Chapter Text
Not for the first time Harry wished he had listened to Hermione.
He wished he could rid himself of this constant, pounding headache and the fog over his thoughts. He wished he had that clear, clinical ability to pick out and analyse the facts that she had without these pulses of pain wiping away half his thoughts like a cloth on a blackboard.
Instead he was relying on his instincts, his higher functions riding a cresting wave of panic, fury and adrenaline, picking spells and movements out of his head as they were flicked up from the wave like spray on the wind.
Above all he wished he had never brought his friends here into this death trap.
Ron was down, wrapped up in ribbon like tentacles from a brain creature his confunded mind had summoned from a research tank.
Ginny wasn't much better but if they got here back to Madam Pomfrey her ankle would be fixed in no time, just like Neville's nose. But that was only if they got out of here alive and with one immobile and the other unable to pronounce any spells it was up to Luna to defend them both.
And Hermione. His best friend. The bushy-haired bookworm who had chipped away at the stone he had sealed around his heart after a decade of abuse and carved out her own little library within... Neville was sure he could feel a pulse but Harry didn't want to imagine what Dolohovs spell was supposed to have done. Or had done. He pushed that thought way - fight now, feel later.
Harry did have an idea though. Granted it was a long shot and a little crazy - even by his standards - but it might get them all out of here alive. He just needed a few moments without anyone slinging spells at him. Unfortunately Bellatrix had Neville at her feet and another dozen Death Eaters had Harry surrounded in the subterranean amphitheater, dark robes and silver masks scattered among the benches looking down on the archway and dais Harry stood before and upon.
Lucius Malfoy reached out his hand to take the offered prophecy - Harry had no doubt that his friends would die the moment he let go but maybe he could buy a few seconds to get his prize out of his pocket and over his head. It wasn't stealing, exactly, more like salvage. If he hadn't caught the thing before it hit the ground then it would have shattered, just like all the others. He hadn't even meant to grab it - 4 years of seeker training kicked in and his hand snatched the glittering golden device out of the air almost without concious thought.
As Malfoy stepped forward to grab the prophecy orb from Harrys outstreached hand there was a distraction - a pair of doors high up in the back of the room burst open and familiar figures ran through. Professor Lupin, Mad Eye Moody, Shacklebolt, Tonks and SIRIUS. HE WAS ALIVE! Joy swelled in Harrys chest and the wave churned with new energy.
The death eaters were all distracted by the newcomers and turned to face the flanking threat above them - Harry saw his chance and threw the prophecy up into the air, reaching into his pocket with his now empty left hand whilst shooting a stunner at a hesitant Malfoy, who jumped aside flicking horrified glances between the boy, the orb and the new danger at his back.
Harry could feel the hestation in the older mans mind just as he could feel the fine chain in his fngers.
He pulled it from his pocket as he raised his wand, Malfoys eyes narrowing as he left the interlopers to his fellows.
The thin filigree chain flicked over Harrys head as a spell jumped from the roaring wave of conflict in his mind, Malfoys own wand rising to mirror his.
Harrys wand was faster.
"REDUCTO"
With unerring accuracy the curse lanced out and hit its tiny target dead-center. Lupin would have been proud had he not been busy duelling 3 death eaters at once.
But several people did notice. Some redoubled their efforts as if to make up for their faliure. Some ran, no longer having any reason to stay, Bellatrix letting out a scream of fury and blasting Tonks and Shacklebolt both off their feet before running for the exit.
And the silver haired gentleman, always so impeccably polite and well mannered on the surface, let out a spittle flecked roar of madness as the shards of a prophecy orb rained down around them. Harry had just made his mind up for him.
A horribly familiar sickly green spell launched from the tip of the ebony wand and almost lazily drifted at the speed of a bullet, impacting in the center of Harrys chest.
Directly in the middle of the time turner he was spinning between his fingers.
The hourglass shattered, spraying glittering sand up into harrys face and fine golden shrapnel into his chin, neck and chest. The impact staggered Harry and he took a step back, hands still clasping the two halves of the gimbal that had contained so much power.
He felt something cold brush his back and the whole room seemed to stop and look.
"HARRY" screamed Sirius, fear and desperation filling his cry.
But it was too late. The-boy-who-live fell back into the shadown of the Veil of Death, encased in a glittering golden mist as if to highlight the hope and possibilities that were falling with him.