna smile tightly.

“There’s no reason to be rude.” Hermione’s words bit into the night air sharply. Even in the midst of planning attack, she seemed to think that there was no room for vulgar language. Faith resisted the urge to shake her head at the curly haired persnickety girl. Who was worried about insulting someone they were planning on hurting anyway?

“I like it,” Harry grinned again. “Then we fire Reductos at their faces, grab Sirius and get back to the entry way as quick as possible.”

Hermione crossed her arms and glared at Ron and Harry, willing them to change their minds. She huffed and turned away after they watched her blankly.

“That should give us enough time until the Order arrives for back up,” Faith added, deciding to move things along as quickly as possible. The interactions between Harry, Ron, and Hermione were not quite the well-oiled machine that she remembered.

Harry scowled at her. “You don’t know that they’re coming. I couldn’t talk with McGonagall because she was at Mungo’s and Snape’s a waste of space. He just ignored me when I tried to tell him about Padfoot.”

“Well what did you expect him to do?” Hermione countered. “He couldn’t ruin his cover with Umbridge standing right there.”

“He could have at least given me some sort of sign that he understood,” Harry’s voice was hoarse with anger and frustration. “Sirius is dying and Snape doesn’t give a rat’s arse about it.”

Silence followed Harry’s statement, no one willing to contradict the harsh words. Out of the corner of Faith’s eye, she could see Neville look at Ginny imploringly. He, out of the loop, seemed to try and figure out what Harry was going on about. Ginny shrugged her shoulders in response and tugged her hand through her tangled hair. Neville opened his mouth and looked at Harry, but just as quickly shut it and turned his gaze away.

“We need to get a move on,” Faith said after a moment of awkward silence. “Um, how were you expecting to get into the building Harry?”

“Follow me,” Harry led the way through the telephone booth and into the main entry way. Faith tried her best to look nonchalant, but with every step she could feel her adrenalin rising. She was ready for this. Faith carefully pinned her shinny new name tag to the dark sweater under her cloak.

Lara Croft

Rescue Mission

She snorted at the silliness of it, but decided that the button was almost cool enough to save. Faith swore lightly as she pricked her finger, and wondered why wizards hadn’t thought up something magically awesome that could fix the pin without drawing blood.

The Ministry of Magic that Faith stepped into looked like nothing she had ever seen. Voldemort must have done some serious remolding on the place after he had taken over. And as terrible as it was, Faith almost preferred the Dark Lord’s decorating style. At least he had enough sense to take down the hideous statue in the entryway. Preferring the building dark, brooding, and heavily guarded probably said something about her ‘issues,’ but she couldn’t ever show respect to such an ugly style explosion.

Faith took off her cloak and poked at Ron who ambled next to her. The contact barely made him flinch. Instead, he just looked at her annoyed.

“What?” he asked, rubbing at his arm. Faith must have done it harder then she’d thought.

“Shrink this so I can put it in my pocket,” she wasn’t asking. “It’s just going to get in my way.”

Ron waved his wand and the cloak shrunk until it was the size of a dryer sheet. Faith noticed Harry watching the interaction between the two of them as he strolled past, wand out and eyes bright. She kept an eye on Harry’s back as she shoved the newly shrunk cloak into her back pocket.

Fuck, Faith hoped that this was going to work. Harry was certainly going out on a limb trusting her, and breaking that newly formed bond was something that Faith simply couldn’t afford to do. She wasn’t quite sure why he was doing it in the first place and was certain that he would only keep out of her business as much as he had to. As soon as they got back the questions would start again, and this time the urgency of the situation would not deter Harry. If tonight went badly, then any future conversations were going to be difficult and filled with blame and doubt. She wanted Harry to trust her; no she needed Harry to trust her.

Faith had made a promise that she would protect him and she was not going to fail. Not again. There were not a lot of people that Faith could say she felt anything resembling loyalty towards. In fact, she could probably count them on her fingers. But Harry was one of them, and while he might not return those feelings yet, she was planning on sticking by his side no matter what.

Hermione shuffled up from behind, her shorter legs struggling to match Harry’s determined gate. Her steps brought Faith out of her musings and back to the impending situation at hand.

“Is that a gun?” Hermione’s voice was halfway between shock and fear as she stared at the slayer. Faith glanced down at the shoulder harness and what it carried. She had nearly forgotten about it.

“Yep,” Faith had lost all qualms about using guns a long time ago. They were mighty useful when fighting wizards, and when loaded with the right kind of bullets- some demons too.

“Are you insane?” she shrieked back. “You might kill someone!”

“That’s the point. I want to be able to fire something back while they’re shooting killing curses at me from across the room,” Faith glared at Hermione. “Sorry kiddo, but childhood’s over. War’s coming, whether you’re ready or not.”

Hermione opened her mouth to say more but never got out any words. Instead, she studied Faith’s face, her brow furrowing in concentration. Her eyes examined Faith, but the slayer could see that Hermione was looking through her and not really at her. A few seconds later Hermione turned away and looked toward Harry. He was watching them carefully, though his eyes quickly darted away.

“Perhaps,” she replied, and continued walking. Faith smiled. There was a little bit of the bushy haired warrior that Faith remembered. Harry watched Hermione walk past him, seemingly surprised by her answer. He turned quickly in order to follow.

Faith hoped that Hermione thought a bit more about what Faith had said to her. As she followed Harry and Hermione, watching them whisper conspiratorially to each other, she was struck by how much younger they really were. It was strange, while Ron certainly looked different, he acted like the Ron she had known for so long. But Harry and Hermione were changed, they had that bright spot of naiveté that seemed to cloud most youth. It was dangerous. They needed to grow up, and fast. The war would only begin in a few short years and they were light years away from being prepared. How they had managed to survive the first time around was beyond Faith. Their training was weak and she was almost certain that that had been one of Harry’s strongest downfalls. Schoolyard spells were no where near enough to fight Death Eater’s with. How in the hell the Order or Dumbledore overlook that matter was beyond her. By the time the war had come, they‘d had no choice but to struggle through at less than their full potential.

“Can I have another firework?” Faith attempted to pull Ron out of his funk. He stared morosely at the ground in front of his feet and looked up sharply at the sound of her voice. She knew that he had been thinking the exact same thing she‘d been only moments ago. Faith and Ron had always been alike. His thought processes tended to follow the same channels as hers. It was useful at times and damn annoying at others.

“Here, take three,” Ron sighed, coming out of his thoughts and shoving them into her hands.

Faith smiled at his reaction. It was a typical Ron response. Faith had been known for her poor planning skills, especially when the planning had had anything to do with weaponry. It wasn’t her fault though. She had always brought the ones that she’d known she’d need and Ron had always brought loads of others. He’d tried to be prepared for every scenario. It wasn’t as if Faith had needed any more than what she’d brought, but she hadn’t been against trying out something new and cool that Ron had packed. And he’d always brought the sweetest stuff.

She shoved the firecrackers in her other back pocket as deeply as they’d go. They barely fit into the tight leather.

Ginny gave Faith a sideways glance as she quickly passed and tapped at Hermione‘s shoulder. There was definitely something on her mind and the girl was clearly unused to holding her tongue. At least she’d managed to tame the tangled mess that had sat on her head. Faith had heard stories about the spunky red headed sibling, but not many. Harry hadn’t liked to talk about her, his face would close up and he’d quickly find some excuse to exit the conversation. While Neville or Hermione would remember the girl fondly, they would always hush up when Ron or Harry came around. Hermione had hinted to Faith that Ginny’s death had changed Harry more then anyone else. Faith just wished that Ginny would say whatever it was that was on her mind instead glaring daggers at her. It wasn’t until they all crammed into the elevator that she finally spoke.

“So you’re the American, right?” she asked a bit forcefully, reminding Faith of Ron when he was in a foul temper.

“Um, what?” Faith replied, not quite sure what Ginny was going on about.

“The American that attacked me last month,” said Ginny. “You certainly look a bit different. So how’d you meet my brother anyway?”

“Ginny,” warned Ron, his voice low. “Not now.”

“Oh really Ron? Then when?”

The brother and sister glowered at each other. While Ron’s stare was definitely scarier than his sisters, she had the perfect ‘you may be older but I don‘t have to listen to you’ glare.

“Yeah, ah… sorry about,” Faith smiled. “I was sent to help your brother and Harry.”

Ginny’s look was skeptical, but Faith would have been worried if it wasn’t. She was just some American girl who had shown up and disappeared with the girl’s brother. She knew that only Harry and Hermione had been told that Ron had experienced visions. Ginny, on the other hand, had been handed one craptastic excuse after another. Ron had said in Hogsmeade that he had been avoiding his sister, that she was becoming a lot more forceful in demanding answers.

“From whom?” asked Ginny.

“The Powers That Be,” Faith smiled at the girl. Let her try to figure that one out.

Ginny looked confused a moment before saying, “You’re saying that God sent you here to help Harry?”

Her words were spoken scathingly, but Faith couldn’t help but laugh. It was loud and filled the crammed elevator. She jostled into Harry and Neville who were stuffed into the corner behind her. They eyed her annoyingly before turning away.

“Hey! You’re the one that said it,” Ginny hissed.

It was the strange girl Luna who answered.

“No, they’re not God,” Luna said with an understanding smile. “They’re higher level beings who help maintain the balance of the universe. They did not create the universe.”

Faith couldn’t put it any better, and she grinned at the girl as the elevator doors opened.

“We’re here,” Luna said, leaving a still smiling Faith and a frustrated Ginny behind her as she exited.

The hallway beyond the elevator was an inky black that felt cold and still. Faith had been there before. The first time that she’d broken into the Ministry had been to save Neville from certain death. Faith had barely recognized him. She’d practically had to carry him out over her shoulder and had heard later that he’d been unconscious for over a week.

Faith shook her head and followed Harry. Now was not the time to be thinking about the past. He led the way to a door that she had never passed through. Harry slowly opened it and stepped inside the connecting room. As Faith followed, she eyed the blue-flamed candles and the large shadows they cast on the walls of the circular room. Weird. The doors that ran all along the walls looked like exact copies of each other. Faith was used to creepy places in her line of work. There were only a few places on earth where Faith could literally feel the hair on the back of her neck rise – the Mayan ruins of Azzopl, and Sunnydale High School. The super creeper Department of Mysteries could officially now be added to that list.

Faith took a deep breath, fuck she was excited. She felt like she had been sitting around doing nothing for weeks. Faith had never been meant for a desk job, researching objects that might be Horcruxes had been like a drill to the skull. This is what she lived for. . . .the battle. Just the thought of it made her entire body flood with adrenaline. It made her skin tingled and she was tempted to check for bugs on her arms.

“Someone shut the door,” Harry said, his soft voice breaking the silence

Neville, who had walked through last, turned and closed the door behind him. As the door clicked shut, the room began to spin. It was like accidentally stepping into a carnival ride. The doors on the wall would have been blurry for normal humans, but Faith’s eyes could easily track the movements. Unfortunately, Faith hadn’t expected the walls to spin, and had been busy trying to control herself. Just thinking about the battle was enough for her to crave either of her favorite past times - killing demons and fucking -And right now neither were appropriate. Taking a deep breath, she made sure to let it out slowly.

“Where to now?” Hermione asked, her eyes moving over the doors warily.

Faith hadn’t even realized that the doors had stopped spinning. She ran her hands over her face, willing herself to get her head in the game. There were more important matters to concentrate on right now.

“Never mind that,” Neville muttered, apprehensively looking around. “How are we supposed to get out?”

“We’ll figure that out later. Right now we need to find Sirius,” Harry shrugged. “Sirius!”

The sound of his voice echoed throughout the room.

“Don’t yell his name Harry,” Hermione hushed with a pointed look. “Remember, it’s a trap and we’re supposed to be sneaking around.”

Harry looked annoyed at Hermione but refrained from yelling anymore. He glanced around at all of the doors.

“Where we going?” Faith asked Harry. Her sense of direction was useless in a place like this. Hell, she could barely focus in a place like this.

“I’m not sure, in my dreams I’ve always walked straight ahead purposefully,” Harry said.

They started checking rooms at random, going in just long enough to check things out. The first room they investigated had a tank full of brains that made Ron go very still. They swam around like jellyfish and were eerily pretty. Faith almost made a joke about a ‘school of brains,’ before deciding that it probably wasn’t appropriate. It took a moment for Faith to realize that these were the brains that had attacked Ron. The crisscrossing tentacle scars on his arms hadn’t faded as he’d gotten older. Harry and Hermione shot Ron worried glances, clearly seeing his uneasiness, before moving on. Hermione marked the door with a fiery X before they closed the door.

The second room they investigated looked like a large arena with an archway in the center pit. If Faith remembered what she had been told, this was the room where Sirius had died. Like many other subjects, Harry hadn’t talked much about the man. But she was able to gather that Harry had thought the world of his Godfather. Sirius sounded like someone after her own heart. Faith wonder if maybe this time around she would be able to meet the man. She glanced at Harry from the corner of her eye and watched the blood drain from his face. Hermione laid a hand on his shoulder.

“It’s not going to happen,” she whispered to him comfortingly.

Harry looked at it a moment longer before purposefully turning away, “Let’s go.”

This room was marked with an X as well.

The third room they tried was locked. Harry pulled out a switch blade from his pocket, when Ron told him to stop.

“It’s not this one mate,” he said. “Trust me. It‘ll just burn through the metal and I have a feeling we might need that knife in the future.”

They marked the door and turned to the next one.

Faith knew the moment the door opened that it was the correct room. Harry stiffened before rushing forward, he had recognized it instantly. Faith followed past a room full of clocks and hour glasses to the door at the far end. As they passed through the room, Faith felt a bitter bubble of laughter stick in her throat. Here Ron and Faith were, in a room dedicated to time- And they had managed to bend it to their will. Her eyes were drawn to the hummingbird that was hatching, maturing, dying and transforming once more into an egg. If something had gone wrong with the spell, could the two of them have been stuck in some sort of twisted life cycle? Jesus, that was a scary thought.

“This is it,” Harry muttered, drawing her eyes to him. Harry stood before a door, his hand tentatively resting on the handle. “It’s through here –”

Faith glanced around at the others as Harry opened the door. Ginny’s expression, which had been awe while staring at the hummingbird, changed the moment they walked into the hall. She wasn’t the only one who was looking uneasy, yet determined. Though how Luna managed to look uneasy, determined and dreamy Faith had no idea. The members of the D.A. carried their wands out in a ready position. It made Faith realize that she was doing a piss poor job with her own wand. While she was carrying it in her hand, she had pretty much forgotten that it was there. Faith briefly thought of pulling out the more practical weapon from her shoulder harness, but easily dismissed the idea. She couldn’t put all her cards out on the table yet.

Harry led the way and was closely followed by Ron and Hermione. Ginny, Luna, Neville followed close behind, and Faith took up the rear position.

What was the best way for Faith to handle this situation? Would it be better for her to hide amongst the stacks of orbs or stay with the group? Faith knew that she had a disadvantage with this fight. Slayers were meant to fight demons and monsters. Wizards were a different matter entirely. It was difficult to pummel a wizard into the ground when you couldn’t get close enough to knock their weapon away. If she were lucky enough to get the wand away from them, then the fighting was a piece of cake.

Faith had been lucky enough to fight them previously with a whole different arsenal of weapons. Unfortunately, those weapons hadn’t been developed yet and wouldn’t be for some time. Hell, she’d even had her own wand-gun thingy that had had two spell programmed into it – any two spell that she’d wanted! Oh, the combinations she’d tried! She’d also had a nifty shield charm that she’d been able to activate that had almost been like the real thing. To be quite honest, she felt almost a little exposed without them. The gun against her side felt inadequate and hopelessly outmatched.

Buffy had always been against guns, had said words and made faces that made her stance more than obvious. But for Faith, over the years she’d come to a realization, they were a practical solution. It was true that she liked her fights to be a hands on experience, enjoyed the thrill of a good old fashioned throw down, but she had never considered herself noble. Faith was not afraid to fight dirty. She also wasn’t afraid to use any weapon that she could get her hands on. She had one goal, and that was to win. Most wizards’ shields were for spells, not bullets. Bullets were small, fast and lethal. Wizards didn’t get guns, and she’d run across more than one wizard who had openly scoffed at the obsolete Muggle weapon. She’d been able to mow down tons of dark wizards who had simply been too stupid to correct their shields to prevent bullet penetration. Unfortunately, the one wizard whom she would have loved to end with a bullet, Lucius Malfoy, had been an exception to the rule. For a Muggle hating bastard, he had still known what a gun was. She had seen him sneer at the sight of them and had been easily able to deflect them. Fucker.

“He should be near here,” Harry said, swallowing tightly and looking around desperately. They had reached row ninety-seven while her mind had wandered and her skin tingled. “Anywhere here . . . really close.”

Harry glanced worriedly at Ron and then Faith. She knew exactly what he was thinking. If Sirius wasn’t here, then where was he? The confusion in Harry’s eyes was evident. Faith tried to hide the guilt that was creeping up from her stomach and settling thickly in her throat. She silently thanked whomever was listening that Harry didn’t know her well enough to recognize the avoiding eye contact for what it was.

“Harry,” Ron said, grabbing Harry’s attention. “Have you seen this?” Ron pointed at the prophecy which sat high up on a shelf, his hand lightly shaking. “It’s got your name on it.”

Harry walked over to where Ron stood, trying to get a closer look. Ron remained uncommonly quiet. He was fiddling with the bottom edge of his sweater, a tell tale sign that he was feeling guilty. Ron met her eyes and tried to smile, but only a weak imitation formed on his face. She knew exactly how he felt. Ron had just sealed Harry‘s fate.

Faith turned away and focused on the shelves upon shelves of orbs. Were the Death Eaters already hiding somewhere in the stacks? She couldn’t see or hear any Death Eaters moving around in the dark, and she knew that she had pretty damn good hearing. More likely they were cloaking themselves under notice-me-not spells. Fucking wizards and magic.

The only thing that she could sense in the darkness was that they were being watched.

“I don’t think you should touch it,” Hermione warned.

“Why not?” answered Harry. “It’s got my name on it.”

“I fucking hate those things,” Faith spoke, the words slipping out unintentionally.

“You know what it is?” Harry’s hand paused in mid air.

“Yeah, it’s a prophecy,” Faith replied, not bothering to look back. Instead she avoided eye contact and tried to focus on the Death Eaters that were watching them. Where the hell could they be? More than one Death Eater was hiding in the stacks, that she was sure of. They bided their time, silently waiting for Harry to arrive and retrieve the prophecy for their master.

“What?” Harry turned towards her and Faith gave into the urge to meet his gaze. His voice was laced with suspicion. Surprisingly, it was the first time tonight that she’d heard such a tone from Harry. Faith didn’t like hearing it either. “How do you know that?”

“Heard of this place,” she finally replied, deciding on half truths. “I think we’re in the Hall of Prophecies.”

“Ron, did you know about this?” Harry asked his voice still heavy with mistrust.

Ron didn‘t say anything but shook his head in confirmation. “It‘s about you, and Vol-Voldemort.”

Ron’s stutter of Voldemort’s name didn’t go unnoticed by Faith. But with the possibility that the Dark Lord’s name already had the Taboo on it, she was surprised that Ron was uttering it at all. Some things never changed.

“And you didn’t think that was important to mention before?”

Ron’s mouth moved but no words came out. He finally answered, “I didn’t know how to tell you. And I was a little preoccupied with Sirius.”

Harry nodded and turned back towards the shelf.

“Harry,” Faith said. “Before you grab that, I want to you to know that prophecies are never final.”

He stared at the shelf for a few moments, considering what Faith had said. Faith had a feeling that they would talk about it later. Actually, she had a feeling that they were going to talk about a lot of things later.

“Everyone get ready,” he whispered, obviously unsure what would happen once the prophecy left the shelf. The group tensed up as he grabbed the orb. He seemed to relax for a second when there wasn’t an instant explosion. Harry gave Hermione a small smile which quickly vanished as a voice came from their right.

“Very good Potter. Now turn around, nice and slowly and give that to me.”

Faith smiled at the drawling voice. She would recognize it anywhere. After all it was hard to forget the voice of the sick bastard known as Lucius Malfoy. And to think, she had just finished kicking his son’s ass and was now getting the opportunity to hand the father’s his as well.

Faith hoped that the group would stick to what they’d discussed earlier. Listen for Harry’s phrase and fire. Stick to guerilla warfare tactics – hide and ambush – that was the best way to beat those who were stronger and more skilled than they were. Not stronger or more skilled than Faith, but well, more than everybody else. Then again, Faith was at an unwelcome disadvantage too.

Lucius held out his hand as he walked closer, “The Prophesy, Mr. Potter.”

He looked almost exactly like she remembered him. The hair, face and practically porcelain skin hadn’t aged in ten years.

“Where’s Sirius?!” Harry yelled back, pulling the orb closer to him. The group moved in towards Harry, and Faith could see the whiteness of their knuckles as they clutched at their wands. Other gleaming masks were visible in the pale light. They moved closer from all directions and appeared from behind shelves in the distance. Faith wasn’t the only one to notice the others approach. Ron stiffened and poked Luna who stood to the left of him. He didn’t say anything to the blond, so Faith wasn’t sure if she got the message.

Before Faith could turn her attention to the others, another voice caught her attention.

“The Dark Lord always knows!” a female cackled from behind Lucius. Neville stiffened besides Faith; he seemed to recognize the voice as well. Bellatrix Lestrange, what a fucking psycho bitch.

“Always,” repeated Lucius serenely. “Now give me the prophecy, Potter.”

“Where’s Sirius?!” Harry screamed again.

“Where’s Sirius?!” echoed Bella in her baby voice that was worse than nails on a chalkboard. “Little baby Potter had a bad dream and needs his Godfather. Too bad that his Godfather is still sleeping safe and soundly in his own bed.”

“I know Sirius is here!” Harry tried one more time. The anger in his voice beginning to turn to desperation. Neville took a few steps forward in the direction of Lucius and Bellatrix, but Faith grabbed onto his wrist to stop him. She doubted that he would outright attack Bellatrix, but wouldn’t put money on it. The kid had been a pit bull when she’d known him. He shot Faith an angry look for interfering.

“Just wait,” Faith whispered. If her words were noticed by the Death Eaters, they were ignored. Neville focused his wand on the woman who looked as if she were falling apart at the seams, but made no move to attack.

“It’s about time that you realize the differences between your dreams and reality Potter,” Malfoy smirked. “Now, give me the prophecy or we will be forced to take it from you.”

Harry brought up his wand and a familiar look of determination entered his eyes. “I’d like to see you try.”

The rest of the D.A. followed his lead and brought up their wands as well. Not all of them were focused ahead either. While Malfoy and Harry were talking, they had fanned out into a circle, facing all four of the halls that converged there. Ron and Luna were facing the Death Eater at Harry’s back. Neville stood with Harry, still focused on Bellatrix. Hermione was standing to Harry’s right, looking back and forth from where she stood with Ginny to Malfoy and Harry. Faith stood to Harry’s left and easily covered her section independently. She held her wand out too, in her left hand though. Her right hand concealed a firecracker, which was much more useful than the toy wand.

Faith’s body drummed with excitement. The thrill of the battle that had been calling to her since she’d entered the Department of Mysteries was bubbling beneath her skin. Her senses focused ahead and her fingers tightened.

Bellatrix laughed. “Oh the little babies think that they can fight us!”

“Yes, well I fought your boss Voldemort and won, so I highly doubt that you’ll be much of a problem,” Harry responded with an arrogance she hadn’t seen him display yet. His eyes flickered to the aisle on his left.

Faith grinned at the first Death Eater in front of her. She could make out the masks of two more behind him. So, if every aisle had three Death Eaters in it, and there were four aisles converging on them - then she supposed that there would be a total of twelve Death Eaters. But honestly, Faith was shit with math so she hardly trusted her calculations. Of course, that was if all the Death Eaters were good little minions and ordered themselves up all nicely too. Not to mention that she was almost certain that there were more hiding amongst the other shelves incase the kids got away.

“How dare you!” Bellatrix shrieked, striding forward. Lucius stopped her progress with a raised hand.

“Calm down Bella,” Lucius replied silkily. He sounded like a patient babysitter chiding bad children. “Harry, you can hardly expect to fight all of us and win. Things would be much easier, not to mention healthier, if you just handed the prophecy over.”

“Why don’t you just go to hell?” Harry yelled, and the tension that had been building all night exploded.

Six voices cried “REDUCTO” only seconds later. Instead of standing there and watching them fire curses, Faith gave the nearest shelf a well placed kick and launched the fire cracker. She knew she was overdoing it a bit, but she was never one to hold back. The firecracker lit up the aisle and slammed into the center of the Death Eater in front of her. He screamed as his robes burst into flames. Brightly colored sparks crackled around him. Glass orbs rained down onto the marble floor. Harry hadn’t even needed to yell for everyone to run because everyone already knew. The goal was to make it back to the entry way.

Faith dashed down a hallway to her right. She could hear curses and the eerie voices of Seers echoing through the air. Faith wasn’t sure what directions the others had gone, but she was certain that Ron would see to their escape. She, on the other hand, had no plans to run away like the others. Hearing an unknown male voice behind her, she dove to the ground and reached into the smoke ball pouch on her belt. A red light soared above her head. As she leapt back onto her feet, she chucked one of the black balls at his face. It hit the Death Eater hard on his cheek, cracking and releasing smoke. Fumes engulfed the man and continued to spread outward until the dark blanket covered her as well. She took a step back and exited the wall of smoke, magic keeping it from spreading or dissipating. Faith willingly stepped back into the haze. It would be nice if it had zonked the guy out, but either way she would take advantage.

Faith didn’t need to see the Death Eater in the smoke to know where he was. Smashing into him, she tackled him to the ground. The skull mask was cold in her hands as she grabbed onto the top edge of it and forcefully slammed his head into the hard floor. The confrontation was over in seconds and the Death Eater lay still where she left him.

She quickly got to her feet and moved away from the scene. It didn’t look like anyone else had followed her. Most of the Death Eaters had probably went after Harry. Faith quietly made her way back to where Harry had picked up the prophecy. She jammed her wand into her braid and listened for other Death Eaters who could still be close by. From a few shelves over Malfoy yelled at the others to pursue the kids. She knew that Harry was the one that most of them would try to follow. And though that was eventually where she’d end up as well, she first wanted to take down Malfoy.

Faith silently moved forward. Lucius’ voice echoed in the halls, but for her it was easy to pinpoint his location. She stopped when there was only one standing shelf between the two of them. She crept closer and listened as Malfoy shouted at Bella. Bella’s footsteps scurried off, toward what she assumed was the far door. Listening carefully, waited for Malfoy to turn and follow after her.

Faith smiled and peeked around the last remaining shelf. Malfoy’s back was to her and his cloak hung from his shoulders in a dark veil. Despite the distracting cloak, Faith took aim at the man. Her hand was steady as she lined up her shot. Giles would probably be pissed if she killed Malfoy, but that was a consequence she was willing to deal with.

How Lucius knew she was there watching him would forever be a mystery to Faith. Maybe he was just a lucky bastard or had freaky bat like hearing? Either way, before she could get off a shot Lucius whirled around, perfect scowl in place. Faith fired anyway, but knew immediately that she was too late. She thought to try again, but didn’t have time to do much of anything before the shelf in front of her exploded in a shower of wood and glass.

Faith flung herself away and back, coughing at the heavy dust that rained down on her. Her shoulder hit the marble floor hard and her teeth clicked painfully together. Quickly jumping back to her feet, she managed to scramble behind another shelf.

“You think I didn’t notice that you were the only one to run in a different direction?” Lucius called. She remained still and let the man speak, listening to him approach the shelf she had just retreated from.

Faith remained silent and grinned at Lucius’ quiet curse. He had clearly expected to find her beneath the debris.

“Now, the only question is who you are?” he recovered quickly. “Not a student, that’s for sure.”

Faith still didn’t answer, creeping between shelves and trying to find a good spot to wait and ambush.

“An Order member maybe?” he continued. “But why would there only be one present? I thought that you tended to travel in packs. Like dogs.”

Faith paused at his voice. It sounded as if he had left the center hallway and moved deeper into the stacks. She shifted around another case, following the man’s drawl. Lucius continued to walk and she was certain from the sound of his voice that he was in the aisle she’d just left. Glass sporadically littered the floor and Faith had to plant her feet carefully to avoid it. Lucius walked loudly, his footsteps audible from the crunching glass he carelessly stepped on.

“Then there was that hideous Muggle weapon that you attacked me with. You must feel right at home with that Muggle-loving fool, Arthur Weasley.”

Faith leaned forward and tried to peer through some of the glass orbs. The glass balls however were thickly made, murky and tightly packed. Blurred images shown through them and Faith didn’t know if she was seeing a distorted reflection of herself or a miracle appearing of the Virgin Mary.

“Come out, come out wherever you are,” Lucius half sang, half mocked. His voice was getting closer by the second. “Or is the little girl afraid of the big bad wolf?”

Faith crouched down and sighted her gun through two of the orbs, waiting for the self proclaimed wolf to arrive. Well, this wolf was about to learn that Little Red Riding-hood didn’t need some neighbor to come and save her. A vague shape appeared on the other side of the glass. Faith smiled as Lucius walked across her path.

She pulled the trigger and heard Lucius curse in pain. Faith didn’t waste a moment; she put all of her weight against the shelf and pushed. With a crash it tumbled down on Malfoy. She covered her head with her arms as orbs crashed around her.

She stepped over the ruined shelf and picked her way over to Malfoy. Sprawled out on the ground, a small pool of blood puddled near his left thigh. It was hardly visible on the dark floor of the hall, but she could clearly smell the sharp scent that the red liquid produced.

Though she thought him down for the count, Lucius rolled quickly to his right and leveled his wand at her. He shot a red spell and she barely had enough time to dodge out of the way. Her knees scrapped against the floor as she crouched low and balanced on her hands. Glass dug into the soft flesh of her fingers and palms. The spell had missed her shoulder by inches.

Jumping back onto her feet, she brought up her gun. She aimed for his chest and fired, only to see a small hole appear in the floor two feet to the left of the Death Eater. Faith knew damn well that her aim wasn't that bad, the bastard must have placed a deflection spell on himself after the shot to his leg. Damn it, she wished he couldn’t do that. Faith followed in after the bullet, hoping to catch the blond by surprise. She wanted to pound his pretty face into the floor, a plan that had been highly successful with the last Death Eater she’d ran across.

She came at him fast but he was ready for her and sent her flying through the air with a flick of his wand. Faith crashed into another shelf full of prophecies. The orbs burned her skin as she collided with them, and she hissed and struggled to get up. Soft voices filled the air; Faith ignored them. Shaking slightly, she felt the glass pieces that hadn’t penetrated slid from her frame and land noisily on the ground. Faith tried to disregard all of the pieces that had remained.

Malfoy had already managed to move himself up and off the floor. Faith could only guess that he was behind one of the stacks, taking care of the bullet that was now imbedded in his flesh. Faith had a suspicion that he’d had to deal with them before. She hoped that it hurt like a son of a bitch.

“Where’d ya go pretty boy?” Faith called. She listened for an answer but he remained quiet. Faith moved closer to the last spot she had seen Malfoy.

From the corner of her eye she could see green light approaching fast. She dropped to the ground just as the killing curse zoomed over her head. The curse had come from her right, and she moved over as another curse, this one a deep purple, followed. Faith fired a firecracker in the direction of the purple light and heard a shout as the firecracker erupted. Whatever shield he had conjured had not been enough to hold off the Weasley’s creation.

Faith charged in the direction that she‘d heard him. Malfoy tried to struggle to his knees, his perfect looks finally marred with dirt and blood, but she intercepted him before he even noticed that she had moved. She grabbed his wand arm and flung him into a shelf as hard as she could. His wand was pointed up and a spell fired wildly into the air. Faith had to let go of his arm to avoid being hit in the face. The yellow light created sparks that lit up the hall and turned Lucius’ pale skin a sickly color. He recovered fast and fired off another spell.

A sharp pain went through her left shoulder. She had gotten pretty good at recognizing spells by color and the type of pain they caused, but this time she had no luck. Whatever it was, it hurt like hell. Her shoulder crackled and burned, the muscles and bones grinding into one another. Faith only hoped that whatever it was didn’t spread anywhere else. Gritting her teeth, pain rocked through her arm as she tested its movement. Malfoy glared at her and brought a hand to the blood that was now flowing from his cheek.

Faith really wished that she had a better weapon. She never ran from a fight, and she sure as hell wasn’t going to start now, but she had to admit that she was sick and tired of rolling through glass.

“Such a crude, Muggle weapon,” he sneered.

Faith braced herself and waited for his next attack. Her eyes moved from his wand to his face, looking for any signs of movement. Light began to collect in the space around Malfoy, and Faith backed away quickly.

A second later hundreds of shards of glass shot forward. There was no where to dodge, no shelves that she could hide behind. She lowered her head and brought up her hands in an attempt to shield her face. Faith could feel the burn of thousands of tiny shards as they cut through cloth and skin. The impact knocked her back and she rolled as she hit the floor. She wasn’t able to hang on to the gun, and it skidded across the room and underneath a shelf. Lucius was above her in seconds.

“Crucio,” he hissed.

Faith withered in pain. Malfoy knew what he was doing. He knew how to control the spell and how to maximize the pain. Her nerves burned and she could think of nothing else except the agony. Even after he released the spell, she could still feel the lingering effects.

Her slayer healing was fast, but not nearly fast enough to jump up and give him the face-breaking punch that he was practically begging for.

“Stupid little girl,” he whispered, now only inches from her. The blood on his cheek stood out sharply as it dripped down his porcelain face. “Crucio.”

Pain engulfed her again.

“I might not know who you are,” he said, releasing the spell. His breath was hot on her cheek. Faith’s right hand searched over the rubble on the ground around her. What she needed was a large shard of glass to put into the fucker’s head. Her hand wrapped around one of the orbs still intact. “But you need to be taught a lesson.”

Before he could utter the curse again, Faith hit the side of his head with a satisfying crunch. He slumped over. She hoped that he was dead.

“– her own kind to save us all,” the shadowy figure from the smashed orb finished whispering. Faith paused and looked down at the glass remains that lay in her bloody palm. She let them fall to the floor.

She shoved Lucius off of her and pushed herself up and onto her knees. Looking over her damaged body, she stopped to take stock of just how badly she was hurt. The small cuts that covering her would probably heal within the hour she guessed. The process though would be a hell of a lot less painful if Faith was able to get glass out before her body started closing itself up. Hopefully, Ron would be able to help her out with that later because there was no way that she would be able to find every shard on her own.

Frowning, she stood and looked around at the mess she’d made. The glass ball she had hit Malfoy with lay shattered along with all of the others. She looked over to the side at one of the few shelves that still remained standing. In-between the spheres on the shelf was an open space. With a jolt to her stomach she realized that she had hit Malfoy with that orb, that she had grabbed it and felt no burning. No pain at all.

Her stomach dropped and she resisted the urge to stomp her feet.

Just fucking great. She had managed to smash the one prophecy about her.

Fuck, fuck, fuck!!

And there was nothing that she could do about it now.

Absolutely fucking nothing!

A small card lay next to Malfoy, the script written in a heavy cursive. She picked it up.

R.P.G. to J.A.G.

Buffy Summers (?) or Faith Lehane (?)

and Apocalypse

She frowned and shoved the card into her pocket - nothing like a prophecy to ruin a person’s day. And one about her and the apocalypse? Just super.

From beside her, Malfoy let out a groan. Faith kicked him on the left side of his head, hard. There was a sickeningly snap as the right side of his face collided with the floor. Blood began to pool out underneath his pale skin. Faith couldn’t help the smile that spread across her face.
Faith stepped over the body, careful to not get any blood on her shoes, and hurried towards the door. She paused a moment to look for her gun but it was no where in sight. It had been lost somewhere in between the rubble and the shelves. There was always a chance of course that a wizard could link it to her, but she would have to cross that bridge when she got to it. At the moment, she didn’t have the time to crawl around and search for it. She needed to catch up with the others.

The time room was a complete mess. It was almost in as much disarray as the Hall of Prophecies. Faith quickly realized that she wasn’t alone in the room, but the Death Eater was clearly in no position to notice her. Hell, he was probably one of the reasons that the room was in such chaos. The Death Eater bashed his head into various walls and flung furniture around. Upon closer examination she realized that there was something wrong with his head. Instead of being fully grown of a man, it was the head of an infant. Faith wasn’t sure how that had happened and wasn’t sure if she wanted to find out.

She heard more noise to her left and noticed an open door. She sprinted in that direction.

“HERMIONE!” Harry’s voice was an urgent shout.

Faith could see the back of a Death Eater as she approached the doorway. She took great care not to alert him to her presence as she looked around him and into the room beyond. Further in the room were Harry, Neville and an unconscious Hermione. Harry caught her eye. He seemed only momentarily surprised, probably not recognizing her at first. Faith crept up behind the Death Eater and smashed her fist into the back of his skull. There was crack and he slumped to the ground, unconscious, maybe dead, whatever. Faith didn’t really give a fuck. She stepped over his body and into the room.

“You okay?” she asked Harry. He was eying her up and down, probably taking notice of the semi-ripped state of her clothing and the blood that covered her.

“Hermione’s been hit,” Harry finally said, and Faith watched his hand wander over the girl’s neck, searching for a pulse.

Neville crawled out from beneath the desk he had been hiding under. There was blood pouring out from his nose. Faith was certain that it was broken. He grabbed her wrist and felt around for a pulse.

“Dat’s a pulse, Harry, I’b sure id is,” Neville said, his condition obviously obstructing normal speech patterns.

“We need to find the others and get out of here,” Harry whispered. “We’re not far from the circular room and the exit. I’m sure that we can get there before anymore Death Eaters come through . . . take Hermione and get some help, raise the alarm. Lara and I will find the others.” He turned to Faith and asked. “You’re sure that the Order members will be here?”

Faith nodded.

“I’m not leabing you two,” Neville replied, not even trying to stem the blood flow.

“But Hermione –”

“We’ll take her widb us,” Neville said. He grabbed Hermione’s arms and tried to swing her over his shoulder. Harry sighed and helped lift her up. Neville started towards the door, but Harry stopped him.

“Here, you better take this,” he said, handing to Neville what Faith guessed was Hermione’s wand.

“My gran’s going do kill be,” Neville said miserably, kicking his broken wand out of the way, “dat was by dad’s old wand.”

“You’ll be alright carrying her?” Faith asked, peering in the time room at the man-baby who was busy making a fuss in the far corner. She could carry Hermione if need be, but that would not really help her in a fight. Besides, Faith was certain that she would have to take out a few more Death Eaters before the night was through.

“Yeah, I’ll be fine,” Neville replied.

“He’ll never notice us,” Faith said. “Let’s go.”

Faith led the way to the circular room. Once they were out of the time room, the door slammed shut behind them. This time though, the room decided not to spin.

“Where to now?” Faith asked, looking around. The X’s that Hermione had made earlier had disappeared. She frowned at all of the doors that looked the same.

Harry opened his mouth to reply, but before he could, three people came out of the doorway to their right. Faith tensed as she swung around to confront them. She relaxed as Ron, Ginny and Luna came sprawling out into the hallway.

Ron was limping. There was a dark substance covering his left thigh. Ginny had an arm wrapped around Luna’s waist. She was heavily leaning on her left foot. Out of the three of them Luna was the only one who appeared uninjured.

“Ron,” Harry said, rushing over to them. “Ginny – are you guys alright?”

“A little worse for wear but fine,” Ron replied. He smiled at them, then faltered when he caught sight of Hermione draped over Neville’s shoulder. Ron hobbled over to where they were standing; his face had gotten very pale.

“Is she –” he asked.

“She’s fine,” Faith replied, “for now at least.”

Ron let out a breath that he probably hadn’t known he’d been holding.

“I think my ankle’s broken,” Ginny said. Harry was helping her stand up and the two of them were more than a little unsteady. The red head opened her mouth to say something else but never got the words out.

“There they are!” Bellatrix Lestrange yelled as she sprang out from a doorway across the room. She was followed by two others.

Harry charged through the door nearest to him, practically dragging Ginny with him. Faith grabbed the last firecracker that Ron had given her and fired. One of the Death Eaters dodged and she caught the faint light around Bella that signaled a shield. Hers had been stronger than Lucius’ and stayed firm against the onslaught. The Death Eater who had stood at her left shoulder was not so lucky. Instead, he got the brunt of the explosion, flames licking up his robes and mask. He shouted and frantically patted at them.

Faith followed the others through the door and slammed it shut.

“Colloportus!” Harry yelled as Faith scrambled further into the room. The door locked behind her. He was just in time too. There was a loud thud as someone on the other side of the doorway ran into it.

Looking at the new surroundings, Faith realized that they had re-entered the brain room. She glanced warily at the tank. It was almost as if pink mushy things had perked up at their arrival. They practically peered out of the glass at the group. Faith turned away and pressed her lips together. It was quickly becoming apparent that the brain room was not a very good place to be. Not only were there creepy brains, but there were dozens of doors lining the walls. By the footsteps that echoed outside, Faith had a feeling that the Death Eaters knew the layout of the Department of Mysteries much better then they did.

“WE’VE GOT THEM!” shouted a man’s voice on the other side of one of the doorways. “THEY’RE HERE!”

“Help me!” Harry ordered, sealing doors around the room. Ron kicked over a table and yelled at Neville to put Hermione behind it. Neville did as Ron asked before joining in with the others. While the DA went about locking doors, Faith took a moment to look for a weapon. Unfortunately, besides tables, chairs and brains – the room was rather empty.

Luna’s cry alerted them that the Death Eaters had gotten through. Her body flew across the room and collided with a nearby desk. She didn’t move, and Faith turned just in time to see the door Luna had been sealing blow off its hinges. Bellatrix stood with her wand ready in the open frame.

“Get Potter!” Bella shrieked, running through the open door towards Harry. She was followed by at least four other Death Eaters, and Faith could hear others running through the halls and getting closer.

Harry sprinted in the direction of the back of the room, clutching the prophecy to his chest. Bellatrix darted in the direction that Harry was headed. Faith followed, hoping to intercept the woman before she even got close. Ron took action first; a yellow spell shot out of his wand. With a flick of her wrist Bella sent the oncoming spell into the ceiling. Before Ron could fire again, Faith had reached Bella. She grabbed the Death Eater by the back of her robes and yanked. Bella was ungracefully hefted off her feet and flung across the room. She crashed into one of the brain tanks.

A series of spider web thin cracks blossomed across the glass.

The tank fragilely remained whole. One of the brains rammed into the tank, and Bellatrix scrambled out of the way. Its tentacles stuck to the glass.

Ron pointed his wand at the tank, and a brain rose out of the water. He flung it at the nearest Death Eater, who had been busy firing spells at Ginny. She was crouched behind a shelf and exchanged fire with the masked man. The brain smashed into his back, its tentacles wrapping around the human as it made contact. The Death Eater jerked around wildly, unable to reach the brain attached to him. None of his comrades made a move to help.

While most of the room stopped to watch the man scream and thrash, one of the other Death Eaters took the opportunity to fire a jet of purple light at Harry. Harry, who had been watching the flailing man in mute horror, failed to notice the incoming curse. A shield sprang to life - and Faith glanced at Ginny. Wand raised, she looked both determined and mad as hell. She might have been unable to walk, but the girl was still one tough cookie.

Harry snapped back to attention as the shield winked out of existence, Ginny had crumpled to the floor.

Bellatrix grinned from across the room and fired a spell this time at Harry. Harry dodged out of the way and raised his own wand in defense.

Neville stood across the room with Ron, his broken nose clearly causing problems with his spell work. The blood loss and trauma seemed to be finally catching up with the boy. But with what Neville was lacking, Ron was making up for it and adding a whole lot more. His bloodied leg barely slowed him down. He was giving one of the Death Eaters a run for their money, while forcing another one to take cover behind a table.

From out of one of the unsealed doors another Death Eater emerged, barreling straight towards Harry. His robes were singed making Faith believe that he was one of the two who took a firework to the face. Harry was busy trying to fend off Bella’s spell work, struggling to keep himself unhurt.

Faith launched herself at the new Death Eater before he could get a shot off at Harry.

She collided with him, making the spell he’d been in the middle of casting go wild. Chunks of ceiling rained down from where the spell had hit a few feet in front of them. Faith raised her fist, intending to smash it into the Death Eater’s face, but saw a red light out of the corner of her eye and rolled away instead. She jumped to her feet, intent on regaining her footing, when a second spell collided with her. Whatever she was hit with hurt. The room whirled around her as she was suddenly air born, and the door she smashed into crumpled beneath her.

She skidded through one of the many doors and into a shelf that lay further into the new room. Pieces of wood and artifacts rained down on her.

Fuck that had not felt good.

Faith had a feeling that she had taken a Reducto curse to her chest. Thank God she was a slayer. She propped herself up on her elbows and felt a deep burn in her chest and sides. Yep, she had definitely broken a few ribs. The hit hadn’t done anything great for her shoulder either. Not to mention that it hadn’t helped the parts of her back that were still full of glass. Whatever healing that had begun had been undone. Bringing her hand up to her shoulder, she lightly probed the wound. Yep, it was bleeding again. Awesome.

The room she found herself in was unlit, and she could just make out walls covered in shelves, various objects piled on them. Groaning, she tried to sit up further. Faith halted as her ribs gave protest and her chest ached.

A shadow blocked the battered doorway.

Fuck, she had really hoped to give her healing ribs another minute before jumping back into the fight.

Faith scrambled back as quickly as she could, and ducked behind a shelf.

The Death Eater’s wand lit, causing the room to be flooded in pale light. Faith peaked between two of the racks. Her view was a partially obstructed by what looked like a green horseshoe sitting next to two glass balls with a milky substance swirling around inside. Weird. The Death Eater muttered something to himself and walked further into the room. He must have been upset that she wasn’t down for the count. Faith quietly grabbed one of the objects off of the shelf. It looked like a pole or a baton and was about two and a half feet tall with a diameter of about an inch. Her hand itched for something that she could use for a weapon, and this looked as good as anything else.

Crouching by the shelf, she waited for him to walk past her.

Moments later a shoe appeared in her vision. She swung at the ankles that she knew would be attached to the foot. The Death Eater tumbled forward - ankles surely broken by the force of the hit.

Faith got her ass in gear and hopped onto her feet. Her movements were slower than usual, despite the new wave of adrenalin rushed through her body. The Death Eater rolled onto his back and wasted no time in trying to fire a spell at her. This time she recognized the sharp green of the killing curse. She swiftly moved out of the way and charged the hopeless lackey. Faith brought her new weapon down onto the Death Eater’s face, and it made a horrible crunch as it smashed into the white mask an blood seeped out – oops, she might have hit him a little too hard.

Faith smiled at the rod in her hand and headed back to the brain room. It looked like her new found weapon was going to be useful.

Harry, Ron and Neville were no longer in the room. Luna, Ginny and Hermione were all lying unconscious. Faith knew that it must have been hard for Ron to leave Hermione and Ginny behind, but they both knew that Harry came first. There was no future without Harry. There were two unconscious Death Eaters strewn across the room as well, and Faith was a bit surprised that the kids had gotten so many. The only movement in the room was a third Death Eater twitching underneath the brain’s tentacles.

There were plenty of doors that they might have gone through, but Faith knew exactly where they would end up. In the room with the veil. Faith mentally counted at least eight Death Eaters down over the course of the night. That left for sure four others - and that was if they were lucky. Most likely there were more of the bastards roaming around somewhere. Unfortunately, she had no way of knowing just how many were in the veil room with Harry and Ron.

Faith found the room quickly, but knew that charging in was a terrible idea. She approached quietly and ducked low to the ground.

Harry and Ron were in the middle of the room, directly in front of the veil. Faith pulled her eyes away from the seemingly innocent object. She couldn’t worry about the veil yet. Eight Death Eaters stood in a circle on the steps leading down to the center arena. Bella stood close to Harry and Ron with her back to Faith. She had Neville at wand point.

“Stay right where you are girlie,” one of the Death Eaters growled out from across the room. Shit, Faith had hoped no one would notice her entrance. “Or the pudgy one gets it.”

Bella turned her head Faith’s way and Ron sprang forward.

He yanked hard at Neville, who was wrenched out from Bella’s arms. Bellatrix quickly turned back around. Her hair had fallen over one eye and had somehow managed to become even more messy. It looked as if she’d stuck a finger into an electrical socket.

“Get them!” she yelled as she fired a killing curse at Neville. It missed him by inches. Ron fired a blue curse back at Bella. She disappeared in a crack and reappeared on the other side of the stadium. Fucking Apparition.

More cracks from people Apparating in made Faith snap to attention. Order members - ones she recognized and some that she didn’t - materialized throughout the room. Faith sprinted down the stair well with her new weapon in hand, wanting to get back into the action. She knew that those Apparating weren’t foes, and could place her concentration elsewhere. Her intended target was a Death Eater only thirty or so feet further down the stairs. He fired spells at Harry, Ron and Neville, who dodged and cast shields. Neville had taken partial shelter on the side of the veil.

Bella had already gotten back into the fray and had started fighting an Order member with brightly colored hair.

There was another crack and a wizard appeared on the other side of Faith’s intended target. The Death Eater raised his wand to the back of the unknown Order member, and Faith would bet anything that there was a smile on the Death Eater’s face. Before he could fire off a spell at the man, Faith used her momentum to topple the bad guy over. She swung her new rod at his chest. There was a crunch as the rod smashed into his ribs and the Death Eater passed out.

Hearing the noise, the Order member in front of her turned. He had a surprised look on his face and Faith struggled with her memory. Had she once known him? No, she had never met the man. For a moment Faith thought he was going to fire a spell at her, but his eyes darted over the now incapacitated Death Eater. She smiled at him. He raised an eyebrow and smiled back.

Fuck, he was cute for an old guy.

“Ron!” Harry’s voice echoed out from the center of the pit. Faith’s head whipped around at the hoarse shout. She wasn’t sure what she expected to see, but felt her heart stutter at the view. Ron had collapsed onto the floor and Neville hovered nervously by his side. Harry stood out in front of them, hurdling curses at a Death Eater through clenched teeth. Fear rose up in her chest and she rushed down the steps.

Ron had to be alright. He needed to be alright.

She couldn’t do this alone.

She leapt from stair to stair, faster and more gracefully than should have been possible. From behind her, she could hear someone following and making a hell of a lot more noise than she was. As she reached the final step, she glanced over her should to see that it was the cutie from before.

Faith turned back to Ron and slowed her movements as she got closer.

Neville moved over as she came to a stop next to Ron’s body. He desperately tried to fire curses back at a different Death Eater, but was having a hard time of it. Between Hermione’s wand and his broken nose, he seemed to get one spell out of four to actually work.

Faith leaned in close to the unconscious red head, but couldn’t see any new wounds on his body. Dropping the pole, she pressed her fingers to his neck. A faint pulse thumped under her fingers.

Thank God.

Ron was still alive.

Looking up, she felt relieved to see that the man had taken over Neville’s fight with the Death Eater and seemed to be doing a much better job at it. Neville watched her.

“Is he okay?” he asked. “He sabed my life.”

“Alive,” Faith replied, brushing her hands on her legs and getting to her feet. “Keep him safe, okay?”

Neville nodded.

The request might as well be pointless. Neville was hardly in any shape to fight. However, Faith felt better knowing that someone was looking out for Ron when she couldn‘t be.

“You need to get out of here now!” Harry half-shouted, half-pleaded with the man who now stood next to him.

The man barked out a laugh in return.

“Harry,” he replied. “Shouldn’t that be my line as I am older and your Godfather? I should be the one insisting that you should get to safety.”

So, this was Harry’s Godfather Sirius. No one had told her that he was so fucking hot.

Harry fired a spell from his wand at a Death Eater before turning back to Sirius.

“No! It’s not safe, you need to leave!” Harry sounded almost panicked. “You need go now!”

Sirius turned away from the crazy bitch he’d been exchanging curses with and frowned.

It happened almost instantly.

Bella shot a curse straight for Sirius.

Faith dashed forward, making her legs move as fast as they could. She barreled into the man and they both landed hard on the stone floor. Fragments of glass, on her chest this time, dug deeper into her skin. Faith sprawled out on his back, taking a second to catch her breath. Harry turned, horror written on his face. He fired at Bella, who had already shrunk back into the shadows.

“Sirius!” Harry called, running the few feet to where Sirius was still sprawled out under Faith.

Faith rolled off of him and to her feet.

“That’s the second time tonight that you’ve saved me,” he smiled, still sprawled on the ground.

She grinned back. Faith offered her hand to him and he grabbed it, jumping back up onto his feet.

“Harry?” Sirius asked, looking his godson in the eyes. “What are you still doing here? Take Neville and the prophecy and run.”

“Not without you!” Harry replied, this time literally reaching out as if to grab him. “Please!”

Faith took a moment to look at Ron. She didn’t want to leave him, but it seemed that now that he was down, the Death Eaters weren’t paying him much attention. She took a deep breath and assured herself that he would be fine. They had made a pact before that Harry came first. And Harry wasn’t going to leave without Sirius, that much clear.

Curses were still being shot all around them, but now that the Order had arrived, the odds where looking better for the good guys. It was time to leave. Bending down, Faith quickly snatched back up her weapon. She wished that Ron was still awake. He knew better than she what was supposed to be accomplished tonight. Faith tried to mentally tick off all their goals in her head. Harry needed to know about the prophecy. . . .check. Death Eaters out in the open. . . .check. Sirius saved. . . .check. So why was she feeling like she was missing a few things?

Faith grabbed Sirius’ arm and pulled him in the direction of the exit.

“We’ll cover them from behind while they make their escape,” she said to the man. “Harry, go. We’ll follow.”

Harry looked at her and nodded, handing the life of his Godfather over to her.

They ran as fast as they could manage up the stairs, dodging stray spells and rubble. Harry led the way, clutching the prophecy to his chest and glancing over his shoulder to Sirius whenever he was able. Neville followed clumsily behind him, no where near as nimble as Harry.

“I’ve always liked a girl who knew what she wanted,” Sirius said as he was pulled along. As serious as the situation was, Faith felt a grin tug at her mouth. God, no wonder Harry had loved his Godfather so much. The guy was hot and had a kicking sense of humor. Once she was sure he wouldn’t argue with their plan, she let go of his arm.

They stumbled further up the steps, and Faith could see a doorway ahead of them.

“Dumbledore!” Neville shouted suddenly, pointing out the elderly wizard who had just seemed to appear on the scene. The great wizard had Apparated in on the other side of the room. He stood in the brain doorway that Faith had vacated only moments before. This was Faith’s second time ever seeing the man and he commanded every eye in the room. The Death Eater nearest to the Headmaster even tried to run away, but made it only a few steps. Dumbledore hardly even waved his wand before the man slumped unconscious.

Someone yelled right next to her and Faith turned just in time to see Neville collide into Harry. Both of them went crashing into the steps, Harry twisting beneath Neville‘s dead weight. The prophecy came loose and smashed.

Harry struggled to get back to his feet, but Neville remained still on the concrete steps. Even from where Faith was standing she could see the blood begin to saturate Neville’s gray sweater. In seconds it had started to dribble onto the ground around him.

It looked bad.

“What the hell?” Faith yelled to no one in particular. She dropped to her knees and pulled up the boy’s shirt.

Oh yeah, it was definitely bad. His side looked like it had lost a fight with a meat grinder. Chunks of flesh were missing and Faith was pretty sure she could see some bits of bone.

“He was hit with something. . . . Dark purple, but I don’t know what it was,” Harry answered.

“Shit,” Sirius muttered from above. He hovered at her shoulder. “He needs to get to the hospital wing, now.”

She reached into her pocked and pulled out her shrunken cloak.

“Unshrink it!” she yelled, tossing it to Harry. The boy looked up from his hurt friend and caught the small bit of cloth.

He waved his wand and threw the full size cloak back at her.

Faith quickly tore a strip off of the bottom and wadded it up, putting pressure against Neville’s side. She felt as if she were trying to heal a bullet wound with a band aid.

“He’s in no shape to Apparate,” Sirius said, his voice low and solemn. “But we can use the Floo in the entry way.”

Faith nodded, tearing off another long strip. Fashioning a makeshift bandage, she hefted Neville over her unhurt shoulder in a fireman’s carry. She wasn’t sure if it would strain his wound or not, but the kid had to be moved, and quickly. The scene felt eerily similar as she took a few steps forward. She crossed her fingers that Neville’s luck would hold out again.

“Let’s go,” she said, balancing Neville and carrying her weapon with the same hand. She almost left it behind, but better safe then sorry.

Harry led the way and Sirius pulled up the rear.

The journey back through the department flew by. The correct doors seemed to appear as if they‘d been listening to Harry, and they hustled through the rooms quickly and without incident. It was eerily quiet, and their heavy breathing and footsteps were like the clangs of a bell.

Faith rushed out of the elevators first, heading in the direction of the Floo fireplaces. Having passed them on the way in, she hurried to get to them. Every minute counted. In the elevator her back had started to feel warm and wet. She knew that the large amount of blood was not coming from her. They were running out of time.

Placing Neville in the fireplace as gently as she could, she turned to look for the Floo powder. Neville lay pale and unmoving where she’d placed him. Sirius and Harry trailed behind her, coming up quickly. The fireplace mantel was bare, and she resisted the urge to pull out her hair. Shit, where the fuck was the powder?

Sirius must have noticed her dilemma, because he reached around the front desk and grabbed a silver jar. Figures that they would have it someplace ‘secure’ and not where it was the most convenient. He ran over with the Floo powder in hand.

“Let me,” Sirius said, sliding to a halt. “The hospital wing Floo network is password activated.”

Sirius flung the powder into the fireplace. The green flames rose in a cool wave. Faith stepped back and away, giving him room. Harry came up from behind to stand next to her. His breath came out in almost frantic pants.

“Hogwarts, Infirmary,” Sirius stated clearly. “Gillyweed.”

Sirius pulled his head out, leaving Neville alone in the fireplace. As he disappeared, Faith breathed a sigh of relief. She could hear Harry behind her, could feel the relief that was practically rolling off of him in waves. Maybe-

“Avada Kedavra!”

The green light struck Sirius and his body crumpled.