Eleanor & Fred

“Ellie, wake up! Wake up, Eleanor!”

I opened my eyes as I was jostled awake. I recognized Sirius’ voice. “What’s going on?” I asked, sitting up and trying to wake up.

“Get up, get dressed, we’ve got to go.” He left my room hurriedly without another word, so I did as was told and rushed down to the kitchen where I found every member of the order.

“Where are we going?” I asked. Instead of answering, Sirius grabbed me by the elbow and dragged me toward the fireplace. He through in a handful of flew powder, pulled me into the comfortably warm fire, and stated “The Ministry of Magic.”

Before I had time to comprehend I felt the familiar sensation that accompanied traveling by flew powder before we stumbled out into a deserted corridor. The floor was blackened wood and all along the walls were countless other fireplaces. “Where are we?” I whispered, as Sirius looked around.

“The Ministry,” he replied just as quietly. “Harry and his friends have come here because they believe Voldemort has me trapped here-“ He looked over as Kinglsey and Moody arrived“-and of course it’s a trap.”

“So, we’ve come to save them?” Sirius nodded as Remus and Tonks arrived as well. I pulled my wand out of my pocket and tightened my grip. “What exactly are we saving them from?”

“I don’t know,” Sirius stated, glancing at me, but keeping his focus on the hall we were in. “Just be careful. It might be a couple of death eaters, it might be nothing, or it might be Voldemort himself.”

I felt an icy chill run down my spine. You-Know-Who? In person? With the six of us there, we began toward an elevator. Once we were inside, it began moving in every direction imaginable. “Do we know where we’re going?” I asked sheepishly, the only one who seemed clueless.

As if in answer to my question, the elevator stopped and the doors slid open. In a clear, female voice it said “Level Nine, Department of Mysteries.”

I tried to keep up as the Order moved through the stone hallways. We entered a circular room with countless doors lining the walls. All of the doors but one had an X on them, but that didn’t seem to affect our mission. We were told to each open a door, and hopefully one would be what we were looking for. I reached for a handle, opened the door, and gasped.

“In here!” I shouted. I let all of the Order rush in before me, slightly frightened by what I saw.

Inside the room were known Death Eaters Bellatrix Lestrange, Lucius Malfoy, and a few others that I didn’t recognize. They had at least half of Dumbledore’s Army held captive. I watched in awe as Tonks stunned Malfoy, and only when a spell narrowly missed my head did I realize that I had to fight whether I wanted to or not.

Everything around me was a blur of color and I could not keep track of what anyone else was doing. All I could think about was trying not to get killed. I managed to hit a few Death Eaters with a stunning spell, but it didn’t seem to affect them. I couldn’t focus enough to get anything to work right.

It seemed only a matter of minutes before the Death Eaters seemed to freeze. Standing in the doorway to the room was none other than Professor Dumbledore, white faced and furious. The only ones still dueling were Sirius and Bellatrix.

“Come on, you can do better than that!” Sirius yelled. Seconds after the words left his mouth, a green jet of light hit his chest. All I could do was stare in shock. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Harry running toward Sirius, but it didn’t matter. More graceful than he had ever been in life, Sirius fell backwards into the archway that I hadn’t noticed before in the middle of the room. There was a veil hanging from the arch, and as Sirius fell into it I expected his body to appear on the other side. I didn’t understand what happened. Where did he go?

Harry ran for the archway, but was held back by Remus.

“There’s nothing you can do, Harry-“

“Get him, save him, he’s only just gone through!” My thoughts mirrored Harry’s exactly.

“It’s too late, Harry-“ Why was it too late?”

“We can still reach him-“ I would have been trying myself if my legs hadn’t felt like jelly.

“There’s nothing you can do, Harry…nothing…He’s gone.”

I felt the warm tears falling down my cheeks as Harry continued to fight Remus. He continued shouting Sirius’ name, as if he would answer. “HE-IS-NOT-DEAD!” Harry shouted. I almost wish I could have been in denial as well. I felt numb and in pain at the same time, though I couldn’t explain how that was possible.

I snapped out of my state as fighting began once more. I used a shield charm, the only one I could think of at the moment, to protect myself as spells went flying in every direction. Dumbledore rounded up most of the Death Eaters and only Kingsley and Bellatrix remained dueling. I tried not to look in the direction of Mad-Eye, crawling across the floor toward Tonks. Bellatrix began running out of the room and Harry chased after her, intent on killing Sirius’ murderer.

“Take everyone out of here,” Dumbledore instructed Remus. I was only vaguely aware of my arm being pulled and then it felt as if I was being sucked through a tube-we’d apparated.

I kept my eyes shut even as we reached our destination. No one spoke and, though I did not want to see the familiar setting of the Black household where I had come to know Sirius so well, I forced my eyes open slowly. We were in the kitchen, Mad-Eye standing in the corner, Remus and Tonks in a tight embrace, and Kingsley staring into space.

Mr. and Mrs. Weasley entered the kitchen, but I could not understand their worried words as Remus retold what we had been through. Behind me, I heard the door to number 12 Grimmuald place open and close, though I didn’t bother to turn around and see who it was.

Two sets of footsteps entered the kitchen, and Fred’s cheerful voice reached my ears. “Hello everyone.” There was a pause before George spoke, not as loudly. “Who died?”