Luna's year

Harry took a few tentative steps down the overgrown path. He could detect the faint sounds of innumerable crickets in the moor all around him, accompanied by a low cacophony of frog croaking and myriad other nighttime sounds he sincerely hoped had a natural source. The place filled him with much unease, made all the worse by his not having a clue where he was. He stared at the trail meandering off into the darkness, having no idea where the path might lead, but there was nothing nearby that could possibly be of any help in his predicament. He drew his wand.

"Lumos," he said. The darkness remained triumphant. He held his wand closer, speaking at it as though holding a microphone.

"LUMOS!" he repeated, louder.

The wand remained resolutely unlit. He held it up to the faint moonlight, inspecting it for damage, running his fingers along its wooden surface in search of cracks. Why won't it work? he wondered. His apprehension increased markedly; here he was, in the middle of nowhere, totally lost and with a nonfunctional wand.

He heard a low 'poof!' sound behind him. He quickly spun around; wand held instinctively at the ready. He could just make out Hermione standing in the middle of the small circle of stones he'd just vacated. She was looking all around, evidently no more aware of her location as he was. He ran back to her.

"Hermione!" he said, stunned that she'd repeated his mistake, "What are you doing? There's no way to get back!"

"Well, I figured that, seeing as you weren't returning," she said. "But we weren't about to abandon you here, so...oh don't worry, I told Ron and Luna to take the book to Professor Dumbledore. Let's just wait here, I'm sure he'll know what to do."

"Well...okay, I guess there's nothing much we can do anyhow," said Harry, "Hey, can you try your wand? Mine won't work for some reason."

She looked at him in surprise as she drew her own wand from her robes. "You didn't break it, did you?" she asked.

"Not that I can tell, see?" he said, holding it out.

"Hmm," she said, looking over his wand. "It seems fine, doesn't it?"

"I know," he said, "It's weird."

"Lumos," said Hermione. They remained in darkness, the only illumination provided by the partial moonlight trickling through the branches high overhead. She shook her wand, as if throwing off cobwebs. "Come on," she said, "Accio twig!"

The small branch she'd pointed her wand at remained firmly on the ground, unmoving.

"This is really odd, Harry," she said. "It looks as though magic doesn't work here..."

They were both startled by the sudden appearance of Ron and Luna in the small circle of stones. Hermione gasped.

"Oh, great!" exclaimed Ron.

"Honestly, Ronald," said Luna.

"Me?!" Ron exclaimed incredulously, "You're the one - "

Hermione stormed up to them. "What are you doing here?!?" she vociferated, hands on her head. "You were supposed to go get Professor Dumbledore!"

"Yeah, well," said Ron darkly as he gestured towards Luna, "She came up with this bloody brilliant idea that only one of us should go, so we got to arguing on who should take the book and who should come here, and then - "

"Okay, fine," Hermione sighed, putting her hands up. "I get the picture, let's just drop it, it makes no difference now anyway. We're trapped here, unless we can find some other way to get back."

If the situation weren't so serious Harry might have laughed...just a minute ago, they'd all been safe and sound inside Hogwarts' thick walls; now, through a highly unlikely chain of events, they'd all ended up...

"Where are we?" he asked. "Anyone have any idea?"

They all peered about the clearing, hoping that a landmark somewhere in the darkness might provide some clue as to their whereabouts.

"Well, we're south of Hogwarts," said Luna dreamily, pointing in the distance. "See, Ursa Major is lower in the sky than it should be at this time of night."

Harry gazed into the night sky, only a few faint stars visible through the branches; he was only vaguely familiar with a small handful of constellations, astronomy not exactly being his strongest subject.

"Blimey, the temperature told us that," snapped Ron, pulling his wand out.

"Lumos," he said.

"They don't work," said Harry and Hermione simultaneously.

"What?" asked Ron, "Why not?"

"We don't know," replied Hermione, stowing her wand away in her robes. "But we can't stay here...no one at Hogwarts knows we're gone now; we've got to find our own way out of here."

"Lumos," uttered Luna. Harry was stunned to see himself suddenly casting a long, dark shadow on the ground. Ron and Hermione were both staring at Luna's illuminated wand in surprise.

"Mine seems fine," she said serenely.

Hermione looked closely at the brightly glowing wand. "Luna," she said slowly, "Didn't you say once it was an old wand? Just how old is it?"

"I'm not entirely sure, actually," said Luna, "Mum said it was passed down to her from her Gran," she tilted her head slightly, gazing at her.

"I wonder..." mused Hermione under her breath. She looked at Harry. "You said this one has two components, didn't you? That in itself is so odd...and it just happens to work where other wands don't..."

She seemed to be mulling something over, everyone staring at her expectantly.

"What?" asked Harry, as Ron came to stand with them, "You've got an idea, don't you?"

Hermione looked at him. "Well, I'm not sure...remember when Peeves tried to steal it? How strange that was?"

Harry picked up on her line of thinking. "You think it might have something to do with this place?" he asked.

"Well look, Harry," she said, "None of our wands work here...except Luna's, and it does have those two components..." she glanced expectantly at Luna.

"A dragon's heart string and a unicorn's hair," said Luna helpfully.

"Exactly," said Hermione. "What if...someone needed a wand that worked in this place? And somehow got Peeves to try and steal it?"

They all stared at Luna's glowing wand. "And here we are bringing it to them," said Ron.

"Well, hold on," cautioned Hermione, "It might not have anything to do with this place at all...but still..."

"Nox," said Luna, plunging them into darkness once more before stashing the wand away in her robes, rather than its customary place of safekeeping behind her ear.

"Good idea," said Harry, grinning.

Ron walked slowly around the small clearing. "There's just the one trail," he said, "Doesn't look like we have much choice, does it?"

"Doesn't look like it," agreed Harry. "Well, let's get going, then. Everyone keep your eyes peeled for...well for anything."

They started down the narrow trail that led from the clearing into the gloomy, mysterious bog.

* * *

They'd been walking for about half an hour by Harry's reckoning, occasionally stumbling over an overgrown root snaking across their path or getting hit in the face by the odd overhanging branch. Harry's anxiety increased the further they walked; while he knew there was nothing behind him that could help them, that small circle of stones represented their last tangible link to Hogwarts.

They walked on into the gloominess, rarely speaking; Ron and Hermione seemed to be as uneasy as he was, though judging from Luna's strolling walk she seemed more affected by curiosity than anything else.

The air around them seemed to be getting heavier, the light, vaporous mist rising from the bog on either side of the trail obscuring what already limited visibility they had. Though it wasn't exactly warm, the dankness and humidity combined to make it feel uncomfortably stifling, even though they were clad in just their indoor robes.

Harry had just ducked under a branch when he thought he saw a faint greenish-yellow light some distance in the woods to his left. He stopped in his tracks, Ron bumping into him from behind.

"What is it?" asked Ron, turning to look in the same direction.

"I thought I saw a light," said Harry, catching sight of it again, "There! See it?" he pointed.

"Yeah!" said Ron. "HELLLLOOO??" he yelled, putting his hands on either side of his mouth.

Luna had walked by him and stopped. "It won't answer, you know."

"Eh/ You know what that is?" Harry asked, staring at the slowly moving light in the distance. "IS ANYONE THERE?" he called out.

"It's been following us for a while, actually," said Luna calmly. "It's pretty, isn't it? It won't help, though. Well, best to keep moving, Harry."

He turned to her. "Why? If there's someone there - "

"Come on, let's go check it out," said Ron, stepping eagerly off the path, his feet sinking slightly into the soft bog-like ground. "Blimey, this is almost a swamp - "

"Ron, don't!" warned Hermione, grabbing hold of his arm. "You don't even know what it is, get back here!"

"But - " protested Ron as Hermione dragged him back to the path. "Bloody hell, Hermione! There's somebody over there! They might be able to help - "

"There's not," said Luna. "It's a Will-O-The-Wisp. It won't help."

Ron turned to her. "It's a what?"

"A Will-O-The-Wisp," repeated Hermione, staring at the distant, hovering light. "I thought they were just fairy tales...but..."

Luna turned her silvery eyes on her. "Oh, they're quite real, you know," she said. "Mum warned me about them when I was little."

"What are they? Are they...dangerous?" asked Ron, looking back apprehensively at the luminosity in the distance.

"They're ancient spirits of the woods," said Luna. "They're rather nice to look at, actually, but they'll try to lead you astray, if they can. It's best to just ignore them, really."

"Hey, look, there's another one," said Ron, pointing out a second flickering light that appeared seemingly out of nowhere, hovering near the first.

Harry looked at the floating lights. They were strangely bewitching, often changing hue between green and yellow and gold, giving off an aura that he found difficult to ignore.

"Well," he said finally, forcing himself to turn away, "If there was somebody there they would've answered by now anyway. Let's get going."

They resumed their walk down the trail. Harry kept glancing over to the flickering lights which kept pace with them, at times seeming to come closer before pulling back, their movements appearing almost playful in nature. He could see how someone would want to try and approach them...

"Ever come across those things before?" asked Harry as they carefully trod down the overgrown path, further into the moor.

"Yes," said Luna conversationally. "There's a lovely old forest near home, I often go for walks there during summer...if you go far enough in at night, you can still see them sometimes."

"What would happen," asked Ron from behind them, "If somebody tried to followed them?"

"Oh...well...I got lost, actually," said Luna. "Mum found me a two days later; she was rather upset, really. But I saw so many wonderful things - "

"Blimey, isn't there anything you don't like?" asked Ron, "I mean seriously..."

"Yes," replied Luna, strolling along serenely, "I'm not very fond of Bollywoggles, actually; they're awfully nasty little creatures."

Harry wondered what a Bollywoggle could be. He decided he wouldn't want to meet one, if Luna, of all people, was wary of them.

They continued walking along the trail for some time, Harry always keeping an eye on the floating lights that echoed their path, apparently content with simply trying to lure them into the forest. He wondered what kind of creatures they might be, up close.

A faint reddish glow through the thickets up ahead caused Harry to slow his pace.

"Is that a fire?" he asked, peering through the thick underbrush.

"Maybe it's a campfire," said Ron hopefully. "Maybe somebody can finally tell us where we are."

Harry considered the possibility. Even if it was a campfire, though, there was no telling if it was made by friend or foe.

"Let's keep quiet, at least until we can see who it is," Harry cautioned, determined to avoid making another rash move that would cause them even more problems. "Let's go."

They walked slowly along the path, the light getting brighter through the branches. As they rounded a curve in the path, they saw the unobstructed source of the flames clearly for the first time. Harry stopped in his tracks. "What's - "

"It - it can't be," whispered Hermione.

"It is!" said Luna, her large eyes popping excitedly.

There, standing motionless in the trail a short distance ahead, was a large, vaguely humanoid form. It seemed to be composed of an agglomeration of intense flame and light, though somehow it didn't appear to be igniting the woods around it.

"What is that?" asked Ron in awe from behind Harry.

"It's a Heliopath!" said Luna energetically.

"Blimey!" exclaimed Ron, edging beside Harry to get a better look. "Are you serious?"

"Goodness," said Hermione in little more than an awed whisper, "They actually...I mean..."

"Yeah," agreed Ron.

Harry looked at them. "What do we do?" he asked. "I mean, they're under Ministry control, aren't they?"

"Well," said Luna, "They were under Cornelius Fudge's control once, according to The Quibbler, but now..."

Harry turned back to the Heliopath on the trail. "Well, I guess there's only one way to find out. Not much use turning back now, anyway..."

He cautiously approached the fiery figure.

"Harry, be careful!" said Hermione, as Luna followed him closely, wand at the ready.

As he neared the glowing form, Harry noted with relief that it didn't seem to react to his approach. He proceeded cautiously until he was within arm's reach of it, determined not to get any closer. Despite its fiery composition, it didn't feel as though it was generating any heat, although it was throwing off a considerable amount of light, comparable to a bonfire's.

"Um...Hello, Mr. Heliopath," said Harry hesitantly.

"Daddy's going to love this," whispered Luna next to him, looking up at the figure in awe.

Harry couldn't even tell if the thing was looking at him. While it had a shape vaguely similar to a human's, he could see no discernable features such as eyes, ears, or fingers for that matter...the thing looked like a barely coherent cluster of flames. He carefully waved his hand in front of its 'face', getting no more reaction than his greeting. An idea occurred to him.

"Err...I am Cornelius Fudge," he said, drawing himself up to his full height, trying to look authoritative. "Remind me again, what it is you do here."

The thing remained seemingly unmoved. Harry frowned. "It don't think it knows we're here," he said.

Luna stood on her tiptoes. "Pretend you're Remus Lupin," she whispered in his ear.

"Yeah!" agreed Harry. "Heliopath, I am Remus Lupin, Minister of Magic. What do you do here?"

"Either it doesn't know we're here, or you're not fooling it, Harry," said Hermione, edging closer and eyeing the entity with a mixture of awe and nervousness.

Luna abruptly moved past it on the path.

"Luna!" said Harry. "What are you doing?!"

She was standing directly behind it now. "Maybe it's facing this way," she said serenely, looking up at its 'head'.

Oh, maybe, thought Harry. With such a vague shape to it, it was impossible to tell if he was looking at its 'front' or not. He circled around to join Luna.

"Hello, Heliopath," he said. "I am Remus Lupin, Minister of Magic...Hello?"

"Touch it, see what happens," suggested Ron.

"Are you crazy?" retorted Harry, "You touch it!"

"Well, maybe we can poke it with a stick or something," Ron said.

"Look," said Hermione irritably, "No one's going to touch it, or poke it, or anything else! We have no idea how it would react, and besides, it seems to be ignoring us at the moment. We should just keep going."

Harry sighed. "Yeah, I suppose," he said. Well, at least it's not hostile, he thought with some relief.

"I wish I had a camera," said Luna dreamily as they walked on, "A lot of people laughed at Daddy when he published that article..."

They'd continued down the path for only a short distance when it opened up into a large clearing, the ground here covered in large, perfectly interlocking stone slabs, the mist that permeated the moor behind them conspicuously absent. Harry was amazed at the sight of at least two dozen Heliopaths positioned in a circle around the large clearing, all as immobile as the first.

What most drew Harry's attention, however, was a towering wall of intense green flame rising from the centre of the clearing, forming a circular shroud and obscuring whatever might lie inside from view. The flames were deathly quiet. In fact, there were no sounds at all; the crickets and other natural inhabitants of the moor were noticeably muted here.

"Bloody hell," said Ron, awestruck. "What is that?"

"I have no idea," said Hermione softly, looking rather apprehensive.

Harry looked up; the stars were plainly visible here, with no branches hanging overhead to obscure them. Or the intense circle of green flames, for that matter, he thought. "I wonder if planes can see this thing at night?" he wondered aloud.

"It's probably unplottable, Harry," said Hermione, drawing alongside him. "I doubt any Muggle could see any part of this."

"What is it, though?" repeated Ron, moving closer. "This isn't like anything I've ever heard about."

"I think those flames are guarding something in the centre," ventured Hermione ventured, "It...it couldn't be Voldemort though..."

"No, we'd have heard for sure," agreed Harry.

Luna had crouched down and was gazing at the stones arranged all around the centre.

"What is it?" asked Hermione, crouching down next to her, running her fingers across the innocuous-looking stones.

"There are runes here, but they're hidden..." said Luna. She pointed her wand downwards.

"Finite Incantatum," she said, a soft white glow blanketing the stones they were crouched over, and for a few moments they could see softly glowing green symbols, clearly runic in appearance, though they quickly faded back into obscurity.

"This is powerful magic, Harry," said Hermione, looking up at him. "It won't dispel, it just interrupts it for a few seconds."

"Someone went to a lot of trouble to create all this," said Ron. It didn't surprise Harry; the magic required to negate wands was beyond comprehension...

Luna was slowly tracing her fingers along the stones, presumably reading the inscriptions, Harry thought.

"These are warnings, I think," she said quietly. "Not to break the seal..."

Harry looked back up at the flames...the seal to what?

"The flames...would slay any who pass through," Luna continued solemnly. "Well, that's what it translates to...this is a very old form of runic alphabet, these would never appear in The Quibbler..."

"How do you know what it says?" asked Ron, bending down next to her, as if getting closer to them would help him see the invisible symbols.

"This is really old magic," said Luna. "Mum used to work with this sort of thing, you know..."

"They don't teach this in school...or anywhere, for that matter," whispered Hermione, almost to herself, slowly shaking her head.

"There are others over here," said Luna, shifting over to another part of the stones, closer to the flames. "They go all around," she said, standing up and slowly walking around the circle, making her way back to the trio, seemingly lost in thought.

Finally she raised her head and looked up at the flames. "I think this is a prison," she said.

"A prison?" asked Harry, coming to stand next to her. "Out here, in the middle of nowhere? Why not Azkaban?"

Luna turned to look at him. "I don't imagine Azkaban wouldn't be able to hold...oh," she said softly, "Those initials on that book," she said, "They didn't stand for Godric Gryffindor, Harry...they stand for Gustavus Grindelwald."

Hermione moved closer, eyes wide with alarm. "Grindelwald!" she exclaimed. "Luna, are you absolutely sure?"

Luna turned her silvery eyes on her and nodded.

"Blimey," said Ron, a worried look on his face. "I thought he was...well, isn't he dead?"

"It's possible," said Hermione, grabbing hold of Harry's arm. "Everything we've ever read about him...remember what's one of the things Dumbledore was most famous for?"

"Yeah, his defeat of Grindelwald," said Harry, recalling quite clearly. "Wasn't it?"

Hermione shook her head. "His defeat of Grindelwald, Harry. It never mentioned anything about Grindelwald's death."

Harry turned to look at the flickering green flames with renewed foreboding. He could certainly conceive Dumbledore avoiding the Killing Curse, even in a duel with the most dangerous of Dark wizards; was it possible that same sorcerer now lay just on the other side of that shimmering wall of flame? He subconsciously drew back a half step from it.

"Oh, there's another trail leading in the opposite direction, by the way," said Luna.

"Why would Malfoy have a portkey to this place?" asked Ron. "I don't get it."

Hermione turned on him. "We saw him in the library with that book, remember?" she said. "I'll wager he was looking for something in there, something that would have something to do with this," she waved her hand at the flames, "But if it really is ancient magic - "

"He wouldn't find anything," concluded Harry, "At least not without looking through the restricted section..."

"At the very least," Hermione nodded.

"That's why he was sneaking into the library at night!" said Ron. "He's trying to dispel the flames!"

"I don't think it would be him, specifically," said Hermione, "We heard voices, remember? He might be trying to get information for someone else."

"Harry?"

Harry spun around, looking for the source of the strangely familiar voice. A figure was approaching them from the direction of the lone Heliopath.

"Tonks!" exclaimed Harry as he ran up to her, grinning. "Am I ever glad to see you! I thought you were in trouble! We heard you hadn't reported in and all - "

"Oh, that," she said dismissively, "Well, you can't really keep a schedule in this job, Harry, don't worry about it." She looked at him strangely, "What are you doing here though? This is dangerous stuff, Harry, you really shouldn't be here."

"Yeah, well," he said sheepishly, "It was kind of by accident; we were just looking at this strange book Malfoy has, and - "

Tonks held up her hand. "You took Malfoy's portkey?"

Harry saw Luna whispering to Hermione out of the corner of his eye, to which the Gryffindor was nodding solemnly. "Yeah, well, Mr. Weasley and the others were worried about you, and I thought maybe there might be some clues in that book, so we, er, snuck into the Slytherin Common Room and took it...well tried to take it. But we had no idea it was a portkey!"

Tonks stared at him seriously. "Does anybody know you're here?"

"No, that's the problem," said Harry, "We don't know how to get back, either; what is this place, anyway?"

"It's...well, maybe it's best you didn't know, Harry," she said. She nodded at the others behind him. "Hi, Ron, Hermione," she said, eyeing Luna curiously. "Who's your friend? That's she same girl that was with you at the Shack, wasn't it?" she asked.

"Oh, that's Luna Lov- "

"I'm Padma Patil," interrupted Luna, maintaining a discreet distance.

Harry turned to her. "Huh?"

She was gazing at him blankly.

"Did you hear, Bellatrix?" called out Tonks over their heads.

They all spun around. To Harry's horror, a group of figures had arrived undetected behind them. Most had their hoods up, though the apparent leader had her face uncovered and plainly visible. Harry recognized her immediately.

"Lestrange," whispered Hermione.

Harry lunged for her but was quickly intercepted by two Death Eaters; he struggled violently to free himself, wanting nothing more than to strangle Sirius' murderer with his bare hands, if he could only reach her. His captors, however, held firm.

"I have," replied Bellatrix, as the group of figures slowly moved around them. "A most unexpected but fortunate turn of events...the master will be pleased.

She turned her dark gaze on Luna. "She's the one in possession of the wand, I take it?"

Ron turned back around. "Tonks!" he exclaimed, "You can't be, you're not - "

"I don't think she's acting of her own accord, Ronald," said Luna softly, as Tonks ignored them and walked to stand next to Lestrange, close to the wall of flames.

"Seize her!" commanded Bellatrix, pointing to Luna. "Do not damage her wand!!"

A Death Eater roughly grabbed Luna from behind; Harry lunged again but was quickly restrained by his captors; struggling desperately against them, they firmly held his arms, and he couldn't break free. He glimpsed Ron make a move for Luna but he, too, was quickly overpowered. Hermione just stood there, motionless, seemingly at a loss of what to do.

Luna was practically carried before Lestrange; while she wasn't struggling, she'd allowed herself to become totally limp, staring at the ground with apparent disinterest as her captor half dragged her along. Luna, do something! thought Harry furiously. She was the only in the group with a working wand, had she somehow forgotten? She could overpower everyone here!

Lestrange searched Luna's robes and quickly found the wand, to Harry's intense dismay. The Death Eater carrying Luna threw her roughly to the ground, as Lestrange and Tonks turned to face to wall of flames. Harry gave a huge tug to free himself, though his captors were still unwilling to release him.

Lestrange raised the wand, pointing it at the green wall of fire.

"NO!" yelled Harry.

"FINITE INCANTATUM!" cried Lestrange.

The wand, however, failed completely, not even the slightest ember of light emerging from its tip. Lestrange drew the wand close and looked it over in confusion. "She is the Lovegood child, is she not?!" she asked Tonks angrily. "The Dark Lord is certain this is the wand - "

Harry glanced to his left and saw Hermione quickly draw her wand and tap herself on the head. "Occulo praestigiae," she whispered, quickly assuming the colours of her surroundings and disappearing from view.

The Death Eaters around her gaped at the empty spot where Hermione had been standing just moments before. "Where is she?" one of them asked, stepping forward and flailing his arms wildly through the air.

"Stupefy!" Hermione's voice called out from somewhere close by, a jet of light streaking out from nowhere and striking Lestrange squarely in the back. The Death Eater immediately crumpled to the ground.

Yes! Thought Harry. Somehow Hermione had Luna's wand!

Tonks spun around. "Who did that?" she asked, her eyes wide.

One of the Death Eaters holding Harry released his arm and lunged for the area where Hermione's spell had originated; he swung wildly through thin air, finding his target long gone.

Just then Harry saw a new flash of light and felt his other captor collapse heavily to the ground. He immediately threw himself at one of the Death Eaters holding Ron, throwing his shoulder into the man's midsection, sending them both crashing across the stones.

As Harry rolled over the Death Eater he could hear Hermione shooting off more spells, becoming aware of much frantic yelling and screaming as the Death Eaters were now desperately trying to locate Hermione, who was wisely moving after each attack. So long as she managed to elude them, they had a chance.

The Death Eater Harry had knocked down seemed to be out cold; his head had apparently struck the stone slabs rather hard. Harry scrambled to his feet, helping Ron break free of his other captor, just as Hermione's voice called out once more.

"Finite Incantatum!" she said, as Harry saw a white beam of light shoot out towards Tonks...he realised at once that Hermione was hoping to dispel the Imperius Curse.

Tonks ducked at the last moment, and the spell struck the wall of green flame full force; Harry saw the flames shimmer for an instant before lowering briefly to about a foot or two off the ground. The flames only dropped for a second or two, however, before they quickly rose back to their original height. What he had seen inside however, in those few seconds, chilled his spine.

A large, ancient stone archway stood therein on a raised stone dias, seemingly leading to nowhere, the opening covered by a gently swaying tattered black curtain...

Sirius...?

"LOOK!"

Harry jumped at the sound of Ron's voice. He spun around, seeing him pointing towards the edge of the clearing...the Heliopaths had suddenly risen from their apparent slumber and were advancing on them, flames billowing, their feet igniting twigs and leaves on the ground as they advanced.

Harry was only vaguely aware of them, however...he felt drawn to that archway...he had to see it closer...could there be some way to talk to Sirius?

He walked through the chaos erupting all around him, moving towards the wall of flames, dimly registering Tonks getting struck by a flash of light and crumpling next to Lestrange...

He walked a few steps closer to the flames...he saw Ron talking to thin air, pointing at Tonks and nodding vigorously...

He saw Death Eaters running back and forth across his path, ignoring him in their desperate bid to escape...it was just as well...

He was right at the flames now...he needed to make them drop again...he needed the wand...where was Hermione?

He felt a gentle tug on his robes. "Harry," Luna's voice sounded from behind him, "You can't go..."

He heard a piercing screech from an unknown source, no doubt an unfortunate Death Eater who'd gotten too close to one of the approaching infernal entities...but none of that mattered at the moment. He turned around, seeing Luna staring at him, her large silver eyes reflecting the intense green flames behind him.

"Where's Hermione?" he asked. "I need the wand..."

"You can't, Harry," said Luna softly, "I know you want to...I can hear it too..."

He turned away from her, scanning the clearing...he could see the Death Eaters trying desperately to run off, most of them unable to escape the raging Heliopaths...he saw Ron crouching down, pulling a book out of Tonks' robes.

"I've got it!" he heard Ron yell, his voice sounding strangely muffled as he looked at a faintly shimmering figure standing next to Lestrange.

It had to be Hermione, Harry realised. He ran to her, Luna running quickly beside him.

"Hermione," he said, standing over her, "Give me the wand."

"Open it!" Hermione was telling Ron, who quickly flipped open the first page of the book; it had the same misty sheen as the tome they'd seen in the Slytherin Common Room.

"But we don't know where it goes!" protested Ron.

"Hermione, the wand!" said Harry forcefully, holding out his hand.

"We can't stay here!" Hermione was saying, "Ron, take Tonks' hand! Harry, get down!"

"Give me the wand!!" yelled Harry, just before Luna gave a huge tug on his robes, sending both of them crashing heavily to the ground, Harry hitting his knee painfully hard against the stones. Her hand intertwined tightly with his; he tried to yank it away. "No! Let me go! I've got to - "

She put her other hand around his wrist and pulled as hard as she could, towards the book that Ron and Hermione were holding between them, Ron holding out Tonks' hand in his own...

"NO!! LET GO!!!"

Harry felt the shimmering texture of the book brush up against his straining fingers, before suddenly being plunged into darkness.