"No way!" Harry yelled.

"We'll have to, Harry, she'll force it out of you anyway, what's...what's the point?" Hermione began to cry weakly into the back of Millicent Bulstrode's robes. Millicent stopped trying to squash her immediately and dodged out of her way, looking disgusted.

"Well, well, well." Umbridge lowered her wand triumphantly,"Little Miss Question-all is going to give us some answers. Come on then, girl, come on!"

Ron tried to shout through Crabbe's weight,"Er-my-nee-no!"

Ginny, Luna and Neville were staring at Hermione as though they had never seen her before. Harry noticed something that made his heart do a flip. Though Hermione was sobbing desperately into her hands, there was no trace of a tear.

"I-I'm sorry everyone!" She sobbed,"But - I c-can't stand it!"

"That's right, that's right, girl!" Umbridge thrust Hermione into the chair next to Harry. "Now then...with whom was Potter communicating just now?"

Hermione gulped into her hands,"Well, he was trying to speak to Professor Dumbledore."

Everyone froze in utter, wordless shock.

"D-Dumbledore?" Umbridge breathed in disbelief,"You know where he is, then?"

"Well...no!" Hermione, Harry discovered, was a very convincing fake-crier,"We've tried the Leaky Cauldron and the Three Broomsticks and even the Hog's Head-"

"Buffoon of a girl!" Umbridge shrieked,"Dumbledore won't be sitting in a pub when the whole Ministry's looking for him!"

"But-but we needed to tell him something important!" Hermione wailed, holding her hands more tightly over her face to use the a scene of tears.

"Which is what?"

The room listened in with bated breath.

Hermione choked,"We...we wanted to tell him it's r-eady!"

"What's ready?" Umbridge grabbed Hermione's shoulders and shook her.

"The...the weapon."

"Weapon? Weapon?" Umbridge released her in shock,"You mean to say...you have been developing a method of resistance? A weapon you could use...against the Ministry? On Professor Dumbledore's orders, of corse?"

"Y-Y-yes," Hermione gasped,"but he had to leave before it was finished and n-n-now we've finished it for him, and we c-c-can't find him t-t-to tell him!"

Umbridge grabbed her shoulders again,"What kind of a weapon is it?"

"We don't r-r-really understand it. We j-j-just did what P-P-Professor Dumbledore told us t-t-to do."

"Lead me to the weapon!" Umbridge ordered.

"I'm not showing...them!" Hermione said shrilly, peeking through her fingers at the Slytherins.

"It is not for you to set conditions." Umbridge said harshly.

"Fine." Hermione pretended to sob into her hands again,"Fine. Let them see it. I hope they used it on you! In fact, I wish you'd invite loads and loads of people to come and see! Th-that would serve you right - oh, I'd love if the wh-whole school knew where it was, and how to u-use it, and then if you annoy any of them they'll be able to s-sort you out!"

Blinking contemplatively at this powerful statement, Umbridge sighed,"All right, dear, let's just make it you and me. Oh, and we'll take Potter too, shall we? Get up, now."

"Professor," Malfoy stepped forwards,"Professor Umbridge, I think some of the Squad should come with you to look after-"

"I am a fully qualified Ministry official!" She barked,"Do you really think I cannot deal with two wandless teenagers alone? You will remain here until I get back. Keep them all still and do what you must to stop them from escaping. Lead on!"

Hermione led Harry and Umbridge silently into the Forbidden Forest. They walked a long way, and Harry was certain they would run into something dangerous. All of a sudden, however, Hermione stopped. Around the tree that stood before them was a rope. This was, Harry realised, the rope that had once tied up Grawp - Hagrid's giant half-brother. Grawp was gone. Hermione spun around to look at Harry urgently. He started back at her, mind blank.

"Well? Where is it?" Umbridge pointed her wand from Hermione to Harry and then back again. Comprehension spread across her tight, pouchy face,"There...there is no weapon, is there? You...you were trying to trick me? Filthy little Mudblood thinking it can do this to me! By Merlin, I'll kill you! I'll kill you both!" Umbridge looked rather deranged,"How dare you? Do you know who I am? Crucio!"

Hermione didn't dive quickly enough. She screamed loudly before tumbling head-first into a nearby shrub.

"Hermione!" Harry fell to his knees next to her, ignoring the sudden sharp pang in his scar,"Hermione-"

"Harry...I'm fine...Harry...stop her...Harry..." Hermione mumbled weakly, trying to sit up.

"If you lay another finger on her, I will kill you, and no one will ever know it was me." Harry stormed up to Umbridge, shaking with rage,"You can't win. Not out here."

"Frankly, I'd like to see you try."

Harry swung his fist backwards, but stopped as Hermione screamed his name, scrambling to her feet. An arrow narrowly missed his head. The centaurs had arrived. Umbridge pushed Harry and Hermione - who were both still shaking like mad - in front of her as a shield.

"I," Umbridge addressed the centaurs,"am Dolores Jane Umbridge, Senior Undersecretary to the Minister for Magic and Headmistress and High Inquisitor of Hogwarts!"

"You are from the Ministry?" A centaur asked.

"Indeed I am. By the laws laid down by the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, any attack by half-breeds suck as yourselves on a human-"

"WHAT DID YOU CALL US?" The centaurs bellowed.

"Don't call them that!" Hermione said furiously.

Umbridge ignored her. Pointing her wand at the centaurs, she continued,"Law Fifteen B states that 'any attack by a magical creature who is deemed to have near-human intelligence, and therefore considered responsible for its actions-'"

"Near-human intelligence? We take that as a great insult human! What are you doing in our Forest? Why are you here?"

"Your Forest?" Umbridge shook with indignation,"I would like to remind you that you live here only because the Ministry of Magic permits you certain areas of land-"

An arrow narrowly missed Umbridge's hair.

"Whose Forest is it now, human?" Bane bellowed.

"Filthy half-breeds!" Umbridge screamed,"Beasts! Uncontrolled animals!"

"Be quiet!" Hermione yelled.

"Incarcerous!"

Rope flew from Umbridge's wand and coiled itself tightly around Magorian's neck. He fell to the ground, wheezing and struggling. Hermione screamed at Umbridge to stop. The centaurs charged. Harry grabbed Hermione and pulled her to the ground; face down on the Forest floor, they knew a moment of terror as hooves thundered around them, but the centaurs leapt over and around them, bellowing and screaming with rage.

"Potter!"

Turning over, the pair saw Umbridge being dragged away by Bane.

"Potter, you must tell them! Tell them I mean no harm!" She cried.

"I'm sorry, Professor," Harry got to his feet, voice shaking, and helped Hermione up as well,"but I must not tell lies."

"No! No, how dare you defy me? How dare...do you know who I am? Do you know?" Umbridge's voice grew distant as she was dragged away.

"HAGGER!"

Hermione gasped,"Harry! It's Grawp!"

Sure enough, the giant was thundering towards them. The centaurs looked terrified.

"HAGGER!"

"I think he's trying to say 'Hagrid'!" Hermione grabbed Harry's arm.

Grawp bent down as far as he could and grinned goofily,"Hermy."

"G-goodness, he remembered me." Hermione breathed, almost completely cutting off the circulation through Harry's arm by that point.

"HERMY! WHERE HAGGER?"

"I don't know!" Hermione squeaked,"I'm sorry, Grawp, I don't know!"

"GRAWP WANT HAGGER!"

One of the giant's massive hands reached down. Hermione fell backwards in fear. Wandless, Harry braced himself to punch, kick, bite or whatever else it took to stop Grawp attacking Hermione as the gigantic hand swooped towards them and knocked a snow-white centaur off his legs. All at once, the centaurs drew their bows and launched arrow after arrow at Grawp, who was growing angrier by the second.

"GRAWP WANT HAGGER!" He roared, beginning to chase after the herd of centaurs, who had began to run away.

"Oh, no, that's was horrible." Hermione panted,"Harry...Sirius."

"I know." Harry began to run back through the trees,"But we don't have wands."

"And how exactly," Hermione followed him closely,"are we going to get to London?"

"Yeah, we were wondering that, too." Someone said from behind the trees.

Harry and Hermione skidded to a halt. Ron, Ginny, Neville and Luna smiled grimly at them.

"Ronald," Luna sighed,"I thought we'd settled that earlier. We're flying."

"How'd you get away?" Harry asked as Ron tossed him and Hermione back their wands.

Ginny ran her hand through her knotted hair,"A few hexes and stunners did the trick."

"Nice one."

"We can't fly to London, Luna." Ron argued,"Me and Ginny are the only ones with brooms that aren't locked away."

"We're flying." Luna said maddeningly.

"Okay." Harry rounded on her irritably,"First of all, 'we' aren't doing anything if you're including yourself in that-"

"Oi, you can't stop her from-" Ginny started.

Ron interrupted her,"You aren't coming, either."

"Ron, neither are you." Harry said.

"WHAT?"

Harry ignored him,"Neville, Hermione, you stay here as well."

"Uh..." Neville shifted his weight from one foot to the other, not wanting to argue with Harry, but also not wanting to be left out of the plan.

"Harry," Hermione said calmly, taking Harry's hand and squeezing it gently,"as much as I admire your overprotective nature, you really can be quite thick."

Angry, Harry shook her hand off,"None of you are coming! I'll take Ron's broom and go myself."

Luna scowled,"We aren't using brooms!"

"THAT'S NOT FAIR!" Ron protested.

"YOU CAN'T DO THAT!" Ginny stomped her foot.

"What about Dumbledore's Army?" Neville asked with a frown,"That was about fighting back, or was that all just games to you?"

"Harry!" Hermione gripped Harry's shoulders, suddenly fierce,"When are you going to get it into your head? We're in this together."

Five pairs of eyes watched Harry expectantly. "All right, fine, you can come." He grumbled,"Just tell me how we're getting there, Luna."

"Harry Potter, for the last time, we're flying!" Luna's airy voice snapped.

"I know, but what on?"

"Oh. Thestrals, of course."

"Where are we going to find-" Something nuzzled the back of Harry's neck. He grinned broadly. "Brilliant, Luna."

Hermione didn't seem satisfied,"There's only two."

"More will come." Ginny said confidently,"In case you hadn't noticed, you and Harry are both covered in blood, and we know Hagrid lures Thestrals to him with raw meat."

"Okay," Harry said,"I'll go ahead on one of these...Ron'll come too...and Hermione can stay here with you three and attract some more-"

"I'm not staying behind!" Hermione said ferociously.

"There's no need, anyway." Luna chimed gleefully,"There's four more coming this way now."

***********

"Accio proph-" Bellatrix LeStrange cried.

Harry was ready for her,"Protego!" The glass sphere slipped to the tips of his fingers as he backed a little further into the huddle of his friends.

"He knows how to play, little bitty baby Potter." Her mad eyes stared through the slits in her Death Eater hood,"The little baby woke up fwightened and fort what it dweamed was twoo!" She teased maliciously.

Harry felt Hermione stir beside him. "Don't do anything." He muttered,"Not yet."

Bellatrix smirked, raising her wand again,"Very well, then-"

"I TOLD YOU NO!" Lucius Malfoy barked at her,"If you smash the prophecy-"

Harry's mind was racing. The Death Eaters wanted the dusty glass sphere that he had no interest in. He just wanted to get them all out of this alive, to make sure none of his friends paid a terrible price for his stupidity.

Grinning wickedly, Bellatrix stepped forwards,"You need more persuasion? Very well - take the smallest one." She ordered the Death Eaters beside her,"Take the Mudblood. Ooh, yes, I know who you are, missy! Let him watch while we torture the little pest. I'll do it."

Harry felt everyone close in on Hermione. He did the same, holding the orb to his chest. "You won't touch her. You'll have to smash this if you want to attack any of us." He said, far more bravely than he felt,"So, this is a prophecy, is it? What kind are we talking about?"

"What kind of prophecy?" Bellatrix stepped back slowly,"You jest, Harry Potter."

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

The Death Eaters all let out low hisses.

"You dare speak his name?"

"Yeah. I've got no problem with saying Vol-"

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

"Did you know he's a half-blood too?" Harry said recklessly. Hermione let out a little moan in his ear. Harry ignored her, moving his foot slowly sideways, feeling around for someone else's. "Voldemort? Yeah, his mother was a witch but his dad was a Muggle - or has he been telling you lot he's Pureblood?"

"ENOUGH!"

"Do not play games with us, Potter." Lucius said coolly.

"I'm not playing games." Harry retorted, half his mind on the conversation, half on his wandering foot. And then he felt someone's toes and pressed down on them. A sharp intake of breath behind him told him they were Hermione's.

"What?" She whispered.

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

"I - what?" For a moment, Harry quite forgot his plan,"What about my scar?"

"What?" Hermione whispered more urgently.

Under the cover of the Death Eaters' cold laughter, Harry hissed to Hermione, moving his lips as little as possible,"Smash shelves-"

Malfoy smirked,"Can this be? He never told you? This explains why you didn't come here sooner, Potter, the Dark Lord wondered why-"

"-when I say now-"

"-you didn't come running when he showed you exactly where it was hidden in your dreams. He thought natural curiosity would lead you right to it."

"Did he?" Harry asked, now trying to cover up the sound of Hermione muttering the plan to the others. "Couldn't he get it himself? Why's he getting you lot to do his dirty work for him?"

Bellatrix laughed hysterically,"Come and get it himself? As the Ministry is so sweetly ignoring his return? Pah! The Dark Lord told us you were intelli-"

"NOW!"

Five different voices yelled five different curses from behind him. As shelves of prophecies rained down on them, Harry seized a handful of Hermione's robes and dragged her forwards, holding one arm over his head. A Death Eater lunged forwards through the cloud of dust and Harry elbowed him hard in the masked face. They were all yelling, there were cries of pain, and thunderous crashes as the shelves collapsed upon themselves.

Harry found the way ahead clear as something heavy struck the side of his face, but he merely ducked his head and sprinted onwards. A hand caught him by the shoulder; he heard Hermione shout,"Stupefy!" The hand released him at once. Suddenly, Harry spotted a door just in front of them that was ajar. He could see a glittering light and powered forwards. As Neville tumbled into the room after Harry and Hermione, Harry slammed the door and turned around, expecting to see Ron, Ginny and Luna. Only Neville and Hermione stared back at him.

"Colloportus!" Hermione gasped and the door sealed itself with a squelching noise. "The others...they must have gone the wrong way!" She whispered, terrified.

Footsteps and voices echoed from behind the door. Lucius could be heard instructing the other Death Eaters to go easy on Harry until they had retrieved the prophecy. He told them they could kill all of the others if they had to.

"Run!" Harry whispered. Neville and Hermione did as they were told. They raced through a corridor and, once they reached the end of it, Hermione unlocked the door. Two Death Eaters were in the room. Neville, Harry and Hermione dived under the first row of desks in the room.

"Who's there?" A Death Eater asked.

"They must've run right in here!"

"Check under the desks."

Harry saw the knees of a Death Eater bend. Poking his wand out from under the desk, he yelled,"STUPEFY!"

A jet of red light hit the nearest Death Eater, and he fell backwards into a grandfather clock. The other Death Eater, however, had leapt aside to avoid Harry's spell and was pointing his own wand at Hermione, who was crawling out from under the desk to get a better aim.

"Avada -"

Harry launched himself across the floor and grabbed the Death Eater around the knees, causing him to topple and his aim to go awry. Neville overturned a desk, clearly anxious to help. Pointing his wand at the struggling pair, he cried:

"EXPELLIARMUS!"

Both Harry's and the Death Eater's wands flew out of their hands and landed in the corner. Squeaking in fear, Neville ran for the door. The Death Eater followed. Somehow, in the struggle, Neville wound up behind Harry, who had just been overtaken by the Death Eater.

"Get out of the way, Harry!" Neville yelled, determined to repair the damage. Harry flung himself sideways. "STUPEFY!" Neville shouted. He missed.

The Death Eater's mask had been knocked sideways. He ripped it off so that he could see. Neville moaned and ducked down behind another desk. The Death Eater pointed his wand at Harry,"STUP-"

"STUPEFY!" Hermione had caught up with them. "Accio wand!" She grabbed Harry's wand as it soared through the air and tossed it to him.

"Thanks."

"Harry!" Neville yelped.

The Death Eater was getting back up. Harry and Hermione pulled Neville to his feet and they ran back down the corridor, into the first room. The other Death Eater was waiting for them.

"Impedimenta!" Hermione cried. The Death Eater was flung from the room.

Harry slammed the door shut and began,"Collo-"

But the two Death Eaters had forced their way back in. "IMPEDIMENTA!"

Neville, Harry and Hermione were flung back against the wall, too dizzy and bewildered to act.

"WE'VE GOT 'EM!" One of the Death Eaters yelled,"IN AN OFFICE OFF-"

"Silencio!" Hermione cried. The Death Eater could no longer speak. He was thrust aside by his comrade.

"Petrificus Totalus!" Harry shouted, scrambling to his feet and helping up Neville and Hermione.

The Death Eater went rigid and fell to the floor like a board.

Hermione beamed,"Well done, Ha-"
The Death Eater Hermione had just silenced made a sudden slashing movement with his wand; a streak of what looked like purple flame passed right across Hermione's chest. She gave a tiny "Oh!" as though of surprise and crumpled on to the floor, where she lay motionless.

"HERMIONE!" Harry dropped to his knees next to her.

The Death Eater ripped off his mask. Antonin Dolohov; Harry knew his name. He had seen Dolohov in the news. He was one of the recent Azkaban escapees, and he had murdered the Prewetts. Dolohov grinned, aiming his wand directly at Harry. With his free hand, he pointed to the prophecy in Harry's hand, to himself, then at Hermione. Though he could still no longer speak, his meaning could not have been any clearer: give me the prophecy, or you get the same as her.

A whine of panic inside Harry's head was preventing him thinking properly: he had one hand on Hermione's shoulder, which was still warm, and tears were blurring his vision and fogging up his glasses. He did not dare look at her properly. Don't let her be dead, don't let her be dead, it's my fault if she's dead... "Like you won't k-kill us all anyway, the m-m-moment I hand it over!" He snarled nervously, struck with a sudden idea. Gripping Hermione tightly with his right hand, Harry tossed the prophecy a little way into the air. Dolohov lurched for it and Harry took his chance,"PETRIFICUS TOTALUS!"

Ignoring the man on the floor, Harry spun to Hermione. Gasping for air and blinking back tears, he shook her,"Hermione...Hermione, wake up...Hermione, please wake up...please be okay...Hermione..." She didn't move. It was over. Harry rested his head on Hermione's stomach and sobbed, right hand now locked into hers. It was pain like he had never felt before, and all Harry wanted was for it all to stop.