to elara it was meaningless noise, the deflected curses flying past them did not matter. lupin dragged elara away from the dais, elara and harry still staring at the archway. dumbledore had most of the remaining death eaters grouped in the middle of the room, seemingly immobilized by invisible ropes. mad-eye moody had crawled across the room to where nymphie lay and was attempting to revive her. behind the dais there were still flashes of light, grunts, and cries — kingsley had run forward to continue sirius's duel with bellatrix.

"harry? lara?"

neville had slid down the stone benches one by one to the place where elara and harry stood. they were no longer struggling against lupin, who maintained a precautionary grip on their arms nevertheless.

"i'b really sorry. . . ." said neville. his legs were still dancing uncontrollably. "was dat man — was sirius black a — a friend of yours?"

elara nodded. harry was still staring in the direction of the archway.

"here," said lupin quietly, and pointing his wand at neville's legs he said, "finite." the spell was lifted. neville's legs fell back onto the floor and remained still. lupin's face was pale. "let's — let's find the others. where are they all, neville?"

lupin turned away from the archway as he spoke. it sounded as though every word was causing him pain.

"dey're all back dere," said neville. "a brain addacked ron bud i dink he's all righd — and herbione's unconscious, bud we could feel a bulse —"

there was a loud bang and a yell from behind the dais. elara saw kingsley, yelling in pain, hit the ground. bellatrix turned tail and ran as dumbledore whipped around. he aimed a spell at her but she deflected it. she was halfway up the steps now —

"harry — lara — no!" cried lupin, but they had already ripped their arms from lupin's slackened grip.

"SHE KILLED SIRIUS!" bellowed harry. "SHE KILLED HIM — I'LL KILL HER!"

elara was on board with the notion to kill bellatrix.

and they were off, scrambling up the stone benches. people were shouting behind elara but she did not care. the hem of bellatrix's robes whipped out of sight ahead and they were back in the room where the brains were swimming. . . .

bellatrix aimed a curse over her shoulder. the tank rose into the air and tipped. harry was deluged in the foul-smelling potion within. the brains slipped and slid over him and began spinning their long, colored tentacles, but elara shouted, "wingardium leviosa!" and they flew into the air away from him. slipping and sliding they ran on toward the door. they leapt over luna, who was groaning on the floor, past ginny, who said, "hey — what — ?" past ron, who giggled feebly, and hermione, who was still unconscious. harry wrenched open the door into the circular black hall and saw bellatrix disappearing through a door on the other side of the room — beyond her was the corridor leading back to the lifts.

they ran, but bellatrix had slammed the door behind her and the walls had begun to rotate again. once more they were surrounded by streaks of blue light from the whirling candelabra.

"where's the exit?" shouted elara desperately, as the wall rumbled to a halt again. "where's the way out?"

the room seemed to have been waiting for her to ask. the door right behind them flew open, and the corridor toward the lifts stretched ahead of him, torch-lit and empty. they ran. . . .

elara could hear a lift clattering ahead of her. she and harry sprinted up the passageway, swung around the corner, and harry slammed his fist onto the button to call a second lift. it jangled and banged lower and lower; the grilles slid open and they dashed inside, now hammering the button marked atrium. the doors slid shut and they were rising. . . .

they forced their way out of the lift before the grilles were fully open and looked around. bellatrix was almost at the telephone lift at the other end of the hall, but she looked back as they sprinted toward her, and aimed another spell at them. they dodged behind the fountain of magical brethren; the spell zoomed past elara and hit the wrought gold gates at the other end of the atrium so that they rang like bells. there were no more footsteps. she had stopped running. elara crouched behind the statues, listening.

"come out, come out, little bitty babies!" she called in her mock-baby voice, which echoed off the polished wooden floors. "what did you come after me for, then? i thought you were here to avenge my dear cousin!"

"i am!" shouted harry, and a score of ghostly harry's seemed to chorus i am! i am! i am! all around the room.

"aaaaaah . . . did you love him, little baby potter?"

harry flung himself out from behind the fountain and bellowed "crucio!"

bellatrix screamed. the spell had knocked her off her feet, but she did not writhe and shriek with pain as neville had — she was already on her feet again, breathless, no longer laughing. harry dodged behind the golden fountain again — her counterspell hit the head of the handsome wizard, which was blown off and landed twenty feet away, gouging long scratches into the wooden floor.

"never used an unforgivable curse before, have you, boy?" she yelled. she had abandoned her baby voice now. "you need to meanthem, potter! you need to really want to cause pain — to enjoy it — righteous anger won't hurt me for long — i'll show you how it is done, shall i? i'll give you a lesson —"

"CRUCIO!" screamed elara, flinging herself out from the statue, anger clouding her vision.

bellatrix was knocked backwards off her feet again, writhing and screaming in pain. a sick, twisted pleasure arose over elara. she enjoyed this. a dark smile danced upon her lips. causing bellatrix pain made her happy.

when elara decided she was bored of torturing bellatrix, she lowered her wand as to break the spell.

"get up!" snarled elara.

bellatrix weakly shot a spell at elara, and she ducked back behind the statue again. the centaur's arm, holding its bow, spun off and landed with a crash on the floor a short distance from the golden wizard's head.

"you cannot win against me!" bellatrix cried. elara could hear her moving to the right, trying to get a clear shot of them. elara and harry backed around the statue away from bellatrix, crouching behind the centaur's legs, their heads level with the house-elf's. "i was and am the dark lord's most loyal servant, i learned the dark arts from him, and i know spells of such power that you, pathetic little children, can never hope to compete —"

"oh, shut the fuck up!" yelled elara, aiming another curse at bellatrix.

"how dare — "

"you're not even my mum anymore!" shouted elara, ducking temporarily behind another statue. "i was adopted by andromeda! yeah, i know what you did, you bitch — "

"i forbid you from swearing!"

"get fucked!"

bellatrix blinked in surprise. harry immediately jumped into action.

"stupefy!" he yelled. he had edged right around to where the goblin stood beaming up at the now headless wizard and taken aim at her back as she peered around the fountain for him. she reacted so fast he barely had time to duck.

"protego!"

the jet of red light, his own stunning spell, bounced back at him. harry scrambled back behind the fountain, and one of the goblin's ears went flying across the room.

"i am going to give you one chance!" shouted bellatrix. "give me the prophecies — roll it out toward me now — and i may spare your life!"

"well, you're going to have to kill me, because it's gone!" elara yelled, a trace of smugness in her tone.

"and he knows!" said harry with a mad laugh to match bellatrix's own. "your dear old mate voldemort knows it's gone! he's not going to be happy with you, is he?"

"what? what do you mean?" she cried, and for the first time there was fear in her voice.

"the prophecy smashed when i was trying to get neville up the steps! lara destroyed hers but herself! what do you think voldemort'll say about that, then?"

"LIAR!" she shrieked, but elara could hear the terror behind the anger now. "YOU'VE GOT IT, POTTER, AND YOU WILL GIVE IT TO ME — accio prophecy! ACCIO PROPHECY !"

elara laughed again because she knew it would incense bellatrix. she and harry waved their empty hands from behind the one-eared goblin and withdrew it quickly as bellatrix sent another jet of green light flying at them.

"nothing there!" shouted harry. "nothing to summon! it smashed and nobody heard what it said, tell your boss that —"

"no!" she screamed. "it isn't true, you're lying — MASTER, I TRIED, I TRIED — DO NOT PUNISH ME —"

"don't waste your breath!" yelled elara. "he can't hear you from here!"

"can't i, elara?" said a high, cold voice.

elara opened her eyes.

tall, thin, and black-hooded, his terrible snakelike face white and gaunt, his scarlet, slit-pupiled eyes staring . . . lord voldemort had appeared in the middle of the hall, his wand pointing at elara and harry who both stood frozen, quite unable to move.

"so you smashed my prophecies?" said voldemort softly, staring at them with those pitiless red eyes. "no, bella, they are not lying. . . . i see the truth looking at me from within their worthless minds. . . . months of preparation, months of effort . . . and my death eaters have let harry potter thwart me again. . . ."

"master, i am sorry, i knew not, i was fighting the animagus black!" sobbed bellatrix, flinging herself down at voldemort's feet as he paced slowly nearer. "master, you should know —"

"be quiet, bella," said voldemort dangerously. "i shall deal with you in a moment. do you think i have entered the ministry of magic to hear your sniveling apologies?"

"but master — he is here — he is below —"

voldemort paid no attention.

"elara lestrange tonks," said voldemort in his usually hissy fashion. "i have since discovered you were in the graveyard when i returned. . . . you are a powerful witch of epic proportions. . . . join me, and i shall multiply your power. let me be your king, bow to me. . . . and we will conquer everything."

elara's lips curled up into a sneer.

"i will never bow to a 'king' who wears a crown studded with the jewels of every life he has ended," said elara angrily. "in other words; fuck you and your neo-nazi ideology."

"i will just have to persuade you," he said quietly. "the potter boy has irked me too often, for too long. surely he will change your mind. AVADA KEDAVRA!"

but the headless golden statue of the wizard in the fountain had sprung alive, leaping from its plinth, and landed on the floor with a crash between elara, harry, and voldemort. the spell merely glanced off its chest as the statue flung out its arms, protecting elara and harry.

"what — ?" said voldemort, staring around. and then he breathed, "dumbledore!"

elara looked behind her, her heart pounding. dumbledore was standing in front of the golden gates.

voldemort raised his wand and sent another jet of green light at dumbledore, who turned and was gone in a whirling of his cloak; next second he had reappeared behind voldemort and waved his wand toward the remnants of the fountain; the other statues sprang to life too. the statue of the witch ran at bellatrix, who screamed and sent spells streaming uselessly off its chest, before it dived at her, pinning her to the floor. meanwhile, the goblin and the house-elf scuttled toward the fireplaces set along the wall, and the one-armed centaur galloped at voldemort, who vanished and reappeared beside the pool. the headless statue thrust elara and harry backward, away from the fight, as dumbledore advanced on Voldemort and the golden centaur cantered around them both.

"it was foolish to come here tonight, tom," said dumbledore calmly. "the aurors are on their way —"

"by which time i shall be gone, and you dead!" spat voldemort. he sent another killing curse at dumbledore but missed, instead hitting the security guards desk, which burst into flame.

dumbledore flicked his own wand. the force of the spell that emanated from it was such that elara, though shielded by her stone guard, felt her hair stand on end as it passed, and this time voldemort was forced to conjure a shining silver shield out of thin air to deflect it. the spell, whatever it was, caused no visible damage to the shield, though a deep, gonglike note reverberated from it, an oddly chilling sound. . . .

"you do not seek to kill me, dumbledore?" called voldemort, his scarlet eyes narrowed over the top of the shield. "above such brutality, are you?"

"we both know that there are other ways of destroying a man, tom," dumbledore said calmly, continuing to walk toward voldemort as though he had not a fear in the world, as though nothing had happened to interrupt his stroll up the hall. "merely taking your life would not satisfy me, i admit —"

"there is nothing worse than death, dumbledore!" snarled voldemort.

"you are quite wrong," said dumbledore, still closing in upon voldemort and speaking as lightly as though they were discussing the matter over drinks. "indeed, your failure to understand that there are things much worse than death has always been your greatest weakness —"

another jet of green light flew from behind the silver shield. this time it was the one-armed centaur, galloping in front of dumbledore, that took the blast and shattered into a hundred pieces, but before the fragments had even hit the floor, dumbledore had drawn back his wand and waved it as though brandishing a whip. Aa long thin flame flew from the tip; it wrapped itself around voldemort, shield and all. for a moment, it seemed dumbledore had won, but then the fiery rope became a serpent, which relinquished its hold upon voldemort at once and turned, hissing furiously, to face dumbledore. voldemort vanished. the snake reared from the floor, ready to strike —

there was a burst of flame in midair above dumbledore just as voldemort reappeared, standing on the plinth in the middle of the pool where so recently the five statues had stood.

"look out!" harry yelled.

fawkes swooped down in front of dumbledore, opened his beak wide, and swallowed the jet of green light whole. he burst into flame and fell to the floor, small, wrinkled, and flightless. at the same moment, dumbledore brandished his wand in one, long, fluid movement — the snake, which had been an instant from sinking its fangs into him, flew high into the air and vanished in a wisp of dark smoke; the water in the pool rose up and covered voldemort like a cocoon of molten glass —

for a few seconds voldemort was visible only as a dark, rippling, faceless figure, shimmering and indistinct upon the plinth, clearly struggling to throw off the suffocating mass —

then he was gone, and the water fell with a crash back into its pool, slopping wildly over the sides, drenching the polished floor.

"MASTER!" screamed bellatrix.

harry made to run out from behind his statue guard, but dumbledore bellowed, "stay where you are, harry!"

for the first time, dumbledore sounded frightened. elara could not see why. the hall was quite empty but for themselves, the sobbing bellatrix still trapped under her statue, and the tiny baby fawkes croaking feebly on the floor —

and then harry fell to the ground, screaming in agony.

a voice that was not harry's spoke, but it used harry's mouth.

"kill me now, dumbledore. . . ."

it was fear like elara had never felt before. the pain from losing sirius and the very possible fact that voldemort might just kill harry caused silent tears to spill out of her eyes as she knelt down beside harry.

"if death is nothing, dumbledore, kill the boy. . . ."

"i'm sorry, harry," cried elara, and she slapped him strongly across the face.

harry opened his eyes after a moment, saw his glasses lying at the heel of the headless statue that had been guarding him, but which now lay flat on its back, cracked and immobile. he put them on and blinked a few times.

"oh my god," elara was more relieved than she ever had been her entire life. without missing a second, she wrapped her arms around him, hugging him tightly.

"are you all right, harry?" said dumbledore.

"yes," said harry, shaking so violently that elara still refused to let go. "yeah, i'm — where's voldemort, where — who are all these — what's —"

the atrium was full of people. the floor was reflecting emerald-green flames that had burst into life in all the fireplaces along one wall, and a stream of witches and wizards was emerging from them. elara helped harry to his feet, she saw the tiny gold statues of the house-elf and the goblin leading a stunned-looking cornelius fudge forward.

"he was there!" shouted a scarlet-robed man with a ponytail, who was pointing at a pile of golden rubble on the other side of the hall, where bellatrix had lain trapped moments before. "i saw him, mr. fudge, i swear, it was you-know-who, he grabbed a woman and disapparated!"

"i know, williamson, i know, i saw him too!" gibbered fudge, who was wearing pajamas under his pinstriped cloak and was gasping as though he had just run miles. "merlin's beard — here — here! — in the ministry of magic! — great heavens above — it doesn't seem possible — my word — how can this be?"