Black shapes were emerging out of thin air all around them, blocking their way left and right; eyes glinted through slits in hoods, a dozen lit wand tips were pointing directly at their hearts. Ginny gave a gasp of horror.

"To me, Potter," repeated the drawling voice of Lucius Malfoy as he held out his hand, palm up.

Erin felt herself getting sick. They were trapped and outnumbered.

"To me," said Malfoy yet again.

"Where's Sirius?" Harry said.

Several of the Death Eaters laughed. A harsh female voice from the midst of the shadowy figures to Harry's left said triumphantly, "The Dark Lord always knows!"

"Always," echoed Malfoy softly. "Now, give me the prophecy, Potter."

"I want to know where Sirius is!"

"I want to know where Sirius is!" mimicked the woman to his left.

"You've got him," said Harry. "He's here. I know he is."

"The little baby woke up fwightened and fort what it dweamed was twoo," said the woman in a horrible, mock-baby voice.

"Don't do anything," he muttered. "Not yet -"

The woman who had mimicked him let out a raucous scream of laughter. "You hear him? You hear him? Giving instructions to the other children as though he thinks of fighting us!"

"Oh, you don't know Potter as I do, Bellatrix," said Malfoy softly. "He has a great weakness for heroics; the Dark Lord understands this about him. Now give me the prophecy, Potter."

"I know Sirius is here. I know you've got him!"

More of the Death Eaters laughed, though the woman still laughed loudest of all.

"It's time you learned the difference between life and dreams, Potter," said Malfoy. "Now give me the prophecy, or we start using wands."

"Go on, then," said Harry, raising his own wand to chest height. As he did so, the six wands of Ron, Hermione, Erin, Neville, Ginny, and Luna rose on either side of him.

But the Death Eaters did not strike.

"Hand over the prophecy and no one need get hurt," said Malfoy coolly.

It was Harry's turn to laugh.

"Yeah, right!" he said. "I give you this - prophecy, is it? And you'll just let us skip off home, will you?"

The woman yelled, "Accio Proph -"

Harry was just ready for her. He shouted "Protego!" before she had finished her spell, and though the glass sphere slipped to the tips of his fingers he managed to cling on to it.

"Oh, he knows how to play, little bitty baby Potter," she said, her mad eyes staring through the slits in her hood. "Very well, then -"

"I TOLD YOU, NO!" Lucius Malfoy roared at the woman. "If you smash it - !"

The woman stepped forward, away from her fellows, and pulled off her hood. Azkaban had hollowed Bellatrix Lestrange's face, making it gaunt and skull-like, but it was alive with a feverish, fanatical glow.

"You need more persuasion?" she said, her chest rising and falling rapidly. "Very well, take the smallest one," she ordered the Death Eaters beside her. "Let him watch while we torture the little girl. I'll do it."

Erin watched eye-wided the others close in around Ginny. She stepped sideways so that she was right in front of her.

"You'll have to smash this if you want to attack any of us," Harry told Bellatrix. "I don't think your boss will be too pleased if you come back without it, will he?" She did not move; she merely stared at him, the tip of her tongue moistening her thin mouth.

"So," said Harry, "what kind of prophecy are we talking about anyway?"

"What kind of prophecy?" repeated Bellatrix, the grin fading from her face. "You jest, Harry Potter."

"Nope, not jesting," said Harry. "How come Voldemort wants it?"

Several of the Death Eaters let out low hisses.

"You dare speak his name?" whispered Bellatrix.

"Yeah," said Harry. "Yeah, I've got no problem saying Vol -"

"Shut your mouth!" Bellatrix shrieked. "You dare speak his name with your unworthy lips, you dare besmirch it with your half-blood's tongue, you dare -"

"Isn't Voldemort a Half-blood, too?" Erin asked. "That's strange, isn't it? I mean, now I know why your name is Bellatrix Lestrange and not Bellatrix Lenormal."

"Yeah," said Harry, "his mother was a witch but his dad was a Muggle - or has he been telling you lot he's pureblood?"

"STUPEF -"

"NO!"

A jet of red light had shot from the end of Bellatrix Lestrange's wand, but Malfoy had deflected it. His spell caused hers to hit the shelf a foot to the left of Harry and several of the glass orbs there shattered.

Two figures, pearly white as ghosts, fluid as smoke, unfurled themselves from the fragments of broken glass upon the floor and each began to speak. Their voices vied with each other, so that only fragments of what they were saying could be heard over Malfoy and Bellatrix's shouts.

". . . at the Solstice will come a new . . ." said the figure of an old, bearded man.

"DO NOT ATTACK! WE NEED THE PROPHECY!"

"He dared - he dares -" shrieked Bellatrix incoherently. "- He stands there - filthy half-blood -"

"WAIT UNTIL WE'VE GOT THE PROPHECY!" bawled Malfoy.

". . . and none will come after . . ." said the figure of a young woman.

The two figures that had burst from the shattered spheres had melted into thin air. Nothing remained of them or their erstwhile homes but fragments of glass upon the floor.

"You haven't told me what's so special about this prophecy I'm supposed to be handing over," he said, playing for time.

"Do not play games with us, Potter," said Malfoy.

"I'm not playing games," said Harry.

"Dumbledore never told you that the reason you bear that scar was hidden in the bowels of the Department of Mysteries?" said Malfoy sneeringly.

"I - what?" said Harry. "What about my scar?"

"Can this be?" said Malfoy, sounding maliciously delighted; some of the Death Eaters were laughing again.

"Dumbledore never told you?" Malfoy repeated. "Well, this explains why you didn't come earlier, Potter, the Dark Lord wondered why you didn't come running when he showed you the place where it was hidden in your dreams. He thought natural curiosity would make you want to hear the exact wording. . . ."

Hermione whispered something to Erin However, the Slytherin couldn't understand.

"What?" Erin whispered

"When Harry says 'now', smash the shelves!" Hermione repeated.

"Did he?" said Harry. "So he wanted me to come and get it, did he? Why?"

"Why?" Malfoy sounded incredulously delighted. "Because the only people who are permitted to retrieve a prophecy from the Department of Mysteries, Potter, are those about whom it was made, as the Dark Lord discovered when he attempted to use others to steal it for him."

"And why did he want to steal a prophecy about me?"

"About both of you, Potter, about both of you . . . Haven't you ever wondered why the Dark Lord tried to kill you as a baby?"

"Someone made a prophecy about Voldemort and me?" he said quietly, "And he's made me come and get it for him? Why couldn't he come and get it himself?"

"Get it himself?" shrieked Bellatrix on a cackle of mad laughter.

"The Dark Lord, walk into the Ministry of Magic, when they are so sweetly ignoring his return? The Dark Lord, reveal himself to the Aurors, when at the moment they are wasting their time on my dear cousin?"

Erin almost forgot that the woman and Sirius are cousins. It wasn't hard to forget that someone like Sirius Black was related to someone like Bellatrix Lestrange.

"So he's got you doing his dirty work for him, has he?" said Harry. "Like he tried to get Sturgis to steal it - and Bode?"

"Very good, Potter, very good . . ." said Malfoy slowly. "But the Dark Lord knows you are not unintell -"

"NOW!" yelled Harry.

Six different voices behind him bellowed "REDUCTO!" six curses flew in six different directions and the shelves opposite them exploded as they hit. The towering structure swayed as a hundred glass spheres burst apart, pearly-white figures unfurled into the air and floated there, their voices echoing from who knew what long-dead past amid the torrent of crashing glass and splintered wood now raining down upon the floor -

“RUN!” Harry yelled, and as the shelves swayed precariously and more glass spheres began to pour from above.

Hermione grabbed Erin's hand and rushed past Harry, their arms now above their heads.

Erin didn't like sport (only swimming) and what she hated the most was running. But she found the strength and run faster than ever before while urging Neville on.

The door through which they had come was ajar straight ahead, Erin could see the glittering light of the bell jar, she pelted through it and waited for the others to hurtle over the threshold before slamming the door behind them —

“Colloportus!” gasped Hermione and the door sealed itself with an odd squelching noise.

“Where — where are the others?” gasped Harry.

Erin looked around. Ron, Luna, and Ginny were missing.

“They must have gone the wrong way!” whispered Hermione, terror in her face.

“Listen!” whispered Neville.

Footsteps and shouts echoed from behind the door they had just sealed.

“Leave Nott, leave him, I say, the Dark Lord will not care for Nott’s injuries as much as losing that prophecy."

"Nott?" Erin gasped. "Theodore, you little bitch.

"Jugson, come back here, we need to organize! We’ll split into pairs and search, and don’t forget, be gentle with Potter until we’ve got the prophecy, you can kill the others if necessary — Bellatrix, Rodolphus, you take the left, Crabbe, Rabastan, go right — Jugson, Dolohov, the door straight ahead — Macnair and Avery, through here — Rookwood, over there — Mulciber, come with me!”

“What do we do?” Hermione asked Harry, trembling from head to foot.

“Well, we don’t stand here waiting for them to find us, for a start,” said Harry. “Let’s get away from this door. . . .”

They ran, quietly as they could, past the shimmering bell jar where the tiny egg was hatching and unhatching, toward the exit into the circular hallway at the far end of the room. They were almost there when Erin heard something large and heavy collide with the door Hermione had charmed shut.

“Stand aside!” said a rough voice. “Alohomora!”

As the door flew open, Harry, Erin, Hermione, and Neville dived under desks. They could see the bottom of the two Death Eaters’ robes drawing nearer, their feet moving rapidly.

“They might’ve run straight through to the hall,” said the rough voice.

“Check under the desks,” said another.

Harry saw the knees of the Death Eaters bend. Poking his wand out from under the desk he shouted, “STUPEFY!” A jet of red light hit the nearest Death Eater; he fell backward into a grandfather clock and knocked it over. The second Death Eater, however, had leapt aside to avoid Harry’s spell and now pointed his own wand at Hermione, who had crawled out from under the desk to get a better aim.

“Avada —”

Erin launched herself across the floor and grabbed the Death Eater around the knees, causing him to topple and his aim to go awry.

Neville overturned his desk in his anxiety to help; pointing his wand wildly at the struggling pair he cried, “EXPELLIARMUS !” Both Erin’s and the Death Eater’s wands flew out of their hands and soared back toward the entrance to the Hall of Prophecy.

"Neville!" Erin yelled.

Both the Death Eater and Erin scrambled to their feet and charged after them, the Death Eater in front and Erin, hot on his heels, Neville bringing up the rear, plainly horrorstruck at what he had done.

“Get out of the way, Erin!” yelled Neville, clearly determined repair the damage.

The Slytherin flung herself sideways as Neville took aim again and shouted, “STUPEFY!”

The jet of red light flew right over the Death Eater’s shoulder and hit a glass-fronted cabinet on the wall full of variously shaped hour-glasses. The cabinet fell to the floor and burst apart, glass flying everywhere, then sprang back up onto the wall, fully mended, then fell down again, and shattered — The Death Eater had snatched up his wand, which lay on the floor beside the glittering bell jar. Erin ducked down behind another desk as the man turned — his mask had slipped so that he could not see, he ripped it off with his free hand and shouted, “STUP —”

“STUPEFY !” screamed Hermione, who had just caught up with them. The red light hit the Death Eater in the middle of his chest; he froze, his arm still raised, his wand fell to the floor with a clatter and he collapsed backward toward the bell jar.

“Accio Wand!” cried Hermione. Erin’s wand flew from a dark corner into her hand and she threw it to Erin.

“Thanks,” she said.

“Look out!” said Neville, horrified, staring at the Death Eater’s head in the bell jar.

Harry appeared next to them. All four of them raised their wands again, but none of them struck. They were all gazing, open-mouthed, appalled, at what was happening to the man’s head.

It was shrinking very fast, growing balder and balder, the black hair and stubble retracting into his skull, his cheeks smooth, his skull round and covered with a peachlike fuzz. . . .

A baby’s head now sat grotesquely on top of the thick, muscled neck of the Death Eater as he struggled to get up again. But even as they watched, their mouths open, the head began to swell to its previous proportions again, thick black hair was sprouting from the pate and chin. . . .

Erin gaped. "What the fuck."

“It’s time,” said Hermione in an awestruck voice. “Time . . .”

The Death Eater shook his ugly head again, trying to clear it, but before he could pull himself together again, it began to shrink back to babyhood once more. . . .

There was a shout from a room nearby, then a crash and a scream.

“RON?” Harry yelled, turning quickly from the monstrous transformation taking place before them. “GINNY? LUNA?”

“Harry!” Hermione screamed.

The Death Eater had pulled his head out of the bell jar. His appearance was utterly bizarre, his tiny baby’s head bawling loudly while his thick arms flailed dangerously in all directions, narrowly missing Harry, who ducked. Harry raised his wand but Hermione seized his arm.

“You can’t hurt a baby!” There was no time to argue the point.

“Come on!” he said again, and leaving the ugly baby-headed Death Eater staggering behind them, they took off for the door that stood ajar at the other end of the room, leading back into the black hallway.

They had run halfway toward it when Harry saw through the open door two more Death Eaters running across the black room toward them. Veering left he burst instead into a small, dark, cluttered office and slammed the door behind them.

“Collo —” began Hermione, but before she could complete the spell the door had burst open again and the two Death Eaters had come hurtling inside. With a cry of triumph, both yelled, “IMPEDIMENTA!” Harry, Erin, Hermione, and Neville were all knocked backward off their feet. Erin and Hermione smashed into a bookcase and were promptly deluged in a cascade of heavy books. Erin's head was hit quite badly, she was sure she was bleeding, her vision got blury.

“WE’VE GOT HIM!” She heard a Death Eater yelling, “IN AN OFFICE OFF —”

“Silencio!” cried Hermione, and the man’s voice was extinguished.

He continued to mouth through the hole in his mask, but no sound came out; he was thrust aside by his fellow.

"Erin!" Hermione shook with her, earning a 'huh?' in response. "Love, are you okay?"

Erin's brain didn't register the nickname.

"You're bleeding," gasped Hermione and helped Erin up, holding her head close to her chest.

“Petrificus Totalus!” shouted Harry, as the second Death Eater raised his wand. His arms and legs snapped together and he fell forward, facedown onto the rug at Harry’s feet, stiff as a board and unable to move at all.

“Well done, Ha —”

But the Death Eater Hermione had just struck dumb made a sudden slashing movement with his wand from which flew a streak of what looked like purple flame. It passed right across Hermione’s chest; she gave a tiny “oh!” as though of surprise and then crumpled onto the floor where she lay motionless.

“HERMIONE!” Erin fell to her knees beside her as Neville and Harry crawled rapidly toward her, their wands held up in front of them. The Death Eater kicked out hard at Neville’s head as he emerged — his foot broke Neville’s wand in two and connected with his face — Neville gave a howl of pain and recoiled, clutching his mouth and nose. Harry and Erin twisted around, their own wands held high, and saw that the Death Eater had ripped off his mask and was pointing his wand directly at between Harry and Erin.

Dolohov grinned. With his free hand, he pointed from the prophecy still clutched in Harry’s hand, to Erin, then at Hermione.

Though he could no longer speak his meaning could not have been clearer: Give me the prophecy, or she'll get the same as her. . . .

“Like you won’t kill us all the moment I hand it over anyway!” said Harry.

“Whaddever you do, Harry,” said Neville fiercely from under the desk, lowering his hands to show a clearly broken nose and blood pouring down his mouth and chin, “don’d gib it to him!”

Then there was a crash outside the door, and Dolohov looked over his shoulder — the baby-headed Death Eater had appeared in the doorway, his head bawling, his great fists still flailing uncontrollably at everything around him.

Harry seized his chance: “ PETRIFICUS TOTALUS!” The spell hit Dolohov before he could block it, and he toppled forward across his comrade, both of them rigid as boards and unable to move an inch.

“Hermione,” Erin said at once, shaking her as the baby-headed Death Eater blundered out of sight again. “Hermione, wake up. . . .”

“Whaddid he do to her?” said Neville, crawling out from under the desk again to kneel at her other side, blood streaming from his rapidly swelling nose.

“I dunno. . . .” Neville groped for Hermione’s wrist.

“Dat’s a pulse, Harry, I’b sure id is. . . .”

Such a powerful wave of relief swept through Erin and Harry.

“She’s alive?” asked the girl.

“Yeah, I dink so. . . .”