By the time we got there, it was nightfall. The Ministry of Magic was empty. We got to the elevator and went down to the same floor our hearing was on. The entire floor was cold as we took one step closer towards the door.

"This is it," he said. When we got to the door, Harry looked at me. "You open it."

"Wimp." I opened the door and saw nothing but shelves of silver balls lined up next to each other. Some were shining and some were dull. "Damn. This room is huge."

We lit our wands so we could see better.

"Tell me about it," Harry commented. Then we turned around and saw the door went away and the hallway was endless. Great. "Now what?"

Ninety-seven. That was where we needed to go. Without thinking, I started running down the hallway. I started counting until I got to ninety-seven. There was nothing here. Not Sirius, not Voldemort. Nothing.

"He should be here," I said.

"Harry, Max," Neville was looking at something. "This has your names on it."

Harry and I went up to it. He slowly grabbed it and got a closer look at it. Voices. They were everywhere.

"The ones with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches. And the Dark Lord shall mark them as his equals, but they shall have power the Dark Lord knows not. For neither can live while the other survives."

"What the hell does that mean?" I asked.

"It means, Potter, that you should give that to me," a voice came from behind us. It was a Death Eater.

"Where's Sirius?" Harry asked.

"You know, you really should learn to tell the difference between dreams and reality." The Death Eater revealed his true face. Lucius Malfoy. "You saw only what the Dark Lord wanted you to see. You two need to hand me the prophecy."

"If you do anything to us, we'll break it," I stepped in.

A cackling came from behind Lucius. "She knows how to play! Itty, bitty, baby. Potterette." The woman was ugly and had messy, black hair.

"Bellatrix Lestrange," Neville said.

"Neville Longbottom, is it? How's Mum and Dad?"

"Better, now they're about to be avenged!"

The two pointed their wands at each other.

Lucius intervened. "Now let's everybody just calm down, shall we? All we want is that prophecy."

"Why did Voldemort need us to come and get this?" I asked.

Bellatrix gasped. "You dare speak his name?" she whispered. "YOU FILTHY HALF-BLOOD!"

"It's all right. She's just a curious girl, aren't you? Prophecies can only be retrieved by those about whom they are made. Which is lucky for you two, really." Lucius walked over to me and Harry. "Haven't you always wondered what was the reason for the connection between you two and the Dark Lord? Why was he unable to kill you two when you were just infants? Don't you want to know the secret of your scars?" He brushed the hair that was covering my face. "All the answers are there. In your hand." Death Eaters were now surrounding us. "All you have to do is give it to me. I can show you two everything."

We stayed silent. Then Harry finally spoke up. "We've waited fourteen years."

Lucius gave us a sympathetic look. So fake. "I know."

"I guess we can wait a little longer," I finished. "Now!"

"Stupefy!" All of us shouted in every direction. Then we ran.

As we turned a corner, Lucius appeared again. Harry and I went to the left, leaving the others. I could hear the voices of everyone else shouting spells and the sound of Death Eaters flying everywhere.

Once we found Ron and Hermione, more Death Eaters showed up. Harry and I started running again, with Ron and Hermione behind us. We started tossing the prophecy back and forth to each other as more Death Eaters approached. I started to hear Lucius' voice.

"Give me the prophecy!"

"Stupefy!" I started shooting spells everywhere.

"What are you doing?!" Harry asked.

"Behind you, Harry! Stupefy!" The Death Eater went flying across the aisle. "You're welcome, brother!"

"Let's just focus on getting out of here!" he told me.

I nodded in response. "We need to find the others!"

The other two were shouting spells at more Death Eaters that were behind us. Finally, the seven of us found each other again. There was one last Death Eater that was coming our way.

"Reducto!" Ginny shouted. I remembered when she did that spell. It was powerful. I didn't realize that it would cause the shelves to fall.

"Get back to the door!" I shouted.

I started running with the prophecy in my hand. I saw the door right in front of us as we were getting closer and running faster. I felt adrenaline pumping through me. As I opened the door, I started falling. I was falling down fast. Too fast, actually. Just when I reached the bottom, I was floating for a second. Then I fell on my stomach and groaned. At least the prophecy was still in my hand.

"Department of Mysteries. Got that bit right, didn't they?" Ron commented.

But Harry and I weren't listening to him. Instead, we were listening to the voices that we were hearing.

"Voices. Can you tell what they're saying?" I asked.

"There aren't any voices, Max. Let's get out of here," Hermione said.

"I hear them, too," Luna added.

"It's just an empty archway. Please, you two, let's go!"

"Get behind us!" The five listened to Harry and we pointed our wands up.

But we were trapped when they came swarming us from behind. We were all grunting and waving our wands everywhere. Harry and I got to the ground and waited until everything was quiet. We got up to find the others all held by Death Eaters. Luna and Ginny weren't struggling, Neville's head was being pulled back by Bellatrix and her wand was against his neck. Ron was trying to break free from the Death Eater's grasp, and Hermione was whimpering and close to tears.

We heard a chuckle from behind us. It was Lucius, who was walking up to us again.

"Were you truly naive enough to think that you children stood a chance against us?" Bellatrix was smirking as he said that. "I'll make this quite simple for you, Miss Maxine Potter. Give me the prophecy now, or watch your friends die."

I didn't say anything. I looked down at the prophecy that rested on the palm of my hand. I felt a hand go through my hair. "Don't," I whispered.

"Come on, Maxine. Don't you want to see your friends live? I know you do. Especially if I lived with a family of Death Eaters who did nothing but abuse me." He bent down and whispered in my ear. "If you don't give me the prophecy, I'll make sure this summer at Malfoy Manor will be a living hell for you."

"That's an understatement," I whispered.

"What are you waiting for, then?"

"Don't do it, Max!" Neville shouted.

I had no choice. It was a lose-lose situation for me. I didn't give him the prophecy, my friends would die and he'd make this summer the worst one yet. I gave it to him, my friends lived and he'd still make this summer the worst one yet.

I slowly handed him the prophecy and sighed. Lucius held it up and inhaled it as he finally got what he wanted. Behind him there was a flash of blue light. There he was, still in one piece and alive. Sirius.

"Get away from my godchildren." He punched him in the face and made Lucius to tumble down and drop the prophecy, causing it to break.

Sirius grabbed Harry and I to one side of the archway. Other Aurors came, including Tonks, Kingsley, Moody, and Lupin. Death Eaters started to cast spells at us as Tonks grabbed the other five.

Sirius pulled us on the other side of the archway and looked at us. "You two need to listen to me. I want you to take the others and get out of here."

"What? No, we're staying with you," Harry protested.

"You two have done beautifully. Let me take it from here." Suddenly, Lucius shot a spell at him from behind.

"Black!" Lucius was mad now.

Another Death Eater came beside him as they both started casting more spells at us. My main target was Lucius. I wanted him dead. I wanted him dead more than I wanted anyone else dead.

Once the other Death Eater was gone, Harry and I stepped in. "Expelliarmus!"

"Nice one, James!" Sirius shouted at us. James. He called us James. He called us our father's name. He stunned Lucius and threw him back against the wall.

"Avada Kedavra!" A flash of green light came towards us and hit Sirius. He groaned as it hit him. He looked at us with sadness one last time before he disappeared into the empty archway.

No. No. No, no, no. This couldn't be happening. Sirius, our godfather, was now dead, along with our parents and Cedric. I didn't remember who was the first that screamed, but Harry and I finally snapped. We were screaming and crying at the top of our lungs as tears streamed down our faces. Lupin was holding Harry back while Tonks was holding me. We were both struggling to get them off of us.

I spotted Bellatrix, who was smirking and chuckling at us. She crept out of the room, followed by a set of angry twins, who were ready to kill her.

~~~~~~~

A/N: Okay so as you can see I only posted two chapters this time and here's why:

As of now, When Twins Strike Back now has only 2 chapters left. Once I finish those two chapters, I'll upload them and yay! Another book in the series is done!

I am kind of sad about finishing this book but not really at the same time. I feel accomplished though. Lol.

So comment, vote, PLEASE COMMENT! If you're reading this then tell me your lucky number. :)

-A