Annabeth's POV | The Department of Mysteries

"To me, Potter."

They were surrounded on all sides by cloaked, shadowy figures. All were masked. All had their wands out, pointing them at the group.

Annabeth's eyes darted between each of them, calculating their chances, searching for a weak link. There were a dozen of the Death Eaters, and only eight of them. Well, she'd faced worse odds.

Faintly, she could hear Harry talking to the first Death Eater. Her mind was working overtime to filter out the nonsense, to focus on what was important, on what might be able to get them out of this alive.

The first man was named Lucius, and he appeared to be in charge. The woman beside him, however, seemed dangerous in a different way, a way Annabeth couldn't quite put her finger on. Her name was Bellatrix.

Sirius was not here. Voldemort had tricked them into coming so that Harry would fetch that silvery orb for him.

The silvery orb was called the prophecy, and the Death Eaters wanted it.

She could work with this.

She felt a prod at her back and heard Hermione's trembling voice.

"Smash shelves on Harry's go."

Annabeth glanced around at the shelves, keeping her wand pointed at the burly looking Death Eater in front of her. Smashing shelves would make a fine distraction, but the confusion might impede their escape more than it aided them. It was, however, the only chance they really had.

What was the spell again?

"Very good, Potter, very good…" drawled Malfoy. "But the Dark Lord knows you are not unintell—"

"NOW!" bellowed Harry.

Annabeth turned her wand to the shelf nearest her.

"Reducto!" she yelled.

Behind her, she heard six voices echoing her spell, and chaos ensued. Hundreds of glass spheres burst where they sat or fell from swaying shelves to shatter against the hard stone floor. Hundreds of pearly figures rose from the remnants, their haunting voices filling the echoing chamber as glass and wood continued to rain down.

"RUN!" shouted Harry.

Annabeth didn't need to be told twice. She ducked under a Death Eater's outstretched arm and bolted for the door they had came from, praying to Athena that the others were doing the same. A bolt of light shot over her shoulder and she swerved into the adjoining row, her heart pounding.

She kept running, past row sixty-four, sixty-three…

Suddenly there was a hooded man in front of her, six feet away. He raised his wand, pointing it directly at her chest.

"AVADA KEDAVRA!"

Annabeth raised her knife instinctively and the jet of green light rebounded, ricocheting into a nearby shelf and smashing even more silvery orbs. The man hesitated, wand lowering for a fraction of a second, and she seized the opportunity to dive sideways into another row. She was now running perpendicular to the direction they had come.

A black door was looming ahead. She knew it wasn't the door they had come from, but she needed to be out of the open, now. She ran a few more strides before— WHAM!

Something hit her shoulder, sending her tumbling to the ground. She rolled as she fell, spinning around in a half-crouch, her wand and knife held at the ready.

Ron was sprawled across the floor, his hands clutching a stitch in his side as he panted heavily. Right behind him stood Luna and Ginny, their faces pale and terrified in the silvery light.

"Where are the others?" gasped Ginny.

"No time," muttered Annabeth, sheathing her knife and hoisting Ron to his feet. "We can group up later."

Ron gave her a look of breathless thanks and they kept running, Annabeth now leading the group. She dove through the door, and suddenly felt as if she had been doused in icy water. There were a few shuffling steps behind her before the door clicked shut.

The heavy panting of the group somehow seemed diminished, eerily quiet in the freezing room. It was pitch black, and Annabeth begin to blindly feel her way forward, searching for the exit. Her mind was going foggy and she shook it, trying to clear it, but something made her stop dead in her tracks.

Something else was in the room. Something taking long, hoarse, rattling breaths.

Annabeth's knees buckled.

She was seven years old, lost and alone in a dark mansion. Then she was standing in a room, looking up at Grover, Thalia, and Luke, tied-up and gagged. A huge shape turned around to face her, a wide grin spreading beneath its large, singular eye. He spoke in the voice of her father: "Now, Annabeth, don't you worry. I love you. You can stay here with me. You can stay forever."

She was sobbing, being dragged away by Luke as Thalia stood alone atop a hill, facing down an army of monsters.

And then Luke was looking down at her, but his eyes were gold and the smirk he wore was not his.

"Expecto— expecto— bloody hell… expecto—"

She was standing in the rubble of Olympus, Percy stood facing the gods before him. She knew he was going to ask for immortality, knew that he was about to leave her behind forever.

"Ginny, help me! Expec—"

Percy was gone, he had disappeared without a trace, and she knew that Hera had taken him, taken him far away from Camp Half-blood, far away from her.

"EXPECTO PATRONUM!"

Silver light burst into being directly behind Annabeth. She was bathed in warmth as what looked like a ghostly dog ran forward, barking madly at a huge cloaked figure encased behind shimmering iron bars.

"Dementor," gasped Ginny. "They must be studying it. Sorry Ron, dunno what happened. Expecto patronum!"

This last statement was echoed by Luna and two more silvery shapes joined the dog; a horse and a hare.

"Annabeth, are you okay?"

Annabeth got shakily to her feet. Her whole body felt weak and sickly.

"Yeah, I'm—" she glanced at the floating Dementor, now distorted behind both silvery waves and iron bars.

Ginny grimaced at her sympathetically.

"The first time is always the worst," she said. "It's easier when you know what you're feeling."

Luna stepped forward, peering curiously at Annabeth's face.

"No, that's not it," she said. She considered Annabeth for a moment. "They really effect you."

It wasn't a question, and Annabeth felt her temper rising.

"I'm not wea—" she began.

"We gotta get out of here," Ron cut her off, glancing nervously at the Dementor. His patronus seemed to flicker slightly. "The others—"

"THERE!"

The door they had come from burst open and out poured four Death Eaters. All three patronuses vanished.

"RUN!" bellowed Ron, pushing Ginny in front of him.

Annabeth sprinted after them, Luna hot on her heels. Her feet pounded against the ground, the fog from the Dementors once again encroaching on the edge of her vision. She dove through the door, and suddenly, there was no floor at all.

She was floating through empty nothingness. All around her was dark, not the pressing dark of the Dementor, but endless, empty darkness. The others were gone, and she was very much alone.

She floated through the darkness for what felt like hours, but must not have been more than a couple minutes. And then there was something looming ahead of her. Something spinning disconcertingly quickly, pale grey and red. It whipped past her, and then there was something much larger ahead of her, larger, it seemed, than a fully grown hellhound. It spun as well, deep blue in color. Annabeth flailed in the nothingness, searching for something to pull herself out of the way of the impending blue orb. It missed her by a hair, and as it blew by, something else shot past her shoulder; a jet of purple light.

"Get her!" screamed the Death Eater, raising his wand to cast another spell, but the darkness seemed to swallow his yell, and no one answered the call.

Suddenly there was someone behind her, their fingers yanking her hair back, a wand tip digging into her throat. Then another orb came hurling out of the darkness, equally as large as the last, but a pale, greenish blue. Annabeth saw stars as it collided with them. The Death Eater released her with a cry of pain and she lashed out with a foot, colliding with his stomach and sending her spinning away from him.

"Annabeth!"

Annabeth spun midair and saw Ginny waving frantically, her other arm linked tightly with Luna's, who was in turn linked to Ron.

But another shape was bearing down upon her, and this one she recognized. It was massive; pale brown and surrounded by tens of swirling rings. Not an orb, but a planet.

Annabeth looked around desperately. She had been pushed slightly by the Death Eater, but was still in the pathway of the giant planet that was bearing down upon her.

"INCARCEROUS!"

"PROTEGO!" Annabeth shouted instinctively, the spell at her lips without conscious thought.

The thick ropes from the Death Eater's curse bounced harmlessly off of her shield, but the resulting force sent her spinning backwards, towards Ginny and the others.

Ron seized her hand as Saturn went spinning by, but suddenly Jupiter was bearing down upon them— more massive than any of the past orbs.

"REPULSO!" shrieked Ginny.

The force of the spell sent them rocketing backwards, back into the empty nothingness, the planets and Death Eaters disappearing from view alarmingly quickly. Annabeth could hear Ron's heavy breathing in her ear, his hand slick with sweat.

"We need to get out of here," he panted.

"There!" shouted Luna.

She could not point, as her arms were linked with Ron's and Ginny's, but instead stared firmly into the darkness. Bewildered, Annabeth followed her gaze. A plain black door was floating ahead of them, visible only by the crack of light at its base.

"How do—" Ginny began, but Annabeth raised her want and pointed it firmly at the door.

"Accio door!"

The door didn't move.

But then slowly, inchingly, Annabeth could feel herself being pulled towards the door instead. She redoubled her grip on Ron's hand, dragging him with her. She raised her wand again.

"Accio door! Accio door! ACCIO DOOR!"

They were moving miraculously towards the door, and as Ginny's spells joined hers, they sped up. They were 30 feet away— 20— 10— 5… Annabeth was reaching for the door, her hand inches away, when Ginny screamed in pain.

Annabeth spun around to see another Death Eater, his mask slid sideways to reveal a snarl of triumph. One hand was gripping the base of Ginny's leg, the other was groping in his robes, reaching for a wand…

"No!" yelled Ron, raising his own wand.

A jet of light flew from the Death Eater, hitting Ron squarely in the face. But the first planet was once again upon them— Pluto, Annabeth now knew.

"REDUCTO!" screamed Luna.

They was a bang, a flash of light, a crack, and two howls of pain.

Then Ron's hand was once more in hers.

"Go!" yelled Luna.

Annabeth pushed the door open, dragging Ron behind her, and they fell out into the circular hallway, nearly colliding with Harry. The door slammed shut behind them as the wall began to rotate once more.

"Ron!" he yelled, dashing forward. "Ginny— are you all—?"

"Harry," said Ron, giggling weakly, lurching forward, seizing the front of Harry's robes and gazing at him with unfocused eyes. "There you are… Ha ha ha… You look funny, Harry… You're all messed up…"

With a jolt, Annabeth saw that his face was very white and something dark was trickling from the corner of his mouth. Next moment his knees had given way, but he still clutched the front of Harry's robes, so that Harry was pulled into a kind of bow.

This revealed Nico and Neville behind him, Neville holding a limp body around his shoulders…

Annabeth's eyes shot to Nico, who was looking grim. He met her gaze and shook his head slightly. Not dead.

"Ginny?" Harry said fearfully. "What happened to Ron?"

But Ginny shook her head and slid down the wall into a sitting position, panting and holding her ankle.

"I think her ankle's broken, I heard something crack," whispered Luna, bending over her. "Four of them chased us into a dark room full of planets, it was a very odd place, some of the time we were just floating in the dark—"

"Harry, we saw Uranus up close!" said Ron, still giggling feebly. "Get it, Harry? We saw Uranus— ha ha ha—"

A bubble of blood grew at the corner of Ron's mouth and burst.

"Anyway, one of them grabbed Ginny's foot, I used the Reductor Curse and blew up Pluto in his face, but…"

Luna gestured hopelessly at Ginny, who was breathing in a very shallow way, her eyes still closed.

"And what about Ron?" said Harry fearfully, as Ron continued to giggle, still hanging off the front of Harry's robes.

"We don't know what they hit him with," cut in Annabeth. "The Death Eater didn't say a spell."

"Harry," said Ron, pulling Harry's ear down to his mouth and still giggling weakly, "you know who this girl is, Harry? She's Loony… Loony Lovegood…. ha ha ha..."

"We've got to get out of here," said Harry firmly. "Annabeth, can you help Ginny?"

Annabeth was already there, putting an arm around Ginny's waist and pulling her up.

"It's only my ankle, I can do it myself!" said Ginny impatiently, but next moment she had collapsed sideways and grabbed her for support.

Annabeth felt a pang of sympathy— not for Ginny's pain, but for her pride.

Beside her, Harry was pulling Ron's arm over his shoulder as well and looking around. Hermione's crosses were long gone. Annabeth did the math quickly. They had a one-in-twelve chance of getting the exit right the first time.

Harry was heaving Ron towards a random door. Annabeth followed suit with Ginny, Luna joining her on the other side, wand tucked behind her ear for safe keeping. They were within a few feet of it when another door across the hall burst open and three Death Eaters sped into the hall, led by Bellatrix Lestrange.

"There they are!" she shrieked.

Stunning Spells shot across the room. Harry smashed his way through the door ahead and flung Ron unceremoniously from him. Annabeth ducked under him as she pulled Ginny over the threshold and lay her against a wall.

"Colloportus!" shouted Harry behind her, and she heard three bodies slam into the door on the other side.

"It doesn't matter!" said a man's voice. "There are other ways in— WE'VE GOT THEM, THEY'RE HERE!"

Annabeth looked up. They were back in the Brain Room and, sure enough, there were doors all around the walls. She could hear footsteps in the hall behind them as more Death Eaters came running to join the first.

"Help me!" yelled Harry.

He tore around the room, sealing the doors as he went. Taking his lead, Annabeth joined Luna, Neville, and Nico as they too began to seal doors.

"Colloportus!"

There were footsteps running along behind the doors Harry had bewitched; every now and then another heavy body would launch itself against one, so it creaked and shuddered.

Annabeth reached her first door and raised her wand. She had never performed this spell before. Steeling herself, she repeated what she had heard Harry yell.

"Colloportus!"

A body slammed into her door. It shook slightly. Then another body hit it, and a crack of light appeared at the side.

"Luna— help me!" cried Annabeth desperately.

Luna was at her side in an instant.

"Collo— aaaaaah!"

With reflexes sharpened from years of monster fighting, Annabeth ducked and rolled out of the way of the door. Luna was not so lucky. She went flying through the air, hit a desk, and slid over its surface onto the floor where she lay sprawled, as still as Hermione.

Five Death Eaters were now surging into the room through the open door. Annabeth stuck out her foot, sending one sprawling to the ground.

"Get Potter!" shrieked Bellatrix, leaping easily over her fallen comrade and running at Harry.

"Hey!" said Ron, who had staggered to his feet and was now tottering drunkenly toward Harry, giggling. "Hey, Harry, there are brains in here, ha ha ha, isn't that weird, Harry?"

"Ron, get out of the way, get down—"

But Ron had already pointed his wand at the tank.

"Honest, Harry, they're brains— look— Accio Brain!"

The scene seemed momentarily frozen. Annabeth, Nico, Harry, Ginny, and Neville and each of the Death Eaters turned in spite of themselves to watch.

Annabeth felt rooted the spot, almost enchanted as she watched a brain burst from the green liquid at the top of the tank like a leaping fish. For a moment it seemed suspended in midair, then it soared toward Ron, spinning as it came, and what looked like ribbons of moving images flew from it, unraveling like rolls of film—

"Ha ha ha, Harry, look at it—" said Ron, watching it disgorge its gaudy innards. "Harry, come and touch it, bet it's weird—"

"RON, NO!"

Harry darted forward but Ron had already caught the brain in his outstretched hands. The moment they made contact with his skin, the tentacles began wrapping themselves around Ron's arms like ropes.

"Harry, look what's happen— no— no, I don't like it— no, stop— stop—"

But the thin ribbons were spinning around Ron's chest now. He tugged and tore at them as the brain was pulled tight against him like an octopus's body.

"Diffindo!" yelled Harry, but the tentacles would not break.

Annabeth felt oddly relieved. So much knowledge could be contained in that brain— they had to be careful. She took a few steps forward, watching with gross fascination. What would happen when the tentacles wrapped around his head?

Ron fell over, still thrashing against his bonds.

"Harry, it'll suffocate him!" screamed Ginny, and the spell was broken.

A jet of red light flew from one of the Death Eater's wands and hit her squarely in the face. She keeled over sideways and lay there. Annabeth ran forward, Nico at her side, as two more Death Eaters sent streams of silver light like arrows past them that left craters in the ground by Harry's feet.

Harry sprinted from the room, holding the prophecy high above his head. The Death Eaters streaked after him, knocking chairs and tables flying but not daring to bewitch him in case they hurt the prophecy.

And then there was silence once more. Neville stood, holding his wand shakily.

"We hab do go afder him!" he gasped.

"Wait—" Annabeth began, but he had already gone.

She kneeled beside Ron, who was still fighting the brain, and drew her knife. She hesitated. Could she really—? Then Nico's hand was on her shoulder and she shook herself again. Annabeth brought the knife down sharply, slicing cleanly through the ribbons of memory. As she did, the ribbons seemed the shrivel and blacken, withdrawing back into the brain they had spun from.

She stood up and looked at Nico.

"Are any of—?"

"No," he shook his head. His eyes were wild and scared.

Annabeth took a step closer, peering at him.

"Nico," she began. "Are you—?"

A door behind them burst open and five more people poured out of it. Annabeth recognized the members of the Order and flattened herself against the wall, allowing them to sprint past her and through the door Harry had gone. She glanced at Nico, who nodded silently, and they followed.

They were back in the room with the archway. The Order members descended upon the Death Eaters, raining spells down upon them as they jumped from step to step toward the sunken floor.

Through the darting bodies, the flashes of light, Annabeth could see Harry dodge a jet of red light and fling himself flat on the ground to reach Neville. The stone floor between them exploded as a spell hit it, leaving a crater right where Neville's hand had been seconds before. She pointed, and Nico rushed forward, jumping down the stairs towards the pair. Annabeth followed, stowing her wand back in her robes— it was worthless to her anyway —as she gripped her knife more firmly in her hand.

They reached the two at the same time as a massive Death Eater. The Death Eater seized Harry around the neck and pulled him upright, so that his toes were barely touching the floor.

"No!" shouted Nico, lunging forward.

He rammed into the Death Eater's side with his shoulder, sending him flying away from Harry and Neville. They landed in a tangled heap on the floor.

Harry made to move forward but Annabeth grabbed his arm, pulling him away.

"He'll be fine!" she screamed in his ear. "We need to get out of here!"

Harry pulled her aside as Sirius and his Death Eater lurched past, dueling so fiercely that their wands were blurs. He slipped slightly and Annabeth barely caught him as she looked down. An electric blue eye was spinning away across the floor. Its owner was lying on his side, bleeding from the head, and his attacker was now bearing down upon Harry and Neville: Dolohov, his long pale face twisted with glee.

"Tarantallegra!" he shouted, his wand pointing at Annabeth. She ducked and the spell hit Neville, whose legs went immediately into a kind of frenzied tap dance, unbalancing him and causing him to fall to the floor again. "Now, Potter—"

It was Annabeth that ran forward this time. She deflected a jet of green light with her knife and tackled Dolohov. His wand went flying from his hand as she landed on top of him, knees pinning down each of his arms and knife at his throat. She pressed slightly, and a bead of blood appeared.

Then there was a flash of red light and he was unconscious. Sirius was pulling her up, his Death Eater lying unmoving several feet away.

"Nice job," he panted, dragging her over to Harry and the still thrashing Neville.

A pair of red lights flew at them and they ducked.

"I want you to get out—"

They all ducked again. A jet of green light had narrowly missed Sirius; across the room Annabeth saw a woman she knew to be Tonks fall from halfway up the stone steps, her limp form toppling from stone seat to stone seat, and Bellatrix, triumphant, running back toward the fray.

"Harry, take the prophecy and these two, and run!" Sirius yelled, dashing to meet Bellatrix.

Annabeth and Harry launched themselves at Neville.

"Can you stand?" Harry bellowed in Neville's ear, as Neville's legs jerked and twitched uncontrollably. "Put your arm round my neck—"

Glancing around hopelessly for Nico, Annabeth rushed to Neville's other side and they heaved. Neville's legs were still flying in every direction, they would not support him and then, out of nowhere, a man lunged at them. All three of them fell backward, Neville's legs waving wildly like an overturned beetle's, Harry with his left arm held up in the air to try and save the small glass ball from being smashed, and Annabeth, still looking desperately for Nico.

"The prophecy, give me the prophecy, Potter!" snarled the man.

"No— get— off— me… Neville— catch it!"

Annabeth turned to see Harry fling the prophecy across the floor, Neville spun himself around on his back to try and scoop the ball to his chest, but before he could do so, a flailing foot kicked it. It flew some ten feet to their right and smashed on the step beneath them. All four of them stared at the place where it had broken, appalled at what had happened, as a pearly-white figure with hugely magnified eyes rose into the air, unnoticed by any but them.

Annabeth seized the opportunity to spin around, lunging this time onto the back of the Death Eater. She seized a chunk of white blonde hair and pulled his head backward as her other arm encircled his throat. The men yelled in pain, pointing his wand blindly behind him.

"Avada—"

"Impedimenta!" yelled Harry.

Annabeth flung herself from the man as he was blasted towards the dais. Then the shabby Lupin was there, leaping in front of them, wand pointing at the fallen man.

"Harry, round up the others and GO!"

Annabeth scanned the floor desperately for Nico as Lupin pushed her backwards towards Harry. Why hadn't she let Harry grab him before?

"I can't—"

"Harry, I'b sorry!" cried Neville. "I'b so sorry, Harry, I didn'd bean do—"

"It doesn't matter!" Harry shouted. "Just try and stand, let's get out of—"

"Dubbledore!" said Neville, and Annabeth whipped around.

Directly above them, framed in the doorway from the Brain Room, stood Albus Dumbledore, his wand aloft, his face white and furious. And suddenly Annabeth knew why Harry and the others revered him so.

Dumbledore sped down the steps past them. He was already at the foot of the steps when the Death Eaters nearest realized he was there. There were yells; one of the Death Eaters ran for it, scrabbling like a monkey up the stone steps opposite. Dumbledore's spell pulled him back as easily and effortlessly as though he had hooked him with an invisible line. And then with a surge of relief Annabeth saw Nico, kneeling beside Tonks, one hand over her forehead as he muttered something.

Only one couple were still battling, apparently unaware of the new arrival. Harry saw Sirius duck Bellatrix's jet of red light. He was laughing at her.

"Come on, you can do better than that!" he yelled, his voice echoing around the cavernous room.

The second jet of light hit him squarely on the chest.

The laughter had not quite died from his face, but his eyes widened in shock.

Then Nico and Harry were moving at the same time, rushing towards the dais.

It seemed to take Sirius an age to fall. His body curved in a graceful arc as he sank backward through the ragged veil hanging from the arch…

There was a look of mingled fear and surprise on Sirius's face as he fell through the ancient doorway and disappeared behind the veil, which fluttered for a moment as though in a high wind and then fell back into place.

And Bellatrix screamed in triumph.

"SIRIUS!" Harry yelled, "SIRIUS!"

Annabeth was standing now too. She rushed after Harry who had reached the floor, sprinting towards the dais. But then Lupin had grabbed Harry around the chest, holding him back.

"There's nothing you can do, Harry—"

"Get him, save him, he's only just gone through!"

"It's too late, Harry—"

"We can still reach him—"

Harry was thrashing in Lupin's arms. Annabeth sprinted past them but she was still at least twenty feet away when she saw Nico appear around the corner of the archway.

"There's nothing you can do, Harry…" Lupin was saying. "Nothing… He's—"

"HE— IS— NOT— DEAD!" roared Harry. "SIRIUS!"

Annabeth skidded to a halt, gazing up a Nico, who locked eyes with her. For an instant, his face seemed filled with anguish, and then she blinked and it was gone. A flicker of a smile crossed his lips.

"Nico!" shouted Annabeth. "NO!"

But he had already turned, pulling aside the veil as if it were nothing but a curtain, and stepped through the arch.

A/N

Next chapter we'll be back in Paris with Leo, Thalia, and Jason. Feel free to refresh yourself on everything that happened before then, I know it's been a while. I'll upload next Saturday as well at 4ish PST.

Review!